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Thread: Smiling Proud Wanderer - Unabridged

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    Default Smiling Proud Wanderer - Unabridged

    Last edited by hhaung; 05-21-07 at 09:14 PM.

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    Post Chapter 21: In Jail

    Translated by Lanny Lin, HHaung (with help from Huang Yushi), and Pokit

    Before Black-White Piece could figure out his mistake, his wrist was already seized. In a hurry, he rotated his wrist to grab back while pulling his arm back, and then swiftly kicked out with his left foot.

    When Linghu Chong finally came around, he found himself surrounded by complete darkness, knowing neither where he was nor how long he had been out cold. The headache was so bad that he almost felt as though somebody had cracked his head open and loud thunder-like rings still rumbled continuously in his ears. He tried in vain to get back onto his feet but found no strength left in him at all.

    “I must be dead already and have been buried into a grave,” he thought as the strong sense of grief and fuss quickly overwhelmed him and he fainted once again.
    By the time he woke up the second time, although his headache didn’t get any better, the ringing in his ears did lighten up a great deal. He felt something cold and hard underneath him as though he was lying upon something made of iron or steel. A quick feel with his hand soon confirmed that it was indeed an iron plate underneath the straw mat. As soon as he moved his right hand, a light clank broke out, and at the same time he felt something icy-cold tied around his wrist. When he tried to feel it with his left hand, the clanking sound rose again. Turned out that his left wrist also had something tied around it. A mixed feeling of shock, joy, and fear soared in his heart. Now he was sure that he had not died but had been shackled. He felt it again with his left hand and then came to realization that it was a thin steel chain tied around his wrist. A slight move of his two feet also revealed steel chains shackled around his ankles. He opened his eyes as wide as he could and stared forward, but did not see even a glimmer of light.

    “I was having a sword match with the Revered Mr. Ren right before I fainted. How did I fall for the machination of the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan?” he asked himself. “It looks as though I am also locked up in the dungeon underneath the lake. Have I been locked up in the same cell together with the Revered Mr. Ren?” At that thought, he called out immediately, “Revered Mr. Ren? Revered Mr. Ren?”
    He called out twice, but did not hear anything in return. Feeling of great shock grew stronger and stronger in his heart and he called out even louder, “Mr. Ren! Mr. Ren!” But once again, all he could hear in the pitch black were his own hoarse and vexed cries.

    As desperation began to sink in, he shouted out at the top of his lungs, “First Master! Fourth Master! Why have you locked me in here? Let me out! Let me out!” But other than his own shouting, there was not another sound all the while.

    Soon panic turned into rage, and he began pouring our streams of abuses, “You despicable, brazen, evil scum! You couldn’t beat me in the sword matches, so you figured that you could lock me up here to get even? How shameless you are!” But the thought that he would be locked up in the dark dungeon underneath the lake for the rest of his life just like the Revered Mr. Ren instantly made his hair stand on end and his heart filled with despair. The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became, he couldn’t help but bawl on top of his lungs, and before he knew it, the bawling had turned into loud wails, and tears had streamed down his cheeks uncontrollably.

    “You four…four despicable scoundrels…of the Plum Manor,” he cried in a hoarse voice, “If I can make it out of here one day, I’ll…I’ll blind…blind your eyes with my sword, and cut…cut off both your arms and legs…. Once I escape the dark dungeon….” But suddenly he fell silent when a loud voice echoed in his head, “Can I ever escape the dark dungeon? Can I ever escape the dark dungeon? Even Revered Mr. Ren, such a capable man, couldn’t get out. How…how can I ever get out?” Anxiety immediately surged in his heart. Feeling really sick in his stomach, he vomited, and after a few gags of blood, he fainted again.

    In the wooziness, he thought he heard a cracking sound, and immediately after, bright light dazzled his eyes. Waking up abruptly, he leapt to his feet, but he forgot that both of his wrists and ankles were still shackled by steel chains. Furthermore, he did not have much strength left in him, so only instants later, he fell back down heavily and all the bones in his body seemed to have been falling apart. Having been in complete darkness for a long while, his eyes were not adept to sudden lights, but for fear that the gleam of light might just vanish as abruptly as it appeared, voiding him of any opportunity to escape, he kept his eyes wide open and stared hard toward the origin of the light despite the stinging pain.

    The gleam of light had come from a one-foot wide, square-shaped opening. And he remembered at once: the dungeon cell Revered Mr. Ren lives in also had a squared-shaped opening on the iron door. In fact, it had one exactly identical to this one. He took a quick glance around and then confirmed that he was, indeed, also locked in the same kind of dungeon cell.

    “Let me out of here! Huang-Zhong, Black-White, you despicable scoundrels, let me out if you’ve got any guts!” he shouted out.

    A large wooden tray came forth slowly through the square-shaped opening, on top of which was a large bowl of rice with some cooked food piled on top. There was also an earthen jar, which apparently held some soup or water.

    This sight made Linghu Chong even angrier, thinking, “Bringing food and water to me only means that you want to lock me in here for an extended period.” So he cussed loudly, “You four dirty swine, listen up! If you want me dead, just come forward and give me your best shot. Stop playing games with your uncle here!”

    But the wooden tray remained still. The person outside the door obviously wanted him to take the tray in. Infuriated, Linghu Chong reached out and struck it hard. Loud clangs echoed as the rice bowl and the earthen jar fell to the ground and smashed into pieces. Food and soup splashed everywhere. Slowly, the wooden tray retracted out of the opening.

    In a storm of rage, Linghu Chong threw himself at the squared-shaped opening, and then he saw a completely gray-headed old man, a light in his left hand and the wooden tray in his right hand, turning away unhurriedly. Deep wrinkles covered the man’s entire face, a face Linghu Chong had never seen before.

    “Go get Huangzhong or Black-White here! Tell those four shameless scoundrels to come here and fight me like a man if they’ve gotten any guts!” Linghu Chong shouted out.

    But the old man didn’t pay him the slightest attention and kept walking further and further away unhurriedly, stooping low with his back.

    Linghu Chong watched on as the man slowly disappeared around the corner of the tunnel. The light also gradually dimmed until it finally faded into gloom. After a short while, he vaguely heard the sounds of gates opening followed by sounds of the wooden gate and the iron gate closing down one after another. And then once again, the tunnel was enveloped by complete darkness, without a glimmer of light or the slightest of sound.

    Linghu Chong felt another strong dizziness in his head. After staring blankly into the blackness for a moment, he decided to lie down on the bed for better concentration with his thoughts.

    “The old man delivering food to me must have had strict orders to not exchange any word with me. It would be useless to shout at him,” he thought to himself. “This dungeon cell looked identical to the one Revered Mr. Ren lives in. I guess there are quite a few prison cells built under the Plum Manor. I wonder how many people they have locked up down here. If somehow I can connect with the Revered Mr. Ren, or with any other fellow prisoners here, by working together and uniting our efforts, who knows, we might be able to find a way out of here.”

    At that thought, he extended his arm and knocked on the wall. But the clanking sounds clearly indicated that it was made of sheer steel. The sounds were both heavy and dull. Obviously there was no space on the other side of the wall except solid ground.

    He walked to another wall and also knocked on it, but again, the responding sounds were both heavy and dull. Not willing to give up, Linghu Chong sat back on the bed and knocked on the wall behind him. Once again, the sounds were still the same.
    Feeling his way along the walls, he carefully knocked on every inch of all the three walls, but other than the side of the wall with the iron door, this dungeon cell seemed to have been buried deep underground all alone. There, of course, had to be other dungeon cells underground, at lease one another, which had the Ren named old man locked in. But he had no clue where that dungeon cell might be or even how far it was from his own cell.

    Leaning against the wall, he very carefully reviewed, in his head, the series of events that had happened before he fainted. He could remember how the old man’s sword moves became faster and faster as his shouting also became louder and louder. Then, all of a sudden, there was that earthshaking roar, right after which he lost his consciousness. But how on earth was he captured by the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan, and then sent to this prison cell, he couldn’t remember a thing about it.
    “The four Manor Masters all appeared to be talented persons of poetic temperament on the surface, even their day-to-day amusements are related to Music, Gamesmanship, Calligraphy, and Painting these Four Arts. Who would have imaged that underneath their pretending skin, they were all filthy, contemptible characters who stop at no evil,” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “There were many vile characters like these in the Martial World and it shouldn’t have come to one’s surprise. But the strange thing was that these four Manor Masters did hold genuine interests in the art of music, gamesmanship, calligraphy, and painting, which would have been impossible for them to pretend. When Mr. Bald-Brush wrote the “General Pei Poem” on the wall, his writing was completely free from inhibition, something not a normal martial arts master could have accomplished.”

    Then he thought, “Master once said, ‘Only people with extreme aptitude are capable of extreme evil.’ That is so true. The scam the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan pulled is indeed hard to guard against.”

    Suddenly a thought struck him. He cried out and jumped back onto his feet, his heart pounding madly. “What happened to Big Brother Xiang? Has he fallen for their murderous scheme as well?” But then he thought, “Big Brother Xiang is a man of shrewdness and improvisation. He seems to have known about the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan’s conducts beforehand. As the Right Advisor of the Demon’s Cult, he has roamed the Martial World for many years. He won’t fall for their trap easily. And as long as he is not stranded by the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan, he will try to rescue me for sure. Even if I were to be locked up one thousand feet below ground, Big Brother Xiang would still be able to get me out of here. He has the ability to do that.” At that thought, he found himself much relaxed. Carrying a big grin on his face, he muttered to himself, “Linghu Chong! Linghu Chong! Did you know that you are a real coward? Scared into crying like a baby, where are you going to put your face if people find out about it?”

    Feeling relieved, he stood up slowly, then immediately realized how thirsty and hungry he had been. “Too bad I threw a fit and knocked over the perfectly fine rice meal and the water. If I don’t stuff myself, after Big Brother Xiang rescue me out of here, where am I gonna find strength to battle the Four Skunks of Jiangnan? Ha-ha, that’s right, the Four Skunks of Jiangnan! How can such vile skunks be worthy of the title the ‘Four Playfellows of Jiangnan?’ Out of the four skunks, Mr. Black-White had to be the most sinister one, always wearing that blank, collected countenance on his face. He is probably the one who came up with the entire scheme. Once I break out of here, killing him will be the first thing on my list. Mr. Paint, on the other hand, seems to be relatively frank; I might as well spare his despicable life. But in regard to his collection of great wines, ha-ha, I’ll drink them all up, leaving not even one drop behind.” At the thought of Mr. Paint’s great wines collection, he found his mouth burning with thirst.

    “How long have I been unconscious? Why hasn’t Big Brother Xiang come to my rescue?” he wondered. Then another thought popped out, “Oh, no! If it were a fight one-on-one, Big Brother Xiang’s Kung Fu skills are more than sufficient to defeat any one of the Four Skunks of Jiangnan. But if those four skunks attack Big Brother Xiang all at once, then Big Brother Xiang would have a hard time winning the battle. Even if Big Brother Xiang gave full play to his ability and kill all four of them, it would be impossible for him to find the entrance of this underground dungeon. Who would have expected to find the dungeon entrance hidden underneath Mr. Huang-Zhong’s bed?”

    Feeling completely worn out, he lay down on the bed when another thought suddenly came upon him. “The Revered Mr. Ren’s Kung Fu skills are undoubtedly greater than those of Big Brother Xiang’s, and his wit, experience and foresight also outclass that of Big Brother Xiang. Even he became a prisoner in the dungeon, what makes Big Brother Xiang so special that he could ensure victory? Straightforward gentlemen often fall prey of machination from the vile. It is well said that covert attack is far more difficult to defend against than overt attack. Since Big Brother Xiang hasn’t come to my rescue after such a long while, could he have fallen for their trap?” He instantly forgot all about his own trouble, but began worrying about Xiang Wentian’s safety, instead.

    He let his thoughts went off into wild flights of fancy, and before long, he fell asleep. When he woke up again, he had no idea what time it was, and all he could see was still complete darkness.

    “It is simply impossible for me to escape by myself,” he thought to himself. “If, unfortunately, Big Brother Xiang also falls for their scheme, then who else might come to free me? Master has announced to the entire world that I am expelled from the Huashan Sword School; of course people from the orthodox schools won’t be coming to my rescue. Ying-Ying, Ying-Ying….”

    As soon as he thought of Ying-Ying, his spirit soared, and he sat up, thinking, “She asked Old Man to spread the word to the entire Martial World that she wants me killed; those people from the unorthodox schools of course won’t be coming to my rescue, but what about her, herself? If she learned that I am trapped here, she would surely come to save me. Many people from the unorthodox schools follow her command. All she needs to do is to let the word out. Ha-ha….” He suddenly chortled, thinking, “This girl is so bashful. What she fears the most is people saying that she likes me. Even if she does come to my rescue, she would surely come alone and would never ask for help from anyone. And if someone learns that she is coming to save me, he most probably would lose his life because of that. Alas, what goes on in a girl’s thinking is truly incomprehensible. Like, for example, Little Apprentice Sister….”
    As soon as Little Apprentice Sister came to his mind, his heart ached, and the feeling of grief and despair deepened. “Why am I hoping that someone might come and rescue me? By now, Little Apprentice Sister and junior apprentice brother Lin probably have already wedded. Even if I can get out of here somehow, what’s there to look for outside? It’s probably much better if I get locked up in this dark dungeon for the rest of my life and I never find out what happens outside.”

    Once he figured out the benefit of being locked up in the dungeon, his worries seemed to have slipped away and he even felt somewhat pleased with the situation. But the elated feeling did not last long when he was soon overwhelmed with hunger and thirst. Haunted by the memories of the great enjoyments he had when he drank bowls after bowls of wine served with large steaks in the various wine houses, he decided it would still be better if he could get out of the dungeon, after all.

    “Well, if Little Apprentice Sister wedded junior apprentice brother Lin, so what? I’ve already been pushed around by them many times, anyhow. I am already an invalid with none of my inner strength left in me. Doctor Ping said that I don’t have many days left. Even if Little Apprentice Sister is willing to marry me, I can’t marry her. How can I let her stay a widow the rest of her life?”

    But deep in his heart, he still felt that even though he wouldn’t let Yue Lingshan marry him even if she wanted to, Yue Lingshan’s falling in love with Lin Pingzhi was just too agonizing for him to withstand. But what could he wish for? “I wish Little Apprentice Sister were still the same as before. I wish none of this had ever happened, and I would still be practicing sword arts with her in the waterfall atop Mount Huashan, and junior apprentice brother Lin never came to Mount Huashan, and Little Apprentice Sister and I would be happily spending the rest of our lives together. Alas, Tian Boguang, Peach Valley’s Six Fairies, apprentice sister Yilin….”
    At the thought of Heng-Shan Sword School’s little Sister Yilin, he could no longer hold a straight face and a gentle smile crept onto his lips. “I wonder how this apprentice sister Yilin is doing right now,” he thought. “If she learns that I am locked up here, she must be very worried. Her Master undoubtedly wouldn’t allow her to come and save me after reading the letter from my Master, but she might ask her father, Monk No Commandment, to do it for her. Who knows, Monk No Commandment might even invite the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies to tag along. Ha, those seven are a total mess and would only mess things up even more. But having people coming for my rescue is still better than having no one paying any attention.”

    When he thought of the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies’ constant nagging and arguing, he couldn’t help but grin. When they were around him in the past, he did belittle the six brothers somewhat, but at this point in time, how he wished they could be accompanying him inside the prison cell. Their unintelligible remarks would have sounded like heavenly music to his ears at the moment. He let his thoughts run wild and soon dozed off once again.

    In the pitch black dungeon cell he had no way of knowing the time. In his wooziness, he noticed a glimmer of faint light coming though the squared-shaped opening. Linghu Chong was ecstatic. He sat up immediately, his heart thumping wildly, thinking, “Who has come to rescue me?” But his joy did not last long. Soon came the sound of heavy and slow footsteps, apparently from the old man who brought food to him. Much dispirited, he let his body collapse back down.

    “Ask those four skunks to come here; see if they’ve still got any guts to show their faces here!” Linghu Chong shouted.

    He could hear the sound of the footsteps getting closer and closer. The light also became brighter and brighter. Then a wooden tray was pushed in from the squared-shaped opening on the door. On the wooden tray were a large bowl of rice and an earthen jar just like the last time. Linghu Chong had been fighting his hunger for a good while and his thirst had also become unbearable. After a slight hesitation, he reached out and took the wooden tray. As soon as the old man let go of the wooden tray, he turned around to walk away.

    “Hey! Hey! Wait a second! I have something to ask you!” Linghu Chong called out.
    But the old man completely ignored him. Sound of footsteps faded gradually as the old man dragged his feet along the way and the light also fainted gradually. Linghu Chong murmured a few curses and then picked up the earthen jar. Raising the jar next to his mouth, he poured the content into his mouth. Sure enough, the jar was filled with clear water. He drank up almost half jar of water in one breath before touching the bowl of rice. Piled on top of the rice were some vegetables. He tasted them in the dark and was able to tell there were some radish, tofu, and the like.
    The same routine went on for seven or eight days. The old man would bring food to him once everyday and then collect the previous day’s utensils and water jar together with the jug for human waste. Regardless of what Linghu Chong said to him, his face remained expressionless. Then one day, as soon as Linghu Chong saw the light, he threw himself at the square-shaped opening and grabbed the wooden tray, shouting, “Why don’t you speak to me? Haven’t you heard me?”

    The old man pointed at his own ear and shook his head, indicating that he was deaf. Then he opened his mouth. What Linghu Chong saw shocked him and he couldn’t help but gasp. The old man only had half of his tough left in his mouth; the scene was horrific.

    “Someone cut your tongue off? Did the four god-damned Manor Masters do this to you?” Linghu Chong uttered.

    The old man did not answer and simply pushed the wooden tray through the square-shaped opening. He obviously could not hear Linghu Chong’s words. Even if he could, he had no way of answering.

    Linghu Chong was terrified. Even after the old man had long left, he couldn’t bring himself to eat. The terrifying image of the old man’s remaining portion of his tongue flashed again and again in front of his eyes.

    “Those Four Skunks of Jiangnan are too evil,” he murmured to himself as hatred quickly filled his heart. “Unless I am locked up here for life, if one day Linghu Chong can escape from this dungeon, I swear that I’ll find the four skunks and one by one, I’ll cut off their tongues, drill their ears, and prick their eyes….”

    Suddenly he thought of something from deep within his memories. “Could it have been them…them…?” He remembered that night how he blinded the fifteen masked men’s eyes outside of the monastery, but as to the origin of those people, he never found out. “Could it be that they locked me up in this dungeon cell to take vengeance for their suffering?” At that thought, he heaved a long sigh, and much of the grudge and hatred built up in the past many days evaporated instantly. “I blinded those fifteen men’s eyes. It’s only natural that they want their revenge,” he thought aloud.
    Once his anger eased off, each day seemed to be a bit easier to get by. There was no difference between days and nights in the underground prison; Linghu Chong completely lost track of days and could only tell that each day was hotter than the previous day. He figured that it must have been mid-summer already. There was not even a whiff of wind in the small dungeon cell. The humid heat just got worse and worse everyday. Then the day came when the heat became simply unbearable. With steel chains shackled around his wrists and ankles, he could not take off his clothes completely. Having no other alternatives, he could only pull his shirt upward and pushed his pants downward as much as he could. After rolling the ragged mat on the bed and placing it to a corner of the bed, he lay down on the steel plate half naked. Immediately, he felt cool and refreshing and his perspiration also improved dramatically. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. A few hours went by quickly. In the daze, when he felt the part of steel plate under his body had been heat up by him, he moved his body inward to find a cooler spot. Pressing his left palm on the steel plate, he vaguely felt some kind of lines of patterns carved onto the steel plate, but in the heavy drowsiness, he paid no attention to it and soon was sound asleep.
    This nap was so comfortable; when Linghu Chong woke up, he felt completely refreshed. Not long after, the old man came as usual, delivering food to him. Linghu Chong had great sympathy for the old man, and every time when the old man pushed the wooden tray in through the square-shaped opening, he would always pinch the old man’s finger gently or pat a few times on the old man’s hand to show his compassion. This time was no exception. After he took the wooden tray and was just about to retract his arms, all of a sudden, under the dim light, he spotted three words imprinted on the back of his left hand. It clearly said, “Woxing gets stranded.”
    Linghu Chong was dumbfounded, having no clue where these words had come from. After a short contemplation, he hurriedly placed the wooden tray on the floor and reached out to feel the steel plate on the bed. Turned out the steel plate was covered with carved words, so thickly dotted, he couldn’t even tell how many there were. Linghu Chong understood at once. The words were carved onto the steel plate before he even came, but because the steel plate had always been covered by the mat, he never found out about it, until yesterday when he slept half-naked directly on top of the steel plate. That was how the words got imprinted on the back of his hand. Extending his hand to his backside he felt his back and his behind, and he was unable to stifle a laugh. There were words marked on his skin everywhere he felt. Each character was about the size of a copper coin. The strokes were very deep, but the handwriting was hasty and careless.

    By then the old man who delivered the food had been long gone and the dungeon cell was once again engulfed in complete darkness. Linghu Chong’s curiosity overpowered his hunger. After taking a few quick drinks from the earthen jar, he began feeling the words carved on the steel plate slowly from the very beginning, one character at a time, and read them out in a soft voice:
    “I have been straightforward and willful all my life, killing people like flies.
    Imprisonment underneath the lake probably is the retribution I deserve. Only that when the old fellow Ren Woxing gets stranded…” At this character, Linghu Chong thought, “So the words ‘Woxing gets stranded’ came from this sentence.” He went on feeling the characters and the words continued, “…here, his extraordinary divine art which exceeds lofty will inevitably perish together with the old fellow’s skeleton, and people in the aftertime would not have known his exceptional and magical power. What a great pity that would be!”

    Linghu Chong paused and raised his head. “Old fellow Ren Woxing![1] Old fellow Ren Woxing!” he pondered. “Then the man who carved these words of course is named Ren Woxing. So this man’s last name is Ren as well. I wonder if he is related to the Revered Mr. Ren in anyway.” But then he thought better of it, “This underground prison probably was built a long time ago, and the man who carved these words probably had passed away decades or even centuries ago.”

    He went on feeling the characters and the carvings read, “That’s why I am writing down the succinct principles and secrets of my divine art, so people from the aftertime can practice the divine art and gain the ability to freely roam the world, then although the old man’s flesh will parish, his name will become immortal. Number one, Sitting Meditation….” Then what followed were various breathing exercises and meditation techniques.

    Ever since Linghu Chong learned the “Dugu Nine Swords,” he was only fond of sword art in the many types of Martial Arts, and since he had lost all his inner strength, when he recognized the words “Sitting Meditation,” his heart was filled with disappointment. He hoped that somewhere in the remaining words he would be able to find a form of exceptional sword art, and he might as well learn this sword art as self-entertainment inside the dark dungeon cell. The hope of escape had become more and more distant and indistinct. If he didn’t find something to occupy himself, life in prison could be very difficult. But the words afterwards were always terms for inner strength cultivation such as “breathing,” “concentrate the spirit in the lower abdomen,” “redirecting the strength to Jin-Jing,” “Ren Channel” and the like. He followed the characters all the way to the end of the steel plate and still couldn’t find even one character resembling the character “sword.”

    Linghu Chong found himself utterly frustrated. “What extraordinary divine art which exceeds the lofty? This man has played a good joke on me! It could have been any other type of Martial Arts; why did it have to be an art of inner strength cultivation, the only one I cannot practice? As soon as I try to gather my inner strength, the energy streams inside my chest and abdomen would roll over and over, clashing with each other. I’d be asking for trouble myself if practice inner strength cultivation.” He heaved a heavy sigh and picked up the rice bowl to eat, thinking to himself, “What kind of character is this Ren Woxing? He was certainly very arrogant, talking about exceeding lofty and roaming the world, as though he had no match in the entire world. It turned out this dungeon is specifically used to imprison superior Kung Fu Masters.”

    When first discovered the words carved on the steel plate, his excitement soared high, but by now he had the least interest left in him, thinking, “Heaven can really play tricks on mortals. I probably wouldn’t feel so down if I never found these words.” Then he thought, “If that Ren Woxing was as capable as how he boasted himself, why he was still stranded here and couldn’t get away? Evidently this underground prison is simply too durable and secure to break out. Regardless of how capable the captive is, once he is locked in, all he could do is to slowly and painfully wait for his end to come.” Having come to a conclusion, he paid no more attention to the words on the steel plate.

    The city of Hangzhou almost turned into a steam box in the hot summer time. The dungeon was located deep underneath the lake. Without getting the heat from the direct sunshine, it should have been much cooler, but firstly, the dungeon had no ventilation, and secondly, it had always been overly humid, it was simply a different type of misery for its occupant. Everyday Linghu Chong would strip as much clothing as he could and sleep on the steel plate half-naked. Whenever he moved his hand, he would feel the carved characters on the steel plate. As days went by, he had memorized many of the words and sentences unconsciously. One day when he was wondering where his Master, Master-Wife and Little Apprentice Sister might be and whether they ad returned to Mount Huashan, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming toward him. This time, the sound was quick and light, completely different from the sound made by the old man who delivered food. After spending many days locked inside, he had not been as anxiously looking forward to a rescuer, so when he suddenly heard the sound of a different set of footsteps, the feeling of surprise and joy instantly welled up his heart. He had wanted to leap to his foot, but the ecstasy was so strong and overwhelming, he suddenly lost all his strength and could only lie still on the bed not able to move a muscle. The sound of footsteps quickly approached the iron-door.

    A voice came from outside the iron-door, “Mr. Ren, it has been very hot in the last coupon of days. May I ask if you still enjoy your good health?”

    From the sound of the speech, Linghu Chong recognizes the speaker as Mr. Black-White. If Mr Black-White had come to his cell a month before, Linghu Chong would have shouted abuses and swore visciously at him. However, having spent quite some time being imprisoned, his anger had greatly disappeared and he was able to think calmly. He thought "Why does he call me Mr. Ren? Has he gotten the prison cells mixed up?" Immediately, he kept silent and only listened to Mr. Black-White who continued "Every two months, I come and ask you the same question. Today is the first day of July so please let me ask again. Would you agree to my request?" Mr. Black-White asked this question very respectfully. Linghu Chong secretly laughed and thought "Mr. Black-White really got the wrong prison cell and thinks I am Senior Ren. How did it happen?" Immediately, his heart turned cold when he thought "Among the Jiang-nan four play fellows, Mr. Black-White is the most meticulous. If this person were Mr. Bald-Brush or Mr. Paint, it's possible that they could get the wrong prison cell. But how can Mr. Black-White actually make such a mistake. There must be a reason behind this." Therefore, he still kept slient while Mr. Black-White said, "Venerable Ren, you are a great hero. Why do you choose to languish and decay in an underground prison? If you consent to my request, I will keep my promise and help you get out of this prison." Hearing this, Linghu Chong’s heart thumped madly and innumerable thoughts raced through his mind "Mr. Black-White comes by himself to ask a request, but I don't have any clues what his intentions are." Mr Black-White asked again "Venerable Ren, will you consent to my request?"

    Linghu Chong knew that this currently may be the opportunity to get out of his trouble. He doesn't know why he is inexplicably stranded in this jail cell. He doesn't know what Mr. Black-White is after or what his intentions are. For fear that Mr. Black-White may recognize his voice and to see what kind of opportunity might present itself, he held his tongue and kept silent.

    Mr. Black-White sighed and said, "Venerable Ren, how can you not make a sound? Previously, when that boy surnamed Feng came to compare sword skills with you, with great kindness, you kept my requests and visits secret. I thought that sword fight might have aroused great heroic feelings in your heart. Outside, the world is broad and alive. Once, you leave this dark prison cell, nobody in the world, male or female, old or young would dare defy you and the world would be yours for the taking. Wouldn't that be very satisfying rather than rotting in his jail cell? Why do you stubbornly keep refusing me for 12 years?"

    Linghu Chong felt that Mr. Black-White seems to sincerely believe that he is addressing Senior Ren. He was more puzzled in his heart and wondered what this matter was that Mr. Black-White wants consent for. Linghu Chong desired to learn more details about the matter but he was also anxious that if he revealed himself, the situation could turn bad immediately and thus, dared not make a sound.

    Mr. Black-White continued, "Old gentleman Ren, you are indeed very tenacious, I'll be back again in two months. Goodbye." Suddenly, with a gentle smile, he added "Today, unlike other times, you did not scold me, it looks like you may be thinking more favorably towards my request. I will come back in two months time to ask you to consider my request again." Saying this, Mr. Black-White turned around to go to the exit. Linghu Chong became quite worried when he thought Mr. Black-White would not come back for 2 months once he quite the underground. A day in this dark prison seemed like a year for him already, how can he bear to wait 2 months? He waited for Mr. Black-White to take several steps away, and then clears his throat and said in a thick voice "What matter do you ask me to consent?"

    Mr. Black-White turns around immediately and came quickly to the square hole in front of the prison door and said tremblingly "You…. You are willing to consent?"

    Linghu Chong turned around to the wall, put the palm of his hand on mouth and said in a muffled voice: "What matter do you want to me consent to?"

    Mr. Black-White answered, "For 12 years, I have taken a lot of risk visiting you 6 times a year to earnestly request the same matter. How could Mr. Ren not know already what I am requesting?"

    Linghu Chong let out a humph and muttered, "I have forgotten." Mr. Black-White replied, "I asked Senior to teach me your great Qi-Gong method fully and in exchange promised to help you escape from prison."

    Linghu Chong deliberated, "Has he really mistaken me for Senior Ren? Or is this a clever trick that he is pulling with me? I am not sure what he really means and must think for a while." Thinking this, Linghu Chong mumbled something indistinct. Mr. Black-White naturally could not understand the reply so asked repeatedly "Does Senior consent? Does Senior consent?"

    Linghu Chong asked, "How can I trust you to keep your word in this arrangement?"

    Mr. Black-White asked in reply, "What will serve as a guarantee for Senior to believe my words?"

    Linghu Chong said, "We must have an agreement."

    Mr. Black-White answered, "Senior is worried that after teaching me this big method, I will break my promise and not let you escape, right? Senior must put your trust in my arrangment."

    Linghu Chong asked, "What kind of arrangement?"

    Mr. Black-White asked in return with evident surprise and pleasure, "So, Senior have consented?"

    Linghu Chong thought very quickly, "He asked if I will pass him the big way method. How do I pass on this method ?? to him? I might as well listen to what he means by this arrangement. If I manage to deceive him using these secrets on the iron panel, he can let me out of here."

    When Mr. Black-White did not hear an answer, he added, "After Senior pass the big method to me, I then will be your disciple. Disciples of the (Sun-Moon) Sect who deceive their teachers (masters) and obliterate their roots have always been punished with the slow and lingering process of having their skin peeled off and their limbs dismembered. No one has been able to escape it in the past several hundred years.How will then disciple dare not help Senior escape?"

    Linghu Chong humphed and replied, "So that's how it is. Then, after three days, you can come and get your answer from me."

    Mr. Black-White said, "If Senior will consent to my request, why would you want to delay and spend three days in this dark prison cell?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "He is much more impatient than me. Even though I will have to suffer for three more days, it might give me time to see what clever trick he might pull" and produced several humph as if he was really angry at Mr. Black-White's impertinance.

    Hearing the humphs, Mr. Black-White hurriedly agreed and said "Right! Yes! After three days, I will come here and consult you again."

    Linghu Chong had disquieting thoughts after listening to Mr. Black-White going out the tunnel and then closing the iron gate. "How can Mr. Black-White mistaken me for Senior Ren? Mr. Black-White is very astute. How did he end up making such a mistake?" He suddenly remembers "Is it possible that Mr. Huang Zhong found out that Mr. Black-White's been secretly visiting this cell every two months this past 12 years? Perhaps Mr. Huang Zhong had imprisoned Senior Ren secretly in another room and had actually put me in here?"

    Suddenly he remembered what Mr. Black-White just said to him, "Disciples of the (Sun-Moon) Sect who deceive their teachers (masters) and obliterate their roots have always been punished with the slow and lingering process of having their skin peeled off and their limbs dismembered. No one has been able to escape it in the past several hundred years." Deliberately considering this statement, he couldn't help but wonder "Is it possible that Senior Ren and the four skunks of Jiangnan are all Demon Cult's members? I don't know what game they are playing but I am actually implicated in this mess." As soon as he thought of the Sun-Moon Sect, he sensed that there are layers upon layers of hidden elements in this matter and found it difficult to understand the whole situation. He stopped thinking further and concentrated only on answering this question, "Are Mr. Black-White's actions based on his true feelings or was he only pretending? When he asks me again after three days, how shall I answer?"

    All kinds of strange thoughts went through his mind going this way and that way but he still was not able to guess what Mr. Black-White's true intentions were. After some time, he became extremely weary and fell asleep. As soon as he woke up, his first thought was "If brother Xian were here, with his experience, he may be able to guess Mr. Black-White's intention relatively quickly. Senior Ren was obviously very smart, may be smarter than brother Xian…" and "Oh!" escaped from his mouth in a shout.

    He thought to himself, "For the last 12 years, Senior Ren refused to consent Mr. Black-White's entreaties. Naturally, this must be because there must be a strong reason. He is the type of person who must surely know how formidable his enemies are." Immediately, he reasons, "Senior Ren, no doubt was not able to consent. How am I going to be able to consent when clearly I'm not at the same level as Senior Ren."

    He knows for sure this matter, if not handled properly, could result in enormous calamity for him. But his heart is set on using this opportunity as a means to escape from this dark prison cell whatever the cost. He decides quickly, "When the three days is up and Mr. Black-White asks me again, I will consent to his request and transfer to him the secret of breathing exercise practice instructions from the iron panel. Then, I will see how the situation will turn out and act accordingly."

    Having decided, he started tracing the handwriting on the iron panel silently to memorize the instructions thinking, "I must manage to understand this rotten skill, otherwise when I teach him, I might blurt out something he would disbelieve. Only my voice and Senior Ren's voice are too different that I have to really dampen my voice. I can shout one word and mute the other one, that way it becomes more ambiguous and not easy for him to find out."

    Using mnemonics, he started memorizing the text by shouting them out in a very loud voice knowing that the dark prison cell is deep down underneath the lake, separated from the nearest exit by a long tunnel and two gates in between. Even if numerous firecrackers were exploding in the prison cell, it is unlikely for the least bit of sound to go outside. Linghu Chong then switched to singing in an operatic style, making up lyrics using the mnemonics from the instructions on the iron panel. Afterwards, thinking rude thoughts about the the Four Skunks of Jiangnan, he was unable to restrain himself and laughed heartily.

    Suddenly, Linghu Chong came to the sentence, " When inner energy is stored in the dan tian (pubic region), it is like a reservior that can accommodate a large amount of water. Once things have come to a rest, the energy will be then be distributed to other parts of the body."

    Linghu Chong had read this sentence several times before but he did not think deeply about its meaning because he thoroughly disliked practicing breathing exercises. Just now, he grasped meaning of the sentence and found it very strange. "When master teaches us the basics of inner strength cultivation, he teaches that the cultivated energy has to be stored in the lower abdomen (dan tian/pubic region) from where it acts as the source of power. Why did these instructions actually say energy cannot be saved in the dan tian. If inner strength cannot reside there, where should it go? The practice of this sentence is contrary to all of the martial arts methods of inner strength cultivation including that of Huashan's. This big technique must be a joke. Ha ha, Mr. Black-White is mean and shameless. Why don't I pass this method on to him, and let him work it out?"

    Tracing the handwriting on the iron panel, Linghu Chong slowly ponders over the meaning. The first several hundred characters teaches techniques to disperse a person's own inner energy completely. Realizing this, he was startled into wondering, "Who in the world is so < ?? stupid?> that he is willing to lose a life time of inner energy cultivation and practice the instructions here? Only a person who has made up his mind to commit suicide would be willing. On the other hand, if a person were to commit suicide, wouldn't a sword slash across the neck be quicker? Why waste so much time to kill oneself? <?? Getting rid> of internal energy is certainly much more difficult than <? cultivating> it. How is this method really useful?"

    Thinking of the coming meeting with Mr. Black-White, Linghu Chong couldn't help but get depressed. "It will not take Mr. Black-White long to find out that the worthlessness of this method and realized that he's been cheated. Teaching him this method may not work out well" Linghu Chong worried while continuing to recite more of the mnemonics, "The energy enters the dan tian and then disperses into the body through the arteries…"

    After reading for a while, he became angry and hits the iron bed saying "Damn this person. Just because he was angry for being stuck in this dark prison cell, he arranged this clever trick to make fun of other people." Linghu Chong scolded the previous occupant of his cell for a while and then fell asleep. In his sleep, his mind continued going over "the energy enters the dan tian and then disperses into the body through the arteries…." part of the inner energy cultivation method on the iron panel and unconsciously his body followed the method's directions. Suddenly, he felt some of the inner energy in his body flowing out from the dan tian and dispersing through his arteries into all parts of his body. He was overcome with a strong urge to defecate and was quite uncomfortable.

    After a good while, he became consciously aware of streams of inner energy moving throughout his body while his dan tian remains calm. "Oh, this is not good! My inner energy is certainly not flowing out. How can it be that I have not turned into a disabled person instantly?

    Startled, he immediately sat up and probed his inner energy. The streams of energy inside him seemed to be circulating throughout and energizing his body. He was quite dizzy at first but after some time felt all his conflicting inner energies settled down and was pleasantly surprised.

    The illness I suffered from was difficult to cure because there were 7-8 heterogeneous inner energies from the Peach Valley Six Immortals and Monk No Commandment running wild in my body. Dr. Ping was unable to treat me. Shaolin abbot Master Fang Zheng said that only the Tendon Altering Sutra will be able to tame the energy streams and cure me. The method engraved on the iron panel, however, does not teach me how to cultivate inner energy but how to disperse it. Ha ha, Linghu Chong, fate is certainly on your side, while others fear the loss of their inner strength, you actually benefit from it.

    Thus, Linghu Chong unceasingly continues to read aloud the mnemonics the rest of the day. That night, in his dreams he was still going over the concepts unconsciously making sense of it and practicing it in his sleep. But he couldn't fully understand the method beyond the first line. By now, his spirit was inspired to fully comprehend the method and see the result for himself. Now, at last, he sat cross-legged and put into practice what he had learnt. After practicing for a while, he sensed the long pent-up heterogeneous energies getting wild in his dan tian and dispersing into his arteries. Although he still cannot get rid of the remaining energy streams, the tension in his body was greatly reduced.

    He felt extremely happy and sang songs until his voice became hoarse. Originally he was singing and shouting loudly to find a way to disguise his voice. Now, unexpectedly, his voice has become hoarse and he thought, "Ren Woxing, Ren Woxing, you leave these methods on the iron panel with the intention of injuring someone. How would you have known that your method would prove harmless to me and in fact benefits me a great deal? You must be turning over in the grave with anger. Ha ha, ha ha!"

    During this brief practice, even though the energy streams were not completely dispersed, he felt somewhat comfortable. He thought "After I got the energy streams from Peach Valley Six Immortals and Monk No-Commandment dispersed, I will have to regain my internal strength by practicing what my master taught me at Huashan. Since I will have to start over from the beginning, I fear I must spend a part of my life to recover what I have lost. If brother Xian Wentian finally came and rescue me from here …"

    Suddenly Linghu Chong thought that, "Both master and Master-Wife expelled me from the Huashan sect, why should I practice Huashan school's internal strength again? In the martial arts world, there are many ways of cultivating internal strength. Why couldn't I ask for Brother Xian Wentian or Ying-Ying's help in this and study from them? This made him less miserable and excited. After eating the day's meal, he practiced the technique again. He sensed his body became more and more comfortable and couldn't help but laugh heartily.

    Suddenly he hears Mr. Black-White calling to him outside the prison door, "Senior, I hope you are feeling well. Junior is here to serve you." Linghu Chong has been concentrating only on learning and practicing the inner energy technique of Ren Woxing for the past three days that not only had he forgotten how much time has passed but also didn't notice Mr. Black-White's arrival. It was lucky that he hadn't spoken a word before and gave himself away. He let out several hollow laughs as answer to Mr. Black-White.

    Mr. Black-White said, "It seems today Senior is feeling very high spirited. How should I, your diciple, proceed?"
    Linghu Chong deliberately considered, "Should I consent and receive him as a disciple and pass on this method on the iron panel? As soon as he opens the door to come in, he would immediately see that I am not Senior Ren and naturally would get angry enough to kill me on the spot. On the other hand, if I were to pass on the whole method, even if he still believed me to be Senior Ren, once he finished practicing, most likely he would try to kill me rather than help me escape. All he has to do is put some poison in the meal and I am done for. No wonder Senior Ren was not willing to pass on the method to him for last 12 years."

    When Mr. Black-White did not hear an answer, he said, "After Senior passes on the big method to me, the disciple will serve you with a fat chicken and good wine to show filial piety."

    Linghu Chong has been imprisoned for more than a month and a half. Everyday he has been only eating green vegetables and tofu. The sound of "a fat chicken and good wine" was too tempting. With his mouth salivating greedily, he said, "Good, you can first bring me a fat chicken and some good wine. After I have eaten them to my heart's content, I will then pass on the method to you."

    Mr. Black-White hurriedly replied, "Well, I will certainly bring you good food and wine. However, I'm afraid it will not be possible to bring them today. Tomorrow, if I have a lucky chance, I will then bring my offerings.

    Linghu Chong asked, "Why is it not possible to bring the food today?"

    Mr. Black-White replied, "To get here, I have to pass through my eldest brother's bedroom. Only when he's away, I can … can…." Linghu Chong snorted but did not say a word. Mr. Black-White was worried about Mr. Huang Zhong's return to the bedroom and not daring to delay, he said goodbye and went away.

    Linghu Chong in his heart thought that, "If I can tempt Mr. Black-White to come into the prison cell, would I be able to kill him? He is sly and it would be impossible to swindle him. Even if I was able to kill Mr. Black-White, I still won't be able to pull off these chains on my hand and foot to get out of here." With this last thought, his right hand unconsciously went to the steel ring on his left wrist and made an effort to pull. As soon as he pulled the ring it unexpectedly yielded and widened. Excited, he pulled the circle wider and wider, until his left wrist was free from the shackle. Pleasantly surprised, he examined the steel ring only to find a fracture there. He would not have been able to pull apart even the fractured steel ring in his original state when he had no inner strength. However, within the the last two days, he had been able to disperse the combined inner strengths of the six Peach Valley Immortals and the Monk No-Commandment throughout his body and this had given birth to a strong inner force. He found an identical fracture on the steel ring on his right wrist. He had traced over these steel rings several times before but hadn't notice these fractures until now.

    Using his left hand, he immediately freed his right hand, and then examined the shackles on his ankles and found fractures in both. After expanding much effort, he was able to free himself completely from all the shackles. By this time, his whole body was perspiring profusely and he felt quite breathless.

    Puzzled he asked himself "Why does each steel ring has a fracture? How could these shackles with fractures have fettered anyone?"

    The next day, the deaf and mute old man delivers the daily meal. Using the light which came with the old man, Linghu Chong was able to see that in the place where the steel rings have fracture, they have been cut through with a very fine and extremely thin steel wire saw. There were no rust on the fractures indicating that the cuts were made recently. He asked himself "How come these shackles have been cut? Is someone trying to rescue me in secret? This underground prison is so well hidden. It's unlikely that my rescuer is someone from the outside. This person must surely be from this Lone Manor. He must not have been willing to plot against me and imprison me here. While I was unconscious, he must have come here secretly and used the steel wire saw to cut the shackles. It follows that my rescuer cannot openly declare himself an enemy of this manor, so he can only act when he has an opportunity. He will surely help me escape when the next opportunity arises." Thinking this, his spirit was greatly lifted.

    That night, in his dream, Linghu Chong saw Mr Paint coming forward, opening the door of the prison cell and letting him out. Awaking with a start, Linghu Chong realised that it was only a Nanke dream [Nanke dream is a saying that comes from a well-known Tang (Dynasty) performance], an illusory joy that was not true. However, he did not become depressed. Instead, he thought: "He has not come to rescue me today, only because he has not had the opportunity to do so. He will naturally come and rescue me soon."

    "The mnemonics and methods on the steel plate are extremely useful to me, but terribly dangerous to others. Anyone else who gets incarcerated in this dark prison in the future would naturally be a good man, so he cannot be allowed to fall into Ren Woxing's great trap." Thinking this, Linghu Chong traced the words on the steel plate with his fingers and read the entire passage ten times from beginning to end. Then, he took the iron handcuff and scraped off more than ten words in the passage.

    Mr Black-White did not come that day, but Linghu Chong did not care about it. Instead, he continued to cultivate his internal energy according to the methods stated by the mnemonics. Mr Black-White did not appear for many more days. Soon, Linghu Chong began to feel a significant improvement in his practice of the methods, for six- to seven-tenths of the diverging energy streams that the Six Fairies of the Peach Valley and the No-Commandment Monk left in his body had been expelled from the 'dan tian' and dispersed along the channels of 'Ren' and 'Du'. He thought: "I only have to persevere, and all the diverging energy streams will be completely expelled."

    Linghu Chong recited the full set of mnemonics more than ten times each day, before scraping off yet another ten words or so from the steel plate. As he did, he began to notice an increase in his strength. He no longer needed to exert himself much when he scraped the steel plate with the iron handcuff. More than a month passed in this manner. Although he was trapped in the ground, he could feel a gradual drop in the sweltering summer temperature. He thought: "There is indeed divine intervention during the time of darkness. If I had been incarcerated during winter, I would not have found the words in the steel plate at all. Perhaps Mr Paint would have had me rescued before summer comes again."

    Suddenly, Linghu Chong heard the sound of footsteps outside and recognized them as Mr. Black-White's. He quickly turned his face towards the wall from his resting position on the bed. Mr. Black-White stopped outside the prison door and apologetically spoke, "Senior Ren, I am truly very sorry… not to have come earlier. Daily… I was anxious to come and pay you my respect but did not get a chance because my eldest brother did not leave his room. I hope you are not offended… because of the long wait." Saying this, Mr. Black-White opened square-shaped opening of the prison door and the fragrant smell of wine and roasted chicken wafted through into the cell. It had been many days since Linghu Chong had tasted a drop of wine. As soon as the smell of the wine hits his nose, he quickly turned around and said "Quickly give me the food and wine."

    "Yes, yes. Has Senior decided to teach me your marvelous secret technique?" replied Mr. Black-White.

    Linghu Chong answered, "Each time you deliver three catties of liquor and a chicken, I will teach you four mnemonics. This way, you would have learned the entire method by the time you have delivered to me 1000 chickens with accompanying liquor."

    "Senior Master, I'm afraid too much time will be wasted with this arrangement. Can you not teach me eight mnemonics at a time in exchange for 2 chickens and 6 catties of liquor?" Mr. Black-White bargained.

    Linghu Chong smiled at this and said "You are certainly greedy but I won't disagree with your proposal. Come, come, give me the food."

    Through the square opening, Mr. Black-White handed over a wooden plate with a plate of fruit, a pot of wine and a fat chicken.

    Linghu Chong thought "Since I have not taught you the mnemonics, you wouldn't have put poison in the food to kill me right now." Not able to resist any longer, he picked up the wine pot and took big gulps of it.

    The wine was not really good but Linghu Chong savored the taste of it as if he were drinking Mr. Paint's beautifully mellow Turfan grape wine which has been distilled and fermented for four cycles. After drinking half the pot, he tore into a huge chunk of chicken leg, chewed it with relish. Taking turns eating and drinking, he emptied the wine pot and picked the chicken clean. He patted his belly and with great approval declared "Good liquor, good liquor!"

    Mr. Black-White says with a smile, "Now that Senior has eaten the fat chicken and drank the good wine, will you please teach me the mnemonics."

    Linghu Chong noticed that Mr. Black-White did not acknowledge him as a teacher again but only talked about giving him the food and wine. Momentarily he was at a loss thinking of a suitable answer and did not reply immediately. Finally he said "Good, remember these four mnemonics well. 'Gather the energy in your dan-tian and direct it towards Yu and Shanzhong points through the eight channels'. Do you understand?"

    The original mnemonics written on the steel panel was "Gather the energy in the dan-tian and then disperse it to the four limbs through the eight channels." Linghu Chong had deliberately changed the meaning of the method.

    In Mr. Black-White's mind, these four mnemonics does not seem wonderful or extraordinary. He felt the method is not different from an ordinary breathing exercise method. So, he asked "Senior, could you tell me the four mnemonics again because I don't quite understand it yet."

    Linghu Chong thought to himself, "When I changed these four mnemonics, they became quite ordinary. I do not have sufficient knowledge to fool him. I will read something extremely strange to frighten him," so he said "Today is the first day of the month, I will teach you four more mnemonics. You should try to memorize it well. "Maintain positive energy by splitting it along Zhen channel and dissipate the negative energy through a strategic pass."

    Mr. Black-White said in alarm, "This... This... This sentence is very strange. How do a person achieve success by passing energy through eight channels? I, your junior, does not understand these… these mnemonics completely. "

    Linghu Chong said, "How can such a rare and wonderful inner energy cultivation method be easily understood by everyone? It's simply not possible for an average man to understand the complex and subtle meanings of this method so easily."

    At this point, Mr. Black-White, who has been intently listening, became more and more aware of differences in the tone and manner of speaking between Linghu Chong and Senior Ren and cannot help but suspect that the speaker is not Senior Ren. Linghu Chong had spoken to him twice before but he had muffled his voice and said very little. This time, somewhat intoxicated with wine, Linghu Chong had spoken much. Mr. Black-White has been on high alert for any suspicious signs because he expected Linghu Chong will make up the mnemonics. So, to be sure that he was not being cheated, he asked, "Senior, did you say ' The energy is cultivated when the divided energy from eight channels are completely dispersed?'"

    Linghu Chong answered, "Naturally." Sensing that Mr. Black-White is getting suspicious, Linghu Chong dared not say more than "You would have to study what I have taught you comprehensively to completely understand it." So saying, he put the wine pot on the wooden tray and pushed it through the square hole. Mr. Black-White held out his hand to receive the tray. Linghu Chong suddenly cried out "Oh!" and at the same time, leaned his body forward and hit the iron door with his forehead.

    Startled, Mr. Black-White uttered, "How? This person possesses excellent wu gong skills with extremely fast response," and put his hand through the square hole searchingly where he came into contact with the wooden tray. Nervously he grabbed the tray lest the wine pot fell to the ground and break. Just at that moment, as quick as lightening, Linghu Chong grabbed Mr. Black-White's right hand with his left hand and said with a laugh, "Mr. Black-White, do you know who I am?"

    Mr. Black-White was greatly surprised that he uttered in a trembling voice: "You... ... You... ... "

    When Linghu Chong handed the wooden tray out, he did not have the intention of grabbing Mr. Black-White's hand. However, when he saw Mr. Black-White's palm shaking under the faint light of the oil lamp while he was waiting for hand over the wooden tray, he felt a sudden impulse that he found impossible to supress. He had been imprisoned here for many days because of this person's sly and calculated tricks; so if he were able to break Mr. Black-White's wrist, he would be able to vent a little of his anger and hatred. Also, Mr. Black-White's likely to be frightened stiff if his hand was suddenly seized. Since this person is so deceitful, what was wrong with scaring him? He was unsure if it was for revenge or due to his mischevious nature when he pretended to fall and led Mr. Black-White to stretch out his hand to be grabbed.

    It goes without saying that Mr. Black-White had been extremely vigilant, but what happened to him occurred very suddenly and extremely fast. Even if he had foreknowledge, he would not have not been able to evade from getting his wrist captured. Mr. Black-White hurriedly twist his hand around to loosen his opponent's vise-like grip on his wrist. As he twisted around, by chance, his "inside pass" and "outside pass" acupunture points fell directly under the fingers of his opponent. Unbelievably, he felt his inner energy coming out of the two points. Just at that time, with a loud sound, three of the toes of his foot broke, and in extreme pain, he shouted out.

    How is it that Mr. Black-White strangely injured his left foot when it was his right hand that was being held? At first, Mr. Black-White had been showing respect towards his opponent out of fear. Now that he found himself captive, he became worried for his life, and in a hurry used the move called "Scaly dragon leaving the deep pool". Used when an arm is seized, the move involves kicking out undetected with the left foot towards the enemy's chest. The kick is extremely fierce and lethal; the enemy would usually die spitting blood if they did not succeed in avoiding it. It is impossible for someone to avoid the kick without releasing his opponent's arm quickly.

    In this moment of extreme distress, Mr. Black-White was so eager to escape that he forgot he was separated from his enemy by a thick iron door and used this "Scaly dragon leaving the deep pool" method. His kick was swift, fierce and right on target. Only, it's a pity that his foot hit the center of the iron door with a loud "bang". Hearing the loud noise coming from the iron door, Linghu Chong instantly realized how the iron door had protected him from Mr. Black-White's extremely formidable kick. He couldn't help but laugh out loud and said "Do kick again! If you kick as fiercely as the first time, then I might just let you go."

    During that time, Mr. Black-White became frighteningly aware that his inner energy had been flowing out in a steady stream from his right wrist's "inner pass" and "outer pass" points. This was something he was most afraid of and he was scared out of his wits. He tried to control his panic so as to slow down the energy loss. At the same time, he couldn't help but sorrowfully plead, "Old… old gentleman, I beg… you… you…"

    As soon as he speaks, his inner energy gushes out of his body in a huge wave that he had to stop talking but his energy kept flowing out rapidly.

    Linghu Chong had practiced the method on the steel panel for quite some time and at this moment, his dan-tian could be likened to an empty bamboo or a deep valley into which Mr. Black-White's inner energy flowed in.

    However, Linghu Chong was not aware of this. He only sensed that Mr. Black-White's wrist was quivering as if in fear. His anger towards Mr. Black-White hasn't abated yet and thinking to frighten Mr. Black-White further, he shouted out, "I taught you martial arts and therefore you are my disciple. Yet you took unfair advantage of your illustrious teacher. Shouldn't I punish you for your crime?"

    Mr. Black-White only sensed that his inner energy is rushing out of his body quickly. With much effort, he held his breath and was temporarily able to stop the energy from flowing out. However, eventually it was unavoidable that he had to take a breath, and in between exhaling and inhaling, great amount of his inner energy rushed out of his body. By now, he had forgotten the aches from his injured toes. He only wishes to free his right hand out of this square hole even if he were to lose an arm and a leg in the process. As soon as he thought of this, he drew his sword from his waist with his free hand. With the sudden body movement, the two acupuncture points "inner pass" and "outer pass" on his wrist opened up and from them the inner energy from his whole body rushed out as if it was river water bursting through the dikes. It was much more difficult to stop the flow again.

    Mr. Black-White knew only that he couldn't afford to suffer for long or all his internal energy will be absorbed. Gritting his teeth, he decided to chop off his own hand and promptly did his best to extract his long sword from his waist and lifted it up. However, as soon as he exerted his strength a little, his inner energy surged forward like a wave and flowed out of his body. His ears buzzed, his whole head swam and finally he lost consciousness.

    Linghu Chong had seized Mr. Black-White's hands only to frighten him. At most he was only going to twist and break Mr. Black-White's wrist to vent his anger. He did not expect Mr. Black-White would get so scared out of his wits that he passed out of fright. Linghu Chong laughed out loud and released Mr. Black-White's wrist. As soon as he let go, Mr. Black-White's body collapsed to the floor and his right hand retracted from the square hole.

    Suddenly, a thought flashed through Linghu Chong's mind and he hurriedly try to seize Mr. Black-White's hand. Luckily, he was quick as lightning and managed to held on to the palm. He thought, "Why don’t I use the steel handcuffs to shackle him? That way, Mr. Huang Zhong will be forced to release me." Immediately, he used his strength to pull Mr. Black-White's hand closer. Unexpectedly Mr. Black-White's head came in also through the square hole and Linghu Chong cried out in surprise as he managed to pull in the entire body into the prison cell.

    This really was a big shock for Linghu Chong beyond all his expectations. He scolded himself severely for being so stupid. The square hole is 1/3 of a meter and wide enough to put a head through. As long as the head can go through, so can the body. If Mr. Black-White can be pulled in, how couldn't he able to get out? It would have been impossible for him to escape from prison previously when his hands and legs were shackled in steel chains. However, some time ago, someone had secretly sawed through the steel chains which enabled him to free himself from them and now he would be able to escape. He ponders, "Mr. Paint must have secretly helped me by sawing the steel chains. He might have been hoping that I would make my escape by following the old man who delivered me food daily. He must have been extremely anxious waiting for my escape.

    When Linghu Chong found the steel chains were sawed through, he had been practicing the skills on the iron panel but had not yet learned them by heart nor had achieved a measure of success. With both his mind and body focused on practising, he didn't feel the need to escape and therefore did not think of running away. As he hesitated to make a decision, an idea came to him. He hurriedly removed Mr. Black-White's clothes and changed into them. Then he put on Mr. Black-White's cap and thought to himself, "When I get out of here, if other people see me, they will say I am Mr. Black-White".

    Afterwards, with Mr. Black-White's long sword hanging by his waist, his sprit was greatly lifted. He shackled Mr. Black-White's hand and foot with the steel handcuffs and used his strength to pinch the rings shut together so that the rings fit so tightly that they sink into the flesh. Mr. Black-White groaned as he was awakened by the pain. Linghu Chong smiled and said "We, brothers, are both cunningly pulled into this place! At least now, the accounts are settled and it is your turn, old man, to be delivered food and water."

    Mr. Black-White moaned “Ren…. Old Genetleman Ren…you…you used the Art of Essence Absorbing”. Linghu Chong remembered that when he was fighting along side Xian Wentian, some people from the group of opponents called out “Evil Art of Essence Absorbing”. Now, hearing the name again from Mr. Black-White, he couldn’t resist but ask “What is the Art of Essence Absorbing?” Mr. Black-White answered “I… I…deserve…deserve… to die”.

    Linghu Chong withdrew from Mr. Black-White’s side deciding not to stay and listen to his reasons or explanations. First. he poked his head out through the square hole. Then, he extended both his arms out of the hole and putting his palms on the iron door, pushed his whole body out through the hole into the tunnel. When he stood up after steadying himself, he became aware that there was a great amount of stored inner energy in his dan tian and it was making him quite uncomfortable.

    He did not realize that he had absorbed all of Mr. Black-White’s inner energy. He just thought because he hadn’t practice martial arts for some time, the Peach Valley Six Immortals and Monk No-Commandment’s inner energy streams have returned to his dan tian. At this time, he only wished to depart from this dark prison as soon as possible. So, he picked up the oil lamp that Mr. Black-White had carried earlier and went out from the tunnel.

    He found the door at the end of the tunnel unlocked and guessed that Mr. Black-White might have left it open for himself to go out again. Thus, Linghu Chong was able to escape from the prison without much effort.

    As he stepped over the stone gateway in the tunnel, he remembered the days he had spent in the dark prison and felt as if they had occurred in a different lifetime. Unexpectedly in between, his resentment towards Mr. Huang Zhong and others had also melted away. Now, at last he felt free and other things do not matter to him any more.

    When he got to end of the tunnel, he climbed the last ten steps. Then he put his head against the iron door and with bated breath listened attentively to sounds above. Even though he had not encountered any trap, he was being very careful and cautious. Instead of rushing up the stairs and dashing through the door, he stopped and listened for a sound from the other side. Hearing nothing even after some time, he felt certain that Mr. Huang Zhong must not be in the bedroom. Thus, he gently lifted up the iron door and climbed up. After leaping out of the hole in the bed, he put the iron door shut, pulled the bedding in place, and treaded softly on tiptoe to get out of the room when suddenly from behind, he heard a person spoke with immense sorrow, "Second younger brother, what are you doing?" Startled, Linghu Chong turned around, only to see Mr. Huaung Zhong, Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint each pointing their weapons at him while completely surrounding him.

    He didn't know that on top of the secret door there's a trap. When he rushed out, the trap rang a bell which informed Mr. Huang Zhong, Mr. Bald Brush and Mr. Paint that the door had been opened. He was now wearing Mr. Black-White's mask and robe, so no one was able to recognise him. However, Linghu Chong was still frightened.
    "I.... I...." he stuttered.

    "I what? I had a feeling that you were up to something. You went in the prison and ask Ren Woxing to teach you Xixing Dafa, didn't you? Humph..., did you remember what vow you pledged all those years ago?" Mr. Huang Zhong coldly said.

    Linghu Chong was confused, he didn't know whether to keep pretending as Mr. Black-White or to reveal himself. He was undecided for a while before he pulled out the long sword on his waist and thrust it towards Mr. Bald Brush.

    "Good second brother, is it appropriate for you to thrust that sword at me?" Mr. Bald Brush sniggered and lifted his brush at the same time.

    This sword thrust by Linghu Chong put everyone on their guard. However, it was just a fake as he quickly turned around and dashed out of the room. Mr. Huang Zhong and the rest promptly chased after him.

    After running for a while, he reached the front hall of the Plum Manor.

    "Second brother, second brother, where are you going?" Mr. Huang Zhong shouted.

    Linghu Chong didn't answer him but kept on running. He arrived at the front courtyard where a person stands guard in the middle of the gate.

    "Second master, please halt!" the guard shouted.

    Linghu Chong kept running towards the guard and hit him head on. The guard flew outside and landed a few feet outside the gate. He took a look and recognised the guard as "straight line lightning sword" Ding Jian. He was lying down straight and stiff, his body resembling part of his nickname "straight line". He could now be called "double straight line lightning sword".

    He never stopped moving his feet and ran towards a small lane while Mr. Huang Zhong reached the gate and stopped chasing.

    "Second brother, second brother, come back. We brothers can always talk things through," Mr. Huang Zhong pleaded.

    Linghu Chong had picked a secluded little road and later arrived at an uninhabited valley, which is quite a few li away from the HangZhou city's wall. He has been running flat-out since escaping from the Plum Manor. However, when he stopped, he didn't feel tired and was not even short of breath. On the other hand, his stamina seemed to have been even better than before he got injured.

    He then took off Mr. Black-White's mask and started walking towards the sound of running water, which turned out to be a creek. Using both hands to scoop some water to his mouth, he suddenly saw a person's reflection on the water. That person on the water has his hair loose, his face filthy, and had a very ugly expression. Linghu Chong was startled then laugh dumbly as he realised it was his own reflection on the water. He'd been a prisoner for several months and had not bathed during all that time, naturally he would turn dirty. Suddenly, he felt his body itching all over. He quickly removed his robe, jumped into the creek and washed every nook and cranny on his body.

    "The dirt on my body has been building up for these last few months, there must be at least 30 jin worth of dirt on me," he thought.

    After he's done washing his body and drunk to his heart's content, he pulled his hair and tied it at the back of his head. Checking how he looked on the water reflection, he found he had recovered his natural look. As he was wearing his robe, he felt that the qi between his chest and stomach didn't feel smooth, so he sat down and meditated. After a while, he felt that the qi in his "dan tian" had scattered through the 8 arteries. Once again, the qi in his dan tian felt empty like the hollow of a bamboo while his body felt refreshed and his qi smooth.

    He didn't realise that he had finished learning the entire generation's number one ranked kungfu. Taking into consideration that the Peach Valley's Six Fairies, Monk No Commandment and Fang-Sheng's eight types of internal energies have merged in his body along with Mr. Black-White's energy; and added to that his whole life worth of internal energy repaired, all of these combined into a very high internal energy.

    Suddenly, he jumped up, pulled out the long sword on his waist and thrusted it at a green willow at the side of the creek. His wrist trembled and a soft sound can be heard. The long sword was returned to its sheath. He then landed back down on his left foot. Lifting his head, he was able to see 5 leaves from the green willow slowly floating down.

    The long sword cleared its sheath for the second time and made an arcing slash, all 5 leaves ended up on the sword's edge. Using his left hand, he picked up one of the green willow leaf from the sword's edge. A feeling of happiness rose in his heart, but he also felt strange.

    "Master and Master-Wife can't teach me kungfu anymore. But, I prefer everything going back to the way it was. Although the qi-branch sword technique is useless, I was happy at HuaShan Mountain, spending time with apprentice sister from morning till dusk. Now I'm wandering the Jiang Hu world alone like a ghost," he sourly thought to himself.

    He felt that his kungfu had never been as high as at this moment, but he also felt that he had never felt as lonely as he was right now. All his life he'd always been lively and been fond of wine, but in the past few months, he'd been all alone locked away in an underground prison. However, even though his body was free at the moment, he still felt lonely. Standing by himself besides the creek, the feeling of happiness gradually disappeared. The gentle wind brushed his body and the cold moon cast his shadow on the ground while in his heart, he felt boundless despair.

  3. #3
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    Apr 2006
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    Default Chapter 22 Out of Trouble

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    Linghu Chong sadly stood still for a long time until the moon was directly above his head. The night was still and he pondered over the events that occurred at the Plum Manor. He decided to go back to the manor to understand what had happened and also to rescue senior Ren if he was not a bad person.

    Having finally decided on this course of action, he started his journey back to the Plum Manor. He went up Mount Gu and approached the Plum Manor through the forest surrounding it. He listened for sounds inside the manor and after awhile, having heard no sound, he lightly jumped over the fence onto the manor's ground. All the ten or more rooms inside the manor were shrouded in darkness. However, there was one window on his right with lights from inside the room. He silently walked across the ground and crouched underneath that window. From inside the room, he heard the voice of a person.

    The voice sounded very strict. "Mr. Huang Zhong, do you know your crime?"

    Linghu Chong was surprised. He wondered what Mr. Huang Zhong's position was in this manor when there was someone who could actually use this kind of tone when speaking to him. He peered inside the room from a crack in the window and was able to see four people sitting in a row. Three of these are men around fifty to sixty years old while the other one is a middle aged woman. They were all wearing black robes with a yellow belt tied around their waists. Mr. Huang Zhong, Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint were standing in front of them with their backs to the window. From this, Linghu Chong could tell that those people sitting have higher rank than them.

    "Yes, your subordinate knows his crime. On the elders' arrival, we didn't go far to welcome you. Very guilty, very guilty," Linghu Chong heard Mr. Huang Zhong's reply.

    "Hmm, not going far to welcome us, is this a crime? Where's Black-White? Why doesn't he come out to see me?" the gentleman sitting in the middle coldly asked.

    Linghu Chong laughed inside, "Mr. Black-White has been imprisoned by me inside the underground prison, but Mr. Huang Zhong and the rest of them thought that he has run away from the manor." He also thought, "What elder? What subordinate? They all must be people from the devil cult."

    "Four elders, your subordinate has not been strict enough. Mr. Black-White's temperament is strange and recently he has been acting like his former self. In the last few days, he has unexpectedly disappeared from the manor," Mr. Huang Zhong replied.

    This elder's eye flashed and stared at Mr. Huang Zhong.

    "Mr. Huang Zhong, Chief ordered you four to guard the Plum Manor. However, from what we heard, you've been playing zither, drinking wine, drawing and playing go. Is this true?" the elder coldly asked.

    "We four subordinates have accepted Chief's order to stay here and guard the traitor," Mr. Huang Zhong replied while bowing.

    "That is correct. How's that traitor doing?" the elder asked.

    "We can report to the elder that the traitor is still being held inside the underground prison. Over the last twelve years, subordinate has never stepped foot outside the Plum Manor. We do not dare to relax our guard," Mr. Huang Zhong reported.

    "Very good, very good. You never stepped foot outside the Plum Manor and do not dare to relax your guard. So for sure that traitor is still being held inside the underground prison?" the elder questioned.

    "That's true,” Mr. Huang Zhong replied.

    Suddenly, that elder lifted his head and laughed loudly facing the roof. The dust from the ceiling was seen falling around the room.

    "Very good! Bring that traitor here for us to look at," shouted the elder.

    "Four elders, please forgive us. Chief's strict order was not to let anyone visit the traitor except for Chief himself. We don't dare," replied Mr. Huang Zhong.

    The elder took out something from inside his robe and lifted the object he took out high above his head. The other three elders stood up immediately as well, looking at the object reverently. Linghu Chong squinted his eye trying to look at the object. It was a half-foot high dried up black wood. On top of the object was some kind of flowery patterns carved on it which looked completely strange to Linghu Chong.

    Seeing this object, Mr. Huang Zhong and the rest of the people in the room bowed towards the object.

    "Chief's Black Command Wood is here, it's as if Chief himself is here, subordinate is ready to receive order," Mr. Huang Zhong said.

    "Good, bring that traitor here!" commanded the elder.

    "That traitor's hands and feet are bound in metal chains. We can't.... we can't bring him up here," said Mr. Huang Zhong hesitantly.

    "Even until this moment, you still refuse to bring him here. I ask you, has that traitor escaped?" the elder asked coldly.

    "That traitor... that traitor has escaped? Im.. impossible. That person is still locked away in the underground prison. I have just seen him recently with my own eyes. How... how can he have escaped?" Mr. Huang Zhong answered in fright.

    "Oh, so he's still in the underground prison. I've wronged you. Please forgive me," the elder spoke warmly with a softened expression.

    Then, the elder stood up and slowly approached Mr. Huang Zhong. It looked like that he was going to apologise to the three masters of the Plum Manor. But he suddenly extended one hand to pat Mr. Huang Zhong's shoulder. Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint simultaneously retreated two steps in a hurry. Although their movements were really fast, that elder's hand moved even faster. Two sounds "bang, bang" can be heard as both of Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint's right shoulders were hit. As he carried out this sneak attack, the elder was still showing a smile on his face. Actually, even with Mr. Huang Zhong's skill in Jiang Hu, he had no chance of avoiding this sneak attack. Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint's skills were inferior, so even if they were aware of the attack, they had no chance of escaping the strikes.

    "Elder Bao, what sin have we committed? Why do you use such a vicious method to deal with us?" said Mr. Paint loudly. He sounded both injured and angry.

    "Chief ordered you to guard the traitor here. But you've let that traitor escaped. Don't you think you deserve to die?" the smirking Elder Bao said slowly.

    "If that traitor has really escaped, then subordinate deserves to die. But he's still being held in the underground prison. Elder Bao, you're too vicious, we brothers cannot accept this,” replied Mr. Huang Zhong indignantly, as he was leaning slightly to one side.

    Linghu Chong outside the window could see Mr. Huang Zhong sweating profusely. He thought that Elder Bao's palm strike was very good as he managed to subdue Mr. Huang Zhong, whose kung fu was already powerful, using only one palm. However, he also thought that Mr. Huang Zhong's kung fu could not be inferior to Elder Bao's. If not for Elder Bao's sneak attack, Mr. Huang Zhong may not have lost.

    "Go to the underground prison and have a look. If that traitor is still in there, I... humph... I, Bao Dachu, will give you three kowtows to apologise. Naturally, I will also immediately forgive you from this sin," said Elder Bao.

    "Ok, four elders please wait here," said Mr. Huang Zhong.

    Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint immediately went out of the room to follow Mr. Huang Zhong. Linghu Chong trembled as he saw these three people walking away from the room. He thought that he shivered because of the injuries still affecting him. But it was merely because he was excited from watching all the things happening right in front of his eyes.

    Fearing the four people inside the room detecting him, he didn't dare to look inside again and slowly sat down on the ground.

    "The Chief they're talking about must be the current world's number one Dongfang Bubai. He assigned the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan to guard this traitor and they've been at it for 12 years now. Of course the traitor they're talking about isn't me then. It must be that senior Ren. And he has managed to escape without Mr. Huang Zhong and other's knowledge. Wow, this senior Ren is really resourceful. That's right! They all really didn't know that senior Ren has escaped. Otherwise, Mr. Black-White wouldn't have mistaken me for senior Ren," thought Linghu Chong.

    Thinking that once Mr. Huang Zhong and his brothers entered the underground prison and recognised Mr. Black-White, things will get very complicated for them; Linghu Chong felt wonderful and very happy.

    "Why did they also imprison me in the underground prison? All I did was to compare sword art against senior Ren. They must've been afraid that I would leak their secret out, so they locked me up in there too. Humph, this is called eliminating a potential informant without murder. But eliminating a potential informant in this way is just the same as murder. This time, they would be the ones to suffer difficulties. See how they like it. This will repay for the wrong that they did to me," thought Linghu Chong indignantly.

    Linghu Chong heard the four people inside the room sat back down without saying a single word. He didn't dare to breathe loudly. Even though there's a wall that separate him with the four people in the room, the distance between them is only around 10 feet. He only had to breathe slightly heavily and they'd be able to detect him immediately.

    Suddenly, a cry of "ah" could be heard in the still and quiet night. It sounded full of pain and dread. Whoever heard it could not help but feel absolutely terrified. When Linghu Chong recognised that it was Mr. Black-White's voice, he felt sorry for him. However, this Mr. Black-White had plotted his own demise, it could be said that the consequences matched his own action. But now that he has fallen on Elder Bao's hand, this is even more unfortunate for Mr. Black-White.

    He could hear their steps coming closer. Then, he heard Mr. Huang Zhong and his brothers entering the room. Linghu Chong edged closer to the window's crack to take a look inside the room. Inside, he could see Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint carrying Mr. Black-White. Mr. Black-White's face was pale and his eyes lacked any spirit. The atmosphere inside the room was completely different than before.

    "Report... Reporting to the Four Elders. That traitor has... has escaped. Subordinate is ready to receive death," said Mr. Huang Zhong while bowing down.

    He looked like he already knew what his fate would be. His speech was calm and collected, unlike before.

    "You said that Black-White is not in the manor, how come he's here now? How can it be?" calmly replied Bao Dachu.

    "All sorts of reasons. Actually subordinate is really confused. Ai, all because we four subordinates are too engrossed in the arts and has let other people looked at our weaknesses. And they have managed to take away that traitor from right under our noses," replied Mr. Huang Zhong.

    "We four people have received Chief's order to come here and verify that the traitor has escaped. It seems that you have reported truthfully now and is not trying to deceive us anymore. Then... then, maybe we can plead mercy to Chief on your behalf," said Bao Dachu.

    Mr. Huang Zhong sighed and said, "Even considering Chief's mercy and the four elders' compassions, how can we, subordinates, still live in this world with all this shame? The whole event is very complicated, subordinate doesn't understand the true story. Even after we've died, we won't be content. Elder Bao, is Chief... is Chief in Hangzhou city at the moment?"

    "Who said Chief is in Hangzhou city?"

    "That traitor has just escaped yesterday, how did Chief know about this so fast and sent four elders to Plum Manor immediately?"

    "Humph... you're becoming more and more stupid. Who said that traitor escaped yesterday?"

    "That person really escaped yesterday at noon. At that time, we three people thought that person was Mr. Black-White. We didn't know that he had switched places with Mr. Black-White. He was wearing Mr. Black-White's robe when he escaped. In this matter, we three brothers... four brothers are certain. Also, there's still Ding Jian, who that traitor knocked down, and got several of his ribs broken..." Mr. Huang Zhong said assuredly.

    Bao Dachu turned his head to look at the other three elders.

    "This person is talking nonsense. I don't know what he's talking about," scowled Elder Bao.

    "We received the message last month on the 14th..." A fat and short elder said while calculating with his fingers. "This is the 17th day."

    Mr. Huang Zhong fiercely withdrew two steps and hit the wall with a "bang".

    "No... This can't be! We're really certain. We saw him escaped yesterday with our own eyes."

    Mr. Huang Zhong walked to the door and shouted "Shi Lingwei, bring Ding Jian here!"

    "Yes!" Shi Lingwei replied from somewhere distant.

    Bao Dachu walked up to Mr. Black-White, grabbed his chest, and lifted him up. Mr. Black-White's hands and feet were dangling down. It seemed that all the bones in his body had been broken. His body looked like a sack of leather.

    Bao Dachu lost all colour from his face as if he was scared to death. He quickly let go of Mr. Black-White's body, which crumpled to the ground.

    "Correct, this is that bastard's ... that bastard's Art of Essence Absorbing. It can absorb the whole body's energy clean," said a tall and strong looking elder, his voice quivering and looking completely scared.

    "When did you get in his way?" Bao Dachu asked Mr. Black-White.

    "It... It... was yesterday. That bastard... that bastard grabbed my right wrist. I... I couldn't move at all. He controlled me completely," answered Mr. Black-White.

    Bao Dachu looked completely baffled. His face muscle twitched slightly and his eyes looked bewildered.

    "And after that?"

    "He then pulled me through the hole in the iron gate, removed my robe and wore it. Then he shackled my hands and feet with the steel chains. He then escaped... escaped through that hole."

    Bao Dachu scowled and asked, "Yesterday? How can it be yesterday?"

    "The shackles for the hands and feet were made out of steel. How did he break them?" asked the fat and short looking elder.

    "I don't know," answered Mr. Black-White.

    "Subordinate examined the shackles and found that they were sawed through by a fine steel saw. I don't know where this bastard got the saw from," said Mr. Bald-Brush.

    After Mr. Bald-Brush finished speaking, Shi Lengwei and two servants entered the room bringing Ding Jian and laid him down on the carpet. Ding Jian's body was covered by a thin quilt. Bao Dachu lifted the quilt and lightly poked his chest. Ding Jian screamed, showing that he was in extreme pain. Bao Dachu nodded and waved his hand telling them to take Ding Jian away. Shi Lingwei and the two servants carried Ding Jian out of the room.

    "This hit is definitely caused by that bastard," said Bao Dachu.

    The middle-aged woman who until this moment had not said a single word yet, suddenly said "Elder Bao, if that bastard escaped yesterday, then the message we got last month must be a fake. That bastard's follower is still outside spreading confusion, trying to make us sway in our loyalty."

    Elder Bao shook his head and said, "It cannot be a fake."

    "Cannot be a fake?" asked the middle-aged woman.

    "Lord Xue Xiang's whole body was covered by a metal gown. He used this metal gown to practise kung fu and even a sabre cannot chop through it. But someone managed to grab and dig out his heart using just his five fingers. Besides this bastard, in this world, there's no second person who can do this... " reasoned Bao Dachu.

    Linghu Chong was lost in thought while listening to the conversations inside the room. Suddenly, he felt his shoulder patted by someone. He was truly startled and quickly jumped three steps away. He pulled his sword out, turned his head and saw two people standing there.

    As the moon was at the back of those two people, he couldn't see their faces. One of them turned his head and said, "Brother, let's go in."

    It was Xiang Wentian's voice.

    Linghu Chong was overjoyed and he whispered "Brother Xiang!"

    However, the people inside the room had heard the sound of the sword being drawn and Linghu Chong's answer.

    "Who's out there?" Bao Dachu shouted.

    "Ha Ha Ha," the person beside Xiang Wentian laughed loudly.

    This laugh shook the tiles inside the room while Linghu Chong started to feel an unbearable pain. He started to hear a "weng, weng" sound inside his ear and felt blood rushing up his stomach. That person took a step forward and used both hands to push towards the wall. A thunderous sound was heard. In the middle of the wall was now a big hole, which that person then used to enter the room.

    Xiang Wentian stretched his hand and grabbed Linghu Chong's right hand. They entered the room side by side. Inside the room, the four elders were standing up and had their hands ready in front of them. Their faces looked very intense. Linghu Chong was anxious to know who this person was but the person's back was facing him. He looked very tall with black hair and was wearing a suit of blue-green gown.

    Bao Dachu's voice was trembling when he said, "It's... It's Ren... Senior Ren has arrived."

    "Humph," that person answered and took a long stride forward.

    Bao Dachu and Mr. Huang Zhong involuntarily took two steps backwards. That person turned and sat at the chair which Bao Dachu sat in earlier. Linghu Chong now managed to see his face clearly. That person's face was long and white as snow, not a trace of blood could be seen on the face. His feature was handsome. But his white complexion was just like a corpse which had just come out from the grave.

    He beckoned to Xiang Wentian and Linghu Chong, "Brother Xiang, Brother Linghu Chong, please come and sit here."

    When Linghu Chong heard his voice, he was pleasantly surprised.

    "You... You are Senior Ren?" asked Linghu Chong.

    That person smiled slightly and said "I am. Your sword art maybe much better."

    "You're really out of trouble already. Today... Today, I came here to rescue you... " said Linghu Chong excitedly.

    That person laughed and said, "Today you came here to rescue me out of prison, didn't you? HaHa, HaHa. Brother Xiang, your brother Ren has so many friends."

    Xiang Wentian pulled Linghu Chong's hand and seated him on the right side of Senior Ren. Then he sat himself down on the left side.

    "Brother Linghu is really sincere in dealing with people. You're really the world's most upright and couragous person," said Xiang Wentian.

    "Brother Linghu, you've given up more than two months of your life to live in the dark underground prison. I feel very sorry for you. HaHa, HaHa!" said that person.

    By now, Linghu Chong had an inkling but was not able to completely understand what was going on.

    With a smile on his face, that person Ren looked at Linghu Chong and said, "You were imprisoned for more than two months because of me, but in that time you've finished learning the Art of Essence Absorbing that I had written on the iron panel. Hey Hey, that means I've paid you back for your time in there."

    "That secret on the iron panel was written by senior?" asked Linghu Chong in surprise.

    "If it wasn't me, then who else in the world knows Art of Essence Absorbing?" answered that person with a smile.

    "Brother, Chief Ren's Art of Essence Absorbing has been passed on to you only. Congratulations!" said Xiang Wentian.

    "Chief Ren?" asked Linghu Chong confused.

    "Originally, when you arrived here, you didn't know Chief Ren's position. Chief Ren is the chief of Sun Moon Sect. His name is "Woxing". Have you heard of this name before?" asked Xiang Wentian.

    Linghu Chong knew that "Sun Moon Sect" was the Devil sect, but he didn't know the origin of this sect. And the Jiang Hu people mostly knew of this religion by the name Devil Sect, and Devil Sect's chief had always been Dongfang Bubai. Where did Ren Woxing come out from?

    "Chief... Chief Ren's name, I found it carved on the iron panel, but I didn't know that he was Chief," muttered Linghu Chong.

    The tall and strong looking elder suddenly shouted, "What Chief is he? Everyone under the heaven knows that our Sun Moon Sect's chief is Chief Dongfang. This person Ren was expelled a long time ago for rebelling against our sect. Xiang Wentian, what you said was heresy, this is a big sin."

    Ren Woxing slowly turned his head and stared at this elder. He then asked, "You are Qin Weibang, aren't you?"

    "Correct," said that tall and strong looking elder.

    "When I was the Chief, you were the master of our Jiangxi headquarter, correct?" asked Ren Woxing.

    "That's right!" answered Qin Weibang.

    Ren Woxing sighed and said, "You're now one of the Sect's 10 elders. You were promoted rather quickly, don't you think? How come Dongfang Bubai rates you so highly? Is it because of your martial art or is it because of you can take care of sect's business?"

    "I'm loyal to the sect and takes care of sect's business. Also, my accomplishments in the past 10 years earned my promotion," replied Qin Weibang.

    Ren Woxing nodded his head and said, "That's not too bad."

    Suddenly, Ren Woxing's body shook. Before anyone can react, he was already in front of Bao Dachu. His left hand quickly shot out and grabbed Bao Dachu's throat. Bao Dachu was startled and he tried using his right hand, shaped in a knife-form, to deflect the grab but it was too late. So he used his left elbow to protect his throat. At the same time, he used his left foot to retreat a step, while using his knife-form right hand to hack down. This was done in an instant, one hand defending tightly and one hand attacking fiercely. A wise technique to use.

    But Ren Woxing wasn't finished yet. His right hand was now coming in fast to grab Bao Dachu's right hand. Before Bao Dachu was able to use his knife-form right hand to chop down, his chest was grabbed and his gown torn open. In Ren Woxing's left hand was now an object that he's grabbed from inside Bao Dachu's gown. It was the Black Command Wood. With his right hand turned over, he twisted Bao Dachu's right wrist.

    At the same time, three "dang, dang, dang" sounds were heard. This was Xiang Wentian using his long sword to separate Qin Weibang and the other two elders from Bao Dachu. Each of the three elders had drawn their weapons. Xiang Wentian had attacked three times, but these attacks were only meant to prevent the three elders from helping Bao Dachu. When these three attacks were finished, Bao Dachu was completely under Ren Woxing's control.

    Ren Woxing smiled and said, "I haven't used my Art of Essence Absorbing yet, you wanna taste it?"

    Bao Dachu knew that if he didn't surrender then he would be killed in an instant. He has no other option but to surrender. So he made the decision quickly and said, "Chief Ren, Bao Dachu from now on vows loyalty and devotion to you."

    "Once in the past, you swore loyalty to me and then you betrayed me," answered Ren Woxing.

    "Chief Ren, please allow subordinate to atone for my sin by pledging my service to you," quivered Bao Dachu.

    "Alright! Eat this pill first," said Ren Woxing and released his wrist.

    He took out a small medicine bottle from his chest. He turned it over to get a fiery red pill out and threw the pill over to Bao Dachu. Bao Dachu grabbed the pill. Without looking at it, he put it in his mouth and swallowed it.

    "This... This pill is "Three Corpse Brain" pill?" muttered Qin Weibang.

    Ren Woxing nodded his head and said "Correct. This is definitely the "Three Corpse Brain"!"

    He took out six more "Three Corpse Brain" pills and threw it on the table. The pills rolled on the table.

    "Do you know how terrible these "Three Corpse Brain" pills are?" asked Ren Woxing.

    "After taking the brain pill, our lives will be in Chief's hand, so we must forever follow Chief's order. Otherwise, the corpse bugs in the pill will be released and they will enter the brain and start eating it. The pain would be unbearable. Also, you will become insane just like a crazy dog," explained Bao Dachu.

    "What you said is very true. You already knew the efficiency of my brain pill, how come you still took it?" asked Ren Woxing.

    "From now on, subordinate will be loyal to Chief forever. Even though this brain pill is very efficient, it's irrelevant to me."

    "HaHa! HaHa! Very good! Very good! Who else wants to take these pills?" said Ren Woxing laughing.

    Mr. Huang Zhong, Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint looked at each other in dismay. Along with Qin Weibang and the other two elders, these six people had been in Sun Moon Sect for a very long time. So they already knew that the corpse bugs inside the "Three Corpse Brain" pill didn't just break out suddenly. Usually, at noon every year at the dragon boat festival, they had to take the medicine to restrain the corpse bugs. If they didn't, then the corpse bugs would be released. Once the bugs entered the brain, this person would become like a ghost and would no longer have the capacity to reason. He would also lose all rationality. He would even eat his own parents or wife. No other poison in the world is as potent as this. Furthermore, the "Three Corpse Brain" pills were made by many different people and have different natures. So Chief Dongfang's medicine wouldn't have any effect on Ren Woxing's "Three Corpse Brain" poison.

    They were all scared to death hesitating what to do. Suddenly, Mr. Black-White said loudly, "Chief, have mercy, please. Subordinate will take one first." He was struggling to the table to take the pill. Ren Woxing lightly brushed away with his sleeve. Mr. Black-White was hit and fell hard on the ground, his brain matter scattered all over the wall.

    "You're a crippled and have lost all your martial art already. Don't waste my wonder pill," coldly smiled Ren Woxing.

    "Qin Weibang, Wang Cheng, Sang San Niang, you guys don't want to take my wonder pill?" asked Ren Woxing as he turned his head to them.

    The middle-aged woman, Sang San Niang, bowed and said "Subordinate vows her loyalty to Chief from now on."

    The fat and short looking elder, Wang Cheng, honestly said, "Subordinate sacrifice myself willingly to Chief."

    Both took a pill each from the table and swallowed them. Those two people dreaded Ren Woxing completely. They had already seen with their own eyes Ren Woxing's ruthlessness. They would never dare to revolt again.

    When Ren Woxing was Chief, Qin Weibang was in charge of the headquarter responsible for several districts. He had seen the various fierce methods that Ren Woxing used.

    "I won’t accompany you!" shouted Qin Weibang as he jumped through the hole in the wall.

    "HaHa, HaHa!" laughed Ren Woxing without trying to stop him escaping.

    Qin Weibang's body was outside the wall when a long and slender black whip shot out from Xiang Wentian's left sleeve. Everyone in the room heard a cry of "Ah" from outside the wall as the whip was now being pulled back through the hole in the wall. Qin Weibang was being dragged back through the wall with the whip coiled around his left foot. He struggled with all his might, rolling around on the ground trying to break free.

    "Sang San Niang, take a brain pill and peel its outside skin," said Ren Woxing.

    "Yes!" responded Sang San Niang.

    She took one pill from the table and used her finger to peel its shell. Inside the pill was a small gray coloured round ball.

    "Feed it to him," ordered Ren Woxing.

    "Yes!" answered Sang San Niang. She went in front of Qin Weibang and ordered, "Open your mouth!"

    He turned around and shot out a palm. Even though his kung fu was slightly above Sang San Niang, but his ankle was under the whip's control. So his palm power was greatly reduced. Sang San Niang's left foot kicked his wrist, followed by her right foot kicking his chest, and in Yuan yang mandarin style, her left foot kicked again at his shoulder. These three kicks had sealed his accupoints. She then used her left hand to pinch his jaw forcing it to open and her right hand put the peeled brain pill in his mouth. Her right hand followed by pinching his throat, making him swallowed the pill.

    Linghu Chong had been observing everything intently. He thought that these people had acted as if these things happened all the time in their normal ordinary days.

    "This granny's hand and foot movements are clever," Linghu Chong thought. He didn't know that Sang Sa Niang used her "hand capturing" martial art to show off her vitality and unique skill to Ren Woxing. Also, she wanted to show the Chief that she was loyal to him. Ren Woxing nodded his approval and smiled. Sang San Niang got up and stood guard respectfully besides Qin Weibang.

    Ren Woxing turned around and looked at Mr. Huang Zhong and his two brothers. They understood that he was asking them whether they were going to take the pill or not.

    Without speaking a single word, Mr. Bald-Brush went to take a pill and swallowed it.

    Mr. Paint was mumbling to himself before he finally went and took a pill.

    Mr. Huang Zhong looked grieved. He took a book out of his bosom. This was the "Guang Ling San" music score. He walked to Linghu Chong and said, "Your honorable's martial art is very high. You are also very wise to setup this strategy to help Ren Woxing got out. I admire you. This music score has harmed us four brothers. I return this to you." He then tossed the music score to Linghu Chong.

    Linghu Chong was startled. He then saw Mr. Huang Zhong turned around and walked towards the wall. Feeling regret and sorrow watching Mr. Huang Zhong walking towards the wall, he couldn't help thinking, "This was all Brother Xiang's plan to save Chief Ren. I didn't even know anything about it. But Mr. Huang Zhong and the two brothers will hate me always. I can never separate myself from this matter."

    Mr. Huang Zhong leaned against the wall and said, "Originally, we four brothers entered the Sun Moon Sect with the intention of upholding justice in Jiang Hu. But Chief Ren's temper was very irritable and he used the power for his own gain. So we four brothers didn't get involved much in sect's affairs. When Chief Dongfang became Chief, he was crafty and villainous, and he expelled a lot of brothers from the sect. We four brothers became downhearted. So we asked to be sent here, to be far away from Dark Wood Cliff and not to be involved in other people's affairs. So we stayed in the West Lake cherishing the arts. In the past twelve years, we've enjoyed a lot of happiness and good fortune. A man's life is full of worry and short of happiness. This is fate... " Speaking until here, a "heng" sound was heard. His body slowly dropped down.

    "Big Brother!" shouted Mr. Bald-Brush and Mr. Paint. They ran to Mr. Huang Zhong's side to support him. Only to see a dagger sticking out of his heart, his two eyes opened wide, and his breath had stopped.

    "Big Brother! Big brother!" cried both of them, their tears pouring down.

    Wang Cheng applauded and said, "This old fellow didn't follow Chief's order. Now, he's killed himself fearing his crime. He's also added one more crime to his name. What are you two chaps being noisy about?"

    Mr. Paint, his face full of anger, turned around. He wanted to charge at Wang Cheng disregarding his own life.

    "What? You wanna rebel?" smirked Wang Cheng.

    Mr. Paint remembered that he had taken the "Three Brain Corpse" pill already. From here on, he mustn't defy Ren Woxing's order at all. With this in mind, his anger subsided. He merely lowered his head and wiped his tears.

    "Bring his corpse and this crippled corpse outside. Bring in the wine and dishes! Today, I'm gonna get drunk with Brother Xiang and Brother Linghu!" said Ren Woxing.

    "Right away!" said Mr. Bald-Brush after he'd brought Mr. Huang Zhong's corpse outside.

    A servant came in and arranged six sets of bowls and chopsticks.

    "Take away three sets. How can we share a table with Chief?" said Bao Dachu while helping to setup the bowls and chopsticks.

    "You have worked hard also. Have a drink outside," said Ren Woxing.

    Bao Dachu, Wang Cheng, and Sang San Niang bowed together and replied "Thank you for Chief's grace." They then withdrew out of the room slowly.

    After Linghu Chong saw Mr. Huang Zhong's suicide, he came to regard him as a righteous and upright person. He remembered the day when Mr. Huang Zhong offered to write a letter to Shaolin Abbot Fang Zheng to treat Linghu Chong's illness. Linghu Chong couldn't help but feel sad at Mr. Huang Zhong's death.

    "Brother, you've had a really good fortune being able to learn Chief's Art of Essence Absorbing. Let's hear your story," said Xiang Wentian smiling. So Linghu Chong told them how he found the skill on the iron panel and everything that went on afterwards.

    "Congratulations, this type of opportunity is really precious. It makes brother's life good and happy," said Xiang Wentian happily. As he finished speaking, he lifted his wine cup and chugged it down in a mouthful. Ren Woxing and Linghu Chong also lifted their wine cups and chugged them down.

    Looking happy, Ren Woxing said, "When you look at this matter, it is actually very dangerous. Initially, when I engraved this martial art's secrets on the iron panel, I was just feeling melancholy and wanting to kill some time. I didn't actually have any intention to preserve this martial art. This divine martial art is of course real, but I didn't leave any direction to help in learning or to avoid having "fire deviation". This is to prevent people from getting this skill. There are two major difficulties in learning this divine skill. The first difficulty involves scattering all of the body's internal energy and emptying everything from the Dantian region. If the internal energy is not emptied out or if it was scattered into the wrong acupoints, you will get "fire deviation". At best, your whole body will be paralysed and you will be crippled. At worst, your meridians will flow backwards and you will bleed to death from 7 holes in your body. This martial art was created by Cheng Yida several hundred years ago and it is rare to get instructions for it. Also, very few people finished learning it completely because this scattering step is very difficult. Brother Linghu actually had a few big advantages. First, you have lost all of your internal energy. So you didn't care about scattering your energy and it didn't take too much effort for you to complete the first step. For other people, this is the most difficult and dangerous step. You, on the other hand, passed this step unexpectedly and unwittingly. After scattering your internal energy, it is essential to absorb other people's qi immediately. This energy from another person must be stored in your Dantian and then scattered into your 8 meridians. Ordinarily, this step is also very difficult. Your whole internal energy has just been dispersed into the meridians. You then must absorb someone's qi. How can this be an easy thing to do? Who wants to give up his life for you to practice this skill? Brother Linghu again had an advantage with this second difficulty. I've heard Brother Xiang said that, there are 8 types of internal energy in your body from various masters. Although they are only a portion of each person's qi, each one is already extremely good. Brother Linghu, you've passed these two major obstacles very easily and finished learning the skill. It must be heaven's will."

    Linghu Chong's palm was wet with cold sweat. He said, "Luckily all my internal energy was lost already. Otherwise, I don't dare to think what would have happened. Brother Xiang, how did Chief Ren escape from the underground prison? Little brother still doesn't know how this happened."

    Xiang Wentian chuckled and took out an object from his bosom and put it on Linghu Chong's palm.

    "What's this?" asked Linghu Chong as he felt a hard ball on his palm. It was the object that he gave to Ren Woxing on that day. He opened his palm and saw a metal ball. There was an inlay with a metal bead on the ball. He pushed the metal bead and it turned around in the inlay. When he pulled on the bead, an extremely fine metal thread came out of it. The end of this metal thread was connected to the ball on his hand. With a row of saw tooth, this metal thread was just like a metal wire saw. Linghu Chong was suddenly enlightened.

    "So that was how the shackles on Chief's hands and feet were broken!" exclaimed Linghu Chong.

    "I completely knocked out all five of you by laughing a few times using my internal energy. Then I used that metal saw to cut the shackles. How did you deal with Mr. Black-White when you were escaping? What do you think I did?" asked Ren Woxing with a smile.

    "First, you switched your clothes with mine and then you shackled my hands and feet. No wonder Mr. Huang Zhong didn't notice what happened." beamed Linghu Chong.

    "Of course, it wasn't easy to conceal this from Mr. Huang Zhong and Mr. Black-White. But when they woke up, Chief and I had already left the Plum Manor. We left them the chess book, the music score, the calligraphy and the painting. Seeing these probably made them very happy. How can they suspect that the person inside the prison has escaped?" explained Xiang Wentian.

    "Brother's strategy was certainly divine. No other person could have done it this well." said Linghu Chong. But in his heart, he was thinking, "You planned all of this from the very beginning. You deceived these four people to lead us inside the prison. But it has been a long time since Chief escaped. How come it took you so long to rescue me?"

    Xiang Wentian noticed the change of color on Linghu Chong's face and guessed correctly what Linghu Chong was thinking.

    With a smile, he said, "Brother, Chief had many major matters to deal with after the escape from prison. We cannot let the enemy know of the escape at the time. So, it was better to wrong you and let you stay under the West Lake for several days first. Didn't we come to rescue you today? However, we found you've turned bad luck into good fortune and have finished learning this marvelous martial art. That should compensate for your time in there. HaHaHa. Wasn't it a fair trade?" Saying this, Xiang Wentian filled their wine cups to the brim.

    Ren Woxing laughed loudly and said, "Cheers!" Each of them gulped their wine down.

    "What fair trade? I have to thank the two of you. Originally, I had serious internal injuries that have no cure in this world. After learning Chief's divine martial art, this internal injuries were healed, giving me back one life," smiled Linghu Chong.

    The three of them laughed loudly, feeling very happy.

    "Twelve years ago, Chief went missing and Dongfang Bubai seized power. When I found out about this matter, I could only bear patiently. So I worked together with Dongfang Bubai with little interest. Until recently, when I found out that Chief was being imprisoned here. I came here straight away to help Chief escape from this prison. How was I supposed to know that when I descended from Dark Wood Cliff, that bastard Dongfang Bubai would send many groups to kill me. Then I accidentally met with those orthodox sect scoundrel bastards when they were having a meeting. Brother, that day at the bottom of the valley, you told me the reason for losing your internal energy. At that time, I thought of scattering your various strange internal energies. At the present age, only Chief can do this," reasoned Xiang Wentian.

    After drinking more than ten cups of wine, Linghu Chong thought that this person RenWoxing's style of speaking was heroic, his knowledge and experience were not ordinary. He really was a rare grand hero. He couldn't help but to admire him. At first, when he saw how he dealt with Qin Weibang, Mr. Huang Zhong and Mr. Black-White, he thought that his method was excessively vicious. But after hearing him talk, he quite resembled that of a hero. Also, he thought that his temperament couldn't often be this vicious. Hence, his heart, which at first, held a resentful thought towards Ren Woxing gradually subsided.

    "Brother Linghu, when we treat with the enemy, we treat them viciously. Managing subordinates must also be strict. You're probably not accustomed to it. But you think, how long have I been locked up under the West Lake's underground prison? You've been imprisoned in there, you know how it feels likes. How do others treat me? Regarding the enemy's rebel, can you treat them compassionately?" said Ren Woxing.

    Linghu Chong nodded agreeing with him. Suddenly, he wanted to deal with a matter and stood up.

    "I have a matter to request from Chief, hopefully Chief will agree to it," said Linghu Chong.

    "What matter?" asked Ren Woxing.

    "The day when I first met Chief, I heard Mr. Huang Zhong said, that when Chief escaped and re-entered Jiang Hu. That you will give Huashan School great trouble. I also heard Chief said that if you meet my master then you will give him some embarrassments. Chief's martial art is godly, if you give trouble to Huashan School, then no one there would be able to withstand it," said Linghu Chong.

    "I heard Brother Xiang said that your master announced to everyone that you've been expelled from Huashan School. I'll go and disgrace them. After we've found them, we'll wipe Huashan School out from the Wulin world. This is to substitute for the bitter feeling in your heart," told Ren Woxing.

    Linghu Chong shook his head and replied, "My parents died when I was young. It was Master and Master-wife's kindness that they took me in. They took care of me when I was growing up and then took me in as a disciple. They're like parents to me. It was my fault that Master expelled me from the school. Also, there might be some misunderstanding between us. I wouldn't dare blame my kind Master."

    "It was Yue Buqun who treated you heartlessly. But you're not willing to seek justice?" smiled Ren Woxing.

    "I beg for Chief's kindness and to be broadminded. Please don't go after my Master, Master-wife, and Huashan School's disciples," said Linghu Chong.

    "Emm, I've escaped from that dark prison and you've also had your strive at the same time. But I've passed on to you the divine skill Art of Essence Absorbing and saved your life. Both things should be equal. I've re-entered Jiang Hu and have a lot of grudges. I can't agree to your request. Later, when I handle my affairs, I can't have both my hands and feet tied," answered Ren Woxing.

    Hearing him said this, Linghu Chong felt that his master would meet great difficulty. He couldn't help but felt anxious.

    Ren Woxing laughed and said, "Little brother, sit down. Today, in this world, I only trust you and Brother Xiang. You requested one matter from me. We can always discuss this. How about this? I also have a request to make to you. Why don't you agree to this matter for me first? After today, when I meet Huashan's disciples, as long as they're not disrespectful towards me, then I won't bother them. Even if I must teach them a lesson, if I see you at that time, I will hold my hand and only use thirty percent of my power. What do you say to this?"

    Linghu Chong was very happy. He replied, "I'm deeply grateful for this. Who dares not to follow Chief's order?"

    "We three are now sworn brothers, from today, we'll share all happiness and woes together. Brother Xiang is Sun Moon Sect's Guang Ming Zuo Shi (left protector). You will become my sect's Guang Ming You Shi (right protector). What do you think of this?" said Ren Woxing.

    Linghu Chong was startled when he heard this. He didn't anticipate that Ren Woxing wanted him to join the Devil Sect. When he was young, he heard from Master and Master-wife that Devil Sect has many kinds of evil and vicious people. After he'd been expelled from Huashan School, he was thinking of just leisurely wandering the Jiang Hu and not belonging to any school or sect. Even if his body wanted to join the Devil Sect, his mind thought that he should not. His heart was disconcerted. He didn't know how to answer.

    Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian were staring at him. The room was now completely quiet and not a single sound could be heard.

    After some time, Linghu Chong said, "Chief is very kind to let me, Linghu Chong, enter the sect so late. But how would I dare to stand side-by-side with Chief? Also, I'm still hoping that, even though I don't have a chance to rejoin Huashan School, Master will have a change of attitude and take back his command...."

    Ren Woxing smiled tastelessly and said, "You call me Chief. Actually, although I've escaped from prison, my life is still in a precarious state and this word "Chief" means nothing. It's only good to hear. Today, everyone knows that Sun Moon Sect's Chief is Dongfang Bubai. This person's kung fu is high and is not below me at all. His strategy and wisdom are also above me. With a signal from him, many people will rush to help him against only Brother Xiang and me. So, taking the position of Chief from him is a hopeless battle. It's a foolish and deluded action. You're not willing to be my sworn brother. Of course, this is a wise idea to protect your own life. Come, come, come! Let's drink wine and be happy. Let this matter rest."

    "How did Dongfang Bubai take away Chief's power and position? Also how did you get imprisoned in the underground prison? There are many matters that I still don't understand. Can these two matters be explained?" asked Linghu Chong.

    Ren Woxing shook his head. His smile was mournful. He said, "I've been living under the lake for 12 years. What fame and authority do I have left? Hey, hey. I've grown older and my temper has also become worse."

    He filled a wine cup to the brim, drank it in a mouthful, and laughed loudly. His laughter sounded sad and forlorn.

    "Brother, that day Dongfang Bubai sent a lot of people to chase after me, you've seen his vicious method with your own eyes. If you didn't give me a hand, I would've become minced-meat in that pavilion. Right now, your heart is divided between the orthodox school and the Devil Sect. But on that day, those several hundred people from both sides allied together and tried to kill the two of us. Where is the division? What orthodox school? What devil sect? Actually this division is only artificial. Inside the orthodox schools, there are good people. But don't they also have some despicable and evil diciples? Although the Devil Sect has no shortages of bad people, but we three people would be able to hold the power in the sect. So we'll be able to reorganise the sect well and get rid of those evil degenerates. Won't we then be seen as a proud and heroic sect in Jiang Hu?" Xiang Wentian said.

    Linghu Chong nodded and said, "What big brother said is true."

    "Back in those days, Chief treated Dongfang Bubai fairly. He was promoted to the position of left protector and was given all the power in the sect. Meanwhile, Chief was concentrating on correcting some small flaws in the Art of Essence Absorbing. That wolf Dongfang Bubai, with his unexpectedly wild ambition, took care of everyday affairs. On the surface, he treated Chief respectfully and didn't dare to violate anything. But secretly, he gathered power to himself and did things on false pretexts. He removed all the ministers loyal to Chief, all were possibly killed. A few years later, all of Chief's trusted people were all gone. Chief is an upright and most sincere person. He saw that Dongfang Bubai was respectful and prudent so he didn't suspect anything. But Dongfang Bubai had positioned himself well in the sect with his hands in everything. He had everything arranged to his liking. We didn't have any suspicion from the beginning to the end," explained Xiang Wentian.

    Ren Woxing sighed and said, "Brother Xiang, I'm actually very ashamed of this matter. You honestly told me many times to guard against treachery. But I trusted Dongfang Bubai too highly and I didn't like to hear those honest talk. Instead I thought you were jealous of him. After I blamed you, you sowed dissension and a lot of lives were lost. Then you left in anger and from then on we haven't met again till now."

    "I wouldn't dare to blame Chief. I merely saw that something wasn't right. That Dongfang Bubai encircled us secretly then launched his attack. If subordinate was besides Chief at that time, then I would also suffer his violent treachery. Although I was willing to face difficulty and death for the sect, I had to consider about the future in this case. So I felt that I must have a way to escape for every situation. If Chief was able to see through his deceitful heart and ordered him to not pursue his own goals, then I would have been really happy. Otherwise, I should be outside the sect. At the very least, I should avoid him unless he discovered about my suspicion,” said Xiang Wentian.

    Ren Woxing nodded and said, "That's true. But how did I know about your pain at that time? I only saw you left without saying goodbye and felt really angry. At the same time, my martial art practice had just reached its critical point and I nearly had a calamity. That Dongfang Bubai actually did everything to please me and advised me not to worry. Then I fell even deeper in his plot, I went as far as giving him the sect's secret Sunflower Scripture."

    When Linghu Chong heard of this “Sunflower Scripture”, he let out an "ah".

    "Brother, you also know about the "Sunflower Scripture”?" asked Xiang Wentian.

    "I only heard master mentioned this name before. I knew that it's a deep and profound martial art secret. But I didn't know that it was in Chief's possession," answered Linghu Chong.

    "For many years, "Sunflower Scripture" has been Sun Moon Sect's well guarded treasure. It is handed down from the previous Chief to the next. When I was practising the Art of Essence Absorbing, I neglected to eat and sleep. I didn't care about any matters at all and I wanted to give up the position of Chief to Dongfang Bubai. So I gave Dongfang Bubai the "Sunflower Scripture". This is to make him understand clearly about my intention. That not long after, I was going to give the position of Chief to him. Ai, originally Dongfang Bubai is a very intelligent person. But once he understood that he was going to get the position of Chief, why did he have to rush in getting it and not willing to wait until I formally give him the position myself? Why did he instead rebel to seize this position?" said Ren Woxing.

    He scowled and it appears that even until now he didn't understand clearly about this matter.

    "Apparently, he couldn't wait a moment longer. He didn't know when Chief was going to formally give him the position. So he worried and afraid that something might suddenly change," explained Xiang Wentian.

    "Actually, he already secured everything for himself. What sudden change should he be afraid of? It's difficult to predict the minds of other people. When I was in the underground prison, I went over his treasonous plan from many different angles, trying to understand. Why did he suddenly launch the attack? Even until now, I still don't understand his logic. Originally, he was a little bit jealous of you, afraid that I might give the position of chief to you. But he'd seen you left with his own eyes. So it was better for him to just wait for a little while," reasoned Ren Woxing.

    "At the night of the dragon boat festival's feast in the same year that Dongfang Bubai launched his attack, Miss said something at the banquet. Does Chief still remember what she said?" asked Xiang Wentian.

    Ren Woxing scratched his head pondering, "Dragon boat festival? What did that little Miss say? Hmm. What's the connection? I don’t remember."

    "Chief, don't treat Miss as a little child. She's very clever and thoughtful, and no lesser than any adult. That year, miss is seven years old, right? She was at the banquet looking at people when she suddenly asked you, "Dad, dad, how come when we drink wine at the dragon boat festival every year, there's always one person less?" You were startled and asked her, " What do you mean there is one person less every year?" Miss answered, "I remembered there were 11 people last year. The year before, there were 12 people. This year, one, two, three, four, five... we only have ten,"” recounted Xiang Wentian.

    Ren Woxing sighed and said, "That's true. Ahh. At that time, when I heard what little miss said, I felt very unhappy. The year before, Dongfang Bubai had executed younger brother Hao Xian. The year before that, Elder Qiu died at Gansu with no clear reason. When I think about it now, this must have been Dongfang Bubai's evil doing. And one year before that, Elder Wen was removed from the sect and was killed by the masters from SongShan School, TaiShan School and HengShan School. That disaster must also be Dongfang Bubai's doing. Ai, little miss accidentally said the right word and revealed his plan. At that time, my mind was like in a dream, I couldn't comprehend it."

    He stopped for a while and gulped his wine down.

    He continued, "This Art of Essence Absorbing was created by Xiao Yao Sect in times of Northern Song. It was a combination of the two skills, BeiMing Shen Gong and Hua Gong DaFa (Author's note: Please read "Tian Long Ba Bu"), which were left behind by Dali's Duan family and XingXiu Sect respectively. They were combined into one, and became the Art of Essence Absorbing. The Art of Essence Absorbing’s main principle is inherited from Hua Gong DaFa. But the scholars who wrote the formula down didn't know the proper way, so there were some flaws on the skill. In the meantime, for more than ten years, I've been repairing this Art of Essence Absorbing. In Jiang Hu, this divine martial art still has a big reputation. When people from orthodox school hear this name, they still tremble with fear. But I know that this divine martial art has a few big flaws in it. In the beginning, I didn't feel anything wrong. But later, a disastrous problem was slowly revealed. In those several years, I came to understand the problem deeply. I knew that if I don't find the remedy soon, I would one day die by "fire deviation". Those energy that I've absorbed from other people could suddenly reverse. Because I've absorbed a lot of energy, the reverse energy would also be just as big."

    When Linghu Chong heard all this, he secretly felt that there was one big thing that wasn't right. Ren Woxing continued, "At that time, I've already absorbed the internal energies of ten evil masters. But because each of the ten internal energies was very strong and different, they prohibited each other from being sent to different gates. I believed that there must be a way to make all these internal energy harmonious and whole so that I could use them. Otherwise, I will always be in danger. In those few years, I thought day and night on how to solve this problem to the point that I neglected everything except thinking on this matter. That day at the Dragon Boat Festival feast, although I was drinking wine and cracking jokes, but in my heart, I sought a way that would allow the energy in my body to flow freely amidst the twenty-two acupoints of the Yangjiao Channel and the thirty-two acupoints of the Yangwei Channel. These made up a total of fifty-four acupoints, through which the energy could flow in its passage from the Yangjiao into the Yangwei and vice-versa.”

    "At that time, I also thought that it was strange as Chief is usually alert. Chief only needs to hear half a word to know what a person wants to say. You observed everything and missed nothing. But in those several years, not only were you not aware of Dongfang Bubai's treasonous plan, but also every day... every day... " sighed Xiang Wentian.

    Ren Woxing smiled a little and said, "Everyday I was dazed and witless. My mind seemed to be elsewhere all the time."

    "That's true. Ahhh. After miss said those words, Dongfang Bubai laughed and said, "Miss, you love things to be lively, don't you? Next year, we'll invite more people to drink wine” When he said those words, his face was full of happiness. But when I observed his eyes, it was full of hesitation. He must've suspected that Chief knew of what he was up to. And that right then, Chief was just pretending to be ignorant to test him. He knew that Chief is astute so he expected that Chief knew about his plan already," said Xiang Wentian.

    Ren Woxing scowled and said, "I couldn't remember at all what little miss said at the dragon boat festival's feast twelve years ago. I now remember only after you mentioned about it. That’s right, when Dongfang Bubai heard those words, how can it not raise his suspicions?"

    "Also, Dongfang Bubai was afraid that Miss would see through his treasonous plan in a year or two when she had grown up and gotten even smarter. Furthermore, he was afraid that if he waited until she became an adult, Chief might give the position of Chief to her. So, when Dongfang Bubai heard this, he didn't dare to wait any longer. He took a risk and launched the attack. This is the logic behind all this," Xiang Wentian explained.

    Ren Woxing nodded his head agreeing with what Xiang Wentian said.

    "Ai, if my daughter is by my side right now, then we'll have one more person and our position wouldn't be as weak as right now," said Ren Woxing.

    Xiang Wentian turned to Linghu Chong and said, "Brother, Chief has already said that there's a big flaw with the Art of Essence Absorbing. As far as I know, Chief was working on a solution to fix this divine martial art while he endured being imprisoned for the last 12 years. Of course, by the time he escaped from that prison, he already had a breakthrough and found the solution for this divine martial art. Chief, is this right?"

    Ren Woxing rubbed his thick black fine beard, laughed, and was feeling proud of himself. He said, "Of course. From now on, when I absorb other people's energy, I don't have to worry about these energies suddenly reversing. HaHa! Brother Linghu, take a deep breath, don't you feel there's qi drumming fiercely at your Yuzhen and Shanzhong acupoints?"

    Linghu Chong took a deep breath and felt a faint qi flowing at his Yuzhen and Shanzhong acupoints. He couldn't help that his complexion changed as he did this.

    "You've only begun your practice, so you can probably only feel it a little bit. But during those years, before I found the remedy, the qi in these two pressure points was drumming really fiercely. It felt like the sky was falling down and the earth shaking. It was torture. Even though I looked calm and quiet outside, inside my ears, it sounded like there were a thousand horses charging through. Sometimes, it sounded like thunder continuously striking down. Ai, if I wasn't having such a big disaster with my qi, how can Dongfang Bubai's treasonous plan have succeeded?" said Ren Woxing.

    Linghu Chong knew that Ren Woxing was saying the truth. He also knew that Xiang Wentian mentioned this problem to get him to ask for advice from Ren Woxing. But he was determined not to join the Sun Moon Sect and ask for Ren Woxing's help. He couldn't say anything, but in his heart, he was thinking, "I've already learned his Art of Essence Absorbing. This skill absorbs other people's energy for myself to use. It's a very selfish and vicious skill. I had decided not to practise and use it. If I can't stop these absorbed energies from reversing, then that's the way it's gonna be. This is gonna be my fate. How can Linghu Chong be greedy and be afraid of death? How can I commit a big violation over this when I'm originally sincere?"

    After he mulled over this matter in his mind, he said, "Chief, I would like to consult you on a matter I still don't understand. My master said that the "Sunflower Scripture" is the most supreme martial arts secret. No one will be able to match you in the whole world after learning this martial art. He said your life would also be prolonged to over 100 years. How come you didn't learn this martial art and instead learned that dangerously fierce Art of Essence Absorbing?"

    Ren Woxing weakly smiled and said, "I don’t think outsiders are worthy enough to know the reason.”

    Linghu Chong's face turned red when he heard this. He said, "Yes, I was too bold."

    "Brother, Chief is already old, your big brother is also only a few years younger than him. If you enter the sect, then Chief's successor will of course be you. I know that you dislike the Sun Moon Sect's bad reputation. But when you're chief, wouldn't you have the power in hand to reorganise the sect so that people in this world would benefit from it?" Xiang Wentian logically told Linghu Chong.

    Linghu Chong felt that Xiang Wentian's speech was logical and reasonable. He was moved. He saw Ren Woxing picked up his wine cup and with his right hand, picked up the wine pot and filled the cup to the brim. Ren Woxing then said, "Several hundred years ago, there was enmity between my Sun Moon sect and the orthodox sects and schools. After that, we couldn't coexist anymore. If you adhere stubbornly to this opinion and don't enter our sect then your internal injuries will be difficult to heal and your life isn't guaranteed. This doesn't need to be said. Also, I’m afraid that your Master and Master-wife of Huashan school... Hey, hey, I want to make all of Huashan School disciples perish and stamp Huashan School out of existence from the Wulin world. This isn't a hard thing to do at all. It was fate that brought us here together. If you agree with my suggestion, then please drink this cup of wine."

    These words were said threateningly. Linghu Chong's felt his anger rising up and in a clear voice said, "Chief, big brother, originally my injuries were enough to shorten my life and I was only living from day to day. Then I accidentally learned Chief's divine martial art. But now, because I'm unable to meld all the energies together, I might not live long. So it's just like my old injuries. This is no big deal. For a long time, I've already thought my life was unimportant. Dead or alive, I still have my life now. Huashan School has been around for several hundred years and has managed to survive till now. It's not necessarily true that other people can just raise their hands and destroy Huashan School. Today, we've finished our talk. Let us part here."

    As soon as he finished speaking, he cupped his hands in salute towards the two people, turned around and left.

    Xiang Wentian still had words to say but Linghu Chong was already far away. As Linghu Chong ran out of the Plum Manor, he felt the cold air brushing his body and he felt unrestrained in his heart. As he sighed and raised his head, he saw the crescent moon hanging from the tip of a willow branch. In the middle of the lake, he could see reflections of the bright moon and the clouds on the water. When he reached the bank of the lake, he stood there quietly for some time and thought, "Chief Ren must now be going to Dongfang Bubai to settle the matter concerning the position of Chief. He wouldn't search for Huashan School straight away to bring them trouble. But, Master, Master-wife, and martial brothers and sisters didn't know about this matter. If they meet him, they may suffer under his violent hands. I must tell them as soon as possible so that they can be prepared. But I don't know whether they've returned from Fuzhou or not. From here, it's not that far to Fuzhou. I don't have anything else to do. I'll just go to Fuzhou for a trip. If they're on their way back, then maybe I'll meet them on the way."

    His thought immediately turned to the letter his master wrote to the Wulin world. In that letter, his Master announced that he'd been expelled from Huashan school. A sour feeling rose up in his heart as he remembered this. He thought to himself, "I'm going to report to Master and Master-wife about Chief Ren compelling me to join his sect. They will understand that I didn't intentionally make friends with people from Devil sect. Maybe Master will take back his command and will only punish me to spend three years on top of that cliff thinking about my fault. If that's the case, then it's going be good." Thinking that there may be a chance to re-enter the school, his spirit rose.

    He immediately started off to look for an inn to stay overnight. He felt that he would be able to sleep long until noon this time. Then he thought that as he hadn't seen Master and Master-wife, it would be better to hide his original appearance. Furthermore, Yingying gave orders to those people to take his life. So, he felt it'd be best to disguise himself and not look for trouble. But what appearance should he take on for his disguise?

    As he was deep in thought, he arrived at an inn. He walked slowly into the inn. Just as he entered the courtyard, he suddenly heard the sound of a door being opened and a basin full of water splashed towards him. He evaded quickly as the basin emptied out. In front of him was an angry looking military officer glaring at him, holding a wooden wash basin. The officer rudely shouted, "Did you not bring your eyes? Didn't you see grandfather throwing water out?"

    Linghu Chong was feeling angry. He couldn’t believe that such an unruly and unreasonable man existed. With a fine thick beard, this military officer looked like he was around forty years old. He was wearing a full body military gown and there was a Yaodao saber on his waist. Linghu Chong thought that he was probably an officer from a military school. With his chest flat and his belly bulging out, he looked accustomed to the good living.

    That military officer loudly shouted, "What are you looking at? You don't recognise your granddad?"

    Linghu Chong suddenly got an inspiration, "Why don't I disguise myself as this military officer? He's quite interesting. I'll be walking around Jiang Hu in an impressive disguise. People in Wulin won't even give me a second look."

    That military officer shouted loudly again, "What are you laughing at? Your granny, what's so funny?" (Translator’s note: Your granny is a swear word that this officer likes to use)

    Linghu Chong unconsciously smiled, feeling proud of himself. When he went to the counter to pay for a room and meal, he whispered to the innkeeper, "What's the background of that military officer?"

    The shopkeeper frowned at his question, but he still answered, "Who knows where he comes from? He came from Beijing and has stayed here for one night. The servants served him three meals already. He’s also ordered a good quantity of good wine and good meat. Don't know if he's going to pay or not."

    Linghu Chong nodded and walked into the teahouse. He brewed a pot of tea and slowly drank it. After waiting for an hour, he heard the sound of a horse trotting. That military officer was going out of the inn on a red jujube-coloured horse. While lashing his horsewhip making a "Pai, pai" sound, he was loudly bellowing, "Make way! Make way! Your granny, hurry up and get away!" A few people were too slow getting out of his way and got lashed by the whip.

    Linghu Chong already paid for his tea, so he got up and followed the horse. He saw the officer exiting from the west gate and galloping away on the southwesterly road. After a few li, there were less and less people on the road, so Linghu Chong quickened his steps. He rushed to the front of the horse and raised his right hand. The horse was frightened and reared at him causing that officer to almost fall from the horse.

    Linghu Chong shouted loudly, "Your granny, didn't you bring your eyes? Your horse almost kicked this old man to death!"

    That officer didn't open his mouth but he looked indignant and snorted three times. He waited till his horse's front foot dropped back down before he selected a whip and lashed out towards Linghu Chong's head. He saw that it's inconvenient to settle this matter on the main road so he shouted, "Ai yo!" and staggered into the forest. That officer wasn't willing to just let Linghu Chong go like that. So he dismounted his horse and quickly tied the horse's rein on a tree. He was madly impatient to start chasing.

    Linghu Chong shouted, "Ai yo! I want my mommy!" as he fled into the forest.

    That military officer started pursuing and raised a clamor as he was running through the forest. Suddenly he felt a tingling sensation on the side of his body and fell down on the ground. Linghu Chong's left foot stepped on his chest and laughingly said, "Your granny, your skill isn't good. How can you march to war?" He searched the officer's bosom and took out a big envelope. On the envelope was the "Seal of the Ministry of War Office" on red vermillion and a written word "Announcement" in big letters. He opened the letter and took out a thick paper. It was the ministry of war office's appointment order. Written on it was the promotion of Hebei’s Cangzhou prefecture's officer Wu Tiande to become Fujian's Quanzhou prefecture’s general.

    Linghu Chong laughed and said, "Oh, it's big general, so you're Wu Tiande?"

    That officer was pinned underneath Linghu Chong's foot and his face starting to turn purple.

    "Let me get up! Quickly! You… you... very daring. Insulting a government official, not… not afraid of the law?" shouted that officer. Although he was shouting, his anger had long been exhausted.

    Smiling, Linghu Chong said, "Your old man doesn't have anything to tie you up with but I want to borrow your clothes to try on,” After saying so, he knocked out the officer by hitting him on the head with his palm.

    He then quickly took the officer's clothes off. Thinking that this guy was hateful, he decided to teach him a lesson and took off all his underwear, leaving the officer buck-naked on the ground. He then picked up the officer’s bundle and opened it. Inside, there were several hundreds silver taels and three gold coins. He thought, "This must have been taken away from good and honest people. It's going to be hard to return these to the owners. I’ll just have to use it to buy wine for my General Wu Tiande." He chuckled as he thought of this. Immediately, he took off his clothes and put on the officer's clothes, leather boots, and Yaodao saber. He also took the bundle with him. Afterwards, using a strip of his own clothes, he tied the officer's hands to a tree and stuffed his mouth full with mud. He thought for a while and took his knife out to shave the officer's beard and put those shaved beard in his bosom. He smiled and remarked, "You've changed into a pretty face now. You’ve become much more beautiful."

    When he got back to the main road, he untied the horse’s rein and mounted it. He lashed out with the whip and shouted, "Make way! Make way! Your granny, didn't you bring your eyes? HaHa, HaHa!" Laughing loudly, he galloped away to the south.

    That same night, he arrived at an inn at the border area of Hangzhou. The shopkeeper and servant at that inn greeted him with "Army officer, army officer". At daybreak, Linghu Chong asked the shopkeeper the road to Fujian. After receiving 5 taels of silver, the shopkeeper and his servant accompanied him while bowing all the way to the door. Linghu Chong thought, "You guys are fortunate that you met my general; if you had actually met the real General Wu Tiande, you would certainly have suffered." After leaving the inn, he went to a store and bought a face mirror and a bottle of glue water. Once he got outside the city, he looked for a desolated place. Once he got there, he took out the mirror and carefully glued the shaved beard on his face. This took him around an hour. When he checked himself in the mirror, his cheek was full of fine thick beard and couldn't help but laughed at himself.

    On the way south, he reached Jinhua prefecture and arrived at the prefecture office. In this area, he found it hard to understand the southern accent. But it was good that he was dressed in military attire because people started talking to him in a more formal manner, which made him able to understand them much better. In his whole life, he's never had this much money before, so he kept ordering wine and drank to his heart's content.

    The many different internal energies that he had were circulating throughout the meridians in his body, not a trace of it was leaving his body. When suddenly, an energy stream rushed towards his Dantian region making him dizzy, seeing stars, and wanting to vomit. This was Mr. Black-White's qi. He felt the pain was even more unbearable than before. Whenever this happened, he only had to follow the method written by Ren WoXing on the iron panel and expel the qi out from the Dantian region. After the qi in the Dantian was emptied, then his qi would become smooth and he would feel vigorous immediately. If he followed this practice every time this happened, he knew that his energy would also increase by a level but he would also be deeper in trouble by one level. He was always upbeat in his thinking. "I already got my life back. Living for one more day, even for one more minute is already good." He calmed down straight away.

    That afternoon, he entered the Xianxia mountain range. The area was rugged and as he went on, he got higher and higher and could see less and less smokes from the mountain people’s habitation. He rode on for another 20 li and no house was around anymore. He knew straight away that he had made a mistake by going past the last inn so now he had to stay the night on the road with robbers around the area. The night was getting darker as he picked a fruit up and ate it. Then he spotted a small cave underneath the cliff. It looked dry and seemed as if there were not many bugs inside to bother him. So he tied his horse's rein on a tree and let it eat some grass, while he went to collect some dry grass to spread inside the cave.

    He felt that the qi in his Dantian wasn't relaxed so he sat down to meditate. With more practice, Ren Woxing's divine martial art was going to get even harder to restrain and he was going to feel uncomfortable more often. When he finished meditating, his whole body felt relaxed and light. It was as if he was on a cloud. He then expelled the breath in his mouth, stood up, and smiled bitterly. " That day when I asked Chief Ren, how come he still wanted to learn the Art of Essence Absorbing when he already had "Sunflower Manual" in his possession, he didn't answer willingly. But now, I understand why. This Art of Essence Absorbing, after you practiced it, you won't be able to give it up." After reaching this conclusion, he couldn't help but feel frightened. "I heard Master-wife said before about Miao people raising poisonous evil things. Even when they knew it was evil, it was hard to give up. If they don't use those poisonous bugs to harm people then the bugs would harm the host's body. In the future, will I become just like those Miao people?"

    When he walked out of the cave, he saw a lot of stars in the sky and heard the chirping of insects. Suddenly, he heard people coming towards the mountain. It seemed that they're still quite far away but his internal energy allowed him to hear further. Immediately, he went to his horse, loosened its rein, hit its back to make the horse move into the cave. He then hid himself behind a tree. After some time, he heard the steps coming closer. The light from the stars allowed him to see many people with black gowns and yellow waistbands, walking along. From the outfits, he reckoned they were people from the Devil Sect. There were more than thirty people in the group and none of them spoke a word. Linghu Chong thought, "They seemed to be going south towards Fujian. I wonder if they have anything to do with my Huashan School. Have they received orders from Chief Ren to cause trouble for Master and Master-wife?" He waited until those people were gone far enough before he quietly followed.

    After he had walked for several li, the mountain road became really steep. Then he saw the two mountain peaks besides each other with a very narrow mountain road going through the middle. It would be impossible for two people to go up side by side on this road. Those thirty people were climbing through the pass in a single file. Linghu Chong thought, " If I were to follow them up now, it's possible that once they reached the top, one of them might accidentally turn his head around and see me." So he quickly hid himself in the bushes to wait for them to finish climbing the slope and to start going down on the south slope before he started chasing again. But when these people reached the peak of the slope, they suddenly scattered and hid themselves behind the mountain rocks. Not a single shadow was seen.

    Linghu Chong was frightened. The first thing that entered his mind was, "They saw me." But he knew immediately that he was wrong. He considered further, "They're going to ambush people who will go up the slope. That must be it! This is the perfect place to plan an ambush. Whoever climbed up here would have trouble escaping. Who are they trying to ambush? If Master and Master-wife had gone back to the North, what urgent matter do they have to go back to Fujian that they would be walking through here at night? Will I see my little martial sister tonight?" As his thought turned to Yue Lingshan, his whole body became hot. He quietly stepped away from the bushes. After he had gained a bit of distance away from the mountaintop, he quickly dashed down from the mountain. After several bends, he turned around and couldn't see the mountain slope anymore. Then he headed back north away from the mountain pass. He scampered along the road while trying to listen if anyone was coming towards him. After 10 more li, he suddenly heard voices from a hillside on the left. "Linghu Chong is a dirty rascal. You're still defending him!"

    end of Chapter 22
    Last edited by pokit; 09-20-06 at 10:54 PM.

  4. #4
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    Default Chapter 23 Ambush

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    Linghu Chong was alarmed to suddenly hear someone calling his own name on a desolated mountaintop in the middle of the night. His first thought was, "It's master!" But it was the voice of a female and it wasn't master-wife or Yue Lingshan. This outburst was followed by a softer and quieter female's voice, which he could not hear clearly. Linghu Chong went towards the hillside and saw the shadows of thirty-four people standing up. His heart turned sour. "Who scolded me? Is it really HuaShan School's party? If martial sister heard someone scolded me like that, I wonder how she would react?"

    He lowered his body to hide beside a shrub on the side. He crouched and circled around the hillside to get closer to the group and hid himself behind a big tree. He heard a female's voice said, "Martial uncle, Martial brother Linghu is an upright and heroic... " Hearing this half sentence, the picture of a delicately pretty face came into his mind. His chest became slightly constricted as he realised that the person saying this was Yilin, the little nun from Heng-shan school. He was disappointed to learn that these people were not from Huashan School. As his mind was somewhere else, he missed the next two sentences said by Yilin. He only heard the sharp voice of the previous speaker saying angrily, "You still dare to argue with your elder? Then that letter from Mr. Yue of Huashan School is fake? Mr. Yue sent this letter to the entire realm, telling everyone that Linghu Chong had been expelled from HuaShan because he's involved with Devil Sect's people. What wrong can we do to him? When Linghu Chong saved you before, he probably wants to depend on this small favour to plot against us..."

    "Martial uncle, it wasn't a small favor, Martial brother Linghu disregarded his own life... " answered Yilin.

    "You're still calling him martial brother? This person is most probably a shrewd and wicked scheming thief. Putting on airs and deceiving young children like you. In Jiang Hu, there are all sorts of sly and crafty people, swindling young people like you because you have never experienced meeting them," the elder shouted in reply.

    Yilin answered, "How can disciple not listen to martial uncle's order? But.. but.. martial… Linghu ... " and the word "brother" wasn't said. She stiffly stood there enduring the lecture.

    That elder asked, "But what?" Yilin appeared to be frightened and didn't dare to speak anymore.

    "This is a message from SongShan's Alliance Chief Zuo. Devil Sect is conducting a large-scale operation in Fujian to rob the Lin family of Fuzhou of their Evil Resisting sword art. Alliance Chief Zuo wants the Five Mountains Sword Alliance to help in preventing the demon people from having the sword art manual. When great masters from the Five Mountains Sword Alliance stepped in, it is unavoidable that people will die without being buried. That child from FuZhou's Lin family has already entered Mr. Yue's school so it seemed that HuaShan School has obtained the sword art manual but actually they have not. We fear that the Devil Sect will have many traps. Also, when you add that ex-disciple of Huashan School, Linghu Chong, into the equation, our plight becomes even more unfavourable because the Devil sect may have inside information. Alliance Chief has put the responsibility of handling this matter on my shoulder and ordered me to lead us into Fujian. This matter concerns the fortune of both the orthodox and Devil Sect. We can't allow any careless or indiscreet acts. Thirty li from here is the border between Zhejiang and Fujian. Today, everyone has worked hard and had been hurrying along at night. We'll rest when we get to Nianbapu town. We'll then hurry along so we can be in front and wait for the Devil Sect people to launch their operation. By then, we would have waited at ease and have the advantage of waiting for an exhausted enemy. But you must still be on your guard," that elder announced. All the female disciples (numbering in scores of ten) complied with one voice.

    Linghu Chong thought, "This master is in charge of this Heng-Shan School group and Yilin also called her martial uncle. I’ve heard of "Three Ding of Heng-Shan", she must be Dingjing Shi Tai. She received my master's letter and thought that I'm a bad person. I can't blame her for thinking this way. She wanted to get ahead but didn't know that Devil Sect people are already setting up an ambush in front. Luckily, I already knew, but how do I tell them about this?"

    (Translator's note: Shi Tai means a nun who is already old but it can also be a title to a nun who holds a high position in the temple. For lack of a better word in English, I'm leaving it as Shi Tai.)

    He then heard Dingjing Shi Tai said, "Once we enter Fujian's boundary, you must be on your guard. Everyone around you will be your enemy. Even the servants from the restaurants or the teahouses might be spies from the Devil Sect. The walls have ears, just like the bushes might have enemy hiding within. From now on, do not mention anything about the Evil Resisting sword art manual, Mr. Yue, Linghu Chong, and DongFang BiBai." (Translator's note: DongFang BiBai means DongFang is defeated, whereas his original name DongFang BuBai means DongFang undefeated.)

    The female disciples answered together, "Yes!"

    Linghu Chong knew that Devil Sect's Chief DongFang BuBai's kungfu had no match in the world, which was why he was called undefeated. But when the orthodox schools talked about him, they frequently referred to him as "Bibai". They did this to nullify the meaning behind the enemy's name and to mock him. After hearing her mentioned his own name, his master’s name and DongFang BuBai’s on the same level, he couldn't help but laughed bitterly. "I'm just a nameless person while you're a senior from Heng-Shan School. You flatter me too much to mention my name in the same breath as my master's and Dongfang Bubai's."

    Dingjing Shi Tai continued, "Everyone, let's go!" All the disciples answered in one voice and complied with the order. He then saw seven female disciples sped away from the hillside followed by another seven soon after. Heng-Shan School's qinggong was famous in the wulin world; the seven people in front and the seven people at the back kept the distance between them constant as they run, resembling a troop formation The sleeves of the fourteen people were floating in the air and they were all synchronous in their running. It was extremely beautiful to look at. Not too long after that, another seven people started to go down the hill. In a short time, all of Heng-Shan School's groups have moved out. Altogether, there were six groups. The last group consisted of eight people, with the extra person being Dingjing Shi Tai. Some of these females were not nuns, but secular disciples of Heng-Shan.

    In the darkness of the night, Linghu Chong wasn't able to recognise which group Yilin was in. He thought, "These disciples from Heng-Shan must each have their own unique skill. But when they're climbing that steep slope between the two peaks, the Devil Sect people will ambush them. They will definitely suffer heavy injuries and deaths."

    He took a handful of green grass, squeezed them and smeared the juices on his face. Then he dug out some mud and smeared it on his face, hands and thick beard. Even if it were daytime, Yilin would not be able to recognise him under all the mud. Linghu Chong then circled the hillside to go back to the road and started chasing after them. Originally, his qinggong wasn't that good. But whether your qinggong was high or low was dependent on the strength of your internal energy level. Right now, his internal energy was high, so he could take a step as he willed and each step was also very far away. At this speed, he caught up with Heng-Shan School's people in no time at all. He was afraid that Dingjing Shi Tai might hear his footsteps as he came closer to them so he overtook them by running in a big circle. Once he was ahead of them and was back on the main road, he ran even faster. When he arrived at the bottom of the slope, the moon was already above his head. He stood there listening to his surrounding and did not hear a single sound. "If I didn't see the Devil Sect people setting up an ambush here, then a disaster would have happened at this place. A great disaster."

    He slowly walked up the steep slope and arrived at the beginning of the road between the two peaks. He was around a li away from the ambush place; he sat down and started thinking, "The Devil Sect people have probably seen me here. But they're afraid to alert the enemy so they are just letting me sit here." After waiting for some time, he lied down on the ground. Finally, he heard faint steps coming up from the hillside. He thought, "It's best if I lead the Devil Sect's people to start fighting with me first. After fighting for a little bit, then Heng-Shan School will be aware." He then said angrily at the people on the top of the slope, " What old man hates the most is being stabbed in the back. Then I won’t know whether they are real swords or spears. Stabbing in the back is a very rotten method. You hiding there, get up! Evil ghosts, harming people by ambush! How contemptible and disgraceful." Although his voice wasn't loud, he had put an abundant of qi to deliver it, so it was able to travel far. He was guessing that the Devil Sect people had heard what he said. But who would have thought these people could really hold in their anger and unexpectedly did not pay attention to him at all. Not long after, Heng-Shan School's first group of seven diciples arrived in front of him.

    Under the moonlight, the seven diciples could see an officer sleeping on the ground with his four limbs extended out. Only one person at a time can go up the mountain pass as it was flanked by high cliffs on both sides. Therefore, if they wanted to go up the slope, they have to step across his body first. These disciples only had to lightly jump to go across his body, but between man and woman, there must be a separation. In order to jump across, they also have to go over his head. This was just too rude.

    A middle-aged nun said with a clear voice, "Excuse me, officer. Please lend us a path."

    Linghu Chong made two "woo, woo" sounds snoring loudly. That nun's buddhist name was Yihe but her temper was not peaceful at all (Translator's note: play of words on her name). She saw that this officer was sleeping soundly in the middle of the road snoring so loudly that he must be deliberately pretending to be asleep. This made her all the more agitated. She held back her anger and said, "If you don't make way, we will jump over you." Linghu Chong kept up his loud snoring and muttered, " Lots of demons and ghosts on this road. Mustn't go through it. Woo... woo... the sea of bitterness is endless... turn... turn... turn around then you will see the beach." Yihe was startled when she heard this as his words seemed to carry two meanings. Another nun pulled Yihe back by tugging her sleeve and the seven nuns retreated several steps.

    One person whispered, "Martial sister, this person is weird."

    Another one said, "I'm afraid he might be Devil Sect's spy challenging us."

    Another person said, "I don't think Devil Sect's people would go and get a government job as a military officer. I think he's disguising himself. He didn't dirty his attire when he was disguising himself."

    Yihe said, "Don't worry about him! He's not letting us get through so we'll jump over him."

    Before she jumped, she asked again, "If you're really not making way then we just have to offend you."

    Linghu Chong stretched out lazily and slowly got up. He was still afraid that Yilin might recognise him so he faced the hillside. The back of his body was facing the Heng-Shan School disciples. With his right hand leaning on the cliff face, his body swayed from side to side looking like a drunk. He said, "Good wine! good wine!" At this moment, the second group of Heng-Shan School disciples arrived.

    "Martial sister Yihe, what's this person doing here?" asked a secular disciple.

    "Who knows what he's doing here!" answered Yihe.

    Linghu Chong said in a loud voice, "Just then I butchered a dog. My tummy's so full after eating it. I've also drunk a lot of wine. I'm afraid I might vomit. Aiyo, not good, really gonna vomit!" A vomiting sound was heard briefly.

    The female disciples scowled and one by one retreated back. Linghu Chong made the vomiting sound a few more times although nothing was coming out. The disciples were discussing among themselves when the third group also arrived.

    He heard a soft voice said, "This person is drunk, he's very pitiful. Let him rest, we can't be delayed."

    When Linghu Chong heard this voice, his heart fluttered. He thought, "Martial sister Yilin has a very good heart."

    But Yihe said, "This person is deliberately making a fuss here, he must have some bad intention!" She then took a step forward and shouted, "Make way!" While she pushed Linghu Chong's left shoulder. Linghu Chong swayed forward and shouted, "Aiyo, this is disastrous!" He took a few stumbling steps up the slope, staggering from side to side. After walking a few steps, the situation had become even more awkward. His body was now filling in the narrow pass completely. If it were not for the inappropriateness, the people behind him would have jumped over his head to get pass. Yihe went forward and shouted, "Make way already!"

    "Yes, yes," answered Linghu Chong. He took a few more steps up. He got even higher as he moved forward making the narrow pass even more difficult to pass. Suddenly he shouted very loudly, "Hello, friends above waiting to ambush, pay attention please! The people you're waiting for have arrived. You guys should come out now, no one here would be able to escape."

    When Yihe and the other disciples heard of this, they immediately retreated back. One disciple said, "This place is really dangerous, if the enemy ambush us now, we'll have great difficulty in fighting back." Yihe said, "If there's someone waiting to ambush us, why is he calling them out? It's just empty threat, empty threat. There's nobody up there. If we retreat in fear, the enemy will laugh at us." Another two middle-aged nun said together, "Yeah! We three people will make way in front, martial sisters follow behind us." The three nuns pulled their long swords out and went forward towards Linghu Chong's back.

    Linghu Chong continuously panted loudly and said, "This hillside road is very steep. Ai, old man is very old now. I can't go further."

    One of the nuns said, "Hey, you go to one side and let us walk ahead first, is this ok?"

    "Don't get angry. Walking fast will get us there, walking slow will also get us there. Hai.. Hai.. Ai, when going towards the gates of Hell, it is better to go slowly."

    That nun said, "Why are you beating around the bush trying to scold people?"

    With a shout, Yihe thrust her sword towards Linghu Chong's heart from behind. This thrust was only meant to scare him into making way for them. So when the sword was about to pierce his body, it stopped short. At this exact moment, Linghu Chong also turned his body around. He saw that the tip of the sword was pointed at his chest and shouted, "Hey! You... you... what are you doing? I'm a government official. Didn't expect that you dare to be this rude. Come people, seize these nuns!"

    Some of the younger nuns couldn't help to hold in their laughter anymore. This person was on a desolated mountainside but was still exhibiting a bureaucratic air. It was really comical.

    A nun laughingly said, "Officer, we have an urgent matter and are hurrying along. Please move to a side and let us through."

    "What officer, I'm a general. You should call me general. Then I'll let you through," said Linghu Chong.

    Seven to eight female disciples laughingly said, "General, please make way."

    Linghu Chong laughed and straightened up. He puffed up his chest and tucked in his stomach, looking arrogant. Suddenly, he slipped and fell on the ground. The female disciples squealed and called out in alarm, "Be careful." And two of them quickly held onto his arms. Linghu Chong slipped one more time before he stood firm. He then scolded, "His granny.... this ground is so slippery. The local government is a bucket of rice, unlike those common people (Translator's note: "a bucket of rice" means good for nothing). They should keep the mountain road in good condition." He had already slipped twice and now he leaned his body against a small depression on the cliff wall. Heng-Shan School's disciples quickly used their qinggong to go through. One by one, they went pass him swiftly.

    One of them laughed, "The local government will send eight people with a sedan chair to carry general over this mountain range. That's the way to do it."

    Another one said, "General rides a horse not a sedan chair."

    The next one said, "This general is different than the others. When riding a horse, he's afraid that he might fall down on the ground."

    Linghu Chong indignantly said, "Nonsense! How many times have I fallen down from riding a horse? Last month, that horse was scared to death by a tiger. Only then did I slid from the horse's back and injured my upper arm. So that one cannot be counted." The disciples laughed aloud while climbing the slope like wind.

    Linghu Chong saw a slender body shook. It was Yilin. He immediately followed behind her, again blocking the disciples behind her. His steps were heavy and he was also panting heavily. For every three steps, he slipped two steps. He was climbing and falling at the same time. Fortunately, he was actually walking quite quickly. The disciples behind were laughing and complaining at the same time. "You, general, is really... cough. Don't know how many times must you fall down in a day!"

    Yilin turned her head and said, "Martial sister Yiqing, don't rush general. He's already trying to hurry, don't make him slip for real. This slope is really steep, falling down would be serious."

    Linghu Chong saw her two big eyes. They were clear and bright like two clear fountains. Her elegant face shone under the moonlight looking very beautiful. He remembered the day when they were evading the pursuit of Qingcheng School. She carried him out from inside the city of Hengshan and he was staring at her right now just like he did at that time. Suddenly, he felt a soft and gentle feeling rising up in his heart. He thought, "At the top of this slope, there are many concealed enemies wanting to harm her. I don't care about my life but I must protect her and make sure she is safe."

    Yilin saw his two eyes looking dull and his appearance ugly. She nodded slightly at him, revealing a warm and smiling countenance. She said, "Martial sister Yiqing, if General slipped and fell, you must quickly give him a hand."

    Yiqing laughed, "He's very heavy, how do I help him?"

    Originally, Heng-Shan School's rules were very strict. These female disciples did not easily chat and laugh with strangers. But Linghu Chong had been acting like a clown making them laugh repeatedly. Also, there were no elders around. As the dark night hurried along and after exchanging some harmless jokes, everyone was feeling livelier.

    Linghu Chong indignantly said, "You girls are speaking without knowing what you’re talking about. I'm a great general. Back in those days, in the battlefield, I routed and killed numerous thieves. The type of killing that makes you shiver with fear that the air around it would even be filled with a shimmering murderous aura. If you girls saw it, hey hey, you will admire me completely. This trivial mountain slope is nothing to look at for me. How can I fall down? You're talking rubbish... Aiyo, not good!"

    His foot seemed to have step on a small stone and he fell down. He put both of his hands out waving them about trying to grab onto something. The disciples behind him yelped in surprise. Yilin quickly turned back and stuck her hand out to help him. Linghu Chong grabbed her hand and Yilin used all her strength to pull him upwards. Linghu Chong was now crouching down with his left hand on the ground supporting himself. He appeared to be very distressed. The disciples behind him were clutching their stomachs laughing loudly.

    Linghu Chong said, "My leather boots are too heavy to use for climbing up mountain roads. If I were wearing your hemp shoes, then I guarantee I wouldn't fall down at all. Also, I’m only slipping and falling, what's so funny about that?"

    Yilin slowly loosened her hand and said, "Yeah. General is wearing riding boots so it's not comfortable to climb up the mountain."

    "Of course it's not comfortable. But with my very high prestige, I have to wear these boots. If I were just an ordinary common person like you people then I can wear those hemp shoes without any shame," said Linghu Chong. After hearing him trying to save face at all cost, the disciples all laughed again.

    By now, a few more groups have arrived at the bottom of the slope while the first person who had gone up have reached the top of the slope

    Linghu Chong shouted, "This region has the most thieves, stealing chicken and dogs. They don't care at all if the weather is cold, they'll still come out to steal our money. Although you buddhists don't have too much wealth, be careful. Don't let them steal your hard earned alms money."

    Yiqing giggled and said, "General is here, those thieves wouldn't dare to show their faces here."

    Linghu Chong answered back, "Hey, hey, be careful. I see some people at the top lurking around."

    One of the female disciples said, "General, you are talking nonsense. With us around you're still afraid of a few small time thieves?"

    Just as she said this, two female disciple suddenly shouted, "Ai yo!" and rolled down the slope.

    Two female disciples hastily went up and held them. From the front, a few of the female disciples shouted, "The thieves used some projectiles. Be careful!" As soon as they said this, another disciple rolled down the slope.

    Yihe ordered in a loud voice, "Everyone get down! Be careful of projectiles!"

    Everyone quickly crouched down while Linghu Chong scolded out loudly, "Bold thieves, you don't know that General is here?" Yilin was pulling his arm and worriedly implored, "Quickly get down!"

    The disciples in front were shooting their metal bead projectiles from inside their sleeves. But the enemies on the hilltop had concealed themselves behind the rocks again. Not one could be seen. So their projectiles did not find their targets. Dingjing Shi Tai rushed forward when she heard that there was enemy at the top. She was jumping over the disciples' head to get ahead. When she arrived behind Linghu Chong, she also jumped over his head and kept going forward.

    Linghu Chong called out, "This is bad luck! Bad luck!" and spat out some saliva (Translator’s note: It’s bad luck for someone to jump over your head). He saw Dingjing Shi Tai waving her big sleeve around as she charged towards the hilltop. She was met by a rain of the enemy's projectiles. Some of the projectiles were trapped while some were knocked away flying by her sleeves.

    Dingjing Shi Tai jumped a few more times and reached the top of the slope. Before she steadied herself, she felt a strong wind; a copper staff was coming towards her head. Hearing the sound of the staff cutting through the air, she knew that the strike was very heavy so she didn't dare to parry it. She dodged to the side of the staff, but at the same time saw two spears coming forward. One was aiming high and the other one low making the situation very dangerous. The enemy was holding an advantageous position by blocking the mountain pass with three good fighters. Dingjing Shi Tai shouted, "Shameless!" while pulling out her long sword. Her sword slashed at the two spears and broke them, while the copper staff was swept at her waist. She countered by hitting the top of the staff with her sword to change its direction. Just then, another spear was thrust towards her right shoulder. The female disciples on the slope started to scream in surprise and large crashing sounds were heard. Apparently the enemies on the hilltop were pushing big rocks down the slope. Heng-Shan School's disciples were crowded in the middle of the pass. They were jumping and crouching to avoid the rocks from hitting them, but soon after some of them was hit and got injured.

    Dingjing Shi Tai retreated back two steps and ordered, "Everyone turn back! Go back down the hill and regroup!"

    She wielded her sword to prevent the enemy from going down but the enemy still managed to continuously toss more rocks down the slope. Then she heard the sounds of fighting coming from below. Apparently, enemies were also waiting for them at the bottom of the slope to prevent them from retreating.

    Someone shouted from below, "Martial uncle, the martial art of the enemies cutting off our escape are strong. We can't go down."

    Another one shouted, "Two martial sisters are injured."

    Dingjing Shi Tai angrily flew down. She saw two men wielding sabres preventing two disciples at the back from retreating down the hill. Dingjing Shi Tai cried out and attacked using her sword. Suddenly she heard two "hu, hu" sounds; two small hammers connected by a long chain were flying down vertically attacking the front of her body. Dingjing Shi Tai lifted her sword to block one of the meteor hammers while the other one went through and almost hit her head. Dingjing Shi Tai was startled, "Great power." If they were on flat ground, she wouldn't have used her sword to block the hammer. She would have instead launched an attack from the side. But the mountain pass was too narrow and there was only two ways to go; which was either up or down. The enemy twirled his meteor hammers quickly and the hammers, looking like two black clouds, came hurtling towards Dingjing Shi Tai. Dingjing Shi Tai was unable to use her clever sword art against him so she retreated step-by-step back towards the hilltop.

    From above, she heard the cries of the disciples and saw some of them falling down on the ground after being hit by projectiles. Dingjing Shi Tai calmed herself down and thought to herself that the enemies' martial art were weaker at the hilltop and should be easier to deal with. So she quickly rushed back up and jumped over some of the disciples and also passed over Linghu Chong's head.

    Linghu Chong called out to her, "Aiyo, what are you doing? Do you think you're jumping over a chicken here? You're already so old but still joking around, jumping over my head to go here and there. Do you think I can still gamble after this?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai was hurrying trying to break through the enemy's trap so she didn't hear those words. But Yilin apologised, "Sorry, my martial uncle didn't do it on purpose." Linghu Chong grumbled and complained, "I already said earlier that there were thieves here. But none of you believed me." But in his heart, he was thinking, "I saw earlier that the Devil Sect people were setting up an ambush on the hilltop, but apparently they also have people at the bottom. Even though Heng-Shan School has many people here, they're all crowded in the middle of this narrow pass. So they can't display their skills. The situation is not encouraging at all."

    When Dingjing Shi Tai arrived at the hilltop, she suddenly saw the shadow of a stick moving. A Buddhist steel staff was coming towards her head. The enemies have adjusted so that their better skilled people were now fighting her. Dingjing Shi Tai thought, "Today, if I don't manage to break through this pass, I'm afraid these disciples will be annihilated." She leaned to one side and thrust her sword out in an angle. The Buddhist staff missed her body by only a few inches. She then shot forward and plunged her sword towards the monk. In making this move, she disregarded her own life, as it was potentially disastrous to both people. That monk tried hard to protect himself but it was too late. He scoffed lightly as the sword pierced the side of his body. But that monk was extremely brave. Uttering a cry, he broke the long sword in two with his fist. His fist was bloodied as it hit the sword.

    Dingjing Shi Tai shouted, "Quickly get up here! Give me a sword!"

    Yihe flew up and held her sword horizontally. She shouted, "Martial uncle, sword!" Dingjing Shi Tai turned her body around to take the sword. But a spear was thrust slantingly towards Yihe, while another spear was thrust towards Dingjing Shi Tai. Yihe had to use her sword to ward off the attack which allowed the spear wielding person to close in on her bit by bit. This also forced Yihe to retreat back down the slope. With this happening, Yihe wasn't able to pass the sword to Dingjing Shi Tai. In the mean time, three people charged onto the hilltop, two with sabres and the other one with a judge's pen, surrounding Dingjing Shi Tai. Dingjing Shi Tai's two palms were flitting about using Heng-Shan School's "Tian Zhang Zhang Fa" (Heaven's Palm) to ward off the attack from the four people. She was already around sixty years old but her hands were still agile. Unexpectedly, she was holding her own using only her bare hands even though the four masters from the Devil Sect were fighting cooperatively against her.

    Yilin was frightened and whispered, "Ai yo! What do I do? What do I do?"

    Linghu Chong said with a loud voice, "These small time thieves are too unruly. Make way! Make way! General is going up there to capture these thieves!"

    Yilin worriedly said, "You mustn't go! They're not small time thieves. All of them have good martial art. If you go up there then they'll kill you."

    Linghu Chong puffed up his chest and shouted boldly, "Under a sunny day... " He then raised his head up to the sky; it was almost daybreak, but it wasn't a "sunny day". But he didn't care and continued, "These small time thieves are cutting off the road and plundering people. Bullying women. Hng, hng, aren't they afraid of the law?"

    "We're not ordinary women. Enemies are also not small time thieves cutting off the road and plundering people," said Yilin.

    Linghu Chong took a big step going up the slope. He squeezed through the female disciples to go up. The female disciples were staying close to the side of the cliff face and allowed him to go up.

    When Linghu Chong reached the hilltop, he extended his hand to pull out his Yaodao sabre. As a fraction of the sabre was pulled out, he suddenly stopped and pretended that he couldn't pull the sabre out anymore. He scolded, "Your granny, this sabre is looking for trouble. When an important matter comes up, it suddenly becomes rusted. How can General capture thieves with a rusted sabre?"

    Yihe was fighting for her life against one of the Devil Sect’s people on the hilltop when she heard Linghu Chong behind her talking nonsense about his sword rusting and why he couldn't pull out his sword. She was angry but also found it funny. She shouted, "Quick! Go away! It's dangerous up here.” As she called out, she lost her concentration slightly and her defense wasn't as tight. With a fierce sound, a spear was thrust forward and nearly hit her shoulder. Yihe retreated half a step while that person thrust his spear again.

    Linghu Chong shouted, "That's wrong, that's wrong! Bold thieves, don't you see General standing right here?" In a flash, he slanted his body and was in front of Yihe. The spear wielding man was startled. As the sky was gradually becoming brighter, he was able to see his clothes were like those that government officials wear. Just at that moment, even though his spear was pointing at the officer's chest, he didn't thrust it forward. He shouted, "Who are you? Before this, someone was calling out from the bottom of the hill. Was it you, government dog?"

    Linghu Chong rebuked, "Your granny, are you calling me a government dog? You're a thief dog! You're here cutting off the road and plundering. And even though General is here, you still haven't run away. You're the real outlaw! After General has captured you, I’m going to send you to the local authority. With fifty planks each, you all are going to be beaten until your bottom is swollen and you are calling out for your mommy!" The spear-wielding man didn't want to kill a government official. But he was greatly annoyed and shouted, "Scram you rotten egg! If you talk nonsense again, I’ll poke three holes through your government dog's body!"

    Linghu Chong saw Dingjing Shi Tai had not been defeated yet and the Devil Sect people had stopped shooting projectiles and throwing rocks down the slope. He shouted, "Bold thieves, quickly kneel down and kowtow. If General sees your eighty years old mother in your home, then maybe I'll go easy on you. If not, hng, hng, I'll chop everyone's head off... ..."

    When Heng-Shan School's disciples heard this, they all scowled and shook their heads. They all had the same thought, "This person is crazy." Yihe walked up a step with her sword up. If the enemy thrust his spear towards the General, then it's going to be easier for her to block it. Linghu Chong used his strength to pull out his sabre again and then scolded, "Your granny, just before battle, my precious sabre from my ancestor has suddenly become rusted. Hng, if only my precious sabre were not rusted, all of your small time thieves' heads would’ve been chopped off."

    That man wielding the spear laughed loudly and shouted, "Go back to your mum!" He then swept his spear towards Linghu Chong's waist. Linghu Chong was hit and pushed down but at the same time he pulled out his sheath. He shouted, "Ai yo!" and pushed his body forward. Yihe shouted, "Be careful!" As Linghu Chong was falling down, he held his sheathed sabre out and used the point of his sheath to hit the spear wielding man’s side of the small of the back.

    That man dropped to the ground wordlessly. With a slapping sound, Linghu Chong also fell to the ground. Then as he struggled to get up, he shouted, "Ah ha! You also fell down. We've both fallen down. I’m not going to concede defeat. Come on, we fight again!" Yihe grabbed that man and threw him behind. She was thinking that now she had captured an enemy, things would become easier. Another three Devil Sect people came over to save that person. Linghu Chong called out, "Ah Ha, this is disastrous, these small time thieves are really going to refuse being captured."

    Linghu Chong raised his sheathed sabre to the west and his finger on the other hand was pointed to the east. It was completely unmethodical. Dugu Nine Swords didn't have any set moves so when it was used, it can be either graceful or clumsy and awkward, but strangely still maintaining the same power. This was because Dugu Nine Swords concentrated on the sword intention not set moves.

    He was now thrusting his sword towards an enemy's various accupoints without any great force. During a fight, it would be difficult to accurately hit people's accupoints. But a refined sword art with vigorous internal energy attached to the strike, even if it wasn’t that accurate, might still perhaps hit the side of the accupoints. So considering this, the enemy in front of him continuously protected himself following Linghu Chong's sheathed sabre wherever it went.

    At the same time, Linghu Chong was staggering, looking like he was about to fall down, and waving his sheathed sabre about. When suddenly, the point of the scabbard hit that enemy's stomach. That person gasped and went limp. Linghu Chong yelled, "Ah Ha!" and jumped back a step. At the same time, his sword handle hit the back of another enemy's shoulder. That person immediately fell down and swayed back and forth on the ground. Linghu Chong continued to step back and tripped on that person's body. He scolded him, "Your granny!" and kicked his body away.

    Then his sword handle inadvertently hit a Devil Sect person wielding a sabre. This person was one of the three masters besieging Dingjing Shi Tai. The back of his body was hit and he dropped his sword. Dingjing Shi Tai took this opportunity to hit his chest making that person sprout blood from his mouth and life fled from his body.

    Linghu Chong called out, "Careful, careful!" While he retreated a few steps and was about to bump into the back of the person holding the judge's pen. That person quickly sent his pen back to protect himself. Linghu Chong staggered and dashed forward while waving his scabbard around. Soon, more Devil Sect people were hit and fell down.

    That person wielding the judge's pen was greatly annoyed and rushed at Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong yelled, "Mommy!" as he pulled up and ran away with that person pursuing him. Linghu Chong suddenly stopped and bent his waist forward; while at the same time poked his sword handle through his armpit. That person never expected him to be able to run so fast and suddenly stopped motionless in an instant. Although his martial art was already high, he was still inferior. He quickly applied a downward force to stop, but his chest was still hit by Linghu Chong's extended sword handle. That person's face showed an extremely odd expression. He couldn't believe what just happened. But his body had slowly started to fall down.

    Linghu Chong turned around and saw the fighting on the hilltop had ceased. A few of the Heng-Shan School's disciples had already gone up the slope. Both the orthodox and Devil Sect people were now facing each other while the remaining disciples were quickly rushing up the slope. He shouted, "Hey, small time thieves, you've seen General here. Quickly kneel down and surrender. Really strange!" He then started to dance his sheathed sabre around, cried out and charged towards the cluster of Devil Sect people. The Devil Sect people quickly sent out their swords and spears.

    Heng-Shan School disciples were about to go forward and help when they heard Linghu Chong shouted, "Skillful! Skillful! Very fierce thieves!" and he came out from the cluster of Devil Sect people. His steps were heavy and he was dragging his feet through the mud as he ran. He missed a step and fell down. His scabbard shot up and hit his own forehead making him dizzy. But he had already managed to hit five people as he entered and exited the cluster of Devil Sect people. Both groups were dumbfounded looking at him.

    Both Yihe and Yiqing rushed forward and asked, "General, are you alright?"

    Both of Linghu Chong's eyes were closed. He didn't answer them pretending to have passed out. The leader of the Devil Sect group saw that one person had died and this lunatic general had hit eleven of his people. Just now, when the General charged at his party, he made his moves one after another to grab the General. But all of his moves ended up with him in danger of being hit by the scabbard. Although the scabbard was not attacking any accupoints, it was coming in swift and fierce with its weird positioning. He didn't know this person's background but sensed that his martial art was high and its true depth couldn't be measured.

    He then saw the people who had been hit; the Heng-Shan School had now captured five of them. Today, everything had gone pear-shaped. He shouted with a clear voice, "Dingjing Shi Tai, do you want the antidotes for your disciples who got hit by the projectiles?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai already saw that those disciples who got hit by the projectiles fell into a coma and couldn't be woken up. The injuries made by the projectiles were also leaking black blood. She knew that the projectiles were poisoned. When she heard his words, she already had a clear idea of what to do. She shouted, "Give us the antidotes in exchange for your people!" That person nodded his head and muttered something under his breath. One of the Devil Sect people took out a porcelain bottle and stood in front of Dingjing Shi Tai and bowed slightly. Dingjing Shi Tai took the bottle and fiercely said, "If the antidote is effective then I'll release them myself."

    That old person said, "Alright. Heng-Shan's DingJing Shi Tai, I'm not the kind of person who eats his own words." He waved his hand and the Devil Sect people went down the west slope taking their injured and dead people with them. A short time later, all of them had left the hilltop leaving their five captured comrades.

    After a long time, LingHu Chong woke up and called out, "Ouch, hurts so much!" as he rubbed his swollen forehead. Then with a surprised tone, he asked, "Where did all those thieves go?" YiHe giggled and said, "General, you're really strange. Just then, it was lucky that you somehow hit a number of them when you charged at their group. The leader of those small-time thieves was truly frightened by you."

    LingHu Chong laughed loudly and said, "Wonderful, wonderful! Big general has such a big reputation. When I ride out to confront these small-time thieves of course it's a different matter altogether. They would certainly run away with their tails between their legs. Ai yo...” Then he rubbed his swollen forehead again with his face showing a painful expression.

    "General, have you been injured? We have some medicine," said Yiqing.

    LingHu Chong answered proudly, "No, no, I'm not injured! When a gentleman dies in the battlefield ("Ma Ge Li Shi"*), it's a common thing..."

    YiHe pursed her lips smiling and said, "I'm afraid it's "Ma Ge Guo Shi"*, how can it be "Ma Ge Li Shi"*?"

    YiQing gave her a stern look and said, "You always love to find other people's fault, what's the point of pointing out his fault?"

    LingHu Chong said, "We people from the north learns "Ma Ge Li Shi"*, you southern people must have learnt it differently."

    YiHe turned her head and said, "But we're also from the north."

    (*Translator's note: "Ma Ge Guo Shi" is a phrase that means "to die in the battlefield". When this is translated literally, it means "corpse wrapped in horse's skin". But what Linghu Chong said "Ma Ge Li Shi" has no meaning. He deliberately replaced the word "Guo" with "Li".)

    Master DingJing went to the injured disciples and gave them the antidote for the poison. When she reached LingHu Chong, she bowed to him and said, "I am Heng-Shan's old nun DingJing. May I ask for young hero's name?"

    Linghu Chong's heart shivered in fear, "This Heng-Shan School senior really has good eyesight. She knows that I'm still young and also that I'm actually a brave general."

    He immediately bowed and clasped his fist respectfully returning the bow. He said, "As Shi Tai requested, my surname is Wu. My name is Tiande. Tian from "Tian En Hao Dang" (enormous graciousness). De from "Dao De Wen Zhang" (Morality). I'm going to Quanzhou government office to take up office."

    (Translator's note: He's telling Dingjing Shi Tai which characters his name "Tiande" use.)

    Dingjing Shi Tai already expected that he wouldn't reveal his real identity and he might not necessarily be a real general. She said, "Today, my Heng-Shan School has met difficulty and General has helped us. I don't know how to repay your virtue and kindness. General's martial art is very deep. Although poor nun has taken a look at it, I still don't know which school General comes from. Really admirable."

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly and said, "Old Shi Tai flatters me. But to be honest, my martial art has a few foundations. On the top "Snow falling from the sky", at the bottom "Ancient tree root", in the middle "Black tiger stealing heart"..... Ai yo, ai yo." As he was talking, his hands and feet were moving about showing off the martial art moves. It looked like that he had used too much force in his demonstration and had strained himself. He rubbed his aching joints while his eyes stole a look towards Yilin.

    She was startled and for a moment it looked as if she had something to say. He thought, "My martial sister has a really good conscience. I wonder how she will react if she knew I am the general."

    Naturally, Dingjing Shi Tai was aware that he was pretending. She smiled and said, "General doesn't want to reveal himself since he's an honorable man. Poor nun can only burn the incense stick from morning till dusk to pray for General's good fortune and health. Best wishes to General."

    Linghu Chong said, "Thank you very much, thank you very much. Please pray to Buddha for my promotion and wealth. Little general will also pray for the safety of old Shi Tai and all the little Shi Tai on your journey, for bad luck to turn into good, and for all matters to go smoothly. HaHa! HaHa!" As he was laughing loudly, he bowed deeply to Dingjing Shi Tai and swaggered away.

    He had been in the Five Mountains Sword Alliance for a long time, so even though he was pretending to be crazy, he still didn't dare to be inappropriate towards this senior from Heng-Shan School. The school disciples were now looking at him stumbling towards the south slope. As he disappeared, they quickly surrounded Dingjing Shi Tai and started to barrage her with questions: "Martial uncle, what's his background?" "Is he really insane or is he just pretending?" "Is his martial art very high, or was he merely lucky and mistakenly hit the enemies here and there?" "He doesn't resemble a general. He still looks young, am I right?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai sighed and turned her head to look at the disciples injured by the projectiles. After the medicine was applied to their wounds, the black blood had turned red and their pulses strengthened. They were no longer in danger. She then gave Heng-Shan School's unique medicine to each of the disciples to administer it to their own injuries. After that she released the acupoints of the five captured Devil Sect people and told them to leave.

    She then ordered the disciples, "Everyone go under that tree to rest", while she went alone and sat on a big stone. She closed her eyes and pondered, "When this person charged at the Devil Sect group, the leader of the group fought with him. But he still managed to hit five of their people. He wasn't using a martial art that aimed at the acupoints. He was using some martial art style but I didn't expect that there was not even a slight demonstration of his school's martial art. In Wulin, there must be such a young person who's that skilful. But whose disciple is he? This person was a friend and not an enemy. This is really Heng-Shan School's big fortune."

    At mid-morning, she ordered the disciples to fetch a brush, an ink stone, and a thin silk to write a letter. She ordered, "Yizhi, bring the pigeon here." Yizhi answered and took a pigeon out of the bamboo cage she was carrying. In the mean time, Dingjing Shi Tai rolled up the thin silk letter into a thin strip and put it in a slender bamboo tube. She put the cover on and sealed it with melted wax. Then using an iron wire, she put the bamboo tube on the pigeon's left feet. After a silent prayer, she released the pigeon. The pigeon flew north, gradually going higher and further. Not long after, it was only a black dot in the sky.

    After Dingjing Shi Tai released the pigeon, everyone became quiet, completely different from before when they were vigorously fighting the enemies. Dingjing Shi Tai raised her head to look up. She saw the black dot entering a white cloud and disappeared, but she continued to look into the distance. All the disciples didn't dare to make any sound. At the recent battle, although that clown general was jesting around and acting comical, the situation in actuality was really dangerous. It can be said that everyone had now escaped death. After standing there for a long time, Dingjing Shi Tai turned around and beckoned forward a fifteen or sixteen years old girl. The girl immediately went and stood in front of her.

    She quietly called out, "Master!"

    Dingjing Shi Tai lightly brushed the girl's hair to comfort her and said, "Juan'er, were you scared before?"

    The young girl nodded and said, "I was scared! Lucky that General was brave and fought those bad people off."

    Dingjing Shi Tai smiled and said, "This General wasn't really brave but his martial was really good."

    "Master, is his martial art really that high? I saw his moves were erratic and he was really careless. He even hit his head with his own scabbard. Also he was saying something like his saber was rusting and couldn't pull it out of the scabbard?" said that girl unbelieving.

    This young lady Qin Juan was Dingjing Shi Tai's disciple. She was clever and bright, and she was really loved by her master. Between the Heng-Shan School disciples, sixty percent of the disciples were nuns, while the rest were secular disciples. Some of these disciples were middle aged and there were also fifty to sixty year old grannies. Qin Juan was the youngest disciple in the Heng-Shan School.

    The other disciples heard Dingjing Shi Tai conversing with martial sister Qin Juan so they slowly gathered around. Yihe interposed herself and said, "What do you mean that his moves were erratic? He was just pretending and was actually concealing his excellent martial art. That is called smart! Martial uncle, what do you think of this General's background? Which house or school is he from?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai slowly shook her head and said, "This person's martial art might be "immeasurably deep". I don't know how else to describe him except with these two words."

    Qin Juan asked, "Master, was that letter for martial uncle? Do you think it will get there soon?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "When the pigeon gets to Suzhou's Baiyi Temple, they will exchange it with another pigeon. At Ji'nan Miaoxiang Temple, they will change to another pigeon. Again at the mouth of the old river at Qingjing Temple, they will use another pigeon. The letter will arrive in Hengshan after the use of these four pigeons."

    Yihe said, "Fortunately we didn't lose anyone. I believe those several martial sisters who got hit by the projectiles won't be a big hindrance after two days. While those who got hit by the rocks, we also don't have to worry about them losing their lives."

    Dingjing Shi Tai was lost in her own thoughts so she didn't hear what Yihe just said. She was thinking, "Currently, Heng-Shan School’s position and movement in the south is a secret. We've been sleeping during the day and travelling at night. How did the Devil Sect people find out and managed to setup an ambush here?" She then turned her head towards the disciples and said, "The enemies have disappeared and wouldn't dare to come back right now. Everyone is now very tired so we'll eat some provisions here and then sleep for a while under that tree's shade." Everyone complied with her order. Some people erected an iron trivet to boil some water for brewing tea. After eating their meal, they slept for a few hours till around noon.

    Dingjing Shi Tai looked at the weary expressions of the injured disciples. She said, "The enemies have discovered our movements so there's no need for us to travel at night anymore. Those injured must also recuperate. Tonight, we'll rest at an Inn in Nianbapu."

    They went down the hill and, after several hours, reached Nianbapu. It was an important location for transportation between Zhejiang and Fujian province for people travelling through the Xianxia mountain range. As they neared the small town, the sky had not darkened yet. Unexpectedly, there was not a single person inside the small town.

    Yihe said, "Fujian's custom is really weird. It's still so early but everyone went to sleep already."

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "Let's go further to get lodgings for the night."

    Even though Heng-Shan School has contact with every temple in Wulin, there was no temple to stay in at Nianbapu so they had to find an inn to spend the night. It was inconvenient that normal people had a taboo against nuns and frequently caused trouble because they believe that seeing nuns brought them bad luck. It was good that the nuns were accustomed to receiving this kind of treatment and never held a grudge. But now they saw all the stores on the street were closed and boarded up. Nianbapu was neither big nor small, but it had around two hundred stores and inns. But as they looked around, the town resembled a ghost town. The setting sun was still providing some light but Nianbapu's streets were deserted as if it were in the middle of the night.

    The disciples were on the street looking around when they noticed a white cloth hanging on a pole in front of an inn. The words "Xian An Inn" were written in big letters on the cloth. The inn's big door was shut and there was no sound at all on the street. One of the disciples named Zheng E knocked on the door. Zheng E was a secular disciple. She had a round face and was always carrying a smile. She was good at talking and very likeable. Whenever the nuns had to deal with people on the road, Zheng E was always the one to do it. This was to prevent other people from seeing nuns and becoming agitated. Zheng E knocked on the door a few times, stopped a while and then knocked a few more times. After waiting for a long time, no one answered the door. Zheng E called out, "Uncle, please open the door." Her voice was clear and carried far, just like people who have practised martial art. Even people several courtyards away would be able to hear it. But there was no answer from inside the inn. The situation was clearly very strange. Yihe went forward and put her ear on the door. No sound could be heard from the inside. She turned her head and said, "Martial uncle, there's no one inside."

    Dingjing Shi Tai secretly felt something wasn't right. She saw the sign for the inn was still new. The door's board had also been washed clean recently. It didn't look like a place that had gone out of business at all. She said, "We’ll keep going and take a look around. This town must have more than one inn."

    They kept walking forward and passed several more shops before they saw another inn named "Nan An Inn". Zheng E went to knock on the door again but the result was still the same. No one answered.

    Zheng E said, "Sister Yihe, let's go in and take a look."

    "Ok," answered Yihe and they both jumped the wall to go in.

    "Anyone here?" asked Zheng E.

    When no one answered, they pulled their swords out and walked into the main hall of the inn. They took a look around the kitchen, the barn and every room in the inn. But they still didn’t see anyone. But they observed that there was no dust on the table or the chairs. Also, the teapot on top of a table was still warm. Zheng E opened the main door to let Dingjing Shi Tai enter and to report the situation. Everyone thought that the situation was really strange.

    Dingjing Shi Tai commanded, "Get seven people into a group. Go around the town and ask what's going on. Don't go too far, if you see signs of enemies then whistle out."

    They acknowledged her order and quickly went out the door. Only Dingjing Shi Tai remained inside the main hall. Before long, the sounds of the disciples’ footsteps have disappeared and no more sound was heard. The stillness of this Nianbapu town made the hair at the back of Dingjing Shi Tai's neck to stand up. The town was so big but not a sound was heard. There was not even a small sound of birds chirping or dogs barking. This was really strange.

    Dingjing Shi Tai suddenly felt uneasy. "Could it be that this is the Devil Sect's trap? The female disciples don't have much experience travelling the Jianghu. They might be deceived and can easily fall into a trap." She walked to the door and saw shadows moving in the northeast. From the west, she also saw some people moving into other people's houses. They were all Heng-Shan School's disciples. She felt slightly relieved after seeing them. After some time, the disciples started to return. They all reported the same thing: there was no one in the town.

    "Not just people, we also couldn't see any animals around," added Yihe.

    Yiqing said, "I think they haven't been gone for too long. There were opened chests and baskets inside the houses. They seemed to have taken all the money."

    Dingjing Shi Tai nodded and asked, "What do you think is going on?"

    Yihe answered, "I'm guessing that the Devil Sect people have chased out all the townspeople just recently to launch an attack."

    "Correct! This time the Devil Sect wants to fight us again. That's very good, are you all scared?" said Dingjing Shi Tai.

    "Eradicating evil is our inherent responsibilities as Buddhists," the disciples answered together.

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "We'll rest at this inn. We'll take our meals first. Be careful and see if the water, rice, or vegetables have been poisoned."

    Heng-Shan School people did not speak while taking their meals. They were on alert and tried to listen for any sound from the outside. The first disciple to finish eating went out to relieve the disciple guarding outside. Yiqing suddenly thought of something and said, "Martial uncle, why don't we go out to some of the houses and light up the lamps in there. The Devil Sect people won't know our whereabouts."

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "This idea is very good. You seven people go and light up the lamps."

    Not long after, Dingjing Shi Tai also went out the main door. She looked towards the west and lights were showing through the windows of many houses. After some time, lights came on from the houses in the east. The street lit up with lights from the windows. But there was still no sound to be heard. Dingjing Shi Tai raised her head and looked at the moon. She prayed, "Buddha, bless and protect us. Let my Heng-Shan School disciples escape from harm this time. If disciple Dingjing can go back to Heng-Shan, then I will light up an incense and won't use my sword ever again."

    In her former years, she had roamed Jianghu and had many imposing achievements under her belt. But after last night's battle on Xianxia mountain range, she had lingering fear on her mind for the disciples under her command. If she were by herself, even if the situation had been ten times more dangerous, she would not even worry about it. She prayed again, "Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin, if Heng-Shan School people must receive injuries, let disciple Dingjing alone received that disaster for retribution for killing people. Let disciple alone bear this."

    Suddenly, she heard a female's voice shouting from the northeast. "Help, help!" The shrill voice sounded sorrowful. Dingjing Shi Tai was alarmed. The voice did not sound like any of her school's disciples. She squinted her eyes looking towards the northeast and did not see any movement. She then saw Yiqing and six disciples went towards the northeast. She waited where she was watching what was going on. After a long time, Yiqing and her group still had not came back.

    Yihe said, "Martial uncle, disciple and six disciple sisters will go to take a look."

    Dingjing Shi Tai nodded her head. Yihe quickly led six disciples and went away to investigate. Suddenly, the flashing of a sword appeared briefly and the same female's voice was heard shrieking. "Someone's murdered! Help, help!" Heng-Shan School disciples crowded together to have a look. They did not know what was going on there. The voice originated from where Yiqing and Yihe's two groups had gone before. Seemed like they had met the enemies but there was no sound of fighting. They then heard that female's voice shrilly shouting again, "Help!" Everyone looked at Dingjing Shi Tai waiting for her to command them to go and help.

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "Yu Sao, take six disciple sisters to check that area. No matter what you see, you must immediately come back."

    Yu Sao was a forty years old middle-aged woman. She was originally Dingxian Shi Tai's servant from Hengshan's Baiyun Temple. Later, Dingxian Shi Tai saw that she was capable and accepted her as a disciple. This trip with Dingjing Shi Tai was her first experience in Jianghu. Yu Sao bowed to comply with Dingjing Shi Tai's order. Then she took six disciple sisters to go towards the northeast.

    But none of these seven people came back either. Dingjing Shi Tai became more frightened suspecting that the disciples had fallen into the enemy's trap; enticed by the enemy and captured one by one. They waited for a while longer but there was not the slightest bit of movement and there were no more calls for help either.

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "Yizhi, Yizhen, wait here and tend to the injured sisters. No matter what happens, you mustn't leave the inn so as to prevent the enemy from luring you out."

    Yizhi and Yizhen bowed acknowledging the order. Dingjing Shi Tai said to the three young disciples Zheng E, Yilin and Qin Juan, "You three come with me," while pulling out her long sword and starting out to the northeast. When they got nearer, they saw a big house where the lamps have been extinguished. The area was dark and no sound was heard.

    Dingjing Shi Tai fiercely shouted, "Devil Sect witch, come out and fight. What kind of heroic deeds is it ambushing people like this?"

    After waiting for a while, they still did not hear anyone answering from inside the house. So Dingjing Shi Tai flew and kicked the main door of the big house. The door latch broke and the door banged opened. It was dark inside the house and Dingjing Shi Tai could not tell if there was anyone in there so she didn't dare to rashly charge in.

    She inquired, "Yihe, Yiqing, Yu Sao, do you hear my voice?" Her voice was loud and it travelled far. She then heard her echo from somewhere far. Once the echo died out, the place was completely quiet again. Dingjing Shi Tai turned her head around and said, "The three of you follow behind me closely." She brandished her sword as she went around the outside of the house but didn't find anything unusual. So she jumped on top of the house and squinted her eyes to look around the four directions.

    There was no wind at all and the tree branches were still. The cold moon's light shone on the tiles. The scenery was just like that in Hengshan when she was strolling beneath the moon. But in Hengshan, there was a feeling of tranquillity while in this place, there was a feeling of surreptitiousness and murderous air. Dingjing Shi Tai was using her whole body to sense her surrounding but she hadn't been able to sense the enemy so far. She was really at a loss. She was feeling anxious and regretted, "I already knew that the Devil Sect demons would have many deceptions. I shouldn't have sent them in turns..." Suddenly, she shivered in fear and clapped her hands while going down the house. She quickly used her qinggong to run back towards the Nan An Inn. She called out, "Yizhi, Yizhen, have you seen anything?" No one answered from inside the inn.

    She rushed in with cold sweat drenching her body but there was no one inside the inn. The couch that the injured disciples were sleeping on had also disappeared. At this point, Dingjing Shi Tai thought carefully but she had run out of idea. The shadow casted by her sword point was quivering as reflected lights from her sword flickered around the room. Her hand holding the sword was shaking. Her female disciples had suddenly disappeared without making any noise. How did this all happen? What's there to do? After a moment, she felt her lips dried, her tongue parched, and her whole body drained of energy. She felt paralyzed.

    But this weakness was only momentary, as she took a deep breath and gathered her qi in the Dantian region. With her vigor immediately restored, she quickly went from room to room. She found nothing unusual in those rooms. She called out, "E'er, Juan'er, come in here." But in the midst of the night, she could only hear her own voice. There was no sound from Zheng E, Qin Juan and Yilin. Dingjing Shi Tai muttered, "Not good!" and quickly rushed out. Once she was outside, she shouted, "Zheng E, Qin Juan, Yilin, where are you?"

    Outside, the pale moon was shining down and there was no trace of the three disciples. Dingjing Shi Tai wasn't frightened by this turn of event but turned angry instead. She jumped up the roof and shouted, "Devil Sect demons, what type of cheap tactic is this? What kind of win is this, ambushing people?" She cried out repeatedly. But all the area around her was very quiet and not a single sound was heard. As she was continuously calling out, it seemed that she was the only remaining person inside the Nianbapu town. There was nothing she could do. Suddenly, she shouted with a clear voice, "Devil Sect demons, listen to me. You still don’t want to appear? So, Dongfang Bubai's disciples are shameless and gutless. You don't dare to face me and my school's people. What Dongfang Bubai? It's merely Dongfang Bibai. Dongfang Bibai, do you dare to come out and meet this old nun? Dongfang Bibai, Dongfang Bibai, I think you're afraid!"

    She knew that when any Devil Sect people heard someone insulting their Chief's reputation then they would have to come out and risk their lives in defending it. This was a big matter for them. Sure enough, after she called out a few "Dongfang Bibai", seven people rushed out from inside a house. They quietly jumped on the roof and surrounded her. Dingjing Shi Tai felt happy now that the enemies had appeared. She thought, "Finally, you demons have come out after being scolded by me. Wanting to cut me up and cut my corpse in two. This is better than not seeing their shadows at all." But these seven people just stood there without saying anything.

    Dingjing Shi Tai angrily asked, "Where's my disciples? Where have you taken them?" Her enemies stayed quiet and didn't answer her. Dingjing Shi Tai saw the two people guarding at the west were around fifty years old. Their faces were stiff like that of corpses and there was no sign of anger on their faces.

    She sighed heavily and shouted, "Ok, watch out for my sword!"

    She thrust her sword towards a person standing at the northwest. She knew that she was surrounded and that this thrust may not find its mark so she used this thrust as a false move. That person just stood still waiting for the sword as he knew it was only a false move. Dingjing Shi Tai was planning to take her sword back but when she saw him not paying attention to her, instead of taking her sword back in mid stroke, she put power into her right hand and pushed the sword forward. But the two people besides her target moved quickly and separately aimed their palms towards her left and right shoulders. Dingjing Shi Tai leaned to one side, jumped into the air, turned around and thrust her sword towards the tall person at the east side. The tall man slid back half a step and with a ringing sound, the sword hit a heavy iron tablet. He then lifted the iron tablet and struck at the top of her sword. Dingjing Shi Tai sneered, circled her sword and thrust it towards an old man on the left. The old man extended his left hand along the sword's path to try and grab it. In the moonlight, it looked like that he was wearing a black glove. Dingjing Shi Tai guessed that the glove's material might be impervious to the sword thrust. That seemed like the only reason why he was brave enough to use just his hands to grab a long sword.

    She fought one enemy after another. Dingjing Shi Tai had now fought with five of the seven enemies. She felt that these five enemies were not that good. If she were only fighting with one or even two of them, she would not be afraid at all and would most probably win. But against these seven people, when she attacked any little crack in one person's defense, it was immediately covered by the next person. Then they would immediately counter-attack and turned the situation dangerously against her. After some more fighting, she thought in alarm, "Who are these capable people from the Devil Sect? I know most of their well-known people. Their martial arts and the weapons they used are also known by the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. So what's the background of these seven people, I really can't tell where they come from. I didn't anticipate that Devil Sect's power would grow so large in these past few years. They unexpectedly have many masters working for them."

    She had fought around sixty to seventy moves but she was unable to keep up any further. She was now breathing heavily when from the corner of her eyes she saw more than ten shadows on the roof. Clearly, these people had been hiding there for a long time and only now appeared suddenly. She gloomily muttered, "It's finished, it's finished! I can't even handle these seven people. Now there are more enemies watching from the sides. Dingjing, it would be hard to escape from your death today. You would suffer a big insult if you fall into the enemies' hand. It would be better if you had killed yourself earlier. This stinky sack of leather is only my temporary residence. But when it's destroyed, I would still have some regrets. This time I had taken along many disciples and delivered them to their deaths. Old nun Dingjing is ashamed to face Heng-Shan School’s ancestors."

    She thrust three times "Shua, shua, shua" forcing the enemies to take two steps back. She suddenly reversed the long sword and pierced it towards her own heart.

    As her sword was about to reach her chest, a "dang" sound was heard, her hand shook and the tip of her long sword was knocked away from her chest. A man was besides her with a sword in his hand. He exclaimed, "Dingjing Shi Tai, don't be short-sighted. Friends from Songshan School are here!" He was the one who knocked her long sword away. She then heard the sounds of swords clashing. More than ten men had one by one jumped out from their hiding spots to fight with those seven Devil Sect people.

    Having escaped from death, Dingjing Shi Tai felt revitalised. She immediately went to join the battle again. But she saw that the Songshan School people were now fighting two against one and the seven Devil Sect people were at a disadvantage. Those seven people saw that sheer number was overwhelming them. They whistled and started to retreat towards the south. Dingjing Shi Tai chased them holding her sword. She suddenly heard the sound of wind coming towards her and recognized that many small projectiles had been released. Dingjing Shi Tai lifted her sword and concentrated on deflecting each of the projectiles aimed at her. In the middle of the night, there was only a glimmer of light from the moon and stars. Her long sword danced around and a "ding, ding" sound was heard continuously as her sword deflected all the projectiles. As she was hindered by the projectiles, those seven Devil Sect people had managed to escape far. She heard the person behind her said, "Heng-Shan School's "Ten-thousand Blossoms Sword Art" is exquisite and peerless. Today our eyes have been widened."

    Dingjing Shi Tai sheathed her long sword and slowly turned around. In a short moment, everything had become still and quiet. When she was fighting just then, she was a vigorous wulin martial artist. But now that the fight is over, she had turned into an amiable and benevolent old nun. She joined her two hands greeting the Songshan School people and said, "Older martial brother Zhong, thank you very much for breaking the encirclement."

    She now recognised the middle-aged man as Songshan School leader Zuo's younger martial brother. His name was Zhong Zhen and his nickname was "Nine Bent Sword". This nickname was not because he really used a bent sword but it was because his sword art fluctuates irregularly and was unpredictable. Dingjing Shi Tai had met him before at a meeting of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance at Taishan Mountain monastery. From the remaining Songshan School people, she knew three or four of them.

    Zhong Zhen cupped his hand returning the courtesy. He smiled and said, "Dingjing Shi Tai, you fought with seven people by yourself. These seven people are Devil Sect's "Seven Star Emissaries". Your sword art is really high. I admire you." Dingjing Shi Tai pondered, "So, these seven chaps are called 'Seven Star Emissaries'." She didn't want to appear unknowledgeable so she didn't ask anymore. She thought she could inquire about those people some other day. It was already good enough now for her to know their names.

    One by one, the rest of the Songshan School people went up to greet her. Two of them were Zhong Zhen's younger martial brothers, while the rest were disciples a generation lower than them. Dingjing Shi Tai was still returning the greetings when she said, "I'm really ashamed. My Heng-Shan School has arrived in Fujian with several tens of disciples. But they've suddenly gone missing in this town. Martial brother Zhong, how long have you arrived at Nianbapu town? Do you have any clues for old nun to investigate?"

    She believed that Songshan School people had been hiding here for a long time but they wanted to wait for her to get exhausted first before they come out and help. It was obvious that they wanted to shame her and at the same time show their power. She wasn't pleased at all. But many of her disciples had gone missing and it was a matter of grave importance. So she had no choice but to ask them about it. She felt this was her own problem to handle so she didn't want to ask these people for help. She already felt it was wrong to ask Zhong Zhen for information.

    Zhong Zhen said, "Devil Sect witches are very crafty. They knew that Shi Tai's martial art is very outstanding and that it would be very hard for them to win. So they secretly captured all the disciples first. Shi Tai doesn’t have to worry. Although Devil Sect is daring, they wouldn't harm martial sisters. Let's go down and discuss carefully on how we're going to save them."

    After he finished saying this, he extended his left hand inviting her to go down. She nodded her head and jumped down. Zhong Zhen followed her and also jumped down. He then went to the west while saying, "I'll lead the way." After walking for a hundred feet, he turned north. They arrived in front of Xian An Inn and he pushed the main door open.

    "Shi Tai, we'll discuss the matter in here," said Zhong Zhen.

    The other two martial brothers were "Divine Whip" Deng Bagong and "Bright Hair Lion" Gao Kexin. The three of them led Dingjing Shi Tai to a big room upstairs. After the lamps were lighted, they took their seats while the other disciples offered them tea and then retreated out of the room. Gao Kexin went to the door and closed it.

    Zhong Zhen said, "We've long admired Shi Tai's sword art, Heng-Shan School's number one.... "

    Dingjing Shi Tai shook her head and said, "Wrong, my sword art isn't as good as my martial sister. It's also inferior to martial sister Dingyi."

    Zhong Zhen smiled and said, "Shi Tai, don't be too modest. We martial brothers have long admired heroine and been wanting to see Shi Tai's clever sword art. That's why we were late in helping. We don't have any bad intention. I sincerely apologise. Shi Tai please don't blame us."

    Dingjing Shi Tai felt a bit calmer and saw the three of them stood up and cupped their fists. She also stood up to return the gesture and said, "Well said."

    Zhong Zhen waited for her to sit down before saying, "When our schools formed the Five Mountain Sword alliance, we considered ourselves to be of the same branch and share all weal and woes together. It's just that in the last few years, we've had little time to meet together and we also haven't collaborated on any matters. This has caused the Devil Sect to grow stronger and become more arrogant."

    Dingjing Shi Tai uttered a "Hmph" thinking, "What is he doing saying all these idle talk?"

    Zhong Zhen said again, "Everyday, older brother Zuo says: Together, we are strong. Divided, we are weak. If the Five Mountain Sword Alliance can join together and become one, then the Devil Sect wouldn't antagonise us. Even the big school of Shaolin and Wudang who have been enjoying their big reputation for a long time wouldn't be able to compare to us. Brother Zuo wishes that we no longer had this disunity of the five mountain sword schools. He wants us to combine together and become the "Five Mountain School". That way, we would have many people cooperating together and we would really become the leader of Wulin. What does Shi Tai think of this?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai scowled and said, "Poor nun at Heng-Shan School is only an idle person and don't pay much attention to matters. However, Martial brother Zhong has raised an important matter. You should come with me to meet my martial sisters to speak about this. Right now, the most important thing is to rescue my school's female disciples who have fallen into the Devil Sect's trap. We can discuss other matters in details after this."

    Zhong Zhen smiled and said, "Shi Tai, don't worry. I've already asked Songshan School people to handle this. Heng-Shan School's problem is also Songshan School's. We wouldn't let your school's disciples to suffer."

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "In that case, many thanks. But I don't know how brother Zhong came to have this optimistic outlook about my problem? What assurances do you have to say these words?"

    Zhong Zhen smilingly said, "Shi Tai yourself is here. You're Heng-Shan School's well-known master. How could we still be afraid of a few demons from the Devil Sect? Also, there are still we martial brothers and several other martial nephews. We'll definitely use all our power to fight them. If we still can’t handle these second rate fighters from Devil Sect then, hey hey, that’s too ridiculous for us to say."

    Dingjing Shi Tai heard him talking about irrelevant things that she became anxious and angry. She stood up and said, "Brother Zhong is talking as if the situation looks good. Let's go now!"

    "Where are you going Shi Tai?" asked Zhong Zhen.

    "Going to save people," answered Dingjing Shi Tai.

    "Where are you going to save people?" asked Zhong Zhen again.

    Dingjing Shi Tai was dumbfounded and unable to answer the question. After a moment, she said, "My disciples haven't gone missing for a long time. So of course they're still somewhere nearby. We've procrastinated for a long time now, so it's going to be more difficult to find them."

    Zhong Zhen said, "According to our intelligence, the Devil Sect people have a lair not far from Nianbapu town. It's very likely that your school's martial sisters are being held captive there. According to..."

    Dingjing Shi Tai interrupted, "Where's this lair? We'll go save them."

    Zhong Zhen slowly said, "Devil Sect would be well prepared to receive us. If we rashly go and make a mistake, then I can't say for sure that we'll be able to save them. We already know where they are. In my opinion, we should discuss this first before going to save them. This is a comparatively better plan."

    Dingjing Shi Tai couldn't stand it anymore but she still sat back down.

    She said, "I'll listen to martial brother Zhong's high opinion."

    "I've come to Fujian under martial brother's order to discuss an important matter with Shi Tai. This matter concerns the destiny of the Wulin world. It also implicates the rise and fall of our Five Mountains Sword Alliance. So this is not a small matter at all. We need to discuss this big matter first and the remaining matters like saving people will have to wait. This is how we should go about it,” said Zhong Zhen.

    "But I don't know what big matter brother Zhong is talking about?" asked Dingjing Shi Tai.

    Zhong Zhen said, "The big matter is the one that I've just raised before. The matter of combining the Five Mountains Sword Alliance into one."

    Dingjing Shi Tai suddenly stood up and her complexion turned green. She stuttered, "You.... you.... you...."

    Zhong Zhen just smiled slightly and said, "Shi Tai, please don't misunderstand. I'm not taking advantage of someone in a precarious position. I'm just compelling Shi Tai to agree to this matter."

    Dingjing Shi Tai indignantly said, "You said it yourself. If this is not taking advantage of someone in a precarious position, then what is this?"

    Zhong Zhen answered, "You're from Heng-Shan School. I'm from Songshan School. When your school is facing a problem, of course my school is also concerned. After all, this is a matter of life and death. Of course, I'm willing to help Shi Tai with all my power. But I don't know if my martial brothers and martial nephews would be willing to do so. But if the two schools have merged into one, then this problem would become our school's problem. Then they would have no more excuses."

    Dingjing Shi Tai said, "According to what you said, if my Heng-Shan School doesn't merge with your school, then you would just sit on your hand and be a spectator regarding the matter of Heng-Shan School's missing disciples?"

    Zhong Zhen said, "It can't be said like that. I've been ordered by martial brother to catch up with Shi Tai to discuss this matter. So other matters must wait before martial brother's order is completed. That’s why I don't dare to handle this matter carelessly. Shi Tai, please don't blame us."

    Dingjing Shi Tai's face had gone completely pale. She coldly said, "Poor nun can't take the responsibility for making the decision regarding the merging of our two schools. Even if I agree to this but my school's martial sisters don't agree, then everything would've been in vain."

    Zhong Zhen leaned forward and whispered, "If Shi Tai agree then Dingxian Shi Tai can't disagree. Originally, the leader of each school and each faction has always been held by the first disciple. Looking at Shi Tai's attitude, martial art, and also your position in the school, Shi Tai deserves to be the leader of Heng-Shan School...."

    Suddenly, Dingjing Shi Tai slapped the table and broke it. She fiercely retorted, "You want to sow dissension? I was the one who requested my deceased master that martial sister be the leader of our school. It was also me who persuaded martial sister Dingxian to take up the position. If Dingjing wanted to be the leader of the school then I would've done it during that time instead of using other people to incite it now."

    Zhong Zhen sighed and said, "What brother Zuo said wasn't wrong."

    "What did he say?" said Dingjing Shi Tai.

    Zhong Zhen said, "Before we went south, brother Zuo said: 'The conduct of Heng-Shan School's Dingjing Shi Tai's is too good. Her martial art is also extremely high and she's admired by everyone. But it's a pity that she always fails to see the larger issue.' I asked him why he said these words and he answered: 'I have known Dingjing Shi Tai's manner for some time; she's naturally aloof from worldly affairs and doesn't cherish unwarranted reputation. On common matters, she's happy not to pay attention to them. If you ask her about this matter of combining the five schools, then you'll certainly meet with this problem.' This matter actually concerns a lot of things. We know that we wouldn't be able to handle it by ourselves but we're still going to try. If Dingjing Shi Tai is only concerned about yourself and ignores the thousands of lives from the orthodox schools who are in danger, then the Wulin realm will fall under a disaster and there's nothing we can do."

    Dingjing Shi Tai stood up and coldly said, "You cleverly took this opportunity to say many honeyed words. But they're all completely useless to me. Songshan School has taken this path. You're not only taking advantage of someone in a precarious situation but also hitting a person when he is down."

    Zhong Zhen said, "Shi Tai, you're wrong. If Shi Tai agrees to this matter and let the people in Wulin to know about this, it will facilitate our Songshan, Heng-Shan, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan five mountains to merge together. Then Songshan School will definitely support Shi Tai to become our "Five Mountains School" leader. So you can see clearly that our brother Zuo is sincere and doesn't have any personal ambition..."

    Dingjing Shi Tai shook her hand continuously and shouted, "Say no more! My ear is already drowning in filth."

    She put her hand together and pushed them out. A noisy "peng" sound was heard as two boards were blown away by her qi. She moved quickly and in no time was already outside Xian An Inn.

    When she was out of the door, the calm wind caressed and cooled her red-hot face. She considered, "That surname Zhong said that Devil Sect has a lair near Nianbapu town. The missing school disciples must be there. I don't know how much of what he said is true and how much is false." Then she walked away undecidedly without a plan. Walking alone, she looked at her own long shadow reflected on the slab stone as the moon lowered in the sky.

    After walking for some distance, she stopped and thought, "I only have my own power to rely on. Just by myself, I won't be able to save my disciples. The old grand heroes had always been able to adjust themselves to any situation. Why didn't I just temporarily agree to that guy Zhong? After we've saved my disciples, I could immediately cut my own throat to thank them and teach him that with my death he will have no proof of the agreement. He would only be able to announce that I've eaten my own words and dirty my name. This I'm willing to bear by myself."

    She sighed thinking about this. Then she turned around and slowly walked back to Xian Xia Inn. Suddenly she heard someone shouting from the end of the long street. "Your granny, General wants to drink wine and get some sleep. Your granny, shop servants, why don't you quickly open the door?" It was just yesterday at Xianxia mountain range that she met with General Wu Tiande. When Dingjing Shi Tai heard his voice, it was like a drowning person catching a big lumber.

    Yesterday, Linghu Chong had helped Heng-Shan School escaped from danger at the top of Xianxia mountain range. Feeling proud of himself, he hurried along the road and arrived at Nianbapu town. He then quickly found a restaurant and went in. He shouted, "Bring out the wine!" When the servants saw that it was a General who had entered the shop, they didn't dare to be slow and lazy. They quickly poured the wine, cooked the rice, killed the chicken and sliced the beef. They were being very respectful towards him and were standing at attention and serving him attentively. Linghu Chong became slightly drunk after many bowls of wine. In his heart, he was thinking, "Devil Sect has suffered a great setback this time. But they probably wouldn't be resigned to it. Nineteen people are still enough to cause trouble for Heng-Shan School. Dingjing Shi Tai is foolhardy and isn't Devil Sect's match. So I must look after them in secret."

    After he had paid for his meal and wine, he went to Xian An Inn to sleep. He woke up at noon to wash his face when he suddenly heard people shouting on the street. "Huang Fengzai's people from Chaos Stone Mound are coming to Nianbapu to plunder the town. They will kill every person they meet. They will take all the money they see. Everyone quickly run away to save your life!" The shouting could be heard from everywhere.

    The servant at the inn screamed, "General, General, there's a bad thing coming!"

    Linghu Chong inquired, "Your granny, what bad thing is coming?"

    "General, Huang Fengzai's men from Chaos Stone Mound are coming. They're coming to plunder the town tonight. Everyone is escaping already," replied the servant.

    Linghu Chong opened his room's door and scolded, "Your granny, today is a sunny day. The sky is clear. How can there be robbers? General is right here. Do they still dare to plunder?"

    That servant had a bitter expression on his face. But he still answered, "Those robbers, they're fierce... they're very fierce... they... they also don't know General that you.... you are here."

    Linghu Chong said, "You go tell them then."

    The servant answered, "I... I'm only a nobody, I don't dare to go and tell them. They'll chop my head off."

    Linghu Chong said, "What kind of place is Huang Fengzai’s Chaos Stone Mound?"

    The servant answered, "I don't know what kind of place Chaos Stone Mound is. I've never heard of it before. I only know Huang Fengzai's people are very fierce. Two days ago, they plundered a town 30 li north of Nianbapu called Rongshutou. They killed sixty to seventy people and burned more than one hundred houses there. General, you... although your martial art is high, your two hands would find it difficult to fight four hands. Not counting their big leader, I heard that they have more than three hundred people."

    Linghu Chong scolded, "Your granny, so what if they have three hundred people? When General fights a battle with a thousand people and ten thousand horses, then when seven people entered the battle seven people will come out alive, eight people enter then eight people come out alive."

    The servant said, "Yes, yes" and turned around to quickly go out.

    The situation outside was already in chaos. People were calling out to each other in Zhejiang's speech but in Fujian's dialect. Linghu Chong couldn’t understand completely what was being said. He could only guess they were saying something like: "A Mao's mom, have you taken the quilt yet?" or "Da Bao, Xiao Bao, hurry up. The robbers are coming!" When he walked outside, he saw tens of people carrying bundles behind their backs and basket on their hands. They were going south to escape.

    Linghu Chong thought, "This is Zhejiang's boundary. Hangzhou and Fuzhou's Generals aren't taking care of this area causing the robbers to create chaos here and hurt the common people. My Quanzhou's big General Wu Tiande is here already so I can't just sit back and do nothing. Killing those robbers' leader would be an accomplishment. This is called feeding him good fortune and being loyal. Your granny, why not? Haha!" After his train of thoughts arrived at this conclusion, he couldn't help but laughed continuously. He called out, "Servants, bring out the wine! General wants to drink wine before killing some thieves."

    But at that moment, everyone inside from the guests to shop owner, shop owner's wife, second aunt, third aunt, as well as the shop servants, and the cooks were all going out of the inn one by one. They only slowed down a step when they heard his voice but then continued their escape, afraid of the coming robbers. Linghu Chong kept calling them but no one paid any attention to him. Linghu Chong couldn't stand it anymore so he went to the kitchen himself to fetch the wine. He then sat in the main hall and poured himself some wine. Next, he heard the sounds of chickens, dogs, horses and pigs. He guessed that the townspeople were taking these animals to escape with them. After a moment, it gradually became quieter. He drank three more bowls of wine and by then all the frightened and anxious sounds were gone. The town had become completely quiet. He thought, "Bad luck for Huang Fengzai's people. I don't know where the townspeople got the news from but when the robbers got here, they wouldn't have anything to plunder."

    He was the only remaining person now in this big town. He found the silence really strange and was feeling quite lonely. Suddenly, he heard the sound of horses galloping in the distance. There were four horses coming from the south in a rush. Linghu Chong thought, "The robbers have arrived. But how come there's only a few people?" The four horses galloped down the street making a "zheng, zheng" sound when the horseshoes hit the stone slabs on the road.

    A person shouted, "Nianbapu people, listen to Chaos Stone Mound Huang Fengzai's order. All males, females, old and young, get out of town! We won't kill you if you're outside. Everyone who stays inside will be chopped to death." They were shouting continuously while their horses galloped down the street. Linghu Chong went to the main door and opened it a crack to have a look. But the horses had gone past and he was only able to see the back of the people riding the horses. He thought, "This is not right! Looking at those people riding, it's clear they know some martial art. How can the bandits have this kind of people?" He pushed the door open and walked out. After walking for more than one hundred feet, he still couldn't see anyone around. Then he saw a scholar tree on the side of the road, its branches and leaves luxuriant. He quickly went up the tree and sat on the highest branch. There was no sound at all around him. He waited up there for a long time knowing that something was not right. Huang Fengzai's people had come a long time ago but his big group still had not come yet. Could it be that some of the robbers came here to notify the townspeople to escape?

    After he had been waiting for an hour, he faintly heard some voices. It was the chirping of females' voices. With rapt attention he heard a few sentences. From the sentences he heard, he knew that it was the Heng-Shan School's disciples. He thought, "How come they arrived here at this time? Oh, they must've spent the day resting on the mountain." He heard them knocking on the Xian An Inn's door and then went to another inn to knock on that inn's door. There was quite a bit of distance between Nan An Inn and the scholar tree, so when Heng-Shan School people entered the inn, he couldn't hear or see what they were doing in there.

    He secretly felt, "In all likelihood, this is the Devil Sect's trap to ambush Heng-Shan School people." At the moment, he was still concealed on top of the tree calmly waiting for something to happen. After waiting for a long time, he saw Yiqing and six disciples went out of the inn to light up the lamps. The whole street was now lit up by the lights from the houses' windows. After another moment, he suddenly heard the voice of a female shouting, "Help!" Linghu Chong was startled: "Aiyo, this is not good. Heng-Shan School disciples have met the Devil Sect's treachery." He immediately jumped down from the tree and went to the house where the scream came from. He looked inside the house from a crack in the window. But there was no light in there and only the pale light from the moon was coming in through the window. He saw seven or eight men standing against the wall and one female standing in the middle of the room. She shouted, "Help, help, someone's murdered!" Linghu Chong looked at the side of her face and noticed that her expression was fierce. It was obvious that they were waiting to ambush people.

    As expected, as she just finished calling out, a female disciple outside the house shouted, "Who has committed murder here?" The house's door was pushed open and seven females jumped inside; one of them was Yiqing. These seven disciples were each holding a long sword in hand thinking they were going to save someone. Suddenly that female, who shouted for help before, threw out her right hand and hurled open a roughly four square feet of green cloth. Yiqing and the other six disciples started to tremble. It looks like they were dizzy when they started to turn around in circles and dropped down.

    Linghu Chong was alarmed and he felt shocked through his heart, "That woman's green cloth must have some kind of confusion poison in it. If I go in to save them then I'll also fall in their trap. I can only wait and watch what happens for now." Those men on the wall quickly crowded around, took out some rope, and started binding Yiqing's and the other disciples' hands and feet. Not long after, another female shouted sharply from outside, "What kind of person is here?" When Linghu Chong passed through the Xianxia mountain range, he had met with this bad tempered nun and had also chatted with her. He knew that Yihe was the one out there. He thought, "You are really hot-tempered. This time, you'll become rice dumpling again (Translator's note: this means that she'll be easy picking.)." He heard Yihe shouted again, "Sister Yiqing, are you here?" and a "peng" sound was heard as she kicked the door open.

    Yihe and another disciple went forward shoulder to shoulder. As they stepped inside the house, they waved their swords around separately on their left and right sides, protecting themselves from an enemy's attack. At the same time, the other five disciples were walking backwards into the house and were also waving their swords around. When the two of the disciples got inside the house, the woman and her cohorts held their breath and stopped moving completely. Once all seven of the disciples were in the house, that woman hurled open her green cloth again and the disciples were again confused before collapsing to the ground. They were followed by Yu Sao's group which also fell into the same trap. There were now twenty-one of Heng-Shan School disciples that have lost consciousness and tied up at the corner of the house. After a while, an old man in their group made some hand signals and they quietly retreated from the house's back door.

    Linghu Chong jumped to the roof and crouched down. He was following them for a short distance when he suddenly heard sounds of flapping clothes from the house in front. The sound was coming from the roof ridge of the house. He saw ten men hand signaling to each other. They were all concealed from the street while seated on the side of the roof ridge. His current hiding place was only tens of feet away from them. Linghu Chong slid down the wall quietly when he saw Dingjing Shi Tai coming to this area leading three disciples.

    Linghu Chong thought, "This isn't good. This is using "luring the tiger leaving the mountain" tactic. Those nuns left at the Nan An Inn will be in trouble." In the distance, he saw shadows moving hurriedly towards the Nan An Inn. What he thought before had become a reality. Suddenly he heard someone whispering, "Delay that old nun from coming over, the seven of you entertain her here." This voice came from above his head so Linghu Chong couldn't move at all or he would be discovered. So he flattened his back on the wall and didn't move at all. He heard Dingjing Shi Tai kicked the door open and called out, "Yihe, Yiqing, Yu Sao, do you hear me?" Her voice travelled far and then he saw her going around the house and jumping onto the roof. But she didn't look carefully inside the house. Linghu Chong thought, "What is she doing? Why isn't she going inside the house to have a look? Once she goes in then she'll see the twenty one female disciples tied up on the ground." He realised immediately, "It's actually good that she's not going in. Those Devil Sect people are on the roof waiting for her to enter the house. Then they'll immediately surround her from four directions. That's like capturing a turtle in an urn."

    He saw Dingjing Shi Tai going here and there realising that she didn't know what to do. Suddenly, she went quickly towards Nan An Inn and those three disciples couldn't keep up with her. As that happened, a lot of people turned up from the side of the street and hurled that green cloth open. Those three disciples immediately collapsed and they were dragged inside a house. With the pale light from the moon, he could blurrily see that Yilin was among those three people. Linghu Chong quickly thought, "Should I quickly go and save little martial sister Yilin?" And another thought quickly followed, "I"m only by myself and the fight will be big. The Devil Sect has captured so many of Heng-Shan School’s people. I must be careful not to harm them while I'm taking care of the Devil Sect people. I can't fight in front of them so I must still do this in secret."

    He saw Dingjing Shi Tai came out of Nan An Inn and started to scold the Devil Sect in the middle of the street. Then she went up to the roof and started scolding Dongfang Bubai. As expected, Devil Sect people couldn't bear this anymore and seven people went up to fight her. When Linghu Chong saw this, he pondered, "Dingjing Shi Tai's sword art is refined and deep. Even one against seven, she would be able to hold them out for some time. I'll go save martial sister Yilin first."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Yilin said, "That's true."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    After he finished a pot of wine, he went to the kitchen looking for something to eat. Suddenly, he heard from somewhere far away, Yilin sharply shouting, "Martial uncle, martial uncle, where are you?" She sounded frightened.

    Linghu Chong hurriedly rushed out of the inn and followed the voice. When he got there, he saw Yilin and two young ladies standing on the street. They were calling out, "Martial uncle, master!"

    Linghu Chong asked, "What happened?"

    Yilin answered, "I went to wake martial sister Zheng and martial sister Qin. Martial uncle was concerned about the other martial sisters so she went ahead to rescue them. But when we got out, maybe... we don't know where she has gone to." Linghu Chong saw that Zheng E was around twenty one two years old while Qin Juan was even younger, looking like fifteen sixteen years old. He thought, "I haven't seen these young ladies before. What's Heng-Shan School doing sending them out to come here?"

    He smiled, "I know where they are. Come with me!"

    He walked quickly to the northeast towards the house where the disciples were captured earlier. When he arrived at the house with the broken door, he was afraid that the woman with the confusing drugs was still inside ready to ambush them. He said, "Use your handkerchiefs to cover your mouth and nose. There's a smelly granny inside who releases poison." He pinched his nose using his left hand and shut his lips tightly. Then he rushed into the house. When he reached the main hall, he was dumbfounded.

    Previously, the main hall was full of Heng-Shan School female disciples. But now, there wasn't a single trace of them. He was surprised. There was a candle lighting up the hall but the hall was totally empty. Where did they go? He searched every room in the house but found nothing unusual. He called out, "There's something strange here!"

    Yilin, Zheng E, and Qin Juan eyes were wide open looking at him, their faces full of doubt. Linghu Chong said, "Your granny, your martial sisters were right here. An old granny had poisoned them all. Then they were tied up right here. How come they're all gone now?"

    Zheng E asked, "General Wu, when you saw our martial sisters being poisoned, was it really here?"

    Linghu Chong answered, "Last night, when I was sleeping, I had a dream. I saw with my eyes many old nuns, about seven or eight of them lying right here. How can it be wrong?"

    Zheng E said, "You... you..."

    She wanted to say that it was his dream so how can it be accurate? But she knew that he liked to speak nonsense. He said that it was a dream but he probably saw it with his own eyes so she quickly corrected herself, "Where do you think they've all gone to?"

    Linghu Chong hummed deeply, "I'm not sure where we can find big fishes and big meat. I think they've all gone to have a feast. Or maybe the place where there's opera; they're watching opera."

    He moved his hands around and continued, "You three are small girls. So it's better if you stay close behind me. If you want to eat meat or watch opera, we’ll do it later."

    Although Qin Juan was still young, she knew the situation was really dangerous. Her other martial sisters had all fallen into enemy's hands. While this general blindly said some nice words, she knew they were all not true. Tens of Heng-Shan School disciples had gone out but now only the three of them remained. Except for listening to this general's order, she had no other option. She followed the general outside along with Yilin and Zheng E. Linghu Chong was talking to himself, "Could it be that I saw the wrong people in my dream last night? Tonight, I won't be able to have such a good dream again." But in his heart, he was thinking, "The other female disciples must've been moved away. But how come Dingjing Shi Tai had also disappeared? I'm afraid she might have met the enemy by herself and chased them. Hmm... It wouldn't be appropriate to leave Yilin and these two in Nianbapu town, I'd better take them along." He said, "We don't have anything to do right now. Why don't we go and look for your martial uncle and see where she's playing? What do you think?"

    Zheng E answered, "That's extremely good! General's martial art is high and your experience is vast. If General doesn't lead the three of us in looking for martial uncle then I'm afraid it would be very difficult for us to find them."

    Linghu Chong laughed, "'Martial art is high and experience is vast', you're not wrong in saying these eight words. In the future, when General hangs up his command and got a promotion and got rich, then I'll send the three of you one hundred, two hundred shining silver taels to buy clothes to wear."

    As he was talking non-stop, they've reached the edge of Nianbapu town. He then jumped onto a roof and looked at the four directions. At this time, the morning sun was already above the horizon, the white fog filled the air, and above the treetops the sky was cloudy. He gazed far but there was no one on the two main roads. Suddenly, he saw an object on the main road to the south. He couldn't see clearly what it was because of the distance. But when the whole road was empty and an item was in the middle of the street like this, then it would definitely catch the attention of your eyes. He jumped down from the roof and quickly went to where that object was. Once he got there, he picked it up. It was a female shoe. Apparently it was identical to the one Yilin was wearing. He waited for Yilin and the other two girls to arrive. He gave the shoe to Yilin and asked, "Is this your shoe? How come it's here?" Yilin received the shoe and realised it was the same type of shoe that she was wearing. She couldn't help but check her feet and saw that she was still wearing her shoes.

    Zheng E said, "This... this is the shoe that our martial sisters wear. How did it end up here?"

    Qin Juan said, "It must be one of the martial sisters who were captured by the enemy. She must've struggled here and dropped her shoe."

    Zheng E replied, "Or she deliberately left the shoe behind to let us know."

    Linghu Chong said, "Correct. Your martial art is high and your experience is vast. Should we go chase to the south or to the north?"

    Zheng E answered, "Of course to the south."

    Linghu Chong quickly started running to the south. At the beginning, the distance between him and the three girls wasn't that far. But as he went on, the distance became really far. Linghu Chong looked carefully along the road and he frequently looked back to watch the three ladies. He was afraid that he might get too far and wouldn't be able to help them if needed. So he waited for them to catch up to him before he ran again. They had gone for more than ten li in this manner when he saw that the road in front was rugged. There were a lot of trees on both sides providing a lot of places for enemies to hide in. If Yilin was captured while they were on these parts of the road, he wouldn't be able to save her. After a long time, he saw Qin Juan running towards him. Both of her cheeks were really red. He knew that she was still young and couldn't run for long distances. He decided to let them walk slowly for the moment. He said loudly, "Your granny, if we keep running that fast then General's leather boots will be worn through to the bottom. Can't let this happen. Why don't we just go slowly?" After walking for around seven to eight li, Qin Juan suddenly shouted, "Yi!" She crouched besides a shrub on the side and picked up a cap. It was the cap that Heng-Shan School's people wear.

    Zheng E said, "General, it's one of our martial sisters' cap. They must've gone through this road."

    The three girls quickly continued walking. They were going faster as they went. Linghu Chong was now behind them.

    At noon, the four of them found a restaurant on the road. The shop owner saw a general with a nun and two young girls with him. He was really surprised and repeatedly hit the sides of his head. Linghu Chong slapped the table and scolded, "Your granny, what are you looking at? You've never seen monks and nuns before?"

    That man said, "Yes, yes. I don't dare."

    Zheng E asked, "Uncle, have you seen a few nuns passing by here?"

    The man said, "I haven't seen a few nuns but I've seen one. One old Shi Tai passed by here. She was much older compared to this young Shi Tai here..."

    Linghu Chong shouted, "You talk too much! One old Shi Tai, then how could her age be younger than this little Shi Tai?"

    That man said, "Yes, yes."

    Zheng E impatiently asked, "What happened to that old Shi Tai?"

    The man answered, "That old Shi Tai hastily asked me whether I've seen a few nuns passing by this road. I said no and she just went. Ai, she's already old but she was still running really fast. She was also holding a sword in her hand. She looked like she was going to play a part in an opera."

    Qin Juan clapped her hands and said, "That must be Master. Let's go quickly and chase her."

    Linghu Chong said, "Don't rush. We'll eat first."

    The four people hastily eat their meals. Just before they left, Qin Juan bought four steamed rolls. She said she was giving it to Master to eat. Linghu Chong's heart turned sour, "She's very filial towards her master. But for me, I can't even be filial to my master."

    They chased until the sky became dark. But they had not seen a trace of either Dingjing Shi Tai or the Heng-Shan School's disciples. They kept an eye on the field with thick long grass while the street was getting narrower as they went. As they went further, the long grass was up to their waist and they weren't able to see the road anymore.

    Suddenly, they heard some sounds of fighting coming from the northwest. Linghu Chong called out, "There's some fighting going on there. Let's take a look."

    Qin Juan said, "Ai yo, maybe it's my Master?"

    Linghu Chong went to the direction of the noise. After going for several hundred feet, the surrounding area was suddenly bright. They saw tens of tall fire sticks around the area and the sounds of fighting got noisier.

    He quickened his steps as he got near to the area. Then he saw tens of people holding the fire sticks in a circle. Inside that circle was a person with her big sleeve flitting about and her long sword slashing around. It was Dingjing Shi Tai. Outside the circle were tens of people lying down on ground. With one look at their clothes, he knew that it was Heng-Shan School's female disciples. Linghu Chong saw that those people holding the fire sticks were wearing masks on their faces. He walked nearer to the circle step by step. At the moment, every person there had his attention on the fight and no one saw him coming nearer. Linghu Chong laughed loudly and shouted, "Seven against one, that's shameful."

    All those people with their faces covered were surprised to suddenly see him appear out of nowhere. They all turned their heads around to look at him. Only the seven people surrounding Dingjing Shi Tai didn't hear him and they kept on fighting. All of them were attacking her upper body. Linghu Chong saw on Dingjing Shi Tai's gown some splotches of fresh blood. He also saw blood splashed on her face. She was using her left hand to hold her sword. Obviously, her right hand had been injured.

    At this time, someone shouted, "Who are you?" As a man jumped in front of Linghu Chong with both of his hands shaped in a knife form.

    Linghu Chong shouted, "General has been going everywhere non stop but everyday I have to meet you small time thieves. Let's exchange names, General's sabre here doesn't chop nameless people."

    A man laughed, "So it's this muddled person." as he slashed his sword to chop Linghu Chong's leg off.

    Linghu Chong shouted, "Ai yo, you're really using your sabre?" His body swayed as he charged into their group with his sheathed sabre up. Seven continuous "Pa, pa, pa" was heard as seven people wrists were hit. Seven weapons fell on the ground one after another. A "ci" sound was heard as Dingjing Shi Tai's sword pierced into an enemy's chest. That person was startled as he couldn't avoid Dingjing Shi Tai's lightning fast sword. Dingjing Shi Tai swayed a few times and as her legs couldn't support her anymore, she sat on the ground.

    Qin Juan screamed, "Master, master." as she went towards her master to support her.

    One of the masked men lifted his sabre and put it on a Heng-Shan School's disciple's neck. He shouted, "Retreat three steps, if you don't do as I say, I'll kill this woman first."

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Very good, very good. If you want us to retreat, then we'll retreat. What's so strange about that? Don't say three steps, even thirty steps is ok."

    Suddenly he thrust his Yaodao sabre towards him and the point of the scabbard hit his chest. That person cried out "Ai yo" as his body flew away. Linghu Chong was dumbfounded as he didn't expect that his internal energy would be so strong. He again wielded his sheathed sabre as he hit three more masked men and shouted, "You're still not retreating? I'm going to capture you one by one and have you sent to the government here. Everyone will get thirty planks."

    The leader of those masked men saw that his martial art was high and was really amazing. He clasped his hand and said, "We respect Chief Ren’s good name. We’ll back down." He waved his left hand and shouted again, "Devil Sect's Chief Ren is here. Everyone be tactful, let's go." They lifted the corpse and the four people who were hit before. They also threw the fire sticks down and retreated towards the northwest. In a short while, they were all gone from the field. Qin Juan took out Heng-Shan School's medicine to apply to her master's wounds. While Yilin and Zheng E untied their martial sisters' hands and feet. Four disciples then took up the fire sticks and gathered around Dingjing Shi Tai. Everyone saw that her injuries were serious and all their faces had a worried expression. They all kept silent. Dingjing Shi Tai's chest was continuously going up and down. She slowly opened her eyes and asked Linghu Chong, "You... you... are really the past... Devil Sect's.... Chief Ren.... Woxing?"

    Linghu Chong shook his head, "No."

    Dingjing Shi Tai's eyes were losing its liveliness. She was expelling a lot of air but inhaling very little air. It was obvious that she was having great difficulty breathing. She gasped a few times and suddenly in a fierce voice said, "If you're Ren Woxing, even if my Heng-Shan School is defeated to the ground and be... be destroyed. Please don't... don't.." As she said till here, she couldn't draw her breath. Linghu Chong saw that her life was in danger and didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore. He said, "I'm still young, how can I be Ren Woxing?"

    Dingjing Shi Tai asked, "Then how come you know.... know that art of Essence Absorbing? You're Ren Woxing's disciple..." Linghu Chong remembered the day he was still at Huashan when Master and Master-wife mentioned Devil Sect many evils. These past two days, he had seen with his own eyes the methods that Devil Sect employed to attack Heng-Shan School. He said, "The Devil Sect has committed many evil acts. How can we still make friends with them? That Ren Woxing isn't my master. Shi Tai, don't worry. My master is a benevolent and kind man. He's heroic and upright. In Wulin, he's looked up by everyone and considered to be a senior hero. Shi Tai has many relations with him."

    Dingjing Shi Tai's face revealed a smiling expression. She said, "Then... then I won't worry anymore. I... I won't make it. I want to bother General to bring Heng-Shan School's.... disciples.... to... to... " Her breathing hurried while she talked. After a moment, she said, "Bring them to Fuzhou's Wuxiang Temple ... help them settle down, my school's martial sisters... in a few days... they would arrive."

    Linghu Chong said, "Shi Tai, don't worry. Just rest for a few days and you'll recover."

    Dingjing Shi Tai asked, "Do you agree?"

    Linghu Chong saw her two eyes looking at him full of hope and her face was hoping for him to agree. She was afraid that he might not agree to her request. He said, "I will definitely do Shi Tai's request."

    Dingjing Shi Tai smiled, "Amituofo, I've been relieved of this burden. I'm not to be admired. Young hero... who are you really?"

    Linghu Chong saw her eyes were unfocused and her breath was very shallow. Her life wasn't long anymore. He couldn't conceal it anymore from her so he put his mouth to her ear and said, "Shi Tai martial uncle, I am Huashan School's ex-disciple Linghu Chong."

    Dingjing Shi Tai let out an "ah" and said, "You.... you... Thank you, young hero," and held his hand, her eyes filled with gratitude. She couldn't draw a breath anymore and her breathing stopped. (Translator's note: this is a 3rd edition addition. I added this from Athena's post.)

    Linghu Chong called out, "Shi Tai, Shi Tai," as he checked her breath. But she had stopped breathing. He couldn't help but feel mournful. Heng-Shan School's disciples started weeping wildly. The fire sticks were dropped onto the ground and one by one, they were extinguished. All around them became really dark. Linghu Chong thought, "Dingjing Shi Tai was considered to be her generation's expert in martial art. But by accident, she had lost her life tonight in this wilderness. She was only an old nun without anyone else to help her here. Can't the Devil Sect just let her go?"

    Suddenly, he thought aloud, "When that masked men's leader went, he said: 'Devil Sect's Chief Ren is here. Everyone be tactful, let's go.' Devil Sect's real name is "Sun Moon Sect" and when they hear these two words "Devil Sect", they would feel really insulted. They often kill people who call their sect "Devil Sect". So why did this person call his own sect "Devil Sect"? Since he used the term "Devil Sect", he must not be from the Devil Sect. So, what's the real origin of this person?" He heard the disciples sorrowfully crying so he didn't disturb them. He leaned on a tree and slept.

    When he woke up in the morning, he saw a few senior disciples standing guard besides Dingjing Shi Tai's corpse while the young ladies and nuns slept beside him. Linghu Chong thought, "This General has to take these women to Fuzhou. It'll look really odd and strange, neither fish nor fowl. I also need to go to Fuzhou to look for Master and Master-wife. I don't need to lead them, just protecting them will do."

    He coughed and was just about to go when Yihe, Yiqing, Yizhi, and Yizhen quickly went and clasped their hands to him and said, "Poor nuns were rescued by Hero, thanks to Hero’s virtue and kindness. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do to repay Hero’s kindness. Martial uncle had met great misfortune and in her last breath entrusted us to Hero. We're waiting for Hero to give orders for us to follow."

    They no longer called him General as they believed that this General was a brave person. Linghu Chong said, "What hero? This is not good to hear. When you look at me, just call me General."

    Yihe looked at the other disciples and then they all nodded their heads. Linghu Chong said, "Last night I had a dream. In that dream, I saw an old granny poisoned all of you and that you were all lying down inside a big house. How did you all get here?"

    Yihe answered, "We didn't know what happened after we were poisoned and fell unconscious. They splashed cold water to wake us all up later. They released the binds on our feet and led us out from the city through a small road. We didn't stop on the road as they kept pulling us trying to hurry. When we walked a bit slow, those thieves whipped us. Even when night fell, we still didn't stop. Then martial uncle caught up with us. They surrounded her telling her to surrender...” When her narrative arrived at this point, she choked and tears started to drop again.

    Linghu Chong said, "So there's another small road besides the main one. No wonder we couldn't find any trace of you at all."

    Yiqing said, "General, our most important matter right now is to cremate martial uncle's remains. Could you please show us how to do it?"

    Linghu Chong shook his head, "General doesn't know anything about the matters of monks or nuns. It'd be like a blind person leading if you want me to guide you. The most important matter is for General to get his promotion. I'd better go!" He quickly took large strides and headed towards the north.

    The female disciples shouted, "General, General!"

    How could Linghu Chong pay attention to them? When he went around a hillside, he went up a tree. He waited up there for around four hours before he saw the Heng-Shan School disciples walked past in sorrow. He followed behind them from far away, secretly protecting them.

    When Linghu Chong arrived at an inn in a small town, he thought, "I've already clashed with the Devil Sect and Songshan School groups. This Quanzhou's General Wu Tiande must have a bit of reputation by now. Your granny, this disguise as a general isn't that good anymore." He called the inn's servant and gave him two silver taels to buy him clothes, shoes and cap to remodel his disguise. He told him that he was handling a case to catch thieves so the servant wouldn't tell anyone about what's he's doing and that if the thieves escaped to the ocean then he would come back and arrest the servant instead.

    Later, he arrived at a calm and secluded place. He pulled his fine thick beard off and took off his general's clothes, leather boots, Yaodao sabre, and the government documents. He then changed into the set the inn's servant brought him. He buried the all of the previous disguise in a big hole. From now on, he couldn't be called "General" anymore. As he finished changing into his new disguise, he felt a slight melancholy missing the General character already.

    Two days later, he bought a long sword from a weapon shop in Jianning prefecture and put it in his bundle. He again felt happy that he had no other matters. Linghu Chong then observed the Heng-Shan School's nuns entered Fuzhou's wall to enter a monestary. The board in front of the monastery said, "Wuxiang Temple". He sighed and thought, "This burden has been released from my shoulder. Although I promised Dingjing Shi Tai to bring them here, I didn't really bring them here. But they already arrived here safely so I've already fulfilled my promise."

    End of chapter 23

  5. #5
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    Apr 2006
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    Default Chapter 24 Injustice

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    Linghu Chong turned around and walked back towards the main road. He then inquired from a passer-by the direction to the Fortune Prestige Escort House. However he actually didn't feel like going there at the moment, so he just wasted some time by wondering around aimlessly on the street. He didn't know himself whether it's because he didn't dare to meet his Master and Master-Wife or it's because he didn't dare to see his martial sister and martial brother Lin's present situation. But it might also be because he didn't know what to say to them when he met them. So he looked for some distractions to keep himself busy for the moment.

    Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice, "Little Lin, are you going to drink wine with me?" Linghu Chong felt heat rising up his chest and suddenly felt dizzy. He had travelled more than a thousand li to come to Fujian just to hear this voice and to look at the owner of that voice's face. But right now, hearing that voice, he didn't dare to turn his head around to take a look. All of a sudden, he was frozen there like a statue and tears started to blur his eyes. The way she called him and the word she used to call him made him realise that his martial sister and martial brother Lin were very intimate with each other.

    He then heard Lin Pingzhi replied, "I don't have the time. I'm still not familiar with the lessons that Master taught me."

    "Those three sword moves are really easy. After we drink wine, I'll tell you the know-how. Alright?" Yue Lingshan persuaded.

    "Master and Master-Wife ordered us not to walk around in the city for the next several days so we don't get into trouble. I think we should just go home," Lin Pingzhi reasoned.

    Yue Lingshan retorted back, "Then we also can't take a stroll on the main street? I haven't seen any people from Wulin. If a grand hero from Jiang Hu comes here, we wouldn't interfere with him and he also wouldn't interfere with us. So what else is there to be afraid of?"

    As they chatted, they gradually walked further. Linghu Chong slowly turned around and saw Yue Lingshan's slender body at the left and Lin Pingzhi's tall body at the right. The two of them were walking shoulder to shoulder along the street. Yue Lingshan was wearing a lake-green gown and a jade green skirt. Lin Pingzhi was wearing a pale yellow gown. Both of their gowns were new and clean. As he looked at their backs, they looked very beautiful as a couple. Linghu Chong felt as if there was something stuck in his chest and he could barely draw his breath.

    He had been separated from Yue Lingshan for several months now. Although he had not stopped thinking of her, when he saw her today, he knew that he still loved her deeply. His hand was gripping the sword handle tightly itching to pull it out and cut his own throat. Suddenly, his vision became dark and he felt as if the sky was spinning and the ground was shifting. He sat down on the ground heavily. After a while, he composed himself and slowly stood up. He was still feeling dazed, "I shouldn't see these two ever again. What's the use being miserable when seeing them? Tonight, I'll go secretly to look for Master and Master-Wife. I'll leave them a note to tell them that Ren Woxing has reentered Jianghu and wanted to act against Huashan School and that his martial art is strangely high so they'll have to be very careful. There's also no need to leave my name on the note. Then I'll then go far to another region and won't enter the central plains ever again."

    He then returned to the inn and called for wine. After he got heavily drunk, he slept with his clothes on. When he woke up in the middle of the night, he jumped over the wall to get out and went towards the Fortune Prestige Escort House. The escort house was big and spacious so it was very easy to recognise. But he saw that all the lights inside the escort house had been extinguished and there was no sound at all coming from there. He thought, "I don't know where Master and Master-Wife are. At this time, they must be asleep already."

    Just then, he saw a black shadow moving at the top of the wall to his left. That shadow was coming out of the house and it looked to be a woman. This woman was going towards the southwest. She was using her qinggong and it looked like it was his school's qinggong. Linghu Chong used his qi and quickly gave chase. When he saw indistinctly the shape of the body from the back, he knew it was Yue Lingshan. He pondered, "Where's little martial sister going so late at night?"

    When Yue Lingshan reached the town's wall, she stopped for a second before continuing on her way. Linghu Chong felt that this was very weird. He followed her at around forty to fifty feet and he kept his steps light to keep her from hearing them. On Fuzhou's road, Yue Lingshan turned east and then west, not hesitating at all when she arrived at an intersection. It seemed that she was familiar with the path she was taking. After going for more than two li, she took a turn into a small alley when she reached the side of a stone bridge.

    Linghu Chong flew up to the top of a house and saw Yue Lingshan reaching the end of the alley. She then jumped over the wall of the big house to go inside. The house had a black door with white walls. The wall was lined with rattan trees on the top. Inside the house, there were a few windows bright with lights from the inside. Yue Lingshan walked to a side window in the east and peeped through the window. Suddenly, she made a few sharp sounds, "Zi, zi, zi". At first, Linghu Chong thought that this place was an enemy's house that she was peeping into. But when he suddenly heard her made those sharp sounds, he already guessed what she was doing. Even so, when he heard the voice of the person inside, he felt really disappointed.

    The person inside said, "Martial sister, are you trying to scare me to death? If I die then I'll become a ghost and be just like you."

    Yue Lingshan giggled, "Smelly Lin, dead Lin, are you saying I'm a ghost? Careful, I'll dig your heart out."

    "You don't need to do it. I'll do it myself and give it to you," replied Lin Pingzhi.

    Yue Lingshan laughed, "Ok. I'm going to tell mommy that you're talking to me in this kind of manner."

    Lin Pingzhi also laughed, "If Master-Wife asked when and where did I say these words to you, then how are you gonna answer?"

    "I'll say today at noon when we were practising sword moves. You didn't have the heart to practise anymore and just spent the time saying those words to me."

    "If Master-Wife got angry then she'll lock me up and I won't be able to see you for three months."

    Yue Lingshan replied, "Pei! Am I that desirable? If you don't see me then you don't see me! Hey, open the window already!"

    Lin Pingzhi pushed the window open while laughing at the same time. Yue Lingshan stepped back and went to the side of the window. Lin Pingzhi said to himself, "I thought martial sister has come just then. But there's no one outside," and slowly closed the window. Yue Lingshan quickly jumped through the window. Linghu Chong was crouching at the corner of the house and was able to hear them joking around. They were talking like there was no one else in the world. Linghu Chong wished that he hadn’t heard those words. But unfortunately for him, he heard every word very clearly.

    From the reflection on the window, it looked like that the two of them were now hugging each other as their laughter gradually quietened down. Linghu Chong lightly sighed as he dropped his head and walked away when he suddenly heard Yue Lingshan said, "It's so late, how come you still haven't slept yet? What were you doing?"

    Lin Pingzhi answered, "I was waiting for you."

    Yue Lingshan giggled, "Pei, you're not afraid losing your teeth for telling lies. How did you know I was gonna come back?"

    Lin Pingzhi explained, "The Mountain God calculated from my fluttering heart that my good martial sister would come back."

    Yue Lingshan said, "I understand from looking at this house in such a mess that you must be looking for that sword manual. Am I right?"

    Linghu Chong stopped and turned back around when he heard the words "sword manual". Then he heard Lin Pingzhi said, "I've been searching this house for the last several months. I've even turned over the roof tiles one by one. The only thing I haven't done is tear down the wall and look at the bricks. Martial sister, there's really nothing in this old house. How about we really tear the walls down and take a look?"

    Yue Lingshan answered, "This is your own Lin family's house. If you wanna tear it down or not, it's up to you. Why do you need to ask me for?"

    "That's why I must ask you first."

    "Why?"

    Lin Pingzhi reasoned, "If I don't ask you then who do I ask? In the future, won't your.... your surname... surname become mine... hng.. hng... hehe."

    Hearing this Yue Lingshan laughed and scolded him, "Smelly Lin, dead Lin, you think marrying me would be that easy, don't you?" Then "pa, pa" sounds were heard. It sounded like that she used her hand to hit him. As the two people were laughing inside the house, Linghu Chong was heartstricken outside. He really wanted to leave but that Evil Resisting Sword Manual was a matter of great importance to him.

    When Lin Pingzhi's parents died, he was the only one there and they left him a message to give to their son. It was because of this that he had now suffered a lot of blame. He had learnt Dugu Nine Swords from grand martial uncle Feng but everyone from Huashan School believed that he had deceived them and took that Evil Resisting Sword Manual for himself. Even martial sister suspected him of deceiving them. To be fair, the cause of this matter couldn't be blamed on other people. That day when he practiced sword with Master-Wife, he easily stopped her ‘Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning’. At that time, he had spent several months by himself on that cliff. Suddenly, his sword art had advanced by a lot and it wasn't the same as their school's sword art. If he didn't learn another school's sword art then how would he have improved so much? And if this sword art wasn't the Lin family's Evil Resisting sword art then what else could it be?

    He had earlier promised grand martial uncle Feng not to reveal anything about him. Thus, he couldn't say anything to argue against other people when they accused him of theft and worse. As he thought tonight, Master must have expelled him because of this although publicly it was said that he was expelled because he was colluding with people from the Devil Sect. But the other major reason must be because they believed that he had embezzled them of the Evil Resisting Sword Manual. Thinking that he had done this despicable conduct, Master wouldn't have tolerated him belonging to the Huashan School anymore. Right now he had to endure the sour taste in his heart as he heard these two people, Yue and Lin, joking around as they also talked about the sword manual. He had to endure it to wait for the truth to be revealed.

    He then heard Yue Lingshan said, "You've already been looking for several months now but still haven't found it. Of course, that sword manual isn't here. Why do you still need to tear the wall down? Big brother.... Big brother said those words to you, do you think they're real?"

    Linghu Chong ached in his heart, "She still calls me "Big brother"."

    Lin Pingzhi said, "Big brother did pass on dad's final words. He said there's an object left by my ancestor in the old house at Xiang Yang Lane and I wasn't allowed to read it. I think Big brother must have borrowed the sword manual and hasn't returned it yet..." Linghu Chong coldly smiled and thought, "You're saying this so politely and didn't say that I’ve embezzled you. You only said that I borrowed it and hasn't returned it yet. Hng, hng, you don't have to be that restrained in scolding me."

    He then heard Lin Pingzhi continued, "But the words "old house at Xiang Yang Lane" can't be made up by big brother. My dad and mum must've told him these words. Big brother and my family weren't acquainted. Also he had never been to Fuzhou so he wouldn't know that Fuzhou has several Xiang Yang Lanes. Furthermore, he wouldn't know that my ancestors' old house is at Xiang Yang Lane. Even people from Fuzhou might not know much about it."

    Yue Lingshan said, "If we consider that what your dad and mum said was true then what do we do?"

    "When big brother told me my dad's last word, he also mentioned: "don't read". That thing that I'm not allowed to read, is it a classic scripture or some accounting book? I've been thinking about it over and over, and I'm sure it has something to do with the sword manual. Martial sister, since dad's last word mentioned the old house in Xiang Yang Lane, even though the sword manual isn't here, we might still discover some kind of clue here," said Lin Pingzhi.

    "That might be a possibility. These last few days, I saw that you've been feeling pretty down. At night, you came to this place instead of staying at the escort house and sleeping. I was worried for you and that's why I came here to take a look. So during the day, you're practising sword and accompanying me while at night you're here digging a nest," said Yue Lingshan jestingly.

    Lin Pingzhi weakly smiled and sighed, "My dad and mum died miserably. When I find the sword manual, I'll be able to use it to deal with my enemies and console my dad and mum in heaven."

    Yue Lingshan said, "I don't know where big brother is right now. If only I can meet him then it'll be good because I can ask him to return the sword manual to you. He has been practising for a long time already so his sword art must be extremely high now. He should return the sword manual back to its owner. I'd say, little Lin, why don't you give up this idea and stop searching inside this old house. If you don't have this sword manual, then finish learning my dad's Divine Art of Violet Twilight then you'll get your revenge."

    Lin Pingzhi said, "Of course. But my dad and mum were tormented and died miserably. If I can use the Lin family's sword art to take revenge then it would be a real revenge which would get rid of the insult done to my dad and mum. Also, our school's Divine Art of Violet Twilight isn't easily passed down to the disciples. I was the last one to enter the school so even if Master and Master-Wife want to give me a look, martial brothers and martial sisters would refuse to accept this. They would say... would say... "

    "What would they say?" Yue Lingshan demanded.

    "They would say that you and I are not a real couple. That it's merely for me to have a look at the Divine Art of Violet Twilight and to get Master and Master-Wife's favor," explained Lin Pingzhi.

    Yue Lingshan said, "Pei! I don't care what they say, let them say whatever they want. I only need to know that your heart is real then everything's ok."

    Lin Pingzhi laughed, "How do you know that I'm real?"

    A "pai" sound was heard. But Linghu Chong didn't know whether she hit his shoulder or his back. She then spat out, "I know that your heart is false and insincere, you're heartless and cruel!"

    Lin Pingzhi laughed, "Ok, ok.... you've been here for a long time already, you should go back. I'll take you back to the escort house. If Master or Master-Wife find out then I'll be in big trouble."

    "You're getting rid of me, aren't you? I can go back by myself. I don't need you to take me back." She didn't sound pleased at all. Linghu Chong knew that she must be pouting her small mouth at this moment and looking angry. Her expression must be attractive right now.

    Lin Pingzhi said, "Master said that Devil Sect's former Chief, Ren Woxing, has reappeared in Jianghu. I also heard that he had arrived in Fujian and that this person's martial art is immeasurably deep. He's also heartless and ruthless. If when you're walking alone late at night and unfortunately meet him, then... then what would you do?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "So Master knew about this matter already. Must be because I've made such a big disturbance in Xianxia mountain range. Everyone must be saying that Ren Woxing has reappeared. How can master not heard about this news? I don't need to write that note anymore."

    Yue Lingshan said, "Hng, so if you take me back and we unfortunately meet him then you'll be able to kill or capture him?"

    Lin Pingzhi answered, "You're teasing me again. You already knew that my martial art isn't that high. Of course, I'm no match for him but I only wanna be together with you. If we were to die, then we should die together."

    Yue Lingshan softly said, "Little Lin, I didn't mean that your martial art isn't high enough. You're practising so hard that in the future, you'll surely be stronger than me. In fact if you're more familiar with the sword art right now and we fight in a real battle, I probably won’t be your match."

    Lin Pingzhi laughed lightly and said, "Only if you use your left hand then maybe we can have a competition."

    "I'll help you look around. You're already too familiar with this house so you won't notice anything strange. But maybe I'll be able to recognise something," said Yue Lingshan.

    Lin Pingzhi said, "Alright. Go have a look and see if there's something strange here."

    After that Linghu Chong heard the sound of drawers and tables being pulled. After some time, Yue Lingshan said, "Everything is so ordinary here. Is there any unusual place in this house?"

    Lin Pingzhi thought for a while and said, "Unusual place? No."

    Yue Lingshan asked, "Where's the courtyard to practise martial art?"

    Lin Pingzhi said, "We don't have a courtyard to practise martial art here. When my great grandfather opened the escort house, he moved everything and lived there. Both my grandfather and father also lived and practised their martial art in the escort house. Also, dad said the word "read", what's there to read in the courtyard?"

    Yue Lingshan said, "That's true. Let's go to your family's study room and have a look."

    Lin Pingzhi said, "We're an escort house. We have an accounting room but no study room. The accounting room is also in the escort house."

    Yue Lingshan said, "That thing is really hard to find. What's there to read in this house?"

    Lin Pingzhi said, "I've been pondering over what big brother told me. He said dad told me not to read what great grandad left me. But I think that this sentence might be the other way around, it might be that my dad was telling me to look for this thing left by my great grandad in this old house (Translator's note: the words in Chinese are rearranged to come up with the second interpretation.). But what's there to read in this house? I've been searching all over this place but I've only found my great granddad's Buddhist scriptures."

    Yue Lingshan jumped up and clapped her hands. She said, "Buddhist scriptures! That's very good. Ancestor Da Mo left sword manuals inside Buddhist scriptures. So it's not uncommon for this."

    When Linghu Chong heard what Yue Lingshan said, he got excited. He thought, "If martial brother Lin can find that sword manual inside a Buddhist scripture then it'll be good. He won't suspect me of embezzling him anymore."

    But he heard Lin Pingzhi said, "I've already thought of this. I've read not only one or two scriptures, or even eight or ten scriptures. I'm afraid I've even read more than one hundred scriptures. I've gone and bought Jingang scripture, Fahua scripture, Xin scripture, Lengqie scripture and compared them all with my great granddad's Buddhist scriptures. But not one word is different. They're all normal scriptures."

    Yue Lingshan said, "Then there's no point reading them."

    She thought deeply and suddenly said, "Have you looked in between the scriptures binding?"

    Lin Pingzhi pondered, "The binding? I haven't thought of that. Let's go take a look."

    They each took a candle and walked out of the room hand in hand going towards the back courtyard. While Linghu Chong followed them from the top of the house by looking at lights coming out of the windows. They finally arrived at a room facing the northwest. Linghu Chong followed them and went down to the courtyard. He then peeped through a crack in the window.

    Inside the room was a Buddhist hall. A water painting of Da Mo’s back was hung in the middle of the room. It was portraying the period of nine years when Da Mo meditated facing a wall. At the east side of the hall were a very old kneeling mat and a meditation table. On the table were a wooden fish, a small wooden hammer and a closed Buddhist scripture. Linghu Chong thought, "This was the place where Senior Lin established the Fortune Prestige Escort House. During those days, his name shook the world and he must have killed quite a few people. In his later years, he must have come here to confess for his killings." He then imagined a grand hero of the Jianghu, with his long white hair flying around, sitting alone in this hall, immersed in reading Buddhist scriptures while striking the wooden fish.

    Yue Lingshan picked a scripture up and said, "Let's take apart the scriptures and see if we can find this thing in the binding. If we can't find anything then we'll just patch the scriptures again. What do you think?"

    "Alright," answered Lin Pingzhi.

    He picked a scripture up and started to pull apart the book-bindings. He then spread the scripture pages around the floor to see if there's any writing on the part of the pages that were bound. While Yue Lingshan took apart another scripture and put up each page in front of the candle to see if there's anything. Linghu Chong was looking at her back but he was able to see her jade white wrist. She was still wearing that silver bracelet on her left hand. Sometimes, he was able to see the side of her face as she gave a look to Lin Pingzhi and smiled at him before going back to take the scriptures apart. He didn't know whether it was because of the candle or because her cheeks had turned red, but the side of her face looked like a ripe peach.

    Linghu Chong was standing quietly outside the window feeling sentimental while the two of them tore apart scripture after scripture. Before long, twelve scriptures were torn apart and were now on the table. Suddenly, Linghu Chong heard a sound behind his back. He quickly pulled back from the window and turned his head around. He saw the shadows of two people coming from the south side of the house. They made a hand signal before jumping down to the courtyard and noiselessly landing on the ground. The two of them then went to the window to look inside the Buddhist hall.

    After some time, he heard Yue Lingshan disappointingly said, "We've already taken apart all the scriptures. There's nothing there." She was suddenly excited and continued, "Little Lin, I think we should bring over a basin of water."

    Lin Pingzhi asked, "For what?"

    Yue Lingshan answered, "When I was small, I heard daddy told me a story about manuscripts immersed in acid. Then they would write on it and when it's dried, the letters would disappear. But when the pages were wetted, the letters would appear."

    Linghu Chong's heart turned sour as he remembered the time his Master told this story. Yue Lingshan was only eight or nine years old and he was only around seventeen or eighteen years old. Remembering those past days, the memories bubbled over in his heart. He remembered that day when he went with her to catch crickets. He took the biggest and strongest cricket and gave it to her. But her cricket still lost to his in a fight, so she wept incessantly while he tried to comfort her for a long time. Finally, he was able to comfort her before the two of them went to Master to ask him for a story. Remembering these events, tears started to bubble up in his eyes.

    Then he heard Lin Pingzhi said, "Right, no harm in trying." As he turned around to go out, Yue Lingshan said, "I'll go with you." The two of them went out hand in hand. Those two people hiding beneath the window were holding their breath and remaining still. After some time, Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan came back to the Buddhist hall with a basin of water. They then soaked seven or eight pages of the scriptures in the basin. Lin Pingzhi couldn't wait anymore and took out a page out of the water and held it up against the candle's light. But there was no new letter appearing on the page. The two of them had tried more than twenty pages but there was still no clue at all. Lin Pingzhi said, "We don't need to test anymore. There's no letters appearing on these pages." After Lin Pinghzhi said these words, those two people hiding beneath the window quietly moved to the door and pushed it open. Lin Pingzhi asked, "Who's there?"

    The two people rushed in, moving like the wind. Lin Pingzhi lifted his hand ready to fight as one person attacked the side of his body. Yue Lingshan already pulled half her sword out when the enemy's two fingers were thrust towards her eyes. She quickly let go of her sword handle and swept her hand up to block the attack. Without missing a beat, that person changed the direction of his attack and was now stabbing towards her throat. Yue Lingshan was astonished and retreated two steps when she hit the side of the meditation table and couldn't go back anymore. That person immediately lifted his left hand and chopped down on her head. Yue Lingshan raised her two palms to block the attack but unexpectedly this attack was a fake as that person stabbed an acupoint on Yue Lingshan's waist with his right hand. She leaned on the table unable to move.

    Linghu Chong saw everything that went on in that room and at the moment wasn't worried about their lives. He was thinking that there was no hurry to save them. Furthermore, he wasn't sure of the background of these enemies. Also, the enemies were looking around the hall right now. One took the kneeling mat and tore it in two. While the other one smashed the wooden fish into seven or eight pieces. Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan were unable to talk or move when they saw these two people tearing the kneeling mat and smashing the wooden fish. It was obvious that they were looking for the Evil Resisting Sword Manual. They both thought the same thing, "How come we didn't think that the sword manual might be in the kneeling mat or the wooden fish." But there was nothing inside the mat or the wooden fish and they both felt happy.

    The two intruders were around fifty years old. One was bald and the other one was full of white hair. Those two people moved really fast and before long all the objects on the table were broken to pieces already. They then turned their attention to the portrait of Da Mo. That bald old man extended his hand to grab the portrait but the white-haired old man extended his hand to block it and shouted, "Wait, look at where his finger is pointing to!" Linghu Chong, Lin Pingzhi, and Yue Lingshan immediately looked at the painting. They saw Da Mo's left hand was behind his back holding a sword manual and his right hand was pointing towards the roof.

    The bald old man asked, "What's so strange about his fingers?"

    The white-haired old man answered, "I don't know! Let's have a look first." He jumped straight up and aimed his two palms at the roof where the portrait of Da Mo was pointing. With a crash, dust and bits of roof tiles started to rain down.

    The bald old man asked, "What's there.... " He only said these two words when a red Buddhist robe floated down from the hole in the roof.

    The white-haired old man extended his hand and grabbed the robe. He then took a look at it under the candle's light. He said, "It's... it's here." He was overjoyed and his voice was trembling. The bald old man asked, "What?" The white-haired old man said, "Look at it yourself."

    Linghu Chong squinted his eyes and saw that there were many small words written on the Buddhist robe. The bald old man said, "Could this be the Evil Resisting Sword Manual?" The white-haired old man said, "Most likely this is the sword manual. Haha, we two brothers have done this great service tonight. Brother, put it away." The bald old man was so happy that his mouth was open as he folded the robe and put it in his bosom. He pointed at Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan with his left hand and asked, "Shall we kill them?" Linghu Chong gripped his sword handle waiting for the white-haired old man to reveal his murderous intention before rushing in there and killing these two old men. Who would have thought that the white-haired old man would say, "We already have the sword manual. Let's not pick a fight with Huashan School. Let them go." The two people then walked out of the Buddhist hall and jumped out over the wall.

    Linghu Chong immediately jumped over the wall to follow them and saw that those two old men were extremely quick with their footsteps. Linghu Chong was afraid to lose those two in the dark so he quickened his steps but still kept a distance of twenty feet between them. The two old men went even faster but Linghu Chong kept up with them. Suddenly, they stopped and turned around. Linghu Chong saw a sudden flash of light and felt his right shoulder and right arm hurting. Unexpectedly, his shoulder and arm had already been slashed by their sabres. These two men suddenly stopping, suddenly turning around and suddenly slashing their sabres out were like that of thunder suddenly striking down.

    Although Linghu Chong's internal energy was deep and his sword art was brilliant, he was still inferior to first-class fighters by a big level when faced with sudden changes in the battlefield or encountering strange and unusual enemies' skills. The enemies' attacks were so fast that it didn't even need mentioning that he didn't manage to use his sword to fight back. He didn't even have enough time to reach his sword handle before he got heavily injured.

    The sabre art of the two old men were very fast as they quickly followed with a second slash. Linghu Chong was startled and hastily jumped back. Fortunately, his internal energy was deep which allowed him to jump back for twenty feet with one leap. He then jumped back again for another twenty feet. These two old men saw that he had been heavily injured but he was still able to jump really fast and far. They were alarmed but they still rushed forward. Linghu Chong quickly turned around and ran away.

    Initially, his injured shoulder and arm didn't hurt that much. But now, the pain was so severe that he felt like fainting. He thought, "These two people have stolen the Buddhist robe with the Evil Resisting Sword Manual written on it. I need it to right this injustice I'm being blamed for. I must take it back and return it to martial brother Lin." He endured the pain on his arm and shoulder as he extended his hand to grip his sword handle. As he pulled the long sword out, it stopped halfway. Unexpectedly, his injured right hand was unable to pull the sword out any further. His right hand had no more energy. He then heard the sound of the wind at the back of his head as the enemies' sabres were chopping down on his head. Linghu Chong gathered his qi and quickly leaped forward while his left hand forcibly pulled on his belt tearing it. He then gripped his sword with his left hand and shook it free from the scabbard. When he felt the cold air rushing towards him again, he turned around and saw the two sabres chopping down.

    He leaped back another step. The sky would get brighter soon, but at the moment it was the darkest time just before dawn. Besides the flashes of the sabres, he could see nothing else. When he learned the Dugu Nine Swords, he needed to look at the weakness of the enemy's moves and attack that point. But right now, he wasn't able to see the enemies' movements so he couldn't use his sword art at all. Just then, he felt his left arm also hurt as an enemy's sabre scratched it. He rushed towards a long street with his left hand gripping the sword and pressing down on the injury on his right shoulder to stem the blood from flowing down to the ground.

    As the two people chased him, they saw that his steps were really quick that they wouldn't be able to chase him down. Thinking that it was good already that they had grabbed the sword manual, they didn't want to linger anymore so they stopped chasing. They turned around and went away. Linghu Chong shouted, "Hey, bold thieves, you wanna run after stealing?" and turned around to chase. This angered the two people that they also turned around and wielded their sabres to chop him. Linghu Chong didn't want to cross swords with them so he quickly turned around and ran away again. He secretly prayed, "Someone please pass by carrying a lamp." After running for several steps, he thought of an idea. He quickly jumped onto a roof and looked around. He spotted a house at his left with the light from the window lighting up the area around it. He quickly went to that lighted area. But those two old men had again stopped chasing.

    Linghu Chong stooped down, grabbed two roof tiles, and threw it towards them. He shouted, "You've robbed Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Manual! One bald, one white-haired, you want to escape to the end of the world but Wulin's heroes will capture both of you and cut your corpses into pieces." Those two roof tiles broke as they hit the slab stones on the street.

    When the two old men heard him mention the "Evil Resisting Sword Manual", they quickly jumped onto the roof to give chase. Linghu Chong felt his legs becoming weaker and losing his strength. Fiercely, he drew a breath and ran to the lighted area at top speed. Suddenly, he staggered and fell on the ground below. However, he quickly somersaulted using the "Carp’s Leap" move and landed on his feet. Then he leaned back against the wall.

    The two old men lightly jumped down and approached him separately from his left and right. The bald old man smiling fiercely said, "I've given you one life but you didn't wanna go." Linghu Chong saw his baldhead was shining like a crystal. His heart shivered, "So it's dawn already." He laughed, "Which house or school are you from? Why do you want to kill me?"

    The white-haired old man lifted his sabre and slashed it down to split his head in two. Linghu Chong threw his sword into his right hand and lightly pierced his throat. That bald old man was startled and quickly brandished his sabre as he rushed forward. Linghu Chong slashed his sword towards the hand carrying the sabre and cut his wrist off. Then he pointed the sword at his throat and said, "Tell me who you two really are and I'll let you live." The bald old man laughed. Looking mournful, he said, "We brothers have rarely met a match when running amuck in Jianghu. Today, I'll die under your honor's sword. Really admirable. But I don't know your honor's name. I'll die… die with regrets."

    Linghu Chong saw that although he had lost a hand, he was still unafraid. He respected him deeply for this so he said, "I was forced to defend myself, actually I'm not acquainted with you two at all. Handless man, I'm sorry. Sir, please give me the Buddhist robe. Then we don't have to keep going."

    That bald old man said, "How can Bald Eagle surrender?" and with a flash of his left hand, he pierced his own heart with a dagger.

    Linghu Chong thought, "This person rather die than surrender. What a unique character!"

    He then stooped down to take out that Buddhist robe but he felt dizzy and knew that he had lost a lot of blood. He ripped his gown and carelessly struggled to tie his injured shoulder and arm with the cloth. Only then did he take out the Buddhist robe from the bosom of that bald old man. He then felt dizzy again and immediately took a few deep breaths. The sky was brighter now and he was able to recognise the road. He then walked back towards Lin Pingzhi's old house on Xiang Yang Lane.

    After walking for a couple hundred feet, he felt he couldn't support himself anymore. He thought, "If I fall down now, I won't be able to protect my name but after I am dead, everyone will think that I did steal the Evil Resisting Sword Manual. With that thing on my body, if I die now my name will be like dirt." So he gathered his energy to continue walking and finally arrived at Xiang Yang Lane. But the Lin family house's main door was closed. Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan had been knocked out by those people so there was no one to open the door. He wanted to jump over the wall but he had no more energy left. He knocked on the door a few times before kicking the door.

    But his kick wasn't able to open the big door. Strained to the utmost at this point, he staggered and passed out. When he woke up, he felt that he was lying on a bed. He opened his eyes and saw the Yue Buqun couple in front of the bed. Linghu Chong was overjoyed and called out, "Master, Master-Wife... I.... I...." He was really excited and tears started to drop. He struggled to sit up. Yue Buqun didn't answer but asked, "What matter do you have here?" Linghu Chong said, "Little martial sister? Is... Is she ok?" Madam Yue answered, "She's fine! How... how come you're in Fuzhou?" Her voice was full of concern and her eyes were red already.

    "Martial brother Lin's Evil Resisting Sword Manual was stolen by two old men. I killed those two people and brought it back. Those two... those two people are likely good fighters from the Devil Sect," Linghu Chong explained and reached inside his bosom but that Buddhist robe was gone.

    He quickly asked, "Where... where's that Buddhist robe?"

    "What's that?" Madam Yue asked.

    "There were words written on that Buddhist robe. It was most likely the Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Manual."

    "If that's Pingzhi's then he should be the one taking care of it," Madam Yue said.

    "Yes. Master-Wife, are you and Master well? Martial brothers and sisters are all well?"

    Madam Yue used her sleeve to wipe her teary eyes before saying, "Everyone's fine."

    "How did I end up here? Did Master and Master-Wife rescue me?" Linghu Chong queried.

    "When I arrived at Pingzhi's old house this morning, I saw you passed out on the ground," Madam Yue explained.

    Linghu Chong groaned, "Lucky that Master-Wife found me. Otherwise, if the Devil Sect's people found me first, I'd have been dead."

    He knew that Master-Wife came to Xiang Yang Lane to look for her daughter when she didn't see her early in the morning. It was just that it was awkward to mention it right now.

    "You said you killed two evil people from the Devil Sect. How did you know they're from the Devil Sect?" Yue Buqun wondered.

    Linghu Chong answered, "When disciple was going south, I've run across many Devil Sect's people on the road. I've also fought with them a few times already. These two people's martial arts were weird. They're definitely not from our orthodox schools." Secretly he was feeling happy, "I've returned martial brother Lin's Evil Resisting Sword Manual. Master, Master-Wife, and little martial sister wouldn't suspect me anymore. Also, since I've killed those two Devil Sect's evils, Master wouldn't blame me for colluding with the Devil Sect anymore."

    Who would have thought that Yue Buqun's complexion would turn pale on hearing Linghu Chong's reply. He snorted and scolded, "You're still talking nonsense! Do you think I can be deceived that easily?"

    Linghu Chong was alarmed and quickly said, "Disciple doesn't dare to fool Master."

    Yue Buqun's voice quaked, "Who's your master? I've already disowned you as my disciple."

    Linghu Chong quickly got up from the bed and kneeled down on the ground. He kowtowed, "Disciple has done many wrong things, I'm willing to receive punishments from Master. But... but my expulsion from the school, I request Master to take me back."

    Yue Buqun moved aside not receiving his kowtow. He then coldly said, "The daughter of Devil Sect's Chief Ren already favors you and you’ve also been cooperating with them for a long time already. Why do you still need me as your master?"

    Linghu Chong was confused, "Daughter of Devil Sect's Chief Ren? Master, I don't know what you're saying? Although I've heard of that Ren... Ren Woxing's daughter, I've never met her before."

    Madam Yue rebuked him lightly, "Chong'er, even now, why are you still telling lies?" She sighed and continued, "That lady Ren gathered those evil people of Jianghu at the top of Five-Tyrant Ridge to give you medications. That day, didn't we go..."

    Linghu Chong was greatly astonished. His voice was trembling as he said, "That lady on the Five-Tyrant Ridge, she's... she's... Yingying... she's Chief Ren's daughter?"

    "Get up before speaking," Madam Yue requested.

    Linghu Chong slowly stood up. His heart was at a loss and he kept on mumbling, "She's... she's Chief Ren's daughter? How... how can this be?"

    Madam Yue was angry and she wasn't pleased at all, "Why are you still telling lies to Master and Master-Wife?"

    Yue Buqun indignantly said, "Who's his master or Master-Wife?" He extended his hand and hit the table repeatedly. With each hit, a piece of the table broke away.

    Linghu Chong was frightened, "Disciple doesn't dare lie to Master and Master-Wife... "

    Yue Buqun fiercely said, "I have eyes but I couldn't see and had accepted such a shameless child as a disciple. I'm very ashamed to face the heroes of the realm. You want to dirty my name, don't you? If you ever call us "Master, Master-Wife" again, then I'll kill you right now." He was extremely angry and his face was turning purple readying his qi.

    Linghu Chong answered, "Yes!" as he put his hand on the edge of the bed to support himself. His face was pale and his body was shaking violently. "They did give me some treatments on that ridge. But... but they never told me that she... she was Chief Ren's daughter."

    Madam Yue said, "You're bright and clever, you're also very alert, how could you not have figured it out? She's only a very young lady, but with only one word from her, she could control all those evil people. Every one of them struggled to be on that ridge only to give some kind of treatment for you. Besides the daughter of Devil Sect's Chief Ren, who else has such a big reputation?"

    "Disc... I... I thought she was only an old granny at that time," Linghu Chong explained.

    "She was disguising herself?" Madam Yue asked.

    "She didn't. It's just... it's just that I've never seen her face before," Linghu Chong said.

    Yue Buqun uttered a laugh but there was no sign of laughter on his face. Madam Yue sighed, "Chong'er, you're already grown up. Your character has also changed. You're not taking the words that I just said into your heart."

    Linghu Chong said, "Master... Master... the words that you said, I... I... " What he wanted to say was: "The words that you said, I wouldn't dare to violate." Master and Master-Wife had repeatedly told him not to make friends with people from Devil Sect. But with the connection he had with Yingying, Xiang Wentian, and Ren Woxing, how can they just merely be called "friends"?

    Madam Yue continued, "That daughter of Chief Ren was so nice to you so she gathered so many people to treat your illness. Because of that you were able to live. So maybe this is excusable..."

    Yue Buqun indignantly said, "What do you mean excusable? Are you allowed to stop at nothing just to live?" He usually treated Madam Yue very courteously as if she was an honored guest. But today, he had repeatedly spoken to her in a fierce manner and had also cut her off in the middle of her sentence. It was obvious that he was in an uncontrollable rage. Madam Yue understood her husband's mood so she didn't consult with him before continuing, "But why were you together with one of the Devil Sect elders, Xiang Wentian, and killed many of our orthodox school's people? Both of your hands are stained with their blood, you... you quickly get out of here!"

    Linghu Chong's back was drenched with cold sweat as he remembered that day on Liang Pavillion. He was welcoming the enemies together with Xiang Wentian and many people from the orthodox schools died under his hand. But at that time the fight was very dangerous so if he didn't kill them, he would have been the one to get killed. There was really nothing he could do differently at all. But these blood debts would forever be on his hands.

    Madam Yue said, "Below the Five-Tyrant Ridge, you joined hands with that Devil Sect's young Lady Ren again to kill a few Shaolin and Kunlun Schools' disciples. Chong'er, I've long regarded you as my own son but these things that have happened so far, your... your Master-Wife is powerless to protect you anymore." As she said this, two teardrops fell on her cheeks.

    Linghu Chong bleakly said, "Son has really done some unpardonable wrongs. But I’m responsible for what I did; I cannot let Huashan School's reputation to be covered in dirt. I request you, two honourable, to open a court of law and invite every house and every school to come and witness my execution according to Huashan School's rules."

    Yue Buqun sighed, "Master Linghu, if you were still my Huashan School's disciple today, then this might work. Your death would have protected Huashan School's reputation as you would have still been my disciple. But I've already announced to the whole realm about your expulsion from the school. Hereafter, what do your actions have to do with my Huashan School? Also, what position do I have to put you in your place? Hey, hey, the just and evil cannot coexist together. Next time when you're doing evil things, if I bump into you at that time, then I would definitely kill you. I can’t just let you do whatever you want."

    When he spoke until here, someone called out from the outside, "Master, Master-Wife." It was Lao Denuo.

    Yue Buqun asked, "What is it?"

    "There are people outside paying a visit to Master and Master-Wife. He said he's Songshan School's Zhong Zhen. His two martial brothers are also here," Lao Denuo answered.

    Yue Buqun said, "Nine Bent Sword Zhong Zhen, he's also in Fujian? I'll come out straight away," and he made his way outside.

    Madam Yue looked at Linghu Chong, her eyes were brimming with tears and it looked like she was asking him to wait here. She turned her head again looking like she had something to say before going out of the room.

    Linghu Chong had long regarded Master-Wife as his own mother. He felt extremely remorseful seeing her tender affection towards him. He considered, "I can blame my unrestrained behaviour for a lot of things that have happened. I didn't distinguish "right and wrong" and "good and evil" clearly. Brother Xiang is evidently not a noble person. Why didn't I find out clearly before helping him fight? If I die now, it's no big deal. But not only it would make Master and Master-Wife lose face in front of Wulin’s heroes, all the other martial brothers and martial sisters would also lose their faces because people would say Huashan School has produced such an unworthy disciple." He thought more, "So Yingying is Chief Ren's daughter. No wonder Old Man and Zu Qianqiu were so respectful towards her. She thoughtlessly said a word and all those Jianghu heroes were banished to the East China Sea’s Huang Island and wouldn't be able to come back to the central plains ever again. Ai, I should have realised it earlier. In Wulin, besides a leader of the Devil Sect, who else has such power? But when she was with me, she was coy and bashful, she was even more so compared to little martial sister. Who would have expected that she would be a head of the Devil Sect? But Chief Ren was imprisoned by Dongfang Bubai at the bottom of the West Lake. How did his daughter get so much power?"

    His mind was like a tide, going up and down indeterminately. Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching and a person entered the room quickly. It was the person he had been thinking of day and night. The person whom he had borne in his mind all the time; it was his little martial sister. Linghu Chong called out, "Little martial sister! You... " He was at a loss for words.

    Yue Lingshan said, "Big martial brother, quickly... quickly get out of here. Songshan School's people are looking for you." She was very anxious as she was telling him this. But when Linghu Chong saw her, all the matters that were in his mind were all forgotten. What Songshan School? He didn't even hear what she said. All sorts of emotions were bubbling inside of him as he was looking at her. Sweet, sour, bitter, hot, and all sort of other tastes were rushing forth in his mind.

    Yue Lingshan saw him staring at her. Her face turned red as she said, "It's someone surnamed Zhong, he brought two of his martial brothers here. He said that you killed some Songshan School's people and he had chased you till here."

    Linghu Chong was dumbfounded and was at a loss, "I killed some people from the Songshan School? I didn't..."

    Suddenly, the door to the room banged open and Yue Buqun walked in. He was angry and said fiercely, "Linghu Chong, you've done very well! You've killed Songshan School's seniors but you tried to deceive me by saying that they were Devil Sect's villains."

    "Disc... I... I killed Songshan School's seniors? I... I didn't..." Linghu Chong stammered.

    " 'White Hair Immortal' Bu Chen, 'Bald Eagle' Sha Tianjiang, didn't you kill these two people?" Yue Buqun asked indignantly.

    When Linghu Chong heard the nicknames of these two people, he recalled what that bald old man, who committed suicide, said before he died: "How can Bald Eagle surrender?" Then the other person must be 'White Hair Immortal’ Bu Chen. "One white-haired old man and one bald old man, I killed those two people. But... but I didn't know they were from Songshan School. Since they were using sabres, it's definitely not Songshan School's martial art."

    "So you killed these two people?" Yue Buqun looked stern as he asked this question again.

    "Yes," Linghu Chong answered.

    "Dad, those white-haired old man and bald old man... " Yue Lingshan pleaded.

    Yue Buqun cut her off, "Get out! Who asked you to come in? Do I want you to interfere while I'm talking here?"

    Yue Lingshan could only drop her head and slowly walked out of the room.

    Linghu Chong felt miserable and happy at the same time, "Although martial sister and martial brother Lin are on good terms, she still considered me as a friend. She bravely rebuked her father. And before, she alerted me to quickly run away to avoid disaster."

    Yue Buqun laughed coldly, "Do you know all the martial arts of the Five Mountains Sword Schools? These two people, Bu and Sha, came from Songshan School. Since you absolutely have no rules or regulations whatsoever; I don't know what kind of despicable method you used to kill them. But Songshan School tracked the traces of blood all the way back to Pingzhi's old house at Xiang Yang Lane. They then investigated further and traced the clues to here. Now, martial brother Zhong from Songshan School is outside as my guest. Do you have anything else to say?"

    Madam Yue walked into the room and said, "They never saw Chong'er killing the two people. They were only relying on the trail of blood. How can they be sure that it was done by someone inside the escort house? Why don't we just tell them that we don't know anything?"

    Yue Buqun indignantly retorted, "Martial sister, even until now, you still want to protect this "stop at no evil" good-for-nothing kid? I'm the leader of Huashan School. How can I tell lies just because of this animal? You... You... how can we do that? We mustn't bring ruin and shame upon ourselves."

    For the past several years, Linghu Chong had always known that Master and Master-Wife went from martial brother and sister to husband and wife. If he could be like that for one day with little martial sister, then he'll be satisfied and would have no other wish in this life. But when he saw Master talking so fiercely to Master-Wife, he suddenly thought, "If little martial sister were my wife, I'll do whatever she wants me to do. I'll do it if it was a good thing. I'll still do it if it was a bad thing. I'd never brush away her idea in the slightest bit. Even if she wanted me to do ten really evil things, I'd do it in a heartbeat." Yue Buqun suddenly saw Linghu Chong's expression becoming tender and soft with a hint of a smile. Linghu Chong's eyes shone passionately as he thought of that girl standing outside the room. Yue Buqun lashed out "Little animal, what kind of evil plan are you cooking up now?"

    Yue Buqun's loud shout woke Linghu Chong up abruptly from his flights of fancy. When he looked up, he saw that his master's face had turned purple and he had his hand raised ready to strike his head. Suddenly, the feeling of joy washed over him as he felt ready to give up all the bitter things that had happened to him. Today, under his Master's hand, he would die happily and be freed. His heart yearned for death especially with little martial sister besides him to see him get killed by her own father.

    Gazing at Yue Lingshan, he smiled slightly and waited for his Master's palm to strike down. He heard the wind whistle as Yue Buqun's palm descended. But suddenly, Madam Yue cried out, "No! You can't!" as her finger stabbed towards her husband's "Yu Zhen" acupoint at the back of his head. The two of them had been practising their martial arts together since they were small and were both very familiar with each other's skills. This acupoint that Madam Yue was attacking was a fatal point so Yue Buqun automatically turned around to block the strike while Madam Yue quickly put herself in front of Linghu Chong.

    Yue Buqun's faced turned pale and indignantly asked, "What... what are you doing?"

    "Chong'er, quickly go! Go!" Madam Yue hurriedly urged.

    Linghu Chong shook his head, "I'm not going. If Master wants to kill me then he can kill me. I deserve this punishment for my sins."

    Madam Yue stamped her foot and insisted further, "Now that I'm here, he can't kill you. Quickly go, go really far and never come back."

    Yue Buqun snorted, "Hng, if he goes then what do we tell those three people from Songshan School waiting outside?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "So Master is worried that he might not be able to deal with Zhong Zhen and his brothers. I should go and meet them in his place." Deciding this, he declared, "Alright, I'll go meet them." and went out of the room in big strides.

    Madam Yue pleaded after him, "You cannot go. They'll kill you."

    But Linghu Chong kept on walking very fast and in no time at all, he arrived at the main hall.

    Sure enough, he saw Nine Bent Sword Zhong Zhen, Divine Whip Deng Bagong, and Bright-Haired Lion Gao Kexin sitting on the guest seats. Linghu Chong went and took a seat opposite to them. He coldly questioned, "You three, what are you doing here?"

    At this moment, wearing the clothes of a servant and having no fake beards attached to his face, Linghu Chong looked completely different from the General they had met that night. When Zhong Zhen and his brothers saw this wretched looking and blood-stained young servant being rude to them as soon as he had entered the room, they all became angry.

    Gao Kexin shouted, "What kind of thing* are you?"

    Linghu Chong laughed, "You three people, what kind of north south* are you?"

    (*Translator's note: Gao Kexin said "Dong Xi" which literally means "east west". But these two words together means "object".)

    Gao Kexin was startled and wondered, "How can it be called "north south"?" But he decided that it was just badly spoken. Indignantly he demanded, "Go and get Mr. Yue out here! Do you think you are good enough to talk to us?"

    In the mean time, Yue Buqun, Madam Yue, Yue Lingshan, and the multitudes of Huashan School's disciples had arrived by the screen door outside the hall. They all heard how Linghu Chong answered Gao Kexin's question. When Yue Lingshan heard Linghu Chong asking "You three people, what kind of north south are you?", she thought it was very funny even though her big martial brother was being rude. But she knew that because big martial brother had killed people from Songshan School, these three masters and big martial brother would definitely have to fight later and the fight would unavoidably be fierce. Father and mother would be unable to help big martial brother and she didn't know what to do herself. Her heart was so filled with anxiety that she didn't laugh at the joke.

    Linghu Chong taunted, "Who's Mr. Yue? Ah, you mean the Huashan School's leader. I came here looking for him. Songshan School has two unworthy disciples, one is called White-Haired Monster Bu Chen, and the other one is Bald Owl Sha Tianjiang. I killed both of them already. But I heard Songshan School has three more chaps hiding in the Fortune Prestige Escort House. I came to ask Mr. Yue to hand over these people to me but he didn't consent. This irritates me, really irritates me!"

    He continued by shouting loudly, "Mr. Yue, there are three idiots here from Songshan School. There's one called Soft Sword Zhong Zhen, another one called Little Ghost Deng Bagong, and the other one called Scabies Skin Cat Gao Kexin. Please quickly bring them out here. I have debts to collect from them. You want to protect them? That won't do! You Five Mountains Sword Schools have the same root but different branches. How can I settle this debt?"

    When Yue Buqun and the rest of the people heard his taunts, they weren't shocked at all. They all knew that he was saying all this to let everyone know that Huashan School had nothing to do with him. These three people from the Songshan School had been famous for a long time already, especially the Nine Bent Sword Zhong Zhen. It was obvious to the people outside that Linghu Chong knew the backgrounds of the Songshan School's people already. It was no small matter when Linghu Chong defeated Feng Buping from the sword sect and blinded the eyes of fifteen swordsmen. But at the moment, he was heavily injured and he might not even be able to stand up. They were perplexed as to why was he so daring as to rashly challenge three master-hands?

    Gao Kexin was so angry that he jumped up and drew the sword out of his scabbard. As he was about to stab his sword towards Linghu Chong, Zhong Zhen held up his hand to stop him. He then asked Linghu Chong, "What's your honour’s name?"

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Haha, I recognise you but you don't recognise me. Your Songshan School wants to combine the Five Mountains Sword Schools into one by taking over the other four schools. You three "north south" came to Fujian to steal the Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Manual and to kill important people from the Huashan and Heng-Shan School. All these plots of yours; I already know all about them. Haha, very funny, very funny!"

    When Yue Buqun and Madam Yue saw what was happening, they both thought, "Why is he unnecessarily saying all these nonsensical talk?"

    Zhong Zhen was surprised, "Which school is your honour from?"

    Linghu Chong answered, "Big temple didn't want to accept me, small temple also didn't want to accept me. I'm a masterless lonely soul wandering alone on wild mountains and plains. I won't bother with your Songshan School's business. You don't need to worry. Haha, haha." His laughter sounded miserable.

    Zhong Zhen said, "Your honour is not from Huashan School so we cannot disturb Mr. Yue anymore. Why don't we go outside to talk?" These words were said softly but his eyes were fierce and were full of murderous intent. At this point, Zhong Zhen had already decided to kill Linghu Chong. But he was slightly afraid of Yue Buqun so he didn't dare to draw his sword to kill him inside the Fortune Prestige Escort House. Hence, he wanted to lead Linghu Chong out of the escort house first before making his move.

    This was just what Linghu Chong wanted. Before he went out, he shouted, "Mr. Yue, from now on you must protect yourself better. Devil Sect's Chief Ren Woxing has reappeared. This person can absorb other people's internal energy by using his Art of Essence Absorbing. He said that he wanted to give some trouble to the Huashan School. There's also the matter of Songshan School wanting to swallow up Huashan School. You're an honourable man while other people are heartless and cruel so you must protect yourself." He came to Fuzhou because he wanted to tell his Master these words. After he finished speaking, he took large steps and went out of the house. Zhong Zhen and his martial brothers followed him out.

    Just as Linghu Chong was stepping out of the escort house, he saw a group of nuns and women standing outside the main door. They were the female disciples from Heng-Shan School. Yihe and Zheng E were walking in front of the group holding a visit box.

    (Translator's note: A visit box is a wooden box containing the visitor's calling card which is given to the host's servants at the gate to be presented to the host.)

    It seemed that they had just arrived to pay a visit to Yue Buqun and Madam Yue. Linghu Chong was startled and he hastily turned his head around not wanting to meet them but Yihe and the other disciples had already seen him. But it was good that Yilin was right at the back of the group and didn't manage to see his appearance.

    As soon as Zhong Zhen and his two martial brothers stepped out of the door, Yihe and Zheng E recognised them. Startled, they stopped where they were. Linghu Chong thought, "Heng-Shan School's disciples already know that my Master is here so they came here to visit. There's my Master and Master-Wife to tend to them here so they won't suffer a loss." He didn't want to meet Yilin so he slipped away to the side wanting to get away.

    Simultaneously, Zhong Zhen, Deng Bagong, and Gao Kexin drew their swords out and jumped in front of him and shouted, "You want to run away?"

    Linghu Chong laughed, "I don't have any weapon. How do I fight?"

    At this time, Yue Buqun, Madam Yue and the rest of the Huashan School's disciples had arrived at the door wanting to see how Linghu Chong would cope with Zhong Zhen and his two martial brothers. Yue Lingshan pulled her sword out of the scabbard and shouted, "Big...” intending to toss the sword to him. But Yue Buqun extended his left hand and used two fingers to hit the top of her sword shaking it. Yue Lingshan pleaded, "Dad!" But Yue Buqun just shook his head. Linghu Chong had turned around and saw all this and he was reassured, "Little martial sister still care for me like in the old days." Suddenly, a few people shouted in surprise.

    Linghu Chong knew that someone must have started a sneak attack. There wasn't enough time to turn his head around so he immediately jumped forward. His internal energy was very deep, so his jump was very high and fast which enabled him to escape from that attack. But he still heard the sound of the wind at the back of his head as a sword was slashed down close to the back of his body. If he had jumped a fraction of a second later or not used enough energy, he would have been half a foot closer and his body would have been split in two. He had luckily escaped from a very dangerous situation.

    Linghu Chong immediately turned his head around as soon as he landed. He heard someone yelling and saw moving white lights. It was the Heng-Shan School's female disciples joining the fight. They had divided into three groups of seven people each. Each of the group separately surrounded one person. This instance of pulling out the swords, moving, surrounding, fighting and movement of the swords were done extremely fast especially when aided with their qinggong. Their movements were also beautiful. It was obvious that they had practised this type of fighting formation. Each of their swords was pointed at the enemy's head, throat, chest, stomach, waist, back, and side. These seven places on their bodies were threatened simultaneously. Once the formation was completed, the seven disciples all stopped moving.

    It was Zhong Zhen who sneakily attacked Linghu Chong just then. After hearing Linghu Chong's harmful speech towards Songshan School, he tried to take advantage of Linghu Chong's unpreparedness and tried to kill him. He wanted to get rid of a potential informant in order to prevent him from saying more which might increase Yue Buqun's suspicion. Even though he executed an extremely deadly move, his opponent still managed to escape. And now the Heng-Shan School's disciples had finished their formation. Although his martial art was high, he couldn't move at all. If he even moved a muscle then a sword would pierce into his body.

    Yue Buqun and Madam Yue didn't know that Heng-Shan School and Zhong Zhen's party had met before in Nianbapu town. They were greatly surprised when both parties started to fight each other. The fighting formation of the Heng-Shan School's disciples looked wonderful once it was completed. Twenty-one people were divided into three groups and their twenty-one swords trembled slightly as cold lights flickered around the area. Besides their sleeves floating in the air, everything else was totally still but there were unbounded murderous opportunities in their formation.

    When Linghu Chong turned around to protect himself, he saw how Heng-Shan School started and completed their fighting formations with seven swords attacking and surrounding each enemy. He did not find any flaw at all in the formation, as if it had been executed with "No move to break a move" sword intention from Dugu Nine Swords. He cheered out loud, "Wonderful! What a splendid sword formation!"

    Seeing that he had been completely restrained, Zhong Zhen suddenly laughed, dropped his sword and offered, "Everyone is on the same side. What kind of joke are we playing here? I admit defeat, ok?" Yihe was leading the group surrounding him. When she saw that the enemy admitted defeat and dropped his sword, she withdrew her sword. The remaining six people also withdrew their swords. To their surprise, Zhong Zhen used his left foot to kick his long sword up and hit its handle with his hand to shoot the sword forward. As the sword pierced Yihe's right arm, she uttered an "ah" and dropped her sword.

    Zhong Zhen laughed as he moved like lightning injuring Heng-Shan School's disciples one by one. In the ensuing confusion, the other fourteen disciples in the other two formations were distracted. Deng Bagong and Gao Kexin simultaneously took advantage of this to launch their attacks. Immediately, there were sounds of swords clashing. Linghu Chong grabbed Yihe's sword from the ground and struck out. There were sounds of "qiang lang", "ah", "hey", and many others as he hit the back of Gao Kexin's hand causing him drop his sword, made Deng Bagong's soft whip turn over and wrap around his own neck, and struck Zhong Zhen's hand forcing him to retreat a few steps. But Zhong Zhen still managed to feebly hold on to his trembling sword with a weakened hand.

    Two girls sharply called out; one shouted, "General Wu!" while the other cried, "Big brother Linghu!” Zheng E was the one who called out "General Wu!” The way Linghu Chong made these three people retreat with his sword art was identical to the sword art used to defeat these three people in Nianbapu's inn. Gao Kexin was at a loss, Deng Bagong was choking while Zhong Zhen was startled and angry at the same time. Zheng E had a sharp mind and she had previously seen Linghu Chong used this move. Although his appearance and clothes were now completely different, she still managed to recognise him immediately from his sword move.

    The other person who called out, "Big brother Linghu!" was of course Yilin. She was in the group with Yizhen and Yizhi surrounding Deng Bagong. While they were in formation, everyone was concentrating completely and their eyes were observing the enemy closely. With their eyes so focused, they only saw the point that each was aiming at. The person aiming at the head was only looking at the head and the person aiming at the chest was only looking at the chest. They didn't look at any other parts of the enemy's body. So naturally, they didn't even see the person next to them. Only when the formation was scattered, she was able to see Linghu Chong.

    Yilin had not seen him for more than a year when he suddenly appeared in front of her. Yilin’s whole body shook and she was feeling giddy. Now that he had been recognized, Linghu Chong realized that he wouldn't be able to conceal his identity anymore. He laughed and chided, "Your granny, you three chaps don't know about good and evil. Heng-Shan School's Shi Tai already spared you a life but you unexpectedly return their kindness with enmity. General isn't pleased in seeing this at all. I... I... " Suddenly, he felt dazed, his vision darkened and with his legs giving out, he fell down on the ground heavily.

    Yilin rushed forward quickly to support him and worriedly called out, "Big brother Linghu, big brother Linghu!" She then saw his right shoulder and arm were bleeding profusely. She took out her school's "White Cloud Bear Gallbladder" medicine pill from her sleeve and fed it to him. Zheng E and Yizhen also took out their school's "Heavenly Connecting Glue" and applied it to his wounds. Each of the Heng-Shan School's disciples was grateful to him for helping them. If he hadn't helped them that day, each of them would have lost her life. Not only would they have died miserably, they might also have been insulted by those evildoers.

    Heng-Shan disciples busied themselves applying medicines, wiping blood and wrapping the wounds up. They were doing all these tasks with all their hearts. When any female in the world has met with this kind of urgent situation, they would start talking incessantly. Even though Heng-Shan School disciples were warriors of Wulin, they weren't exempt from this female trait. They were all talking at once as they surrounded Linghu Chong. Some were sighing, some were showing concern, some were asking who hurt my General, and some were saying that the attacker was vicious and heartless. They were all talking about different things while some were also reciting "Amituofu". Huashan School's people were quite surprised when they saw this scene unfolding in front of them.

    Yue Buqun thought to himself, "Heng-Shan School's disciples are highly disciplined. Why are these female disciples acting in this way? They're actually fussing over this loafer Linghu Chong and staring at him, not even observing the proper distance between man and woman. They're also calling him big brother and general. When has this young thief become a general? They're really ignorant and have become muddleheaded. How come there is no Heng-Shan School elder in charge of them?"

    Zhong Zhen made a hand signal to his two martial brothers and they immediately pointed their weapons and rushed at Linghu Chong. They knew that if this person were not eliminated, they would have endless trouble in the future. Moreover, they had lost twice under his sword. This was a good opportunity to get rid of this person while he was still unconscious.

    Yihe whistled and fourteen female disciples immediately formed a row dancing their swords about and blocked Zhong Zhen and his two brothers. Each of these female disciples' martial art wasn't high but when they were fighting in formation, they were like four or five first class masters. Originally, Yue Buqun wanted to mediate between these two sides, but he couldn't anticipate how all these incidents had unfolded. He also didn't know how the two sides had developed this enmity. In addition, he disliked both the Songshan and Heng-Shan Schools. So he thought he should just watch for the moment and wait patiently for things to change. He saw the Heng-Shan School's disciples were defending very tightly. Zhong Zhen was attacking continuously but he wasn't able to get near at all. Kao Gexin came up with an idea. He feinted an attack towards the front person but instead slashed towards Yiqing's thigh. Suddenly injured and seeping blood, Yiqing was distressed even though her injury wasn't heavy.

    From his dazed state, Linghu Chong heard the sounds of swords clashing continuously. He opened his eyes to have a look and saw Yilin's anxious face. She was praying, "All living things are distressed. There is immeasurable bitterness all over the body. Guan Yin with her divine intelligence can offer salvation from this bitterness..." He felt very thankful for Yilin's prayer. As he struggled to stand up, he whispered, "Thank you, little martial sister. Hand me a sword."

    "You... you... don't... don't..." Yilin pleaded.

    Linghu Chong returned a slight smile as she gave her sword to him. He held onto her shoulder with his left hand to stand up and then staggered and swayed as he walked forward. Yilin was still anxious about his injury but when she felt that she was supporting his weight on her shoulder, she felt more courageous. She then transferred her whole body's energy to her right shoulder. Linghu Chong passed by several female disciples to get in front. With the first strike of his sword, Gao Kexin dropped his sword. With the second strike, Deng Bagong's soft whip wrapped around his neck. The third strike hit the top of Zhong Zhen's sword. Zhong Zhen knew that Linghu Chong's sword art was strangely magical and that he was definitely not his match. But he saw him standing unsteadily. So he relied on his internal energy to hit Linghu Chong's sword out of his hand. As the two swords clashed, he immediately transferred his internal energy into his sword. Suddenly, he felt his internal energy started to flow out swiftly and unexpectedly he couldn't stop it. It was because Linghu Chong's Art of Essence Absorbing had become unwittingly deep. It didn't need contact between skins anymore. As long as the opponent used his internal energy to attack then he would be able to absorb the internal energy through the sword.

    Zhong Zhen was alarmed and quickly withdrew his sword. He then thrust his sword out again. Linghu Chong saw the lower part of the side of his body was wide open and wanted to take advantage of this and kill him. But his arm felt weak and he couldn't do what he wanted to do. So he was only able to block the sword. When the swords clashed again, Zhong Zhen's internal energy flowed out once more and his heart rate increased. He was frightened and angry at the same time but he withdrew his sword again. He then gathered his strength to thrust the long sword forward. Midway through the stroke, the sword changed direction sharply and was now aiming at Yilin's chest. This move was both false and true at the same time. It had many variations and was extremely fierce. If Linghu Chong moved to save Yilin then Zhong Zhen would pierce Linghu Chong's lower abdomen. If Linghu Chong didn't move to save Yilin then this sword would really pierce Yilin. Also, he wanted to confuse Linghu Chong so that an opportunity to kill him would arise. Everyone was calling out in alarm when they saw the point of the sword had already reached Yilin's gown. Linghu Chong's long sword suddenly crossed over and hit the top of Zhong Zhen's sword.

    Zhong Zhen's long sword instantly stopped in the middle of the air glued to Linghu Chong's sword. Zhong Zhen used more strength to push his sword forward but unexpectedly it didn't even move the slightest bit. His sword slowly bent upwards and at the same time, his internal energy started to flow out. Summing up the situation really quickly, he hastily withdrew his sword and jumped backwards. However, he had lost a lot of internal energy previously and had not time to gather more energy yet. As his body was in mid air, he suddenly felt paralysed and landed heavily. This landing looked very awkward and it was as if it was done by an ordinary person without any martial arts. Supported by his two hands on the ground, Zhong Zhen slowly struggled to get up but only managed to get up halfway before he tottered to one side and fell to the ground again.

    Deng Bagong and Gao Kexin rushed over to help him stand up. They both asked, "Martial brother, what's wrong?"

    Zhong Zhen was staring at Linghu Chong's face. His thought turned back to more than ten years ago when Devil Sect's Chief Ren Woxing shook the entire Wulin world. But Ren Woxing couldn't be this twenty something years old youth. He stammered, "You're Ren Woxing's disc... disciple. You know the Art... Art of Essence Absorbing!"

    Gao Kexin was alarmed, "Martial brother, did he absorb your internal energy?"

    "Yes," answered Zhong Zhen. But he was now standing steadily and he felt his internal energy gradually increasing. It was because Linghu Chong's cultivation of the Art of Essence Absorbing was not that profound yet. Also, he didn't intentionally absorb Zhong Zhen's internal energy. It was just that Zhong Zhen fell awkwardly because he felt his internal energy flowing out and was scared to death.

    Deng Bagong whispered, "Let's get out of here. We'll come back here later." Zhong Zhen waved his hands and said to Linghu Chong in a loud voice, "Devil Sect's demon, you're using such an evil method. From now on, you are the enemy of all of the heroes in this world. Today, I'm not your match, but our orthodox schools would never surrender to the disgusting power of your evil method."

    He then turned around, gave Yue Buqun a bow and inquired, "Mr. Yue, you have no relationship with this Devil Sect's demon, correct?"

    Yue Buqun just uttered an "Hng" but did not answer.

    Zhong Zhen didn't dare to be unruly in front of him so he said, "The real situation would eventually be revealed. We’ll meet again." He then walked away with his two martial brothers.

    Yue Buqun went down the entrance stairs and agitatedly said, "Linghu Chong, you're good. So, you've learned Ren Woxing's Art of Essence Absorbing."

    Although Linghu Chong had learned Ren Woxing's martial art accidentally, the fact was he had learned it. So he couldn't dispute it at all. Yue Buqun fiercely asked, "I ask you, is this true?"

    "Yes!” Linghu Chong answered.

    Yue Buqun viciously declared, "You've practised this evil method. So you're the enemy of all the orthodox schools. Today, you're carrying an injury so I won't take advantage of you. When we meet again, if I don't kill you then it means that you've killed me." He turned sideways and addressed the Huashan School's disciples, "This person is your mortal enemy. Whoever still has any feeling towards him like he was your martial brother, then remove yourself from this school. All of you understand this?"

    All the disciples answered together, "Yes!"

    Yue Buqun saw his daughter looking like she had something to say. He said, "Shan'er, even though you're my daughter, I won't make an exception. Do you understand?"

    Yue Lingshan answered in a small voice, "I understand."

    Linghu Chong was already weak from his injuries but when he heard these words, he suddenly felt both his knees powerless. He dropped his sword and slowly slumped down.

    Yihe, who was standing on his right, extended her hand to support him. She ventured, "Martial uncle Yue, there must have been a misunderstanding. It's just too crude to sever your relationship like this when you haven't investigated this matter yet."

    Yue Buqun demanded, "What misunderstanding?"

    Yihe answered, "My Heng-Shan School's disciples were recently accosted by the Devil Sect's demons. At every battle, this Linghu General Wu helped us in fighting them. If he was a Devil Sect's person, why would he help us in fighting them off and make himself an enemy of the Devil Sect?"

    Yihe had heard Yilin called him "Big Brother Linghu" while Yue Buqun had called him "Linghu Chong"; but she knew him as "General Wu". So she decided to just call him with both names.

    Yue Buqun said, "Devil Sect's demons are very crafty. Don't believe his act. Which Shi Tai is leading your school's group in coming to the south?"

    He believed that these young nuns and ladies had been affected by Linghu Chong's fancy speech and only an experienced senior Shi Tai would be able to see through his ruse.

    Yihe mournfully answered, "Martial uncle Dingjing Shi Tai was unfortunately killed by the Devil Sect's demons en route."

    Yue Buqun and Madam Yue were both alarmed. Right at that moment, a middle-aged nun came towards the Heng-Shan School's disciples. She stopped in front of Yihe and said, "A letter has arrived from the White Cloud Temple's pigeon", as she offered her a small bamboo tube with both hands. Yihe took the tube, opened its plug, took out the small rolled up cloth from inside the tube and rolled it open. After reading it, she exclaimed, "Ai yo, this is not good!" When Heng-Shan School's disciples heard that a letter had arrived from the White Cloud Temple, they all crowded around Yihe. When they saw Yihe was frightened, they hastily asked, "What?" "What's on Master's letter?" "What's not good?” Yihe gave the letter to Yiqing saying, "Martial sister, have a look." Yiqing took the letter and read it out aloud, "Dingyi Shi Tai and I are besieged by enemies in the Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley." She then questioned, "This is Abbess'... blood letter. How come they are at Dragon Spring?"

    (Translator's note: Dragon Spring or Longquan in Chinese is the name of a city in the Zhejiang province. Near that city is a valley that has creeks running through it that were used by Ou Yezi to forge some legendary swords. That valley is called Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley. If you’d like to find out more, look at the <a href="http://www.wuxiapedia.com/novels/liang_yusheng/legend_of_the_white_haired_demoness/chapter_11#_ftn13">footnote</a> in “Legend of the White Hair Demoness” chapter 11 translation by Fairie Queene.)

    (Translator’s note: Blood letter is a letter written in blood.)

    "Let's go!" Yizhen rallied.

    "But we don't know who the enemy is?" Yiqing reasoned.

    Yihe said, "They're already in an ominous situation, let's hurry up and catch up to them. If we have to die, then we'll die together with Master."

    Yiqing thought, "Master and martial uncle's martial arts are levels above us but the enemies still managed to besiege them. If we go there, it's most likely that we won't be able to offer them any aid." She took the blood letter, went in front of Yue Buqun, bowed to him and requested, "Martial uncle Yue, our Abbess sent us a letter, it said: '...besieged in Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley.' Martial uncle, considering the friendship among the Five Mountains Sword Schools, please think of a way to save them." Yue Buqun took the letter and read it. He questioned, "How come Abbess and Dingyi Shi Tai are in Zhejiang? The two of them have outstanding martial arts. How did the enemies manage to besiege them? This is really strange. Is this Abbess’ writing on the letter?"

    "It's my Master's writing. I'm afraid they must have been injured already that they hastily used their blood to write the letter," Yiqing assuredly answered.

    "You don't know who the enemy is?" Yue Buqun asked.

    "It's probably the Devil Sect's people. Other than them, our school has no other enemy," Yiqing said.

    Yue Buqun looked at Linghu Chong from the corner of his eyes and slowly said, "Maybe it's a false letter from a Devil Sect's demon to entice you into a trap. We must be wary of their deceptions.”

    “This matter is most urgent as Abbess had surely met with a disaster. So the most important thing for us is to go and save them. Martial sister Yiqing, let’s go quickly and catch up to them. Martial uncle Yue has no time so it’s useless to ask for his help any further,” Yihe shouted in a clear voice.

    “Right. If we arrive too late, we will regret this for eternity,” Yizhen said agreeing with Yihe.

    When Heng-Shan School’s disciples saw that Yue Buqun had flatly refused their request regardless of its upright intentions, they were all angered.

    “Big brother Linghu, you stay at Fuzhou to tend to your wounds. We’ll go and save Master and Martial uncle first. Then we’ll come back to look for you here,” Yilin said.

    “Fearless thieves are harming people again. How can this General just sit back and watch? Everybody, let’s go and save them,” Linghu Chong responded in a loud voice.

    “Your injuries are serious. How can you hurry along?” Yilin said.

    “This General is ready to give his body to his country and die in the battlefield. I’m going to use my feet to get there. Go, go, hurry up and go!” Linghu Chong said.

    Heng-Shan School’s disciples were doubtful that they would be able to save their Abbess from danger. But when Linghu Chong said he was going to come with them, their spirits lifted and all their faces were filled with joy. Yizhen said, “In that case, many thanks. We’ll look for a horse for you to ride.”

    “Everybody rides! How can you not get a horse if you want to fight later? Go, go,” Linghu Chong said loudly. Seeing how his Master had harshly severed their relationship earlier, he was feeling bitter and a bit insane.

    Yiqing bowed to Yue Buqun and Madam Yue, “We take our leave from seniors.”

    Yihe cried out in fury, “Why do you need to be polite to this sort of person? You’re wasting time. Hng, their reputations have no merit and they have no sense of righteousness.”

    “Martial sister, say no more!” Yiqing reproached in a loud voice.

    Yue Buqun was laughing and didn’t pay attention to what was said.

    But Lao Denuo rushed out and shouted, “Watch what your filthy mouth is saying! Our five mountains sword schools have the same root but different branches. When one school encounters a problem, the other four are ready to save them. But you are colluding together with this Devil Sect’s demon Linghu Chong and so your conduct must be crafty and evil. My master has to consider this extensively before giving his help. Why don’t you kill this demon Linghu Chong first to make everything clear. Otherwise, my Huashan School cannot collaborate with your Heng-Shan School and follow your bad example.”

    Yihe was indignant when she heard this. She took a big step forward and put her hand on her sword handle. She demanded, “What do you mean ‘follow our bad example’?”

    “You are colluding with the Devil Sect. That’s what's called to follow their bad example,” Lao Denuo said.

    Yihe was affronted and she declared, “Hero Linghu is brave and righteous. He helps people in trouble. That’s what you call a real hero, a gentleman. But your type of people, who call yourself a hero but run away from danger and when you see death, you still don’t help. That’s what you call a hypocrite!”

    Yue Buqun’s nickname was “Gentleman Sword” and what Huashan School’s people hate the most was being called a “hypocrite”. When Lao Denuo heard her ridiculing his Master, he pulled his sword out and thrust it towards Yihe’s throat. He was using Huashan School’s clever move “Graceful Phoenix”. Yihe didn’t anticipate that he would suddenly pick a fight so she didn’t have time to block the move. She was startled as the sword reached her throat. But at the same time, flickering of swords was seen and seven swords were already piercing towards Lao Denuo. Lao Denuo hastily pulled his sword back but this enabled a sword to reach his chest. Sounds of “chi, chi” were heard as the other six swords also slashed his clothes, each making a rip of about a foot long. It was only because Heng-Shan School’s disciples didn’t want to take his life that they stopped as their swords reached his skin. But Zheng E’s martial art was still shallow so she didn’t manage to control the power of her sword properly. Once she had ripped his right sleeve, the point of her sword continued forward and slashed his skin. Lao Denuo frighteningly jumped backwards in a hurry. Just then, a book fell out of his bosom.

    (Translator’s note: the word “gentleman” consists of two Chinese characters. By adding an extra character in front of it, it becomes the word “hypocrite”. That’s the connection between these two words.)

    The sun was shining brightly. Everyone saw clearly the words “Violet Twilight Secret Manual” written on the book. Lao Denuo’s expression changed greatly and he tried to snatch the book back. Linghu Chong shouted, “Stop him!”

    Yihe already had a sword in her hand and she quickly made three slashes. Lao Denuo lifted his sword to trade moves but he couldn’t advance a single step.

    “Dad, how come second martial brother has the secret manual?” Yue Lingshan cried.

    “Lao Denuo, you killed sixth martial brother, didn’t you?” Linghu Chong asked in a loud voice.

    That day when sixth martial brother was killed, the “Violet Twilight Secret Manual” also went missing. He had been blamed for both incidents since then on. But today, it was really unexpected that after Lao Denuo's waist band was cut by Heng-Shan School’s disciples, Huashan School’s treasured scripture would fall out from his pocket.

    “Nonsense!” Lao Denuo shouted.

    As he said this, he lowered his body and charged towards a small alley. Linghu Chong was fuming as he gave chase. But he only managed to run a few steps before he swayed and fell down. Yilin and Zheng E quickly rushed to his side to support him while Yue Lingshan picked the book up and gave it to her father. “Dad, it was second martial brother who stole the book.” Yue Buqun’s expression was pale as he looked at the book and ascertained that it was the internal energy secret manual that had been passed down from the previous Huashan School’s leader. Luckily, the book was still intact and undamaged. He then bitterly said, “It was you who wasn’t good, taking the book because of your feelings.”

    Yihe didn’t want to let them off that easily so she said in a loud voice, “That's what you called to follow your bad example.”

    Yu Sao walked in front of Linghu Chong and asked, “Hero Linghu, how do you feel?”

    Linghu Chong gritted his teeth, “My martial brother was killed by that thief. It’s a pity I can’t chase him.”

    He saw Yue Buqun turned around and entered the escort house followed by his disciples. They then shut the escort house’s main door. He thought, “Master’s first disciple has learned the Devil Sect’s evil martial art. His second disciple killed a martial brother in the same school and stole the school’s secret manual. No wonder he’s outraged!” He then said, “Abbess is being besieged so we can’t delay any longer. Our most urgent matter is to quickly go and save them. Sooner or later, that thief Lao Denuo would fall under my hand.”

    Yu Sao said, “You’re currently injured, so... so... ai, I can’t say...”

    She was previously a servant. But at this time, her position in Heng-Shan School wasn’t low and her martial art was not weak, but her knowledge was limited. So she didn’t know how to express her appreciation towards him. Linghu Chong said, “Let’s go quickly to the horse market and buy some horses.”

    He took out the gold and silver taels out of his bosom and gave them to Yu Sao. But there weren’t enough horses on the market, so the lighter female disciples had to ride double. They rode out quickly towards the north from Fuzhou. After going for more than ten li, they saw more than ten horses grazing on a field guarded by about six or seven soldiers. So these horses must belong to the military.

    “Get those horses.” Linghu Chong said.

    “Those are military horses. I’m afraid it’s not appropriate,” Yu Sao hastily replied.

    “Saving people is most important. Even if it’s the emperor’s horse, we’ll still take it. What do we care about appropriate or not appropriate?” Linghu Chong argued.

    “It’s a crime against the government authorities, I’m afraid...” Yiqing said.

    “Is saving your Master more important or obeying the law more important? What his granny government authorities? General Wu is a government authority. If General wants horses, those little soldiers won’t dare to deny him!” Linghu Chong reasoned.

    “Yes!” complied Yihe.

    “Knock those soldiers down and get their horses,” Linghu Chong cried out.

    “Twelve horses are enough,” Yiqing said.

    But Linghu Chong roared, “Get them all.”

    He had an air of authority about him as he roared out his commands. Ever since Dingjing Shi Tai passed away, the Heng-Shan School's disciples had been mournful, frightened, and were at a loss about what to do. But when they heard Linghu Chong vigorously shouting his command, they urged their horses to charge forward, knocked down the soldiers guarding the horses, and seized all the horses. Those soldiers had never seen outlaw nuns before, so as they were knocked down to the ground and unable to move, they shouted, "What are you doing?" "What kind of joke is this?"

    After they had taken the horses, all the disciples were excited. They were all giggling and talking non-stop. They all wanted to get on the fresh horses so they jumped onto the military horses. At noon, they arrived at Nianbapu town. When the townspeople saw a group of nuns leading an army of horses with a male in their group, they were greatly surprised.

    When they finished eating their meals, Yiqing counted the money they had and whispered, "Brother Linghu, we don't have enough money." At the horse market, because everyone was thinking about their Master, they weren't in the mood to haggle. All their monies were used up to buy the horses and now they only had coppers left.

    "Martial sister Zheng, take Yu Sao to the horse market and sell a horse. But don't sell any of the military horses," Linghu Chong said.

    Zheng E complied leading the horse and Yu Sao to the horse market. The other disciples covered their mouths and giggled as they were all thinking, "Yu Sao is finished and Zheng E is such a delicate little lady, it would be a rare sight at the horse market."

    But Zheng E was intelligent, clever, and good in speaking. She had only been in Fujian for a few days and she already managed to speak a few hundreds words of the difficult Fujian's dialect. Not long after, she had sold the horse and brought some money back to pay their bills.

    When night fell, they were able to see a big town far away with houses scattered like the stars. There were at least around seven to eight hundred houses in the town. When they reached there, they ate their dinner and used the money from selling the horse to pay for the bill. Not much of the money was left afterwards. Zheng E was excited and laughed, "Tomorrow, we have to sell another horse." Linghu Chong whispered, "Go to the street and ask around who the richest person in this town is and also who among the richest is also the meanest or worst."

    Zheng E nodded and pulled Qin Juan to come with her. Not long after, they came back, "This town has one very rich person. His surname is White. His nickname is White Peeling Leather. He has a pawnshop and also a rice shop. With a nickname like White Peeling Leather, I dont' think he's a good person." (Translator’s note: Peeling Leather means to kill people.)

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Tonight, we'll go and ask him for alms."

    Zheng E said, "These type of people are very stingy; I'm afraid we won't get any alms from him."

    Linghu Chong smiled slightly but didn't say a word. After a while, he said, "Everybody, let's go."

    Everyone saw that the sky was dark already. But Master was in trouble so they were resigned to continue traveling during the night to save them. They went north from the city, but after a few li, Linghu Chong called out, "Ok, we'll stay here to rest for the night." Everyone stayed besides a creek to have a rest. Linghu Chong also closed his eyes to have a rest. After about an hour, Linghu Chong opened his eyes and said to Yu Sao and Yihe, "Each of you bring six martial sisters and go to White Peeling Leather's house to ask for alms. Martial sister Zheng, you lead the way." Yu Sao and Yihe both thought that it was strange but they still complied with his order.

    Linghu Chong went on, "Get at least five hundred silver taels, but it'd be best to get two thousand silver taels." Yihe was surprised, "A yo, how can we ask for that much?" Linghu Chong said, "Two thousand silver taels is so small, this General wouldn't even take a look at it. If we get two thousand taels, we keep one thousand taels to use ourselves and give the other thousand to the poor townspeople." They suddenly understood what he meant and they looked at each other.

    “You... you want us to plunder the rich and then give it to the poor?" Yihe said.

    "It's not plundering. We're getting alms from the rich to aid the poor. We only have a few people here, even if we gather all of our money, we'd probably only get around two silvers. If we don't ask the rich to give us poor common people some money then how do we get to Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley?" Linghu Chong said.

    When everyone heard the word "Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley", they all changed their minds and said, "Let's get alms!"

    "You’re inexperienced at getting this kind of alms, so I'm afraid you won't be getting any money. The method is slightly different. Cover all your faces with handkerchiefs. And when you ask for alms from White Peeling Leather, you don't need to say anything. When you see the gold and silver, just take them," Linghu Chong said.

    Zheng E giggled, "And if he's not giving them?"

    "Then that's unappreciative of him. Heng-Shan School's heroes are different from Wulin's other small warriors. Even if other people would send sedan chairs to ask you to visit, you still wouldn't pay them a visit. How can they ask you to come that easily? White Peeling Leather is just a small town boss. What kind of position does he have in Wulin? If he unexpectedly gets a visit from fifteen honourable masters from Heng-Shan School, isn't this giving him a lot of face already? If after seeing you, he still doesn't want to give you alms, then you might as well trade some moves with him. See if White Peeling Leather's martial art is better or martial sister Zheng's fists and kicks are better?" Linghu Chong answered. Some of the disciples laughed as they heard him talking like this.

    There were a few people who were more experienced like Yiqing and they secretly thought that this was inappropriate. Heng-Shan School's rules were very strict. They warn against stealing and plundering. This kind of getting alms definitely violated those rules. But Yihe and Zheng E were already hastily walking away so those people who disagreed with this idea didn't manage to say anything more.

    When Linghu Chong turned his head around, he saw Yilin's beautiful eyes were watching him attentively. He smiled, "Little martial sister, you think it's not right?"

    Yilin avoided his eyes as she replied softly, "I don't know. Whatever you said we should do, I... I think they're always not wrong."

    "That day when I wanted to eat a watermelon, didn't you go to the field and take a watermelon for me?"

    Yilin's face turned red as she thought of the time she spent together with him in that wild plain. Right at that moment, they suddenly saw shooting stars falling across the night sky leaving long beautiful trails. Linghu Chong queried, "Do you remember what you wished for?"

    Yilin replied softly, "I remember", as she turned her head around. She then continued, "Big brother Linghu, this kind of wish is very effective."

    "Really? What did you wish for?"

    But Yilin just lowered her head and did not reply. In her heart, she was thinking, "I've wished for several hundreds several thousands times to be able to see you again. Finally, my wish came true and I was able to see you again."

    Suddenly, they heard the sound of a horse's gallop from far away. A person on horseback was coming from the south towards them from the same road that Yu Sao, Yihe and the other disciples used to go away just then. But Yu Sao's group went without their horses. Who could it be? Everyone stood up and was looking towards the sound of the horse's gallop. Then they heard a female calling out, "Linghu Chong, Linghu Chong!"

    Linghu Chong's heart trembled as he recognized Yue Lingshan's voice. He called out, "Little martial sister, I'm here!" Yilin's body shook and her face turned pale. She then retreated a step.

    In the dark, a white horse came towards them. When it was still tens of feet away from them, Yue Lingshan stood up and suddenly pulled back on the rein stopping the horse and making it neigh. When Linghu Chong saw her riding hastily, he felt that something wasn't right. He called out, "Martial sister, are Master and Master-Wife alright?"

    Yue Lingshan was still on the horse, her face illuminated by the moonlight. He saw her looking pale as he heard her saying, "Who's your Master, Master-Wife? Why do you have to concern about my dad and mum?"

    Linghu Chong felt as if someone had punched his chest and his body swayed. Before, it was only Yue Buqun who was acting severely towards him but Madam Yue and Yue Lingshan were still treating him like in the old times and didn't embarrass him. But now hearing Yue Lingshan talking to him in this manner, he couldn't help but feel sad. "Yes, I've already been expelled from Huashan School and don't have the good fortune of calling them Master and Master-Wife anymore."

    "You already know you can't call them that anymore, why did you still call them that just now?" Yue Lingshan scolded. Linghu Chong could only hang his head down and felt as if his heart had been stabbed by a knife.

    Yue Lingshan uttered an "Hng" as she rode the horse forward a few steps. She demanded, "Give it to me!" as she extended her right hand forward.

    Linghu Chong answered despondently, "What?"

    "Even now, you're still pretending. Do you think you can conceal it from me?" She suddenly shouted louder, "Give it to me!"

    Linghu Chong shook his head, "I don't understand. What do you want?"

    "What do I want? I want the Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Manual!"

    "Evil Resisting Sword Manual? Why are you asking me?" Linghu Chong was baffled.

    Yue Lingshan laughed coldly, "If I don't ask you, then who do I ask? Who took that Buddhist robe from Lin family's old house?"

    "Those two chaps from Songshan School, "White Hair Immortal" Bu Chen and "Bald Eagle" Sha Tianjiang."

    "Who killed these two chaps, Bu and Sha?"

    "I did," Linghu Chong answered.

    "And that Buddhist robe, who took it?"

    "I did."

    "Then give it to me!" Yue Lingshan demanded.

    "I was injured at the time and passed out after getting to the old house. Then... then your mother saved me. When I came to, the Buddhist robe wasn't with me anymore," Linghu Chong said.

    Yue Lingshan looked up and laughed, but there wasn't a hint of real laughter in her voice. She said, "So according to you, my mum embezzled the manual? What contemptible and shameless words that are coming out of your mouth!"

    "I didn't mean that your mother embezzled it. Gods above and inside my heart, I didn't mean to disrespect your mother in the slightest bit. I only said... only said..." Linghu Chong stammered.

    "What?" Yue Lingshan shouted.

    "Your mother must have seen this Buddhist robe and realised that it belonged to the Lin family so she must have given it to martial brother Lin," Linghu Chong reasoned.

    Yue Lingshan coldly said, "Why would my mum search you? You disregarded your own life to snatch that thing back to supposedly return to martial brother Lin. Hng, hng, couldn't you have returned it when you woke up? Why wouldn't she have given you face over this matter?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "What she said is true. Then someone had stolen that Buddhist robe?"

    As he pondered about this, cold sweat started to pour out from his back. "If it's like that then there must be some other reason."

    He then shook his clothes all over. "I don't have the Buddhist robe on me. If you don't believe me, you can search me."

    Yue Lingshan replied in a coldly, "You're a very clever person. Why would you keep it on yourself after taking other people's stuff? Also, you have so many shady nuns and monks with you here. One of them could've kept it for you."

    Yue Lingshan was treating Linghu Chong like she was examining a prisoner; all the Heng-Shan School's disciples already thought that this was unfair. When they heard her insulting them, a few of them cried out at the same time, "Nonsense!" "What shady nuns!" "There are no monks here!" "Aren't you shady yourself?"

    Yue Lingshan grabbed her sword handle and shouted, "You're all Buddhist disciples but you're entangled with this man and followed him day and night. Can't this be called shady? Pei! Shameless!"

    Heng-Shan School's disciples were outraged. Seven or eight of them immediately pulled their swords out. Yue Lingshan also drew her sword out and shouted, "You want to rely on numbers to win and shut me up? Come on! If Lady Yue is afraid of you people then I wouldn't be a Huashan School's disciple!"

    Linghu Chong waved his left hand stopping the Heng-Shan School's disciples from attacking. He sighed, "You've already suspected me from the beginning so I don't have anything to say to that. How about Lao Denuo? How come you didn't go and ask him? He already stole the "Violet Twilight Secret Manual". Maybe he also stole this Buddhist robe?"

    "You want me to ask Lao Denuo, don't you?" Yue Lingshan replied loudly.

    Linghu Chong thought that her question was strange but he still answered, "Yes!"

    "Ok. Then come here and take my life! You're already proficient in Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art, so I'm not your match at all!" Yue Lingshan shouted.

    "Why would I... I want to injure you?" Linghu Chong confusedly said.

    "You wanted me to ask Lao Denuo. If you don't kill me then how do I meet him in this world?" Yue Lingshan said.

    Linghu Chong felt happy and surprised when he heard this. He asked, "Lao Denuo, Mast... your father killed him?" He knew that after he was expelled from Huashan School, Lao Denuo's martial art would be the highest among the disciples. If Yue Buqun didn't kill Lao Denuo himself then other people might not be able to do away with him. Linghu Chong hated Lao Denuo to the bone as he had killed Lu Dayou. So when he heard that Lao Denuo had died already, it was a joyful occasion.

    Yue Lingshan laughed coldly, "When a gentleman does something, he takes responsibility for it. You've killed Lao Denuo, why do you still not admit to it?"

    Linghu Chong was totally puzzled, "You said I killed him? If I had really killed him, why wouldn't I admit to it? This person had killed sixth martial brother and deserved to be killed. My only regret is that I couldn't do it with my own hands."

    "Then why did you also kill eighth martial brother? He didn't offend you at all, you... you're so cruel," Yue Lingshan said in a loud voice.

    Linghu Chong was even more startled. His voice was trembling, "Eighth martial brother and I are good to each other. Why... why would I want to kill him?"

    "Ever since you colluded with the Devil Sect, your behaviour has been really strange. Who knows why... why you want to kill eighth martial brother? You... you..." Her tears started to flow as she said this.

    Linghu Chong took a step forward and said, "Little martial sister, don't guess wildly. Eighth martial brother was still very young and didn't have any enmity with anyone or did anyone wrong. Not just me, even other people wouldn't have the heart to harm him."

    Yue Lingshan looked outraged as she fiercely shouted, "Then why did you have the heart to kill Lin Pingzhi?"

    Linghu Chong was apprehensive as he asked, "Martial brother Lin... he... he also died?"

    Yue Lingshan whimpered, "He hasn't died yet, your sword didn't manage to kill him. But... but who knows whether he'll... he'll be alright."

    Linghu Chong calmly asked, "He's heavily injured, is he? He would naturally know who attacked him. What did he say?"

    "Who else in this world is as crafty as you? You attacked him from behind, he... he has no eyes in the back of his head," Yue Lingshan answered.

    Linghu Chong felt heartbroken and bitter. He couldn't check his anger as he pulled his long sword out, gathered his qi, pulled his arm back, drew a breath and threw the sword out. The sword flew out towards a tall tallow tree with a trunk of a few feet diameter wide. It went through the middle of the tree and severed it. Half of the tree started to shake before it crashed thunderously, throwing up stones and dust off the ground. When Yue Lingshan saw the extent of the power displayed, she pulled her horse's rein back to retreat a couple of steps. "What? So you've already learned the Devil Sect's evil method and your martial art is very good now. You want to show off in front of me?"

    Linghu Chong shook his head, "If I wanted to kill martial brother Lin, I didn't have to do it from his back. My strike would not have failed to kill him either."

    "Who knows what kind of crafty scheme you're planning? Hng, eighth martial brother must've seen you sneaking around so you killed him to shut him up. Then you chopped his face up imagining that it was second... Lao Denuo."

    Linghu Chong took a deep breath knowing that there must be some kind of secret plot going on here. He asked, “Lao Denuo’s face was also chopped up?”

    “Why do you ask me? How could you not know when you did it with your own hands?”

    “Who else from Huashan School was injured?”

    “You killed two people and injured one. That’s not enough?” Yue Lingshan answered.

    When Linghu Chong heard what she said, he knew that no one else had been injured and he felt relief. He thought, “Who did all these?” Suddenly, his heart felt cold as he remembered what Ren Woxing said that day at the Plum Manor. He said that if Linghu Chong didn’t join the Devil Sect then he would destroy Huashan School and slaughter everyone in it. Could it be that he had arrived in Fuzhou and already started to destroy Huashan School?

    He hurriedly said, “You... you quickly go back and report to your father and mother, I’m afraid... I’m afraid it was the Devil Sect’s big leader who has come to harm Huashan School.”

    She pursed her lips before laughing coldly, “Right, it is a big leader of the Devil Sect who has come to harm my Huashan School. Now he's a big leader of Devil Sect, but in the past, he belonged to the Huashan School. This is called to raise a tiger to sow seeds of disaster and repaying kindness with animosity.”

    Linghu Chong laughed bitterly and thought, “I promised to go to Dragon Spring to save Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai. But my Master and Master-Wife are confronted with a big disaster. What should I do? If it was really Ren Woxing then I’m naturally not his rival. But my respected Master and Master-Wife are now facing a disaster, even if I go there to sacrifice myself, it would still be of no use. But I should be there to die together with them. In all matters, there are important ones and not important ones. And in all relationships, there are those that are close to you and those far from you. Regarding Heng-Shan School's matter, I'm forced to let them manage it by themselves first. If I'm able to stop Ren Woxing, then I'll go catch up to them at Dragon Spring to help." After he decided what to do in his heart, he said, "Ever since I left Fuzhou earlier today, I've been together with martial sisters from Heng-Shan School. How could I have divided my body to go kill eighth martial brother and Lao Denuo? You might as well ask them."

    "Hng, ask them? They're already following you and have also followed your bad example. Couldn't they lie for you?"

    When Heng-Shan School's disciples heard this, a few them started shouting again. A few of the Buddhist nuns were retorting politely, while the secular disciples were scolding really sharply. Yue Lingshan pulled the horse's rein to retreat a few steps. "Linghu Chong, little Lin has been injured heavily but even when he's in a coma, he's still concerned about the sword manual. If you still have the slightest feeling then you should return that sword manual to him. Otherwise... otherwise..."

    "You really think that I'm such a contemptible and shameless person?" Linghu Chong asked.

    Yue Lingshan indignantly said, "If you're not contemptible and shameless, then there's no one else in this world who is contemptible and shameless!"

    Yilin heard everything that was said between them. She felt excited as she couldn't bear this anymore. "Lady Yue, Big brother Linghu treats you very well. His heart is actually very sincere towards you. Why are you scolding him so fiercely?"

    Yue Lingshan laughed coldly, "Whether he treats me well or not, you're only a nun, what do you know?"

    Yilin suddenly felt disdainful as she felt that Linghu Chong had been accused falsely. Even if she had to die a hundred times, she had to plead innocence for him. As for Buddhism's rules and regulations or how Master would blame her in the future, she put all that at the back of her mind. She immediately said clearly, "Big brother Linghu told me himself."

    Yue Lingshan said, "Hng, he also talks to you about this sort of things. He... he believed that he treats me well by harming martial brother Lin?"

    Linghu Chong sighed, "Martial sister Yilin, say no more. Your respectable school's "Heavely Connecting Glue" and "White-Cloud Bear Gallbladder Pill", could you please give a bit to martial... give a bit to Lady Yue for her to take back to treat the injured?"

    Yue Lingshan shook the horse's head to turn her body around. "You didn't manage to kill him, so you want to poison him now? I'm not gonna fall for your trap. Linghu Chong, if little Lin doesn't get better, I... I... " and she started weeping. She then stroke her horsewhip urging her horse to gallop towards the south. As Linghu Chong heard the galloping of the horse gradually getting further, he felt a slight bitterness in his heart.

    Qin Juan said, "This girl is so rude. It's best if her little Lin dies."

    "Martial sister Qin, we are Buddhists and our hearts should be filled with mercy. Even though that lady isn't, we mustn't wish for other people's death," Yizhen said.

    Linghu Chong suddenly remembered, "Martial sister Yizhen, can I ask you for a favor to go for a trip?"

    "Martial brother Linghu only has to say what it is. I'll do it immediately," Yizhen said.

    "I don't dare. That person surnamed Lin is a martial brother from the same school. According to Lady Yue, he was heavily injured. I believe your respectable school's matchless and divine medicine..." Linghu Chong said.

    "You want me to deliver the medicine to him, don't you? Alright, I'll go back to Fuzhou straight away. Martial sister Yiling, accompany me to go back there," Yizhen said.

    Linghu Chong clasped his hand thanking her, "Thank you two honourable martial sisters for delivering the medicine."

    "Martial brother Linghu was always together with us. How could you have killed those people? I'll speak to martial uncle Yue about this injustice," Yizhen said.

    Linghu Chong shook his head laughing bitterly as he thought how Master had already believed that he had joined the Devil Sect. That he would stop at nothing and stop at no evil. Do they really think that Master would believe them? He thought of this as he looked at Yizhen and Yiling galloping away from them.

    He considered, "They're so concerned about me. If I abandoned them and go back to Fuzhou, how can I feel comfortable? Moreover, Dingxian Shi Tai and her people are being besieged by the enemy. And I don't know whether Ren Woxing really came to Fuzhou or not..." Then he saw Qin Juan retrieving his sword and giving it back to him. He suddenly thought, "If I wanted to kill martial brother Lin, why would I attack at his back? Also how can my sword not manage to kill him? If the person who attacked him was Ren Woxing, how could he fail to kill him with a sword? Then it must be someone else. If it's not Ren Woxing, then Master has nothing to worry about." When he thought about this, he felt slightly relieved.

    He then heard the faint sound of horses galloping from somewhere far. From the sound, he gathered that there were several horses coming and thought that it must be Yu Sao and the other disciples coming back from getting alms. Sure enough, not long after, fifteen people on horseback were seen coming towards them. When they arrived in front of him, Yu Sao said, "Young hero Linghu, we... managed to get a lot of gold and silver from begging alms, but I don't know... don't know how much we got. It's in the middle of the night so we can't go and give some of these to the poor."

    "Let's go to Dragon Spring now. We can delay helping the poor till later." Yihe then turned her head towards Yiqing and said, "Just then we met a young girl on the road, did you meet her? I don't know who she is, but we traded some moves."

    Linghu Chong was frightened, "She fought with you?"

    "Yes. This girl was rushing on a horseback. When she met us, she scolded us for being shady nuns. How shameful!"

    Linghu Chong secretly felt miserable and hastily asked, "Was she heavily injured?"

    Yihe was surprised, "Hey, how did you know that she was injured?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "Your temperament is like a firecracker going off. If she scolded you then you'd definitely fight her. And if she had to fight fifteen of you, then how could she not get injured?" But he asked, "Where did she get injured?"

    "I asked her first. Why did she scold us when we didn't even know each other? She said: "Hng, I know who you are. You're Heng-Shan School's nuns who are not following rules and customs." I said: "What not following rules and customs? Nonsense, you should clean your mouth." Then she lashed her horsewhip and didn't pay attention to me anymore. She shouted: "Make way!" So I grabbed her horsewhip and shouted, "Make way!" Then we started to fight," Yihe narrated the incident.

    Yu Sao explained, "She pulled her sword out. We saw that she was from Huashan School, but it was too dark for us to look at her appearance clearly. Then I thought that she looked like Mr. Yue's daughter. I quickly told them to stop but her arm was already injured in two places. However, the injuries weren't that serious."

    Yihe laughed, "I already knew who she is from the beginning. Those Huashan School's people at Fuzhou treated martial brother Linghu rudely. Also, when Heng-Shan School has a problem, they just put their hands in their sleeves and didn't care at all. So I wanted her to feel a bit of hardship."

    "Martial sister Yihe showed mercy when fighting this Miss Yue. She used the move "Thread of the Golden Needle” to slash Miss Yue's left arm but she only did it lightly and only scratched her arm before she withdrew her sword. If she had used her full power, Miss Yue would have lost her arm," Zheng E added.

    Linghu Chong had not calmed down yet when he felt worried again. Little martial sister was very arrogant and she wouldn't admit defeat that easily. She would have considered that tonight's fight was a big insult to her. In all likelihood, she would also blame this on him. All these things happening were fate and he couldn’t do anything else. Luckily, her injuries were not serious and it shouldn’t be a problem for her.

    Zheng E had observed that Linghu Chong's concern towards this girl Yue was unique. She said, "If we knew earlier that she was martial brother Linghu's martial sister, then we would just let her scold us and it would be no problem. But it was so dark so we couldn't see anything clearly. When we meet her the next time, we'll apologise to her."

    Yihe angrily said, "Apologise for what? We didn't wrong her at all. It was her who scolded us as soon as she spoke to us. There's no reason to do this anywhere in the world."

    Linghu Chong said, "We've already got some alms, let's go now. How did that White Peeling Leather react?"

    He was feeling awful and didn't want to hear about Yue Lingshan anymore so he changed the topic. Yihe and the disciples she had taken with her started to talk about how they got the alms. They were all excited and were talking over each other. Yihe said, "Usually when we go to a rich man's place for alms, even begging for one or two taels is already difficult. But tonight, we actually wanted several thousand taels."

    Zheng E laughed, "That White Peeling Leather was on the ground crying and shouting. He was saying that several decades of hard work was gone in one night."

    Qin Juan laughed, "Who told him to have the surname White? He’s been peeling other people’s skin and plundering the things they owned. Now all he can see is a white courtyard.”

    Everyone was laughing when they heard this. But not long after, they remembered about their Martial uncle and Master still being besieged by the enemies. Their moods became heavy. Linghu Chong said, "We have some funds for our journey now. Let's go catch up to them!"

    End of chapter 24

  6. #6
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    Default Chapter 25 Information

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    The group hurried along on their horses. Every day they only slept for around four hours and they didn't tarry along the road. In a few days, they finally arrived at Zhejiang's Dragon Spring. Although Linghu Chong lost a lot of blood after being injured by Bu Chen and Sha Tianjiang, his injuries were mostly flesh wounds. With his abundant internal energy and the Heng-Shan School's medicines that he had taken, he had mostly recovered by the time they arrived inside Zhejiang's border.

    The disciples were so anxious that they started to inquire about the location of the Sword-forging Valley as soon as they entered Zhejiang's border. However, none of the villagers they asked knew the location of the valley. When they finally arrived in Dragon Spring, they saw numerous sabre and sword forges. But surprisingly, none of the blacksmiths knew the location of the Sword-forging Valley.

    Everyone was now feeling very worried. They asked two old nuns they met on the road but they didn't hear about any fighting. All the blacksmiths they asked also didn't hear about any fighting. As for nuns, the blacksmiths said that they frequently saw nuns around and that there was a Water Moon Temple near the east wall of the city. The disciples asked for the location of the Water Moon Temple before rushing there on horseback.

    But when they arrived there, they saw the temple's main door was tightly shut. Zheng E went up to knock on the door but no one answered even after a long time. Yihe saw Zheng E knocked on the door again but they still didn't hear any sounds coming from the inside. She couldn't bear to wait anymore so she pulled her sword out and jumped over the wall to go inside. Yiqing also followed her in jumping over the wall.

    "Look at it. What's this?" Yihe said as she pointed to the ground. They saw on the courtyard around seven to eight bright pieces of sword points. It looked like that they had been cut off. "Anyone inside the temple?" Yihe shouted while going inside the hall. At the same time, Yiqing opened the main door to let Linghu Chong and the other disciples come in. Yiqing then picked up a piece of broken sword point and gave it to Linghu Chong. "Martial brother Linghu, there was some fighting here."

    Linghu Chong examined the broken piece and saw that the break was very smooth. He asked, "Do Martial uncle Dingxian and Dingyi use some kind of treasured swords?"

    "They don’t use any treasured swords. My Master once said that we must practice our sword art till we're very good at it then we would be able to win even if we're using a wooden sword or a bamboo sword. She also said that treasured sabres and treasured swords are too overbearing. If our hands were to slip slightly then we might take someone's life or disable a person's limbs..." answered Yiqing.

    Linghu Chong hummed and said, "Then these swords were not broken by martial uncles?"

    Yiqing nodded her head.

    They then heard Yihe shouted from behind the main hall, "There are also broken swords here."

    Everyone then went towards the back courtyard through the main hall. When they got inside the hall, they saw that the tables and everything in the hall were thick with dust. In all the temples in the world, there were always people to sweep the hall and keep it clean. So judging from the amount of dust collected in the hall, it seemed the temple had been uninhabited for several days already.

    In the back courtyard, Linghu Chong and the rest of the disciples saw several trees hacked by weapons. They examined the places where the trees had been hacked and realised that they were at least a few days old. There was a hole where the back door was and the door planks were tens of feet away. It looked as if the door had been kicked open. Outside the door was a small path leading to the mountains. They followed the path and after more than a hundred feet, the road branched into two. Yiqing called out, "Everyone, separate and look around. See if there's anything unusual."

    Not long after, Qin Juan shouted from the right branch, "There's a projectile here." And another one also called out, "Iron awl! There's an iron awl here!"

    They saw this branch of the road passed through a mountain range that went up and down. Everyone quickly rushed towards that small road. Along the road, they often saw projectiles and broken pieces of sabres and swords lying around. Suddenly, Yiqing uttered an "ah" and picked up a long sword from the bushes. She said to Linghu Chong, "It's our school's sword." Linghu Chong reasoned out loud, "Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai must have fought here. They must have come towards this direction."

    Everyone knew that the Abbess and Dingyi Shi Tai had fled towards this direction because they could not handle the enemies. What Linghu Chong said was only to make things sounded better. They saw a lot of weapons scattered about on the road and guessed that the fighting must have been fierce here. They had received the urgent call for help many days ago; they did not know whether there was still time to rescue them. Everyone was worried as they hurriedly went forward.

    As they climbed further up, the road became more rugged as it circled around the mountain. Amongst the Heng-Shan School's disciples here, Yilin and Qin Juan had the lowest martial art and they fell behind as they kept going. After several li, the road became rocky and there was no more road to follow and also no more weapons to give them some direction. So they stopped paying attention to the road. Suddenly, they saw thick smoke rising from the back of the mountain on their left.

    Linghu Chong said, "Let's go there to have a look." and they rushed towards the smoke. They saw the thick smoke getting higher and higher as they get nearer. Finally they rounded a hillside and saw a big valley. In the middle of the valley, there was a big fire roaring up into the sky. The burning woods and leaves crackled loudly. Linghu Chong hid himself behind a rock and then turned around and waved his hand telling the others not to make any sound. Just then, they heard an old person shouted, "Dingxian, Dingyi. Today, I'll send you both into the Buddhist's paradise to confirm your spritual progress in Buddhism. You don't even need to thank us."

    Linghu Chong felt happy hearing this, "The two Shi Tai are still alive. Lucky we didn't arrive too late."

    Another male joined in, "Chief Dongfang sincerely advised you to surrender but you persistently don't want to listen. From today, there wouldn't be a Heng-Shan School anymore."

    The previous person shouted, "You mustn't blame our Divine Sun Moon Sect for being cruel and merciless. You should blame yourself for being obstinate and getting those young disciples killed in vain. What a pity. Haha, haha!"

    They now saw the fire in the middle of the valley was getting larger as it burned. They knew that Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai were surrounded by the fire. Linghu Chong grasped his sword and drew a breath before shouting loudly, "Fearless Devil Sect thief, you dare to give trouble to Heng-Shan School's Shi Tai. Five Mountains Sword Schools' masters have come from everywhere to help. Thieves, you're still not surrendering?" His shout was heard everywhere in the valley.

    At the valley, the firewood, stacked twenty to thirty feet hight, was blocking the road. Linghu Chong didn't think deeply before he jumped inside the fire. Fortunately, the firewood in the middle wasn't burning that much. He went forward a few steps and saw two stone ovens but there was no one around. He shouted, “Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingyi Shi Tai, Heng-Shan School’s force has arrived to help!” At this time, Yihe, Yiqing, Yu Sao and the rest of the disciples were outside the fire shouting, “Master, martial uncle, disciples have arrived!” This was followed by the enemies shouting, “Kill them all!” “They’re Heng-Shan School’s nuns!” “They’re bluffing, there’s no Five Mountains Sword Schools’ masters.” This was followed by the clashing of swords between the enemy and the Heng-Shan School’s disciples.

    Linghu Chong saw a tall shadow of a person coming out of the stone oven. Her whole body was covered with blood. It was Dingyi Shi Tai. Her hand was holding a sword and she stopped at the entrance of the stone oven. Even though her gown was ragged and her face was caked with dirt and blood, she still stood there looking proud and powerful. She had not lost the aura of a master at all. When she saw Linghu Chong, she was greatly startled. “You... you are...”

    Linghu Chong bowed, “Disciple Linghu Chong.”

    Dingyi Shi Tai said, “I know you are Linghu Chong...” She had seen his face before through the window from the outside of the Jade House brothel.

    “Disciple will open the way. We’ll fight our way out,” said Linghu Chong as he stooped down to pick up a branch for swatting away the burning woods. Dingyi Shi Tai said, “You already joined the Devil Sect...” She said till here when they heard someone shouted, “Who has come here to disturb us?” The sabre was lightning fast as it chopped down.

    Linghu Chong saw that the fire was getting more intense and the situation was desperate. But Dingyi Shi Tai was being suspicious towards him and unexpectedly didn’t want to rush out with him. In this situation, he had to move fast and kill as many enemies as possible. Only then would he be able to save them out of danger.

    He took a step back to avoid the sabre chopping down and that person followed his first move with a second slash. Linghu Chong countered this move by cutting off his arm holding the sabre. Then he heard a female disciple shouting sharply in misery from the outside. It was a Heng-Shan School’s disciple who had met with a disaster. Linghu Chong was startled and hurriedly jumped out of the fire.

    He saw a group of people on the east hillside and another group on the west hillside. The enemy had more than a hundred people with them. Some of the Heng-Shan School’s disciples were already in groups of seven using the sword formation to fight the enemies. But there were still some disciples who were fighting alone as they didn’t have time to form the formation. Even though those who were fighting in formation didn’t have the upper hand, they were still able to hold their own. But the situation was extremely dangerous for those who were fighting alone. Two female disciples had already been killed.

    Linghu Chong swept his eyes across the battlefield to assess the situation. He then saw Yilin and Qin Juan fighting back to back against three men. He gathered his qi and rushed towards them when he suddenly saw a bright light moving towards him. A long sword was being thrust towards him but Linghu Chong promptly killed him by piercing his throat.

    He leaped a few times and arrived in front of Yilin. He pierced the back of one man killing him. He killed the second man by piercing the side of his body. The third person lifted his steel whip to smash it down towards Qin Juan’s head but Linghu Chong reversed his sword and slashed upwards cutting off that person’s arm at the shoulder. Yilin was looking pale but now there was a slight smile on her face, “Amituofo, big brother Linghu.”

    Linghu Chong now saw that Yu Sao was being attacked by two good fighters. He rushed towards her and slashed twice. The first slash hit the person on his lower abdomen killing him. The second slash cut off the second person’s right wrist.

    He turned around and rushed towards Yihe and Yiqing who were fighting against three men. Linghu Chong wielded his swords and the three men cried out miserably before they dropped dead to the ground.

    Suddenly he heard an elder shouted, “Join forces and kill this servant first!”

    Three grey shadows responded to this call and three swords were thrust towards his throat, chest and lower abdomen. These three sword moves were really wonderful and their positioning was masterful. These were first-class sword art. Linghu Chong was startled, “This is Songshan School’s sword art! Could it be that they are from Songshan School?” As Linghu Chong thought of this, the three swords were closing in on his three fatal points. Linghu Chong used the sword-breaking stance from the Dugu Nine Swords as he circled his sword towards the three attacking swords to neutralise them. His sword intention had not finished yet as he forced the enemies to retreat a couple of steps. He saw that the enemy on his left was a fat looking Han Chinese around forty years old with a short beard on his face. The one in the middle was a thin old man with dark skin and bright-looking eyes. He didn't have the time to look at the third person clearly before he slanted his body and escaped.

    With two thrusts, he killed the two people attacking Zheng E. The previous three people roared out and chased him. Linghu Chong had already made a decision, "These three people's martial arts are high and I probably won't be able to finish the fight quickly. If I fight too long with them, a lot of disciples from Heng-Shan School would be injured." He gathered his qi and started running non-stop to the east and west thrusting here and there. His sword was everywhere. With each thrust, an enemy either fell down to the ground or was killed.

    Those three masters were still chasing him but the distance between them stayed around ten feet as they weren't able to close in on him. In the time to drink a pot of tea, thirty people had been injured by Linghu Chong's sword. They were being routed as not a single person was able to stop a single move from him. As thirty of the enemies were injured in such a short time, the situation was now reversed. For every enemy that Linghu Chong killed, he slowly managed to free some Heng-Shan School's disciples from the fighting, enabling them to go help the other disciples. In the beginning, the Heng-Shan School was outnumbered greatly by the enemy but now they were gradually turning the situation around and were getting the upper hand. Linghu Chong knew that this fighting today was very dangerous for everyone. He decided that he couldn't spare anyone. If he didn't manage to push the enemy back in a short time then the fire would get even bigger and Dingxian Shi Tai and everyone else inside the stone oven would be unable to escape.

    It was as if he was flying, he was sometimes rushing forward and sometimes rushing at an angle. All the enemies within ten feet of him had no way of escaping. Not long after, another twenty enemies had dropped to the ground. Dingyi was surveying the battle scene standing on top of the stone oven. She saw Linghu Chong appearing and disappearing like a demon killing those enemies. His sword art was wonderfully skillful and she had never seen it before. She felt really happy and astonished at the same time. There were around forty to fifty enemies left and they had seen Linghu Chong rampaging like a demon with no one able to resist him. Suddenly, someone sent out a cry and around twenty people escaped into the surrounding grove. After Linghu Chong had killed several more people, the remaining enemies lost their will to fight. Before long, all the enemies who were able had escaped.

    Only those three masters still remained as they chased after him but the distance between them was gradually getting farther. It seemed that they were also afraid of him. Linghu Chong stopped suddenly and turned around. He shouted, "You're from Songshan School, aren't you?" Those three people quickly jumped back.

    That tall Han Chinese shouted, "Sir, who are you?"

    Linghu Chong didn't answer him but called out to Yu Sao and the other disciples, "Quickly open up a way to save your master, martial-uncle and the others."

    The female disciples cut some tree branches and started to beat on the burning firewood while Yihe and a few other disciples jumped inside the fire. The dry branches were already burnt through to the core that they weren't able to extinguish the fire. But everyone worked together to beat on the firewood and before long a gap had been opened up in the fire. Yihe and the others quickly helped the suffocated nuns get out from the inside of the stone oven.

    "How's Dingxian Shi Tai?" Linghu Chong asked.

    He heard an elderly female's voice answered, "Thank you for your concern." as a nun of medium stature slowly walked out of the ring of fire. Her white gown wasn't stained at all with blood or dirt. There was no weapon on her right hand. In her left hand, instead of a weapon, she held a strand of Buddhist prayer beads. Her appearance was kindly with her spirit calm and her aura leisurely. Linghu Chong was surprised, "Dingxian Shi Tai is so serene. Even after all the difficulties she went through, she still managed to keep her calm countenance. She really lives up to her reputation." He approached and bowed to her, "Linghu Chong pays his respect to Shi Tai." Dingxian Shi Tai returned his propriety but warned, "Someone's attacking. Be careful."

    "Yes!" Linghu Chong calmly answered.

    Without turning his body, he reversed his sword and slashed it backwards blocking that fat Han Chinese's sword and said, "Disciples was late in coming to help. Shi Tai, please forgive this sin." He blocked a few more thrust from that fat Han Chinese when two more swords were thrust at his back.

    At this time, more than ten nuns came out of the fire ring carrying their martial sisters' corpses. Dingyi Shi Tai took large strides to emerge from the fire while saying fiercely, "Shameless traitor, that wolf's wild schemes..." The bottom of her gown had caught on fire but she didn't care about it at all. Yu Sao went to her to beat on the gown and extinguished the fire.

    Linghu Chong exclaimed, "Both Shi Tai are well! This is a joyous occasion." Just then, the sounds of "chi, chi" could be heard behind his body as three long swords were thrust simultaneously at him. At this time, Linghu Chong's sword art was not only one of the best but also not many in this world could match his internal energy strength. Not only did he hear the edge of the swords splitting the air, his internal energy also felt it and he automatically knew the enemies' sword paths. He wielded his long sword and countered the enemies' strikes. But those three people's martial arts were very high and their movements were lightning fast, which enabled them to escape from Linghu Chong’s thrust. But the back of the tall Han Chinese's hand was still slashed and fresh blood started to flow. Linghu Chong questioned, "Shi Tai, Songshan School is the leader of the Five Mountains Sword Schools. Also, they have brotherly ties with Heng-Shan School, why would they suddenly attack your school? I don't understand a single thing."

    "Where's martial sister? How come she didn't come?" Dingyi Shi Tai asked.

    Qin Juan cried as she answered, "Master... master was besieged by evildoers. She fought vigorously until... until she perished..."

    Dingyi Shi Tai was grieved and indignant as she scolded, "Good thieves!" and started to take large strides forward. But after only a few steps, she started to sway that she had to sit down on the ground heavily and threw up some blood from her mouth.

    Even though the three Songshan School's masters were cooperating to fight Linghu Chong, they were still unable to endure his attack. Throughout the fight, they had only been looking at the back of his body while Linghu Chong was fighting with the long sword reversed in his hand. His sword art was marvellous and unpredictable. If he actually had turned around to fight them, they would not be his match at all. The three people were secretly feeling miserable and they were thinking of running away.

    Suddenly, Linghu Chong turned around and started to attack them. He attacked the enemy on the left from the left and the enemy on the right from the right forcing them to crowd together. His one sword was able to encircle them and after eighteen moves they were unable to return another move. All three people were using Songshan School's wonderful sword art. But under the unceasing attack of Dugu Nine Swords, they were unable to return another move. Linghu Chong actually forced them to use their own school's sword art so they wouldn't be able to deny their association any further. He saw that even though sweat was flowing down on their faces, their expressions were still fearsome and their sword arts were still executed properly. It seemed that each of them had at least practised their sword art for at least ten years; it was really amazing.

    "Amituofo. Martial brother Zhao, martial brother Zhang, martial brother Sima, my Heng-Shan School and your respectable school has no enmity with each other. Why did the three of you attack us and wanted to burn us to death? Poor nun doesn't understand and would like to consult with you," Dingxian Shi Tai said.

    Those three Songshan School's masters really did have the surnames of Zhao, Zhang, and Sima. The three of them rarely traveled in Jianghu and their positions in the school were a secret. Linghu Chong had already given them so much trouble and now suddenly Dingxian Shi Tai called their surnames out. They were startled.

    "Qiang lang", "qiang lang".

    Two of them were hit on the wrists and dropped their swords. Linghu Chong pointed his sword at the short person's throat and commanded, "Drop the sword!" That old short person sighed and exclaimed, "The world unexpectedly has this kind of martial art, this kind of sword art! Zhao has been defeated by your sword and I wouldn't regard it as injustice." After saying this, he gathered his qi, passed it into his hand and broke his sword into seven or eight pieces. Linghu Chong moved back a few steps and Yihe with six other disciples drew their long swords and surrounded these three people.

    Dingxian Shi Tai slowly said, "Your respectable school wishes to combine the five mountains sword schools into one and create the Five Mountains School. Heng-Shan School has been around for several hundred years. Poor nun doesn't dare to end the school at my hand so I refused your school's proposal. We've already exhausted the discussion on this matter already. But now you disguised yourself as the Devil Sect and tried to wipe out my Heng-Shan School. Isn't this method too high-handed?"

    Dingyi Shi Tai indignantly butted in, "Why is martial sister saying so much to them? Just kill them so they won't give us anymore trouble in the future... " She then coughed a few times and vomited blood again at the same time.

    That tall person surnamed Sima said, "We were just following an order to dispatch a message. We didn't know any details at all..."

    "Let them kill us or peel our skins off, why do you need to talk to them?" that old man Zhao indignantly chided.

    Sima shut his mouth and stopped talking after being scolded. He looked ashamed.

    Dingxian Shi Tai said, "Thirty years ago, the three of you were running amuck in Hebei but suddenly you just disappeared without a trace. Poor nun thought that the three of you had turned away from your unruly ways. But I didn't expect that you would join and conspire with the Songshan School. Ai, Songshan School's leader Zuo is a respected person of our generation but he has accepted many unorthodox... Jianghu's unusual warriors, and together with them cause problems. This is really harboring evil... Ai, I don't understand this." Although she had changed her mind at this time, she still didn't want to offend anyone with her speech. She felt that she might have spoken too much and immediately stopped talking. She sighed, "My martial sister Dingjing Shi Tai, was she harmed by your respectable school as well?"

    That cowardly person with the surname Sima wanted to make up for before so he said in a loud voice, "Right, that's martial brother Zhong..."

    "Hey!" rebuked that old person surnamed Zhao as he indignantly stared at him.

    That person surnamed Sima realised that he had said the wrong thing, but he still continued, "Now that it has come to this, what's there to hide anymore?
    Leader Zuo divided our forces into two. Each force came to Zhejiang to handle the matter."

    "Amituofo, amituofo. Leader Zuo is already the head of the Five Mountains Sword Schools. What higher honour does he want by joining the five schools and becoming its leader? So he wages a war and destroys our alliance, wouldn't the Jianghu heroes laugh at this?" asked Dingxian Shi Tai.

    Dingyi Shi Tai fiercely said, "Martial sister, this thief's wild scheme is insatiably greedy... you..."

    Dingxian Shi Tai waved her hand then said to those three people, "The net of Heaven stretches everywhere, they might be loose but they never miss. You will suffer retribution for these unrighteous conducts. Get out of here! I'd bother the three of you to tell Leader Zuo that from now on, Heng-Shan School will no longer receive his order. Although my humble school only has weak females, we would not yield under his violence. We won't follow Leader Zuo's order to combine the schools."

    Yihe called out, "Martial uncle, they're... they're very malicious... "

    "Withdraw the sword formation!" ordered Dingxian Shi Tai.

    "Yes!" replied Yihe. Complying with the order, she lifted her sword which was followed by the other six disciples. They then retreated several steps.

    Those three masters from Songshan School never expected that they would be released so easily. They couldn't help but feel appreciative as they bowed towards Dingxian Shi Tai. They then turned around and flew off. When they were tens of feet away, that old man Zhao stopped and turned around. He asked in a clear voice, "May I ask the young hero with the godly sword art for your honourable surname and given name? I was defeated today though I don't dare hope to take revenge. But I would like to learn the name of the great hero who taught you and the name of this sword art."

    Linghu Chong laughed, "This General is from Quanzhou prefecture. I'm called General Wu Tiande! Let's exchange names." That old person knew that Linghu Chong's answer was fake so he sighed and turned around to go.

    At this time, the fire had gotten larger. There were many dead people from the Songshan School lying on the ground. More than ten of the Songshan people who were lightly injured had slowly crawled out of the valley while those who were heavily injured were lying in pools of blood. They saw the fire was getting closer but they were too powerless to move away. Some of them shouted for help. Dingxian Shi Tai said, "They didn't do this on their own accord. It was Leader Zuo who ordered them to come here because of an error in his thought. Yu Sao, Yiqing, help them." They knew that their Abbess was a merciful person and they didn't dare to disobey her. They separately started to check on the injured Songshan School's people. Those who were still breathing were helped to the side and given some medicine.

    Dingxian Shi Tai looked towards the south and there were teardrops falling down her cheeks. She cried out "Martial sister!” She then swayed a few times and fell forward.

    Everyone was startled and quickly rushed to her side to support her. They saw fresh blood flowing down from the side of her mouth. It seemed that her injuries were just as serious as Dingyi Shi Tai. The disciples were all frightened and didn't know what to do. They all turned around and looked at Linghu Chong wanting to hear his idea.

    Linghu Chong instructed, "Quickly give the two Shi Tai medicines for their wounds. For the injured, wrap their wounds first to stop the bleeding. The fire is still going strong in this place. Everybody, let's go there to rest. Can I ask a few martial sisters to go and look for some fruits to eat?"

    The disciples responded to his order and separately did the tasks. Zheng E and Qin Juan attended to Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingyi Shi Tai, and the injured disciples. They got some water from the creek with a kettle for them to drink with the medicine. During the Dragon Spring fight, thirty-seven of the Heng-Shan School's disciples died. When the disciples thought of how Dingjing Shi Tai and the other disciples had died, their hearts were full of grief.

    Suddenly, a few people started to cry and this affected the rest of the disciples. They all started to cry. All of a sudden, the valley was filled with cries of sorrow. Dingyi Shi Tai fiercely scolded, “The dead are already dead, why do you take this so hard? You have all read the Buddhist’s sutras and comprehend this matter of “life and death”. What’s so good about this smelly sack of leather?” The disciples knew that Dingyi Shi Tai’s nature was like a raging fire. No one dared to go against her wish. In a short time, the weeping sounds ceased but many of them were still sobbing. Dingyi Shi Tai continued, “How did martial sister finally meet her end? E’er, why don’t you report to Abbess and tell us clearly what happened.”

    “Yes,” answered Zheng E. She stood up and started to narrate how they were ambushed in the Xianxia mountain range, how Linghu Chong helped them, how they were captured in Nianbapu town with the use of confusion poison, how Dingjing Shi Tai was threatened by Songshan School’s Zhong Zhen and then besieged by masked men, how Linghu Chong luckily caught up and drove them away, and how Dingjing Shi Tai finally succumbed to her heavy injuries. She narrated everything to them.

    Dingyi Shi Tai uttered, “That’s how it is. Songshan School’s thieves were pretending to be Devil Sect to compel martial sister to agree to the merger. Hng, how vicious. If you had all been captured by Songshan School and martial sister didn’t agree, it could’ve been disastrous.” As she said this, she ran out of breath and her voice became weak. After taking a breather, she continued, “When martial sister was besieged on the Xianxia mountain range, she knew that the enemies weren’t easy to handle so she dispatched the pigeons asking for us to send help. Unexpectedly... unexpectedly... this matter, was already anticipated by the enemies.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai’s second disciple, Yiwen, said, “Martial uncle, please rest, disciple will narrate how our group met with the enemies.”

    Dingyi Shi Tai indignantly retorted, “What’s there to tell? Water Moon Temple was attacked by the enemy at night. And we’ve been fighting continuously till today.”

    Yiwen said, “Yes.”

    It was just a simple narration of how they had been fighting with the enemies for many days. That night, Songshan School’s people raided the temple wearing masks and pretending to be the Devil Sect. The attack on Heng-Shan School that time was so swift that the nuns were worried of being annihilated. Luckily, Water Moon Temple was an artery of Wulin and it stored five treasured swords from the Dragon Spring. In that critical situation, Abbess Qingxiao distributed the treasured swords to Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai to fight the enemies. Dragon Spring’s treasured swords were able to cut through iron as if it were mud. They used the treasured swords to cut many weapons and injured many enemies. They retreated as they fought until they reached this valley. Qingxiao Shi Tai died in protecting them.

    This valley used to produce fine iron and several hundred years ago metals were cast here. Later, the iron ran out and the sword forges were moved somewhere else. The only remaining things in this valley were a few stone ovens for smelting. It was lucky that those stone ovens were around as it enabled the Heng-Shan School to fight with the ovens at their back. By doing this, they were able to hold out for many days and averted a big disaster. When Songshan School was unable to break through with their attack, they collected firewood and tried to use fire to burn them. If Linghu Chong and the other disciples had arrived half a day late, it would have been very difficult to save them. Dingyi Shi Tai was impatient to get to the end of Yiwen's narration of the events of the past few days. She stared at Linghu Chong and suddenly said, “You... you are good. Why did your Master expel you from his school? He said that you were colluding with the Devil Sect.”

    Linghu Chong answered, “Disciple wasn’t careful while traveling and became acquainted with a few Devil Sect’s people.”

    Dingyi Shi Tai uttered an “hng” before saying, “Songshan School is even more ambitious and vicious compared to what Devil Sect is capable of. Hng! Are people from the orthodox schools better than those from the Devil Sect?”

    Yihe said, “Martial brother Linghu, I wouldn't dare to judge whether you master was right or wrong. But he... he knew clearly that my school was facing a difficulty but he just put his hand in his sleeve and would rather be a spectator. Given this... given this... maybe he already approved of Songshan School’s plan of combining the schools together.”

    Linghu Chong’s heart was moved and he thought that what Yihe said was not unreasonable. But he had grown up under his respected master and had always looked up to him. So he didn’t dare to have any disrespectful thought towards his master. He said, “My respected master wasn’t putting his hand in his sleeve and acting as a spectator. It’s most likely that he has another matter... this...”

    Up until now, Dingxian Shi Tai had her eyes closed to meditate. Now, she slowly opened her eyes and said, “My humble school has met with a few big difficulties and young hero Linghu has helped us get through them. This virtue and kindness...”

    Linghu Chong hastily said, “I didn’t do much. Martial uncle’s words flatter me too much. I don’t deserve it.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai shook her head and said, “Why must young hero be so modest? Martial brother Yue is unable to come himself so he sent his eldest disciple to represent him. That’s just the same. Yihe, don’t talk nonsense and be rude to your elders.”

    Yihe bowed, “Yes, disciple doesn’t dare. But... but martial brother Linghu has already been expelled from Huashan School. Martial uncle Yue doesn’t want him anymore. So he didn't really come here to represent martial uncle Yue’s school.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai smiled slightly, “You still don’t want to give in and want to keep debating it.”

    Yihe sighed, “It would be good if only martial brother Linghu were a female.”

    “Why?” asked Dingxian Shi Tai.

    “He’s already been expelled from Huashan School and couldn’t go back there again. If he were a girl then he could join our school. We’ve shared a lot of trials and tribulations together, he’s already like our own people...” answered Yihe.

    Dingyi Shi Tai shouted, “Nonsense. You’re grown up already, but you’re still speaking like a child.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai smiled slightly, “Martial brother Yue must have misunderstood something. Later in the future, he will see clearly and would accept young hero Linghu back into his school. When the news of Songshan School’s plot spread, he would not be able to just sit back any longer given the situation. Then Huashan School would need young hero Linghu to rely on. Also, if he couldn’t go back to Huashan, with his martial art, he could just establish his own school and no one would blame him.”

    Zheng E said, “What martial uncle said is true. Martial brother Linghu, Huashan School's people treated you so badly. Why don't you just establish a... a “Linghu School” and show it to them. Hng, then why do you still have to return to Huashan School?”

    Linghu Chong smiled bitterly and said, “Martial uncle speaks so highly of me. Disciple is not worthy of your praise. If only my respected master would forgive my faults in the future and permit me to reenter the school, then I won’t have anything more to ask from him."

    “Nothing more to ask from him? How about your little martial sister?” Zheng E asked.

    Linghu Chong shook his head and changed the topic, “Shall we bury the remains of martial sisters or cremate them and take the ashes back to Hengshan?”

    Dingxian Shi Tai answered, “Cremate them!” and her voice started to choke as she saw the dead bodies of her disciples lying on the ground. Even though she completely understood the human affairs, they had been her disciples for many years and she couldn’t help but feel sad. A few of the disciples started crying again on hearing this.

    Some of the disciples had been dead for several days already and some were hundreds of feet away. While the disciples were moving the bodies, they all kept scolding Songshan School’s leader Zuo Lengchan for having sinister intentions and methods. After they had finished cremating their martial sisters’ bodies, the sky had turned dark, so they stayed the night in the wild mountain under the stars.

    At dawn, the disciples carried Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingyi Shi Tai, and their injured martial sisters on their backs. When they arrived at the Dragon Spring town, they went to the harbor and hired seven black boats to travel to the north. Linghu Chong was still afraid that Songshan School might attack them while traveling on water so he followed them north. Now that there were two elders traveling with the Heng-Shan School’s party, Linghu Chong controlled himself and didn’t dare to talk nonsense to the female disciples anymore.

    Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingyi Shi Tai, and the injured disciples’ injuries were not light but luckily Heng-Shan School’s medicines were very effective. By the time they had passed Qian Tang River, their injuries were not life threatening anymore. As many of the Heng-Shan School’s disciples were injured, they didn’t want to encounter any incidents on the road and also wanted to avoid meeting anyone from Jianghu. When they reached the Yangtze River, they hired different boats to go upstream towards the Jiangxi Province. They traveled slowly in this manner. When they arrived in Hankou, about six or seven out of ten of the injured had already recovered. So they went back on the road and continued going north towards Hengshan.

    On the day they arrived at the bank of Poyang Lake, there were several boats anchored at the mouth of the Nine River. These riverboats were really big and all of them were able to fit into two boats. At midnight, Linghu Chong was sleeping at the stern of the boat with the sailors when he suddenly heard light clapping from the bank of the river. They clapped three times, stopped for a moment, then clapped for another three times. This was followed by clapping from a boat west of them. A person on that boat clapped three times, stopped for a moment, then clapped for another three times. The sound of the clapping was very light but Linghu Chong still managed to hear it, as his abundant internal energy made his hearing superb.

    He immediately woke up upon hearing these unusual sounds as he knew that these were the signals of Jianghu's people greeting each other. For the last few days, he had been watching attentively for unusual signs to protect against any surprise attack. He thought, "No harm in having a look. If it's unrelated to Heng-Shan School then it's good. Otherwise, I'll just take care of it in secret. There's no need to bother Dingxian Shi Tai and the rest of them." He squinted his eyes to look at the boat at the west and saw a black shadow with average qinggong jumping for around ten feet repeatedly till he reached the shore. Linghu Chong lightly flew off and landed on the shore noiselessly. He then went around the back of a row of big baskets filled with oil on the east side. As he hid himself behind the baskets, he heard a person said, "Those nuns on the boat must be from Heng-Shan School."

    The other person asked, "What should we do?"

    Linghu Chong slowly got nearer and the glimmering light from the stars and moon allowed him to see the faces of the two people. One of them had a face full of beard while the other one had a long and pointed face which was not only oval but was also like an open sunflower seed face. He then heard that Han Chinese with the pointed face said, "White Flood Dragon Clan is the only one doing this. Although we have a lot of people, our martial art isn't higher than other people so we shouldn't trade blows with them."

    (Translator's note: Flood Dragon is a mythical creature capable of invoking storm and flood.)

    "Who said we’re going to trade blows? These nuns' martial art might be good but on water, their water skill might not be that good. Tomorrow, we'll get a boat to go over to their boat. Then we'll go under water to bore some holes in their boats. Then we'll just capture them one by one," That bearded person said.

    That pointed-faced Han Chinese happily said, "This plan is very clever. We two brothers would've done a great service for the Nine River's White Flood Dragon Clan. From now on, our names would be heard throughout Jianghu. But I'm still worried about one thing."

    "What are you worried about?" asked the bearded person.

    "They're in the Five Mountains Sword Schools alliance. They have a saying, same root different branches. If Mr. Mo Da found out about this, he wouldn't let the White Flood Dragon Clan get away with it," replied the pointed face.

    "Hng, for the past several years, we've always endured with Hengshan School's influence. Enough already! This time if we don't do this thing for our friend and with all our hearts then if we met with a problem in the future, they won't help us. When we're done with this, maybe Hengshan School would be annihilated, why are you still afraid of Mr. Mo Da for?" said the bearded face.

    "Alright, that's the plan then. Let's look for some help who can swim well," said the pointed face agreeing to the plan.

    Linghu Chong leapt out and used his sword handle to hit the pointed face at the back of his head knocking him out. That bearded face person threw a punch but Linghu Chong extended his sword handle and hit his left Taiyang acupoint, which made him spin around a few times like a screw before plunking down heavily on the ground. Linghu Chong extended his long sword across to open the lids of the two oil baskets. He picked those two people up and separately squeezed them into the baskets. The baskets were filled with vegetable oil and each weighed around three hundred catties. They were actually for that day's shipments. As the two people were dunked into the basket, their whole bodies were immersed in oil and oil entered their nose and mouth. The cold oil woke them up immediately and made them gasp for air but they only managed to swallow some oil instead. Suddenly, someone at Linghu Chong's back said, "Young hero Linghu, don't kill them."

    It was Dingxian Shi Tai's voice. Linghu Chong was slightly alarmed, "When did Dingxian Shi Tai get behind me? I wasn't aware of it." He quickly took both of his hands off their heads and replied, "Yes!" As soon as their heads were released, they wanted to jump out of the basket but Linghu Chong hit the top of their heads forcing them back in and laughingly commanded, "Don't move!"

    Those two people had their knees bent to crouch inside while the oil reached up to their necks and they were having trouble opening their eyes. They were entirely confused about how they had gotten into such difficult circumstances. They then saw another grey shadow leapt from the boat towards the bank. It was Dingyi Shi Tai and she asked, "Martial sister, did you catch some thieves?"

    "They're the hall leaders of the Nine River's White Flood Dragon Clan. Young hero Linghu is playing a joke with them." replied Dingxian Shi Tai. She then turned her head towards the bearded face person and asked, "Sir, is your surname Yi or Qi? Is clan leader well?"

    That bearded person's surname really was Yi and he asked, "My... my surname is Yi, how did you know? Our clan leader is well."

    Dingxian smiled, "White Flood Dragon Clan's hall leader Yi and hall leader Qi are famously known in Jianghu as "Yangtze River's Pair of Flying Fish". Old nun has heard of your names, they're like thunder entering the ears."

    (Translator's note: "Like thunder entering the ears" is an idiom that means "have long resounded in my ears".)

    Dingxian Shi Tai was very meticulous; although she rarely went out of the temple, she kept detailed knowledge of all the personalities from every school and every sect. Otherwise, how could she have recognised those three masters from Songshan School previously? The bearded person surnamed Yi and the pointed-faced person surnamed Qi were third or fourth class personalities in Wulin. But as soon as she saw their countenances, she was able to guess their backgrounds correctly.

    That pointed-faced Han Chinese felt proud of himself that Dingxian Shi Tai had recognised him and said, "Like thunder entering the ears? I wouldn't dare." Linghu Chong used his sword to press the top of the pointed face's head, forcing him to submerge in the oil and then released his hold. He then laughed, "I've long admired your name, like oil entering the ears." That Han Chinese indignantly said, "You... you... " He wanted to scold Linghu Chong but he didn't dare.

    Linghu Chong said, "I have one thing to ask, why don't you answer truthfully. If you lie in the slightest bit, then your nickname "Yangtze River's Pair of Flying Fish" will change into "Mud Loaches Dead in Oil"." He then also pressed that bearded fellow into the oil. But that bearded fellow was already prepared for this so he didn't swallow any oil but the vegetable oil still entered his nose. So he was still feeling distressed over this. Dingxian Shi Tai and Dingyi Shi Tai couldn't hold back their smiles and both thought, "This youth is really naughty. But this can be regarded as a good method to get information."

    Linghu Chong asked, "When did your White Flood Dragon Clan start colluding with Songshan School? Why did you want to trouble Heng-Shan School?"

    That bearded person was confused, "Collude with Songshan School? That's weird. We don't even know any hero from Songshan School."

    Linghu Chong said, "Aha! The first word that came out of your mouth is false. I'll give you a mouthful of oil to drink!" He used his sword to press down on the bearded person forcing him to enter the oil. Although this bearded person was not a first class master, his martial art wasn't that weak. But Linghu Chong transferred his abundant internal energy into his sword. It was as if a thousand catties stone was being pressed onto his head making him unable to move up. The vegetable oil covered both his nose and mouth and exposed both of his eyes. He was feeling very miserable.

    Linghu Chong said towards the pointed face man, "Quickly tell me! You want to remain 'Yangtze River's Flying Fish' or become 'Mud Loach Immersed in Oil'?"

    That person surnamed Qi answered, "Now that I've met with Hero, even if I don't want to be 'Mud Loach Immersed in Oil', I might still have to become one. But brother Yi didn't lie; we really don't know anyone from Songshan School. Also, Songshan School and Heng-Shan School are allies and everyone in Wulin knows this. Why would Songshan School tell our White Flood Dragon Clan to make life difficult for... your respectable school?"

    Linghu Chong released his long sword letting that person surnamed Yi to lift his head above the oil. He then asked, "You said that tomorrow in the middle of Yangtze River, you were going to sink Heng-Shan School's boats. What has Heng-Shan School done to wrong you?"

    Dingyi Shi Tai arrived late so she didn't know why Linghu Chong treated those two people in this manner. But hearing what he said, she became angry and shouted, "Good thieves. You want to kill us in the middle of the river." Her Heng-Shan School's disciples were mostly from the north and they couldn't swim. If the boats were sunk then many disciples would inevitably die. As she thought of this, her body trembled with fear.

    That Yi person was afraid that Linghu Chong might push him under the oil again so he quickly said, "Heng-Shan School and our White Flood Dragon Clan have no enmity. We're only a small gang in Nine River's dock. What kind of skills do we have to look for trouble with all the Shi Tai from Heng-Shan School? It's just... it's just that we know that you Buddhists are all one family and we saw your respectable school going westward. So we thought that you were going there to help. That's why... this... we overrate our own ability and concoct this evil plan. We don't dare anymore."

    As Linghu Chong heard more, he became even more confused, "What do you mean Buddhists are one family and who do we help by going west? You're not speaking clearly!"

    That Yi person said, "Yes, yes! Although Shaolin Temple isn't part of the Five Mountains Sword Schools, we thought that monks and nuns are of one family..."

    Dingyi Shi Tai shouted, "Nonsense!"

    That Yi person was startled and he involuntarily pulled back and swallowed a mouthful of oil. He was speechless with his mouth feeling so greasy. Dingyi Shi Tai held her smile and said to the pointed face person, "Explain it clearly."

    That Qi person said, "Yes, yes! That "Ten Thousand Miles Loner" Tian Boguang, does Shi Tai know him well?"

    Dingyi Shi Tai was indignant as she thought in her heart why would she be well acquainted to such a notorious rapist in Jianghu as "Ten Thousand Miles Loner" Tian Boguang and that this servant actually dared to ask her this question. It was really the greatest insult to her. She lifted her right hand to smash his head open. Dingxian Shi Tai lifted her hand to hinder her and said, "Martial sister, don't be angry. These two have been indulging themselves in the oil basket for a long time now, their brains are probably not too clear right now. Furthermore, don't lower yourself to their level."

    That Qi person asked, "What's wrong with Tian Boguang? That "Ten Thousand Miles Loner" Tian Boguang, uncle Tian is a good friend of our clan leader. These last few days, uncle Tian..."

    Dingyi Shi Tai indignantly said, "What uncle Tian? You should've killed this despicable evildoer a long time ago. But you're making friends with him instead, I think White Flood Dragon Clan isn't a good clan after all."

    That Qi person agreed in a hurry, "Yes, yes, yes. We're not... not good people."

    Dingyi Shi Tai questioned, "We asked you before, why did you want to trouble Heng-Shan School? Why do you mention Tian Boguang regarding this?"

    Tian Boguang had been inappropriate with her disciple Yilin once before. But Dingyi Shi Tai had yet been unable to kill him to vent her anger so she felt that this was a shameful matter to her. So she didn't wish this person to mention Tian Boguang's name.

    That Qi person said, "Yes, yes. Everybody's going to rescue young lady Ren. We were afraid that the orthodox schools are going to help the monks. That's why we two brothers didn't think properly and confusedly cooked up this plan. This method that we wanted to employ towards your respectable school..."

    Dingyi Shi Tai still didn't understand in the slightest bit what he was going on about. She sighed, "Martial sister, I'll just let you question these two muddy people."

    Dingxian Shi Tai smiled and asked, "Young lady Ren, is that the Devil Sect's previous Chief's daughter?"

    Linghu Chong was shocked, "They're talking about Yingying?" His face turned pale and his hands started to sweat.

    That Qi person answered, "Yes. Uncle Tian... no, that Tian... Tian Boguang came to Nine River some time ago to drink wine with clan leader Shi. He said that on the fifteenth day of the twelfth month, we are all going to go to Shaolin Temple to make some disturbance and get young lady Ren out of there."

    Unable to tolerate what was being said, Dingyi Shi Tai interfered, "Disturb Shaolin Temple? What kind of skills do you think you have to provoke the best there is in the martial world?"

    That Qi person replied, "Yes, yes. Of course we're inadequate."

    Dingxian Shi Tai said, "That Tian Boguang has the fastest qinggong so he's acting as a messenger, isn't he? Who's presiding over this matter?"

    That Yi person answered, "When we heard that young lady Ren was being kept in the Shaolin Temple by those thieves... no, by the Shaolin monks, we all took action separately without consulting each other. We all wanted to save her but there's no one presiding over this matter. We remembered young lady Ren's kindness, so we all said that we're willing to sacrifice ourselves for her."

    A moment later, Linghu Chong's heart was filled with countless doubts, "That young lady Ren they're talking about, is it really Yingying? Why would the Shaolin monks detain her? She's so young; what kind of kindness could she have given to these people? Why did so many people want to go and save her without caring about their own life after hearing news of her trouble?"

    Dingxian Shi Tai said, "You were afraid that my Heng-Shan School would go and help Shaolin School. That's why you wanted to sink our boats, didn't you?"

    "Yes, we thought that monks and nuns... this... that..." That Qi person stammered.

    "What this that?" Dingyi Shi Tai indignantly said.

    "Yes, yes. This... that... I don't dare say it. I can't say..." That Qi person hastily said.

    "On the fifteenth of the twelfth month, your White Flood Dragon Clan is also going to Shaolin?" Dingxian Shi Tai asked.

    They both answered at the same time, "We'll obey clan leader Shi's command."

    That Qi person went on, "Since everyone else is going, our White Flood Dragon Clan couldn't be left behind."

    Dingxian Shi Tai asked, "Everyone? Who's everyone?"

    That Qi person answered, "That Tian... Tian Boguang said, Zhejiang's West Sea Sand Clan, Black Wind of East Mountain Association, Western Hunan Sect, ..." In a single breath, he was able to say the name of thirty clans from Jianghu. This person's martial art was only average, but he was able to remember the name of all the clans involved.

    Dingyi Shi Tai scowled, "They're all unorthodox clans. Even though they have lots of people, they're not necessarily a match for Shaolin School."

    Among the names mentioned by that Qi person were Heavenly River Faction's Chief “Silver-Bearded Dragon” Huang Boliu, Long Whale Island's Chief Sima Big, and a few other people that Linghu Chong had met before on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge. He had no more doubt that the person that they wanted to save really was Yingying and he was happy to have gotten news of her. But she was currently detained in Shaolin School and she had killed a few of their disciples before, so he felt really worried. He asked, "Why did Shaolin School want to detain this... this young lady Ren?"

    "I don't know about that. Maybe those Shaolin monks have been eating too much and have nothing else to do. So they just look for trouble and detain her," That Qi person said.

    "Please pay my respect to your respectable clan leader Shi and tell him that Heng-Shan School's Dingxian, Dingyi and a good friend passed by the Nine River. We've been impolite for not paying a visit to clan leader Shi; please ask clan leader Shi to excuse us. Tomorrow, we'll keep going to the west by boats. Please pardon us and don't dispatch people to sink our boats," Dingxian Shi Tai said.

    Those two people immediately answered, "We don't dare."

    Dingxian Shi Tai said to Linghu Chong, "It's a fine night, the moon is white and the air is clear. Young hero, please enjoy the night scenery at the shore slowly. Forgive poor nun for not accompanying." She then held Dingyi Shi Tai's hand and slowly went back to the boat.

    Linghu Chong knew that she intentionally left him alone so that he could question these two people further. But for the moment, he was utterly confused and didn't know what else to ask. He just walked back and forth on the riverbank and didn't say anything for a long time. He saw half of the moon's reflection in the middle of the river. The river was flowing to the east and the moon's reflection was trembling incessantly. He suddenly thought, "Today is already the third week of the eleventh month. There's not much time left till the fifteenth of next month when they're going to the Shaolin Temple. Shaolin School's Great Master Fangzheng and Fangsheng treated me very well. When these people go to save Yingying, a big fight is bound to happen there. No matter who wins or who loses, the injuries to both sides will be enormous. Why don't I go in front of them and ask Abbott Fangzheng to release Yingying and avoid this bloodbath. Wouldn't this be better?"

    He thought more, "Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai's injuries are almost fully healed. Although Dingxian Shi Tai's outward appearance is just like any other nun, she's actually very knowledgeable and her experience is vast. She's actually one of Wulin's great masters with very high skill. She's leading them back north; I don't think they'd meet another large number of Songshan School people attacking them. So they'd be able to deal with any kind of calamities they might face. But how can I just say goodbye to them?"

    He had gone through a lot of trials and tribulations with these nuns and ladies. They treated him very respectfully and they were also very close and dear to him. Also, although he never mentioned about the time when his master expelled him or when his little martial sister abandoned him, he could tell from their expressions that they shared his sadness as if it was their own. In the Huashan School, besides Lu Dayou, there was no one else that close to him. Now, he suddenly had to say goodbye to them, it was really hard for him to speak up. He heard the light footsteps of two people coming closer to him. They were Yilin and Zheng E. When they were still twenty to thirty feet away from Linghu Chong, they called out, "Big brother Linghu." and stopped coming closer.

    Linghu Chong went up to welcome them, "You were also woken up?"

    Yilin said, "Big brother Linghu, martial uncle Abbess asked us to come to tell you..." She pushed Zheng E and said, "You tell him."

    "Martial uncle Abbess wants you to say it," Zheng E said.

    "You say it, it's the same," Yilin said.

    "Big brother Linghu, martial uncle Abbess said, we don't need to say thanks for your kindness. After today, no matter what kind of matter you have, Heng-Shan School will follow your order. If you want to go to Shaolin to save that young lady Ren, everyone will help you with all their hearts," Zheng E said.

    Linghu Chong was surprised and thought, "I didn't say that I was going to save Yingying, how on earth did Dingxian Shi Tai know? Ayo, Yes! Groups of heroes gathered on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge to treat my illness. They must've done it in respect to Yingying. These two "Yangtze River's Pair of Flying Fish" knows about it, why wouldn't Dingxian Shi Tai know?" As he thought of this matter, his face turned red with embarrassment.

    Zheng E went on, "Martial uncle Abbess also said that it's best not to do this by force. Abbess and Dingyi Shi Tai have already gone ahead to Shaolin Temple to meet Great Master Fangzheng to request for her release. She asked that big brother Linghu lead us to go to Shaolin."

    When Linghu Chong heard this, he felt dumbfounded and speechless. He lifted his eyes towards the middle of the river and saw a small boat with a small white sail cruising to the north. He felt appreciative towards them but he also felt ashamed. "These two Shi Tai are learned and virtuous Buddhists with high positions in Wulin. Yet, they're willing to go by themselves to ask for Shaolin's compassion. This is probably the best way. Compared to me, an unrestrained, improper, and nameless person of Wulin, their reputations are a hundred times better. It's most likely that when Abbott Fangzheng saw the two Shi Tai, he would have to consider their reputations and agree to release Yingying."

    As he thought of this, he felt relieved. He turned his head around to look at those two, Qi and Yi, person who are still immersed in the oil baskets as they were afraid to climb out. He saw that these two were enthusiastic in saving Yingying so he felt that he had wronged them and felt quite sorry for them. He went up to them and cupped his hands. He solemnly offered, "I was being rude before and offended the two "Yangtze River's Pair of Flying Fish" heroes from the White Flood Dragon Clan not knowing your reasons. Please forgive me."

    Those two "Yangtze River's Pair of Flying Fish" were greatly surprised as they saw him turned respectful towards them so suddenly. They hastily returned his propriety and also cupped their fists. In their haste, the vegetable oil splashed everywhere and some was actually splashed on Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong smiled and nodded his head.

    He turned towards Yilin and Zheng E saying, "Let's go!" and returned to their boat. Heng-Shan School's other disciples unexpectedly didn't say anything when they got back. Even Yihe and Qin Juan, who were usually curious, didn't ask him anything. It was because Dingxian Shi Tai had ordered them not to ask questions to save Linghu Chong from embarrassment. Linghu Chong appreciated this inwardly but he saw shadows of a smile on a few of the female disciples. Unavoidably, he now found himself in a difficult situation. He thought, "They must be thinking that Yingying is my sweetheart. Actually, there's nothing between Yingying and me. But since they're not asking me anything, how do I explain?" When he saw Qin Juan's bright and cunning eyes smiling at him, he couldn't endure it anymore and said, "It's not like that at all. Don't... don't let your imagination run wild."

    Qin Juan giggled, "What am I imagining?"

    Linghu Chong blushed, "I've already guessed it."

    Qin Juan teased him, "Guess what?"

    But Linghu Chong didn't answer her. Yihe reproached, "Martial sister Qin, don't say it anymore. Have you forgotten Martial uncle Abbess' order?"

    Qin Juan pursed her lips holding back her laugh, "Yes, yes, I didn't forget."

    Linghu Chong turned his head away to avoid her eyes only to see Yilin sitting alone in the boat's cabin. She was looking pale and her expression was indifferent. He felt anxious, "What is she thinking? What did I say to upset her?"

    He was startled when he suddenly remembered that day outside Hengshan. He recalled her expression while she was running and carrying him until they reached the wilderness. At that time, she was deeply troubled and excited, unlike her very indifferent expression right now. Why? Why?

    Yihe suddenly said, "Martial brother Linghu!" But Linghu Chong didn't hear her so he didn't answer her. Yihe called out louder, "Martial brother Linghu!"

    Linghu Chong was startled and turned his head around, "Hmm, what?"

    Yihe said, "Martial uncle Abbess also said that we should listen to Martial brother Linghu's plan whether we should go by road or boat tomorrow."

    Linghu Chong actually wanted to go by land to learn about Yingying. But looking from the corner of his eyes, he saw tears flowing down Yilin's cheeks looking very pitiful. So he decided, "Martial uncle Abbess told us to just go slowly so we'll just travel in this boat then. I don't think those people from White Flood Dragon Clan would dare to bother us."

    Qin Juan giggled, "You're not worried?" Linghu Chong blushed and didn't answer her.

    Yihe shouted, "Martial sister Qin, you're just like a child, can you stop talking?"

    Qin Juan giggled, "I can! Why can't I? Amituofo, I feel worried."

    At dawnbreak, the boat sailed westward and Linghu Chong ordered it to stay close to the shore to protect against a potential White Flood Dragon Clan's attack. But everything was quiet as they entered Hubei's border. These last few days, Linghu Chong didn't chit chat much with Heng-Shan School's disciples. Every night when they dropped anchor, he went ashore by himself to drink wine until he got drunk.

    That day, the boat went pass Xiakou and turned north going to the Hanshui River. At night, they stopped at the dock of a small town. He again went ashore and drank wine at a small store. After a few bowls of wine, he suddenly thought, "I wonder how little martial sister's injuries are? Martial sisters Yizhen and Yiling delivered Heng-Shan School's medicine to them. So her injuries should be healed by now. I wonder if martial brother Lin has recovered from his injuries? If martial brother Lin's injuries didn't get better, how would she react?" As he thought till here, he was startled, "Linghu Chong, Linghu Chong, you're such a contemptible person! Even though you're hoping that little martial sister would recover, but inside you're also hoping that martial brother Lin would die. Even if martial brother Lin is dead, little martial sister still wouldn't marry you."

    He was feeling bored and after he finished three bowls of wine, he again thought, "I don't know who killed Lao Denuo and eighth martial brother? Why did that person also want to harm martial brother Lin? I wonder how Master and Master-wife are doing recently?"

    He picked up another bowl of wine and grabbed some salty peanuts to eat. He suddenly heard someone sighing behind him and said, "Ai! All the males in this world have no feeling at all."

    Linghu Chong turned his head around to see who spoke those words. Under the candlelight, beside himself in that small store, there was another person crouching beside a table in the corner. On top of the table were also a wine pot and a wine cup. That person's gown was ragged and he looked shabby. He didn't look like an educated or elegant person. So Linghu Chong ceased paying any attention to him and continued to drink another bowl of wine. He then heard that voice spoke behind him again, "A person has been confined in a sunless place because of you but you're spending every single day together with those girls. Young ladies, bald nuns, old grandmas, they're all together with you. Ai, what a shame, what a shame." Linghu Chong knew that this ragged person was talking about him but he didn't turn around. He thought, "Who's this person? He said that a person has been confined in a sunless place because of me. Is he talking about Yingying? Why was she confined because of me?"

    He again heard that person said, "Even people who have no connection to this thing are saying that they want to sacrifice themselves to help her. Everyone wants to be the alliance chief. The person hasn't been rescued yet but there's already fierce fighting inside the group. Ai, old person has never seen this kind of matter in Jianghu before."

    Linghu Chong picked his wine bowl up and went over to sit opposite that person, "There are a lot of matters that are not clear to me. Old chap please teach me what to do."

    That person still lay prostrated on the table. Without raising his head, he said, "Ai, how much is because of a weakness for women, how much is sin? Heng-Shan School's ladies and nuns will be in real trouble because of this."

    Linghu Chong was even more startled that he quickly stood up and saluted earnestly. "Linghu Chong pays his respect to senior. Please bestow your guidance."

    Standing there, he suddenly saw a very old, deep yellow-coloured huqin on the chair. A thought flashed in his mind and he realized who this person was. He immediately paid respect to him, "Junior Linghu Chong is lucky to have met martial uncle Mo from Hengshan School. Sorry for my inappropriateness."

    That person lifted his head and his bright eyes swept across Linghu Chong's face. It was really Hengshan School's "Xiao Xiang Night Rain" Mo Da. He uttered an "hng" before saying, "You called me martial uncle. You flatter me. Hero Linghu, these last few days you've been really happy!"

    Linghu Chong bowed, "Martial uncle Mo is wise. Disciple received martial uncle Dingxian's order to accompany Heng-Shan School's martial sisters to go to Shaolin. Although disciple is ignorant, I don't dare to be inappropriate with martial sisters from Heng-Shan School."

    Mr. Mo Da sighed, "Please sit! Ai, how could you not know that the rumours being spoken by all these people in Jianghu can even melt metal?"

    Linghu Chong smiled bitterly, "Junior's behaviour was imprudent and I didn't check myself. I can't even show my face in front of my own school. But I don't think we should care too much about these idle talks in Jianghu."

    Mr. Mo Da laughed coldly, "Your name is already dragged through the mud, who would pay any attention to you? But Heng-Shan School's hundreds of years of reputation will be ruined by your conduct. This does not move you at all? There are many talks in Jianghu about how you're an adult male mixing with all the ladies and nuns from Heng-Shan School. So many of their names are damaged by you, even... those two very disciplined old Shi Tai are being laughed at. This... this won't do at all."

    Linghu Chong retreated two steps and grasped his sword handle, "I don't know who dare to spread these rumours and say all these shameless words. Martial uncle Mo, please tell me."

    "You want to kill them? The number of people who says this in Jianghu is around eight thousands. You want to kill them all? Hng, everyone is envious of your luck in love, what's not good about that?" Mr. Mo Da said.

    Linghu Chong dejectedly sat down and thought, "Whenever I do things, I never thought about the past or the future but I only ask myself to have a clear conscience. But I never thought that I would implicate everyone from Heng-Shan School. How... how can this be good?"

    Mr. Mo Da sighed and warmly said, "For the last five days, I've been prying into your boats every night..." Linghu Chong let out an "ah" and thought, "Martial uncle Mo has been prying into our boats for five nights already but I didn't even notice him. I'm really incompetent."

    Mr. Mo Da went on, "I saw you slept on the stern of the boat every night, you don't even chat with any of them. Your conduct is irreproachable with these Heng-Shan School's female disciples. Brother Linghu, you're not only not a loafer, but you're actually a real gentleman. Even though the boat is full of young nuns and pretty maidens, you never showed any interest in them. Not even one night, but for tens of nights you didn't show any interest. Your type of person, a gentleman, is really rare nowadays. I, Mo Da, really admire you." He raised his right thumbs up praising him. He then slammed his fist down, "Come, come, come! I, Mo Da, am saluting you." He picked up the wine pot and poured wine for them.

    Linghu Chong said, "Martial uncle Mo's words scares nephew here. Little nephew's conduct is mostly improper; that's why I wasn't tolerated in my own school. But these Heng-Shan School's martial sisters who I'm traveling with, why would I dare to offend them?"

    Mr. Mo Da laughed a few times before answering, "To be frank, this is actually the true colours of males. If I, Mo Da, were still in my twenties and had to accompany all these ladies every night, I wouldn't be able to follow your example in maintaining my moral integrity. This is rare, very rare! Come, bottoms up!" The two of them lifted their wine bowls and gulped them down. Then they laughed together.

    Linghu Chong saw that Mr. Mo Da's appearance was unrestrained and his clothing and personal adornments were poor. He didn't look like an earth-shattering figure of a school leader in Jianghu. But as his eyes swept across, it was sharp as a knife-edge. But this fierce look disappeared immediately and he again became a sleepy old man. Linghu Chong thought, "Heng-Shan's leader Dingxian Shi Tai is kind and gentle. Taishan's leader Priest Tianmen is dignified and sincere. Songshan's leader Zuo Lengchan is like a dangerous bird of prey. My respected master is a refined gentleman. Martial uncle Mo's appearance, on the other hand, is common and humble, just like any other ordinary person. However, within the five mountains sword schools' five leaders, he's actually the wisest one. I, Linghu Chong, am only a crude-fellow; compared to them I still lack by a long distance."

    Mr. Mo Da said, "When I was in Hunan, I heard about you mixing together with the nuns and ladies from the Heng-Shan School. I was really surprised. I wondered how Dingxian Shi Tai could allow this matter to arise from her school? Later, I found out your whereabouts from the White Flood Dragon Clan and caught up with you. Brother Linghu, when you made that disturbance in Hengshan's Jade House, at that time I, Mo Da, firmly believed that you were a frivolous young man. Later, after you helped my martial brother Liu Zhengfeng, I held a good opinion of you. I wanted to catch up to give you some advice. Who would've thought that I would meet a hero of this generation. Unexpectedly, brother, you're such a great young hero. Very good, very good! Come, come, come! We'll drink three cups!"

    He then called out to the shop servant to add more wine to drink with Linghu Chong. After a few bowls of wine, a sad and poor looking Mr. Mo Da suddenly became cheerful and energetic as he continuously called for more wine. But his tolerance for wine was far less than Linghu Chong. After a few more bowls, his face had become bright scarlet.

    "Brother Linghu, I know that you really like to drink wine. Mo Da didn't consider my own position and accompanied you to drink many bowls of wine already. Hey, hey, in Wulin, Mo Da hasn't accompanied many people to drink wine. That day at a meeting in Songshan, there was this Songyang Palm Fei Bin. This person was really bossy and arrogant, the more Mo Da looked at him, the more I didn't like him. So I didn't even drink a drop of wine. The words coming out of his mouth were also rude. Damn it, don't you think he's annoying?"

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Yes, this kind of person overrates his own ability and his conduct's really overbearing. At the end, he didn't have a good fate."

    "Later, this person just suddenly disappeared. His whereabouts is also unclear and no one knows where he's gone. This is really strange," Mr. Mo Da said.

    Linghu Chong wondered about that day outside the walls of Hengshan city. He clearly saw Mr. Mo Da used his wonderfully divine sword art to kill Fei Bin then and he was also sure that Mr. Mo Da saw him there witnessing the whole event. But how come Mr. Mo was saying he didn't know what happened to Fei Bin? Linghu Chong didn't want to appear as if he knew something about it so he said, "Songshan School has no other people who they can rely on. So probably this Fei Bin is holed up somewhere in a cave on Songshan mountain diligently practising his sword art."

    Mr. Mo Da's eyes suddenly flashed with a cunning look. He laughed lightly and slapped the table, "That must be it! If brother didn't mention this, I would've racked my brain trying to figure out where he's gone to and still wouldn't have figured out the reason." He drank a mouthful of wine before asking, "Brother Linghu, why are you really mixing with Heng-Shan School's disciples? Devil Sect's young lady Ren has deep feelings towards you. So you should never disappoint her."

    Linghu Chong's face turned red when he heard this. "Martial uncle Mo is wise. Little nephew is already frustrated in love. This matter of male and female, I've long been indifferent to this already." As he thought of his little martial sister, Yue Lingshan, his heart turned sour and his eyes couldn't help but turn red. Suddenly, he laughed loudly and in a clear voice said, "Little nephew is already disillusioned with this mortal world and wanted to become a monk. But I'm afraid that the regulations for the monks are too strict. Like can't drink wine. So I didn't go and become a monk. Haha, haha!" Even though he was laughing loudly, it sounded mournful.

    After a while, he related the story of how he met Dingjing, Dingxian, and Dingyi Shi Tai and how he helped them. He just thoughtlessly described every event while playing down his role in it.

    Mr. Mo Da calmly listened to his story till the end. He then just dumbly stared at the wine pot for a long time before saying, "Zuo Lengchan's desire is to annex the other four schools into his own to make one big school. This one big school would then be able to match the two big schools of Shaolin and Wudang and stand as their equal. He hatched this secret plot a long time ago. Although he's concealed it deeply, I've seen clues of it for a long time now. His granny, he didn't allow my martial brother Liu to wash his hand and also helped the sword branch of Huashan School to challenge and usurp Mr. Yue's leadership. All these things happened because of this reason. But I never thought that he would be so rash as to brazenly attack Heng-Shan School."

    Linghu Chong said, “He didn’t attack openly with boldness. Originally, he pretended to be from the Devil Sect to force Heng-Shan School to have no other alternative but to agree to combine their schools.”

    Mr. Mo Da nodded his head agreeing with him, “Correct. The next step he'll be taking must be to deal with Taishan School’s Priest Tianmen. Hng, even though Devil Sect is vicious, they’re not necessarily more vicious than Zuo Lengchan. Brother Linghu, you’re no longer in Huashan School, you're free like the cloud and cranes in the field. You're unrestrained. So you don’t need to care about this orthodox school and Devil Sect matters anymore. I advise you, don’t become a monk and also don’t grieve because of this. Go and rescue that young lady Ren out of Shaolin and marry her. Even if other people don’t want to come and drink your celebration wine, I, Mo Da, will come and drink three cups. Damn Zho Lengchan! Does he think we’re afraid of him?”

    Mr. Mo sometimes talked in a refined manner but sometimes he talked really vulgarly. He didn’t look like a leader of a school at all.

    Linghu Chong thought, “He thinks that I’m discouraged about love because of Yingying. But it's not good talking to him about the matter of little martial sister.” He then asked, “Martial uncle Mo, why did the Shaolin School imprison young lady Ren?”

    Mr. Mo Da’s mouth dropped open. He eyed Linghu Chong intensely with his expression full of amazement, “Why did the Shaolin School imprison young lady Ren? You really don’t know, or you already know but you are still asking? Everyone in Jianghu already knows why, you... you... what are you asking for?”

    “For the past several months, little nephew was imprisoned by some people and didn’t hear of any news from Jianghu. After that young lady Ren killed four disciples of Shaolin School, little nephew was together with her for some time. But I didn’t know how we got separated later and how she ended up being captured by Shaolin School?” Linghu Chong explained.

    Mr. Mo Da answered, “If that’s the case, you really don’t know the whole story then. Your body’s internal injury was incurable by any medicine. I heard that the unorthodox sects assembled thousands of people on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge to flatter this young lady Ren and to heal your injury. The result is that no one was able to do anything for you, is this right?”

    “Right,” replied Linghu Chong.

    “This whole event shook Jianghu. Everyone was wondering how this kid Linghu Chong got so much good fortune. Unexpectedly, it was because the Dark Wood Cliff’s Sacred Lady Miss Ren favours you. So even though your illness couldn’t be cured, it wasn’t all in vain,” Mr. Mo Da said.

    “Martial uncle Mo is teasing me,” said Linghu Chong while he thought, “Although Old Man and Zhu Qianqiu had good intentions, their method was really crude and they announced this matter to everyone. No wonder Yingying was angry.”

    “So how did you finally get better? It’s Shaolin School’s “Tendon Altering Sutra” divine art, wasn’t it?” Mr. Mo Da asked.

    “It’s not. Shaolin School’s Abbot Fangzheng was merciful and forgave old animosities. He agreed to impart Shaolin School’s unsurpassed internal energy cultivation method to me. It was little nephew who didn’t want to join the Shaolin School. This Shaolin’s divine martial art wasn’t allowed to be imparted to outsiders so I had to disappoint Abbott Fangzheng’s kindness,” Linghu Chong answered.

    “Shaolin School is Wulin’s most respected school. At that time, you have already been expelled from the Huashan School, so it was by chance that you were able to join Shaolin. This is once in a lifetime opportunity. Why didn’t you take into consideration about that and about your own life too?” Mr. Mo Da said.

    “Little nephew has been with my respected Master and Master-Wife since I was young. Even if my body is grounded till dust, I still hope that someday my respected Master would allow little nephew to correct myself and join the Huashan School again. I didn’t want to be greedy to preserve my life and be afraid of death and join another school,” Linghu Chong said.

    Mr. Mo Da nodded his head, “So that’s the reason. In that case, your internal injury was healed by another method.”

    “Yes! Actually little nephew’s internal injury isn’t completely healed yet,” Linghu Chong answered.

    Mr. Mo Da stared at him and said, “Shaolin School never had any relationship with you. Although Buddhist people are merciful, they wouldn’t just casually pass on their divine martial art to anyone. When Great Master Fangzheng promised to teach you “Tendon Altering Sutra”, you didn’t know the reason behind this?”

    “Little nephew really don’t know. I hope that martial uncle Mo can tell me,” Linghu Chong said.

    “Alright! Everyone in Jianghu says, that day, Dark Wood Cliff’s young lady Ren carried you on her back and went to Shaolin Temple. Once there, she begged to see the Abbott and told him that he must save your life and she would leave herself to the mercy of the Shaolin temple. If they wanted to kill or peel her flesh, she wouldn’t object,” Mr. Mo Da said.

    “Ah!” uttered Linghu Chong as he jumped up and turned over the wine bowls on the table. His whole body was suddenly covered in cold sweat and his limbs were trembling. His voice trembled, “This... this... this...” His mind was confused. He thought back to those days when his body was getting weaker as days passed by. One night, when he was sleeping, he heard Yingying wept sorrowfully. She said, “You’re getting thinner every day. I... I...” She was saying this very sincerely and he appreciated her concern. Then he vomited some blood and lost consciousness. When he became clear-headed, he was already inside the Shaolin temple and Great Master Fangsheng had already passed him countless amount of inner energy to save him. But he didn’t know how he ended up in Shaolin or where Yingying had gone. She had actually risked her own life to save his own. He couldn’t help as tears filled his eyes and finally flowed down his cheeks.

    Mr. Mo Da sighed. “Although this young lady Ren’s family background is from the Devil Sect, she treated you with sincerity and passion. From Shaolin School, Xin Guoliang, Yi Guozi, Huang Guobo, and Jueyue had all fallen under her hand. So when she went to Shaolin, she didn’t expect to return alive, but in order to save you, she... she disregarded her own life. Seeing this, Great Master Fangzheng didn’t want to kill her but he also couldn’t just let her go. That’s why she was imprisoned inside a cave at the back of the Shaolin temple. This Young lady Ren has many generations of subordinates from various clans. Of course they all wanted to save her. I heard these last few months, Shaolin School hasn’t had one day of peace. From the day they captured her till now, some people said more than a hundred people had gone there to rescue her.”

    Linghu Chong’s mood surged when he heard this and he couldn’t control it for a long time. As his feelings subsided, he asked, “Martial uncle Mo, you said before everyone was vying for the Chief position and there's already fierce fighting inside the rescue group. How is this matter?”

    Mr. Mo Da sighed. "I heard that these people from the unorthodox sects usually just follow young lady Ren's order. Without someone with authority to order them around, they're just madly running and fighting with each other. None of them would submit to anyone. Now they're going to Shaolin temple on a rescue mission. They all know that Shaolin temple is the realm's oldest martial art school and matters would be difficult to handle there. Moreover, if they go there one by one then they know they would never be able to go back out alive. That's why they gathered so many people to form an alliance before going. After this alliance was formed, then there must be a leader. I heard in these last few days, they've been fighting over this leadership position. Several people have died and been injured and they've lost many people because of this. Brother Linghu, I think you should rush over there and control them. Whatever you say, who would dare to disobey you, haha, haha!"

    Mr. Mo Da was laughing happily while Linghu Chong's face turned scarlet red. He knew that what he said was correct, but the alliance would only submit to him because of their respect towards Yingying. Later, when she found out about this, she would surely throw a big tantrum. Suddenly, he thought, "Yingying has very deep feelings towards me but she's very thin-skinned. What I'm afraid most is if people joke at her saying that her love towards me is unrequited and I can't repay her kindness. I must repay her kindness but when news of this spread throughout Jianghu, people will say that Linghu Chong is passionately devoted to her, then she probably don't want to live anymore because of embarrassment. It's best if I just rushed into Shaolin by myself and rescues her. If I couldn't rescue her, then they can just say that I made a disturbance there to beg for alms." At this thought, he said, "Heng-Shan School's Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai already went to Shaolin temple to seek for Abbott Fangzheng's compassion to release Young lady Ren. They're doing this in order to avoid a bloodbath in the Shaolin temple."

    Mr. Mo Da nodded his head. "No wonder, no wonder! I found it really strange that Dingxian Shi Tai wasn't worried that you were left alone with her school's young ladies and nuns. So it was because of you that she's going to Shaolin."

    Linghu Chong said, "Martial uncle Mo, little nephew now knows about this matter and feels really worried. I wish I could fly to Shaolin temple to see how the two Shi Tai are doing with their request. It's just that Heng-Shan School's martial sisters are all women and I'm worried that they might meet some difficulties en route to Shaolin."

    Mr. Mo Da answered, "You can go!"

    Linghu Chong happily said, "There's no harm if I go first?"

    Mr. Mo Da didn't answer but picked up his huqin instead, and started playing it. Linghu Chong knew the meaning behind his word was that he was going to tend to Heng-Shan School's disciples. Martial uncle Mo's martial art and experience was not ordinary. No matter whether he was protecting them in secret or not, Heng-Shan School would be safe. He immediately bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness."

    Mr. Mo Da replied, "Five Mountains Sword Schools, same root different branches. Why do you need to thank me for protecting them? If that Young lady Ren found out, I'm afraid she'll drink vinegar because of this."

    Linghu Chong said, "Goodbye. Little nephew will bother martial uncle Mo to look after Heng-Shan School's martial sisters then." As he finished saying this, he rushed out of the shop.

    He halted a step and looked towards the middle of the river. He saw lights from the windows on the boat spilled over and reflected on the Hanshui River. In the shop behind him, the sound of Mr. Mo Da's huqin rapidly disappeared. He could only hear the calm of the night. It was really peaceful.

    End of Chapter 25

  7. #7
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    Default Chapter 26 Besieging the Temple

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    Linghu Chong travelled quickly to the north and reached a large town on a clear and beautiful day. He went into a restaurant in the city. Hubei's most famous pastry was dried bean curd with vegetables and meat wrapped inside a skin made from bean curd powder. It was very tasty. Linghu Chong finished three plates of these before he came out of the shop.

    As he stepped out of the shop, he saw a group of people walking towards him. Among them was a short and plump fellow. Surprisingly, he was "Old Ancestor of Yellow River" Old Man. Linghu Chong was really happy to see them and called out loudly, "Old Man! How are you?" Old Man was surprised and looked at him awkwardly. He
    hesitated for a moment before he drew out his sabre.

    Linghu Chong already took a step forward to welcome them. "Zu Qianqiu..." he had not said anything more when Old Man lifted his sabre and chopped down on him. Even though there was a lot of power in this chop, the accuracy was off as Old Man missed Linghu Chong's shoulder by around a foot. He cried out and chopped down again.
    Linghu Chong was frightened and quickly jumped back. "Mr. Old, I'm... I'm Linghu Chong!"

    Old Man replied with a shout. "Of course I know you're Linghu Chong. Everyone heard you already. Sacred Lady gave us an order that anyone who meets Linghu Chong must kill him. She will then shower us with gifts for following this order. Everyone understand?"

    "We understand." The group of people who were with him replied loudly.

    Although they replied Old Man with such conviction, they just looked at each other with awkward expressions on their faces and no one drew their sabres out. Some people were actually laughing thinking that this was amusing.

    Linghu Chong's face turned red thinking about the day Yingying gave that order for Old Man to spread in Jianghu. The order was for them to kill Linghu Chong when they met him. But she actually gave that order because she hoped that Linghu Chong would never leave her side. It was also to inform the heroes of Jianghu that young lady Ren was
    not crazily in love with Linghu Chong but instead hated him to the bone. Later, after so many unforeseen events, he had completely forgotten about this order. At this time, after hearing what Old Man said, he realised that her order had not been cancelled yet.

    When Old Man informed them of Sacred Lady's order, the people in the group did not believe him. In order to save Linghu Chong's life, she had willingly gone to Shaolin to sacrifice her life. At that time, the news of the incident in which she killed four secular disciples of Shaolin temple had already spread and created a sensation in Jianghu. Everybody praised her bravery for going to Shaolin, but they also found it really funny and also thought that this young lady wanted to show Shaolin that she was better than them by going there. It was clear that she loved Linghu Chong deeply because she was willing to exchange her own life to save him. It was also clear that she didn't
    want to admit to her feelings for him. But it was unavoidable that everyone else understood her feelings for him.

    Concerning this matter, Yingying's subordinates from the unorthodox sects were aware of it extensively. But the orthodox schools also knew some of the details. In everyday chats, this matter often became a laughingstock. So when the people in this group suddenly saw Linghu Chong, they were pleasantly surprised but at the same time they also didn't know what to do.

    Old Man said, "Master Linghu, Sacred Lady ordered us to kill you. But your martial art is too high, just then my sabre didn't manage to chop you. Please show mercy and don't take my life. Friends, everyone already saw that it's not that we didn't want to kill Master Linghu, but it's just that we couldn't kill him. Old Man couldn't do it, so of course none of you could do it either. Isn't that right?"

    Everyone erupted in laughter and shouted, "Right!" One person shouted, "Just now, we've all fought with all our hearts until both parties are so tired that we couldn't even kill each other. It's better if we just stop fighting. Everyone, let's go and fight in drinking wine. If there's a hero here who can make Master Linghu dead drunk then later when we meet Sacred Lady, we'll tell her that we managed to kill him."

    Everyone laughed madly holding their stomachs while saying, "Wonderful, wonderful!"

    Another person laughingly said, "Sacred Lady wants us to kill Master Linghu, but she didn't say that we have to use swords to do it. So it makes sense to use beautiful wine to make him dead drunk. This can be called using wisdom to subdue the enemy instead of brawn."

    Cheering loudly, they crowded around Linghu Chong and took him to the biggest wine shop in the city. There were more than forty people in the group and they filled up six tables in that shop. A few of them knocked on the benches calling out, "Bring out the wine!" Once Linghu Chong sat down, he asked, "How is Sacred Lady? I'm worried to death." When that group of people heard him worrying about Yingying, they
    were all really happy.

    "Everybody decided already that on the fifteenth of the twelfth month, we're all going to the Shaolin temple to get Sacred Lady out of there. In the last few days, the people in the alliance had been fighting endlessly to decide who's going to be the leader and had injured each other. It's good that Master Linghu already arrived. If this leadership isn't taken by you, then who else can do it? If another person were to lead this alliance, later, when we got Sacred Lady out of the temple, she definitely won't be happy," Old Man told him.

    A white-bearded old fellow laughed, "Yeah! Master Linghu must be the Chief of this alliance. Even if we later meet with difficulties and were unable to get Sacred Lady out, when she heard news of you leading us, she'll still be extremely happy. This position of Chief is a match made in heavens for you and only Master Linghu can take it."

    "This matter of Chief is not important. The most important thing is to rescue Sacred Lady out of the temple. Even if I died a cruel death in doing so, I'm still willing to do it," Linghu Chong said.

    He didn't just say these words thoughtlessly. He really appreciated Yingying's sacrificing her own life for him. Even if he had to die for Yingying, he wouldn't have given much thought to it. However, if it were just any other day, even though he still would've thought the same thing in his heart, he wouldn't have said this publicly. Now, this speech of risking death was said with passion and righteousness, it warned everyone not to make fun of Yingying.

    When they heard him said this, they were all reassured of him. They felt that Sacred Lady's judgement was right about this person. That white-bearded person said, "So Master Linghu is actually a passionate and righteous hero. If that false rumour in Jianghu were true that Master Linghu doesn't care about anyone but himself, then everyone
    here would've turned cold towards you."

    Linghu Chong said, "For the last few months, I was imprisoned and didn't know anything about the things happening in Jianghu. But night and day, I was thinking about Sacred Lady until all my hair turned white. Come, come, come! Let me salute my fellow friends with a cup. Thank you everyone for striving for Sacred Lady." Saying this, he
    stood up and lifted his cup to drink and was followed by the others.

    "Mr. Old, you said that many friends are fighting for the Chief position and injuring each other needlessly. It's still not too late for us to go there immediately and advise them to stop," Linghu Chong said.

    "True. Zu Qianqiu and Night Cat already went. We should go catch up with them," Old Man said.

    "Where are they?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "Everyone's gathering at the Yellow Keep Plain," Old Man said.

    "Yellow Keep Plain?" Linghu Chong queried.

    "It's west of Xiang Yang in the middle of Mountain Jing," That white-bearded old man said.

    "Let's eat and drink quickly then we'll go to Yellow Keep Plain. We've already fought for three days and three nights drinking wine up till now and everyone had already thought of every means, but no one's been able to make Linghu Chong dead drunk. Later, when everyone meets Sacred Lady, you can confess this to her," Linghu Chong said.

    They all laughed and said, "Master Linghu wine's capacity is like an ocean. Even if we drink for three days and three nights, we're afraid that we won't be able to keep up."

    Walking side by side with Old Man, Linghu Chong asked, "How's your daughter's illness? Is she much better now?"

    Old Man replied, "Master, your heart is concerned about a lot of matters. Although she's not better, I'm happy that she also hasn't gotten any worse."

    Linghu Chong had been holding a question in his heart since the beginning. Seeing the people behind him were tens of feet away, he asked, "A lot of friends said that Sacred Lady has been benevolent to everybody. I don't understand how she could have been kind to so many people in Jianghu when she is still so very young."

    "Master really doesn't know the reason?" Old Man asked.

    Linghu Chong shook his head, "I don't know."

    "Master isn't an outsider so we don't need to conceal it from you. But everyone has sworn an oath to Sacred Lady not to divulge this secret. Master, please forgive our sin," Old Man said.

    Linghu Chong nodded, "Is it because it's inconvenient to say or is it better not to say it?"

    Old Man said, "Leave it to Sacred Lady to personally tell master, won't that be much better?"

    Linghu Chong said, "The earlier the day I get to see her in person the better."

    On the road, they met two more groups of people going to Yellow Keep Plain. When combined, the three groups consisted of more than a hundred people.

    They arrived at Yellow Keep Plain really late at night and saw a gathering at the west side of the plain. They were still a li away from the gathering but the sounds of people calling out could already be heard. Linghu Chong quickened his steps towards the crowd. Under the moonlight, he could see a very large crowd surrounding an empty ground. He guessed there were more than one thousand people gathering around. He heard a person shouting, "Chief, Chief, naturally there's only one person who becomes Chief. With six of you guys, how do you all become Chief?"

    Another person answered, "The six of us can be considered as one, and one as six. If you obey our six brothers' orders then we six brothers are Chief. You talk too much; we'll tear you into four pieces first before we talk further."

    Linghu Chong didn't need to see who was talking; he already knew that it was one of the Peach Valley Six Fairies. But each of their voices sounded almost the same so he couldn't tell which one it was. Everyone was frightened by what that Peach Valley Fairy said and didn't dare to shout anymore. However, it was apparent that the crowd refused to accept the Peach Valley Six Fairies' words as final. Some people at the outer edge of the crowd were still scolding, while others were laughing loudly unseen, and some were throwing rocks around. It was total chaos.

    "Who's throwing rocks at old man?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy loudly shouted.

    "Your old man," Someone answered from the darkness.

    "What? If you're my brother's old man, then you're my old man too?"
    Peachtree Flower Fairy indignantly asked.

    Another person said, "That's not necessarily true." Several hundred people erupted in laughter when they heard this.

    "Why not necessarily true?" Peachtree Flower Fairy was confused.

    "I also don't know why. I only have one son," Another person chimed in.

    "You only have one son, what's that got to do with us?" Peachtree Root Fairy questioned.

    Another person with a rough voice laughed loudly, "Got nothing to do with you. But probably got something to do with your brothers."

    "Has it got to anything do with me then?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy inquired.

    One of the earlier person laughed, "Well, you have to look whether your appearance is similar to them or not."

    "Do you think my appearance is somewhat similar? Come out and take a look," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

    "What's there to look at? Look at it yourself in the mirror," That person laughed.

    Suddenly, four shadows moved extremely fast. They pushed forward and grabbed that person out. That person was tall and big. He probably weighed around 200 catties. The Peach Valley Six Fairies had caught four of his limbs but they didn't tear him apart. The four fairies looked at his face under the moonlight. Then Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "Doesn't look like me. How can I look that ugly? Number three, I'm afraid he looks a bit like you."

    "Pei, am I uglier than you? All the realm's heroes are here, let's ask them to compare," Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

    The people in the crowd had seen earlier that the Peach Valley Six Fairies weren't pleasant to look at with weird body shapes and ugly faces. If they had to pick which one was the best looking then that wouldn't be an easy task at all. Right now, they were looking at that big man seized in the hands of four of the fairies. At any
    moment, he could be torn to four pieces. Everyone was feeling apprehensive and no one dared to laugh.

    Linghu Chong was aware of the temperaments of the Peach Valley Six Fairies. If something went slightly wrong, then this big man would be torn to pieces. He called out clearly, "Peach Valley Six Fairies, how about if you let Linghu Chong appraise you?" As he said this, he slowly stepped out from the crowd.

    When they heard the name "Linghu Chong", it created a sensation throughout the crowd. More than a thousand pair of eyes were now trained on him. But Linghu Chong didn't look away from the Peach Valley Six Fairies afraid that they might get excited and rip that big man apart. He said, "Put this friend down first then I'll have a look at you." The four fairies immediately put the big man down.

    This man's stature was very grand and when he stood up on the ground, he looked like an iron pagoda. He had just escaped from death and was still scared stiff. His face was grey like a corpse and his whole body was trembling. He knew that trembling like that was not appropriate for a hero, but his body was trembling by itself and he couldn't stop it from shaking. He wanted to say a few words to save his face but he only managed to tremble, "I... I... I..."

    Linghu Chong saw him scared to death but still looking handsome. He said to the Peach Valley Six Fairies, "Six Peachtree brothers, you don't look like this friend at all. Compared to him, you're even more handsome. Peachtree Root Fairy's bones are wonderful, Peachtree Trunk Fairy's stature is big and tall, Peachtree Branch Fairy's limbs are slender, Peachtree Leaf Fairy's eyebrows are distinct and eyes are elegant, Peachtree Flower Fairy's... his... his eyes are like the stars, and Peachtree Fruit Fairy is full of vigour. Whoever meets any of you, he will promptly recognise your six righteous and heroic faces, young... middle-aged and handsome."

    The crowd heard this and burst into laughter, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies were very happy. Old Man had already experienced suffering under the hands of the Peach Valley Six Fairies before, so he knew they were not to be trifled with. He addressed the crowd, "In my opinion, looking around at all the heroes here, you all have many
    types of good martial arts. But speaking of facial appearances, no one can compare with the Peach Valley Six Fairies."

    After hearing this, the crowd started to call out. Someone hollered, "Not only handsome but also elegant. No one in the world can come close to them."

    Another one called out, "When Pan An retreated, Song Yu also retreated."

    And another one chimed in, "In Wulin, the number one to number six most handsome men are these six people. Master Linghu is number seven at most."

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies grinned from ear to ear thinking that those people were actually praising them. They didn't realise that they were actually being teased. Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "My mum used to say that the six of us are stinking ugly. So she was wrong." Another person laughed, "Of course she's wrong. There are only six of you, how do you turn into stinking ugly?"

    (Translator's note: stinking ugly in Chinese contains the character "eight" in the phrase. But it doesn't translate well in English here with the joke.)

    Another person softly said, "Add into that their dad and mum..." but before he managed to finish this sentence, the people around him quickly covered up his mouth.

    Old Man said in a loud voice, "Friends, we have some luck tonight. Master Linghu was just about to single-handedly break through Shaolin temple and get Sacred Lady out. But he met us on the way and heard that everyone is here so he came to talk with us. He said their appearances are handsome, naturally we'll regard Peach Valley Six Fairies..." When the crowd heard this, they burst into laughter again.

    Old Man waved his hand telling them to stop but among the laughter, someone said, "Breaking through Shaolin temple to save Sacred Lady is a big matter. What does it have to do with facial appearances? In my opinion, we should just offer Master Linghu the Chief position and ask him to preside over all matters and give out orders. Everyone will then respectfully comply with his orders. What does everyone think of this?"

    Everyone in the crowd knew that Sacred Lady was trapped in Shaolin because of Linghu Chong. They also knew that Linghu Chong's martial art was outstanding. That day in Henan, he fought together with Xiang Wentian against heroes from all paths. That incident created a sensation in Jianghu. But even if he was weak, they would still give him the position of chief in respect to Sacred Lady. When they heard what Old Man and the other person said, they were all happy and started to cheer and applaud. Peachtree Flower Fairy suddenly said awkwardly, "After we rescued young lady Ren out of the temple, will she become Linghu Chong's wife?"

    All of the people here revered young lady Ren but they also thought what Peachtree Flower Fairy said wasn't wrong. But they would never have dared to publicly say this. Linghu Chong was completely embarrassed and stayed silent. Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "He wants a wife and also wants to become Chief. That's too nice of him. We'll help him rescue his wife, but it's better if the position of Chief is occupied by us, six brothers." Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Yeah! Only if his skill is better than us then we don't have to discuss this matter anymore."

    Suddenly, Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Fruit Fairies moved together. They grabbed Linghu Chong's four limbs and lifted him up in the air. They moved really fast and there was no hint that they were going to do this so it was too late for Linghu Chong to avoid it.

    The crowd was frightened to see this and they called out together, "Don't do that! Let go of him!"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy laughed, "Don't worry everyone. We're not going to hurt him. We're just going to make him promise to make us Chief..."

    He had not finished speaking when Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Fruit Fairies suddenly shouted strangely and tossed Linghu Chong away. They blurted out, "You... why are you using such a demonical method?"

    When Linghu Chong's four limbs were grabbed by these four idiots, he was really afraid that they would really rip him apart so he immediately used his Art of Essence Absorbing. The four Peachtree Fairies felt their internal energy flowing out of their palms. When they tried to use their inner energy to resist the flow, it actually poured out even faster. So they were frightened and quickly let go of him. Linghu Chong somersaulted and landed steadily on his feet.

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy hastily asked, "What?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered together, "This... this Linghu Chong's martial art is really weird. We can't hold on to him."

    "It's not that we can't hold on to him. Just that suddenly, we don't want to hold on to him anymore," Peachtree Trunk Fairy corrected.

    The people in the crowd cheered loudly and said, "Peach Valley Six Fairies, do you submit now?"

    "Linghu Chong is our six brothers' good friend. Linghu Chong is the same as Peach Valley Six Fairies. Peach Valley Six Fairies is the same as Linghu Chong. If Linghu Chong becomes Chief then it'll be just like the Peach Valley Six Fairies becoming Chief. So what's there not to submit to?" Peachtree Root Fairy said.

    "In the whole world, how can you not submit to yourself? Your question is too stupid," Peachtree Fruit Fairy added.

    When the crowd looked at the expressions of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, they guessed that the Peach Valley Six Fairies had suffered a loss when they grabbed Linghu Chong but they were now just saving face and didn't want to acknowledge it. Although the crowd didn't really understand the reason, they started cheering and laughing anyway.

    Linghu Chong said, "Friends, this time we're going to meet the Sacred Lady and also rescue our many friends who have been trapped in Shaolin temple. Shaolin temple is Wulin's most respected place and their 72 unique skills have long been famous for several hundred years. Any sect alone would not be able to contend against them, but we'll just overwhelm them with number since we have over a thousand heroes here
    and more good men to come. Although our martial art is inferior compared to Shaolin's monks and their secular disciples, we'll surely win by fighting them ten to one."

    Everyone cheered, "Right, right! Is it really true that Shaolin's monks have three heads and six arms?"

    Linghu Chong continued, "However, even though Shaolin's Great Masters have imprisoned Sacred Lady, they haven't treated her badly. The temple's Great Masters are learned and righteous eminent monks. They are also merciful and people respect them for their virtues. So even if we destroy Shaolin temple, I'm afraid Jianghu's heroes will say that we've won only by relying on our sheer number, which is not the
    behaviour of heroes. That's why in my opinion, we should talk respectfully with them first before fighting then we can say that we've yielded a step to Shaolin temple. This way, we would put Sacred Lady and our other friends out of danger. We would also avoid a big battle which is a good thing."

    "Master Linghu's words suit well with me. If we're really going to fight, then both sides will suffer many deaths and injuries," Zu Qianqiu said.

    "But Master Linghu's words don't suit me. If both parties don't fight then there won't be many deaths and injuries on both sides. Where's the fun then?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

    "We already agreed that Master Linghu is Chief. So everyone must listen to his order," Zu Qianqiu said.

    "Correct, you should let us six brothers give orders out," Peachtree Root Fairy said.

    The crowd heard those six brothers creating a scene and obstructing the real issues being discussed. They were mad and a lot of people grasped the handles of their swords and sabres already waiting for Linghu Chong's order. Once the order was given, they would immediately chop these six brothers into pieces. Although the six brothers' martial arts were higher, they would never be able to continuously block the attacks from dozens of people.

    Zu Qianqiu said, "What does a Chief do? Naturally they give orders out. If he doesn't give orders out then how can he still be called Chief? Of course this character "zhu" means that he has to give out orders."

    /(
    Translator's note: Some Chinese lesson to understand the next part. For this case, the Chief here is called "meng zhu" ( 盟主 ). Meng means alliance ( 盟 ); Zhu means lord/master ( 主 ). The character "meng" consists of two characters "ming" ( 明 ) on top and "min" ( 皿 ) at the bottom. Ming means clear/bright; Min means shallow container.

    Now, when a downwards-left curved character stroke called "pie" is added to the character "min" ( 皿 ), then it becomes "xue" ( 血 ). Xue means blood.
    )/

    "Since that's the case, just call him "meng" only without the "zhu"," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy shook his head, "Calling him "meng" only is very difficult."

    "In my esteemed opinion, since calling him "meng" only is difficult, why don't we tear apart this character and we can call him "ming xue"!" Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.

    "Wrong, wrong! When you tear open the character "meng", the character at the bottom, less a "pie", isn't the character "xue". So what character is that?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies didn't know the character "min" was from the word "qi min" (Household utensils). Everyone in the crowd didn't want to follow their shameful behaviour so they didn't say anything.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "It may less a 'bit', it's still 'xue'. It's best if I cut you to show you, if I cut you deeply then a lot of blood will come out. So it's still blood. If I take into consideration the feelings between us and cut you lightly then not much blood will come out. Although it's less, it's still blood."

    (Translator's note: Peachtree Trunk Fairy misheard the pronunciation so he thought Peachtree Branch Fairy said "Less a bit" and not "Less a "pie"".)

    Peachtree Branch Fairy indignantly said, "If you're giving me a cut then of course it's going to be light. There's no need to take into consideration the feelings between us. Why do you want to give me a cut?"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "My "ke" doesn't have cut. My hand also doesn't have a sabre."

    (Translator's note: This is still play on words in Chinese.)

    Peachtree Flower Fairy asked, "Then what happened if your hand has a sabre?"

    The crowd heard them talking even more nonsense as they talked more and they couldn't take it anymore, "Be quiet! Everyone's trying to listen to Chief's order."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "He already finished giving his order, why must we be quiet?"

    Linghu Chong raised his voice, "Friends, the fifteenth of the twelfth is still seventeen days away. Everyone, let's move there slowly. By the time we got to Songshan, it'd be around that date already. This time, we're not going in secret so we'll be going with big banners and beating on drums. Tomorrow, we'll buy cloths to make big banners and write "World's Heroes Going to Shaolin Temple to Meet Sacred Lady". We'll also buy some leather drums to beat on when we're moving. When the Shaolin's monks and secular disciples hear this, they'll feel discouraged before fighting."

    Most of these unorthodox people were actually good people. So when they heard of his plan, they were extremely happy and started to cheer loudly shaking the whole valley. Among them there were also a number of experienced and steady older people who didn't express their opinion. But when they heard the crowd feeling pleased, they just smiled. At dawn, Linghu Chong asked Zu Qianqiu, Ji Wushi, and Old Man to make the banners and buy some leather drums. At noon, they finished writing those words on the banner and had bought a few leather drums.

    Linghu Chong said, "We'll start our journey now. Along the road, we'll be passing a lot of towns so we'll just keep buying more stocks there."

    The crowd were beating on the drums and roaring battle cries as they moved north in squadrons. Linghu Chong had seen how Heng-Shan School's disciples were ambushed at the Xianxia mountain range. After some discussion, he dispatched seven sects. Two sects were sent to the front to act as sentries, two sects were protecting the left, two sects were protecting the right, and the other one stayed behind to help wherever needed while the rest of the people moved with the main group. He also dispatched Hanshui River's Divine Crow Clan to act as messengers. Divine Crow Clan was a local clan and their circle of influence extended from Hubei at the north down to Henan at the south. If there were the slightest sign of trouble, they would know of it as soon as possible. As he assigned orders, besides the Peach Valley Six Fairies, everyone obeyed his orders completely.

    In the few days that they were travelling, heroes continuously joined their group. They also had more banners and more drums as they went. Along with the sounds of drums, it was very noisy with two thousands people shouting along as they went towards Shaolin.

    When they arrived at the foot of Mount Wudang, Linghu Chong said, "Wudang School is Wulin's second biggest school. The name of their school flourishes and they're second only to Shaolin. Even though we're going to rescue Sacred Lady from Shaolin School, we don't want to offend Shaolin. Naturally, we don't want to offend Wudang School either. So we'll avoid the main road to go across this area to show the leader of Wudang School some respect and to show them that we're not attacking their school. What does everyone think of this?"

    "Whatever Master Linghu says, we'll do it. We'll be satisfied so long as we are able to rescue the Sacred Lady. So there's no need to do other irrelevant things or make powerful enemies with anyone else. What's the use of levelling the Wudang School but not being able to rescue Sacred Lady?" Old Man said.

    Linghu Chong said, "That's very good then! Please pass the order to stop the drums and lower the banners. We're turning to the east." In a short moment, everyone started to go east.

    As they were travelling that day, they saw a person riding a donkey coming towards them. Following behind him were two farmers each carrying a basket on a pole on his shoulder. One was carrying vegetables and the other one was carrying some firewood. The old person riding the donkey had a bent back and was coughing incessantly. The clothes he was wearing was full of patches. When the crowd saw this trio coming towards them without making way, a lot of them put their hands on the handles of their weapons. Along the road, they had been making a lot of noise and whenever any pedestrian saw them, they immediately went to one side of the road letting them pass. But these three people turned a blind eye to them and just kept on coming towards the group.

    Peachtree Root Fairy scolded, "What are you doing?" as he pushed the donkey with his hand. The donkey neighed once before dropping down as its leg was broken. The old person riding the donkey was thrown to the ground and stayed down huffing and puffing. Linghu Chong felt sorry as he stooped down to help the old man get up. "I'm really sorry. Elder, are you hurt?"

    That old man was still huffing and puffing, "What... what... what's going on? I'm a poor man..." The two farmers put their loads down and stood in the middle of the road. They put both their hands on their waist and were looking angry.

    The person carrying the vegetable pantingly said, "This is the foot of Mount Wudang. Who are you people to daringly hit people around here?"

    "The foot of Mount Wudang, what kind of place is that?" Peachtree Root Fairy asked.

    That man said, "Everyone at the foot of Mount Wudang knows martial art. You're strangers here. Why do you act recklessly here in the fields at the foot of Mount Wudang and ask for trouble?"

    The people in the group saw that these people had yellow faces and were very thin. They were around fifty years old. When that person carrying the vegetable spoke, his breath wasn't strong but he claimed to be capable in martial art so the people in group were laughing loudly at them.

    "You also know martial art?" Peachtree Flower Fairy teased.

    That man replied, "At the foot of mount Wudang, even a three year old can do shadowboxing, a five year old can already use a sword. What's so rare about that?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy pointed to the person carrying firewood and laughed, "How about him? He also knows martial art?"

    The person carrying firewood replied, "I... I... when I was small, I learned martial art for a few months. But I haven't practised it for several years now. This martial art... sigh, they've become rusted now."

    "Wudang School's martial art is number one in the world. It only needs to be studied for a few months and you won't be our match," the vegetable-person said.

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy laughed, "Why don't you do a few movements to give us a look?"

    "Show what? You won't be able to understand it anyway," the firewood-person said.

    The crowd erupted in laughter and they all said, "We may not understand but we can still look."

    The firewood-person said, "Ai, in that case, I'll show you a few moves then. Don't know if I still remember all of them... Lend me a sword." A person came out from the crowd and handed him a sword. The firewood man then went out to the middle of the hardened rice field and started to thrust to the east and slash to the west. After about three or four moves, he suddenly forgot what the next move was. He scratched his head thinking for a little bit then showed a few more moves. Everyone saw that his sword movements were not methodical and his body and hand movements were extremely clumsy. They all clutched their stomachs laughing loudly at him.

    "What's so funny? Let me show you a few moves. Give me a sword," The vegetable-person said. He then started to thrust and slash the sword very rapidly in a disorderly fashion as if he was insane. This made the crowd laughed even harder. In the beginning, Linghu Chong also laughed but after seeing more than ten moves, he was astounded. These two people's sword art, one being sluggish and the other one being very fast, actually had very little flaws. Their moves looked very ugly but the sword moves actually had many variations. It seemed that they had only displayed a fraction of the sword move's power and didn't reveal the remaining potential power of the sword moves.

    Linghu Chong immediately stepped forward and bowed towards them. He said heartily, "Today, I paid my respect to two seniors and observed your high sword arts. I feel really honoured." The two men put their swords away.

    The firewood-person stared at him, "Little kid, you understood our sword art?"

    "I don't dare to say that I understand. Both of you have profound sword arts, how would I dare to say that I understand them? Wudang School's sword art is very famous throughout the world. It really makes one praises to the heavens," Linghu Chong replied.

    The vegetable-person asked, "Little kid, what's your name?"

    Linghu Chong had not answered yet when a few people from the crowd called out, "What little kid?" "He's our Chief, Master Linghu." "Country bumpkins, speak more politely!"

    The firewood-person said, "Linghu Melon? Not A Mao or A Gou, but some kind of melon seed. Your name's really ugly."

    Linghu Chong cupped his fist, "Today, Linghu Chong is able to see Wudang's divine sword art. It’s really admirable. I will go up the mountain to meet Priest Chongxu another day. I sincerely admire him. Can two seniors please reveal your honourable surnames and given names?"

    The firewood-person spat on the ground and said, "You have so many people making so much noise here. Beating gongs and drums non-stop. Is this a funeral procession?"

    Linghu Chong knew that these two people must be masters from the Wudang School. So he respectfully bowed to them, "We have a friend who is being detained inside the Shaolin temple. We're going there to beg Abbot Fangzheng's mercy to release this person."

    The vegetable-person said, "So it's not a funeral procession! But you've hurt my uncle's donkey, are you going to pay?"

    Linghu Chong led three steeds over and said, "These three horses aren't as good as senior's donkey. But I'm forced to ask seniors to accept them. We juniors didn't know that it was senior who was riding. Please forgive us." After he finished saying this, he led the three horses over to them.

    The crowd saw Linghu Chong's attitude becoming more and more modest and respectful. They saw that he was doing this on purpose and were very surprised to see this.

    "You already know our sword art now. Do you want to compare some moves?" The vegetable-person asked.

    "Junior is not the match of two seniors," Linghu Chong said.

    The firewood-person said, "You don't want to fight. But I want to fight." At the same time he said this, he thrust his sword crookedly towards Linghu Chong.

    Linghu Chong saw this sword move was wonderful as it covered nine fatal points on his upper body. "Good sword art!" Linghu Chong called out and at the same time, pulled his long sword out and also thrust his sword. That firewood-person looked as if he just randomly thrust his sword at an empty space and Linghu Chong countered by sweeping his sword in a circle at the same empty space. The two people had used
    around seven to eight moves. Each of their thrust was always aimed at an empty space and their swords had not clashed yet, but the firewood-person kept retreating step by step.

    The vegetable-person called out, "Melon seed, so you have a bit of skill after all," as he raised his sword and disorderly started to thrust and slash. In a short moment, he had slashed out around twenty times. Not only was each of his slash towards Linghu Chong didn’t hit him but the tip of his sword was actually still around seven to eight feet away from Linghu Chong's body. Raising his sword, Linghu Chong sometimes
    performed a move towards that firewood-person and sometimes he thrust at an empty space towards that vegetable-person. The tip of his sword was also around seven to eight feet away from their bodies. But when these two people saw Linghu Chong's move, their expressions revealed their urgency either to jump to avoid his slash or to brandish their swords to block.

    The crowd of heroes watching this were all stupefied. The tip of Linghu Chong's sword was still far away from the two people and there wasn't the slightest bit of wind when he thrust his sword and they were certain that he wasn't using any kind of invisible sword energy to attack. But why are these two people looking frightened as if they were too late in avoiding or blocking the sword?

    As they observed more closely, the crowd came to understand that these two people must be two martial arts masters. At this time, when these two people were using their moves to attack, one was still attacking sluggishly and one was still attacking like a mad man. But at the same time, they still managed to concentrate fully on defending themselves. When they were avoiding or blocking Linghu Chong's attack, their movements were light and steady. Now there was no more laughter from the crowd.

    Suddenly Linghu Chong heard those two people whistled and changed their sword art completely. The firewood-person slashed his long sword in a large circular path. While the vegetable-person used very fast movements going back and forth creating a starlike reflection with his sword.

    Linghu Chong pointed his sword at a slight upward angle and unexpectedly he stopped completely. His two eyes were now sometimes staring at the firewood-person and sometimes casting a sidelong glance at that vegetable-person. As his eyes looked at a certain place, those two people did one of these three things -- they quickly changed their sword moves or cried out then retreated or turned their attacks into defence.

    Ji Wushi, Old Man, and Zu Qianqiu had good martial arts. They gradually realised that when these two people moved to defend themselves, it was because of Linghu Chong's stare. He was always staring at their fatal acupoints.

    They saw the firewood-person lifted his sword to slash it down and Linghu Chong gazed at his lower abdomen's Shanggu acupoint. He had not finished his slash when he quickly withdrew it to block his Shanggu acupoint. At this time, the vegetable-person thrust his sword towards Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong responded by looking at the Tianting acupoint which was at the left side of his neck. That person
    hastily lowered his head which caused his sword to penetrate deep into the hardened rice field. It was as if Linghu Chong's two eyes were shooting projectiles and he wouldn't permit Linghu Chong's two eyes to take a look at his neck's Tianting acupoint.

    Those two people were still utilising their sword moves and the sweat on their bodies was seeping through their clothes. In a short while, their trousers had also become wet with their sweat. That old man riding the donkey had so far just stayed on the side and not said a thing. He suddenly coughed and said, "Admirable, admirable. The two of you step back."

    The two men replied together, "Yes!" But Linghu Chong's eyes were still circling around, never leaving their fatal acupoints. The two people waved their swords and retreated at the same time. From the beginning to the end, they didn't manage to break away from Linghu Chong's gaze.

    That old person said, "Good sword art! Master Linghu, allow this old man to ask for your advice."

    Linghu Chong replied, "You flatter me!" as he turned around and cupped his fist greeting the old man. Only now the two people were finally freed from the restraint of Linghu Chong's eyes. At the same time, they jumped backwards feeling just like two freed birds as they flew for tens of feet away.

    The crowd cheered them. Even though the crowd didn't understand their sword arts at all, they could see the duo's high martial arts from the way they jumped, the distance they covered, and the beauty of their movements.

    The old man said, "Master Linghu was very forgiving with his sword moves. If he were really fighting, you two would have a thousand holes and a hundred injuries on your bodies. And do you think he would have allowed you to finish your sword moves? Come here quickly to thank him."

    The two men quickly flew over and bowed deeply. The vegetable-person said, "Today I found out that there's a heaven outside this heaven and there's another person above me. Master's high martial art is very rare in this world. Please forgive me for my rudeness before."

    Linghu Chong returned his propriety, "Wudang's sword art is divine. Your two sword arts, one is Yin and one is Yang. Can they be the Taiji Sword?"

    The vegetable-person said, "Master is laughing at us. The sword art we're using is the "Double Ritual Sword Art". It is divided into Yin and Yang but we haven't managed to combine them yet."

    "Before when I was watching on the side, I was having difficulties distinguishing the sword art's subtlety. If we were actually fighting for real, I would certainly not be able to take advantage of the sword art's weakness," Linghu Chong said.

    The old man said, "Why must master be so modest? The spots that master was looking at are definitely the Double Ritual Sword Art's weak points. Ai, this type of sword art... this type of sword art..." He continuously shook his head, "More than fifty years ago, Wudang School had two priests. It was on this road that the Double Ritual Sword Art was developed through their tens of years of hard work. I was aware that the sword art consists of one Yin and one Yang, soft and hard, Ai!"

    He let out a long sigh, "I'm also aware that this sword art would not stand against a master swordsman."

    Linghu Chong respectfully said, "These two uncles' sword arts are already so wonderful. If it were Wudang School's Priest Chongxu or the other masters, then it would be impossible for me to distinguish the secret of the sword art by myself. Junior and friends here have gone past the bottom of Wudang Mountain, but we currently have a matter we must do. So we have to be impolite and not go up the mountain to pay our respects to Priest Chongxu. Once we've finished with this matter, I would go up to the Wudang Monastery and kowtow to the gods and Priest Chongxu."

    At first, Linghu Chong was feeling haughty towards them. But after seeing the hard and soft aspects of their sword arts together and the many miraculous variations of it, he actually felt some admiration in his heart. Thus, although he had discovered the flaws in the sword moves, in his heart, he actually really admired them. After all, in
    this world, which sword move didn't have any flaws?

    He was guessing that this old man must be Wudang School's first-class master. That was why he said these few sentences so sincerely. That old man nodded his head, "You're still young but you're not arrogant at all. This is also very rare. Master Linghu, were you taught by Huashan School's senior Feng Qingyang?"

    Linghu Chong was startled and thought, "Wow, his eyesight is so good. I didn't expect that he would find out about my sword art's background. Even though I can't disclose grand martial uncle Feng's whereabouts, because he already inquired frankly, I couldn't lie to him." He said, "Junior was lucky. I once had the opportunity to learn some of grand martial uncle Feng's sword art at a superficial level." These words had two meanings and it didn't reveal that Feng Qingyang had once taught him personally.

    That old man smiled slightly, "Superficial knowledge, superficial knowledge! Hey, hey, superficial knowledge of senior Feng's sword art, is it that easy to acquire?" He took the sword from the firewood-person's hand and grasped it in his left hand. "Let me receive some lessons from this superficial knowledge of senior Feng's sword art."

    Linghu Chong said, "How can Junior dare to fight senior?"

    That old man just smiled slightly while he slowly turned to the right and raised his left hand upwards till his sword was in front of his chest. The point of his sword started to move circularly as if it was surrounding a ball about the size of two palms. Linghu Chong watched his sword attentively as he understood that this move contained infinite variations. That old man slowly moved forward with his sword still circling. Linghu Chong felt a dense cold air pressing up to him and if he didn't return his move now then he wouldn't be able to do it later. He said, "Sorry for offending senior." He wasn't able to see the weakness in the sword movement so he just made a false thrust with his sword.

    Suddenly, that old man threw his sword into his right hand. With a flash of light, the sword slashed towards Linghu Chong's neck. This slash was an extremely fast killing movement. The spectators couldn't help but gasp in worry.

    But as the old man exerted himself in this strike, Linghu Chong saw a weak point at the lower part of his body. He thrust his sword towards the old man's Yuanye acupoint at the lower part of his body. The old man moved his sword to block the thrust and the two swords clashed. Both people retreated a step. Linghu Chong felt that the old man's
    sword was laced with internal energy which made his right hand shook. Linghu Chong could also feel needles and pins on his arm because of the impact. That old man was also surprised and an expression of amazement could be seen on his face.

    The old man switched his sword to his left hand again and drew two circles in front of his body. Linghu Chong saw that his sword moved continuously and protected his whole body. It was unexpectedly without any flaws. Linghu Chong was secretly amazed, "I have never seen a sword art without any weakness before. If he attacks like this, how do I break it? Perhaps Senior Ren Woxing's sword art is more powerful compared to this old mister, but every move of his still has a weakness. How can it be that this old man's sword art has no weakness at all?" He started to feel afraid and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

    That old man formed his right fingers into a sword form and his left hand was continuously moving. Suddenly he thrust out, the tip of the sword vibrating; no one could see where the sword was aiming at.

    This thrust enveloped seven major acupoints on Linghu Chong's upper body. But because of this, Linghu Chong was also able to see three weaknesses on his opponent's upper body. He did not need to attack all these weak points, one would be sufficient to take the old man's life. He thought, "When he's defending, he has no weakness at all. But when he starts to attack, there's still a weakness that can be
    attacked." as he casually pierced his long sword towards the old man's left eyebrow.

    If that old man continued with his thrust then his left forehead would be pierced first. Even though his thrust was earlier than Linghu Chong's, it was still a step too late.

    That old man quickly turned his sword around. Suddenly, Linghu Chong saw a few circles of white light. Big circle, small circle, upright circle, slanting circle, they were all flickering incessantly. As he saw these flowery patterns in his eyes, he quickly turned his sword and slantingly attacked the sword circles. "Tang" as both swords
    clashed with each other. Linghu Chong felt his arm tingling from the impact.

    That old man continued to move his swords creating more and more flickering circles as they moved. Not long after, his whole body was surrounded in the middle of these rings of light. One circle of light had not yet disappeared when another circle of light was formed. Even though his long sword was extremely fast, there was no sound of the sword's edge splitting the air at all. It indicated that he had reached the stage of perfection where the sword was soft but yet still strong.

    At this time, Linghu Chong couldn't see any weakness in his sword art and felt as if there were thousands of swords protecting this old man's whole body. The old man was purely defending at the moment so there was no weakness in his sword art. But this sword front was actually like a moving fort and the thousands of light circles
    resembled a tide as it slowly rushed forward. That old man wasn't attacking using one move at a time anymore. He was now using tens of moves to protect himself while at the same time used this to attack. Linghu Chong was unable to resist this as he retreated to avoid it.

    He retreated a step and the circles of light moved forward a step. In a short time, Linghu Chong had retreated seven to eight steps. The crowd saw that their Chief was now in an unfavourable situation and was about to lose. They were holding their breath watching and cold sweat started to wet their hands. Peachtree Root Fairy suddenly said, "What sword art is that? It's like a child drawing some circles. I can draw too."

    "Come, I'll draw some circles. My circle would definitely be more round than his," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

    "Brother Linghu, don't be afraid. If you lose, we'll tear this old fellow into four pieces to vent your anger," Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

    "What you said was wrong. One, he's Chief Linghu not brother Linghu. Two, how do you know that he's afraid?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy said.

    "Even though Linghu Chong has become Chief, he's still younger than me. So once he's chief, does he then also become big brother Linghu, uncle Linghu, grandpa Linghu, great grandpa Linghu?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

    At this time, Linghu Chong retreated again and the crowd was feeling very anxious. When they heard the Peach Valley Six Fairies talking nonsense, they now got angry.

    Linghu Chong retreated another step and his left foot stepped into a puddle of water. A thought flashed in his mind, "That day grand martial uncle Feng repeatedly told me to keep in my heart that the world's martial art is ever changing and there are also unusual ones. But no matter how wonderful the opponent's moves are, they are still
    moves. So there must be a weakness. When hero Dugu passed on his sword art, he had no match in this world because he was able to see his enemy's weakness. Right now, this senior's sword art is circling around and has no weakness at all. But it must be because I had not been able to see the weakness yet."

    He retreated a few more steps as he gazed at his opponent's countless circles of light. Suddenly, a thought leapt into his head, "Maybe the centre of the circle is the weakness. But if it's not a weakness and I thrust in there, he can twist his sword and cut my arm off."

    He also thought, "Luckily, his way of attack can only go forward slowly. If he really wants to kill me, it won't be that easy. But if I keep retreating, that's just the same as losing. If I lose this battle, everyone would be discouraged. Then how would we be able to break through Shaolin and save Yingying?"

    At the thought of Yingying's kindness towards him, if he loses an arm because of her, what's the harm in that? From the depth of his heart, he was really pleased to actually sacrifice an arm for her. He also felt that he owed her a lot and only by suffering a heavy injury would he be able to repay for her kindness. At this thought, he whole-heartedly hoped that his opponent would really cut his arm as he extended his arm to thrust his long sword into the centre of the circle. A "tang" sound resounded as Linghu Chong felt his chest shook and felt blood bubbling forth but his arm was still intact. That old man retreated a couple of steps and put away his sword. The expression on his face was odd. There were also expressions of surprise and shame together with some expression of sympathy towards him. After some time, he said, "Master Linghu's sword art is brilliant and your courage and wisdom are excellent. Admirable, admirable!"

    At this time Linghu Chong just realised, when he took that risk to thrust his sword, he had actually succeeded in finding his opponent's sword art's weak point. It was just that this old man's sword art was really high. The centre of the circle was actually the most dangerous place and he had unexpectedly practised this sword art so that it
    would also be the weak point. The thousands of swordsmen in the world, it would be very rare for one to be brave enough to go through this danger and thrust his sword in there. He was pleased with himself and thought, "Lucky, lucky!" as he felt sweat running down his back. He quickly bowed, "Senior's sword art is divine. I'm really
    indebted to your advice. The benefit to Junior isn't shallow." His words were not just common talk. This fight had actually benefited his martial art greatly as it made him learn that the enemy's strongest point could unexpectedly be their weakest point. If he
    could break the move at the strongest place then he would be able to break the rest of the weaknesses easily.

    When masters competed in swords, one move could decide the outcome. That old man saw Linghu Chong dared to thrust into the middle of his circle of lights so they didn't need to compete anymore. He gazed at Linghu Chong for a while before saying, "Master Linghu, old man has a few words I want to say to you."

    Linghu Chong replied, "Yes, I'll listen to senior's advice." That old man gave his long sword to the vegetable-person and walked away to the east. Linghu Chong threw his long sword on the ground and followed behind him.

    He stopped besides a big tree. They were tens of feet away from the crowd, even though they were still able to see the crowd, their voices would not carry that far. The old man sat down under the tree's shade and pointed to a big rock, "Please sit down." He waited for Linghu Chong to settle himself before continuing, "Master Linghu, among the younger generations, it's very rare to find someone with your kind of talent." Linghu Chong said, "I don't dare. Junior's conduct is improper and my reputation is already ruined. My own master can't even tolerate me. How can I deserve to receive senior's praise?"

    That old man said, "The martial people of my generation, our conduct must be open and aboveboard and have no qualms in our heart. Although your action is sometimes bold and wild, and also not according to the custom, it is still gentlemanly. I secretly sent some people to find out what misdeeds you've truly done. It's not sufficient to just rely on the rumours and slanders going around in Jianghu."

    When Linghu Chong heard him said this, it struck a chord in his heart. He felt gratitude towards this old man. He thought, "This senior must have a high position in Wudang School. Otherwise, how would he be able to send people to investigate about my conduct?"

    The old man went on, "It's common that youngsters like to show off. Mr. Yue's outward appearance is calm, but he's easily offended..."

    Linghu Chong quickly stood up and said, "Respected master is like a father to me. Junior doesn't dare to hear about Master."

    That old man smiled slightly, "You didn't forget your roots, that's very good. Old man just made an indiscreet remark." Suddenly, his face turned serious and asked, "How long have you been learning the Art of Essence Absorbing?"

    Linghu Chong replied, "Half a year ago, Junior accidentally learned this skill. At that time, I didn't know that this was the Art of Essence Absorbing."

    That old man nodded, "That's how it is! Just then we clashed sword three times and with each clash, you absorbed my internal energy. But I was aware that you're still not good at using this disastrous demonic skill. Old man has an advise to give you but I don't know whether young hero would listen to it or not?"

    Linghu Chong was greatly terrified and quickly bowed, "Junior will certainly obey senior's precious words."

    The old man replied, "Although this Art of Essence Absorbing has great power, it is also harmful towards the user's body. As your skill in it gets deeper, it will harm you even more. If young hero could abandon this demonic skill altogether then that will be the best. Otherwise, you can just stop practising it from now on."

    That day in Plum Manor, he had heard Ren Woxing telling him that there would be great danger after practising the Art of Essence Absorbing for sometime. He wanted him to join the Devil Sect before divulging to him the method to meld the internal energies together. When he heard what this old man said, he believed even more what Ren Woxing said was true. "Junior will never forget senior's teaching. Junior
    already knows that this method isn't right and already decided not to use this method to harm other people. It's just that my body already learned this method, so even if I didn't want to use it, it's not that easy."

    The old man nodded, "That's what I've heard too. I have another matter to raise to young hero. Perhaps this will be difficult for young hero to do. But as a hero, you must do what ordinary people won't do. In Shaolin temple, they have a skill called "Tendon Altering Sutra". Young hero must've heard of this skill before."

    Linghu Chong said, "I have. I heard that this is Wulin's most supreme internal energy method. And only the most eminent monks in Shaolin are allowed to learn this skill."

    That old man said, "Young hero is leading so many people to go to Shaolin, I'm afraid nothing good will come out of this. No matter which side is victorious, both sides would lose numerous masters and would bring bad luck to Wulin. Old man has no talent, but I'm willing to go to Shaolin to ask for Abbot's mercy to give the "Tendon
    Altering Sutra" to young hero. Then young hero can disband this large group of people to stop this disaster from happening. What does young hero think of this?"

    "How about young lady Ren who is being detained in Shaolin temple?" Linghu Chong asked.

    That old man said, "Young lady Ren has killed four disciples of Shaolin School and has also stirred up trouble in Jianghu and caused harm in the world. Great Master Fangzheng put her into seclusion not to take revenge for his own school. It is actually because of his kind heartedness to benefit the Jianghu people. How can young hero
    with good conduct mix up with this nameless lady? Why should you associate with this Devil Sect's witch and ruin your reputation and future?"

    "I've received her kindness so I must repay her. Junior appreciates senior's good idea but I don't dare to follow it," Linghu Chong said.

    That old man let out a long sigh and shook his head, "When young people are drowned in beauty and has been snared by it, it's hard to free themselves from it."

    Linghu Chong bowed, "Junior will take my leave now."

    That old man said, "Wait. Although old man and Huashan School doesn't have many dealings, Mr. Yue would surely give me some face. If you follow my advice, old man and Shaolin temple's abbot will together guarantee that you will be accepted back into Huashan School. Do you trust me?"

    Linghu Chong was moved by this as returning to Huashan was his biggest wish. From the level of this old man's martial art and from what he just said, the old man must certainly be a famous Wudang School's senior. He said that Abbot Fangzheng and he would guarantee this matter believing that they would certainly succeed. Master had always taken into consideration relationship between everyone from the orthodox sects. Shaolin and Wudang were the two biggest schools in Wulin at the present time. When the leaders of these two schools speak out, it would be very difficult for Master not to do them the favour for the sake of their relationship.

    Master was like a father to himself. This matter of him being expelled from Huashan was because he had made friends with Xiang Wentian and Yingying and made Master lose face in front of all the orthodox schools. But if the leaders of Shaolin and Wudang acted on behalf of him, Master would definitely accept him back. When he returned to Huashan, he would be able to see little martial sister from dawn to dusk. However, how could he just leave Yingying to suffer in a Shaolin's cave at the back of the mountain? At this thought, he felt heat coming up his chest, "If junior can't rescue young lady Ren out of Shaolin temple then I'll be a useless person. No matter if we win or lose in this matter, if I'm still alive after that, I will definitely go up Mount Wudang to thank Priest Chongxu and senior."

    That old man let out a long sigh, "You don't regard your life highly nor your master highly nor your future reputation. You acted wilfully just for this Devil Sect's witch. In the future, if she become heartless towards you and harm you, you won't regret it?"

    "My life was saved by young lady Ren. What's there to regret if I lose my life because of her?" Linghu Chong said.

    That old man nodded, "Alright, you can go."

    Linghu Chong bowed to take his leave again. He then turned around towards the crowd and shouted, "Let's go!"

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy asked, "That old fellow competed in swordplay with you but how come there's no winner or loser? There's no need to compete then."

    Even though Linghu Chong and the old man duelled, the winner and loser had not been decided. It was because the old man merely decided that he wasn't Linghu Chong's match and thus immediately gave up. But everyone else in the crowd didn't know that Linghu Chong had attacked the old man's sword art's flaw so they didn't know what happened.

    "This senior's sword art is very high. If we keep on fighting, it won't be easy for me so it's better if we just don't fight," Linghu Chong said.

    "You're so stupid. Since there's no winner or loser, you should've kept fighting and you'd definitely win," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Not necessarily."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "What not necessarily? That old fellow is already much older than you so of course he's not as strong as you. After a long time, you'll naturally get the upper hand."

    Linghu Chong had not replied yet when Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Why is it when you're older, you're not as strong anymore?"

    Linghu Chong understood what Peachtree Root Fairy meant. Between those Peach Valley Six Fairies, Peachtree Root Fairy was the oldest while Peachtree Fruit Fairy was the youngest. When Peachtree Fruit Fairy said when you're older then you wouldn't be as strong anymore, of course Peachtree Root Fairy didn't agree.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "If the younger you are, the stronger you get, then a three year old child would be the strongest then?"

    "That's not true. A three year old child can't be the strongest. A two year old child would be stronger than a three year old," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

    "You're also wrong. A one year old child would be stronger than a two year old," Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.

    "A foetus that hasn't come out from his mother's womb would be the strongest then," Peachtree Leaf Fairy said.

    They kept on going north and had finally entered the boundary of Henan. Unexpectedly, they met with two more groups of heroes coming from the east and the west. They already had more than two thousand people with them before. But after adding those two extra groups to their main group, they now had more than four thousand people with them. These four thousand people just slept anywhere at night. It didn't matter whether it was on grass, forest or wild hill, they just put their heads down and slept. But foods and drinks were a big problem. After many days, at the restaurants and drink shops on the towns that they were going through, they broke all the pots, tables and chairs because they didn’t get enough to drink and eat. They were all angry and destroyed the restaurants.

    Linghu Chong saw that these Jianghu's heroes were quite violent but they were also very loyal and frank people. If Shaolin Temple didn't want to release Yingying, then both sides would get into a bloody battle and the outcome would unavoidably be horrible. Everyday, he waited for news from Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai. He was hoping that due to the two Shi Tai's reputations, Abbot Fangzheng would agree to release Yingying and avoid the catastrophe from happening. Only three days remained until the fifteenth of the twelfth month and they were now less than a hundred li from the Shaolin Temple but there was still no news from the two Shi Tai. The way they were going to Shaolin temple with banners flying and drums beating, everyone must have heard of their advance. But so far, there was no movement from the other party at all as if nothing was happening. Linghu Chong raised this issue with Zu Qianqiu and Ji Wushi and they also felt worried about this.

    That night, the group stayed in an open field. Sentries were put on the outside of the group to prevent possible night raids from the enemy. The wind was blowing coldly and the grey clouds hanged low on the sky. It appeared that a big rain was about to pour down. The open field was filled with cooking fires in tens of li in every direction. Not restrained by any military command, the group of warriors acted more or less as a mob as they gathered together singing and shouting loudly shaking the ground. There were also people with swords and sabres out competing with each other while some were wrestling. Everywhere, it was noisy and filled with shouts.

    Linghu Chong thought, "It's best if I don't let these people step on the grounds of Shaolin Temple. Why don't I go first to ask Great Master Fangzheng and Fangsheng? If I can get Yingying out, wouldn't it be a great celebration for everyone?" At this thought, his whole body felt hot. After he thought more on this, he changed his mind,
    "But if I fight the Shaolin's monks just by myself then I'll be captured or even killed. I'm not worried about dying but there'll be no one to preside over these people. Without a leader, there will be chaos in this group of heroes and they wouldn't be able to get Yingying out. More over, many of these several thousands of courageous and upright friends would probably be killed on Mount Shaoshi. If I acted rashly and ruin this matter, how would I be able to apologise to all these people?"

    He stood up and looked around him. Looking at the people besides the piles of fire, he thought, "If they're not doing this for Yingying, they wouldn't have submitted to me at all."

    Two days later, they arrived on Mount Shaoshi and were just outside of the Shaolin Temple. During these two days, even more warriors joined their group. The people he had met on that day on Five-Tyrant Ridge's gathering including Huang Boliu, Sima Big, Blue Phoenix as well as White Flood Dragon's Clan leader Shi and the "Yangtze River's Pair of Flying Fish" had all come. There were still many heroes that Linghu
    Chong didn't manage to see who had come as well. Conservatively, they had around five to six thousands people now.

    Several hundred drums were beating shaking the ground and trembling the sky. The group was beating the drums for a long time but not a single monk came out of the temple. Linghu Chong roared out his command, "Stop the drum!" The beating sounds gradually became lighter until they finally stopped. Linghu Chong took a deep breath and in a clear voice said, "Junior Linghu Chong and many friends from Jianghu have come to pay a visit to Shaolin's Abbot. I ask respectfully to be granted a meeting." Linghu Chong attached abundant of internal energy into his voice and he was heard from many li but there was still no sound from inside the temple. Linghu Chong spoke again and yet there was still no response from the temple. Linghu Chong said, "Brother Zu, please offer our visit card."

    "Yes," Zu Qianqiu complied as he carried the prepared visit box which stored the card with Linghu Chong's name and the names of leaders from various sects. He went up to the main gate of the Shaolin Temple and knocked on it a few times. When there was no still no sound coming from the temple, he lightly pushed on the gate. The gate wasn't bolted and it opened easily. He looked inside and couldn't see anyone
    around. He didn't dare to go into the temple without authorisation so he turned around to report to Linghu Chong. Although Linghu Chong's martial art was high, he still didn't have much experience and had never led a large group of people before. With this unanticipated situation before him, he didn't know what to do. He was momentarily stupefied and speechless.

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "All the monks in the temple have all escaped? Let's go inside! If we see any shiny head, we'll kill him straight away."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "You said all the monks have all escaped. If so, where are you going to find some shiny heads to kill?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Don't nuns also have shiny heads?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "It's a monk's temple, how can there be nuns in there?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy quickly pointed his fingers at a person. "This man here isn't a monk, he's also not a nun, but he has a shiny head."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy asked, "Why do you want to kill him?"

    Ji Wushi interrupted, "How about we go in and take a look?"

    Linghu Chong replied, "That's good. Brother Ji, brother Old, brother Zu, and clan leader Huang, please accompany me into the temple. Everybody please pass this order to restrict your subordinates from acting wildly and tell them they must not be rude to any Shaolin monk. Also they can't burn any grass or trees on this mountain."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Then you can't even pull out any grass?"

    Linghu Chong was feeling worried about Yingying so he strode purposefully into the temple. Ji Wushi and the other three people followed behind him.

    After entering through the gate, they walked on a stone path and went past the front courtyard and the front hall, and arrived at the Great Hero Precious Hall. In the hall, they saw the majestic likeness of Rulai Buddha. They saw the floor and the table were covered with a thin layer of dust. Zu Qianqiu said, "Could it be that all the monks in the temple have escaped?" Linghu Chong chided, "Brother Zu, don't say this word 'escape'."

    The five people stood quietly and tried to listen for any sounds. But apart from the clamoring noise from the group outside the temple, there was no sound at all coming from the temple.

    "The Shaolin monks must be hiding around the place to ambush us," Ji Wushi whispered.

    Linghu Chong thought, "Abbot Fangzheng and Great Master Fangsheng are all eminent monks. Why would they use deceit? But knowing that a lot of unorthodox sects came together to attack, the Shaolin monks may have wanted a battle of wits instead of strength. That's not unusual." He saw that Shaolin Temple was a huge place but saw no sign of anyone. A sense of dread started to wash over him as he worried about what they might have done to Yingying.

    The five of them looked around and listened to all directions as they walked further in. After passing two large courtyards, they arrived at the back hall. Suddenly, Linghu Chong and Ji Wushi stopped at the same time and made some hand signals. Old Man and the other two people immediately stopped. Linghu Chong pointed to a side room on the northwest side and quietly walked there. Old Man and the other three people followed him. They heard light groaning sounds coming from the inside of the room. Linghu Chong stopped in front of the door and pulled his sword out. He then extended his hand to push the door open while leaning his body to one side to protect himself against projectiles from inside the room. As the door creaked open, they again heard the light groaning sound from inside.

    Linghu Chong turned his head to look inside the room and was greatly surprised to see two old nuns on the floor. He recognized the nun facing towards him as Dingyi Shi Tai. With her face pale and her eyes closed, it looked as if she had died. His body shot forward like an arrow going into the room. Zu Qianqiu called out, “Chief, be careful!” as he followed him in. Linghu Chong went around Dingyi Shi Tai’s body to have a look at the other person lying down. As expected, she was Heng-Shan School’s leader Dingxian Shi Tai.

    Linghu Chong stooped down and called out, “Shi Tai, Shi Tai.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai slowly opened her eyes. She was really sluggish at the beginning but there was a flash of happiness in her eyes as she recognised him. Her mouth moved like she was trying to say something but she couldn’t get any sound out. Linghu Chong stooped even lower, “It’s Junior Linghu Chong.” Dingxian Shi Tai’s mouth moved again and managed to whisper really lightly. Linghu Chong managed to hear her saying, “You... you... you...” He saw her injuries were really serious and didn’t know how much longer she would live. Dingxian Shi Tai uttered a few more words, “You... You promise me...”

    Linghu Chong hastily said, “Yes, yes. Whatever Shi Tai orders, Linghu Chong will do it. Even until my body turned to dust, I will still accomplish it.”

    Thinking of the two Shi Tai dying in Shaolin Temple on his account, tears started to flow down his cheeks. Dingxian Shi Tai whispered, “You... you’re certain that you can promise... promise me?”

    Linghu Chong replied, “I promise!”

    Dingxian Shi Tai’s glimmered with happiness. “You... you promise to take charge of... take charge of Heng-Shan School family...” After saying these few words, she was out of breath.

    Linghu Chong was greatly surprised, “Junior is a male, I can’t be your noble school’s leader. But Shi Tai be at ease, no matter what kind of difficulty or calamity your noble school is in, Junior will do my best to undertake the burden.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai slowly shook her head, “No, no. I... I’m passing you Linghu Chong, the Heng-Shan School... Heng-Shan School’s leadership. If you... you don’t agree, I’ll die... die with an unfulfilled wish.”

    Zu Qianqiu and the other three people were standing behind Linghu Chong. They all felt Dingxian Shi Tai’s last wish was too unthinkable. Linghu Chong’s heart was in great confusion and felt that this was a really difficult matter to decide on. But he saw that Dingxian Shi Tai only had a short time to live. With blood welling up in his heart, he promised, “Alright, Junior agrees to Shi Tai’s request.”

    Dingxian Shi Tai smiled and whispered, “Many... many thanks! Heng-Shan School’s hundreds of disc... disciples, from now on they’ll all bother... bother young hero Linghu.” Linghu Chong was alarmed, indignant, and grieved, “Shaolin temple is so unreasonable, why would they be so violent towards Shi Tai, Junior...” Just then Dingxian Shi Tai’s head lolled to one side and her eyes closed. Greatly alarmed, Linghu Chong quickly extended his hand to check on her breathing but she had stopped breathing. His heart was grieved. He turned around and touched Dingyi Shi Tai’s hand. Her cold hands indicated that she had been dead for a long time. Indignation and sadness washed over him and he found himself choked with tears.

    Old Man said, “Master Linghu, we must avenge the two Shi Tai. All those bald donkeys have run away from the temple. Let’s burn this Shaolin Temple to the ground.”

    Linghu Chong’s heart was filled with grief and indignation; he slapped his thigh and said, “Alright! Let’s burn Shaolin Temple to the ground.”

    Ji Wushi hastily said, “No! No! If Sacred Lady is still imprisoned in here then she’ll also be burnt to death.”

    Linghu Chong had said that absent-mindedly. He felt cold sweat breaking out from his back as he conceded, “I was confused. If brother Ji didn’t remind me, I would’ve ruined this matter. What should we do now?”

    Ji Wushi replied, “Shaolin temple has many rooms, it’ll be hard for the five of us to search all the places. Chief, please pass an order to call two hundred brothers to come in and search the temple.”

    Linghu Chong said, “Right. Brother Ji, please go out and get more people.”

    “Yes,” Ji Wushi replied and turned his body around to go out.

    Zu Qianqiu called out, “Don’t let those Peach Valley Six Weirdos come in.”

    Linghu Chong lifted the bodies of the two Shi Tai and put them on a bed. Kneeling down, he kowtowed a few times to them and silently prayed, “Disciple will do my best to avenge both Shi Tai. You can rest easy in heaven about the Heng-Shan School family.” He stood up and looked carefully at the injuries on the two bodies but didn’t see any cut or traces of blood on them. It was also inappropriate for him to lift their gowns to investigate further. He guessed that it was masters from Shaolin who must have used their palm’s inner energy and caused fatal internal injuries.

    The sound of steps from two hundred heroes was then heard entering the temple as they separately went to search the area. Suddenly, someone shouted from outside the gate, “Linghu Chong’s not letting us in. But we want to go in, what’s he going to do?” It was Peachtree Branch Fairy’s voice. Linghu Chong scowled pretending not to have heard it. Then he heard Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, “We’ve come to the world’s famous Shaolin Temple. But we’re not allowed to go in and take a stroll in there, how can he treat us so unjustly?”

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, “If we entered the Shaolin Temple and don’t meet the world’s famous Shaolin monks then that’ll be even more injustice.”

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, “If we can’t meet Shaolin temple’s monks then we can’t compare martial art against the world’s famous Shaolin School’s martial art. That’s even more injustice.”

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, “The most famous ones are in Shaolin Temple but we can’t see a single monk here. This is really strange.”

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, “There’s no monk, that’s not strange. But the strange thing is there are two nuns.”

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, “There are two nuns, that’s also not strange. What’s strange is that the nuns are not only old, they’re also dead.”

    The six brothers were talking back and forth as they walked towards the back courtyard.

    Linghu Chong together with Zu Qianqiu, Old Man, and Huang Boliu walked away from the side room. Once they were out of the door, they saw the group that was searching around inside the Shaolin temple. After a while, people started to come and continuously reported their findings. They reported that not only the monks were gone from the temple but also the porters and cooks had also gone. One person reported that the Buddhist scriptures, records, and appliances had also been moved away. Not even a bowl was left behind. Another person reported that the firewood, rice, oil, and salt had all been emptied out. Even the vegetables in the garden had been pulled clean.

    Every time Linghu Chong heard a report, he was more and more disheartened. He thought, "The Shaolin Temple's monks cleaned this place up so thoroughly. So much so that they didn't even leave behind a single vegetable in the garden. They must've moved Yingying somewhere else too. The world is so big, where do I begin to look for her?"

    Close to two hours later, the two hundred people had finished searching the thousands of rooms in the Shaolin temple. They had even searched underneath the Buddha statues and the back of the Shaolin's name board. But not even a single piece of paper was found. There were people who were pleased with themselves saying, "Shaolin School is Wulin's number one school. But when they heard us coming, they unexpectedly ran away. This thing has never happened in more than a thousand year."

    Another person said, "We're so powerful. So no one in Wulin dares to look down upon us."

    But there was a person who said, "The Shaolin monks were definitely driven away from hearing our might, but what about Sacred Lady? We came here to meet Sacred Lady, not to drive away the monks."

    Everyone thought that this was reasonable. When some people heard this, they hanged their heads down as if someone had died. There were some who looked towards Linghu Chong waiting to hear what he had to say. Linghu Chong said, "This is beyond our expectations. Who would have expected that Shaolin monks would leave their temple. I have no idea how to handle this situation. One person's thought is limited, if we have more than two then we would have more ideas. So please give me your opinions."

    Huang Boliu said, "In my opinion, finding Sacred Lady is difficult while finding Shaolin monks is easier. Shaolin temple's monks numbered more than a thousand, they can't always hide forever. Once we found those Shaolin's monks, we'll definitely get a scent of where Sacred Lady is."

    Zu Qianqiu said, "Clan leader Huang is right. We'll just stay inside this temple. Those Shaolin School's disciples would definitely not be willing to part with their thousand years old residence and allow us to live here. When they wanted to take back this temple from us then we'll ask them about Sacred Lady's whereabouts."

    A person said, "Ask about Sacred Lady whereabouts? Why would they agree to tell us?"

    Old Man said, "This so called asking is merely a polite way of saying it. We'll extort from them the answer. When we see any Shaolin monks, we'll capture them but not kill them. Then after we've captured eight to ten of them, are we still afraid that they won't tell us?"

    Another person said, "If these monks still didn't want to tell us, then what do we do?"

    Old Man said, "That's easy. We'll just ask Chief Blue to release some of her Divine Dragon, Divine Object on their bodies. Do we then still be afraid of them not disclosing the information?" Many people nodded their heads agreeing with what he said. Everyone knew that this so called "Chief Blue's Divine Dragon, Divine Object" was Chief Blue Phoenix's five poisons of viper and poison worm. When these venomous pests were put on people's bodies, they would start gnawing on their flesh. The pain would be comparable to the worst punishment that existed in this world. Blue Phoenix smiled and said, "Shaolin temple's monks have undergone lots of practice for a long time. I'm not sure if my Divine Dragon, Divine Object would work on them."

    Linghu Chong suddenly thought, "We don't need to deal them with excessive punishment. We just need to capture as many monks as we can. After capturing a hundred of them, then we'll trade a hundred for one. That way we'll surely be able to get Yingying out."

    Suddenly, a person with coarse voice said, "We haven't eaten meat for half a day, I'm starving. There's also no monks in the temple, otherwise we'll capture one with thin and white skin and steam him. That'll be very wonderful!" The person who said this had a high stature. It was the tall White Bear from the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert. Everyone knew that Black Bear and White Bear liked to eat human flesh. Although these few words of his could make other people vomit from hearing it, they had been on Mount Shaoshi for a long time now and had not had anything to eat or drink. Everyone felt hungry and thirsty and some people's stomachs were croaking from hunger.

    Huang Boliu said, "Shaolin School is using this plan of strengthen whatever clear whatever."

    Zu Qianqiu said, "Strengthen the defenses and clear the field."

    (Translator's note: This means to fortify the defence works and to leave nothing usable to the invading enemy.)

    Huang Boliu said, "Right. They were hoping that we'd get hungry inside the temple then obediently go down the mountain. How can there be such an easy thing in this world?"

    Linghu Chong asked, "What's clan leader Huang’s opinion?"

    Huang Boliu replied, "We'll send a group of brothers to go down the mountain and find out where these Shaolin monks had gone to. We'll send another group to purchase foodstuffs. Everyone else will be staying in the temple to guard... hmm.. whatever waiting for rabbit in order to avoid these monks' throwing... throwing whatever net." Huang Boliu loved to use proverbs when speaking but he didn't remember them clearly so the idioms he used would frequently be wrong.

    Linghu Chong said, "That's a good idea. Clan leader Huang, please take the order and get five hundred astute and capable brothers to go down the mountain and find out the whereabouts of Shaolin monks. About this matter of purchasing foodstuffs, I ask clan leader Huang to handle this matter too." Huang Boliu complied with his order and turned around to go out.

    Blue Phoenix laughed, "Hopefully clan leader Huang can handle this matter. Otherwise, White Bear and Black Bear would be very hungry and start to eat everything they see."

    Huang Boliu laughed, "Old man will take care of this. But even if those Bear Duo of Northern Desert get really hungry till their belly is shrunken, they still wouldn't dare to even touch Chief Blue's fingers."

    Zu Qianqiu said, "The temple's monks have all gone out. I'd like to ask friends here to do this one thing. Could you please have a look everywhere again? See if there's anything unusual, maybe we'll be able to find some clues." The crowd boomed their replies and started to go to take a look around.

    Linghu Chong sat on a kneeling mat in the Great Hero Precious Hall and was looking at the majestic likeness of the Rulai Buddha. The statue had an expression of pity and mercifulness. He thought, "Abbott Fangzheng is an eminent monk. When he found out that we were coming here, he'd rather destroy Shaolin School's reputation than to lead people to fight us. In the end, he has avoided a big bloodbath here. But why did they kill Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai? I'm guessing the one who killed the two Shi Tai must be a vicious monk from this temple and the Abbott may have no idea at all about this. I must respect Abbott's good intentions and must not look for Shaolin monks to give them trouble. I must think of another way to save Yingying."

    Suddenly, a burst of wind blew in through the door and hurled open the screen in front of him. The ash in the incense pot was blown all over the hall. Linghu Chong walked towards the hall's entrance and looked at the sky. The clouds were grey and the north wind was blowing hard. He thought in his heart, "It's going to rain tonight." Just as he thought of this, flakes of snow started to float down from the sky. "The sky is cold and the ground is going to be frozen. I don't know if Yingying has winter clothes with her. Shaolin School has so many people they can deploy efficiently while we're only using bravery here to get Yingying out. This is impossible to do."

    With his hands behind his back, he walked back and forth in the passage in front of the hall. The snow was falling on his head, face, gown, and hands. It quickly melted as it touched him.

    His thought continued, "Just before Dingxian Shi Tai passed away, even though her injury was serious, she was still clear headed and wasn't confused in the slightest bit. But why did she want me to become Heng-Shan School's leader? Heng-Shan School doesn't even have a single man in their school. I also heard that all their previous leaders were all nuns. How can I be the leader of Heng-Shan School when I'm a man? When this gets out, people in Jianghu will laugh till their jaws drop. Hng, I already agreed to her request, how can a gentleman eat his own word? What I do or where I go, even if other people laughed at me, what's that got to do with them?" At this thought, his heroic spirit rose up.

    Suddenly he heard light noises from half the mountain of people shouting. Not long after, the big group outside of the temple started to make a lot of noise. Linghu Chong was alarmed and he quickly rushed towards the temple's main gate. He saw Huang Boliu walking towards him with his face full of fresh blood. An arrow was stuck in his shoulder and the cut out shaft was trembling. He called out, "Chief, enemy... enemy is guarding the road going down the mountain. We have... have been thrown that... hmm, that net."

    Linghu Chong was startled, "Are they Shaolin monks?"

    Huang Boliu said, "They're not monks. They're just ordinary people. His granny, we haven't gone more than three li when we were forced back by their arrows. Around ten brothers died and there are around seventy to eighty people injured. That's the whole army annihilated."

    He then saw several hundred people rushing to retreat back to the temple. Many people in that group had been hit by arrows. The people in the main group were calling out like thunder as they prepared to die charging down the mountain. Linghu Chong asked, "What school is the enemy from? Did clan leader Huang manage to get a look?"

    Huang Boliu said, "We didn't get near to the enemy. His granny, they're very good with their bows and arrows. We didn't get to see those bastards' faces clearly. They were shooting those arrows continuously. Usually, it's make friends when you're far and attack when you're near then all the arrows would hit its target."

    Zu Qianqiu said, "It seems that Shaolin School deliberately left the temple to snare us. We're like a turtle captured in a jar."

    Old Man said, "What turtle captured in a jar? How can you grow the enemy's spirit and extinguish our own power? This is... this is called to lure the enemy to penetrate deeply into their territory."

    Zu Qianqiu said, "Alright. We'll say that it's luring the enemy to penetrate deeply into their territory. We're already here so what else is there to say? These monks want us to die of starvation on top of this Mount Shaoshi."

    White Bear shouted, "Who wants to charge down the mountain with me to kill these bastards?" This was followed by more than a thousand people answering him.

    Linghu Chong shouted, "Wait! The opponents are shooting arrows, we must think of a way to deal with them to avoid futilely injuring ourselves."

    Ji Wushi said, "There's nothing else in this Buddhist temple but there are thousands of putuan here."

    This reminded everyone as they said together, "Use those as shields. Those are just as good."

    Several hundred people quickly rushed into the temple and brought out many putuans with them.

    Linghu Chong called out, "Use these to block the arrows! Everyone rush down the mountain."

    Ji Wushi said, "Chief, where should we gather after we rush down, what are we going to do after that, how are we going to save Sacred Lady, we have to arrange all these first."

    Linghu Chong said, "Right. You saw just before how I didn't speak up on that matter, how can I still be Chief? I think after we got down the mountain, everyone should temporarily go back home first and ask around for the whereabouts of the Sacred Lady. We'll talk later to think of a way to save Sacred Lady."

    Ji Wushi said, "Alright." and he quickly shouted Linghu Chong's order to the rest of the group.

    That flesh eating monk Black Bear said, "Shaolin temple's bald donkeys are so hateful. Everyone, let's burn this ghost temple down then we'll rush down and stake our lives." He himself was a monk but he scolded them as "bald donkey" and didn't care about it.

    The crowd cheered his idea. Linghu Chong waved his hand and shouted, "Sacred Lady is still in their hands right now, no one must be rude to them. Sacred Lady might be disadvantaged by that."

    Everyone thought that what he said was right, "Alright, we'll let them off then."

    Linghu Chong said, "Brother Ji, how do we charge down? Please assign us."

    Ji Wushi saw Linghu Chong had no aptitude in commanding this group of heroes when dealing with the dangers so he didn't hesitate in taking control of the situation. He said in a loud and clear voice, "Friends, please listen to Chief's order. Everyone will go down the mountain through eight paths. East, south, west, and north are four of the paths. Southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest are the other four paths. We'll just quickly rush out of the encirclement and don't worry about killing them." He then assigned the path that each clan and school would be taking. About five to six hundred or seven to eight hundred people would be rushing each path.

    Ji Wushi said, "The south path is the main road to go down the mountain and it has the most enemy there. Chief, we'll rush down the south road first and lead the enemy along with us. This will make it easier for the rest of the brothers to rush out of the encirclement."

    Linghu Chong grasped his sword but didn't take a putuan with him as he strode to go down the mountain. The crowd roared their battle cry and separately rushed down through the eight paths. But on top of the mountain, there weren't eight paths to actually go down from so some people leaped as they went down. In the beginning, there were eight path they were taking but later they were just like bees swarming down the mountain. After Linghu Chong had gone for a few li, he heard many whirring sounds as a rain of arrows was released from the forest in front of him. He used Dugu Nine Swords' "Arrow-breaking stance" to bat away the arrows raining down on him while he was still rushing down the mountain. Suddenly, he heard someone crying out behind him. It was Blue Phoenix falling down as her left leg and left shoulder was hit at the same time. Linghu Chong hastily turned around to support her and said, "I'll protect you." Blue Phoenix said, "Don't worry about me. You... you... you going down the mountain is most important." At this time, the air was still buzzing from the arrows being shot towards them. Linghu Chong was still waving his hand around blocking the arrows coming towards him. But he saw people kept falling on the ground one by one as they were struck by the arrows.

    Linghu Chong seized Blue Phoenix with his left hand and rushed down the mountain. The arrows kept on coming and Linghu Chong kept scattering them away with his sword. He felt worried as the arrows kept raining down. The people shooting the arrows had strong martial art and the air was thick with arrows. Although the group of heroes had putuans to use, it was still hard for them to block these arrows as more and more people were hit. Linghu Chong couldn't decide whether to keep rushing down or turn back to the temple.

    Ji Wushi called out, "Chief, enemy's arrows are too severe. Our brethrens can't rush down the mountain and many have been injured or killed. Let's call everyone back and we'll think of an idea." Linghu Chong knew that they were about to be defeated. If they clashed with the enemies, then the situation would be hopeless. He immediately called out, "Everyone retreat to the Shaolin temple! Everyone retreat to the Shaolin temple!" Even though thousands of people were shouting and crying out as they fought, his shout was still audible everywhere because of his abundant internal energy. Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and tens of other people shouted out, "Chief's order, everyone retreat to the Shaolin temple." The crowd heard the order and started to retreat.

    In front of the Shaolin temple, people were cursing, groaning, and calling out. The ground from east to west was covered by blood. Ji Wushi was giving out order to eight hundred uninjured people to separate into eight groups and guard the eight paths. These thousands of people who had come to Shaolin temple, half of them belonged to clans or sects and they were obeying orders. But the other two thousand people were just mobs and after they had been defeated, they were in confusion. They were each doing their own things and didn't know what to do.

    Linghu Chong said, "Everyone, quickly treat our injured brethrens and give medicines to them." In his heart, he was thinking, "It's a shame that Heng-Shan School's disciples aren't here and we don't have their medicines." He continued thinking, "If Heng-Shan School's people are here, would they help me or would they side with the orthodox schools? En, the two Shi Tai were killed, of course they would help me."

    He heard the crowd was still clamouring incessantly and he felt uneasy. If he was the only one who had been trapped on this mountain top, then he would've rushed down the mountain a long time ago. He wouldn't care if he died or live. But he was the leader of all these heroes and was responsible for these thousand of people's lives. As he thought of this, he didn't know what to do.

    He saw that it was sunset already. Suddenly, sounds of drums and people calling out were heard from the mountainside. Linghu Chong drew his long sword out and rushed to the intersection of the road. The crowd of heroes also grasped their sabres wanting to fight the enemy to the death. They heard the sounds of drums getting louder and louder but the enemy didn't rush up. After a moment, the drums stopped and the crowd of heroes said one after another, "The drums stopped, they're coming up now." "If they rush up then we'll spill their blood till it flows like water and not spare a single one of them." "His granny, these bastards want us to die up here from hunger and thirst." "If those sons of a turtle aren't coming up then we'll rush down to them." "If you want to rush down then why are you still talking?"

    Ji Wushi whispered to Linghu Chong, "If we can't sleep tonight and add to that we would also be hungry for one day and one night. Then everyone would be powerless to fight."

    Linghu Chong replied, "Right. We'll select two to three hundred people with high martial art to open the way for us. At night, the enemy's arrows wouldn't be as accurate. We'll just disrupt the enemy and we can all rush forth to go down."

    Ji Wushi said, "That's the plan then."

    At this moment, the sounds of drums from the mountainside rose again followed by around a hundred people with white cloth wrapped around their heads rushing up the mountain. The group of heroes cried out and rushed forth to fight them. But these one hundred people only attacked for a short while before they whistled and retreated back down the mountain. The crowd of heroes put their weapons down to rest. The drums sounded again and another group of people with white head wrap went up the mountain to attack. After fighting for a short while, they again retreated back down the mountain. Even though the enemy was retreating, the drums kept beating and another battle cry rose up not letting them rest.

    Ji Wushi said, "Chief, the enemy is wearying our army and preventing us from taking a rest."

    Linghu Chong said, "Yes. Brother Ji, please take care of it." Ji Wushi quickly passed down the order that if the enemy came up again, then only those people on guard duty would fight while the others would take a rest and not pay attention to them.

    Zu Qianqiu said, "Let's talk now and pick three hundred good fighters. We then wait till the middle of the night, when the enemy attacks then these three hundred people would rush down. Once they started fighting with the enemy, these bastards wouldn't be able to shoot their arrows and everyone will rush down the mountain. Only by using this tactic of creating chaos would we be able to escape from this."

    Linghu Chong said, "Fabulous. Brother Zu, please pick the people. Order them to wait for some confusion first before they charged down."

    After about an hour, Zu Qianqiu had finished picking the three hundred first-class fighters to furiously rush down the mountain. Even if the enemy had a thousand people lined up to block them, they might not necessarily be able to stop these three hundred fierce tigers. Linghu Chong's vigour rose and he walked with Zu Qianqiu towards the mountain edge on the west side. He saw the three hundred people lined up there. Linghu Chong said, "Everyone, please sit down and rest. Wait until the sky is completely dark before going down to fight to the death." Those people boomed their replied.

    At this time, the snow had been falling for some time and a thin layer of snow had accumulated on top of the ground and the people's heads and gowns. There were some water jar in the temple but they were all empty. Even the water well had dried up. Everyone took up a handful of snow and started to put it in their mouths to quench their thirst. The sky was getting darker and darker until they could only vaguely looked at other people's faces. Zu Qianqiu said, "Fortunately tonight is snowing. Otherwise, tonight on the fifteenth, the moon would be very bright."

    Suddenly, the quiet enveloped the whole area. Inside and outside the Shaolin temple where thousands of heroes were gathered, and also from the mountainside to the foot of the Mount Shaoshi where around two to three thousand people were, everyone had unexpectedly become quiet at the same time. The people who were about to say something also stayed silent as the quiet atmosphere scared them. Only the light sound of snowflakes falling on the tree leaves and grass was heard. Linghu Chong suddenly thought, "I wonder what little martial sister is doing at this time."

    The sound of "wu, wu, wu" was heard throughout the mountainside followed by a loud cry from every direction. This time the enemy appeared to have taken advantage of the darkness to launch their attack with full power, unlike before when they were just bluffing. Linghu Chong waved his long sword and lightly said, "Charge!" Linghu Chong along with Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, Tian Boguang, Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, and those three hundred chosen warriors rushed down towards the northwest path.

    The three hundred people rushed down the path as nothing was blocking them. After going for a li, Zu Qianqiu took out a small flare, lit it up, and shot it up into the air. It exploded with fireworks in the air. This was the signal for the heroes on top of the mountain to rush out of the temple.

    Linghu Chong was rushing down the mountain when he felt his feet were hurting. It felt like he was trampling on nails. He felt uneasy about it and hastily leaped to the top of a tree. Zu Qianqiu and the rest of the people behind started to cry out: "Ayo, not good, there's some trap on the ground!". Everyone felt their feet were being pricked by nails and some of their feet were even stabbed all the way through. The pain was unbearable. Dozens of their people were still rushing down ignoring the pain when suddenly they fell down a big pit. More than ten spears were quickly thrust out stabbing those people in the pit. Cries of pain were coming out of the pit and they were heard throughout the mountain.

    "Chief, quickly give out the order to retreat back up the mountain!" Ji Wushi screamed.

    Linghu Chong saw the situation and it was obvious that the orthodox schools had set up a trap at the bottom of the mountain. If they kept rushing down, the whole army would be annihilated. He quickly shouted, "Everyone go back to Shaolin temple! Everyone go back to Shaolin temple!"

    He leaped to the top of another tree besides the pit and poked his long sword down stabbing three spearmen. He then jumped down to the ground and landed besides one of the spearmen with the thought that there wouldn't be any nails where these spearmen were standing on. All of a sudden, he had stabbed seven to eight people already. The remaining spearmen cried out and retreated. The forty or more people who had fallen down the pit jumped out one by one. But more than ten people were killed inside that pit. All they could see was the darkness of the night as they walked back. Even though the snow provided some light, they couldn't see where the traps might be. They limped back up the mountains with their heads hanging down. Fortunately, the enemy didn't take this opportunity to chase them.

    The group of heroes went back into the temple. Under the candle light, they checked their injuries and found that nine out of ten people's feet were pierced by the nails. Everyone was swearing at the enemy. Apparently, when the enemy was beating those drums several times, they were actually covering the sound of them digging the pit and scattering the nails. These nails were around a foot long and were very sharp. Seven part of it was buried underneath the ground with three part of it sticking out of the ground. It seemed that nails were scattered throughout the mountain. There may even be more than one hundred thousand of these nails buried on the ground.

    Of course they had prepared these nails before hand. Otherwise, where would the enemy accumulate these many nails from? Even the more experienced heroes were still surprised and amazed when they thought of this. Ji Wushi pulled Linghu Chong to a side and quietly talked to him, "Master Linghu, we can't retreat anymore. We've been thinking day and night hoping to save Sacred Lady. We're forced to ask master to undertake this big matter alone."

    Linghu Chong was greatly surprised, "You... you... what's the meaning of this?"

    "We know that master is willing to help people and would not just abandon us and go by yourself. But in the future, who would take revenge for this big enmity we have? Sacred Lady is also still being imprisoned, who would rescue her to see the sky again?"

    Linghu Chong laughed, "So brother Ji wants me to escape this mountain by myself. Don't think about this anymore. If we're going to die then we're just going to die, why do we need to think so much for? In this world, who doesn't die? We'll just die together. Sacred Lady is being imprisoned but in the future, she'll also die. Even though the orthodox schools are victorious today, years from now, wouldn't they also die one by one? This matter of winning or losing only determines whether you die sooner or later."

    Seeing how Linghu Chong ignored his advice, Ji Wushi saw that it was no use to persuade him any further. But if Linghu Chong didn't take advantage of the darkness to escape then it would be impossible to run away. When day time comes again, the enemy would start to attack them and it would not be possible to flee. At this thought, he let out a long sigh.

    Suddenly, they heard a few people laughing. They were getting more joyous as they laughed. The group of heroes had had a major defeat and was now bunched together inside the temple. Their lives would probably only last till morning. Unexpectedly, there were still some people who could laugh so happily at this time. When Linghu Chong and Ji Wushi heard this laughter, they both knew that it was the Peach Valley Six Fairies. They both thought, "In this world, only these six weirdos can still laugh like this when facing their deaths."

    They heard one of the Peach Valley Six Fairies said, "In this world, there are actually these kinds of fools! Stepping their feet nicely on those nails, Hahaha, this is really funny."

    Another one said, "You're all a bunch of idiots. You should've tested the ground with your feet first. If it hurts, of course they're steel nails. Haha, is it comfortable with these iron nails piercing through your feet?"

    Another one laughed, "You've already tasted how it feels to have a steel nail through your feet. Why don't you use a steel hammer to hammer down some nails through your feet? Hahaha, hehehe, hahaha."

    The six brothers were laughing until they were out of breath thinking that this was the funniest thing in the world. But no one else thought that this was funny.

    The people who had their feet pierced by these steel nails were still crying out in pain. Yet, there were some inconsiderate people ridiculing and shouting abuses at them. But to scold back at the Peach Valley Six Fairies was a very difficult thing to do. They would debate every single word that came out of your mouth. If you scolded them "zhi niang zei" (straight mother thief), they would ask what's "zhe niang" (straight mother) and why not "wan niang" (bent mother); If you scolded them "wang ba dan"(king eight eggs or bastard), they'd persistantly ask you how come it wasn't "wang qi dan, wang jiu dan" (king seven eggs or king nine eggs) and why must it be "wang ba dan" (king eight eggs).

    In a short time, the hall became really noisy with people shouting. Some people even looked for weapons to fight them. Linghu Chong saw the situation was getting out of hand. He suddenly called out, "Yi, what's this? Fascinating, fascinating, this is very odd!"

    When Peach Valley Six Fairies heard him, they immediately went over to him and asked, "What's so interesting?"

    "I saw six rats biting a cat passing by here," Linghu Chong answered.

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies were amused and they all asked, "I've never seen a mouse biting a cat before. Where did they go?"

    Linghu Chong pointed somewhere and said, "They went there."

    Peachtree Root Fairy pulled his hand, "Go, go! Everyone, let's take a look."

    The group of heroes knew that Linghu Chong was actually referring to the Peach Valley Six Fairies as the six mice. Unexpectedly, the Fairies actually believed that there were actually six mice and felt really happy. The Peach Valley Six Fairies crowded Linghu Chong pushing him to go towards the path at the back of the hall.

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Yi! Is that it?"

    "I didn't see," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

    Linghu Chong was intentionally trying to lead them far away from the rest of the people to prevent them from fighting. So he was just pointing anywhere and they walked farther and farther away from the group.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy pushed open a door on the side of the hall. Inside was jet black and they couldn't see anything.

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Ayo, six mice are carrying a big cat and entering a cave."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Don't fool us." He lighted a fire stick but there was nothing inside the room besides a statue of Bodhisattva in a sitting position facing the wall. Peachtree Root Fairy went up to the offering table to light up the oil lamp. He said, "Where's the cave? Let's drive these mice out." He took the oil lamp from the table to inspect the room but there was no cave at all.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "I'm afraid it might be behind the Bodhisattva."

    "Behind the Bodhisattva is us seven people. Are we the mice?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.

    "Bodhisattva is facing the wall. So its back is its front," Peachtree Branch Fairy reasoned.

    "You know you said it wrong but don't want to admit it! How can the back be the front?" admonished Peachtree Trunk Fairy.

    "The back is fine, front is also fine. Let's pull it open and have a look," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy replied together, "Yes." The three of them went forward to pull the statue open.

    Linghu Chong called out, "Don't do that, this is ancestor Da Mo." He knew that ancestor Da Mo was Shaolin temple's grandmaster. Shaolin Temple was the leader in the study of the martial art because ancestor Da Mo passed his martial art down. Their martial art had been around for more than a thousand year without declining. Some time in the past, Da Mo sat facing the wall for nine years until he finally gained enlightenment. That was the reason why the statue of Da Mo in the temple was also facing the wall. Ancestor Da Mo was the ancestor of the Zen Buddhism in the central plain and he was held in reverence in both the Wulin world and in Buddhism. So far, the crowd of heroes had been following his order and didn't destroy any object in the temple. He didn't want them now to insult the statue of Da Mo.

    But Peachtree Flower Fairy and his two brothers' playfulness were out already and they didn't pay attention to Linghu Chong's shout. The three people used their strength, which exceeded a thousand catty, to turn the statue of Da Mo around. Suddenly, the seven people shouted in surprise as they saw an iron panel slowly rose up and exposed a big hole. The hardened rust on the hinges of the iron panel buckled open under the pressure of Peachtree Flower Fairy and the other two fairies' pull.

    "There's really a cave!" Peachtree Branch Fairy exclaimed.

    "Let's go have a look at those six mice carrying a cat," Peachtree Root Fairy said. He lowered his head and entered the hole. They all entered the hole one by one with Peachtree Trunk Fairy entering last. Inside, the hole was enormous and when the six people entered the hole, they were only able to hear their own footsteps. They only spent a short time in there admiring the hole before coming out.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy called out, "It's so dark and deep inside that we can't see the bottom."

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Since it's so dark, how do you know it's deep for certain? Maybe after a few more steps, we'll arrive at the bottom."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "If you already knew that you'll reach the bottom after a few more steps, why do you need to keep walking to find out if the bottom is there?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "I said "maybe" not "for certain". "Maybe" and "for certain" are different."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "You already know that it's "maybe", why do you still speak so much then?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "What are you quarrelling about? Quickly get two fire sticks to go inside and have a look."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "Why only two fire sticks, can't we light three sticks instead?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "If you light three sticks, why don't you light four then?"

    These six people kept on talking incessantly but their hands were moving quickly. They broke the table's legs and lighted up four fire sticks. After fighting over the fire sticks for a while, they entered the hole. Linghu Chong considered, "This must be a secret path of the Shaolin temple. That day when I was trapped in the Plum Manor, I also went through a long path. It seems that Yingying is being imprisoned here."

    At this thought, his heart started to thump wildly and he quickly entered the hole. He quickened his steps to catch up to the Peach Valley Six Fairies. The path was wide and it was completely different from the narrow and damp path in Plum Manor. But it was very mouldy in the tunnel which made breathing uncomfortable.

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "We still haven't seen those six mice. I'm afraid they didn't come through this hole. Let's turn back and look in another area."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Turn back when we reach the end, we still have time."

    The six people continued to walk forward again when suddenly a meditation stick dropped out of nowhere startling all of them. Peachtree Flower Fairy was walking in front and he hastily jumped back bumping into Peachtree Fruit Fairy's chest. They saw a monk holding a meditation stick striking from the right wall. Peachtree Flower Fairy was angry and he shouted, "His granny, bald donkey, they're hiding here to plot against grandpa." He extended his hand towards the wall to grab him. But another meditation stick thrust out from the left wall. Peachtree Flower Fairy could not step back anymore to avoid this stick so he leaped forward. His left foot just touched the ground when another stick flew out from the right wall.

    At this time, Linghu Chong had seen everything clearly. There was no enemy using those meditation sticks but a couple of iron statues. These equipments were really wonderful. As soon as someone stepped on the ground these statues were covering, they would not only strike out but every strike was wonderfully and severely done. Peachtree Flower Fairy took out a short iron stick and blocked the strike but it was shaken violently as it flew out of his hand. Peachtree Flower Fairy cried out and rolled around on the ground. But another iron meditation stick struck down towards his head. Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Branch Fairy took out their short iron sticks and rushed forward to save their brother. They raised both their sticks blocking the incoming meditation stick. But as the first one was blocked, the second one struck. Peachtree Trunk Fairy, Peachtree Leaf Fairy, and Peachtree Fruit Fairy rushed forward blocking this second strike. They were using these five sticks to block the incessant strikes of the two meditation sticks from the wall. Even though the iron monks using these meditation sticks were not alive, they were crafted very smartly and it was as if real Shaolin's monks were executing these skills or some eminent monks were directing the statues. Each strike done by these iron monks was very severe and pointed at a dangerous spot.

    The meditation stick along with the iron monk’s arm was made of fine steel which altogether weighed close to a hundred catty. This was further added to the force generated from the moving arm, which made the strike to be very powerful and similar to that of a master. Even though the Peach Valley Six Fairies' martial arts were powerful, the short iron sticks they were using were too short which made it hard for them to block the meditation sticks. The six brothers were calling out in pain. They wanted to withdraw but the way back was completely blocked by the meditation sticks. However, for every step they took going forward, more iron monks joined the fight.

    Linghu Chong saw that the situation was dangerous and he also saw that although these iron monks' movements were refined, each movement had enormous flaws in it. He immediately drew his long sword out and pierced it towards an iron monk's two wrists. Bursts of sparks flew out as the long sword bounced back after colliding with the acupoints in the iron monk's wrists. At this moment, he heard the Peachtree Root Fairy shouting ferociously as he was hit by the meditation stick and fell on the ground. Linghu Chong was frightened seeing this and his mind was in confusion. He saw the meditation sticks moved again and without thinking any further, he thrust his sword out.

    "Zheng, zheng"

    He had again hit two strategic points on the iron monk's body. But even though these two thrust were perfect and wonderful, they only managed to scrape away the rust on the iron monk's chest and lower abdomen. He heard the wind whistled on top of his head as a meditation stick was smashing down on him. Linghu Chong was greatly alarmed and quickly avoided the strike. But another meditation stick was striking out from the left side of his body. Suddenly, everything turned dark and he couldn't see anything anymore. It was because the four fire sticks that the Peach Valley Six Fairies were carrying were thrown to the ground as they started to fight the iron monks. These fire sticks were made from the legs of a table. They were able to burn easily when they were being carried by hands. But when dropped on the ground, they got extinguished in a short time. When Linghu Chong first rushed forward, three of the fire sticks were already extinguished. Right when he was avoiding that strike, the fourth fire stick was extinguished. He was helpless as he couldn't see anything in that hole. He felt pain shooting up on his left shoulder and dropped down onto the ground. He heard the Peach Valley Six Fairies calling out one after another: "Ayo!" "Hng!" "My mommy!" as they were also hit and dropped to the ground.

    Linghu Chong was staying down and he heard behind him the "hu, hu" sound of the sticks sweeping over. He was terrified feeling like he was in a nightmare and was completely powerless. But not long after, the sound of the meditation sticks splitting the air was getting lighter and lighter. Until finally, he heard a "ji, ji, ge, ge" sound. The sticks had finally stopped and the iron monks returned to their original positions.

    Suddenly, the area around him was bright and he heard a person calling out, "Master Linghu, are you here?"

    Linghu Chong was happy to hear his voice and quickly called out, "I'm... I'm here..." But he didn't dare to move and lay still on the ground. He heard the footsteps of a few people entering the hole and approaching him. He heard Ji Wushi uttered in amazement.

    "Don't... don't come over... mechanism... mechanism is really fierce," Linghu Chong warned them.

    Ji Wushi was worried when Linghu Chong had not come back yet after a long time. So he went out with more than ten men to search for him. In the Da Mo room, they found the entrance to the hole. They were astonished to see Linghu Chong and the Peach Valley Six Fairies lying on the ground with blood all over them.

    "Master Linghu, what happened?" Zu Qianqiu called out.

    "Stay there, don't move. One move and you'll trigger the mechanism," Linghu Chong said.

    "Yes! How about if I use a soft whip to drag all of you out?" Zu Qianqiu asked.

    "That's the best way," Linghu Chong answered.

    Zu Qianqiu flung his soft whip out and coiled it around Peachtree Branch Fairy's left leg. He dragged Peachtree Branch Fairy out of there. Peachtree Branch Fairy was the closest one to him so Zu Qianqiu dragged him out first. He then flung his whip and wrapped it around Linghu Chong's right leg. "Sorry for the offence!" He dragged him out. Using this method, he dragged all of them out one by one without triggering the mechanism.

    Linghu Chong falteringly stood up and hastily went to look at the Peach Valley Six Fairies. The six people's shoulders, heads, and backs were hit by the meditation sticks. Luckily, they had thick skins and flesh along with their deep internal energies to resist the hits. So they only received flesh wounds. Peachtree Root Fairy was already bragging, "These iron monks are good, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies broke them already." Peachtree Flower Fairy felt that it was inappropriate to claim this achievement for themselves only so he said, "Master Linghu also worked hard, but he didn't work as hard as us six brothers."

    Linghu Chong endured the pain on his shoulder and head while laughing, "Of course, who can work harder than the Peach Valley Six Fairies?"

    "Master Linghu, what's this all about?" Zu Qianqiu inquired.

    Linghu Chong told him what he thought. "It's very likely that Sacred Lady is being held in here. Let's think of a plan to break those iron monks."

    Zu Qianqiu glared at the Peach Valley Six Fairies. "So the iron monks aren't broken yet."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy gave an excuse. "What's so hard to break those iron monks? We just didn't feel like breaking them before."

    "Yeah, wherever Peach Valley Six Fairies go, there's nothing we can't destroy and there's no enemy that we can't handle," Peachtree Fruit Fairy bragged.

    "We don't know how good these iron monks are. Can the Peach Valley Six Fairies rush in again to activate those machines and let us see how good they are?" Ji Wushi implored.

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies had suffered under these machines before. How could they agree to this request to go in there and experience those meditation sticks again?

    "Everyone, we've all seen a cat catching a mouse. But has anyone see a mouse catching a rat?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy tried to change the topic.

    "We seven people saw it just then and it has really widened our eyes since we've never seen it before," Peachtree Leaf Fairy told everyone.

    These six brothers had a really unique skill. When they met with a difficult problem that they had no answer to, then they would start talking about anything and change the topic.

    "Someone please go and get some big rock here. Those ones that weighed around one to two hundred catties," Linghu Chong ordered.

    Three people immediately went out and brought three big rocks in. These rocks were the fake rock mountains from the Shaolin Temple's courtyard. Linghu Chong carried one rock, gathered his qi and bowled the rock forward. The rock rumbled forward triggering the mechanism and one by one the iron monks emerged from the walls. They were only able to see the shadows of the sticks moving as the iron monks started to strike downwards continuously. After a long time, the iron monks went back into the walls one after another. Everyone had now seen the dizzying speed at which those sticks were striking down and they were all at loss for words.

    Ji Wushi suggested his opinion. "Master, these iron monks have some kind of trigger. The trigger applied a lot of power to turn an iron chain somewhere to move those iron men. We can roll those big rocks a few more times until the power of the trigger is exhausted then those iron monks won't be able to move anymore."

    Linghu Chong wanted to get Yingying out of danger as soon as possible. "I saw that those iron monks aren't slow at all when deploying those sticks and I don't know how many times they hit each time. If we try seven or eight more rocks to exhaust the trigger then it'll be dawn already. Do any brothers have a treasured sabre or treasured sword that I can borrow?"

    A person immediately stepped forward and drew his sabre out. "Chief, this sabre is really sharp."

    Linghu Chong saw this person had a high nose, deep eyes, and yellow beard on his chin. It seemed that he was a person from the west region. As he took that sabre, he felt an unusually abundant cold air emanating from it. "Many thanks! I'm going to use this treasured sabre to scrape those iron men. Please don't blame me if it's damaged."

    That person laughed. "For Sacred Lady, we wouldn't regret to sacrifice our lives. The sabre is only an object, don't worry about it."

    Linghu Chong nodded and strode forward purposefully. Peach Valley Six Fairies called out at the same time, "Be careful!"

    Linghu Chong took another two large strides when the iron monk was triggered and a meditation stick was striking downwards towards his head. This was the third time he saw this move so he didn't need to think as he wielded his sabre slashing towards the right wrist of the iron monk. The wrist was cut easily and the iron hand along with the meditation stick dropped to the ground.

    "Good sabre!" Linghu Chong praised. In the beginning, he was afraid that this sabre might not be sharp enough to cut the iron monk's wrist. But seeing how this sabre cut iron like it was mud, his spirit was roused greatly.

    "Shua, shua" as he cut two more of the iron monks' wrists. He was using the sabre like it was a sword and used the moves from the "Dugu Nine Swords". The iron monks kept on coming out of the walls to attack but their wrists had already been cut and their meditation sticks had already fallen on the ground. Even though their two arms were still intact and they were still moving them around, no more meditation sticks were on their hands which made them harmless. Linghu Chong kept on going forward and the moves the iron monks used were wonderful. He secretly admired them but they were only dead objects after all. So as they used their moves, there were many flaws on them. Even after all their wrists were cut off, the trigger was still working continuously. But everything had become a waste now. The group lifted the fire sticks high above their heads to follow him and to light the way. After cutting more than a hundred iron wrists, there was no more iron monks coming out of the wall. Someone counted and there were actually one hundred and eight iron monks. The crowd was excited and started to cheer loudly.

    Linghu Chong wanted to urgently meet Yingying so he took a fire stick and rushed forward. He was being careful as he passed along in case he touches some kind of trigger. The tunnel continuously slanted downwards. After going for more than three li, the tunnel had gone past several natural caves and they didn't meet any kind of trigger. Suddenly, they saw a pale light coming from in front. Linghu Chong rushed forward and as he stepped outside, he felt that the ground was soft. He had unexpectedly stepped on a layer of snow. At the same time, a wave of cold air blew on his chest. He was unexpectedly at an empty place.

    He looked at all the directions and saw the dark sky and the snow flakes falling down. He also heard the sound of water from a creek nearby. Suddenly, he felt disappointed as the tunnel wasn't going to where Yingying was being imprisoned. He heard Ji Wushi behind him said, "Everyone be quiet. Don't make any noise. It's very likely that we're at the bottom of Mount Shaoshi."

    "So we've escaped from danger?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "Master, in the depth of winter, the stream on the mountaintop would have no running water. It seemed that we've passed through the tunnel and arrived at the foot of the mountain."

    "Yes, somehow we've stumbled into Shaolin Temple's secret tunnel," Zu Qianqiu said.

    Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. He gave the treasured sabre back to that hero from the west region and said, "Then quickly pass the word back to the main group and ask them to use the tunnel to get out."

    Ji Wushi ordered tens of brothers to find out their exact location at the foot of the mountain and guard the tunnel's exit in case of the enemy attacking before all the brothers had gone out. If the tunnel's exit was blocked before all the brothers were out, then they would all be trapped inside.

    Not long after, the people finding out their exact location returned to confirm that they were at the bottom of Mount Shaoshi and they were also at the back of the mountain. If they raised their heads, they would be able to see the cloister at the top of the mountain. The group of heroes had still not escaped from danger at this moment so no one dared to speak loudly. The number of warriors coming out of the tunnel gradually increased. They were also carrying the injured and dead out with them.

    Even though the group of heroes had escaped with their lives, they didn't cheer but just discussed it quietly and were all feeling happy. The Black Bear from the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert said, "Chief, those bastards still thought that we're in the temple. It would be good to attack their butt and cut off their tail. That way we can vent our anger."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy butted in, "Bastards have tails?"

    "We came to Shaolin Temple to meet with Sacred Lady. But we didn't get to meet the Sacred Lady so we must continue to look for her. There's no need for more killings," Linghu Chong said.

    White Bear said, "Hng, no matter what, I have to grab some of those bastards. If not then they've bullied us too much."

    "Please pass this order down. Everyone go separately and if you meet anyone from the orthodox school, it's best if you don't fight with them. If anyone heard of any news of Sacred Lady then please spread it around. As long as I, Linghu Chong, am still alive, no matter what kind of difficulty or danger I have to go through, I will definitely get Sacred Lady out. Are there anymore brothers still inside the temple?" Linghu Chong announced.

    Ji Wushi walked to the tunnel's exit and called out into the tunnel a few times. After waiting for some time, he called out a few more times but there was no response from inside the tunnel. He reported, "They're all out already!" Linghu Chong's childish heart was roused, "Everyone, let's call out three times and give those orthodox school's people a fright."

    Zu Qianqiu laughed, "Wonderful! Everyone follow Chief and call out loudly."

    Linghu Chong used his inner energy to call out, "Everyone call out after me, one, two, three! "Wei, we've gone down the mountain already!"."

    "Wei, we've gone down the mountain already!" the thousands of people called out.

    Linghu Chong continued, "Enjoy the snow on the mountaintop!"

    "Enjoy the snow on the mountaintop!" the group of heroes called out.

    Linghu Chong called out again, "The green mountains never change and the river will always flow far, till we meet again!"

    "The green mountains never change and the river will always flow far, till we meet again!" the group of heroes called out loudly.

    Linghu Chong laughed, "Let's go!"

    Suddenly, some people called out, "You son of a turtle bastards, go to your granny."

    "You son of a turtle bastards, go to your granny," the group of heroes followed.

    These vulgar words were also repeated after by the crowd with their voices shaking the valley. Linghu Chong called out, "Alright, no need to call out anymore, let's go!"

    The group of heroes was still excited and they also echoed him, "Alright, no need to call out anymore, let's go!"

    After they had finished calling out, they saw that the mountaintop stayed calm and still. The sky was gradually becoming brighter so one by one, they started to leave. Linghu Chong thought, "Right now, the first big matter I have to do is to find out Yingying's whereabouts. Next, I have to find out who killed Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai. Where should I go to accomplish these two matters?" A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, "Shaolin monks and the orthodox school's people must know by now that we've gone down the mountain and escaped their trap. Naturally, they'll go back to the temple. Maybe they brought Yingying with them. To do these two matters, I have to go back to Shaolin." He thought further, "The less people going back to Shaolin temple the better. I can't let Ji Wushi and the rest of them follow me back."

    He went to Ji Wushi, Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, Blue Phoenix, Huang Boliu, and the rest of them to say, "Everyone worked hard. We'll celebrate after we've met Sacred Lady."

    "Master, where are you going?" Ji Wushi asked.

    "Please forgive little brother. I can't say where I'm going for now. I'll tell you everything later,” Linghu Chong said.

    They all didn't dare to ask anymore and one by one said their goodbyes to him.

    End of Chapter 26

  8. #8
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    Apr 2006
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    Default Chapter 27 Three Fights

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    Linghu Chong leapt into the forest and went up a tree concealing himself among the tree's dense leaves. After a long time, the sound of those heroes gradually disappeared, and finally, everything was quiet. He thought everyone must have gone already when he slowly walked back to the tunnel's exit. As he expected, there was no one there. The exit of the tunnel was concealed by two large rocks and long grass. For someone who didn't know of the existence of this tunnel, even if he stood besides it, he probably still would not be able to discover it.

    Linghu Chong quickly re-entered the tunnel and ran back to the temple. When he arrived at the Da Mo hall, he heard the sound of people talking from the front hall. It was the orthodox schools’ people carefully and slowly searching for traps. Linghu Chong gathered his power into both of his arms and pushed the statue of Da Mo back into its place. After putting the statue back, he considered, "Where can I go to eavesdrop on the gathering of the orthodox schools’ leaders to find out the whereabouts of Yingying? Shaolin temple has more than a thousand rooms and I don't even know which room they're going to use."

    He remembered that day when Great Master Fangsheng led him to see the Abbot. Great Master Fangsheng took him to the Abbot’s mediation room, which he could still vaguely remember the direction to. He quickly went out of the Da Mo Hall and went on the path towards the back. But Shaolin temple had so many rooms that after going for a while, he was still unable to find the Abbot's meditation room.

    He was in a sitting room at the side of a hall when he heard footsteps approaching. Linghu Chong quickly took a look around the hall and saw that there was nowhere for him to hide. But there was a wooden signage suspended on top of the hall with the gold letter writing of "Refreshing Realm". So he leapt up and hid behind the wooden signage. The footsteps gradually got nearer; and seven to eight people entered the hall.

    One person said, "Those demons' skills are not bad. We surrounded them from all directions like an iron pail but they still escaped down the hill."

    "It seems that there's a secret tunnel from the top of the mountain going all the way to the bottom. Otherwise, how could they have managed to escape?" Another person replied.

    "I don't think there's any tunnel here. I've been in this temple for more than twenty years already, but I've never heard of any secret tunnel going down to the bottom of the mountain," another person added.

    "It's called a secret. Of course not many people know about it," one of the earlier person said.

    "I may have not known about it, but wouldn't our Abbot know? If there were a secret tunnel in this temple, my humble temple's Abbot would have ordered one of the schools to guard it. Why would we allow those demons to escape?" that Shaolin monk said.

    All of a sudden, Linghu Chong heard one of the person shouted, "Who's there? Come out!"

    Linghu Chong was greatly startled. "Did he discover my footprints?" Just as he was about to jump down, he suddenly heard the sound of laughter from behind a wooden signage on the east side of the hall. "Old man breathed too deeply and blew some dust down, and you guys actually saw it. Hey, you have very good vision." The voice was clear and loud. It was Xiang Wentian's voice.

    Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. "So it's big brother Xiang hiding here. He held his breath really well. I've been here for so long but I didn't hear anything. If it wasn't for the dust falling down, that person wouldn't have perceived..."

    Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by two "ta, ta" sounds. Two people had jumped down from the sides of that east signage at the same time. This was followed by three people crying out, "What..." "You..." "Who..." These three people only managed to utter one word before they were muted. Linghu Chong couldn't stand it anymore. He poked his head out to take a look. He saw two dark shadows flying around in the big hall, one person was Xiang Wentian, and the other person had a big and tall stature. He was Ren Woxing. These two people noiselessly struck out with their palms. With every palm strike, a person fell down on the floor. In a short time, eight people had fallen on the hall's floor. Among them, five people were facing the ground while the other three were facing up. Their eyes were wide open and they looked terrified. Their faces twitched once before they became motionless. It was obvious that they had died violently under the hands of these two people, Ren and Xiang.

    Ren Woxing wiped his hands on the side of his body. "Ying'er, come down!"

    A person floated down from behind the eastern wooden signage appearing graceful and elegant. It was really Yingying, the person whom he had not seen for many days. She was wearing a coarse gown and her face was looking feeble. Linghu Chong felt giddy looking at her. He really wanted to leap down and meet her but Ren Woxing waved his hands a few times towards his hiding place.

    Linghu Chong thought, "They arrived here first. So they naturally know that I'm hiding behind this wooden signage. Mr. Ren is telling me not to come out, what's his idea?"

    But in an instant later, he understood Ren Woxing's idea. He saw a few people rushing through the door to come into the hall. With a glance, he saw his Master and Master-Wife along with the Shaolin Abbot Fangzheng and many other people. He didn't dare to look anymore and quickly pulled his head back behind the wooden signage. His heart skipped a beat as he thought, "Yingying and the rest of them had been surrounded. I... even if my body were grounded to dust and my bones broken to pieces, I have to help them escape from danger." He heard Great Master Fangzheng said, "Amituofo! You, three honourables, have very fierce palms. The female honourable had already departed Shaolin, why did you come back again? These two people must be Dark Wood Cliff's masters. Forgive old monk for not recognising."

    "This person is Divine Sun Moon Sect's Chief Ren. I'm Xiang Wentian," Xiang Wentian introduced. The two of them had very high reputations. When Xiang Wentian mentioned their two names, many people in the hall exclaimed their surprise.

    "So it's Chief Ren and Left Protector Xiang. I've been looking up to your names for a long time already. What lessons do you have to teach me by coming here?" Fangzheng said.

    "Old man hadn't paid attention to worldly matters for a long time so I don't recognise many of the promising youths in Jianghu of this generation. I don't know who these little friends are," Ren Woxing said.

    "Let old monk introduces them to you. This Taoist is Wudang School's headmaster, his name is Chongxu," Fangzheng said.

    An elder spoke out, "Poor Taoist is perhaps a few years older than Mr. Ren. But when I took over the leadership of Wudang School, Mr. Ren had already retreated in secret from Wulin. Youth is youth but this word ‘promising’, you're flattering me, hehe."

    When Linghu Chong heard this elder’s voice, he thought, "The voice of this Wudang School's leader sounds familiar." Another thought quickly followed. "Ayo! I met three people at the foot of Mount Wudang. One was carrying firewood, one was carrying vegetable, and the other one was an old man riding a donkey who possesses a wonderful sword art. So he's actually the headmaster of Wudang School." Suddenly, a good feeling rushed forth in his heart and his hands started to sweat. Wudang School and Shaolin School had been famous for several hundred years. One had soft movements and the other had hard movements, but each had their own specialties. Priest Chongxu's sword art was wonderful and esteemed. He was delighted when he suddenly learned that he had unexpectedly defeated Priest Chongxu.

    He then heard Ren Woxing said, "This big leader Zuo, we've met before. Master Zuo, these last few years, your ‘Great Songyang Divine Palm’ must've improved by a lot, right?"

    Linghu Chong was again startled. "So Songshan School's leader, martial uncle Zuo, is also here." He then heard a person said coldly, "I heard Mr. Ren was imprisoned by your own subordinate and was in hibernation for many years. Congratulations on coming out again. I haven't used this ‘Great Songyang Divine Palm’ for many years now. I'm afraid I've probably forgotten half of it."

    Ren Woxing laughed. "How can Jianghu be that lonely? When old man was hidden away, there's no one else who can trade palms with brother Zuo. What a pity, what a pity."

    "In Jianghu, there are many people with martial art equal to Mr. Ren, such as Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu. But we can't just go around asking for a lesson without any reason at all," Zuo Lengchan said.

    "Very well. If there's some free time, let me try out your new moves."

    "I'll certainly accompany you."

    Hearing these two people speaking to each other, it was obvious that they had fought before. But who won or lost, they could not tell from just hearing what these two people were saying. Great Master Fangzheng continued with his introduction. "This person is Taishan School's headmaster, Priest Tianmen. This person is Huashan School's headmaster, Mr. Yue. This person is Madam Yue, back then she was known as Heroine Ning. Mr. Ren must have heard of her."

    "I already know of Huashan School's Heroine Ning. But this Mr. Yue whatever, I've never heard of him before."

    Linghu Chong was displeased. "My Master's name was known before Master-Wife's. If he said that he doesn't know them both then that's fine. But there's no one who only knows Heroine Ning but doesn’t know Mr. Yue. He was imprisoned under the West Lake for close to ten years. Before that time, my master's name was already known throughout the realm. It's obvious that he's doing this on purpose to provoke my Master."

    Yue Buqun indifferently replied, "Junior's name is lowly. It would insult Mr. Ren's ears to hear my name."

    "Mr. Yue, I'd like to ask you about a person. I don't know if you know of his whereabouts. I heard that he was formerly under your Huashan School," Ren Woxing said.

    "Who's Mr. Ren asking for?"

    "This person's martial art is extremely high. His conduct is also very rare in this world. My heart was blind before and was actually jealous of him so I kicked him out. But he actually felt like an old friend to me when I first met him. Now, I wholeheartedly want to betroth my darling daughter to him..."

    When Linghu Chong heard him saying this, his heart started to thump loudly. He felt that something big was going to happen soon. He heard Ren Woxing continued, "This youth has passion and righteousness. When he heard that my darling daughter was being imprisoned in Shaolin temple, he led a few thousand heroes to come to Shaolin to greet his wife. But I don't know his whereabouts now and it's making me very anxious. It's for this reason that I'm asking you about it."

    Yue Buqun looked towards the sky and laughed. "Mr. Ren is very resourceful. How come you’ve lost your own son-in-law? This youth Mr. Ren is talking about, is he that little thief Linghu Chong who was expelled from my humble school?"

    Ren Woxing laughed. "I clearly saw a piece of jade but you saw gravels. Old brother, your vision has become really poor. This youth I'm talking about really is Linghu Chong. Haha, you scolded him as little thief, doesn't this mean that you're scolding me as an old thief?"

    Yue Buqun sternly replied, "This little thief's conduct is very inappropriate and he has a weakness for women. Just because of one woman, he roused groups of unorthodox sects, foxes and dogs, and come to Shaolin temple causing a lot of disturbance. If it weren't for Songshan's martial brother Zuo's arrangements, this thousand year old temple would've been burned to the ground. This would've been a big sin that even a thousand deaths wouldn't have been able to atone. This little thief was indeed part of my Huashan School before, but unfortunately, I didn't teach him enough manners. Now, he's shaming everyone."

    Xiang Wentian hastily replied, "Mr. Yue is wrong! Brother Linghu came to Shaolin just to meet lady Ren and not to absurdly cause a disturbance. You go and have a look. So many friends were in Shaolin temple for one day and one night, but did they burn a single piece of grass or tree? They didn't even eat a single grain of rice and they also didn't even drink a mouthful of water."

    Suddenly someone interrupted, "Shaolin temple has instead gained many items when these swine and dog friends came here."

    Linghu Chong heard the sharp voice of this person and recognised him to be the Qingcheng School's headmaster Yu Canghai. He thought, "So this person has also come."

    "May I ask Priest Yu, what has Shaolin temple gained?" Xiang Wentian asked.

    "Cow shit, horse piss. Everywhere on the ground is full of yellow stuff." Yu Canghai answered. A few people laughed hearing this but Linghu Chong felt apologetic. "I only restricted those brothers not to damage anything but I didn't ask them not to urinate on the ground. Those crude people just pulled their pants down and pee everywhere and soiled the clean ground of the temple."

    Great Master Fangzheng said, "When Master Linghu led so many people to come to Shaolin, old monk was really worried that this temple would be burned down. But when those friends were in Shaolin, not a single thing was damaged. This must be because of Master Linghu's merciful heart restricting these people. Everyone from the temple is really appreciative towards him. When I meet Master Linghu in the future, I will thank him wholeheartedly. Mr. Xiang, never mind about what Priest Yu said."

    Xiang Wentian praised, "So there's actually an eminent monk here who is very open minded and very different from other people. Compared to hypocrites and really small-minded people, he's completely different."

    Fangzheng continued, "Old monk doesn't understand one matter here. How did Heng-Shan School's two Shi Tai die in my humble temple?"

    "Ah!" Yingying exclaimed in surprise. Her voice trembled as she asked, "What... what? Dingxian, Dingyi Shi Tai... died?"

    "That is so. We found their bodies inside the temple. Their time of deaths is around the time that those many Jianghu friends entered the temple. Could it be that Master Linghu didn't restrict his subordinates and the two Shi Tai were outnumbered and lost their lives here? Amituofo, amituofo," Fangzheng let out a long sigh after saying this.

    "This... this is really strange. That day I met with the two Shi Tai in the hall behind the temple. Because of Abbot's merciful heart and the two Shi Tai, you agreed to release me." Yingying said.

    Linghu Chong's heart swelled with gratitude towards the two Shi Tai but he also felt sad at the same time. "The two Shi Tai pleaded for Abbot's mercy and Abbot actually released Yingying out of the temple. But the two of them lost their lives because of this. They've died because of Yingying and me. But who are their murderers? I must seek revenge for them." He heard Yingying said, "These last few days, many friends from Jianghu had come here to rescue me and make some disturbance at Shaolin temple. But more than a hundred of them were captured by the Shaolin temple. Great Master Abbot is merciful and talked to them about the ten heavenly ways, hoping that they would turn from their violent ways before they were released. But I was already imprisoned for a long time so I was allowed to go earlier."

    "This Great Master Fangzheng is really a good person but he's slightly pedantic. How can Yingying's subordinates turn from their violent ways after just hearing you talk to them about the ten heavenly ways?" Linghu Chong thought.

    He heard Yingying continued, "I have so much gratitude towards the two Shi Tai. After thanking Great Master Abbot, I accompanied them down Mount Shaoshi. On the third day, I heard Linghu... Master Linghu was leading friends from Jianghu to come to Shaolin temple to meet me. Dingxian Shi Tai said: "We must travel at twice the speed to intercept those people in order to avoid disturbing the eminent monks in Shaolin temple." That night, we met a friend from Jianghu. He said that people were coming from all directions and have decided to gather at Shaolin on the fifteenth of the twelfth month. The two Shi Tai discussed this and said that Jianghu's good and bad warriors of outstanding abilities are mixing together. Furthermore, they were all coming from all directions. So it might happen that not everyone would listen to Master Linghu's order. So Dingxian Shi Tai instructed me to go catch up and meet with him... Master Linghu, and ask everyone to disperse while the two Shi Tai would go back to Shaolin to lend their help to Great Master Abbot."

    She said all this clearly and elegantly. When she was speaking of the two Shi Tai, there was a hint of sadness in her voice. When she was speaking of ‘Master Linghu’, she couldn't cover up her bashfulness. Linghu Chong's heart was thumping hearing all these from behind the wooden signage.

    "Amituofo! Old monk appreciates the two Shi Tai's good intention. When news of the difficulty facing the Shaolin temple spread, all the orthodox schools, whether they knew what the difficulty was or not, came to help. My humble school doesn't know how to repay them for all their efforts. Luckily, we didn’t fight and avoided a bloodbath. Ai, the two Shi Tai understood the Buddhist teachings very well. They were kind and merciful. We've now lost two eminent people of our Buddhist faith. What a pity, what a pity," Fangzheng said.

    Yingying continued, "After I parted ways with the two Shi Tai, I was overwhelmed by sheer number and was captured by Mr. Zuo's Songshan School on that same night. I was then imprisoned for a few days before daddy and uncle Xiang came and rescued me. By then, those friends from Jianghu have already entered the Shaolin temple, so the three of us went to Shaolin temple to find them. We've been here for around an hour but didn't know where everyone had gone to. We also didn't know that the two Shi Tai had died."

    "If that's the case, then the two Shi Tai were not harmed by Mr. Ren or Left Protector Xiang," Fangzheng said.

    "I'm indebted to the two Shi Tai for rescuing me and I only have gratitude towards them. If my daddy and uncle Xiang had met with the two Shi Tai and had a disagreement, I would have definitely mediated between them. There's no way that I would just stand by and do nothing," Yingying said.

    "Well said," Fangzheng complimented.

    Suddenly Yu Canghai interrupted, "Devil Sect's people's conducts are usually opposite to that of other people. Common people returns kindness with kindness. But the disciples of those demons repay kindness with enmity."

    "That's strange, very strange! When did Priest Yu join the Divine Sun Moon Sect?" Xiang Wentian asked.

    "What? Who said I joined the Devil Sect?" Yu Canghai replied indignantly.

    "You said my divine sect's people repay kindness with enmity. Escort leader Lin from Fujian's Fortune Prestige Escort House assisted with the lives of your household. Every year they sent ten thousand silver taels to you. But your Qingcheng School repaid them by killing escort leader Lin. Priest Yu's reputation for repaying kindness with enmity is well known throughout the world. No one in the world doesn't know about this. So given your conduct, Headmaster Yu must be a member of my sect then. Very good, very good, welcome to the sect," Xiang Wentian remarked.

    "Nonsense, don't fart here!" Yu Canghai was livid.

    "I was sincere in my welcome but Priest Yu is scolding me of farting. If this is not repaying kindness with enmity, then what is it called? So, it's clear that rivers and mountains can be easily changed but character is hard to change. When one person repays kindness with enmity for his whole life, then his speech and action clearly shows this," Xiang Wentian said.

    Fangzheng was afraid that they would get into a fight over this senseless dispute. He said, "We should ask Master Linghu who killed the two Shi Tai. This will make things come to light. But the three of you have come to Shaolin temple and killed eight disciples of the orthodox schools. Why did you do this for?"

    "Old man has always wandered Jianghu by myself and no one has dared to be rude towards me. These eight people shouted at old man here telling me to come out from my hiding place. Don't they deserve to be killed for this?" Ren Woxing asked.

    "Amituofo, so it was only because they shouted at you that you violently killed them. Isn't that too much?" Fangzheng said.

    Ren Woxing laughed before answering, "Great Master Abbot said that it's too much then it's too much. You didn't give my daughter any more trouble so old man has received your compassion in that regard. At first I came here to thank you so I don't want debate with you this time. So there's no need to say thanks anymore now, let's just call it even between us."

    "Since Mr. Ren already said that we're even, then we're even. But the three of you have come to my humble temple and killed eight people. What should we do about this matter?"

    "What's there to decide? My Sun Moon Sect has a lot of disciples and you have skills. Just kill eight of them.”

    "Amituofo. Killing people carelessly is a very big sin. Headmaster Zuo, from these eight people who were killed, two of them were from your respectable school. What do you think we should do?"

    Zuo Lengchan had not said anything when Ren Woxing hurriedly said, "I killed those people. Why did you have to ask other people what to do and not ask me? Listening to your tone, it sounds as if you're relying on the superiority in numbers to kill the three of us. Isn't this right?"

    "How would I dare to do that? It's just that Mr. Ren has come out again and this will make Jianghu very eventful. I'm afraid countless number of people will lose their lives under Mr. Ren's hands. Old monk has this thought to keep the three of you in my humble temple to read Buddhist scriptures so there would be peace in Jianghu. What do the three of you think of this?"

    Ren Woxing looked up towards the sky and laughed loudly. "Wonderful, wonderful, this idea is brilliant."

    "When your daughter resided at the back of my humble temple, everyone in this temple treated her with respect and she didn't lack for anything. Old monk kept your daughter here but not because I wanted to avenge the disciples of my school who were killed. Ai, revenge breeds revenge, you'll get entangled endlessly. How can a Buddhist disciple act like that? The few disciples of Shaolin School who were killed by your daughter's hands; maybe this was revenge from the previous life. But... but she's very vicious and kills people easily. If she can stay in my humble temple to cultivate her mind and grow her soul, then that would be to the benefit of everyone."

    Ren Woxing laughed and said, "In that case, Great Master Abbot's intention was good then."

    "That is so. But old monk didn't anticipate that this matter would unexpectedly lead to a great disturbance in Jianghu. Also, that day your daughter carried young hero Linghu on her back to the temple to seek help. She said that if old monk agrees to save young hero Linghu's life then she would be willing to repay the killing of the temple disciples with her own life. Old monk told her that there was no need for her to repay with her life, but she must stay in seclusion on top of Mount Shaoshi, and she can't leave the mountain without old monk's permission. She immediately agreed to this. Miss Ren, is what I said true?" Fangzheng said.

    Yingying answered quietly, "It's true."

    Linghu Chong's heart swelled with gratitude when he heard the story of that day told from the Great Master Abbot's own mouth. Even though he had heard this story from other people before, it was very different hearing it directly from Great Master Fangzheng's own mouth. Also, hearing how Yingying undertook this matter by herself, he couldn't help his eyes becoming moist from tears.

    Yu Canghai laughed coldly. "So it was all because of love. But it's a pity this Linghu Chong's conduct is very lacking. During that time in Hengshan, I saw it with my own eyes how he went to the brothel to sleep with prostitutes. Ai, he has really let down young lady Ren’s affection."

    Xiang Wentian laughingly asked, "So Priest Yu was inside the brothel observing all this and can't possibly be wrong?"

    "Of course, how can I be wrong?"

    Xiang Wentian lowered his voice and said, "Priest Yu, so you often visit brothels just like I do. Who's your favourite in that brothel? Is she pretty?"

    Yu Canghai was furious. "Bullshit, bullshit!"

    "It stinks, it stinks!" Xiang Wentian smiled.

    "Mr. Ren, if the three of you agree to stay secluded on Mount Shaoshi then everyone here will turn from enemies into friends. So long as the three of you do not go down the mountain, old monk will guarantee that no one will bother the three of you. From this time onwards, you will enjoy complete happiness. Wouldn't this be a great happiness for everyone?" Fangzheng said.

    Linghu Chong heard utmost sincerity in Great Master Fangzheng's speech. He thought, "This eminent monk doesn't understand worldly matters at all and he's also being very unrealistic. These three people kill people without even blinking and you want them to voluntarily be restrained on Mount Shaoshi? You must be dreaming."

    Ren Woxing smiled slightly and said, "Abbot's idea is very good and you have also thought of this from all aspects. The right way is for me to follow this idea.”

    Fangzheng was happy to hear this. "Then 'shi zhu' is willing to stay on Mount Shaoshi?"

    (Translator's note: shi zhu is a term of address used by monks or nuns referring to a believer in Buddhism.)

    "Right," Ren Woxing answered.

    "Then old monk will prepare the rooms. From now on, the three of you are Shaolin Temple's honoured guests," Fangzheng said happily.

    "But we can only stay here for six hours and no longer than that," Ren Woxing added.

    Fangzheng was greatly disappointed to hear this. "Six hours? What's the use then?"

    Ren Woxing laughed. "Originally, I wanted to stay here for many days and linger with all the friends here. But my name's not good and there’s nothing I can do about that."

    Fangzheng was stupefied as he asked, "Old monk doesn't understand. What's shi zhu's name got to do with it?"

    Ren Woxing explained, "My surname isn't good. My given name is also not good. My surname is Ren and I'm called Woxing. If I’ve known about this earlier, then I would've been called Nixing and it would've been more convenient. But I'm already called Woxing, so I'm forced to do as I please. Wherever I want to go then that's where I'll be going to."

    (Translator's note: Ren Woxing's name means "To do what I please". He's saying Nixing which means "To do what you want me to do")

    Fangzheng angrily said, "So Mr. Ren was making fun of old monk."

    "I don't dare, I don't dare. Within the world's highly skilled martial artists, there are only a few people that I admire. Counting the numbers, there are only three and a half. Great monk is one of them. Also there are three and a half people that old man doesn't admire," Ren Woxing said. He said all this heartily without a hint of ridicule in his voice.

    "Amituofo, old monk doesn't deserve it."

    Linghu Chong became really curious when he heard him say that within the world's highly skilled martial artists, there were three and a half that he admired and there were three and a half that he didn't admire. He wanted to know who Ren Woxing would point out. Besides Fangzheng, who are the rest of the people?

    He heard a person with a loud booming voice asked, "Mr. Ren, who else do you admire?"

    After Fangzheng introduced the Yue Buqun couple to Ren Woxing, both parties started to argue non-stop so there was no opportunity to introduce the rest of the people. Counting the breathings of the people underneath, Linghu Chong guessed that there were ten people altogether in Fangzheng's group. Besides Great Master Fangzheng, Master, Master-Wife, Priest Chongxu, Zuo Lengchan, Priest Tianmen, and Yu Canghai, there were still three other people. He didn't know whom this booming voice belonged to.

    Ren Woxing laughed. "I'm really sorry but you’re not in it Sir."

    That person replied, "How would I dare to stand shoulder to shoulder with Great Master Fangzheng? Naturally, I'll be one of the people Mr. Ren doesn't admire."

    "You're also not one of the three and a half people I don't admire. If you practise your martial art for thirty more years, then maybe you'll become one of the people I don't admire."

    That person uttered a "hey" and stopped talking. Linghu Chong thought, "You want to be one of the people not admired, but it's not that easy."

    "Mr. Ren’s opinion is very novel," Fangzheng said.

    "Great monk, do you want to know who I admire and who I don't admire?" Ren Woxing asked.

    "I will listen to shi zhu's enlightening words."

    "Great monk, your study in Tendon Altering Sutra is profound and your internal energy has also reached the top. But your heart is still kind and modest, unlike old man here clamouring around Jianghu. That's why I admire you," Ren Woxing explained.

    "I don't deserve it," Fangzheng said.

    "But among the people that I admire, great monk isn't number one. The number one person that I admire in Wulin is the person who usurped the chief position of my Divine Sun Moon Sect. This person is Dongfang Bubai."

    Everyone uttered an "ah". Obviously this was beyond their expectation. Luckily, Linghu Chong managed to stop himself from uttering his "ah". But he was thinking in his heart why Ren Woxing would regard Dongfang Bubai as the top person he admired. Dongfang Bubai imprisoned him for many years so of course he must hate Dongfang Bubai to the bone. But who would have thought that he admired Dongfang Bubai?

    "Old man's martial art is already very high, I also have a very keen mind, and it's known in the realm that I have no match in this world. But I was unexpectedly fooled by Dongfang Bubai's sweet talk and as a result was buried underneath a lake. Dongfang Bubai is such a fierce person, how could old man dare not to admire him?"

    "So that's how it is," Fangzheng remarked.

    “The third person that I admire is the top master of Huashan School at the moment,” Ren Woxing said.

    This was really beyond Linghu Chong’s expectation. When Ren Woxing was talking to Yue Buqun before, he didn’t even give him any face. Who would’ve thought that inside his heart, Ren Woxing would actually admire Yue Buqun?

    Madam Yue said, “You don’t need to say these false talks and ridicule people.”

    Ren Woxing laughed. “Haha, Madam Yue, you thought that the person I was referring to was your husband? He... he lacks by a lot. The person I admire has a godly sword art. He’s Feng Qingyang. Mr. Feng’s sword art is much higher compared to me and I wouldn’t be able to reach that stage at all. I sincerely admire him.”

    “Mr. Yue, is Mr. Feng still alive?” Fangzheng asked.

    “Martial uncle Feng went into... into seclusion for tens of years already and we’ve never heard news of him ever since. If he’s still alive then that would be a big fortune for our school,” Yue Buqun said.

    Ren Woxing laughed coldly. “Mr. Feng is from the sword branch and you’re from the qi branch. These two branches of sword and qi can’t co-exist together in the Huashan School. If Mr. Feng is still alive, why would it be so fortunate for you?”

    Yue Buqun just stayed silent after he was reprimanded by Ren Woxing.

    Linghu Chong had guessed before that Feng Qingyang was from the sword branch. When he heard what Ren Woxing said and how his master didn’t dispute it, he no longer doubted it. Ren Woxing laughed. “Don’t worry. Mr. Feng is a highly skilled person outside of Wulin. Do you think he still needs your Huashan School's leadership and would take over your throne?”

    “I'm just a dumb person. If martial uncle Feng can give me some guidance then it would make me very happy. Mr. Ren, if you can point me to the direction where I can pay a visit to martial uncle Feng, then the Huashan School will appreciate your kindness,” Yue Buqun said with apparent sincerity.

    “One, I don’t know where Mr. Feng is. Two, even if I know, I wouldn’t tell you. A frontal attack is easily avoided but a stab in the back is hard to protect against. A real villain is easy to cope with but a hypocrite will give a lot of headache,” Ren Woxing said.

    Yue Buqun did not speak anymore.

    Linghu Chong thought, “My master is a refined gentleman and doesn't want to speak vulgarly towards Mr. Ren.”

    Ren Woxing turned towards Wudang School’s leader Priest Chongxu and said, “The fourth person that old man admire is this old ox-nosed priest. Your Wudang School’s Taiji Sword is wonderful. You also exercise self control to protect yourself from immorality and stay away from many idle matters in Jianghu, but you don't know how to teach to your disciples. Wudang School has no one of potential and if you wait till you die then Taiji Sword Art would be lost forever. Also, even though your Taiji Sword Art is high, you might not win against old man. That’s why I only admire you one half.”

    Priest Chongxu laughed. “I’m actually admired by Mr. Ren by one half, this is already giving me a lot of face. Many thanks!”

    “No need to be so polite,” Ren Woxing said. He then turned his head towards Zuo Lengchan. “Great leader Zuo, you don’t need to keep that smile on your face when you’re actually feeling angry. While you’re not one of the people I admire, you’re one of the three and half people that I don’t admire. You’re number one in this list.”

    Zuo Lengchan laughed. “I feel extremely flattered.”

    “Your martial art is sufficient and your scheming is very deep, very suitable to my taste. You want to annex the five mountains sword schools and to stand as an equal with Shaolin and Wudang. You have really high fantasy. But your movements are very suspicious and you planned all sort of conspiracies and deceits. This is not the behaviour of a hero. That’s why I have absolutely no admiration for you,” Ren Woxing explained.

    Zuo Lengchan replied, “From the three and a half people that I don’t admire in this world, you’re only one half.”

    Ren Woxing continued, “All you can do is copy other people’s ideas and have no thought of your own; so that’s why no one admires you. Even though your study of Songshan School’s martial art is profound, everything was passed down by the people before you. If you have to depend on just your own ability, I’m afraid even after many years, we won’t be able to see any new moves in the martial art.”

    Zuo Lengchan uttered an “Hng” before coldly laughing. “Sir, you’re talking here and there. Are you just dragging along the time or are you actually waiting for help to arrive?”

    Ren Woxing laughed coldly. “The way you said this; are you still relying on numbers to besiege the three of us?”

    Zuo Lengchan said, “You’ve come to Shaolin and killed many people here. Today, if you think you can still retreat with your whole body intact, then you’re looking down at everyone here. You said we’re relying on numbers to win, that’s alright. If you want to say that we’re not following Wulin’s customs, that’s also alright. You’ve already killed some disciples of the Songshan School. Since Zuo Lengchan is here today, I want to see how good you really are.”

    Ren Woxing turned toward Fangzheng and asked, "Great Master Abbot, is this Shaolin temple or Songshan School's courtyard?"

    "Shi zhu is still asking even though you already know. Of course, it's Shaolin temple here," Fangzheng answered.

    "Then, concerning this matter, is Shaolin's Abbot presiding over it or Songshan School's headmaster presiding over it?" Ren Woxing asked.

    "Although old monk is presiding over this matter, if any of the friends here has any esteemed opinion then old monk will definitely listen to it," Fangzheng said.

    Ren Woxing looked up the sky and laughed heartily. "Good, it's really an esteemed opinion to know that you'll lose if you fight alone so you have to gang up to fight us.
    Zuo, you're blocking me here today. I don't need to fight you, I'll just cut my own throat to commit suicide in front of you."

    Zuo Lengchan said coldly, "We have ten people here. We might not be able to stop you here but to kill your daughter won't be hard to do."

    "Amituofo, you can't kill her," Fangzheng said.

    Linghu Chong's heart started thumping wildly. He knew that Zuo Lengchan was saying the truth. Although he didn't know who the other three people were, he thought that their position must be similar to Fangzheng or Chongxu. Even if they were not a leader of a school, they would still be elite masters. Ren Woxing's martial art was powerful and at worst, he would escape injured. But it was hard to say whether Xiang Wentian would be able to escape with his life. As for Yingying, she would have no hope.

    Ren Woxing calmly said, "That's wonderful. Headmaster Zuo has a son and I heard his martial art is poor so he should be easy to kill. Gentleman Yue has a daughter. Priest Yu, I think have a few lovely concubines and three sons. Priest Tianmen has no son or daughter but has a lot of beloved disciples. Mr. Mo Da still has his old father and mother. Kunlun School's Qiankun One Sword Zhenshan Zi has one grandson. There's still Beggar Clan's big clan leader Xie. Left protector Xiang, who does clan leader Xie have?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "So martial uncle Mo is also here. Actually Mr. Ren doesn't need Great Master Fangzheng's introduction. He already knew the appearances of these ten people from the beginning. Not only that, he must have been familiar with each of their life's experiences."

    Xiang Wentian said, "I heard that in Beggar Clan, there are these two people called Green Lotus Emissary and White Lotus Emissary. Although they don't have the Xie surname, they're both clan leader Xie's sons."

    "You're not wrong about this? We don't want to wrongly kill a good person here," Ren Woxing said.

    "I'm not wrong. Subordinate already asked clearly," Xiang Wentian reassured him.

    Ren Woxing nodded his head. "If we kill wrongly then it can't be helped. But if we kill thirty-four people from Beggar Clan then we'll at least kill a few people correctly."

    "Chief's opinion is esteemed!" Xiang Wentian praised.

    Ren Woxing had mentioned each of their loved ones. Zuo Lengchan and clan leader Xie were shivering in fear. They knew that this person was not just saying some false threat. These people here would not be able to stop him from leaving. But if they kill his daughter then he would certainly avenge her death by violently killing each of their loved ones. They were afraid that it would be very difficult for their loved ones to escape his violent hands. Thinking of this made them trembled with fear. In that moment, everything was quiet and all their faces changed colour.

    After some time, Fangzheng spoke out, "Revenge will always breed revenge. Shi zhu Ren, we had decided not to harm young lady Ren, but we want you three honourables to stay on Mount Shaoshi for ten years."

    "We can't. My murderous nature has been aroused. I can't wait to kill Headmaster Zuo's son and Priest Yu's concubines and sons. Especially Mr. Yue's lovely daughter, I can't allow her to live in this world," Ren Woxing replied.

    Linghu Chong was greatly alarmed. He didn't know whether this head of Devil Sect was just saying this to threaten them or he really wanted to kill them.

    "Mr. Ren, why don't we gamble? What do you think of this?" Priest Chongxu asked.

    "Old man's luck in gambling isn't good so I have no confidence in making a bet. But I have confidence in killing people. Killing master-hands, I don't have confidence. But killing master-hands' parents, children, big wives, or small wives, I have lots of confidence," Ren Woxing replied.

    "Those people don’t know martial art. Killing them isn't what heroes do."

    "Even though it's not what heroes do, it would make my enemies grieve for their whole lifetime and make me really happy."

    "If you don't have your daughter anymore, you also won't be happy. If you don't have your daughter then you wouldn't have your son-in-law anymore. Your son-in-law would become other people's son-in-law and you would lose your reputation."

    "That can't be helped... that can't be helped. I'm forced to kill all of them. Who said that my son-in-law doesn't respect my daughter?"

    "How about this? We won't rely on numbers to win and you won't carelessly kill people. We'll make it equal and let our martial arts decide the winner and loser. The three of you fight three of our people in three fights. The winner would be the one who won two fights out of three."

    Fangzheng hastily said, "This is good, Brother Chongxu's esteemed opinion is really out of the ordinary. We'll just fight as necessary and there's no need to hurt anyone."

    Ren Woxing asked, "If the three of us lose, then we have to stay on Mount Shaoshi for ten years and aren't allowed to go down the mountain. Is this right?"

    Priest Chongxu answered, "Right. If the three of you won two fights, then we have naturally lost the fight and you're free to go down the mountain. And we'll just regard that these eight disciples have died in vain."

    "In my heart, I admire you ox-nosed by one half. I feel that these words you said is half right. So who are the three people fighting for your side? Can I choose the people?" Ren Woxing inquired.

    Zuo Lengchan butted in, "Great Master Abbot is the host here. So he would definitely fight. My martial art hasn't seen any use for the last ten years so I'll give it a try. And the third fight? This competition was Priest Chongxu's idea so he won't just be a spectator in this and let other people face this problem. So he has to show his Taiji Sword Art here." Although each of these ten people was not just any ordinary fighter, Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu and he himself had the highest martial arts. When he picked these three people to fight, it could be said that they were now in an invincible position. Yingying was only an eighteen to nineteen years old girl, even though her martial art was high, her cultivation of it was still limited. So no matter which school leader she fought, she was doomed to lose. Yue Buqun and the rest of the people also agreed to this method.

    Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, and Zuo Lengchan were the orthodox school's three top masters. Any of their martial art was unlikely to be below Ren Woxing. Compared to Xiang Wentian, they were most likely better by half a level. So they were most likely to win this best two out of three fights. Even if they had to win all three fights, they still had a fifty percent chance.

    What everyone worried about was that they would fail to capture Ren Woxing and allow him to escape down the mountain. He then would violently harm each of their loved ones. So only if they fought upright and decisive battles would they have nothing to fear.

    Ren Woxing said, "Best two out of three fights is inappropriate. Let's just fight one battle. You pick one person to come out and we'll also pick one person. And just fight one fight to decide this."

    "Brother Ren, if you only fight by yourself today, you'll be at a disadvantage. Not just the ten people here, even if you have three times more people, Great Master Abbot can call out twenty to thirty more masters from the Shaolin School. And we haven't even counted the number of good fighters from the other schools," Zuo Lengchan said.

    "That's why you're going to rely on numbers to win," Ren Woxing sneered.

    "Right, we're going to rely on numbers to win."

    "How shameless!"

    "Killing people for no reason is also shameless."

    "Killing people must have a reason? Headmaster Zuo, do you eat meat or are you a vegetarian?"

    "Hng, if I want to kill someone then I'll kill him. Why do I have to be a vegetarian?"

    "Every person you killed deserved to be killed?"

    "Naturally," Zuo Lengchan said confidently.

    But Ren Woxing continued, "You eat cows and sheep. These cows and sheep, what kind of sins do they have?"

    Great Master Fangzheng said, "Amituofo, what shi zhu Ren said is according the heart of Buddha."

    "Great Master Fangzheng, don't be fooled by his words. He's saying that our eight innocent disciples are like cows and sheep," Zuo Lengchan said.

    "Insects, ants, cows, sheeps, immortal Buddha, mortal people, they're all living things," Ren Woxing said.

    Fangzheng again said, "Yes, yes. Amituofo."

    "Brother Ren, you keep delaying this, you're afraid to fight today?" provoked Zuo Lengchan.

    Ren Woxing suddenly let out a long whistle which rattled and shook all the tiles in the room. The twelve candles on the offering table dimmed. When he stopped whistling, the candles burned brightly again. Hearing his whistle, everyone felt their hearts thumping wildly. Their faces changed colours.

    Ren Woxing declared, "Alright. Zuo, let's fight."

    Zuo Lengchan affirmed what was at stake. "What a gentleman said cannot be taken back. Best two out of three fights, if the three of you lost two fights then all of you must stay on Mount Shaoshi for ten years."

    "Alright! Best two out of three fights, if we lose two out of three fights then the three of us will stay on Mount Shaoshi for ten years."

    When the orthodox people heard how Ren Woxing was provoked by Zuo Lengchan into agreeing to the fight, all their faces looked happy.

    Ren Woxing continued, "I'll fight you for one fight. Left protector Xiang will fight this dwarf Yu. My daughter is a female so she'll fight a woman. She'll fight heroine Ning."

    Zuo Lengchan hastily said, "No. We decide ourselves who will fight for our side. How can you appoint the people for us?"

    "So you must choose yourself and can't let the other party choose for you?" Ren Woxing asked.

    Zuo Lengchan confirmed, "That's right. Shaolin and Wudang's big leaders. Also, add me in there."

    Ren Woxing questioned, "Depending on your prestige, status and martial art, how can you be on par with Shaolin and Wudang's two big leaders?"

    Zuo Lengchan uttered an "Hng" and said, "I don't dare to consider myself to be on par with Shaolin and Wudang's bid leaders. But I'll manage to fight with you."

    Ren Woxing laughed loudly. "Great Master Fangzheng, I want to ask you to teach me Shaolin's divine fist, you want to accompany me?"

    "Amituofo, old monk hasn't practised my martial art for a long time and isn't shi zhu's match. But old monk is already here and wants to keep you on this mountain so I'll have to put my old bones through some of your punches and kicks."

    Zuo Lengchan saw him unexpectedly challenge Great Master Fangzheng. He understood that he did this to scorn him. But he was actually happy that this happened. "I was originally worried that I would have to fight with him, and he would let Xiang Wentian fight Chongxu. Then he would get his daughter to fight Fangzheng. If Priest Chongxu is careless and I lost to you, it would've been disastrous." He didn't say anything anymore and stepped back a few steps. The other people moved the corpses of those eight people aside to clear the middle of the hall.

    "Great Master Abbot, please." Both of Ren Woxing’s sleeves were hanging down as he cupped his fist.

    Fangzheng put his palms together to return the propriety. "Shi zhu, please move first."

    "I'm using Sun Moon Sect's orthodox martial art. Great Master is using Shaolin School's orthodox skills. We're both using orthodox skill to fight orthodox skill, so we definitely have to go on with this fight."

    Yu Canghai said, "Pei! What orthodox skills does your Devil Sect have? No shame."

    "Abbot, let me kill this dwarf Yu first then I'll fight you," Ren Woxing said.

    Fangzheng hastily replied, "You can't." He knew that this person's fist was like lightning and his strikes were like thunder. So he didn't tarry and immediately sent a palm out. "Shi zhu Ren, guard yourself."

    This palm he sent out looked ordinary. But halfway through the strike, it suddenly swayed. The single palm suddenly turned into two palms. Two palms turned into four palms. Four palms turned into eight palms. "Thousand Hands of Rulai!" the words escaped Ren Woxing's mouth. He knew that if he was late for a bit longer, his eight palms would turn into sixteen palms and then it would continue to transform into thirty two palms. With a shout, Ren Woxing immediately sent a palm out to attack Fangzheng's right shoulder. Fangzheng shot his left palm out underneath the bottom of his right palm. It then swayed slightly and started to transform. The shadows of the palm turned from one to two and two to four. Ren Woxing jumped up and shot out two palms of his own.

    Linghu Chong peered from his vantage point to observe the fight. Great Master Fangzheng's palm moves were unpredictable. Every strike he shot out, it always changed into many different directions when it reached halfway. The palm moves were like illusions and couldn't be observed. On the other hand, Ren Woxing's palm moves were simple. When he struck out or pulled his palm back, it looked quite stiff. But no matter where Fangzheng's palm struck out, Ren Woxing would immediately follow every change and sent his palm there. Linghu Chong saw that these two people were well-matched as they fought with all their powers. His bare-fist martial art was very shallow so he was still not proficient on Dugu Nine Swords' "palm breaking stance". Thus, he was not able to see the flaws in their fist martial art and was unable to see where he could attack.

    These two masters were executing the world highest and most profound palm moves. Linghu Chong was bewildered and did not understand the refined essences of the moves. "In sword art, I was victorious against Priest Chongxu and I wouldn't lose to Mr. Ren if we fight. But against these two people's palm martial art, I have to constantly attack them with a sharp sword. Grand Master uncle Feng said, I have to practise for twenty years before I can fight the world's elite masters. When he said that he was probably mainly referring to the "palm breaking stance"."

    He watched for a while longer and suddenly saw Ren Woxing pushing out with both hands forcing Great Master Fangzheng to retreat three steps. Linghu Chong was alarmed. "Ayo, this is bad, Great Master Fangzheng is going to lose."

    After that he saw Great Master Fangzheng's left palm drew a few circles while his right palm struck out. It struck out to the top, bottom, left, and right. After striking out a few times, Ren Woxing retreated a step. After a few more strikes, Ren Woxing retreated a step again. Linghu Chong thought, "Good, good!" He softly let out a sigh and thought, "Why do I worry when Great Master Fangzheng is losing but become comforted when I saw him fight back? That must be it. Great Master Fangzheng is a righteous eminent monk while Chief Ren is after all a person from the unorthodox sect. My heart still distinguishes between 'good and evil' and 'right and wrong'." But he changed his mind and again thought, "But if Chief Ren lost, Yingying will be detained on Mount Shaoshi for ten years. How can that be what my heart wish for?" After a moment, he did not know himself who he really wanted to win or lose. In his heart, he secretly felt that when this Ren Woxing father, daughter and Xiang Wentian entered Jianghu, then there would be great disturbance. But in his heart, he also thought, "What's so bad about great disturbance? Wouldn't that be very lively?" He slowly swept his eyes across to look at Yingying.

    She was leaning on a pillar looking very delicate and fragile. Her eyebrows were slightly wrinkled looking really worried. Suddenly, a feeling of pity flourished in Linghu Chong's heart. "How can I let her be held captive for ten years here? How can she pass through this kind of torment?" At this thought, he remembered how Yingying was willing to give her life up to save his life. Throughout his whole life, he had had many generous martial friends, but not one of them would go so far as to give their lives for him. A hot feeling started to rush forth in his chest. He did not care anymore if Yingying was the daughter of the Devil Sect's Chief or if the evil things she had done were unpardonable. He was resigned to the fact that everyone in the world would want to kill him as he decided that he was going to protect her and not let any harm come to her.

    The eleven pairs of eyes in the hall were watching the fight between Great Master Fangzheng and Ren Woxing attentively. They were praising the palm moves of both fighters in their hearts. Zuo Lengchan was relieved, "Luckily this old freak Ren picked the fight with Great Master Fangzheng. Otherwise, I wouldn't know how to handle this clumsy palm move of his. Compared to my own school's Great Songyang Divine Palm, his palm move seems to be more complicated and have more changes. His palm move is better than mine. He only attacks at a specific point and nothing else."

    Xiang Wentian was thinking, "Shaolin School's martial arts have enjoyed their reputation for a thousand year. They are really no small matter. Even though Great Master Fangzheng's 'Thousand Hands of Rulai' is very complicated, its power isn't dispersed at all. This is very difficult to do. If I have to fight him, I won't be able to trade palm moves with him so I have to compare inner power with him." Yue Buqun, Yu Canghai, and the rest of the people there were also comparing their own martial arts against these two people's palm moves.

    Ren Woxing had now fought for a long time. He gradually felt that Great Master Fangzheng's palm moves were getting slightly slower. He secretly felt happy. "Even though your palm move is wonderful, you're old already. It's hard to keep it up for a long time." He immediately attacked repeatedly. After his fourth strike, he felt a slight tingling on his right arm as he pulled his palm back and he felt his internal energy not working smoothly. He felt alarmed and knew that it was his own inner energy that was disturbed. He thought, "This old monk's Tendon Altering Sutra is indeed powerful. We haven't clashed palms yet but he can restrain my internal energy." He knew that if they fight longer, his opponent's abundant internal energy would eventually come out and he would be in an unfavourable position.

    He saw Great Master Fangzheng's left palm struck out. With a cry, he also sent his left palm out rapidly. The two palms clashed and they both retreated a step. Ren Woxing felt that even though his opponent's internal energy was soft, it was abundant and matchless. He also used his "Art of Essence Absorbing" but unexpectedly he could not absorb Great Master Fangzheng's internal energy at all. He was confounded.

    Great Master Fangzheng said, "Well done! Well done!" and followed with his right palm striking out. Ren Woxing again struck his right palm out to meet it. Both people faltered from the impact. Ren Woxing felt his whole body shaken and immediately took two steps backwards. When his second step landed, he turned his body around and his right hand shot out and grabbed Yu Canghai's chest. Then, he raised his left hand to smash it down on Yu Canghai's head.

    This situation was just like a rabbit being captured by a falcon and nobody had expected this turn of event. They all had their eyes on the fight between Ren Woxing and Great Master Fangzheng and saw that the situation was gradually becoming disadvantageous towards Ren Woxing. Normally, he would put all his power into protecting himself. But who would have thought that he would turn around and attack Yu Canghai. This turn of event was just too strange and too quick for Yu Canghai even though he was a martial artist of the same generation. If he were to actually fight with Ren Woxing, even though he would lose at the end, he would not have been captured in just one move.

    Everyone gasped in surprise while Great Master Fangzheng leapt and struck his two palms out. It was as if he was flying as he rushed at Ren Woxing aiming at the back of his head. This move was known in martial study as 'attacking the enemy's rear in order to make him give up his own attack' and the enemy would have no choice but to rescue himself. The aim of this attack was to make Ren Woxing withdraw his own attack towards Yu Canghai's head and turn around to block the incoming attack.

    The other masters saw how Great Master Fangzheng shot this palm out in the blink of an eye and they were all impressed by this. But there was not enough time to cheer although they knew that he had saved Yu Canghai's life. But no one could have guessed that when Ren Woxing withdrew his left hand, he did not try to block the strike. Instead, his left hand grabbed Great Master Fangzheng's Tanzhong acupoint while his right hand was thrust towards the chest. Great Master Fangzheng's body became immediately weak and dropped to the ground. Everyone was surprised and one by one called out as they crowded around him.

    Zuo Lengchan suddenly flew out and violently shot his palm out towards Ren Woxing's back. Ren Woxing turned his hand around to strike back. He shouted at the same time, "Alright, this is the second fight." Zuo Lengchan's hand suddenly kept on changing. It changed from a fist into a palm into a stab into a grab. In a short time, it had changed more than ten times.

    Even though he was repeatedly attacked, Ren Woxing was able to resist for a moment by exerting his power. He had just fought with Great Master Fangzheng. Even though the last three moves he used against the Abbot were mostly based on his ingenuity and cunning, he had still used up a lot of energy. Otherwise, how can this Shaolin School's headmaster with abundant internal energy let him grab his Tanzhong acupoint? How could he let him hit his heart with his fingers? These last few moves were done with all of his strength, as he was staking everything on this attack. As a result, Ren Woxing was victorious against Great Master Fangzheng through dishonest means. He took into account his opponent's merciful heart and immediately dashed to Yu Canghai to kill him. Firstly, the distance between that Yu person and Great Master Fangzheng was great that Great Master would not have been able to help Yu Canghai in time. Secondly, none of the other school leaders had any deep feeling towards Yu Canghai that they would brave danger and stake their lives just to save him. So the only person who would try to save Yu Canghai was Great Master Fangzheng.

    When the Shaolin Abbot attacked him to free Yu Canghai, he did not try to block or parry Great Master Fangzheng's strike but seized his fatal acupoint instead. At that time, his plan reached its most dangerous point. The two palms of Great Master Fangzheng that were aiming at the back of his head did not need to actually reach his head to kill him. The wind from the palms was fully capable of bursting his skull open.

    When he grabbed Yu Canghai, he had already staked his own life in this gamble. He gambled on this eminent Buddhist monk's merciful heart. When Great Master Fangzheng's two palms were about to reach the back of Ren Woxing's head, the Abbot took his palms back which left half of his body wide open. In order to take back the two palms, Great Master Fangzheng had to use the power from his whole body to do so. Even though this was done by a master, the internal energy in between the chest and stomach region was still left empty. When Ren Woxing's grab and stab had reached Great Master Fangzheng, Fangzheng had actually wanted to transfer his power into his two palms and smash Ren Woxing's head open, but the internal energy in his Dantian region was unable to go up.

    Priest Chongxu hastily supported Great Master Fangzheng and opened his sealed acupoint. He sighed, "Brother Abbot is too humane and was taken advantage of by an evildoer."

    "Amituofo. Shi zhu Ren's mind is very keen and he used wits instead of brawn. Old man has lost," Fangzheng said.

    Yue Buqun said loudly, "Mr. Ren's conduct is traitorous and deceitful. Your win is not from upright and frank method. This is not the behaviour of an upright gentleman."

    Xiang Wentian laughed. "In my Divine Sun Moon Sect, how can there be any upright gentleman? If Chief Ren is an upright gentleman, he would've followed your bad example from a long time ago. Do you think we would be having this competition now if he did?"

    Yue Buqun was lost for words.

    Ren Woxing was leaning his back on the wooden pillar and sluggishly striking his palm out to block every fist and kick from Zuo Lengchan. Zuo Lengchan was a proud person. If it was any other time, he would not have fought Ren Woxing after his opponent had just fought with Shaolin School's number one master. He knew that this was a cheap behaviour and not something that a master of a school would do. Instead, this behaviour was something that people would condemn. But Ren Woxing used dishonest means and took advantage of Great Master Fangzheng's kind heart to defeat him and this made everyone really angry. When Zuo Lengchan disregarded his own safety and boldly attacked, everyone there regarded that he did this because of righteous anger and did not care that he fought the enemy in succession without giving him a necessary pause. This was a once in a thousand years opportunity for Zuo Lengchan. Xiang Wentian saw that Ren Woxing did not have a chance to draw breath yet so he rushed besides the pillar. "Big leader Zuo, you're receiving such a kindness, aren't you ashamed? I'll fight with you."

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "Wait till I flatten this Ren first then I'll fight you. Do you think old man here is afraid to fight you in succession?" With a shout, he struck a fist out towards Ren Woxing.

    Ren Woxing lifted his left hand up and coldly said, "Brother Xiang, step back!"

    Xiang Wentian knew that Chief liked to outdo others so he did not dare to disobey him. "Alright, I'll retreat for now. But this Zuo is too shameless, so I want to kick his butt." With a kick, he flew out behind Zuo Lengchan and booted at his bottom.

    Zuo Lengchan was indignant. "Two against one?" He sneered as he slanted his body to avoid the kick. How could he have known that even though Xiang Wentian raised his leg, he did not kick it out. He merely raised his right leg up and lightly moved it. When Xiang Wentian saw that Zuo Lengchan was fooled, he laughed loudly. "Bastard grandson relies on numbers to win." He then leapt back to stand besides Yingying.

    As soon as he was let off, Zuo Lengchan resumed his attack against Ren Woxing. When masters fight, the difference between them would be small. When Ren Woxing was freed for a time, he drew a deep breath and regulated his qi smoothly. His vigor was greatly roused after this.

    "Peng, peng, peng" as he struck three palms out. Zuo Lengchan exerted his power to protect himself and he was secretly shocked. "I haven't met this old man for more than ten years and his skill has greatly improved. I must use all of my power today if I want to win."

    This was the second time these two people had fought. This fight was a fight to the death in front of the masters in Jianghu. The two of them regarded the winning and losing of this fight to be very serious unlike the fight between Ren Woxing and Great Master Fangzheng which was peaceful.

    As soon as Ren Woxing was re-energised, all his moves were killing moves. Both of his hands changed to knife-forms and he started hacking down. Zuo Lengchan kept changing his hand from fist into palm into a grab into a seize. This was the strong point of his palm move. The two people were getting quicker as they fought. Linghu Chong's eyes were just seeing patterns as he watched the fight from behind the wooden signage. When he was watching the fight between Ren Woxing and Great Master Fangzheng, he did not understand the essences of their martial art, but he unexpectedly also did not understand the extremely fast moves from these two people.

    He turned his eyes towards Yingying and noticed her snow white complexion. She had her eyes lowered and he could see her long eyelashes hanging down. There was no amazement or worry on her face. Xiang Wentian's face was sometimes happy and sometimes worried. In a moment, it changed into doubt. In another moment, it changed into regret. Another moment, it changed into an angry glare. It was as if he was personally fighting this battle. Linghu Chong thought, "Brother Xiang's experience is much higher compared to Yingying. Looking at him being so nervous, I'm afraid it would be really hard for Mr. Ren to win this battle." He slowly turned his eyes to look at where his Master and Master-Wife were standing at. Besides them were Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu. The two people behind them were Taishan School's leader Priest Tianmen and Hengshan School's leader Mr. Mo Da. Ever since Mr. Mo Da arrived inside the hall, he had not made any noise at all. When Linghu Chong saw his thin and small body, he felt warmth in his heart followed by the thought, "Martial sister Yilin and the rest of the Heng-Shan School's disciples have no more masters. I don't know how they'll cope with it." Qingcheng School's headmaster Priest Yu was standing at the back wall with his hand grasping his sword handle and was looking indignant. Standing by the west was a beggar with white hair. He was Beggar Clan's leader Xie Feng. The other person was wearing a green gown and his appearance was quite natural. He was Kunlun School's leader Qiankun One Sword Zhenshan Zi.

    These nine people were the present orthodox schools' most powerful masters. If the nine of them were not fully concentrating on the fight, even if he had used all of his power to hold his breath, it was more than likely that he would have been discovered a long time ago. He thought, "The gathering below has so many masters. Especially Master and Master-Wife are also there. Then there are Great Master Fangzheng, Wudang's leader, and Mr. Mo Da, the three seniors I respect completely. But I'm being really disrespectful hiding here and eavesdropping to what they're saying. Even though I was here before them, I've eavesdropped to what they were saying. If any of them felt my presence here then I'd be really shamed."

    He hoped that Ren Woxing would quickly win this fight and thus win the best two out of three fights and go down the mountain with Yingying. When Great Master Fangzheng and the rest of the masters had gone out of the hall, he would then hurry down the mountain to meet Yingying. At the thought of meeting Yingying, his chest felt hot and his ears were also feeling hot. He pondered, "From now on, are Yingying and I really going to be man and wife? She treated me with passion and righteousness, but I... but I..." These last few days, although he had been thinking of Yingying, he had always thought of protecting her because of her kindness towards him. He wanted to help her get out of her imprisonment and declare to everyone in Jianghu that it was him who adored her and that it really was not her idea. Thus, it would stop the warriors of Jianghu from ridiculing her and causing her to be embarrassed. Every time Yingying's image appeared in his mind, there was no feeling of happiness or warmth in his heart. It was very different with the feeling of warmth when he remembered his little martial sister Yue Lingshan. There was actually a bit of fear when he thought of Yingying.

    When he first met Yingying, he thought that she was an old granny and he respected her and felt grateful towards her. Later, after he saw her lifted her hands to kill people and commanded those group of heroes, it was unavoidable that his respect was mixed with fear. Only after he found out recently that she had some feelings for him that this little bit of fear in his heart started to gradually lighten. And later when he found out that she was willing to give her own life to Shaolin to save him, his feelings for her became full of gratitude. But even though his feeling of gratitude was deep, he did not have any thoughts to be intimate with her and only wished that he could repay her kindness. Hearing Ren Woxing say that he was his son-in-law, he felt uneasy in his heart. Just now, when he saw her magnificent beauty, he only felt that the distance between them was far. After looking at Yingying for a few times, he did not dare to take a look again. He saw Xiang Wentian made a fist with both of his hands and his two eyes were wide open. Xiang Wentian was looking intently at Ren Woxing and Zuo Lengchan.

    He saw Zuo Lengchan had already pulled back to one corner of the hall while Ren Woxing was still hacking repeatedly. Each of his palms was like a big hatchet and the power was astonishing. Zuo Lengchan was completely in an unfavourable situation. His two arms could not attack as he kept withdrawing them as soon as they had gone out for one foot. It seemed that he was only defending and not attacking. Suddenly, Ren Woxing shouted loudly and pushed both of his palms towards Zuo Lengchan's chest. The four palms clashed and Zuo Lengchan hit the wall behind him. Dust from the top fell down from the impact. The four palms did not separate. Linghu Chong felt his body shook and it looked as if the wooden signage he was hiding behind was about to fall down. He felt alarmed. "Martial uncle Zuo is in trouble. They're both competing inner energy, Ren Woxing would use the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' to absorb his inner energy. After some time, martial uncle Zuo will definitely lose." He saw Zuo Lengchan pulled his right palm back and unexpectedly only used his left palm to resist his opponent's palm while extending two fingers in his right hand to poke Ren Woxing. Ren Woxing shouted in alarm and leapt back immediately. Zuo Lengchan stabbed again with his right hand. He successively stabbed three times and Ren Woxing stepped back three times. Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu and the rest of the people were surprised: "I've heard that Ren Woxing's 'Art of Essence Absorbing' will absorb the opponent's inner energy without exception, but how come when their four palms connected, Zuo Lengchan was unexpectedly unharmed? Could it be that his Songshan School's inner energy cultivation does not fear the 'Art of Essence Absorbing'?" All the masters looking at the fight were in amazement but Ren Woxing was even more astonished.

    More than ten years ago, when Ren Woxing fought with Zuo Lengchan, he did not have to use his 'Art of Essence Absorbing' before gaining the advantage. He was able to stop Zuo Lengchan then even though at that fight, he had a sudden pain in his heart and found it hard to control his power. He had been truly frightened as he knew it was because of the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' reversing. Under normal circumstances, he could have calmly meditated to regulate his inner energy. However, how could he do that with the enemy right in front of him? He had been at a loss as to what to do when he suddenly saw two people appearing behind Zuo Lengchan. They were Zuo Lengchan's martial brothers, "Tower Holding Palm" Ding Mian and "Great Songyang Palm" Fei Bin. Ren Woxing had immediately leapt away and laughed loudly. "We agreed to fight one on one but you secretly have some helpers. A gentleman doesn't want to be disadvantaged so I'll meet you at some other time. Today, grandpa won't accompany you anymore." If his opponent had not voluntarily ceased the fight, Zuo Lengchan's loss would have been guaranteed. It had been such a good turn of events for Zuo Lengchan that he had not dared to refute his opponent's accusation by saying something like "To have helpers is not the way of the hero". He had been afraid that Ren Woxing might have gotten angry and started fighting again. It would have been also inappropriate for Ding Mian and Fei Bin to enter the fight and help as it could have ruined his good reputation. Instead he had immediately said, "Who told you not to bring some of your Devil Sect's helper?" Ren Woxing had laughed coldly and left.

    Thus, the victory or defeat of that previous fight to the death was not decided. But they both had known in their hearts that each of their martial arts had a big flaw. They had been lucky not to lose to each other and to be able to train hard after the fight to correct the flaws. Especially Ren Woxing as he had known that the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' had a secret danger attached to the skill, just like gangrene to the bone. He had used the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' to absorb many opponents' inner energies where the opponents were from different schools and they all had different inner energies. Because he did not have the method to harmonise them into one in the past, the various energies had frequently come out unexpectedly. His own internal energy had already been very powerful so when he had felt these different inner energies surging and swirling, he had immediately suppress them before they became dangerous. In his first confrontation with an extremely powerful master, he had used up a great amount of his internal energy, and as a result, his own internal energy, which had long suppressed the others, had been weakened. When fronted with a powerful enemy, he not only had to contend with their attacks but also worry about his own internal problem. That had been an extremely difficult dilemma for Ren Woxing.

    Later on, he had thought deeply to search for a method to make uniform all these internal energies. When concentrating fully on this, even the most intelligent hero would not be aware of the rebellion happening under him. In the end, he was imprisoned by Dongfang Bubai. While he was imprisoned under the West Lake for ten years, his mind was focused on fixing the "Art of Essence Absorbing" until he finally comprehended the right method to suppress all the various internal energies from different schools that there would no longer be the danger of the "Art of Essence Absorbing" reversing.

    At the current fight, when Ren Woxing had not won after a while, he used the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' when their two palms clashed. But unexpectedly, he found that Zuo Lengchan's internal energy was completely empty and he did not know where it went to. Ren Woxing was greatly startled that he couldn’t absorb his opponent's inner energy. It was incredibly strange. Just before then he was also not able to absorb Fangzheng's inner energy, but it was because in a blink of an eye Fangzheng was able to hide his internal energy without a trace and made his 'Art of Essence Absorbing' powerless. Not only had he not experienced this before, even in his dream, he would never have thought that this kind of strange matter could happen.

    He used the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' a few more times, but he could not feel where Zuo Lengchan's internal energy was. When he saw the fierce stab by Zuo Lengchan, he immediately retreated three steps and changed his moves. He then used a chopping move whose power was unrivaled. Zuo Lengchan changed into defence. The two people had fought for twenty to thirty more moves when Ren Woxing left hand chopped down while Zuo Lengchan's right hand stabbed towards Ren Woxing's left rib. Ren Woxing saw that the power of this poke was very fierce. He thought, "This poke really has no inner power?" In fact, he had deliberately revealed that empty spot allowing Zuo Lengchan to poke it. At the same time, he diffused his 'Art of Essence Absorbing' from his chest. He thought, "You have a deep inner energy but you're not letting my Art of Essence Absorbing absorb it. But this poke you used to attack me, if it has no inner energy, then it would be just like an itch to me. But if it was laced with any internal energy, then I'd absorb it."

    As this thought flashed in his mind, Zuo Lengchan's finger poked his Tianchi acupoint. The spectators all cried out in surprise.

    Zuo Lengchan's finger only stayed on Ren Woxing's chest for a short time. Ren Woxing immediately transferred his whole power. Sure enough, his opponent's internal energy was like a river dam broken open as it rushed into his Tianchi acupoint. He felt really happy and intensified his effort to absorb his opponent's internal energy faster. Suddenly, his body faltered. He slowly stepped back one step at a time. He did not say anything and was staring at Zuo Lengchan. His body trembled and he was now motionless just like when people had their acupoints sealed.

    Yingying frightenedly called out, "Dad!" and rushed to support him. She felt his hand was ice cold. She turned her head around and called out, "Uncle Xiang!" Xiang Wentian rushed in front of Ren Woxing and pushed his chest a few times. "Hey!" Ren Woxing reacted. He was looking angry and his complexion was pale. "Very good, I've never experienced this kind of game before. Let's compete again." Zuo Lengchan just shook his head.

    Yue Buqun said, "The winner and loser have been determined, what's there to compete again? Didn't Headmaster Zuo seal Mr. Ren's Tianchi acupoint?"

    Ren Woxing shouted, "Pei! Good, I was swindled so we'll just count this fight as my loss."

    Zuo Lengchan's earlier technique was most hazardous. He had accumulated 'Polar Ice Energy' for over a decade and transferred all that energy into his index finger at that moment. He risked the danger of losing a lot of his internal strength and allowed Ren Woxing to absorb his internal power. Not only did he allow him to absorb it, he even forced it towards Ren Woxing by pouring it through his acupoint. Zuo Lengchan's polar ice energy was similar to the Boreal Finger of Plum Manor's Mr. Black-White; both were extreme yin and cold martial arts. However, Zuo Lengchan's internal energy was a lot deeper. In a few moments, Ren Woxing was frozen solid. Zuo Lengchan took advantage of this moment when the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' stopped by transferring his internal energy and sealing Ren Woxing's acupoint. (Translator's note: I took part of this translation from Athena's post on 3rd edition changes in SPW)

    Usually you would only see acupoints sealed in a fight between second or third class fighters in Wulin. When masters fought, they would never use such an ordinary martial art. But Zuo Lengchan was willing to part with a large amount of his internal energy and used a second or third class martial art method to win. Even though this method was dishonest, without an extremely good internal energy, it would be very difficult to accomplish. Xiang Wentian knew that even though Zuo Lengchan had won, his internal energy had been exhausted and it would probably take several months for him to recover. He immediately said, "Just then Headmaster Zuo said that you would fight me after you had flattened Chief Ren. Please begin now."

    Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, and the rest of the people understood what he meant. After Zuo Lengchan had poked Ren Woxing, his face was wretchedly pale and he had not dared to say a single word. It was obvious that he had used up a lot of his internal energy. If the two of them fought, not only would Zuo Lengchan lose, after many moves he would be killed by Xiang Wentian. But Zuo Lengchan really did say those words before when Xiang Wentian challenged him. Would he actually eat his own words now? Everyone was hesitating on what to do when Yue Buqun said, "We already said before that for these three fights, each side will choose for themselves on who will go out to fight and not the other side. Didn't Chief Ren agree to this? Chief Ren is a big hero, a grand hero, how can we not regard what he said?"

    Xiang Wentian coldly laughed and said, "Mr. Yue's dispute is really good and caused other people to admire you. But this word 'gentleman', there's something that doesn't fit. This kind of talking aimlessly resembled something a small person would do."

    Yue Buqun replied indifferently, "From the point of view of a gentleman, everyone in this world is a gentleman. From the point of view of a small person, there's no small person in this world."

    Zuo Lengchan slowly dragged his feet back a few steps till his back was on the pillar. He was having difficulty just to stand up let alone having to fight. Priest Chongxu moved a couple of steps forward and said, "I've heard that Left Protector Xiang is called 'Old Heavenly King' and your abilities are earth-shaking. Poor Taoist is ashamed to be the headmaster of Wudang. In this fight between the orthodox schools and your respectable sect, I haven't done anything. I feel really ashamed. It'll be lucky today if I can fight with 'Old Heavenly King'. It would be a real glorious favour."

    He was the leader of a martial art school but he was talking to Xiang Wentian in this way. Isn't that giving the opponent too much credit? It was hard for Xiang Wentian to refuse this so he said, "I have to respectfully obey your order. I respect Priest Chongxu's unrivalled 'Taiji Sword Art'. I will risk my life to accompany you and reveal my shortcomings." Xiang Wentian cupped his fist and retreated a couple of steps. Priest Chongxu also cupped his fist returning the propriety.

    The two of them stood opposite each other. They were looking at each other for a while without drawing their swords. Suddenly, Ren Woxing shouted, "Wait! Brother Xiang, step back," and drew the sword on his waist. Everyone there was astonished: "He already fought two masters and his internal energy has been greatly harmed. Now he wants to fight a third time against Priest Chongxu?"

    Zuo Lengchan was surprised, he thought, "My ten years of hard work on this Polar Ice Energy was poured into his Tianchi acupoint. Even if it were someone with a martial art ten times better than him would need around six to eight hours to recover. How can he fight another person after just a short while?"

    How could anyone know that Ren Woxing was actually feeling like there were dozens of knives slashing and stabbing in his Dantian region. He was using all of his power just to talk calmly and steadily while not revealing the pain he was under.

    Priest Chongxu smiled. "Chief Ren wants to grant some lesson? We've already said before that both sides will decide for themselves who will go out to fight. If Chief Ren wants to grant some lesson, we won't disobey what we've agreed upon. It's just that poor Taoist's advantage is too large."

    "I've already staked my life in fighting two masters before. If I want to fight against Priest again, then I would be looking down at your Wudang School's sword art's hundred of years of reputation. Even though I'm mad, I wouldn't do this."

    Priest Chongxu felt happy to hear this and nodded his head. "Many thanks."

    When he first saw Ren Woxing drew his sword out, he hesitated. If he prevailed against Ren Woxing after they had fought him in succession, it would be said that it was not honourable. However, if he lost, then Wudang School would have no face to stand in Jianghu anymore. When he heard that Ren Woxing was not going to fight, he was relieved.

    Ren Woxing continued, "Priest Chongxu is a new force in your respectable side. So we'll also get a new force for our side." He then looked up and shouted, "Little brother Linghu Chong, please come down!"

    Everyone was greatly surprised and followed Ren Woxing's eyes in looking up towards the wooden signage. Linghu Chong was even more confounded. He was now in a very difficult position and did not know what to do for a short moment. But seeing that he could not hide anymore, he leapt down. He then knelt down in front of Great Master Fangzheng and kowtowed a few times to pay his respect. "I rushed into your treasured temple without permission. This is a really big sin. I'm ready to receive Abbot's punishment."

    Fangzheng laughed before answering, "So it's young hero Linghu. I heard young hero's even breathing and sensed that your internal energy is profound. I felt it was really strange. I didn't know which master was visiting my humble temple. Please rise, please rise, this is too big a propriety, I don't deserve it." As he was speaking, he was joining his two palms together returning the propriety.

    Linghu Chong thought, "So he already knew for some time that I was hiding behind that wooden signage."

    Beggar Clan's leader Xie Feng suddenly said, "Linghu Chong, come and take a look at these words."

    Linghu Chong stood up and followed his finger to look at three sentences behind a wooden pillar. The first sentence was: "Someone's behind the signage." The second sentence was: "I'll grab him down." The third sentence was: "Wait, this person's internal energy is orthodox and demonical. Don't know yet whether he’s friend or foe." Every word was carved deeply and was clearly seen on the wooden pillar. They were written by Great Master Fangzheng and Xie Feng by using their fingers. Linghu Chong was alarmed and impressed. He thought, "Great Master Fangzheng detected my very weak breathing and was able to distinguish the origin of my martial art. He's really a divine person." He then immediately gave his respect to everyone around. "When seniors came to the hall, because I was afraid, I didn't dare to come down and pay my respect. Please forgive me." He believed that his master's face must be looking furious at the moment so he did not dare to look at his eyes.

    Xie Feng laughed. "You were afraid like a thief? What are you trying to steal from Shaolin temple?"

    "I heard that young lady Ren was detained at Shaolin temple. So I bravely came here to get her out," Linghu Chong replied.

    Xie Feng laughed. "So you came here to steal your wife, haha, this is not afraid like a thief but it's called extremely daring in lewdness.”

    Linghu Chong replied with a straight face, “Young lady Ren treated me very kindly. Even if my body is grounded to dust and my bones are chopped into pieces, I’m still willing.”

    Xie Feng let out a long sigh. “What a pity, what a pity. A very promising youth’s future is harmed because of a woman. If you don’t abandon your evil way, then this honourable position of Huashan School’s leader, do you think it would still be able to come to your hand?”

    Ren Woxing said loudly, “What’s so rare about being a leader of Huashan? When I die, the position of Chief in Divine Sun Moon Sect, wouldn’t that be in my lucky son-in-law’s hand?”

    Linghu Chong was startled and tremblingly said, “Can... can.. cannot...”

    Ren Woxing laughed. “Alright. No need for this idle talk anymore. Chong’er, why don’t you get some lesson from this headmaster of Wudang’s divine sword? Priest Chongxu’s sword art is using soft to overcome hard and has this circling motion. It’s very rare in the world so you must be really careful.”

    He called him ‘Chong’er’. This was really regarding him as his son-in-law already. Linghu Chong silently examined the situation. Both sides had now won one fight each so this third fight would determine whether Yingying would be able to go down the mountain. He had already fought Priest Chongxu before and knew that he could win against him. In order to save Yingying, he must enter the fight. He turned his body around and knelt in front of Priest Chongxu to pay his respect.

    Priest Chongxu hastily extended his hand to ask him to get up. He then oddly asked, “Why such a big propriety?”

    Linghu Chong answered, “I really respect Priest. But under these circumstances, I’m forced to ask Priest to grant me a lesson. My heart feels uneasy about this.”

    Priest Chongxu laughed loudly and said, “Little brother’s propriety is too excessive.”

    Linghu Chong stood up and Ren Woxing passed over the long sword to him. Linghu Chong took the sword in his hand. Then with the sword pointing down, he leaned his body forward. Priest Chongxu lifted his eyes to look at the sky outside the hall and was lost in thought thinking about Linghu Chong’s sword art. Everyone there saw him not moving as if he was meditating and they all felt that this was really strange. After a long time, Priest Chongxu let out a long sigh. “We don’t need to fight this battle. The four of you can go down the mountain.”

    When these words were spoken, everyone was astonished. Exulted, Linghu Chong bowed towards Priest Chongxu. Xie Feng said, “Priest, what do you mean by those words?”

    Priest Chongxu replied, “I can’t think of a way to break his sword art. This battle, poor priest admits my defeat.”

    Xie Feng said, “The two of you haven’t fought yet.”

    Chongxu told everyone, “Many days ago, at the foot of Mount Wudang, I’ve already fought him for more than three hundred moves and I lost. If we fight today, I would still lose.”

    Fangzheng and the rest of them asked, "Did this really happen?"

    “Little brother Linghu’s sword art was passed down by Feng Qingyang, Senior Feng. I’m not his match,” Chongxu said. After he said this, he smiled slightly and stepped back.

    Ren Woxing laughed loudly and said, “Priest is very open-minded, this is really admirable. At first, old man here only admires you by one half. Now, I admire you seven-tenths.” He said seven-tenths, but it was after all still not full. He then folded his hands in salute towards Great Master Fangzheng and said, “Great Master Fangzheng, we’ll meet again some other time.” Linghu Chong walked up in front of his Master and Master-Wife and kowtowed to them. Yue Buqun leaned his body to avoid it and coldly said, “You flatter me!” Madam Yue’s heart was sore and tears filled her eyes. Linghu Chong went to Mr. Mo Da to pay his respect. He knew that Mr. Mo Da would not want other people to know about their contact in the past so he only kowtowed three times and did not say anything.

    One of Ren Woxing’s hands was leading Yingying and his other hand was leading Linghu Chong. He laughed, “Let’s go!” He strode purposefully towards the door of the hall. Xie Feng, Zhenshan Zi, Yu Canghai, Priest Tianmen, and the other people were not as good as Priest Chongxu in terms of martial art. Since Chongxu already admitted that he was not a match for Linghu Chong's sword art, even though they did not believe him, they also did not dare to rashly go up to fight and brought shame to themselves.

    Just as Ren Woxing was about to step outside of the hall, they suddenly heard Yue Buqun shouted, “Wait!”

    Ren Woxing turned his head around and asked, “What?”

    “Priest Chongxu is an educated man. He doesn't want to fight someone with a narrow mind. We haven’t fought out this third fight yet. Linghu Chong, I’ll accompany you for this fight.”

    Linghu Chong was surprised and his whole body started to shake. His mouth was chattering as he said, “Master, I... I... how can...”

    But Yue Buqun was calm when he replied, “Other people said that you've taken some pointers from martial uncle Feng and received the essence of swordsmanship from Huashan School. It seems that even I’m not your match. Even though you’ve already been expelled from Huashan, but in Jianghu, you’re still setting up your reputation using our school’s sword art. Because I am unable to teach you, all the seniors of the orthodox schools are exasperated by you, unworthy youth. If I don’t take care of this then do I let other people take responsibility for this? Today, if I don’t kill you, then you’ll kill me.” As he said these last few words, his voice became fierce. He then drew his sword out and shouted, “The two of us no longer have a master disciple relationship, en guard!” Linghu Chong took a step back and said, “Disciple doesn’t dare!”

    Yue Buqun thrust his sword towards Linghu Chong's chest. Linghu Chong leaned to the side avoiding it. Yue Buqun followed this with another two thrusts which Linghu Chong also avoided. Linghu Chong's long sword was still pointing at the ground and he had not used it to block the thrusts. Yue Buqun said, "You already gave me three moves. Consider that as finishing the respect we have. Ready your sword!"

    Ren Woxing said, "Chong'er, you're still not returning any move, do you really want to die here?"

    Linghu Chong answered, "Yes", and immediately lifted his sword up. In this fight, should he let Master win or should he win over Master? If he deliberately held back and lost, even if he received heavy injuries, he wouldn’t care, but Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying would all be detained on Mount Shaoshi for ten years. Great Master Fangzheng was surely a righteous eminent monk, but there was no guarantee that Zuo Lengchan and the rest of the Shaolin monks would not harm the three of them. In this ten year of imprisonment, it would be very hard to say whether they would be able to keep their lives. But he also thought about how he had been by himself since he was young, and it was Master and Master-Wife who brought him up. He considered them as his own parents and he had not repaid them for their kindness yet. How could he defeat Master in front of all the world's heroes and make him lose face and reputation?

    As he was hesitating on what to do, Yue Buqun had already attacked him with more than twenty moves. Linghu Chong only used the Huashan sword moves previously taught by his master to block. He didn’t dare to use the 'Dugu Nine Swords' as each of its moves was an attacking method meant to harm the opponent. After he studied 'Dugu Nine Swords', his knowledge had greatly advanced and furthermore, his internal energy was abundant. Although he was only using a common Huashan sword art, his sword’s power and class naturally differed by a lot compared to the past. Yue Buqun was attacking continuously but he had not managed to harm him yet.

    The spectators saw how Linghu Chong was wielding his sword and they naturally understood that he was intentionally giving way. When Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian looked at this, both their faces showed their worries. Both of them remembered that day at the Plum Manor on Hangzhou's Mount Gu when Ren Woxing invited Linghu Chong to join the Divine Sun Moon Sect. He was giving him the Right Protector position and later on, the position of Chief. Ren Woxing would also impart to him the secret of how to harmonise the various internal energies in his body after using the 'Art of Essence Absorbing'. But this youth was hardly moved by this offer and was very loyal to his school.

    At this time, seeing how he was so respectful towards his former master and master-wife, it seemed that if Yue Buqun were to stab him to death, Linghu Chong would even be willing to accept this in his heart. He was actually only using defensive moves so how would he be able to win? It was apparent that Linghu Chong had already decided not to win over his master, especially since they were fighting in front of so many accomplished heroes. He would have abandoned his sword and admitted defeat a long time ago if it was not for the fact that Yingying, Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian would be imprisoned on Mount Shaoshi if he lost. The two people, Ren and Xiang, were pacing back and forth not knowing what to do. They looked at the fight again and they thought, "What should we do?"

    Ren Woxing turned his head around towards Yingying and whispered, "Go in front."

    Yingying understood her dad's intention well. He was afraid that Linghu Chong would take into consideration the kindness of his former master and would intentionally lose the fight. He wanted her to go in front so that Linghu Chong would be able to see her and be reminded how she had treated him, so he would use his power and gain victory. She lightly groaned but did not move. After some time, when Ren Woxing saw Linghu Chong kept retreating, he became even more worried and again told Yingying, "Go in front." Yingying still did not move and groaned again not answering him. She thought in her heart, "You already understand how I treated you. If you think I'm more important then you'd help me go down the mountain and you'd be able to gain victory by yourself. If you think your master is more important, even if I pulled your sleeve and cry, it would still be useless. Why must I stand in front of you to remind you of this?" She deeply felt that it was natural for two people to love each other. If she had to give some signs before Linghu Chong would consider her love for him then that was just too tasteless.

    Linghu Chong was not restricted to using Huashan sword art when blocking each of his master's attack. If he had actually counter attacked, Yue Buqun would have been forced to throw away his sword and admit defeat a long time ago. He had seen a lot of flaws in his master's sword moves but he had not even attacked once. Yue Buqun understood Linghu Chong's heart from the beginning, so he attacked continuously using his Divine Violet Twilight Art in conjunction with his Huashan sword art. He already knew that Linghu Chong would not attack back so he kept advancing with all of his attacks and did not care about the flaws in his sword art anymore. As he did this, the power of his sword art had now greatly multiplied. The spectators saw that Yue Buqun's sword art was wonderful and he had also received an advantage, but he had not been able to stab Linghu Chong from the beginning. They also saw that when Linghu Chong wielded his sword, sometimes there was a move and sometimes there was no move. When there was no move, it looked like as if his long sword was just blocking in a disorderly fashion but looked marvellous at the same time. He only had to touch Yue Buqun's sword lightly to protect himself. The more they watched, the more they admired him. They all thought, "Priest Chongxu said that his sword art is inferior, seems like he didn't just make that up."

    Yue Buqun had been fighting for a long time without stopping and he was becoming impatient. Suddenly, he thought, "Ayo, this is not good! This little traitor doesn't want other people to say that he doesn't know how to repay the kindness of other people so he kept on fighting me. Even though he's not attacking, he's still making it difficult for me to gain victory. Everyone here is a master and is very observant. At this time, they must have observed a long time ago that this little traitor is purposely giving way to me. I've been continuously attacking him from the start, what would become of my dignity? How can this be considered as the behaviour of a school leader? This little traitor wants to give me some difficulties and force me to give way and voluntarily admit defeat."

    He quickly transferred his Divine Violet Twilight Art into his sword. His sword hacked down splitting the air. Linghu Chong slanted his body and avoided the chop. Yue Buqun circled his sword and slashed towards Linghu Chong's waist. Linghu Chong leapt above the sword. Yue Buqun flicked his sword upwards aiming towards the back of his body. The change in this sword move was extremely fast. There were no eyes at the back of Linghu Chong's body and the situation was very difficult for him to avoid. Everyone gasped in surprised. Linghu Chong was in mid air and there was nowhere for him to step on to launch his body forward. It was also too late for him to use his sword to block the strike. But then, they saw him using his sword to hit the wooden pillar in front him. Borrowing this force, he jumped to the back of the pillar and with a 'pu' sound, Yue Buqun's long sword penetrated the wooden pillar. The sword was pliable but with his internal energy injected to it, the long sword went through the pillar and the point of the sword stopped just inches away from Linghu Chong's body.

    "Ah!" everyone gasped in surprise. The sound of this cry was full of happiness, delight and praise. Unexpectedly, everyone was happy for Linghu Chong. They admired him for the skilful and clever way he avoided the attack. They were also celebrating the fact that Yue Buqun did not manage to stab him. Yue Buqun had executed his unique skill, Three-Linking Strike, but was still unable to hit Linghu Chong. Furthermore, he felt angry when he heard the spectators calling out in compassion towards his opponent.

    This 'Life Snatching Three-Linking Immortal Sword' was a move from the Huashan School's sword branch, which he, a qi branch disciple, did not initially know. In those years, when the two branches were destroying each other, disciples of the sword branch used this sword art to kill many good fighters from the qi branch. At the same time, disciples from the qi branch were also slaughtering the disciples from the sword branch. After they had taken the leadership of the Huashan School, the good fighters from the qi branch attentively studied in detail these three advance sword moves 'Life Snatching Three-Linking Immortal Sword'. When they thought of the power of these Three-Linking moves on that day, there was still lingering fear in their hearts. During the study of this Three-Linking sword art, everyone said that this sword art belonged to the demonical path. But as they were seeking the exquisiteness of this sword art, they all forgot their own school's difficult 'Qi Drives the Sword' principle. They only said that the sword move was beautiful but in their hearts, they actually really admired it.

    Seeing Yue Buqun and Linghu Chong fighting, Madam Yue was full of grief. When she saw her husband suddenly using these three moves, she thought in her heart, "In those years, the two branches wanted to destroy each other because of the dispute about the importance of qi cultivation and sword art. He's the head disciple of the qi branch but at this moment, he suddenly used the move from the sword branch. If an outsider saw through this, wouldn't they contemptibly mock us? Ai, he must have no choice but to use this move. But he's clearly not Chong'er's match, why is he still continuing to fight?"

    She wanted to ask them to stop but this matter concerned a lot of people and not just her own school. She wanted to go forward but changed her mind, she grasped the handle of her sword and her heart was worried to death. Yue Buqun lifted his right hand and pulled his sword out from the pillar. Linghu Chong did not move and stood still behind the pillar. Yue Buqun only saw how he stayed behind the wooden pillar looking like he was hiding from further attacks. He regarded that this happened because Linghu Chong was afraid of him and also because Linghu Chong respected his reputation. The two people studied each other. Linghu Chong said in a low voice, "Disciple isn't your match. We don't need to fight anymore." Yue Buqun uttered an 'hng'.

    Ren Woxing said, "There can be no winner and loser in this fight between master and disciple. Great Master Abbot, there's no winner and loser for these three fights. Old man will pay for my sin, how about if we stop this?"

    Madam Yue relaxed and inwardly sighed, "We clearly lost this fight. Chief Ren said this to give us face. In this case, it's best if we stop."

    Fangzheng said, "Amituofo! What Shi Zhu Ren said saves everyone from injury and shows your wisdom. Old monk doesn't..." The word 'mind' had not been said when Zuo Lengchan interrupted, "Then we're going to let these four go down the mountain and let them harm Jianghu and massacre the innocents? Let their eight palms to be covered in the blood of hundreds and thousands of people and destroy everything good in this world? Should we still regard martial brother Yue as the headmaster of Huashan School?"

    Fangzheng hesitated when a 'chi' sound was heard. Yue Buqun had gone around to the back of the pillar and thrust his sword towards Linghu Chong. Fast as lightning, Linghu Chong avoided the thrust. After many moves, the two of them were back in the middle of the hall. Yue Buqun wielded his sword and attacked quickly, advancing at every opportunity. Linghu Chong smothered these attacks by either blocking or avoiding. After more than twenty moves, Ren Woxing laughed. "To decide who wins this fight, we'll just have to wait for seven to eight days and see who dies from starvation first. I'm sure we'll find out by then." Everyone felt that even though what he said was an exaggeration, it's likely that if they kept on fighting like this, it would be hard to get a result within a few hours.

    Ren Woxing thought, "This old fellow Yue just thickened his face and kept on fighting. He's in an invicible position and couldn't possibly lose. But if Chong'er made a slight mistake then everything would be spoiled. The longer this fight goes, the more harmful it would be to us. I must say something to incite him." He then said, "Brother Xiang, we've really widened our view today in Shaolin temple."

    Xiang Wentian replied, "Right. All of the top masters from Wulin are gathering here..."

    "Among them, there's one who is better than the rest."

    "Which one?"

    "This person learned a divine martial art and other people will admire him when they see it."

    "What divine martial art is this?"

    "This person is learning Golden Face Cover, Iron Face Divine Art," Ren Woxing told him.

    "Subordinate has heard about Golden Bell Cover, Metal Gown, but I've never heard of this Golden Face Cover, Iron Face."

    "Other people's Golden Bell Cover, Metal Gown martial art makes one's body impervious to sabre. This person's Golden Face Cover, Iron Face Divine Art will make the face hard when practised."

    "This Golden Face Cover, Iron Face Divine Art, which school or sect has this martial art?" Xiang Wentian asked.

    "They said that this martial art is no small matter. It was created in the west mountain of Huashan by the headmaster of Huashan School, Jianghu's venerable Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun, Mr. Yue."

    "I heard that Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun's internal energy art is unrivalled and his sword art is unmatched. As expected, it wasn't just an empty reputation. This Golden Face Cover, Iron Face Divine Art, after it's learned then your face will be impervious to sabres, is this right?"

    "This move has a lot of usefulness. We're not disciples of the Huashan School so we wouldn't know the secret to this art."

    "Mr. Yue already created this kind of divine martial art, then his name would be known throughout Jianghu and would forever be praised as an immortal."

    "Of course. When we later meet with anyone from Huashan School, we must be really careful with their Iron Face Divine Art," Ren Woxing said.

    "Yes, subordinate will remember this in my heart."

    The two of them were talking back and forth like they were the actors in a comical drama, but there was a hint of ridicule in their tones towards Yue Buqun. Yu Canghai was giggling non-stop, taking pleasure in other's misfortune. Madam Yue's was blushing furiously. But it seemed that Yue Buqun didn’t hear any of these conversations. He thrust his sword and Linghu Chong avoided it by slanting to the left. He quickly followed to the right and slashed his sword forward. Suddenly, he circled his sword back and the point of the sword thrust back out again. It was the Huashan School's sword move called 'Return of the Prodigal Son'. Linghu Chong lifted his sword to block it. Yue Buqun's sword was now dancing around in mid-air, executing the sword move called 'Green Pines Welcoming Guests'. Linghu Chong again blocked the attack.

    Yue Buqun slashed twice with his sword. Linghu Chong was startled and hurriedly retreated two steps. His face was blushing as he called out, "Master!" Yue Buqun snorted and continued with his attack forcing Linghu Chong to take another step back. Everyone saw that Linghu Chong's face was blushing and he seemed to be in a desperate situation. They did not understand a single thing and all thought, "There's nothing strange about his master's three attacks, what's so great about it? How can it unexpectedly make things difficult for Linghu Chong?" None of them knew that these three moves that Yue Buqun used were from the sword art that Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan created, the 'Chong Ling Sword Art'. Linghu Chong suddenly felt sentimental, remembering the past when he was looking forward to the days when he would be able to share marital vows with his little martial sister, and when Yue Lingshan treated him nicely. With their childish thoughts, they had then felt that if the Yue couple could pass down martial arts, then the rest of the disciples would be able to as well. Thus, the two of them tried to create a set of sword art of their own and only the two of them were able to use this set of 'Chong Ling Sword Art'. That's why seeing this set of sword moves gave him a bittersweet taste in his heart.

    He didn't expect Yue Buqun would unexpectedly use these three sword moves. Linghu Chong felt helpless, ashamed, and sad. He thought, "Little martial sister had already broken our ties of love. You're using this set of sword moves to make me recall my feelings and to put my mind in confusion. You want to kill me then just kill me." He felt that there was nothing for him to continue living on this world and death would be better.

    Yue Buqun's long sword was thrust out again. The move he used was 'Nong Yu Playing the Flute'. Linghu Chong knew this move very well and he just unconsciously blocked it. Yue Buqun followed with a move called 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon'. These two moves complemented each other and the movements were graceful. Especially 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon' with the long sword dancing in the air, looking like a divine dragon flying elegantly through the air.

    According to a story, during the time of Chun Qiu, Qin Mukong had a daughter called Nong Yu who loved to play the flute. There was a youth called Xiao Shi, who arrived riding a dragon and could play the flute divinely. Later on, he taught Nong Yu how to play the flute. Qin Mukong then allowed him to take her to be his wife. 'Ideal Son-in-Law' was the literary reference that these moves were taken from. Later on, the pair of husband and wife transcended to immortality together and occupied the middle peak of the Huashan Mountain. Huashan's Jade Maiden Peak had 'Phoenix Pavillion', the middle peak had Jade Maiden Temple, Jade Maiden Cave, Jade Maiden hair washing basin, and a dressing table, every one of them gained their fame from this fable. Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan had often gone to all these places but the meaning behind the story of Xiao Shi and Nong Yu, their happiness, and also what went on in the heart of those two people, they never knew any of those.

    At the moment he saw Yue Buqun used the move 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon', Linghu Chong's heart became confused while his hand moved to block the attack. He thought, "Why does Master want to use this move? Does he want to remind me of my mistakes and kill me?"

    After Yue Buqun used this move, he again used the move 'Return of the Prodigal Son' followed by 'Green Pines Welcoming Guests' which was followed by the three moves from the 'Chong Ling Sword Art'. These moves were again followed by 'Nong Yu Playing the Flute' and 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon' moves. When masters competed, even when the moves went above a thousand, they would never duplicate the pattern. This pattern of moves had already been executed to fight the opponent before so using them again would be useless. When the enemy was familiar with your pattern then he could take advantage of it to make an attack. When Yue Buqun used this pattern for a second time, it caused all the spectators to be puzzled.

    Linghu Chong saw Yue Buqun used the move 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon' for the second time. This time, this move was followed by the three moves from the 'Chong Ling Sword Art'. Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind and he was enlightened. "So Master used these sword arts to remind me. I must abandon my evil ways and return to the righteous way, and then the return of the prodigal son means that I would be accepted back into the Huashan School."

    There were many ancient pine trees on Mount Huashan with branches full of leaves hanging down and stretching, as if they were welcoming guests who were coming up the mountain. They are called 'Welcoming Guests Pine Trees'. The move 'Green Pines Welcoming Guests' was formed to resemble the appearance of these ancient pines. He thought, "Master is saying that if I return to the family of Huashan School, not only would I be welcomed back, even the pine trees on the mountain would welcome me back." His heart trembled, "Master said that not only would I be welcomed back into the family of Huashan School, he would also give little martial sister as my wife. Master used the few moves from that 'Chong Ling Sword Art' to make me understand his intention clearly. It's just that I was muddled and didn't understand him so he used the two moves of 'Nong Yu Playing the Flute' and 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon' again." Returning to Huashan and marrying Yue Lingshan were two of his biggest desire. Suddenly, in front of all these masters, Yue Buqun promised him these two matters. Even though it wasn't conveyed outright by words, he understood it completely from these several sword moves. Linghu Chong knew that Master's most important vow was to never take back what he already said. He had already promised to take him back into the Huashan family and also betroth his daughter to him. So if he fulfilled his promises then these matters would definitely happen. In that instant, a feeling of happiness filled his chest.

    He naturally knew of the deep love between Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi. He also knew that she did not love him any more but instead felt hatred towards him. But the marriage between man and woman was decided entirely by the parents and the daughter had no say in it. It had been that way for more than a thousand years. Yue Buqun had already betrothed his daughter to him, and Yue Lingshan would not be able to reject it. Linghu Chong thought in his heart, "If I were to be able to re-enter the Huashan School, I would be thanking the heaven and earth already. But to also become partner with little martial sister; that would really be a joy from heaven. Little martial sister would surely be unhappy at the beginning but I would be suitable for her. After a long time, she would see that I'm sincere towards her and would slowly change her attitude."

    He was beaming from ear to ear and was feeling very happy in his heart. Yue Buqun continuously used the moves 'Return of the Prodigal Son' followed by 'Green Pines Welcoming Guests'. His sword moves were becoming urgent looking like he was becoming impatient. Linghu Chong comprehended what Yue Buqun meant, "Master is telling me, the prodigal son, to return. Of course he couldn't say this out loud but he wants me to throw away my sword and admit defeat immediately. Then I would be able to rejoin the school immediately. I would be able to return to Huashan and get married to little martial sister. My life would be returned to me, what else do I want? But what about Yingying, Chief Ren, and brother Xiang? If I lose this fight then the three of them would be detained on top of Mount Shaoshi and they might be even be killed. I'm only coveting for my own happiness and not repaying other people’s kindness. Can I still be called a person?" At this thought, the back of his body was covered with cold sweat and his vision became blurry. He saw Yue Buqun slashed his sword horizontally passing very close to his mouth then pointing the sword towards him, pushed forward. This was the move 'Nong Yu Playing the Flute'. Linghu Chong's heart was moved again. "Yingying was willing to die for me but I didn’t even pay any attention to her plight. Is there anyone else in this world who is more vicious than Linghu Chong? No matter what, I have to repay Yingying’s kindness." Suddenly, he felt dizzy, and heard a 'zheng' sound as a long sword fell on the ground.

    All the spectators cried out in surprise.

    Linghu Chong's body was swaying. When he opened his eyes, he saw Yue Buqun had leapt back and was looking furious. Yue Buqun's right wrist was bleeding. Linghu Chong checked the point of his sword and saw blood dripping from it. He was greatly startled. He knew that while his mind was in confusion, his hand was blocking the attack. But somehow, he unexpectedly used the 'Dugu Nine Sword' move to pierce Yue Buqun's right wrist. He immediately threw away his sword and knelt on the ground. "Master, disciple has sinned and deserves death."

    Yue Buqun kicked out and hit him squarely on his chest. The kick was very fierce and swift causing Linghu Chong to fly off. While his body was in mid air, his vision became dark. He heard a ‘peng’ sound, and his body dropped on the ground. But he didn't feel any pain as he passed out.

    End of Chapter 27

  9. #9
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    Default Chapter 28 Accumulation of Snow

    Translated by Pokit; Edited by Hhaung.

    Without knowing how much time had passed, Linghu Chong gradually felt his body feeling colder. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a firelight which dazzled him. He quickly shut his eyes and heard Yingying happily called out, "You... you're awake!" Linghu Chong opened his eyes once again. He saw Yingying's pair of beautiful eyes staring at him with her face full of joy. Linghu Chong tried to sit up, but Yingying waved her hand. "Rest for a bit more."

    Linghu Chong looked around, and saw that he was inside a mountain cave. Outside the cave, there was a big bonfire. He then remembered that he was kicked by his master. "What happened to my Master and Master-Wife?"

    Yingying flatly answered him, "You're still calling him master? In this world, there's no such shameless master. You've already given way, but he didn't know what was good for him, and at the end, he was unable to get out of an awkward situation. He gave you a very fierce kick but broke his leg, serves him right!"

    "My master broke his leg?" Linghu Chong asked, startled.

    Yingying giggled. "Isn't it good enough that he wasn't shaken to death? Daddy said you still don't know how to use the Art of Essence Absorbing yet, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten injured."

    Linghu Chong mumbled, "I stabbed master and also broke his leg. This is really... really..."

    "You regret it?" Yingying asked.

    Linghu Chong felt extremely ashamed. "I shouldn't have done that. If it weren't for Master and Master-Wife bringing me up, maybe I would've died a long time ago. How can there be a today? I repaid their kindness with enmity, I’m worse than an animal."

    "He repeatedly wanted to kill you with his fierce moves but you just endured it and let him do it; that can be said that you've repaid your master's kindness. Also, looking at the type of person you are, how could you have died? Even if the Yue couple didn't bring you up, you'd be called the little beggar in Jianghu because I don't think you would have died. Also, he already expelled you from Huashan, so the master disciple relation between you two was severed a long time ago. What is he to you now?" Yingying suddenly lowered her voice, "Brother Chong, you offended your master and master-wife because of me. My... my heart..." She lowered her head, and both of her cheeks were blushing.

    Linghu Chong saw her revealing her little girl's shyness, while her beauty was enhanced by the raging fire outside the cave shining on her face. His heart was moved. Extending his hand, he held her left hand, and sighed, not knowing what to say. Yingying softly murmured, "Why did you sigh? You regret knowing me?"

    "No, no! How can I regret it? Because of me, you were willing to give up your life in Shaolin temple. Even if later on my body were grounded to dust and my bones broken to pieces, I still wouldn't be able to repay for your kindness," Linghu Chong said.

    Yingying stared into both of his eyes. "Why are you talking like that? Even until now, your heart is still regarding me as a stranger."

    Linghu Chong felt ashamed. In his heart, there was always a feeling of estrangement towards her. "I said it wrong. From today onwards, I will wholeheartedly treat you well." As he said these words, he couldn't refrain from thinking, "How about little martial sister? Little martial sister? Could it be that I'll forget little martial sister?"

    Yingying's eyes flashed with happiness. "Brother Chong, are you speaking the truth, or are you deceiving me?"

    Suddenly Linghu Chong was no longer thinking of himself or of his longing for Yue Lingshan. He sincerely answered, "If I'm deceiving you, then let me be split in two by thunder, and not die a good death."

    Yingying's left hand slowly turned over and gripped Linghu Chong's hand, which was already holding her hand. She felt that this moment was the most precious moment in her whole life. She felt her whole body becoming hot, and her heart felt as if it were floating on clouds. She wished that this moment would last forever. After a long time, she slowly said, "We're people who live in Wulin, I'm afraid we're destined not to die a good death. If later on you become ungrateful towards me, I won't hope that you'll be split in two by thunder. I... I... I'd rather kill you nicely with a single stab of my sword."

    Linghu Chong was startled. He never expected her to suddenly say such words. When he recovered from his shock, he laughed. "My life was saved by you, so it already belongs to you. If you want to take it back, then you can come and take it back anytime."

    Yingying smiled and said, "Other people said that you're a cunning and mannerless romantic. As expected, the words coming out of your mouth are suave and sly, and not decent and proper at all. I don't know what kind of fate that made me... made me like a frivolous romantic like you."

    Linghu Chong laughed. "When was I being frivolous towards you? You said that I did, so now I want to be frivolous towards you." As he said this, he sat up.

    Both of Yingying's feet twitched, and she shot out for a few feet. She lowered her head and said, "I regard you well and we've been adhering to customs and rules. If you think that I'm a lascivious girl, and that you can just take advantage of me as you please, then you're mistaken about me."

    Linghu Chong replied in a serious manner, "How can I dare to regard you as a lascivious girl? You're an old granny of good moral standing and reputation, you didn't even allow me to turn my head around to look at you."

    Yingying laughed and remembered the first time she met Linghu Chong. At that time, he kept calling her 'granny', and was being very respectful towards her. She couldn't help smiling and her dimples showed. She then sat down around three to four feet away from Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong laughed and said, "You're not allowing me to be frivolous. From now on, I'll just keep calling you granny."

    Yingying giggled. "Alright. Good grandson."

    "Granny, my heart has..."

    "You can't call me granny! Wait for sixty years before calling me that."

    "If I could start calling you 'granny' from now till sixty years later, then my life wouldn't have been in vain."

    Yingying felt touched and thought, "If I could really accompany him for sixty years, that would be as good as having ascended to heaven and becoming an immortal."

    Linghu Chong gazed at her profile. Her nose was slightly pointed, her long eyelashes were hanging down, her appearance was delicate and tender, and her complexion was warm and soft. He thought, "Such a beautiful lady, why do those thousands of cruel and wild heroes from Jianghu respect and fear her, and they're also willing to go through fire and water for her?" He wanted to ask, but he felt that talking about this sort of things at this time would dampen their spirits, so he stopped himself from asking.

    "Whatever you want to say, just say it," Yingying said.

    "From the beginning, I felt there's something odd. How come Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, and the rest of them fear you so much."

    Yingying charmingly laughed. "I know that if you don't understand this matter well, then you will always feel uneasy. I'm afraid in your heart, you've always regarded me as a monster."

    "No, no, I regard you as a vastly knowledgeable Immortal."

    Yingying smiled. "You can't say three words without speaking nonsense. In fact your type of person, you might not necessarily be frivolous and mannerless, but you merely love to talk sweetly. That's why other people said that you're a dissolute person."

    "When I call you granny, do you think I was just talking sweetly?"

    "Call me granny for the rest of your life then."

    "I want to call you for the rest of my life, but it's not to call you granny."

    Yingying's face turned bright red, and she felt sweetness swelled in her heart. She whispered, "I hope these words you just said aren’t just sweet talk."

    "You're afraid that I was just talking sweetly. For the rest of my life, when you cook meals for me, you don’t have to put oil in them then."

    (Translator's note: A Chinese idiom which literally has the meaning 'Oil Mouth Slippery Tongue' means 'Sweet talk without being sincere'. The joke on the oil is connected to this.)

    Yingying smiled and said, "I can't cook; I even burnt the frogs I was roasting."

    Linghu Chong remembered those days when the two of them were roasting frogs in a wild field besides a creek. He felt at this very moment that the feeling of that time had returned. His heart was filled with tender affection.

    Yingying said quietly, "If you're not afraid of my burnt meals, then I'll cook for you for the rest of your life."

    "Why not? If you cook for me, then I'll eat three big bowls of burnt meals everyday."

    Yingying softly said, "You love to joke around to your heart's content. Actually, you speak teasingly to make me happy, and I feel very happy hearing them." Their eyes met, and for a long time, they just looked at each other without speaking. After some time, Yingying slowly said, "You already know that my daddy was originally the chief of the Divine Sun Moon Sect. Later, uncle Dongfang... ... no, Dongfang Bubai. I keep calling him uncle, I'm too used to it. He used deceit and imprisoned daddy, and fooled everyone else. He said that daddy had died somewhere and had assigned him to be Chief when that happened. At that time, I was still small, while Dongfang Bubai was very cunning and his plan didn't have any flaw, so I also didn't have any suspicion. After Dongfang Bubai managed to deceive everyone, he treated me unusually and was being very polite and gave me a lot of favour. No matter what I said, he never rejected it. That's why when I was in the sect, I was in a very honoured position."

    "Those Jianghu's heroes, they're all subordinates of the Divine Sun Moon Sect?"

    "They can't be regarded as members of the sect, but they've always been under my sect's subordination. Most of their leaders have taken my sect's 'Divine Three Corpse Brain Pill'."

    Linghu Chong snorted. That day at Plum Manor on Mount Gu, when the elders of Devil Sect, such as Bao Dachu, Qin Weibang, and the others saw Ren Woxing's red pills of 'Divine Three Corpse Brain Pill', they were all frightened to death. When Linghu Chong remembered the event of that day, he couldn't help scowling. Yingying continued, "Once you've taken this 'Divine Three Corpse Brain Pill', every year after that, you have to take an antidote. Otherwise, the poison will come out and you'll die a miserable death. Dongfang Bubai treated those heroic warriors severely. If there were a small matter that's not up to his expectation, then he wouldn't give them the medicine. Every time, I have to seek his compassion to give them the medicines."

    "You're their saviour then."

    "I'm not a saviour. They came to me asking for help, and I didn't have the heart to just ignore them. This was originally also Dongfang Bubai's plan in deceiving the people in the sect. He wanted everyone to know that he's taking care of me and really respects me. Then, naturally, no one suspects him of actually usurping the position of Chief."

    Linghu Chong nodded his head and said, "This person is a shrewd schemer."

    "But it's bothersome for me to always ask for compassion from Dongfang Bubai. Furthermore, the situation inside the sect is very different from the past. Everyone also sees how Dongfang Bubai wants to be flattered, it's very disgusting. The spring of the year before last, I asked martial nephew Elder Bamboo Green to accompany me roaming the hills and playing with the water, and also to get out from the sect's matters and from saying those shameless words to Dongfang Bubai. Didn't think that I would meet you then." She then looked at Linghu Chong, and the memory of the first time she met him at the bamboo alley rose up. She lightly sighed and her heart was filled with tender feelings. After a long time, she went on, "Those thousands of heroes who came to Shaolin temple, of course not all of them had taken the medicines that I asked for. But it only needs one person to receive my favour, then his family members, good friends, sect members, brothers, and many others, they naturally have also received my favour. Also, when they went to Mount Shaoshi, it's not necessarily because of me. It's more likely that they were answering big hero Linghu's summon, and they didn't dare not to come." When she said this, she pursed her lips smiling.

    Linghu Chong sighed. "You won't get any benefit from following me. But it's very likely that you'll advance a lot in the art of talking smoothly and sweetly." Yingying burst into laughter. In her whole life, everyone from the Divine Sun Moon Sect had always regarded her like a princess, and no one dared to disobey her. As she grew up, she became bossier, whatever she wanted was done, and no one dared to say any jokes to her. At this time, as she joked around with Linghu Chong, it was the happiest time in her life. After a time, Yingying turned her head around to face the wall. "I'm naturally happy that you led so many people to Shaolin temple to meet me. But those people are garrulous and crude, behind my back, they're saying I... saying I treated you well, but you're actually a romantic person, and leaves the seeds of love everywhere. And you don’t really care about me at all..." As she said this, her voice gradually quietened down. She then quietly continued, "You're really giving me a lot of face by making such a big disturbance, even if I... even if I died, I won't regret getting this good name."

    "When you carried me on your back to Shaolin temple seeking for a cure, I was completely unaware. Later on, I was imprisoned under the West Lake, and when I got out, I encountered Heng-Shan School's matter. Then I worked hard after getting the information before finally meeting you, but you've suffered immensely there," Linghu Chong explained.

    "I didn't suffer living at the mountain behind Shaolin temple. I lived alone in a stone house, and every ten days, an old monk came to give me firewood and rice. Apart from this, I didn't see anyone else until Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai came to Shaolin. Then Abbot wanted to see me, and I found out that he didn't pass on to you the Tendon Altering Sutra. When I found out that I was swindled, I was really angry and scolded that old monk. Dingxian Shi Tai told me not to worry, and she said that you are safe and well. She also said that you asked the two Shi Tai to go to the Shaolin Abbot to ask for his compassion," Yingying told him.

    "When you heard her explanation, you stopped scolding Great Master Abbot?"

    "When the Shaolin Temple's Abbot heard me scolding him, he only smiled and didn't get angry. He said: "Female shi zhu, old monk wanted young hero Linghu to join Shaolin on that day, and to take him as my disciple. After that, old monk would have taught him the internal art of Tendon Altering Sutra to repel the various internal energies in his body. But he resolutely refused, and old monk had no way to force him. Also, that day you carried him to come up... that day when he came up the mountain, he was on the verge of death. But when he went down the mountain, he was walking like a normal person. At the very least, Shaolin temple has given him some help." I thought what he said was reasonable so I said: "Then why do you detain me on the mountain? Buddhists don't tell lies, isn't what you're doing, deceiving me?"" Yingying narrated.

    "Yes, they shouldn't have concealed that from you."

    "That old monk gave me another reason. He said detaining me on Mount Shaoshi was because he hoped that the Buddhist way would change my violent nature. What nonsense!" Yingying complained.

    "Yes, what kind of violent nature do you have?"

    "You don't need to say some nice words to make me happy. Of course, I have a violent nature. Not only have, but I have a considerable violence in me. But you don't have to worry, I won't use it on you," Yingying said.

    "I hold you in a new light now, and thank you very much."

    Yingying continued, "At that time, I said to the old monk: "You're already old, but you're still bullying the young. How shameless." That old monk replied: "That day you voluntarily came to Shaolin temple willing to give up your life in exchange for young hero Linghu's life. Even though we didn't cure young hero Linghu, we also didn't take your life. Hearing from the two Shi Tai from Heng-Shan School, young hero Linghu had recently done many heroic deeds in Jianghu. Old monk is really happy for him. Taking into consideration the good reputation of the Heng-Shan School's two Shi Tai, you can go down the mountain." He also promised to release hundreds of my Jianghu friends being detained there. I've received a lot of his kindness, so I paid my respect to him a few times. After that, I followed Heng-Shan School's two Shi Tai to go down the mountain. Later at the bottom of the mountain, I met someone called 'Ten Thousand Miles Loner' Tian Boguang. He said that you're already leading a few thousand people to come to Shaolin temple to meet me. The two Shi Tai said Shaolin temple was facing a difficulty so they couldn't just put their hands in their sleeves. So we parted ways then, and they wanted me to intercept you. Unexpectedly, the two kind and gentle seniors died in Shaolin temple." After she said this, she let out a really long sigh.

    Linghu Chong also sighed. "I don't know who did it. There were no traces of injury on their bodies and I also don't know how they lost their lives."

    "What do you mean no traces of injury? Daddy, uncle Xiang and I went to have a look at the bodies of the two Shi Tai at the temple. I undid their gowns to have a look and saw on their chests two red holes the size of a needle. They were killed after being pierced by iron needles," Yingying told him.

    Linghu Chong was startled and uttered an "ah". "Poison needle? Who uses poison needles in Wulin?"

    Yingying shook her head. "Daddy and uncle Xiang's experiences are vast, but they also don't know. Daddy said that it wasn't poison needle. It's actually a pointed weapon aimed at a fatal point that killed them. But the needle piercing Dingxian Shi Tai was slightly slanted."

    "Yes. When I saw Dingxian Shi Tai, she was still alive. This needle pierced into her chest, so it wasn't done secretly, and they were actually fighting face to face. The person who killed the two Shi Tai must've been masters with high martial art," Linghu Chong concluded.

    Yingying added, "That's what my daddy also said. Since we have this clue, it won't be hard to find who the murderer is."

    Linghu Chong slapped his hand on the cave's wall and said loudly, "Yingying, while the two of us still have our lives, we must avenge the two Shi Tai."

    "Yes," Yingying replied.

    Linghu Chong then put his hand on the wall to support himself in getting up. But he felt his four limbs feeling normal, and there was no soreness on his chest. It was as if he had not received any injury. "This is strange. My master gave me a kick, but it seems that I'm not injured."

    "My daddy said that you've absorbed much inner energy from other people, and your internal energy is far above your master. But because you didn't use your power to resist your master, you got injured. But your profound internal energy protected you, so your injury was light. Uncle Xiang gave you a few push to arouse your own internal energy to cure your injury, and you were alright in no time. But your master's leg unexpectedly broke. That was really strange, daddy thought for a long time, and he couldn't come up with an answer," Yingying explained.

    "My internal energy is already powerful. So when master kicked me, the counter force from my internal energy broke his leg. Why's that strange?"

    "It's not that. Daddy said that even though absorbing other people's energies would protect your body, but you must use it to injure other people. Compared to the completed internal art, you're still one level lower."

    "So that's how it is," Linghu Chong said. He didn't really understand the reasons, so he didn't think much about it. But when he thought of how he injured his master in front of all those masters, he felt really guilty.

    After a moment, both of them became quiet. They heard the crackling sound of the bonfire outside the cave, but they saw large snowflakes floating down. Compared to when they were still in the Shaolin temple, the snow had gotten even larger. Suddenly, Linghu Chong heard sounds of heavy breathing from the east outside the cave, and he immediately strained to listen to it. Yingying's internal energy wasn't as good as his so she didn't hear anything. She saw his expression and asked, "What did you hear?"

    "I heard some sounds of panting just then; there's someone coming. But he's gasping heavily. That person's martial art is low so there should be nothing to worry about." He then asked, "Where's your dad?"

    Yingying answered, "Daddy and uncle Xiang said they were going out for a stroll." As she said this, her face turned red. She knew that her father deliberately left to leave her alone with Linghu Chong so that when he woke up, they could talk about their time apart. Linghu Chong again heard the sound of gasping. "Let's go out and take a look."

    When the two of them went out of the cave, they saw the mark of Ren and Xiang's footsteps mostly covered up by the new snow. Linghu Chong pointed in the direction of the footsteps. "The gasping sounds are coming from that direction." The two of them started following the trail of footsteps. After more than a hundred feet, they came to a level area of the mountain. They saw Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian standing still next to each other in the middle of the snowfield. The two of them were startled, and rushed forward at the same time.

    Yingying called out, "Dad!" She extended her hand and pulled Ren Woxing's left hand. Her whole body was shaken as she touched her father, and felt cold energy from her father's hand entering the marrow of her bones. She was frightened and called out, "Dad, you... what's..." She had not finished speaking when her body trembled and her teeth started chattering. But she immediately understood what was happening. After her father was hit by Zuo Lengchan's 'Polar Ice Energy', he had been using his power to suppress it. But at this time, he finally couldn't suppress it any longer and the cold energy had come out, and Xiang Wentian was exhausting his power in helping her father to resist it.

    At Shaolin temple, Ren Woxing was deceived by Zuo Lengchan and had his acupoint sealed. After they had gone down the mountain, he briefly told her this. Linghu Chong had not yet understood what was going on, and from the light reflection on the snow, he saw the serious complexions of those two people, Ren and Xiang, and how Ren Woxing was gasping for air. He then realised that the gasping sound that he heard before was coming from Ren Woxing. When he saw Yingying's body trembling, he quickly extended his hand to grasp her left hand, and felt a wave of cold air entering his body. He immediately understood. Ren Woxing was hit by his enemy's Polar Ice Energy, and was now in the process of distributing his internal energy according to the method written on the iron panel underneath the West Lake. He was slowly driving out the cold energy out of his body.

    When Ren Woxing obtained Linghu Chong's help, he felt relieved. Xiang Wentian and Yingying's internal energies were different from his, and were only able to help him resist the cold energy and not to drive it out. He was already using all of his power just to stop his whole body from freezing, and had no more energy to drive the cold energy out. He had already resisted the cold energy for a long time and was feeling his power being drained as time went on. Linghu Chong's method was his last line of defence, which was slowly drawing the 'Polar Ice Energy' out of Ren Woxing's body and scattering it out. The four of them were holding hands standing in the middle of the snowfield, looking like statues. Big snowflakes kept falling on the four people's heads and faces, and gradually, their heads, eyes, noses, and gowns were being covered. Linghu Chong was using his energy and he inwardly thought there was something strange, "How come the snow's not melting on my face?" He didn't know that Zuo Lengchan had practised his 'Polar Ice Energy' to an extremely high level, so much so that the cold air coming out was as cold as the snow.

    At this moment, their internal organs still held their warmth, but their skins were already ice cold causing the snowflakes falling on their bodies not to melt at all. Compared to the snow falling on the ground, it was accumulating faster on their bodies. After a long time, the sky slowly got brighter but the snow kept on falling down. Linghu Chong was worried that Yingying was weak and that she wouldn't be able to endure the invasion of the cold energy for long. But the poisonous cold air inside Ren Woxing's body had not been emptied yet. Even though he wasn't gasping anymore, he didn't know whether they could part hands at this time, and whether his condition would change if they parted hands. Unable to settle on an idea, he continued helping him scatter the cold energy. He felt from holding Yingying's palm that even though her skin was cold, she had stopped quivering. He was also able to feel the tiny pulse on her palm. At this time, a few inches of white snow had accumulated on top of his two eyes, so he could only feel without seeing how the sky had become brighter. He continually increased his effort hoping that the cold energy in Ren Woxing's body would be completely driven out by morning.

    After a long time, the sound of horse's hoof beats coming closer was suddenly heard from the northeast. They heard one horse was being ridden in front of the other horse. Then they heard a person shouting, "Martial sister, martial sister, please hear me out."

    Even though both of Linghu Chong's ears were already covered by snow, he still heard him clearly. It was his master Yue Buqun's voice. Both horses were still galloping as they came nearer, and they heard Yue Buqun calling out again, "You don't understand the reason but you're throwing a tantrum already. Please hear me out." This was followed by Madam Yue shouting, "I'm not in a cheerful mood. What's that got to do with you? What's there to say?" Hearing the two people calling out to each other, they deduced that Madam Yue's horse was at the front, and Yue Buqun's horse was at the back chasing her. Linghu Chong felt it very strange. "Master-Wife is so furious. How did master offend her?" But he heard the horse Madam Yue was riding kept on going. Suddenly, she uttered a 'yi', and it was followed by the long neighing sound of the horse. It must be because she had suddenly reined in her horse to stop it, and both horses and person were now standing still.

    A short time later, Yue Buqun caught up to her on his horse. "Martial sister, don't you think these four piles of snow look like snowmen?" Madam Yue uttered an 'hng', it seemed that her anger had not abated yet. She just said to herself, "We're in the wilderness, how can there be people making these four snowmen?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "How can there be snowmen in this wilderness?" He then realized, "The four of us are covered in white snow until we look swollen. That's why Master and Master-Wife thought that we're snowmen." Master and Master-Wife were right in front of him now, and the circumstance seemed awkward and yet actually very funny. He was afraid as he thought, "Once master found out that it's us, he’s bound to give each of us a stab. If he wanted to kill us now, he wouldn't need to spend too much energy."

    Yue Buqun said, "There's no foot marks on the snow. These four snowmen must've been made a few days ago. Martial sister, have a look, it seems like three of them are male and one is female."

    "They all look similar, how can you tell they're male or female?" Madam Yue replied, and with a shout, urged her horse to go again.

    "Martial sister, you're so quick-tempered! There's no one around here, let's talk about it. How can that be not good?" Yue Buqun urged.

    "What quick-slow tempered? I'm going back to Huashan. You love to flatter Zuo Lengchan, you can go up Songshan by yourself."

    "Who said I love to flatter Zuo Lengchan? I don't even want this position of Huashan School's leader, why do I want to be subservient to Songshan School?"

    "That's right! I don't understand why you want to be subservient towards Zuo Lengchan and listen to all his instructions? Although he's the chief of the Five Mountains Sword Schools, he shouldn't be involved in the matters of our Huashan School. Once the five sword schools are joined into one, will there still be a Huashan School? When Master gave you the leadership of the Huashan School, what did he say?" Madam Yue retorted.

    "The respected master wanted me to increase the reputation of Huashan School."

    "That's right. If you agreed to Zuo Lengchan and joined Huashan School with Songshan School, how do you repay the late respected master? As the saying goes: would rather have chicken's beak, wouldn't want cow's buttock*. Even though Huashan School is small, we can support ourselves, and we don't need to depend on other people," Madam Yue said.

    (*Translator's note: This saying means 'would rather have a low but independent position than hold a high position under the control of others'.)

    Yue Buqun let out a long sigh before saying, "Martial sister, Heng-Shan School's Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai's martial art, compared to the two of us, which one is higher and which one is lower?"

    "We've never duelled before, I think we're about similar. Why are you asking this?"

    Yue Buqun answered, "I also think that we're about similar. The two Shi Tai lost their lives in the Shaolin temple, it's obvious that it was Zuo Lengchan's doing."

    Linghu Chong was surprised. He had also originally thought that it was Zuo Lengchan's doing, otherwise there was no one else with such good martial art. Although the martial art of the Shaolin and Wudang Schools' leaders were high, they were both such gentlemen and would have never harmed the two Shi tai. Songshan School had besieged the three nuns of Heng-Shan School many times. It seemed now that Zuo Lengchan had personally taken care of it. Ren Woxing had such good martial art, but he still lost under Zuo Lengchan's hand. So, Heng-Shan School's two Shi Tai were naturally not his match.

    Madam Yue said, "Killed by Zuo Lengchan? So what? If you have any evidence, then quickly invite all the heroes from the orthodox schools to confront Zuo Lengchan to avenge the two Shi Tai."

    "One, I don't have any evidence. Two, we're weak that we can't fight him."

    "What do you mean 'weak and can't fight him'? We'll ask Shaolin School's Abbot Fangzheng and Wudang School's Priest Chongxu to preside over this justice. How would Zuo Lengchan dare to fight us?"

    "I'm afraid before we can invite Abbot Fangzheng and the others, we'll both be like Heng-Shan School's two Shi Tai," Yue Buqun reasoned.

    "You're saying Zuo Lengchan would kill the two of us? Hng, we've already striven for so long in Wulin, is it really necessary to think that much? If we're afraid of the tiger in front and the wolf at the back, can we still be standing in Jianghu?"

    Linghu Chong inwardly admired, "Even though Master-Wife is a woman, her heroic spirit is astounding."

    Yue Buqun replied, "I won't regret the two of us dying, but what's the use of that? When Zuo Lengchan secretly moves against us, the two of us will die without knowing why or how. As a result, he would still be able to resume his plan and finish making the Five Mountains School. Maybe he would even fabricate some accusations to put on us." Madam Yue just hummed without answering him.

    Yue Buqun continued, "Once we died, the disciples of the Huashan School would become easy pickings for Zuo Lengchan. How could they fight back? No matter what, we must always think of Shan'er."

    Madam Yue held back her words. It seemed that her husband's words had finally moved her. After some time, she said, "En, we'll do what you say and won't uncover Zuo Lengchan's plot for now. We'll play along and be polite in front of him, and wait for an opportunity to move."

    "You've agreed to my words, then it's very good. Pingzhi's family's 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' had already been stolen by that little thief Linghu Chong. If he agreed to give it back to Pingzhi, then my Huashan disciples could all learn from it. Then what else do we have to fear from Zuo Lengchan? My Huashan School is now in a precarious position, how can we survive?"

    Madam Yue said, "Why are you still suspicious of Chong'er just because he had greatly advanced in his sword art? Are you still thinking that it's because he embezzled Pingzhi's family's 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'? During the battle at Shaolin temple, Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu both said that his wonderful sword art was passed down by martial uncle Feng. Even though martial uncle Feng is from the sword branch, he's still from our Huashan School. Of course it's wrong for Chong'er to join hands with the demons from the Devil Sect, but anyhow, we can't wrongly accuse him of embezzling the 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'. If you still don't believe Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu, then who would you believe in this world?"

    Linghu Chong felt a swell of gratitude as he heard Master-Wife explaining things on his behalf. He really wanted to go out there to give her a hug. Suddenly, the top of his head was shaken a few times as someone patted him. He thought, "This isn't good, we've been discovered. Chief Ren's poisonous cold energy hasn't been completely driven out yet. If Master and Master-Wife were to duel with me again, how can that be good?" He felt the internal energy coming from Yingying's hand became more severe. He guessed that Ren Woxing was also feeling uneasy. Again, someone lightly tapped his head a few more times, but then there was no more movement. Then he heard Madam Yue saying, "Yesterday when you were fighting Chong'er, you used 'Return of the Prodigal Son', 'Green Pines Welcoming Guests', 'Nong Yu Playing the Flute', and 'Xiao Shi Riding the Dragon' successively. What's the meaning behind this?"

    "Hey, hey, even though this little thief's conduct is improper, he was still brought up by the two of us. It's very pitiful to see him mistakenly going down the wrong path. I only wanted him, the prodigal son, to return and to let him know that I'll allow him to return to the Huashan family," Yue Buqun told her.

    "I got the meaning of that, but how about the other two moves?"

    "You already know about it, why do you still ask?"

    "If Chong'er agreed to return to the right path, then you promised Shan'er to be his wife, didn't you?"

    "Right."

    "This hint of yours, was it just a momentary measure, or was it for real?" Madam Yue asked, but Yue Buqun didn't answer. Linghu Chong again felt someone lightly tapping the top of his head. He immediately realized that Yue Buqun was pondering and lightly tapping the snowman at the same time. It wasn't because the four of them had been discovered. He then heard Yue Buqun answering, "A gentleman's word is like a mountain. I would not renege on a promise I've already made to him."

    "He's completely infatuated by that Devil Sect's witch, how could you not know that?" Madam Yue queried.

    "No, he felt appreciative towards that witch, but he's not infatuated with her. He treats that witch very differently compared to the loving manner that he treats Shan'er. You didn't see that?"

    "I naturally see it too. You're saying he still has feelings for Shan'er?"

    "Not only still has feelings, he simply... simply still loves her deeply. Once he understood the meaning behind the sword moves that I used, didn't you see how he became deliriously happy and ecstatic?"

    Madam Yue coldly said, "So, for this reason you used Shan'er as a bait to hook him? You were going to use Shan'er to make him lose to you?"

    Even though Linghu Chong's ears were full of snow, he still heard the anger and ridicule in the words that his Master-Wife said. He had never heard his Master-Wife used this kind of tone before. The Yue Buqun couple had always regarded him as their son, and they had always spoken to him about everything without keeping any secret. Madam Yue was quick tempered, and she occasionally argued with her husband when they were at home. But in front of the school's disciples, she always respected her husband's position as leader of the school and did not defy his orders. The way she spoke just then showed her heart's discontent.

    Yue Buqun let out a long sigh. "So even you can't understand my intention. My own success and failure is a small matter, while the prosperity and decline of the Huashan School is a big matter. If I could persuade Linghu Chong to return to Huashan, then I would've solved four matters in one fell swoop. This would've been a fine deed."

    "What four matters in one fell swoop?" Madam Yue asked.

    "Linghu Chong's sword art is extremely high, and is far above me. It's alright if he got his sword art from the Evil Resisting Sword manual. It's also alright if he got it from martial uncle Feng. If he returned to Huashan, the prestige of my Huashan School would greatly rise and its reputation would spread throughout the realm. This is the first big matter. Zuo Lengchan's plot of annexing Huashan School would no doubt become hard to accomplish, and the three schools of Taishan, Heng-Shan, and Hengshan would also be safe. This is the second big matter. When he returns to the orthodox school, it will not only make the Devil Sect lose a powerful ally, they will instead have gained a big enemy. The orthodox would flourish while the demonical would become weak. This is the third big matter. Martial sister, don't you think this is right?" Yue Buqun spoke.

    "En, what's the fourth matter?"

    "The fourth matter, we don't have any son so we've always regarded Chong'er as our own. Seeing him mistakenly gone down the wrong path is actually very painful for me. I'm not young anymore, this reputation that I have in the world, why do I need to be concerned about it? I only want him to change his way and return to the orthodox path so as to allow our family to have a harmonious reunion. How can this be not a happy matter?" Yue Buqun answered. When Linghu Chong heard this, he couldn't help his heart feeling excited, and he nearly called out, "Master! Master-Wife!"

    "Shan'er and Pingzhi are perfectly suited to each other. Are you really willing to tear apart the two of them and make Shan'er begrudge you for the rest your life?"

    "I'm doing this for Shan'er's own good."

    "For Shan'er's own good? Pingzhi is diligent, earnest, and well-behaved, what's not good about that?"

    "Even though Pingzhi is diligent, but compared to Linghu chong, he still lacks by a sky deep. Even if he gallops on a horse for his whole lifetime, he wouldn't be able to catch up to Linghu Chong."

    "Strong martial art makes good husband? I'm really hoping that Chong'er would return to the orthodox path and return to our school. But he creates trouble as he pleases, is frivolous and is too fond of good wine. If Shan'er marries him, she is bound to get neglected for the rest of her life."

    Linghu Chong felt ashamed in his heart. "Martial mother judges me to be 'creating trouble as I please, frivolous and fond of good wine'. But if little martial sister really become my wife, would I disappoint her? No, never!"

    Yue Buqun let out a long sigh and then said, “In any case, I threw caution to the wind, but this little traitor has fallen very deeply. These words that we’re talking about are all in vain. Martial sister, are you still angry at me?”

    Madam Yue didn’t answer him. But after a while, she asked, “Does your leg still hurt a lot?”

    “It’s only an external injury, it’s not that serious. Let’s go back to Huashan,” Yue Buqun answered, and Madam Yue acknowledged him. They then heard the sound of two horses galloping farther and farther away from them.

    Linghu Chong was utterly confused, and he repeatedly went over the conversation between his Master and Master-Wife in his head. So much so that he forgot to move his internal energy. Suddenly, a portion of the cold energy rushed up his arm and he was unable to restrain it. He felt the cold strangely entering the bones in his whole body, and he hastily regulated his internal energy to resist it. At the moment he regulated his energy, he suddenly felt that it was blocked at his left shoulder, so he hastily increased his energy. But the ‘Art of Essence Absorbing’ that he had practised was only according to the secrets engraved on the iron panel, which he had learned by himself without any teacher. So there were still many kinds of refined and obscure techniques that he had not learned yet. By forcefully rushing his energy, his energy was dissipated even more. So what started as a gradual stiffness in his left arm was followed by the numbness on the left side of his body, left waist, and all the way down to his leg which was now feeling numb. Linghu Chong felt frightened, and opened his mouth to shout, but he found that even his lips couldn’t move.

    Right then, they heard the sounds of hoof beats from two horses coming closer. A person exclaimed, “There’s a mess of hoof prints here. Dad and mum must’ve stopped here for a moment.” It was really Yue Lingshan’s voice. Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. He thought, “How come little martial sister is also here?” Then he heard another voice saying, “Master’s leg was injured, let’s not go astray and quickly catch up to them.” It was Lin Pingzhi’s voice.

    Linghu Chong thought, “Yes, the snow on the ground shows the hoof prints clearly. Little martial sister and martial brother Lin must’ve been chasing Master and Master-Wife, so they’re on the same road and had finally come here.”

    Yue Lingshan suddenly called out, “Little Lin, look at those four snowmen, they look like fun. They’re standing in a row and holding hands.”

    “There’s no houses nearby, how come there’s people here making snowmen?”

    Yue Lingshan laughed. “Let’s make two snowmen for ourselves, alright?”

    “Alright, we’ll make one man and one girl, and they’ll be holding hands too,” Lin Pingzhi acknowledged.

    Yue Lingshan turned her body over and dismounted her horse. She cupped the snow on her hand and started to make her snowman.

    “Let’s find Master and Master-Wife first; it’s more important. After we’ve found them, then we’ll make our two snowmen,” Lin Pingzhi told her.

    “You always know how to make people lose interest. Even though daddy’s leg is injured, he can still ride a horse just fine. Also mommy is besides him, what’s there to be afraid of? When the two of them started to use their swords in Jianghu, you weren’t even born yet.”

    “What you said isn’t wrong. But because we haven't found Master and Master-Wife, we’ll feel uneasy while playing here.”

    “Alright, I’ll listen to you then. But after we’ve found dad and mom, you have to accompany me in making two very good looking snowmen.”

    “Of course,” Lin Pingzhi answered.

    Linghu Chong thought, “I thought for sure that he would’ve said: ‘We’ll make it as good looking as you.’ or maybe: ‘It’ll be very hard to make it as good looking as you.’ I never expected him to just say ‘Of course’ in finishing up the matter.” He then thought more, “Martial brother Lin is honest and settled, how can he be frivolous like me? If little martial sister wanted me to make snowmen with her, even if there were a big matter, I would put it to the back of my mind. Little martial sister is very submissive towards him, even though she’s not willing, she doesn’t fight back or argue at all. How can she be like that when she’s talking to me? En, martial brother Lin has recovered, but I don’t know whose sword chopped him, and little martial sister has put the blame on my head.” He was striving to listen to the conversation between Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi, and had again forgotten about the stiffness in his own body. But this actually fitted in with the secret of the ‘Art of Essence Absorbing’ which was: ‘Don’t concentrate, don't feel anything’. The numbness in his left leg and left waist gradually lightened.

    Then he heard Yue Lingshan saying, “Alright, since we can’t make snowmen, I want to write some words on these four snowmen.” With a ‘shua’ sound, she drew her long sword out.

    Linghu Chong was again startled. “She wants to use her sword to slash and stab words on our bodies? This is going to be disastrous.”

    He wanted to call out or use his hand to stop her, but he was unable to say anything and he couldn’t move his arms. But he heard a few light sounds of ‘chi, chi’ as she used the point of her sword to write a few words on the snow on Xiang Wentian’s body. She wrote more words and finally reached Linghu Chong’s body. Fortunately, she only drew her words shallowly and didn’t go deep enough to see the clothes or to harm Linghu Chong’s skin. Linghu Chong was thinking, “What is she writing on our bodies?”

    He then heard Yue Lingshan softly saying, “Come and write a few words.”

    “Alright!” Lin Pingzhi answered. He took her sword and also wrote on their bodies from right to left. He stopped when he reached Linghu Chong’s body. Linghu Chong thought, “And what did he write?”

    He only heard Yue Lingshan said, “That’s right, the two of us are going to be like that.”

    The two of them were quiet for a long time. Linghu Chong felt it even more strange, he thought, “What must they be like? After the two of them are gone and Chief Ren’s poisonous cold energy is driven out, then I’ll get out and take a look. Aiyo, that’s not good. Once I move, then the snow on my body will fall and the words on my body will be gone. If the four of us move at the same time, then all the words will be gone.”

    After some time, he heard a group of horses galloping from somewhere far coming towards them. Linghu Chong deduced from the horses’ hoof beats that there were more than ten horses coming. He thought, “It’s most likely they’re the rest of the Huashan School’s martial brothers and sisters.”

    The hoof beats were gradually getting nearer, but the two people, Lin and Yue, seemed to not care about it. He heard those people were coming from the northeast as they came nearer. When they were still a few li away, seven to eight people broke off and galloped to the west, while the rest of the people continued to come nearer. It was obvious that they were trying to outflank the two wings. Linghu Chong was worried. “The incoming people are harbouring evil intentions!”

    Suddenly, Yue Lingshan called out, “Aiyo, there are people coming!” The sound of the horses galloping became faster as those people urged their horses. Two ‘sou, sou’ sounds were heard as they shot two long arrows. This was followed by the sound of two horses neighing sorrowfully and dropping heavily on the ground. Linghu Chong thought, “The martial arts of these people are not weak, and their intentions are evil and cruel. They shot little martial sister and martial brother Lin’s horses first to prevent them from escaping.”

    He then heard the laughter and shouting from these people as they approached on their horses. Yue Lingshan was frightened and stepped back a few steps. Linghu Chong again heard a person laughed and said, “One little brother, one little sister, which family or school are you from?”

    Lin Pingzhi answered in a clear voice, “I’m Lin Pingzhi from the Huashan School, this is my martial sister with the surname Yue. We’re not acquainted with you, why did you kill our horses?”

    That person laughed. “Huashan School? En, your master, was he the one defeated by his own disciple, and called Gentleman Sword Mr. Yue?”

    Linghu Chong’s heart was pained to hear this. “These groups of heroes were gathering at Shaolin, and I offended Master. It only happened yesterday, but in a short time, everyone around the world has already known about it. I troubled Master and made other people ridicule him. This is a very grave sin.”

    “Linghu Chong’s conduct is improper, and time and again, he violated the rules and customs. The year before, he was expelled from the family of Huashan School,” Lin Pingzhi said. The meaning behind his words was that even though Master had lost to Linghu Chong, he had lost to an outsider and not to a disciple of his own school.

    That person laughed. “This lady’s surname is Yue, what is she to Yue Buqun?”

    Yue Lingshan indignantly said, “What’s that got to do with you? You killed my horse, pay back for my horse!”

    That person laughed again. “She looks unrestrained and vigorous, it’s most likely that she’s Yue Buqun’s little mistress.”

    The remaining ten more people burst into laughter. Linghu Chong was inwardly startled, “These people are vulgar and coarse, seems that they’re not people from the orthodox schools. I’m afraid that they’ll harm little martial sister.”

    Lin Pingzhi said, "Sir, you're a senior in Jianghu. How can you speak such filth? My martial sister is my master's daughter."

    That person laughed. "So it's Yue Buqun's young lady. Only your reputation sounds good."

    Another person on the side asked, "Brother Lu, why does only her reputation sound good?"

    That person answered, "I once heard people said that Yue Buqun's daughter is the most beautiful girl in the whole world. But that's not the case when I look at her now."

    Another person laughed and said, "This little girl's appearance looks ordinary but she has a fair white skin. If we stripped her, she might look alright. Haha, haha!"

    Those people all laughed loudly hearing this. Their laughter was full of lewd meaning. When Yue Lingshan, Lin Pingzhi, and Linghu Chong heard such rude talk, they were all furious. Lin Pingzhi pulled his long sword out and shouted, "You're spouting such shameless words, I pledge my life to deal with you."

    That person laughed. "Have a look, what did these two lewd people write on the snowmen?"

    Lin Pingzhi loudly called out, "I'll fight with you." Linghu Chong heard a 'chi' sound, and he knew that it was Lin Pingzhi stabbing with his sword. This was followed by the continuous clashing sound of weapons, as some people jumped down from their horses to fight him. Yue Lingshan immediately pulled her sword out. Seven to eight people called out at the same time, "I'll fight this little girl." One man laughed and said, "Everyone don't fight, everybody will get their turn." Weapons clashed and Yue Lingshan started to fight with the enemies. A person bellowed painfully as he was stabbed. A man said, "This little girl is very fierce. Old Three Shi, I'll avenge you."

    As the sound of battle rumbled on, Yue Lingshan called out, "Be careful!" A loud 'tang' sound was heard and Lin Pingzhi uttered an 'hng'. Yue Lingshan was startled and called out, "Little Lin!" It seemed that Lin Pingzhi had been injured.

    A person called out, "Let's butcher this little kid!"

    The leader of that group answered, "Don't kill him, capture him alive. Once we've captured Yue Buqun's daughter and son-in-law, we don't have to be afraid that hypocrite not listening to us."

    Linghu Chong was striving to listen but all he could hear was the sound of weapons splitting the air. Suddenly, a loud 'tang' sound was heard followed by a slapping sound. A man scolded, "Damn it, stinky lady." Linghu Chong suddenly felt someone leaning against his body, and he heard Yue Lingshan gasping for air. It was really her leaning on his 'snowman' body. After numerous 'ting tang' sound, a man happily shouted, "This still can't capture you?"

    "Ah!" Yue Lingshan was startled and the sound of battle stopped, while those people started laughing loudly.

    Linghu Chong felt that Yue Lingshan was being dragged away by someone, and he heard her screaming, "Release me! Release me!"

    A person laughed. "Old Two Min, you said that her whole body is white. I don't believe it, let's open up her gown and have a look." This was accompanied by the sounds of people clapping and cheering.

    Lin Pingzhi scolded, "Dog..." A slapping sound was heard as someone kicked him. This was followed by the sound of clothes being ripped. When Linghu Chong heard little martial sister being insulted by those thieves, why would he care whether Ren Woxing's poisonous cold energy had been completely driven out or not? He used his power to jump out of the snow. His right hand pulled the long sword out of his waist, and his left hand moved to wipe the snow on his face. But who would've thought that his left hand didn't respond to his thought and didn't move at all.

    Those people cried out in surprise. He extended his right hand to wipe the snow on his face, then as his vision cleared, he sent his long sword out and three men were pierced through their throats. He turned around and slashed twice killing two more people. He saw in front of him one man holding both of Yue Lingshan's arms behind her back, while one man was standing in front of her waiting for him. Linghu Chong stabbed his long sword at the lower left side of that person. Then he lifted his right leg kicking that person’s corpse away to clear his long sword. He heard people attacking from behind him, and without turning his head, he reversed his sword and stabbed two people's hearts. He held his sword normally again and stabbed the throat of that person holding Yue Lingshan's arms. That person lost his hold and dropped forward onto Yue Lingshan's shoulder with blood gushing out from his throat.

    The situation had completely changed all of a sudden. Linghu Chong had killed nine people successively in just the blink of an eye. The leader of those people shouted and smashed down two iron plates on Linghu Chong's head. Linghu Chong's long sword trembled, went through the gap between the two iron plates and stabbed the leader's left eye. That person screamed in pain until he finally dropped down on the ground. Linghu Chong turned his head around and slashed his sword out killing three more people. The remaining four people cried out as they were frightened to death and quickly ran for their lives. Linghu Chong shouted, "You've insulted my little martial sister, none of you will get out of here alive!" He chased two people and stabbed both of them from their backs. Each stab penetrated through their chests. The two people had been running very quickly. Even though the sword had cut their breaths, their legs were still running forward. They still ran for more than ten steps before dropping on the ground.

    Linghu Chong saw the remaining two people were also running away. One was running towards the east and one was running towards the west. He turned to the east and tossed his sword. The long sword flew like a silver of light and struck the back of that person's waist. Linghu Chong turned westward and gave chase to the last remaining person. After running for more than a hundred feet, he caught up to that person. He extended his hand and only then did he realize that there was no weapon in his hand. So he moved his power into his finger and poked the back of that person. That person felt pain at his back and turned around hacking his sabre down. Linghu Chong's bare hand martial art was just ordinary. Even though his poke managed to hit the enemy, he didn't know the method of moving his energy so he didn't injure his enemy. When he saw his opponent chopping his sabre down, he couldn't help feeling nervous and hastily avoided it. At the same time, he saw a big weakness on the right side of that person, so he formed a fist with his left hand and punched out. But unexpectedly, his left arm only moved a little and he was unable to lift it further when his enemy's sabre was already chopping down. Astonished, Linghu Chong hastily jumped back. That person lifted his sabre and ferociously charged at Linghu Chong. Since Linghu Chong didn't have any weapon in his hand, he didn't dare to fight with the enemy, so he quickly turned around to escape.

    Yue Lingshan picked up a long sword from the ground and called out, "Big martial brother, sword!" She then tossed the long sword towards him. Linghu Chong grabbed the sword with his right hand and turned around laughing loudly. That person still had his sabre lifted above his head waiting to chop it down when he suddenly saw Linghu Chong's sword flickered. In that moment, he was stupefied and unexpectedly didn't chop his sabre down.

    Linghu Chong slowly walked toward him. That person's whole body was trembling with both his knees bent as he sat heavily on the snow. Linghu Chong indignantly said, "You insulted my martial sister so I can't spare you." He lifted his long sword onto his opponent's throat. But something flashed in his mind, so he walked a step closer, then in a whisper asked, "What was written on the snowmen?"

    That person tremblingly answered, "It's... it's... 'Till the sea is dried… sea is dried… and the rocks are dust, our… love… love will never… will never change.'"

    From the moment this phrase ‘Till the sea is dried and the rocks are dust, our love will never change’ existed in this world, this was probably the first time ever that it was being said in such a frightened and sad manner.

    Linghu Chong was expressionless and said, "En, it's ‘Till the sea is dried and the rocks are dust, our love will never change.’"

    He felt sour in his heart, and sent his long sword out and pierced that person's throat. He turned around and saw Yue Lingshan was supporting Lin Pingzhi to get up. Both of their faces and bodies were full of blood. Lin Pingzhi stood up and cupped his hands towards Linghu Chong. "Many thanks to brother Linghu for your kindness in helping us."

    "What’s that for? Your injuries aren't serious?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "It's alright," Lin Pingzhi answered.

    Linghu Chong returned the long sword to Yue Lingshan, then he pointed towards the hoof prints on the snow. "Master and Master-Wife went that way."

    "Alright," Lin Pingzhi said.

    Yue Lingshan led two of the enemy's horses and mounted one of them. She said, "We'll go find dad and mom." As Lin Pingzhi struggled to mount his horse, Yue Lingshan rode her horse to go besides Linghu Chong. She reined her horse in and looked at his face. Linghu Chong also looked back directly into her eyes.

    "Many... many thanks to you..." Yue Lingshan stammered. Then she turned around, lifted her rein, and the two horses started to go towards the northwest following the hoof prints left by the Yue Buqun couple.

    Linghu Chong was disquieted as he watched the back of those two people entering the distant forest. He then slowly turned around and saw Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying had already shaken out the snow on them and were now looking at him. Linghu Chong happily inquired, "Chief Ren, I didn't trouble you?"

    Ren Woxing laughed bitterly. "I wasn't troubled, but you may be in trouble. How's your left arm?"

    "Something's not right with the meridian on my arm, my qi can't go through it and I actually can't move it."

    Ren Woxing scowled. "This is a little bit troublesome, we have to think of something to do about it. You rescued Yue family's young lady, that can be counted as repaying the kindness of your master. From now on, nobody owes anyone anything. Brother Xiang, how come that old Lu didn't progress? Why is he doing this kind of despicable thing?"

    Xiang Wentian answered, "Hearing from his tone, it seemed that he wanted to capture these two young people and take them to the Dark Wood Cliff."

    "Could it be that this is Dongfang Bubai's idea? What connection does he have with this hypocrite?" Ren Woxing pondered.

    Linghu Chong pointed at the corpses on the snow and asked, "These people are Dongfang Bubai's subordinates?"

    "They're my subordinates," Ren Woxing answered and Linghu Chong nodded his head.

    "Daddy, how about his arm?" Yingying worriedly said.

    Ren Woxing laughed and said, "Don't worry! My good son-in-law helped daddy repel that cold energy, so father-in-law will think of a way to cure his arm." After he said this, he laughed loudly and stared at Linghu Chong studying him. He saw Linghu Chong standing there looking very embarrassed. Yingying said quietly, "Daddy, take a rest on speaking these kinds of words. Brother Chong has been friends with Huashan's Miss Yue since childhood and they've grown up together. The look that Brother Chong was giving young lady Yue, how could it be that you still don't understand?"

    Ren Woxing laughed. "What kind of person is that hypocrite Yue Buqun? How can his daughter be compared to my daughter? Also, this girl Yue already has someone else in her heart. From now on, Chong'er will never think of this fickle girl anymore. The matter that happened when you’re kids, how can that be allowed?"

    "Brother Chong made such a big disturbance at the Shaolin temple because of me and the whole world heard about this. Also, because of me, he wasn't willing to go back to Huashan. My heart's already very satisfied over these two matters. There's no need to raise any other talk," Yingying said.

    Ren Woxing was well aware that his daughter liked to win. Since Linghu Chong had not proposed the issue of marriage yet, it was inappropriate to talk about it too much. However, sooner or later, they had to talk about this matter. He again laughed loudly. "Very good, very good, we must talk slowly about important lifelong matters. Chong'er, let me tell you the trick to make your arm's meridian passable." He then stood besides Linghu Chong and told him how to move his qi and how to make his meridian passable. He then waited for Linghu Chong to repeat back to him the method to make sure that he remembered. He then said, "You helped me repelled that poisonous cold energy and I taught you how to make your meridian smooth, so we don't owe each other anything. You must wait for seven days before the meridian on your left arm is recovered, you mustn't be impatient."

    "Yes," Linghu Chong answered.

    Ren Woxing waved his hand calling for Xiang Wentian and Yingying to come over. "Chong'er, that day in Plum Manor on Mount Gu, I invited you to join my Divine Sun Moon Sect. At that time, you refused. Today, the situation is very different and I'm bringing up that old matter again. This time, you couldn't possibly refuse with your excuses again?" Linghu Chong hesitated and didn't answer.

    Ren Woxing said again, "You already studied my Art of Essence Absorbing, later on, you'll suffer endlessly. Once your various internal energies came out, then you won't be able to save your life anymore, and you won't be able to die either. What I said before, I definitely cannot renege on it. If you don't join my sect, even if Yingying married you, I still wouldn't be able to impart to you this melding method. Even if my daughter blamed me for this for the rest of my life, I will still say the same thing. We have an important matter right now. We're going to Dongfang Bubai to settle some debt. Will you follow us?"

    "Chief, please don't blame me. Junior has decided not to enter the Divine Sun Moon Sect." These two sentences were said clearly and very firmly. There was no compromise in his voice.

    When Ren Woxing and the other two heard this, their faces changed colour. Xiang Wentian said, "Why is that? You don't have any regards for the Divine Sun Moon Sect?"

    Linghu Chong pointed to the corpses on the snow and said, "There are these kinds of people in the Divine Sun Moon Sect. Even though junior isn't worthy, I'll be ashamed to be associated with them. Also, junior promised Dingxian Shi Tai to be Heng-Shan School's headmaster."

    Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying all showed a weird expression on their faces when they heard this. Linghu Chong not wanting to enter the sect was not strange at all. But his last sentence was extremely strange. The three people simply couldn't believe what they heard.

    Ren Woxing pointed his finger at Linghu Chong's face. Suddenly, he burst out in laughter which shook the snow on the trees and made them fall down. He was again caught up in a wave of laughter before saying, "You... you... you want to become a nun? Go and become the leader of nuns?"

    Linghu Chong answered unequivocally, "No, not to become a nun, but I'm going to become Heng-Shan School's headmaster. Just before Dingxian Shi Tai died, she requested this of me. If junior didn't agree, then she would've died with an unfulfilled wish. Dingxian Shi Tai died because of me. Junior knows that this matter is bound to astonish people when they hear this, but I had no way to refuse it." Ren Woxing was still laughing non-stop.

    Yingying said, "Dingxian Shi Tai died because of me." Linghu Chong looked at her and felt appreciative towards her.

    Ren Woxing slowly managed to stop his laughter. "If other people requested something of you, you’ll always abide by them?”

    Linghu Chong answered, "Correct. Dingxian Shi Tai died because she was carrying out my request.”

    Ren Woxing nodded. "That's also good! I'm an old freak and you're a little freak. If we don’t do something unusual, how can we be great men? You go and become those nuns’ headmaster. So you're going to Heng-Shan now?"

    Linghu Chong shook his head. "No! Junior is going to Shaolin Temple."

    Ren Woxing felt that was a bit strange but he immediately understood. "You're going to take the two Shi Tai's corpses back to Heng-Shan." He then turned his head towards Yingying and asked, "Are you going to follow Chong'er and go back to the Shaolin Temple?"

    "No! I'm going to follow daddy," Yingying answered.

    "That's right, it won't do for you to follow him up Heng-Shan to become a nun." After he said this, he again laughed loudly. This laughter sounded bitter.

    Linghu Chong folded his hand in salute and bowed deeply. "Chief Ren, Brother Xiang, Yingying, we'll part ways here." He turned around and strode purposefully away. After he had walked more than ten steps away, he turned his head around and asked, "Chief Ren, when are you going to go up Dark Wood Cliff!"

    Ren Woxing answered, "This is the sect's internal matter; outsiders don't need to worry about it." He knew that Linghu Chong asked because he wanted to be there to help him fight Dongfang Bubai together so he immediately rejected this help. Linghu Chong nodded his head and stooped down to pick up a long sword. He hanged the sword on his waist before turning around and then walked away.

    End of Chapter 28

  10. #10
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    Default Chapter 29 Headmaster

    Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung.

    At dusk, Linghu Chong arrived at the Shaolin Temple and told the welcoming monk that he was there to take the remains of Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai back to Heng-Shan. The welcoming monk went in to report, and after some time, he came out to tell Linghu Chong, "Abbot said: The two Shi Tai's remains were cremated already. The monks in the temple are now reading scriptures to respectfully send them on their way. We'll send someone to deliver the ashes of the two Shi Tai to Heng-Shan."

    Linghu Chong walked into the hall where they were praying for the two Shi Tai. He knelt in front of the altar with the ashes and the funeral tablet*, and respectfully kowtowed a few times. He inwardly prayed, "As long as Linghu Chong lives, I will carry Heng-Shan School forward with all my heart and might. I won't lose Shi Tai's trust in me." Later, he didn't ask to see Great Master Abbot but immediately went out of the temple after parting ways with the welcoming monk.

    (*Translator’s note: On this tablet is usually written the name of the deceased and his/her title.)

    When he reached the bottom of the mountain, it was still snowing heavily so he quickly found a farmer's house to stay for the night. At dawn, he continued his journey to the north. When he arrived at a city, he bought a horse to ride on. Everyday, he travelled for around seventy to eighty li and as soon as he stopped by at an inn, he immediately moved his qi according to the method taught by Ren Woxing and slowly unblocked his meridian. After seven days, his left arm was able to move again normally.

    One day while he was traveling, he was at a wine shop drinking wine when he noticed people busily walking here and there on the street. Many families were preparing for the New Year and there was an air of happiness around them. Linghu Chong poured himself another drink and thought, "On Huashan, Master-Wife has always led all the martial brothers and sisters in cleaning up, grinding the flour for New Year’s cake, managing the New Year’s red pockets*, and stitching new gowns. Little martial sister would be cutting many paper-cut window decorations. How lively those New Years were. This year, I'm here all by myself drinking this stuffy wine."

    (*Translator’s note: Red pocket is a red coloured paper bag that contains money. Usually the elders give this to youngsters. But as soon as you’re married, then you’re counted as one of the elders and are expected to give out red pockets during the New Year. http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_e...ntent_43896.htm has a paper cut example.)

    As he was feeling melancholy, he suddenly heard the sound of people coming up the stairs. One person said, "I'm very thirsty. It wouldn't be bad drinking a few cups here."

    Another person said, "If you're not thirsty, could it be that it's bad to drink?"

    Another person replied, "Drinking wine is drinking wine, thirsty is thirsty. How can you mix these two matters together?"

    Another person added, "The more you drink wine, the thirstier you'll get. Not only you can't mix these two matters together, they're completely different."

    When Linghu Chong heard this, he knew that it was the Peach Valley Six Fairies who had just arrived. He felt really happy and shouted, "Six Peach Valley brothers, quickly come up and drink wine together with me."

    Suddenly, a 'hu hu' sound reverberated around the room as the Peach Valley Six Fairies flew up the stairs. They rushed at Linghu Chong and grabbed his shoulders and arms. Then one by one called out, "I saw him first." "I grabbed him first." "I spoke first, Master Linghu heard me first." "If I didn't say that I wanted to come here, how could we have met him?"

    Linghu Chong felt odd. He laughingly asked, "What tricks are you six playing at?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy went to the wine shop's window and called out loudly, "Young nuns, big nuns, old nuns, not old not young nuns! I, Peachtree Flower Fairy, have found Master Linghu, quickly hand me over the one thousand silver taels."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy also went towards the window and called out, "I, Peachtree Branch Fairy, found him first. Big young nuns, quickly give me all the silver."

    Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy each grabbed one of Linghu Chong's arms and shouted, "I found him first!" "It was me! It was me!"

    Then, from the end of the street, some female voices called out, "You've found hero Linghu?"

    "I found Linghu Chong, quickly hand over the money," Peachtree Fruit Fairy called out.

    "One hand gets the money, one hand delivers the goods!" Peachtree Trunk Fairy shouted.

    "Right, right! If those small nuns don’t want to pay their debts, then we'll hide Linghu Chong away and not give him to them," Peachtree Root Fairy agreed.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy asked, "How do we hide him away? Do we shut him off somewhere and don't let those small nuns to meet him?"

    There were sounds of people going up the stairs as a few females rushed up. The first person to reach the landing was really a disciple of the Heng-Shan School, Yihe. Behind her were four more nuns and two young ladies, who were Zheng E and Qin Juan. When the seven of them saw Linghu Chong, their faces filled with happiness. Some were calling him 'hero Linghu', some were calling 'big brother Linghu', and there were also some who called him 'Master Linghu'. Peachtree Trunk Fairy and his brothers extended their arms to block the path to Linghu Chong. "If you don't give us the thousand silver taels, then we won't deliver the goods."

    Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Peach Valley Six brothers, how did these one thousand silver taels come about?"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy answered, "We met them just before and they asked me whether I've seen you or not. I said that temporarily I haven't met you yet, but we met you not long after that."

    Qin Juan said, "This uncle is lying. He said: 'I haven't. Linghu Chong's feet are alive so it's most likely that he's at the end of the earth now. How could we have met him?'"

    "Wrong, wrong. We had the foresight already that we were going to meet Linghu Chong here," Peachtree Flower Fairy disagreed.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy added, "That's right! Otherwise, why would we come here and not somewhere else?"

    Linghu Chong laughed. "I've guessed it. These martial sisters are looking for me so they entrusted the six of you to help them look for me. Then you said that you wanted one thousand silver taels, isn't that right?"

    "We asked for one thousand silver taels. We know it's an exorbitant price. But if they could do business, then it must be worth it. Who knew that they're very generous, this middle-aged nun said: 'Alright, once you've succeeded in finding hero Linghu, we'll give you one thousand silver taels.' Are these words true?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy explained.

    Yihe answered, "Correct. Once they found hero Linghu, then Heng-Shan School will give them one thousand silver taels." Six palms immediately shot out and the Peach Valley Six Fairies said at the same time, "Hand it over."

    "We're Buddhists. Why would we carry so much silver on us? I'd like to bother the six of you to go to Heng-Shan to fetch it," Yihe said.

    She reasoned that the Peach Valley Six Fairies wouldn’t want to be troubled. Who would've thought that they would think it over and answered at the same time, "Very well, we'll go up Heng-Shan with you to avoid you not paying your debt."

    Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Congratulations on becoming rich and selling me at such a great price."

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies' orange-like faces were full of happiness. They cupped their hands and said, "Thank you, thank you! It's our luck, our luck!"

    But Yihe and the other six women became grieved and they knelt towards Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong was surprised. "Why is everyone giving me such a big propriety?" and he hastily returned their propriety.

    "We pay our respect to Headmaster," Yihe said.

    "So you already knew? Please quickly get up."

    "Yeah, it's not convenient talking while kneeling on the ground," Peachtree Root Fairy said.

    Linghu Chong stood up and said, "Six Peach brothers, Heng-Shan School and I have a few important matters we have to discuss. Please drink wine on the side and don't bother us, otherwise you might not be getting your one thousand silver taels." Originally, the Peach Valley Six Fairies wanted to annoy them. But hearing that last sentence, they quickly shut up and walked to the table besides the window. They then ordered some wine and dishes.

    Yihe and the other disciples stood up. As they thought of Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai dying miserably, they couldn't help crying sorrowfully.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy interrupted, "Yi, strange, strange, how come you're crying suddenly? If you are crying after seeing Linghu Chong, then it's better not to have seen him then."

    Linghu Chong glared angrily towards him. Frightened, Peachtree Flower Fairy quickly put his hand on his mouth.

    Yihe was still crying as she said, "That day big brother Linghu... no, Headmaster, you went ashore to drink wine but didn't come back to the boat. Later on, Hengshan School's martial uncle Mo Da came and told us that you've gone to Shaolin temple to meet martial uncle Abbess and Master. We consulted with each other and decided that it's better for us to go to Shaolin temple to meet with all of you. But we didn't expect to meet many Jianghu heroes on the way, and we heard them talking passionately about how you led a group of heroes to attack Shaolin temple, and how the thousands of monks from Shaolin temple ran away. There was a person with a big head with short and plump body. He said his surname was Old. He said... he said that martial uncle Abbess and Master were killed in the Shaolin temple. Before martial uncle Abbess passed away, she wanted you... wanted you to take over the Headmaster position of Heng-Shan and that you've agreed to it. These words were already heard by a lot of people... " She said till here and started to sob uncontrollably. The remaining six disciples also started to weep.

    Linghu Chong sighed. "It's true that Dingxian Shi Tai really put this heavy responsibility on my shoulder. But I'm just a young man and my reputation is really poor, and everyone already knows that I'm a loafer of poor character. How can I be the Headmaster of the Heng-Shan School? But it was just that the situation at that time forced me to agree. If I didn't agree, then Dingxian Shi Tai would've died with an unfulfilled wish. Ai, this is a very difficult matter."

    "We... we all hope that you... hope that you come and take up the leadership of the Heng-Shan family," Yihe pleaded.

    Zheng E reasoned, "Martial uncle Headmaster, you've led us going in and out of dangers, and you've also rescued many of the disciples' lives more than once. All the disciples of the Heng-Shan School already know that you're an upright gentleman. Even though you're a man, our school has no regulation that doesn't allow a man to be the Headmaster."

    A middle-aged nun called Yiwen added, "When we heard the news of Master and Martial Uncle's deaths, we all felt very sad. But when we found out that Martial Uncle Headmaster is coming to take over the leadership of the school, we all felt really comforted as Heng-Shan School wouldn't be destroyed."

    Yihe said, "My master and my two martial uncles were killed by someone. Heng-Shan School's three elders of the 'Ding' generation have successively died within these several months yet we don't know who the murderers are. Martial Uncle Headmaster, you becoming the Headmaster is the best thing possible. If you weren't our headmaster, then we would never be able to avenge our three elders."

    Linghu Chong nodded his head and said, "I take full responsibility for avenging the death of the three Shi Tai."

    Qin Juan said, "You're already been driven out from Huashan School; so now you can be Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. West mountain or north mountain, we're on par with one another in Wulin. When you meet Mr. Yue in the future, you won't need to call him master anymore. At most, you call him Brother Yue."

    Linghu Chong only smiled bitterly. He thought, "I don’t have anymore face to meet this Brother Yue."

    Zheng E said, "After we heard of this sad news, we doubled our effort to get to the Shaolin temple. On the way we met with Martial Uncle Mo Da again. He told us that you're not in the temple anymore but he wanted us to quickly look for you, Martial Uncle Headmaster."

    Qin Juan continued the story, "Martial Uncle Mo Da said that the sooner we find you the better it would be. If we were late for a step then you may have been persuaded to enter the Devil Sect. The orthodox and the demonical cannot mix like that of water and fire. Heng-Shan School would then have no more Headmaster."

    Zheng E glared at her and said, "Martial sister Qin talks without thinking. How can Martial Uncle Headmaster join the Devil Sect?"

    "Yes, but Martial Uncle Mo Da really did say this," Qin Juan replied.

    Linghu Chong thought, "Martial Uncle Mo Da is very concerned about this matter. Even though I didn't join the Sun Moon Sect, I very nearly did. That day, if Chief Ren didn't tempt me with the secret of the internal art, and if he had actually asked me sincerely and earnestly to join the sect, it would've been a very difficult decision for me. Also, considering Yingying's and big brother Xiang's parts in asking me, I might have immediately pledged my oath after attending to Heng-Shan School's big matter." He then said, "That's why you offered one thousand silver taels for the capture of Linghu Chong?"

    Qin Juan broke from her tears and smiled. "Capture Linghu Chong? How could we dare?"

    Zheng E said, "After everyone heard Martial Uncle Mo Da's instruction, we divided into groups of seven to look for Martial Uncle Headmaster, and to ask you to come up to Heng-Shan to handle the school's responsibilities. Today, when we met the Peach Valley Six Fairies, they asked for one thousand silver taels. To look for Martial Uncle Headmaster, don't mention one thousand silver taels, even if it were ten thousand silver taels, we would think of a way to give it to them."

    Linghu Chong smiled. "There's no benefit for you when I become your Headmaster. But your skill in getting alms from corrupt officials, village bosses, and greedy rich people will surely advance by a lot." The seven disciples thought of that day in Fujian when they asked for alms from White Peeling Leather. Their sadness was slightly relieved and they all broke into smiles. "Alright, don't worry everyone. Linghu Chong already promised Dingxian Shi Tai so I can't just disregard what I said. I'll definitely become your Headmaster. We'll eat till we're full then we'll go up Heng-Shan." The seven disciples all rejoiced when they heard this.

    Linghu Chong then drank some wine together with the Peach Valley Six Fairies. He asked the six of them what they wanted to use one thousand silver taels for. Peachtree Root Fairy answered, "Night Cat Ji Wushi is extremely poor. If he didn’t have one thousand silver taels, he wouldn’t be able to live from day to day, so we promised to give him our help as best as we can."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy added, "That day inside the Shaolin temple, we brothers made a bet with Ji Wushi..."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy interrupted, "Of course Ji Wushi lost. How could this little kid win from us brothers?"

    But Linghu Chong thought, "You made a bet with Ji Wushi, of course the one who lost is you guys." He asked, "What did you bet on?"

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered, "The matter we bet on concerns you. We guessed that you surely won't become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster, no... no... we guessed that you'll surely become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Night Cat guessed that you surely won't become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. We then said, gentleman's words must be believed. You already promised that old nun to become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. The world's heroes have already heard what you said, how could you deny it?"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Night Cat said, Linghu Chong is loitering around Jianghu and soon he will take Devil Sect's Sacred Lady as his wife. Why does he want to chit chat with some old and young nuns?"

    Linghu Chong thought, “Night Cat reveres Yingying completely. How can it be possible that he said ‘Devil Sect’? It must be the Peach Valley Six Fairies who inverted their story telling.” He then said, “So then you gambled one thousand silver taels on this?”

    Peachtree Root Fairy replied, “Right, at that time, we were certain that we’re going to win. Ji Wushi then said that this one thousand silver taels must be earned honestly and we can’t steal it off people. We told him of course, would Peach Valley Six Fairies rob people?”

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, “Today, we met several of these nuns while they’re looking for you. They said that they want to invite you to become Heng-Shan School’s Headmaster. We agreed to help look for you for the cost of one thousand silver taels.”

    Linghu Chong smiled and said, “You felt pitiful when you thought that Night Cat would lose one thousand silver taels to you. That’s why you wanted to earn one thousand silver taels to give to him, so that he could give this to you when he loses?”

    Peach Valley Six Fairies answered at the same time, “That’s right, that’s right. Your prediction is really accurate.”

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy added, “Compared to our prediction skill, your prediction skill doesn’t lack by too much.”

    Afterwards, Linghu Chong and his party set out to Heng-Shan. On the day they finally arrived at the foot of the mountain, the disciples from the school were respectfully waiting at the foot of the mountain as they had received a message about the arrival. They quickly paid their respects to Linghu Chong when they saw him. Linghu Chong hastily returned their propriety. He told them how Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai passed away, and all of them felt grieved. Linghu Chong saw Yilin amongst the rest of the disciples. She seemed to be looking feeble and much thinner since the last time he saw her. He asked, “Martial sister Yilin, you’ve been unwell recently?”

    Both of Yilin’s eyes were red as she answered, “It’s nothing.” After a moment, she continued, “You’re our headmaster now, so you can’t call me martial sister anymore.”

    On their way to the mountain, Yihe and the rest of the disciples all called Linghu Chong as ‘Martial Uncle Headmaster’. He kept telling everyone not to call him that but none of them agreed. After hearing Yilin telling him not to call her 'Martial Sister', he said in a clear voice, “Martial sisters, Linghu Chong is taking the leadership of the Heng-Shan School's family because of the former Abbess’s order. Actually, I don’t have the virtue or ability to do this job; I really don’t deserve it.”

    All the disciples replied, “It’s actually the fortune of this school that Martial Uncle Headmaster is willing to take on this heavy responsibility.”

    “Then everyone must promise me one thing,” Linghu Chong answered.

    Yihe and the rest of the disciples said, “We would never disobey Headmaster’s order.”

    “I’m only becoming your Martial Brother Headmaster, not your Martial Uncle Headmaster,” Linghu Chong told them.

    Yihe, Yiqing, Yizhen, Yiwen, and the rest of the older disciples consulted with each other and then reported back, “Headmaster is very modest, we’ll obey your order.”

    Linghu Chong happily said, “That’s very good.”

    Then they all went up the Heng-Shan mountain together. The summit of Heng-Shan was very tall. Even though everyone was walking really quickly, it still took them half a day to reach the Xianxing Peak after seeing it from afar. The main convent of the Heng-Shan School was the Wuse convent, which was a really small convent, while the other convent had more than thirty stone houses where the disciples resided in. Linghu Chong saw that the Wuse Convent only consisted of two rooms; one at the front and the other in the back. Compared to the grand temple of Shaolin, it was like comparing an ant to an elephant.

    When he arrived inside the convent, he saw a statue of the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin. The inside of the convent was spotlessly clean and everything was arranged simply. He never thought that Heng-Shan School with such an earth-shattering name in Jianghu, would have such a plain convent. After paying his respect to the Guanyin deity, Yu Sao led him to Dingxian Shi Tai’s meditation place, but he saw the four walls were dull and there was only an old putuan on the floor. Besides that, there was nothing else. Linghu Chong loved liveliness, drinking, and eating. How could he possibly stay in that quiet and calm room to meditate? If he took wine, dog meat or any meat in general into the room to eat and drink, then that would be too impolite towards everyone there. He then asked Yu Sao, “Even though I’m the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, I’m not a Buddhist and I’m also not a nun. The disciples of the school are all women while I’m a man; so living inside the convent isn’t appropriate. Please give me and the Peach Valley Six Fairies an empty and far away house to live in. Then that’ll be appropriate.”

    Yu Sao said, "Yes. The west peak has three big houses. They're originally guest houses, which we offered to the parents of the school's disciples whenever they come for a visit. If they're acceptable to Headmaster then Headmaster can stay there temporarily while we build a new residence for Headmaster."

    Linghu Chong happily replied, "It's already good that there's a house; why do you need to build a new house?", while he thought in his heart, "Could it be that I'll be Heng-Shan School's headmaster for the rest of my life? Once I've found a suitable person from the school to whom all the disciples will submit to, then I'll pass on this headmaster position to her. Then I'll pat my buttocks and travel around Jianghu leisurely and happily."

    When he arrived at the house on the west peak, he saw the bed, mattress, chair, and the rest of the things resembled that of a rich farmer's house. Even though they were still simple and humble, they didn't appear as dull as in the convent. Yu Sao said, "Headmaster, please sit. I'll go and get you some wine."

    Linghu Chong was happily surprised, "There's wine on this mountain?"

    Yu Sao smiled and said, "Not only do we have wine, we have good wine here. When little martial sister Yilin heard that Headmaster is coming up Heng-Shan, she told me that if we don't have good wine, then she's afraid that you won't be headmaster for long. On that same night, we sent people to go down the mountain to buy many jars of good wine."

    Linghu Chong felt embarrassed. He smiled and said, "Everyone worked so hard and spent so much money because of me. I don't think that's justified."

    Yiqing smiled. "That day we got a lot of silver from White Peeling Leather. Even though we give half of it to the poor, we still have plenty remaining. Also, we already sold those government horses for some money. So Martial Brother Headmaster can drink for ten years or twenty years, we’ll have enough money to buy wine." That night, Linghu Chong and Peach Valley Six Fairies drank to their hearts' content.

    The next morning, he consulted with Yu Sao, Yiqing, Yihe and the other disciples on how to welcome the ashes of the two Shi Tai and how to avenge the three Shi Tai.

    Yiqing said, "Martial Brother Headmaster has now taken the post of headmaster. So we must announce this to all the orthodox people of Wulin, and we must also dispatch people to tell the Five Mountains Sword Schools' Chief, Martial Uncle Zuo."

    Yihe indignantly said, "Pei, my master was killed by these traitors from Songshan School. The two martial uncles were most likely killed by them as well. What do we tell them for?"

    Yiqing replied, "We mustn't lack any propriety. Wait until we have investigated this clearly. If the three honourables were really killed by Songshan School, then at that time, Martial Brother Headmaster will lead us to confront them about their sin."

    Linghu Chong nodded his head. "What martial sister Yiqing said is true. But regarding the position of Headmaster, let me just do the job; there's no need for any celebration." He remembered the time when Master became the leader of Huashan. He was still very young at that time, and he recalled that there were so many formal celebrations. There were also numerous people from Wulin of the orthodox path who came up the mountain to congratulate his master and attend the ceremonies. He also remembered how the city of Hengshan was completely filled by many heroes for Hengshan School's Liu Zhengfeng's 'Gold Basin Hand Washing' ceremony.

    Heng-Shan, Huashan, and Hengshan schools all had the same reputation. If there weren't many people turning up at the ceremony to congratulate him for taking up the Headmaster position, then it would be very humiliating. Even if there were many people attending, it is most likely for them to laugh at him for taking up the leadership of a group of nuns. Yiqing understood his heart so she said, "Since Martial Brother Headmaster doesn't want to alarm the friends in Wulin, we wouldn't invite guests to come up the mountain to attend the ceremony. But we must decide on a day for Headmaster to officially take up the position so that we can officially inform everyone."

    Linghu Chong felt that if he took up the headmaster position of the Heng-Shan School too carelessly, it would damage Heng-Shan School's prestige and reputation since Heng-Shan is one of the five mountains sword schools. So he nodded his head agreeing to Yiqing.

    Yiqing took up a calendar and perused it for some time. She then said, "Sixteenth of the second month, eight of the third month, twenty seventh of the third month, these three days are lucky days. Martial Brother Headmaster, have a look, which day is suitable?" Linghu Chong had never believed in any lucky or unlucky days. All he thought about in his heart was that the earlier the ceremony was, then the less people there would be to take part in the ceremony, and he would be able to avoid much embarrassment. So he said, "Is there any good days for this month?"

    Yiqing answered, "There are actually many good days during this month. But they're all for going on a journey, breaking the ground*, wedding, opening a business, and others like that. It's not until the second month that there are good days for 'receiving seal and taking up office'."

    (*Translator's note: Breaking the ground means to start a building project)

    Linghu Chong smiled. "I'm not taking up a government position so it’s not really receiving a seal."

    Yihe laughed. "Weren't you a general before? Becoming a headmaster is also receiving a seal."

    Linghu Chong didn't want to brush away their ideas so he said, "Since it's like that, then make it the sixteenth of the second month."

    Afterwards, they immediately sent disciples separately: to Shaolin temple to take back the two Shi Tai's ashes, and to other schools to give notifications. He told all the disciples who were going down the mountain not to publicly announce this matter. He also said, "You must report to the headmaster of each school that we haven't avenged Dingxian Shi Tai's death yet and that the disciples of Heng-Shan School are still in mourning, so there won't be any grand ceremony for the taking up of the headmaster's office. Please ask them not to send anyone to attend the ceremony."

    After he talked to the departing disciples, Linghu Chong thought, "Since I'm now the headmaster of Heng-Shan, I must carefully research the sword art of the Heng-Shan School." He gathered the remaining disciples and tested each of their sword art from the basic introductory level martial art to the highest Heng-Shan sword art styles, which was displayed by Yihe and Yiqing, two of the oldest disciples. Linghu Chong saw that the Heng-Shan School's sword art was defensively very tight, and the killing moves were frequently aimed at spots where other people least expected. However, it did not have enough swiftness or ferociousness. These martial arts were really suitable for women. All the previous master generations of Heng-Shan School had all been women, so their martial arts weren't as powerful or fierce like the ones that men used. But Heng-Shan School's sword art could be said to be one of the sword arts with the least amount of flaws in them. If speaking about their defence, they were just slightly below Wudang School's 'Taiji Sword Art'. But talking about how they could suddenly attack, these sword arts were above 'Taiji Sword Art'. Heng-Shan School was one of the most outstanding schools in Wulin, so it had its own unique skills.
    In his mind, he carefully went over the drawings engraved on the cave wall on Huashan. There were some Heng-Shan School’s sword arts drawn there, which had wonderful variations, and were far above the sword art that Yihe and Yiqing were using. Even though this set of sword art had been defeated by other people, if in the future Heng-Shan School wanted to be glorious in Wulin, then its basic skills needed to be improved. He also thought of the time he saw Dingjing Shi Tai fighting with other people. Her internal energy was abundant and her moves were fierce. She was really very far above Yihe and the other disciples. He had also heard that Dingxian Shi Tai’s martial art was even higher. It seemed that the three senior Shi Tai had not imparted a great deal of their martial art to their disciples yet. When the three Shi Tai had successively passed away in the last several months, many of Heng-Shan School’s wonderful martial art had possibly been lost forever.

    Yihe saw him without any expressions on his face and noticed that he didn’t comment on any of the disciples’ sword arts. So she said, “Martial brother Headmaster, you must be looking down on our sword art, please give us some advice.”

    Taking the sword from Yihe's hand, Linghu Chong replied, “There’s this set of Heng-Shan School’s sword art; I don’t know if the three Shi Tai had imparted it to you or not?” and started to show the Heng-Shan School’s sword art engraved on the cave wall. He was doing the moves really slowly to let the disciples see it clearly. After a few moves, all the disciples started cheering. They saw that each move of his still contained the basic essence of Heng-Shan’s sword art, but the variations were wonderful. They didn’t know just how much higher in level this set was when compared to each of the sets they had learnt in the past. Everyone was looking at each move enthusiastically and they felt pleased seeing it. The engraving of this set of sword moves on the cave wall was dead, so when Linghu Chong was using it, he linked them up one by one. In between each move, it was unavoidable that he had to add some of his idea into it. When he finally finished showing them this set of sword art, all the disciples cheered and they all bowed saluting him.

    Yihe said, “Martial brother Headmaster, this is clearly our Heng-Shan School’s sword art, but we’ve never seen it before. I’m afraid even my master and the two martial uncles didn’t know about this sword art. Where did you learn it?”

    Linghu Chong answered, “I saw it on a mountain cave wall. If you were willing to learn it, then how about if I imparted this sword art to you?” All the disciples were happy to hear this and they thanked him. That day Linghu Chong imparted three moves to them. He explained the intricacies of those three moves clearly and personally conducted the drills.

    Even though it was only three moves from the sword art, these three moves were extremely profound and deep. Even the brightest and the most skilled disciples such as Yihe and Yiqing took seven to eight days to learn it. When it came to Zheng E, Yilin, Qin Juan, and the others, it was even more difficult for them to comprehend it. After nine days, Linghu Chong imparted two more moves to them. There were not many moves in this set of sword arts engraved on the cave wall. But they had actually spent more than one month before they completed rudimentary training. As to the mastery of this sword art, it depended on each person’s ability and comprehension.

    After more than a month, the disciples who were sent as emissaries started to return from their trip one by one, and for the most part, they didn't look pleased at all. They were afraid to talk when they reported to Linghu Chong. He knew for sure without asking that they had been ridiculed as a group of nuns wanting a man to be their headmaster. All he could do was console them with words. Then he asked them to separately learn from their martial sisters the sword art he had imparted to them. If there were anything they weren't clear about, then he would personally advise them.

    Two experienced disciples, Yu Sao and Yiwen were sent to Huashan to deliver the epistle. The distance between Heng-Shan and Huashan wasn't that far, so they should have returned much earlier. Even when all the disciples who went to the south had returned, Yu Sao and Yiwen still hadn’t come back yet. As they neared the sixteenth of the second month, the day for taking office, and still hadn't seen any sign of Yu Sao and Yiwen, they sent two more disciples, Yiguang and Yishi, to go to their aid.

    The disciples did not anticipate any sect or school sending anyone to attend the ceremony, so they didn't prepare any lodging or food for guests. However, everyone had earlier weeded the ground, swept all the rooms clean, and sewn new gowns and shoes to wear. Zheng E and some disciples had sewn a black gown for Linghu Chong to wear for this day. Heng-Shan was the north mountain among the five mountains and the colour of their uniform was black.

    On the morning of the sixteenth of the second month, when Linghu Chong got out after getting out of bed, he saw lamps and festoons hanging from the top of each house, showing the day's happy occasion. Seeing the care and dedication that went into making each of the decoration and securely arranging them, Linghu Chong again felt ashamed, but he also felt appreciation towards them. He thought, "The two Shi Tai died tragically because of me, but they didn't blame me for it. Instead, they gave much regards to me. If Linghu Chong couldn't avenge the three Shi Tai then I’ll be a useless person."

    Suddenly, he heard someone shouting from behind the corner of the mountain, "A'lin, A'lin, your dad has come to look at you. Are you well? A'lin, your dad's here." His voice was booming, shaking the valley, and before the echo had finished, he again shouted, "A'lin... A'lin... your dad..." Yilin had already heard his voice so she quickly got out of the convent and called out, "Dad, dad!" Then from around the corner of the mountain, a tall and strong monk emerged. It was really Yilin's father, Monk No Commandment, and there was also another monk behind him. The two of them were walking really fast and in a short time had reached the convent. Monk No Commandment loudly exclaimed, "Master Linghu, you didn't die from your heavy injuries, and now you're going to become my daughter's headmaster. That's very good!"

    Linghu Chong smiled. "This is thanks to Great Master."

    Yilin walked up to her father and lovingly pulled on his arm. She smiled, "Dad, you know today is the day that big brother Linghu officially takes up office as the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. Did you come here to congratulate him?"

    No Commandment laughed. "There's no need for congratulation. I'm here to join the Heng-Shan School. Everyone is from the same school, what's there to congratulate?"

    Linghu Chong was startled and he quickly asked, "Great Master wants to join Heng-Shan School?"

    No Commandment answered, "Yeah. My daughter is in Heng-Shan School. I'm her old man, so naturally I'm also in the Heng-Shan School. His granny, I heard everyone ridiculing you. They're saying that you're a man but you want to become the headmaster of a bunch of nuns and young ladies. His granny, they didn't know that you're full of passion and righteousness. The mind..." His eyebrows turned into a smile and it appeared that he was really happy. He looked at his daughter and said, "Old man punched that guy's mouth and broke all his teeth. I shouted to him, "You little kid knows fart! How can everyone in Heng-Shan School be all nuns and young ladies? Old man is from Heng-Shan School, even though old man has a shiny head, do you think I'm a nun? I’m going to pull my pants down to give you a look!" So I pulled my pants down but this kid fell down and then ran away. Haha, haha!" Linghu Chong and Yilin both laughed freely when they heard this.

    Yilin smiled. "Dad, you're so crude in doing things. You're also not afraid of people laughing at you!"

    No Commandment replied, "If I didn't let him look clearly, then this kid still wouldn't know whether I'm a nun or a monk. Brother Linghu, I've joined the Heng-Shan School. I've also brought this grand disciple along. Cannot Have No Commandment, quickly greet Headmaster Linghu."

    While Monk No Commandment was speaking, the monk following him had his back turned towards them for the whole time, not willing to look at Linghu Chong or Yilin. As he turned around, his face was full of embarrassment. He looked at Linghu Chong and smiled slightly. Linghu Chong felt that this monk looked familiar but he couldn’t figure out who he was. Then, he was startled as he unexpectedly recognised the Ten Thousand Miles Loner Tian Boguang. He was totally amazed and blurted out, "It's... it's Brother Tian?"

    That monk was really Tian Boguang. He smiled bitterly then bowed towards Yilin. “Greet… greeting Master.”

    Yilin was also very surprised. “How… how did you become a Buddhist? Is it a disguise?”

    Great Master No Commandment was feeling proud of himself and he laughingly answered, “This is the real thing and he’s not deceiving anyone here. He had really become a monk. Cannot Have No Commandment, tell your master what your Buddhist name is.”

    Tian Boguang smiled bitterly and said, “Master, grand Martial Master gave me a Buddhist name called ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’.”

    Yilin asked strangely, “What ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’? How can there be such a long name?”

    Her father replied, “What do you know? In Buddhist scripture, what does it matter how long the Buddha’s name is! ‘Buddha of Compassion and Sorrow Helps the Distressed and Watches the World’s Voice’, isn’t that name long? ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’ only has four words in his name, how can that be long?”

    Yilin nodded. “So that’s how it is. How did he become a Buddhist? Dad, was it you who took him as your disciple?”

    No Commandment answered, “No. He’s your disciple; I’m his grand martial grandpa. But you’re only a little nun and since he had already paid his respect to take you as his master, if he didn’t become a monk, then he would’ve ruined the good name of Heng-Shan School. That’s why I advised him to become a monk.”

    Yilin laughingly said, “What do you mean advised him? Dad, you must’ve forced him to become a Buddhist, didn’t you?”

    “He voluntarily did it; you can’t force someone to become a Buddhist. Whatever goodness this person has, there’s an equal amount of badness in him. That’s why I gave him the Buddhist name of ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’.”

    Yilin’s face became slightly red as she understood the meaning behind her father’s words. This Tian Boguang was a very lecherous person and he was somehow captured by her father in the past. At that time, his life was spared but a lot of strange punishments were heaped on him. This time, it seemed that he had been forced to become a monk.

    Then No Commandment continued, “My Buddhist name is No Commandment, so I don’t adhere to any rules or commandments. But this Tian Boguang has committed a lot of bad things in Jianghu. If he didn’t abstain from committing more of these piles of misdemeanours, how can he be under your school and become your disciple? Master Linghu wouldn’t have liked this also. In the future, he’s going to receive my alms bowl; that’s why his name also has the words ‘No Commandment’.”

    They suddenly heard a person said, “Monk No Commandment and Monk Cannot Have No Commandment are both joining the Heng-Shan School. The Peach Valley Six Fairies are also going to join Heng-Shan School.”

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies had come and the one who spoke just then was Peachtree Trunk Fairy.

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, “We were the first people to see Linghu Chong, so the six of us are big martial brothers, while Monk No Commandment is little martial brother.”

    Linghu Chong thought, “Since there are Great Master No Commandment and Tian Boguang in Heng-Shan School already, there’s no harm in accepting the Peach Valley Six Fairies as well. This way, it’ll remove those talks in Jianghu about Linghu Chong becoming the headmaster of a group of nuns and young ladies.” He then said, “Peachtree Six brothers are willing to enter the Heng-Shan School, then that’s really good then. But it’s very troublesome to arrange the seniority order one by one so it’s better if we just leave it alone!”

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, “No Commandment’s disciple is called Cannot Have No Commandment. When in the future, Cannot Have No Commandment accepts a disciple, what will his Buddhist name be?”

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered, “Cannot Have No Commandment’s disciple’s Buddhist name must also have the words ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’. He can be called, ‘Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment’.”

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, “Then the disciple of ‘Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment’; what would his Buddhist name be?”

    Linghu Chong saw Tian Boguang’s plight so he took his arm and led him away. “I have a few words to ask you.”

    “Alright,” Tian Boguang answered.

    The two of them quickened their steps and moved tens of feet away. But behind them, they still heard Peachtree Trunk Fairy saying, “His Buddhist name can be ‘With Reason and Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment’.”

    Peachtree Flower Fairy added, “Then how about disciple of ‘With Reason and Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment’? What would his Buddhist name be?”

    Tian Boguang smiled bitterly and said, “Headmaster Linghu, that day I was forced by Grand Martial Master to go to Huashan to invite you to come and see the little Shi Tai. But there’s a long story behind that.”

    Linghu Chong said, “I know that he forced you to take a poison, and he also tricked you by saying that he’d already sealed your death acupoint.”

    “I’ve already told you about that before. That day in the courtyard of the Jade House, I fought with that shorty Yu. After that, I thought about it and decided that there were too many heroes from the orthodox path for me to stay there for long. So I went north towards Hunan. I’m ashamed to talk about those days. My shortcoming became visible not long after. In Kaifeng prefecture, I sneaked into the room of a rich family’s young lady in the middle of the night. I lifted the mosquito net and extended my hands to cop a feel, but I unexpectedly felt a bald head instead.”

    Linghu Chong laughed and said, “So to your surprise, she’s a nun.”

    Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. “No, it was a monk.”

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly. “The young lady was inside the quilt sleeping with a monk. Never thought that this young lady would’ve stolen a man, and the man she’d stolen would be a monk.”

    Tian Boguang shook his head and said, “That’s not it! That monk was Grand Martial Master. Originally, Grand Martial Master was looking for me. When he finally tracked my trail down, he found me at Kaifeng prefecture. That afternoon I was spying around that house and Grand Martial Master saw me. He guessed that I was up to no good, so he talked to that family and told that young lady to get out of trouble. Then he slept on that bed waiting for me.”

    Linghu Chong laughed. “Brother Tian must have really suffered this time.”

    Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. “Does that need saying? When I rubbed Grand Martial Master’s head, I already knew that something’s not right. Then I felt my stomach felt numb because he hit my acupoint there. Grand Martial Master jumped out of the bed and lighted a lamp. Then he asked me whether I want to die or live. I know that for my whole life I’ve been doing evil things, so there would be one day when I’d have a reckoning. So I quickly said, ‘I want to die!’. Grand Martial Master thought that this was really strange so he asked me: ‘Why do you want to die?’ I said: ‘I wasn’t being careful and was captured by you. How can I still hope to live?’ Grand Martial Master gave me a blank expression then indignantly said, ‘You said you were captured by me only because you weren’t careful. So you are implying that if you were a bit more careful, then I wouldn’t be able to capture you. Alright!’ As he said ‘alright’, he released my acupoint. Then I sat down and asked him: ‘What is your order?’ He said: ‘You have a knife on your belt, how come you’re not using it to chop me? You have two legs underneath your body, how come you’re not jumping out of the window to escape?’ I said: ‘I’m a gentleman, how can I act like a shameless nobody?’ He just laughed loudly and said: ‘You’re not a shameless nobody? You already paid respect to my daughter to take her as your master and yet how come you’re disclaiming it?’ I thought this was really strange so I asked: ‘Your daughter?’ He answered: ‘On the top floor of that wine shop, you made a bet with that youngster from Huashan School. Saying that whoever lost would take my daughter as master. Could it be that it’s all fake? I went up Heng-Shan to look for my daughter, and she told me everything from the beginning to the end.’ I said: ‘So that’s how it is. That little nun is your daughter, that's really weird.’ He asked: ‘What’s weird about that?’”

    Linghu Chong laughed. "This matter really is quite strange. Other people become a monk after they've gotten a daughter, but Great Master No Commandment became a monk first before getting a daughter. His Buddhist name is called No Commandment. It means that he won't comply with any rules or commandments."

    Tian Boguang said, "That's right. At that time, I said: 'That bet was only a trick, how could you take it as real? You're not wrong that I lost the fight in that bet, so I won't bother your daughter anymore.' Grand Martial Master then said: 'That won't do. You already said that you're going to take her as master, so you must take her as your master. You cannot not take my daughter as a master. I can't let anyone bully my own daughter. I spent a lot of effort to find you. You're very slippery and if it weren’t for you committing these rapes, then it would’ve been really difficult to capture you.'

    I saw him getting muddled and not speaking clearly, so I quickly used my ‘Three Cloud Steps’ and jumped out of the window. I thought that once I've used my lightness martial art, Grand Martial Master would definitely not be able to keep up with me. But I was surprised when I heard footsteps behind me because Grand Martial Master had chased me down. I called out: 'Big monk, you didn't kill me just then, so I won't kill you either. If you kept on chasing then I won't be polite anymore.' Grand Martial Master laughed loudly and said: 'How do you become impolite?' I pulled my knife out, turned around, and chopped down on him. But Grand Martial Master's martial art was really high. He only used his palms to trade moves with me. I didn't know how to use my fast knife to chop him, and after more than forty moves, he grabbed the back of my neck and snatched my knife away.

    Then he asked me: 'Give up yet?' I said: 'I give up, you can kill me now!' He said: 'What's the use of killing you? Would it make my daughter alive again?' I was startled so I asked: 'Little Shi Tai is dead?' He said: 'She hasn't died yet, but she's as good as dead. I saw her at Heng-Shan and she was so thin that I can even see her bones. I cried when I saw her, and then I slowly asked her what happened. It was you who harmed her.' I said: 'If you wanted to kill me then kill me. Tian Boguang is an honest person and would never tell lies. I was rude to your daughter at first, but she was saved by Huashan School's Linghu Chong. I didn't violate her; she's still a young lady as pure as jade.' Grand Martial Master said: 'Your granny, what's the use of being as pure as jade? My daughter is lovesick; if Linghu Chong wouldn’t take her as his wife, she wouldn't continue on living. But when I mentioned this to her, my daughter scolded me. She said something like Buddhists cannot have worldly desires; otherwise Buddha reproaches them and when you die you enter the eighteenth level of Hell.' Suddenly he clutched my neck and scolded me, 'Stinky kid, this is all your doing. If you weren't being rude to my daughter that day then Linghu Chong wouldn't have to come and save her. Then my daughter wouldn't have become that thin.' I said: 'That's not for certain. Little Shi Tai's beauty is like a goddess, even if I weren't being rude to her that day, Linghu Chong would certainly have come up with another reason to approach her'."

    Linghu Chong scowled and said, "Brother Tian, what you said was too much."

    Tian Boguang laughed and said, "I'm sorry that I offended you. At that time, the situation was desperate. If I didn't say that, Grand Martial Master would never have released me. Sure enough, when he heard this, he turned from angry to happy and said: 'Stinky kid, think for yourself how many bad things you have done in your lifetime? If it weren't for the discourteous way you treated my daughter, I would've flattened your head a long time ago.'"

    Linghu Chong felt this was very odd, so he asked, "He's happy that you're being rude to her daughter?"

    Tian Boguang answered, "He wasn't being happy, he was praising my foresight."

    Linghu Chong couldn't help smiling. Tian Boguang went on, "Grand Martial Master lifted me in mid air with his left hand while his right hand gave me seventeen to eighteen whacks on the ear and I fainted. Then he soaked me in a small brook. When I woke up, he said: 'I'm giving you one month to go and invite Linghu Chong to go up Heng-Shan to see my daughter. Even if he couldn't take her as his wife for now, they can still talk and that'll be good enough. My daughter's life would be protected then. Your master has a problem but how come you didn't come and help as her disciple?' He then poked some of my acupoints and told me that they're the death acupoints. Then he forced me to take some poison saying that if I managed to invite you to come and see the little Shi Tai within the one month period, he would give me the medicine. Otherwise, the poison would come out and no medicine would be able to save me."

    Linghu Chong had at last understood. That day when Tian Boguang came up to Huashan to invite him to come down the mountain, he kept everything a secret and didn’t want to say anything clearly. Linghu Chong didn’t expect that he would actually tell him everything at this time. Tian Boguang continued, “I went up Huashan to invite you, but I was defeated and I knew that it would be hard to keep my life further. To my surprise, Grand Martial Master was feeling uneasy so he personally took the little Shi Tai to come up to Huashan to look for you. Then he gave me the antidote, and afterwards I also listened to your advice not to rape and do those lecherous things anymore. But Tian Boguang’s nature is lascivious and there are lots of women around. So whenever I have some money, I went to look for some prostitutes which is not a difficult thing to do. Half a month ago, Grand Martial Master found me again. He said that you were going to become Heng-Shan School’s headmaster, but other people are ridiculing you behind your back and your reputation in Jianghu is being ruined. He loves everything, loves his daughter and son-in-law…”

    Linghu Chong scowled and interrupted, “Brother Tian, you must never speak of this nonsense ever again.”

    Tian Boguang replied, “Yes, yes. I was just repeating what Grand Martial Master said. He said that he wanted to join Heng-Shan School and told me to follow his plan. The first step was to accept me as a disciple on behalf of his daughter. I didn’t consent to this so he beat me up. I’m not his match and I also couldn’t run away so I was forced to pay my respect to Master.” He said till here when he frowned and his expression turned dark.

    Linghu Chong said, “You only have to pay your respect to your master. It doesn’t mean that you have to become a monk as well. Doesn’t Shaolin School have a lot of secular disciples?”

    Tian Boguang shook his head and answered, “Grand Martial Master had another idea. He said: ‘You’re such a lecherous person. Once you’ve entered Heng-Shan School, your martial uncles will all be beautiful nuns, so that’s going to be very inappropriate. The best plan would be to cut out the source of trouble first.’ He then knocked me down, pulled my pants down, grabbed his knife and gave me a chop. He cut half of my thing.”

    Linghu Chong uttered an ‘ah’ as he was startled by this, and shook his head. Even though he felt that this was very cruel, he also thought that Tian Boguang had harmed too many women of good families, so it was a deserved retribution. Tian Boguang was also shaking his head before he continued, “I fainted immediately. When I woke up, Grand Martial Master had applied some medicine on me and had also wrapped up my injury. He told me to rest for a few days to recover from my injury. Then he forced me to shave my head and become a monk. He gave me a Buddhist name called ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’. He said: ‘Since I already chopped your thing, you can’t rape anymore. So, of course there’s no need for you to become a monk. But I made you become a monk and gave you the Buddhist name ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’ so that everyone will know. That way, Heng-Shan School’s reputation will also be preserved. Ordinarily, it’s inappropriate for people who have become a monk to mix up with nuns. But since your name is ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’, then it doesn’t matter.’”

    Linghu Chong smiled and said, “Your Grand Martial Master is very thoughtful.”

    Tian Boguang replied, “Grand Martial Master wanted me to tell you about all these. He also wants me to ask you not to blame my master.”

    Confused, Linghu Chong asked, “Why would I want to blame your master? She doesn’t know anything about this matter.”

    Tian Boguang answered, “Grand Martial Master said: Every time he saw my master, he noticed how she became a little bit thinner and her complexion a little worse. When he asked her about it, she always sheds a tear and never says anything. Grand Martial Master said: It must be you who’s bullying her.”

    Linghu Chong was alarmed. “I didn’t! I never talk to your master in an angry manner. Also, she’s always so good, why would I scold her?”

    Tian Boguang said, “You never scolded her, that’s why she cried.”

    “I don’t understand.”

    “Grand Martial Master beat me up when I asked about this too.”

    Linghu Chong scratched his head thinking that Great Master No Commandment’s entangled way of speaking was just like that of the Peach Valley Six Fairies.

    Tian Boguang said, “Grand Martial Master said: after he got married to Grand Martial Mother, they quarrelled all the time, and the fiercer the scolding was, the more love there was. You’re not scolding my master so it means that you’re not taking my master to be your wife.”

    “This… your master is a Buddhist nun, so I’ve never thought of this matter.”

    “I also said that. Grand Martial Master got angry and beat me up for a time. He said: my Grand Martial Mother was originally a nun and when he wanted to marry her, he became a monk. If Buddhist nuns or monks couldn’t get married, how can there be my master in this world? If my master isn’t in this world, how can there be me?”

    Linghu Chong couldn’t help thinking that this was funny. He thought Tian Boguang was much older compared to Little Martial Sister Yilin; how could he mention those two things together? Tian Boguang went on, “Grand Martial Master also said: if you didn’t think of marrying my master, then what are you doing becoming Heng-Shan School’s headmaster? He said: there are a lot of nuns in Heng-Shan School but not one can be compared to my master’s beauty. If you didn’t do it for my master, then for which nun are you doing it for?”

    Linghu Chong was secretly feeling miserable and couldn’t take this anymore, he thought, “Great Master No Commandment became a monk so that he could marry a nun. He now thinks that everyone in the world thinks the same way as him. If these words got out, how could it not cause a lot of problem?”

    Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. “Grand Martial Master asked me whether my master is the most beautiful woman in the whole world. I answered: ‘She’s not the most beautiful, but she’s very beautiful.’ He got angry and punched me causing two of my teeth to fall off. Then he said: ‘How come she’s not the most beautiful? If she weren’t beautiful, then why did you have rude intentions towards her on that day? And why did that little kid Linghu Chong risked his life to save her?’ I quickly said: ‘Most beautiful, most beautiful. How could Grand Martial Master’s daughter not be the most beautiful woman in the world?’ When he heard these words, he became happy and praised my brilliant vision.”

    Linghu Chong smiled. “Little martial sister Yilin is of course beautiful, it’s no wonder that great Master No Commandment is proud of her.”

    Tian Boguang happily said, “You agree that my master is beautiful; that’s very good then.”

    Linghu Chong oddly asked, “Why is that good?”

    “Grand Martial Master gave me a task, he wants me to think of a way to call you… call you…”

    “Call me what?” Linghu Chong asked.

    Tian Boguang smiled. “Call you my master-husband.”

    Linghu Chong was stupefied. “Brother Tian, Great Master No Commandment loves his daughter a lot. But you should already know that this matter is impossible to do.”

    “That’s true. I said that’s really hard to do, I said that you once led a large group of people to attack Shaolin temple because of Divine Sect’s young lady Ren. I said: ‘Even though young lady Ren’s beauty isn’t above my master, Master Linghu was already predestined to be with her. He’s already infatuated with her and other people wouldn’t be able to interfere.’ Master Linghu, in front of Grand Martial Master, I had no choice but to say this in order to protect my remaining teeth so I have something to eat with, please don’t blame me.”

    Linghu Chong smiled and said, “Of course I understand.”

    “Grand Martial Master then said: He already knows about this and that it’s very easy to solve this problem because all that is required is to think of a way to kill young lady Ren without you knowing. I quickly said not to do that because if young lady Ren were killed, then Linghu Chong would definitely commit suicide. Grand Martial Master said: ‘What you said was right. If this little kid Linghu Chong died, then my daughter will be widowed, how can that be not a bad luck? How about this? You talk to this little kid Linghu Chong; tell him my daughter will marry him and make his second house. This will be alright.’ I said: ‘Grand Martial Master, how can you wrong your daughter like that?’ He sighed then said: ‘You don’t know. If my daughter couldn’t marry Linghu Chong, she would die sooner or later; she definitely won’t have a long life.’ As he said this, his tears flowed down. Ai, this is their father-daughter inborn nature revealing their true feelings, it couldn’t be fake.”

    The two of them were looking at each other, both of them feeling pretty awkward. Tian Boguang then said, “Master Linghu, I’ve already said everything that Grand Martial Master wanted me to tell you. I know that some of these are hard to do, even taboo, especially since you’re the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. But I advise you to speak more to my master and let her be happy. You can deal with this later on.”

    Linghu Chong nodded his head and said, “Alright.” In the last few days, every time he had seen Yilin, she seemed to be thinner and thinner. He now knew that it was because she was lovesick. Yilin loved him so deeply; how come he didn’t know? But she was a Buddhist nun and still very young, so he expected her feelings would lessen as days passed by and would finally be gone. After meeting her again at Xianxia mountain range, and from Fujian to Jiangxi, he was never alone with her to talk about anything. Ever since he had been on Heng-Shan, he avoided doing anything that might rouse suspicion. He didn’t care if other people slandered his own name, as his name was already not good, but he felt he must never spoil the clean reputation of the Heng-Shan School. Besides the time he was imparting the sword art to the Heng-Shan’s female disciples, he never chatted with anyone. Compared to the past days of clowning around, he was very different. As he listened to Tian Boguang speaking of the past, and about Yilin’s tender feelings towards him, feelings suddenly burst forth in his heart.

    He looked up towards the mountain peak where the white snow was accumulating as he pondered. Suddenly, he heard the clamouring sounds of people coming up the mountain path. The mountain summit had always been quiet and peaceful, and there was never people shouting or making noises. He was really astonished when he heard footsteps of several hundred people coming up the mountain. The first person called out, “Congratulations, Master Linghu. Today is your happy day.” This person was short and plump; he was Old Man. Behind him were Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, Huang Boliu, Sima Big, Blue Phoenix, You Xun, the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, and many other people who had unexpectedly come here.

    Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. He quickly went forward to welcome them. “I received Dingxian Shi Tai’s last order so I must take the leadership of the Heng-Shan School, but I didn’t dare to alarm all the friends here. How come you’ve all come here?”

    These people had once followed Linghu Chong in attacking Shaolin temple and had gone through life and death battles with him. So they had become friends through trials and tribulations. They came up the mountain one by one and circled him. Old Man said in a loud and clear voice, “Everyone heard that Master managed to get Sacred Lady out, and we all felt really happy. This matter of Master taking up the headmaster position of Heng-Shan School; it was already known in Jianghu for quite a long time. If we didn’t come up the mountain today to give our congratulations, then we deserve to die.” These heroes were upright and straightforward people, after talking for a short while, they were able to joke around.

    Ever since he had taken residence on Heng-Shan, Linghu Chong had only been around a group of nuns and young ladies so he had to talk with the utmost restriction. Now, suddenly, as he found so many old friends around him, he was extremely happy. Huang Boliu said, "We're uninvited guests so Heng-Shan School certainly hasn't prepared any food or drink for us. So we brought food and wine up the mountain."

    Linghu Chong happily said, "That's very good then." He thought, "This situation is starting to resemble that big assembly on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge."

    As they were talking, around a few hundred people had come up the mountain. Ji Wushi smiled and said, "Master, we're all people from the same family so there's no need to be polite. Your educated and cultured female disciples shouldn't come and greet crude people like us. So it's best if we just talk amongst ourselves."

    Now he found the mountain peak very noisy and lively. Heng-Shan School certainly didn't expect that so many guests would suddenly turn up to congratulate them, so all of them became excited. There were some old disciples who were more experienced; they saw that the guests who had come to congratulate them were neither fish nor fowl. Even though there were a few well known heroes, they were all masters from the demonical path. Also, a lot of them were heroes and thieves from the dark path. Heng-Shan School's rules were strict and all the disciples guarded themselves strictly. Not only do they have a lot of contact with people from the orthodox path, they have not paid much attention to them. Unexpectedly, a large group of unorthodox people had come up to the peak today. But they saw their headmaster was holding and pulling on their hands, looking very close, and talking to them nicely.

    At noon, several hundred men brought chicken, duck, cow, sheep, wine, and many other dishes to the top of the mountain. Linghu Chong thought, "The peak of the mountain is a sacred ground for the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin. I'm the Headmaster here, but if we were to eat fish and meat, kill pigs and slaughter sheep, we will be offending the ancestors of the Heng-Shan School. I would be sorry to let this happen." He immediately told these people to cook the dishes on the mountainside. However, the smell of the wine and meat drifted up to the mountaintop which caused many nuns to secretly scowl. After these heroes cooked their meals, they went to the front of the convent to sit inside the large open area there. Linghu Chong sat on the west side while the several hundred female disciples sat behind him according to their seniority. They were waiting until the lucky hour to initiate the “taking up the office” ceremony.

    Suddenly, they heard the sounds of a group of people playing flutes coming nearer. Two old men with green gowns strode up the mountain. The group of heroes uttered "yi, ah" from everywhere and many people stood up. The old man on the left, with a yellow complexion, cried out in a clear voice, "Divine Sun Moon Sect's Chief Dongfang’s delegates Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun come to congratulate Hero Linghu's honour in becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster. We wish Heng-Shan School to be prosperous and Headmaster Linghu to be prestigious in Wulin."

    When he finished his speech, the group of heroes uttered an 'ah' and exploded in cheers. Half of these unorthodox path's heroes were connected to the Devil Sect, and among them, there were people who had taken Dongfang Bubai's 'Three Brain Corpse Pill'. So when they heard the words 'Chief Dongfang' mentioned, they were scared to death. The group of heroes didn't recognise who these two people were, but they had long heard of their names. The person on the left was called 'Honourable Yellow Face' Jia Bu, while the one on the right was called Shangguan Yun, with the nickname 'Eagle Hero'. The martial arts of these two people were high; it was said that their martial arts were way above those of all the headmasters, chiefs, and clan leaders in Wulin. The services and qualifications of these people in the Divine Sun Moon Sect weren't extremely impressive. But over the last many years, the sect had undergone a big change. Many older members such as Xiang Wentian and others were removed or went into seclusion. At the present time, Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun were two of the most powerful and first-class figures in the sect and it can be said that Dongfang Bubai was giving Linghu Chong a lot of respect by sending the two of them here.

    Linghu Chong went forward to welcome them. "Mr. Dongfang and I have no acquaintance with each other. I don't deserve your two honourable presences."

    Linghu Chong saw that 'Honourable Yellow Face' Jia Bu had a thin face resembling a candle, and his two Taiyang acupoints were very pronounced as if each point has a piece of peach underneath. The 'Eagle Hero' Shangguan Yun, with long arms, long legs, and an air of assured authority, had glitteringly bright eyes. These indicated that the two of them had profound internal energy.

    Jia Bu said, "Today is Hero Linghu's big day. Chief Dongfang said that originally he wanted to congratulate you personally. But there are too many matters of the sect that are hindering him, and since there's no way for him to be in two places at once, he asked Headmaster Linghu not to blame him."

    "I wouldn’t dare," Linghu Chong replied, while he thought in his heart, "It looks as if Dongfang Bubai is still flourishing which means Chief Ren still hasn't snatched the leadership of the sect yet. I wonder how Chief Ren, Brother Xiang, and Yingying are doing right now."

    Jia Bu leaned to one side and indicated with a wave of his left hand. "Here are some meagre gifts, small tokens of regards from Chief Dongfang. Headmaster Linghu, please accept them." Amidst the sound of flutes, more than a hundred people brought forth forty large red boxes. Each box was being carried by four strong men, and from the heavy steps of each man, it seemed that the items inside the boxes weren't light.

    Linghu Chong quickly refused, "Linghu Chong is already honoured by the presence of your two honourable; I would never dare to receive these gifts. Also, please reply to Mr. Dongfang that Linghu Chong said many thanks. On this mountain, Heng-Shan School's disciples live frugally but have a clean and honest life, so we have no use for these splendid and expensive items."

    Jia Bu replied, "If Headmaster Linghu doesn’t accept these gifts, Shangguan Yun and I will be in big trouble." He slightly tilted his head towards Shangguan Yun and said, "Brother Shangguan, don't you think what I said was right?"

    "It's right!" Shangguan Yun answered.

    Linghu Chong was troubled. He thought, "Heng-Shan School is an orthodox school and we're like water and fire with your Devil Sect. It’s already good that the two parties aren't fighting right now, but we still can't make friends with them. Also, Chief Ren and Yingying are going to settle their debt with Dongfang Bubai, so how can I accept their gifts?" He then said, "Brothers, please tell Mr. Dongfang that I don't dare to receive his gifts. If you didn't agree to take back these gifts then I'll send people to deliver these gifts back to your noble sect."

    Jia Bu smiled slightly and said, "Headmaster Linghu, do you know what's in these forty boxes?"

    "Of course I don't know."

    Jia Bu laughed and replied, "Once Headmaster Linghu looked at it, you surely wouldn't refuse it. In these forty boxes, actually, they're not all gifts from Chief Dongfang. A portion of it actually belongs to Headmaster Linghu. We're just bringing them up to return these items to their original owner."

    Linghu Chong was surprised. "My items? What could they be?"

    Jia Bu took a big step forward and replied in a whisper, "The majority of these items were the items left behind by young lady Ren at Dark Wood Cliff, such as clothes, jewelleries, and other common things. Chief Dongfang told me to send them back for young lady Ren to use. And some of the other gifts are Chief's gifts to Hero Linghu and young lady Ren. Many of the items are mixed together so they can't be separated. Headmaster Linghu, there's no need to be polite. Haha, haha."

    Linghu Chong's natural disposition was open-minded and carefree, and didn't confine himself to customs. Seeing that Dongfang Bubai had sent these gifts sincerely, and many of the items also belonged to Yingying, he didn't refuse them anymore. He laughed loudly and said, "In that case, many thanks."

    Just then, a female disciple came quickly towards him and reported, "Wudang School's Priest Chongxu has come to attend the ceremony."

    Surprised, Linghu Chong quickly walked towards the entrance of the mountain peak to welcome Priest Chongxu who had come with eight of his disciples. Linghu Chong bowed to salute him. "Honorable Priest, Linghu Chong is deeply grateful."

    Priest Chongxu smiled. "When Poor Priest heard of you becoming the Headmaster of Heng-Shan, I was really happy. Shaolin's Great Master Fangzheng and Fangsheng are also coming to congratulate you. Have they arrived yet?"

    Linghu Chong was even more confounded. At this moment, there were a group of monks walking up towards the mountaintop. The two people walking in front had their sleeves floating around. They were Abbot Fangzheng and Great Master Fangsheng. Fangzheng called out, "Priest Chongxu, you walked really fast and arrived here before us."

    Linghu Chong went down the mountain to welcome them. He called out, "Great Masters have come here personally, how is Linghu Chong worthy of this?"

    Fangsheng laughed. "Young hero, you had entered Shaolin three times already, and yet this is just our first visit to you here at Heng-Shan. So it can be said that we're just respectfully visiting each other."

    Linghu Chong welcomed the Shaolin's monks and Wudang's priests up the mountaintop. When the group of heroes on the mountaintop saw that Shaolin and Wudang Schools' leaders personally came, they were astonished and didn't dare to speak so loudly. All the Heng-Shan School's female disciples appeared pleased, and they all thought, "Martial brother Headmaster's reputation is so large."

    Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun gave a glance and then turned a blind eye towards Fangzheng, Fangsheng, Chongxu, and the rest of their people.

    Linghu Chong asked Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu to take a seat while he pondered, "I remembered when Master became the leader of Huashan, the leaders of Shaolin School and Wudang School didn't personally come; they just sent their people. I was still young at that time and didn't know any of the guests, but when Master and Master-Wife talked about what was happening at that time, they never mentioned the presence of Shaolin and Wudang Schools' leaders. Today, they both arrived at the same time; did they really come here to congratulate me or do they have other intentions?"

    A stream of people continued coming up the mountain. Most of them were the heroes who took part in attacking the Shaolin temple. Kunlun School, Diancang School, Emei School, Kongtong School, Beggar Clan, and all the other big clans sent representatives to congratulate and deliver the gifts. When Linghu Chong saw that the number of people who had come up to congratulate him was quite large, he felt relieved. "They've all come here because of Heng-Shan School and Dingxian Shi Tai's reputations. It's not because of Linghu Chong's reputation." Songshan, Huashan, Hengshan, and Taishan Schools didn't send anyone to congratulate him.

    As the thunderous sound of firecrackers went off, marking the arrival of the auspicious hour, Linghu Chong stood in the middle of the field and bowed, saluting everyone around him. Then he said in a clear voice, "Heng-Shan School's former leader, Dingxian Shi Tai, sadly met with someone's plot, and together with Dingyi Shi Tai, she passed away. I, Linghu Chong, bear the last wish of Dingxian Shi Tai to take up the leadership of Heng-Shan School. Everyone in Heng-Shan School feels grateful for the presence of all the honourable seniors and friends here." Then, accompanied by the sound of cymbals, Heng-Shan School's disciples lined up in two rows, one after another. In the middle were four of the most senior disciples, Yihe, Yiqing, Yizhen, and Yizhi; each of them was holding a Buddhist relic. They walked up to Linghu Chong and bowed to him. Linghu Chong joined his two palms, returning the respect. Yihe said, "These four Buddhist relics were passed down by ancestor Xiaofeng Shi Tai during the inauguration of the Heng-Shan School. They are to be passed down to successive Headmasters. New Headmaster, martial brother Linghu, please receive these items."

    "Yes," Linghu Chong responded.

    The four disciples handed over each item accordingly. The items were a scroll of scripture, a wooden fish, a strand of prayer beads, and a dagger. When Linghu Chong saw the wooden fish and the prayer beads, he felt embarrassed. He extended his hands to receive them but both of his eyes were looking at the ground, afraid to look at the eyes of the people in the crowd. Yiqing unfolded the scroll and said, "Heng-Shan School's five commandments: The first commandment is to never disobey your superior, the second commandment is to never harm people in the same school, the third commandment is to never kill the innocents, the fourth commandment is to always be an upright person, and the fifth commandment is to never make friends with evil. These are the instructions left behind by the ancestor of the Heng-Shan School. Martial brother Headmaster must personally set an example and lead the disciples; these rules must be obeyed."

    "Yes!" Linghu Chong responded. He thought in his heart, "The first three commandments are alright. But Linghu Chong isn't that upright, and this commandment “not to make friends with evil people” will be very hard to do. Today on this mountaintop, half of the guests here are people from the unorthodox path."

    Suddenly he heard people coming up the mountain calling out, "Five Mountains Sword Schools' Chief Zuo has an order. Linghu Chong can't usurp the leadership of Heng-Shan School."

    Amidst the clamour, five people rushed up followed by tens of people behind them. These first five people were each holding an embroidered flag, which were the alliance flags of the Five Mountains Sword Schools. They stopped tens of feet away from the crowd. Among those five people was a short and stout person, with a yellow chubby face, looking to be around fifty years old. Linghu Chong recognised that person as Yue Hou with the nickname 'Great Yin and Yang Palms'. He was a good fighter from the Songshan School. That day in the wilderness in Henan, Linghu Chong had fought with him and had pierced both of Yue Hou’s palms with his long sword, and caused a deep hatred between them. But Yue Hou was a gentleman; On another day, he ambushed Linghu Chong and managed to defeat him but instead of killing him, he jumped back to give Linghu Chong a chance to fight again. For this, Linghu Chong felt thankful towards Yue Hou.

    (Translator's note: In the third edition, this person was changed to Ding Mian. This is from Athena's post on this change: Ding Mian (martial arts brother of Zuo Lengchan) is the one who leads a group of people to prevent Linghu Chong from assuming leadership of the Northern Hengshan School. In the previous editions this was Yue Hou (Great Yin and Yang Palms). Yue Hou was a rather decent chap, so I think this change was to retain the image of him being a rather decent bloke. Ding Mian is famous for being a butcher, so humiliating him was not such a big deal. )

    Linghu Chong immediately cupped his fist and said, "Senior Yue, you are well."

    Yue Hou waved the command flag and bellowed, "Heng-Shan School is a member of the five mountains sword schools alliance so you must obey Chief Zuo's order."

    "After Linghu Chong assumed the leadership of Heng-Shan School, we'll need to discuss whether we're still a part of the five mountains sword schools alliance or not," Linghu Chong replied.

    By then, the remaining people had arrived on top of the mountain. They were disciples from Songshan, Huashan, Hengshan, and Taishan Schools. The eight disciples from Huashan were Linghu Chong's former martial brothers, but Lin Pingzhi wasn't among them. These people formed four rows and stood quietly while grasping the handle of their swords. Yue Hou said in a loud voice, "The school of Heng-Shan must be led by a Buddhist nun. Linghu Chong is a man. How can he violate the school rules that had stood for a hundred years at Heng-Shan?"

    "Rules are made up by people, so they can also be changed by people. This is our own sect's internal matter and cannot be interfered with by outsiders," Linghu Chong responded.

    From within the crowd, people started to scold Yue Hou, "This is their Heng-Shan School's matter. What's that got to do with your Songshan School?" "Your granny, quickly scram!" "What five mountains chief? Dog Chief, how shameless!"

    Yue Hou said towards Linghu Chong, "What are these filthy people doing here?"

    "All these brothers are my friends, they're here to attend the ceremony," Linghu Chong answered.

    "Alright. Heng-Shan School has five major commandments. What's the fifth one?" Yue Hou asked.

    Linghu Chong thought, "You're deliberately trying to put me down, so I'm going to debate this with you." He answered, "Of Heng-Shan School's five major commandments, the fifth one is never to make friends with evil. Linghu Chong definitely would never make friends with people like brother Yue."

    When the crowd heard this, they erupted in laughter and shouted, "Evil disciples, quickly scram!" Yue Hou, along with the disciples from Songshan, Huashan, and the rest of the schools saw the situation, and each one of them thought that the enemies were plenty and they were few. If the enemies were to fight with them, then they would be in big trouble. Yue Hou then thought, "Martial brother Zuo has lost this time. He anticipated that we only have to deal with a bunch of nuns and young ladies, so the disciples from the four schools would be enough to take control of the situation. Even though Linghu Chong's sword art is good, we would be at an advantage when there's no sword in his hand. The five of us brothers could attack him now and we would certainly be able to kill him. Who would've thought that there would be so many guests up here, along with the leaders of Shaolin and Wudang Schools." He immediately turned his body towards Fangzheng and Chongxu and said, "Seniors, you are currently the two top masters in Wulin and people look up to you. Today, I ask you to please speak a few words here. Linghu Chong had gathered so many demons here at Heng-Shan; isn't this in violation of Heng-Shan School's commandment to never make friends with evil people? Heng-Shan School has lasted for so long and has enjoyed a grand reputation as an orthodox school. Everything would turn upside down in Linghu Chong’s hand; are the two of you just going to sit there and do nothing?”

    Fangzheng coughed before saying, "This... this... hmmm..." He thought that what this person said was reasonable. The majority of people present there were people from the unorthodox path, but how could he ask Linghu Chong to tell them all to go down the mountain?

    Suddenly, coming up the mountain path, they heard a clear and crisp voice of a lady announcing, "Divine Sun Moon Sect's young lady Ren has arrived!"

    Linghu Chong was happy and surprised at the same time. He couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Yingying has come!" He hurriedly went towards the mountain side and saw two big men carrying a little green-coloured sedan chair quickly up the path. Behind the sedan chair followed four maids wearing green dresses.

    When the people from the unorthodox path heard that Yingying had come, they rushed down the mountain to welcome her. They shouted their welcomes to her and crowded around the sedan chair as it came up to the peak.

    When the sedan chair stopped, the curtain parted, and a girl wearing a pale green gown stepped out of it. It was really Yingying. The crowd cheered, "Sacred Lady! Sacred Lady!" and they all bowed towards her showing expressions of respect, admiration, and fear. The joy they showed was genuine and came from their hearts. Linghu Chong walked up a few steps and smiled. "Yingying, you've also come!"

    Yingying returned his smile and said, "Today is your big day, how can I not come?" She then glanced across the crowd, walked a few steps, and gave her propriety towards Fangzheng and Chongxu. "Great Master Abbot, Headmaster Priest, I give you my respect."

    Fangzheng and Chongxu returned her propriety, while they both thought in their hearts, "Linghu Chong and you are on good terms, but you shouldn't have come today. You're just making things more difficult for Linghu Chong."

    Yue Hou said in a loud voice, "This lady in an important figure in the Devil Sect. Linghu Chong, what do you say to this?"

    "What if she is?" Linghu Chong replied.

    "Heng-Shan School's fifth major commandment stipulates that you must never make friends with evil. If you don’t sever your relationship with these evil people, then you can't be the headmaster of Heng-Shan School."

    "I won't be the headmaster then, what's so important about that?"

    Yingying gave him a look; both of her eyes were full of affection. She thought, "Just for me, you’d forsake everything." She asked, "Headmaster Linghu, who is this person? Why did he come here asking about Heng-Shan School's matter?"

    Linghu Chong answered, "He was sent here by Songshan School's Headmaster Zuo. In his hand is Headmaster Zuo's command flag. Let alone a small command flag, even if Headmaster Zuo had come personally, how can I just let him meddle in my Heng-Shan School's matter?"

    Yingying nodded her head and agreed, "Right." Her thoughts went back to the fight that occurred in Shaolin temple where Zuo Lengchan gave them a lot of problem by using the Polar Ice Energy to heavily injure her father, and how her father came close to losing his life. She couldn't help feeling angry as she said, "Who said that this is Five Mountains Sword Schools' alliance flag? He's swindling people..." She had not finished her words when her body swayed and the flicker of a short sword was seen on her left hand as she stabbed it towards Yue Hou's chest.

    Yue Hou had never expected that such a delicate and beautiful lady would attack so viciously. She didn't give any hint beforehand that she was going to attack and her attack was fast as lightning. As her sword stabbed out, it was too late for him to pull out his own sword, so he slanted his body avoiding the stab. But he didn't anticipate that Yingying's move was a false move, so as he slanted his body, the grip on his right hand loosened and his opponent snatched the embroidered flag. Yingying didn't stop there but stabbed four more times at four flag holders, which allowed her to snatch all five flags. She used the same exact move for all five moves. The other four Songshan School's disciples were all Yue Hou's martial brothers, and their bare hand martial arts were all good. Zuo Lengchan had dispatched them with the intention of making a surprise attack on Linghu Chong using their bare hands. But Yingying's attack was too quick, and in a moment, she had managed to snatch all the flags without them managing to attack back. Even though they had lost, it could be said that they were ambushed.

    Yingying brought the flags over and turned around behind Linghu Chong's body. She said loudly, "Headmaster Linghu, these flags are fake. These aren't the five mountains sword schools' command flags. These are the Five Fairies Sect's five poison flags." She then furled open the five flags and everyone understood. On the five flags were the drawings of five venomous pests: snake, centipede, spider, scorpion, and toad. The colours were bright and the pests looked alive. How could they be the five mountains sword schools' command flags?

    Yue Hou and his group were stunned and didn't know what to say. Old Man, Zu Qianqiu and their group of heroes were cheering loudly. Everyone knew that after Yingying snatched the command flags, she immediately hid them away and somehow exchanged them with the five poison flags. But her hand was actually too fast, and no one saw clearly how she did this.

    Yingying called out, "Chief Blue!" A beautiful Miao girl walked out from the crowd and laughingly answered, "I'm here! What's Sacred Lady's order?" She was Blue Phoenix, the chief of the Five Fairies Sect. Yingying asked, "How did your five poison flags end up in Songshan School's hands?"

    Blue Phoenix laughed and answered, "These Songshan School disciples are all good friends of my sect's female disciples. They must've uttered sweet words to swindle my sect's five poison flags."

    "That's how it is. I'll return these five flags to you then," Yingying then tossed the five flags to her.

    Blue Phoenix laughed and said, "Many thanks." She extended her hand and grabbed the flags.

    Yue Hou was furious. He scolded, "Shameless witch, what kind of demonical methods are you using to deceive us? Quickly give us back the command flags."

    Yingying smiled, "If you want the five poison flags, why don't you ask Chief Blue for them?"

    Yue Hou didn't know what to do so he turned towards Fangzheng and Chongxu. "Great Master Abbot, Priest Chongxu, you are seniors of noble character and high prestige, please preside over this injustice."

    Fangzheng stammered, "This... hmmm... never make friends with evil, Heng-Shan School certainly has this commandment, but... but... today, these friends from Jianghu are coming to attend the ceremony, so Headmaster Linghu can't just shut the door and turn them away, that's just too disrespectful..."

    Yue Hou suddenly pointed to a person in the crowd and loudly shouted, "He... he... I recognise him as that rapist Tian Boguang! He's disguising himself as a monk. Are you trying to conceal yourself from my eyes? Are these kinds of people also Linghu Chong's friends?" Then in a fierce tone, he shouted, "Tian Boguang, what are you doing in Heng-Shan?"

    "I came to pay my respect to Master," Tian Boguang replied.

    Yue Hou was baffled, "Pay your respect to Master?"

    "That's right." Tian Boguang then walked up to Yilin and kowtowed a few times. "Master, disciple pays his respect. Disciple is correcting my wrongs and my Buddhist name is called 'Cannot Have No Commandment'."

    Yilin blushed and slightly moved away avoiding the kowtow. "You... you..."

    Yingying smiled and said, "Master Tian is turning his heart away from the demonical and returning to the orthodox path, and had also taken a master; that's really good. He has also become a Buddhist with the name 'Cannot Have No Commandment'; this shows that he's sincere in his intention. Great Master Fangzheng, the correct way is to abandon the knife and join the Buddhist order. When a person is determined to correct his ways, then Buddha will give this person a new path to tread on, isn't this right?"

    Fangzheng happily replied, "That right! Cannot Have No Commandment has joined the Heng-Shan School, and must strictly follow the school's rules from now on. This is really the good fortune of Wulin."

    Yingying then said loudly, "Everyone heard it; we've all come here today to join the Heng-Shan School. If Headmaster Linghu is willing to accept us, then all of us will become the disciples of Heng-Shan School. How can Heng-Shan's disciples be regarded as evil?"

    Suddenly, a flash of comprehension went through Linghu Chong. "So Yingying knew that I'd be embarrassed to be the headmaster of a group of female disciples. If there were a lot of male members in the school, then no one would be able to ridicule me. That's why she told all these people to join Heng-Shan School." He quickly asked in a clear voice, "Martial sister Yihe, is there any school rule that prohibit the school from accepting male disciples?"

    Yihe replied, "There's no rule that prohibits accepting male disciples into the school, but... but..." Temporarily, she couldn't get her mind to work. She thought that it was inappropriate for so many male disciples to be suddenly in the school.

    Linghu Chong said, "It's very good that everyone wants to join the Heng-Shan School. But there's no need to pay your respect. Heng-Shan School will arrange another... hmmm... a 'Heng-Shan Other Courtyard' for everybody to settle in. That Tong Yuan valley over there is a good place for that."

    The Tong Yuan valley was situated besides the Xianxing Peak. According to the stories, during the Tang dynasty, Zhang Guolao meditated there to become a deity. There was also a big rock on Heng-Shan with a lot of donkey hoof marks on it, and the stories say these hoof marks were made by the donkey ridden by Zhang Guolao. These donkey's hoof marks were imprinted deeply in granite; if this were not done by a deity then how could it have been done? Emperor Tang Xuanzong gave the title of ‘Mr. Tong Yuan’ to Zhang Guolao. The name of Tong Yuan Valley was taken from this. Tong Yuan Valley was not far from Xianxing Peak, which was where the convent was located. But from the valley to the peak, the mountain path was dangerous. Linghu Chong arranged the living quarters for these Jianghu heroes at Tong Yuan Valley so that there would be separation between males and females so as to avoid slanders.

    Fangzheng nodded his head and said, "That's very good. These friends are joining the Heng-Shan School and agreed to abide by Heng-Shan School's terms. This is really a joyful occasion in Wulin."

    Yue Hou realised that his opponents had increased in numbers when he saw Great Master Fangzheng talking like this. It seemed that today he would not be able to stop Linghu Chong from becoming the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. So he proceeded to convey Zuo Lengchan's second task.

    He coughed to gain attention and said in a clear voice, "Five Mountains Sword Schools Chief Zuo has an order: on the fifteenth of the third month, all five mountains sword schools must send their disciples to Songshan to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Everyone must attend and must arrive on time."

    Linghu Chong asked, "Whose idea is it to combine the five mountains sword schools into one?"

    Yue Hou answered, "Songshan, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan Schools have all approved of this. If your Heng-Shan School objected to this, then you would be openly making things difficult for the other four schools, and you'll only be asking for trouble." He then turned around towards the Taishan School's disciples and asked, "Do you not think that this is the truth?" The tens of people standing behind him answered together, "That's right!"

    Yue Hou laughed coldly and turned around to leave. After a few steps, he turned his head around to look at Yingying. He thought, "How do I get back those five command flags?"

    Blue Phoenix laughed, "Teacher Yue, now that you've lost these flags, how can you return to Headmaster Zuo? It'd be better if I return it to you!" After she said this, she tossed a flag at him.

    When Yue Hou saw the little flag flying towards him, he thought, "This is your Five Poison flag, not the Five Mountains command flag, why would I want it?" However, the flag had almost reached his throat so he quickly extended his hand to catch it. As soon as he caught it, he suddenly called out loudly and hastily dropped the flag. His palm felt like it was on fire. He turned his palm over to take a look and saw his palm had turned purple. He realized that there was poison on the pole of the flag and he had been trapped by the Five Fairies Sect. Feeling alarmed and angry, he angrily scolded, "Witch..."

    Blue Phoenix laughingly said, "You call 'Headmaster Linghu' and ask for his help, then I'll give you the medicine. Otherwise, your whole palm would rot."

    Yue Hou knew of the severity of the Five Fairies Sect's poison. In his hesitation, he felt his palm getting numb and losing feeling. His whole lifetime’s martial art was in his two palms. If his two palms were to rot then he would become a cripple. This made him frightened with worries. He quickly called out, "Headmaster Linghu, you... "

    Blue Phoenix laughed and interrupted him, "Ask for help."

    "Headmaster Linghu, I offended you, I ask... ask you to please give me the med... medicine."

    Linghu Chong smiled and replied, "Lady Blue, brother Yue was only doing what Headmaster Zuo ordered. Please give him the medicine."

    Blue Phoenix laughed and waved her hand towards a Miao girl standing besides her. That Miao girl took a packet out from her bosom, walked forward a few steps, and tossed that packet to Yue Hou. Yue Hou grabbed the packet in a hurry and the crowd erupted in laughter. He quickly walked down the mountain followed by his people.

    Linghu Chong announced in a clear voice, "Friends, since you all agreed to reside at Heng-Shan’s Other Courtyard; you must all comply with the school's commandments. These commandments are actually not hard to follow, but the fifth commandment of never making friends with evils is a bit troublesome. But from today onwards, everyone has become Heng-Shan School member, and since Heng-Shan School's disciples are naturally not evil, you must take care in making friends when you're outside the school." The crowd boomed their acknowledgement.

    Linghu Chong went on, "You can still drink wine and eat meat, but from now on, anyone who’s not a vegetarian cannot come to the Xianxing Peak anymore."

    Fangzheng cupped his hand and said, "Good, good! You must never desecrate the sacred ground of Buddha."

    Linghu Chong laughed. "Alright, just regard that I've now become headmaster. Everyone's belly must be feeling hungry now, quickly get the vegetarian dishes out. I'll accompany Shaolin's Abbot, Wudang's Headmaster and all the other seniors in eating. I'll drink wine with everyone else tomorrow."

    After they finished eating, Fangzheng said, "Headmaster Linghu, old monk and Chongxu have a few words to discuss with Headmaster."

    "Yes," Linghu Chong answered. He thought in his heart, "The headmasters of the current top two schools in Wulin came to Heng-Shan today. They certainly have something important to say. With dragons and snakes mixing together on top of Xianxiang Peak, no matter where we speak, it's unavoidable that walls will have ears."

    He immediately ordered Yihe, Yiqing and the other disciples to entertain the guests. Then he turned towards Fangzheng and Chongxu and said, "Down at the back of this mountain, there's a mountain besides the Porcelain Oven Pass which is called Mount Cui Ping. This mountain has a mirror-like cliff and on top of it, there’s a Hanging Temple. This is the panorama unique to Heng-Shan. If the two seniors are interested, please allow Junior to lead you there."

    Priest Chongxu happily answered, "I’ve long heard that the Hanging Temple on Mount Cui Ping was built around the Northern Song dynasty. Pines trees can’t grow there and not even monkeys can climb up there. Someone had really exerted a lot of effort in building a temple in the clouds. That's really a marvel in this world; I've admired it for a long time already and would really like to see it."

    End of Chapter 29

  11. #11
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    Default Chapter 30 Secret Meeting

    Translated by: Pokit and Bliss; Edited by: Hhaung

    Linghu Chong led Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu down Xianxing Peak. They hastened through Porcelain Oven Pass, and arrived under Mount Cui Ping. Fangzheng and Chongxu looked up and saw two pavilions on top of the mountain. The pavilions looked as if they were constructed by deities as their rooftops pierced through the cloud. Fangzheng sighed and commented, "The person who built this pavilion really had lofty imagination. For a person with high aspirations, nothing in the world is difficult." The three people slowly climbed up the mountain and finally arrived at the Hanging Temple. The Hanging Temple had two pavilions; each three stories high and soaring hundreds of feet above the ground. The two pavilions were separated from each other by a distance of tens of steps away and were connected by a sky bridge on the second floor.

    Inside the temple was an old servant woman sweeping the floor. When she saw Linghu Chong, Abbot Fangzheng, and Priest Chongxu, she just stared at them, not greeting or saluting them. More than ten days ago, Linghu Chong had come here with Yihe, Yiqing, Yilin and the rest of the disciples, so he knew that this servant was deaf and mute, and that she also did not seem to understand anything nor pay attention to anyone. He proceeded to the sky bridge with Fangzheng and Chongxu in tow. The sky bridge was only a few feet wide. If ordinary people were to ascend the bridge to view the scenery from up there, they would see the empty space all around them with cloud filling their view, and they would feel as if they were standing in the sky and it would be unavoidable that they would start to shake and feel as if their limbs had turned into jelly. But these three people were first class masters, so they were not daunted and their minds were at ease.

    Fangzheng and Chongxu gazed at a hazy cloud in the north and they were able to faintly see the outline of a city wall. There was also water flowing through the two cliffs of Porcelain Oven Pass. The view was really majestic.

    “The ancient people said that one man guarding the pass would stop ten thousand people from passing through. The terrain here really suits this saying,” Fangzheng said.

    “During the years of the Northern Song, Yang Lao ordered Gong E to guard three passes and he made his base here. This place is strategically placed and would suit any war tactician. From the moment I saw the Hanging Temple, I feel that the building is grand and I admire the perseverance of people in the old days. But the Hanging Temple became insignificant when you compared it to this five hundred li of chiselled mountain path.”

    Linghu Chong was surprised, “Priest, you’re saying that this several hundred li of mountain path was also man made?”

    “The history book says that Emperor Wei Daowu placed his soldiers here from Mount Zhong to Pingzheng during his first year of reign, and ordered tens of thousands of soldiers to dig out the Heng mountain range to make the five hundred li mountain path. Porcelain Oven Pass is at the end of this road,” Chongxu answered.

    Fangzheng said, “Even though it is called five hundred li straight road, the majority of it was actually nature made. Northern Song’s Emperor Wei sent out tens of thousands of soldiers only to open a pass through this mountain. But even so, the project was really large and it was shocking for most people.”

    “No wonder that so many people want to become an emperor. He only has to open his mouth and say a few words, and tens of thousands of soldiers immediately chiselled out a mountain pass for him,” Linghu Chong said.

    “In those ancient times, there were many bold and outstanding heroes. And with this kind of power and influence to aspire to, you can imagine how difficult things were. But you don’t need to mention about emperors, there’s already a lot of disturbances and continuous fighting in the current Wulin even without ‘power and influence’ coming into play,” Chongxu told him.

    Linghu Chong felt a shiver in his heart as he thought, “He’s come to the topic he wants to discuss.” He asked, “Junior doesn’t understand. Two seniors, please give me some advice.”

    “Headmaster Linghu, today, Songshan School’s old Yue led a lot of people to come here. What do you think it was for?” Fangzheng asked.

    Linghu Chong answered, “He was conveying Chief Zuo’s order to not allow junior to take over the leadership of Heng-Shan School.”

    “Why is Chief Zuo not willing to allow you to become the headmaster of Heng-Shan School?”

    “Chief Zuo wants to combine the five mountains sword schools into one, and Junior has repeatedly thwarted his plan and has also killed many Songshan School people. So Chief Zuo abhors junior completely.”

    Fangzheng asked, “Why do you want to thwart his plan?”

    Linghu Chong was stupefied and found it hard to answer. He repeatedly mumbled, “Why do I want to thwart his plan?”

    Fangzheng asked, “Do you believe that combining the five mountains sword schools into one is inappropriate?”

    “At that time, junior didn’t think whether it’s appropriate or not. But in order to force Heng-Shan School to agree, Songshan School disguised themselves as the Sun Moon Sect, captured the disciples of Heng-Shan, and besieged Dingjing Shi Tai. And they use contemptible methods in doing these. Junior coincidentally met these matters and felt that they were wrong, so I helped Heng-Shan. Later on, Songshan School wanted to burn Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai in the Sword-forging Valley; this was even more despicable. Junior have thought this over. If merging the five mountains sword schools was a good thing, then why doesn’t Songshan School discuss this clearly and openly with each school’s headmaster instead of doing all these sly and evil things?”

    Chongxu nodded his head before saying, “Headmaster Linghu’s view isn’t wrong. Zuo Lengchan’s wild ambition is enormous and he wants to become the number one person in Wulin. He himself knows that it’s difficult to subdue a lot of people so he’s forced to plot secretly.”

    Fangzheng sighed before adding, “Chief Zuo is cultured in the military arts and is also an illustrious person in Wulin. And within the five mountains sword school, there’s originally no one who can compare to him. But his ambition is too enormous, and he also wishes to overwhelm the two schools of Wudang and Shaolin in a hurry. So it’s unavoidable that he would use some unscrupulous methods to achieve this.”

    Chongxu said, “Shaolin School is publicly accepted as the leader of Wulin. Wudang is on the same level as Shaolin. Kunlun, Emei, and Kongtong Schools are at the next level. Brother Linghu, each of these schools was founded several hundred years ago by numerous heroes who had spent countless sweat and blood in establishing their schools. Every set of their martial arts, every little detail has been refined in those hundreds of years; this isn’t just the result from a single day of work. The five mountains sword schools alliance had only established themselves in Wulin within the last seventy to eighty years. Even though they had flourished quickly, their martial arts still aren’t as good as Kunlun or Emei, let alone Shaolin School’s profound seventy two unique arts.” Linghu Chong nodded his head in affirmation.

    Chongxu continued, "Within each school, there has also been one or two talented master with powerful martial arts. It's common in Wulin that an outstanding master's reputation would be known everywhere. But it would unprecedented if this reputation were earned solely on strength alone by taking control of all the schools in the realm. Zuo Lengchan is full of wild ambition, and this is precisely what he wants to do. When he became the chief of the five mountains sword schools alliance, Great Master Abbot anticipated that things in Wulin would be eventful from then on. In the past few years, Zuo Lengchan has acted exactly as Great Master Abbot predicted."

    Fangzheng let out a prayer, “Amituofo.”

    Chongxu went on, "It was only Zuo Lengchan's first step when he became chief of the five mountains sword schools alliance. His second step is to merge the five mountains schools into one and install himself as the headmaster. After merging the five schools, he would have a lot of manpower and would become an equal with Shaolin and Wudang Schools. Then, as a third step, he'll absorb Kunlun, Emei, Kongtong, and Qingcheng Schools. Then he's certain to declare war on Devil Sect and lead Shaolin and Wudang Schools in attacking the Devil Sect. This would be the fourth step."

    Linghu Chong felt fear in his heart as he heard this. "This ambitious plan is really hard to execute and Zuo Lengchan's martial art isn't necessarily unbeatable in this world. How did he come by such an ambitious plan?"

    Chongxu answered, "A person's heart is difficult to predict. No matter how difficult a worldly matter is, there's always someone who would want to try it out. Have a look, wasn't this five hundred li mountain path man-made? Wasn't this Hanging Temple built by someone? If Zuo Lengchan manage to destroy the Devil Sect then he'll be the best in Wulin, and next he would want to annex Wudang and clean up Shaolin. This could possibly happen. And of course he doesn't need to rely only on his martial art to do all of these things."

    Fangzheng let out another prayer, "Amituofo!"

    "Right now, Zuo Lengchan wants all the Wulin's warriors in the realm to be under his command," Linghu Chong said.

    "That's right! After that, I'm afraid he'll want to become the emperor. After he's become the emperor, then he would want to have a long life. May you attain boundless longevity! This is called 'Human's greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant'. It's been like that since the ancient times. Of all the heroes in this world, there's not many who can escape the trap of 'power and influence'," Chongxu said.

    Linghu Chong was silent. He couldn't help from shivering as the cold northern wind swept through. "We humans only live for dozens of years, and the most important thing in life is to be happy. Why do you have to attain power, influence, and all that? Zuo Lengchan wants to exterminate Kongtong and Kunlun, and annex Shaolin and Wudang. How many people would he kill? How much blood would be shed?"

    Chongxu clapped and said, "That's right, the three of us have this heavy responsibility to prevent Zuo Lengchan from succeeding in order to avoid a bloodbath."

    Linghu Chong became alarmed. "Priest is making junior terrified by speaking like that. Junior's knowledge is shallow; I will listen to seniors' plan."

    "That day when you led so many heroes to go to Shaolin to meet young lady Ren, you didn't damage a single grass or tree in Shaolin temple. Great Master Abbot received your compassion on that day," Chongxu said.

    Linghu Chong's face turned scarlet. "I'm afraid Junior had really made a big disturbance."

    Chongxu went on, "After you went away, Zuo Lengchan and the others also left one by one while I stayed on at Shaolin temple for seven days to have many long talks with Great Master Abbot. We talked deeply about our worries regarding Zuo Lengchan's wild ambition. That day, just as Ren Woxing used deceit to gain the upper hand on Great Master Fangzheng, Zuo Lengchan also used deceit to subdue Ren Woxing. Originally, this would not have been a big deal, but those ignorant disciples in Wulin would say: 'Great Master Fangzheng isn't Ren Woxing's match, while Ren Woxing isn't Zuo Lengchan's match...'"

    Linghu Chong continuously shook his head and disagreed, "Not likely, not likely!"

    "We all know that it's unlikely. But Zuo Lengchan's reputation is likely to increase greatly because of this fight, and he will become even more conceited and his wild ambition will grow even more. Later on, we separately received news of Brother becoming the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. We both decided to personally come to Heng-Shan to attend the ceremony to give our congratulations and to discuss about
    this big matter," Chongxu said.

    Linghu Chong said, "Junior doesn't deserve all the favours that seniors have shown me."

    "That Yue Hou came to convey Zuo Lengchan's order. He said that on the fifteenth of the third month, everyone from the five mountains sword schools would gather at Songshan to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. This act has long been predicted by Great Master Abbot, but we never thought that he would do this so soon. When he said that it was to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, he made it sound as if the merging of the five mountains sword schools were a sure thing. Actually, Hengshan's Mr. Mo Da's temperament is peculiar and it's unlikely that he would be attached to Zuo Lengchan. Taishan's Priest Tianmen is very firm and he also would never bend to other people's wishes. Your master Mr. Yue looks relaxed on the outside but he's actually very serious on the inside and very strict about preserving the tradition of Huashan School. Mr. Yue would definitely fight against Zuo Lengchan seeing that Zuo Lengchan would wipe out the reputation of Huashan School. This leaves Heng-Shan School. The three senior Shi Tai have all passed away and this left the female disciples powerless to fight against Zuo Lengchan and therefore they probably would've surrendered. Who would've thought that Dingxian Shi Tai would break with custom and hand the headmaster position into Brother's hand. Brother Great Master Abbot and I have talked about Dingxian Shi Tai's foresight, and we really admire her. It was all the more difficult for her to think about this especially when she was already injured heavily. But she still managed to think it through. This shows just how much Dingxian Shi Tai had trained herself that even as she was a breath away from dying, she still had a clear mind. If Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Heng-Shan Schools ally together and do not permit the forming of this Five Mountains School, only then would Zuo Lengchan's plot be foiled," Chongxu said.

    Linghu Chong said, "But judging from the tone of voice Yue Hou used when he gave that order today, it seems that Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools are already under Zuo Lengchan's control."

    Chongxu nodded and said, "Yes. Lately, when we think of your master Mr. Yue, Great Master Abbot and I have become really confused. We heard that Fuzhou's Lin Family has a son who has taken your master as his master, is this right?"

    "Yes. This martial brother Lin's name is Lin Pingzhi," Linghu Chong answered.

    "His great grandfather has passed down a book called the 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'. This rumour has been going around in Jianghu for a very long time. Everyone said that this book contains a very powerful sword art. Brother must surely have heard of this," Chongxu said.

    "I have," Linghu Chong answered. Then he immediately told them of the search for the Buddhist robe in Fuzhou's Xiangyang Lane, how Songshan School sent people to snatch it, and how he himself got injured.

    Chongxu hummed deeply after listening to his story. He then said, "It is reasonable to suppose that your master found this Buddhist robe on you and gave it to your martial brother Lin."

    "Yes. But later on, martial sister chased me and asked for this 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'. I find this problem really hard to solve and as Junior has already been wrongly blamed for this for a long time, I didn't pay further attention to this problem. But what's really the truth behind this Evil Resisting Sword Art, could seniors please tell me?"

    Chongxu looked at Fangzheng and said, "Great Master Abbot, please tell Brother Linghu the whole story."

    Fangzheng nodded his head a few times before saying, "Headmaster Linghu, have you heard of the name 'Sunflower Manual'?"

    "I've heard Junior's master mentioned it before. He said 'Sunflower Manual' is a secret which contained a supreme martial art study, but it has been lost for a long time and no one knows of its whereabouts. Later on, Junior heard Chief Ren saying that he passed this 'Sunflower Manual' down to Dongfang Bubai. So this item 'Sunflower Manual' is currently in the hands of Sun Moon Sect."

    Fangzheng shook his head and said, "The book Sun Moon Sect has is incomplete and isn't the original."

    "Yes," Linghu Chong responded. He felt that if these two seniors didn't know of this secret in Wulin then no one else would know of it. He also felt that Great Master Fangzheng was on the verge of revealing this really big secret.

    Fangzheng lifted his head and longingly looked at the floating white clouds. "During the days that Huashan School was separated into two, the Qi faction and the Sword faction, Huashan School's seniors were killing each other because of this division. Do you also know about this?"

    "Yes. But my master didn't talk about this in detail," Linghu Chong answered.

    Fangzheng nodded. "Internal fighting in the school is really not a good thing so Mr. Yue didn't want to talk too much about it. The reason why Huashan School was divided into Qi faction and Sword faction was said to be because of this 'Sunflower Manual'." He paused for a time before slowly continuing, "For a long time in Wulin, it has been said that this 'Sunflower Manual' originated from the previous dynasty, created by an official of the Imperial Court."

    "A government official?" Linghu Chong asked.

    Fang Zheng went on, "The government official was a eunuch. The name of this master is forever lost. In addition, just why exactly such a highly skilled master became a eunuch in the imperial court will never be known to us now. What we do know is that the martial arts inscribed in that manual are deep and profound to the extreme. For the past 300 some odd years, no one person has been able to take possession of the manual and master its arts. About a hundred years ago, the manual came into the possession of the Putian Shaolin Temple. At that time, the abbot of that Shaolin temple was Reverend Hongxie. He was an extremely wise and intelligent person, which was reflected in his vast understanding of martial arts. Reverend Hongxie was the perfect candidate who possessed enough talent to master the Manual's profound martial arts. But it has been claimed by Reverend Hongxie's students that their master never mastered the Sunflower Manual. Moreover, they have even said that after studying it for quite some time, Reverend Hongxie never even began to practice it at all."

    Linghu Chong reasoned, "It must be because there was some secret part of the Manual that was missing, that even such a talent like Reverend Hongxie wasn't able to fully comprehend the Sunflower Manual without it."

    Fang Zheng nodded and answered, "That might be a possibility. However, the Old Taoist and I have never had the fortune of encountering this Manual. Not saying that we would dare to practice its arts, but perhaps seeing what kind of profound and mystical writings are in it would be interesting."

    Chong Xu smiled slightly and said, "Great Master, you are being affected by worldly desires. We are practitioners of the martial arts. Because we haven't had the chance to see the Manual we can say we won't practice. But if we actually did get to see it, most likely we would be losing sleep and not eating, tirelessly studying the Manual's words and meaning. The result would be that not only would we mistakenly waste our cultivation, but it would lead our mind to endless troubles and confusion. Because we haven't had the fortune to have seen the Manual, I would say that we are the ones who are truly fortunate."

    Fang Zheng laughed. "Old Taoist you are right. Old monk is still not free of worldly longings. How shameful it is." He then turned his head back around to Linghu Chong and continued, "Huashan School had two martial brothers who happened to be visiting the Shaolin Temple at that time and they caught sight of the Sunflower Manual there."

    Linghu Chong thought, "Because the manual was so important, Shaolin must have taken measures not to allow anyone to see the Manual. Those two martial brothers of Huashan must have secretly peeped at the Manual."

    Fang Zheng continued, "Because of the urgency of the situation, those two brothers couldn't spend time to study the Manual in depth during their stay at Shaolin. So the two divided up the work and each read and memorized half of the Sunflower Manual. Afterwards, they returned to Huashan and together studied and discussed each part that they read. But what happened was that the two martial brothers disagreed on a lot of what was written in the Manual. When they tried putting their parts together, a lot of it did not make sense. Each believed what he read and memorized was correct, what he interpreted was correct, and the other person was mistaken. However, from the individual parts that each of them had memorized, neither one could come up with or practice anything substantial either. The two brothers used to be very close and were the best of friends. However after this clash of interests, they became very heated rivals and this was the cause of the split of Huashan into Qi and Sword factions."

    Linghu Chong added, "Those two senior martial brothers, are they Huashan School's seniors Yue Su and Cai Zifeng?" Yue Su was the founder of Huashan's Qi branch and Cai Zifeng was the founder of Huashan's Sword branch. The splitting of the two sects of Huashan was a thing of the distant past.

    Fang Zheng went on with his story, "Yes. The incident with Yue and Cai was soon discovered by Reverend Hongxie. He understood that although the martial arts philosophies inside the Sunflower Manual were profound and deep, they were also brutal, ferocious and dangerous. He stated that the first step was the most difficult step in learning the arts of the Sunflower Manual. After the first step, learning the rest was relatively simple. All the martial arts in this world are relatively easy to learn in the beginning and get increasingly difficult as one progresses further. The Sunflower Manual was the exact opposite. The first step was extremely difficult and if even a small mistake was made when training, if one didn't die from it one would certainly be severely injured. So therefore he sent his disciple Reverend Duyuan to try to convince the two Huashan brothers to stop trying to practice the Sunflower Manual as it could be extremely harmful to them."

    Linghu Chong said, "This martial art was unexpectedly very hard to learn in the beginning. If no one gave you any direction, and you only learn from the book, then of course it would be very dangerous. But could it be that the two Huashan martial brothers didn't listen to his advice?"

    Fang Zheng answered, "That wasn't the case. That would be wrongly blaming the two of them. Looking at a person like me who's been practicing martial art for my whole lifetime, if one day I had the chance to take a peek at a deep and profound martial art's secret, how could I not be willing to study it? Old monk has cultivated my study
    in Buddhism for tens of years, but if one day I managed to get my hands on the Manual, I would definitely still read it. Priest Chongxu laughed at this earlier. So how can a secular martial art master refuse it? Unexpectedly, this was exactly what happened to Reverend Duyuan when he went up to see them."

    Linghu Chong asked, "Could it be that the two Huashan brothers had ill intentions toward Reverend Duyuan when he tried to coerce them into giving up the Manual?"

    Fangzheng shook his head. "That wasn't the case. They were actually very courteous to Reverend Duyuan and admitted that they had actually looked at the 'Sunflower Manual'. On the one hand, they apologized and one the other hand, they asked for Duyuan's advice on the writings of the Manual. But they never expected that even though Reverend Duyuan was Reverend Hongxie's precious disciple, he had never once before heard or encountered the Manual at all. Because Hongxie himself never
    really understood the writings of the Manual so he couldn't teach it to his disciple. But the two brothers, Yue and Cai, were certain that Reverand Duyuan was proficient in the martial arts study of the Manual, so they wanted to get his opinion on it. At the time, Duyuan didn't really understand the verses from the Manual that they recited to him either. He just casually explained the writings as they recited, and couldn't help but secretly memorize what they recited. Reverend Duyuan was also an exceptional martial arts master as well as an extremely wise and intelligent person. Through his logical deductions of what the two brothers recited, the explanations he gave actually fit and made sense."

    Linghu Chong said, "So it turns out that Reverend Duyuan was learning the script of the Manual from two brothers as they recited it."

    Fang Zheng nodded his head. "Correct. But originally, what the two brothers recited was not very much. But after hearing how the explanations Reverend Duyuan gave them made sense, they couldn't resist the temptation and invited him to stay at Huashan for 8 more days. But after this visit, Duyuan never returned to the Shaolin
    temple."

    Linghu Chong was surprised, "Never returned? Where did he go afterwards?"

    Fang Zheng replied, "At that time, no one knew. But not long afterwards, Reverend Hongxie received a letter from Reverend Duyuan stating that his attachments to the world were too great that he decided to leave the Buddhist realm and renounce his monkhood. He was also very ashamed and couldn't face his master anymore." Linghu Chong felt that this was very strange and that there must be another reason for this.

    Fangzheng continued, "After that incident, there was much suspicion and distrust between Shaolin and Huashan. The news that Huashan disciples had secretly studied the Sunflower Manual leaked to the public and soon after, the ten elders of the Devil Sect attacked Huashan." Just then, Linghu Chong remembered the bones and skulls inside the cave behind the Cliff of Contemplation. He also recalled the engravings of the various sword arts on the cave wall and couldn't help from uttering an 'ah' in acknowledging his comprehension.

    "What is it?" Fangzheng asked.

    Linghu Chong's face turned red and said, "I've interrupted Abbot's story, please forgive me."

    Fangzheng nodded his head and continued, "This incident happened before your master was even born. The Elders of the Devil Sect attacked Huashan with the intention of stealing the Sunflower Manual. It was because of this incident that Taishan, Songshan, Huashan, Hengshan and Hengshan formed an alliance. After receiving word, the other four schools came to Huashan's aid. A bloody battle occurred on Huashan, and all ten of the Devil Sect Elders were badly wounded. Yue and Cai also lost their lives in this battle and as a result, the version of the Manual that they penned was snatched away by the Devil Sect. That's why it's hard to say who had actually won this battle. Five years later, the Devil Sect returned to attack, but this time the ten elders came prepared. They had managed to understand the sword arts of the five mountains sword schools comprehensively and thought up counter moves to break all the sword arts of the five mountains sword schools. Priest Chongxu and old monk believe that even though the martial arts of the Ten Elders were great already, to be able to comprehend and counter all the sword arts of the five mountains sword schools, the Sunflower Manual must have played some role in giving them such insights into martial arts theories. At this second battle, the five mountains schools actually suffered great losses. Many great masters lost their lives and since that day many of the intricate and complex sword arts of those schools were lost as well. However, those ten Devil Sect elders were also unable to escape Huashan. Thinking of the fighting that happened at that time, it must've been ferocious and bloody."

    Linghu Chong said, "Junior saw the remains of these ten Devil Sect's elders inside a cave in Huashan's Cliff of Contemplation, and I also saw a number of inscriptions engraved on the stone wall."

    "Did you? What was written on the wall?" Chongxu asked.

    "The inscription was written in big letters and it says: 'THE FIVE MOUNTAINS SWORD ALLIANCE, YOU SHAMELESS AND DESPICABLE BUNCH, CAN'T
    WIN IN A FAIR FIGHT, DIRTY TRICKS ARE YOUR SPECIALTY'. Besides it were more sentences written in small letters cursing and swearing at the five mountains sword schools, like shameless, etc, etc," Linghu Chong told them.

    "How could Huashan School let these slanders remain on the stone wall? This is really strange," Chongxu pondered.

    "Junior discovered this stone cave accidentally, and no one else knows of its existence," Linghu Chong explained. He then immediately told them how he discovered this stone cave, and he also told them how someone with an axe had dug several hundred feet through the mountain, but this person had died from exhaustion inches away from breaking through.

    Great Master Fangzheng asked, "Using an axe? Could it be that he was 'Divine Strength Demon' Fan Song?"

    "He was! There was a sentence on the wall that says: 'Fan Song and Zhao He defeat Heng-Shan sword art here'."

    "Zhao He? He's one of the ten elders called 'Divine Flying Demon'. Was he using a thunder mace?" Fangzheng asked.

    "Junior doesn't know about this, but on the ground of the cave, there was a thunder mace there. Junior remembered the inscription on the stone wall, the ones who defeated the Huashan School's sword art were called Zhang Chengfeng and Zhang Chengyun."

    "It's true then, they are the two brothers 'Divine Golden Monkey Demon' Zhang Chengfeng and 'Divine White Ape Demon' Zhang Chengyun. It was said that their weapons were copper cudgels," Fangzheng said.

    "That's right. The pictures on the stone wall showed cudgels defeating my Huashan School's sword art. It was really wonderful and unthinkable."

    "That place you saw is apparently the trap that the five mountains sword schools had prepared to capture those ten elders from the Devil Sect. Once they were trapped in that mountain cave, they were locked up and were unable to get out," Fangzheng deduced.

    "Junior also has the same thought. That's why those people thought that they had been treated unfairly and wrote those swear words on the stone wall and touted that they had defeated all the sword arts of the five mountains sword schools. They wanted to let people know in the future that they hadn't been defeated in a fight but had been trapped instead. There were also some Huashan School's sword arts engraved on the stone wall, they were extremely wonderful and it seems that even my master and master-wife don't know about them. Junior doesn't know the reason for this but now that I've heard Great Master Abbot relating the past story, it's certain that these high sword arts were lost after most of Huashan School's seniors lost their lives there. Heng-Shan, Taishan, and the other schools seemed to have lost their
    high sword arts as well since then."

    "That's right," Chongxu affirmed.

    "There were also some long swords that belonged to the five mountains sword schools besides the bones of the Devil Sect's ten elders," Linghu Chong added.

    Fangzheng let out an unusual expression and said, "I don't know the reason. Maybe the ten elders snatched them from the hands of the five mountains sword schools people. Have you talked to anyone about what you saw in that cave?"

    "After Junior discovered that cave, I've been going from one misfortune to the next and haven’t had any time to mention this to master and master-wife. But grand martial uncle Feng knows about it already," Linghu Chong said.

    Fangzheng nodded his head. "My younger martial brother Fangsheng once had the opportunity to meet senior Feng and received his favour. Martial brother Fangsheng told me that your sword technique was taught by senior Feng. We know that during the time when Huashan split into two branches, senior Feng had already decided to leave Huashan to be on his own."

    Chong Xu said, "It was said in Wulin that during the time when Huashan split into two and were fighting amongst themselves, senior Feng was away in Jiangnan getting married. When he heard news of the fighting, he quickly returned to Huashan but the Sword faction had already lost with numerous casualties on their side. Otherwise with his wonderful sword art in the fight, the Qi faction would never have gotten the upper hand. Senior Feng felt immediately that the Jiangnan's family that his wife was supposed to be from might be a hoax. Actually, that guy Yue Zhang had secretly received instruction from the Huashan's Qi faction to hire a prostitute and tell her to pretend to be a lady from an esteemed background looking to be married so that they can restrain Senior Feng in Jiangnan. Senior Feng then went back to Jiangnan to look for that Yue's family he was to marry, but everyone was missing. He realized then that he had been tricked. Rumor has it that Senior Feng was so extremely angry that he cut off his own head."

    Fangzheng's expression changed as he looked at Chongxu wanting him to stop talking. But Chongxu pretended not to understand and the last thing he said was, "Headmaster Linghu, poor Taoist respects senior Feng completely and would never dare to talk about his private life. So I told you about this matter today so that you understand that heroes get into trouble because of women. When a gentleman makes a mistake, it's not such a big deal, but they can't keep falling deeper and deeper into that mistake."

    Linghu Chong knew that he was using the analogy to talk about Yingying. But knowing that Priest Chongxu had said this with good intentions, Linghu Chong just sighed and did not answer. He thought, "Grand martial uncle Feng has been living at the Cliff of Contemplation for all these years. So he really regrets about his past and he's too ashamed to see people of the orthodox path in Wulin. That's why he told me not to tell anyone of his whereabouts and he also said that from then on he doesn't want to see anyone from the Huashan School anymore. A grieve misfortune befell on him and for these past tens of years, he has been living by himself. After I've settled this big matter, I'll go up Cliff of Contemplation to talk to him for a while. Now that I'm no longer a member of the Huashan School, paying him a visit wouldn't be considered violating his order."

    The three people talked for half a day until the sun was going down the mountain, painting a crimson colour across the horizon. Fangzheng said, "Not long after Huashan School's Yue Su and Cai Zifeng wrote down the ‘Sunflower Manual', they were killed by the Devil Sect's ten elders so they didn't have time to practise it yet and the Manual was taken by the Devil Sect. That's why no one in Huashan School had managed to learn any martial art from the Manual. But Yue and Cai had perceived the Manual differently; one said the study of qi was more important while the other gave more importance to the study of sword. They had separately convinced the school's disciples with their own viewpoints and this later resulted in the division of Huashan School into two branches - Qi and Sword. This division caused the disciples from the two branches to fight amongst themselves within the school. This Manual really is a very inauspicious item."

    Chongxu nodded his head. "The five colours blind people, the five tones deafen people, that's the theory."

    Fangzheng said, "Even though the Devil Sect managed to get the partially completed Manual written by these two brothers, perhaps it has no benefit at all. The ten elders perished on Huashan because of this. Headmaster Linghu said before that Chief Ren passed the Manual down to Dongfang Bubai. Perhaps the hatred between these two people was also caused by this Manual. In actuality, this incomplete manual is probably not even as good as the one memorised by Lin Yuantu."

    Linghu Chong asked, "Who's Lin Yuantu?"

    "En, Lin Yuantu was your martial brother Lin's great grandfather, the founder of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, the one who used the seventy-two stances of Evil Resisting Sword Art to shake the world; that was him," Fangzheng answered.

    "This senior Lin, did he also see the 'Sunflower Manual' before?" Linghu Chong inquired.

    "He was Reverend Duyuan, the disciple of Reverend Hongxie!" Fangzheng explained.

    Linghu Chong was shaken when he heard this. "So that's what happened."

    "Reverend Duyuan originally had the surname Lin, so when he went back to the secular world, he retook his original surname," Fangzheng said.

    "So Senior Lin was Reverend Duyuan, and he was also the same person who shook Jianghu with the seventy-two stances of Evil Resisting Sword Art. This is really unexpected," Linghu Chong mumbled. Suddenly, sadness swelled over him as he remembered how Lin Zhennan died on that night in the worn-out temple outside Hengshan city.

    "Duyuan is 'Tu Yuan'. After this Senior Reverend went back to the secular world, he reverted back to his original surname but he inverted his Buddhist name and took the name Yuantu. He got married, founded the escort house, and caused a big uproar in Jianghu. This Senior Lin was an upright person. Even though he was running an escort house, his conduct was still heroic and righteous, and he was still eager to help people in distress. He was no longer a Buddhist monk but he was still acting like a Buddhist. One only has to have a good heart to be a Buddhist; not much difference exists between such a person and a Buddhist. Of course, not long after that Reverend Hongxie heard about these events and realised that the head of the Lin escort house was his most loved disciple. But he never paid him a visit." Fangzheng told him.

    "Where did this 'Evil Resisting Sword Art' come from after this Senior Lin obtain the essence of the 'Sunflower Manual' from the recitation of Huashan School's seniors Yue and Cai? How come this 'Evil Resisting Sword Art' that's been passed down in the Lin family is not very good?" Linghu Chong asked.

    Fangzheng replied, "Evil Resisting Sword Art comes from the incomplete book of 'Sunflower Manual'. Both items came from the same origin but both had only a small portion of the original Manual." Fangzheng turned his head around to Chongxu and said, "Brother Taoist, you have more understanding about the art of sword compared to me. Why don't you talk to young hero Linghu about this matter?"

    Chongxu laughed. "If we hadn't been friends for many years, old Taoist would've thought that you were teasing me with that kind of talk. In the art of sword, besides Senior Feng's excellence at the current time, who else is above young hero Linghu?"

    Fangzheng said, "Even though young hero Linghu's sword art is excellent, no one could even come close to you in comparing the study of sword arts. We're all friends here so we never have to say any meaningless words; there's no need to be polite."

    Chongxu let out a sigh before saying, "Actually, Old Taoist knows that the knowledge of the study of sword arts is vast like the sea and that what I know is only like a grain in a big granary. In the future, I don't know whether I'll have the chance to meet Senior Feng to consult him about this." He then turned towards Linghu Chong and said, "Today, the Evil Resisting Sword Art of the Lin family is ordinary and nothing spectacular. But actually it is the same sword art as the one that senior Lin Yuantu used to shake Jianghu back then. In those days, the headmaster of Qingcheng School was Zhang Qingzi (Tranlator's note: Evergreen in Lanny's translation.) with the nickname 'Number One Sword in the West's Three Gorges' but he still lost to Senior Lin. Today, Qingcheng School's sword art is much better compared to the Fortune Prestige Escort House's Evil Resisting Sword Art; so there must be another reason behind this. What it is, I've been thinking about for a long time already. Actually, all the warriors who study the art of sword have all been thinking of the reason behind this."

    Linghu Chong said, "The family of Martial Brother Lin has all perished; both his father and mother died miserably, that was all because of this doubt?"

    "That's right. The reputation of the Evil Resisting Sword Art is very well known, but the martial art of Lin Zhennan was very low. This disparity involuntarily caused other people to think that Lin Zhennan was too dumb and couldn't learn his own family's martial art. They then thought a step further; if this sword manual were in my hand, of course I would be able to learn it until my sword art is as splendid as Lin Yuantu back then. Brother, for the last one hundred years, Lin Yuantu wasn't the only one with a reputable sword art. But Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Kunlun, Diancang, Qingcheng, and also the five mountains sword schools, all have people to pass their sword arts down to, and other people never thought of actually taking these schools' sword arts. But Lin Zhennan's martial art was very poor like that of a three years old baby, and he also had a lot of gold in his hand, so everyone had the intention of robbing him," Chongxu explained.

    Linghu Chong said, "This Senior Lin Yuantu was Reverend Hongxie's disciple and he had studied martial art in the Putian Shaolin Temple. He had most likely studied some astonishing martial art while he was there, so this Evil Resisting Sword Art might be a sword art from the Shaolin School with a few changes and addition of his own. It's not necessarily true that it's a completely different sword art."

    Chongxu replied, "There were also many people who thought the same thing. But Evil Resisting Sword Art and Shaolin School's martial art were completely different and all the warriors studying the sword art knew it when they saw it. Hey, hey, even though there were many people with the intention of robbing this sword manual, it was finally that shorty from Qingcheng who moved first. Even though that shorty Yu has a really thick face, he's so stupid. How can he be compared to your master Mr. Yue who just bided his time and reaped the benefit?"

    Linghu Chong's face changed colour as he stammered, "Priest, what... what are you saying?"

    Chongxu smiled slightly and said, "That Lin Pingzhi was accepted into your Huashan School. Naturally, that 'Evil Resisting Sword Art' would also be carried into the school with him. I heard that Mr. Yue also has a lovely daughter who he wants to give away to your martial brother Lin, is this right? He really is farsighted."

    When Linghu Chong heard Chongxu saying 'Your master Mr. Yue who just bided his time and reaped the benefit', he felt angry that Chongxu was insulting his honoured master. But hearing him say that his master was 'farsighted', he suddenly thought of the days when Master sent second martial brother Lao Denuo in disguise along with little martial sister to Fuzhou to open up a wine shop. He didn't understand Master's intention at that time, but as he thought of it now, it must've been in connection with the Fortune Prestige Escort House. Lin Zhennan's martial art was ordinary and Master had actually planned that move so deliberately, if it weren't for the 'Evil Resisting Sword Art', what else could it be for? But Master's plan was done skilfully, unlike that of Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng. Another thought immediately followed, "Little martial sister is an unmarried young girl, but why would Master told her to go out and open up a wine
    shop?" At this thought, a cold shiver ran up his spine and he suddenly understood, "Master wanted little martial sister to accompany martial brother Lin; actually this has been arranged a long time ago."

    From the look of his face, Fangzheng and Chongxu noted that he looked uncertain and distressed. They knew that he respected his master and that this kind of talk hurt him deeply. Fangzheng said, "These were only idle talks between old monk and Priest Chongxu, we were just wildly speculating. Your respected master is very upright and known in Wulin as a gentleman. I'm afraid we're just thinking like a small person and absurdly blaming the gentleman." Chongxu smiled slightly on hearing this.

    Linghu Chong's heart was in confusion. He was hoping that what Chongxu said was not true, but deep down he knew that every word said was right. Suddenly he thought, "Originally, Senior Lin Yuantu was a monk; that's why there was a Buddhist hall in Xiangyang Lane, and that sword manual was also written on a Buddhist robe. My guess would be that he remembered every word and sentence by heart after being consulted about the Manual by seniors Yue Su and Cai Zifeng on Huashan. As he was still a monk then, that same night he immediately wrote everything down on his robe so that he wouldn't forget anything."

    Chongxu said, "Even now, this 'Sunflower Manual' still carries a profound martial art study. Devil Sect has a part of it and your master Mr. Yue has a part of it also. Your martial brother Lin has already joined the Huashan School, so Zuo Lengchan will definitely give Mr. Yue some trouble. He'll have two intentions: one is to kill Mr. Yue in order to merge the five mountains sword schools, and the second one is to snatch this 'Evil Resisting Sword Art'."

    Linghu Chong continuously nodded his head and said, "Priest thought correctly. The complete Manual is in Putian Shaolin Temple, does Zuo Lengchan know this? If he does then I'm afraid he'd go and attack the Putian Shaolin Temple."

    Fangzheng smiled. "The 'Sunflower Manual' in Putian Shaolin Temple was destroyed a long time ago. So there's no need to worry about it."

    Linghu Chong was surprised, "Destroyed?"

    Fangzheng answered, "Just before Reverend Hongxie passed away, he gathered all the disciples and told them the result of studying the Manual. Then he immediately put it into the fire saying, "The martial art study in this manual is profoundly deep and wonderful, but there are many crucial points in its study. The person who had created it
    didn't necessarily manage to study it completely as there are still many difficulties left in the Manual especially the first step in its study. This first step isn't only difficult, it simply couldn't be done. So if it were to be passed on to later generation, it would really be the bad luck of Wulin." He then left behind a letter for the abbot in Songshan's temple saying the same thing."

    Linghu Chong sighed. "Reverend Hongxie was really wise. If there were no 'Sunflower Manual' in this world, then all these changes in Wulin wouldn't happen." His thought immediately followed, "No 'Sunflower Manual' means that there's no 'Evil Resisting Sword Art', then master wouldn't have arranged little martial sister to accompany martial brother Lin, and martial brother Lin wouldn't have joined the Huashan School, and he wouldn't have met little martial sister." But he turned around and thought, "But I'm just a wanderer who makes friends with people from the unorthodox path, so what's that has to do with 'Sunflower Manual'? A gentleman follows his own instincts and reaps what he sows; there's no need to blame anyone else."

    Chongxu said, "On the fifteenth of next month, Zuo Lengchan will be gathering the five mountains sword schools on Songshan to elect a head master. What's Young Hero Linghu's esteemed opinion on this?"

    Linghu Chong laughed. "Is there even a need for an election? This headmaster position naturally belongs to Zuo Lengchan."

    "Young Hero Linghu doesn't want to oppose it?" Chongxu asked.

    "Songshan, Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools are already secured by him, while my Heng-Shan School is the only one left. Even if we oppose the merger, it'll still be in vain," Linghu Chong answered.

    Chongxu shook his head and replied, "That's not so! Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools are intimidated by the power of Songshan School so they don't dare to openly object to this. Even if they've said that they agree to the merger, they might not necessarily agree to this in their hearts."

    Fangzheng said, "In old monk's opinion, Young Hero must oppose the merger of the five schools. As a principled person, Zuo Lengchan would not necessarily say that everyone
    has submitted to his idea. But if the merger were to happen after the talks, then the position of headmaster would definitely be decided by a martial art competition. If Young Hero were to use all of your power, then you'll be able to win the headmaster position from Zuo Lengchan with your superior sword art."

    Linghu Chong was greatly surprised. "I... I... How can I do that? I cannot!"

    Chongxu said, "Great Master Abbot and Old Taoist already talked about this for a long time and we both feel that Brother is a frank person who does as he pleases; you can even make friends with people from the Devil Sect. If you become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, to be honest, the rules of the Five Mountains School would
    relax and the conduct of the disciples might go down. This isn't necessarily the good fortune of Wulin... "

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly and said, "What priest said is right, how can junior be capable of taking care of a bunch of other people? If the top were crooked then the bottom would be crooked too. I am only a loafer who likes to drink wine."

    Chongxu said, "Neither a loafer nor a wine-lover will harm people, but a person of wild ambition can harm a lot of people. If Brother becomes the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, then firstly, the seniors and disciples of the five mountains sword schools wouldn't be bullied around; secondly, you wouldn't go and attack the Devil Sect
    nor would you come to annex our two schools - Shaolin and Wudang; thirdly, Brother also wouldn't annex other schools like Emei, Kunlun and the others."

    Fangzheng smiled. "Priest Chongxu and Old Monk have agreed to this plan. Even though we're saying that we're doing this to benefit Jianghu, half of what we're doing is actually for our own benefit."

    Chongxu added, "We're speaking frankly here. The old monk and old priest came to Heng-Shan to give our support to Brother and to plead for the lives of people from both the orthodox and demonical path."

    Fangzheng joined his palms together and prayed, "Amituofo, if Zuo Lengchan were to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School then who would know when the killings would end."

    Linghu Chong took a deep breath and said, "Linghu Chong wouldn't dare decline the order given by seniors. But Junior is a useless person, and it's already very absurd that I became the headmaster of Heng-Shan, but I was forced into it so there's nothing I can do. However, the heroes of the realm will laugh till their teeth fall off if I aspire to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Junior clearly understands the three things mentioned and yet Junior doesn't dare to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. On the fifteenth of the third month, Junior will surely go to Songshan to make a big disturbance and say that Zuo Lengchan can't become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Perhaps it would be enough for Linghu Chong to just make a big disturbance there."

    Chongxu said, "That's absurd. When the time comes and you're forced to do it then you must become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School." Linghu Chong just shook his head. Chongxu went on, "If you didn't go against Zuo Lengchan, then he would definitely become the headmaster. Once the five schools become one, the first thing Headmaster Zuo would do is naturally to kill you first."

    Linghu Chong was silent and let out a long sigh. He then said, "That can't be helped then."

    Chongxu said, "But if you were able to escape and he was unable to capture you, then Zuo Lengchan will just help himself to killing the disciples of your Heng-Shan School. Dingxian Shi Tai put so many disciples under your hand, are you just going to leave them to be butchered by Zuo Lengchan?"

    Linghu Chong slapped the railing on the bridge and said loudly, "I cannot!"

    Fangzheng also added, "By then, Zuo Lengchan would also not let your master, master-wife, martial brothers, and martial sisters off. In the years after that, big misfortunes will definitely fall on their heads. Are you still going to ignore all of this?"

    Linghu Chong shivered in fear and the hair at the back of his neck stood up. He stepped back a couple of steps and saluted Fangzheng and Chongxu deeply. "Thank you for seniors' advice, otherwise Linghu Chong wouldn't have worked hard and would've harmed many people."

    Fangzheng and Chongxu returned his propriety. Fangzheng said, "On the fifteenth of the third month, Old Monk and Priest Chongxu will lead our disciples to go to Songshan to help Young Hero Linghu."

    Chongxu said, "If Zuo Lengchan's Songshan School does something against the rules then our Shaolin and Wudang Schools will put a stop to it."

    Linghu Chong was happy to hear this and said, "If the two seniors were there to preside over the proceedings then Zuo Lengchan wouldn't dare to commit his evil acts."

    The three of them finally finished their discussion. Even though there were many difficult things ahead of them, they felt easier after deciding what to do. Chongxu laughed, "We should return. The new headmaster has been accompanying an old monk and an old Taoist for a long time, they must be wondering where you are. I'm afraid they must be worried by now." The three of them turned around and had just walked seven or eight steps when suddenly they all halted at the same time.

    Linghu Chong shouted, "Who's there?" He was aware of the sounds of breathing coming from one end of the sky bridge. It was apparent that there were people hiding inside the left Spirit Turtle Pavilion of the Hanging Temple.

    As soon as he called out, with the sounds of 'peng, peng, peng', many windows of the Spirit Turtle Pavilion were slammed open at the same time. Many arrows were seen pointing out from the windows aimed at the three of them. At the same time, the windows of the Divine Snake Pavillion behind them also slammed open and more arrows were aimed at the three of them.

    Fangzheng, Chongxu, and Linghu Chong were the present world's top masters. Under ordinary circumstances, even though the bows and arrows were not ordinary weapons and the people using them were not ordinary either, how could any group actually fight the three of them? But the three of them were on the sky bridge spanning between the two pavilions and below them was a bottomless abyss which prevented them from jumping down. Further more, the bridge was only a few feet wide and limited their manoeuvrability, and added to that, they didn't have any weapons with them. Thus, the trio couldn't help feeling frightened of this ambush.

    As a host, Linghu Chong quickly stepped in front of the other two people and shouted, "Daring rats, you don't dare to show yourselves?"

    But they only heard someone shouted, "Shoot!"

    Seventeen to eighteen black water arrows were immediately shot out from the windows. Unlike ordinary feathered arrows, these water arrows carried water and the water was released from the point of the arrows when shot out. As these water arrows were shot towards the sky, they looked jet black. But as they tipped over in the evening sky, the arrows turned into a strange colour and the air around Linghu Chong and company was filled with rotten corpse or dead fish smell which made them want to vomit. The tipped over water arrows started to rain down onto the bridge. Some of the water hit the wooden railings of the sky bridge and burned small holes through them. Even though Fangzheng and Chongxu were very experienced, they had never seen this kind of fierce poison water before. If the arrows were just ordinary feathered ones, the three of them could have blocked them by transferring their qi into their sleeves. But as the poison water moistened the top of their bodies, they became afraid that it might bore through to their bones. The two elders looked at each other and saw their expressions changed and their eyes filled with fear. Such fear in the eyes of these two headmasters were really rarely seen.

    After this wave of poison water was shot out, that person behind the window shouted out in a clear voice, "This poison water was shot towards the sky. If it was aimed at your bodies, what do you think would have happened?" As he said this, seventeen to eighteen arrows were slowly lowered and aimed at the three of them. The sky bridge ran ten feet long with its left side connected to the Spirit Turtle Pavilion while its right side was connected to the Divine Snake Pavilion. Both pavilions were filled with people pointing poisonous arrows at them. Even though the three of them had high martial arts, it was still very difficult for them to escape. When Linghu Chong heard the bright and clear voice of this person, he recalled whose voice it was. "Chief Dongfang's people with the gift; what a good gift!"

    The person speaking from inside the Spirit Turtle Pavilion was really Jia Bu, who was the person sent by Dongfang Bubai with those gifts. Jia Bu laughed loudly and shouted, "Master Linghu is very bright to be able to recognise me from my voice. Since I already used a contemptible deceit to gain the upper hand, and a bright person wouldn't want to fight a losing battle, does master Linghu admit defeat?"

    Jia Bu himself already admitted to using a contemptible deceit so Linghu Chong couldn't find any fault with what he said. He moved his qi into his Dantian region and laughed long and loud, shaking the whole valley. "I'm here conversing with seniors from Shaolin and Wudang, and all the people who came up the mountain today are my good friends, so I didn't arrange for any protection. So now I have fallen into Brother Jia's trap and I cannot not admit my defeat." Linghu Chong answered.

    Jia Bu replied, "That's very good. Chief Dongfang respects the seniors of Wulin and regards the importance of young heroes highly. Furthermore, Young Lady Ren has grown up under Chief Dongfang from a very young age. So in respect towards Young Lady Ren, we don't dare to be rude towards Master Linghu." Linghu Chong just uttered an 'hng' without answering back.

    While Linghu Chong was talking to Jia Bu, Fangzheng and Chongxu were observing the situation and were looking for a crack in their line to rush at. But looking at the numerous water arrows at their front and back, even though they would be able to wipe out more than ten arrows at the same time, it would be impossible to take them all out. Even if their enemies managed to just shoot one water arrow through, it would be very difficult for the three of them to protect their lives. After the two of them had a look around, both of their eyes seemed to be saying, "We can't act rashly."

    They heard Jia Bu went on, "Since Master Linghu already admitted defeat, both parties can avoid injuries. This is really what I wished for. Chief Dongfang actually ordered us to invite Master Linghu, Shaolin Temple's Abbot, and Wudang School's Headmaster Priest to attend a banquet at my humble sect's gathering altar on Dark Wood Cliff for several days. It's really our good fortune that the three of you are here together. How about if we go now?"

    Linghu Chong uttered another 'hng', thinking how could there be such an easy thing in this world because once the three of them left the sky bridge, subduing Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun would be as easy as turning over his palm. As expected, Jia Bu followed by saying, "But the martial arts of the three of you are too high; if you change your mind midway through the journey and are not willing to go to Dark Wood Cliff, then we'll have no way of stopping you. That's why we gathered our nerves to ask the three of you to lend us your three right hands."

    "Lend you our three right hands?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "That's right. Could the three of you please cut your right arms first? Then we'll be much more at ease," Jia Bu replied.

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly and said, "That's how it is. Dongfang Bubai is afraid of our sword arts so he planned this trap. He wanted us to cut our right arms so we couldn't use any weapons. Then, he'll have no more worries."

    Jia Bu replied, "It's not certain that he'll have no more worries. But Ren Woxing would've lost a powerful help and that would've weakened him by a lot."

    "Sir, you're speaking very frankly," Linghu Chong said.

    "I'm just a nobody," Jia Bu said. He raised his voice and said, "Great Master Abbot, Headmaster Priest, are you two going to peacefully give your arms up or are you going to stake your lives here?"

    Chongxu replied, "Alright! Dongfang Bubai wants to borrow our arms, so we'll lend our arms to him. But we're not carrying any weapons with us so it's difficult to cut our arms off." As he just finished saying this, a flash of light flew out from the window as a steel ring was tossed out. This steel ring was a foot long in diameter and had a very sharp edge. There was a horizontal bar in the middle to hold it. It was another sect's weapon. If there was a pair of these, then it would become a 'Qiankun Ring'. Linghu Chong was standing at the front so he extended his hand to grab it. He couldn't help laughing bitterly as he thought that this Jia Bu had really calculated everything. Even though the edge of this steel ring was very sharp and useful for cutting off their arms, it was too short to brandish around and block the incoming water arrows.

    Jia Bu shouted out severely, “Since you have already promised, quickly cut your arm off! Don’t drag the time along thinking that someone’s coming to your rescue. I’m going to count to three! If your arms are not cut by then, I’ll release the poison water. One!”

    Linghu Chong said in a whisper, “I’ll charge at them first, follow behind me!”

    “No!” Chongxu replied.

    “Two!” Jia Bu continued with his count.

    Linghu Chong lifted the steel ring with his left hand while thinking, “Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu are my Heng-Shan School’s guests, so I can’t let them be harmed. When his count reaches three, I’m going to toss this steel ring, brandish my sleeves and charge up. All the poison water would definitely be aimed at me and the two of them may find an opportunity to get away.” He then heard Jia Bu calling out, “Everyone, get ready! I’m about to call ‘three’!”

    Suddenly, they heard a clear and crisp female voice shouting from the top of the Spirit Turtle Pavilion. “Wait!” Someone wearing a pale green gown floated down from the top of the pavilion and landed in front of Linghu Chong. It was Yingying.

    Linghu Chong hastily called out, “Yingying, step back!”

    Yingying shook her left hand a few times at Linghu Chong at her back. She then called out, “Uncle Jia, the Honourable Yellow Face is very well known throughout Jianghu. Since when are you doing this kind of improper things!”

    Jia Bu replied, “This… Young Lady, you… move away, don’t touch the water.”

    “What are you doing here? Uncle Dongfang told you and Uncle Shangguan to deliver gifts to me here. How did you get bribed by Songshan School’s Zuo Lengchan that you are actually being rude towards the Headmaster of Heng-Shan School?” Yingying chided.

    “Who said I’ve been bribed by Zuo Lengchan? I received Chief Dongfang’s secret order to capture Linghu Chong and bring him back to the Dark Wood Cliff.”

    “Nonsense. Chief’s Dark Command Wood is here. Chief’s order is: Jia Bu is secretly rebelling. Anyone who sees him must capture and execute him immediately and will be heaped with gifts!” As she said this, she raised her right hand high above her hand holding the Dark Command Wood.

    Jia Bu was furious and he shouted, “Release the arrow!”

    “Did Chief Dongfang tell you to kill me?” Yingying asked.

    “You’re disobeying Chief’s decree…”

    “Uncle Shangguan, seize that traitor Jia Bu and you’ll be promoted to the position of Elder of the Green Dragon Hall,” Yingying called out.

    Shangguan Yun thought to himself that his martial art was much higher than Jia Bu and that his experience was much deeper compared to Jia Bu when they entered the sect. But Jia Bu was the Green Dragon Hall’s Elder, while he was an Elder of a lower hall which was called the White Tiger Hall, so of course there was much jealousy in his heart. Once he heard Yingying’s call, he hesitated on what to do. Yingying was the daughter of the former Chief Ren, who now had re-entered Jianghu and would definitely plan to take back the chief position. Even though Chief Dongfang had always been respectful towards Young Lady Ren, his attitude towards her would certainly be very different now. However, he still would never dare to lead these men to shoot poison water at Yingying.

    Jia Bu again called out, “Release the arrow!”

    But those men he commanded had always revered Yingying as if she was a goddess, and also, she was holding the Dark Command Wood in her hand. How could they dare to be rude towards her?

    Suddenly, in the middle of this deadlock, someone from below the Spirit Turtle Pavilion shouted, “Fire, fire!” A red flame was burning and black smoke rose above. It seemed that there really was a fire burning at the bottom floor of the pavilion. Yingying loudly called out, “Jia Bu, you’re very cruel! Why are you trying to burn your subordinates to death?”

    Jia Bu angrily responded, “Nonsen...”

    Yingying interrupted, “Long live the Chief, unify the Jianghu! People from the Divine Sun Moon Sect, Chief Dongfang has an order: Quickly put out the fire!” After she said this, she quickly charged forward.

    Linghu Chong, Fangzheng, and Chongxu took advantage of the situation to charge forward. Between Yingying calling out the sect's motto and the fire burning underneath the pavilion, chaos ensued amongst the sect's people. Linghu Chong and his two companions flew halfway past the sky bridge and rushed into the building through the window which made the people inside unable to release their poison arrows. Linghu Chong quickly grabbed a long candlestick and wielded it in his right hand. He knew that the poison water was very severe and only a little bit of it had to be splashed on your body for you to suffer endlessly. Fangzheng and Chongxu were using their palms to chop and legs to kick without any mercy, and in no time at all, seven to eight people had been killed. He treated the candlestick in his hand like a long sword and stabbed it towards people's throats, and in a short time had killed six people. When Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun came to Heng-Shan, they carried forty boxes with them which were carried by two people each (I guess Jin Yong miscounted…. In ch 29, he said four people carried each box.). So altogether they had eighty people. These eighty people were actually the most powerful people in the Divine Sun Moon Sect with good martial arts. Forty people were distributed to encircle the Hanging Temple, while the remaining forty people were hidden in the two pavilions. In a short time, Linghu Chong and the other two people had killed all twenty people in that one pavilion.

    Jia Bu was using a pair of judge's pens while Yingying was using a pair of long and short swords as they fought fiercely. When Linghu Chong first met Yingying, he only heard her voice but never saw her. Later on, he experienced how powerful she was and saw how she was feared by that crowd of heroes but he didn't know the reason. He felt feelings of affection but didn't know where his feelings came from. That day when Yingying killed some Shaolin disciples and fought against Great Master Fangsheng, Linghu Chong only saw her shadow and did not actually see her fight. So this was the first time that he had clearly seen her fighting with someone. Seeing her moving lightly and quickly, swiftly going here and there with her pair of long and
    short swords fluttering all of a sudden, attacking strangely with intermingled feints and true thrusts, even though she was really in front of him, in Linghu Chong's heart, he still felt as if he was floating, like the smoke, like the fog.

    The two judge's pens that Jia Bu was using were really heavy. When he slashed them out, it was as if he was using a steel whip and Yingying didn't want her pair of swords to clash with his judge's pens. Each of Jia Bu's moves was aimed at a major acupoint on Yingying's body but he was always a hairsbreadth short in striking her.

    Great Master Fangzheng shouted, "Evil creature, you're still not putting down your weapon and be captured?"

    Jia Bu saw that there was only death waiting for him today, so he combined his pair of pens into one and stabbed them towards Yingying's throat. Linghu Chong was startled and was really afraid that Yingying might not be able to avoid this attack, so he quickly stabbed out with the candlestick in his hand. He stabbed out twice hitting both of Jia Bu's wrists. Jia Bu felt his fingers became powerless and dropped both of his judge's pens. He quickly rushed at Linghu Chong with both of his palms together.

    Great Master Fangzheng sent both of his palms up in a slant and captured both of Jia Bu's hands. Jia Bu forcefully struggled but he was unable to get away. He immediately kicked out violently with his left leg towards Fangzheng's lower body. Fangzheng let out a sigh and sent out both of his palms and sent Jia Bu flying out of the door. They heard him roaring out miserably, and his shout receded further and further away from them as he fell down towards the deep valley outside of Mount Cui Ping. Linghu Chong smiled towards Yingying and said, "Lucky you came to the rescue!"

    Yingying smiled back at him. "Luckily I arrived in time!" She followed by shouting, "Put out the fire!"

    Someone from below the pavilion responded, "Yes!"

    Originally, the fire that was underneath the pavilion was burnt by using sulfur mixed with grass so that it would make Jia Bu uneasy. It wasn't actually a real fire. Yingying walked to the window and called out towards the Divine Snake Pavilion, "Uncle Shangguan, Jia Bu defied orders and that's why he met with this disaster. Why don't you lead those people out of the pavilion now? I won't give you any trouble."

    Shangguan Yun replied, "Young lady, swear it for me to believe you."

    "I'll swear to the past dynasties of the sect. If Shangguan Yun listens to my orders, then from now on, I won't harm him. If I violate this oath, then the three corpse bugs will eat my brain to death," Yingying swore.

    This was Sun Moon Sect's highest form of oath, so when Shangguan Yun heard it, he was immediately relieved and led the twenty people out of the pavilion. When Linghu Chong and others walked out of the Spirit Turtle Pavilion, they saw Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, and tens of other people waiting underneath the pavilion. Linghu Chong asked Yingying, "How did you know that Jia Bu and his men wanted to attack us?"

    "Why would Dongfang Bubai be that nice to you and be sincere in giving you gifts? I already suspected from the beginning that those forty boxes contained some kind of deceit. Later, I saw Jia Bu acting suspiciously and leading his men here, so I was really suspicious and took Mr. Old and the others here to take a look. Those rice buckets guarding at the foot of Mount Cui Ping didn't want to let us go up the
    mountain, and in a short while revealed their true character," Yingying told him.

    Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, and the men laughed at this. Shangguan Yun hung his head down looking ashamed. Linghu Chong sighed, "This is only my first day as the Headmaster of the Heng-Shan School, and my true character as an incapable fool has already been revealed. I knew that those people sent by Dongfang Bubai were up to no good but I didn't take any precautions. If Linghu Chong dies, then that's deserved. But if Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu suffered under the hands of those traitors... Ai!" As he said this, he kept shaking his head.

    Yingying said, "Uncle Shangguan, from today onwards, are you going to follow me or are you still going to follow Dongfang Bubai?"

    Shangguan Yun's face changed colour as it was a hard decision for him to make to betray Chief Dongfang. Yingying went on, "Amongst the ten elders in the divine sect, six have taken my father's three corpse brain pills. Are you going to take this pill or not?" She extended her hand and in her open palm was a red pill. Shangguan Yun trembled, "Young lady, you're saying from amongst the sect's ten elders, six elders have… six elders…"

    "That's right. You've never worked for my father before. So you're not considered to have betrayed my father when you worked for Dongfang Bubai in these last few years. If you could abandon that dark world, then I'd appreciate it, and my father would definitely appreciate it too," Yingying said.

    Shangguan Yun looked around and he thought in his heart, "If I don't surrender, it seems that I'll lose my life right here. Since six out of the ten elders have returned to Chief Ren, things have moved really quickly. I couldn't be the last one left still swearing loyalty to Chief Dongfang." Having decided thus, he immediately took the three-corpse brain pill from Yingying's palm and swallowed it. He then said bowing to Yingying, "Shangguan Yun is thankful for young lady's kindness for not killing me. From today, I will strive to complete your order and would never dare to disobey them."

    "We're on the same side, there's no need for such a huge propriety. These brothers under you, they naturally follow you?" Yingying asked.

    Shangguan Yun turned his head to look at the twenty men behind him. Those men saw that their leader had just surrendered and had also taken the three-corpse brain pill, so they immediately prostrated themselves on the ground and paid their respects to Yingying. They all said, "We're willing to obey Sacred Lady's order, ten thousand
    deaths will not deter us." At this time, the crowd of heroes had extinguished the fire. When they saw that Yingying had subdued Shangguan Yun, they all congratulated her. Shangguan Yun's martial art was already very high in the Sun Moon Sect, and his position was also very honourable, so with Yingying subduing him, this had helped Ren Woxing greatly in taking back the leadership of the sect.

    Fangzheng and Chongxu saw that the situation had gone back to normal so they took their leaves and went down the mountain. Linghu Chong went with them for several li before parting ways. Yingying and Linghu Chong were walking shoulder to shoulder as they went back to Xianxing Peak. She said, "Dongfang Bubai is a very violent person, and you already saw this methods for yourself. My father and Uncle Xiang are in the process of getting more support from inside the sect to return the sect to its former leadership. The ones who happily submit to us are naturally the best, while the ones who don't agree are settled one by one, so that Dongfang Bubai will be weakened. At this moment, Dongfang Bubai has started his counter attack. He sent Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun to take care of you. This was a really good move from him because my father and Uncle Xiang's whereabouts are a secret so Dongfang Bubai couldn't find them. But if they wanted to harm you, I…I…" As she said this, her face blushed furiously and she turned her head away.

    As the evening set in, the night wind blew her soft hair around till they covered both of her cheeks. Seeing her snow white neck, his heart was moved. He thought, "She's been passionately devoted to me for a long time and everyone in the world knows about this. Even Dongfang Bubai wanted to capture me in order to threaten her and also to threaten her father. On top of the sky bridge at the Hanging Temple, she knew clearly that the ambush was unpassable so she jumped in front of me afraid that I might get injured. To have a wife like this, what more can Linghu Chong ask for?" With this thought, he extended his arms to hug her waist.

    Yingying giggled and leaned her body to one side making Linghu Chong hug an empty space. Even though his sword art was wonderful and his internal energy was abundant, his fist, kicking, hand-seizing, lightness, and other martial arts lacked by a lot. Yingying laughed, "As a Headmaster of a school, how can you act with no rules or customs?"

    Laughing also, Linghu Chong replied, "Amongst all the headmasters in the world, Heng-Shan School's headmaster is by far the most ordinary and is the one laughed at by everyone."

    Yingying seriously said, "Why are you saying that? Even the Abbot of Shaolin and the headmaster of Wudang respect you. Who would dare to look down on you? Are you going to keep the matter of your expulsion from Huashan in your heart forever and always be ashamed in front of other people?" These few words that Yingying said really touched the matter that was in Linghu Chong's heart. Even though he had a carefree nature, he was still heartbroken and still harboured a deep hurt for being expelled from the Huashan School. He couldn't help sighing when he heard this and bowed his head. Yingying pulled his hand and said, "You're now the Headmaster of Heng-Shan and you should be proud and elated in front of the realm's heroes. The reputations of the two schools Heng-Shan and Huashan are equal. Could it be that the honourable position of Heng-Shan School's Headmaster isn't as good as being the disciple of Huashan School?"

    "Thank you for your advice. But I've always felt being the headmaster of nuns is embarrassing and laughable," Linghu Chong replied.

    "Today, there's close to a thousand heroes who have joined the Heng-Shan School. Amongst the five mountains sword schools, if we talk about the glory of the schools, only Songshan School could be compared to you. How could the other schools like Taishan, Hengshan and Huashan be compared to you?" Yingying said.

    "I haven't thanked you for this yet."

    Yingying smiled. "Thank me for what?"

    "You were afraid that it won't be too reputable for me to become the leader of nuns so you sent your men to join Heng-Shan. If it weren't for Sacred Lady's order, how could those wild and unruly friends agree to become the martial brothers and sisters of these nuns – not to mention obediently receiving my restrictions?"

    Yingying, with pursed lips holding her laughter, said, "That might not be true. You have been their chief when you were attacking the Shaolin Temple, so everyone had already accepted you long before."

    The two of them chatted easily as they went up the mountain. When they got closer to the convent, they faintly heard the clamours of those heroes. Yingying halted her step and said, "We'll part here. Once my father's matter is settled then I'll come here to see you."

    Linghu Chong's chest suddenly felt heated and he replied, "You're going to the Dark Wood Cliff?"

    "Yes."

    "I'll go with you."

    Yingying's eyes flashed with happiness but she shook her head.

    Linghu Chong asked, "You don't want me to go with you?"

    "You just became the headmaster of Heng-Shan School today and now you want to come with me to settle the Sun Moon Sect's matter. Even though there's no one higher than you in Heng-Shan School, don't you think doing this is too much?"

    Linghu Chong reasoned, "It's very dangerous to go up against Dongfang Bubai. How could I just stay outside of the matter and let you go into danger by yourself?"

    "Those Jianghu friends who are living in Heng-Shan's Other Courtyard, I can't say for certain that they won't offend the ladies in Heng-Shan School."

    "You only need to order them not to do it then they definitely won't dare."

    "Alright, since you're willing to go with me, I thank you on behalf of Daddy."

    Linghu Chong laughingly said, "You're thanking me and I'm thanking you, why are we being so polite?"

    Yingying smiled captivatingly and said, "Don't blame me for being impolite to you in the future."

    After walking for a while, Yingying said, "My daddy said that since you don't want to join the sect, he doesn't want your help in taking back the sect's leadership, but… but…" She said till here when her face turned scarlet.

    "Even though I'm not joining the Sun Moon Sect, I'm not an outsider to you. If your father asks me to leave, then I'll just thicken my face and refuse to leave," Linghu Chong told her.

    Yingying smiled, "My daddy would surely feel happy to get your help."

    The two of them returned to the top of Xianxing Peak and separately went to their disciples to leave them with some orders. Linghu Chong ordered all his disciples to practise their martial arts diligently, and told them that he was escorting Yingying back and would be returning to the mountain after that. Yingying told the group of heroes that if any of them dared to set foot on Xianxing Peak from that day onwards, she would have their legs cut off. If their left foot stepped on the peak then their left leg would be chopped, if it were their right foot then their right leg would be chopped, and if both feet stepped on the Peak then both legs would be chopped off.

    At dawn the next morning, Linghu Chong and Yingying said their many goodbyes, and went down the mountain with Shangguan Yun and his twenty men and commenced on their journey to Dark Wood Cliff.

    Dark Wood Cliff lay east of Heng-Shan inside the prefecture of Hebei. Within a day, they had arrived at the boundary of that prefecture. During the journey, Linghu Chong and Yingying separately sat inside two sedan chairs and always kept the curtains down to avoid Dongfang Bubai from detecting them. That very evening, Yingying and Linghu Chong stayed at an inn very close to the gathering altar of the Sun Moon Sect, so the place around the inn was crawling with the sect's people coming and going. Shangguan Yun ordered four of his men to guard the front and back of the inn and not let anyone into the inn. At supper time, Yingying accompanied Linghu Chong in drinking wine. The fireplace in the inn was blazing brightly and the light shone on Yingying's face, revealing her tenderness.

    After drinking a few cups of wine, Linghu Chong said, "That day inside the Shaolin Temple, your father said that amongst all the heroes in the realm, there are three and a half who he admires. Amongst them, Dongfang Bubai is number one. This person snatched the chief position from your father's hands, so naturally his ability and wisdom are high. It's also said in Jianghu that Dongfang Bubai is number one in terms of martial art, is this saying true?"

    "This Dongfang Bubai definitely works really hard and is also very scheming. But I'm not certain about the level of his martial art because in the last few years, I've actually not seen him."

    Linghu Chong nodded. "These past few years you've been living at the Bamboo Alley at Luoyang city so of course you haven't seen him."

    "That's not true. Even though I lived in that Bamboo Alley, I went back to Dark Wood Cliff once or twice every year and yet, I never got to see Dongfang Bubai. I heard from the elders in the sect that for the past few years, it was getting harder and harder to see Chief," Yingying told him.

    Linghu Chong said, "A person of such high status often doesn’t want to see other people so no one can see how different they are."

    Yingying replied, "This certainly is one of the reasons. But my guess is that he's ardently practising the 'Sunflower Manual' martial arts, and isn't willing to be disturbed by sect's matters."

    "Your father once said that during the time he was studying 'The Art of Essence Absorbing' to meld all the different types of internal energy in his body, he ignored all sect's matters, and let Dongfang Bubai usurped his power. Could it be that Dongfang Bubai is repeating the same mistake that your father made?"

    "Since Dongfang Bubai isn't personally taking care of sect's business, in these last few years, all of the sect's affairs and power have been turned over to a little kid surnamed Yang. This little kid couldn't possibly seize Dongfang Bubai's power and thus repeat the same thing again," Yingying explained.

    "A little kid named Yang? Who's that? How come I've never heard of him before?"

    Yingying's face suddenly turned red, and she smiled, "There's no dirtier thing to say except for his name. No one in the sect would even mention his name; so no one outside the sect would know of him. So, of course, you've never heard his name before."

    Linghu Chong's curiosity was peaked. "My dear, tell me about him."

    "That Yang person is called Yang Lianting. He's around twenty years old, his martial art is really low, and he has no ability at all. But recently Dongfang Bubai had pampered him so much; it really is remarkable." As she said this, her whole face turned dark and her mouth twisted; it seemed that she really despised this person.

    Linghu Chong was disappointed. "Ah, this Yang person is Dongfang Bubai's boyfriend. Originally, Dongfang Bubai was a great hero, but he likes… likes pretty boys."

    Yingying said, "Don't say it! I don't understand what Dongfang Bubai's thoughts are. He always tells Yang Lianting to handle all of his business, and a lot of brothers in the sect have been harmed by this Yang kid. We must kill…"

    Suddenly, someone from outside the window laughed. "You're wrong. We should thank Yang Lianting."

    Yingying happily called out, "Daddy!" And she quickly went to the door to open it.

    Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian entered the room. The two of them were wearing farmers' garb and the big hats on their heads covered half of their faces. If they hadn't heard Ren Woxing's voice, they wouldn't have been able to recognise them just by their faces. Linghu Chong stood up to pay his respects and told the servant to bring two more sets of chopsticks, more wine and dishes.

    Ren Woxing was looking high-spirited as he said, "These last few days, Brother Xiang and I have been contacting our old comrades in the sect, and it was unexpectedly very easy to get them on our side. Eight out of ten people that we contacted were extremely happy. They all said that in the last few years, most of his friends and allies have already left him because Dongfang Bubai's actions have been really perverse especially with regards to Yang Lianting. Yang Lianting was originally just a lowly soldier in the sect. But for whatever reason, he managed to curry favour from Dongfang Bubai and take over the sect's power in his hand. Many of the people in the sect have either been removed or killed by him. If it weren't for the strict rules of the sect, they would've rebelled a long time ago. That Yang Lianting has helped us greatly in this matter, how could we not thank him greatly for this?"

    Yingying said, "That’s right." Then she asked, "Daddy, how did you know that we've arrived?"

    Ren Woxing laughed. "Brother Xiang and Shangguan Yun fought for a while before he found out that Shangguan Yun had surrendered to you."

    "Uncle Xiang, did you hurt him?"

    Xiang Wentian laughed and replied, "Hurting the Eagle Hero Shangguan isn't an easy thing to do."

    Suddenly, they heard the sounds of whistling which made the hair at the back of their neck stood up.

    Yingying said, "Could it be that Dongfang Bubai know that we're here?" She then turned around to Linghu Chong to explain, "This whistling sound is our sect's signal to notify that there are rebels and assassins in the area. Once the people in the sect hear this, they would be prepared to apprehend the rebels with all their might."

    After some time, they heard four horses galloping quickly across the long street. The people on the horses were passing on the order: "Chief's order: Wind and Thunder Hall's Elder Tong Baixiong is colluding with the enemy to rebel against the sect. Apprehend him immediately! If there is anyone who disobeys this order, kill them without question."

    Yingying absentmindedly said, "Uncle Tong! How can that be?" They heard the sound of horses' hooves gradually getting farther away as the riders passed the order down. Observing this situation, it seemed that Sun Moon Sect had control of the entire area and the local government had no power at all.

    Ren Woxing said, "Dongfang Bubai is very well informed; we just met with old Tong yesterday."

    Yingying imploringly asked, "Uncle Tong already promised to help us?"

    Ren Woxing shook his head. "How could he agree to betray Dongfang Bubai? Brother Xiang and I talked with him for half a day, and at the end that Old Tong said: 'Brother Dongfang and I are friends beyond death. The two of you don't realise that by talking to me today, you've looked down on Tong Baixiong, thinking that I'm a friend who could be bought. Recently, Chief Dongfang had been confounded by a lot of small people and had made a lot of mistakes. But thinking that he's bringing ruin and shame to himself, I can't bring myself to blame him for this. I'm not your match so if you want to kill me or peel my flesh off - then go ahead.' This Old Tong really is something, the older he gets the more vicious he gets."

    Linghu Chong praised him, "Good man!"

    Yingying said, "If he didn't agree to help us, how come Dongfang Bubai wants to capture him?"

    Xiang Wentian replied, "This is called taking unreasonable measures. Dongfang Bubai isn't that old yet, but he's very confused already. Old Tong is such a loyal friend to him; where else can you find such a man in this world?"

    Ren Woxing clapped his hands and laughed. "If Dongfang Bubai can even get angry at the type of people like Old Tong, we'll definitely complete our business! Come, bottoms up!" The four of them drank their cups. Yingying said to Linghu Chong, "Uncle Tong is our sect's first elder and he has done a big service to the sect sometime in the past, and everyone in the sect respects him deeply. He never got on well with daddy but is very close with Dongfang Bubai. So according to reason, even if he did a big mistake, Dongfang Bubai wouldn't trouble him."

    Ren Woxing was jubilant as he said, "As Dongfang Bubai is focusing on capturing Tong Baixiong, the situation on top of Dark Wood Cliff is likely chaotic. We can take advantage of this time to go up the cliff. This is very good."

    Xiang Wentian said, "We'll ask Brother Shangguan to discuss this with us."

    Ren Woxing nodded his head and said, "Very good."

    Xiang Wentian went out and immediately came back into the room with Shangguan Yun. When Shangguan Yun saw Ren Woxing, he immediately bowed and said, "Subordinate Shangguan Yun pays his respect to Chief. Long live the Chief, unify the Jianghu."

    Ren Woxing laughed. "Brother Shangguan, I heard that you're a hard man who doesn't like to speak much. How come you're speaking like that now?"

    Shangguan Yun looked blank as he said, "Subordinate doesn't understand. Chief, please advise me."

    "Daddy, you heard Uncle Shangguan said 'Long live the Chief, unify the Jianghu', and you felt that these words were too lofty, didn't you?" Yingying inquired.

    "What long live, unify the Jianghu, am I an emperor?" Ren Woxing asked.

    Yingying smilingly replied, "This was Dongfang Bubai's idea. He wanted all the subordinates to say these words when they see him. He also wanted the brothers in the sect to also say this to each other when he's not around. This phrase was made up not too long ago. Uncle Shangguan is too accustomed in saying this so he also said this to you."

    Ren Woxing nodded his head and said, "I see. Long live the Chief, unify the Jianghu. What a beautiful idea! But I'm not an immortal, so how can I live for thousands of years? Brother Shangguan, I heard that Dongfang Bubai wants to capture old Tong, so I thought we should go up the cliff tonight as Dark Wood Cliff would be in confusion. What do you think of this?"

    (Translator's note: Long live literal translation from Chinese is 'Thousand Year Ten Thousand Years'.)

    Shangguan Yun answered, "Chief's order is wise. This is a foolproof plan that really opens everyone's eyes. This plan is for the benefit of every common people in this world. This plan cannot be defeated and thus, victory is assured. Subordinate will carry out this order. I will always be loyal to Chief and would never balk at a thousand deaths."

    Ren Woxing muttered to himself, "People in Jianghu says that 'Eagle Hero' Shangguan Yun's martial art is high and he's a frank person. How come he talks so flatteringly and says so many clichés just like a shameless small person? Could it be that those rumours in Jianghu are false, and his reputation is false?" He scowled at this thought.

    Yingying smilingly said, "Daddy, we must disguise ourselves before going up the Dark Wood Cliff so we don't get recognised. But the most important thing is for us to learn the jargons of Dark Wood Cliff, or else you'll say everything wrongly."

    "What Dark Wood Cliff's jargons?"

    "Uncle Shangguan said something like 'Chief's order is wise. This is a foolproof plan that really opens everyone's eyes'; also 'Subordinate will carry out this order. I will always be loyal to Chief and would never balk at a thousand deaths'. These kinds of talks are the jargons of the upper class people in Dark Wood Cliff for the last few years now. All these jargons were thought of by that Yang Lianting to flatter Dongfang Bubai. The more he heard it, the more he liked it, so later, when someone doesn't speak like this, it's a really big offence to him. Also, if there were a slight disrespect in the way you say it, you'll immediately be killed," Yingying explained.

    "Do you also say all these bullshits when you see Dongfang Bubai?" Ren Woxing asked.

    "If I'm at Dark Wood Cliff, what can I do but to say these words? That's why I live at Luoyang city to avoid all these crazy talks."

    "Brother Shangguan, you don't need to say these words between us," Ren Woxing told him.

    "Yes. Chief's sacred order only comes around every one hundred years and it cannot be replaced by ten thousand lives. The sacred order is like the brilliance of the sun and the moon illuminating the world, subordinate will obey the order," Shangguan Yun replied. Yingying pursed her lips, not daring to laugh.

    Ren Woxing asked, "What do you think is the best way for us to go up Dark Wood Cliff?"

    Shangguan Yun replied, "Chief is confident and is a divine strategist; in the present age nobody can come close to your brilliance. In the presence of Chief, how can subordinate dare to offer my trivial idea?"

    Ren Woxing scowled and said, "When Dongfang Bubai discusses a matter with the sect, no one dares to say anything?"

    "Dongfang Bubai's ability and wisdom is above everyone, and no one has as much experience as he is. Even if someone has a thought about it, they wouldn't dare to speak to avoid a sudden misfortune befalling them," Yingying said.

    Ren Woxing said, "That's how it is. That's very good, extremely good! Brother Shangguan, what order did Dongfang Bubai give you to capture Linghu Chong?"

    "He said whoever captures Hero Linghu would be heaped with gifts. If we couldn't capture him, then we should bring our own heads to him," Shangguan Yun said.

    Ren Woxing laughed. "Very good, tie Linghu Chong up and claim your gifts."

    Shangguan Yun retreated a step, and fear was etched on his face. "Hero Linghu is Chief's beloved general, and he has done a big service to our sect. How could Subordinate dare to commit this sin?"

    Ren Woxing laughed and said, "It's very hard to go up to Dongfang Bubai's place, but if you're taking the bound up Linghu Chong up, he would definitely let us see him."

    Yingying smiled, "Wonderful plan! We'll go up and see Dongfang Bubai pretending to be Uncle Shangguan's subordinates. Once we see him, we'll get our weapons out and attack him. Even though his martial art is high, he'll still find it difficult to fight four pair of hands with his one pair."

    Xiang Wentian added, "It'll be best if Brother Linghu pretends to be heavily injured and has his feet and hands bound. We'll splash some blood on him to make it real and then we'll carry him up using a stretcher. Dongfang Bubai wouldn't have any protections against this plan, and we can also store weapons in the stretcher."

    "Very good, very good," Ren Woxing agreed with this plan.

    They then heard the sound of horses’ hooves galloping on the long street, with someone shouting, "We've captured the Master of Wind and Thunder Hall. We've captured the Master of Wind and Thunder Hall!"

    Yingying beckoned Linghu Chong to go with her. The two of them went to the entrance of the inn and saw tens of men on horses carrying torches. They were crowding around a tall and strong old man as they went past the street. That old man had a white beard and his face was full of blood. His two hands were bound behind his back and his eyes were staring ahead brightly as if they were spouting fire. It was apparent that he was furious.

    Yingying whispered, "Five to six years ago, when Dongfang Bubai met uncle Tong, they were even more close to each other than the two bear brothers. Who could've thought that he would turn ruthless against him today?"

    Not long after that, Shangguan Yun came carrying a stretcher with him. Yingying bound Linghu Chong's arms using a white cloth and hung the cloth on his neck. They then slaughtered a sheep and smeared the sheep's blood all over his body. Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian both changed into the uniform of the sect, and Yingying also changed into a man's clothes. They all smeared their faces black. After all of them had eaten and worn the uniforms of Shangguan Yun's subordinates, they went on their way to Dark Wood Cliff.

    Forty li northwest of the Dingzhou prefecture, the mountain rock was dark red like blood, and there was a creek called Ape Creek with water rushing by. As they went further north, the cliffs on their sides rose up like walls, and the mountain road spanned only five feet wide in between the two cliffs. The road to the gathering altar of the Sun Moon Sect was heavily guarded by members of the sect, who were very respectful toward them because of Shangguan Yun. After passing three checkpoints, they arrived to another creek. Shangguan Yun released a signal arrow and three boats from the other side came over to them. Linghu Chong secretly thought, "Sun Moon Sect's hundreds years of existence really isn't a small matter. If it weren't for Shangguan Yun leading the way, we would've had to attack from the outside. That wouldn't be very easy at all."

    On the other side of the creek, the way up the mountain was very steep. Everyone had to abandon their horses. Some people in the party carried torches to light up their way. Yingying walked besides the stretcher with her hand on her pair of swords guarding Linghu Chong.

    Linghu Chong felt the constant danger he was in as they went up the mountain. If the people carrying the stretcher decided that they didn't want to carry him anymore, they could just dump him into the deep valley besides the road and he would certainly die by their hands. When they reached the gathering altar, the sky was still dark. Shangguan Yun quickly ordered someone to report to Dongfang Bubai that he had successfully completed Chief's order. After some time, the sound of tinkling bells was heard and Shangguan Yun immediately stood up and respectfully waited.

    Yingying pulled Ren Woxing up and whispered, "Chief's order has arrived. Quickly get up." Ren Woxing immediately stood up and saw that all the sect members inside the altar were suddenly standing still and motionless, as if they had come under a demonic spell. The tinkling bells rang really fast before stopping. Not long after it stopped, a person wearing the yellow gown of a sect's disciple appeared holding a yellow scroll with both hands. He read the scroll out loud, "Divine Sun Moon Sect's refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, just and wise Chief Dongfang commands: Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun have successfully carried out the order and have returned. This is an excellent achievement. Bring the captive along with you up the cliff."

    Shangguan Yun bowed. "Long live the Chief, unify the Jianghu."

    Linghu Chong found this hilarious. He thought to himself, "Isn't this what the court eunuchs usually read out?"

    He then heard Shangguan Yun's loud reply, "Chief has granted subordinate to ascend the cliff. I will never forget this supreme virtue and benevolence." Shangguan Yun's subordinates also replied together, "Chief has granted subordinates to ascend the cliff. We will never forget this supreme virtue and benevolence." Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian followed along but secretly cursed.

    Their party went up the stone steps ascending toward the cliff and passed three iron doors along the way. At each iron door, a person asked them for that night's password and also inspected what they were carrying on their bodies. At last, they reached a stone gate with inscriptions on each side of it. The sentence on the right side read 'Refined Scholar, Kind-hearted Warrior', while the sentence on the left side said 'Just and Wise'. There was a board hung horizontally above the gate with the red letterings saying 'Brilliance of Sun and Moon'.

    After they passed the stone gate, they saw a big bamboo basket on the ground which could probably hold more than ten catties worth of rice. Shangguan Yun shouted, "Take the captive in." Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying stooped down to pick up the stretcher and entered into the bamboo basket.

    A copper gong was sounded three times and the bamboo basket was slowly pulled up. There was a pulley system on the top which allowed the bamboo basket to be pulled up. As the bamboo basket slowly ascended, Linghu Chong raised his head to take a look and saw only many dots of stars around him which made him realize how high the Dark Wood Cliff really was. Yingying extended her right arm and held his left hand. In the middle of the night, they were still able to see white clouds floating just above their heads. After some time, they entered a white fog, and when they looked down, they were not able to see anything except darkness around them.

    After a long time, the bamboo basket finally stopped. Shangguan Yun and his men helped lift Linghu Chong out of the basket. Then they proceeded to the left for tens of feet before encountering another bamboo basket. Actually the peak of the cliff was too high so it required four pulley systems to reach the top. Linghu Chong pondered in his heart, “It’d be very difficult for Dongfang Bubai’s subordinates to see him since he lives in such a high place.”

    When they reached the cliff's peak, the sun had already risen and it was shining brightly from the east. The sun's rays shone on an enormous decorated archway made from white jade, on which written in gold letters were the words ‘For the Benefit of Common People’. The gold coating of the letters reflected the sunlight and bursts of gold glittered everywhere. When people saw this, a feeling of profound respect would blossom in their hearts.

    Linghu Chong thought, “There’s no one in Wulin who could setup this kind of fanfare like Dongfang Bubai. Even Shaolin and Songshan wouldn’t be able to follow this. As for Huashan and Hengshan, they lack even further. He’s really a learned man, unlike other crude and ordinary heroes in the realm.”

    Ren Woxing softly muttered, “For the benefit of common people, hng!”

    Shangguan Yun called out in a clear voice, “Subordinate from White Tiger Hall, Elder Shangguan Yun, has received Chief’s order and has come to pay a visit to Chief.”

    Four people came out of a stone house from their right and walked toward them. They were all wearing purple gowns. One of them said, “Congratulations Elder Shangguan for completing a great service. How come Elder Jia didn’t come?”

    “Elder Jia died for the cause and has repaid Chief’s kindness,” Shangguan Yun replied.

    “That’s how it is. Then Elder Shangguan will surely be promoted,” that person replied.

    “If Chief promotes me, then I wouldn’t dare forget Brother’s help,” Shangguan Yun said.

    When that person heard this promise of a bribe, a smile crept into his eyes. “We should thank you first!” He gave Linghu Chong a glance and laughingly said, “Is this the little kid that Young Lady Ren admires? I thought he would have a face like Pan An or Song Yu, but I guess I was wrong. Green Dragon Hall’s Elder Shangguan, please come through here.”

    “Chief hasn’t promoted me yet so don’t say this too early. If Chief or General Yang heard this, then we’d be in big trouble.”

    That person stuck his tongue out and then led the way for them. They passed underneath the decorated archway and walked through a perfectly straight slab of road leading to a big door. After they went through the big door, another two people in purple gowns welcomed the five of them into the reception hall. One of them said, “General Yang wants to see you so just wait here.”

    “Yes!” Shangguan Yun acknowledged and put both of his arms besides his body. Even after a long time, that ‘General Yang’ still hadn’t come out yet, but Shangguan Yun just stood there respectfully waiting. Linghu Chong thought, “Elder Shangguan’s position in the sect isn’t low, but once he comes up the cliff, everyone looks down on him and treats him just like a servant. Even the servants here seem to have more power than him. What kind of person is that General Yang? Most likely, he’s that Yang Lianting person. Before he came to be a general, he was just some ordinary servant doing some trifle things. But now the White Tiger Hall’s elder actually has to wait respectfully for his arrival. Dongfang Bubai has really gone too far!”

    After another long wait, footsteps were heard coming towards them. From the sound of the steps, it seemed that the person had no internal energy at all. With a cough, a person emerged from behind the screen. Linghu Chong took a peek and saw that this person was around thirty years old and was wearing a red jujube satin gown. He appeared tall and strong, and his face was full of beard. In appearance, he really looked like a healthy and powerful martial artist.

    Linghu Chong thought, “Yingying said that Dongfang Bubai is very pampering towards this guy, and she also said that the relationship between these two is shady. I always thought that he would look like a girly and pretty man, who would’ve thought he’d be this big and burly fellow. This is really outside my imagination. Could it be that he’s not Yang Lianting?” He then heard that person said, “Elder Shangguan, you successfully accomplished your goal of capturing Linghu Chong. Chief will definitely be happy with this.” His voice was really deep and was pleasant to hear.

    Shangguan Yun bowed to him and said, “That’s all because of Chief’s good fortune and General Yang’s thorough advice. Subordinate is merely carrying out Chief’s order.”

    Linghu Chong inwardly felt strange. “This person must surely be Yang Lianting!”

    Yang Lianting walked to the side of the stretcher and took a look at Linghu Chong’s face. Linghu Chong’s eyes were unfocused, his mouth hung slightly open, and he was wearing a stupefied expression while his whole body was bloodied as though he had received some heavy injuries. Yang Lianting asked, “Is this almost dead person Linghu Chong? Are you sure you got the right person?”

    “Subordinate saw with my own eyes when he took the leadership of Heng-Shan School, so it couldn’t be wrong. In addition, he gave Elder Jia three stabs in his major acupoints and also injured Subordinate’s two palms. My injuries are serious, it’s likely that it won’t be healed in one and a half year,” Shangguan Yun reported.

    Yang Lianting laughed, “You beat up Young Lady Ren’s beloved until he’s like this. Be careful, she’ll come and kill you.”

    “Subordinate is loyal to Chief. I don’t care about other people’s hatred towards me. It’s Subordinate’s wish to be loyal to Chief till death; then my whole family would’ve been honoured,” Shangguan Yun replied.

    “Very good, very good. I must tell Chief about your loyalty, Chief will definitely heap you with gifts. The Wind and Thunder Hall’s elder has betrayed Chief and sowed confusion. Have you known about this?”

    “Subordinate doesn’t know the details, but would like to consult General about this. If Chief or General has an order, subordinate will put my life on the line to do it. I will go through fire and water and I wouldn’t balk at a thousand deaths,” Shangguan Yun said.

    Yang Lianting sat on a chair and let out a long sigh. "This old guy Tong Baixiong, he's always relied on Chief's kindheartedness. He regards himself highly and has always looked down on other people. In the last few years, he's been secretly plotting to rebel with some of his friends. I've seen clues of this for a long time already. Who would've thought that he becomes even more and more of an outlaw as days go by. He even went to collude with that sect rebel Ren Woxing; how absurd!"

    "He actually went to... went to collude with that Ren?" Shangguan Yun’s voice was trembling, it was obvious that he was greatly shocked.

    "Elder Shangguan, why are you so afraid? That Ren Woxing doesn't have three heads and six arms. In the days gone by, Chief played him till he was doing everything that Chief asked him to. It was only because of Chief's kindness that he's still alive today. If he doesn't come to Dark Wood Cliff then it doesn't matter, but if he dares to come here, wouldn't it be just like slaughtering a chicken?"

    "Yes, yes,” Shangguan Yun agreeing with him. “But how did Tong Baixiong collude with him?"

    Yang Lianting explained, "Tong Baixiong secretly met with Ren Woxing, and the two of them had a long chat for many hours. Another traitor of the sect was also there, Xiang Wentian. Someone saw them having the meeting. What could he be talking about with these two traitors for so long? It must've been a secret meeting to rebel against Chief. When Tong Baixiong returned to Dark Wood Cliff, I asked him whether this meeting happened. He actually admitted it!"

    Shangguan Yun said, "He already admitted it then naturally he didn't do anything wrong."

    Yang Lianting said, "I asked him why didn't he go and report to Chief after meeting Ren Woxing. He said: 'Brother Ren came to me to have a chat. He regards me as a friend, I also regard him as a friend, why can't friends have a chat with each other?' I asked him: 'Ren Woxing has returned to Jianghu and he's intending to attack Chief. You already know about this point. Since he's not going to be polite to Chief, how can you still regard him as a friend?' His reply was even more ridiculous, damn him, this old chap actually said: 'I'm afraid it's Chief who's being impolite to other people, it's not necessarily other people who's being impolite to Chief!'"

    "This old chap is talking nonsense! Chief's righteousness is as high as the sky and he treats his friends very generously, how can he be impolite to people? That naturally is being ungrateful to Chief." When Yang Lianting heard these words, of course he believed that the word 'Chief' was referring to Dongfang Bubai. But Shangguan Yun was actually praising Ren Woxing. Linghu Chong and party then heard him continue, "Since Subordinate has already vowed my loyalty and devotion to Chief, if I heard any daring rats to speak rudely about Chief, I would never let them go." These words were actually aimed to scold Yang Lianting, but how would he know? Yang Lianting laughed and said, "Very good, if all the brothers in the sect can be like Elder Shangguan and be very loyal to Chief, what else do we need to worry about? You've worked hard already, go down and take a rest."

    Shangguan Yun was startled. "Subordinate would really like to meet Chief. Every time Subordinate sees Chief, I would feel greatly vigorous and would be able to do my duty with enthusiasm. It'd be as if I had cultivated my internal energy for ten years."

    Yang Lianting tastelessly laughed and said, "Chief is very busy, I'm afraid he doesn't have time to see you."

    Shangguan Yun put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out, there were more than ten pearls on his palm. He walked forward a few steps and whispered, "General Yang, when subordinate went on the mission this time, I managed to get these eighteen pearls. I'd like to give these as a present. I hope that General would let me see Chief. If Chief likes them, maybe he would promote me and then heap me with gifts."

    Yang Lianting smiled falsely. "We're brothers, why do we need to be so polite? Thank you very much." Then he lowered his voice and said, "When I see Chief, I'll put in a good word for you and advise him to promote you to be the elder of the Green Dragon Hall."

    Shangguan Yun bowed again and again. Then he said, "If I get promoted, Shangguan Yun would never forget Chief's and General's kindness."

    Yang Lianting said, "Wait here till Chief is free, then he'll ask you to come in."

    "Yes, yes, yes!" Shangguan Yun excitedly replied. He then closed his hand around the pearls and retreated a few steps. Yang Lianting stood up and in a grand manner went inside. After another long time, a purple-gowned servant came out. He stood erect and in a clear voice announced, "Refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, the just and wise Chief commands: Elder Shangguan Yun of White Tiger Hall, take the prisoner and enter."

    Shangguan Yun said, "Thank you for Chief's grace. I wish Chief a long life and to unify the Jianghu." He then swung his left hand across asking the purple gown servant to lead the way. Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying carried Linghu Chong behind them. As they walked in, the veranda above them was full of warriors armed with spears. They entered three iron gates and arrived at a long corridor whose sides were lined up by hundreds of warriors. Each of the warriors carried a long sabre in his hand and had crossed the sabres above their heads. Shangguan Yun and his party bent their waists and lowered their heads as they walked along the corridor. If any of these hundreds of sabres suddenly chopped down then they would surely lose their heads. Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian had gone through more than a hundred battles and they wouldn't have even given these warriors a thought, but to be able to see Dongfang Bubai, they had to endure these insults first. They felt vehemence in their hearts. Linghu Chong thought, "Dongfang Bubai treats his subordinates so rudely. How can they remain loyal to him? His subordinates haven't rebelled yet only because they're afraid of him. But if Dongfang Bubai looks down on this people, how can he not be defeated?"

    After they went through the sabre path, they arrived at a doorway covered by a curtain. Shangguan Yun parted the curtain and went inside. Suddenly, flickering of lights was seen as eight spears were thrust at him from everywhere. Four spears were aimed at the front of his chest while the other four spears were aimed at the back of his body, the spears stopped inches from touching him. Linghu Chong immediately surmised the situation and thus extended his hand to grab the long sword stored underneath the bandage on his thigh. But he saw Shangguan Yun just standing there motionless while calling out clearly, “Elder Shangguan Yun from the White Tiger Hall is here to pay his respect to the refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, the just and wise Chief!”

    Someone from inside the hall shouted, “Enter!”

    The eight spearmen immediately retreated to form two lines on either side. Linghu Chong only then understood. Originally, when these eight spearmen stabbed out with their spears, they were just trying to frighten them. If the people coming into the hall had bad intentions, when they saw the eight spears being thrust towards them, they would immediately draw their weapons to fight back. Then the betrayal would’ve been exposed.

    They entered a big hall and Linghu Chong thought, “What a long hall!” The width of the hall was only around thirty feet, but the depth of the hall was around three hundred feet. At the end of the hall, an old man with a long beard was seated. That person was Dongfang Bubai.

    There was no window inside the hall, and only candles illuminated the inside of the hall. On both sides of Dongfang Bubai’s seat were two flickering oil lamps. At the distance they were at, they couldn’t see Dongfang Bubai’s appearance clearly. Shangguan Yun knelt at the bottom of the stairs and said clearly, “Chief is a refined scholar and kind-hearted warrior; just and wise, flourishes the Divine Sect, and benefits the common people. Subordinate Elder Shangguan Yun of White Tiger Hall pays his respect to Chief.”

    The purple-gowned servant standing besides Dongfang Bubai shouted, “How come your subordinates aren’t kneeling when paying their respects to Chief?”

    Ren Woxing thought, “The moment hasn’t arrived yet. What’s the harm in kneeling to you? Wait until I pull your muscle out and skin you alive.” At this thought, he immediately lowered his head and kneeled down. When Xiang Wentian and Yingying saw him kneeling down, they also knelt down. Shangguan Yun said, “Subordinate’s men have always longed to see Chief. Today, Chief has finally bestowed us with this kindness. This is really a kindness that has favoured eighteen generations of their ancestors. Once they saw Chief, they were so pleased that they forgot to kneel down. Please forgive them.”

    Yang Lianting was standing besides Dongfang Bubai. He said, “Report to Chief how Elder Jia died for the sect.”

    Shangguan Yun replied, “Elder Jia and Subordinate were carrying out Chief’s order. In the last few years, we both have been promoted by Chief. This is a big kindness that’s hard to repay. So this time when Chief put this heavy responsibility on both of us, we both were feeling very vigorous. We felt that since Chief instructed us to do this, and also because of Chief’s foolproof plan, no matter who’s been assigned to capture Linghu Chong, they would never fail. Since Chief sent the two of us, we had no concern whatsoever…” Linghu Chong was lying on the stretcher and his mind was secretly scolding, “Disgusting, disgusting! Shangguan Yun’s nickname has the word ‘hero’ in it. But he can say this without his face turning red or his ears turning red, I didn’t know there’s such a shameless person in this world.”

    At this moment, he heard someone shouting from behind them, “Brother Dongfang, was it really you who sent people to capture me?” This person’s voice sounded old but his inner energy was abundant. After he had spoken these words, the echo from his voice reverberated throughout the hall showing just how powerful he was. He guessed that this person was the Wind and Thunder Hall’s elder, Tong Baixiong.

    End of Chapter 30

  12. #12
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    Default Chapter 31 Embroidering

    Translated by: Pokit and Bliss; Edited by: Hhaung.

    Yang Lianting coldly said, "Tong Baixiong, how can you shout like that at the Hall of Refined Kindness? Why aren't you kneeling down when your Chief is right in front of you? How do you dare not to sing praises to Chief?"

    Tong Baixiong looked up to the sky and laughed loudly. "When Brother Dongfang and I became friends, where were you, little kid? At the time when Brother Dongfang and I escaped death and went through all those hardships, you weren't even born yet! You dare to talk to me?"

    Linghu Chong turned his head and finally was able to see the face of Tong Baixiong clearly. He has white hair which was wildly out of place and a bushy silver beard. His face was twitching with anger, his eyes were wide opened, and the blood on his face was already darkened and hard. All these created a very scary facial expression. Both of his arms and legs were shackled with long chains that dragged behind him and rattled loudly as he spoke. He was speaking passionately, waving his arms around and the iron chain accompanied his angry speech with a loud 'zheng, zheng' noise.

    Ren Woxing was still kneeling down and staying still, but hearing the noise the chain made, he remembered the time when he was locked up at the bottom of the West Lake. He couldn't control his anger anymore and his body was now shaking with anger, and he really wanted to start destroying things. But he then heard Yang Lianting said, "You're very arrogant to be so rude in front of our Chief. You secretly colluded with that traitor Ren Woxing. Do you know your sin now?"

    "Chief Ren is the former chief of our sect,” Tong Baixiong said. “When he had an incurable illness, he retreated into seclusion and gave the leadership of the sect to Brother Dongfang. How can you say that he's a traitor to our sect? Brother Dongfang, tell us clearly: how did Chief Ren rebel, how did he betray our sect?"

    "After Ren Woxing cured his illness, he should've immediately returned to our sect. But he instead went to Shaolin Temple, and bonded together with the headmasters of Shaolin, Wu Dang, Songshan and many other schools. Wouldn't you say that's betraying our sect? Why didn't he come to pay his respect to Chief and listen respectfully to Chief's order?" Yang Lianting replied instead.

    Tong Baixiong laughed. "Chief Ren used to be the superior of Brother Dongfang, and his experience in martial art is vast, so he's not necessarily under Brother Dongfang. Brother Dongfang, isn't this right?"

    Yang Lianting shouted loudly, "Don't rely on your seniority here. Our Chief is very generous to his subordinate, and he would never stoop down to your level. If you deeply regretted your fault, then tomorrow in front of the assembly altar, you can tell all our brothers about your fault, your assurance to rectify your misdeed, and swear
    your loyalty to Chief. Then maybe Chief would spare your life this time. Otherwise, you know what is going to happen to you."

    Tong Baixiong laughed. "I'm close to eighty years old already. I'm already tired of living, what consequence am I afraid of?"

    Yang Lianting shouted, "Bring in those people!"

    The servants in purple clothes answered, "Yes!" and then they heard the sound of chains clunking as more than ten people were brought into the hall. There were men, women, and a few children in the group. When Tong Baixiong saw this, his face changed colour and he used his qi to shout, "Yang Lianting, a gentleman is responsible for what he has done. Why are you bringing my grandson here?" His shout shook the eardrums of everyone in the hall.

    Linghu Chong, looking in the direction towards the dais where Dongfang Bubai was sitting, saw that Dongfang Bubai shook when he heard this shout. So he thought to himself, "This person still has some conscience left. His heart was still moved when seeing how worried Tong Baixiong is."

    Yang Lianting laughed and said, "What's the third teaching of our Chief? Say it out loud for us to hear!"

    Tong Baixiong just uttered a few 'Pei' vehemently and didn't reply back. Yang Lianting said, "Among the Tong family, anyone who knows of Chief's third teaching, say it out loud."

    One boy who is around ten years old said, "Refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, the just and wise Chief's third teaching: 'You must be fierce towards your enemy and behead the source of trouble. Men, women, old, and young, leave no one behind.'"

    Yang Lianting praised, "Very good, very good! Little baby, you remember all ten of Chief's teaching?"

    The boy answered, "I remember them all. If I don't study the teachings for one day, I wouldn't be able to eat or sleep. Once I've read Chief's teachings, my martial art greatly advances and I have a lot of strength to fight."

    Yang Lianting laughed. "That is right. And who taught you these words?"

    "My father taught me."

    Yang Lianting pointed at Tong Baixiong and asked, "Who is he?"

    "He is my grandfather."

    "Your grandfather doesn't read the teaching of our Chief, doesn't listen to Chief's words, and has betrayed our Chief. What do you think we should do?"

    "Grandfather's wrong. Everyone must study Chief's teaching and listen to what Chief says."

    Yang Lianting said to Tong Baixiong, "Your grandson is only a ten years old baby, yet he knows what to do. While you're already so old, how come you're so foolish?"

    Tong Baixiong said, "I only exchanged a few words with those two people, Ren and Xiang. They wanted me to betray Chief, but I didn't agree to their proposal. When Tong Baixiong says one then it'll be one, two then it'll be two. I would never wrong other people." He saw that all of his family was being held hostage so his speech was
    getting softer as he spoke.

    Yang Lianting sighed and in a regretful tone said, "If you had said this earlier, then this wouldn't have become so troublesome. So do you know your fault now?"

    "I wasn't wrong. I've never abandoned our sect and I have never betrayed our Chief."

    Yang Lianting sighed. "Since you don't want to admit your fault, then I can't help you anymore. Bring his family down and don't give them a grain of rice or even a mouthful of water from today."

    A few servants in purple gowns responded, "Yes!" as they took the family away. Tong Baixiong shouted, "Wait!" Then he said to Yang Lianting, "Alright, I admit my fault. It was I who was wrong. Chief, I beg for your forgiveness."

    Even though he had admitted his fault, his eyes were still burning as if they were about to spout fire. Yang Lianting smiled coldly, "What did you say a moment ago? You said that when Chief and you experienced hardships, I wasn't even born, isn't this right?"

    Tong Baixiong held back his anger and said, "I was wrong."

    “You were wrong? That came out from you too easily. How come you aren't kneeling down in front of Chief?"

    "Chief and I have become sworn brothers sometime in the past. For tens of years, we have been standing and sitting down as equal." He suddenly raised his voice, "Brother Dongfang, you see that your older brother is being tortured, how come you're not saying anything? If you want your brother to kneel down to you, that's very easy to do. You only have to say a word, and your brother will die for you without blinking an eye." Dongfang Bubai just sat still. All of sudden, the big hall was quiet. Everyone was staring at Dongfang Bubai, waiting for him to speak. But even after some time had passed, he still didn't say a word. "Brother Dongfang, for the past few years, it's been very difficult for me to see you. You locked yourself up and practiced the Sunflower Manual assiduously. Did you know that there were so many changes in our sect and that danger is just around the corner?" Dongfang Bubai just sat silently without uttering a single sound. "If Brother wants to kill me or torture me, I couldn't care less. But if you ruin the hundreds of years' power and prestige of our sect, then you will become a great sinner. Why aren't you talking? You fire deviated while practicing martial art so that you can't talk, is this right?"

    Yang Lianting shouted, "Nonsense! Kneel down!" Two servants in purple also shouted as they flew towards Tong Baixiong and kicked towards the back of his knees to force him to kneel. But their legs were broken instead with loud cracking sounds. They fell down on the ground and fresh blood spouted out from their mouths. Tong Baixiong said, "Brother Dongfang, I want to hear you say something so that dying would be sweet. You haven't spoken for 3 years, and all the brothers in the sect are getting suspicious."

    Yang Lianting indignantly interjected, "What suspicion?"

    "The suspicion that Chief has fallen into someone's plot and been given a muting drug. How come he doesn't speak? How come he doesn't speak?" Tong Baixiong spoke loudly.

    Yang Lianting laughed coldly. "Chief's every word is precious. Why would he waste his breath and speak to a traitor like you? Guards, take him down the cliff!"

    Eight servants in purple answered his call and came out. Tong Baixiong loudly said, "Brother Dongfang, I want to take a look at you. Have you been hurt so badly that you can't speak?" He waved his arms about and the iron chains on them scattered around. With his two legs dragging the iron chains, he charged towards Dongfang Bubai. When the eight servants saw how powerful he was, they were afraid to get near him.

    Yang Lianting shouted, "Capture him, capture him!"

    The warriors outside the hall shouted their battle cries but stayed just outside the door because they didn't dare to enter the hall. There was a strict rule in the sect which stated that for anyone to step a foot inside the Hall of Refined Kindness while carrying a weapon was an unpardonable offence that deserved execution. Dongfang Bubai stood up and turned around to go out through the back of the hall.

    Tong Baixiong called out, "Brother Dongfang, don't go!" as he quickened his steps. However, with the iron chains on his legs preventing him from walking fast and his heart anxious with worry, he stumbled and fell forward. But he took advantage of the situation by somersaulting forward and then charged towards Dongfang Bubai. He was around a hundred feet away from Dongfang Bubai when Yang Lianting shouted, "Daring traitor is going to stab our Chief! Warriors, quickly come up the hall and capture this traitor!"

    Ren Woxing noticed that even though Dongfang Bubai was dawdling in his escape, Tong Baixiong was still quite far away from him. He also wouldn't be able to catch up to him so he pulled out three copper coins, moved his qi to his arm, and threw them at Dongfang Bubai. Yingying shouted, "Let's Move!"

    Linghu Chong leapt up and pulled his long sword out from inside the bandage. Xiang Wentian pulled out the weapons from inside the wooden poles of the stretcher and gave them to Ren Woxing and Yingying. He then gave a mighty pull on the rope underneath the stretcher which turned out to be a soft whip.

    The four of them immediately used their qinggong and charged up the hall. All of sudden, Dongfang Bubai screamed as blood poured out of the top of his head where he was hit by a copper coin. When Ren Woxing threw those three coins, his distance from Dongfang Bubai was quite far away, so the power of the coin was already exhausted when it hit Dongfang Bubai's head and thus only caused a light external injury. But Dongfang Bubai was praised to be the number one martial artist in the whole world, and unexpectedly he wasn't even able to avoid this little coin. This didn't make sense to anyone there.

    Ren Woxing started laughing and he called out, "This Dongfang Bubai is a fake!"

    Xiang Wentian slashed out with his whip and coiled it around both of Yang Lianting's legs. He then pulled his whip taut and dragged Yang Lianting to the ground. Dongfang Bubai covered his face up as he ran away. Linghu Chong moved to one side to rush forward and cut off his escape path. "Stop!" he shouted as he pointed his long sword towards Dongfang Bubai. But who would've thought that Dongfang Bubai would be unable to stop and would keep on running towards the point of the sword? Linghu Chong hastily withdrew his sword and sent his left palm out to strike him lightly. Dongfang Bubai immediately fell down on the ground with his face up.

    By that time, Ren Woxing had also arrived. He quickly grabbed the back of Dongfang Bubai's neck and dragged him towards the hall entrance. In a clear and loud voice, he announced, "Everyone, listen! This chap is a fake Dongfang Bubai who's trying to bring disaster on my Divine Sun Moon Sect. Everyone look at his face clearly."

    From the appearance of this person, everyone could see that he actually resembled Dongfang Bubai very closely. But his frightened face was very different from the usual calm and confident attitude of Dongfang Bubai. Seeing this, all the warriors were greatly surprised and shocked that they were unable to utter anything.

    Ren Woxing shouted, "What’s your name? If you don't speak clearly, I’ll crush your head."

    That person was quaking from fear, and he tremblingly stuttered, “Ser… ser… servant…is called… called… called…"

    Xiang Wentian had already sealed many acupoints on Yang Lianting’s body and had also dragged him to the entrance of the hall. He barked, “What’s his name?”

    Yang Lianting replied without any fear, “Who are you to dare question me? I know you are the traitor Xiang Wentian. The Divine Sun Moon Sect has already expelled you from the sect, why did you come back to Dark Wood Cliff for?"

    Xiang Wentian smiled coldly. “I came back to Dark Wood Cliff to take care of your treachery!" After he said this, his right palm hacked down and broke Yang Lianting’s left shin bone. Yang Lianting’s martial art was just average but showing no pain, he scolded back, “Why don’t you just kill me instead of torturing me? Is this what heroes do?”

    Xiang Wentian laughed and said, "Do you think things would be that easy?" His palm descended again and with a ‘ka’ sound, Yang Lianting’s right shin bone was now broken. Then, with his left hand, Xiang Wentian shoved Yang Lianting to the ground.

    Both of Yang Lianting’s legs had been broken so when they hit the ground, the broken bones on his legs broke the skin and pierced upwards. The severity of the pain caused by this would be unimaginable. But Yang Lianting unexpectedly didn’t utter a single word.

    Xiang Wentian gave a thumbs up to him and praised, "Good man! I won’t torture you any more." He then lightly punched the fake Dongfang Bubai's stomach and asked, "What is your real name?" The fake Dongfang Bubai screamed loudly and answered, "Ser… servant... is called… called… Bao… Bao…"

    "Your surname is Bao, is that right?" Xiang Wentian said.

    "Yes… Yes… Yes… Bao… Bao… Bao…" He kept on mumbling for some time but never actually uttered what his given name was.

    Suddenly, everyone could smell a stinky odour and saw that there was water flowing from underneath this fake Dongfang Bubai's pants. This fake Dongfang Bubai was so scared that he had actually urinated in his pants.

    "We can’t be delayed; finding Dongfang Bubai is our most important thing to do!" Ren Woxing decided. He then lifted Bao and bellowed, "You’ve all seen clearly now. Our sect is infested by the like of this guy who is pretending to be Dongfang Bubai. We must find out the truth. I am your true Chief, Ren Woxing. Do you recognise me?"

    All of the sect warriors were youths who were only in their twenties and had never seen his face before, so none of them recognised him. After Dongfang Bubai became the sect’s Chief, all of his trusted aides wanted to be in his good book so they never mentioned the past matter of Chief Ren. That was why these warriors had never even heard of Ren Woxing’s name. On the other hand, they thought that even though the Divine Sun Moon Sect had been in existence for hundreds of years, Dongfang Bubai had always been the Chief. They just looked at each other not daring to utter a word.

    Shangguan Yun said loudly, "Dongfang Bubai was probably killed by Yang Lianting and his cohorts. Chief Ren is our sect’s chief. From now on, everyone must be loyal to Chief Ren." After he said this, he knelt down in front of Ren Woxing and said, "Subordinate pays his respect to Chief Ren. Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu!"

    Those warriors knew that Shangguan Yun was a high-ranking officer in the sect. When they now saw him paying his respect to Ren Woxing -- after witnessing for themselves how Chief Dongfang was replaced by a fake, how their powerful and awe-inspiring Yang Lianting got his legs broken, thrown to the ground, and couldn’t fight back at all -- tens of those warriors immediately knelt towards Ren Woxing and said, "Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu!”

    The rest of the warriors immediately followed suit. Having said ‘Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu’ hundreds of times, they unwittingly used the same words to address Ren Woxing.

    Ren Woxing laughed loudly taking pride in himself. He then said, "You must strictly guard the entrances to Dark Wood Cliff and don't let anyone go up or down from the Cliff." The warriors acknowledged the order together.

    By then, Xiang Wentian had already ordered the servants in purple to release Tong Baixiong. Tong Baixiong was really worried about the safety of Dongfang Bubai so he grabbed Yang Lianting by his neck and shouted, "You… You… You must’ve killed my Brother Dongfang. You... You..." He was feeling very agitated, his voice was choking, and teardrops started to fall on his cheeks.

    Yang Lianting just closed his eyes and ignored him. Tong Baixiong gave him a whack on his ear and yelled, "What happened to my Brother Dongfang?"

    Xiang Wentian hastily said, "Lighten your hits!" But it was too late. Even though Tong Baixiong had only used around thirty percent of his power, Yang Lianting was already unconscious from the slapping. Tong Baixiong shook Yang Lianting's body. But Yang Lianting's eyes were all white and looked as if he had died.

    Ren Woxing said to the purple gown servants, "Who knows of Dongfang Bubai’s whereabouts? Quickly report then I’ll heap you with gifts." He asked three times, but nobody answered. Suddenly, Ren Woxing’s heart turned cold. While he was being imprisoned underneath the West Lake, besides practising his martial art, he was also imagining how to torture Dongfang Bubai once he had escaped from that prison. But today on top of Dark Wood Cliff, all he found was the fake one. It seemed as if Dongfang Bubai had died sometime ago. Otherwise, judging on Dongfang Bubai’s subtlety and martial art, how could this Yang Lianting manage to commit these evil acts and order someone to pretend to be Dongfang Bubai? What was the use of torturing Yang Lianting and this idiot Bao?

    He looked at the servants in purple gown scattered throughout the hall. Some of them looked completely terrified, some looked frightened and confused, and there were some who appeared cunning and deceitful. Ren Woxing was extremely disappointed and was feeling impatient. He shouted, “You chaps, you must know this was a fake Dongfang Bubai, and cooperated with Yang Lianting in deceiving the brothers in the sect. These are unpardonable sins that deserved deaths!"

    His body swayed as he rushed towards them. ‘Pa, Pa, Pa, Pa’. These four soft sounds were heard as four servants in purple gowns were killed without being able to utter a single word. The rest of the servants were startled and they started to scream in fear and ran for their lives. Ren Woxing laughed fiercely and bellowed, "Escaping! Escaping where?" He picked up the iron shackles on the ground which were originally used to shackle Tong Baixiong, and tossed them at a cluster of people. Blood and flesh flew all over the place as seven or eight people were killed. Ren Woxing laughed loudly and said, "I will not let anyone who followed Dongfang Bubai live!"

    Yingying saw her father was acting rather strangely, like he was mad, so she shouted at him, "Daddy!" She ran to him and pulled on his hand. Suddenly, one of the servants came out and knelt down. "Reporting to Chief. Dongfang Bubai... Dongfang Bubai didn't die!"

    Jubilant, Ren Woxing ran up to that servant, grabbed his shoulders and asked, “Dongfang Bubai didn't die?”

    "Yes! AH!" the servant fainted after screaming in pain. In his excitement, Ren Woxing had actually used too much strength and broke both of that servant’s shoulders. Ren Woxing shook the servant's body a few times but he didn't wake up.

    Ren Woxing then turned his head to the other servants and shouted, "Where is Dongfang Bubai? Quickly lead the way! If you’re delaying me, I’ll kill you all!" One servant knelt down and said, "Reporting to Chief. The location of Dongfang Bubai is a secret and only Yang Lianting knows how to open the secret pathway. If we wake this Yang traitor up, he will lead Chief to where Dongfang Bubai is."

    Ren Woxing shouted, "Quickly bring cold water!"

    These servants in purple gown were pretty clever. Five of them immediately flew out of the hall, but only three people came back carrying bowls of cold water, as the other two had run away. They poured all three bowls of cold water over Yang Lianting's head. He slowly woke up and opened his eyes. Xiang Wentian said, "I admire your braveness so I won’t torture you any more. Now, all the paths going up and down from Dark Wood Cliff have been blocked so there’s no way for Dongfang Bubai to escape unless he has a couple of wings to fly out. Quickly lead us to find him, why would a gentleman hide his face and only reveal his tail? Let’s quickly decide this matter, so everyone can be happy!"

    Yang Lianting smiled derisively. "Chief Dongfang is matchless in this world. It’s very good that you all want to go to your death. Alright, I’ll lead you to him."

    Xiang Wentian said to Shangguan Yun, "Brother Shangguan, let's carry Yang Lianting to see Dongfang Bubai." He lifted Yang Lianting and dumped him on top of the stretcher. Shangguan Yun answered, “Yes!” and lifted the stretcher together with Xiang Wentian. Yang Lianting instructed, "Go inside!" Xiang Wentian and Shangguan Yun carried him in front to lead the way while Ren Woxing, Linghu Chong, Yingying, and Tong Baixiong followed behind them.

    They went to the back of the Hall of Refined Kindness and passed through a long corridor before arriving at a flower garden. They then entered a small stone house west of the garden. Yang Lianting said, "Push the left wall."

    When Tong Baixiong pushed the wall, it actually turned around and revealed a secret doorway. Inside there was another metal door facing them. Yang Lianting pulled out a key and handed it over to Tong Baixiong. Tong Baixiong opened the door and discovered an underground tunnel beyond that door. They all headed underground. On both sides of the tunnel were oil lamps flickering dimly. Ren Woxing thought, "That bastard Dongfang Bubai locked me up under the West Lake. Who would've thought that he gets the same retribution and got himself locked up as well. This tunnel isn't any better than the one in Plum Manor on Mount Gu."

    But after they had made a few turns, suddenly there was an open space in front of them and they could see the bright sky. Instantly, the fragrance of flowers assaulted their noses and they felt invigorated. As they came out of the tunnel, they discovered that they were in the middle of a small delicate flower garden. Red cheery blossoms, green bamboo, green pines, and green jade cypress were planted artfully in the garden. Two yuan-yang mandarin ducks were swimming leisurely through the small pond. There were also four white cranes standing besides the pool. Seeing such an unexpected lovely tableau, they all secretly admired the scenery. They went around a fake mountain and came into a large flower garden full of red and pink roses. The roses smelled wonderfully fragrant and were delicately beautiful.

    Yingying turned her head slightly to look at Linghu Chong. He had a smile in his face and looked very happy. She whispered, "Do you think this is a lovely place?"

    Linghu Chong smiled. "After we kick Dongfang Bubai out, let's stay here for a few months. You can teach me how to play the Qin and we would be very happy."

    Yingying asked, "Are you deceiving me?"

    "I'm only afraid that if I don't learn it well then Granny would blame me for that."

    Yingying sneered and broke into a smile. The two of them were enjoying the beautiful scenery, and lagged behind the group. They saw Xiang Wentian and Shangguan Yun enter a small elegant house ahead. Linghu Chong and Yingying quickly followed them and entered the house. As soon as they had entered, they could smell the strong fragrance of flowers. There was a painting of three beautiful ladies on the wall while the chairs inside had flowery embroidered cushions. Linghu Chong thought, "This is a lady's room. How could Dongfang Bubai be living in here? That's right. This must be his concubine's house. He's living in a gentle and soft village, that's why he doesn't care about the sect's matters."

    A voice came from the inner room, "Brother Lian, who did you bring in with you?" The pitch of that voice was sharp and high, but at the same time still sounded coarse and rough. Whether it was from a man or a woman, that chilling voice would cause the hair on anyone's skin to stand straight up. Yang Lianting said, "Its one of your old friends. He said he just couldn't NOT see you."

    The voice from the inner room spoke, "Why did you bring him in for? Only you alone are allowed to come in here. Aside from you, there is no one else that I want to see." The last two sentences were spoken quite flirtatiously, clearly sounding like the words that would come from a woman, yet the voice undoubtedly came from a man.

    Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, Yingying, Tong Baixiong, and Shangguan Yun were all well acquainted with Dongfang Bubai, this voice they heard was definitely his, but sounded more like someone who was purposely squeezing his throat to raise the pitch as if learning to sing, pretending to be charming and seductive. The whole scene just appeared as if it were a joke. The look on everyone's face was of shock and bewilderment.

    "I can't! If I didn't bring him in, he would've taken my life,” Yang Lianting replied. “How could I not see you once more before I die?"

    The person in the room said in a sharp voice, "Who would dare to insult you like that? Is it Ren Woxing? Tell him to come out!" Ren Woxing, hearing that Dongfang Bubai was able to deduce that it was him based on a single sentence, dared not underestimate his intelligence. He signalled for the rest of them to slowly enter the room. Shangguan Yun lifted one of the silk embroidered curtains, carrying in Yang Lianting with him, while the rest of the group followed in from behind.

    The inner room was layered with floral tapestries and brocade embroideries. A strong scent of perfume and powder filled the room. In the eastern corner on top of a make-up table a person was seated, clothed in exquisite pink robes. In his left hand was an embroidering apparatus and in his right hand was an embroidery needle. The person lifted his head and had an astonished look on his face. But the look of confusion on this person's face could never match the look on the faces of Ren Woxing and the others.

    With the exception of Linghu Chong, everyone recognized this person as the person who had usurped the position of Chief of the Sun Moon Sect, who for the past ten or more years held the distinction of being the unrivalled number one fighter in all the world, Dongfang Bubai. But now, he had shaved off all his facial hair, entirely covered his face in beauty powder, and was dressed in clothing that neither resembled a man or a woman. His eyes were eerie looking, and appeared way too glamorously exaggerated, and were just a pain to look at. What was this heaven-shaking earth-shattering figure of the martial arts world doing in a woman's quarters sewing!

    Ren Woxing who was originally filled with anger and rage, now couldn't help holding in his laughter. "Dongfang Bubai, have you fallen insane?"

    Dongfang Bubai in his sharp voice answered, "So it really is Chief Ren! You've finally come! Brother Lian, you ... you ... how are you? Is he the one who hurt you?" He walked over to Yang Lianting 's side and carried him over to a bed. Dongfang Bubai had an extremely caring and worried look on his face, and asked, "Does it hurt very badly? They’re only broken shin bones, not very serious. You need not worry, I'll immediately help you start reconnecting the bones." He slowly undressed Yang's shoes and socks, pulled him across the fragrant bed covers, and into his arms, exactly like a loving wife would do for her husband.

    Everyone present couldn't help but feel shocked and slightly disgusted at what they saw. They all wanted to laugh, but the show of affection they witnessed were just too strange, any laughter wouldn't even come out. Behind those elaborately decorative curtains, in that magnificent embroidery room, the air was filled with a quaint and unnatural aura.

    Dongfang Bubai pulled out a green silk handkerchief from his side and gently wiped off the sweat and dirt from Yang Lianting's forehead. Yang Lianting became slightly enraged and berated, "A grave enemy is right in front of us, why are you still wasting time with these useless pleasantries? Beat them away first and we'll still have time for intimacy later."

    Dongfang Bubai giggled. "Yes! Yes! Please don't get upset. Your legs must be in great pain. Oh it pains my heart to see you suffer."

    Ren Woxing, Linghu Chong and the others had never witnessed such a strange sight in their lives, they had never even heard of such a thing. Homosexuality or paedophilia was not out of the ordinary. But to see Dongfang Bubai, the exalted Chief of the Sun Moon Sect, actually dressed up like a woman, and living in a woman's quarters? He must have gone insane. When Yang Lianting spoke to him, his tone of voice was harsh and threatening. Even so, Dongfang Bubai responded quite gently and refined like an elegant lady. They all found this perplexing and figured something had to be amiss.

    Tong Baixiong couldn't help it anymore and took a step forward. "Brother Dongfang, you ... you ... what the hell are you doing?"

    Dongfang Bubai lifted his head as his expression sunk. "Were you one of the people who injured my Brother Lian as well?"

    "Why are you letting that nobody boss you around? He ordered some idiot to impersonate you and pretend to be you, issuing orders in your name, and foolishly messing around with everything. Did you even know about this?"

    "Of course I knew. Brother Lian always has my best interests in his heart, he knew that administrating the entire sect was too tiring for me, so he took over in my stead. There's nothing wrong with that."

    Tong Baixiong pointed to Yang Lianting. "This person wanted me dead. Did you know about that?"

    Dongfang Bubai leisurely shook his head. "I didn't know about this. But if Brother Lian wanted you dead, then you must've done something wrong. Why didn't you let him kill you?"

    Tong Baixiong looked startled. After he regained his composure, he started to laugh. In his laughter there was a certain hint of sadness. "So if he wanted to kill me, you'd just let him do so?"

    "Whatever Brother Lian wishes, I will oblige,” Dongfang Bubai replied. “He is the only one in this world who is truly good to me, and he is the only one in this world who I will be good to. Brother Tong, you and I have had quite a friendship, but you shouldn't have offended my Brother Lian."

    Tong Baixiong's entire face flushed red. "And I had thought that you had completely lost your mind. You still know exactly what you're talking about. You still remember that we were the best of friends, friends who braved life and death together."

    "Of course,” Dongfang Bubai said. “If you offended me, I could care less. But you offended my Brother Lian, and that is unforgivable."

    "Well, I've already offended him, so what are you going to do? That bastard wants to take my life but I don't think he has the ability."

    Dongfang Bubai extended his hand and gently combed his fingers through Yang Lianting’s hair and asked gently, "Brother Lian, do you want to kill him?"

    "Hurry up already! Stop dawdling around, you're starting to get on my nerves."

    Dongfang Bubai softly said, "Yes!" He turned to face Tong Baixiong and said, "Brother Tong, today we are friends no longer. Please do not blame me for it."

    Before Tong Baixiong had entered this place, he had grabbed a blade from one of the dead servants outside. As soon as he stepped in, his blade was at ready. He knew that Dongfang Bubai's martial prowess was exceptional. Although Dongfang Bubai appeared quite mad and out of his mind, Tong Baixiong still dared not let his guard down. He brandished his blade and took a defensive position.

    Dongfang Bubai smiled coldly and said, "Oh, must this be so difficult? Brother Tong, during that time on Mount Taiheng, the Seven Tigers of Ludong had me surrounded. I hadn't yet finished my training then and was caught in an ambush by them. My right arm was severely injured, and I was certain that I was finished. If it weren't for you who came to my rescue, how could I have lived up to this day?"

    Tong Baixiong asked, "You really still remember those times from the distant past?"

    "How could I forget? And during the time when I took control of the Sun Moon Sect, Elder Luo of Sparrow Hall wouldn't submit to my rule, constantly nagging and complaining. It was you who dispatched Elder Luo with a single blow. It was from that day forth that not another person dared to speak up and question my authority. You definitely deserve much credit for that."

    Tong Baixiong replied resentfully, "I was quite foolish back then!"

    Dongfang Bubai shook his head and said, "You weren't foolish. You were just being a loyal friend. I met you when I was only 11 years old. At that time, my family was poor and impoverished. Luckily you came and gave us aid for many years. When my parents passed away and we had no way to provide a proper burial for them, it was you who stepped in and took care of it for us."

    Tong Baixiong waved away with his left hand and said: "Why bring up the past for?"

    "I just had to,” Dongfang Bubai said. “Brother Tong, it's not that I don't value our friendship and have forgotten all that you have done for me. It's just that you have offended my Brother Lian. He wants me to take your life, I just can't do otherwise."

    Tong Baixiong shouted, "Enough! Enough!"

    Suddenly, a pink blur streaked across their eyes, it appeared to be Dongfang Bubai. They heard a clang as the blade in Tong Baixiong's hand fell to the floor as he swayed back and forth in a daze on his feet. Then they saw Tong Baixiong's mouth open widely as his body fell forward straight onto the floor where it remained motionless. Although everything happened in only an instant, Ren Woxing and the others saw it clearly. The left and right Taiyang points above Tong Baixiong's eyebrows and the four Renzhong points below his nose all had a small red dot on them, as tiny drops of blood leaked out. It appeared that those points had been punctured by the sewing needle in Dongfang Bubai's hands. Ren Woxing and the others were shocked and took several steps backwards instinctively. Linghu Chong pulled Yingying behind him and shielded her with his own body. The room was filled with an eerie silence, no one even dared to take a single breath.

    Ren Woxing slowly unsheathed his sword and said, "Dongfang Bubai, congratulations on completing your training of the 'Sunflower Manual'!"

    "Chief Ren, it was you who gave me this 'Sunflower Manual'. I've never forgotten your kindness," Dongfang Bubai said.

    "Really? Is that why you imprisoned me under the West Lake, never letting me see the light of day?"

    "But I didn't kill you, did I?” Dongfang Bubai said. “If I had only instructed the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan not to give you water for about half a month, do you think you could've survived until now?"

    Ren Woxing sarcastically said, "Well in that case, you treated me very well then?"

    "Why of course! I arranged for you to enjoy paradise in the West Lake of Hangzhou. West Lake is world-renowned for having some of the best scenery under heaven. And Plum Manor on Mount Gu is considered one of the best spots in all of West Lake."

    "So in fact you were letting me retire in the lap of luxury in that dungeon under the West Lake. I should be thanking you instead then."

    Dongfang Bubai sighed and said, "Chief Ren, I'll never forget all that you've done for me. I was just a minor assistant under the Elder of the Wind and Thunder Hall. You were the one who went against convention and promoted me every year. You even presented me with our sect's most prized possession, the 'Sunflower Manual', and decreed that I would succeed you in the future as Chief of the Sun Moon Sect. I will always be grateful for the charity you have shown me."

    Linghu Chong looked down at Tong Baixiong's corpse and thought, "Before you were constantly praising all the good things that Elder Tong had done for you, then you suddenly struck out and killed him. And now you're bringing up all the things that Chief Ren has done for you. But I doubt he'll fall for that same trick."

    But Dongfang Bubai's movements were just fast beyond belief, like a flash of lightning, a clap of thunder, there was no way to tell when he was going to strike, such speed was definitely frightening.

    Linghu Chong lifted his sword and pointed it straight towards Dongfang Bubai's chest. As soon as any of his four limbs moved, he could easily stab forward. Only by taking the initiative could he hope to defeat this opponent. If he let Dongfang Bubai strike first, he would definitely end up dead. Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, Shangguan Yun, and Yingying were all focused intently on Dongfang Bubai, not even daring to blink an eye, because they knew that his attack could come at any time.

    Dongfang Bubai continued, "At that time, I wanted only to become the Chief of the Sun Moon Sect, to reign for a thousand autumns, and ten thousand epochs, to unite the entire world. So I plotted arduously and fervently to usurp your position, but first I had to cut off your wings. Brother Xiang, it appeared that this plan of mine couldn't escape your attentive eyes. In the Sun Moon Sect, besides Chief Ren and I, I'd have to say that you are also quite a talent."

    Xiang Wentian's hands were clenched tightly as he focused hard, he didn't dare to break his concentration with a reply. Dongfang Bubai let out a sigh and continued, "When I first ascended to the position of Chief of the Sun Moon Sect, it was definitely glorious. I was showered with chants and praises of 'Talented in the academics, gifted in the martial arts. For the prosperity of our divine sect.' What undignified rubbish they were all spewing. It was only after I started to practice the 'Sunflower Manual' did I realize what was truly important in this life. After that I started to diligently train my internal energy. Several years later, I finally understood the beauty of life, the myriad of all things."

    As all of them listened to his high shrill voice speaking, their hands began to sweat. His words were definitely logical and coherent, extremely clear and to the point. But his strange androgynous, neither male nor female appearance made them all shiver and cringe the more they looked at him. Dongfang Bubai's eyes slowly shifted towards Yingying. Dongfang Bubai asked, "Young lady Ren, how have I been to you these past few years?"

    "You've been very good to me," Yingying answered.

    Dongfang Bubai let out a sigh and said softly, "I never say it but I've always envied you greatly. Being born a woman is definitely a hundred times better than being born as a rotten man. In addition, you're attractive and beautiful beyond compare, young and lively. If only I had the chance to switch places with you, forget about the Leadership of the Sun Moon Sect, I wouldn't even want the Emperor's throne."

    Linghu Chong laughed and said, "If you were to switch places with Miss Ren, then that means that I'd have to marry an old twisted monster, I don't think that would be very easy to do!"

    When Ren Woxing and the others heard those words escaped his mouth, they were quite shocked. Dongfang Bubai's eyes glared at Linghu Chong, his eyebrows flared up as his face turned green. "Who are you? How dare you talk to me like that. You've certainly got some guts." His tone of voice has sharp, he was definitely annoyed beyond repair.

    Although Linghu Chong was aware of the precarious situation that he was in, he couldn't help but laughed and uttered, "Well, does it really matter whether I'm a handsome young lad, or a beautiful young maiden? What I resent the most are those shameless old men who dress up like women."

    Dongfang Bubai screeched back angrily, "I'm asking you, just who exactly are you?"

    "My name is Linghu Chong!"

    Dongfang Bubai's anger gradually subsided and a smile broke on his face as he said, "Ah! So you are Linghu Chong. I've wanted to meet you for some time, I've heard that Miss Ren is totally enamoured by you, to the point where she would even be willing to cut off her own head for you. I had the impression that you must be a handsome, charming, and talented young gentleman. But the more I look at you, you seem quite ordinary and plain. Compared with my Brother Lian, I'd have to say that you're off by a lot."

    Linghu Chong laughed and replied, "There really is nothing much good about me, only that I am true to my own feelings. Although that Yang buddy of yours is quite handsome, it's a pity and quite disturbing that he likes withered old weeds, coming here to ..."

    Dongfang Bubai stammered, "You ... you idiot ... what are you babbling about?" His entire face blushed red. Suddenly, a pink blur of a figure flashed across the room, a needle flew directly towards Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong had intended on angering him by saying those words, but as he saw Dongfang Bubai's sleeves swayed, he raised his sword and stabbed towards Dongfang Bubai's throat. That one sword stab was incredibly fast, if Dongfang Bubai didn't withdraw, that blade would have pierced through his throat. But at that same moment, Linghu Chong suddenly felt a slight pain on his left cheek, he swung towards his left in defence.

    Dongfang Bubai's speed was simply unimaginable. In that flash of an instant, he managed to prick Linghu Chong's face, and then contracted his arm to block Linghu Chong's sword strike with his needle right afterwards. Luckily that strike from Linghu Chong was incredibly swift as well, it forced his opponent to draw up a defence, coupled with the fact that Dongfang Bubai was quite riled up and angry, the needle just slightly missed its mark -- the Renzhong acupoint on Linghu Chong's face. The needle in Dongfang Bubai's hand was no longer than an inch, light enough to be blown away by the wind, light enough to float on water, yet he was able to parry Linghu Chong's sword head-on with it. Dongfang Bubai's martial arts level was definitely beyond comprehension. Linghu Chong was startled immensely, he knew that today he had run into a foe of unimaginable power. He knew that if he gave his opponent the leisure of the initiative, his life would be in grave danger. So instead, he unleashed four quick stabs at Dongfang Bubai, all aimed at vital spots.

    Dongfang Bubai cried out in surprise and remarked, "Excellent swordsmanship!" He parried to the left, to the right, above and below, and knocked away all four of Linghu Chong's attacks. Linghu Chong stared intently at Dongfang Bubai's movements. That tiny sewing needle blocked four of his strikes yet showed not a single sign of wear or flaw. He didn't dare let Dongfang Bubai counterattack so with a shout, he hacked straight at Dongfang Bubai's head. Dongfang Bubai held the needle in his right hand between his thumb and index fingers, and simply lifted it upwards, stopping Linghu Chong's sword dead in its path, impeding it from striking downwards entirely.

    Linghu Chong's arm felt numb, but he saw a pink blur flashed by and a figure dashed towards him from his left. It was already too late to block and too late to avoid it, in the spur of the moment, his sword rose and flashed towards Dongfang Bubai's left eye as well, it was a move that would result in injuries for both sides. Stabbing towards an opponent's eyes was a very underhanded move, a move that experts never used. But the 'Dugu Nine Swords' that Linghu Chong had mastered was formless to begin with, he was also quite a carefree person, and never really thought of himself as a master, also in the midst of such danger he had no time to care about rules and etiquette. But he suddenly felt another small sharp pain near his left brow, as Dongfang Bubai leapt away and avoided his sword stab. Linghu Chong realized that he had been pricked again by that needle in Dongfang Bubai's hands. But because Dongfang Bubai had to avoid Linghu Chong's sword, his accuracy was a little off again and missed his target, else Linghu Chong's one eye would have been instantly blinded. In a fright, Linghu Chong's sword lashed out like a violent storm, wildly stabbing and slashing in every which way, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to have time to counter with a single move. Dongfang Bubai parried to the left and blocked to the right, yet still had time to leisurely praise, "Excellent swordsmanship, excellent swordsmanship!"

    Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian both saw that the situation was starting to get out of control, one brandished his sword, the other his whip, and both attacked Dongfang Bubai at the same time. The combined force of these three masters of the martial-realm was certainly devastatingly powerful. But Dongfang Bubai, with a handful of needles in each hand, unleashed a flurry of pricks and pokes at the three of them. His movements were as quick as lightning and he showed no signs whatsoever of weakness. Shangguan Yun took up his blade as well and joined in the flurry of attacks, making the battle a four-against-one. After a brief moment in the confusion of battle, Shangguan Yun cried out as his blade hit the floor with a clang, with a flip he landed on the ground, writhing in pain over his left eye which had just been blinded by Dongfang Bubai. Linghu Chong noticed that Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian were attacking Dongfang Bubai all out, and that Dongfang Bubai showed no intentions of attacking him, so his sword sprung into action, unleashing stab after stab at Dongfang Bubai. But Dongfang Bubai's body was like a ghost, whirling in and out of sight, drifting about like formless smoke. The tip of Linghu Chong's sword was always several inches off its mark.

    Suddenly, Xiang Wentian cried out with an 'AH', followed by Linghu Chong who gasped with an 'HEY', as the two of them had been struck by needles. Although the power of Ren Woxing's 'Art of Essence Absorbing' was powerful and deep, Dongfang Bubai's movements were fast to the extreme, he was nearly impossible to catch. Secondly, his weapon was an embroidery needle, he had no way of absorbing his internal energy through it. After several more exchanges, Ren Woxing cried out with an 'AH' as well, his chest and throat both having been pricked. Fortunately, Linghu Chong was unleashing an extremely fast attack at that time, forcing Dongfang Bubai to fend for his own safety, one of the needles missed its mark, while the other one did not penetrate very deep at all, both attacks were unable to injure the opponent.

    The four of them had Dongfang Bubai surrounded and were attacking him all at once, and yet they hadn't even touched him yet, while all of them had already been pierced by his needles. Yingying, who was watching on the side, became increasingly worried, she thought, "I wonder if those needles are coated in poison, if they are then we'd be in deep trouble!"

    Dongfang Bubai's movements became faster and faster, his body spun around in a pink blur all over the room. Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Linghu Chong were all panting and shouting in frustration and anger. All three of their weapons were infused with their internal energy, winds of force rocked through the room. Yet not even a peep escaped from Dongfang Bubai.

    Yingying thought to herself, "If I throw myself into the battle, I'd only hinder their efforts and get in the way, what good would that bring? It appears that Dongfang Bubai still has the upper hand even though it's a three-on-one." From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Yang Lianting sitting on top of the bed, focused intently on the battle, his face full of concern. An idea crossed Yingying's mind, as she crept towards the bed. Suddenly the dagger in her left hand rose, and stabbed into Yang Lianting's right shoulder. Yang Lianting was caught by surprise and could only cry out in pain. Yingying then drew her sword and stabbed it into his thigh.

    Yang Lianting realized what she was trying to do, she wanted him to cry out in pain to disrupt Dongfang Bubai's concentration. So he tried his hardest to endure the pain and held it in, not another sound escaped his mouth. Yingying became enraged and shouted, "Are you going to cry out or not? I'll cut off your fingers one by one!" Her sword rose and sliced off one of the fingers on his right hand. Yang Lianting was indeed resilient, although the pain was unbearable, he managed to keep his mouth shut. But the first cry that Yang Lianting gave out before had already reached Dongfang Bubai's ears. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Yingying beside the bed, slowly torturing Yang Lianting with her sword. With the shout "Little witch!", a pink cloud of a figure darted towards the bed at Yingying. She withdrew at the very last second to avoid the incoming attack, but it wasn't clear if Dongfang Bubai's needles had struck their mark. Linghu Chong and Ren Woxing saw the opportunity as both slashed their swords across Dongfang Bubai's back and Xiang Wentian snapped his whip violently towards Yang Lianting's head. Dongfang Bubai disregarded his own safety, and stabbed his needle backwards into Xiang Wentian's chest.

    Xiang Wentian felt his entire body go numb, as his whip fell to the floor. Right at that time, Linghu Chong and Ren Woxing both plunged their swords through the back of Dongfang Bubai. Dongfang Bubai's entire body shook, and then collapsed on top of Yang Lianting . Ren Woxing was overjoyed as he pulled his sword out from Dongfang Bubai's back and pointed the tip at the back of his neck and said, "Dongfang Bubai, finally ... finally you've fallen by my hand!" In the rush of heated combat, he hadn't yet caught his breath. Yingying was too shaken up by the fight, her two legs became weak, as she wavered back and forth and then fainted to the floor. Linghu Chong rushed to her side and caught her just as she fell, he saw a tiny gash of blood on her left cheek.

    Yingying said, "You've sustained quite a number of injuries too." She extended her sleeve and wiped across Linghu Chong's face, her sleeve became stained with dots and streaks of red blood.

    Linghu Chong turned to Xiang Wentian and asked, "Are your injuries serious?"

    Xiang Wentian forced a laugh and said, "I won't die that easily!"

    Blood gushed forth from the two fatal wounds on Dongfang Bubai's back. He cried painfully, "Brother Lian, Brother Lian, how cruel of these villains to torture you like this!"

    Yang Lianting replied angrily, "You've always claimed that your martial arts was invincible, how come you can't even take care of these bastards?"

    Dongfang Bubai replied, "I ... I already ..."

    "You what?"

    "I've already tried my best, their ... their martial arts are quite strong as well." His body suddenly trembled as he rolled to the floor. Ren Woxing was afraid that he would get up again so he stabbed his sword into Dongfang Bubai's left thigh.

    Dongfang Bubai laughed feebly and said, "Chief Ren, you've finally won, I've lost."

    Ren Woxing let out a hearty laugh and said, "You little sneak, do you think you can change what has transpired?"

    Dongfang Bubai shook his head and said, "I'm not trying to change anything. Since I've been defeated here today, I know that my life is over." His voice had been extremely high and sharp, but now it had sunk to a lower tone as he continued, "But if we had fought one-on-one, there is no way that you would have defeated me."

    Ren Woxing hesitated for a second, and then replied, "You're right, your martial arts is definitely at a higher level than mine, that I truly admire."

    Dongfang Bubai went on, "Linghu Chong, your swordsmanship is incredible, but if we fought one-on-one, you wouldn't be my match either."

    Linghu Chong acknowledged, "That is true, in fact the four of us combined wouldn't be able to overcome you. It was only because of your attachment to that person surnamed Yang, that we were able to break your concentration and injure you. Your martial arts are at an unimaginable level, there is no one worthy of the title, 'Number One Fighter under the Heavens' other than you. In that sense, I truly have the utmost respect for you."

    Dongfang Bubai slightly snickered and said, "That the two of you are able to admit that, at least I know that you two are true men, with sincerity and integrity. Aye, what a pity, what a pity, ever since I mastered the 'Sunflower Manual', I followed exactly what was written on that script. First, I had to castrate myself to train my qi, then I had to refine pellets and intake herbs. Gradually, I lost all my facial hair, and my voice started to change, my temper started to change as well. After that, I was no longer attracted to women, I killed all seven concubines that I had with me, and ... and I put all my affection and care towards Yang Lianting. If only I were born a woman, then that would've been perfect."

    "Chief Ren, I ... I'm going to die soon, I beg only one thing of you, ... please ... if you could take into consideration how well I've treated your daughter all these years ..."

    Ren Woxing asked, "What is it?"

    Dongfang Bubai requested, "Please spare Yang Lianting 's life, please just let him off the Dark Wood Cliff."

    Ren Woxing answered, "I plan to cut him into a thousand pieces, and torture him to death over the course of a hundred days, cutting off a finger today, slicing off a toe tomorrow."

    Dongfang Bubai cried out, "You ... how can you be so cruel!" Dongfang Bubai lunged up fiercely and suddenly at Ren Woxing. Because of his severe injuries, his speed was nowhere near as fast as it was before, but his attack was still astonishingly quick. Ren Woxing stabbed outwards with his sword, it penetrated the front of his chest and exited through his back. Just at that time, Dongfang Bubai flicked his finger, the needle in his hand shot out and pierced Ren Woxing's right eye. Ren Woxing withdrew his sword and leapt back, he took a deep breath and leaned his back against a wall. The impact caused nearly half the wall to collapse under his immense force. Yingying looked at her father's right eye and saw a needle embedded into one of his pupils. Fortunately, Dongfang Bubai had not much strength left in his hands, or else that needle could've punctured straight into Ren Woxing's brain. Although his life was not in danger, his right eye was permanently blinded.

    Yingying tried to get the needle out but it was too short and only a fraction of it was actually still sticking out of his eye, so there was no place for her fingers to hold on to. She turned around to pick up the embroidery frame that Dongfang Bubai threw away and pulled out a piece of thread from it. She then threaded it through the needle's hole and pulled the needle out. Ren Woxing screamed in pain. The needle was hanging by the thread as blood dripped from it. Ren Woxing was furious and gave Dongfang Bubai's corpse a fierce kick. The corpse flew up and hit Yang Lianting's head. Ren Woxing used all of his power in that one kick and as they clashed heads, both Dongfang Bubai and Yang Lianting's heads burst open spilling their brain matters everywhere. Ren Woxing had been holding this big animosity for a long time, his leadership of the Sun Moon Sect was usurped and he had now been blinded in one eye, so he was feeling happy and angry at the same time. He laughed loudly towards the sky shaking all the tiles in the house. But this laughter was full of anger.

    Shangguan Yun said, "Congratulations Chief for executing this big traitor. From now on, our sect would be sheltered under Chief's protection and its power would spread throughout the four oceans. Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu."

    Ren Woxing laughingly scolded him, "Nonsense! What long live?" Suddenly he felt that if he could really live long and unify the Jianghu, then that would be the happiest thing in the world. He could not help laughing loudly at this. He laughed because he really felt happy and was feeling proud of himself. Xiang Wentian used Dongfang Bubai's needle to pierce the acupoint on his left chest. In a moment, his whole body felt better and his four limbs were able to move freely. He also said, "Congratulations Chief, congratulations Chief!"

    Ren Woxing laughingly said, "You've done a really big service by punishing this traitor." He then turned his head around and said to Linghu Chong, "Chong'er's contribution is also not small."

    Linghu Chong saw the trace of blood on Yingying’s white jade cheek and fear still lingered in his heart as he remembered how fierce the fight was. He said, “If it weren’t for Yingying attacking Yang Lianting, it wouldn’t have been easy to kill Dongfang Bubai.” He stopped for a moment, and continued, “Luckily his needle wasn’t coated with poison.”

    Yingying trembled when she heard this and softly said, “Please don’t say anymore. That person wasn’t a man, he was a monster. Ai, when I was small, he used to carry me up the mountain to pick up vegetables and fruits. How greatly he has changed today!”

    Ren Woxing put his hand inside Dongfang Bubai’s pocket and felt an old thin page in there. He took it out and saw many tiny letters written on it. He waved that paper around and said, “This paper is the ‘Sunflower Manual’. It’s written clearly in the beginning, ‘To learn this Divine Art, castrate yourself first.’ I’d never be so foolish to do such a thing, Haha, haha, …” He then moaned deeply and said, “But this Manual actually conveys a lot of profound martial arts in it, and anyone who manages to see it would definitely be tempted into learning it. Fortunately I’ve learned the Art of Essence Absorbing at that time. Otherwise, I’d probably have learnt the martial arts written in this Manual.”

    (Translator’s note: In the third edition, the castration part was not mentioned to Linghu Chong and Yingying anymore. This is to fix the later chapters when Linghu Chong and Yingying somehow forget about this.)

    He again gave Dongfang Bubai’s corpse another kick. He laughed and said, “You were definitely crafty and sly, but you still couldn’t have guessed my real intention in giving you the ‘Sunflower Manual’. You have such a wild ambition and bossy attitude, do you think I wouldn’t notice it? Haha, haha!”

    Linghu Chong’s heart turned cold and he thought, “So Chief Ren actually had a bad intention in giving him the ‘Sunflower Manual’. The two of them were being crafty and were plotting against each other.” He saw blood was still flowing out of Ren Woxing’s right eye and his mouth was opened in a mad smile, he looked completely mean and ferocious. Linghu Chong felt terrified seeing him.

    Ren Woxing extended his hand and found out that Dongfang Bubai had indeed cut off his testicles. He laughed madly and said, “This ‘Sunflower Manual’ would be good for eunuchs to practise.” He then rolled that old paper in both of his hands and ripped it into a thousand pieces. He then hurled both of his hands open and the pieces of paper were blown all over the place by the wind. Yingying let out a sigh and said, “It’s best to destroy such a harmful thing!”

    Linghu Chong laughingly said, “You’re afraid that I’m going to learn it?”

    Yingying’s whole face blushed a deep red and she pursed her lips. She then said, “You’re speaking improperly.” Yingying then took out a medicine and applied it to her father’s and Shangguan Yun’s eye injuries.

    Everyone’s face was also full of uncountable needle holes. Yingying looked into the mirror and saw a trace of blood on her left cheek. Even though it was really thin, it would still leave a scar when it heals and she didn’t feel happy about it.

    Linghu Chong said, “You already have all the luck in this world so the ghosts and gods would envy you. So this little scar on your face would definitely bring untold amount of good fortune.”

    “What lucky thing do I have?”

    “You’re beautiful and smart, your martial art is high, your father is the divine sect’s Chief, and you yourself is admired by many heroes in this world. Furthermore, you’re a woman that even Dongfang Bubai was jealous of.” Yingying gave him a smile and forgot all about the injury to her face.

    Ren Woxing and the four of them went out of Dongfang Bubai’s little house, went through the garden, tunnel, and went back to the hall. Ren Woxing passed down a command ordering all the Halls’ elders and the Fragrant Masters to come see him. He sat at the Chief’s seat and laughingly said, “That servant Dongfang Bubai had many wicked schemes. He sat highly on the cliff and put a big distance between his subordinates and himself so all of them were awed by him. What’s this hall called?”

    Shangguan Yun replied, “Reporting to Chief. This hall is called ‘Hall of Refined Kindness’. This name came from the praise to Chief which says ‘Refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior’.”

    Ren Woxing laughed. “Refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior! Skilled with both pen and sword; that’s not easy to do!” He then beckoned to Linghu Chong. “Chong’er, come here.” Linghu Chong went in front of him.

    “Chong’er, that day in Hangzhou, I invited you to join our sect. At that time, I had just escaped from my imprisonment and was all by myself, so you probably didn’t believe all my promises to you. This time, I’ve already regained the leadership of the sect. The first matter I’d like to bring up is that old matter again…” Ren Woxing said till here when his right hand patted the chair next to him. “Sooner or later, this position will be yours. Haha, haha!”

    Linghu Chong said, “Chief, Yingying’s kindness towards me is high like the mountain. If you wanted me to do anything, I would never decline it. But I’ve already given my promise to other people to do another matter. So this matter of joining the divine sect, please forgive junior for not being able to promise you this.”

    Both of Ren Woxing’s eyebrows were gradually raised, and he gloomily said, “You know what’s going to happen for not listening to my order!”

    Yingying went up and pulled Linghu Chong’s arm. “Daddy, today is your big day. Why must you be worried about this kind of small matter? We can slowly talk about him joining the sect later.”

    Ren Woxing turned his head slightly to the right and glanced sideways with his left eye towards the two of them. “Hng, Yingying, you only want your husband and don’t want your father anymore, don’t you?”

    Xiang Wentian laughed at the side. “Chief, Brother Linghu is only a young hero so he’s still very stubborn. Let subordinate speak about it slowly with him…” As he said till here, there were tens of people outside the hall calling out, “Martial Hall elders, Hall Masters and Vice Hall Masters, five branches of Fragrant Masters and Vice Fragrant Masters have come to see the refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, the just and wise Chief. Chief flourishes the sacred sect and benefits the common people. Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu.”

    Ren Woxing shouted, “Enter!”

    More than ten men entered the hall and knelt in front of Ren Woxing. When he was the chief of the Divine Sun Moon Sect, he only cupped his fists in saluting the brothers in the sect. So when he saw them kneeling down, he immediately stood up and waved his arm. “There’s no need…” Suddenly he thought, “It’s not sufficient to receive these people without power. In the past, my leadership of the sect was usurped by traitors because I treated them too leniently. Since Dongfang Bubai already introduced this kneeling as propriety then I don’t need to change it.” He immediately cupped his fist back at them and didn’t say anything as he sat back down.

    Not long after that, another group of people entered the hall. When they knelt before him, Ren Woxing did not stand up anymore and just nodded his head. At this time, Linghu Chong had already retreated to the entrance of the hall and was far away from the Chief’s seat. Under the dim light of the hall, Ren Woxing’s face looked blur from where he was. He thought, “There’s no difference whether Ren Woxing or Dongfang Bubai is sitting in that seat.” He then heard the praises of all the hall leaders and Fragrant Masters getting louder and louder as they went, and they all sounded like they were afraid of Ren Woxing. For the past ten years, they had been working their best for Dongfang Bubai so it was unavoidable that they were feeling guilty towards Chief Ren. They didn’t know how Chief Ren would punish them if he brought up the past events. Furthermore, some of them had never known of Ren Woxing before. Some of these people only knew how to work hard for Dongfang Bubai and Yang Lianting to avoid being punished. So when there was this sudden change of leadership in the sect, all they could do was to sing their praises to the new Chief.

    Linghu Chong stood at the entrance of the hall with the sun shining down on his back. Outside the hall was clear and bright while there were close to a hundred people prostrating themselves on the floor inside the hall singing their disgusting praises. He couldn’t say his loathing out loud so he thought, “Yingying treats me very well, so if she really wants me to join the Divine Sun Moon Sect, I can’t reject her idea. But it has to wait till I go to Songshan and stop Zuo Lengchan from becoming the Headmaster of the Five Mountains School since this was my agreement with Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu. Also, I have to find a female disciple from Heng-Shan and pass down to her the leadership of the school. After all these are done, then I’ll be free to join the divine sect. But if you want me to be like these people, isn’t that just too disgusting? Later when Yingying becomes my wife, then Chief Ren would be my father in law, and it would only be proper if I kowtow to him. But all these ‘flourishes the sacred sect and benefits the common people’, ‘refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, the just and wise’, they’re just too shameful for a real man to utter. They really tarnish the pureness of a real man! I originally thought that this nonsense was done by Dongfang Bubai and Yang Lianting to punish someone. But looking at the situation now, Chief Ren is actually flattered to hear these words and he’s not disgusted at all by these.” He again thought, “That day in the Cliff of Contemplation on Huashan, I saw the martial arts of the ten elders from Devil Sect and they actually had many heroes among their seniors. If not so, how could Sun Moon Sect fight against the orthodox parties for the last hundred years and still be their equal? From the warriors they have like Brother Xiang, Shangguan Yun, Jia Bu, Tong Baixiong, the Four Playfellows of Jiangnan, which one isn’t an outstanding gentleman? These groups of heroes are all forced to kneel to other people every day and read aloud those dictions while they’re actually cursing in their hearts. Saying disgusting things and receiving such rudeness. Actually, accepting to say those shameless things is even more disgusting. All these wronged heroes, how could they still be called heroes?”

    He then heard Ren Woxing, being pleased with himself, said loudly, “You were all under Dongfang Bubai before and has done many things for him. I’ve secretly found out what every single one of you has done. But I’m a very open-minded person, so I won’t blame anyone. From today, everyone must be loyal to me then I would treat you well and share all the glory and honour.” In a blink of an eye, the hall was drowned in praises. Everyone was saying chief was just and wise, his heart was open like the ocean, and that a big man doesn’t do what a small man does. They also said they would obey chief’s order completely, be loyal to him, go through fire and water, would not balk at a thousand deaths, and be resolved to do chief’s biddings.

    Ren Woxing waited for them to say their praises until they gradually became quiet. Ren Woxing continued, “But if anyone dared to revolt and not listen to my order then I will punish him severely. Whoever commits this sin, then his entire family would be executed.” All of them answered together, “Subordinate would never dare.”

    Linghu Chong quivered when he heard these words and was really afraid. He inwardly thought, “Chief Ren is just the same as Dongfang Bubai. He’s using fear to control the sect. Everyone is very deferential towards him even though they’re actually angry and full of rejection in their hearts. How can they be said to be ‘loyal’ to him?”

    Some people then started to reveal Dongfang Bubai’s faults to Ren Woxing. They told him that Dongfang Bubai was offended by honesty, how he only listened to Yang Lianting, how he killed many innocent people, how he was selfish in giving gifts and punishments, how he loved to hear praises, and how he ruined the sect. There were also some people who said that he ruined the sect’s customs by giving out the Dark Command Wood to anyone and that he forced people to take the divine three corpse brain pill. Another people said that he drank and ate extravagantly, that every time he ate, he slaughtered three cows, five pigs, and ten sheep.

    Linghu Chong thought, "How can one person eat that much? How can he eat three cows, five pigs, and ten sheep? He must've eaten together with his friends and subordinates. How can slaughtering cows and sheep be considered a big sin when Dongfang Bubai was chief?"

    But he then heard everyone kept on bringing up Dongfang Bubai's other faults more and more, and each fault was getting even more trivial. Some people scolded him for being very moody; some people scolded him for loving to wear flowery gown and not coming out to meet them. There were also people who said that he was very thin skinned and silly; Another person said that his martial art was lowly, always frightened during battles, and he in fact had no real abilities at all.

    Linghu Chong pondered, "You're all scolding Dongfang Bubai for all sorts of things. Even though I don't know whether what you're saying is true or not, I know that when the five of us fought him, we barely escaped alive with our lives and almost lost our lives under his needle. If Dongfang Bubai's martial art were low, then there's no one in this world who has a high martial art. You're really just spouting nonsense." He again heard another person said that Dongfang Bubai was very lewd and just forcefully grabbed any girls he wanted. He had also offended many married women in the sect and had also had many babies from these affairs.

    Linghu Chong thought, "Dongfang Bubai had already learned this really strange 'Sunflower Manual' and castrated himself a long time ago. What nonsense of lewd affairs and making lots of babies are you talking about, haha, haha!" He thought till here when he actually laughed really loudly unable to restrain himself any further. This loud laughter was heard from afar. Everyone in the long hall turned their heads around to have a look and glared angrily at him. Yingying knew that he was causing trouble so she quickly rushed over and pulled on his arm. "Brother Chong, there's nothing to hear here, they're only talking about Dongfang Bubai's stuff. Let's go down the cliff and have a look around." Linghu Chong poked his tongue out and laughingly said, "We don't want to make your daddy angry." The two of them walked out of the hall shoulder to shoulder, passed through that white jade decorated archway, and went down using the bamboo baskets.

    The two of them leaned close to each other inside the bamboo basket as they went down. They saw the light mist around them and felt as if they were floating. It was as if they had gone to another world compared to the situation inside the hall. Linghu Chong looked up to the top of the Dark Wood Cliff and saw the golden reflection of sunlight from the writing on the white jade archway. He felt pleased. "I've finally left that place. The things happening last night were like a nightmare. From now on, I'd never set foot on Dark Wood Cliff ever again."

    "Brother Chong, what are you thinking?"

    "Can you be together with me?"

    Yingying's face blushed red and she said, "We... We..."

    "What?"

    Yingying lowered her head and said, "We're not married yet. How... how can I follow you?"

    "Didn't you go around Jianghu with me before?"

    "That was because I had to. Also, that's why a lot of rumours are flying around. Just then Daddy said I... said I want to be with you and don't want him anymore. If I go with you then Daddy would definitely be unhappy. Daddy was also imprisoned for more than ten years so his temper isn't good, so I want to accompany him. As long as your heart is faithful then in the future we can accompany each other." The last few words that she said were really soft that they couldn't be heard.

    By coincidence, a white cloud floated by them wrapping around the bamboo basket and the two of them. Linghu Chong could only blurrily look at Yingying. Even though Yingying was leaning close besides him, he couldn't see her appearance clearly and it was as if she had been carried out by the cloud and he couldn't touch her. When the bamboo basket reached the bottom of the cliff, they stepped out of the basket. Yingying whispered, "You're going to go now?"

    "Zuo Lengchan has invited the five mountains sword schools to come to a meeting on the fifteenth of the third month to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. He's very ambitious and would bring disaster to all the heroes in this realm. I must go to this gathering on Songshan."

    Yingying nodded her head and said, "Brother Chong, Zuo Lengchan's sword art isn't your match but you must guard against his plotting."

    Linghu Chong replied, "Yes."

    "I should go with you but I'm only a witch from the Devil Sect. So if I were to go with you to Songshan then I'd just hinder you there." She stopped for a moment, before she dispiritedly said, "When you become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, your reputation would be well known in this world. Our two paths of orthodox and demonical are irreconcilable so... it's... it's... it's going to be even more difficult for us."

    Linghu Chong held her hand in his and softly said, "You still don't believe me?"

    Yingying mournfully laughed. "I believe you." After some time, she quietly said, "When someone practises his martial art, it would get higher and higher, and his reputation would also get bigger and bigger. I felt that often, that person would also start to change. He himself might not know it but his treatment of matters would be totally different than before. Uncle Dongfang was like that, and I'm worried that Daddy might be like that."

    Linghu Chong smiled. "Your father wouldn't go and learn the martial art in that 'Sunflower Manual'. That Manual had already been destroyed by him so even if he wanted to practise it now, he wouldn't be able to."

    "I'm not talking about martial art, I'm talking about someone's temperament. Even if Uncle Dongfang didn't learn the 'Sunflower Manual', he would still kill and rob once he usurped the leadership of the Divine Sun Moon Sect. He would've naturally become conceited."

    "Yingying, there's no harm in worrying about other people but there's no need to worry about me. I'm born with this carefree attitude and would never be like that. Even if I were to become conceited, I would always always always be like this in front of you."

    Yingying let out a long sigh and said, "That's good then."

    Suddenly Linghu Chong thought of something and said, "Everyone in the world already knows about the two of us. Those friends that you sent to the island in South Sea, can you let them come back now?"

    Yingying smiled and replied, "I've already sent people to bring them back to the central plains."

    Linghu Chong pulled her close to him and lightly hugged her. "It's goodbye for now. Once that matter in Songshan is settled then I'll come here to look for you. Then we'll never be apart again."

    Yingying's eyes flashed happily and she lightly said, "If only all your matters go smoothly then we can meet earlier. I'll... I'll wait here and look out for you every night and day."

    "Alright!" Linghu Chong then gave her a kiss on her cheek. Yingying's face turned red with bashfulness and pushed him away.

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly and led his horse away as he went away from the Sun Moon Sect.

    End of Chapter 31

  13. #13
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    Default Chapter 32 School Merger

    Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung

    Within a day, Linghu Chong reached Mount Heng-Shan. When the disciples guarding at the bottom of the mountain saw him returning, they quickly sent a couple of disciples up the mountain to inform their martial sisters, who immediately came down the mountain to welcome him back. The disciples residing at Heng-Shan Other Courtyard followed shortly after down the mountain to meet him. Linghu Chong inquired about how everything fared at the Other Courtyard. Zu Qianqiu answered, "Reporting to Headmaster. All the male disciples live at the Other Courtyard and no one has dared to go up the peak. Everyone's been well-behaved."

    Linghu Chong happily said, "That's very good."

    Yihe laughingly said, "None of them came up the peak. But it’s not true that they've been well-behaved."

    Linghu Chong was startled and he quickly asked, "What?"

    "All day and all night long, I always hear their clamour at Tong Yuan valley all the way up from the convent."

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly when he heard this. "It's impossible to ask these friends to be quiet."

    Linghu Chong then briefly told them that Ren Woxing had managed to snatch back the chief position of the sect. The group of heroes were really happy to hear this and their cheering was heard throughout the valley. Everyone thought, "Chief Ren has snatched back his seat then Sacred Lady has naturally gained a lot of power in the sect. From now on, the situation will definitely be much better for everyone."

    When Linghu Chong reached the Xianxing Peak, he first went to the Wuse Convent to kowtow to the three Shi Tai's tablets. Then as there weren't many days left to the meeting at Mount Songshan on the fifteenth of the third month, he consulted with Yihe, Yiqing and the rest of the senior disciples on that matter. They decided that Heng-Shan School should go to Henan first before going to Mount Songshan. Yihe and the other disciples all said that in order to go against Songshan School, they shouldn't take the group of heroes at Tong Yuan valley with them to Mount Songshan. Even though taking them admittedly would make Heng-Shan School look grand, the other schools of Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan would criticise them for doing so, and it would even give Zuo Lengchan excuses that might disadvantage the Heng-Shan School.

    Yihe said, "Martial Brother Headmaster's sword art is above Zuo Lengchan, so taking up the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School is guaranteed. But if the heroes from Tong Yuan valley were with us at that time, then they'll surely give out excuses."

    Linghu Chong smiled. "Our aim is to prevent Zuo Lengchan from annexing the other four schools. I'm not even remotely presentable being the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, so there's no need to talk about me becoming the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. And since everyone already said not to take the Tong Yuan valley's brothers to Mount Songshan then we won't take them."

    He then went to Tong Yuan valley to talk to Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and Old Man. They also agreed that not taking the Tong Yuan valley heroes to Mount Songshan was a good plan. They wanted Linghu Chong to take the female disciples and go first while the three of them would explain to the group of heroes to make them understand.

    That night, Linghu Chong drank with the group of heroes to their hearts' contents. The original plan was to make their way to Songshan on the next day. But when he woke up, it was already past midday and he had not put everything in order so they had to delay their journey by a day. Early the next morning, Linghu Chong led the female disciples to go to Mount Songshan.

    They had been on the road for a few days when they arrived at a city, and rested inside a large ruined temple. Zheng E and six disciples went out to patrol outside to protect the group from any Songshan School's plot. But not long after, Zheng E and Qin Juan flew back and shouted, "Martial Brother Headmaster, quickly come and take a look!"

    The two of them were grinning widely and it seemed that they had seen something funny. Yihe hastily asked, "What's the matter?"

    Qin Juan giggled. "Martial Sister, you come and have a look yourself."

    Linghu Chong quickly followed the two of them into an inn and went to an outside guesthouse on the west side of the inn. They immediately saw a few people stacked into a big pile on a brick bed. They were the Peach Valley Six Fairies. All six of them had their acupoints sealed and were unable to move. Linghu Chong was greatly astonished. He quickly went into the house and pulled up Peachtree Root Fairy who was at the top of the pile. He saw that there was a piece of peach seed squeezed into his mouth so he helped him take it out. Peachtree Root Fairy was angry and he scolded, "Your granny, your eighteen generations won't die a good death, your eighteen grandsons will all have no bums, no eyes,... "

    Linghu Chong laughed and he interrupted, "Wei, Brother Peachtree Root Fairy, I didn't do that to you."

    "I wasn't scolding you! Don't interfere! This dog, when I see him, I'll tear him into eight pieces, sixteen pieces, thirty four pieces..."

    "Who're you scolding?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "His granny, if I'm not scolding him then who else am I scolding?"

    Linghu Chong then pulled up Peachtree Flower Fairy who was now on top of the pile and took out the peach seed. The peach seed was only taken out halfway when Peachtree Flower Fairy started to grumble and mumble. When the seed was taken out, he immediately said, "Big Brother, you said it wrong. Eight pieces multiplied once becomes sixteen pieces, sixteen pieces multiplied once becomes thirty two. How can you say thirty four pieces just then?"

    "I like saying thirty four pieces, what's wrong with that? Did I say that I was multiplying it by two? My heart was multiplying it by two then added two to it," Peachtree Root Fairy retorted.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy argued, "Why do you multiply it then add it by two? There's no reason for that."

    The acupoints on their bodies had not been unsealed yet but as soon as their mouths were free, they immediately argued with each other.

    Linghu Chong laughed. "Stop quarrelling. What happened here?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy scolded, "Those two stinky monks, No Commandment and Cannot Have No Commandment, all eighteen of their ancestors are stinky monks."

    Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Why did you scold Monk No Commandment?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "If I don't scold him then who do I scold? You just went without saying goodbye and Zu Qianqiu had to tell us that you have gone. How could the six of us just stayed and not join the festivity in Songshan? Of course we’re going to come. We were just about to get in front of you when we got here and met that stinky Monk Cannot Have No Commandment. He pretended to drink wine with us and he also said that he saw six dogs biting an insect to death to trick us into going outside. Who could've guessed that his Grand Martial Master No Commandment was hiding around the corner and managed to seal our acupoints. Then he stacked us up into a pile and said that if we were going up to Songshan then we would've spoiled Headmaster Linghu's plan. His granny, how could we have spoiled your plan?"

    Linghu Chong understood what was going on and he laughingly said, "This time the Peach Valley Six Fairies have won, and Great Master No Commandment has lost. When you see Monk No Commandment and his disciple the next time, you may not mention this matter ever again, and you also can't fight them. Otherwise, when the world's heroes ask about this, they would find out that Great Master No Commandment lost to the Peach Valley Six Fairies and would lose face."

    Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy nodded their heads. "The next time we meet these two stinky monks, we'll all pretend that nothing happened so that he and his disciple won't lose face."

    Linghu Chong laughed. "The most important thing to do right now is to unseal your brothers’ acupoints, you must be suffering by now." He then unsealed Peachtree Flower Fairy's acupoints and closed the door as he went out so that he wouldn't be able to hear the debate that would soon happen between the six brothers.

    Zheng E giggled and asked, "Big Martial Brother, what were they doing?"

    Qin Juan giggled. "They were making a pyramid."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy immediately scolded, "Little nun, nonsense! Who said we were making a pyramid?"

    Qin Juan laughed. "I'm not a little nun."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "You're together with a little nun, so you're also little nun."

    Qin Juan replied, "Headmaster Linghu is also together with us. Is he also a little nun?"

    Zheng E giggled. "You're also together with us, then the six of you are little nuns then."

    Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy didn't know how to argue back so they started to blame each other for turning them into little nuns.

    Linghu Chong, Yihe, and the rest of the disciples waited outside the house for a long time, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies still hadn’t come out yet. Linghu Chong pushed the door to go back inside and saw Peachtree Flower Fairy pacing back and forth with a smile on his face while his five brothers’ acupoints were still sealed. Linghu Chong laughed loudly and quickly unsealed the five brothers’ acupoints, and hastily went out of the house again. He then heard a huge clamouring noise from inside the house. Linghu Chong giggled happily as he walked out of there. After walking for tens of feet and around a few corners, he arrived at a small road besides a farm field. He saw a peach tree with its top full of flower buds waiting for spring time to arrive. He thought, “The flower of a peach tree is so beautiful and delicate, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies are so disorderly and chaotic. They’re really different when compared to the real peach flower.”

    He walked leisurely for a while thinking that the six brothers must have finished fighting by now, and he might as well drink some wine with them. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind him and there was a female voice calling out, “Big Brother Linghu!” Linghu Chong turned around and saw that it was Yilin who was coming over. She came over and softly said, “Can I ask you something?”

    Linghu Chong smiled. “Of course you can. What’s the matter?”

    “Who do you like better? Is it Young Lady Ren or your little martial sister?”

    Linghu Chong was startled and felt slightly embarrassed. “Why do you suddenly want to ask about this?”

    “Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing told me to ask you about this.”

    Linghu Chong felt that this was strange. But he just smiled and said, “Why did they want to ask me about this?”

    Yilin lowered her head and said, “Big Brother Linghu, I’ve never talked to anyone about your little martial sister. That day, Martial Sister Yihe injured Miss Yue and both of them had a dislike for each other. When you asked Martial Sister Yizhen and Yiling to deliver the medicine for her injuries, Huashan School didn’t want to accept it and actually chased them out. Everyone was afraid that you would get angry so they didn’t talk to you about this. Later on, Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went up to Huashan to deliver the epistle for your Headmaster Inauguration ceremony but they were actually detained by the Huashan School.”

    Linghu Chong was startled. “How did you find out?”

    Yilin shyly said, “That Tian… Cannot Have No Commandment told me.”

    “Tian Boguang?”

    “That’s right. After you went to Dark Wood Cliff, martial sisters asked him to go up Mount Huashan to find out what’s going on.”

    Linghu Chong nodded. “Tian Boguang’s qinggong is very good so he wouldn’t be easily discovered when spying around. He saw the two martial sisters?”

    “He did. But Huashan School guarded them very tightly so he couldn’t save them, and they’re also not suffering. Also, I wrote to him not to offend the Huashan School or to injure anyone, so that you won’t get angry.”

    Linghu Chong smiled. “You gave him instructions on a paper? That’s just like what masters do!”

    Yilin’s face turned red and she said, “I’m on Xianxing Peak, while he’s on Tong Yuan valley. So if there was any matter to tell him then writing to him is the best way. Afterwards, I asked the Buddhist grandma to deliver the letter.”

    Linghu Chong smiled. “I was just joking. What did Tian Boguang say?”

    “He said that he saw a festivity up there. Your former master was getting a son-in-law…” Suddenly, she saw Linghu Chong’s expression changed greatly. She panicked and quickly stopped talking. Linghu Chong felt that he was choking, finding it very difficult to draw his breath. He gasped a few times before saying, “Just say it, it… it doesn’t matter.” He heard his own voice was grating and it was like it wasn’t his own voice talking.

    Yilin softly said, “Big Brother Linghu, don’t be sad. Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing all said that even though Young Lady Ren is from the Devil Sect, her personality is nice and her martial art is high. She’s ten times better than Miss Yue in everything.”

    Linghu Chong smiled bitterly. "What do I have to be sad about? Little martial sister has a nice marriage, so I should be happy for her. He... He... Tian Boguang saw my little martial sister..."

    Yilin said, "Tian Boguang said the Jade Maiden Peak on Huashan was decorated with lanterns and coloured banners, and it was very lively up there. There was also a lot of people from every sect and every school up there to congratulate them. But Mr. Yue didn't inform our Heng-Shan School and actually treated us like an enemy." Linghu Chong nodded his head. Yilin went on, "Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went with good intention to Huashan to give them the epistle. It doesn’t matter to us that they're not sending gifts or coming to congratulate you for taking up the school's leadership. But what are they doing detaining the messengers we sent to them?" Linghu Chong just stood there expressionless and didn't answer back.

    Yilin continued, "Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing said that Huashan School is acting without reason so we don't have to be polite to them. When we see them at Mount Songshan, we'll ask them about this and tell them to release our people." Linghu Chong again nodded his head. Yilin saw Linghu Chong looking as if he had lost his spirit. She let out a long sigh and softly said, "Big Brother Linghu, take care of yourself." She then slowly walked away.

    Linghu Chong saw her gradually getting farther away. He shouted, "Martial Sister!"

    Yilin halted and turned her head around.

    Linghu Chong asked, "The person my martial sister married is... is..."

    Yilin nodded. "Yes! It's that person surnamed Lin." She then quickly walked towards Linghu Chong and pulled on his right sleeve. "Big Brother Linghu, that Lin person isn't better than you. Miss Yue is a muddled person so she agreed to marry him. All the martial sisters are afraid that you’ll get angry so they don't dare to tell you about this. But Peach Valley Six Fairies said that my father and Tian Boguang are close to here. When Tian Boguang sees you, he'll probably tell you about this. Even if Tian Boguang doesn't say it, after a few days, we'll arrive at Mount Songshan and you'll then see Miss Yue and her husband there. At that time, you'll see her wearing a set of new clothes and dressed up as a new bride, maybe... maybe... it'll hinder the big matter we're facing. Everyone all said if Miss Ren were beside you, then it'll be good. So all the martial sisters asked me to come and talk to you, and don't let that muddled Miss Yue cloud your judgement." Linghu Chong smiled bitterly and he thought, "They're all so worried about me and afraid that I might be heartbroken. That's why they really looked after me during the journey." Suddenly he felt the back of his hand wet. He lifted his head and saw Yilin was crying. Awkwardly, he asked, "Why... why are you crying?"

    Yilin sorrowfully replied, "I see you so heartbroken... Big Brother Linghu, if you want to cry, then... then cry it all out."

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly. "Why would I cry? Linghu Chong is an incompetent loafer, and even my master and master-wife despise me and they even expelled me from their school. Little martial sister, how could... how could... Haha, haha!" After he laughed, he ran away on the road towards the mountain. With his running speed, he ran twenty li quickly and arrived at a wild place. When he felt that there was no one nearby, he couldn't suppress his emotion anymore, so he threw himself to the ground and cried loudly. After crying for some time, he felt his heart getting a bit better. He thought, "If I go back now, both of my eyes would be red. If Yihe and the others see this, they'll laugh at me. It's better if I just go back at night then." But he again thought, "If I don't return for a long time, then they would definitely get worried. When a gentleman wants to cry then he cries, when he wants to laugh then he laughs. The whole world knows that Linghu Chong loves Yue Lingshan. She already abandoned me like she was throwing out worn shoes. If I don't grieve over this, then my feeling was fake."

    He immediately ran back to the ruined temple in that city. Yihe, Yiqing, and the other disciples were scattered around the temple searching for him. When they saw him coming back, they were all happy. They had already prepared food and wine on top of the table. Linghu Chong drank himself drunk and slept on the table.

    A few days later, they arrived at the foot of Mount Songshan with two days to spare for the meeting. On the morning of the fifteenth of the third month, Linghu Chong led the disciples to make their way up the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, four Songshan disciples met them and very respectfully saluted them. They said, "Songshan's lowly disciples respectfully welcome Heng-Shan School honourable Headmaster Linghu. My humble school's Headmaster Zuo is respectfully waiting on top of the mountain." They also said, "Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools' martial uncles and martial brothers have all arrived yesterday. Songshan School feels very honoured that Headmaster Linghu and martial sisters have come here."

    As Linghu Chong kept on going up the mountain, he noticed that the mountain road had been swept clean, and every few li along the way, a few disciples of Songshan had prepared tea and light refreshments to welcome the guests. Songshan School had really prepared everything meticulously, but from this, it could be seen that Zuo Lengchan really must have the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School and would not allow anyone to hinder him.

    As they continued on their journey up the mountain, some more Songshan School's disciples met them to lead their way up the mountain. They said, "Kunlun, Emei, Kongtong, and Qingcheng Schools' headmasters and seniors are coming to Songshan today to participate in the election of the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Everybody from Kunlun and Qingcheng Schools has all arrived. Headmaster Linghu came just in time, everyone's waiting for your honourable self on top of the mountain." There was a hint of arrogance on their faces, and from the way they spoke, it was obvious that they believed that this headmaster position of the Five Mountains School was secured in the hand of their Songshan School's headmaster.

    When they went further up, they suddenly heard a thunderous sound of water. They saw from the top of the cliff two jade dragons hanging down as the two waterfalls poured out and flew out leisurely off the cliff. Everyone was on the side of the waterfall looking up towards the peak. The Songshan School's disciple leading them said, "This is called the View Victory Peak. Headmaster Linghu, what do you think of it compared to the places in Mount Heng-Shan?"

    Linghu Chong replied, "Mount Heng-Shan is elegant where as Mount Songshan is grand. Both sceneries are very good."

    That person said, "Songshan is placed in the middle of the world during the Tang Dynasty, and they're originally the leader of all the mountains in the realm. Headmaster Linghu, please have a look, with this atmosphere, no wonder that all the emperors from the previous dynasties founded their capitals on the foothill of Mount Songshan." The actual meaning of these words seemed to be that since Mount Songshan was the leader of all the mountains, then Songshan School ought to be the leader of all the other schools.

    Linghu Chong smilingly said, "I didn't know that any of the heroes in Jianghu are connected to the government and the emperor. Does Headmaster Zuo often make friends with the government officials?" That person's face turned red and stopped saying anything.

    As they kept going up the mountain, the road was becoming more and more dangerous. The Songshan School disciples leading them pointed to a few places and said, "This is the Green Ridge Peak and Green Ridge Plain. This is the Big Iron Bridge Gorge and that's the Little Iron Bridge Gorge." On the right of the Iron Bridge Gorge was a strange stone and on its left was the Ten Thousand Deep Gully, which bottom you couldn't see. A Songshan disciple picked up a piece of big rock and threw it down the gully. The sound of the big rock hitting the side of the gully was like a thunder in the beginning, but as it dropped down the gully, the sound gradually got lighter and lighter until it disappeared.

    Yihe said, "May I ask martial brother something? Today, how many people are coming to Songshan?"

    That man said, "There are at least two thousand people."

    Yihe said, "If you throw down a big rock for every person who comes up the mountain, then after some time, this mountain valley would be filled by your Songshan School." That person just snorted and didn't answer her back.

    After they rounded a corner, they saw a thick fog in front of them and there were more than ten people blocking the mountain road. They were all armed. One person gloomily said, "When is Linghu Chong coming up? If you see him then tell us."

    Linghu Chong saw the person talking had a face full of beard and his face looked hideous, but both of his eyes were blind. When he looked at the other men with him, each of them was actually also blind. He couldn't help feeling a shiver of fear in his heart. He said loudly, "Linghu Chong is here, what do you want?" When he said 'Linghu Chong is here', the blind men immediately hurled their abuses at him and waved their weapons about wishing to rush at him. They all scolded, "Linghu Chong you little bastard, you've harmed us greatly, today we'll fight you to the death."

    Linghu Chong immediately understood what was going on. He thought, "That night when Huashan School was attacked, I used my newly acquired Dugu Nine Swords' sword art to blind those enemies. I didn't know the origin of those people before, but thinking about it now, they must've been sent by Songshan School. I didn't expect to settle this business today."

    He saw that the ground was very dangerous. If they staked their lives in this fight then one of them could grab him and then jump down the Ten Thousand Deep Valley.

    He also saw that the Songshan disciple leading the way for them was holding in his laughter and was taking pleasure in his misfortune. He pondered, "I killed a lot of people from Songshan School at the Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley. So we shouldn't be complacent at Mount Songshan today." He then said, "These blind friends, are they the disciples of Songshan School? Sir, could you please tell them to make way?"

    That Songshan School's disciple laughingly said, "They're not from my humble school. I don't have any authority over them. Headmaster Linghu can just beat them up."

    Suddenly, they heard someone shouted, "Let old man beat you up first then we'll talk." It was Monk No Commandment arriving. Behind him was Cannot Have No Commandment, Tian Boguang. No Commandment strode purposefully, grabbed two Songshan disciples, and threw them over to those blind men while calling out, "Linghu Chong's coming."

    Those blind men immediately hacked and slashed their weapons around. But those two Songshan disciples' martial art weren't low and they pulled their swords out as they were flying through the air. They immediately blocked the weapons of those blind men and at the same time called out, "We're all from Songshan School, quickly get out of the way." Those blind men quickly withdrew their weapons and they were greatly confused. No Commandment rushed up and again grabbed those two Songshan disciples and shouted, "If you don't tell these blind men to make way then I'll throw both of you bastards down the valley." As he said this, he threw the two disciples up into the air. Monk No Commandment's strength of arms was unrivalled and he managed to throw those two Songshan disciples seven to eight feet up in the air. Both of those people cried out wretchedly and they both thought that if they really fell down the Ten Thousand Deep Valley, then their bodies would instantly become minced meat.

    Monk No Commandment waited for the two of them to fall back down before he extended his arms and grabbed the back of their necks. "Want to do that again?"

    One of the men hastily answered, "No... I don't want to!"

    The other Songshan disciple was clever. He loudly shouted, "Linghu Chong, where are you escaping? Blind friends, quickly chase, quickly chase after him!" When the blind men heard this, they all believed him and they immediately started chasing.

    Tian Boguang angrily said, "Hey, little kid, are you fit to say Headmaster Linghu's name?" He then gave that man a couple of whacks on the ears and loudly shouted, "Hero Linghu is here! Headmaster Linghu is here! Whichever one of you blind men have guts then come here and receive some sword art lesson from him." Those blind men's anger was roused by the Songshan disciples beforehand and they also remembered of the enmity they had towards Linghu Chong for blinding them, that was why they were patiently waiting on the mountain road. But hearing the wretched shoutings of the two Songshan disciples, they felt fear in their hearts so they were now running up and down the mountain road like headless chickens. After a while, they stood still at a loss of what to do.

    Linghu Chong, No Commandment, Tian Boguang, and all the Heng-Shan School's disciples walked past those blind men as they continued their journey up the mountain. Suddenly, they came to a place where they could see two mountain peaks with their tops broken off and naturally made some kind of a gateway. The wind blew through where those broken tops were and the fog caressed their faces as it blew past. No Commandment shouted, "What's this place called? How can it change like that?"

    That Songshan disciple bitterly answered, "This is called Facing the Heaven Gate."

    Everyone then turned towards the northwest and went up another part of the mountain road. They looked up towards the spacious plain on top of the peak and were able to see countless number of people gathering up there. The Songshan disciples leading the way quickened their steps as they went up the mountain to report. This was followed by the sound of drum welcoming Linghu Chong and his followers to the top of the peak.

    Zuo Lengchan was wearing a yellow gown. He led around twenty of his disciples as he came towards Linghu Chong to welcome him. He folded his hands to salute Linghu Chong. Even though Linghu Chong was now the headmaster of Heng-Shan, he had always called him as 'Martial Uncle Zuo'. After all, he was still a generation behind him. Linghu Chong immediately bowed back to return the propriety and he said, "Junior Linghu Chong pays his respect to Songshan's headmaster."

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "I haven't seen you for a long time. Brother Linghu seems to be more cheerful. Brother is so handsome and young but you're already leading Heng-Shan School. This has never happened in Wulin before. Congratulations!"

    He said all these coldly with a cold face. When he said 'Congratulations', his face was looking lively but there was not a hint of a congratulation in the way he said it. Linghu Chong understood that he was being sarcastic in saying all these. When he said 'this has never happened in Wulin before', he was actually being sarcastic that a man could become a leader of a bunch of nuns. The words 'handsome and young' also did not have good intentions in them. Linghu Chong replied, "Junior received Dingxian Shi Tai's last wish and became the headmaster of Heng-Shan so that I can avenge the deaths of the two Shi Tai. After I've avenged them, I'll immediately step down and let a worthy person take over." When he said these few words, he was staring at Zuo Lengchan's eyes to see if Zuo Lengchan became ashamed or maybe angry. But nothing changed on Zuo Lengchan's face.

    Zuo Lengchan said, "The five mountains sword schools have the same root but different branches. Today when the five schools merge, Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai's blood feud wouldn't be Heng-Shan School's matter only. But it would also become my Five Mountains School's matter. It's very good that Brother Linghu is enthusiastic in this." He stopped for a time. Then he continued, "Brother Tianmen from Taishan, Mr. Mo Da from Hengshan, Mr. Yue from Huashan, and many other friends from Wulin who are attending the ceremony have arrived. Please go ahead to meet them."

    Linghu Chong replied, "Yes. Have Shaolin's Great Master Fangzheng and Wudang's Priest Chongxu arrived yet?"

    Zuo Lengchan tastelessly answered, "The two of them live very close but with their high position, they wouldn't come here." As he finished saying this, he gave Linghu Chong a stare and his eyes were full of hatred.

    Linghu Chong was startled, but he immediately understood. He thought, "When I took up Heng-Shan's leadership, these two seniors of Wulin came personally to congratulate me. But Zuo Lengchan believed that they wouldn't come today. That's why he hates Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu, and he even hates me for that."

    At this moment, they suddenly saw two disciples in yellow gown rushing up the mountain road. It seemed that they had an urgent matter to report. Everyone gathering on top of the peak was looking at these two people. Not long after, the two disciples arrived in front of Zuo Lengchan. They reported, "Congratulations Master, Shaolin's Abbot Fangzheng and Wudang School's Headmaster Chongxu are both leading their disciples to come up the mountain."

    "They've come?” Zuo Lengchan indifferently asked. “That's very good. I must go down to welcome them." His tone of speech indicated that he didn't care about it that much. But Linghu Chong saw that his gown's sleeve was trembling slightly. After all, a person's happiness is very hard to hide. When news of Shaolin's Great Master Fangzheng and Wudang’s Priest Chongxu arrival was heard, it created a sensation amongst the crowd on top of the mountain. A lot of people followed Zuo Lengchan in going down the mountain to welcome them. Linghu Chong and his Heng-Shan disciples moved to one side of the road letting those people went down.

    They saw Taishan School's Priest Tianmen, Hengshan School's Mr. Mo Da, Beggar Clan's clan leader, Qingcheng School Pine Wind Monastery's Priest Yu Canghai, and all the other seniors had all arrived on the mountain. Linghu Chong saluted many people one by one when he suddenly saw a group of people coming around a corner. They were his Master, Master-Wife, and the martial brothers and sisters of the Huashan School. His heart was pained in seeing them. He quickly went up to them and kowtowed to his Master. "Linghu Chong pays his respect to two honourables."

    Yue Buqun leaned to one side and coldly said, "Why does Headmaster Linghu give me such a big propriety? Isn't this a strange joke?"

    Linghu Chong stood up after giving his respect and stepped back. Madam Yue's eyes were red as she said, "I heard that you've now become the Headmaster of Heng-Shan School. From now on, you can't make trouble anymore, and you must also settle down."

    Yue Buqun coldly laughed. "Him? Not creating trouble? That'll be the day when the sun rises from the west. The first day he became headmaster, Heng-Shan School accepted thousands of people from the unorthodox path, isn't that enough trouble already? I also heard he joined hands with that Devil Sect's Ren Woxing to kill Dongfang Bubai and let Ren Woxing regained the throne of the Devil Sect. Heng-Shan School's headmaster unexpectedly took part in such a big matter for the Devil Sect, can't this be called creating trouble?"

    "Yes, yes," Linghu Chong replied. He didn't want to talk about this matter so he changed to another subject, "At the meeting on Songshan today, Martial Uncle Zuo's intention is to merge the five mountains sword schools into one to make the Five Mountains School. What do the two honourables think of this?"

    Yue Buqun asked, "What's your intention?"

    "Disciple..."

    Yue Buqun smiled and hastily interrupted, "This word 'disciple' doesn't need to be mentioned. If you still remembered those past days in Huashan, then... then..." He then deeply hummed looking like it wasn't easy for him to say what he wanted to say. From the day when he was expelled from the Huashan School, Linghu Chong had never seen Yue Buqun looking so pleased at him. Linghu Chong hastily said, "If you have any order, disciple... Junior will obey it."

    Yue Buqun nodded his head. "I don't have any order, but the martial art people of my generation are especially sensitive about distinguishing between the orthodox and demonical paths. When that day I didn't allow you to stay on Huashan anymore, it wasn't because your Master-Wife and I were cruel-hearted, or because we didn't want to forgive you for your faults. It's just that you violated Wulin's biggest taboo, so even though I've raised you since you were young and that you're like a son to me, I still couldn't be selfish."

    When Linghu Chong heard this, he became tearful. He chokingly said, "Even if my body turned to dust and my bones broken to pieces, it'll still be very hard for me to repay Master’s and Master-Wife's kindness."

    Yue Buqun lightly patted his shoulder to comfort him and then said, "That day at Shaolin Temple, we fought for a while. I used a few sword moves with deep meanings behind them, hoping that you would turn around and rejoin my Huashan School. But you were obstinate and made me really sad."

    Linghu Chong replied, "That day at Shaolin Temple I committed an evil act, disciple should die for it. It's my biggest wish to again rejoin Master's school."

    Yue Buqun smiled. "I'm afraid these words you said are somewhat hypocritical. You're already the headmaster of another school, command a lot of people, and have a lot of responsibility. You're already comfortable in that position now, why would you want to rejoin our school? Also, looking at your martial art now, how can I still be your master?" After he said this, he gave a glance to Madam Yue.

    When Linghu Chong heard Yue Buqun's tone was sincere and it seemed that he wanted to take him back as a disciple again, he was extremely happy. He immediately knelt down and said, "Master, Master-Wife, disciple has offended you greatly. From now on, I will rectify my wrongs, obey master's order, and follow Master-Wife's instructions. I hope that Master and Master-Wife would be merciful and accept me back into Huashan School." At this time, he heard people clamouring to come up the mountain road. Those people were accompanying Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu up the mountain.

    Yue Buqun lowered his voice and said, "Get up, we'll slowly talk about this later."

    Linghu Chong was exulted and kowtowed a few times. "Thank you Master, Master-Wife!" He then stood up.

    Madam Yue was sad and happy at the same time. "Your little martial sister and your martial brother Lin, they got... got married on Huashan last month." Her tone of voice sounded worried. She was afraid that Linghu Chong only wanted to rejoin the Huashan School because of Yue Lingshan, and when he heard that she had already gotten married, he might shout out in grieve and be inconsolable.

    Linghu Chong was pained to hear this and he slightly tilted his head to look for Yue Lingshan. He saw her already dressed up in a beautiful gown as a young married woman. However, her appearance did not seem to have changed at all. She didn't have the glowing and healthy look that newly married young ladies have.

    Her eyes met Linghu Chong's and suddenly her whole face was red, and she quickly dropped her head down. Linghu Chong felt as if a big hammer had just hit his chest and all of a sudden, he saw stars in his eyes. His body faltered and he couldn't stand straight. Suddenly he heard someone whispered in his ear, "Headmaster Linghu, you came from far away but you arrived here first. Shaolin Temple and the Courtyard of Towering Meditation are only a few feet away but I arrived late." Linghu Chong felt that someone was holding his left arm supporting him. Once he recovered, he saw Great Master Fangzheng smiling besides him. He hastily replied, "Yes, Yes!", paid his respect and stepped aside.

    Zuo Lengchan announced in a clear voice, "Everyone, there's no need to give too much propriety. Otherwise, with the thousands of people we have here, we still won't finish paying our respect to each other until tomorrow. Please enter the Courtyard of Meditation now."

    The top of Mount Songshan used to be called Eji and the Courtyard of Towering Mediation was originally a Buddhist temple. But in the last one hundred years, it had been turned into habitable quarters for the Songshan School's headmaster. Even though Zuo Lengchan's name contains the word 'meditation' in it, he was never a disciple of Buddhism while his martial art was closer to Taoism.

    The crowd went into the Courtyard of Meditation. Inside, there was a forest of ancient pines in the middle of the courtyard, with a hall which did not look like a Buddhist hall at all. Even though the hall was extremely large, it still couldn't be compared to the Great Hero Precious Hall at the Shaolin Temple. Not a thousand people had entered the courtyard when it was already full of people and there was no way to fit more people in.

    Zuo Lengchan said in a loud voice, "Today's gathering of our five mountains sword schools is blessed by the presence of all the friends from the orthodox path. This is beyond all my expectations so the supply we've provided isn't sufficient and our reception is slow. So please don't blame us for this."

    Someone from the crowd shouted, "That's alright. But there are too many people here so there's no more room to stand."

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "If we go up two hundred more steps, there's a place where emperors in the ancient times used to worship the heaven and earth. The space up there is wide and would be very convenient for us. But we're only common people, so if the news of us holding a meeting in that place of worship spread out then people will ridicule us for being conceited."

    In ancient times, the emperors commended their own achievements by frequently worshipping the heaven and earth in either Mount Taishan or Mount Songshan, and offered sacrifices during these events. This event was usually a grand occasion for the whole country. But from amongst these Jianghu's heroes, who understood about the matter of 'worshipping heaven and earth'? They only felt crowded and stuffy inside that big hall. Let alone sitting, they weren't even able to breathe freely. One by one, they were saying, "We're not rebelling to become the emperor*. Since such a place exist, why don't we go there? The person besides me talk a lot, damn it!" As they were grumbling, there were already people rushing out of the courtyard.

    (*Translator’s note: Emperors in ancient times prayed to the heaven and earth when they took up their thrones also.)

    Zuo Lengchan said, "Alright, then let's go and have a look at the worshipping place."

    Linghu Chong thought, "Zuo Lengchan is very meticulous in his planning, so how could he have let all these people to be so crowded in here? What's his reason? He himself wants to go to the worshipping place to hold the gathering but he's too embarrassed to say it himself so he’s letting other people instigate it." His thought continued, "What kind of place is this place of worship? He said that it was related to emperors, and now he's leading everyone to go up there. Could it be that he really aspires to be an emperor? Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu said that he has great ambition and that once he's combined the five mountains sword schools, he would then move to exterminate the Sun Moon Sect. Then he would continue on annexing Shaolin and Wudang. Hey, hey, Dongfang Bubai and he actually have the same goal, 'Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu'!"

    Linghu Chong followed the people and arrived below the place of worship. He again thought, "Hearing what Master said, it seems that he's willing to forgive my faults and allow me to return to Huashan. Why was Master so severe before but being so nice today? He must've investigated and found out that my conduct in Heng-Shan is very proper and doesn't besmirch the name of the Heng-Shan School, so he must be really happy. Little martial sister has also gotten married to Martial Brother Lin, so Master and Master-Wife must be feeling sorry for me. Also Master-Wife must've persuaded Master many times till he finally changed his attitude. Today, Zuo Lengchan will try his hardest in annexing the four schools, and since Master is the headmaster of Huashan School, he will resist this with all of his power. He treats me very well so that I may ally with him and together protect the Huashan School. I'll do my best today to not disappoint his hope, and at the same time protect Heng-Shan School."

    The place of worship was entirely constructed out of granite where each big rock there was chiselled until it was completely flat. Imagining the past when the emperor offered sacrifices here, Linghu Chong wondered how many stonemason the emperor employed to construct this place. As he scanned the area, he saw that some of the stones were newly chiselled. Even though there was moss on them already, he could still see that they were new. It was apparent that with the passage of time, this place of worship may have been quite damaged. Zuo Lengchan must have ordered his people to repair the place and had intentionally covered up those repairs so that they would not look obvious. But by doing so, it had instead looked as if he was up to no good.

    As soon as the crowd arrived at this peak of Mount Songshan, they all felt invigorated. This summit stood tallest of all the other peaks around it. At that time, the sky was a clear blue without a single cloud to be seen. Linghu Chong gazed to the north and was able to see the high banks of Yumen and the Yellow River looking like a piece of thread. On the west, he could see the imperial city of Luoyang, while on the southeast, he saw layers upon layers of mountains.

    He then saw three old men pointing to the south. One of them said, "That is the Big Bear Peak, that is the Small Bear Peak, those two peaks standing close together are the Dual Jade Peak, and the three peaks piercing through the cloud is called Three Outstanding Peaks."

    Another old man said, "That mountain peak is the Shaoshi Mountain where the Shaolin Temple is. That day when I was at the Shaolin temple, I felt as if I was so high above, but looking from here, Shaolin temple is actually below Mount Songshan." The three old men laughed at this. Linghu Chong saw from the way these three old men dressed up that they weren't from Songshan School. But judging from their allegory of the mountains, they seem to be embellishing Songshan and belittling Shaolin. Looking at the brightness of these three people's eyes, he deduced that they have powerful internal energies. It seemed that Zuo Lengchan had arranged many helpers for himself today, so if something were to change, they would have to contend with more than just the people from Songshan School.

    He then saw Zuo Lengchan inviting Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu to go up to the place of worship. Fangzheng laughingly said, "The two of us are only two useless outsiders. We've come today just to offer our congratulations and to attend the ceremony, so there's no need for us to go up the stage and disgrace ourselves."

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "Great Master Fangzheng is talking like you're an outsider to us."

    Chongxu said, "All the visitors have already arrived. Headmaster Zuo, please go ahead with the big event, there's no need keep us two old chaps company."

    Zuo Lengchan said, "I'll comply with your request then." He then cupped his fist to the two of them and went up to the place of worship. He'd walked up tens of steps and there was still around ten feet to the top when he stopped and announced in a loud voice, "Friends, please!"

    The top of Mount Songshan was really windy and the crowd was scattered all over the place enjoying the scenery. But Zuo Lengchan's words were heard clearly by everyone up there. Everyone turned their heads around and started to gather closer, surrounding the worship place. Zuo Lengchan cupped his fist and said, "I appreciate all the friends here who have come to grace Mount Songshan with your presence. All the friends here must have heard already that today is the good day that my five mountains sword schools will join our efforts together and will become one school."

    Hundreds of people on the base of the worship place shouted, "Yes, yes, congratulations, congratulations!"

    "Everyone, please take a seat!" Zuo Lengchan said.

    Everyone immediately sat on the ground, and the disciples from each school and sect sat together with their headmaster. Zuo Lengchan said, "Our five mountains sword schools have the same root, different branches. We've been allied for more than a hundred years and we're just like a family already. I have been the chief of the five schools for many years already. But in these last few years, many big events have occurred in Wulin. So the seniors from the five mountains sword schools and I consulted each other and we all felt that if we don't merge into one school, then there would be a day when we encounter a big problem that we couldn't handle."

    Suddenly, they heard someone who coldly interjected from the base of the worship place, "Which school's seniors did Chief Zuo consulted with? How come I don't know about this matter?" The one who said this was Hengshan School's headmaster Mr. Mo Da. As soon as he said this, it was apparent that Hengshan School disapproved of this merger.

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "I just said before, many big events have occurred in Wulin which led to the conclusion that the five schools must merge into one. Amongst these big events is the inter-school killings of each other in spite of our alliance. Mr. Mo Da, my Songshan School's disciple, the Great Songyang Palm, Martial Brother Fei lost his life outside the city of Hengshan. There were people who observed this and said that you were the one who did this, is this true?"

    Mr. Mo Da was startled and he thought, "When I killed that Fei, there was only Martial Brother Liu, Qu Yang, Linghu Chong, a little nun from Heng-Shan School, and Qu Yang's granddaughter there. Three of these people have already died. Could it be that Linghu Chong accidentally mentioned about it after drinking some wine? Or maybe that little nun isn't too experienced and divulged this secret?" At this time, the thousands of eyes underneath the worship place were all looking at Mr. Mo Da's face. Mr. Mo Da remained calm and composed; he shook his head and said, "This matter did not happen! How could I have killed the Great Songyang Palm with my limited skills?"

    Zuo Lengchan coldly laughed. "If the fight was fair and one on one, Mr. Mo Da might not necessarily have been able to kill my martial brother Fei. But if it was an ambush, and you're using your Hengshan School's ever changing phantasmal sword moves, even masters would find it hard to fight against. We looked at the injuries on the corpse of Martial Brother Fei, but someone already ruined it. But the placements of the sword stab couldn't change. Instead of covering up the evidence, isn't this revealing it instead?"

    Mr. Mo Da was startled and he shook his head while thinking, "You're guessing foolishly. How can I admit that?" He was thinking that Zuo Lengchan was relying on the sword injuries placements on Fei Bin's corpse to say this and no one had actually divulged this secret. So he decided never to admit this to Zuo Lengchan. But after this, there would always be enmity between Songshan School and Hengshan School. Also, it was hard to say whether they would be able to go down Mount Songshan alive today. Zuo Lengchan continued, "This merger is the biggest matter that has happened to our five mountains sword schools since each of the school's inception. Mr. Mo Da, we're both the headmasters of a school and we both know which matter is important, and our grudge towards each other is very light. If my five schools benefit from it, then everyone's grudges would be forced to be put aside. Brother Mo, you don't have to worry too much about this matter. Martial Brother Fei is my martial brother, but after the five schools are merged, Brother Mo and I will also become martial brothers. The dead is already dead, and why would the living be killing each other?"

    His speech was gentle, but the actual meaning behind his words was very threatening. The meaning behind his words was, if Mr. Mo Da agreed to the merging of the schools, then the matter of killing Fei Bin would just be washed away. Otherwise, the matter would have to be settled. Both of his eyes were staring at Mr. Mo Da. He asked, "South Mountain Hengshan School has no objection to the merging of the schools. Priest Tianmen of the Taishan School on the east mountain, what does your noble school think of this?"

    Priest Tianmen stood up and said with a booming voice, "It's been three hundred years since Priest Dongling founded the Taishan School. Poor priest doesn't have the virtue and ability to advance the prestige of the Taishan School. But the school's history of three hundred years, it cannot end at my hand no matter what. This matter of merging the schools, I would never agree to it."

    From amongst the Taishan School, a priest with a white beard stood up and said loudly, "Martial Nephew Tianmen, you're wrong. The Taishan School's four generations consist of more than four hundred people. This great benefit to everyone in the school couldn't be thwarted just by your own personal selfishness."

    This white-bearded priest with a desiccated face had a loud and strong voice. There were people who recognised him and whispered, "He's Yujizi, he's the martial uncle of Priest Tianmen."

    Priest Tianmen's face was originally looking ruddy, but after hearing what Yujizi said, his face turned really red and he said loudly, "Martial Uncle, what do you mean by that? Ever since Martial Nephew became the headmaster of Taishan, which matter have I done which is not in the best interest of the school? I'm opposed to the merger of the five schools in order to preserve the Taishan School. How can it be because I'm selfish?"

    Yujizi laughed condescendingly and said, "The merger of the five schools will greatly flourish the five mountains schools. Which disciples in the five mountains schools wouldn't benefit from this merger? Martial Nephew, you can't be the headmaster of our school anymore."

    Priest Tianmen got even more indignant when he heard this. He shouted, "What's this got to do with me being the headmaster? No matter what anyone said, Taishan School will not be annexed while I'm in charge."

    Yujizi said, "What you said is really beautiful, but inside your heart, you actually don't want to relinquish your position of headmaster."

    Priest Tianmen indignantly said, "You really think that I'm that selfish?" He extended his hand and took out a black dagger out of his bosom. He then shouted, "From now on, I'm no longer the headmaster. If you want to be the headmaster, then come and do it!"

    Everyone saw that this black dagger looked ordinary but all the seniors of the five mountains sword schools knew that it was a relic from the time when Priest Dongling started the Taishan School. This dagger had become the symbol of Taishan School's headmaster and had been passed down from headmaster to headmaster for the last three hundred years.

    Yujizi retreated a step and coldly laughed. "You're willing to part with it?"

    Priest Tianmen angrily replied, "Why wouldn't I be willing to part with it?"

    "Alright, then give it to me!" As he said this, he extended his right hand and grabbed the dagger in Priest Tianmen's hand. Priest Tianmen didn't expect that Yujizi would actually grab the dagger from his hand. So as he was startled, the dagger was already snatched by Yujizi. Without thinking too much, he pulled out the long sword hanging on his waist.

    Yujizi flew back and two green blurs were seen as two old priests blocked Priest Tianmen's way with their swords. They shouted, "Tianmen, you're defying your senior. Have you forgotten our school's commandment?"

    Priest Tianmen saw that these two people were his martial uncles, Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi. His whole body shivered as he called out, "Martial uncles, you saw it with your own eyes, Yuji... ... What Martial Uncle Yuji did just a moment ago!"

    Yuyinzi said, "We've seen it with our own eyes. You gave the school's headmaster position to Martial Brother Yuji. Abdicating your position to someone more worthy is a very good thing to do."

    Yuqingzi said, "Since Martial Brother Yuji is your martial uncle, who is now also your headmaster, you've committed a very big sin by pulling out your sword to kill him."

    Priest Tianmen saw that his two martial uncles were being unreasonably favourable towards Yujizi and were also unexpectedly finding faults with what he did. In an uncontrollable rage, he shouted, "I only said that in anger. How could the headmaster position be passed down so... so quickly, damn... damn it, I would never have passed it down to Yuji." In his fit of anger, he unexpectedly said some foul language.

    Yuyinzi shouted, "Are you fit to be the headmaster after saying such kind of language?"

    From amongst the Taishan School's group, a middle-aged priest stood up and said loudly, "Our school's headmaster has always been my master. What kind of tricks are martial uncles playing here?" This middle-aged priest had a Taoist name of Jianchu, and he was Priest Tianmen's second disciple.

    This was followed by another person who stood up and shouted, "Martial Brother Tianmen already gave the headmaster position to my master. The thousands of people on top of Mount Songshan here saw and heard what happened. How could it be false? Martial Brother Tianmen said just a moment ago: 'From now on, I'm no longer the headmaster. If you want to be the headmaster, then come and do it!' You didn't hear it?" The one who said this was Yujizi's disciple.

    More than a hundred people from the Taishan School's group started chanting, "Old headmaster abdicated, new headmaster takes over! Old headmaster abdicated, new headmaster takes over!"

    Priest Tianmen was the most senior disciple and he also had the most reputation in the school, but five or six of his martial uncles secretly plotted against him and suddenly went against him together. So from the two hundred Taishan School's people who had come up to Mount Songshan today, more than one hundred and sixty of them were his enemy. Yujizi lifted the iron dagger high above his head and said, "This is Grand-Master Dongling's divine weapon. Grand-Master's last words were: 'Seeing this dagger is like seeing Dongling'. Should we listen to Grand-Master's last word?"

    More than one hundred priests loudly shouted, "Headmaster is right!" There was also people calling out, "Disciple Tianmen is rebelling, and is not adhering to our school's rules. He deserves to be punished."

    When Linghu Chong saw what was happening, he was guessing that all these people were secretly put here by Zuo Lengchan. Priest Tianmen had an irritable nature and could easily be stirred up. With just a few words, he could become extremely angry. At this moment, hearing the loud voice of his enemy, Tianmen felt he couldn't restrain himself anymore. But even though he was extremely enraged at the moment, there was nothing that he could do. Linghu Chong gazed at where Huashan School was crowded together and saw his master standing with his hands behind his back. His master's face had no expression whatsoever. Linghu Chong thought, "Yujizi and his people set this up, and Master greatly objected to this. But he doesn't want to meddle in this and seems to be just calmly observing what's going on for now. I'll just follow his lead then."

    Yujizi waved his left hand a few times and suddenly around one hundred and sixty priests from Taishan School dispersed and pulled their long swords out. They encircled the remaining fifty plus priests. All the priests encircled were Tianmen's disciples. Priest Tianmen indignantly bellowed, "You really want to fight? Let's fight to the death."

    Yujizi said clearly, "Tianmen listen! Taishan School's headmaster has an order: Drop your sword and surrender. Do you submit to Grand-Master Dongling's dagger?"

    Tianmen angrily replied, "Pei! Who said you're our school's headmaster?"

    "Tianmen's disciples, this matter has nothing to do with you, throw down your weapons and surrender yourself! We won't look into this matter further, otherwise you'll be punished heavily," Yujizi called out.

    Priest Jianchu shouted, "If you can promise to Grand-Master's dagger that you would never let the hard work of Grand-Master in establishing the Taishan School be wiped out, then all of us will support you in becoming headmaster. But if once you've become headmaster, you immediately sell our school to Songshan School, then you'll become the greatest sinner in our school. And when you die, you won't have face to meet Grand-Master."

    Yuyinzi said, "You little kid, do you think you're good enough to talk to your seniors from the 'Yu' generation? When the five schools merge, wouldn't Songshan School's name also be wiped out? Five Mountains School, these two words of 'Five Mountains' include Taishan in it, what's not good about that?"

    Priest Tianmen replied, "You were all secretly sowing discord and have all been bought by Zuo Lengchan. Hng, hng! If you want to kill then go ahead. But if you want me to promise to surrender to Songshan, I will never do it."

    Yujizi said, "You're all refusing to obey's Headmaster's dagger! Careful! You'll die shortly and you will die unburied."

    Priest Tianmen said, "Disciples loyal to Taishan School, today we'll die fighting and spill our blood on Songshan."

    The disciples standing around him answered, "We'll fight to the death and will never surrender."

    Even though their number was small, each of their faces showed their resolve. If Yujizi told his men to attack, it wasn't going to be quick in killing all of them. Also, the thousands of good heroes, Shaolin School's Great Master Fangzheng, Wudang School's Priest Chongxu, and the other senior masters around the base of the worship place would never allow them to take advantage of this and allow the massacre of their own martial brothers to happen. Yujizi, Yuqingzi, Yuyinzi, and their men were watching carefully, not knowing what to do.

    Suddenly, someone from far to the left lazily said, "Old man has walked everywhere in this realm, I've also seen a lot of good heroes. But I rarely see a dog who disclaims what he says immediately after he said it."

    Everyone looked at where the voice was coming from and they saw a person wearing hemp clothes leaning besides a big rock. His left hand was holding a big bamboo hat and he was using it to fan himself. This person looked slim, his two eyes were squinted, and his face was showing a disapproving expression. No one knew who this person was, and they also didn't know who he was scolding. They heard him continued, "You clearly already gave your headmaster position to someone else, could it be what you were saying was bullshit? Priest Tianmen, your name has this character 'Tian', I'm afraid we should change it into the word 'Shit'. Then it'll sound right." Yujizi and his men understood that he was helping them, so they all laughed.

    Tianmen indignantly said, "It's my own Taishan School's matter! Outsiders don't need to worry about it."

    That hemp clothed man lazily replied, "When old man sees a matter that's not pleasing to my eyes, then I'll definitely worry about it. Today is the five mountains sword schools' good day for merger, but instead you, ox-nosed priest, pulled out your sword and created trouble here, making people lose interest. This is really bullshit."

    Suddenly, they saw a flash as that hemp-clothed man jumped forward and rapidly charged at the encirclement of Yujizi and his men. He slashed the bamboo hat he was holding in his left hand down on Priest Tianmen's head. Unexpectedly, Priest Tianmen didn't block this strike. Instead he pointed his sword towards that person's chest who then hastily dropped down to the ground and rushed underneath Priest Tianmen's legs. He slapped his right hand on the ground to turn his body around. Then with a 'hu' sound, he kicked out repeatedly at the back of Priest Tianmen's body. These few moves displayed by that person were extremely weird. Every one of the heroes gathered on the mountaintop was skilled, but they had never heard of any of these moves before, let alone seen it. Tianmen couldn't guard against this attack and his acupoints were hit. The disciples around Tianmen immediately stabbed their swords towards that person. That man just laughed loudly and grabbed Priest Tianmen's back to block the incoming swords which forced the disciples to withdraw their swords in a hurry. That man shouted, "Throw down your swords, or I'll twist off this ox-nosed's head." As he said this, his right hand clutched the top of Tianmen's head.

    Tianmen's martial art was useless now as his movement was controlled by that person, and he couldn't move at all. His once red face had now turned pale. Looking at the situation, it's clear that the hemp-clothed man only had to apply some power into his right hand to twist Tianmen's head around and break his neck. Jianchu said, "You suddenly ambushed us. This is not what heroes do. What's your name?" That person used his left hand to smack Priest Tianmen's ear and then lazily said, "Whoever is rude to me then I'll hit his master."

    When Priest Tianmen's disciples saw that their honoured master was being insulted, they were startled and angry at the same time. Each of them only needed to pierce their long swords towards the hemp-clothed man at the same time, then that man would instantaneously become a hedgehog. But Priest Tianmen was still under his control so none of them dared to move for fear that their actions might hurt their master. A young man scolded, "You dog..." That man again lifted his hand and slapped Tianmen's ear. He then said, "You're a disciple from the school. How can you still say such foul language?"

    Suddenly, Priest Tianmen cried out loudly as he suddenly turned around and came face to face with that hemp-clothed person. Blood spouted out of Priest Tianmen's mouth. The hemp-clothed person was startled and wanted to take his hand off Priest Tianmen, but it was too late. All of a sudden, that person's whole head and face became drenched with blood from Priest Tianmen, while at the same time, both of Priest Tianmen's hands turned around and grabbed his neck. With a sharp sound, that person's neck was snapped. Priest Tianmen then threw that person's body away, which landed tens of feet away. Priest Tianmen now looked completely tall and strong, and at the same time looked strangely powerful with his face full of blood. Everyone who saw him was terrified. After some time, he violently shouted and dropped to the ground. At first, he was unexpectedly attacked by that person who used many weird moves, then he was repeatedly insulted. So he couldn't hold back his anger anymore and was willing to lose his life, so he exerted his inner energy and forcefully broke his meridian. By doing that, he managed to open up his sealed acupoints, and then he exerted himself and killed that person. But his own meridian was broken so he wouldn't be able to live any more as well. Tianmen's disciples cried out "Master!" and rushed over to support him. But when they saw that he had already died, they all started scolding loudly.

    From amongst the crowd, someone suddenly said, "Headmaster Zuo, you ordered that 'Green Ocean Owl' to deal with Priest Tianmen. Isn't that too much?"

    Everyone turned around to look at the person who said this. What they saw was a rustic old man who some people knew of as He Sanqi, who usually went around selling wonton in the markets around the cities. As for that person who was violently killed by Priest Tianmen, no one knew who he was or where he came from. They only heard that He Sanqi called him as 'Green Ocean Owl'. Yet, still not many people knew who 'Green Ocean Owl' was.

    Zuo Lengchan said, "What a joke. This is the first time that I have met Brother Ji. How can you say that I ordered him to do this?"

    He Sanqi said, "Perhaps Headmaster Zuo hasn't been acquainted with 'Green Ocean Owl' for long, but you're well acquainted with this person's master 'White Malignant Star'."

    When the word 'White Malignant Star' came out of He Sanqi's mouth, the crowd uttered their surprise. Linghu Chong vaguely remembered that many years ago Master-Wife had mentioned this name: 'White Malignant Star'. At that time, Yue Lingshan was only around six to seven years old and she was crying incessantly. Madam Yue tried to frighten her by saying, "If you keep crying then 'White Malignant Star' will come and take you away." When Linghu Chong asked who this 'White Malignant Star' was, Madam Yue replied, "'White Malignant Star' is an evil person. He likes to eat small kids who love to cry. This person has no nose, and there's only two holes on his face, just like a piece of board." At that time, Yue Lingshan was scared by this and stopped crying. As Linghu Chong thought of the past, he gazed at Yue Lingshan and saw her staring at a distant mountain peak looking as if she was pondering something. Scowling at times, she seemed to be worried about something. It was obvious that she didn't recall of this 'White Malignant Star' and that she had long ago forgotten about it. Linghu Chong thought, "Little martial sister has just gotten married, and she loves Martial Brother Lin a lot. What unpleasant matter is she thinking of? Could it be that they're fighting at the moment?" He saw Lin Pingzhi standing besides her and his face looked quite weird. He seemed to be smiling and yet not smiling, and he seemed to be angry but not quite angry. Linghu Chong was again surprised, "What kind of expression is that? On whose face did I see this expression before?" But he couldn't remember where he had seen this kind of expression before.

    He then heard Zuo Lengchan reply, "Brother Yuji, congratulations on becoming Taishan School's headmaster. Regarding this five sword schools merger, what's Brother's esteemed opinion on this?" Zuo Lengchan didn't answer He Sanqi's question but instead went around it. Then this meant that tacitly he was not disputing that he knew of 'White Malignant Star'. White Malignant Star's evil name had been known for around twenty to thirty years, but the number of people who had actually seen him or suffered under his hands was not many. It seemed that his evil reputation mainly came from his ugly appearance. However, from looking at his disciple Green Ocean Owl's behaviour, it was obvious that this master and disciple didn't belong to the orthodox school.

    Yujizi grasped the dagger in his hand and was feeling proud of himself. He happily replied, "The merger of the five mountains sword schools benefits everyone of us in the five schools, and there's no harm in it at all. It's only that Priest Tianmen was very selfish and didn't think of the welfare of everyone, so he went against the idea. Chief Zuo, as I'm the headmaster of Taishan School now, I wholeheartedly approve of the merger of the five schools. Everyone in Taishan School is now under your command and will flourish under the Five Mountains School's family. If anyone tried to obstruct this, then my Taishan School will be the first one to go against them."

    More than a hundred people from Taishan School boomed their answer, "Taishan School whole heartedly agrees to the merger. If anyone absurdly objects to this, Taishan School swears to go against them." These people answered together and loudly. Even though there weren't many of them, their voices were firm and reverberated throughout the mountaintop. Linghu Chong thought, "It's obvious they've practised this before hand. Otherwise, even if everyone of them agreed to the merger, their words won't be exactly the same from each other." Also hearing the respectful tone that Yujizi used when addressing Zuo Lengchan, he guessed that if Zuo Lengchan had not secretly given him a payoff before, then Zuo Lengchan must have used some kind of violent method to control him. When Priest Tianmen's disciples saw that their master had died violently and that things were out of their control, they were forced to sit there silently. Some of them grinded their teeth and cursed silently, while a few clenched their fists tightly as their faces filled with grief and indignation.

    Zuo Lengchan said loudly, "Hengshan and Taishan Schools have already approved of the merger, so it seems that all our schools will be merged very soon. There's only benefit for everyone in the merging of the schools. There's no harm in it. So my Songshan School will also follow your decision and celebrate this together."

    Linghu Chong coldly thought in his heart, "You certainly can talk very beautifully. All these matters were setup by you, but you're actually making it sound as if you're just following their ideas."

    He heard Zuo Lengchan continue, "Among the five schools, three schools have already agreed to the merger. What does Heng-Shan School think of this? Heng-Shan School's previous headmaster, Dingxian Shi Tai, had repeatedly discussed about this matter with me. She completely endorsed this merger. Dingjing, Dingyi Shi Tai also agreed with this." From among the black-uniformed disciples of the Heng-Shan School, one disciple cried out in a clear voice, "Headmaster Zuo, what you said was wrong. Before our headmaster and two martial uncles passed away, they hated this idea of a merger and completely opposed it. As a result of opposing this merger, the three honourables met their misfortunes. How can you pass off your own opinion as that of the three honourables?" Everyone turned their heads to look who was speaking, and saw a round-faced girl. This young lady who was very good in talking was Zheng E. She was still very young so most of the people from the other schools didn't recognise her.

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "The martial art of your master, Dingxian Shi Tai, is high, and her experience is really out of the ordinary. She's in fact the greatest person among everyone in our five mountains sword schools, and I admired her very much. But it's a pity that they were killed in Shaolin Temple. If she was still alive today, then she would know what is right or wrong in today's gathering." He paused for a time before continuing, "That day when I was discussing the merger with Dingxian, Dingjing, and Dingyi Shi Tai, I mentioned about this matter already. Actually it didn't matter if this merger comes to fruition or not. But if the merger actually goes through then I would have definitely asked Dingxian Shi Tai to be the leader of the combined schools. At that time, Dingxian Shi Tai was being humble and declined, but I would definitely have supported her fully. Later on, for some unknown reason, Dingxian Shi Tai firmly declined this idea. Ai, what a pity, what a pity, such a hero unexpectedly passed away when her service here isn't done yet. Her death at the Shaolin Temple really made people sad." He had now mentioned Shaolin Temple twice in his speech, as he implicitly put the responsibility of Dingxian Shi Tai's death on Shaolin Temple. He was implying that even though the murderer might not have been someone from Shaolin School, there were many martial art masters at Shaolin who were capable of killing these two masters. Also, even if Shaolin School didn't plot the demise of the Shi Tai, they had let their murderers escape and were negligent in their responsibility to protect the people inside the temple.

    Suddenly, someone with a crude voice said, "What Headmaster Zuo said was wrong. That day, Dingxian Shi Tai told me, she actually wanted to choose you to become the headmaster of the five mountains sword schools."

    Zuo Lengchan felt really happy. He took a look at that person and saw that person had a horse face, mouse eyes, and looked very weird. He didn't know who that person was but since he was wearing a black gown, it indicated that he was from the Heng-Shan School. Besides him were five more people with similar appearances, wearing similar gowns, but Zuo Lengchan didn't know that they were the Peach Valley Six Fairies. Even though Zuo Lengchan felt exulted, his face stayed calm and collected.

    "Honourable Brother, what's your name? Even though Dingxian Shi Tai had said that at that time, I still couldn't be compared to her. I would never be able to be as good as her."

    The person who spoke out before was Peachtree Root Fairy. He now loudly replied, "I'm Peachtree Root Fairy. These five people are all my brothers."

    "I have heard of your illustrious name for a long time," Zuo Lengchan replied.

    "Which illustrious name have you heard of me? Did you hear about my powerful martial art or my vast knowledge?" Peachtree Root Fairy asked.

    Zuo Lengchan thought, "So these six idiots were the ones who ripped Cheng Buyou apart." But thinking that Peachtree Root Fairy had just supported him, he said, "The six of you have powerful martial arts and vast knowledge. I've heard of both."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "There's nothing great about our martial arts. But if the six of us teamed up together, we would be better than Chief Zuo by a bit. However, if we're fighting one on one, then we lack by a lot."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy added, "But with regards to knowledge, we're way better than Chief Zuo."

    Zuo Lengchan snorted and replied, "Really?"

    "I'm not wrong at all. That's what Dingxian Shi Tai said on that day," Peachtree Flower Fairy replied.

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "When Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingjing Shi Tai, and Dingyi Shi Tai were chit chatting inside the convent, they talked about the merger of the five mountains sword schools. Dingyi Shi Tai said: 'It's alright if the five mountains sword schools don’t merge. But if we're going to merge, then we must ask Songshan School's Mr. Zuo Lengchan to become the headmaster.' Do you believe me?" Zuo Lengchan was secretly feeling very happy. He replied, "Dingyi Shi Tai gave me a lot face, I don't deserve it."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Don't be happy yet. Dingyi Shi Tai also said: 'Among the heroes in the realm, Songshan School's headmaster Zuo is very highly regarded. If he does become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, that's really the best choice. But he's very selfish, narrow minded, and has no tolerance. If he really becomes the headmaster, then my female disciples would certainly suffer under him.'"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy continued his brother's speech, "Dingxian Shi Tai then said: 'On the other hand, we have six heroes here. Their martial arts are really high, and their knowledge is also vast. They would do well enough as headmaster of the Five Mountains School.'"

    Zuo Lengchan laughed coldly and said, "Six heroes? Who are they?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy replied, "Of course these six heroes are the six of us." As soon as he said this, the thousands of people on the mountaintop burst into laughter. Even though most of these people didn't know of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, they saw that these six brothers looked weird and that their appearances were comical. When they heard that they were praising themselves as heroes and were saying that their 'martial arts are high and their knowledge is vast', they couldn't hold back their laughter.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "At that time, when Dingxian Shi Tai mentioned these words 'Six Heroes', Dingjing and Dingyi Shi Tai immediately realised that these words were referring to the six of us, and they immediately cheered. Hmmm, what did Dingyi Shi Tai say at that time? Brothers, do you remember?"

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy confidently replied, "Of course I remember. At that time, Dingyi Shi Tai said: 'The knowledge of these Peach Valley Six Fairies, when actually compared to Shaolin Temple's Great Master Fangzheng, lack only by a bit. Compared to Priest Chongxu of Wudang School, their martial arts aren't as good. But within the five mountains sword schools, no one can be compared to them. Martial sisters, what do you think?' Dingjing Shi Tai then said: 'I actually think otherwise. Martial Sister Dingxian's martial art and knowledge aren't below the Peach Valley Six Fairies at all. It's a pity that we're females and we're also Buddhists. So it'll be inconvenient for us to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School and lead the thousands of heroes. So, we should choose the Peach Valley Six Fairies for this position.'"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy continued with the story, "Dingxian Shi Tai nodded her head and then she said: 'If the five mountains sword schools are really going to merge, and these six brothers aren't the headmasters, then it would be hard for the school to flourish and prosper.'" As Linghu Chong listened on, he found it becoming funnier and funnier as he came to understand that the Peach Valley Six Fairies were deliberately trying to cause trouble for Zuo Lengchan. Zuo Lengchan had fabricated words and tried to pass them off as words said by people who had already passed away, and now the Peach Valley Six Fairies were copying him. This tactic of making use of Zuo Lengchan’s method to dispute with him was really good as Zuo Lengchan was unable to dispute back.

    On top of Mount Songshan, besides people from Songshan School and some outsiders who are under Zuo Lengchan's command, there were actually many people who disagreed strongly with the idea of merging the five mountains sword schools. Some were highly experienced heroes such as Abbot Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu who were afraid that Zuo Lengchan's ambition would become unchecked and disaster would strike in Jianghu. There were also those who saw Priest Tianmen died miserably and were feeling very angry at Zuo Lengchan. There were some who believed that after the five mountains schools had merged, the reputation of the Five Mountains School would prosper greatly, and that they wouldn't allow their own school to miss out on this; And there was also Linghu Chong and his Heng-Shan School's people who had great hostility towards Zuo Lengchan believing that Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingjing Shi Tai, and Dingyi Shi Tai were killed by him, and were hoping to exact their revenge on him. When all these people heard the nonsense that the Peach Valley Six Fairies were spouting, some people also fabricated similar things making Zuo Lengchan unable to dispute them back. But for the most part, people were just laughing quietly, while the young ones laughed slightly louder. Suddenly, a rough voice said, "Peach Valley Six Weirdos, were there other witnesses around when Dingxian Shi Tai said this?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy replied, "Many Heng-Shan School disciples heard it themselves. Miss Zheng, isn't that right?"

    Zheng E quickly held back her laughter and calmly replied, "That's right. Headmaster Zuo, you said that my master approved of the merger of the five schools. Who else heard this? Martial sisters, did any of you hear these words from our honourable master?"

    More than a hundred female disciples answered together, "We've never heard of these words." One of the disciples said loudly, "Most likely, those words were Headmaster Zuo's own fabrication." There was also a female disciple who said, "Compared to Headmaster Zuo, my master was more inclined to support the Peach Valley Six Fairies. We've all been following the three honourables for many years now, how could we not have known what was in their minds?"

    Many people burst into laughter. Peachtree Branch Fairy loudly added, "That's right, we're not telling lies, isn't that right? Later on, Dingxian Shi Tai also said: 'When the five schools do merge then there's only one position of headmaster, while the Peach Valley Six Fairies have six people. Who do you think will be the best one to take on this position?'. Brothers, what was Dingjing Shi Tai's answer?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy replied, "This... Hmm, yes, Dingjing Shi Tai said: 'Even when the five schools merge into one, the mountains of Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, Heng-Shan, Songshan are on the east, south, west, north, and in the middle respectively, and they can't be physically merged into one. Zuo Lengchan is also not an emperor. How could he move all these mountains together and make it one? So we'll just ask five of the Peach Valley Six Fairies to take care of each of the mountains, and have the remaining one to be the headmaster.'"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "That's right! Dingyi Shi Tai then said: 'Martial sister is right. The parents of the Peach Valley Six Fairies had really good foresight, they knew that Zuo Lengchan wanted to merge the five mountains sword schools sometime in the future so they gave birth to six brothers, not five or seven. Really admirable, admirable!'" When the crowd heard this, their laughter was so loud that it reverberated through the whole mountain.

    Zuo Lengchan had prepared this place of worship for the merger of the five mountains school. He had originally set the place up in all its grandeur so that all the attending heroes would be awed by it. But he had never expected that these six idiots would come out and start telling jokes in front of everyone, making this grand ceremony looking like a comical play. Zuo Lengchan was actually furious, but since he was the host at Mount Songshan, he couldn't just do whatever he wished and was forced to hold his anger in check. He secretly hatched a plan, "Once this matter is finished, if I don't kill these six idiots, then I'm not Zuo."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy suddenly wept loudly and started calling out, "This is not good... not good! Ever since the six of us were born, we've never been more than a foot apart from each other. One is to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, while the others are going to live separately on five other mountains. This won't do, we can't do that." He was crying genuinely, as if the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School had been decided, and that the six of them were faced with the situation of parting ways forever.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Sixth brother, don't be upset, the six of us won't be separated. Brothers, don't give up. I also won't give up. But since people expect us to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, we're left with no choice but to go against the merger of the five mountains schools."

    Peachtree Root Fairy and the other four brothers replied together, "Right, right, why do we need to merge the five mountains sword schools?"

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy snorted his nose and broke into a smile. He said, "Even if the schools are really merging, there's a great hero in the Five Mountains School. Compared to the six of us, his knowledge is higher, his martial art is more powerful, and just like the six of us, he has the favour of everyone. It's not late for this kind of person to become the headmaster."

    Zuo Lengchan was worried that these six chaps would continue with their pestering and make more and more trouble. So he quickly cut them off and immediately said clearly, "Six heroes, are you the headmaster of Heng-Shan School? Or is it someone else? Are the six heroes taking responsibility for Heng-Shan School's matters?"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy replied, "We originally wanted to become the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. But thinking that the headmaster of Songshan School is you, old brother Zuo, when the six of us become the headmaster of Heng-Shan, then we would be on par with you. Hey, hey, this... that..."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "If we're on par with him, then the six of us heroes would definitely lose our position. That's why we asked Linghu Chong to take on this difficult job and become the headmaster of Heng-Shan School." Zuo Lengchan was seething with rage, and he said coldly, "Headmaster Linghu, you're now leading the Heng-Shan School family, but you're not restricting the people in your noble school but allowed them to spout nonsense in front of the entire realm's heroes and shame themselves."

    Linghu Chong smiled. "These six Peachtree brothers are honest and sincere, and they speak candidly. But they're not the kind of people who blindly invent rumours. Their story of Dingxian Shi Tai is more reliable when compared to the nonsense from someone outside this school."

    Zuo Lengchan snorted and said, "Today, on this matter of the five mountains sword schools merger, your noble school is thinking of objecting to it all by yourself?"

    Linghu Chong shook his head. "Heng-Shan School is not objecting to it by ourselves. Huashan School's headmaster, Mr. Yue, is the respected master who initially taught me my skills. Today, even though I belong to another school, I don't dare to forget the instructions from my former respected master."

    Zuo Lengchan replied, "The way you said that, you'll still listen to what Huashan School's Mr. Yue say?"

    "That's right. My Heng-Shan School and Huashan School are uniting our effort and working together," Linghu Chong replied.

    Zuo Lengchan turned his head to look at the Huashan School. He then said, "Mr. Yue, Headmaster Linghu didn't forget your past kindness to him. Congratulations! Headmaster Linghu will follow your lead whether Sir agrees to the merger or not. But what does Sir think of this merger?"

    Yue Buqun replied, "Since Chief Zuo asked me earlier, I've already considered about this matter in details. But it's actually not easy to reach a decision." At that moment, everyone in the crowd turned their eyes to look at him. Many of the people in the crowd thought, "Hengshan School is weak to stand by itself, and Taishan School has divisions inside their school, so both of them were unable to resist Songshan School. At this time, Huashan School and Heng-Shan School have become allies, and adding Hengshan School to the mix, they can definitely go up against Songshan School." They then heard Yue Buqun continued, "My Huashan School was founded more than two hundred years ago. Some time ago, our school suffered a schism and divided into the Qi Branch and the Sword Branch. All the seniors in Wulin already know about this. When I thought of the days when the two branches were killing each other, I still tremble with fear..."

    Linghu Chong pondered, "Master once mentioned that the struggle between these two branches was the school's biggest shame and cannot be mentioned to the people outside of the school. Why is he now publicly discussing about this matter in front of all the realm's heroes?" He then heard Yue Buqun's sharp voice travelling over many li, and each word that he said echoed back from distant places. Linghu Chong thought, "Master's cultivation of the 'Divine Art of Violet Twilight' has gotten even higher. His voice and the way he used his inner energy seems quite different than the past."

    Yue Buqun continued, "That's why I deeply feel that being apart is not as good as being together for all the sects in Wulin. Hundreds of years ago, the fightings were very fierce in Jianghu, and no one knows just how many people from the orthodox path died from such fights. Tracing the source of this, it's most likely that these fighting occur because there were too many sects in Jianghu. I've always believed that if all the sects in Wulin are to become one, then everyone will be like brothers, and all those kinds of killings would be greatly reduced. Then many heroes would not lose their lives while they're still in their prime, and the numbers of orphans and widows would also be greatly reduced." He said this with a voice full of pity towards the fate of mankind, and many people couldn't help but nod their heads when they heard this. There were some people who whispered, "Huashan's Yue Buqun is called 'Gentleman Sword'. He's really earned his reputation. His heart is full of compassion." Abbot Fangzheng joined his two palms and said, "Very good, very good! Scholar Yue is very compassionate. If everyone in Wulin thought the same way as Scholar Yue, then all the bloodshed and killings in Wulin will disappear completely."

    Yue Buqun said, "Great Master is overpraising me. That was just my shallow view of things. Shaolin temple's reverend monks from generations past must've thought of the same thing a long time ago. It's evidence of Shaolin temple's prestigious status in Wulin that with just one call, all the wise and outstanding warriors from every school and sect responds to it. This must be because of Shaolin temple's achievements for the last hundreds of years. It's true that each school and each sect's martial art has different roots and that their methods of inner energy cultivation are very different from each other. So if we actually want every pugilist out there to be under one school, then that would be easier said than done. 'A gentleman is friendly but not at the expense of principle.' Just so, our martial arts can be different but we must still be at peace with one another. Even until today, there are still a lot of sects and schools in Jianghu, which are clearly fighting in the open or are fighting in secret, and countless lives are lost because of this. All these deaths and killings, just because of some senseless fights. All the wise heroes from years past must've known that all these divisions in sects and schools are causing a lot of harm in Jianghu. But why can't we resolve all these heartaches and eliminate this division? I really don't understand this. So I've been thinking about this matter for many years now, and it was only recently that I've suddenly become enlightened and understood the key point that's been hindering this from happening. This matter affects the life and death of everyone in Wulin from the orthodox path, so I don't dare to keep this matter to myself. That's why I've cautiously raised the issue and ask everyone here to give me some advice."

    The crowd one by one shouted, "Please say it, please say it!" "Mr. Yue's opinion is definitely wise." "So what's the reason behind this?" "Eliminating all the division between sects and schools is impossible!" Yue Buqun waited until the crowd calmed down before saying, "I thought about this and felt that one of the reasons is the difference between the word 'hurried' and 'gradual'. Throughout the times, the compassionate people in Wulin have always hoped to remove the division between the sects and they have often done this in a hurry. They've always tried to remove these boundaries between sects and eliminate the division in one fell swoop, but they never realised how difficult it is to do. All the sects in Wulin, the big ones number in the tens and the small ones number in the thousands, and every single sect has its tradition in the tens or even thousands of years of history. If they actually want to eliminate all these divisions in one fell swoop, then of course it's going to be impossible."

    Zuo Lengchan said, "So according to Mr. Yue's opinion, if we want to eliminate the division between sects then it can never be done? Wouldn't that be crushing everyone's hope?"

    Yue Buqun shook his head. "Even though it's very difficult to do, it's actually still possible to do. I said before about the difference: hurried and gradual. As the saying goes, you botch it by rushing it. We must change our principle and the people from the orthodox path must also cooperate to go forward. If we do it in fifty years, or one hundred years, we'll definitely succeed."

    Zuo Lengchan sighed before saying, "Fifty years, one hundred years, most of the heroes here would've turned into bones by then."

    Yue Buqun replied, "We must do our best on this matter, and we don't have to worry whether we'll be able to actually complete this matter in our own generation or not. This is the same like planting trees for the later generations. We plant the trees and let the future generations enjoy some peace and calm. How can this be not a good idea? Also, fifty or one hundred years is the time that it would take to completely accomplish this. But if you actually want to see some slight accomplishment, then eight to ten years will be sufficient to see what have been achieved."

    Zuo Lengchan said, "Eight to ten years to see a slight improvement... That's very good then. But how do we first start on this?"

    Yue Buqun smiled slightly and continued, "Actually what Chief Zuo is doing right now is to the benefit of the orthodox path in Jianghu. We should first eliminate this view of many sects and schools in Wulin as it achieves nothing. First, we should get the sects and schools which are relatively near to each other, have similar martial arts, and are friendly to each to first combine as much as they can. Then within eight to ten years, the number of sects and schools would've been greatly reduced. Our five mountains sword schools should first combine to make the Five Mountains School to setup an example for the other sects. This would be a glorious achievement that would be praised throughout Jianghu for years to come."

    When he finished saying this, the crowd started to call out, "So Huashan School approves of the merger."

    Linghu Chong was greatly startled, and he thought, "I never expected that Master would actually approve of the merger. Since I've already said that Heng-Shan School will follow Huashan School's lead, then I can't eat my words and not go forward with the merger." He was feeling anxious and took a look towards Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu. They both were shaking their heads and were looking quite depressed.

    Zuo Lengchan had always been worried that Yue Buqun would object. This person was good at debating. His reputation in Jianghu was also very good, and it was hard to force him into doing something. He had never expected that Yue Buqun would unexpectedly support the merger. He was elated as he said, "Songshan School approves of the merger. My reason for the merger before was originally 'Unity of will is an impregnable stronghold.' Together we're strong and alone we're weak. But after hearing Mr. Yue's reason, my view has now been broadened and I realised that this merger concerns the future of Wulin and will benefit more than just our five schools."

    Yue Buqun replied, "After our five schools merged, if we want to actually extend our influence then we'll definitely be in competition with the heroes from the other sects. When this happens, not only would it result in problems throughout Wulin, it would also be very unbeneficial to our Five Mountains School. Thus, the merger would also be more disadvantageous than beneficial to all the heroes in Wulin. That's why the objective of this merger must be 'to stop the fighting and to resolve the disputes'. That way, after the merger of our five schools, no sect would be disadvantaged and everyone need not have any worries."

    When the crowd heard him, there were some who breathed a sigh of relief, and there were also some who were still half doubting what he said. Zuo Lengchan said, "In that case, Huashan School approves of the merger?"

    "That's right," Yue Buqun answered. He paused for a while before looking at Linghu Chong. "Heng-Shan School's Headmaster Linghu was previously in the Huashan School, so he and I have more than twenty years of master-disciple relationship. After he went out of the Huashan School, I didn't abandon him and have never forgotten our relationship. I've always hoped that we can be together again under one school. Today, I've already promised him that we will again be in the same school." He said till here when he revealed his smile. Linghu Chong was shaken and he immediately understood. Linghu Chong thought, "He promised me that I'll be able to return to his school, but he didn't actually mean to return to Huashan. He actually meant that after the five schools have merged, then Master, Master-Wife, and I would again be under one school. That's also very good." His thought continued, "Master just said how the merger of the five schools must be with the aim 'to stop the fightings and to resolve the disputes'. If that's true, then the merger of the five schools is a good thing and not a bad thing at all. Looking ahead, it seems that the future of the Five Mountains School is still undecided whether its aim is going to be what Master has said or what Zuo Lengchan has envisioned. If Huashan and Heng-Shan School ally together, and if we add Hengshan School as well as some of the priests from Taishan School to our alliance, then our three and a half schools would be able to withstand Songshan School and half of the Taishan School. Only then would we be able to win."

    Linghu Chong still had this disquiting thought inside his heart when he heard Zuo Lengchan said, "Congratulations Mr. Yue and Headmaster Linghu! From today onwards, both of you are again under one school. This is a really happy event." From among the crowd, hundreds of them started to applaud this.

    Suddenly, Peachtree Branch Fairy loudly said, "This is inappropriate, really inappropriate, really really inappropriate!"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy asked, "Why is it inappropriate?"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy answered, "The headmaster position of the Heng-Shan School should've belonged to us brothers, isn't that right?"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy and the other four brothers answered together, "Yes!"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "But we were polite, so we let Linghu Chong do it, isn't that right? But when we gave Linghu Chong this position, there was a clause for him to take revenge for Dingxian, Dingjing, and Dingyi Shi Tai, isn't this right?"

    When he asked this, his other five brothers replied together, "Yes!"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "But what if the people who killed the three Shi Tai were inside the five mountains sword schools? According to my opinion, if it's not that person surnamed Zuo (left), then it's that person surnamed You (right), or maybe if it's not left or right, then it's that person surnamed Zhong (middle). If Linghu Chong joined the Five Mountains School, then he would become martial brother with this person surnamed Zuo or You or Zhong. Then how is he going to take revenge for Dingxian Shi Tai?"

    The other Peach Valley Five Fairies answered, "What you said isn't wrong at all."

    Zuo Lengchan was furious and he thought, "You six chaps have insulted me. Now, you'll only live for a few more hours. After that none of you would be able to spout your nonsense anymore!" He then heard Peachtree Root Fairy said, "If Linghu Chong isn't going to take revenge for Dingxian Shi Tai, then he can't be the headmaster of Heng-Shan School anymore, isn't this right? If he's not the headmaster of Heng-Shan School then he can't make the decision for Heng-Shan School, isn't this right? If he can't make the decision for Heng-Shan School, then whether Heng-Shan School joins the Five Mountains School or not isn't Linghu Chong's decision to make, isn't this right?"

    As he asked each question, the other Peach Valley Five Fairies answered each question with a resounding, "Yes!"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "A school cannot be without a headmaster. Since Linghu Chong can't be the headmaster of the Heng-Shan School anymore, we must select a wise person to do it, isn't this right? In Heng-Shan School, there are six heroes whose martial arts are powerful with vast knowledge. At that time, Dingxian Shi Tai has already decided, and just then Five Mountains School's Chief Zuo has also said: 'The six of you have powerful martial art and vast knowledge. I've heard of your illustrious names for a long time already', isn't this right?"

    As Peachtree Trunk Fairy asked each question, his five brothers again answered each question together with a, "Yes!" The person asking the question was getting louder and louder, while the people answering him were also getting stronger and stronger.

    The crowd on the mountaintop found this to be really funny and they were also feeling happy that there were people here causing trouble for the Songshan School. Some people were laughing loudly at this, while tens of them were following the Peach Valley Five Fairies in answering, "Yes!"

    After Yue Buqun approved of the merger, Linghu Chong's mind was in chaos. When he heard the Peach Valley Six Fairies spouting nonsense, he really liked it as it seemed that the six brothers were trying to get him out of trouble. But after hearing them for some time, he suddenly found it strange. He thought, "Peach Valley Six Fairies usually speak in an entangled manner, and what they say usually doesn't connect. But ever since we've arrived at Songshan, every single sentence they've said always has some deep meaning behind them. Just a moment ago what they were saying seemed to be for their own benefits, but those words they said actually had some hidden meaning behind them. And it's actually very hard to dispute what they were saying. It's really different from their usual way of randomly spouting nonsense. Could it be that there's a wise person who's directing them?"

    He then heard Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "These six people in Heng-Shan School have outstanding martial arts and their knowledge and experience are just like those of grand heroes. Everyone's here not a fool, so you must know who these people are, isn't this right?" More than a hundred people laughingly answered, "Yes!"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "The world's right and wrong depends on people's opinion, and this depends on the people's heart. May I ask everyone, who are these six grand heroes?" More than two hundred people laughed loudly while they answered, "Of course these six heroes are the Peach Valley Six Fairies."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Ah, in that case, this headmaster position of Heng-Shan School; the six of us are forced to take responsibility for it, pushed into taking on this difficult job, of noble character and high prestige, is in favour with the public, successful, comes to light, drum the mountain, opens the door..." As he talked, the sentence was getting more and more unintelligible, and the crowd was clutching their stomachs laughing loudly. Songshan School's people were now shouting loudly, "What are you six chaps rambling about? Quickly scram down this mountain!"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Strange! Your Songshan School was trying everything you can to merge the five schools together. But now you unexpectedly want the six big heroes of Heng-Shan School to go down the mountain. Once the six of us are gone, then the rest of Heng-Shan School's little heroes and female heroes will of course follow us down the mountain, and this merger of the five mountains school would fail. Great! Heng-Shan School, let's go down the mountain and let their four schools merge together. Zuo Lengchan loves to become the headmaster of the four schools, we'll just let him do it. We, Heng-Shan School, won't join this celebration."

    Yihe, Yiqing, and the rest of the female disciples hated Zuo Lengchan deeply. When they heard the Peach Valley Six Fairies said this, they immediately shouted, "Let's go!"

    When Zuo Lengchan heard this, he was worried. He said to Linghu Chong, "Headmaster Linghu, we're martial artists, and our words are like gold. You already said that you'll follow Mr. Yue's lead in this. So should we disregard what you said?"

    Linghu Chong lifted his head and took a look at Yue Buqun. Yue Buqun's face was looking intense, and he was continuously nodding his head; Linghu Chong turned his head and looked at Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu. He saw they were continuously shaking their heads seeing that he had not done what he was supposed to do. Suddenly, he heard Yue Buqun said, "Chong'er, you and I are like father and son, and your Master-Wife is waiting for you. Could it be that you don't want to be together with us? To be like we were before?"

    When Linghu Chong heard this, tears suddenly filled his eyes. Without thinking anymore, he loudly said, "Master, Master-Wife, Son actually hopes for this. Since you support the merger of the five schools, then Son doesn't dare to disobey you." He paused for a time, before continuing, "But, the deep enmity of the three Shi Tai..."

    Yue Buqun loudly said, "Heng-Shan School's Dingxian, Dingjing, and Dingyi Shi Tai are the unfortunate victims of a plot, and everyone from the orthodox path regrets this deeply. From today onwards, after the merger of the five schools, Heng-Shan School's matter is also my business. Right now, the most important thing to do is to investigate this matter clearly. Then with the might of our five schools, and with the assistance of everyone from the orthodox path, we'll make minced meat out of this murderer. Chong'er, you don't need to be anxious. This murderer is our Five Mountains School's most hated enemy and we would never let him go." The way he said all this was full of righteousness and without any doubt. Heng-Shan School's female disciples cheered loudly. Yihe loudly called out, "Mr. Yue is right. If your honourable is able to preside over this and avenge our three honourable then everyone from Heng-Shan will be deeply grateful to you."

    Yue Buqun said, "I'll take responsibility for this matter. Within three years, if I can't avenge the three Shi Tai, then everyone from the orthodox path can say that I'm a shameless and despicable lowlife." After he said this, Heng-Shan School's female disciples cheered loudly. Linghu Chong thought, "Even though I'm determined to avenge the three Shi Tai, I still wouldn't be able to put a time limit to my effort. Everyone suspects that Zuo Lengchan is the murderer, but how do we get proof for it? Even if we pressed him for an answer, he would never admit it. How can Master be so certain? He must've known who the murderer is and he must also have the evidence to back this up to be able to do this within three years."

    He had previously agreed to accompany Yue Buqun in approving of the merger, but he was afraid that Heng-Shan School's disciples would not be willing to go with this decision. But when he saw them cheering loudly, and not a single one of them raised their objection, he felt relieved. In a loud voice, he said, "That's fabulous. My master, Mr. Yue, has already said that the most important thing is to investigate clearly who has killed the three Shi Tai, and that this person is the most hated enemy of the Five Mountains School and would never be let go. Headmaster Zuo, you approve of this?"

    Zuo Lengchan coldly said, "These words are right. Why would I disapprove of it?"

    "All the heroes here today have already heard. The most important thing is to investigate clearly who killed the three Shi Tai. No matter if he's the killer, or if he's the person pulling the string, or even if he's a highly respected senior, every single person must be executed," Linghu Chong announced. When the crowd heard this, half of them cheered.

    Zuo Lengchan waited for them to quieten down before he said, "East mountain Taishan, south mountain Hengshan, west mountain Huashan, north mountain Heng-Shan, and middle mountain Songshan have unanimously approved of the merger. From now on, the names of our five mountains sword schools will no longer be mentioned in Wulin, and all of the five schools' disciples are now the new disciples of the Five Mountains School." He waved his left hand, and firecrackers started to go off from everywhere around the mountaintop celebrating the formal opening of the 'Five Mountains School'. The crowd was smiling and was amusedly looking around at each other. They all thought, "Zuo Lengchan has prepared everything so carefully for the merger of the five mountains sword schools. If the merger has actually failed today, it seems likely this Songshan mountaintop may have turned into a killing field and be flooded with blood."

    The mountaintop was overflowing with smoke. Paper fillings were flying everywhere, the sound of the firecrackers was getting louder and louder, and no one was able to say anything. After a very long time, the firecrackers finally stopped. This was followed by a number of people going up to Zuo Lengchan to congratulate him. It seemed that these people were the ones invited by Songshan School to assist them, or maybe they were the people who wanted to flatter Zuo Lengchan after seeing him succeed. Zuo Lengchan was humble in receiving their congratulations, and even his cold ice face revealed a smile or two.

    Suddenly, Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Since the five mountains sword schools have already merged into Five Mountains School, then we'll allow nature to take its course. This is called knowing when to let things be."

    Zuo Lengchan thought, "Ever since you six weirdoes have been on this mountaintop, these were the first words you said that resemble what normal people say."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Each of the schools has its own headmaster. Who do you think is the best to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster? If everyone unanimously elects the Peach Valley Six Fairies, then we'll be forced to take on the responsibility."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Just then Mr. Yue said: The merger of the five schools is to the benefit of Wulin and not for personal ambition. Since it's like that, even though this position has a big responsibility, and requires a lot of work, the six of us will take on this difficult job."

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy let out a long sigh, then he said, "Since everyone is so enthusiastic, how can we six brothers just sit on the side and be spectators, and not lend our strengths to the orthodox path in Jianghu?"

    These six brothers were talking as if they had been elected to lead the Five Mountains School. A tall old man from Songshan School said loudly, "Who elected you to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School? That's just crazy talk!" This person was Zuo Lengchan's martial brother, 'Tower Holding Palm' Ding Mian. At this time, people from Songshan School started to make some noise. One person said, "If today isn't a great celebration for the five schools' merger, we would've chopped all your legs off." Ding Mian added, "Headmaster Linghu, you don't care that these six crazy people are making a disturbance here?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy loudly said, "You're calling Linghu Chong 'Headmaster Linghu'! You're electing him as the Five Mountains School's headmaster? Just then Zuo Lengchan said that there's no more Heng-Shan School or Huashan School in Wulin. Since you called him Headmaster Linghu, that means you recognise him as the headmaster of the Five Mountains School."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "When compared to us, Linghu Chong isn't as good as us. But since you want Linghu Chong to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster, then you'll have to settle for second best then, and we just have to put up with it."

    Peachtree Root Fairy raised his voice and called out, "Songshan School nominates Linghu Chong to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster! What does everyone think of this?"

    This was followed by the tender-voiced cheers of more than a hundred females. Of course they were all the female disciples of the Heng-Shan School. Ding Mian was the one who called out 'Headmaster Linghu' and gave the Peach Valley Six Fairies this topic. He couldn't help feeling embarrassed and his face was blushing furiously, not knowing what to say. He just managed to stutter, "No, no! I... I didn't.... didn't mean it that way. I'm not nominating Linghu Chong to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster..."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy cut him off. "You're saying you don't want Linghu Chong to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster because you don't want to lose the Peach Valley Six Fairies. Since you love us so much, it would be impolite for us six brothers to refuse. We have to shamely take on this position then."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "How about this? There's no harm for us to take on the position for one and a half year while we wait for things to settle. Then we'll step down and give this position to a better person. There's no harm in doing that." His five brothers answered together, "Right, right, this is called taking the middle road."

    Zuo Lengchan coldly said, "The six of you really talk a lot here as if all the world's heroes here are nothing. Why can't you allow other people to say a few words?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy replied, "We can, we can, why not? If you want to talk, please talk. If you want to fart, then please fart." When he said these words 'If you want to fart, then please fart', everyone around the place of worship suddenly became quiet because if anyone said anything, they could be considered farting.

    After some time, Zuo Lengchan again said, "Heroes, please tell us your opinions. Ignore the nonsense those six crazy people were spouting."

    Peach Valley Six Fairies took a breath together and snorted a few times. Then they said, "Someone’s farting, it smells really bad."

    A thin old man from the Songshan School group said loudly, "Five mountains sword schools have the same root, different branches. We've been allied together and for the last few years, Headmaster Zuo has been our chief. Headmaster Zuo has been leading the five schools for a long time now, and has increased the prestige of the five schools. So naturally, Chief Zuo is our Five Mountains School's headmaster. Who else can take on this position?" This person participated in Liu Zhengfeng's gold basin hand-washing ceremony in Hengshan, so many people recognised him as Lu Bai. Ding Mian, Lu Bai, and Fei Bin killed Liu Zhengfeng's whole family. They were really cruel and merciless.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Wrong, wrong! We must elect a new headmaster for the Five Mountains School. This position of headmaster, we must get rid of the old and exchange it with a new one."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "That's right. If Zuo Lengchan becomes the headmaster again, then that's like changing the form but not the content and there wouldn't be an atmosphere of new-ness. Why would you merge the five schools then?"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Everyone can become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, but Zuo Lengchan cannot."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "According to my esteemed opinion, we should get everyone to take turns doing the job. A person can be a headmaster for a day. So I'll do it today, then you'll do it tomorrow. Everyone will share it and gets their turn. This is a really fair method and no one can take advantage of it. This is really good business, and everyone's happy."

    Peachtree Root Fairy applauded and he said, "This method is really clever, so we should get the youngest young lady to do it first. I elect Heng-Shan School's little sister Qin Juan to be today's headmaster of the Five Mountains School."

    Heng-Shan School's female disciples knew that the Peach Valley Six Fairies' statement was to make trouble for Zuo Lengchan, so they all cheered. For more than a thousand people there, this matter had nothing to do with them, so they also followed in cheering. In a moment, the Songshan mountaintop was again in chaos.

    End of Chapter 32

  14. #14
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    Default Chapter 33 Sword Fight

    Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung

    An old priest from the Taishan School said loudly, "This position of headmaster of the Five Mountains School must be held by a senior with virtue, ability, and prestige. How can it be otherwise?" This person's voice was loud, and even those people who were in the middle of the bustling noise managed to hear it clearly.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Ability, integrity, and prestige? In all of Wulin, the only person who fulfills all these requirements is Shaolin's Great Master Fangzheng." Every time the Peach Valley Six Fairies talked, everyone had laughed because no one could actually understand what they were talking about. But when they mentioned Great Master Fangzheng's name, the whole mountaintop became quiet. Great Master Fangzheng's martial art was powerful, and he was also a merciful and righteous person. He had always upheld justice in Wulin, and had also been revered by everyone for the last dozen of years. Shaolin School's reputation was flourishing, and it was also the number one school in Wulin. So when the descriptions of ‘ability, integrity, and prestige’ were used to describe Great Master Fangzheng, no one objected.

    Peachtree Root Fairy shouted, "Is Shaolin temple's Abbot Fangzheng a person of ability, integrity, and prestige?"

    The thousands of people there answered together, "He is!"

    "Very good, since everyone agreed, Great Master Fangzheng is favoured by everyone then. Compared to the six of us, it seems Great Master Fangzheng is favoured slightly more. In that case, we'll have to invite Great Master Fangzheng to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster then."

    Quite a few people from Songshan School and Taishan School immediately called out, "Nonsense! Great Master Fangzheng is the headmaster of Shaolin School. What does he have to do with our Five Mountains School?"

    Peachtree Branch Fairy replied, "Just now, this old priest said he wanted to invite a senior of integrity, ability, and prestige to become the headmaster, so I found one for him. Could it be Great Master Fangzheng isn't a person of ability and integrity? Could it be he has no prestige? Alas, could it be that he's not a senior in Wulin? Are you saying Great Master isn't a senior of integrity, ability, and prestige, and that he's just a lowly nobody in Wulin? What absurdity! Who had the nerve to say that? Who didn't want him to become the headmaster? Peach Valley Six Fairies will have it out with him!"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Great Master Fangzheng has been the headmaster of Shaolin School for dozens of years already. Why can't he be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School? Could it be the Five Mountains School is above Shaolin School as of today? Which crazy person has the nerve to say Great Master Fangzheng isn’t fit to be the headmaster?"

    Taishan School's Yujizi scowled. "Great Master Fangzheng is a person of integrity and ability, and everyone respects him deeply. But today we're electing the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Great Master Fangzheng is a respected guest, how can we just drag him into our matter?"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "According to what you said, Great Master Fangzheng cannot be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School because Shaolin School and Five Mountains Schools are unrelated."

    "Correct," Yujizi answered.

    "How come Shaolin School and Five Mountains School are unrelated? I say they're greatly related! Which five schools formed the Five Mountains School?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy inquired.

    "Sir, you already know, but you're still asking about it again. Five Mountains School consists of Songshan, Taishan, Huashan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan Schools," Yujizi replied.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy replied together, "Wrong, wrong! Just then Zuo Lengchan said that after the five mountains sword schools merged, Songshan School and Taishan School's names will no longer exist in Wulin. How come you mentioned the name of the five schools again?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "I see he's still very much attached to his school and doesn't want to forget it. Once an opportunity arises, he'll hatch a plan and destroy the Five Mountains School. Then he'll start rebuilding his Taishan School and establish its prestige again." Many people in the crowd started laughing as they thought, "These Peach Valley Six Fairies are crazily turning everything upside down. But every time someone says something slightly wrong, they immediately latched onto it and the original speakers can't do anything."

    What all these people didn't know was that the Peach Valley Six Fairies had been debating endlessly since they managed to talk at around the age of two or three, and were particularly good at latching onto the mistakes in each other's speech. In the last dozens of years, they had become accustomed to doing this. Thus, it was no wonder that no one could be their match when the Peach Valley Six Fairies combined their six brains and mouths. Yujizi's face was green for a time, and red for a time. He said, "This is really one big bad luck for Five Mountains School with the six of you weirdos in it."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "You said the Five Mountains School is bad luck. That's really looking down at the Five Mountains School, and means that you don't want to stay inside the Five Mountains School."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "This is only the first day that our Five Mountains School is opened, and yet you're already cursing it, saying that it's bad luck. In the future, the Five Mountains School will be glorious, and will stand as equals with Shaolin and Wudang. It will become a big school that everyone in Jianghu looks up to. Priest Yuji, how come you don't have a good heart and said something so ominous?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "I see Priest Yuji's body is at Five Mountains, but his heart is at Taishan, he's hoping the merger would fail and that it would break up by the end of the first day. With this kind of intention, how can the Five Mountains School accept him into the school?"

    For the pugilists of Jianghu, they had always lived on the points of bloodied swords so they believed very much of things that were taboo. When everyone heard what the Peach Valley Six Fairies said, they all felt that the Peach Valley Six Fairies' words were logical. How could Yujizi said the Five Mountains School was bad luck on this auspicious day? Even Zuo Lengchan was dissatisfied at what Yujizi said. Yujizi knew he had said the wrong thing and he immediately stayed silent, while inwardly feeling angry.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "I said Shaolin School and Songshan School are related, but Priest Yuji said they're unrelated. So are they related or not? Are you right or am I right?"

    Priest Yuji indignantly said, "Since you love to say that they're related, we'll just say that they're related."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Ha! Matters of the world are based on logic. Which mountain is Shaolin temple on? Which mountain is Songshan School on?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy answered, "Shaolin School is on Mount Shaoshi, Songshan School is on Mount Taishi. Shaoshi and Taishi both belong to Mount Songshan, is that right? Why did you say Shaolin School and Songshan School are unrelated?"

    These words they said really made sense and everyone in the crowd were nodding their heads.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Just then Mr. Yue said, after schools have merged together, the number of fighting in Jianghu would decrease. It's for this reason that he approved of the merger. He also said, the merging schools will be selected based on the similarity of their skills, the closeness of their locations, and their willingness to merge. Speaking of nearness, Shaolin and Songshan are near each other, they are even together on one mountain. If Shaolin School and Songshan School don't merge, then what Mr. Yue said was a little bit like breaking... breaking... breaking some... some sort of air."

    The crowd knew that he managed to hold back from saying the word 'wind', but they giggled over it. They all felt it was rather unthinkable for Shaolin and Songshan to merge, but what Peachtree Branch Fairy said was also quite reasonable, and it followed what Yue Buqun said earlier. Linghu Chong was secretly impressed, "The Peach Valley Six Fairies are experts in latching onto someone's words, but I'd never expected them to say these kinds of words. I wonder who's helping them?"

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Great Master Fangzheng is in favour with the public, and originally we all wanted to invite him to become our Five Mountains School's headmaster. But someone raised the issue that Great Master Fangzheng doesn't belong to the Five Mountains School. So Shaolin and Five Mountains School must merge and become 'Shaolin Five Mountains School.' That way Great Master Fangzheng can become the new school's headmaster."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "That's right! At the present time, there's no one who can compare to Great Master Fangzheng or more fit to become the headmaster."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "We, Peach Valley Six Fairies, accept Great Master Fangzheng. Could it be there are people who don’t accept?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "If there's anyone who doesn't want to accept, then there's no harm to come out and have a contest with us. Once you beat the Peach Valley Six Fairies, you might as well have a contest with Great Master Fangzheng. Once you beat Great Master Fangzheng, you might as well have a contest with all the great masters from the Da Mo Hall, Luohan Hall, Commandment Courtyard, and the Scripture Chamber. Once you beat all the great masters from the Da Mo Hall, Luohan Hall, Commandment Courtyard, and the Scripture Chamber, then you can have a contest with Priest Chongxu of Wudang..."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy interrupted, "Fifth brother, why do they have to have a contest with Wudang's Priest Chongxu?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy answered, "The two headmasters from Wudang School and Shaolin School are best friends who share weal and woe together. If someone beat Great Master Fangzheng, how could Priest Chongxu not come out?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "That's right! You're not wrong at all! Once they beat Priest Chongxu, then they'll fight the Peach Valley Six Fairies."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Yi! They already fought against us, why do they have to fight us again?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy replied, "Even if we lost the first time, how could the Peach Valley Six Fairies happily admit defeat? We'll naturally dispute this with those smelly bastards again."

    The crowd was laughing madly listening to the six brothers talking back and forth. There were some who were disagreeing with them, and there were some who were calling out and following them. Yujizi was extremely mad and couldn't hold it back anymore. He flew forward with his sword in his hand and called out, "Peach Valley Six Weirdos, Yujizi doesn't accept and wants to fight with you."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "We're all from the Five Mountains School, how can we be killing each other?"

    "You talk too much. The gods detest it and the ghosts loathe it! Once we get rid of the six of you from the Five Mountains School, our eyes will see clearer and our ears will hear better," Yujizi replied.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Alright, you have a sword in hand and murder in your heart. Are you thinking of using your sword to chop chop chop chop chop chop our six heads?"

    Yujizi snorted and ignored him, but his eyes were full of murderous intention. Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Today is the merger of our five schools. If on the first day, your Taishan School kill six masters from the Heng-Shan School, how can the Five Mountains School cooperate after today? How can we still work together?"

    Yujizi thought that these words sounded logical. If he killed these six people today, then there would be endless fighting as there would certainly be someone from Heng-Shan School who would seek revenge for them. He immediately restrained his anger and said, "Since you already know that we should work together, then stop hindering this big matter with your nonsense, and stop talking." He took his long sword a foot out of the scabbard then slammed it back in.

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "How about words that are beneficial to the Five Mountains School's future and people in the orthodox path?"

    Yujizi coldly laughed. "Hng, none of you are saying anything like that!"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Doesn't the matter of who's going to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School concern our school's future and the destiny of Wulin's orthodox path? The six of us are doing our best to choose a senior master who's in favour with the public to become our headmaster here. But you're so selfish, and only want that person who gave you three thousand gold taels and four pretty ladies to become the headmaster."

    Yujizi was livid as he shouted, "NONSENSE! Who said someone gave me three thousand gold taels and four pretty ladies?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Hmmm... I said the number wrongly. It's not three thousand gold taels; it's definitely four thousand taels. It's not four pretty ladies, or three ladies, but it's five ladies. You don't know who gave these to you? It's that person who you wanted to elect as the headmaster. That's the person who gave these gifts to you.

    Yujizi immediately drew his long sword. "You're talking nonsense again! I want your blood splattered right here!"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy cackled madly, walked towards Yujizi, and said, "You used such a despicable method to harm Priest Tianmen who was your Taishan School's headmaster. Are you still thinking of harming other people? Not only was Priest Tianmen killed by you right here, other people from your own school were harmed by you. Harming people really must be your specialty. Why don't you see and try it on my body." As he said this, he strode forward step by step. Yujizi held his long sword in front of him and severely shouted, "Stop! Walk one more step and I won't be polite anymore."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Are you being polite right now? This Songshan mountaintop isn't yours. I'm allowed to walk anywhere I want, go to the east, walk to the west, what's that got to do with you?" As he said this, he again walked forward a few more steps and was now only a few feet away from Yujizi. Looking at Peachtree Flower Fairy's ugly, long horse-face with crooked yellow teeth, feeling of extreme loathing grew within Yujizi. With a stab, he thrust out his long sword towards Peachtree Flower Fairy's chest.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy hurriedly dodged the stab and scolded, "Smelly traitor, you're really... really attacking!"

    Yujizi had already grasped the essence of Taishan School's swordsmanship. As his first attack came out, his second attack followed and the sword moves were extremely fast. Peachtree Flower Fairy had already dodged four attacks in the time he took to scold Yujizi. But Yujizi's sword moves were getting faster and faster, while Peachtree Flower Fairy's hands and legs were very busy dodging in a disorderly fashion. "Woah, woah!" Peachtree Flower Fairy continuously called out. He wanted to take the short iron stick hanging from his waist but he was too slow to do so. As the sword flashed around, Peachtree Flower Fairy's left shoulder was pierced. Immediately within seconds of this, Yujizi's long sword fell from his hand and his whole body flew up into the air. His four limbs were each grabbed by Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Leaf Fairies. This was like a rabbit caught by a falcon, and happened very quickly.

    Suddenly, there was a flash of yellow and a sword chopped down towards Peachtree Branch Fairy's head. Peachtree Fruit Fairy, already beside his brothers to protect them, extended his short iron stick to block the sword. The yellow-clad person sent his second sword thrust towards Peachtree Root Fairy's chest. Peachtree Flower Fairy drew out his short iron stick to block this attack and recognized the yellow-clad person as Songshan School's headmaster, Zuo Lengchan. Zuo Lengchan knew that even though the Peach Valley Six Fairies talked in a jumble, they actually had astonishing skills. On that year when he sent a master of Huashan School's sword branch, Cheng Buyou, to Mount Huashan, Cheng Buyou was torn into four pieces. When he saw Yujizi captured by these six brothers, he knew he must rescue Yujizi promptly to prevent him from being torn apart. Actually, since he was the host, it was inappropriate for him to just fight as he wanted. But the situation was desperate so he hastily pulled his sword out to help. Zuo Lengchan attacked both Peachtree Branch Fairy and Peachtree Root Fairy to force them to release their hands to dodge the attacks. But he never expected the Peach Valley Six Fairies to work together seamlessly. While four of them were holding the enemy's hands and legs, the remaining two were on the outside protecting. These two sword moves from Zuo Lengchan were swift and fierce but they were successfully blocked by Peachtree Fruit Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy.

    Actually, Yujizi's life was hanging by a thread. Zuo Lengchan had used his inner energy when he was trading blows with Peachtree Fruit Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy because he knew he must force these two people back within six moves. If he didn't manage to do this in six moves, then it might be too late to save Yujizi from being torn apart.

    Zuo Lengchan immediately circled his long sword and the sword flashed. A moment later, Yujizi uttered a shout and his head hit the ground. Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Branch Fairy were now each holding an arm, and Peachtree Trunk Fairy was holding a leg. Only Peachtree Leaf Fairy was holding a leg which was still attached to the rest of Yujizi's body.

    Zuo Lengchan knew he had no way of forcing the Peach Valley Six Fairies to release Yujizi quickly. So taking the bull by its horn, he chopped both of Yujizi's arms and one of his legs so the four fairies couldn't tear him apart. This situation was very similar to when your hand was bitten by a poisonous snake and you cut your arm off to save yourself. After Zuo Lengchan cut off three of Yujizi's limbs, he anticipated the Peach Valley Six Fairies would cease to give anymore trouble to this crippled man. So he retreated with a cold laughter.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Zuo Lengchan, you gave gold and pretty ladies to Yujizi so he helped you to become the headmaster. How come you cut off his arms and legs? Are you trying to silence him?"

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "He's afraid we would tear Yujizi into four pieces. That's why he came out to help. But he got the wrong idea."

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "He thought he was being clever. What a pity. How funny. We grabbed Yujizi just to play around with him. Today is the opening day of the Five Mountains School, who would dare to kill people here?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Yujizi really wanted to kill me. But we're friends from the same school, so why would we kill him? We only wanted to throw him up and down, scare him a bit. But Zuo Lengchan was crude, and his brain is muddled."

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy, with his whole body drenched with Yujizi's blood, dragged the leg which was still connected to the body and dropped Yujizi in front of Zuo Lengchan while continuously shaking his head. He said, "Zuo Lengchan, you're too violent. How could you harm Yujizi like this? He doesn't have his two arms and one leg anymore, what should we call him from now on?"

    Zuo Lengchan sucked a breath in anger and thought, "If I were just a bit slower, the four of you would've torn Yujizi into four pieces. How can he still live? How dare you to speak such words now! But I have no evidence to make this clear to everyone here."

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Zuo Lengchan can kill Yujizi with a stab of his sword and give him a clean death. But instead he cut off his two arms and one leg to make him not alive, not dead. So merciless, so heartless."

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Everyone is from the Five Mountains School. If we have any problem, let's talk about it. Why do you need to be so violent? You have no loyalty at all."

    'Tower Holding Palm' Ding Mian said loudly, "You six weirdos, whether we move or not, you were going to tear him into four pieces. Headmaster Zuo went in to save Priest Yujizi precisely because he's from the same school. What you said was absurd."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "We were clearly just playing around with Yujizi but Zuo Lengchan thought it was real. It's hard to distinguish between real and fake. Zuo Lengchan was just being unwise."

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "A gentleman takes responsibility for what he does. You have already harmed Yujizi but you're trying to deny it now. There's no valour in what you're doing. There are so many heroes on this mountaintop who saw you chopped off Yujizi's two arms and leg. Do you think you can still deny it now?"

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Heartless, unrighteous, unwise, cowardly. How can this kind of person become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School? Zuo Lengchan, you must be dreaming." When he finished speaking, the six brothers shook their heads together.

    Actually, the Taishan School's headmaster would've been torn into four pieces if Zuo Lengchan hadn't use his wonderful sword art to cut off Yujizi's two arms and one leg. The first class masters besides the worshipping place naturally could see this, and they were praising Zuo Lengchan's wonderful sword art in their hearts. But the Peach Valley Six Fairies declined this vehemently so it was hard for other people to dispute them. The people who knew that Zuo Lengchan had suffered an injustice found this really funny while the ones who didn't see the real reason felt that Zuo Lengchan behaved very crudely and violently; their faces showed their resentment.

    Linghu Chong had already known the Peach Valley Six Fairies for a long time so he had a very good understanding of their characters. He thought, "The Peach Valley Six Fairies attacked Zuo Lengchan with every word they said today. How come their brains are so clear today? Most likely there's someone directing them from the side." He slowly walked closer to the Peach Valley Six Fairies to see which master was helping them, but he saw there was no one else standing beside the Peach Valley Six Fairies. The five brothers were busy trying to stem the bleeding on Peachtree Flower Fairy's shoulder. Linghu Chong turned his head around and gazed to the west. Suddenly he heard a very faint sound in his ear: "Brother Chong, are you looking for me?"

    Linghu Chong was surprised and happy. Even though the voice was faint, he heard it clearly and it was Yingying's voice. He turned his head slightly to look at where that voice was coming from. But what he saw was an extremely fat and bearded big man leaning on a big rock, lazily stretching his hand to scratch his head. On this Songshan mountaintop, there was at least around one to two hundred bearded big man so no one would pay any attention to them. Linghu Chong squinted his eyes, and suddenly he saw a cunning and charming smile in that person's eyes. He was exulted and walked towards her. Yingying transmitted her voice to him, "Don't come here, you'll ruin the secret." This voice was very faint, like it was coming from somewhere far.

    Linghu Chong promptly halted his step and thought, "I don't know what kind of voice transmitting martial art you have, but it must be one of your father's secret." He immediately understood, "Those words the Peach Valley Six Fairies said were all taught by you. No wonder these six slow-witted people can say something like heartless, unrighteous, unwise, and cowardly." He felt really happy and wanted to show this. He loudly declared, "Peach Valley Seven Fairies' words are reasonable. I know the Peach Valley Six Fairies only have six fairies, but who could've thought they have one more clever and beautiful seventh fairy, the female fairy, Peachtree Calyx Fairy!"

    (Translator's note: here's the definition of calyx: the whorl of sepals of a flower collectively forming the outer floral envelope or layer of the perianth enclosing and supporting the developing bud; usually green.)

    When the crowd heard Linghu Chong suddenly saying some inanity unexpectedly, they were all startled. Yingying transmitted her voice, "This is a very critical time. You're the headmaster of the Heng-Shan School, so don't say any nonsense. Zuo Lengchan is backed into a corner now, so this is your good opportunity to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster."

    Linghu Chong was alarmed and he thought, "Yingying disguised herself so that she could be here at Songshan and help me become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. She's the daughter of the Sun Moon Sect's Chief, and currently a mortal enemy of the orthodox sects. If she's discovered, it's going to be very dangerous. She's braving danger just to help me gain a name in Wulin. She has such deep feelings towards me. I... I... I really don't know how to repay her."

    He then heard Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Great Master Fangzheng is such a senior master but you're not willing for him to become the headmaster. Yujizi has no arm and no leg. Zuo Lengchan is heartless and unrighteous. So naturally, neither of them can become the headmaster anymore. Let's choose a young hero who has the world's
    number one sword art to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. If there's anyone who doesn't accept this, then there's no harm in trying out his sword art." As he said this, he opened his left palm and extended his arm towards Linghu Chong.

    Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "This young hero Linghu is Heng-Shan School's headmaster. He has a deep relationship with Huashan School's Mr. Yue, and he's also a good friend of Hengshan School's Mr. Mo Da. Within the five mountains sword schools, three schools have supported him."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Taishan School's priests are all insects (sounds similar to Linghu Chong's name), so most of them naturally support him and not many would go against him."

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Everyone in the Five Mountains School uses a sword. So whoever has the highest sword art will, of course, without a doubt, become the headmaster."

    Peachtree Flower Fairy pressed on the injury on his shoulder and said, "Zuo Lengchan, if you don't accept, there's no harm in competing swords with young hero Linghu. Whoever wins will become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. This is called the leadership challenge sword fight!"

    Among the people who had come to Songshan, besides the people from the five mountains sword schools and people like Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, and others with an interest in the events, most of the people who came here were looking for some entertainment. Everyone knew that if the merger of the five schools were successful then there would be fighting to decide for the headmaster position. These Jianghu people really didn't care for lengthy debates. They didn’t mind when the Peach Valley Six Fairies were entangling Zuo Lengchan with words and saying interesting things. But if everyone were to talk the way Yue Buqun did, and talk until the sun goes down, it would definitely bore the hell out of everyone there. So hearing Peachtree Flower Fairy say “leadership challenge sword fight', they cheered and applauded loudly.

    The crowd had seen Priest Tianmen die miserably and they had also seen Zuo Lengchan chopping off limbs. These two events could be said to be scary and too close to reality. But the contest to decide on the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School would involve masters and they would be able to see a few good fights. This would more than satisfy their cravings. That was why the crowd was applauding and cheering excitedly.

    Linghu Chong thought, "I promised Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu that I will block Zuo Lengchan from becoming the Five Mountains School's headmaster so that he can't cause a disaster in Wulin. But if Master becomes the headmaster, him being a just and fair person, naturally people will be pleased and willing to accept him. Besides him, who else in the five mountains sword schools can do this job?" With a loud voice, he said, "How could everyone forget a most suitable person for this position? If we don't elect the Gentleman Sword Mr. Yue to become our headmaster, whom else can we choose? Mr. Yue's martial art is very high and his knowledge is outstanding. He's also righteous and compassionate towards people. This is well known, otherwise, how could he have gained the name 'Gentleman Sword'? My Heng-Shan School elects Mr. Yue to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster." After he said this, the disciples of Huashan School applauded and cheered.

    From among the Songshan School, someone said, "Even though Mr. Yue is not the wrong choice, he's still below Headmaster Zuo by a notch." Another person said, "Headmaster Zuo has been the chief of the Five Mountains Sword Schools for so many years already. It's very reasonable that he becomes the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Why do we need to elect someone else?" Another person said, "In my opinion, the headmaster of the Five Mountains School must be Headmaster Zuo and none other. Then we'll establish four vice positions for Mr. Yue, Mr. Mo Da, young hero Linghu, and Priest Yu... Yu... Yu... either Priest Yuqingzi or Priest Yuyinzi. That'll be appropriate."

    Peachtree Branch Fairy called out, "Yujizi is not dead yet. He only has two shorter arms and a shorter leg. You don't want him anymore?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Sword fight, sword fight! Whoever has the best martial art should become the headmaster!"

    The thousands of Jianghu people echoed this sentiment by shouting, "Right! Right! Sword fight, sword fight!"

    Linghu Chong thought, "In the situation today, Zuo Lengchan must be overthrown first. Then Songshan School will lose their leadership. Otherwise, my Master would never become the Five Mountains School's headmaster." He immediately drew his sword and called out, "Mr. Zuo, all the realm's heroes are here. They all want us to have a sword fight to take the leadership. What do you say if we start first?" He inwardly pondered, "Zuo Lengchan's cold palm is very formidable, and my bare hand martial art is nothing compared to his, but I wouldn't lose to him when it comes to sword art. After I've won against Zuo Lengchan, I'll lose to Master and no one would be able to say anything. If Mr. Mo Da were to fight, he won't necessarily be able to beat Master. Two masters from the Taishan School are injured and dead, so they wouldn't have anyone who could compete well enough anymore. If my sword art isn't Zuo Lengchan's match and I lose to him, I would've still exhausted a lot of his internal energy. My Master can fight him afterwards and have a very good chance of winning." He hacked twice with his long sword and said, "Mr. Zuo, everyone in the five mountains sword schools uses sword, so we'll decide this with a sword." He said this first to prevent Zuo Lengchan from suggesting they fight barehanded.

    The crowd called out one by one, "Young hero Linghu is quick with his word, fight with the sword." "The winner becomes the headmaster, the loser gets ready to receive his order. That's a fair deal, that's the best way." "Mr. Zuo, get down and accept this challenge. What are you scrupling about, afraid to lose?" "You already talked for half a day, what else is there to say? Go and fight!"

    In a moment, that Songshan mountaintop was all a clamour with shouts. Everyone was shouting; even the most experienced seniors were shouting. These people were invited by Zuo Lengchan, but this matter of who would become the Five Mountains School's headmaster had nothing to do with them. They originally didn't want to butt in, but a martial art competition to take the leadership would be very exciting to watch, so they were all hoping to watch a few good fights. With this added urgings from the guests, it became imperative that if they didn't have a competition then this headmaster position would not be decided.

    Linghu Chong was very happy to see this and he called out, "Mr. Zuo, if you're not willing to cross swords with me, how can you be the Five Mountains School's headmaster in the presence of all these people?"

    The crowd called out one by one, "Sword fight, sword fight! Not fighting isn't for a hero, but for a dog!"

    Many people from the Songshan School knew Linghu Chong's sword art was wonderful, and Zuo Lengchan could not be guaranteed a win against him. But there was no good reason to say why Zuo Lengchan couldn't compete swords with him. So all they could do was scowl and stay silent. In all the clamour, a clear voice was heard, "All the heroes here want a sword fight to decide the Five Mountains School's headmaster. We can't just brush away their wonderful idea." The person who said this was Yue Buqun.

    The crowd called out, "Mr. Yue is right, sword fight to take the leadership, sword fight to take the leadership!"

    Yue Buqun said, "Sword fight to take the leadership is one thing. But the real intention of our five mountains sword schools merging into one is to lessen the fighting between schools. That's why in this martial art competition, once the result is decided you must stay your hand and not take your opponent's life. Otherwise, it would be a great violation against the real intention of our five mountains school's merger."

    When the crowd heard him talking of leadership, they all quietened down. A big man said, "That's all good, but sabres and swords don't have eyes. So if you die, that's your own bad luck. Who can you blame?" Another person said, "If you're afraid of death or injury, go hide at home and hug your doll. Why would you be here to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster?" The crowd burst into laughter.

    Yue Buqun said, "Even so, to be injury free is always wonderful. I only have a few shallow ideas, but please consider them."

    Someone called out, "Quickly fight! What else is there to say?" Another person said, "Don't blindly disturb him. Hear what Mr. Yue has to say." The person before said, "Who's disturbing? Go home and ask your darling!" The other person hurled abuses back.

    Yue Buqun said, "Anyone here is entitled to participate in the leadership sword fight, but there are some stipulations..." His internal energy was abundant. When he talked, he completely drowned the voices of those people hurling abuses at each other. They turned around to listen to him continue, "The leadership martial art competition is to contend for the leadership of the Five Mountains School. For that reason, if you're not a member of the Five Mountains School, you can't come and fight even if you have heavenly skills. Otherwise, this fight would be called 'World's Number One' fight, and not a way to decide the leadership of the Five Mountains School."

    The crowd all answered, "Right! Non-members of the Five Mountains School can't come and compete." There was also a person who said, "Let's all fight to become the 'World's Number One'; that's also good!" This person was obviously talking nonsense, so no one replied to him.

    Yue Buqun said, "Concerning this martial art competition, about not taking other's life and not injuring people from the same school, Mr. Zuo, please tell us what you think."

    Zuo Lengchan coldly said, "Of course you cannot take another person's life in this fight. But not to injure other people would be very difficult. What's Mr. Yue's esteemed opinion in this?"

    Yue Buqun said, "I believe the best way would be to ask Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, Beggar Clan Leader Xie, Qingcheng School Priest Yu, and other virtuous senior masters in Wulin to be judges. Who wins and who loses will be decided by them to avoid people fighting endlessly. We're just deciding the leadership, not life and death."

    Fangzheng said, "Good, good! 'Deciding the leadership and not life and death', these words will stop blood from being spilled. What does Mr. Zuo think?"

    "Since it’s Great Master's concern for my humble sect, I'll definitely obey it. We were originally the five mountains sword schools, so each school should send out one person to compete in swords to take the leadership. Otherwise, each school will send out hundreds of people and the competition will drag on for years without any conclusion," Zuo Lengchan replied.

    The crowd felt that it wouldn't be very lively if there were only five people fighting. But if each school were to send out its headmaster, then no one else from any of the schools would be able to put up a challenge anyway. They then heard the people from Songshan School cheering, so no one else objected to this.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy suddenly said, "Taishan School's headmaster is Yujizi. Will this ox-nosed priest with no arms and no leg also come forth and compete?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy replied, "He's only missing both arms and a leg, why can't he go forth and compete? He still has one remaining leg. He can take off and kick people."

    When the crowd heard this, they couldn't help laughing.

    Yuyinzi from Taishan School indignantly said, "These six weirdos harmed my martial brother Yujizi and made him a cripple. Yet, they're still here ridiculing him. I want each of their arms and legs cut off. Come, let's fight one on one!" After he said this, he immediately drew his sword out and stood there. This Yuyinzi was tall and thin, and had an imposing appearance. As he stood there with a solemn demeanour and with his priest robe floating in the wind, he looked really grand. The crowd cheered for him.

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "From the Taishan School, you're the one who's going to compete for the leadership?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Were you selected by your school or did you volunteer yourself?"

    Yuyinzi replied, "How does that concern you?"

    Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Of course it concerns us. Not only it concerns us, it greatly concerns us, it extremely concerns us. If you were selected by the Taishan School to compete for the leadership, then once you lose, Taishan School's second person cannot compete again."

    Yuyinzi said, "The second person cannot come out to compete, so what?"

    Suddenly someone from the Taishan School said, "Martial Brother Yuyinzi isn't my choice. If he lose, of course, another master from Taishan School can go out." The person who said this was Yuqingzi.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Haha, another master; is that you?"

    "Good, maybe it's me," Yuqingzi answered.

    Peachtree Fruit Fairy called out, "Everyone look. Taishan School again has an internal strife. Priest Tianmen has already died and Priest Yuji is injured. These two people are again fighting to become Taishan School's headmaster."

    "Nonsense!" Yuyinzi retorted.

    But Yuqingzi was smiling coldly and didn't say anything.

    Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "So who's going to compete for the Taishan School?"

    Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi answered at the same time, "Me!"

    Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Alright, the two of you fight first and see who's stronger. Talking won't clear it up but there will definitely be a winner and a loser after you fight."

    Yuqingzi came out and waved his hand. "Martial brother, step back! Don't get ridiculed by other people."

    "Why would other people ridicule me? Martial Brother Yuji was heavily injured, I just want to take revenge for him," Yuyinzi interjected.

    "Are you taking revenge or competing for the leadership?"

    "Do you think we can be the Five Mountains School's headmaster based on our measly skills? Isn't that absurd? Everyone from Taishan School has unanimously supported Chief Zuo to be our Five Mountains School's headmaster a long time ago. Why would we two brothers go out and be shamed?" Yuyinzi reasoned.

    "In that case, step back. I'm the eldest in Taishan School right now."

    Yuyinzi coldly laughed and said, "Hmmph, you might be the oldest, but looking at what you do every day, do you think anyone in the school still respects you?"

    Yuqingzi became angry and said fiercely, "What's your meaning? You refuse to acknowledge the order of seniority? What's our school's number one rule?"

    "Haha, don't forget, we're now members of the Five Mountains School. We entered the Five Mountains School at the same year, same month, same time. What order of seniority? The rules of the Five Mountains School haven't been drawn up yet, so what number one, number two? You mentioned the Taishan School's rule to keep me under control. It's a pity there's only Five Mountains School now," Yuyinzi said.

    Yuqingzi didn't know what to say. His left hand pointed at Yuyinzi's nose and he angrily said, "You... you... you..."

    The thousands of men called out, "Fight! See who's got higher skills!"

    The long sword in Yuqingzi's hand kept trembling but he didn't put it up. Even though he was older, he was always drowning himself in wine, and his sword art wasn't as good as Yuyinzi. Even after the five mountains sword schools merged, it would be inevitable that each of the five schools would still be separated physically on five mountains. Thus, each mountain would have a leader. Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi knew their skills were far below Zuo Lengchan, so they had no plan to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. But they were thinking of who would become the leader once they got back to their mountain. At this time, the crowd was very excited waiting for the brothers to clash weapons. Yuqingzi did not dare to fight rashly but he really resented Yuyinzi for shaming him in front of the realm's heroes. Moreover, Zuo Lengchan was likely to install Yuyinzi as the leader on Taishan, so he would be bound to follow Yuyinzi's order from now on and he would never be able to hold his head high again. For the moment, the two brothers were staring angrily at each other. Neither of them wanted to back down.

    Suddenly, someone in the crowd with a sharp voice said, "I see the two of you haven't even grasped the slightest bit of Taishan School's martial art essence. You really have thick faces to be quarrelling right here and wasting everyone's time."

    Everyone turned to have a look at the person who said this. They saw a tall handsome youth with a beautiful appearance whose face was pale and whose mouth turned up at the corner carrying a cold mocking smile. He was Lin Pingzhi of the Huashan School.

    Someone recognised him and called out, "He’s Huashan School's Mr. Yue's new son-in-law."

    Linghu Chong thought, "Martial Brother Lin has always been very cautious and doesn't speak very much. After not seeing him for just a while, I'm surprised he now actually dared to ridicule these two traitors in front of everyone here."

    Yuqingzi, Yuyinzi, and Yujizi were in cahoots in harming Priest Tianmen to get on Zuo Lengchan's good side, so Linghu Chong already felt resentful towards these two priests. When Lin Pingzhi insulted them, he felt quite happy.

    Yuyinzi said, "If you say I haven't grasped the slightest bit of Taishan School's martial art, does that mean you've grasped it all? Then please use Taishan School's martial art and let our eyes be opened." He said the words 'Taishan School' especially loudly. His meaning was, "You're a Huashan School's disciple, but even if you have strong martial art, it would still be Huashan School's and you couldn't possibly use my Taishan School's martial art".

    Lin Pingzhi gave a cold sneer and said, "Taishan School's martial art is deep and profound. How can traitors like you who harmed your own school member be able to understand..."

    “Ping’er,” Yue Buqun shouted. "Priest Yuyinzi is still your elder, don't be rude!"

    "Yes!" Lin Pingzhi responded.

    Yuyinzi indignantly said, "Mr. Yue, what a good disciple and son-in-law you have! He can even speak nonsense about Taishan School's martial art."

    Suddenly, a female voice said, "How do you know for sure he was speaking nonsense?"

    A good looking young woman stepped out. Her skirt was brushing the ground, her belts were floating in the wind, and a red flower was inserted into her hair. It was Yue Lingshan. She was carrying a long sword on her back and her raised right hand held the sword handle. She said, "I'll use Taishan School's sword art and ask for your advice."

    Yuyinzi knew she was Yue Buqun's daughter. He was thinking that since Yue Buqun had approved the merger of the five schools earlier, at the moment Zuo Lengchan would be on friendly terms with him, so he didn't dare to offend her. He smiled slightly and said, "Congratulations Miss Yue. Are you angry because I didn't come to your wedding and drank your celebratory wine? I admired your noble school's wonderful sword art. But this is the first time I've heard of Huashan School's disciples being able to use Taishan School's sword art."

    Yue Lingshan raised her eyebrows and said, "My father wants to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. So, naturally, he has researched the sword arts of each of the five schools. Otherwise, even if my father wins against the other four schools' headmasters, if he used only Huashan School's swordsmanship, he can't become the Five Mountains School's headmaster."

    When these words were said, it created a sensation through the crowd. A person queried, "Mr. Yue wants to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster?" Another person shouted, "Mr. Yue also knows how to use Taishan, Hengshan, Songshan, and Heng-Shan Schools' martial arts?"

    Yue Buqun said in a clear voice, "My daughter talks irresponsibly. Don't worry about what my little kid said."

    But Yue Lingshan continued, "Martial Uncle Zuo, if you can use Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Heng-Shan Schools' sword arts to defeat the masters of each school, then we'll naturally submit and accept you as the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Otherwise, although your Songshan School's sword art is very formidable in the world, it's still only the Songshan School's sword art which is good, and has nothing to do with the other four schools at all."

    The crowd all thought these words were right. If someone was proficient with the sword arts of each school, then he should become the Five Mountains School's headmaster and this would be very fitting. But each school's sword arts had undergone countless of refinements for hundreds of years by many masters. Even if someone was taught by a master of each school, and had undergone dozens of years of practice, he might not necessarily be able to fully learn all of the sword arts from the five schools let alone the secret skills of each school that wasn't usually passed down to ordinary disciples. The possibility of someone actually grasping the essence of all the sword arts from all five schools at the same time was quite remote.

    But Zuo Lengchan thought, "Why did Yue Buqun's daughter say this? She must have an intention for saying this. Has Yue Buqun become muddled? Does he really want to fight me for the Five Mountains School's leadership?"

    Yuyinzi said, "So Mr. Yue is already proficient in the five schools' sword arts. This has never happened in the history of the five mountains sword schools before. I'd like to ask for Miss Yue's advice on Taishan School's swordsmanship."

    "Very well!" Yue Lingshan shouted.

    With a 'shua' sound, she drew the long sword she was carrying at her back. Yuyinzi was livid. "I'll compete with your father! A little girl like you dare to draw your sword against me!" He reasoned Yue Buqun would surely stop this. In his heart, he believed that the Yue couple was the only two people in Huashan School who would be able to fight him. How would he know Yue Buqun would only shake his head, sigh, and say, "My little kid doesn't know how high the heaven is. Senior Yuyin and Yuqing are Taishan School's number one masters, and you actually want to use Taishan School's sword art to fight against them. Isn't that asking for trouble?"

    Yuyinzi was startled. He thought, "Yue Buqun told his daughter to use Taishan School's sword art to fight against me." He took a glance and saw that Yue Lingshan's long sword was in her right hand and it was pointing down at an angle. Her left palm was wide open and she started counting with her fingers. At the count of five, her left hand made a fist. Then she again extended her thumb out, her forefinger, and counted to five. Her five fingers were now spread open. She followed this by counting again starting from her thumb. This time, as her middle finger folded, Yuyinzi was greatly alarmed: "How could this baby know the move 'Daizong Way'?"

    (Translator's note: Daizong is the old name of Mount Taishan.)

    More than thirty years ago, Yuyinzi had heard from his master the essence of the move 'Daizong Way'. This sword art move was regarded as Taishan School's highest and most profound skill. Its essence wasn't at the sword moves on the right hand, but was at the counting with the left hand. The left hand would be continuously counting. It would be counting the enemy's position, the enemy's martial art, his height, dimensions of his weapon, as well as the height of the sun and many other things. The calculations were very complicated, and once the calculations were finished, the sword would immediately attack and it would hit its target. In the past, Yuyinzi had thought of this sword move and felt he didn't have the ability to memorise and count all sorts of numbers in such a short time during a fight. So he didn't learn this skill deeply and only heard of its existence and put it at the back of his mind. His master was also actually not proficient at this technique. He only said, "This 'Daizong Way' technique is very difficult to learn and doesn't seem practical at all; but its power is unmatched. Since you don't have the desire to learn it, you won’t be able to learn this sword move, but it doesn’t matter. All of your martial brothers aren't as attentive as you, so they also wouldn't be able to learn this move. It's a pity this profound sword art, with no match in this world, will be lost to us from now on.” When his master didn't force him to learn this sword move, Yuyinzi felt relieved. Later on, he had never seen anyone in Taishan School practiced this move ever again.

    Therefore, it was to his surprise that dozens of years later, he would see Yue Lingshan, who was only a young woman, use this move. All of a sudden, sweat started to form on his forehead. He had never heard his master talk about countering this move. He believed that since he couldn’t practice it, other people wouldn’t be able to practice this wonderful sword art either; so he never thought of a way to counter this sword move himself. But now the strangest thing had happened and it was completely outside of his expectations. He was feeling really worried and pondered to himself, “If I rapidly change my positions, leap high and crouch low, she naturally would block me.”

    He immediately shook his long sword and slid three steps to the right using the move ‘Clear Moon on a Cloudless Sky’. Then he turned around, lowered his body, and slantingly pierced his long sword. His sword was still five feet away from Yue Lingshan’s right shoulder when he turned another circle and followed with the move ‘High Mountain Sky’ with a fast stab forward and fast pull back of the sword. But Yue Lingshan just stood her ground unmoving. The long sword in her right hand constantly trembled, while the fingers on her left hand unceasingly counted. Yuyinzi launched his sword with his body following it. He turned to the left side and then the right side, and with each turn he became even faster.

    This pattern of sword art was called 'Taishan Eighteen Coils', and it was created by someone in the Taishan School a long time ago. That person observed that Taishan School's eighteen coils of the three gates were very complicated. It was really an arduous path with its five steps of revolution and ten steps of circles. As a result, he harmonised the sword art with the lay of the land, and it was now just as wonderful and strange as the Eight Diagrams' 'Eight Diagrams Palm Movement'. Taishan's 'Eighteen Coils' attacked higher with each coil and became more dangerous with each step. These patterns of sword moves also become more violent with each turn. All of Yuyinzi's attack seemed to have pierced through Yue Lingshan's body, but actually, none of his attacks was a genuine killing move. Both of his eyes were fixated on Yue Lingshan's ceaselessly counting left hand. In the years past, his master once said, "This move 'Daizong Way' can be said to be the ancestor of our Taishan School's sword art. It never misses and will never need a second stroke to kill someone. When a sword art reaches this stage, it has surpassed everything and has become godly. Your master actually only knows some basic skills of this skill, and if I actually wanted to learn it, then it might be easier said than done." When he thought of his master's words, cold sweat seeped through his back.

    That Taishan's 'Eighteen Coils' was divided into 'Slow Eighteen, Fast Eighteen'. The eighteen coils turned slowly and the other eighteen coils turned quickly. Each step was higher than the next, and it was said 'The person at the back will only see the soles of the shoes of the person in front, while the person at the front will only see the hair of the person at the back'. This pattern of sword art of the Taishan School was created from the steep mountain paths going up Mount Taishan. The movements were suddenly slow and suddenly fast, punctuated by very complicated turnings.

    Linghu Chong saw Yue Lingshan not blocking or dodging while the fingers on her left hand kept on stretching and folding as if she was counting something. He couldn't help feeling worried and wanted to shout out, "Little martial sister, be careful!" But these five words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't call out. Yuyinzi was about to finish his sword pattern, but from the start, he didn't dare to actually attack Yue Lingshan and his long sword was always two feet away from her body. Yue Lingshan abruptly stabbed her sword out and executed five moves. Each sword move had an ancient meaning behind it.

    "'Five Gigantic Swords!'" The words escaped Yuqingzi's mouth.

    Mount Taishan had some very ancient pines. According to an old story, they were given the names 'Five Gigantic Pines' during the Qin period when their branches were sticking out and their green leaves covered one another. The martial uncle of Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi made a set of sword arts and called it the 'Five Gigantic Swords'. The moves in this set of sword art looked plain but contained wonderful variations. More than twenty years ago, Yuqingzi had studied this set of sword arts deeply and when he saw Yue Lingshan's execution of these five moves, the moves looked right and wrong at the same time. Yue Lingshan's moves were different from the ones he had studied, but were of a higher level compared to the ones he knew. As he stood greatly astonished, Yue Lingshan suddenly bent her waist and thrust her sword towards him. She called out, "Is this your Taishan School's sword art?"

    Yuqingzi hastily lifted his sword to block and called out, "'Crane Coming to a Clear Fountain.' It's our Taishan's sword art, but..." Even though the sword was already withdrawn, he was still startled and his whole body broke into a cold sweat. When the enemy's sword came just then, the position was different from the one he had studied. That sword was dangerously close to piercing his chest.

    Yue Lingshan said, "Doesn't matter, it's Taishan's sword art!"

    With a 'shua' sound, she slashed her sword towards Yuyinzi.

    Yuqingzi said, "Stone Block, Horse Returning! You're using it... wrongly..."

    Yue Lingshan said, "You remember the sword move's name."

    She swung her long sword and slashed it twice. Yuyinzi cried out loudly, and almost at the same instant, Yuqingzi’s right knee was also stabbed. Yuqingzi staggered for a bit before his right leg folded underneath him and he dropped to his knee. He quickly drove his sword down powerfully to support himself, but the point of his sword just happened to hit a piece of rock, and it was broken into two pieces. But he was mumbling to himself, "'Three Happiness'! But... but..."

    Yue Lingshan laughed icily and put her sword back into the sheath at her back.

    The spectators promptly burst into cheers. Such a pretty young lady unexpectedly used Taishan School's sword art to defeat two of Taishan School's masters in such a short time. Her sword art was wonderful, and the people who saw the sword art display felt themselves soothed. The applause they gave her reverberated throughout the valley.

    Zuo Lengchan and the other Songshan School's masters looked at each other, and all of them were hesitating. They all thought, "This little girl can actually use Taishan's sword art. But there's some big alterations and her sword moves are very violent. This little girl can't possibly be the one who thought of them; it must be Yue Buqun who imparted them to her. To actually finished learning all these sword moves probably took many, many days. If Yue Buqun has deliberately planned all these, then his will is in no way small."

    Yuyinzi suddenly called out, "You... You... This isn't 'Daizong Way'!"

    After he was injured, he suddenly realised Yue Lingshan wasn't displaying the moves from 'Daizong Way'. Actually, it could be said that she could take victory in just one move if she used that move, but he didn't understand why she still had to use 'Five Gigantic Sword', 'Crane Coming to a Clear Fountain', 'Stone Block, Horse Returning', 'Three Happiness' sword moves? What was more exasperating was that she actually added some modifications to the key aspects of the Taishan School's sword moves she used. His martial brother and he hurriedly thought of this but they didn't have much time so they automatically used the counter sword moves they had been practising for dozens of years already. But her sword positioning differed greatly and the two brothers were inadvertently defeated. If she had actually used another school's sword art, no matter what move it was or how wonderful, they would not have lost to this young woman. But she was really using the real sword arts of Taishan School, so they felt shame, anger, and surprise mixed together, and couldn't accept that they had lost to her.

    Linghu Chong was bewildered when he saw Yue Lingshan using those sword moves to defeat her opponents. He suddenly heard someone behind him whispered, "Master Linghu, did you teach her those moves?" Linghu Chong turned his head around and saw it was Tian Boguang who asked him. He shook his head.

    Tian Boguang smiled slightly and said, "That day on top of Huashan when I fought with you, I remember you used that crane coming whatever. But you weren't familiar with the move at that time." Linghu Chong was at a loss as if he didn't hear what Tian Boguang said.

    As soon as Yue Lingshan started her attack, he already realised she was using the Taishan School's sword arts engraved on the wall at the cave behind the Cliff of Contemplation. But he had never mentioned to anyone the existence of the cave behind the Cliff of Contemplation. He also remembered that he had covered the hole to the cave’s entrance when he left. So how did Yue Lingshan discover it? His thought continued, "Since I could discover the cave, of course little martial sister could also discover it. Moreover, I opened up the entrance by accident. Little martial sister could've easily found it too." Inside the cave, he had seen the unique skills of the five mountains' sword arts as well as Devil Sect's elders' engraving of the methods to break those sword arts. Although he was familiar with those moves engraved on the wall, he didn't know any of their names. The last three moves used by Yue Lingshan resembled the passing clouds and flowing water; indicating that she knew the movements very well. She managed to injure two masters of the Taishan School using these three moves and she unleashed the moves incisively. Linghu Chong inwardly praised her for this.

    When he heard Yuqingzi said 'Three Happiness', he remembered the time he went with Master to Mount Taishan. After they had passed the Water Sign Cave, they encountered a long and steep mountain road which was named 'Three Happiness'. The meaning behind these words was that the length of the slope was three li, and after passing the road, you would be very happy to have done so. He never thought that sword move was actually inspired by the slope.

    A thin old man slowly stepped out and said, "Mr. Yue has grasped the essence of the sword arts from each of the five mountains sword schools. This has never happened in Wulin before. I want to study my school's sword art and see how much I actually understand. I'd like to consult Mr. Yue today." From the shining huqin held in his left hand, he drew out a really thin short sword with his right hand. He was Hengshan School's headmaster, Mr. Mo Da.

    Yue Lingshan bowed and said, "Martial Uncle Mo, please show mercy. I've only just casually learned a few moves of the Hengshan School's sword art. Martial Uncle Mo, please give some advice."

    Mr. Mo Da had said 'I'd like to consult Mr. Yue today'. He actually wanted to fight against Yue Buqun, but Yue Lingshan unexpectedly replied to him and clearly said that she was going to use Hengshan School's sword art. Mr. Mo Da had a prestigious reputation in Jianghu. The crowd heard Zuo Lengchan said that Great Songyang Palm Fei Bin died under Mr. Mo Da's sword, so they all thought, "Yue Lingshan used Taishan School's sword art to injure two masters of the Taishan School. Could she also use Hengshan's sword art to match him?"

    Mr. Mo Da smiled. "Very good, very good! Great, great!"

    "If I'm not Martial Uncle's match, then my father will fight."

    Mr. Mo Da said repeatedly, "You're my match, you're my match!"

    The short sword was slowly pointed out. It suddenly trembled and emitted a humming sound. From the humming noise, two thrust suddenly shot out. Yue Lingshan lifted her sword to block, but Mr. Mo Da's short sword was like a ghost as it suddenly went around behind Yue Lingshan's body. Yue Lingshan hastily turned around. Then she heard two humming sound besides her ears and saw a clump of hair floating past her. It was her own hair which had been cut off by Mr. Mo Da. She was anxious and quickly thought, "He's showing mercy, otherwise his sword could've killed me just then. Since he's not going to harm me, I can just attack him."

    She didn't care about her opponent's sword path anymore. With two thrust, she aimed at Mr. Mo Da's lower abdomen and forehead. Mr. Mo Da was slightly startled and thought, "These two moves are 'Quan Ming Furong' and 'Crane Soaring to Zige'. These are my Hengshan School's unique skills. How did she learn them?"

    Mount Hengshan had seventy two peaks and the five highest peaks were Furong, Zige, Shilin, Tianzhu, and Zhurong. Among the Hengshan School's sword art, there were five groups of sword arts named after each of those highest peaks. Mr. Mo Da saw that the moves Yue Lingshan used just then was the 'one move containing one group' move which meant this one move contained the essences of dozens of sword arts from that one group.

    'Furong Sword Art' contained thirty six moves and 'Zige Sword Art' contained forty four moves, and each of these two sword groups contained the essences of dozens of moves. When they were simplified and harmoniously combined into one move, that one move would be very powerful and would be offensive and defensive at the same time. 'Quan Ming Furong' and 'Crane Soaring to Zige' were two of these combined moves and they both made up part of the Hengshan School's top sword arts which were called 'Hengshan's Five Divine Swords'. The crowd just heard the continuous sound of swords clashing and they didn't know who was actually attacking or defending. They also didn't know how many moves these two people had executed in that short time.

    Mr. Mo Da had planned everything before making his move on this mountaintop. He had also thought of a way to counter this ‘leadership challenge sword fight’. He didn't have the slightest thought of actually becoming the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, and he knew even better that he was no match for Zuo Lengchan or Linghu Chong. But he was the headmaster of Hengshan School, so he couldn't just bow his head and stand idle by during the leadership challenge sword fight.

    He was angry at Yuqingzi for helping an evil person do evil and causing the death of Priest Tianmen. So his original plan was to have it out with that priest, but who would've thought that all three Zi of Taishan was injured beforehand, and the only remaining opponent who was his match was Yue Buqun.

    When he was at Shaolin temple, he had already seen Yue Buqun's martial art clearly and he was sure that he wouldn't lose to Yue Buqun. But the one who came up to fight was unexpectedly Yue Buqun's daughter. He was already startled that Yue Lingshan was able to use Hengshan School's sword art. But he was now confounded as well as afraid to see that Yue Lingshan was able to use one of Hengshan School's highest sword arts: 'one move containing one group'. The year Mr. Mo Da's martial ancestors and martial uncle ancestors went to Mount Huashan to fight the Devil Sect's ten elders, many of them were killed. At that time, Mr. Mo Da's master was still young and he had learnt all of these five groups of sword art such as the Furong and Zige. But he only knew the general idea of the 'one move containing one group' move such as the 'Quan Ming Furong' move and the 'Crane Soaring to the Zige' move, which were part of the Hengshan Five Divine Swords. Naturally, Mr. Mo Da didn't get detailed instructions of these moves from his master. But how could this young lady from another school suddenly use these precious sword moves?

    Although Yue Lingshan used those two moves, the idea behind the moves eluded her understanding. Otherwise, Mr. Mo Da would've lost by the second move, excited as he was in seeing these moves. After he easily blocked the two moves, he saw Yue Lingshan's long sword dazzlingly executing the move 'Shilin Shu Sheng', followed by the move 'Tianzhu Cloud'. The principal of the 'Tianzhu Sword Art' was taken from the changes in the cloud, and it relied heavily on its strange variations. Its movements were very random and very hard to predict. When Mr. Mo Da saw Yue Lingshan used the move 'Tianzhu Cloud', he quickly made his decision. Instead of blocking the attack, he just walked past it. This so-called 'not blocking and walking past' was actually only good to hear. In reality, he was running away from the fight because he couldn't defeat the move. However, because the changes in his sword art were complicated, even at the moment he was running away, his short sword thrust to the east and slashed to the west and dazzled everyone there. Thus, no one knew he was actually just planning to run far away.

    He knew that among the Hengshan's Five Divine Swords, besides the 'Quan Ming Furong', 'Crane Soaring to Zige', 'Shilin Shu Sheng', and 'Tianzhu Cloud', the most formidable move was called the 'Wild Goose Returning to Zhurong'. Among Hengshan's five highest peaks, Zhurong was the highest one. This 'Wild Goose Returning to Zhurong' move was also the most profound among the Hengshan's Five Divine Swords. When Mr. Mo Da's master talked about this move, his descriptions were quite vague because he didn't understand the move clearly himself. If Yue Lingshan were to use this move, even if he didn't lose his life, it still would shame him. His heart was worried and he anxiously dodged and slashed out his short sword. "Even though she's learned these wonderful moves, it seems she can only use them stupidly and doesn't seem to be able to respond to an attack automatically using these moves. Unavoidable but I have to flirt with danger and fight her with all my strength. Otherwise, Mo Da won't have a face to show myself in Jianghu anymore."

    He saw Yue Lingshan moving hesitantly and knew that she was undecided about what to do, whether to give chase or not. Mr. Mo Da gloomily called out, "What a shame! Youngsters have no experience at all."

    Using the move 'Tianzhu Cloud', Yue Lingshan forced Mr. Mo Da to turn around and run. Although he covered this up cleverly and it didn't seem like he had lost, the masters around there had already seen his embarrassment in running away. If Yue Lingshan had stood still, taken her sword back, and cupped her fist saying, "Martial Uncle Mo, thanks for giving way! I offended you," then the winner and loser would've been decided.

    With the position Mr. Mo Da had, how could he, after losing, still turn around and fight again with someone a generation lower than him? But Yue Lingshan unexpectedly hesitated, and actually gave Mr. Mo Da such a good opportunity. As Yue Lingshan started to smile showing her dimples and as her cherry-lipped mouth opened slightly like she was about to say something, Mr. Mo Da's short sword hummed and rushed towards her. This fast attack was the culmination of Mr. Mo Da's lifetime of practice. The sword was emitting the sound of a huqin, its light flickered everywhere, and in a flash the sword and its lights encircled Yue Lingshan. Yue Lingshan called out in alarm and retreated a few steps. How could Mr. Mo Da give her time to use that move 'Wild Goose Returning to Zhurong'? The short sword in his hand was getting faster and faster executing the set 'Magical Thirteen Phantom Stances of Hengshan Mist' which was ever changing like the clouds and mist. The spectators couldn't help feeling dizzy from looking at it. If it weren't for the fact that the crowd felt that Mr. Mo Da was bullying the young, a man bullying a woman, they would've applauded a long time ago.

    After Yue Lingshan used such moves like 'Quan Ming Furong', Linghu Chong had no more doubt she had used the sword arts from the engravings on the cave wall at the back of the Cliff of Contemplation. He pondered, "Why did little martial sister go up to the Cliff of Contemplation? Master and Master-Wife love her dearly; they would never have punished her to stay on that wild and dangerous cliff to meditate. No matter what kind of mistake she may have made, Master and Master-Wife would only reprimand her. The Cliff of Contemplation and the living quarters on Huashan peak aren't close to each other; the road between them is also very dangerous. Even if it were not my little martial sister but one of the female disciples, they wouldn't send her to live alone up there. Could it be that it was martial brother Lin who was punished to meditate on that cliff and little martial sister went up there every day to deliver him his meals, just like she did when she was attending to me back then?" As he thought of this, he couldn't help his chest feeling heated. He again thought, "Martial brother Lin is a quiet person and he also follows rules and customs strictly, as close as one could get to be a 'Little Gentleman Sword'. That was the reason why Master, Master-Wife, and little martial sister like him. How could he have erred to deserve punishment on that cliff top? He can't, he couldn't have, definitely not." He then thought, "Could it be little martial sister... little martial sister..." Suddenly, he remembered something buried deep in his heart. But this memory was buried too deep. As soon as he recalled it, he immediately forgot about it again. He was stupefied for a moment. What did he remember? He couldn't recall it clearly. Just at that moment, he heard Yue Lingshan cried out in alarm. Her long sword flew out from her hand, her left foot slipped and she was now looking up from the ground. Mr. Mo Da extended his short sword and pointed it at ther left shoulder. He smilingly said, "Please rise, there's no need to panic!"

    Suddenly, a 'pai' sound was heard and the short sword on Mr. Mo Da's hand was broken. Yue Lingshan had grabbed a couple of rocks from the ground and smashed one rock towards Mr. Mo Da's sword with her left hand. The short sword was very thin and it immediately broke in two as soon as it was hit. Yue Lingshan followed this by tossing the other rock on her right hand to the left side. Mr. Mo Da was startled when his weapon broke. Now, he saw her tossing a piece of rock to her left side but there was no one there. It was really strange and he couldn't understand what her intention was.

    As soon as the rock hit the ground, it rebounded and hit Mr. Mo Da on the right side of his chest. With a crack, a few of his ribs were broken and blood spouted out. This unpredictable movement by Yue Lingshan was wonderfully fast. Each move was done cleanly and with agility. Everyone was stupefied. They saw clearly that after Mr. Mo Da had taken the initiative, he stopped and said, "Please rise, there's no need to panic!" Those words were the proper words spoken after a senior had defeated a junior. But Yue Lingshan's picking up the two stones and the two moves that followed were actually fast as lightning and entirely unpredictable. But Linghu Chong understood. Those two moves used by Yue Lingshan were the moves made by the Devil Sect's ten elders to break Hengshan School's unique skills. But the engraving on the cave wall actually showed the use of a pair of copper hammer. Yue Lingshan used the two stones in lieu of the copper hammers. If she had wanted to use the stones while they were fighting, it was impossible for her to do so. But once she has acquired the stones, to toss one of them out and for it to fly back, as long as she had practiced the move, the stones and copper hammers can be treated the same.

    Flying over, Yue Buqun entered the battlefield and slapped Yue Lingshan on the cheek. He shouted, "Martial uncle Mo Da has clearly let you off. How dare you to be rude to him?"

    He then stooped down to help Mr. Mo Da up and said, "Brother Mo, my daughter doesn't know what's good or bad, I'm really sorry. Please forgive her."

    Mr. Mo Da smiled bitterly and said, "The female tiger of your school really is out of ordinary." After he said these words, he again spouted blood from his mouth. Two disciples from Hengshan School came out to support him back to the group.

    Yue Buqun stared angrily at his daughter for a while before stepping back to the side. Linghu Chong saw Yue Lingshan's left cheek was swollen, and five finger prints were left on her cheeks. It was obvious her father didn't hit her lightly. Tears were flowing from Yue Lingshan's eyes, but her mouth was slightly turned down and her expression was steely. Linghu Chong remembered, "In the past when she and I were together at Huashan, when she was naughty and got scolded by Master and Master-Wife, she would feel wronged and she would look pitiful and cute. At that time, I would do anything to cheer her up. Little martial sister is most happy when she won a sword fight against me. I only have to do the same thing, appear as if I've negligently given her an opportunity, and not let her see that I deliberately let her..."

    He thought till here when his previously elusive memory resurfaced and he suddenly thought clearly "Why would she be at the Cliff of Contemplation? It's most likely that when she got married, she thought of the deep feelings we used to have, so she went up there all by herself to think of the old days. I've already sealed up the entrance to the back cave with rocks. It's not easy to find if you hadn't stayed up there for long. In that case, she must have stayed up there not just for a short time but probably went up there more than once." He turned his head to look at Lin Pingzhi and thought, "Martial brother Lin and she just got married so they should be happy and ecstatic. But how come his expression is melancholic? Little martial sister was just slapped by her father, but he didn't go and comfort her but acts like it has nothing to do with him. That's very unreasonable."

    He thought Yue Lingshan went up the Cliff of Contemplation in order to chase after the feelings from the past, but it was only a one sided guess by him and in his mind's eyes, he imagined how Yue Lingshan cried her eyes out on the cliff, how she regretted marrying Lin Pingzhi, and how she grieved incessantly for disappointing his deep feelings for her. He lifted his head and saw Yue Lingshan stooping down to pick her sword up while her tears dropped onto the grass below. A blade of grass bowed down under a bead of tear. Linghu Chong suddenly felt impulsive, "I must make her smile!" In his eyes, this Songshan mountaintop had suddenly became the Jade Maiden Peak at Huashan and the thousands of people there had turned into trees. In his heart, there was only lovesickness and his most loved person who had cried after being hit by her father. For his whole life, he had cheered her countless of time, so how could he just ignore her at this time?

    He strode out and said, "Little martial... little..." He immediately remembered that to cheer her up, he had to fight for real. With his heart drumming, he said, "You've defeated the headmasters of Taishan and Hengshan; your sword art isn't a small matter. My Heng-Shan School isn't convinced you can use Heng-Shan School's sword art. Why don't you fight me?"

    Yue Lingshan slowly turned around, but she didn't lift her head and it seemed she was thinking of something. After a while, she slowly lifted her head and all of a sudden her whole face was blushing. Linghu Chong said, "Although Mr. Yue's skill is high, I'm not convinced he's proficient in each of the five schools' sword arts."

    Yue Lingshan lifted her head and said, "You're originally not from Heng-Shan School. Today, you're the Headmaster of Heng-Shan. Are you proficient in Heng-Shan School's sword art now?" Her face was still stained with tears.

    Linghu Chong heard her words were soft and were quite friendly; he was delighted beyond measure. He quietly said to himself, "I must make it look real and don't let her see that I deliberately let her win." He then said, "This word 'proficient', I don't dare say it. But I've already been at Heng-Shan for a long time and have practised Heng-Shan's sword arts. So, we'll both use Heng-Shan School's sword art to fight each other. Whoever uses any other sword art will lose. What do you think?" He had already decided on a plan. His own sword art was much higher compared to her, which was a well known matter. If he pretended to lose, then other people would definitely see it and Yue Lingshan wouldn't believe it also. But while fighting, if he accidentally use a move from the 'Dugu Nine Swords' or the Huashan School's sword art, he would at the same time win but lose per agreement, and no one would doubt him.

    Yue Lingshan replied, "Alright, we'll have a fight!" She lifted her long sword and draw a half circle before thrusting at Linghu Chong.

    Heng-Shan School's female disciples gasped when they saw her movements. The crowd didn't recognise the move as Heng-Shan School's sword art, but when they heard the admiring gasp, they knew Yue Lingshan's move was really Heng-Shan School's sword art and that it was out of the ordinary.

    The move she used was really one of the moves taken from the engravings on the cave wall at the back of the Cliff of Contemplation. Furthermore, it was one of the moves that Linghu Chong had imparted to the Heng-Shan School's disciples.

    Linghu Chong wielded his sword to block. He knew Heng-Shan School's sword art had movements which shifted unceasingly in many circles and were very tight. Each movement of the sword art looked soft but actually contained powerful strength. When fighting an opponent, nine out of ten moves were defending and only one move would take advantage of a flaw to make a surprise attack. He had been together with the Heng-Shan School's disciples for a long time, and he had also personally seen Dingjing Shi Tai fought a few times against the enemies. Now when he executed the sword moves, every move was circling with meticulous intention. It was obvious he had already grasped the essence of Heng-Shan School's sword art deeply. Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, Beggar Clan's leader, Zuo Lengchan, and many other people who were familiar with Heng-Shan School's sword art knew that Linghu Chong was really not from Heng-Shan School, but the Heng-Shan sword art he used was proper and right. Even the most common style still contained a secret attack which thoroughly fit the Heng-Shan's martial art principle of 'Needle in a Cotton'. They all inwardly praised him.

    They all knew Heng-Shan School had been led by nuns for the last hundreds of years. For people of Buddhist faith, mercy is the foundation of everything. In particular, it was not suitable for women to use reckless movements, as they studied martial art primarily to protect themselves. This principle of 'Needle in a Cotton' was like concealing a needle in a wad of cotton. Provided that other people didn't offend, then the cotton would be soft and wouldn't harm them. But if you use strength to crush it, then the needle inside the cotton would pierce your palm. Whether it would pierce shallowly or deeply doesn't depend on the strength of the steel needle, but depends on the power you apply to crush the cotton. If you crush it lightly then the injury would be light, if you use a lot of strength then the injury would be heavy. This kind of martial art principle is based on the retribution principle of Buddhism; you sow your own destiny and the good and bad come from your own heart.

    After Linghu Chong had learned the 'Dugu Nine Swords', he came to understand the essence of set form martial arts well. He had learned to use sword arts with an emphasis on intention and not on set movements. So when he used the Heng-Shan sword art at this time, the changes at various places were quite different from the original form, but the sword intention of the Heng-Shan's sword art was still clearly maintained. Even though the masters from other schools knew of Heng-Shan's sword art, they only knew of the main points and didn't know the finer points and changes in the sword art. So when they saw the sword intention displayed by Linghu Chong, they all thought, "This youngster didn't get lucky in becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster! He's actually the true heir appointed by Dingxian and Dingjing Shi Tai." Only Heng-Shan School's disciples like Yihe and Yiqing were able to see that the sword forms he used were different from the ones taught by their masters. Even though the forms were different, they realized that the meaning behind these sword moves were deeper than the original sword art. Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan were both using Heng-Shan School's sword arts engraved inside the cave at the Cliff of Contemplation. But Linghu Chong's sword art was originally much higher compared to Yue Lingshan. Added to that he had also been together with Heng-Shan School's disciples for many days, so he knew the scope of Heng-Shan School's sword arts better than Yue Lingshan. As the two of them fought, if it weren't for Linghu Chong deliberately giving way, he would've won in just a few moves. After fighting for more than thirty moves, Yue Lingshan had exhausted the moves she learned from the cave wall and was forced to repeat them. It was good that this set of sword art was very complicated and looked really pleasant with its circling movements. There was not much distinction evident between each move. From the first move to the thirty-sixth move, they looked just like one big move. Besides Linghu Chong who had also learned this sword art from the cave wall, no one else could tell that she was repeating the sword moves.

    The sword moves Yue Lingshan used were very tight, and Linghu Chong followed the proper method to counter each one of them. The two of them had learned the same identical sword moves which contained the essence of the Heng-Shan School's sword art. Their swordplays were very impressive and the movements were extremely pleasing to the eye. The spectators were watching happily and continuously applauded.

    Someone said, "Linghu Chong is the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, it's not unusual the sword art he's using is so brilliant. But this Miss Yue is clearly a disciple of Huashan School. How can she also use Heng-Shan sword art?"

    Someone else said, "Linghu Chong is originally Mr. Yue's disciple too, and he was also the eldest disciple. Otherwise, how could he be this proficient in this sword art? If Mr. Yue didn't personally pass it down, how can the two of them fight so harmoniously?"

    There was also another one who said, "Mr. Yue is proficient in Huashan, Taishan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan Schools' sword arts. It seems he must also know the Songshan sword art well. There's no one who fits this position of Five Mountains School's headmaster better than him."

    Another person said, "That's not necessarily true. Songshan's Headmaster Zuo's sword art is much higher than Mr. Yue. In the principle of martial art, it's quality over quantity. Even if you know how to use all the martial arts in this world, what's the use? You'll only be a three-legged cat*. Headmaster Zuo's single Songshan sword art can defeat Mr. Yue's sword arts from five schools."

    (Translator's note: Three legged cat is phrase that means a person who can do many things but specializes in nothing.)

    The first person from before said, "How do you know? Shamefully blowing your own trumpet."

    The second person angrily said, "Blowing my own trumpet? Let's bet fifty taels if you got guts."

    The first person replied, "What guts no guts? Let's bet a hundred taels. Trade the silvers first, the loser will be under Heng-Shan School."

    The second person answered, "Alright, one hundred taels! What's under Heng-Shan School?"

    The first person said, "The loser becomes a nun!" And the second person spat.

    At this time, Yue Lingshan's moves became even faster. Linghu Chong saw her looking elegant and graceful. Remembering the old days when they practiced sword together at Mount Huashan, he gradually became absent-minded. When he saw her thrusting with her sword, he just followed it with a move of his own, not realising that this move wasn't actually Heng-Shan School's sword art.

    Yue Lingshan was startled and whispered, "Plum Flower like a Bean!" She followed it with a slash at Linghu Chong's forehead.

    Linghu Chong was also stupefied and whispered, "Willow Leaf like an Eyebrow!"

    Even though the two of them were using Heng-Shan School's sword art, they didn't know the names for them. But these two moves they just exchanged weren't Heng-Shan School's sword arts. These were actually from the sword art they created when they were practising together at Huashan: the 'Chong Ling Sword Art'. The 'Chong' was from Linghu Chong's name, and the 'Ling' was from Yue Lingshan's name. This was the sword art they had playfully created together.

    Linghu Chong was far more intelligent than his martial sister. In whatever he did, regardless of what it was, he would do it happily without a care for any rules and come up with new and creative ideas. Even though this group of sword art was created by the two of them, almost all of them were Linghu Chong's ideas. At that time, their martial arts were still shallow that there was nothing formidable about these sword moves. But the two of them had often practised these set of sword arts at a secluded place and were very familiar with this sword art. When Linghu Chong accidentally used the move 'Plum Flower like a Bean', Yue Lingshan followed with the move 'Willow Leaf like an Eyebrow'. The two of them had used these moves without any deep meaning originally, but now, all of a sudden, both of their faces turned red. Linghu Chong didn't slow down as he followed with the move 'See First in the Fog'. Yue Lingshan followed with the move 'First Time after the Rain'. The two of them had practised this set of sword art for so many times during their time at Huashan, but they were afraid that Master and Master-Wife would scold them if they found out, so they didn't tell anyone about it. But at this time, they couldn't control themselves as they used these moves in front of all the realm's heroes. In a short moment, they had traded about ten moves. Not only Linghu Chong felt he had returned to the former scenery at Huashan when they were practising sword together, even Yue Lingshan gradually forgot that she was already married and that she was in front of thousands of Jianghu's people to fight for her father's fame. In her eyes, only her carefree big martial brother was there practising the sword art they had created.

    Linghu Chong saw the expression on her face becoming gentler and gentler, and there was a glint of happiness in her eyes. It was obvious she had forgotten the incident of her father slapping her before. He thought, "When I saw her earlier today, she looked melancholy and unhappy. But she's finally feeling happy now. Ai, if only this Chong Ling sword art has thousands of moves and would never finish in a lifetime!" Ever since the time he heard Yue Lingshan humming a Fujian folk song at the Cliff of Contemplation, this was the first time his little martial sister treated him like in the past. His happiness was unbounded.

    After another twenty moves, Yue Lingshan's long sword slashed at his left leg and Linghu Chong lifted his left leg to kick at her sword. Yue Lingshan lowered her sword edge to chop at his leg. Linghu Chong's long sword hurriedly attacked her right waist and Yue Lingshan circled her sword. The two swords met with a resounding clang and the points of both swords vibrated. Both of them immediately thrust forward at the same time towards each other's throat. Their speed was unmatched. Looking at both swords thrusting forward at such speed, it seemed no one would be able to go up to save them and they would both meet common ruin. The crowd called out in surprise. But the crowd heard a sudden ringing sound and saw that the points of both swords pushed against each other in mid air, generating sparks and then bent together to make an arch. Both then sent their palms forwards, clashed palms, and floated down separating from each other.

    No one could've guessed of this outcome; that the points of these swords could unexpectedly and opportunely meet in mid air like this. It was very hard for two sword points to come together like this just for once even after thousands of sword fights. But these two people had unexpectedly done this once in a lifetime deed. Nobody around there had ever seen such a unique incident of two sword points meeting in the middle of the air in the thousands of sword fights they had seen. But Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan had actually practiced thousands of time to do just this, and they had accomplished what they had set out to do quite some time ago. This move must be done by the two of them simultaneously. When they started their moves, the positioning and power must be completely right. When both sword points met with enough speed behind them, they would bend and make an arch. This sword art was not useful in actually winning a fight against an opponent. But to Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan, this was a very amusing and interesting thing to do though it was very difficult. After they had finished practising this sword move, they took it a step further and practised till the sword points would hit with sparks flying around. When they had finished practising this move on Huashan, Yue Lingshan asked what name they should call this move by. Linghu Chong answered, "What do you think we should call it?"

    Yue Lingshan laughingly answered, "The two swords meeting together simply can't take anyone's life. How about we call it 'Common Ruins'?"

    Linghu Chong said, "Common Ruins, it sounded like you and I have absolutely irreconcilable enmity between us. How about we call it 'You Die I Live'!"

    Yue Lingshan pouted and said, "Why I die you live? You die I live is the correct one."

    Linghu Chong said, "I did say 'You Die I Live'."

    "This you and I, it's not clear. No one dies in this move so we should call it 'Live Together Die Together'."

    Linghu Chong clapped and said it was a good name. Yue Lingshan thought this name of 'Live Together Die Together' was too intimate, so she dropped her sword and ran.

    The crowd saw the two of them were on the verge of death before escaping from an extremely dangerous situation. Cold sweat was running down their hands, and they had even forgotten to cheer. That day in Shaolin temple, when Yue Buqun and Linghu Chong fought, even though Yue Buqun used the moves from Chong Ling sword art to urge him to return to Huashan School, he didn’t use this move. Though Yue Buqun secretly peeped into their practice and found out the moves from Chong Ling sword art, he didn’t devote his time into practising this nonsense and useless ‘Live Together Die Together’ move. That was why when Fangzheng, Chongxu, Zuo Lengchan and the other masters saw it, they were all greatly surprised.

    Yingying was frightened and felt uneasy after seeing it. She saw they were both smiling as they separated and floated down. From their attitudes and postures, it seemed as if they were wrapped in a warm and gentle spring breeze. Both of them lifted their swords and fought again. When they created this sword art on Huashan, they were suited to each other and mutually loved each other. For this reason, the sword art they created contained a lot of playful elements and not much killing intention. Now as they fought, they unwittingly returned to their old scenery. Their swords were slow, their eyebrows were lifted, and gradually, the tender feelings from when they were childhood friends bursted forth. This ‘sword fight’, it would be better to call it ‘Dancing with Swords’, or better yet, a ‘Sword Dance’. This ‘Sword Dance’, however, was not for entertaining guests but rather for entertaining oneself. Suddenly, from among the crowd, she heard someone uttered a ‘Hey!” and sneered coldly. Yue Lingshan was startled when she realised it was her husband’s voice. She thought, “It’s not right for me to fight big martial brother like this.” She circled her sword, slashed upwards, and pierced it forward powerfully. This sword movement looked beautiful as it was a stance out of the Huashan School’s ‘Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword’. Linghu Chong had also heard Lin Pingzhi’s cold sneer and saw how Yue Lingshan promptly changed her move afterwards. The coming attack wasn’t soft anymore and didn’t look anything like the Chong Ling sword art which was full of tangled up meanings.

    His heart felt sour, and all of a sudden, all kinds of past events bubbled up in his minds. He remembered the days when he was being punished by Master on the Cliff of Contemplation to meditate. At that time, little martial sister came every day to deliver him his meals. One day, it snowed heavily and the two of them actually spent a night together inside the cave.

    He also thought of the time when little martial sister got sick and the two of them did not met for many days. The pain of lovesickness blossomed in him then. But at that time, without knowing how, Lin Pingzhi unexpectedly gained her favour. From then on, the two of them started to misunderstand each other as days go by.

    He also thought of the day after little martial sister had learned the ‘Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword’ from Master-Wife. She came to the cliff to test the moves against him but he was feeling bitter at that time, and he unexpectedly didn’t let…. He thought of these things in just a blink of an eye. At this moment, Yue Lingshan’s long sword had almost arrived at his chest. As Linghu Chong’s mind was in confusion, he flicked out with a finger in his left hand. ‘Ring’, he flicked at her long sword resulting in Yue Lingshan being unable to hold on to her sword. It flew out of her hand and shot up into the sky.

    After Linghu Chong had flicked out the sword, he gloomily called out, "Oops!" He saw Yue Lingshan's expression had turned bitter looking like she wanted to smile, yet unable to smile. That day on the Cliff of Contemplation, Linghu Chong had also used a similar move to flick her treasured sword, the 'Sword of the Green Pool', down the bottomless abyss of a valley. From this incident, a wall had grown between the two of them. He never expected that today he would actually repeat what he did before. For these last few days, on calm nights, he had sometimes pondered on why he flicked away Yue Lingshan's long sword and realised it was because he was jealous of Lin Pingzhi. When his feelings were bubbling forth inside him, it was hard for him to control himself, so he himself was to be blamed. How could he have known that his old jealousy would come out again when he saw how Yue Lingshan's attitude changed on hearing Lin Pingzhi's voice. That day on the Cliff of Contemplation, with a flick, he was already able to shake the long sword off Yue Lingshan's hand. This time, with his current internal energy, he cannot say how far the sword would actually go as it soared high into the sky and actually didn't come down for a little while.

    His thought turned quickly, "I actually wanted to lose to little martial sister and make her happy. But I flicked her long sword away now and that's really going to make her lose some face in front of all these heroes. How could I use such a despicable method to repay for little martial sister's friendship?" He took a glance and saw that the long sword was now in mid air and coming down. He immediately shifted his body and called out, "Good Heng-Shan sword art!" He looked as if he had exhausted his energy. In fact he was positioning his body on the point where the sword was coming to. With a 'pu' sound, the long sword entered the back of his left shoulder. Linghu Chong threw himself forward and nailed his long sword on the ground.

    This accident happened so fast that the crowd called out and was then stunned into silence. Yue Lingshan was alarmed as she said, "You... Big martial brother..." She saw a bearded man rushed up with his long sword up. The injury on the back of Linghu Chong's shoulder was spouting blood, and more than ten disciples from Heng-Shan School encircled him. Some of them struggled to take their medicines out to apply it on him. Yue Lingshan didn't know whether he would live or die, so she went up to see. With a flash, two swords barred her path. A female nun shouted, "Cruel woman!" Yue Lingshan was startled and retreated a few steps. She didn't know what to do.

    Yue Buqun laughed long and hard, then in a clear voice said, "Shan'er, you used the sword arts from Taishan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan Schools to defeat the three headmasters from each respective schools. That's very hard to do!"

    Yue Lingshan dropped her long sword. The crowd saw that Linghu Chong had flicked her long sword away, but it was Linghu Chong who was then injured by her long sword. Those were the facts. But whether that move was Heng-Shan's sword art or not, no one could say. When they were fighting using the Chong Ling sword art, the spectators couldn't understand what they were seeing but they knew the moves were simple and artless, and completely useless. Only the dancing looked good. At the end, it turned into a mishap and everyone was surprised that it would end up like this. Now, when they heard Yue Buqun praising his daughter that she had used the each school's sword art to defeat the three headmasters, they thought this move Yue Lingshan used of sword dropping down from the air was indeed Heng-Shan School's sword art. Although some people had doubts because they felt this sword art was very different from Heng-Shan's sword art and yet they couldn't tell the origin of that sword art. So it was inconvenient to publicly debate this with Yue Buqun.

    Yue Lingshan picked up her long sword and saw her sword was covered in blood. Her heart was drumming fiercely and she thought, "How is he? As long as he doesn't die, I'll... I'll..."

    End of Chapter 33

  15. #15
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    Default Chapter 34 Snatching the Leadership

    Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung

    The crowd was commenting on what they had seen when a loud and clear voice said, "Huashan School, under the careful study of Mr. Yue has thoroughly understood the sword arts from Taishan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan Schools. Not only has he understood them, he has actually perfected them and this really makes other people admire him. If Mr. Yue doesn't take up this headmaster position of the Five Mountains School, then there's no one else we can choose." The person who spoke was wearing a ragged and soiled gown. He was the leader of Beggar Clan, Xie Feng. Fangzheng, Chongxu, and he had the same thought that harm would come upon Wulin once Zuo Lengchan merged the five mountains sword schools, and that sooner or later, trouble would come upon the Beggar Clan. He also thought that it was better for the refined gentleman Yue Buqun to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster than the wildly ambitious Zuo Lengchan.

    Ever since Beggar Clan existed in Jianghu, they had always been very powerful. Hearing what the Beggar Clan's leader said, the common people didn't dare to rashly object to his words. Suddenly, a deep and cold voice said, "Miss Yue is proficient in Taishan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan Schools' sword arts. This is really commendable. If you can use Songshan sword art to win against my sword, then the whole Songshan School will accept Mr. Yue as the headmaster." The one who said this was of course Zuo Lengchan. As he talked, he had walked up to the middle of the courtyard with his left hand gripping his sword's scabbard. With a ringing sound, his long sword jumped out of the scabbard, and with a flicker of light, the long sword hovered in mid air. He extended his right hand and grabbed the sword's handle. This move was extremely pleasing to the eye. With a grip of his left hand, he used his internal energy to force the long sword out. This kind of deep internal energy was rarely seen or heard of. Of course the disciples of Songshan School cheered loudly, and the heroes from the other schools also applauded thunderously.

    "I... I'll only use thirteen moves. If within these thirteen moves I can’t win against martial uncle Zuo..." Yue Lingshan replied.

    Zuo Lengchan angrily thought, "You little girl dare to openly receive my swordplay? How daring! You even put a limit of thirteen moves. So you regard me as if I'm nothing." He then coldly said, "If you can't best me within thirteen moves, then what?"

    "How... How can I be martial uncle Zuo's match? I've only learned thirteen moves of Songshan School's sword art from my father. Martial uncle Zuo can verify this with your own hand."

    Zuo Lengchan snorted.

    Yue Lingshan continued, "My father said that even though these thirteen moves are Songshan School's brilliant sword art, when I use them, he's afraid that in just one move my sword would be shaken out of my hands by martial uncle Zuo, and it'll be impossible for me to even get to the second move."

    Zuo Lengchan again snorted and didn't express his opinion. When Yue Lingshan first started talking, her voice was trembling. Whether it was because her strength was depleted or because she was facing such a big hero in Wulin and became afraid, no one knew. But as she continued talking, her voice gradually calmed. She went on, "I said to Dad: 'Martial uncle Zuo is without question Songshan School's number one master, but he's not necessarily the number one master in our five mountains sword schools. His martial art is high, but he may not necessarily be proficient in all the five mountains sword schools sword arts like you, Dad.' My dad then said: 'This word proficient, it's easier said than done. All I know is some basic skills only. If you don't believe me, you can fight against martial uncle Zuo once you've learned this kind of three-legged cat skills of Songshan School sword art. If you can fight against martial uncle Zuo's earth-shattering Songshan sword art for more than three moves, then I'll praise you as my good daughter.'"

    Zuo Lengchan laughed coldly and said, "If you defeat me within three moves, then you'll become an even better daughter for Mr. Yue."

    "Martial uncle Zuo's sword art is godly, and talent such as yours has rarely been seen in hundreds of years at the Songshan School. I had only learned a few moves of the Songshan sword art from my father and I just did that recently. How can I dare to think such wild thoughts? Father told me to receive three moves from martial uncle Zuo; but I am foolishly deluded to hope I can receive thirteen moves of martial uncle Zuo's Songshan sword art. However I don't know whether I can fulfil my wish or not."

    Zuo Lengchan thought, "Don't say thirteen moves, if I let you go beyond three moves, then I already have no face to show anymore." He lifted his left hand and extended his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger to grab the point of his sword. Holding the sword point, he then suddenly let go of the long sword from his right hand and like a string plucked, the sword handle shot forward and swayed. "Make your move!"

    With this stunt, Zuo Lengchan created a sensation throughout the crowd. Not only was he using his unfavoured left hand to use the sword, but he was also holding the sword by gripping the sword point with three fingers while the sword handle faced the opponent. Compared to fighting a naked blade with bare hands, fighting with a sword gripped at sword point by three fingers was ten times more difficult. Receiving a slight shake to the sword might slash his fingers, and if this happened, how would he still be able to hold onto the sword and use it?

    It was obvious that Zuo Lengchan was greatly indignant and was showing complete disdain towards Yue Lingshan by using such method. In addition, he deliberately shocked everyone with this marvellous skill. Seeing him holding his sword this way, Yue Lingshan trembled. She thought, "What kind of martial art is he using? Daddy didn't teach me anything like this." And fear started to grow in her heart. She also thought, "Since it has come to this, what's the use of being afraid?" With this last thought, she quickly glanced towards the crowd of Heng-Shan School's disciples. She saw they were still in a circle but she didn't hear any crying. She guessed that although Linghu Chong's injury was serious, his life wasn't threatened.

    She raised her long sword above her head and bowed. This was the move called 'The Whole School Facing the Ancestors', which was an original sword art from Songshan. The meaning of this sword move was to show respect. Songshan's disciples burst into cheers feeling quite pleased. Whenever Songshan's disciples were about to trade moves with the school's seniors, they must use this move first. The meaning was they wouldn't dare to fight with the senior but were instead asking for some pointers from the senior. Zuo Lengchan nodded slightly and thought, "How unexpected that you can use this move! Finally you're being clever in showing me this move. I won't let you be too shamed then."

    After Yue Lingshan had finished using the move 'The Whole School Facing the Ancestors', with a flash, her long sword changed into a white rainbow as it thrust towards Zuo Lengchan. This move looked really grand, and it was precisely the essence of Songshan School's sword art. Even though Zuo Lengchan was well educated in the Songshan School's sword art of 'Inside Eight Groups, Outside Nine Groups', and in these seventeen groups, he knew very well the length and speed of each sword art group, he had never seen this move before. He was greatly startled and thought, "What move is this? From my Songshan School's seventeen sword art groups, it seemed none of them is higher in level than this move. This is strange." Not only was he a great master in Songshan, he was also a great scholar of martial study of this generation. So once he saw his own school's grand and mysterious sword move, he wanted to see it clearly. He saw Yue Lingshan's attack was coming, but her internal energy wasn't powerful, so once her sword came to a few inches from his body, he could just shook it out of her hand. But if he did that, he wouldn't be able to see whether there were more strange changes in the moves after this one.

    As soon as Yue Lingshan's attack came to a foot of his chest, she withdrew her sword, slanted her body, circled her long sword, and slashed down towards his left shoulder. This move looked like Songshan School's sword art called 'Wise Man Throughout the Ages', but 'Wise Man Throughout the Ages' was faster even though it was not as grand. It also looked like the move 'Floating Kingfisher', but lighter and not as grand as 'Floating Kingfisher'; It also looked a little bit like 'Jade Well, Heaven Pond', but 'Jade Well, Heaven Pond' looked more impressive and dignified. When this move was used by Yue Lingshan, it had an air of elegance about it.

    Zuo Lengchan had keen eyesight and he had immersed himself in the study of Songshan School's sword art for his whole life. The fineness and the advantages of every move and every stance, the smallest details of every complicated point, were all engraved in his mind. Now that he suddenly saw how Yue Lingshan's move contained the strong points of the many big moves of the Songshan School's sword art, while looking like it covered the weak points of those swordplays, he couldn't help feeling excited, amazed, and happy, just as if he had seen a treasure falling down from the sky.

    Years ago on Mount Huashan, the five mountains sword schools fought twice with ten elders from the Devil Sect and lost quite a number of masters. Many unique skills from the five schools' sword arts also died together with these masters. Later, Zuo Lengchan had gathered all the surviving elders from the Songshan School and recorded the sword moves from their memories irrespective of their fineness and completed a sword manual. In the last dozens of years, at Wucunjing, he had altered and improved moves which weren't fierce or grand enough to make the seventeen groups of sword moves perfect. Even though he didn't create any new swordplay, he had rendered a great service by his arrangement of the Songshan sword arts.

    Now, seeing that Yue Lingshan had used Songshan sword art that was not from the school's sword manual and that seemed deeper compared to all the currently existing stances and moves of Songshan sword art, he couldn't help being joyful and sighing in praise. If this sword art was being executed by a strong opponent like Ren Woxing or Linghu Chong, or even Great Master Fangzheng or Priest Chongxu, Zuo Lengchan would have to concentrate completely on fighting his opponent. Even if his opponent's sword moves were wonderful, he would have to cope with it with all of his power that he would not have the leisure to look at the opponent's sword art. On the other hand, Yue Lingshan's shallow internal energy was nothing to be afraid of. In the event of a desperate situation, he could just shake the long sword out of her hand at any time and fight for real. For now, he continued observing the changes in her sword moves intently.

    The crowd saw Yue Lingshan's long sword dancing about, each move a foot away from her opponent, looking like she was deliberately giving way and looking as if she was afraid. Zuo Lengchan, though, just stood still while his face sometimes registered happiness and sometimes worry as if he had lost his mind. This kind of martial art fighting had never been seen before. The crowd looked at each other amazed. Only the disciples of the Songshan School were observing the fight intently fearing they would miss seeing half a stance.

    Yue Lingshan has learned these few moves of Songshan sword art from the engravings on the cave wall on the Cliff of Contemplation. Altogether, there were around sixty to seventy moves engraved on the cave wall. After Yue Buqun had studied them, he guessed that around forty of them were most likely already known and used by Zuo Lengchan while the rest looked brilliant but seemed insufficient to move Zuo Lengchan's heart. Only these thirteen moves were certain to awe him and make him want to see them no matter what. The stances engraved on the cave wall were definitely dead without possible variations and Yue Lingshan only used them according to the movements engraved on the wall. But when Zuo Lengchan saw them, he could imagine how all the moves could be used together, and as he thought more, the ways to use these moves seemed endless.

    Yue Lingshan capably used up all thirteen moves and started from the beginning again for the fourteenth move. Zuo Lengchan thought, "Should I take a look again, or do I shake her long sword off?" These two matters were very easy for him to do. If he wanted to continue watching, even if the level of Yue Lingshan's swordplay were higher, she still wouldn't be able to hurt him. If he wanted to shake her long sword off then all he had to do was lift his hand to do it. But to choose between the two choices was not easy at all. All of a sudden, many things popped up in his head, "After this, I'm afraid there'd be no more chance to see these wonderful Songshan sword arts again. To kill this little girl is easy but where can I see these sword arts again? How can I ask Mr. Yue for a demonstration? If I let her continue, it'll seem as if I can't contend with this little girl from Huashan. How can I keep my face after that? Aiyo, she's done more than thirteen moves!" As he thought of the words 'thirteen moves', the thought of becoming the leader of Wulin overpowered the idea of studying these martial arts. He flicked the three fingers on his left hand and his sword shot up and hit Yue Lingshan's long sword generating a continuously cracking sound. Afterwards, Yue Lingshan was left only with a sword handle and an inch of her sword blade, while dozens of broken pieces lay on the ground.

    Yue Lingshan jumped back and retreated for dozens of feet, then in a loud voice said, "Martial uncle Zuo, how many Songshan sword art moves did I use?"

    Zuo Lengchan closed both of his eyes thinking about those sword moves Yue Lingshan used. He recalled each move one by one, then opened his eyes and said, "You used thirteen moves! Very good, it's not easy."

    Yue Lingshan bowed and cupped her fist. "Martial uncle Zuo, thank you for your mercy in letting me show off my meagre skills in using thirteen sword moves of the Songshan sword art in front of you."

    The crowd sighed in admiration at the divine martial art Zuo Lengchan used to break Yue Lingshan's long sword. But Yue Lingshan had declared before that she was going to use thirteen moves of Songshan sword art in front of Zuo Lengchan. The majority of the crowd thought it wouldn't be an easy thing even to manage using three moves, let alone thirteen moves. But unexpectedly Zuo Lengchan had acted like a crazy person and let her execute up to the fourteenth move before striking out. Everyone was surprised, and there were people who thought wildly and believed Zuo Lengchan was a pervert because his mind seemed to have gone blank in front of such a beautiful young woman as an opponent.

    From the Songshan School's cluster, a thin old person walked out. He was 'Crane Hands' Lu Bai and he said in a clear voice, "Headmaster Zuo's divine martial art is unrivalled. Everyone can see how elegant and open minded he is. How absurd of this Miss Yue to show off some basic skills of my Songshan School's sword arts in front of him! Headmaster Zuo merely waited for her to exhaust her skills before subduing her. In the martial art study, it's quality over quantity, so no matter which sect's or which school's martial art you're using, you must practise them until you reach the pinnacle of that martial art and only then can you stand in Wulin..." He only said till here when the crowd started nodding their heads. These words had touched directly at the thoughts of each person there. These men of Jianghu, besides a few masters there, had actually only learned the martial art of one school. So when Lu Bai said it was quality over quantity in the study of martial art, they all approved of it. But whether these people actually had 'quality' enough in their own martial art, it was very difficult to say. On the other hand, it could certainly be said that these people did not know a large 'quantity' of martial arts.

    Lu Bai went on, "This Miss Yue is quite smart. When other schools were practising their swordplay, she secretly peeped in and stole some sword moves, then praised herself to be proficient in the five mountains sword schools' sword arts. Actually, each school's martial art has its own secret that's passed down personally by the masters. If you only peeped into the moves of each stance, then how can you say that you're 'proficient' in them?" The crowd again nodded their heads, and they all thought, "Stealing other schools' martial art is Wulin's biggest taboo. The consequence of this will definitely fall on Yue Buqun's head."

    That old person continued, "How can you praise yourself to be proficient in other school's martial art if all you did was peeked at other people's wonderful stances and learned it yourself? Did you teach yourself that school's martial art secret? If not, then how can that be a highly wonderful move? I steal yours, you steal mine, wouldn't that be chaotic?" Right after he finished saying this, many people in the crowd burst into laughter.

    Yue Lingshan had used Hengshan sword art to defeat Mr. Mo Da and used Heng-Shan sword art to defeat Linghu Chong. However, in both fights, it looked as if they had given way to her. But when she used Taishan sword art to defeat Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi, she truly used real skills. She was actually proficient in the sword moves she used to fight Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi, and yet because she had attacked them when they were unprepared, it could still be said that she used her fine sword art in an opportunistic way to gain triumph. Even though she only pretended to know the move 'Daizong Way', besides the masters of Taishan School, no one else knew of the sham. However, the crowd wasn't willing to acknowledge that outsiders could be proficient in the martial art of another school. So when they heard what Lu Bai said, many people added their voice to the commotion created by the Songshan School's disciples. When Lu Bai saw his speech had gained the acknowledgement of the crowd, he looked pleased with himself, and raised his voice to say, "So, for this position of headmaster of the Five Mountains School, there's no one better than Headmaster Zuo to occupy it. Also it should be known, to learn one type of martial art to its pinnacle is much better than learning a lot of martial art shallowly." When he said these words, they were clearly pointed at Yue Buqun. Dozens of young disciples of Songshan School cheered loudly at this. Lu Bai said, "Within the five mountains sword schools, if there's anyone who's confident of defeating Headmaster Zuo, then please come out and show us your skill." He turned around but no one came up.

    Originally, the Peach Valley Six Fairies would surely have come out to talk nonsense. But at this time, Yingying was worried about helping Linghu Chong, so she didn't have time to direct the Peach Valley Six Fairies in making trouble for the Songshan School. Peachtree Root Fairy and his five brothers were looking at each other, but they couldn't come up with an idea on what was best to do. 'Tower Holding Palm' Ding Mian shouted loudly, "Since no one wants to challenge Headmaster Zuo, Headmaster Zuo is favoured by everyone here. Then we'll ask him to be our Five Mountains School's headmaster."

    Zuo Lengchan feigned humility and said, "There's an abundance of talented people in the Five Mountains School, I have no virtue and no ability, I don't deserve to take up this heavy responsibility."

    Songshan School's seventh protector Tang Yinge said clearly, "The position of headmaster of the Five Mountains School is a high position and has heavy responsibility, but we have to push Headmaster Zuo into taking this difficult job so that the thousands of Five Mountains School's disciples have good fortune, and we can contribute greatly to the orthodox path in Jianghu. Headmaster Zuo, please become our leader!"

    Suddenly, gongs and drums reverberated loudly, while firecrackers went off in succession. All these had been prepared beforehand by the Songshan School's disciples. As the thunderous sound of firecrackers erupted, Songshan School's disciples along with the invited friends of Zuo Lengchan cried out, "Headmaster Zuo, please ascend the throne! Headmaster Zuo, please ascend the throne!"

    Zuo Lengchan leapt up and landed lightly on top of the place of worship. Just then, it was already dusk and the sun was about to go down the mountain. As the setting sun shone slantingly on Zuo Lengchan, the apricot yellow gown he was wearing glittered like gold and added to the grand atmosphere. He cupped his fist and turned his body around to greet the crowd below the place of worship. "Since everyone is pushing me into it, if I don't agree to take on this difficult responsibility, it would seem like I was protecting my own reputation and was not willing to make a contribution to the orthodox path in Wulin." Several hundred people from the Songshan School thunderously cheered and applauded.

    Suddenly, a female voice interrupted, "Martial Uncle Zuo, you broke my long sword. But just by breaking my sword, how can you become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School?" The one who said this was Yue Lingshan.

    "All the realm's heroes are here. Everyone said before that it was a sword competition to take the leadership. If Miss Yue can break the long sword in my hand like that, then everyone will accept Miss Yue to be the Five Mountains School's headmaster," Zuo Lengchan said.

    "Of course I can't win over Martial Uncle Zuo. But within our Five Mountains School, it's not necessarily true that there's no one whose martial art is better than Martial Uncle Zuo," Yue Lingshan replied.

    From among the people in the Five Mountains School, Linghu Chong was the only one Zuo Lengchan was afraid of. Ever since Linghu Chong had gotten heavily injured after fighting against Yue Lingshan, Zuo Lengchan had felt relieved and confident. Now hearing Yue Lingshan’s reply, he retorted, "So according to Miss Yue's opinion, within the Five Mountains, there's someone whose martial art can defeat me? Is this person your father, your mother, or your husband?" Songshan School's disciples exploded in laughter.

    "My husband is of a lower generation, so he must yield to Martial Uncle Zuo if he were to fight. My mother's sword art is well-matched with martial uncle Zuo's. While my father, I think his skills are slightly higher than Martial Uncle Zuo's," Yue Lingshan said.

    Songshan School's disciples jeered at this. Some whistled loudly while some stomped their feet on the ground.

    Zuo Lengchan said to Yue Buqun, "Mr. Yue, your daughter regards your martial art really highly."

    "My little daughter can't stop her mouth blabbering. Brother Zuo doesn't have to treat her seriously. My swordplay is nothing when compared to Shaolin School's Great Master Fangzheng, Wudang School's Priest Chongxu, and Beggar Clan's Leader Xie," Yue Buqun replied.

    Zuo Lengchan's face changed colour when he heard this. Yue Buqun had mentioned three names but his name was not one of them. Clearly, Yue Buqun was praising himself to be better than Zuo Lengchan in front of everyone.

    Ding Mian said, "How about compared to Headmaster Zuo?"

    Yue Buqun replied, "Brother Zuo and I have known each other for many years and we respect each other. Both Songshan and Huashan Schools' sword arts are strong, and in the last hundreds of years there has been no distinction on which one is higher. So it's very hard for me to answer Brother Ding's question."

    "Judging from Mr. Yue's tone, it sounded like you believe yourself to be stronger than Headmaster Zuo?" Ding Mian said.

    "The master said: 'A gentleman has nothing to fight about but if it must be, he will fight'. Since ancient times, it's unavoidable to dispute over how high someone's martial art is. I've long harboured a wish to ask Martial Brother Zuo for pointers. But today is our new Five Mountains School's inauguration, and we haven't selected a headmaster yet. If Brother Zuo and I have a sword fight, then it'll look as if we're having a fight for the position of the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Then it'll be unavoidable for people to gossip," Yue Buqun said.

    Zuo Lengchan said, "If Brother Yue can win against this sword in my hand, then Brother Yue will be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School."

    Yue Buqun waved his hand a few times and said, "It's not necessarily true that a person with high martial arts will also have high moral behaviour. If I manage to win against Brother Zuo, it'll not necessarily be true that I'd be able to win against the rest of the masters in the Five Mountains School." The way he said these words was very modest, but each meticulously said word proclaimed that he was a level better than Zuo Lengchan. Zuo Lengchan got angrier the longer he listened. He coldly said, "Brother Yue's reputation as 'Gentleman Sword' shakes the whole world. The word 'Gentleman' is well known to everyone. But this word 'Sword', we've heard of it a lot, but have rarely seen it. Today, as the entire world's heroes have gathered here, I'll have to ask Brother Yue to show your brilliant sword art so as to let everyone here open their eyes!"

    Many people called out, "Go up and fight, go up and fight!" "All talk and no action, what kind of hero is that?" "Go and have a sword fight, decide which one is stronger, what's the use of boasting?"

    Yue Buqun put both of his hands behind his back and stayed silent. His expression was solemn and respectful, and there was a hint of worry in his face. When Zuo Lengchan was planning to merge the five mountains sword schools, he had already known the martial arts of each master from the other four schools, and was confident that no one from those four schools would be able to win against him. So he did his utmost to push this merger through. Otherwise if there was someone with a more powerful martial art than him, then after the merger of the five mountains sword schools, this position of headmaster might be snatched by other people. If that happened, wouldn't that be benefiting other people instead? Yue Buqun's swordplay was brilliant and his attainment of the 'Divine Art of Violet Twilight' was also not low; both of these things were well known to Zuo Lengchan.

    Thus, Zuo Lengchan incited Feng Buping, Cheng Buyou, and other masters from the Sword Branch to go up Mount Huashan, and he also sent more than ten other good fighters from other schools to attack Yue Buqun at the God of Medicine Monastery. Although they failed, they managed to gather in detail the level of Yue Buqun's martial art. After Zuo Lengchan personally saw Yue Buqun fighting against Linghu Chong at the Shaolin temple, he became even more at ease. Even though Yue Buqun's sword art was wonderful, he was still not Zuo Lengchan's match. When Yue Buqun kicked Linghu Chong, he even got his right leg broken. That showed his internal energy cultivation was just mediocre. But as for this little kid Linghu Chong, he seemed to have suddenly advanced greatly in his sword art, which was really beyond his expectation. But he couldn't always be afraid of this loafer, and just give up this big matter that he had been planning for tens of years already. Moreover, Linghu Chong's strong point was only in his swordplay, while his barehand martial art was very ordinary. If they were to fight for real and he couldn't win by his swordplay, then he would use his fist and palm at the same time and he could immediately take Linghu Chong's life then. However, all his anxiety left him completely when he saw Linghu Chong had gotten himself willingly injured under Yue Lingshan's sword.

    Now, hearing the Yue father and daughter speaking so boastfully, he thought, "I don't know how you did it, but you've studied the lost unique skills of the five mountains sword schools, and now got yourself deluded over this. If you, Yue Buqun, were fighting me, and suddenly use these moves, you would've intimidated me. But it was the wrong move to let your daughter use them first. Now I'm already prepared for these moves, so what's the use of using them again?" He also thought, "This person is very calculating and careful, if I can beat him up good and proper in front of all the heroes here then he won't be cocky anymore. Otherwise, he'll remain in my Five Mountains School and be a big trouble the future." So he said, "Brother Yue, all the world heroes have already asked you to go up and show your skill, how can you not give them face?"

    "Since Brother Zuo said it, I'll have to respectfully obey your order," Yue Buqun replied, and then step by step he walked up the place of worship.

    Thinking there was a good show to be seen, the crowd cheered happily.

    Yue Buqun folded his hands in salute and said, "Brother Zuo, we're now under the same school. So we'll just stop at skin-deep when comparing our skills. What do you think?"

    "Brother, you must definitely be careful. I'll do my best not injure Brother Yue," Zuo Lengchan replied.

    The people from the Songshan School called out, "You haven't fought yet but you are already asking for mercy! It's better not to fight then." "The blade isn't born with eyes. Once it moves, who can guarantee you won't be harmed or killed?" "If you're afraid, then be clever and accept defeat and descend from the fight courtyard. It's not too late."

    Yue Buqun smiled and said clearly, "The blade isn't born with eyes. Once it moves, it's difficult to avoid death or injuries. These words are right." He then turned his head toward Huashan School's disciples and said, "Disciples of Huashan, listen to me: Martial Brother Zuo and I are going to compare skills. There's no enmity in this. If Martial Brother Zuo slips and kills me, or heavily injures me, that's just because the battle is too fierce and it's not easy to stop an inch away. No one must hate Martial Uncle Zuo for this, and you must also not seek revenge on the people from Songshan School, so that you don't ruin the loyalty within our Five Mountains School." Yue Lingshan and everyone else acknowledged him loudly. Zuo Lengchan didn't expect him to talk like this so he said, "Brother Yue understands about righteousness very deeply. The loyalty within our school is most important. That's very good."

    Yue Buqun smiled and said, "The merger of our five schools into one was the most difficult thing to do. If the peace of the Five Mountains School is harmed because of the two of us comparing our sword techniques and inner fighting between martial brothers in the Five Mountains School occurred, then that'll be counter to the original meaning of merging the schools."

    "Right!" Zuo Lengchan agreed, while he thought, "This person is very timid. I should take advantage of this and subdue him now." When masters fight, internal strength and movements were very important, but winning and losing was often decided by the strength of will. Zuo Lengchan secretly felt happy that Yue Buqun was showing a weakness. With a ringing sound, he drew his long sword out. When the long sword cleared the scabbard, the sound unexpectedly reverberated throughout the whole valley. Zuo Lengchan had moved his inner energy in a unique way so that the edge of the sword struck the inner wall of the sheath continuously as it comes out of its sheath and emitted a thunderous ringing sound. The people who didn't know the reason for this were astonished greatly. The people from Songshan School again cheered loudly.

    On the other hand, Yue Buqun pulled out his long sword along with its scabbard from his waist. Then he freed the sword from its sheath, and slowly and silently pulled it out. Judging from the way these two people pulled their swords out, it could be said that this sword fight was between a master and a novice. It looked as if the outcome was already certain that there was no need for a fight.

    Linghu Chong's shoulder blade was pierced by the long sword which penetrated all the way to the front and as a result, he suffered a really heavy injury. After witnessing Linghu Chong getting injured, Yingying became really worried and without caring about her disguise, she rushed forward with her long sword raised to protect him. Once the Heng-Shan School's disciples had surrounded him, Yihe took out the 'White Cloud Bear Gallbladder' pill and nervously spilled out five to six pills and put them in Linghu Chong's mouth. Yingying had already sealed the acupoints on his chest and on his back to stop the bleeding quite some time ago. Yiqing and Zheng E separately applied the 'Heavenly Connecting Glue' on his wound. When it was their headmaster who was injured, how could the disciples be stingy in using the medicine? They weren't afraid to apply ample amounts of medicine. In fact, they regarded this priceless medicine like it was just mud as they applied it thickly on his wound. Even though Linghu Chong's injury was serious, he was still clear-headed. When he saw how Yingying and the Heng-Shan School's disciples were deeply concerned for him, he felt apologetic, "Just because I wanted to make little martial sister smile, I made Yingying and martial sisters from Heng-Shan School worried to death." He immediately smiled and said, "I don't know how, I got careless and got... got injured. Don't... don't worry. No need... no need..."

    "Don't say anything," Yingying rebuked. Even though she tried her best to sound coarse, it was still very hard to cover up her feminine voice. All the disciples of the Heng-Shan School were stunned to hear this bearded man having a tender and soft voice.

    Linghu Chong said, "Let me... have a look... have a look..."

    "Yes," Yiqing answered, and pulled her two martial sisters who were in front of his body to the side to let him watch Yue Lingshan's fight with Zuo Lengchan. Linghu Chong saw Yue Lingshan using Songshan sword art; Zuo Lengchan breaking her sword, and finally Zuo Lengchan and Yue Buqun facing each other for a fight on top of the place of worship place. All these he observed vaguely.

    With his long sword pointed to the ground, Yue Buqun turned around to face Zuo Lengchan with a smile on his face. At this time, they were around twenty feet away from each other. The crowd was holding their breath and the whole Songshan mountaintop was deathly quiet. But Linghu Chong heard a really faint voice reciting a scripture, "If fierce beasts surrounded you and you were frightened by their sharp teeth and claws, you could call Bodhisattva Guanyin’s name, and all the beasts would quickly leave. When you see venomous serpents and scorpions, you can call Bodhisattva Guanyin’s name and praise her holy power, then they will go back to their lairs. When lightening and thunders strike the ground and hail and heavy rain start pouring down, one can call Bodhisattva Guanyin’s name and praise her holy power so that the bad weather would stop and disappear. For all living creatures, there are so many difficulties, but the holy and wonderful power from Bodhisattva Guanyin will help us get through all of them…." The voice reading this scripture was very sincere and earnest. Linghu Chong knew straight away that it was Yilin who was praying to Guanyin for his well being. Many days ago, in the outskirts of Hengshan city, Yilin had once read this scripture to him. This time he didn't turn his head around to have a look, but he remembered clearly how Yilin looked like on that day long ago when her eyes were full of love and her beautiful face looked soft and warm. A soft and warm feeling bubbled up inside his heart, "Not only Yingying, Martial Sister Yilin also regards me more important than their own lives. Even if my body were grounded to dust and all my bones were broken, it'd still be hard for me to repay their kindness."

    Zuo Lengchan saw Yue Buqun's sword was across his chest while his left hand was in a sword-form poised for writing letters. Zuo Lengchan knew this move was a Huashan sword art called 'Poetry Sword to Meet Friends'. It was the stance Huashan School used when having a friendly fight against people from the orthodox path. The meaning behind this move was when cultured men make friends, they combine sentences together to make poems, while when martial men make friends, they compare martial skills. When this move was used, it made it clear that there was no enmity between the opponents. So the sword fight should only decide the winner and loser, and mustn't take each other's lives. There was a smile on the corner of Zuo Lengchan's mouth as he said, "No need to be polite," while he thought, "Yue Buqun is praised as a gentleman, but I see he's more of a hypocrite. It's not necessarily because of his good heart that he's not showing any kind of hostility towards me. One, he might be afraid. Second, he's trying to make me bold and careless so that he can try to catch me off guard and kill me." Zuo Lengchan pointed his left hand out to the side while his right hand aimed the long sword forward. This move was Songshan School's sword art called 'Opening the Gate to See the Mountain'. He used this sword move to say, if you want to fight then fight, there's no need to be putting on air, and it also implied that his opponent was a hypocrite. Yue Buqun let out a sigh and thrust his long sword forward with the point of the sword continuously trembling. When the sword reached midway, it suddenly turned around and shot up changing into the Huashan sword art 'Concealed Green Mountain'. The sword point was vague, like it was there and wasn't there, as it fluctuated endlessly.

    Zuo Lengchan slashed down powerfully in an earth-shaking imposing manner. Many of the spectators gasped and cried out. Originally, this move didn't exist as part of the Songshan sword art. But Zuo Lengchan borrowed a stance from the barehanded martial art, and used his sword like it was his fist. This move 'Split Huashan Open' was very ordinary and was thoroughly understood by everyone who had ever studied barehanded martial art before. The five mountains sword schools had been communicating with each other for several hundred years already. So not only Songshan sword art didn't have this move, even if it existed, with Huashan School's name in its name, they probably wouldn't have used it or maybe they would've changed its form. At this time, Zuo Lengchan had intentionally changed this existing barehanded martial art into a sword move to infuriate Yue Buqun. Songshan sword art always looked grand and when he used this ordinary move 'Split Huashan Open', it still looked like it could split mountain and still unleash the power of Songshan sword art. Yue Buqun leaned to a side to dodge it while thrusting his sword slantingly using the move 'Forest of Ancient Pine'. Zuo Lengchan saw his movement was tight and cautious, like it wasn't seeking for a result but to avoid making a mistake and it was precisely the method to use when having a long fight. It was obvious Yue Buqun wasn't feeling angry from the two movements 'Opening the Gate to See the Mountain' and 'Split Huashan Open' that Zuo Lengchan used. Zuo Lengchan appraised his opponent was a strong enemy and if he kept on fighting him contemptuously, randomly using new moves, then he would've given him too much advantage. So he immediately slashed his long sword from left to right using Songshan School's real sword art 'Jade Dragon Outside of Heaven'.

    Songshan's disciples had all learned this move, but who could have used it in such a surging and grand manner? As Zuo Lengchan's long sword traversed through the air, it looked bent and straight, like it was something alive, and the disciples all cheered loudly. From the moment the heroes of the other schools arrived at Mount Songshan, they had been watching the Songshan School's people beating drums, releasing firecrackers, and applauding Zuo Lengchan no matter what he said. So everyone in the crowd felt at least some loathing in their heart. But this time, when they heard Songshan disciples cheering loudly, they felt that it was reasonable, so they also cheered. This move of 'Jade Dragon Outside of Heaven' executed by Zuo Lengchan looked as if a spirit snake or a divine dragon came to life. Regardless of whether they used sword or other weapons, the people in the crowd all sighed in praise. When the old masters of Taishan and Hengshan School saw this move, they all couldn't help rejoicing, "Lucky the one he's fighting up there is Yue Buqun, and not me!"

    Zuo Lengchan and Yue Buqun were using their own school's sword art to fight each other. Songshan's sword behaved more like a halberd; its qi was very thick akin to a thousand soldiers and ten thousands horses rushing forth, scattering yellow dust from thousands of li away. Huashan's sword was light and lively, like a pair of swallows flying amongst the willow during the spring time, going high and low, left and right, and flying around. In that moment, even though Yue Buqun didn't look like he was going to lose, the Songshan sword qi from the sword art's mostly offensive moves was slashing everywhere on top of the place of worship that Yue Buqun tried not to clash his long sword with his opponent's sword the entire time. It was evident that even though his sword art was wonderful, it was only relying on 'agility' and therefore not a match for the powerful Songshan sword art.

    It seemed the two of them were masters of the martial study, so as they competed swords, there was no fixed path or structure that they followed. Zuo Lengchan used the seventeen sword paths of the Songshan sword art all mixed together. Yue Buqun used fewer sword stances but Huashan sword art had many complicated variations and the moves also came out one after another effortlessly. After trading more than twenty moves, Zuo Lengchan suddenly lifted the long sword in his right hand while his left palm fiercely struck out. This palm enveloped thirty six fatal acupoints on his opponent's upper body, and if Yue Buqun were to dodge it, he would immediately be pierced by the sword. But Yue Buqun's face turned purple as he gathered his qi and shot his left palm out to clash palms with Zuo Lengchan. With a thunderous sound, the two palms clashed. Yue Buqun flew back, but Zuo Lengchan just stood there motionless.

    Yue Buqun called out, "Is that palm move Songshan's martial art?"

    Linghu Chong was deeply concerned when he saw the two of them had clashed palms. He knew Zuo Lengchan's Polar Ice Energy was very formidable. Even Ren Woxing with his deep and abundant internal energy was in a very dangerous situation after being hit by it, and it unexpectedly made the four of them into snowmen. Even though Yue Buqun had been cultivating his qi for a long time, it still wasn't as good as Ren Woxing. So if they were to clash palms a few more times, even if he didn't turn into a frozen corpse, it was certain that he wouldn't be able to endure it.

    Zuo Lengchan smilingly said, "This is the palm move I created. I'll pick a disciple from the Five Mountains School and impart this skill to him in the future."

    "I have to ask Brother Zuo for some pointers then," Yue Buqun replied.

    "Very good," Zuo Lengchan replied while he thought, "His Huashan School's 'Divine Art of Violet Twilight' is also very good. After he received my 'Polar Ice Energy Palm', he could speak without quivering."

    Zuo Lengchan immediately wielded his long sword and thrust it towards Yue Buqun. Yue Buqun counterattacked with his sword. After many moves, a crashing sound was heard as they again clashed palms. Yue Buqun's long sword circled and slashed out at Zuo Lengchan's waist. Zuo Lengchan blocked it with a vertical sword move, moved his qi into his left palm and struck out at the back of Yue Buqun's body. This downwards palm strike had a powerful force and was wonderfully positioned. Yue Buqun turned his left palm around and with a light clapping sound, they clashed palms for the third time. Yue Buqun lowered his body to fly out. But Zuo Lengchan felt an aching pain in the middle of his left palm. He lifted his palm to have a look and saw there was a small hole there with black blood seeping out. Half startled and half angry, he scolded, "Crafty thief, shameless!"

    He was thinking Yue Buqun must have concealed a poisonous needle in his palm and this had pierced the middle of his palm when they suddenly clashed. The blood seeping out of his palm had already turned black from poison. He never thought this person with the nickname 'Gentleman Sword' would actually have such a contemptible conduct. He inhaled a breath of air, and tapped three acupoints on his left shoulder with his right finger to stop the poison from going up. He thought, "Such a trivial poison needle, how can it stop me? But I must fight him quickly and mustn't let him drag it along." He promptly attacked with his sword like a blast of rain. Yue Buqun wielded his sword to counter attack, his sword moves had also changed into very violent moves. At this time, the evening had just set in, and the fight between these two people on the place of worship couldn't be seen that clearly anymore. But it was still easy to see by everyone gathered around the place of worship that the fight had turned deadly. Great Master Fangzheng said, "Mercy, mercy! Why did you suddenly turn so violent?"

    After more than ten moves, Zuo Lengchan felt the poison on his palm spreading up while his opponent's defence remained very tight so he kept on increasing the force of his sword. Yue Buqun was finding it hard to keep up and seemed like he was unable to keep blocking anymore. Suddenly, Yue Buqun changed his swordplay. Now, his sword was suddenly extending and withdrawing, and the stances looked really strange and weird. The crowd below the place of worship was surprised and one by one whispered to each other, "What sword art is this?" The people being asked were asking back, and every one was just shaking their heads without being able to summon up an answer.

    Linghu Chong had been leaning on Yingying. When he suddenly saw his master's swordplay becoming both fast and weird, and very different from the sword art of Huashan School, he was surprised. Then he glanced around and saw that Zuo Lengchan's swordplay had also changed. Now, Zuo Lengchan was using sword moves which were unexpectedly very similar to the ones his master were using. The two of them were attacking and defending very quickly, and the swordplay coordination between the two of them was seamless, as if they were martial brothers who had been practising this set of sword arts together for dozens of years already. In the next twenty moves, Zuo Lengchan kept on advancing with each of his move while Yue Buqun continuously retreated.

    Linghu Chong was very good at looking at flaws in other people's martial art. So he was getting really anxious when he saw the flaws in his master's swordplay getting bigger and bigger while the situation was getting more and more dangerous. Seeing that Zuo Lengchan's win was guaranteed, Songshan School's disciples cried out in joy. Zuo Lengchan's attacks were swift and continuous.

    When he saw his opponent's swordplay was disorderly and that within ten moves he would be able to disarm him, he became happy and he hurriedly increase the strength of his attack. Sure enough, as his sword slash was blocked by Yue Buqun, he felt the strength in Yue Buqun's arm was quite weak. Zuo Lengchan twirled his sword quickly and Yue Buqun was unable to hold on to his sword as it was sent shooting up into the sky. Songshan School's disciples cheered thunderously.

    Suddenly, Yue Buqun rushed forward with his bare hands. Both of his hands attacked ruthlessly with seizing, stabbing, and slapping strikes. His body was floating like a ghost, shifting here and there. He shifted to the west, while his hand unthinkably attacked quickly and strangely. Zuo Lengchan was astonished and called out, "This... This... This..." and exerted himself to block.

    Yue Buqun's long sword had dropped straight onto the place of worship penetrating the ground, but no one paid any attention to it.

    "Dongfang Bubai!" Yingying whispered.

    Linghu Chong was also thinking of the same thing. The move his master used at that moment was the same martial art that Dongfang Bubai had used with the embroidering needle when fighting against the four of them. He was so astonished that he forgot about his injury and stood up. From besides him, a small hand extended itself to hold him underneath the armpit, but he was completely oblivious to it. A pair of startled tender eyes were looking at him but he didn't notice that either. At that time, from among the thousands of people on the Songshan Mountaintop, there was only this pair of eyes that wasn't looking at the fight between Zuo Lengchan and Yue Buqun. From the beginning of the fight, Yilin had never taken her eyes off Linghu Chong.

    Zuo Lengchan cried out ferociously, and Yue Buqun flew out to stand on the southwest corner of the place of the worship. Yue Buqun was only about a foot away from the edge and his body was faltering looking like he was about to fall off the place of worship. The long sword in Zuo Lengchan's right hand was still dancing and it was getting faster and faster. The moves he used were Songshan sword arts. Every single move was protecting the fatal acupoints on his whole body. His sword art was wonderful and its power ferocious and each slash of the sword reverberated with the sound of wind generated by it. A lot of people were exclaiming loudly in praise. After a time, they realized that Zuo Lengchan was just brandishing his sword around his own body and never advanced to attack Yue Buqun. Something wasn't right.

    His swordplay was only defending and there wasn't even half a move attacking Yue Buqun. With this kind of swordplay, it looked like he was just practising his swordplay. How could he cope with an attack from a strong opponent? Suddenly, Zuo Lengchan's sword pierced forward and stopped in mid air. He leaned his head slightly to one side, looking like he was trying to listen to some strange noise. The crowd saw a thin line of blood flowing from both of his eyes down to his cheeks and were dripping from his chin. From the crowd, someone exclaimed, "He's blind!"

    This voice wasn't very loud, but Zuo Lengchan angrily shouted, "I'm not blind, I'm not blind! Which dog said I'm blind? Yue Buqun, Yue Buqun, you traitor! If you got guts, then come fight with your grandpa for three hundred more stances." His voice was getting louder and louder, and his voice was full of anger, pain, and hopelessness. He was just like a beast that had been mortally wounded roaring loudly in its death throes.

    Yue Buqun was smiling as he stood at the corner of the place of worship.

    When everyone had seen clearly that both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes had been blinded by Yue Buqun, they were all in utter disbelief. Only Linghu Chong and Yingying were not surprised by this. After Yue Buqun had lost his long sword, the technique he used afterwards was very similar to the one Dongfang Bubai used. That day on Dark Wood Cliff, Ren Woxing, Linghu Chong, Xiang Wentian, and Shangguan Yun cooperated together to fight Dongfang Bubai but they were still not his match. Only after Yingying turned around to attack Yang Lianting that they were luckily spared. Even then, at the end, Ren Woxing was still blinded in one eye. At that time, there was only a thin line difference between life and death for all of them. When Yue Buqun's body started to float rapidly, even though he wasn't as good as Dongfang Bubai, it became certain that Zuo Lengchan would still lose when fighting him one on one. As expected, not long after, both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes were blinded by a needle.

    Linghu Chong wasn't happy at all to see his master won. Instead, he suddenly felt indescribable fear in his heart. Yue Buqun's temper had always been peaceful and calm, and he had also treated Linghu Chong amiably. Linghu Chong had always regarded his master with affection and awe. Later on, when his master expelled him from the school, he knew it was because of his own faults. He felt it was a deserved punishment in reality because he liked to handle things eccentrically, unreasonably and do as he pleased. He was only hoping that Master and Master-Wife would be able to forgive him, and he had no anger towards them at all. But when he saw Master standing at the edge of the place of worship with his sleeves floating in the wind and his manner elegant and scholarly, without knowing why, an intense feeling of hatred rose up in his heart. Perhaps it was because the martial art Yue Buqun used had made him thought of Dongfang Bubai's grotesqueness, or perhaps he felt Master had won in an extremely dishonourable and unscrupulous manner. He was at a loss for some time when his wound suddenly became painful and he sat down dejectedly.

    Yingying and Yilin extended their hands at the same time to support him while asking, "What's wrong?"

    Linghu Chong shook his head and forced a smile. "Noth... Nothing."

    They again heard Zuo Lengchan cried out, "Yue Buqun, you traitor! If you got guts, come out and fight to the death. Running here and there, what a disgraceful bastard! You... come, come and fight!"

    Tang Yinge from Songshan School said, "Go up there and help master come down."

    "Yes!" Two disciples, Shi Dengda and Di Xiuying, answered. They flew up the place of worship and said, "Master, let's go down!"

    "Yue Buqun, you're afraid to come?" Zuo Lengchan shouted.

    Shi Dengda extended his hand to help. "Mas..."

    Suddenly, a light reflected. Zuo Lengchan slashed his long sword from Shi Dengda's left shoulder to his right waist, and followed by slashing at Di Xiuying's chest. These two attacks were very formidable, and the end was unthinkable. In a flash, the two Songshan School disciples had been chopped into four pieces. The crowd below gasped in fright, stunned.

    Yue Buqun slowly walked towards the middle of the place of worship and said, "Brother Zuo, you're already handicapped so I won't fight you anymore. Are you still thinking of fighting me for the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School?"

    Zuo Lengchan slowly lifted his long sword and pointed the sword at Yue Buqun's chest. Yue Buqun had no weapon in his hand. His long sword which had fallen from mid-air was still penetrated on the floor of the place of worship and was now lightly swaying in the wind. Yue Buqun inserted both of his hands into his sleeves, while both of his eyes stared unblinkingly at the sword point just three feet away from his chest. The blood on the sword point was dripping onto the ground with a light 'tap, tap, tap' sound. The sleeve on Zuo Lengchan's right hand started to puff up like a sail gathering up wind. The sleeve on his left hand drooped down and looked ordinary which indicated that he had concentrated his whole energy into his right arm. The stirring of his internal energy made his sleeve billowed. This was not a small thing at all. It signalled that this attack would be as powerful as a thunderbolt when released.

    Suddenly, a white blur was seen as Yue Buqun slid back more than ten feet and in a blink had come back to where he was standing. This retreat and return was done with such speed that it took only an instant. He just stood there for a moment before sliding to the left and back for more than ten feet, and just like before swiftly returned to his original place to face Zuo Lengchan's sword. Everyone had all seen it clearly. No matter how fierce or formidable Zuo Lengchan's attack would be, he still wouldn't be able to hit Yue Buqun.

    Zuo Lengchan was confusedly thinking of many things. If his Qiankun Toss didn't pierce Yue Buqun's chest and Yue Buqun managed to avoid it, then with his two blind eyes, he would be prey to Yue Buqun without being able to fight back. He then thought of all the efforts he had put in into the planning of the merger of the five schools. He never expected that everything would have come to nothing. He had failed when success was just within his reach. Instead he had fallen into a plot. Suddenly, his heart turned sour and he felt warm blood rushing up. With a cry, fresh blood sprayed out from his mouth. Yue Buqun leaned slightly to one side and evaded the blood. His face was showing a smiling expression. Zuo Lengchan shook out his right hand, and the long sword broke in the middle. He immediately followed it by throwing it onto the ground. He looked up and laughed loudly, the sound of his laughter reverberating far throughout the valley. While still laughing, he turned his body around and strode purposefully off the place of worship. When he reached the edge of the place of worship, his left feet stepped in mid-air, but he was ready for this as his right leg kicked out and he flew down the place of worship.

    A few disciples of Songshan School rushed forward and called out, "Master, we'll go together and chop up everyone from Huashan School."

    Zuo Lengchan said in a clear voice, "Gentleman's words must be believed! It's already said it's a sword fight to take the leadership, and it will only depend on martial art to gain victory. Mr. Yue's martial art has gained him victory from me so everyone must now accept him as headmaster. How can you have thoughts of dissent?" When his eyes were first blinded, he was startled and angry, and couldn't help hurling abuses. But after he calmed down a bit, he regained the aura of a master and was very firm, resembling a grand hero. The entire crowd really admired him for this. Otherwise, with countless number of Songshan School's disciples here and their many helpers, along with the advantage they held here, if they actually fought with Huashan School's people, no matter how high Yue Buqun's martial art was, it would still be very hard to match the strength of Songshan School. Among the people who had come to Mount Songshan to mingle with the five mountains sword schools, many of them were there to curry favour with people higher than them. So when they heard what Zuo Lengchan said, they immediately cheered, "Let Mr. Yue be the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Let Mr. Yue be the Five Mountains School's headmaster!" The disciples of Huashan School exclaimed even louder. Actually, this outcome was really outside their expectations, and the disciples of Huashan School could hardly believe that this had happened.

    Yue Buqun walked to the edge of the place of worship and folded his hands in salute. "When Brother Zuo and I were comparing our skills, we originally weren't going to hurt each other. But Martial Brother Zuo's martial art was just too high and he shook out the long sword out of my hand. So in desperation, I was just trying to protect myself and lost my discretion and resulted in harming Martial Brother Zuo's eyes. My heart feels very uneasy about this. Let's look for a good doctor to treat Martial Brother Zuo."

    Someone below said, "The blade has no eyes. How can it prevent injuries?"

    Another person said, "You didn't keep going and kill him. That's very righteous."

    "I don't deserve it!" Yue Buqun humbly replied. He was still cupping his hand in salute without talking, and he also didn't have any intention of going down the place of worship.

    Someone below shouted, "Whoever wants to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster, go up and fight."

    Another person said, "Anyone with too bright of eyes, go up and ask Mr. Yue to dig it out. That will be alright."

    Hundreds of people called out in unison, "Mr. Yue be the Five Mountains School's headmaster, Mr. Yue be the Five Mountains School's headmaster!"

    Yue Buqun waited for the clamour to calm down slightly before saying in a clear voice, "Since it's everyone's wish, I don't dare to decline. Today is the inauguration of the Five Mountains School so there's no set rules yet. I'll just follow the existing hierarchy. The matters in Hengshan, I'd like to ask Mr. Mo Da to preside over them. The affairs in Heng-Shan will still be managed by Brother Linghu Chong. The matters of Taishan, I'd like to ask Priest Yuqing and Priest Yuyin to get together with one of the foundation disciple of Martial Brother Tianmen to preside over the school. For the affairs of Songshan School, Martial Brother Zuo's eyes are an inconvenience, but it must be considered..." Yue Buqun paused for a while as his eyes ranged over the cluster of Songshan School's people. Then he slowly said, "In my opinion, I'd like to ask Martial Brother Tang Yinge and Martial Brother Lu Bai to preside over the daily matters of Songshan together with Martial Brother Zuo for the time being.”

    This was really beyond Lu Bai’s expectation, and he stammered, “This... This...” The people of Songshan School along with the people from the other schools were surprised to hear this.

    Tang Yinge had been Zuo Lengchan's second-in-command for a long time so it was expected. But Lu Bai had just made things difficult for Yue Buqun by coldly ridiculing and hotly satirising him. He never expected Yue Buqun to forget all he did and appoint him to be one of the people to preside over Songshan School’s affairs. The disciples of Songshan School were originally furious over the blinding of Zuo Lengchan’s eyes, and many of them wished for an opportunity to arise to repay him in kind. But hearing Yue Buqun sending Tang Yinge, Lu Bai, and Zuo Lengchan to preside over Songshan’s matters just as it were in its original state, they felt that Yue Buqun was not imposing his will on them by force and their anger somewhat cooled.

    Yue Buqun said, “Today, our five mountains sword schools have merged. If we don’t get along well, then this merger of the five schools will just be in words and will only be an empty name. From today onwards, everyone is in the same school and must get along well with each other. I have no virtue and no ability, and only temporarily hold the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School. So I must discuss with all the brothers here on all sorts of things. I don’t dare to do it on my own. It’s already night now and everyone is exhausted. Let us all go to Songshan’s courtyard to rest, drink wine, and have some meals!” The crowd cheered and one by one went down from the mountaintop.

    As Yue Buqun descended from the place of worship, Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, and the other masters came over to congratulate him. Fangzheng and Chongxu were originally worried that once Zuo Lengchan had merged the five schools, his wild ambition would continue and he would want to annex Shaolin and Wudang, and brought disaster upon Wulin. Everyone knew Yue Buqun was a modest gentleman, so they were relieved that he was wielding the power of the merged schools and their congratulations to him were sincere.

    Great Master Fangzheng whispered, “Mr. Yue, at this moment, the intentions of the disciples of Songshan School are unpredictable and they’re not favourable towards Shizhu. As the saying goes, we must not harbour ill intention towards other people, but we must guard ourselves. Shizu must be careful while you’re on Mount Songshan.”

    “Yes, thank you for Great Master Abbot’s advice,” Yue Buqun replied.

    “Mount Shaoshi is just a doorstep away from here, and it’s very easy to answer to your call,” Fangzheng said.

    Yue Buqun saluted deeply by cupping his hands and said, “I’ll remember Great Master’s kind intention with gratitude.” Then he spoke a few words with Priest Chongxu and Beggar Clan’s leader Xie, before quickly going over to Linghu Chong and asking, “Chong’er, is your wound alright?”

    Since the moment he expelled Linghu Chong from Huashan, this was the first time he had called him ‘Chong’er’ in such a pleased and warm manner. But Linghu Chong’s heart was cold and he tremblingly said, “It’s... It’s not serious.”

    “Why don’t you come back to Huashan with me to take care of your injury and get together with your Master-Wife again?” Yue Buqun asked. If Yue Buqun had asked this a few hours earlier, Linghu Chong would’ve been madly happy and would have agreed immediately. But now, he hesitated and was rather quite afraid to go up Huashan.

    “So?” Yue Buqun asked.

    “Heng-Shan School has good medicine, once disciple... disciple’s injury is better, I’ll come and visit Master and Master-Wife,” Linghu Chong answered.

    Yue Buqun turned his head slightly and gazed at his face, looking like he wanted to discover his real intention. After some time, he said, “That’s also good! Set your mind at ease and take care of your injury. I hope you can visit Huashan soon.”

    “Yes!” Linghu Chong responded as he struggled to stand up to give his propriety.

    Yue Buqun extended his hand to hold Linghu Chong’s right hand and warmly said, “There’s no need!” Linghu Chong contracted his body away from Yue Buqun's hand while his face couldn’t help showing his fear. Yue Buqun snorted and scowled angrily, but then immediately smiled and sighed, “Your little martial sister is still like before. She still doesn’t know how soft or hard to be when she attacks. Luckily you didn’t get stabbed on your fatal acupoint!” He then nodded towards Yihe and Yiqing, who were the two most senior disciples, and slowly turned around. He walked towards a group of hundreds of people waiting for him. As he neared, those people surrounded him and praised his high martial art, his righteousness, and his appropriate handling of the matters. Crowding around him and flattering him continuously, they all went down from the mountaintop.

    Linghu Chong kept an eye on the back of his master’s body until he disappeared from his view. The people from each school had also gone down from the mountaintop. Suddenly, he heard a female voice at his back uttered, “Hypocrite!” Linghu Chong faltered as his wound pained sharply and this word ‘Hypocrite’ was like a big hammer pounding on his chest. All of a sudden, he felt he couldn’t draw his breath anymore.

    End of Chapter 34

  16. #16
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    Default Chapter 35 Vengeance

    Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung

    The sky gradually got darker, and finally there was no one else around the place of worship besides the Heng-Shan School people. "Martial Brother Headmaster, are we also going down?" Yihe questioned. She was still calling Linghu Chong as 'Martial Brother Headmaster', which meant that she did not acknowledge the merging of the five schools nor accept Yue Buqun to be their headmaster.

    "We'll stay here for the night, is that alright?" Linghu Chong felt the further away he was from Yue Buqun, the better it was. Also, he did not wish to see Yue Buqun's face again at the Songshan's courtyard.

    When he said this, the female disciples of the Heng-Shan School cheered happily. They all actually felt the same thing, and no one wished to go down. Back in Fuzhou, they had asked Huashan School to help their martial elders who were in trouble. But in spite of the motto 'Five mountains sword schools, same root different branches', Yue Buqun flatly refused to help them. Heng-Shan School's disciples had always kept this matter in their hearts. At the moment, everyone was still feeling angry that Linghu Chong had gotten injured by Yue Lingshan. So from the combination of all these together, they all refused to accept the fact that Yue Buqun had snatched the leadership of the Five Mountains School. Thus, staying by the place of the worship for the night was agreeable to them.

    "Martial Brother Headmaster can't move too much, so staying here is best,” Yiqing said agreeing with Linghu Chong. “But, this big brother..." As she said this, she glanced toward Yingying.

    "This isn't a big brother,” Linghu Chong laughed. “She's young lady Ren."

    Yingying had been supporting Linghu Chong all this time, but when she heard him divulging her identity, she became bashful and quickly stood up to flee for a few steps. Linghu Chong wasn't guarding against this so his body tipped backwards. Yilin, who was standing besides him, quickly extended her hand to hold his left shoulder and called out, "Careful!"

    Yihe, Yiqing, and the others all knew Yingying and Linghu Chong had a deep love for each other. One of them was willing to risk her life at Shaolin temple because of love, while the other led a group of Jianghu heroes to attack Shaolin temple because of her. When Linghu Chong became the headmaster of the Heng-Shan School, this young lady Ren came personally to congratulate him and she also defeated the scheming of the Devil Sect. It could be said she had done a big favour for Heng-Shan School. When they heard this big bearded man in front of them was young lady Ren, mixed feelings of happiness and surprise rose up. The disciples of Heng-Shan School had long regarded this young lady Ren to be their future Headmaster-Wife, so when they saw her, they felt very intimate towards her.

    After Yihe and some of the other disciples took care of provisions such as clear water and meals, they lay down besides the place of worship. Because of his serious injury, Linghu Chong also felt sleepy and exhausted, so he fell into a deep sleep in a short time.

    In the middle of the night, from somewhere far away, they suddenly heard a female voice shouting, "Who's there?"

    Even though Linghu Chong was heavily injured, his internal energy was still abundant. When he heard this, he promptly woke up and knew it was a Heng-Shan School disciple guarding the perimeter asking someone who was coming up the peak. He heard someone answered, "I'm a disciple from the same Five Mountains School. I'm Headmaster Yue's disciple, Lin Pingzhi."

    "Why did you come here in the middle of the night?" the Heng-Shan School disciple who was on night watch duty inquired.

    "I have an appointment underneath the place of worship,” Lin Pingzhi answered. “I didn't know martial sisters are resting here. Sorry for the offence." His speech was very polite.

    "Little kid surnamed Lin, you're trying to win by number concealing your Five Mountains School's friends here,” an elder's voice came from the west. “Are you trying to give me trouble?"

    Linghu Chong recognised the voice to be Qingcheng School's headmaster, Yu Canghai. He was startled and thought, "Martial brother Lin has an enmity with Yu Canghai for killing his parents. This appointment must be for repaying his blood debt."

    "I didn't know the martial sisters from Heng-Shan are resting here,” Lin Pingzhi replied. “Let's find someplace else to settle our business so we don't bother their dreams."

    "So we don't bother their dreams? Hey, hey, you've already disturbed them, but you're trying to be the nice guy now. Like father-in-law, like son-in-law. What do you have to say? Quickly say it now so we can all go back to sleep peacefully," Yu Canghai laughed loudly.

    "I don't think that you'll be able to sleep peacefully ever again,” Lin Pingzhi coldly said. “When your Qingcheng School came to Mount Songshan, you brought thirty four people with you. I made an appointment with you only, how come three came?"

    Yu Canghai looked up and laughed loudly. "Who do you think you are? Do you think you're worthy to talk to me like that? Your father-in-law is the new headmaster of the Five Mountains School, so I came here to listen to what you have to say just to give him face. What do you want to fart about? Let's hear it. If you want to fight then draw your sword and let me see your Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art. Let’s see how much you've improved."

    Linghu Chong slowly sat up. Under the pale moonlight, he saw Lin Pingzhi and Yu Canghai facing each other at around thirty feet apart. Linghu Chong thought, "That day when I was injured in Hengshan, this shorty Yu wanted to kill me. Luckily Martial Brother Lin showed himself and interfered, and saved my life. If that shorty Yu had hit me on that day, how can Linghu Chong be alive today? Martial Brother Lin's martial art has advanced greatly since he joined the Huashan School but he still won't be at the level of this shorty Yu. He made the appointment here with shorty Yu; Master and Master-Wife must surely be behind him to help. But if Master and Master-Wife didn't come then I can't just stand by and do nothing."

    Yu Canghai laughed derisively. "If you got guts then come by yourself to Mount Qingcheng to get your revenge, instead of making a surreptitious appointment here with me while concealing a group of nuns here to ambush me. What a joke, what a joke!"

    When Yihe heard this, she couldn't hold back her anger and shouted, "Whatever love or hatred this kid surnamed Lin has toward you, what's that got to do with our Heng-Shan School? You shorty priest, you talk nonsense! You can fight till you die, we're just here to watch. I know you're afraid, but don't drag Heng-Shan School into it." She was very resentful towards Yue Lingshan. When you like someone, you like everything associated with that person. When you don't like someone, you don't like anything associated with that person. So by this reasoning, Yihe also detested Yue Lingshan's husband.

    Yu Canghai and Zuo Lengchan had always been friends. Zuo Lengchan had personally written two letters to invite him to the monastery to strengthen the situation today. So when Yu Canghai came to Mount Songshan at this time, he expected Zuo Lengchan to become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. That was why even though the Huashan School's people had an enmity with him, he didn't care about it in the least. But who could've thought this headmaster position of the Five Mountains School was unexpectedly snatched by Yue Buqun? Because of this unexpected event, the Qingcheng School didn't feel like staying on Mount Songshan and was going to go down the mountain that very night. As the Qingcheng School's party was going down from the Songshan mountaintop, Lin Pingzhi walked up besides him and whispered about the appointment. He wanted Yu Canghai to meet him tonight beneath the place of worship. Even though Lin Pingzhi spoke quietly, he was very rude in his expression and in his choice of words which made it hard for Yu Canghai to decline. At that time, Yu Canghai pondered, "Your Huashan School has just come into power as head of the Five Mountains School and yet you've become arrogant already. But you're still green and the Five Mountains School might still split up, so I'm not afraid of you at all. But I must protect against your helpers attacking in numbers."

    With that thought in his mind, Yu Canghai deliberately came to the meeting a bit late to see if Lin Pingzhi had brought a large number of helpers with him. When he saw Lin Pingzhi had turned up to the peak all by himself, he was delighted. He then brought two of the Qingcheng School's people to the peak with him, while the rest was dispersed around the waist of the mountain to alert him if anyone was coming up to the peak. But, when he reached the peak, he saw there were many people sleeping underneath the place of worship. Yu Canghai inwardly felt miserable and thought, "A thirty years old mother has been defeated by a little baby. I only checked if he brought helpers with him up to the peak. I never thought his helpers would already be waiting on top of the peak. I've walked into their ambush. Now I have to think of a way to get out of it."

    He knew Heng-Shan School's martial art wasn't below Qingcheng School's. Even though three of their senior Shi Tai had passed away and Linghu Chong had also been seriously injured and the current stature of Heng-Shan School was on the wane as they were left with no master-hands, there were still a lot of them. If the hundreds of nuns form their sword formations to attack, the situation would be extremely dangerous. When he heard what Yihe said, he felt relieved even though she was being very rude to him and insulted him by calling him 'shorty'. Her words made it clear that Heng-Shan School wouldn't help Lin Pingzhi.

    "It's very good you are not helping each other,” Yu Canghai said. “There's no harm for everyone to open your eyes widely and watch my Qingcheng School's swordplay, and see how it compares to Huashan School's swordplay." He paused for a tick before continuing, "Everyone, Yue Buqun was lucky to defeat Martial Brother Zuo because I don’t think his swordplay is very good. Every family and every school in Wulin has its own unique skill. Huashan sword art isn't necessarily able enough to rule the world. From what I see, Heng-Shan sword art is much better compared to Huashan's." Heng-Shan School's disciples did not know whether his words had a double meaning or not. But Yihe didn't care about it as she said, "Hey, you two, if you want to fight then fight. Quit yapping your mouth here in the middle of the night disturbing people's sleep. How inconsiderate!"

    Yu Canghai was fuming but he thought, "I have to deal with this kid Lin today, so I can't settle my debt with you stinking nuns right now. But from today onwards, whenever I cross paths with your Heng-Shan School, I'll make sure to give you a lot of trouble." He was a petty person and was used to being arrogant. If the people of the generation below him didn't show much respect and didn’t speak flatteringly when meeting him, he would become unhappy. If Yihe had said those words at any other time, he would've blown his top.

    Lin Pingzhi walked up a couple of steps. "Yu Canghai, you've long coveted my family's sword art and killed my parents for it. Even the dozens of people from my Fortune Prestige Escort agency were all killed by your Qingcheng School. Your blood with compensate this blood debt tonight."

    "My own son was killed by you, Pig!” Yu Canghai shouted in anger. “Even if you hadn't come looking for me, I would've cut you into thousands of pieces and peeled your flesh off, Dog! Were you trying to hide by becoming a disciple of Huashan and getting Yue Buqun as your backer?" With a ringing sound, he drew his long sword out of its scabbard. It was the fifteenth of the month that day so there was a bright moon in the sky. Even though his body was short, the sword was long. The moonlight reflected off the steel like rippling water. The sword in front of his body was trembling. The situation was far from ordinary.

    Heng-Shan disciples all thought, "This shorty's reputation isn't a small matter." Lin Pingzhi still hadn't drawn his sword as he walked up another two steps. He was now only around ten feet apart from Yu Canghai. His head was slightly turned while his eyes were full of fire observing Yu Canghai.

    When Ling Pingzhi did not draw his sword, Yu Canghai thought, "You, little kid, are very reckless. If I use the 'Flood Dragon Soaring from the Deep Blue Pool' now, you'd have a new mouth two and a half feet long from your lower abdomen to your throat. But you're a junior to me so I can't move first." Then he shouted, "Still not drawing your sword?" He was waiting for Lin Pingzhi to press his hand on his sword handle and start drawing his sword out. At the moment before Ling Pingzhi's sword was completely out of the scabbard, he would use the move 'Flood Dragon Soaring from the Deep Blue Pool' to cut his stomach. Heng-Shan disciples would then only be able to say his hand was fast but not that it was a sneak attack. Linghu Chong saw the long sword trembling in Yu Canghai's hand and he called out, "Martial brother Lin, be careful, he's going to stab at your stomach."

    Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly and suddenly rushed forward. His move was extremely fast, as in an instant, there was only a distance of less than one foot between him and Yu Canghai. Their noses were practically touching. This rushing move was so strange that no one could have imagined it, and it was so fast that it was very hard to describe. With this single rush, the long sword on Yu Canghai's right hand was now behind his opponent's body and there was no way for him to bend his long sword to stab the back of Lin Pingzhi's body. Lin Pingzhi's left hand was also holding Yu Canghai's right shoulder while his right hand was pressing against Yu Canghai's chest. Yu Canghai felt tingling pain on the ‘Shoulder Well’ acupoint on his shoulder and felt his right arm became weak and the long sword dropped from his hand. Everyone saw how Lin Pingzhi subdued his opponent in just one move and how his hand movements were strange. His movements looked exactly like the moves Yue Buqun used to defeat Zuo Lengchan, even the movement path he had taken was exactly the same. Linghu Chong turned his head around to look at Yingying. They stared at each other and cried out quietly at the same time, "Dongfang Bubai!"

    Linghu Chong and Yingying were staring at each other and they both saw fear and dismay in each other's eyes. It was obvious Lin Pingzhi's move was the same as the martial art that Dongfang Bubai used on that day at Dark Wood Cliff. Lin Pingzhi didn't force out the gathered energy in his right hand as he saw the dread on Yu Canghai's face lighted under the moonlight. It couldn't be said that Lin Pingzhi was feeling happy as he felt that death would have come too easily for Yu Canghai if he was killed in just one move.

    In that moment, from somewhere far, they heard Yue Lingshan shouting, "Brother Ping, Brother Ping! Father told you not to bother him for now." She was running up the peak as she shouted. When she saw Lin Pingzhi and Yu Canghai standing face to face, she was stupefied. She rushed forward a few steps and saw Lin Pingzhi was holding Yu Canghai's fatal acupoint on one hand while his other hand was on Yu Canghai's chest. She let out a sigh of relieve. "Father said Priest Yu is our guest today and we shouldn't make any trouble for him."

    Lin Pingzhi snorted and added more internal energy into pressing Yu Canghai's 'Shoulder Well' acupoint. Yu Canghai's major acupoint became even more painful, but when he examined it closer, he found his opponent's internal energy was ordinary and there was nothing special about it. It was only painful because it was pressing on his major acupoint. Otherwise according to the theory of internal energy cultivation, Lin Pingzhi was still far below him. In that realisation, he felt sadness and anger mixed together in his heart. Clearly, his opponent's martial art was sloppy and ordinary. Even if Lin Pingzhi studied for ten more years, he still wouldn't be his match. But Lin Pingzhi had now taken advantage of his negligence and his reputation would now be gone forever. Furthermore, Lin Pingzhi wanted to avenge his parents so most likely he wouldn't listen to his master's order and thus take his life right now.

    "Father told you to spare his life today,” Yue Lingshan pleaded. “Are you afraid he's going to run off to the edge of the world?"

    Lin Pingzhi lifted his left palm and slapped Yu Canghai twice. Yu Canghai was furious, but his enemy's right hand was still pressed against his chest. This youngster's internal energy was not good but when he exerted his energy, it still shook Yu Canghai's heart meridian. If this right palm were to kill him, it would have been the best thing for him. But the thing he feared most was Lin Pingzhi using a fourth or fifth class internal energy which would make him dead but not dead, alive but not alive, and make him very miserable. He weighed the importance of the matter in a flash and didn't dare to move at all. After Lin Pingzhi had slapped him twice, he laughed long and hard before jumping back around thirty feet away. Lin Pingzhi turned his head slightly to regard Yu Canghai. Yu Canghai wanted to pick his sword up but he considered himself to be a senior and he was already subdued in just one move. If he foolhardily rushed forward to fight under the eyes of so many people, that could be said like a beggar fighting. Compared to losing the fight, he would be even more ashamed. So even if he took a step across to continue fighting, he wouldn't have taken the second step. Lin Pingzhi sneered and walked away. He unexpectedly didn't pay any attention even to his wife.

    Yue Lingshan stamped her feet, and took a glance toward Linghu Chong who was sitting underneath the place of worship. She immediately walked towards him and said, "Big martial brother, your... your wound is alright?"

    As soon as Linghu Chong heard her voice in the beginning, his heart was already racing. At this time he got even more excited, he stammered out, "I... I... I..."

    "Don't worry, he won't die!" Yihe coldly said to Yue Lingshan.

    Yue Lingshan heard her but didn't listen to her. Her eyes gazed at Linghu Chong, and she quietly said, "When I lost my sword, I... I didn't mean to injure you."

    "Yes,” Linghu Chong replied. “Of course I know, of course I know... I... I... of course I know." He had always been open-minded and carefree, but in front of his little martial sister, he became very muddle headed. He said the word 'of course I know' for three times, not knowing what he was driving at.

    "Your injury is very heavy, I'm extremely sorry, but I hope you won't blame me," Yue Lingshan apologetically said.

    'No, I won't, of course I won't blame you."

    Yue Lingshan silently sighed and lowered her head. She quietly said, "I'm going!"

    "You... you want to go?" Linghu Chong's disappointment was evident in his speech and expression.

    Yue Lingshan slowly walked away with her head down. Just before she went down the mountaintop, she stopped and turned around. "Big martial brother, about the two martial sisters of Heng-Shan School who came to Huashan, father said we’re being impolite and we're very sorry. When we return to Huashan, we'll make up for our offence and accompany them down the mountain."

    "Yes, very good, very... very good!" Linghu Chong watched her as she went down the mountaintop until she disappeared behind a pine tree. He suddenly thought of the time on the Cliff of Contemplation when she delivered wine and meals to him every day. But when she left, he had always been reluctant to part and only managed to utter a few words, until finally she shifted her feelings toward Lin Pingzhi and her feelings toward him changed. When he pondered of the things that happened in the past, he was only making things difficult for himself. Suddenly he heard Yihe coldly laughed and said, "What's so good about that girl? Her heart's undecided, and she doesn't treat people with the least bit of sincerity at all. Compared to our young lady Ren, she's not even fit to carry her shoes."

    Linghu Chong was surprised and not until now did he think of Yingying who was besides him. He treated little martial sister in such an absentminded manner, of course Yingying had seen it all. His face couldn't help becoming hot. But he saw Yingying leaning on the corner of the place of worship looking like she had dozed off. He thought, "It's good that she's fallen asleep." But Yingying was so alert, how could she have fallen asleep at that time? Linghu Chong knew he was lying to himself. He tried to find a few words to say to her, but he didn't know what to say. But to repay Yingying, he immediately thought of something. At this time, there were no words that could be said, and the best thing to do was not to say anything. However, the best way would be to lead her thought away from what just happened. So he lied down slowly and suddenly groaned lightly like he had hit his wound and it was feeling painful. Of course Yingying would be worried so she came over and quietly asked, "Does it hurt?"

    "It's alright," Linghu Chong answered and extended his hand to hold Yingying's hand. Yingying wanted to snatch her hand back but Linghu Chong was gripping it pretty tightly. She was afraid if she used too much force then it'll hurt his wound so she just let him hold her hand. Linghu Chong had lost a lot of blood and was feeling very sleepy, so he slept deeply not long after that.

    When dawn broke, the whole mountain was basked in crimson sunlight. Everyone was afraid to startle him into wakefulness so no one dared to say anything. Linghu Chong felt his hand was empty. He didn't know how long it was before Yingying pulled her hand back. But both of her eyes were staring at his face looking very concerned. Linghu Chong smiled at her and sat up. "Let's go back to Heng-Shan!"

    At this time, Tian Boguang had already chopped a tree down and made a stretcher out of it. So Monk No Commandment and he carried Linghu Chong to go down the mountain peak. When their party passed by the Songshan's courtyard, they saw Yue Buqun was waiting for them at the entrance with his face smiling, wanting to see them off. Madam Yue and Yue Lingshan weren't besides him.

    "Master, disciple can't kowtow to bid you goodbye," Linghu Chong said.

    "No need, no need,” Yue Buqun smiled. “We’ll talk when your injury is better. I have no one to help me in my position as the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Later on, I have to rely upon you in helping me with a lot of things." Linghu Chong forced out a smile.

    Monk No Commandment and Tian Boguang carried him and walked quickly like they were flying, and they walked very far in just a short time. On the mountain road, they passed by the groups that had come to the meeting at Mount Songshan. When they reached the foot of the mountain, they hired mule-drawn carriages and let Linghu Chong and Yingying rode in them.

    When night fell, they came upon a small town and saw a teahouse shed with lots of people sitting inside. They were all from Qingcheng School and Yu Canghai was also among them. When he saw the disciples of Heng-Shan arriving, his face changed colour and he turned his back towards them. The small town had no other teahouse so the Heng-Shan's people sat down on a rock step on the opposite eaves to rest. Zheng E and Qin Juan went inside the teahouse to get some hot tea for Linghu Chong to drink.

    Suddenly, they heard the sound of galloping horses and two horses came over with dust flying behind them. When they arrived in front of the town, the two horses were reined in. There were one male and one female riding the horses; they were Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan.

    "Yu Canghai, you know I didn't give permission for you to rest, why don't you run away quickly? Are you waiting for death here?" Lin Pingzhi called out.

    Linghu Chong was on the mule-drawn carriage when he heard Lin Pingzhi's voice. He asked, "Martial brother Lin has caught up?"

    Qin Juan was sitting inside the carriage waiting for him to drink his tea, she immediately rolled open the curtain on the carriage to let him observe the happenings outside the carriage. Yu Canghai was sitting on a stool sipping a cup of tea in his hand and did not pay attention to Lin Pingzhi. After he had taken another sip, he said, "I'm waiting here to send you to your death."

    "Good!" Lin Pingzhi responded. This word 'good' had just been spoken when he had already jumped down his horse, had his sword out, thrust it forward, leapt back on his horse and with a shout rode away with Yue Lingshan. A disciple of Qingcheng School who was standing on the side of the street had a gash on his chest sprouting blood, then he slowly fell over.

    This attack done by Lin Pingzhi was strange and unpredictable. When he dismounted and had his sword out, it looked like he was going to attack Yu Canghai. When Yu Canghai saw him attacking, it was precisely what he wished for and he secretly felt happy. He expected that when they fight, he would be able to take Lin Pingzhi's life to avenge for last night's insult. If Yue Buqun later came for him, that was a matter for the future. But who could’ve thought the opponent's sword would be able to change direction in midair, and fast as lightning killed a Qingcheng disciple, then got on his horse to run away. Yu Canghai was alarmed and angry at the same time as he leapt to chase, but his two enemies had ridden their horses very fast and there was no way for him to chase them.

    The attack by Lin Pingzhi just then was immeasurably weird and unbelievably quick. Linghu Chong's jaw dropped from seeing it and he thought, "If he used this attack on me, and I don't have a weapon with me, then I'd have no way of fighting back and I would've been killed by him." He pondered over the swordplay and knew Lin Pingzhi’s skill was far below him. But the move Lin Pingzhi used just then was so fast, even he wouldn't be able to break it.

    Yu Canghai was stamping his feet and angrily pointing at the dust left behind by Lin Pingzhi's horse as he hurled abuses at them. But Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan had gone very far, how could they hear his abuses? His whole body was filled with anger and there was nowhere to vent it. He turned around and scolded, "You stinking nuns, you knew that Lin was coming so you came here first to help him. Alright, that animal Lin, has run away. Whoever got the nerves, come and fight to the death with me."

    The number of Heng-Shan disciples was multiples that of Qingcheng School's people. Furthermore they also had some good fighters like Monk No Commandment, Yingying, Peach Valley Six Fairies, and Tian Boguang. If they were to actually fight, Qingcheng School had no hope of winning. Yu Canghai knew the strengths and weaknesses of both parties, but he was in a rage, so even though he was experienced and careful, he couldn't restrain himself. Yihe promptly pulled her long sword out and angrily replied, "If you want to fight, then come. Who's afraid of you?"

    "Martial Sister Yihe, ignore him," Linghu Chong said.

    Yingying whispered a few words to the Peach Valley Six Fairies. Peachtree Root Fairy, Peachtree Trunk Fairy, Peachtree Branch Fairy, and Peachtree Leaf Fairy suddenly flew towards a horse underneath the cool shed. That horse was Yu Canghai's ride. A neighing sound was heard as the Peach Valley Four Fairies separately grabbed each of the horse's legs and tugged hard at them. With a loud ripping sound, that horse was torn into four pieces and its internal organs and blood flew out everywhere. It was a big and strong horse, but with just their bare hands, the Peach Valley Four Fairies had unexpectedly ripped it apart. The four of them had such rarely seen powerful strength.

    Qingcheng School's disciples were startled and all their faces changed colour. Even the people from Heng-Shan School were frightened till their hearts were thumping loudly.

    "Old priest Yu, that Lin has an enmity towards you,” Yingying said. “We're not going to help any party and we're just going to be spectators on the side, so don't implicate us. If you really want to fight, you're not our match so why don't we all just save our strength?"

    Yu Canghai was frightened and became timid. So with a hissing sound, he put his long sword back into its sheath. "River water doesn't mix with well water. You go your own way and we'll go our own way. Please go first."

    "That won't do, we're going with you," Yingying replied.

    "Why?" Yu Canghai scowled.

    "To be frank,” Yingying explained, “that Lin's sword art is really weird, so we must see it.”

    Linghu Chong was surprised. What Yingying just said was exactly what he was thinking about. Lin Pingzhi's swordplay was really weird, and 'Dugu Nine Swords' seemed incapable of breaking it, so he wanted to have a clearer look at it.

    "You want to see that little kid's sword art, what's that got to do with me?" When these words came out of Yu Canghai's mouth, he knew he had said the wrong thing. His enmity with Lin Pingzhi was as deep as the ocean, so Lin Pingzhi wouldn't just kill one Qingcheng disciple and give up. He would surely come back to seek his revenge, and Heng-Shan School's people wanted to see how Lin Pingzhi used his sword and how he would kill the people of Qingcheng School. Anyone who studied martial arts would wish to observe other peculiar martial arts out there, and everyone in the Heng-Shan School used sword so they weren't willing to just let this opportunity passed them by. But they would be following the Qingcheng School who were like lambs going to the slaughter, and they would see how a butcher chopped them up. From among the people in the world who take advantage of other people, how could anything exceed this?

    Yu Canghai was feeling angry and he wanted to say something sarcastic, but he held it in and only lightly snorted. He thought, "This little kid Lin is only using some weird moves and he despicably did sneak attacks on me, and on both attacks, my hand wasn't fast enough. Could it be that he has no real skills? Otherwise, why didn't he dare to fight me openly? Alright, you'll follow and I'll let you see clearly how I'm going to chop that little animal into little pieces." He turned around and returned to his seat under the shed. He picked up the teapot to pour himself a cup of tea but he heard a 'ta, ta, ta' sound as his right arm trembled, and the teapot's lid rattled. Just then when Lin Pingzhi was in front of him, he was calm and collected, slowly sipping his cup of tea, and wasn't muddled when facing a strong enemy. But now, his heart couldn't help thinking, "Why's my hand trembling? Why's my hand trembling?" He exhorted himself to be stronger and calm himself down, but the teapot lid kept on rattling. The disciples of Qingcheng School thought their master was being very angry. Actually, deep in Yu Canghai's heart, he knew he was terrified. If Lin Pingzhi's sword had been directed at him, he wouldn't have been able to block it.

    Even after Yu Canghai had finished a cup of tea, his heart was still troubled and he ordered the disciples to bury the dead disciple in the wilderness outside the town, while the remaining people rested underneath the cool shed. The inhabitants of the town were already scared when they witnessed a person who had killed another person from far away, so they all closed their doors tightly. Who would dare to take a peek?

    The Heng-Shan School party scattered into the shop and under the eaves of other people's houses to sleep. Yingying sat alone in her mule carriage, and was quite far away from the mule carriage that Linghu Chong was riding in. Even though the whole world already knew of the love between Linghu Chong and her, her bashfulness wasn't the slightest bit lessened. Even when Heng-Shan disciples reapplied the medicine on Linghu Chong's wound, she didn't go to have a look. Zheng E and Qin Juan knew her heart, so they continuously told her the condition of Linghu Chong's injury. Yingying only nodded her head and didn't say anything.

    Linghu Chong pondered about the sword move Lin Pingzhi used. There was nothing special about the sword move in itself, but the move was done too suddenly and there was no indication that it was going to be executed at all. No matter who was attacked by this move, even if that person was a master, that person would find it hard to counter the move. That day on Dark Wood Cliff, they besieged Dongfang Bubai and he was just holding a piece of embroidering needle to fight them. But the four of them, who were masters, had no way to resist him. When he thought about it at this time, it wasn't because Dongfang Bubai had a high internal energy nor was it because his moves were extremely skilful, but it was because his movements were fast like lightning. His attack, defense, rush, and retreat were all completely beyond his opponents' expectations. When Lin Pingzhi stopped Yu Canghai underneath the place of worship and when he killed that Qingcheng School disciple with his sword, his martial art was exactly the same as Dongfang Bubai's and the thrust Yue Buqun had used to blind Zuo Lengchan's eyes. Evil Resisting Sword Art and Dongfang Bubai's 'Sunflower Manual' had the same source, so he guessed that the move that Yue Buqun and Lin Pingzhi used must be the 'Evil Resisting Sword Art'.

    When he thought till here, he couldn't help shaking his head and mumbled, "Evil resisting, evil resisting! Resist what evil? This martial art is evil itself." Then he thought, "At the present time, the only one who can go up against this sword art is probably only Grand Martial Uncle Feng. After my injury is healed, I must go back up to Huashan and ask for Grand Martial Uncle Feng's advice on how to break this sword art. Grand Martial Uncle Feng said he doesn't want to see people from the Huashan School, but I'm no longer from Huashan School at this time." His thought then continued, "Dongfang Bubai is already dead. Yue Buqun is my master, Lin Pingzhi is my martial brother. The two of them wouldn't use this sword art to go up against me, then why do I need to go research on how to break this sword art?" Suddenly he thought of something and sat up abruptly. As he moved, the mule carriage shook and his wound became really painful that he gasped.

    Qin Juan was standing besides the cart and she quickly asked, "Do you want to drink tea?"

    "No, little martial sister, please ask young lady Ren to come here." Qin Juan acknowledged his request and went to get Yingying. After a while, Yingying followed Qin Juan back. She asked lightly, "What's the matter?"

    "I suddenly thought of something. Your father once said, your sect's 'Sunflower Manual' was given to Dongfang Bubai. So I thought the martial art in 'Sunflower Manual' isn't as good as the divine martial art your father is practising, but..."

    “But my father's martial art was shown to be not as good as Dongfang Bubai's, is that right?"

    "That's right. I don't understand why."

    For people who studied martial art, when they saw a wonderful book of martial art, if they didn't learn it by themselves, they would give it to another person like their father, spouse, martial disciple, brothers, or their lovers, and they would probably study it together. To give up on it was really out of the ordinary.

    "I've already asked my dad about this before,” Yingying said. “He said: One, the martial art in the Manual can't be learnt; it'll be harmful to learn it. Two, he also didn't know that after learning the martial art written on the Manual, the result would be so powerful."

    "Can't be learnt? Why?"

    Yingying's face turned red. "Why can't it be learnt? How would I know?" After a pause, she went on, "What's so good about Dongfang Bubai's fate?"

    Linghu Chong groaned and inwardly felt that his master was on the way in following Dongfang Bubai's path. He had now defeated Zuo Lengchan and snatched the leadership of the Five Mountains School. Linghu Chong didn't like this situation at all. 'Long Live the Chief, unify the Jianghu', those were the flattering words which were often said on the Dark Wood Cliff. In Linghu Chong's heart, it seemed it would also gradually become Yue Buqun's motto.

    "Take care of your injury, don't think too much,” Yingying quietly said. “I'm going to sleep."

    "Yes." He lifted the curtain on the carriage and saw the moonlight shining down on Yingying's face. Suddenly, he felt apologetic toward her. Yingying slowly turned around to go but suddenly she said, "Your martial brother Lin wears a flowery gown." After she said this, she went toward her own carriage.

    Linghu Chong thought it was strange. "She said Martial Brother Lin is wearing a flowery gown. What does she mean? Martial Brother Lin has just become a groom so he's wearing the gown a newly-married groom wears. There's nothing strange about that. This little girl, not paying attention to someone's sword art, but instead paying attention to what someone else is wearing. How interesting."

    When he closed his eyes, he could see Lin Pingzhi's sword moves in his mind, but he couldn't remember what kind of flowery gown Lin Pingzhi was wearing. He slept till the middle of the night when he heard horses galloping towards them from somewhere far. Two horses were coming from the west. Linghu Chong sat up and lifted the screen. Out on the street, he saw Heng-Shan disciples and Qingcheng School's people all awake. Heng-Shan disciples had formed groups of seven to form the sword formation and they were standing still by their position. Some Qingcheng people were rushing towards the end of the street while some were leaning their backs to the wall. They were far different from the calm and collected Heng-Shan disciples.

    The two horses galloped through the big street. With the moonlight shining brightly, it was easy to see that it was the Lin Pingzhi husband and wife couple coming.

    "Yu Canghai!” Lin Pingzhi called out. “In order to steal my Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art, you killed my parents. Now, I'm going to execute the moves one by one to give you a look. Pay close attention!"

    He reined in his horse and flew down from his horse. His long sword was still strapped on his back as he rushed towards the Qingcheng School's people. Linghu Chong paid attention to what he was wearing and saw that he was wearing a green jade gown with seams threaded with gold, sleeves embroidered with deep yellow flowers, and a gold belt tied around his waist. With Lin Pingzhi's lightning fast movement, the gown gorgeously glittered under the moonlight. Linghu Chong thought, "Martial Brother Lin was originally very plain. Once he became a groom, he has become very different. It's no wonder youngsters are usually proud of themselves. He's taken such a wife, of course he's very happy and wanted to dress up a bit."

    Last night besides the place of worship, Lin Pingzhi made a surprise attack on Yu Canghai with his bare hand. Now, he was doing exactly the same thing. How could Qingcheng School let him do it again? Yu Canghai shouted and four disciples immediately went up to meet him with their swords up. Two swords were aimed at his left and right chest, and the other two swords swept at his left and right legs. Peach Valley Six Fairies were startled and they couldn't help shouting. The three of them shouted, "Little kid, careful!" The other three shouted, "Careful, little kid!"

    Lin Pingzhi extended his right hand and with a matchless speed, pressed on the wrists of the two Qingcheng disciples who were attacking his chest to turn their hands around and pushed on the elbows of the two Qingcheng disciples who were chopping at his lower body. Four miserable cries were heard as two of them fell over. These two people were originally attacking Lin Pingzhi's chest, but when their wrists were pressed, their long swords turned around and pierced their own stomachs.

    "Evil Resisting Sword Art, stance number two and stance number three! Did you see it clearly?" Lin Pingzhi called out. He then turned around and galloped off on his horse. The Qingcheng people were stunned and none of them gave chase. When they saw the other two disciples, they saw one of them had his long sword slantingly piercing the other's chest from below, and the other person had done the same. These two people had stopped breathing but their right hands were still clutching on their sword handles making their bodies support each other and preventing them from falling down. Linghu Chong saw clearly the way Lin Pingzhi executed his press and push. He was astonished but felt admiration in his heart. He thought, "Brilliant, that's really a sword art and not a hand seizing technique. It's just that there was no sword in his hand."

    The moonlight illuminated the ground and showed Yu Canghai's short body standing besides the four corpses lost in his thought. Qingcheng School's people encircled him but gave him a wide berth. No one dared to say anything. After a long time had passed, Linghu Chong gazed outside of his carriage again and saw Yu Canghai was still standing there unmoving as his shadow gradually lengthened. This scene was extremely eerie.

    Some of the Qingcheng disciples had walked away, and some had sat down on the ground, while Yu Canghai was still standing stiffly like a corpse. Linghu Chong felt pity for him. This master of Qingcheng School didn't know what to do and was just waiting for death and that made Linghu Chong feel very sorry for him. He gradually became sleepy and finally went to sleep. While dreaming, he suddenly felt his mule carriage moving followed by some shouts. The sky had actually brightened and the people had started on their journey. He took a peek from the side of the carriage and saw they were on a very straight road. Some disciples of the Qingcheng School were riding on horseback and some were walking. Seeing their dejected and withered bodies from the back, Linghu Chong felt an unspeakable misery surrounding them. They looked like a group of cow and sheep walking to the slaughter house. He thought, "All these people know Lin Pingzhi will come again, and they also know they have no way of fighting back. If they scattered to run away, then Qingcheng School will be destroyed. Could it be, when Lin Pingzhi go up Mount Qingcheng, there will be no one to answer him at the Pine Wind Monastery?"

    At noon, they arrived at a big town. The people of Qingcheng ate their meals in a wine shop, while the disciples of Heng-Shan School went to the opposite restaurant to eat. The Qingcheng people were eating quickly with big bowls and big cups, while the nuns all ate quietly. Everyone knew these people were only living from dawn to dusk and surviving from meal to meal.

    At the hour of Wei (1-3pm), they were going along the bank of a river when they heard sound of galloping horses. It was the Lin Pingzhi husband and wife couple riding towards them. Yihe whistled and the disciples of Heng-Shan School stopped immediately. With the orange sun beating down on them, the two horses galloped alongside the river. When they got near, Yue Lingshan reined her horse in first, while Lin Pingzhi continued to come forward. Yu Canghai swept his hand across and his people turned around to rush south along the river.

    "Shorty Yu, where are you running off to?" Lin Pingzhi laughed loudly as he rushed forward on his horse. Yu Canghai suddenly turned around with the sword in his hand. The reflection from the sword was like a rainbow as it thrust towards Lin Pingzhi's face. This attack was unexpectedly very fierce and Lin Pingzhi was surprised as he hastily pulled his sword out to block. The disciples of Qingcheng started to encircle him. Yu Canghai attacked faster and faster, slashing high and low. This sixty years old man attacked with youthful agility and all of his stances were offensive. Eight Qingcheng disciples brandished their long swords and surrounded Lin Pingzhi on his horse, but they didn't go forward to slash at the horse.

    When Linghu Chong saw the situation, he understood Yu Canghai's intention. The strong point of Lin Pingzhi's sword art was in its immeasurable variations and lightning fast speed. As he was on top of a horse, this strong point was greatly reduced. If he wanted to attack, he would only be able to attack the person in front of him and the horse he was riding wouldn't be able to retreat like a ghost to make people unable to grab him. The eight disciples of Qingcheng formed a sword net as they surrounded his horse to prevent Lin Pingzhi from dismounting.

    Linghu Chong thought, "Qingcheng's headmaster is really not someone ordinary. This method is very formidable." Lin Pingzhi's sword art changed irregularly, and it was fantastic. But because he was on his horse, Yu Canghai was able to match him. After looking at a few more moves, Linghu Chong's eyes shot toward Yue Lingshan. Suddenly, greatly surprised, his whole body shook.

    Six Qingcheng disciples had already surrounded her and were slowly crowding her towards the edge of the river. They had split open the stomach of her horse and as the horse fell down to the ground with a long neigh, she jumped up from her horse's back. Yue Lingshan leaned to one side to dodge the incoming two attacks and stood firm. The six Qingcheng disciples exerted themselves in attacking as if their lives were at stake. Linghu Chong recognised Hou Renying and Hong Renxiong among these six people. Brandishing a sword in his left hand, Hou Renying's movements were very fierce.

    Even though Yue Lingshan had learnt the five schools' sword arts engraved on the cave wall on the Cliff of Contemplation, she had not learnt the sword art of the Qingcheng School. The sword moves engraved on the cave were actually too brilliant, so she actually had not truly comprehended them. It was only her father who had taught her, and she knew the moves only. At the place of worship, she had used Taishan sword art to defeat the masters from the Taishan School, and Hengshan sword art to defeat the headmaster of the Hengshan School. This caused her opponents to be startled and she took advantage when they were intimidated. But she had no way of imitating that method to deal with these Qingcheng disciples. Linghu Chong had seen a few moves exchanged and he knew Yue Lingshan was unable to resist for long and was feeling anxious. Suddenly, he heard a long cry and saw a Qingcheng disciple had his left arm cut off by Yue Lingshan using a Hengshan sword art. Linghu Chong felt happy hoping that these six disciples would retreat in fear. But how could he have known that five of them didn't even retreat half a step, while the one with his left arm cut off crazily charged forward instead. When Yue Lingshan saw his body was soaked in blood and his expression was terrifying, she retreated a few steps in fear. While retreating, her foot stepped on nothing and she fell down on the gravel at the edge of the river.

    "Shameless, shameless!" Linghu Chong snorted.

    Suddenly he heard Yingying said, "We also used this method to fight Dongfang Bubai."

    He didn't know when she had arrived besides him. Linghu Chong thought what she said wasn't wrong. That day on Dark Wood Cliff, their defeat was guaranteed already, but luckily Yingying attacked Yang Lianting and disturbed Dongfang Bubai's concentration and this had enabled them to kill him. At this time, Yu Canghai was actually also using the same strategy. Of course Yu Canghai didn't know how they defeated Dongfang Bubai, but through his wisdom, he had also come to the same idea. Linghu Chong expected Lin Pingzhi to have his concentration divided when he saw his wife in danger and to turn around to save her. But he never expected Lin Pingzhi to keep fighting Yu Canghai with all his strength and unexpectedly didn't pay any attention to his wife being in danger.

    After she fell down, Yue Lingshan quickly jumped up with her long sword dancing around. The six Qingcheng disciples knew Qingcheng School's survival and their own lives depended on whether they were able to kill their enemies, so they all disregarded their lives and rushed forward. The one with his arm cut off had already abandoned his long sword, and he was now rolling around on the ground trying to seize Yue Lingshan legs with his right hand. Yue Lingshan was frightened and she called out, "Brother Ping, Brother Ping, come help me!"

    "Shorty Yu wants to have a look at the Evil Resisting Sword Art, so I'm letting him have a good look. Let him have a good death!" Lin Pingzhi shouted loudly as he used his wonderful moves to suppress Yu Canghai from taking a breather. Yu Canghai had already researched the stances of Evil Resisting Sword Art and he knew all the moves by heart and decided that there was nothing special about those stances. Suddenly, at this moment, there were so many wonderful variations in the sword art and it was also done as fast as lightning making Yu Canghai roar again and again as he got more and more desperate. Yu Canghai knew his enemy's internal energy was far below his so he kept on aiming his sword towards Lin Pingzhi's long sword, hoping that Lin Pingzhi's sword would be shaken off his hand when both swords clash. But from the beginning of the fight, he had not managed to get the swords to clash yet.

    Linghu Chong was angered and shouted, "You... You... You..." In the beginning, he was thinking Lin Pingzhi was being stopped by Yu Canghai from going over to help his wife. But when he heard what Lin Pingzhi said, he realised Lin Pingzhi didn't actually care about the safety of Yue Lingshan and he actually attached more importance to jesting with Yu Canghai.

    At this time, the sun was fiercely shining down and Linghu Chong saw Lin Pingzhi sneering, showing his excitement and hatred. It seemed his heart was full of happiness in seeking this revenge. He was like a cat who had captured a mouse and was cruelly playing with it first before biting it to death. But when a cat plays with a mouse, it doesn't have this kind of hatred and malice.

    "Brother Ping, Brother Ping, quickly come!" Yue Lingshan called out repeatedly. She shouted till her voice was hoarse as the situation became gravely desperate.

    "I'm coming. Hold on for a while. I'm showing the entire set of Evil Resisting Sword Art for him to see. Originally, Shorty Yu didn't have any enmity with us, but he did all the things he did because of the 'Evil Resisting Sword Art'. So I'm going to show him the entire set of sword art and let him see it clearly, don't you think so?" Lin Pingzhi replied leisurely. It was apparent he wasn't actually directing these words to his wife, but was directing them more towards Yu Canghai. He was afraid his enemy wouldn't understand his meaning, so he added, "Shorty Yu, don't you think so?" His body was elegant and he moved his sword gracefully. His movements were like the moves from 'The Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword' that the female disciples of Huashan School learned. But this move Lin Pingzhi was using had a demonical aura around it.

    Linghu Chong originally wanted to watch the stances of his Evil Resisting Sword Art. This was a really good opportunity to do just that as Lin Pingzhi was now revealing everything in front of Yu Canghai. But he was concerned about Yue Lingshan's safety. Even if he was certain that in the future Lin Pingzhi would use this sword art to kill him, he still couldn't look further as he heard Yue Lingshan continuously calling out for help. He couldn't take it anymore and called out, "Martial Sister Yihe, Martial Sister Yiqing, quickly go and save Miss Yue. She... she can't hold on any longer."

    "We already said we won't help any party, I'm afraid it's inappropriate for us to get involved," Yihe replied.

    The people of Wulin were especially fastidious about the word 'Trust'. Some characters from the unorthodox path, despite their ‘no evil they won't do’ attitude, once they gave their words, they wouldn't go back on it. If anyone ate his own words, then people in Wulin would despise him. Even Tian Boguang who was such a notorious rapist would abide by his words. When Linghu Chong heard what Yihe said, he knew it was the truth. Last night, besides the worship place, she already said clearly to Yu Canghai that they wouldn't be involved. If at this time they helped Yue Lingshan then it would damage the reputation of Heng-Shan School. He was still worried and quickly said, "This... This..." then he called out, "Monk No Commandment? Tian Boguang?"

    "The two of them went together with Peach Valley Six Fairies last night,” Qin Juan answered. “They said looking at Shorty Yu is too gloomy, so they went to drink wine. Also, the eight of them are also Heng-Shan School..."

    Yingying suddenly flew out towards the edge of the river and pulled out two short swords from her waist. She loudly shouted, "Look clearly, I'm Divine Sun Moon Sect's Chief Ren's daughter, Ren Yingying. I'm not from Heng-Shan School. Six men ganging up on a girl, this really makes people uncomfortable to see. Miss Ren thinks this is unfair so I'm going to interfere."

    Linghu Chong was happy to see Yingying going out to help. He let out a sigh of relief but his wound felt painful, so he sat down inside the carriage. When the six Qingcheng disciples saw Yingying coming, they unexpectedly didn't pay any attention to her but continued attacking Yue Lingshan with total disregard for their lives. Yue Lingshan retreated a few steps, and with a 'pu' sound, her left leg treaded on the river water. She wasn't accustomed to being around water, so as her foot entered the water, she became nervous and her swordplay became disorderly. Suddenly, she felt pain on her left shoulder as it was pierced by one of her enemies. That enemy with no arm took advantage of the situation and rushed forward and seized her right leg. Yue Lingshan chopped down with her long sword and struck him at his back as that armless person opened his mouth wide and bit her leg viciously. Yue Lingshan's vision darkened and she thought, "I'm going to die like this?" She then gazed at Lin Pingzhi thrusting his sword out while his left hand made a sword form sweeping across the air to make an arch. The stance he was using was really elegant, it was a sword art which really looked leisurely. She felt a wave of bitterness in her heart and felt really dizzy. Suddenly, she saw a pair of short swords in front of her and she heard two splashing sounds as two Qingcheng disciples fell into the river. Yue Lingshan fell down feeling confused and lost. Yingying waved her short swords around, and after more than ten moves, the remaining three Qingcheng disciples had all retreated after being injured and disarmed. Yingying kicked away the dying one-armed Qingcheng disciple and pulled Yue Lingshan up. She saw Yue Lingshan's lower half of the body was soaked in the river so her skirt was all wet while her gown on top was splashed with blood all over. She immediately supported her to go up the river bank.

    Lin Pingzhi called out, "Have you had a good look at my Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art?" The sword reflection flashed everywhere and surrounded a Qingcheng disciple standing besides his horse when the sword suddenly pierced that disciple between his eyes. Lin Pingzhi laughed out loud and cried out, "Fang Renzhi, you wicked thief, that death was too easy for you!" He lifted his rein and jumped over Fang Renzhi’s falling body and then galloped off. Yu Canghai was already exhausted, so how could he dare to give chase?

    Lin Pingzhi reined in his horse and suddenly shouted, "You're Jia Renda!" then galloped his horse over. Jia Renda had already stepped back far away some time ago, and when he saw Lin Pingzhi coming after him, he shouted and in a mad rush, turned around to run away. But Lin Pingzhi just patiently chased him, and when he caught up, he slashed his long sword and hamstrung Jia Renda's right leg. Jia Renda fell down hard on the ground. Lin Pingzhi lifted his rein and his horse stepped on Jia Renda's body. Jia Renda cried out miserably but he didn't die. Lin Pingzhi laughed maniacally and turned his horse around to trample Jia Renda's body again. After a few more passes, Jia Renda was finally quiet. Lin Pingzhi didn't give the people of Qingcheng School another glance before going besides Yue Lingshan and Yingying. He said to his wife, "Get on the horse!"

    Yue Lingshan looked at him angrily. After a while, she gritted her teeth and said, "You go by yourself."

    "You?"

    "Why do you care?"

    Lin Pingzhi took a glance at the Heng-Shan School's disciples and laughed coldly. Then he put his heels on his horse and gave its head. Yingying couldn't figure out why Lin Pingzhi was treating his newly-wedded wife so indifferently and she couldn't help feeling surprised. Yingying said, "Madam Lin, come to my carriage to rest."

    Both of Yue Lingshan's eyes were full of tears and she tried her hardest not to let her tears flow down. She chokingly said, "I'm... I'm not going. Why... Why did you save me?"

    "I didn't, it was your big martial brother Linghu Chong who saved you."

    Yue Lingshan felt sour in her heart and couldn't hold back her tears anymore as it flowed down her cheeks. "You... Can I please ask you for a horse?"

    "Alright." Yingying turned around to lead a horse over.

    Yue Lingshan stammered, "Thank you, you... you..." She jumped on the horse's back and went towards the east, opposite of where Lin Pingzhi had gone before. It seemed that she was going back to Songshan. Yu Canghai was surprised to see her galloping past, but he didn't pay her any attention. He thought, "After another night, that animal Lin will come and will kill a few of my men again. He wants to kill my disciples one by one till I'm left all by myself before he comes for me."

    Linghu Chong couldn't bear seeing Yu Canghai looking like he had lost his mind, so he ordered, "Let's go!"

    "Yes!" the person at the driver seat answered. With a shout, the whip was cracked and the mule started to pull the carriage forward. Linghu Chong gasped in surprise. He saw Yue Lingshan was going to the east, so his heart automatically also wanted to go with her, but he didn't expect the mule carriage would be going towards the west. His heart sank, but he didn't order the mule carriage to turn around to go to the east. He opened the screen in the carriage and couldn't see Yue Lingshan anymore. His heart was heavy as he thought, "She's been injured and she's going all by herself with no one to tend to her injuries, how's she going to fare?" Suddenly, he heard Qin Juan said, "She's going back to Songshan to her parents. She's going to be safe there, you don't need to worry."

    Linghu Chong felt relieved and replied, "Yes." While he thought, "Martial Sister Qin is very observant, she even knew what I was thinking."

    At noon the next day, their party arrived at a small restaurant to eat their meals. This restaurant couldn't actually be regarded as a shop. It only consisted of a grass shed besides the main road with many long tables placed underneath, and they offered tea and meals to the passer by. When Heng-Shan School people arrived, the shop didn't have too much rice left. Luckily many people in the party were bringing rice with them as well as tools like bowl, chopsticks, and et cetera. So they immediately cooked the rice besides the grass sheds.

    Linghu Chong had stayed in the carriage for a long time and it was getting stuffy in there. With the Heng-Shan School's medicine taken internally and applied externally, Linghu Chong's injury had improved by a lot. Zheng E and Qin Juan supported him to get down from the carriage and sit under the shed. He gazed towards the east and thought, "Will little martial sister come?" He then saw a cloud of dust as a group of people came from the east. They were Yu Canghai and his Qingcheng School who had come to the shed, and they also dismounted from their horses to take their meals there. Yu Canghai sat alone at a table unspeaking and with no expression on his face. He knew his life was doomed already and he didn't even bother to avoid the people of Heng-Shan School. There really is no bigger matter than death. Regardless of how the Heng-Shan School people were going to see how he would die, he didn't care about it.

    Not long after, the sound of a galloping horse was heard coming from the west. The horse came slowly towards them and on top of the horse was a person wearing a flowery gown who really was Lin Pingzhi. He reined in his horse outside the shed and saw that the Qingcheng School people only gave him a look then ignored him. Every person who was cooking was cooking his meal, while the ones drinking tea were drinking their teas. This situation was really beyond Lin Pingzhi's expectation. He laughed aloud and said, "Even if you're not going to fight, I'm still going to kill you." He jumped down from his horse and slapped the horse's buttock to let it go eat some grass. He saw there were still two empty tables underneath the shed so he went to one of them to sit.

    Once Lin Pingzhi had entered the shed, Linghu Chong sniffed a strong fragrance. Linghu Chong then observed the clothes Lin Pingzhi was wearing and realised that the fragrant scent was coming from it. On Lin Pingzhi's hat was a piece of green jade, on his finger was a ruby ring, and on the tips of both of his shoes were two pearls. He was dressed just like a young master from a rich family and didn't look anything like a warrior from Wulin. Linghu Chong thought, "His family opened up the Fortune Prestige Escort House, so he was originally a young master from a rich family. He has suffered a few years of hardships in Jianghu, so after he's gotten some skills, he's enjoying all those wealth now." He then saw Lin Pingzhi taking a piece of snow white handkerchief out of his bosom and lightly dabbing his face with it. Lin Pingzhi's appearance was delicate and pretty. The way he took out his handkerchief, dabbed his face, and shook his clothes; it was just like an actor on stage playing the role of a pretty young woman.

    After Lin Pingzhi had sat down, he lightly said, "Brother Linghu, you're well!"

    "You're well!" Linghu Chong nodded his head.

    Lin Pingzhi turned his head slightly and saw a Qingcheng disciple holding a pot of hot tea to give to Yu Canghai. "You're called Yu Renhao, aren't you? Years ago when my whole family was killed, you were there too. Even when your face is ashen, I still recognise you." Yu Renhao dropped the teapot on the table, turned around suddenly with his hand already on his sword handle, and then retreated for two steps.

    "I'm Yu Renhao, what do you want?" His voice was rough, but it was trembling as he spoke and his face had turned ghostly pale.

    "Ying Xiong Hao Jie, The Four Aces of Qingcheng!” Lin Pingzhi smiled. “You're number three, but there's no aura of a hero at all. This is funny, really funny."

    'Ying Xiong Hao Jie, The Four Aces of Qingcheng' was Qingcheng School's four disciples with the strongest martial arts. They were Hou Renying, Hong Renxiong, Yu Renhao, and Luo Renjie. Among these people, one of them had been killed by Linghu Chong in the Huiyan Wine House, while the remaining three were present at that moment. Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly and said, "That Brother Linghu once said: 'Dumb Bear Wild Pig, the Four Asses of Qingcheng'. That's too good for you to be compared to animals. In my opinion, hng, hng, you're even worse than animals."

    Yu Renhao was afraid and angry, and his face had turned even paler, but he didn't draw his sword out in spite of this.

    At this moment, the sound of galloping horses from the east was heard. Two horses seemed to be galloping quickly coming over here. When they arrived in front of the shed, the person in front reined in his horse. Everyone turned around to have a look, and some people gasped in surprise at seeing that person. The person riding in front had a short and fat stature with a humpback whose nickname was called 'Hunchback of the North' -- Mu Gaofeng. The person riding the horse at the back was unexpectedly Yue Lingshan. When Linghu Chong saw Yue Lingshan, his chest felt hot and his heart was happy. But Yue Lingshan's hands were tied behind her back, and the rein to her horse was being led along by Mu Gaofeng. It was obvious she had been captured by him.

    Linghu Chong couldn't bear not doing anything and he was itching to do something. Then his mind thought, "Her husband is here, why do they need an outsider to get involved? If her husband doesn't care, then I'll think of a way to save her."

    When Lin Pingzhi saw Mu Gaofeng was here, it was just like he had seen treasures falling down from the sky. He was deliriously happy. Lin Pingzhi pondered, "The people who killed my father and mother also included this humpback. I never expected such a chance circumstance to happen today and he has unexpectedly delivered himself here. The heavenly gods really have eyes." But Mu Gaofeng didn't recognise Lin Pingzhi.

    That day in Hengshan at Liu Zhengfeng's house, even though the two of them had met, Lin Pingzhi was disguised as a humpback and his face was full of ointment. So compared to the beautiful and adorned youngster who was sitting there, the two characters were completely different. Later on, Mu Gaofeng found out Lin Pingzhi's humpback was fake, but he never saw his real face at all.

    Mu Gaofeng turned his head around to say to Yue Lingshan, "It's very rare to have so many friends here. Let's go." When he saw the people of Heng-Shan School and Qingcheng School there, he felt quite afraid and expected there would be people who would come out to help Yue Lingshan so it would be better to remove himself from there as fast as possible. He shouted and led the horses to get out of there.

    The day before, Yue Lingshan was injured and was on her way back to Mount Songshan alone to be by her father and mother. But not long into her journey, she met Mu Gaofeng. Mu Gaofeng was a narrow-minded person. He had lost to Yue Buqun when competing internal energy in the past, then the Lin Zhennan husband and wife were also rescued by Yue Buqun, so he felt disgraced and really insulted. Later on, he heard Lin Zhennan's son, Lin Pingzhi, had joined the Huashan School and took Yue Buqun's daughter as his wife, so he naturally thought the 'Evil Resisting Sword Art' was also taken into the Huashan School and he got really furious because of this. When the Five Mountains School was established, he of course heard of the news. But the people of the five mountains sword schools didn't like him and Zuo Lengchan didn't give him any invitation. So he got angry and hid nearby Mount Songshan to wait for the people of Five Mountains School as they came down the mountain. If they were in a large group, or if there was a senior, he wouldn't show himself. But if someone was alone, he was planning to vent his anger on that person. But as he observed the groups of people coming down the mountain, all of them were in groups of tens or hundreds so he couldn't do anything. So it was very convenient for him to suddenly see Yue Lingshan riding all by herself, and he immediately intercepted her.

    Yue Lingshan's martial art was never as good as Mu Gaofeng. Added to that, she was injured and because Mu Gaofeng ambushed her, he had the initiative. So at the end, she was captured by him. When Mu Gaofeng heard her making threats to him saying she was Yue Buqun's daughter, he was ecstatic and a plan was quickly hatched in his head. He was going to hide her in a secret place and then exchange her with the 'Evil Resisting Sword Art'. As he was hurrying along, he didn't expect they would meet with Qingcheng and Heng-Shan Schools.

    Yue Lingshan thought, "If I let him take me away now, who will rescue me then?" Without giving a thought to her shoulder injury, she slanted her body and let herself fall down from the horse's back.

    "What's the matter?" Mu Gaofeng shouted and leapt off the horse. He then stooped down to grab Yue Lingshan's body from the back. Linghu Chong thought Lin Pingzhi wouldn't just stand aside on seeing his wife being insulted but would definitely go out to help her. But who would have thought Lin Pingzhi didn't care at all? Lin Pingzhi took out a folding fan with a gold-painted handle from his left sleeve and lightly fanned himself. The jade-coloured fan continuously shook. It was currently the third month and the northern snow was just beginning to melt; who would use a fan at this time of year? But Lin Pingzhi was indeed using a fan and leisurely fanning himself.

    Mu Gaofeng grabbed the back of Yue Lingshan's body and said, "Be careful falling down again." Then he lifted his hand and dropped her onto her horse's saddle. He then jumped on his horse wishing to go on their way.

    "Person surnamed Mu, someone here said that your martial art is ordinary, what do you say to that?" Lin Pingzhi said.

    Mu Gaofeng was startled and saw Lin Pingzhi was sitting alone at a table. He didn't seem to belong either to the Qingcheng School or the Heng-Shan School. He also couldn't tell where he came from, so he asked, "Who are you?"

    "Why do you ask me? The one who said your martial art is ordinary wasn't me," Lin Pingzhi smiled.

    "Who said it?"

    Lin Pingzhi slammed his fan closed and pointed it at Yu Canghai. "That Priest Yu from Qingcheng School. He just saw a really wonderful swordplay, the world's number one sword art. I think it was called the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

    When Mu Gaofeng heard the words 'Evil Resisting Sword Art', he was excited. He peered at Yu Canghai and saw him holding a tea cup looking absentminded as if he was hearing but wasn't listening to what Lin Pingzhi was saying. "Priest Yu, congratulations on seeing the Evil Resisting Sword Art. It's not fake?"

    "Not fake!” Yu Canghai answered. “I saw it from head to tail, every move and every stance, I saw all of them already."

    Mu Gaofeng was surprised and happy; he jumped down from his horse and sat at Yu Canghai's table. "I heard this sword manual was taken by Yue Buqun. How did you see it?"

    "I didn't see the sword manual, I only saw a person using this sword art.”

    "Oh, is that so? There's real Evil Resisting Sword Art and there's fake Evil Resisting Sword Art. Fuzhou's Fortune Prestige Escort House's descendants learned the useless type of Evil Resisting Sword Art. When people see them use it, their teeth will fall off from laughing too much. Is the one you saw real?”

    "I also don't know whether it's real or fake. But the person who used this set of sword art was a descendant of the Fortune Prestige Escort House."

    Mu Gaofeng laughed loudly. "You're the leader of a school but you don't know whether the sword art is real or fake. Didn't Lin Zhennan from the Fortune Prestige Escort House die under your hand?"

    "Whether the Evil Resisting Sword Art is real or fake, I can't tell. Hero Mu is brilliant and have a lot of experience, you'll definitely figure it out," Yu Canghai replied.

    Mu Gaofeng knew this short priest was experienced in martial art, and that he was also a first class figure in Wulin. For him to suddenly say such a thing, there must definitely be a deeper meaning to it. Mu Gaofeng giggled and swept his eyes across. He saw everyone was looking at him strangely like he had said something really wrong. "If I have a look at it, I'll definitely be able to distinguish it."

    "If Hero Mu wants to have a look, there's someone here who can use that sword art," Yu Canghai replied.

    Mu Gaofeng's heart shivered as if it was suddenly cold. He swept his eyes across again to look at each person. He saw Lin Pingzhi's expression was the most uncaring, so he asked, "Is this the youngster who can use it?"

    "Admirable, admirable! Hero Mu really has good eyesight, just one look and you're able to figure it out," Yu Canghai said.

    Mu Gaofeng observed Lin Pingzhi from head to toe, and saw his gown was gorgeous like he was a young master from a wealthy family. He thought, "The way Shorty Yu said that, there must be a plot against me. The enemy has a lot of people. A good man doesn't want to be disadvantaged so there's no need to bother with them. I'll just go with my plan. Since Yue Buqun's daughter is in my hand, I don't have to fear him not coming to exchange the sword manual for her.” So he laughed loudly and said, “Shorty Yu, I haven’t seen you for a long time but you still love to joke around. I have some matters to do today, so forgive me for not accompanying you. Evil Resisting Sword Art is good, Killing Demon Sword Art is also good but I don’t care about it, so goodbye.”

    As soon as Mu Gaofeng finished saying these words, his body shot out and landed on his horse’s back. His body was very nimble. At the same instance, people there felt there was a blur in front of their eyes looking like Lin Pingzhi had jumped out and hindered Mu Gaofeng’s horse’s path, but then they saw he was still lightly fanning himself, sitting at his table looking like he had never left it at all. Everyone was greatly astonished but Mu Gaofeng shouted and urged his horse to go. Masters like Linghu Chong, Yingying, and Yu Canghai saw clearly how Lin Pingzhi had extended his hand to stab twice and done something to the horse. Sure enough, after a few steps, Mu Gaofeng's horse suddenly ran into a pillar of the grass shed. The force with which the horse ran into the pillar was enormous and it brought half of the grass shed down. Yu Canghai leapt outside of the shed while the grass and hay fell on top of Linghu Chong, Lin Pingzhi, and other people’s heads. Zheng E extended her hand to remove the grass on Linghu Chong’s head. But Lin Pingzhi just kept on staring at Mu Gaofeng and was oblivious to anything else. Mu Gaofeng hesitated, dismounted the horse, and released the rein. That horse rushed forward a few steps and ran into a big tree. With a long neigh, it fell down on the ground with a bloody head. This horse’s movement was really strange and it became obvious both of its eyes were blinded because Lin Pingzhi had stabbed them with his unbelievably quick hand technique.

    Lin Pingzhi used his fan to slowly wipe away the grass on his left shoulder. "A blind person riding a blind horse; that's very dangerous you know!"

    Mu Gaofeng laughed loudly. "You, little kid, really are arrogant. You must have real skill. Shorty Yu said you know how to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art. There's no harm in letting grandpa have a look."

    "Alright, I'm going to give you a look. You killed both my parents and sinned deeply just because you wanted to have a look at my family's Evil Resisting Sword Art. You're just like Yu Canghai," Lin Pingzhi replied.

    Mu Gaofeng was stunned. He never expected this little master was Lin Zhennan's son. He secretly thought, "You have the nerve to openly challenge me here, so you must be feeling secure. His five mountains sword schools have become one school. These Heng-Shan School's nuns must all be his helpers." At this thought, he turned his hand around to grab Yue Lingshan and thought, "The enemy is many and I'm alone. This little girl is his wife. Once I have her under my hand, what can this little kid do?"

    Suddenly, he heard the sound of the wind whistling behind him as a sword was hacked down on him. Mu Gaofeng slanted his body to dodge it, and saw Yue Lingshan was the one wielding the sword. Yingying had actually cut off the ropes tying Yue Lingshan's hands, opened up her sealed acupoints, and had also placed a long sword in her hand. After her attack was evaded by Mu Gaofeng, Yue Lingshan felt her injury flaring up again. Also, her acupoints had been sealed for a long time already so her limbs were aching. So even though she felt really angry, she didn't chase after him.

    Lin Pingzhi laughed derisively. "Your reputation in Wulin is already well known for many years already, but you're actually so shameless. If you still want your life, crawl on the ground and give grandpa three kowtows while calling me 'grandpa' three times. Then I'll let you live for one year. After one year, I'll come and look for you again."

    Mu Gaofeng threw his head back and laughed out loud. "Little kid, that day in Hengshan at Liu Zhengfeng's house, you disguised yourself as a little hunchback and kowtowed to me and called me 'grandpa'. You even staked your life to become my disciple. Grandpa wasn't willing, so you joined Old Yue's school and swindled yourself a wife, isn't this right?"

    Lin Pingzhi didn't answer. His eyes were filled with fires of anger, but his face was filled with excitement. He snapped his fan closed and put it on his left hand, while his right hand lifted up his gown as he stepped out of the grass shed to walk towards Mu Gaofeng. The breeze blew past and carried a sweet fragrance to everyone's nose.

    Suddenly, two cries were heard. The faces of Qingcheng School's Yu Renhao and Ji Rentong changed colour, and blood was gushing out of their chests as they fell down. The people besides them couldn't help calling out in fright. They saw clearly Lin Pingzhi was going forward to deal with Mu Gaofeng, but without knowing how, he unexpectedly drew his sword and killed those two people. After he killed them, he had promptly put his sword back into its sheath. Besides Linghu Chong and a few other masters there, the other people there only felt a flicker of cold light. They didn't see clearly how he drew his sword out let alone how he used his sword to kill those two people. A thought flashed in Linghu Chong's mind, "When I first met with Tian Boguang, it was also hard for me to fight against him. But after I've learned the Dugu Nine Swords, his fast knife was no longer fast enough in my eyes. But I'm afraid Tian Boguang wouldn't even be able to take three moves from Lin Pingzhi's fast sword. And me? How many moves would I be able to take?" All of a sudden, his palms were all sweaty.

    Mu Gaofeng pulled out a sword from his waist. This sword of his was really strange as it was shaped in an arch. A hunchback using a sword which also had a hunchback; so the sword was called a hunchback sword. Lin Pingzhi sneered, and walked up to him step by step. Mu Gaofeng suddenly howled like a wolf and his body rushed forward with his hunchback sword slashing an arc at Lin Pingzhi's lower body. Lin Pingzhi's long sword left its scabbard and was thrust towards Mu Gaofeng's chest. This sword move was executed later but it arrived first and was also very fierce and accurate. Mu Gaofeng let out a roar and his body shot back out. But there was already a big rip on the chest of his cotton-padded jacket exposing his hairy black chest. Lin Pingzhi's sword only had to go two inches further forward to have cut Mu Gaofeng's chest open. The crowd cried out in astonishment.

    Even though Mu Gaofeng had just escaped from his death, he was very fierce and unexpectedly didn't show any fear at all as he roared and charged towards Lin Pingzhi again. Lin Pingzhi stabbed out twice with his sword. With two 'tang, tang' sounds, he had blocked the hunchback sword twice. Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly as his sword was getting faster and faster. Mu Gaofeng slashed high and low. The light from his hunchback sword was making up a wall of steel around his body. When Lin Pingzhi thrust out his long sword and clashed against the hunchback sword, his arm felt a burst of numbing pain. It was obvious Mu Gaofeng’s internal energy was much stronger compared to his, and if he weren't careful, his long sword would be shaken out of his hand. After this, he didn't dare to attack head on anymore and he observed for a crack in Mu Gaofeng's defence before he would quickly attack that point with his sword. Mu Gaofeng didn’t care what his enemy was doing and was concentrating fully on revolving his hunchback sword around his body so that not even wind nor rain could penetrate, and it unexpectedly didn't show any crack at all.

    Even though Lin Pingzhi's sword art was high, he didn't know what to do. But with this kind of fighting, Lin Pingzhi was in an invincible position. Even if he couldn't harm his opponent, there was no leeway at all for Mu Gaofeng to make a mistake. Every master there saw that if Mu Gaofeng wanted to attack then his sword net would reveal a weakness, and Lin Pingzhi's quick sword would attack immediately and Mu Gaofeng would find it impossible to block. This kind of defending oneself with a flying sword was really taxing on the user’s internal energy. Each move had to be done with all your power, and only then would the movements be like unceasing flowing water covering your front and back continuously. But no matter how deep your internal energy was, you still couldn't use it forever.

    Within the sword net weaved by that hunchback sword, Mu Gaofeng kept on roaring. He slashed high and low with his earth-shattering roars accompanying each sword move. Lin Pingzhi had attacked a few times thinking he was going to get through the sword net, but every time it was blocked by the hunchback sword.

    Yu Canghai observed this for a long time when he suddenly saw the circle of the sword net had decreased by around half a foot. It was apparent Mu Gaofeng was gradually exhausting his internal energy. With a howl, Yu Canghai lifted his sword forward and slashed out three times at Lin Pingzhi's back. Lin Pingzhi turned his sword around to block. Mu Gaofeng's hunchback sword sliced out at Lin Pingzhi's lower body. Normally, Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng would've lost a lot of face in joining forces to attack a youth as they were both reputable seniors. But Heng-Shan School's people had all seen how violent and cruel Lin Pingzhi was in killing the Qingcheng disciples, and they had also seen how Yu Canghai wasn't his match. So at this time, when they saw the two masters joining forces, they all felt there was nothing strange about that but instead thought it was a natural thing to do. If the two of them didn't join hands, how could they fight back against Lin Pingzhi's lightning fast swordplay?

    With Yu Canghai's help, Mu Gaofeng's swordplay had changed and he was now attacking as well as defending. The three of them had fought for more than twenty moves when Lin Pingzhi's left hand circled around and turned his fan's handle around to point it towards the ground. A half inch needle shot out from his fan's handle and pierced Mu Gaofeng's right leg's 'Huantiao' acupoint. Alarmed, Mu Gaofeng quickly brandished his hunchback sword, but he suddenly felt the acupoint on his left leg was also numb. He didn't dare to move anymore and wildly brandished his hunchback sword to protect his body. Both of his legs were gradually losing strength and finally he couldn't help but to fall on his knees.

    Lin Pingzhi laughed. "It’s too late for you to kowtow now!" Saying this, he attacked Yu Canghai with three moves.

    Even though Mu Gaofeng was kneeling on the ground, the hunchback sword in his hand didn't slow down at all as it quickly slashed and thrust. He knew he had lost so there was a sense of desperation in his fighting as he was trying to bring common ruin to his enemy. In the beginning, all his movements were defensive and there wasn't a single attacking move at all. But at this time, he was sacrificing his life and he had changed his swordplay into full attack mode without any defence at all. Yu Canghai knew he didn't have much time. If he couldn't win within a few moves and Mu Gaofeng fell down, then he would be all by himself, so his sword was now moving like a violent storm. He suddenly heard Lin Pingzhi laughing long and loud, and his vision darkened making him unable to see anything any longer. Both sides of his shoulders then felt cool as both of his arms flew off from his body.

    Lin Pingzhi was laughing madly and calling out, "I'm not going to kill you! I'm going to let you run around Jianghu with no arms and no eyes. Your disciples, families, I'll kill them all and spare no one. You're only going to have enemies in this world and no family."

    Yu Canghai only felt unbearable pain near where his arms were, but he understood in his heart, "What he has done to me is ten thousand times more merciless than killing me with his sword. Even though I still live, I don't have any martial art at all, and he can just humiliate me as he wants." Using Lin Pingzhi's voice to locate him, he lifted his head to rush at Lin Pingzhi's chest.

    Lin Pingzhi laughed heartily and leaned his body to dodge. Now that his hatred had been avenged, he was lost in ecstasy and wasn't being cautious anymore. He retreated for a couple of steps and arrived besides Mu Gaofeng. Mu Gaofeng swiped his hunchback sword but Lin Pingzhi blocked it with his sword. Mu Gaofeng suddenly lunged at him and hug both of his legs firmly. Lin Pingzhi was startled and then he saw dozens of Qingcheng disciples rushing at him from all directions. He struggled to free both of his legs, but he couldn't get them free from Mu Gaofeng's iron grip. He quickly stabbed his sword at Mu Gaofeng's hunchback. As his sword pierced the hunchback, a jet stream of black smelly water shot out from it. Lin Pingzhi moved his legs to jump out of the way, but he forgot both of his legs were being firmly hugged by Mu Gaofeng so his whole face was sprayed by the smelly water, and he cried out in pain. This smelly water was actually poison. Inside Mu Gaofeng's hunchback was a sack of leather concealing this poison water. Covering his face with his left hand and with both of his eyes closed, Lin Pingzhi randomly slashed and chopped at Mu Gaofeng's body with his right hand. Lin Pingzhi's attacks were done swiftly but Mu Gaofeng didn't try to avoid them as he continued to hold onto Lin Pingzhi's legs firmly.

    At this time, Yu Canghai had distinguished the cries of those people and rushed to them with his mouth wide open. He managed to find Lin Pingzhi's right cheek and clamped down tightly on it. The three of them were entangled into one group and they were losing their minds. Qingcheng School disciples were using their swords to randomly chop at Lin Pingzhi's body.

    Linghu Chong saw all these clearly from his carriage. In the beginning, he was startled, but when he saw Lin Pingzhi being surrounded by the Qingcheng disciples chopping with their swords, he hastily called out, "Yingying, Yingying, quickly help him!"

    Yingying shot out with the short sword in her hand. 'Tang, tang, tang', the sounds of weapons clashing rang continuously, and the disciples of Qingcheng were kept at several steps away from the entangled mess of Lin Pingzhi, Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai. Mu Gaofeng crazed roaring gradually died off as Lin Pingzhi's sword penetrated the back of his body again and again. Yu Canghai's whole body was bloody and he was still biting down firmly on Lin Pingzhi's cheek.

    After some time, Lin Pingzhi gathered some strength in his left hand and pushed Yu Canghai away powerfully. At the same time, he cried out miserably as a chunk of flesh was torn off by Yu Canghai and blood dripped down fiercely from his right cheek. Mu Gaofeng had already died some time ago, but he was still holding both of Lin Pingzhi's legs tightly. Lin Pingzhi used his left hand to feel around to trace where Mu Gaofeng's arms were, then he raised his sword and chopped off the arms to free himself. Yingying saw the terrifying look on Lin Pingzhi's face and she couldn't help backing away from him. Qingcheng disciples crowded around their master to help him and they didn't pay any more attention to their strong archenemy.

    Qingcheng disciples then suddenly wept. "Master, master!" "Master's dead, master's dead!" They lifted Yu Canghai's corpse and ran to a place somewhere further away, afraid that Lin Pingzhi would chase and kill them.

    Lin Pingzhi laughed loudly and called out, "I've taken my revenge, I've taken my revenge!"

    After seeing such a soul-stirring incident, Heng-Shan School disciples were startled and lost all colours from their faces. Yue Lingshan slowly walked towards Lin Pingzhi and stopped besides him. "Brother Ping, congratulations on your revenge."

    Lin Pingzhi was still laughing madly and crying out, "I've taken my revenge, I've taken my revenge!"

    Yue Lingshan saw him with his eyes closed tightly so she asked, "What's wrong with your eyes? Let's wash the poison first."

    Lin Pingzhi was stupefied and his body swayed like he was about to fall. Yue Lingshan put her hand under his armpit to help him walk into the grass shed. Then she poured a tray of clean water on his head. Lin Pingzhi cried out miserably showing his unbearable pain. The Qingcheng disciples standing at a far away place were startled and they again ran for a few more steps.

    "Little martial sister, take these medicines and give them to Martial Brother Lin. Bring him into our carriage for him to rest," Linghu Chong said.

    "Many... many thanks," Yue Lingshan stammered.

    "NO!” Lin Pingzhi cried out. “What's so good about being betrayed by him! Whether I'm alive or dead, what does that have to do with him?"

    Linghu Chong was startled, and he thought, "When did I offend you? Why do you hate me?"

    "Heng-Shan School's wonderful medicines are well known in the world, it's hard to come by..." Yue Lingshan softly said.

    "Hard to come by what?" Lin Pingzhi angrily retorted.

    Yue Lingshan let out a long sigh and poured another tray of clean water on his head. This time, Lin Pingzhi only snorted and gritted his teeth to stop crying out. "He's so worried about you. You've always talked well about him. Why don't you go with him? Why do you still care about me?"

    When the Heng-Shan School disciples heard this, their faces lost their colours. Yihe loudly shouted, "You... You... dare to say such shameless words?"

    Yiqing quickly pulled on Yihe's sleeve. "Martial sister, with his injuries, his mood isn't good. Why must you argue with him?"

    "Pei!” Yihe angrily replied. “I'm just angry..."

    At this time, Yue Lingshan had taken out a handkerchief and was wiping the wound on Lin Pingzhi's cheek. Lin Pingzhi suddenly pushed out forcefully with his right hand. Yue Lingshan wasn't prepared for this so she was thrown outside and hit a stone wall outside the grass shed.

    Linghu Chong was greatly angered and he shouted, "You..." But he remembered the two of them were husband and wife. When husband and wife disagreed on something and fought, it was inappropriate for other people to intervene. Furthermore, from what Lin Pingzhi had just said, it was obvious there was a bit of jealousy towards him. Lin Pingzhi definitely knew about the way he intensely loved his martial sister. Also, his own injury was serious so Linghu Chong couldn't possibly get involved in this matter, so he quickly stopped from saying anything more. But the anger in him caused his whole body to tremble.

    Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "I'm shameless in what I said? Who are actually the shameless ones?" He pointed outside the grass shed and said, "That Shorty Yu, Hunchback Mu; they were the ones who wanted my Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art. They wanted to steal it and killed my father and mother for it. Even though they were ruthless and merciless, they were still gentleman enough to follow the rules of a scoundrel in Jianghu, unlike... unlike..." He then turned around and pointed to Yue Lingshan and continued, "Unlike your father, Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun, who used such a contemptible and sly method to obtain my family's sword manual."

    Yue Lingshan supported herself on the wall as she slowly stood up, but when she heard Lin Pingzhi's accusation, her body shook and she sat back down. She tremblingly said, "Did... did this really happen?"

    Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "Shameless lowly people! Both of you, father and daughter, conspired very well to entice me. Huashan School's Miss Yue is married to me, a little kid with nowhere to go with no family to return to. Why is that if it isn't for the Evil Resisting Sword Manual? Once the sword manual is in your hand, why do you still bother with me?"

    Yue Lingshan gasped and cried. She said sobbing, "You... you're blaming a good person here, if I had that idea, then let me... let me be punished by heaven and earth."

    "You secretly set your traitorous plan up,” Lin Pingzhi said. “From the beginning, I've been kept in the dark and didn't understand a single thing. Now with both of my eyes blind, I can see everything clearly. If the two of you, father and daughter, set all these up, then why... why..."

    Yue Lingshan slowly walked towards him and said, "Don't let your imagination run wild. My heart towards you is still the same as before." Lin Pingzhi snorted in contempt. Yue Lingshan went on, "Let's go back to Huashan and tend to your injuries. It doesn't matter if your eyes get better or not. If I have any ill intention behind this, then let me... let me die more miserably than Yu Canghai."

    Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "I don't know what kind of crafty idea you have for talking so nicely to me."

    Yue Lingshan didn't pay anymore attention to him but she said to Yingying, "Sister, I'd like to borrow a carriage from you."

    "Of course you can. Would you like to have two Heng-Shan School's sisters to accompany you on your journey?"

    Yue Lingshan couldn't stop whimpering as she replied, "No... no need, many... many thanks."

    Yingying pulled a carriage over and gave her the rein and whip. Yue Lingshan held onto Lin Pingzhi's arm and said, "Let's get on the carriage!" Lin Pingzhi wasn't willing, but both of his eyes couldn't see a thing and it was very hard for him to walk. After hesitating for a while, he finally went inside the carriage. Yue Lingshan bit her lip and jumped onto the driver seat. She nodded her head at Yingying to show her thanks, then cracked her whip urging the mule to draw the carriage towards the northwest. She didn't give a glance towards Linghu Chong at all.

    Linghu Chong watched the carriage disappearing into the horizon. His heart was sour and tears was about to flow down from his eyes. He thought, "Both of Martial Brother Lin's eyes are blind, and little martial sister is also injured. The two of them has no one else to rely on while slowly going on their long journey, what would be best thing to do? If Qingcheng School's disciples chased them to take revenge, how can they fight back?" He saw the disciples of Qingcheng had surrounded Yu Canghai's corpse and then put it on a horseback before going southwesterly. Even though they went in the opposite direction to that of Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan, how would he know if they turn north after going dozens of li into their journey and go after the Lin husband and wife? As he pondered over what Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan said to each other, he felt there were still countless unsaid feelings associated with them. Even though other people wouldn't be able to see the love and hate between a husband and wife, it was clear the two of them would definitely not have a harmonious marriage. He thought little martial sister was still so young, her parents loved her so dearly, and the martial brothers in the school cherished her deeply, but to be insulted so by Lin Pingzhi, he couldn't help shedding his tears for her.

    On the very same day, after they had gone for more than ten li, they rested inside the main hall of a broken down temple for the night. It was the middle of the night and Linghu Chong had been sleeping but his sleep had been interrupted by unsettling dreams for a few times already. In his sleep, he suddenly heard a soft voice calling him, "Brother Chong, Brother Chong!" Linghu Chong groaned and woke up. He then heard Yingying's voice, "Come outside, I have something to talk to you about."

    Linghu Chong quickly sat up and walked outside the temple. He saw Yingying sitting on top of the stone steps with both of her hands cupping her cheeks. She was gazing at the moon which was half covered by the cloud. Linghu Chong walked towards her and sat besides her. The night was deep and everything was peaceful. After some time, Yingying said, "You're concerned about your little martial sister?"

    "Yes. There are many things which are hard to understand."

    "You're worried she'll be bullied by her husband?"

    Linghu Chong let out a sigh. "That's their own matter, how can other people meddle in it?"

    "You're afraid the Qingcheng disciples will go after them?"

    "Qingcheng disciples are pained by the loss of their master, so when they see the two of them injured, they'll want to go and harm them. That'll be a reasonable assumption."

    "Why don't you think of a way to save them?"

    Linghu Chong sighed. "I heard what Martial Brother Lin said. He's quite jealous of me. Even if I have good intention in helping him, I'm afraid I'll ruin the harmony between the two of them even more."

    "That's one. The other apprehension you have in your heart is that I'll be unhappy, isn't that right?"

    Linghu Chong nodded his head and held her left hand. Her palm was very cold. He softly said, "Yingying, you're the only person I have in this world. If a suspicion also aroused between the two of us, then what would that mean?"

    Yingying slowly rested her head on his shoulder. "Since your heart already thinks like that, how can there be suspicion between us? It's not too late yet, let's go chase after them and don't let suspicion keep us away and rouse a lifelong of hatred."

    Linghu Chong was startled and his eyes glazed over in fear. "Lifelong of hatred, lifelong of hatred!" He saw in his mind dozens of Qingcheng disciples surrounding the carriage Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan was riding, and dozens of swords viciously thrusting and stabbing at it. He couldn't stop his body from trembling when thinking about it.

    "I'll go wake sister Yihe and Yiqing up so you can order them to go back to Heng-Shan by themselves,” Yingying said. “We'll secretly protect your little martial sister on her journey, then we'll go back to the White Cloud Convent after that."

    Yihe and Yiqing saw that Linghu Chong's injury had not completely healed yet, so they were quite worried. But since his mind was already decided and he was also anxious to save his little martial sister, it wasn't appropriate for them to advise him otherwise. So they gave him a big bottle of medicine and put it in the carriage. When Linghu Chong gave the order to Yihe and Yiqing, Yingying stood on the side looking the other way. She didn't dare to look at Yihe and Yiqing, thinking they would laugh at them for going together in one carriage at night. Not until their mule-drawn carriage had gone for a few miles that she let out a sigh and the blushing on her cheeks subsided.

    She recognised the way they were taking. It was a major road going northwest towards Mount Huashan and it was unlikely for them to get lost. The mule drawing their carriage was healthy and it galloped quite fast. In the calm of the night, they could only hear the rumbling of wheels and the tick-tock sound of the hooves.

    Linghu Chong felt appreciative towards Yingying and he thought, "For my sake, she agrees to do anything. She knows I'm very concerned about little martial sister so she comes with me to protect her. She really knows me well. I wonder from which of my previous lives did she come from?"

    Yingying hurried the mule up and it went quickly for a few miles before it slowed down again. "We'll protect your martial sister and martial brother in secret. If they meet with trouble along the way then we'll go out to help. It's best if we don't let them know. I think it'll be easier if we disguise ourselves."

    "That's right. Disguise yourself as that big bearded man!"

    Yingying shook her head. "That won't do. Your little martial sister already saw me in that disguise besides the place of worship."

    "Then what should be our disguise?"

    Yingying pointed to a farmhouse in front of them with her whip and said, "I'll go and steal some clothing. We'll change into a... a... two brother and sister from the farm." She originally wanted to say 'a couple', but as it reached the tip of her tongue, she felt it was inappropriate and immediately changed her word. Linghu Chong guessed it but knew she was very shy, so he didn't dare to make a joke about it and just smiled to himself. But Yingying was just turning her head around and caught a glimpse of his smile, and her face turned red.

    "What's so funny?"

    Linghu Chong smiled. "Nothing. I was just thinking, if that family doesn't have any girl, and there's only an old granny and a young kid living there, then I'd have to call you granny again."

    Yingying giggled and remembered the days when she had just met Linghu Chong and he kept on calling her granny at that time. She felt warmth in her heart as she jumped down from the carriage to go towards that farmhouse. Linghu Chong saw her leaping lightly to go over the wall, followed by the sound of a dog barking. But after one bark, it became quiet again, he thought Yingying must've kicked it dizzy. After some time, he saw her coming out with some clothes in her hands. When she reached the side of the carriage, he saw that she appeared to be smiling and she had a funny expression on her face. She quickly threw the clothes into the carriage, jumped into the carriage, then started laughing loudly. Linghu Chong picked up some of the clothes and inspected them under the moonlight. They were the clothes of an old peasant and an old woman. The clothes of the old woman were particularly big, inlaid with green flower laces. It was in an old style and clearly not the clothes of a young farm girl at all. Among the clothes, there was also a man's cap, a head cover for a woman, and a tobacco tube.

    Yingying laughed. "You're Linghu the half deity! You guessed right there was a granny in the farmhouse, but it's a pity there's no kid..." She said till here when she blushed furiously and stopped talking.

    Linghu Chong smiled teasingly. "So they're brother and sister. The two are really good to each other. One doesn't want to take a wife, the other doesn't want to get married, they live till seventy eighty years old and they're still together."

    Yingying bit her lip smiling. "You know it's not like that."

    "They're not brother and sister? That's really strange."

    Yingying couldn't help laughing. Then at the back of the carriage, she put on the clothes of the old farm woman on top of her gown and she also put on the head cover on her head. Then she grabbed some dirt from the side and rubbed it on her face. After that, she helped Linghu Chong to change into the old peasant's clothes. Linghu Chong was barely a few inches away from her cheek and when he felt her breath caressing his face, he couldn't help feeling moved. He really wanted to just give her a hug and kiss her, but he knew she was extremely stern and wasn't the least bit licentious. If he offended her and raised her ire, then it would be hard to say what would happen, so he quickly collected his thought and didn't dare to move.

    He suddenly looked quite strange as he was restraining himself from doing something. Yingying saw him and understood. She smiled. "Good kid, granny adores you." She extended her palm and rubbed the dirt on his face. Linghu Chong shut his eyes closed and felt her warm and soft palm lightly massaging his face all over. He felt unspeakable comfort and hoped she could continue doing this forever.

    After some time, Yingying said, "Done. Your little martial will definitely not recognise you at night, but be careful not to speak."

    "Rub the dirt on my neck too."

    "Who's going to look at your neck?" Yingying asked with a laugh. But she quickly understood his meaning. Linghu Chong wanted her to massage his neck. With a bent middle finger, she knocked softly on his forehead and turned around to sit on the driver's seat. With a whistle, she urged the mule forward and suddenly she couldn't help laughing, and she laughed harder as she went on. She was actually laughing till she bent forward and was finding it hard to sit.

    Linghu Chong smiled and inquired, "What did you see in that farmhouse?"

    "I didn't see anything funny. That grandpa and grandma are... are husband and wife..." Yingying laughed.

    "So they're not brother and sister, but husband and wife instead," Linghu Chong smiled.

    "You're teasing me again, I'm not talking."

    "Alright, they're not husband and wife, they're brother and sister."

    "Stop interrupting me, can you not? I jumped over the wall, and a dog barked, so I gave it a slap and made it faint. But the grandpa and grandma were woken up because of it. The grandma said: 'Amao must've seen a weasel coming to steal the chicken.' Grandpa said: 'Old black isn't barking anymore, it can't be a weasel.' That old grandma suddenly laughed and she said: 'I think that weasel must've followed your example from the past when you visited my home in the middle of the night. You always brought a piece of meat to give to my dog.'"

    Linghu Chong smiled. "This grandma is really bad. She's scolding you and saying you're a weasel."

    He knew Yingying was very shy. She was talking about the private matter between the old husband and wife farmers, so he pretended not to understand. Then, perhaps, she would continue with her story. Otherwise, if he said something a little bit romantic, she would stop talking altogether.

    Yingying laughed and continued, "That grandma was talking about the time before they got married..." She said till here when she straightened her body and lifted the rein high to urge the mule to quicken its run.

    "So what happened before they got married? They must've adhered to customs really strictly. Even in the middle of the night, sitting all by themselves in a carriage, they definitely wouldn't dare to hug or kiss." Yingying snorted and stopped talking.

    Linghu Chong continued, "Dear, darling, what did they say? Tell me please." Yingying smiled but kept her silence.

    In the middle of the night, they only heard the hooves of the mule hitting the road and the peacefulness was really pleasing to the ear. Linghu Chong looked out and saw the moonlight was like water flowing out into the straight and broad road, and the mist enveloped the trees on the side of the road. The mule-drawn carriage slowly entered the mist and everything outside couldn't be seen clearly anymore, even the back of Yingying's body was wrapped around a haze of mist.

    It was just at the beginning of spring, so the fragrance from the flowers was sometimes thick and sometimes light as the wind carried it, the pleasure of it all was unspeakable. Linghu Chong had not drunk any wine for a long time, but with this feeling in his mind, it felt just like being intoxicated. Yingying was still carrying a smile on her face as her thought went back to what those two old husband and wife were talking: The old grandpa said: 'That night I didn't have any meat at all, so I killed a chicken from your neighbour and fed it to your dog. What's that dog called?' Old grandma answered: 'Big Flower.' Old grandpa said: 'That's right, Big Flower. It ate half a chicken and didn't bark anymore. Your father, mother, all didn't know. Our Amao must've have gotten the same thing tonight.' Old grandma said: 'You knew you're merry, and paid no attention to others’ hard work. Later on, my tummy became big and father hit me viciously.' Old grandpa said: 'Lucky your stomach became big, otherwise why would your father agree to marry you to such a poor kid like me? That time, I was looking forward to your stomach getting big!' Old grandma suddenly got mad and scolded: 'You devil, so you did it deliberately and you've been hiding the truth from me. I... I won't spare you now.' Old grandpa said: 'Don't be noisy! Amao will also bear a kid. What are you noisy about?'

    By that time, Yinying was afraid Linghu Chong would be worried, so she didn't listen anymore and stole the clothes before leaving a big silver ingot on the table and going out. She was going around lightly and that husband and wife didn't notice at all. It was because they were already old and slow, and they were talking excitedly, so they didn't feel her presence at all.

    When Yingying thought of the conversation between the two of them, her face and ears turned red. Fortunately, it was at night, otherwise if Linghu Chong were to see her face, she would've been totally embarrassed. She stopped urging the mule and the big carriage gradually slowed down to normal speed. They turned around a bend and arrived besides the bank of a large lake. There were willows hanging around the bank of the lake and in the middle of the lake was the reflection of the round moon flickering about as the surface of the lake moved.

    Yingying softly asked, "Brother Chong, are you asleep?"

    "I'm asleep, I'm dreaming."

    "What are you dreaming?"

    "I'm dreaming I'm carrying a big piece of meat and going up the Dark Wood Cliff to feed your family dog."

    "You're not a proper person. No wonder your dream is also not proper," Yingying said smiling.

    The two of them sat alongside each other inside the carriage, gazing at the lake. Linghu Chong extended his right hand and put it on the back of Yingying's left hand. Yingying's hand trembled slightly but she didn't take her hand back. Linghu Chong thought, "If only we could be like this forever and not see the bloodshed in Wulin ever again. Even if I were to become a god, I still wouldn't be as happy as right now."

    "What are you thinking?" Yingying asked and Linghu Chong told her what he was just thinking of. Yingying turned over her hand and gripped his hand. "Brother Chong, I'm really happy."

    "Me too."

    "Even though I appreciated you commanding that group of heroes to attack Shaolin temple, I wasn't as happy as I am now. If I were your best friend, and I was trapped inside the Shaolin temple, you would've also tried to save me because of the code of righteousness of Jianghu. But right now, you only think of me, and are not thinking of your little martial sister..." As she mentioned 'your little martial sister', Linghu Chong's whole body quivered and he blurted out, "Aiyo, let's go catch up to her!"

    Yingying softly said, "Only now I believe that in your heart, you finally thought of me a bit more, and thought of your little martial sister a bit less."

    She lightly pulled on the rein to turn the mule around. The mule-drawn carriage returned to the major road, and with a crack of her whip, the mule ran quickly. In just a short time, they had covered more than twenty li and their mule had become weary, so it slowed down. After turning a couple of bends, they saw a field of tall sorghum in front of them with the major road running straight through the middle of it. The pale moonlight on the ground looked like a piece of big green silk spreading throughout the ground. As they gazed far away, they saw a carriage at the other end of the road, which seemed to be still and unmoving.

    "This carriage looks like Martial Brother Lin's carriage," Linghu Chong remarked.

    "Let's go slowly and take a look," Yingying replied. She then urged the mule to go slowly as it got nearer to the other carriage. After they had travelled for a bit, they became aware that the carriage in front was actually still moving, but very slowly. They also saw there was a person walking besides the mule, who was unexpectedly Lin Pingzhi. From the shape of the driver's body, they saw it was Yue Lingshan who was sitting on the driver's seat. Linghu Chong was surprised and he extended his hand to the rein to stop their mule. "What are they doing?" he whispered.

    "Wait here, I'll go have a look," Yingying said.

    If they were to catch up with the other carriage, then the other party would have discovered them. So they must use qinggong to secretly peep in on them. Linghu Chong really wanted to go with her, but his injury had not healed yet so he couldn't use his qinggong. He nodded his head and replied, "Alright."

    Yingying lightly leapt off the carriage and rushed into the thicket of tall sorghum on the side of the road. The tall sorghum had grown very thick so once someone entered it, they wouldn't be seen even in the light of day. But these tall sorghum had not grown very tall yet and their leaves weren't that dense, so your head would still be exposed outside. She stooped down as she went and followed the sound of the hooves, until she was finally alongside Yue Lingshan's mule-drawn carriage.

    She heard Lin Pingzhi said, "My sword manual was already taken by your father a long time ago, and I don't have any other move he doesn't know. Why must you insist on following me everywhere?"

    "You've always been suspicious of my father having plans on your sword manual without any reason at all. Listen to your own conscience. When you first entered Huashan School, you didn't have any sword manual, but I've always been... always been good to you, could it be, it all means nothing to you?" Yue Lingshan reasoned.

    "My Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art is well known throughout the world. Yu Canghai, Mu Gaofeng, they both couldn't find anything on my father so they searched me. How do I know you didn't deliberately treat me well because of your father’s and mother's order?"

    Yue Lingshan whimpered. "If you think that way, then what can I do?"

    "Did I mistakenly blame you then?” Lin Pingzhi vehemently asked. “This 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual', didn't your father finally take it from my hand? Everyone knows, if you want the 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' then you must take it from this little kid Lin. Yu Canghai, Mu Gaofeng, hng hng, Yue Buqun, what's the difference? The only difference is Yue Buqun succeeded, while Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng failed."

    "You're slandering my father, who do you think I am?” Yue Lingshan angrily retorted. “If not for... if not for... hng hng..."

    Lin Pingzhi halted his steps and shouted, "What are you going to do? If not for me being blind, injured, you're going to kill me, isn't that right? My eyes were blinded a long time ago."

    "So when you first knew me and treated me well, your eyes were already blind?" She reined in the mule and stopped the carriage.

    "That's right! How would I know you had planned everything? Because of this 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual', you actually went to Fuzhou to open up a small wine shop. When that kid Yu from Qingcheng School bullied you, actually your martial art was much higher than him, but you pretended not to know any martial art and made me helped you. Hng, Lin Pingzhi, you were one blind stupid kid, relying on your three legged cat martial art and actually daring to be heroic and be outraged by injustice,” Lin Pingzhi said. “You're everything to your father and mother, if not for something big and important, why would they agree to let you show your face in public? Why would they agree to let you sell wine in such a humble shop?"

    "Father originally sent second martial brother to go to Fuzhou,” Yue Lingshan replied. “It was me who wanted to go down the mountain to play, to follow second martial brother."

    "Your father controls the school's disciples so strictly. If he believed it was inappropriate, even if you kneeled and implored him for three days and three nights, he still wouldn't allow you to go. Naturally, it was because he couldn't trust second martial brother that he also sent you to watch over things."

    Yue Lingshan was quiet, looking like she felt Lin Pingzhi's conjecture wasn't completely unreasonable. After a little while, she said, "You can believe me or not, but before I got to Fuzhou, I've never heard of 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'. Father only said, big martial brother had beaten up the disciples of Qingcheng so there's a dislike between the two parties. At that time, the Qingcheng School was carrying out a large operation and was moving to the east. So he's afraid it would be disadvantageous to our school. That was why second martial brother and I went to Fuzhou to investigate."

    Lin Pingzhi let out a sigh. It seemed he had softened up as he said, "Fine, I'll believe you this time. But I've already changed into this. Why are you still following me for? You and I are only husband and wife in names only, we're not real husband and wife. You're still a virgin, you can just go back... go back to Linghu Chong!"

    When Yingying heard 'You and I are only husband and wife in names only, we're not real husband and wife. You're still a virgin', she couldn't help being surprised, and she thought, "What's the reason for that?" She immediately became bashful and her whole face turned bright red. Even her neck was feeling hot. She thought, "For me to listen to the private conversation of a husband and wife of another family is already very inappropriate, but to think of a reason for that, that's really... that's really..." She turned around to go, but she only went for a few steps before her curiosity got the better of her and she halted to listen for more. But she was afraid of being discovered so she didn't dare to return to her previous hiding spot, and now she was further away from the two of them. However, the conversation between them could still be clearly heard by her. She heard Yue Lingshan quietly said, "After we had been married for three days, I already knew you really hate me. Even though we were in the same room, you didn't want to be on the same bed with me. Since you already hate me so, why did you... did you... marry me?"

    Lin Pingzhi sighed. "I don't hate you."

    "You don't hate me? Then why did you pretend to be very caring towards me during the day, but at night when we got back to our room, you didn't even want to talk to me? Father and mother have already repeatedly asked how you were treating me. I’ve always told them you treated me very well, very well, very well... sob..." She said till here when she suddenly bawled her eyes out.

    Lin Pingzhi leapt up onto the carriage and holding both of her shoulders, he then severely said, "You said your father and mother asked you repeatedly wanting to know how I treated you, is this true?"

    "Of course it's true,” Yue Lingshan answered in sobs. “Why do I need to lie to you about this?"

    "You know I didn't treat you well, I didn't even share the same bed with you. So how did you answer them?" Lin Pingzhi inquired.

    "I was already married to you, so I belong to the Lin family. I was hoping you would have a change of feeling soon. I treated you genuinely, how can I... how can I lay out my own husband's fault?"

    Lin Pingzhi gritted his teeth and did not answer her for a long time. After a long time, he slowly said, "Hng, I thought your father was worried about you so he was showing mercy towards me. Who would've thought the entire thing was covered up by you? If you didn't answer like you did, I would've died on Mount Huashan a long time ago."

    "How can that be?” Yue Lingshan sobbingly asked. “Newly married couples can be a little bit at odds with each other, how can the father-in-law kill the son-in-law just because of that?"

    Yingying heard till here when she advanced forward a few more steps.

    Lin Pingzhi said with hatred in his voice, "He wants to kill me not because I don't treat you well, it was because I learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

    "I really don't understand this. These last few days, the sword art that father and you have been using is really strange, but its power is incredibly powerful. Father defeated Zuo Lengchan and snatched the Five Mountains School's headmaster position, while you killed Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng, could it be... could it be that sword art is the Evil Resisting Sword Art?"

    "That's right! That really is my Fuzhou's Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art! Years ago, my great grandfather Yuantu used this seventy two groups of sword moves to intimidate the demonical and created the 'Fortune Prestige Escort House' business. All the heroes in the realm respected and feared him because of this." When he talked of this matter, his voice became louder and it was full of pride.

    "But, you've never told me you've learned this set of sword art."

    "How could I dare? Linghu Chong tried to snatch that Buddhist robe in Fuzhou but he couldn't do it, but this sword manual written on the Buddhist robe instead fell into your father's hand..."

    "No, it can't be!” Yue Lingshan sharply interrupted. “Father said, big martial brother was the one who snatched the sword manual. I begged him to return it to you, but he wasn't willing at all." Lin Pingzhi snorted and laughed coldly.

    Yue Lingshan continued, "Big martial brother's sword art is very formidable and even my father isn't his match, could it be the sword art he's using isn't the Evil Resisting Sword Art? That it wasn’t learned from your family's 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'?"

    Lin Pingzhi again laughed derisively. "Even though Linghu Chong is sly and deceitful, he’s nothing compared to your father. Also, his swordplay is a mess, how can it be compared to my family's Evil Resisting Sword Art? During the fight besides the place of worship, he couldn't even compete with you and was injured heavily under your sword, hng hng, so how can his sword art be compared to my family's Evil Resisting Sword Art?"

    "He deliberately let me win," Yue Lingshan quietly mumbled.

    Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "His love for you is so deep!" If these words were heard by Yingying the day before, she would've gotten enraged even though she knew already Linghu Chong deliberately lost that sword fight. But after spending the night together in the same carriage and talking clearly besides the lake, they knew each other's hearts, and she now felt sweetness in her heart instead. "He treated you really well before, but right now, he treats me much better. You can't blame him for this, it's not because he had a change of heart toward you, but it's because you've been bullying him too fiercely."

    "So big martial brother's sword art isn't the Evil Resisting Sword Art,” Yue Lingshan concluded. “Then why did Father always say he stole your family's 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual'? That day when Father expelled him from the Huashan School, he declared this to be one of his big crimes. Then, I've... I've been wrongly blaming him."

    Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly. "What wrongly blaming? Linghu Chong also wanted to rob my sword manual. He had actually already stolen it. But that bandit met with the grandpa bandit, so after he got injured and fainted, your father took it from his body and took the opportunity to lay the blame on him to cover his track. This is called thief crying thief..."

    "What thief crying thief!” Yue Lingshan angrily retorted. “You're saying such a horrible thing!"

    "The things your father did, aren't they horrible? The things he did, am I not allowed to say them?"

    Yue Lingshan let out a sigh. "That day in Xiangyang Lane, that Buddhist Robe was stolen by the bad people from Songshan School. Big martial brother killed these two people and took the Buddhist robe back. This is not necessarily because he wanted to get it for himself. Big martial brother is a very bighearted person. Ever since he was small, he'd never been greedy and never coveted other people's things. When Father said he took your sword manual, I doubted it. But since Father said it, and I also saw how Big Martial Brother had suddenly advanced a lot in his swordplay to the level above that of my father, I believed everything was true."

    Yingying thought, "You can say these words now, then Chong-lang's love for you wasn't in vain."

    (Translator's note: To call someone 'lang' has romantic connotation.)

    Lin Pingzhi sneered coldly. "He's so good, why didn't you go with him?"

    "Brother Ping, even until now, you still don't understand my heart. Big martial brother and I have grown up together since we were little. In my heart, he's just like my real brother. I love him dearly like a family member and regard him as my big brother. I've never regarded him as my lover. Ever since you came to Mount Huashan, you and I have matched really well. If I don't see you for some time, then my heart becomes unhappy and uneasy. My feeling towards you will never change."

    "Your father and you are somewhat different, you're... you're like your mother." His voice had become softer as he said this; it was clear his true feeling towards Yue Lingshan was being moved. The two of them didn't speak another word for a long time before Yue Lingshan broke the silence, "Brother Ping, you have such a deep hatred toward my father, so it won't be easy for the two of you to reconcile. I'm already married... I... I will definitely always follow you. Let's go somewhere far and find somewhere secluded to pass our days happily there."

    Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly and replied, "What you thought is quite good. But the whole world would've known by now that I killed Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng, so your father naturally knows that I've learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art. How can he let me keep on living in this world?"

    "You said my father sought your sword manual. Based on the fact, there's nothing I can do to defend him,” Yue Lingshan dejectedly said. “But you keep on saying that he’s going to kill you after you've learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art. What's the logic in that? The 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' belongs to your family, so it's perfectly justified and totally natural for you to learn this sword art. There's no reason at all for my father to want to kill you, and he won't kill you just because of this."

    "You can say this because you don't understand what kind of person your father is. You also don't understand what this 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' really is."

    "Even though I'm totally devoted to you, I still don't understand what's in your heart."

    "That's right, you don't understand! You don't understand! Why do you want to understand?" He became really irritable at this point.

    Yue Lingshan didn't dare to speak too much, so she said, "En, let's go!"

    "Go where?"

    "Wherever you want to go, I'll go with you. I'll go with you even to the edge of the world."

    "What you're saying is true? No matter what happens in the future, you won't regret it?"

    "I've made up my mind to be with you, to marry you. I've long ago decided to be with you forever. How can I regret it? Your eyes' injury, whether it's going to heal or not, I'll accompany you always, attend to you, and be together until both of us died."

    These words were said sincerely, and Yingying was moved on hearing them. Lin Pingzhi snorted sounding like he didn't believe her. Yue Lingshan softly said, "Brother Ping, you still don't believe me. I... I... tonight I’m going to give you everything, you... so you will trust me always. Tonight will be our wedding night, and we'll become real husband and wife. From today onwards, become... real husband and wife..." Her voice became softer and softer as she spoke, at the end it was barely audible.

    Yingying became terribly embarrassed, and she thought, "If I still listen to what they're doing now, how can I still be a person?" She slowly moved away while secretly scolding, "This Miss Yue really is shameless! They're in the middle of a major road, how can... how can... pei!"

    Suddenly, she heard Lin Pingzhi ferociously crying out. His voice was extremely sad and shrill, followed by him shouting, "Scram! Don't come over!"

    Yingying started and thought, "What's going on? Why is this Lin being so fierce?" This was followed by Yue Lingshan weeping loudly. Lin Pingzhi shouted, "Go away, go away! Quickly go far far away, I'd rather be killed by your father, I don't want you to come with me."

    "You're being so mean to me... what... what did I do wrong..." Yue Lingshan cried.

    "I... I..." Lin Pingzhi stammered. After a pause, he went on, "You... You..." But he stopped talking.

    "Say what your heart wants to say,” Yue Lingshan said. “Did I do something wrong, or maybe you're blaming my father and don't want to forgive me. Just say it clearly once and then you don't need to do anything, I'll immediately kill myself with my sword." With a hissing sound, she drew her sword. Yingying thought, "She's going to be forced to die by Lin Pingzhi, I have to save her!" She quickly walked back and got very near to the carriage so she could rescue her.

    Lin Pingzhi again stammered, "I... I..." After some time, he let out a long sigh and said, "It's not your fault, it's me who is no good."

    Yue Lingshan cried mournfully. Lin Pingzhi relented and said, "Alright, I'll tell you."

    "You can hit me, kill me, but don't leave me not understanding anything," Yue Lingshan said between sobs.

    "Since your feeling towards me isn't fake, then I'll tell you everything so your heart can die over this."

    "Why?" Yue Lingshan was perplexed.

    "Why? My Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art is very famous throughout Wulin. Yu Canghai and your father are both headmasters of a school, their own sword arts are already strong, but they still planned on stealing my family's sword manual. But my father's martial art is useless, and other people can just bully and humiliate him without him being able to fight back at all, now why is that?"

    "Maybe because father-in-law wasn't suitable to learn martial art, or maybe his body was weak,” Yue Lingshan guessed. “From among the school's disciples in Wulin, it's not necessarily true that every one of them has strong martial art."

    "You're wrong. Even though my father's swordplay was no good, it was only because he didn't study it enough. His internal energy was weak, and his attainment of the sword art was also poor. But the Evil Resisting Sword Art that he taught me, the foundation was wrong, and from the beginning to the end, it wasn't right."

    Yue Lingshan hummed deeply and said, "This... This is really strange."

    "Actually, it's not strange,” Lin Pingzhi said. “Do you know what my great grandfather Yuantu originally was?"

    "I don't know."

    "He was originally a monk."

    "So he was a Buddhist. Some heroes of Wulin do a lot of outrageous things in Jianghu, but when they got older, they got quite worn out from all the things happening in the world, so they become Buddhists. This can happen," Yue Lingshan said.

    "No. My great grandfather didn't become a Buddhist when he got old. He was a monk first before returning to secular life again."

    "There were also heroes who were monks when they're young. Our founding ancestor of the Ming, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, he was a monk before he became the emperor."

    Yingying thought, "Miss Yue knows her husband is narrow-minded. Not only does she not dare to offend him, she keeps trying to reassure him."

    She then heard Yue Lingshan went on, "Father-in-law must've told you that your great grandfather Yuantu was a monk when he was young."

    "My father never talked about it, I don't think he knew about it. My house at the Xiangyang Lane has a Buddhist hall in it; we went in there together on that night."

    "Yes."

    "Why was this 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' recorded on a Buddhist robe? It was because he was originally a monk, and when he saw the sword manual, he quickly wrote it down on his Buddhist robe and got out. Once he returned to secular life, he built a Buddhist hall at home and didn't dare to forget about Buddha."

    "Your guess is very reasonable,” Yue Lingshan agreed. “But, it's also possible that the sword manual was given to Grandfather Yuantu by an eminent reverend, and that the sword manual was originally written on the Buddhist robe. So Grandfather Yuantu may have obtained this sword manual frankly and uprightly."

    "It's not like that."

    "Your conjecture isn't necessarily right."

    "It's not my conjecture; it's what Grandfather Yuantu wrote on the Buddhist robe."

    "Ah, so that's how it is."

    "He wrote this at the end of the sword manual. He was originally a monk, but because of an especially lucky chance, he heard of this sword manual from other people's mouth and wrote it down on the Buddhist robe. He warned that this sword art is too cruel and sinister, and once you learned it, you'll die without an heir. It's already unsuitable for even nuns or monks to learn as it violates the compassion of the Buddha, so for secular people, they shouldn't learn this even more."

    "But he had already learned it himself."

    "At that time, I also thought the same thing as you. This sword art is said to be cruel and sinister, and inadvisable to be practised, but after Grandfather Yuantu studied it, didn't he still manage to take a wife and get an heir?"

    "That's right. But it could be that he took a wife and got an heir first before studying this sword art."

    "It can't be,” Lin Pingzhi said. “Everyone who studies martial art in this world, no matter how heroic you are, or how powerful your martial art already is, once you see this sword manual, you couldn't possibly not practice it because you want to see how the first move goes. Once you've tried the first move, you'll definitely try the second move. Once you've tried the second move, you cannot not try the third move. Even if you haven't seen a sword manual before, once you've seen it then you'll definitely go crazy about it and it's very difficult to free yourself from it, and you'll practice it from top to bottom. Even if you know there's an enormous disaster tied to practising it, you still won't care about it."

    Yingying heard till here when her thoughts turned to her father. "Daddy once said, this 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' actually has the same root as our sect's 'Sunflower Manual' and they have the same fundamental principle. It's no wonder Yue Buqun's and Lin Pingzhi's sword art actually looks very similar to Dongfang Bubai's." She also thought, "Daddy said, there's something harmful in the martial art contained in the 'Sunflower Manual'. He knows that once a person who studies martial art sees the content of this martial art secret, he would definitely fall under its trap and would find it hard to free himself from it even if he knows it'd be disastrous to study it. So he simply refused to look at the Manual, which was the most sensible thing to do." A thought suddenly flashed in her mind, "Then why did he give it to Dongfang Bubai?" She thought till this point, and she automatically deduced, "So at that time Daddy already saw Dongfang Bubai harbouring an ill intention, so he gave him the Manual to harm him. But Uncle Xiang didn't know anything about this, and Dongfang Bubai was also ignorant of this and was still blissfully unworried. Actually, my father is such an astute and formidable person. How could he have been muddled headed for so long? It's just that a person's thought isn't as good as the thought of heaven. Dongfang Bubai unexpectedly struck first, captured daddy, and imprisoned him under the West Lake. But his heart wasn't especially bad. If at that time, he were to have killed daddy, or may have given an order not to give him food and drink, how could Daddy have the opportunity to take his revenge? Actually, it was a really lucky thing that we were able to kill Dongfang Bubai. If not for Chong-lang's help, Daddy, Uncle Xiang, Shangguan Yun and me, the four of us would've been killed by Dongfang Bubai at that time. Also, if it weren't for Yang Lianting messing with his heart, Dongfang Bubai would still be undefeated." She thought till here, and she couldn't help feeling that Dongfang Bubai was somewhat pitiful.

    She thought, "After he captured my dad, he treated me generously and gave me a lot of gifts. When I was in the Divine Sun Moon Sect, I was no different from a princess. Today, when my own dad is the Chief, I instead, didn't have the authority I used to have. Ai, now that I already have Chong-lang, why do I still need that authority for?" As her thoughts wandered to the past, she thought her father's scheming was very deep and she couldn't help be frightened. "Even now, Dad still hasn't told Chong-lang the method of dispersing the internal energy. Chong-lang had already amassed several different qi from other people, and they still haven't been dispersed yet. This disaster will get bigger and bigger as days go by. Sooner or later, he will definitely be in trouble. Daddy said he must join our sect and once he did, not only will he be imparted with this technique, he will immediately be sworn in as the heir to the Chief. But Chong-lang isn't willing to submit and he will be in a great deal of trouble later." She was half happy and half worried. As she quietly stood in the cluster of tall sorghum, her thoughts wildly went from here to there, but no matter what she thought about, it always returned to Linghu Chong.

    At this time, Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan were also quiet. After a long time, Lin Pingzhi said, "After Grandfather Yuantu saw this sword manual, he of course practised it straight away."

    "If there's really a big trouble associated with this set of sword art, it wouldn't just come out straight away,” Yue Lingshan reasoned. “It's always after practising for ten years or so that the harm would come. Grandfather Yuantu must've taken a wife and gotten an heir before this trouble manifested itself."

    "That's. Not. It." Lin Pingzhi stressed each word without any hesitation. After a pause, he went on, "In the beginning, I also thought the same thing as you did. But after a few days, I found out it wasn't so. My grandfather simply couldn't be Grandfather Yuantu's son. He's most likely adopted by Grandfather Yuantu. Grandfather Yuantu took a wife and got an heir merely to fool everyone."

    Yue Lingshan gasped in surprise and said in a trembling voice, "Fool everyone? But... why?"

    Lin Pingzhi snorted but didn't answer her. After some time, he said, "When I first saw the sword manual, I was already very close to you. Several times, I thought I should wait till we get married and become a real husband and wife before I start studying the sword art. But it's impossible for a martial art person to resist not studying what's written in that sword manual. I finally... I finally... castrated myself to practice the sword..."

    Yue Lingshan absentmindedly replied, "You... You... castrated yourself to practice sword?"

    "That's right,” Lin Pingzhi gloomily said. “The first sentence in the Evil Resisting Sword Manual is: 'To dominate Wulin, swipe your sword and castrate yourself'."

    "Why... why?"

    "To practise this Evil Resisting Sword Art, you must start with the internal energy first. If you don't castrate yourself, once you practise it, you'll immediately feel like you're on fire, fire deviate, and die."

    "That's how it is." Her voice was like a mosquito and very hard to hear.

    Yingying was also thinking, "So that's why!" Now, she understood everything clearly why Dongfang Bubai, who was such a masculine man with the number one martial art of the world, was wearing woman's clothes, embroidering, and was so crazy about Yang Lianting. So in order to practise this demonical martial art, he had become not a man and not a woman.

    She then heard Yue Lingshan sobbed lightly and said, "Back then, Grandfather Yuantu pretended to take a wife and get an heir to fool everyone, you... you're also..."

    "That's right, after I castrated myself, I still married you to fool people. But it's only to fool your father."

    Yue Lingshan wept sorrowfully upon hearing this.

    "I've told you everything now,” Lin Pingzhi said. “You must hate me to the bone now. Why don't you go away?"

    "I don't hate you,” Yue Lingshan sobbed. “You were forced by circumstances and had no other alternatives. I only hate... only hate whoever wrote that 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' back then. Why... why did he want to harm other people like that?"

    Lin Pingzhi giggled. "This senior was a eunuch."

    Yue Lingshan groaned. "So... so my father... is also... is also like you..."

    "Since he's studied this sword art, how can he be different? Your father is the headmaster of a school, if anyone found out he castrated himself and then spread the word out, how can he not become the laughingstock of Jianghu? That's why if he knew that I've learned this sword art, he must definitely kill me. He's already asked several times how I treated you because he wanted to know whether I've castrated myself or not. If at that time you complained even a little bit, then my life would've been gone."

    "Now he knows."

    "I’ve killed Yu Canghai, killed Mu Gaofeng,” Lin Pingzhi was brimming with pride as he said this. “Within a few days, the word would've spread throughout Wulin and the whole world will know."

    "In that case, I'm afraid... I'm afraid my father won't let you go then. Where should we run off to?"

    "We? You already know what I am now, you still want to follow me?"

    "Of course. Brother Ping, my feeling towards you will always be... always be the same. Your lot in this world is so pitiful..." She had not finished saying this when she suddenly cried out and jumped off the carriage as Lin Pingzhi pushed her out.

    "I don't want your pity! Who wants your pity?” Lin Pingzhi angrily retorted. “Lin Pingzhi's swordplay is complete. I'm not scared of anything. Wait until my eyes are better. Lin Pingzhi will then rule the world. Yue Buqun, Linghu Chong, Monk Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, they are not my match."

    Yingying inwardly got angry and she thought, "Wait till your eyes are better? Hng, have your eyes ever been good?" When Lin Pingzhi was injured, she originally felt quite sad for him. But when she saw how uncaring he was towards his wife, how ruthlessly he treated her, and also how conceited he was, she couldn't help despising him.

    Yue Lingshan sighed. "You must first look for a place to hide for a while. Wait till your eyes are better before doing anything else."

    "I have a method to deal with your father."

    "It must be horrible to hear and of course you can't say what it is. Father also doesn't need to worry about you for now."

    "Hng, I understand your father way more than you do. Tomorrow, I'm going to tell the first person I see about this."

    Yue Lingshan worriedly said, "Is that necessary? Aren't you..."

    "Necessary? This is the method to preserve my life. I'm going to tell every person I meet. In no time at all, word would've spread to your father's ear. Then, since Yue Buqun knows it was me who said this, he cannot kill me to shut me up. On the contrary, he must protect my life."

    "Your idea is really strange."

    "What's so strange about it? Whether your father has castrated himself or not, no one would be able to see it. When his beard falls off, he'll glue them on and there will be people who will believe it and those who won't. But if I suddenly die without any reason, everyone will say Yue Buqun is the one who did it. This is called wishing to cover it up but exposing it more instead." Yue Lingshan sighed and didn't say anything else.

    Yingying thought, "This Lin Pingzhi has a very keen mind, and his method really is formidable. Miss Yue is in a very difficult position here, she’s trapped in the middle. Her parents' reputation will unavoidably be destroyed, but if she thought of a way to prevent it from happening, then it'll endanger her husband's life."

    Lin Pingzhi went on, "Even if both of my eyes can't see a thing from now on, I've avenged my parents and I will never regret it. Linghu Chong told me the last words of my father. He said there's a relic in the old residence at Xiangyang and I should never take a look at it. This was the instruction Great Grandfather left behind. Now, I've taken a look at it. Even though I violated Great Grandfather's instruction, I've taken revenge for my parents. If it weren't like this, other people would've said my Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art has an unearned reputation, and that the heads of the Fortune Prestige Escort House had been cheating people."

    "Back then, both father and you suspected big martial brother. You were both saying that he took your Lin family's 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual', saying he fabricated Father-in-Law's last words..."

    "Just say I blamed him wrongly. What do you want to do?” Lin Pingzhi interrupted. “At that time, didn't you suspect him too?"

    Yue Lingshan softly sighed. "Big martial brother and you haven't known each other for a long time, so it's not surprising you suspected him. But father and me, we shouldn't have doubted him. The only person in this world who truly believed him was only mother."

    Yingying thought, "Who said only your mother?"

    Lin Pingzhi coldly laughed. "Your mother truly adores Linghu Chong. I don't know how many times your parents argued because of this little kid."

    Astounded, Yue Lingshan asked, "My father and mother argued over big martial brother? My father and mother never argue, how do you know about this?"

    Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly and answered, "Never argue? That's only to put on an appearance in front of other people. For this matter, Yue Buqun put on his hypocrite mask. I heard it all with my own ears, could it be fake?"

    "I didn't say fake, but it's really strange. How come I've never heard of it, but you heard of it?"

    "I'll tell you now, it's all irrelevant. That day in Fuzhou, two people from Songshan School snatched that Buddhist robe away. These two people were killed by Linghu Chong, so naturally the Buddhist robe was taken by Linghu Chong. But at that time he was heavily injured and lost consciousness. I searched his body, but I didn't know where that Buddhist robe had gone to."

    "So in Fuzhou city, you had already searched big martial brother."

    "That's right, so what?"

    "Nothing."

    Yingying thought, "If Miss Yue follows this cunning and irritable little kid, she'll be miserable for the rest of her life." Suddenly she also thought, "I've been here for so long, Chong-lang must be worried." She tilted her ear to one side to listen but there was no noise at all, so she thought that he must be settled and everything was well.

    She then heard Lin Pingzhi continued, "The Buddhist robe wasn't on Linghu Chong's body anymore, so it must've been taken by your parents. From Fuzhou till Huashan, I quietly observed things. But your father covered up really well and I didn't manage to see anything wrong at all. Your father was sick at that time. Of course, who would've known that once he's seen the 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual', he immediately castrated himself to practise the sword. During the journey, there were a lot people there, so I didn't dare to peep in on your parents. Once we returned to Huashan, I hid on top of the precipice outside your parents' bedroom every night to hear their conversations and to find out where my sword manual is."

    Yue Lingshan asked, "Every night you hid yourself on top of the precipice?"

    "That's right."

    Yue Lingshan again repeated her question, "Every night?"

    Yingying couldn't hear Lin Pingzhi's answer. She thought he must've nodded his head. But she heard Yue Lingshan sighed and said, "You have a strong will."

    "For vengeance, I had to succeed."

    "Yes," Yue Lingshan meekly agreed.

    Lin Pingzhi narrated, "I listened in for more than ten nights, but I didn't hear anything unusual. But one night, I heard your mother said: 'Martial brother, I feel there's something amiss with your appearance recently. Did you have some kind of trouble learning that Divine Art of Violet Twilight? Don't seek perfection too much and invite trouble.'

    Your dad laughed and replied: 'No, my martial art practise is going smoothly.'

    Your mother said: 'Don't hide it from me. How come your voice has changed recently? The pitch of your voice has become higher and sharper, just like a girl.'

    Your dad said: 'Nonsense! My voice has always been like this.'

    When I heard him say these words, I heard his voice was really sharp just like a girl throwing a tantrum. Your mother said: 'You're still denying it? In your whole life, you've never said those words to me. In the years we've been together, when have you concealed anything from me when something's troubling you?'

    Your dad said: 'What's there to trouble me? En, the meeting at Songshan isn't too far away and Zuo Lengchan's intention to annex the four schools is very obvious. I'm troubled by this, that's some of it.'

    Your mother said: 'I see that it's more than this.'

    Your dad got angry again and in his sharp voice said: 'It's your blind suspicion, what else is there besides this?'

    Your mother answered: 'When I say it out, don't get angry. I know you've wrongly blamed Chong'er.'

    Your dad said: 'Chong'er? He and his Devil Sect people meddle together, he also has a relationship with his Devil Sect Miss Ren, everyone in the world knows about this already. How did I wrongly blame him?'"

    When Yingying heard him narrating Yue Buqun's words, mentioned her own name, furthermore mentioning 'he also has a relationship with his Devil Sect Miss Ren, everyone in the world knows about this already', her whole face slightly heated up, but a soft and tender feeling rose up from her heart. She then heard Lin Pingzhi continued, "Your mother said: 'You didn't wrongly blame him for making friends with people from the devil sect. I'm saying you wrongly blame him for stealing Ping'er's Evil Resisting Sword Manual.'

    Your dad said: 'Could it be he didn't steal the sword manual? His swordplay suddenly advanced tremendously, he's even higher skilled than you or me, haven't you seen that already?'

    Your mother said: 'He must've met with something else for that. I'm certain he didn't take the Evil Resisting Sword Manual. It's true that Chong'er likes to make trouble and he doesn't listen to our teachings. But ever since he was little he's always been frank, and he'd never steal anything. After Shan'er became fond of Ping'er and he was jilted, he's still such a proud person. Even if Ping'er gave him the sword manual willingly, he still wouldn't accept it.'"

    Yingying heard till here and she felt an unspeakable happiness in her heart. She was hoping she could give Madam Yue a hug right then and express her gratitude. Yingying was thinking it wasn't in vain that you've raised Chong-lang since he was little; from everyone in Huashan, you are the only person who truly understands him. She also thought based on Madam Yue's words, if Linghu Chong had a chance someday, then he must repay her well for what she just said.

    Lin Pingzhi went on, "Your dad snorted and said: 'It looks like you regret expelling this little kid Linghu Chong from our school.'

    Your mother said: 'He violated the school's rules, and you carried out our ancestor's instructions and upheld the school's principle, so no one can criticise you for this. But your accusation of him turning over to the unorthodox path is already enough, why did you have to wrongly blame him for stealing the sword manual too? Actually you know this much better than me. You know he didn't take Ping'er's Evil Resisting Sword Manual.'

    Your dad shouted: 'How would I know? How would I know?'"

    Lin Pingzhi's voice had also become high and acute imitating Yue Buqun's sharp voice in shouting angrily. In the still and calm night, a sharp cry of an owl was heard frightening Yingying. After a pause, Lin Pingzhi continued, "Your mother slowly said: 'Of course you know, because you're the one who took this sword manual.'

    Your dad angrily roared: 'You... You're saying... I..." But after saying these few words, he stopped. Your mother's voice was completely tranquil as she said: 'That day when Chong'er was injured and unconscious, I stemmed his bleeding. At that time, I saw a Buddhist robe on him on which many small words were written, looking like some type of sword art. The second time I replaced his medication, that Buddhist robe had disappeared. At that time, Chong'er was still unconscious. Within that time, there was no else who had entered the room besides the two of us. And I didn't take that Buddhist robe.'"

    Yue Lingshan choked and whimpered, "My dad... my dad..."

    Lin Pingzhi said, "Your dad had already tried to interrupt a few times already, but after saying one or two words, he didn't say anything more. Your mother's voice gradually got softer and she said: 'Martial brother, our Huashan School's swordplay is made by our own school, and the Divine Art of Violet Twilight is an outstanding qigong to fight against other people. Our martial arts reputations have also been well spread in Jianghu, so there's no need to learn another school's swordplay. But recently, Zuo Lengchan's wild ambition has become even more fervent and he wants to annex the four schools. The Huashan School is in your hand. Whatever happens it won't be annexed by Zuo Lengchan's hand. Let's contact Taishan, Heng-Shan, and Hengshan Schools. When the time arrives, the four schools will fight against his school, and I think we'll have a sixty percent chance of winning. If we didn't win, then we'll go out fighting and give our lives at Songshan. When we arrived at the Nine Fountains, we won't have to be ashamed in front of the Huashan School's ancestors.'"

    Yingying heard till here and she secretly praised, "This Madam Yue really is an upper class heroine, she's much stronger in spirit compared to her husband."

    Then she heard Yue Lingshan said, "My mother's words are very reasonable."

    Lin Pingzhi coldly laughed and said, "But at that time your father had already taken my sword manual and had already started practising it. Why would he be willing to listen to Master-Wife's advice?" He suddenly called her 'Master-Wife', showing his true heart that he still had not lost the respect he had for Madam Yue. Then he continued, "Then your father said: 'What you said is from the point of view of a woman boasting the braveness of her husband. After we've given our lives, Huashan School will still be swallowed by Zuo Lengchan. And after we're dead, it's not necessary that we'll still have enough face to see the ancestors of Huashan School.'

    Your mother didn't reply for a long time, then she sighed and said: 'If you're really anxious about this and wants to protect our school, then I won't blame you. But... But practising this Evil Resisting Sword Manual will only bring harm. Otherwise, why did the descendants of the Lin family not learn this sword art and were forced by other people till they have no way out? I advise you to stop practising it before harm comes to you.'

    Your father shouted: 'How did you know I was learning the Evil Resisting Sword Art? You... You... are you spying on me?'

    Your mother replied: 'Why do I need to spy when I already know?'

    Your father shouted: 'Say it, say it!' He was hissing at the top of his voice. Even though his shout was really loud, he seemed to be rather discouraged.

    Your mother said: 'Everyone already noticed that your voice has completely changed. Couldn't you feel it yourself?'

    Your dad was still denying it: 'My voice has always been like this.'

    Your mother said: 'Every morning, lots of your beard fall off inside the quilt...'

    Your father sharply shouted: 'You saw it?' His voice sounded terrified.

    Your mother sighed and said: 'I've seen it some time ago but I've never said anything. You can fool other people with your glued-on beard, but how can you conceal it from your wife who has shared your pillow for dozens of years already?'

    Your father didn't deny it anymore seeing that everything was exposed. After a long time, he asked: 'Who else knows of this?'

    Your mother answered: 'No one.'

    Your father asked: 'Shan'er?'

    Your mother said: 'It's unlikely that she knows.'

    Your father said: 'Then Ping'er naturally doesn't know then?'

    Your mother answered: 'He doesn't know.'

    Your father said: 'Alright, I'll listen to your advice. This Buddhist robe, tomorrow, we'll think of a way to return it to Pingzhi, and we'll slowly think of a way to clear Linghu Chong's name. I won't study this sword art anymore starting from today.'

    Your mother was jubilant and she said: 'That's for the best. But this sword art harms people, so how can we let Ping'er take a look at it? It's best to just destroy it.'"

    Yue Lingshan said, "Of course father didn't agree. If he agreed to destroy this sword manual, then things wouldn’t have come to this."

    "You guessed wrong. Your father said: 'Very good, I'll destroy the sword manual immediately!' I was extremely startled and wanted to say something to stop him. The sword manual belongs to my Lin family, whether it harms people or not, he has no authority to destroy it. At this time, I heard the window creaked open and I hastily pulled my head in. Then I saw a red item which was that Buddhist robe floating down, and the window was closed again. In a moment, that Buddhist robe floated besides me and I tried to grab it but it was outside my reach. At that time, I knew that whether I can avenge my parents or not depended on whether I can grab that Buddhist robe or not. So I disregarded my life and with my right hand I held onto the precipice, and I kicked out with my left feet. I felt the tip of my foot snagging the Buddhist robe and I quickly pulled it in. It was very lucky that I hooked that Buddhist robe in and it didn't disappear into that bottomless Heavenly Gorge."

    Yingying was captivated listening to his narration. She thought, "The really lucky thing would be if you didn't manage to hook that Buddhist robe in."

    Yue Lingshan said, "Mother knew Father had tossed that sword manual into the Heavenly Gorge. Actually, father was already familiar with that sword art and the Buddhist robe was of no use to him anymore. But because of this you managed to learn this sword art, isn't that right?"

    "That's right."

    "That's really Heaven's will. The gods have arranged everything and they want you to avenge father-in-law and mother-in-law. That... That... That's very good."

    "But there's one matter. In the last few days, I've been racking my brains but I still don't understand. How come Zuo Lengchan also knows how to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art?" Yue Lingshan groaned and her voice was indifferent. It was obvious she didn't care if Zuo Lengchan knew how to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art or not.

    Lin Pingzhi said, "You didn't learn this sword art, so you don't know its obscurity and cleverness. When Zuo Lengchan and your father fought on top of that place of worship, at the end of the fight, the two of them were using Evil Resisting Sword Art. But Zuo Lengchan's sword art was completely false, each of his move was deliberately trying to lose to your father. His swordplay foundation is already very high, every time he was in a difficult situation, he quickly changed his move to avoid it, but at the end, he was finally blinded by your father. If... en... If he used Songshan sword art, and he was defeated by your father, then there's nothing strange about that. Evil Resisting Sword Art is matchless under heaven and the Songshan sword art is a worthy opponent. Zuo Lengchan didn't castrate himself so he didn't complete his practise of Evil Resisting Sword Art; this is also not strange. What I don't understand is, where did Zuo Lengchan learn his Evil Resisting Sword Art from, why was the one he learned was pleasing to the eye but false?" His last few words were said hesitatingly, revealing that he was still thinking deeply about this.

    Yingying thought, "There's nothing to be heard anymore. Zuo Lengchan's Evil Resisting Sword Art is most likely stolen from my sect. He only learned a few moves, but he didn't understand this shameless method. Dongfang Bubai's Evil Resisting Sword Art is much more formidable than Yue Buqun's. If you had seen it, even if you have three heads working together, you still wouldn't have worked it out." She was just about to quietly step back when she suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from far away. There were more than twenty horses galloping quickly through the main road coming towards them.

    End of Chapter 35

  17. #17
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    Default Chapter 36 Grief

    Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung.

    Yingying was worried Linghu Chong might be in trouble so she quickly used her qingggong to go back besides her carriage. "Brother Chong, there are people coming!"

    But Linghu Chong just laughed. "You're eavesdropping on other people killing chicken and feeding dog again, aren't you? Otherwise, why would you listen for so long?"

    "Pei!" Yingying retorted, her face becoming hot as she thought of Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi talking about 'becoming real husband and wife' inside their carriage. "They were... they were talking about practising... practising the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

    "You hesitated! There must be some other odd things. Quickly come up and tell me everything. You can't hold anything back from me."

    "I'm not coming up! It's not proper."

    "Why is it not proper?" Linghu Chong asked while laughing.

    "I don't know!"

    The sound of the horses' hooves had gotten nearer by now. Yingying said, "I think these are the surviving Qingcheng School people coming to take their revenge!"

    Linghu Chong sat up. "Let's go there slowly, we still have a bit of time."

    "Yes," Yingying knew Linghu Chong was very concerned about Yue Lingshan, and that he must help even though he was heavily injured. Moreover, her mind wouldn't be at ease if she left him by himself aboard the carriage while she went to help. She quickly supported him to get down from the carriage. Linghu Chong stepped onto the ground with his left foot and felt a slight pain in his wound, causing him to falter and bump the wheel of the carriage. The mule drawing the carriage had made no sound at all so far, but as the carriage was shaken, it thought it was being urged to move so it lifted its head to neigh. Yingying's short sword flashed and the mule's head dropped to the ground cleanly cut.

    "Good!" Linghu Chong lightly praised her. He wasn't actually praising her quick swordplay. With her martial art, there was nothing special for her sword to be able to cut the mule's head off in one stroke. But what was special was her quick thinking which prevented the mule from making any noise at all. As to how the carriage was going to move later and how they were going to travel, it was another matter.

    Linghu Chong had walked for several steps when he heard the horses' hooves had come even nearer. He quickened his steps. Yingying pondered, "He wants to get there before the enemy so he's walking really fast, but it'll affect his wound. If I carry him, wouldn't that make him feel ashamed?" She giggled and said, "Brother Chong, I'm sorry." She didn't wait for Linghu Chong's answer but extended her right hand to grab his waist while her left hand grabbed his collar. She lifted his body up and used her qinggong to quickly go through the field of tall sorghum. Linghu Chong appreciated it but he also felt this was funny. He thought in his heart that he was the respectable headmaster of Heng-Shan School, but she was carrying him like she was carrying a baby. If someone were to see this, he would definitely lose face. But if they didn't do this, then they wouldn't be able to stay ahead of the Qingcheng School people and little martial sister would be in danger. She obviously had lifted him because she knew what he was thinking in his heart.

    After Yingying had gone further forward for dozens of steps, the sound of the horses' hooves had gotten much closer. She turned her head around but all she could see in the darkness was dots of flames of the torches carried by the people on the horses. She said, "These people are really daring, they're actually carrying fire to chase them."

    "They're staking their lives to carry out their strike so they don't care about anything. Aiyo, this isn't good!"

    Yingying had also thought of it and she said, "Qingcheng School wants to burn the carriage."

    "Let's cut them off and don't let them through."

    "There's no need to worry, we'll be able to save the two of them."

    Linghu Chong knew her martial art ability. Furthermore, Yu Canghai had died, and the remaining Qingcheng School people were extremely insignificant, so he didn't worry anymore. Yingying carried Linghu Chong until they were dozens of feet away from Yue Lingshan's carriage, then she helped him to sit within the field of tall sorghum. She whispered, "Sit quietly here and don't move."

    Then from inside the carriage, Yue Lingshan said, "The enemy is coming quickly. They're Qingcheng School's rats."

    "How do you know?" Lin Pingzhi asked.

    "They're carrying torches to chase us. Hng, they really are fearless."

    "Everyone's carrying a torch?"

    "That's right."

    Lin Pingzhi had gone through a lot of trials and tribulations so his mind was very meticulous and he was much more alert than Yue Lingshan. "Quickly get down!” He hastily said. “Those rats are going to burn the carriage!"

    "Yes!” Yue Lingshan agreed. She also thought this was very reasonable. “Otherwise why are they carrying so many torches for?" She leapt down from the carriage and extended her hand to grip Lin Pingzhi's hand. Lin Pingzhi also jumped down. The two of them walked for dozens of feet to hide within the tall sorghum, and they were actually very close to where Linghu Chong and Yingying were hiding.

    With thunderous sound of the hooves, Qingcheng School people arrived at the carriage. They first cut off its path before surrounding it from all sides. One of the person shouted, "Lin Pingzhi, you dog, are you trying to be a turtle? You still don't want to stick your head out?" They heard no sound coming from inside the carriage.

    Another person said, "I'm afraid they've gone off the carriage and fled." Linghu Chong and Yingying then saw a torch arching through the darkness as it was tossed towards the carriage. Suddenly, a hand shot out from inside the carriage, grabbed the torch, and tossed it back.

    The Qingcheng people made a lot of noise and shouted, "The dog is inside the carriage! The dog is inside the carriage!"

    This was really beyond Linghu Chong’s and Yingying's expectation. They never expected there would be another strong helper inside the carriage. But Yue Lingshan was even more surprised. Lin Pingzhi and she had been talking for so long but they never knew there was another person inside the carriage. Looking at how this person had tossed the torch back, it showed that his arm was quite strong and his martial art was quite high. The disciples of Qingcheng tossed in eight more torches, and that person tossed each one back. Even though his tosses didn't injure anyone, it stopped the remaining Qingcheng disciples from throwing anymore torches. They instead circled the carriage from far away and made a lot of noise. Under the firelight, everyone saw that it was a withered and sallow hand with blue veins sticking out. It was clearly the hand of an old person.

    A person shouted, "It's not Lin Pingzhi!"

    Another person shouted, "It's not his wife either."

    Another person said, "That son of a turtle is afraid to come out, he's probably injured."

    They hesitated for a long time and saw there was no movement in the carriage at all. Suddenly, with a cry, more than twenty of them charged forward with their swords drawn to stick them into the carriage. With a loud cracking sound, a person leapt up from the top of the carriage and a sword flickered in his hand. He flew behind the Qingcheng disciples and slashed out with his sword dropping two Qingcheng disciples to the ground. That person was wearing a yellow gown, appearing to be a person from Songshan School. His face was covered by a piece of cloth and only his bright eyes could be seen. His sword was wonderfully quick, and within a few moves, another two Qingcheng disciples had been struck by his sword and dropped to the ground.

    Linghu Chong was holding Yingying's hand, and both of them thought of the same thing, "This person is also using the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

    But this person wasn't Yue Buqun, judging by the shape of his body. The two of them again thought of the same thing, "In this world, besides Yue Buqun, Lin Pingzhi, and Zuo Lengchan, there's actually a fourth person who knows how to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

    Yue Lingshan whispered to Lin Pingzhi, "This person's sword art looks similar to yours."

    Lin Pingzhi gasped in surprise and he asked, "He... He can also use my sword art? You didn't see it wrongly?"

    After a time, three more Qingcheng disciples were struck down by the sword. By then, Linghu Chong and Yingying had worked out that person's sword art. Even though this person was using the sword moves from the Evil Resisting Sword Art, his speed in jumping, rushing, and retreating was way below that of Dongfang Bubai's. He was not even as good as Yue Buqun or Lin Pingzhi who could mysteriously appear and disappear. It was just that this person's martial art was high and he was far above all of the Qingcheng disciples there. Added to that, Evil Resisting Sword Art was fantastic so even though it was one against many, he still held the upper hand.

    Yue Lingshan said, "His sword art looks really similar to yours but he's not as quick as you."

    Lin Pingzhi sighed and replied, "If he's not fast, he doesn't know the essence of my family's sword art then. But... but, who is he? How does he know how to use this sword art?"

    As the sound of battle raged on, another Qingcheng disciple was pierced by the masked person's long sword through the chest. That masked man shouted, pulled his long sword, and cut another person's waist separating him into two. The remaining Qingcheng people trembled in fear and four of them ran away. That person roared and rushed forward for two steps. From among the Qingcheng disciples, some of them cried out and turned their heads to run away. Seeing this, the remaining disciples were discouraged and they all fled. Some of them rode double, while some were in too much of a hurry to ride their horses so they sprinted away on their feet. In just a moment, they had all scattered away. That masked person was obviously quite exhausted as he propped his long sword on the ground and panted heavily. Linghu Chong and Yingying discovered from his gasps that just from fighting for a short time, this person had consumed a lot of internal energy and he had probably been injured internally as well.

    At this time, there were around seven to eight torches still burning on the ground. The darkness was interspersed with light from the glinting torches. This old yellow-gowned person was gasping for breath for a long time before he lifted his long sword and slowly put it back into its sheath. Then he said, "Young Hero Lin, Madam Lin, I received Songshan's Headmaster Zuo's order to help." His voice was extremely faint and hoarse. Each word was uttered indistinctly as if he had something in his mouth or as if a part of his tongue was missing and that his voice had come out from his throat.

    "Many thanks for your help,” Lin Pingzhi replied. “Sir, please tell me your honorable name." As he said this, he walked out of the field of tall sorghum with Yue Lingshan.

    "Headmaster Zuo learned that young hero and madam were heavily injured after dealing with traitors. So he ordered me to protect you and send the two of you to someplace safe to treat your injuries, and to make sure your father-in-law can't find you," that old person said.

    Linghu Chong, Yingying, Lin Pingzhi, and Yue Lingshan all thought, "How did Zuo Lengchan know about this?"

    "Headmaster Zuo and you have good intentions, I really appreciate it,” Lin Pingzhi replied. “I'll be at your service once my injury is better, but I don't dare to trouble your honourable persons."

    "Both of young hero's eyes were injured by Hunchback of the North's poison. Not only would it be hard to heal, this person's poison is extremely formidable and if not for Headmaster Zuo's Daogui medicine, I'm afraid... I'm afraid... it'll be hard to say what would happen to young hero's life."

    After Lin Pingzhi was splashed by Mu Gaofeng's poison, both of his eyes and his whole face had been feeling extremely itchy that he felt like digging his own eyes out. But he endured it and had been restraining himself ever since, so he knew this person was saying the truth. Hesitantly he asked, "Headmaster Zuo and I aren't family or friends so why is Headmaster Zuo being so concerned about me? If you don't say this clearly, then it'll be difficult for me to follow your directions."

    That old person let out a laugh. "Sharing a common hatred is just like friendship borne out of a common cause. Both of Headmaster Zuo's eyes were harmed by Yue Buqun. If we look for the source of the injuries to both of your eyes, the root of trouble was also likely to be Yue Buqun. Yue Buqun already knows that young hero has learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art, so even if young hero runs to the end of the world, he will still chase and kill you. He's now the headmaster of the Five Mountains School and his authority is as high as the heaven. How can young hero fight him all by yourself? Moreover... moreover... hey hey, Yue Buqun's own daughter is already accompanying young hero from dawn till dusk. Young hero has heavenly skill but you'll still find it hard to protect yourself from the plotting from the pillow next to you..."

    Yue Lingshan suddenly shouted, "Second martial brother, so it's you!"

    As she called this out, Linghu Chong's whole body shook. Hearing this old person speaking, even though his voice was vague, it sounded really familiar to him and it felt like someone he knew. When he heard Yue Lingshan's shout, he immediately recognised that person to be Lao Denuo. But Yue Lingshan had told him before that Lao Denuo was killed by someone at Fuzhou so he never thought this person could be him. Then what Yue Lingshan told him before must be false. Then he heard that old person coldly said, "Little girl is quite alert to be able to recognise my voice." He didn't use his throat to speak anymore, his voice was clear and he really was Lao Denuo.

    "Second martial brother,” Lin Pingzhi said, “if you pretended to be killed at Fuzhou, then... then eighth martial brother was killed by you?"

    "No,” Lao Denuo snorted. “Ying Bailuo is only a small kid, why do I want to kill him for?"

    "You're still denying it?” Yue Lingshan shouted. “He... He... Little Lin was chopped with a sword from the back, this must be your doing too. I've always wrongly blamed big martial brother. Hng, you did good. You killed some old guy and chopped his face up, then you put your gown on the dead person so everyone thought you were killed."

    "Your guess is right,” Lao Denuo acknowledged. “If I didn't do that, how can Yue Buqun let me go that easily? But I wasn't the one who slashed at Young Hero Lin's back."

    "Not you? Could there be another person?"

    Lao Denuo coldly said, "It's not just another person, it's your father."

    "Nonsense!” Yue Lingshan shouted. “You did this bad thing, but you're blaming someone else for it. There's nothing wrong with my father at all, why would he want to harm Brother Ping?"

    "Because at that time, your father has already gotten the Evil Resisting Sword Manual from Linghu Chong's body. This sword manual belongs to the Lin family so the first person Yue Buqun wanted to kill was your Brother Ping. If Lin Pingzhi lives, how can your father learn the Evil Resisting Sword Art?" Lao Denuo explained.

    Yue Lingshan didn't know how to answer. In her heart, she knew those words were logical but she could never believe that her own father would plot against Lin Pingzhi. She almost said the words 'nonsense', but instead she said, "If we take that my father was the one who wanted to harm Brother Ping, how come his sword didn't kill him?"

    Lin Pingzhi suddenly said, "This attack was really done by Yue Buqun. Second martial brother isn't wrong."

    Yue Lingshan stammered, "You... You... You also believe this?"

    "Yue Buqun chopped at my back and injured me heavily. I knew that I had no way of fighting back so I dropped to the ground and pretended that I had died. At that time, I didn't know it was Yue Buqun who plotted against me. But as I was beginning to lose consciousness, I heard eighth martial brother's voice. He called out: 'Master!' When eighth martial brother called out 'Master', he saved my life, but gave his life instead," Lin Pingzhi related.

    Startled, Yue Lingshan said, "You're saying eighth martial brother was also... also... also killed by my father?"

    "Of course! After I heard eighth martial brother called out 'Master', he cried out miserably. Then I lost consciousness totally and didn't know anything else," Lin Pingzhi said.

    Lao Denuo continued the story, "At first, Yue Buqun wanted to give you another stab. But I was watching from the dark and I coughed lightly. Yue Buqun didn't dare to stay and quickly went back to his room. Brother Lin, my cough can be said to have saved your life."

    "If... If my father really wanted to harm you, later on... later on he got many opportunities, why didn't he kill you then?" Yue Lingshan argued.

    "After that I guard every step of my way so he had no other opportunity to kill me,” Lin Pingzhi coldly said. “You were actually very lucky for me. All day long we were always together, so it wasn't convenient for him to kill me."

    Yue Lingshan cried and said, "So... so... you took me as your wife to fool other people, and also... also... to use me as your shield."

    Lin Pingzhi ignored her and said to Lao Denuo, "Brother Lao, you're working together with Headmaster Zuo now?"

    "Headmaster Zuo is my respected master. I am his third disciple."

    "So you've changed school and entered Songshan."

    "I didn't change school and entered Songshan. I've always been under Songshan School. It's just that I received my respected master's order to join Huashan to research on Yue Buqun's martial art, as well as to keep an eye on the movements of Huashan School."

    Linghu Chong was suddenly enlightened. Before Lao Denuo joined the Huashan School, he already knew martial art and everyone in the school knew this. But his martial art was very mixed and ordinary, like the martial art around the area of Yungui. They had never suspected that he was actually a Songshan disciple. So this intention to annex the other four schools had actually been in Zuo Lengchan's heart for a very long time and he had actually planned this kind of move a long time ago. Then Lao Denuo killing Lu Dayou and stealing the Violet Twilight Secret Manual was obvious and was no longer a mystery. Even Master, who was always very vigilant towards other people, was deceived by him.

    Lin Pingzhi pondered for a while then said, "In that case, Brother Lao took the Violet Twilight Secret Manual and Evil Resisting Sword Manual from Huashan back to Songshan for Headmaster Zuo to practice. Your accomplishment is really great."

    Linghu Chong and Yingying were both nodding their heads. They thought, "So Zuo Lengchan and Lao Denuo are able to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art because of this. Lin Pingzhi's brain works really fast."

    With deep hatred, Lao Denuo vehemently said, "I'm going to speak frankly. The two of us, together with my respected master, we've all fallen under this bastard Yue Buqun's hand. This person is really dangerous and we've all fallen into his violent scheme."

    "Hey, I understand,” Lin Pingzhi said. “The Evil Resisting Sword Manual you stole was an altered version by Yue Buqun. That's why Headmaster Zuo and Brother Lao's Evil Resisting Sword Art are different."

    Lao Denuo gritted his teeth and said, "When I entered the Huashan School back then, Yue Buqun had already detected my deception from the outset but he didn't do anything. He just secretly paid close attention to what I was doing. When Yue Buqun wrote the Evil Resisting Sword Manual down, the sword art looks really wonderful but it was actually just good to look at and it lacked the internal energy method. He deliberately prepared this fake sword manual for me to steal so when my respected master practiced the sword art, it wasn't complete. As soon as they got into a life and death battle, he led my respected master to use this sword art so that the real sword art would be pitted against the fake sword art. By doing this, he guaranteed his own victory. Otherwise, how can the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School fall into his hand?"

    Lin Pingzhi let out a sigh. "This traitor Yue Buqun really is crafty and fierce. Both of us have really fallen into his trap."

    "My respected master understands this matter completely. Even though I ruined everything, he didn't blame me at all. But how can I, as his disciple, be at peace knowing this? So I'm staking my life to climb the mountain of sabres and walk through fire to kill that traitor Yue Buqun and avenge my respected master." These words were said with venom and anger by Lao Denuo. It was obvious this was a matter gnawing deeply in his heart.

    Lin Pingzhi hummed. Lao Denuo went on, "Both of my respected master's eyes were harmed, so he's secretly staying on Songshan's west peak. On the west peak, there are more than ten other people whose eyes are also bad. They were harmed by Yue Buqun and Linghu Chong. Brother Lin, come with me to see my respected master. You're Fuzhou's Lin family sole heir to the Evil Resisting Sword School, so you're the headmaster of the Evil Resisting Sword School. My respected master of course will treat you with respect. If both of your eyes can be cured then that would be best, otherwise, you can secretly hide with my respected master and together plan your revenge. How can that be not wonderful?"

    These words excited Lin Pingzhi. Both of his eyes had been poisoned and he himself knew that there was no hope for a cure. All these talks of curing his eyes were only to cheat and comfort himself. Zuo Lengchan and he were both blind, they both had the same problem and the same enemy, so this was already very good. But he knew Zuo Lengchan's methods tend to be very fierce, so when Zuo Lengchan suddenly turned nice toward him, there was bound to be another plan behind this. Lin Pingzhi said, "Headmaster Zuo has a very good idea. But I don't know how I can repay him for this. Can Brother Lao please tell us more first?"

    Lao Denuo laughed. "Brother Lin is an unequivocal person. Once everyone has joined forces, then everything will become clear. My master and I were duped by Yue Buqun with an incomplete sword manual. So of course I’m not resigned to it. Along the way, I saw Brother Lin's immense power and wonderfully matchless sword art in the killing of Mu Gaofeng, and the execution of Yu Canghai and the Qingcheng's clowns. They were all scattering away at the mere sight of you. It's obvious you have the real Evil Resisting Sword Art. I really admire you and really find you interesting......."

    Lin Pingzhi understood his intention so he interrupted, "Brother Lao wants me to let you and your master have a look at the real Evil Resisting Sword Manual?"

    "This is the Lin family's secret and outsiders mustn't peep into it. But from today onwards, we'll form an alliance in blood to kill Yue Buqun. If Brother Lin's eyes are cured, you're still young and have a lot of energy, so you wouldn't be afraid to face him by yourself. But looking at the situation today, if my respected master and I learn the Evil Resisting Sword Art, then the three of us can join hands, and only then will we have a hope of killing Yue Buqun. Brother Lin, please don't blame me," Lao Denuo said.

    Lin Pingzhi was thinking in his heart: 'Both of my eyes are blind and I actually don't know how I'll be able to survive. Moreover, if I didn't promise this, then Lao Denuo will kill both him and Yue Lingshan. If Lao Denuo has spoken sincerely, then his proposal has more benefit than harm.' He replied, "I'm flattered that Headmaster Zuo and Brother Lao wish to be allied with me. My whole family has been broken up and decimated, and I'm already a handicapped person with no sight. Even though my misfortune was mainly because of Yu Canghai, Yue Buqun's plotting was also the main reason for this. So I have the same idea as you and your master to execute Yue Buqun. Once we're allies, I wouldn't dare to keep this Evil Resisting Sword Manual as a secret. I'll take it out and give it to you and your master to peruse."

    Lao Denuo was exultant. "Brother Lin is very generous. My master and I are very appreciative to be able to look at the real Evil Resisting Sword Manual. From today onwards, Brother Lin will forever be our Songshan School's honoured guest. You and I will be like brothers, and we'll share everything."

    "Many thanks. I'll follow Brother Lao back to Mount Songshan. After that, I'll immediately recite the real Evil Resisting Sword Manual out for you and your master."

    "Recite it out?"

    "That's right. Brother Lao doesn't know that the real Evil Resisting Sword Manual was actually recorded by my great grandfather Yuantu on a Buddhist robe. This Buddhist robe was stolen by Yue Buqun so he could pry into my family's sword art. Later on, he made a mistake and this Buddhist robe fell into my hands. I was really afraid that Yue Buqun might find out so I memorised this sword manual and quickly destroyed that Buddhist robe. If I had hidden that Buddhist robe on my body, and with my worthy wife besides me, how could I still live till today?" Yue Lingshan had been staying quiet and listening from the side all this time, but when she heard him ridiculing her, she cried again. She sobbingly said, "You... You..."

    Lao Denuo was already inside the carriage listening to their dialog before so he knew Lin Pingzhi was telling the truth. "That's very good, why don't we go back to Songshan together?"

    "Very good," Lin Pingzhi replied.

    "We must abandon the carriage and get some horses to ride through the small roads. Otherwise, if we meet Yue Buqun along the way, we won't be his match at all," Lao Denuo said. He then turned his head slightly and asked Yue Lingshan, "Little martial sister, are you going to help your father? Or are you going to help your husband?"

    Yue Lingshan stopped weeping and said, "I'm not helping anyone! I'm... I'm a cruelly fated person. I'll become a nun tomorrow. I'm finished with my father and husband. I won't see any of you again from now on."

    Lin Pingzhi coldly said, "It really befits you to become a nun at Heng-Shan."

    Yue Lingshan angrily replied, "Lin Pingzhi, when you had nowhere to go, my father helped you. If not for him, you'd have died under Mu Gaofeng's hand and would not be still alive today. Even if you reasoned my father was rude to you, I wasn't being rude to you. What do you mean by those words?"

    "What's my meaning? I want to make everything clear to Headmaster Zuo." His voice sounded very fierce. Suddenly, Yue Lingshan cried out miserably.

    Linghu Chong and Yingying cried out at the same time, "Oh, no!" They immediately leapt out from the field of tall sorghum. Linghu Chong shouted, "Lin Pingzhi, don't harm little martial sister."

    At this time, the two people Lao Denuo was most scared of were Yue Buqun and Linghu Chong. When he suddenly heard Linghu Chong's voice, he was startled out of his wits. He quickly grabbed Lin Pingzhi's left shoulder and jumped onto one of the Qingcheng disciples' horses. Then he put his heels to the horse and galloped away in a mad rush. Linghu Chong was worried about Yue Lingshan so he had no time to chase the enemy. He saw Yue Lingshan lay slumped on the driver's seat with a sword sticking out of her chest. He looked for her breath and found it to be slow and faint. Linghu Chong shouted, "Little martial sister, little martial sister."

    "Is... Is it big martial brother?" Yue Lingshan asked faintly.

    Linghu Chong happily replied, "Yes... it's me." He extended his hand to pull the sword out, but Yingying hastily stopped him. "You can't pull the sword out."

    Linghu Chong saw the sword had penetrated half a foot deep into her body and it was a fatal injury. If he pulled the sword out, she would die straight away. He didn't know what to do and his heart was grieved. He started to cry and called out, "Little... little martial sister!"

    "Big martial brother, it's already good that you're here with me. Brother Ping... Brother Ping, has he gone?"

    Linghu Chong gritted his teeth and with tears running down his cheeks, he said, "Don't worry, I'll definitely kill him to avenge you."

    "Don't, don't! His eyes are already blind. If you want to kill him, he wouldn't be able to fight back. I... I... I want to go to mom."

    "Alright, I'll take you to Master-Wife." Yingying heard Yue Lingshan's voice was becoming fainter and fainter, and knew that she only had a very short time left in this world. She couldn't help shedding her tears.

    "Big martial brother, you've always treated me well,” Yue Lingshan said. “I... I'm sorry. I... I'm going to die."

    Linghu Chong shed his tears. "You can't die, we'll think of a way to cure you."

    "I'm... I'm hurt... deeply. Big martial brother, I want to ask you for something, you... you must promise me."

    Linghu Chong gripped her left hand and said, "Say it, say it, I promise."

    Yue Lingshan sighed. "You... you... don't agree... I've... asked too much of you..." Her voice was becoming softer and softer, and her breath becoming even weaker.

    "I promise, say what you want."

    "What did you say?"

    "I promise, what do you want me to do? I'll do it for you."

    "Big martial brother, my husband... Brother Ping... his... his... eyes are blind... he's pitiful... do you know?"

    "Yes, I know."

    "He's all by himself in this world. Everyone bullies him... bullies him. Big martial brother... after I die, please take good care of him, don't... don't let him be bullied..."

    Linghu Chong was startled. He never expected Yue Lingshan to still hold on to the feelings she had for Lin Pingzhi when Lin Pingzhi was her violent killer. At that moment, Linghu Chong really detested Lin Pingzhi, and all he wanted to do was to chop him into thousands of pieces. In the future, it would already be almost impossible for him to spare his life, so how could he agree to look after this bastard?

    Yue Lingshan slowly said, "Big martial brother, Brother Ping... Brother Ping, he didn't really want to kill me... he's afraid of my father... he wanted to gain Zuo Lengchan's trust, so... so he stabbed me first..."

    Linghu Chong angrily said, "That selfish, ungrateful bastard. You... you still care for him?"

    "He... he didn't deliberately try to kill me, it's just that.. it's just that his hand slipped. Big martial brother... I beg you, beg you to look after him..."

    As the moonlight reflected off her face, Linghu Chong can see her eyes were unfocused and her pupils were dull, entirely unlike her normally clear bright eyes. A few drops of blood were splashed on her cheeks, and her earnest face was begging him. Linghu Chong thought of the past ten years he had together with his little martial sister while they were at Huashan, holding hands and traveling everywhere. Sometimes when she wanted him to do something, she would show this earnest looking expression to him. No matter how difficult that thing was, even if it violated what his heart wished for, he had never refused her even once. This time, her earnest request was full of grief. She knew clearly she only had a short time left and that she didn't have another opportunity to ask Linghu Chong for anything else. This was the last and most pressing earnest request from her. All of a sudden, Linghu Chong felt his chest feeling hot and he knew if he promised her this, then not only would there be endless trouble in the future, he would even be forced to do many things that he wouldn't be willing to do. But looking at Yue Lingshan's earnest and sorrowful look, he nodded his head. "Fine, I promise you, you can put your heart at ease."

    Yingying heard him and couldn't help interrupt him. "You... how can you promise that?"

    Yue Lingshan tightly gripped Linghu Chong's hand. "Big martial brother, many... many... thanks... I'm... I'm at ease... at ease." Her eyes suddenly shone and the edge of her mouth smiled, looking like she was very satisfied. Linghu Chong saw her expression and thought, "Just being able to see her happy, it doesn't matter how much trouble and pain I have to go through, it's all worth it."

    All of a sudden, Yue Lingshan softly sang a song. Linghu Chong felt as if his chest had just received a thump as he heard her singing a Fujian folksong. She was singing the tune, "Sisters, going up the mountain to pluck tea." This was the Fujian folksong that Lin Pingzhi had taught her. That day on the Cliff of Contemplation, his heart hurt like it was twisted because he heard her singing this folksong. Now as she sang this song again, she was thinking of the sweet days Lin Pingzhi and she had shared while they were at Huashan. The sound of her song was becoming fainter and her grip on Linghu Chong's hand gradually loosened. She at last release her hold and slowly closed her eyes. She had stopped singing, and her breathing had also stopped. Linghu Chong's heart sank. It felt as if the whole world had also died. He wanted to cry but he couldn't. He extended both of his hands and carried Yue Lingshan's body. He softly said, "Little martial sister, little martial sister, don't be afraid! I'm going to carry you to your mom. No one will bully you anymore."

    Yingying saw a red patch at the back of his body. His wound had burst open again and blood was oozing out of it. The patch of blood on his gown was getting larger and larger, but looking at the situation, she didn't know how to advise him. Linghu Chong absent-mindedly carried Yue Lingshan's body for more than ten steps while he kept on mumbling, "Little martial sister, don't be afraid, don't be afraid! I'll carry you to Master-Wife." Suddenly, both of his knees lost strength and he fell down onto the ground and lost consciousness.

    When he became half aware, he heard a crisp and clear sound of a zither. The zither sound repeated itself playing a tune that sounded familiar to him and he was enjoying it immensely. His whole body felt weak and he didn't even feel like opening his eyelids. He only hoped that he could listen to the sound of the zither forever. The zither sound really didn't stop and continued playing. After listening to it for a while, Linghu Chong fell asleep again.

    The second time he became conscious, the quiet and beautiful zither sound was still playing and he could also smell a fragrant scent. He slowly opened his eyes and saw all sorts of flowers in front of his eyes. Red flowers, white flowers, yellow flowers, purple flowers; they were all piled in front of him. He wondered, "What's this place?" Hearing the zither sound repeating, he realised it was the tune Yingying often played called the 'Song of Peace and Serenity'. He turned his head around and saw the back of Yingying's body. She was sitting on the ground gently playing the zither. Gradually, he realised they were inside a cave. The sunshine entered from the mouth of the cave as he lay on a bed of soft grass. Linghu Chong wanted to sit up and as he tried, the grass underneath him made a rustling sound. The zither sound stopped abruptly and Yingying turned her head around looking very happy. She slowly walked up to Linghu Chong and sat beside him. Her eyes stayed on him for the whole time, and her face was overflowing with tender affection.

    In a brief moment, Linghu Chong's heart swelled with happiness. He knew he had lost consciousness after he had seen Yue Lingshan die miserably, and Yingying had helped him into this cave. He suddenly felt a wave of sadness in his heart, but gradually, he felt unbounded warmth and tenderness coming from Yingying's eyes. The two of them affectionately sat opposite each other for a long time without saying anything.

    Linghu Chong extended his left hand and lightly caressed the back of Yingying's hand. Suddenly, in the midst of the fragrance from the flowers, he smelled roasted meat in the air. Yingying took a branch full of stringed up frogs and laughingly said, "They're burnt again!"

    Linghu Chong burst into laughter. The two of them were brought back to the day besides the creek when they caught some frogs and burnt them. From the first time they had eaten frogs together to this second frog feast, many things had happened in between; but the two of them were still together at the end. After having a few laughs, Linghu Chong's heartache returned and he started shedding some tears again. Yingying helped him to sit up; pointing to the mountain outside, she softly said, "Miss Yue is buried there."

    Holding back his tears, Linghu Chong said, "Many... many thanks."

    Yingying slowly shook her head. "There's no need to thank me. Every person has his own fate, and every person also has his own action and reward."

    Linghu Chong felt apologetic. "Yingying, I can never forget the feelings I have for my little martial sister, please don't blame me."

    "Of course I don't blame you. If you were just a man who likes to play around and look for girls all the time, then I wouldn't have cared about you." She then whispered, "The reason I started... I started adoring you is because you told me how much you love your little martial sister at the Bamboo Lane in Luoyang. Miss Yue was a good lady, but she wasn't... she wasn't destined to be with you. If you didn't grow up with her, and she had seen you later, she would most probably have liked you."

    Linghu Chong pondered for a long time, then he shook his head. "She wouldn't. Little martial sister looked up to my master, so the man she liked must be similar to her father, a man of few words who carry himself in a stately manner. I'm only her playmate; she had never... never respected me."

    Yingying said, "Maybe what you said is right. It just happened that Lin Pingzhi is similar to your master, very proper but with a belly full of secret plots."

    Linghu Chong sighed. "Just before little martial sister died, she still didn't believe Lin Pingzhi truly meant to kill her and she still loved him completely. That's... that's also very good. She wasn't grieved at all before she died. I want to see her grave."

    Yingying held his arm as they walked out of the cave. Linghu Chong saw the grave was made up of a pile of rocks. Even though the rocks were of uneven size, they were organised neatly. In front and at the back of the grave were fresh flowers. Seeing they were done by Yingying, he felt appreciative towards her. A cut tree trunk was erected in front of the grave, and words were written on it with a sword-point: "Tomb of Heroine Yue Lingshan from Huashan". Linghu Chong was startled and shed more tears. He said, "Perhaps little martial sister would've liked to be called Madam Lin."

    "Lin Pingzhi is such a ruthless and unrighteous person. In the netherworld, Miss Yue would have understood his wicked heart, and she wouldn't want to be called Madam Lin." While she thought in her heart, "You don't know Lin Pingzhi and she were husband and wife in name only; they're not real husband and wife."

    "You're probably right," Linghu Chong agreeing with her. He then saw mountain peaks surrounding them on every side, and realized that they were inside a valley. The forests were the colour of deep green and mountain flowers grew everywhere. Birds were calling out continuously from the top of the trees. It was a very secluded and quiet place they were in.

    "We'll stay here for some time to look after your injury and the grave," Yingying suggested.

    Linghu Chong replied, "That's very good. Little martial sister is alone in this wilderness, even if she had become a ghost, she'll still be timid." When Yingying heard him said such a sentimental word, she couldn't help sighing.

    The two of them lived in the valley comfortably, eating frogs and picking fruits. Linghu Chong only had an external injury so with Heng-Shan School's medicine applied externally and taken orally, along with his abundant internal energy, he was mostly recovered from his injury after staying there for more than twenty days. While he was recuperating, Yingying taught him how to play the zither every day. Linghu Chong was very intelligent and he concentrated fully on his practise, so he advanced very quickly. One day, he woke up early in the morning and saw several small shoots had already grown out from Yue Lingshan's grave. Linghu Chong thought, "There are shoots already at little martial sister's grave now. How is she inside the grave?"

    Suddenly, the sound of a bamboo flute came from behind his back. He turned his head around and saw Yingying was sitting on a piece of rock playing the 'Song of Peace and Serenity' with a bamboo flute. He walked over to her and saw it was a new flute Yingying had made from a bamboo branch by using her sword and perforating holes through it. He took the zither, put it across his knee, and started playing, following the tune she was playing. As he gradually put his mind into playing the tune, there was no other thought in his mind. When the song was completed, he felt his vigour greatly roused. They smiled at each other.

    Yingying said, "You're already familiar with this 'Song of Peace and Serenity'. Today, let's practise the 'Smiling Proud Wanderer'. What do you think?"

    "That song is difficult to play, I don't know when I'll be able to play it together with you."

    Yingying smiled. "This music is very profound, I also still don't understand many parts of it. There's something different with this song, it's hard to explain, but it seems if two people were to play it together, they'd be able to enlighten each other. Compared to one person fumbling around, we'll definitely advance much faster."

    Linghu Chong clapped and said, "You're right! On that day, when I heard Hengshan School's martial uncle Liu and Devil... and Sun Moon Sect's Elder Qu playing this song together, the zither and the bamboo flute were in harmony, and their sound was really moving. Martial uncle Liu said that this song was originally for a zither and a bamboo flute to play together."

    "You play the zither, I play the flute. We'll slowly practise it part by part."

    Linghu Chong smiled. "But it's a pity it's a flute and not a se. Zither and se are very harmonious together and it would've been wonderful."

    (Translator's note: Se is similar to zither. Se has 25 strings while zither has 7 strings.)

    Yingying's face turned red and she replied, "These last few days, I haven't heard you speaking any satirical remarks and I thought you've changed. But you're still the same."

    Linghu Chong made a face at her. He knew Yingying was very shy. Even though they were in a secluded valley and there were only the two of them there, she never allowed him to speak indecently. He was afraid if he jested a bit more, she would ignore him for the rest of the day so he quickly went near her to look at the music score. After listening to her explanations, he started to play his part. Playing the zither wasn't an easy matter; added to that, the song 'Smiling Proud Wanderer' was very profound with a lot of complicated changes, so this made the playing even more difficult. But Linghu Chong was bright, and he was also being directed by a master. Additionally, he had also improved a lot in his zither playing from the time he started studying it at Bamboo Lane in Luoyang since he had been practising it every chance he got. Even though it was hard for them to be harmonious in the beginning, slowly, they finally managed to play well together. Even though their playing couldn't be as wonderful as that of Liu and Qu, there was a hint of a rhythm in their playing. Within the next ten days, the two of them became very close to playing the zither and flute together harmoniously. This calm surrounding of this green valley separated them from the world, and gradually they came to forget everything about the fierce fighting in Jianghu. Both of them felt if they could spend the rest of their lives in that green valley, and not be drawn into the killings in Wulin, then they would be very happy.

    One afternoon, after Linghu Chong and Yingying had been playing together for more than an hour, Linghu Chong's internal energy was suddenly disturbed and his mind not tranquil. He made a few mistakes and his heart became more worried which made his fingering method became even more chaotic. Yingying asked, "Are you tired? Rest for a while before continuing."

    "I'm tired but not tired. I don't know what's wrong. I feel a bit agitated. I'm going to go pick some peaches. We'll practise again at night."

    "Alright, don't go too far."

    Linghu Chong knew there were a lot of wild peach trees southeast of the valley, which would have ripened by now. He passed through the bushes and went for around eight to nine li before arriving at the grove of wild peach trees. He leapt up and picked two peaches. The second time he leapt, he picked three peaches. He saw the peaches were quite ripe and there were already a lot of peaches on the ground which had fallen from the trees. In the next few days, all the peaches might have fallen down and become rotten on the ground. He quickly picked dozens more, and he thought, "After we eat these peaches, we'll spread the seeds all over the valley. Then in a few years time, there'll be peach trees everywhere. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

    Then he suddenly thought of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, "With peach trees growing everywhere in this valley, wouldn't this be called a Peach Valley? Then will Yingying and I become the Peach Valley Two Fairies? Later on, we'll have six children, wouldn't they become Little Peach Valley Six Fairies? If those Little Peach Valley Six Fairies talk like the old Peach Valley Six Fairies, wouldn't that be troublesome?"

    He was just about to laugh thinking about this when he suddenly heard a sound from somewhere far amongst the trees. Linghu Chong immediately hid himself in the tall grass. He thought, "My mouth's getting tired of eating frogs and fruits. That sound must be some kind of a beast. Yingying will be very happy if I can catch an antelope or a deer." He had not finished thinking when he heard the sound of footsteps. It was the sound of two people walking. Linghu Chong started. "How can there be people in this valley? They must've come here because of Yingying and me."

    Then he heard the voice of an elder saying, "You're not wrong? Yue Buqun will definitely come here?"

    Linghu Chong was even more confounded. He thought, "They're chasing my master? Who are these people?"

    Another person with a low and deep voice said, "Fragrant Master Shi has already asked around. Yue Buqun's daughter and son-in-law suddenly went missing, and we couldn't find a single trace of them in any market, town, pier, or river. They must've hidden themselves in a nearby valley to look after their injuries. Sooner or later, Yue Buqun will come here to look for them."

    Linghu Chong's heart ached as he thought, "So they know little martial sister was injured, but they don't know she's already dead. A lot of people must be looking for her whereabouts, especially Master and Master-Wife. If not for this valley being completely secluded, they would've searched this place a long time ago."

    That elder then said, "If you didn't guess wrong, then Yue Buqun would come here sooner or later. Let's setup an ambush at the entrance of this valley."

    The person with the low and deep voice said, "If Yue Buqun doesn't come, then we can lead him here after we setup the ambush."

    That elder clapped twice and said, "This plan is wonderful. Brother Xue, I never thought you have so many ideas."

    That person surnamed Xue replied, "Elder Ge said it well. Subordinate hopes that you'll be able to promote me. If Elder has anything for me to do, I'll do it with all my heart and power to repay Elder's kindness."

    Linghu Chong felt disappointed as he thought, "So they're Yingying's subordinates from the Sun Moon Sect. It's best if they go far away from here and don't disturb Yingying and me." He also thought, "At this time, Master's martial art has advanced greatly. Even though there are many of them, they're still not Master's match. No one in Wulin is capable of matching Master's skill and intelligence. With only their intelligence, how can they even hope to ambush Master? This is called 'playing with axe in front of Lu Ban'."

    Suddenly, three clapping sound was heard from somewhere far. That person surnamed Xue said, "Elder Du has also arrived."

    Elder Ge also clapped for three times. The sound of footsteps was heard as four people hurried to come to them. Two of these people had very heavy footsteps and as they got nearer, Linghu Chong thought they were carrying something.

    Elder Ge happily said, "Elder Du, did you capture the Yue family's little girl? You've done a great achievement."

    A person laughed loudly and said, "It's from the Yue family, but it's the big girl, not the little one."

    Elder Ge gasped in surprise, sounding like he was surprised and happy at the same time. "How... How... You captured Yue Buqun's wife?"

    Linghu Chong was greatly surprised and he immediately wished to go out to help, but he recalled that he wasn't carrying a sword with him. With no sword in his hand, his martial art was just ordinary. This made him really worried. He then heard Elder Du said, "You're not convinced?"

    Elder Ge replied, "Madam Yue's swordplay is good. How did Brother Du manage to capture her? Ah, you must've used the confusion poison."

    Elder Du laughed, "This lady arrived in a restaurant absent-mindedly and just drank her bowl of tea without thinking. Other people said Yue Buqun's wife, Ning Zhongze, is great, but actually she's nothing."

    Linghu Chong got angry and secretly thought, "My Master-Wife heard her beloved daughter was injured and missing, but she couldn't find her after dozens of days of searching. Of course her mind would be in chaos. This is her cherished daughter we're talking about! How can you call her nothing? I'm going to kill each one of you with my sword for insulting my Master-Wife." He then thought, "How can I snatch a sword? If no sword, then a sabre will do." Then he heard Elder Ge said, "Since we have already captured Yue Buqun's wife, things are going well. Brother Du, the plan right now is how do we lead Yue Buqun here?"

    "What do we do after we lead him here?" Elder Du questioned.

    Elder Ge hesitated before saying, "We'll use this lady as hostage and force him to abandon his sword. I expect the Yue Buqun husband and wife would have deep feelings toward each other, so he wouldn't dare to defy us."

    "What Brother Ge said was very reasonable. But I'm afraid if Yue Buqun's heart is very violent, and the feelings between him and his wife aren't deep, then things might get a little thorny for us," Elder Du reasoned.

    "This... This... En, Brother Xue, what do you think?" Elder Ge said.

    That person surnamed Xue said, "In front of two elders, it's not subordinate's place to speak out...."

    He only said till here when there was another three clapping sound coming from the west. Elder Du said, "Elder Bao has arrived." In a short time, two people flew in from the west and their footsteps were really quick.

    Elder Ge said, "Elder Mo has also arrived."

    Linghu Chong quietly called out in misery, "Hearing their footsteps, it seems that these two people's martial arts are even higher than Du and Ge. How can I save Master-Wife with only my bare hand?" He then heard Elder Du and Ge called out together, "Brother Mo and Bao have arrived, this is really good."

    Elder Ge also said, "Brother Du has done a great service by capturing Yue Buqun's wife."

    An elder happily said, "Wonderful, wonderful! The two of you have worked hard."

    Elder Ge said, "That's Elder Du's accomplishment."

    That elder replied, "We all received Chief's order to handle this thing. No matter who did it, we'll all get a share of Chief's good fortune."

    This elder's voice sounded quite familiar to Linghu Chong's ears. He thought, "Could it be that I've seen him on Dark Wood Cliff before?" He then exerted his qi to listen to their conversation, but he didn't dare stick his head out to have a look. All of the elders from the Devil Sect had high martial art, so if he moved even slightly, then he might immediately be discovered by them.

    Elder Ge said, "Brother Bao and Mo, Brother Du and I were just discussing how we were going to entice Yue Buqun to come here, so that we can capture him and take him to Dark Wood Cliff."

    The other elder said, "What plan did you come up with?"

    Elder Ge answered, "We haven't thought of a good plan yet. Brother Bao and Mo must be able to come up with a good plan."

    The first elder said, "When the five mountains sword schools were fighting at the place of worship place over the leadership, Yue Buqun blinded both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes and his power shook the entire Mount Songshan. After that, no one else from the five mountains sword schools dared to challenge him. I heard this person has obtained the real Evil Resisting Sword Art from the Lin family and he's now completely different from before. We must think of all possibilities and we mustn't look down on him."

    Elder Du said, "That's right. Even if the four of us cooperate, it's still not certain if we'll be able to win against him."

    Elder Mo said, "Brother Bao, you've already decided on a plan, please share it with us."

    That Elder Bao said, "Even though I've thought of a plan, it's nothing wonderful. I'm afraid the three of you will laugh at it."

    Elder Mo, Ge, and Du said together, "Brother Bao is our sect's brain trust. The plan you thought of must be really good."

    Elder Bao said, "Actually, it's only a silly plan. We'll dig a deep pit, and cover it with grass and branches on top. Then we'll seal this lady's acupoints, put her at the edge of the pit and lead Yue Buqun to it. When he sees his wife on the ground, he'll definitely go over to help her. Then 'Boom'... he'll fall... Aiyo, not good..." He was hitting his hands together at the same time he was speaking. The other three elders and the remaining four people laughed out loud.

    Elder Mo laughingly said, "Brother Bao's plan is wonderful. We'll all naturally hide ourselves on the side to wait for Yue Buqun to drop into the pit. Once he drops in, we'll cover the top of the pit with blades and don't let him leap out. Otherwise, with such strong martial art, I'm afraid he might not drop in but instead jump out of the hole."

    Elder Bao hesitated and said, "But there's still some difficulty with this."

    Elder Mo said, "What difficulty? Ah, that's right, Brother Bao is afraid of Yue Buqun's strange sword art. Once he fell into the hole, will we be able to stop him?"

    Elder Bao said, "Brother Mo's guess is right. This time, Chief sent us to handle this thing and our enemy is the best master from the five mountains sword schools alliance. Even if we die for Chief, we'll still be highly honoured, and we wouldn't be harming the reputation of both the Divine sect and Chief's. As the saying goes: Those who thought of trivial things are not gentlemen, those who are not violent are not men. Since we're dealing with a gentleman, we must use treacherous method. I think we must add something inside the trap."

    Elder Du said, "What Brother Bao said fits well with us. We're carrying a lot of 'Hundred Flowers Soul Consuming Powder'. We can spread them around the tree branches and grass covering the hole. When Yue Buqun falls into the hole, he'll suck in a breath of this powder..." He said till here, when they all burst into laughter.

    Elder Bao said, "We can't be late, we must begin now. Where's the best place to lay this trap?"

    Elder Ge replied, "Three li west from here, there's a towering cliff on one side with a deep abyss on the other side. There's only a small road you can walk through there. If Yue Buqun doesn't come then we'll just forget it, on the other hand, if he comes then he'll definitely have to go through this small road."

    Elder Bao said, "Very good, let's go there and take a look." After he said this, he started walking while the rest followed behind him.

    Linghu Chong thought, "They wouldn't be able to dig this trap in just an hour. I'll go quickly tell Yingying about this and get myself a long sword, then I'll go and rescue Master-Wife." He waited until all the Devil Sect's people had gone before quietly going back.

    After walking for a few li, he suddenly heard the sound of people digging. He thought, "How come they're digging here?" Linghu Chong quickly hid himself behind a tree. When he poked his head out to take a look, he saw four Devil Sect's people digging with their bodies bent over while a few elders were standing by the side. He was quite near to them this time and was able to see the profile of one of the elders. He secretly shivered in fear. "This person is actually the one called Bao Dachu who I saw in Hangzhou's Mount Gu at the Plum Manor. So Elder Bao is actually Bao Dachu. Back then when Ren Woxing escaped from the West Lake, the first Devil Sect's elder he took back was this Bao Dachu."

    Linghu Chong had seen him deal with Mr. Huang Zhong before so he knew Bao Dachu's martial art was high. In his heart, he was thinking that Master had just taken up the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School, so he must have made some trouble for the Devil Sect. The Devil Sect wouldn't just stay quietly and let this happen, so Ren Woxing sent some people out to retaliate. So Linghu Chong was thinking there would be more than just these four elders who had been sent. He saw that the four people were using a pair of halberds and hatchets to loosen the ground and dig out the dirt. Linghu Chong thought, "They did say they wanted to dig the hole by that cliff, but how come they're digging here?" Then he realized, "It's rocky beside the cliff, so how can it be easy to dig a hole there? This Elder Ge is a stupid person, speaking blindly without thinking first." With the Devil Sect people digging a hole here, his way back was blocked and he was prevented from getting a sword. He thought it was very inappropriate to dig a hole with weapons and reasoned they were unlikely to finish digging the hole any time soon. But he didn't want to go around them to get a sword because he didn't dare to be too far away from his Master-Wife.

    Suddenly, Elder Ge laughed and said, "Yue Buqun is already old, but his wife is still so young and pretty."

    Elder Du laughingly said, "She looks good, but she's not that young. She looks to be in her early forties. If Brother Ge is interested, wait until we capture Yue Buqun and report back to Chief. Then you can ask for this lady, what do you think?"

    Elder Ge laughed. "I wouldn't dare to ask for her. But there's no harm in playing with her."

    Linghu Chong was furious. "Shameless bastard, you got some nerve to insult my Master-Wife. Wait until I give every single one of you a horrible death." Linghu Chong couldn't endure Elder Ge's licentious laughing so he stuck his head out to take a look. He saw Elder Ge was giving Madam Yue's cheek a pinch. Madam Yue's acupoint was sealed so she couldn't fight back nor even utter a sound. The Devil Sect people all laughed merrily over this.


    Elder Du laughingly said, "Brother Ge is so wary, you don't dare to play with this lady here?"

    Linghu Chong was livid. If this Elder Ge really became rude toward his Master-Wife, then he would come out and stake his life with these Devil Sect people despite having no sword in his hand. But he heard Elder Ge laughing lewdly and said, "It's not that I don't dare to play with her, but I'm afraid I might spoil Chief's mission, and then even if I have a hundred heads, they might not be enough to be beheaded."

    "That's the best,” Elder Bao coldly said. “Brother Ge, Brother Du, both of you have good qinggong. Lead Yue Buqun to come here. I predict in two hours, everything will be in place here." Elder Ge and Du acknowledged together, "Yes!" Then they went toward the north.

    After the two of them were gone, only the sound of digging was heard in that empty valley with the occasional instructions from Elder Mo. Linghu Chong hid in the underbrush and didn't even dare to take a deep breath. He thought, "I've been gone for so long, Yingying must surely be worried and she'll definitely come out to look for me. When she hears this digging sound, she'll come over to take a look and then she can help my Master-Wife. Once these Devil Sect's elders saw Young Lady Ren, how would they dare to disobey her? Considering Chief Ren, Brother Xiang and Yingying's face, I shouldn't fight with the people from the Devil Sect. That would be the best way." Thinking till here, he felt that the longer he waited the better it would be. That pervert Elder Ge had been gone for quite some time so Master-Wife didn't have to bear with his insult anymore.

    At last, the Devil Sect people finished digging and put the branches on top of the trap. They then scattered the confusion poison on top and further added grass on top of it. Bao Dachu and the other five people separately hid themselves around the trap to patiently wait for Yue Buqun's arrival.

    Linghu Chong quietly picked up a big rock with his hand and thought, "I'll wait till Master come. As soon as he comes near the trap, I'll throw this rock onto the trap. Once the rock falls into the trap, Master will see it and he'll be vigilant."

    At this time, it was only the beginning of summer. The sound of cicadas sang throughout the dell, and occasionally cries of little birds were heard. Besides those sounds, nothing else was heard. Linghu Chong kept his breathing slow and light, while straining to listen to Yue Buqun and the two elders' footsteps.

    After more than an hour, he suddenly heard a female voice crying out from a far away place. It was Yingying's voice. Linghu Chong thought, "Yingying has discovered there are outsiders here. I wonder who she saw, my master or those two elders?"

    Then he heard the footsteps of two people coming; one was in front of the other as they rushed forward. He heard Yingying continuously calling out, "Brother Chong, Brother Chong, your master is here to kill you. You mustn't come out."

    Linghu Chong was startled. "Master is here to kill me?"

    Then he heard Yingying calling out again, "Brother Chong, quickly go. Your master wants to kill you." She was using all of her energy to shout, it was obvious she wanted Linghu Chong to hear her from far away.

    Yingying was calling out, her hair loose, and running quickly with a sword in her hand while Yue Buqun was behind her with nothing in either of his hands. Yingying was now only around ten steps away from falling into the trap, while Linghu Chong and Bao Dachu were anxious, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, Yue Buqun shot out and grabbed Yingying's back with his left hand while his right hand quickly grabbed both of her wrists and twisted her arms behind her back. In just a short moment, Yingying was rendered motionless. Her hand loosened and the long sword dropped onto the ground. Linghu Chong and Bao Dachu were too late to save her because Yue Buqun moved incredibly fast. Yingying's martial art was also very high but she unexpectedly couldn't run away, and in just one move, she was captured by him. Linghu Chong was alarmed and he nearly called out. Throughout all this, Yingying was still calling out, "Brother Chong quickly go away. Your master wants to kill you!" Hot tears bubbled up in Linghu Chong's eyes as he thought, "She cares so much about me that she ignored her own safety."

    Freeing his left hand, Yue Buqun sealed the acupoints on Yingying's back. Then his right hand released her and she dropped to the ground. Just then, he saw Madam Yue was lying still on the ground. Yue Buqun was surprised, but he was immediately on alert that there must be danger nearby. He didn't approach his wife but calmly looked around. He saw nothing strange and so lightly said, "Young Lady Ren, that thief Linghu Chong killed my beloved daughter. Were you a part of this too?"

    Linghu Chong was again surprised. He thought, "Master said that I killed little martial sister. Where did he hear this from?"

    "Your daughter was killed by Lin Pingzhi," Yingying answered. "What's that has to do with Linghu Chong? You kept on saying Linghu Chong killed your daughter, that's wrongly blaming the wrong person."

    Yue Buqun laughed aloud. "Lin Pingzhi is my son-in-law. Don't you know this? They're newly wed, and so loving toward each other. Why would he kill his own wife for?"

    "Lin Pingzhi wanted to rely on Songshan School, so to make Zuo Lengchan believe that he has nothing to do with you, he killed his own wife," Yingying explained.

    Yue Buqun again laughed loudly. "Nonsense, Songshan School? Is there still a Songshan School in this world? Songshan School has merged into the Five Mountains School. Within Wulin, Songshan School's name is no more. Why would Lin Pingzhi go to rely on Songshan School? Also, Lin Pingzhi knows Zuo Lengchan is my subordinate. Instead of coming to his father-in-law who is the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, he went to rely on a blind person who can even barely protect himself. Even among the dumbest person in this world, this kind of stupidity simply couldn't exist."

    "It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not. You can ask Lin Pingzhi yourself when you find him."

    Yue Buqun's voice turned grim as he said, "The person I'm looking for right now isn't Lin Pingzhi. It's Linghu Chong. Everyone in Jianghu is saying that Linghu Chong was rude to my daughter and that she fought back against that traitor with all of her power until she was finally killed. You've weaved this lie to hide Linghu Chong, so it's obvious you're working together with him."

    Yingying snorted and laughed derisively.

    "Young lady Ren, your father is the Chief of the Sun Moon Sect. I originally wouldn't have given you any trouble, but to force Linghu Chong to come out, there's no other way, I'm forced to punish you a little bit. First, I'm going to chop off your left hand. Then, I'll chop off your right hand. Next would be your left foot, followed by your right foot. If that bastard Linghu Chong still has the slightest bit of conscience, then he will show up."

    "I don't think you dare," Yingying shouted. "If you harm one hair on my head, my father will kill everyone in your Five Mountains School and not leave a single one alive."

    Yue Buqun smiled and said, "I don't dare?" After he said this, he slowly pulled out the long sword hanging on his waist out of its scabbard.

    Linghu Chong couldn't take it anymore so he rushed out of the underbrush and shouted, "Master, Linghu Chong's here!"

    Yingying gasped in surprised and hastily said, "Go away, go away! He doesn't dare to harm me."

    Linghu Chong shook his head as he walked a few steps closer. "Master..."

    "Little thief, you still have some face to call me: 'Master?'" Yue Buqun said severely.

    Linghu Chong's eyes were brimming with tears as he knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "Emperor of Heaven, Linghu Chong has always treated Miss Yue with respect. I would never dare to be rude to her. Linghu Chong has received your kindness and was brought up by you. If you want to kill me then kill me."

    Yingying was worried; she called out, "Brother Chong, this person is half-male, half-female, he's lost his humanity long ago, quickly go away!"

    Yue Buqun's face suddenly turned murderous as he turned toward Yingying and grimly said, "What do you mean by that?"

    "You practised the Evil Resisting Sword Art, cas... cas... carelessly disturbed yourself and made yourself half-dead half-alive just like a ghost. Brother Chong, do you remember Dongfang Bubai? All of them are crazy, don't treat them like ordinary people." Yingying was hoping Linghu Chong would flee at once. She knew that after what she just said, Yue Buqun would never let her go but she didn't care about that.

    Yue Buqun coldly said, "Where did you hear those cynical remarks you just made?"

    "From Lin Pingzhi's own mouth. You stole Lin Pingzhi's Evil Resisting Sword Manual, you think he doesn't know? When you threw that Buddhist robe down the canyon, Lin Pingzhi was hiding outside your window. He took that robe. That's why he... he also learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art. If not for this, how would he be able to kill Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai? With regards to how he finished learning the Evil Resisting Sword Art, of course, you know how this is done as well. Brother Chong, listen to Yue Buqun's voice. It's just like a girl. He... he and Dongfang Bubai are the same, they lost their normal sex a long time ago."

    She heard the conversation between Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan inside the carriage, but Linghu Chong did not. She knew Linghu Chong respected and loved his Master. She also didn't want to add to his sadness, and this topic was very inconvenient to speak of, so she had not mentioned it in the last few months. But at this time, it was very urgent so she was forced to reveal this to make Linghu Chong understand, to make him see that the person in front of him wasn't a great headmaster in Wulin. But he was merely a freak who had lost his sex, and that he was also an insane person who could not be spoken to with reason.

    The murderous look on Yue Buqun's eyes became fiercer. He loathingly said, "Young lady Ren, I wanted to spare you your life. But after this nonsense you spouted, I can't allow you to live anymore. You courted your own death, don't blame me for this."

    Yingying shouted, "Brother Chong, quickly go, quickly go!"

    Linghu Chong knew his master's hand was extremely fast, and with just a tremble of his sword, Yingying would immediately lose her life. When he saw Yue Buqun had lifted his sword, looking like he was going to thrust out, he shouted, "If you want to kill someone, then kill me, don't harm her."

    Yue Buqun turned his head around and laughed coldly. "You've just learned a little bit of a three-legged sword art and you think you can run amuck in Jianghu? Pick up the sword. I'll kill you to make you believe."

    "I wouldn't dare... wouldn't dare to fight against mas... fight against you," Linghu Chong stammered out.

    "Even today, what are you putting on air for?" Yue Buqun shouted. "That day on the boat on the Yellow River and the Five Tyrant Ridge, you allied yourself with the people from the unorthodox path, and deliberately made me lose face. I've already decided to kill you back then, but it's very good for you that I've been putting up with you so far. At Fuzhou, you fell into my hand. If it wasn't for my wife blocking me, I would've sent you to the King of Hell back then. I made a mistake back then, and now you've instead taken my daughter's life."

    Linghu Chong hastily called out, "I didn't... I didn't... "

    "Pick up the sword!" Yue Buqun angrily shouted. "You only have to win against this sword in my hand and then you can kill me straight away. Otherwise, I also won't spare you. This Devil Sect's witch likes to speak nonsense, let me cripple her first!" When he finished speaking, he slashed his sword to behead Yingying.

    Linghu Chong's left hand was still holding the big piece of rock. Originally, he wanted to use it to help Yue Buqun by stopping him from falling down the trap. At this point, with no time to think, he quickly tossed the rock at Yue Buqun's chest. Yue Buqun leaned his
    body to one side to dodge it. Linghu Chong rolled on the ground, picked up the long sword Yingying had dropped on the ground, and stabbed it at Yue Buqun's left leg. If Yue Buqun had slashed his sword toward Linghu Chong initially, Linghu Chong would've stood still and was prepared to get stabbed. But after hearing Yingying revealing his secret, Yue Buqun was so startled and angry that he actually chopped at Yingying first. Linghu Chong couldn't do anything else but help. Yue Buqun blocked three attacks and retreated for two steps. He was secretly amazed. He just blocked three times, but his whole arm was shaken and felt numb. When they fought at the Shaolin Temple, they fought for more than a thousand moves, but Linghu Chong didn't use his true internal energy with his sword. But at this time, he did not give way in his three attacks.

    Linghu Chong forced Yue Buqun to step back, while he extended his hand backwards to release Yingying's sealed acupoints. Yingying called out, "Don't worry about me, watch out!"

    White light flashed as Yue Buqun's long sword thrust forward. Linghu Chong had seen Dongfang Bubai, Yue Buqun, and Lin Pingzhi's martial arts, so he knew his opponent's movements were unbelievably quick like a ghost or a demon. If he waited till he saw a flaw in the oncoming attack, he would've gotten stabbed. So he counterattacked by
    slashing at Yue Buqun's lower abdomen with his long sword.

    Yue Buqun quickly leapt back and scolded, "What a fierce small thief!" Actually, even though Yue Buqun had raised Linghu Chong since he was small, he didn't understand him. If he had actually ignored Linghu Chong's counter attack and kept on thrusting his sword, he would've taken Linghu Chong's life. Even though Linghu Chong was using a
    common ruin method, he would never have continued his attack and pierced his master's lower abdomen. Yue Buqun was judging other people by what he would do himself so he immediately leapt back, missing a good opportunity to injure his opponent.

    After several moves, Yue Buqun couldn't stand it anymore so he increased the speed of his sword. Linghu Chong concentrated his mind to keep up. In the beginning, Linghu Chong was thinking that if he were to die under his master's hand, there was no pity in that for him except Yingying would also be killed. Furthermore, Yingying's word had
    harmed his master so she would definitely be tortured before she die. Thus, he exerted himself in fighting back with all of his heart so as to protect Yingying. After fighting for several dozens moves, Yue Buqun's changes became complicated. Linghu Chong concentrated fully on the fight and he was gradually enlightened. His eyes were now only looking at the point of his opponent's sword.

    With Dugu Nine Swords, the stronger the enemy was the more powerful it became. That day below the West Lake inside the prison, he fought with Ren Woxing whose martial art was of one of the highest quality which was very rare in this world. But no matter how Ren Woxing's sword rose, shifted, and changed, Linghu Chong's Dugu Nine Sword
    adapted reactively against his moves. Whether it was attacking or defending, he countered each move successfully. At present, Linghu Chong had already learned the Art of Essence Absorbing and his internal energy had improved greatly since that time below the West Lake. Even though Yue Buqun's Evil Resisting Sword Art was weird, he
    had not learnt it for very long and he was not as good as Linghu Chong who had studied his Dugu Nine Sword for quite some time now. Compared to Dongfang Bubai, Yue Buqun was much worse.

    After fighting for more than a hundred and fifty six moves, Linghu Chong didn't think deeply anymore when wielding his sword as there was barely any time to think with Yue Buqun's quick swordplay attacking him. Even though the Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art was made up of seventy two moves, each move had several dozens changes, and as it went through all the variations, the changes became very complicated. If other people saw this swordplay, even if they didn't become dizzy from looking at it, they would still be bewildered from seeing this complicated swordplay and they wouldn't be able to execute their own sword moves. But the Dugu Nine Swords that Linghu Chong learned had no set moves to speak of, so it was natural for him to follow the movements of his opponent. If the enemy only had one move, then he would only have one move. If
    the enemy had a thousand moves then he would also have a thousand moves. Thus, in Yue Buqun's eyes, Linghu Chong's swordplay was very complicated and was far better than his own sword art. He was afraid that even if they fought for three days and three nights, Linghu Chong would still come up with more new moves. Yue Buqun thought till here and he couldn't help feeling afraid. He also thought, "This witch from the Ren family has already found out the secret of me learning this sword art. If I can't kill these two people today, this matter will be spread throughout Jianghu. Then how can I still have the face to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School? All of my planning
    would've been ruined. But that traitor Lin Pingzhi already told this Ren witch, so what would prevent him from saying this to other people? This... this..." With anxiety in his heart, his swordplay became even fiercer but his mind was agitated and his swordplay was actually hindered. The Evil Resisting Sword Art depended on speed to take
    victory. If you fought for more than a hundred moves yet was still unable to win, then the fierceness of this sword art would unavoidably be lessened. Also, with his heart separated, the power of his sword art was greatly reduced.

    Linghu Chong's mind was moved as he suddenly saw a flaw in his opponent's sword art. The most important aspect of the Dugu Nine Swords was to see the weakness in the opponent's martial art. No matter whether it was bare hand, kicks, sabres, or swords, every move must have a weakness. Once a flaw has been seen, you could take
    advantage of if by attacking it. That day at the Dark Wood Cliff, he fought with Dongfang Bubai who, only holding a piece of embroidery needle, moved as fast as lightning and was unbelievably quick. So even though there were still weaknesses in the movements of his body and attacks, they were only fleeting. Linghu Chong only managed to see the flaws but they were gone in the next instant which made him unable
    to attack those flaws. That was the reason why the four masters, Linghu Chong, Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying, were unable to win against a little embroidery needle. Later on, Linghu Chong saw Yue Buqun and Zuo Lengchan fighting at the place of worship, and Lin Pingzhi fighting with Mu Gaofeng, Yu Canghai, and the Qingcheng
    disciples. Recently, he had been thinking hard about the flaws in the movements of that sword art, but he had always run into the single difficulty -- the speed of the opponent's swordplay. When a flaw could only be seen fleetingly, it was very hard to attack.

    At this time, he had endured fighting against Yue Buqun for close to two hundred moves when he saw Yue Buqun exposing a weakness underneath his right armpit in a slash of his sword. Yue Buqun had used this move earlier. Originally, the changes in his swordplay were very complicated and he didn't repeat any of his moves in the past two hundred moves. But now, he has finally repeated one move. After several more moves, Yue Buqun's long sword slashed out horizontally exposing a weakness on his left waist. He had again repeated another move. Suddenly, a thought flashed in Linghu Chong's mind, "His Evil Resisting Sword Art is extremely quick, and his flaws aren't actual flaws. Even though there's no weakness in his sword moves, I've finally found out a weakness in his swordplay -- his swordplay repeats."

    In this world, in whichever sword art, no matter how complicated and how many changes your swordplay had, you would eventually finish using all the sword moves. Once the sword moves were used up and you still weren't able to gain victory, then it would be unavoidable that you would have to reuse the sword moves you had used earlier in the fight. But for masters, their refined sword arts would always have eight or ten groups, and within each group there would be dozens of moves, and each move would have its variations. So it was very unusual for them to fight for more than a thousand moves before the outcome of the fight was decided. Even though Yue Buqun knows a lot of other swordplay he could use, he knew Linghu Chong's sword art was actually too strong and that Linghu Chong was also familiar with the Huashan School's sword art. So besides the Evil Resisting Sword Art, there was no other sword art he could use that could gain victory. By now, Yue Buqun had repeated many moves. Knowing he now had the opportunities to take victory, Linghu Chong felt happy.

    When Yue Buqun saw the corner of Linghu Chong's mouth smiling, he was secretly startled. Yue Buqun thought, "What's this little thief smiling about? Has he figured out a way to defeat me?" He immediately moved his internal energy, and was suddenly advancing and retreating to go around Linghu Chong in a circle. His sword moves were like a violent storm and they were getting faster and faster. Yingying was still lying down on the ground and from her position, she couldn't see Yue Buqun's body clearly anymore. She felt dizzy looking at him; her chest felt nauseated and she felt like throwing up.

    After fighting for thirty more moves, Yue Buqun's left hand stabbed forward while he withdrew his right hand. Linghu Chong knew this was the third time he had used this move. After fighting for so long, Linghu Chong felt tired as his injury was just beginning to heal. He knew the situation was highly dangerous, and under Yue Buqun's lightning fast attack, if he was just slightly careless, he would lose his life and Yingying would be tortured. So seeing Yue Buqun using this move again, he immediately sent his sword out and stabbed it at his opponent's right armpit. The spot that this slanting sword was stabbing at was the weakness of Yue Buqun's next move. This was really anticipating what the enemy was going to do and made Yue Buqun's really anxious. Even though this move by Yue Buqun was extremely quick, Linghu Chong's attack was done earlier. The move from the Evil Resisting Sword Art had not changed yet, but Linghu Chong had already thrust at Yue Buqun's armpit making him unable to block or dodge. Yue Buqun cried out sharply, sounding surprised, angry, and desperate. Linghu Chong's sword had already arrived at his opponent's armpit, but when he heard Yue Buqun's sharp cry, he
    immediately thought, "I'm going too far, he's my master, how can I injure him?" He quickly pulled his sword back and said, "The winner and loser has been decided. Let's save Master-Wife, then... then we'll go our own ways!"

    Yue Buqun's face was pale as he slowly nodded his head. "Alright! I admit defeat."

    Linghu Chong tossed his long sword on the ground and turned his head around to look at Yingying. Suddenly, Yue Buqun shouted and his long sword thrust out as fast as lightning and stabbed Linghu Chong's left waist. Greatly astonished, Linghu Chong quickly extended his hand to pick up his sword. But how could he be fast enough? With a 'pu' sound, the point of the sword had entered the back of his waist. Luckily, Linghu Chong's internal energy was abundant. When the sword reached his body, his muscle automatically retracted, making the sword slid to one side so that the sword point pierced his body slantingly and did not injure any fatal points. Yue Buqun was exulted. He pulled out his sword and quickly followed it with a chop. Linghu Chong hastily rolled for a few feet. Yue Buqun rushed forward with his sword slashing ferociously. Linghu Chong rolled again.

    'Tang' sounded as Yue Buqun's sword chopped the ground and missed Linghu Chong's head by only a few inches. Yue Buqun lifted his sword, and with a fierce-looking laugh, he lifted his sword high above his head. He rushed forward for a step and chopped his sword down on Linghu Chong's head again. Suddenly, there was nothing underneath his
    foot, and his body slumped to the ground. He was greatly surprised and nervously sucked in a breath of air and was waiting for his right foot to hit the ground to leap up. But all of a sudden, the sky revolved and the ground turned, and he lost consciousness. With a booming sound, he fell into the trap.

    Linghu Chong had just escaped from death. Using his left hand, he pressed on the wound on his waist and struggled to sit up. Then he heard several people calling out at the same time from the underbrush, "Young lady! Sacred Lady!" Several people rushed out. They were Bao Dachu, Elder Mo, and the other four Devil Sect people. Bao Dachu was
    the first to arrive on the side of the trap. He held his breath, reversed his sabre, and hit Yue Buqun's head repeatedly. He knew Yue Buqun's internal energy was good so the confusion poison wouldn't affect him for long. These hits would put him out for half a day. Linghu Chong hastily scrambled besides Yingying and asked, "Which... which acupoints did he seal?"

    "You... You... Are you ... Are you alright?" Yingying was frightened. Her voice quivered and she found it hard to control herself. Her teeth were chattering.

    "I won't die, don't... don't be afraid."

    "Behead that bastard!" Yingying shouted.

    "Yes!" Bao Dachu acknowledged.

    "Don't kill him!" Linghu Chong hastily interrupted.

    Yingying saw he was worried, so she said, "Alright, then quickly... quickly capture him."

    She didn't know there was confusion poison in the trap already and she was afraid Yue Buqun would jump up again since no one up on the ground was Yue Buqun's match.

    "As ordered!" Bao Dachu acknowledged. He didn't dare to say that they had dug the trap themselves and that they had been hiding on the side all this time. But when the young lady was captured by Yue Buqun, everyone was afraid of dying so they didn't dare to go out and help. If someone looked into this matter, this would become a big thing, so they had to pretend that they had arrived there by luck and sheer coincidence. Bao Dachu clutched the back of Yue Buqun's neck and lifted him up. Then his hand shot out like the wind and he sealed twelve of Yue Buqun's acupoints. He then took out some rope and tied both of Yue Buqun's hands and legs tightly. Confusion poison, hits on the head, sealed acupoints, and tied ropes -- these were four things that restricted Yue Buqun. Even if Yue Buqun's skill was much higher, it would still be very hard for him to escape.

    Linghu Chong and Yingying were looking at each other like they were in a dream. After a long time, Yingying cried and Linghu Chong hugged her. Having escaped from death just then, they both felt life couldn't be sweeter. After Linghu Chong helped release Yingying's sealed acupoints, he saw his Master-Wife was still lying on the ground.

    "Aiyo!" Linghu Chong called out. He quickly went over to help her up and release her acupoints. "Master-Wife, sorry for the offence."

    Madam Yue had seen everything. She knew Linghu Chong's personality and knew he had a very deep love toward Yue Lingshan. Linghu Chong had treated Yue Lingshan like she was a goddess from heaven, so he would never have dared to offend her at all. He didn't even dare to scold Yue Lingshan and he was even willing to risk his life for her.
    To think that he would torture or kill her, that was just a very ridiculous thing to think of. Moreover, she had seen with her own eyes how well he treated Yingying, so how could his personality be different? Linghu Chong used his sword to stop her husband but he
    stilled his hand from killing him. On the other hand, her husband, the respectable headmaster of the Five Mountains School, had suddenly become violent and unexpectedly used a despicable method that even people from the unorthodox path despised and other people would mock at. Madam Yue felt completely discouraged. She lightly asked, "Chong'er, was Shan'er really killed by Lin Pingzhi?"

    Linghu Chong's heart was pained and tears rolled down his cheeks. He chokingly said, "Disciple... I... I..."

    Madam Yue interrupted, "He doesn't regard you as his disciple anymore, but I still regard you as my disciple. If you like, I'm still your Master-Wife."

    Linghu Chong's heart swelled with gratitude as he paid his respect to her, while calling out, "Master-Wife! Master-Wife!"

    Madam Yue gently caressed his hair and tears were streaming down her eyes. She slowly said, "Was what young lady Ren said true? Did Lin Pingzhi kill Shan'er because he's learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art and has also gone to rely on Zuo Lengchan?"

    "That's right."

    "Turn around,” Madam Yue chokingly said. “Let me have a look at your injuries."

    "Yes," Linghu Chong replied and turned around.

    Madam Yue tore the gown at his back and sealed four acupoints around his injuries. "Do you still have Heng-Shan School's medicine?"

    "I do," Linghu Chong answered. Yingying took the medicine out from his bosom and gave it to Madam Yue.

    Madam Yue wiped the blood on his wound and applied the medicine. She then took out a white handkerchief from her bosom and pressed it on his wound. Then she tore a piece of cloth from her skirt and wrapped the injury up. Linghu Chong had always regarded Madam Yue as his own mother, so seeing her treating him like this, he was greatly comforted and forgot all the pain from his injury.

    "In the future,” Madam Yue said. “You will of course kill Lin Pingzhi to avenge Shan'er."

    With tears in his eyes, Linghu Chong said, "Little martial sister... Little martial sister... Just before she died, she asked Son to look after Lin Pingzhi. Son couldn't bear hurting her so I promised her. This matter... This is a really difficult matter."

    Madam Yue let out a really long sigh and said, "Retribution! Retribution!" She then said, "Chong'er, you cannot be too good to other people when dealing with them in the future!"

    "Yes!"

    Suddenly, he felt something warm flowing down the back of his neck. He turned his head around and saw Madam Yue's face was pale. Startled, he called out, "Master-Wife, Master-Wife!"

    When he stood up to support her, he saw a dagger sticking out of her chest. The dagger had pierced her heart. She had already passed away. Linghu Chong was dumbfounded and he wanted to call out but no sound was coming out of his mouth. Yingying was also alarmed. But because she had no relationship with Madam Yue, she was just startled and
    feeling pitiful but not mournful. She went besides Linghu Chong to hold him, and after some time, Linghu Chong started crying. Bao Dachu saw the two young lovers had met with a mournful loss and that they would have a lot of things to say to each other, so he didn't dare to disturb them. He was also afraid that Yingying would ask the origin of the trap so the six of them needed to consult each other first on what to say to deceive her. So they carried Yue Buqun up and retreated far away.

    "Where... Where are they taking my master?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "You're still calling him master?" Yingying asked.

    "Ai, I'm very accustomed to it. Why did Master-Wife have to commit suicide? Why did... why did she have to kill herself?"

    Yingying answered with hatred in her voice, "Of course it's all because of that traitor Yue Buqun. Married to such a despicable and shameless husband, if she can't kill him, then it's better to commit suicide. Let's kill Yue Buqun quickly and avenge your Master-Wife."

    Linghu Chong hesitantly said, "You're saying we should kill him? He was once my master and he brought me up."

    "Even though he's your master and he's also brought you up, he's tried to kill you a few times already. The love and hate between you two have been wiped out a long time ago. But you haven't repaid the kindness shown by your Master-Wife. Didn't your Master-Wife die under his hand?"

    Linghu Chong sighed and mournfully said, "My Master-Wife's kindness will be difficult to repay in my lifetime. Even though there's nothing between Yue Buqun and I anymore, I still can't kill him."

    "It doesn't have to be you." Yingying then raised her voice and called out, "Elder Bao!"

    "Yes, young lady," Elder Bao loudly answered and walked over along with Elder Mo and the other people.

    "Did my father send you to handle things here?"

    Bao Dachu bowed and replied, "Yes, Chief commanded Subordinate along with Elder Ge, Du, and Mo to lead ten brothers to think of a way to capture Yue Buqun and bring him back to the altar."

    "Where's Elder Ge and Du?"

    "More than four hours ago they went to lead Yue Buqun here. We haven't seen them since, I'm afraid... I'm afraid..."

    "Search Yue Buqun's body."

    "Yes!" Bao Dachu acknowledged and searched Yue Buqun's body. From Yue Buqun's bosom, he took out an embroidered flag, which was the five mountains sword schools alliance's flag, around ten gold and silver taels, and two copper plates. Bao Dachu was indignant as he reported, "Reporting to young lady: Elder Ge and Du have definitely met with this bastard's violent hand. These are the two elders' sect plate." As he said this, he lifted his leg and gave a hard kick to Yue Buqun's waist.

    "Don't harm him," Linghu Chong shouted.

    "Yes," Bao Dachu respectfully answered.

    "Bring some cold water and wake him up," Yingying ordered.

    Elder Mo took out the water canteen on his waist, opened the lid, and poured the cold water on Yue Buqun's head. After some time, Yue Buqun groaned and opened his eyes. He felt terrible pain on his head and waist, and groaned again.

    Yingying inquired, "Person surnamed Yue, did you kill Elder Ge and Du from my sect?"

    Bao Dachu picked up the two copper plates and tossed them up repeatedly making a 'zheng, zheng' noise.

    Maybe Yue Buqun didn't feel he would be lucky enough to escape with his life so he scolded, "I killed them. All the demonic disciples from the Devil Sect must be executed."

    Bao Dachu wanted to kick him again, but he considered the depth of Linghu Chong's friendship with Chief and also of the fact that Linghu Chong was going to be Young Lady's future husband. Therefore, since Linghu Chong had already said 'don't harm him', he didn't dare to disobey his order.

    Yingying coldly laughed. "You're the headmaster of an orthodox sect but when you handle things, you're a hundred times more wicked than the Divine Sun Moon Sect's people. But you still have the face to scold us as the demonic disciples. Even your wife hated you so bitterly that she'd rather commit suicide than to continue being your wife. Do you still have the face to live in this world?"

    Yue Buqun scolded, "Little witch, you're speaking nonsense! My wife was clearly killed by you but you're trying to slander me by saying she killed herself."

    "Brother Chong, listen to him,” Yingying said. “He's so shameless,"

    Linghu Chong spoke indistinctly, "Yingying, I'd like to ask you a favour."

    "You want me to release him? I'm afraid it's easy to capture a tiger but it'll be hard release it. This person's heart is very calculating and filled with hatred. His martial art is also very strong. Later on, when he find you again and we might not be as lucky as today."

    "We'll let him go today. Our relationship as master and disciple finishes today. I already know all of his sword art in my mind. If he dares to find me again, then things won't go well for him."

    Yingying knew it wasn't easy at all for him to kill Yue Buqun. But if from now on Linghu Chong didn't care about their old relationship anymore, then he wouldn't be afraid of facing Yue Buqun again. "Alright, we'll spare his life today. Elder Bao, Elder Mo, spread the word in Jianghu of how we have spared Yue Buqun's life. Also say how Yue Buqun has cut off his own limb to learn the demonical sword art, and that he's now not male not female. Let all the heroes in the realm hear about this."

    Bao Dachu and Elder Mo acknowledged the order together. Yue Buqun's face turned ashen and both of his eyes turned malicious. But thinking he still had his life, there was a still a trace of happiness in his eyes.

    Yingying said, "You hate me. Do you think I'm afraid?" She slashed her long sword and cut the ropes binding him. She walked near him and unsealed the acupoints on his back. Her right palm pressed against his mouth, while her left palm hit the back of his head. Yue Buqun's mouth opened, and he felt a small pill in his mouth. At the same time, Yingying's right hand pinched his nose blocking his air. When Yingying cut his ropes and unsealed the acupoints at the back of his body, her back was facing toward Linghu Chong and was blocking his vision, so Linghu Chong couldn't see her putting the pill into Yue Buqun's mouth. Linghu Chong only saw her releasing his master and he felt comforted. With his nose blocked, Yue Buqun had to use his mouth to draw breath. At the same time, Yingying used force on her right hand to force Yue Buqun to take the pill along with his breath.

    After Yue Buqun had swallowed the pill, he was scared out of his wits thinking the pill he just swallowed was the Devil Sect's most evil pill called the 'Divine Three Corpse Brain Pill'. He had heard people said, that after talking this pill, every year during the dragon boat festival you must take a medicine to prevent the corpse bug inside the pill from coming out. Otherwise, the corpse bug would come out, enter your brain, and chew your brain out. There was no need to say how painful it would be. Furthermore, you would be crazed and you would become worse than a crazy dog. Even though he was intelligent, full of ideas, and calm under pressure, he was still sweating profusely and
    his face had turned pale thinking of this situation.

    Yingying stood straight as she said, "Brother Chong, they sealed his acupoints too heavily. These last two acupoints will loosen a bit only after some time, so he just has to endure it for now."

    "Many thanks," Linghu Chong replied.

    Yingying smiled captivatingly and thought, "I secretly did something and deceived you, but this is all for your own good." After some time, she knew that the pill in Yue Buqun's stomach would have transformed and there would be no way for him to vomit it out anymore. She bent down to release the two acupoints, and as she did so, she whispered, "Every year during the dragon boat festival, come up the Dark Wood Cliff and I'll give you the medicine."

    When Yue Buqun heard this, he knew the pill he took just then was really the 'Three Corpse Brain Pill'. He couldn't help shaking as he tremblingly asked, "That... That was the Three Corpse... Three Corpse..."

    Yingying giggled and in a loud voice said, "Correct, respected sir. This kind of wonderful drug is not easily made. In our sect, only people of high positions with outstanding martial arts are entitled to take it. Elder Bao, isn't this right?"

    Bao Dachu bowed and said, "Thanks to Chief's kindness that he gave this divine pellet to Subordinate. Subordinate will always be loyal and will always follow his order. After I've taken this pill, Chief's confidence in me has increased and it has actually given me untold benefits. Long live the Chief, unify the Jianghu."

    Linghu Chong was startled. "You gave my mast... gave him the three corpse brain pill?"

    Yingying laughingly answered, "He swallowed it in a hurry himself. He was probably so hungry that he was just about to eat anything. Yue Buqun, you must protect Brother Chong and my life from now on to benefit yourself."

    Yue Buqun's heart was filled with hatred but he thought, "If this witch met some kind of accident and was killed by someone, then... then I'll die miserably. Even if she's still alive but has received some kind of heavy injury and couldn't make it back to Dark Wood Cliff before the Dragon Boat Festival, then where would I look for her? Also, maybe she doesn't intend to give me the medicine in the first place..." He thought till here and he couldn't help shivering. Even though he had divine martial art, he didn't know what to do. Linghu Chong sighed thinking that Yingying was originally from the Devil Sect so her action had a demonical air to it, but she had done this because of him so he couldn't blame her for this.

    Yingying said to Bao Dachu, "Elder Bao, go back and report to Chief. Say that the Five Mountains School's Headmaster, Mr. Yue, has sincerely surrendered to our sect and that he has also taken our sect's divine pill, so it's not possible for him to rebel."

    Bao Dachu was initially worried when he saw Linghu Chong wanting to release Yue Buqun. He was really afraid that he would be blamed by Chief when he returned to the gathering altar. So when he saw Yue Buqun took the 'Divine Three Corpse Brain Pill', he was greatly exulted. With joy, he hastily replied, "Young lady presided over the whole battle and everything was completed successfully. Chief will surely be happy. Chief flourishes the divine sect and benefits the common people."

    Yingying said, "Mr. Yue has already turned over to our sect so we can't mention the things that would damage his reputation to outsiders. And you also mustn't mention him taking the divine pill. This person's position in Wulin is very high, his wisdom and knowledge are high, his martial art is good, Chief will definitely have use of his position."

    "Yes, I will follow Young Lady's order," Bao Dachu answered.

    When Linghu Chong saw how distressed Yue Buqun was, he couldn't help feeling sad. Even though Yue Buqun wanted to kill him and had been very violent toward him, he could not forget the past twenty years when he and Master-Wife had brought him up. Linghu Chong had always regarded him as his own father. Suddenly, everything had changed into hatred and he was feeling very bad. He wanted to say a few things to comfort him but it was as if there were something stuck in his throat that he couldn't make a sound.

    Yingying said, "Elder Bao, Elder Mo, go back to Dark Wood Cliff. Ask daddy on my behalf if he is well, ask uncle Xiang if he is well. I'll wait.. wait for him... wait for master Linghu to get better, then we'll come to the gathering altar to see daddy."

    If it were another girl, Bao Dachu would've said, "I wish for Master to recover soon and return to Dark Wood Cliff with young lady. Then we'll all drink a congratulatory wine to you as soon as possible." Toward a pair of young lovers, this speech would've been extremely good. But toward Yingying, how would he dare to say such thing? He didn't even dare to take a look at the two of them as he lowered his head and bowed continuously. Bao Dachu's face was tense and he just answered yes to everything and was looking very respectful. He was actually really afraid Yingying might find out he was actually laughing inside.

    This lady was afraid people would mock her and Linghu Chong for loving each other so she had caused many troubles for the warriors in Jianghu. This was very well known throughout Wulin. Bao Dachu didn't dare to linger too much longer, so he immediately took his leave from Yingying and Linghu Chong, and took the other people with him as he went. When they were leaving, he was even more respectful toward Linghu Chong than Yingying. He was an old person in Jianghu who had gone through a lot of experience, so he knew being respectful toward Linghu Chong would make Yingying very happy.

    Yingying saw Yue Buqun was standing woodenly. "Mr. Yue, you can go too. Are you going to take your wife's remain to bury in Huashan?"

    Yue Buqun shook his head. "I'd like to bother the two of you to bury her in this small mountainside!" After he said this he didn't give another glance toward the two of them before he quickly left. In just a short time, he had disappeared behind the trees. Such quick movement was rarely seen in Jianghu. By the fall of the evening, Linghu Chong
    and Yingying had buried Madam Yue's remain besides Yue Lingshan's tomb. Linghu Chong cried out again.


    The next morning, Yingying asked, "Brother Chong, how's your injury?"

    "This injury isn't serious, there's no need to worry."

    "That's very good. Our place here has been discovered by other people. I'd like to wait for you to rest for a few days here, then we'll go to another place."

    "That's also good. Little martial sister has her mother to accompany her, she won't be afraid anymore." His heart was pained and he also said, "My master has always been upright all his life, but his temperament has changed greatly because of that demonical sword art."

    Yingying shook her head and said, "That's not necessarily true. When he sent your little martial sister and Lao Denuo to Fuzhou to open up the wine shop, he was already trying to get the Evil Resisting Sword Manual. That's not necessarily what a gentleman does."

    Linghu Chong was silent. He had already thought of this matter before but he had never dared to think about it deeply. Yingying went on, "Actually, it shouldn't be called the Evil Resisting Sword Art. It should be called 'Demonical Sword Art'. If this sword manual were to be circulated in Jianghu, there'll be endless harm. Yue Buqun still
    lives in this world; Lin Pingzhi also has the sword manual memorized. But I don't think he would give everything to Zuo Lengchan and Lao Denuo. Lin Pingzhi is such a calculating person. Why would he be willing to give this sword manual to other people?"

    Linghu Chong said, "Both Zuo Lengchan and Lin Pingzhi are blind, but Lao Denuo isn't. So Lin Pingzhi would probably be taken advantage of. These three very smart people are living with each other and yet are suspicious toward each other, I wonder what would happen. Two against one, Lin Pingzhi would be afraid that he'll be disadvantaged."

    "Are you really going to think of a way to protect Lin Pingzhi?"

    Linghu Chong looked at Yue Lingshan's tomb and said, "I shouldn't have promised little martial sister that I'd protect Lin Pingzhi. This person is worse than a dog. I hate him with all my heart, how can I go and help him? But I've already promised little martial sister. If I eat my words, then it'll be hard for her to be peaceful under the nine fountains."

    "When she was still alive, she might not have known who really treated her well, but after she died, she would definitely understand. She wouldn't want you to protect Lin Pingzhi!"

    Linghu Chong shook his head and said, "That's hard to say. Little martial sister and Lin Pingzhi were very loving in the past. She knew Lin Pingzhi's intention toward her was evil but she still couldn't bear to see him harmed."

    Yingying thought, "This is true. If it were me, I wouldn't care how you treat me, I'll always wish you well with all my heart."

    Linghu Chong stayed in the valley for more than ten days and his new injury became much better. He said that once they arrived back in Heng-Shan, he would give the headmaster position to Yiqing. Then there would be nothing worrying him, and he would be able to travel the world with Yingying and find a secluded and nice place to live in.

    Yingying said, "This matter of Lin Pingzhi, what are you going to do about the responsibility given by your departed little martial sister?"

    Linghu Chong scratched his head and said, "It's the thing giving me the most headache. It's best if you don't mention it anymore. I'll just deal with it when it comes to me."

    Yingying smiled and didn't say anymore. The two of them gave their respects in front of the two tombs and took their leave.

    End of Chapter 36

  18. #18
    Senior Member Han Solo's Avatar
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    Chapter 37 Forcing Marriage
    (Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung)

    After Linghu Chong and Yingying came out from the valley, they walked for half a day and arrived at a small town. They went to a noodle shop to eat some noodle. Linghu Chong had picked up a few strings of noodles with his chopsticks when he chuckled and said, "We haven't paid our respect to heaven and earth to get married..."

    Yingying's whole face immediately became bright red. "Who said I'm going to pay respect to heaven and earth to marry you?" she angrily replied.

    "We'll get married in the future," said a smiling Linghu Chong. "If you're not willing, then I'll grab you and make you pay respect to heaven and earth."

    Yingying was looking like she was smiling but not smiling at the same time. "You were so well behaved when we were in the valley. Once we come out, you're speaking such improper crazy talks again."

    Linghu Chong was still smiling as he replied, "We must definitely be most proper concerning this lifelong great matter. Yingying, that day in the valley, I suddenly thought of something. After we become husband and wife, I wonder how many kids we'll have."

    Yingying stood up abruptly with a scowl on her face. "If you keep saying these things, I won't go back with you to Heng-Shan."

    "Alright, alright, I'll stop, I'll stop," Linghu Chong laughed. But he continued, "There are so many peach trees in that valley that it looks like a peach valley. If we have six ghosts, wouldn't they become Little Peach Valley Six Fairies?"

    "How can we have six ghosts?" Yingying muttered as she sat back down. At the same time she said this, she understood what he meant. This was more crazy talk from Linghu Chong. Her eyes widened showing the whites all around them; she looked at Linghu Chong and quickly lowered her head and stuffed noodles into her mouth. Her heart was filled with sweetness.

    "When we go back to Heng-Shan together, there will be some dirty minded person and there'll also be people who thought that we've gotten married. I'm afraid you won't be happy hearing such vulgar nonsense," Linghu Chong said.

    This was exactly what Yingying was thinking of. She said, "That's right. It's best if we disguise ourselves as farmers; then no one would be able to recognise us."

    "You have such a beautiful and lovely face. No matter what we change into, it'll always shock people. When other people see us, they'll secretly praise: 'Hey, such a beautiful girl. What is she doing with a silly little kid? How can such a rare and beautiful flower be inserted into a pile of dung?' But when they look closer, they'll definitely see this rare flower is actually the Divine Sun Moon Sect's young lady Ren while this pile of manure is the person young lady Ren favoured, Linghu Chong."

    "You don't need to be so modest," Yingying smiled.

    "I think, when we go back to Heng-Shan this time, I should become someone ordinary and secretly look around first. If everything's quiet and safe, I'll go there by myself and give up this headmaster position to someone. Then I'll meet with you at some secret place and we'll go down the mountain together. The gods wouldn't know, the ghosts wouldn't know, how can this be not good?"

    Hearing him said this; she knew he was being considerate to her so she felt really happy. She laughingly said, "That's very good. But when you go up Mount Heng-Shan, it's best if you shave your own head and disguise yourself as a Shi Tai, especially when you are going to see those Shi Tai. No one would be suspicious of you. Brother Chong, come, I'll help you change to become a little nun. I'm only afraid you might be too good looking."

    Linghu Chong waved his hand. "No, no. Once I see a nun, I'll lose all my bet. If Linghu Chong pretends to be a nun then I might get bad luck later on. That won't do at all."

    Yingying laughed. "A gentleman is flexible, why do you need so many taboos for? I have to shave you now."

    Linghu Chong also laughed. "There's no need to dress as a nun. But to go up Xianxing Peak, I'll need to dress as a woman. But once I speak, people will know I'm a man. I have an idea. Do you remember the person from the Hanging Temple on Mount Cui Ping beyond the Porcelain Oven Pass?"

    Yingying hummed as she thought. Then she clapped her hands and said, "Wonderful, wonderful! There's a mute and deaf servant at the Hanging Temple. Even when we turned that temple upside down, she didn't hear a single thing. When you ask her anything, she just stupidly looks at you. You want to disguise as this person?"

    "That's right."

    "Alright, let's go buy a gown for you to change into," said Yingying laughing.

    Yingying used two silver taels to buy a head of long hair from a country girl. She combed it well before putting it on Linghu Chong's head. Then she let him change into a farmer woman's gown and he now looked like a woman. She then daubed some yellow powder and drew seven to eight black moles on his face. And she also stuck a piece of medicinal wrap on his lower right cheek. Linghu Chong looked in the mirror and he couldn't even recognise himself.

    Yingying laughed and said, "Your figure is similar to hers, but your expression isn't. You have to wear this stupid and foolish expression: slow-witted and clumsy like."

    Linghu Chong laughed. "Wearing a stupid and foolish expression is very easy, there's nothing to change. Slow-witted and clumsy, that's also Linghu Chong's true colour."

    "The most important thing is when someone suddenly tries to scare you from behind, you mustn't give yourself away," Yingying cautioned.

    Along the road, Linghu Chong practised to be this mute and deaf woman. The two of them didn't spend the night in an inn but lodged in an abandoned temple. Yingying again and again suddenly shouted behind him and Linghu Chong was adequately deaf to it. Within a day, they arrived at the foot of Mount Heng-Shan. They made an appointment to meet each other in three days at the Hanging Temple's field. Linghu Chong then went up the Xianxing Peak alone, leaving Yingying to spend her time nearby on the mountain.

    When Linghu Chong arrived at Xianxing Peak, it was already evening. He pondered, "If I enter the convent and take a look around, martial sisters Yiqing, Zheng E, Yilin and the other martial sisters are all very observant, so they'll definitely get suspicious. It's still best if I secretly look around first."

    He quickly found a secluded mountain cave and slept there until the moon was in the middle of the sky. Then he went to the living quarters of Wuse Convent at Xianxing Peak. As he neared the living quarters, he heard the sound of long swords clashing continuously. Linghu Chong was startled as he thought, "Which enemy has come here?" He touched the short sword he was hiding inside his bosom and flew towards the sword clashing sound. The sound of fighting was coming from a house more than a hundred feet outside of Wuse Convent. There was light shining out from the house's windows. Linghu Chong rushed besides the house and heard the sound of fighting become fiercer. However, when he put his eyes to the window, he immediately felt at ease. It was Yihe and Yilin practising sword while Yiqing and Zheng E were standing on the side watching. Yihe and Yilin were practising the sword art that Linghu Chong had taught them before, which was the sword art taken from the cave behind the Cliff of Contemplation on Mount Huashan. The two of them were already quite familiar with the sword art.

    As they fought, Yihe's sword gradually got faster and Yilin was barely able to keep up. Yihe thrust her sword point straight out in front of her chest. Yilin tried to circle her sword to block it but she was too late. "Ah," Yilin cried out softly. The point of Yihe's long sword was already pointing at Yilin's heart. Yihe smiled and said, "Martial sister, you lost again."

    Yilin was very ashamed as she lowered her head and replied, "I've been practising but I haven't improved at all."

    "You've improved compared to last time. Let's go again," Yihe said as she hacked her sword down in the middle of the air.

    "Little martial sister's tired already," Yiqing interrupted. "Go to sleep with martial sister Zheng. We'll practise again tomorrow."

    "Yes," Yilin replied. She put her sword back into the scabbard then took her leave from Yihe and Yiqing. Then she pulled on Zheng E's hand and went out of the door.

    When Yilin turned around, Linghu Chong saw that she looked sad. He thought, "This little martial sister is always unhappy."

    Yihe closed the door, then looked at Yiqing and they both shook their heads. They waited till the footsteps of Yilin and Zheng E were far away before Yihe said, "I always see little martial sister's mind not being calm. Her heart is always in turmoil; this is a big taboo for people like us. I don't know how to advise her."

    Yiqing replied, "It's very hard to advise, she must understand it herself."

    "I know why her mind isn't calm, her heart is always thinking of..."

    Yiqing waved her hand and said, "This is the sacred ground of Buddha, don't say such kind of talk. If we're not in a hurry to avenge master then we could've let her understand it slowly and there would be no harm."

    Yihe said, "Master used to say: everything in this world is destined and there's nothing we can do about it; especially when you have to concentrate your mind on something that must be done gradually. If it is forced then you can easily fall into the world of evil. I see little martial sister is emotional both inside and outside, and with her kind of personality, she's actually unsuitable to be a person of Buddhism."

    Yiqing let out a sigh and said, "I've never tasted that kind of feeling before, but... but in the end, our school must have a Buddhist to be the headmaster. Martial Brother Linghu once said that he's only going to be the headmaster of this school temporarily only. But first we have to deal with that traitor Yue Buqun, who killed our master and martial uncles..."

    Linghu Chong was greatly startled when he heard this. "How can it be my master who killed their master and martial uncles?" Then he heard Yiqing went on, "If we don't avenge this deep hatred, then we, as their disciples, won't be able to eat and sleep peacefully."

    Yihe said, "I'm even more anxious compared to you. Alright, we'll intensify her sword training tomorrow."

    "The common saying goes: you botch it by hurrying it, but not forcing it will let you advance greatly. However, in the past few days, I've seen little martial sister's vigour becoming less and less," Yiqing said.

    "That's right," Yihe agreed. The two martial sisters picked up their weapons and extinguished the light. Then they went inside and lay down on their beds.

    Linghu Chong quietly stood outside the window and his mind was in turmoil. "Why did they say my master killed their master and martial uncles? Also, why do they need to avenge their master before getting someone to receive the school's leadership? And why must they supervise little martial sister Yilin's sword training around the clock?"

    He stood there thinking to himself for a long time, but he still didn't understand the reason. He slowly walked away and thought, "I'll ask martial sisters Yihe and Yiqing later."

    Suddenly, Linghu Chong saw his own shadow slowly swaying. He raised his head and looked at the moon. The moon looked as if it was hanging on the tip of a tree. He immediately thought of something and he nearly called out. He thought, "I should've realised this a long time ago. Why did they understand this matter, but I didn't?" He quickly went besides the wall of a small house and leaned on it so that the guards around the Heng-Shan School wouldn't be able to see his shadow.

    When his mind became calm, he thought back to the Shaolin Temple where Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai were killed. At that time, Dingyi Shi Tai had already died, and Dingxian Shi Tai passed away straight after she had given him the leadership of the school. Dingxian Shi Tai didn't reveal who the murderer was. When he checked their bodies, there were no sign of external or internal injuries nor was there any sign of poison on the two Shi Tai's bodies. The way they died was really weird, but it was inappropriate for him to open their gowns to check more thoroughly. Later, after he had come out from Shaolin Temple, Yingying told him she opened their gowns and checked on their injuries. She saw two little holes on the skin above their hearts. It looked as if someone had used needles to pierce their hearts. At that time, he had jumped up and said: 'Poison needle? Who uses poison needles in Wulin?' and Yingying had replied: 'Daddy and Uncle Xiang's experiences are vast, but they also don't know. Daddy said that it wasn't a poisoned needle. It's actually a sharp weapon aimed at a fatal point that killed them. But the needle piercing Dingxian Shi Tai was slightly slanted.' He had said: 'Yes. When I saw Dingxian Shi Tai, she was still alive. This needle had pierced into her chest, so it wasn't done secretly, and they were actually fighting face to face. The person who killed the two Shi Tai must've been a master with high martial art.' Yingying said: 'That's what my daddy also said. Since we have this clue, it won't be hard to find out who the murderer is.' At that time, he had slapped the wall of the cave and said loudly: 'Yingying, while the two of us still have our lives, we must avenge the two Shi Tai,' and Yingying replied: 'Yes.'

    Both of Linghu Chong's hands were pressed on the wall and he couldn't help shivering. He thought, "The master who is capable of killing the two Shi Tai by using a small piece of needle must either be using the Sunflower Manual or the Evil Resisting Sword Art. Dongfang Bubai had always been on top of the Dark Wood Cliff embroidering, so he couldn't be the one killing people in Shaolin Temple. Also, looking at his martial art, his needle couldn't have missed when he tried to kill Dingxian Shi Tai. Zuo Lengchan had learned the fake Evil Resisting Sword Art. At that time, martial brother Lin had only gotten the sword manual so he couldn't have learned it completely; perhaps he might not even have gotten the manual at that time..." He thought back to the snow field when he met with Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan and he thought, "That's right, at that time, Lin Pingzhi's voice hasn't changed yet. It doesn't matter if he had gotten the manual or not because he couldn't have completed his learning of the Evil Resisting Sword Art then" As he thought till here, sweat started to come out from his forehead.

    At that time, the person who could use a needle to fight openly from the front and kill the two Shi Tai from Heng-Shan School must have had a martial art which was not that much higher compared to Dingxian Shi Tai because that one needle did not manage to kill her. There was only Yue Buqun who could've done it. He also thought of how Yue Buqun had deliberately planned to take the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School and had actually allowed Lao Denuo to stay inside the school for more than ten years without revealing his real identity. At the end, he allowed Lao Denuo to steal a fake sword manual and easily blinded both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes. Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai were putting all their efforts in fighting against the merger of the five schools, so Yue Buqun took the opportunity to do away with them and removed a big obstacle to the merger of the schools. This must have been the reason. Why wasn't Dingxian Shi Tai willing to reveal her murderer? It must be because Yue Buqun was his master. If the murderer were Zuo Lengchan or Dongfang Bubai, why wouldn't Dingxian Shi Tai say it?

    Linghu Chong again thought back to the day when he was inside that mountain cave having a conversation with Yingying. Yue Buqun had kicked him heavily in the Shaolin Temple, but he didn't get injured and instead Yue Buqun's leg was broken. Yingying felt this was really strange. She said her father had also thought for a long time and still could not come up with a reason. Linghu Chong had absorbed the internal energies of many people and it was true that these internal energies were enough to protect his body. But he must move these internal energies in order to harm others; unlike the completed internal energy art which was capable of countering the enemy's attack without him having to move the internal energies. As he thought of this, he realised Yue Buqun must have deliberately put on such a show for Zuo Lengchan. To make sure the leg was really broken, Yue Buqun must have used his own internal energy to break it and let Zuo Lengchan see it to show that his martial art was just average and that there was nothing to worry about so that Zuo Lengchan could go forward with his plan of the merger. Zuo Lengchan had made painstaking effort to finally merge the five schools and when it had finally happened, Yue Buqun had taken everything from him. This reasoning was not hard to understand, but no matter what was said, Linghu Chong had never have any suspicion towards his master. Perhaps, this suspicion had always been buried deep in his heart and every time he arrived at this thought, his mind immediately fled from it because he was not willing and did not dare to think about it. Only at this time when he heard Yihe and Yiqing conversing with each other that he finally could not avoid it any longer.

    For his whole life, he had loved and respected his master. Unexpectedly, his master was such a person. Now he felt his life was all meaningless. At that moment, he felt he couldn't even gather enough strength to go to the Heng-Shan Other Courtyard to take a look, so he found a secluded and calm field on the mountain and slept.

    In the morning of the next day, Linghu Chong arrived at the Tong Yuan Valley when the day was already bright. He walked besides a small creek and saw his disguised form in the water's reflection. He checked his gown and shoes to see that nothing was out of place before he proceeded to the Other Courtyard. He went around the main entrance, wishing to enter from the side entrance. Just as he arrived besides the gate, he heard noises from the inside.

    There were many people from inside the courtyard shouting loudly: "Really strange! Damn it, who did this?" "When did this happen? How come the gods didn't know, the ghosts didn't feel it; the hands and feet are really agile!" "These people's martial art aren't bad, how come they could be played by other people without uttering a word?"

    Linghu Chong knew something strange had taken place. He stayed by the side entrance and looked inside. The courtyard and the walkways were full of people looking at the branches of a Gongsun tree. Linghu Chong lifted his head up to take a look and he also felt it very strange that his heart was also calling out like the other people in the courtyard. High on top of the tree were eight people hanging down. They were Qiu Songnian, Madam Zhang, Monk Xibao, Priest Yuling, and their other group members making seven of them, while the other person was ‘Slippery and Hard to Grip’ You Xun. The eight of them had apparently had their acupoints sealed and all of their limbs tied up, and they had been hung up there swinging to and fro. They were more than ten feet above the ground. Besides following the blowing of the wind, they could not move at all. All eight of them had embarrassed expressions, which were rarely seen. Two black snakes were seen slithering around their bodies, which were actually the 'Double-Snake Ruthless Beggar' Yan Sanxing's precious weapons. It was ordinary for these two snakes to be slithering about Yan Sanxing's body, but when they were slithering about the other seven people's bodies, expressions of fear and loathing was added to the angry and ashamed appearances of these people.

    Someone from the crowd leapt up. He was Night Cat 'Nothing He Can't Do' Ji Wushi. His hand was holding a dagger, and he quickly cut the bindings of 'Tung Cypress Whiz Duo'. These two people then fell from mid air and a short and stout Old Man extended his hand to stop them and put them on the ground. In just a brief moment, all eight of them had been helped down by Ji Wushi and each person had had their acupoints unsealed. Once Qiu Songnian was freed, he promptly hurled some abuses. He then saw the crowd of people were wide eyed looking at him; some were smiling, some were amazed, some were saying, "Has!", some were saying, "Plot!", some were saying, "Careful!", and some were saying, "Life!". Madam Zhang took a glance and saw there was one word written on each of Qiu Songnian's and the other six people's foreheads. The words said: 'Plot Has Been Defeated, Be Careful Worthless Life!’

    The other people were alarmed and one by one they repeated, "Plot Has Been Defeated, Be Careful Worthless Life!"

    Monk Xibao angrily shouted, "What plot has been defeated, your granny! Which worthless life needs to be careful?" While Priest Yuling extended his hand, spat on it, and then rubbed his forehead trying to wipe away the word.

    Zhu Qianqiu said, "Brother You, how did the eight of you get captured? Can you tell us?"

    You Xun smiled slightly and said, "I'm ashamed to say it, but I was sleeping peacefully last night, and didn't know how it happened. But someone sealed my acupoints and hung me from the top of the tree. That thief was most likely using the 'Five Confusion Poison' to knock us out. Otherwise, how can these brothers' skills be of no use and fell into someone's plot? How can someone so wise and brave like Priest Yuling and Madam Zhang fall into this?"

    Madam Zhang snorted and said, "That must be it." She didn't want to linger and talk too much so she hastily went in to wash her face. Priest Yuling and the others also followed her in.

    The crowd discussed about this and many of them were clicking their tongues feeling the incident was really strange. They all said, "You Xun's words aren't true."

    Some people said, "There are dozens of people sleeping inside the hall. If they used confusion poison, then dozens of us would get it. How come only a few of them got it?"

    Many people thought of the word 'Plot' from the phrase 'Plot Has Been Defeated', they didn't know what kind of plot it was pointing at so they came up with many guesses and couldn't decide which one was right. Someone said, "Which master hung these eight people on that tall tree?"

    Someone laughingly answered, "Luckily the Peach Valley Six Weirdos aren't here today, otherwise it'll be so noisy here."

    Another person replied, "How do you know it wasn't the Peach Valley Six Fairies who did this? Those six brothers are very eccentric. Most likely it was them who did this."

    Zu Qianqiu shook his head. "No, no, it can't be."

    One of the earlier person said, "Brother Zu, how do you know?"

    Zu Qianqiu laughed. "Even though the Peach Valley Six Fairies' martial arts are high, their knowledge is very limited. I can guarantee you that they wouldn't even be able to write that word 'Plot'."

    The crowd burst into laughter thinking what Zu Qianqiu said was right. Everyone was discussing this interesting matter and no one paid attention towards Linghu Chong who was disguised as a servant and was wearing a stupid expression. Linghu Chong thought in his heart, "What were these eight people trying to plot? It must be something harmful towards my Heng-Shan School."

    After noon, on the same day, some people outside the courtyard shouted, "Weird, weird! Everyone, come have a look!" The crowd rushed out, while Linghu Chong slowly followed behind them. On the right side of the Other Courtyard there were tens of people surrounding something. The crowd quickly sprinted to go there. Linghu Chong walked near and heard some people discussing about this. There were more than ten people who were sitting on the ground facing the cliff. It was apparent their acupoints had been sealed and they were unable to move. There were eight words written on the wall of the mountain and they were the same words as before, 'Plot Has Been Defeated, Be Careful Worthless Life'.

    Some people turned those people sitting on the ground around and they saw the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert were amongst them. Ji Wushi walked up to the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert and released their mute acupoints, but not the other sealed acupoints leaving them unable to move. Ji Wushi said, "There's something I don't understand here that I'd like to ask you about. I'd like to ask the two of you what kind of secret plan are you involved in? Everyone here would like to know."

    "Right, right! What plot? Tell us about it," the crowd demanded.

    Black Bear scolded, "Damn their eighteen ancestors. What plot? Plot their turtle sons."

    "Who sealed your acupoints? Can you tell us about it?" Zu Qianqiu queried.

    White Bear said, "It's good if I know. I was just walking peacefully around the mountain when my back suddenly felt numb, ambushed by that bastard. If it's a hero then he would've fought me with real sabre, real spear. Sneaking an attack behind me, what kind of person is that?"

    Zu Qianqiu said, "That's fine if the two of you don't want to say it. This matter is already known to the others but I see that there's nothing we can do about it. But I think you need to be really careful."

    Someone said in a loud voice, "Brother Zu, they're not willing to disclose it, then let them stay here for three days and three nights."

    Another person said, "Right, he who tied the bell on the tiger's neck is the only one to untie it*. If you release them, that master will definitely put the blame on you, seal your acupoints, and hang you from a tree. It certainly won't be fun."

    (*The meaning of this saying is: He who caused the dispute is the only one to resolve it.)

    Ji Wushi said, "What you said isn't wrong. Brothers, I'm not sitting here on the side being a spectator, I'm actually a little bit afraid."

    Black Bear and White Bear looked at each other, and they were both furious. But it was pointless to start scolding, and they also didn't dare to publicly scold Ji Wushi's ancestor. Otherwise, with them still being unable to move, they wouldn't be able to fight back if the opponent wanted to be rude towards them.

    Ji Wushi laughed while cupping his hands to the crowd continuously. "Everyone, please." Then he turned his body around to walk away. The people crowding around them pointed and laughed, said a few words and they also slowly walked away. Linghu Chong turned around and walked slowly. When he reached the outside of the Other Courtyard, he heard people clamouring and giggling inside. He raised his head and saw two people had been hung on the Gongsun tree again. One of them was Monk Cannot Have No Commandment and the other one was Monk No Commandment.

    Linghu Chong was greatly amazed as he thought, "Great Master No Commandment is little martial sister Yilin's father, while Tian Boguang is little martial sister's disciple. The two of them would never give Heng-Shan School any trouble. If Heng-Shan School has any problem, they would exert themselves to help. Why are they being hung on the tree?" He was really sure he knew what was going on before, but suddenly his whole idea had been turned upside down. He thought of one thing, "Great Master No Commandment is innocent like a child, he doesn't have any enmity with anyone. Why would anyone hang him from the tree? Someone must be playing a joke with him. No one here is strong enough to capture Great Master No Commandment, this must be Peach Valley Six Fairies' doing." But what Zu Qianqiu said before was very reasonable, the Peach Valley Six Fairies couldn't have written the word 'Plot'. He entered the courtyard slowly as his mind was occupied with doubts. As he entered, he saw there was a piece of yellow paper stuck to each of Monk No Commandment's and Tian Boguang's bodies. There were words written on them.

    The words written on Monk No Commandment's paper were: 'World's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man.' While the words written on Tian Boguang's paper were: 'World's number one in unseemly behaviour, a person who does everything half heartedly.'

    When Linghu Chong read this for the first time, he immediately thought, "These two papers are placed on the wrong persons. How come Monk No Commandment is 'a perverted and lascivious man'? This 'perverted and lascivious' words, they must surely belong to Tian Boguang. While the words 'unseemly behaviour', they must surely belong to Monk No Commandment. He's not sworn off from killing, eating meat, and he even dared to take a nun as his wife when he's a monk. These are unseemly behaviour. But this 'half heartedly' comment, where did it come from?"

    But these two papers were stuck nicely to each of their necks, and it didn't look like someone had hastily stuck them wrongly. The crowd was pointing, laughing, and discussing what was going on. Many people also said, "Tian Boguang is perverted, this is very well known in the world. How can this big monk be more perverted than he is?"

    Ji Wushi and Zu Qianqiu consulted each other quietly, and both of them sensed something was fishy. They knew Monk No Commandment and Linghu Chong were very good towards each other and they must help these two people down first before discussing it further. Ji Wushi quickly leapt up the tree and cut of the ropes binding their hands and feet and released their sealed acupoints. No Commandment and Tian Boguang were both looking very dejected, unlike Qiu Songnian and Bear Duo of the Northern Desert who started hurling abuses as soon as they were released.

    Ji Wushi quietly asked, "Great Master, how did you also end up like that?" But Monk No Commandment just shook his head and slowly took off the piece of paper stuck to him. He stared at the words written on it for a long time and all of a sudden, he cried.

    This change was totally out of everyone's expectation. The crowd abruptly turned deathly quiet and all of them were stupefied as they gaped at him. Both of his fists were clenched as they kept on hammering his own chest; he was becoming even sadder as he cried. Tian Boguang tried to comfort him, "Grand martial master, you don't need to be sad. We lost to someone's plot, but when we find this person, we'll break his corpse into thousands of pieces..." He had not finished yet when Monk No Commandment turned around and gave him a hard slap. The palm hit Tian Boguang, forcing him to back away for more than ten feet. He staggered and had nearly fallen down. Half of his cheek had now started to become swollen.

    Monk No Commandment scolded, "Smelly bastard! We were hung up here because we deserved it. You... You... You're very daring. Wanting to kill other people!"

    Tian Boguang was confused when he heard Grand Martial Master said this. The person who had captured them must be someone with an impressive background that even Grand Martial Master did not dare to offend him. So all Tian Boguang could do was agree to his Grand Martial Master. Monk No Commandment stared dumbly, and started to cry and beat on his chest again. Suddenly, he struck out again with his palm towards Tian Boguang. Tian Boguang was really fast so he quickly evaded the strike as he called out, "Grand Martial Master!"

    Monk No Commandment did not chase after him even though his hit had missed. He took his hand back and with a slap, he hit a stone bench inside the courtyard, causing the crumbling stones to fly out everywhere. His left palm and his right palm struck out continuously as he started to cry again. More and more force was used with each strike. After more than ten strikes, both of his palms were covered with blood and the top of the stone bench had also crumbled to gravel. Then with a thunderous crack, the stone bench was split asunder into four pieces. The crowd was amazed and none of them dared to utter a single word. Every one of them was afraid to draw his anger onto them. Besides, whose head was stronger than that of the stone bench if Monk No Commandment were to turn to them?

    Zu Qianqiu, Old Man, and Ji Wushi looked at each other and none of them knew what was happening. Tian Boguang saw something was amiss so he said, "Everyone, please look after Grand Martial Master. I'll go look for Master."

    Linghu Chong pondered, "Even though I'm already disguised, little martial sister Yilin is very careful, I should be careful not to let her discover my disguise."

    He had disguised himself before as a general and a farmer, but both had been male. This time around, he had disguised himself as a woman and it was actually very uncomfortable. He was not feeling very confident in the disguise and he was afraid his disguise would be revealed. So he quickly took himself inside the firewood house at the back garden, and thought, "The acupoints of the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert and the others are still being sealed. Ji Wushi and Zu Qianqiu must be wanting to eavesdrop on what they'll be talking about at night. I should go to sleep now and wake up sometime at night to listen to what they're talking about." Linghu Chong drifted into sleep hearing Monk No Commandment's wailing. He was amazed at this but also found it funny.

    When he woke up, the sky was already dark, and he went to the kitchen to look for some cold rice and tea to eat. After a long time, he heard no sound of anyone around. Thereupon, he slowly strolled around to the back of the mountain where the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert and the other people were. Linghu Chong crouched inside the underbrush far away and strained his ears to listen. Soon, he heard the breathing of people hiding in the underbrush all around him. There were at least around twenty people concealed in the underbrush. Linghu Chong found this hilarious. "Ji Wushi and the others must be wanting to eavesdrop as well. They've thought of the same thing. I guess there are many smart people here." He also thought, "Ji Wushi is good. He unsealed the mute acupoints of those two cannibals of the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, but he didn't unseal the other people's mute acupoints. Otherwise, once the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert open their mouths, they'll be told to shut up by their more competent comrades."

    Linghu Chong then heard White Bear swearing continuously, "Your granny, so many mosquitoes on this mountain side. They want to suck my blood dry before they're happy. I curse the eighteen generations of your mosquitoes' ancestors."

    Black Bear laughed. "The mosquitoes are stinging you only, but not me. I wonder what the reason is."

    White Bear cussed, "Your blood is smelly so the mosquitoes don't want to eat it."

    Black Bear laughingly replied, "I'd rather have smelly blood instead of hundreds of mosquitoes stinging me."

    White Bear replied with curses. After hurling abuses for a while, White Bear said, "After my acupoints are released, the first thing I'll do is to look for Night Cat and settle our business. I'll seal that bastard's acupoints and eat the flesh from his thigh bite by bite."

    Black Bear laughingly replied, "But I'd rather eat those nuns. Their skins are so white and their meat would be more tender."

    White Bear said, "Mr. Yue ordered us to take those nuns to Mount Huashan, not to eat them."

    Black Bear laughingly said, "There are hundreds of nuns here, Mr. Yue wouldn't know if we eat three or four of them."

    Linghu Chong was greatly startled. "Master ordered them? Why did he ask them to take the Heng-Shan School's disciples to Mount Huashan? This 'Plot' must've have been this thing. But how did they get my master's order?"

    Suddenly, White Bear loudly shouted, "Bastards!"

    Black Bear indignantly said, "If you don't want to eat nuns then don't eat. Why do you have to scold me for?"

    "I'm scolding these mosquitoes, not you," White Bear said.

    Linghu Chong's mind was full of thoughts when he suddenly heard footsteps from the underbrush behind him. The footsteps slowly came near him. Linghu Chong thought, "This person had better not step on me." That person was walking straight at him and stopped right behind him before crouching down and lightly pulling on his sleeve. Linghu Chong was started and thought, "Who's this? Did he recognise me?" Then he turned his head around. Under the blurry moonlight, he saw a beautiful round face. It was Yilin. He was startled and happy at the same time, he thought, "So my disguise has been discovered by her. Of course I wouldn't look like a woman even if I'm disguised in one."

    Yilin inclined her head to a side with her little mouth pouting, and she slowly stood up. She was still pulling on his sleeve showing that she wanted to talk to him someplace away from there. Linghu Chong followed behind her as she went towards the west. The two of them didn't say a single word as they walked. Yilin led them along a narrow strip of mountain road away from the Tong Yuan Valley. She suddenly said, "You don't listen to what other people said and come up to this troubling place again. That's very dangerous." These few words she said didn't seem to be directed to him, but it seemed like she was talking to herself.



    Linghu Chong was startled and thought, "She said I don't listen to what other people said. What did she mean by that? Is she pretending, or she really doesn't recognise me?" He also thought that because Yilin had never jested with him, it was more likely that she didn't recognise him. Then he saw her turning north and gradually going towards the Porcelain Oven Pass. After going around a level area in the mountain, they arrived besides a small creek.

    Yilin said, softly, "We always talk here. Are you sick of my voice?" She giggled gently and went on, "You never listen to what I say. Mute Granny, if you can really listen to what I say, I wouldn't talk to you anymore."

    Yilin said this so sincerely that Linghu Chong knew she only recognised him as the Mute Granny living on the Hanging Temple. His childlike heart was roused as he thought, "I'll just play along and see what she has to say."

    Yilin led him by his sleeve towards a big rock underneath a big willow tree, and sat down. Linghu Chong also sat down with his body leaning to the side and the moon behind him so Yilin couldn't take a look at his face. He thought, "Is my disguise really that good that even Yilin is fooled? It must be because it's night so it's not easy for her to recognise me. Yingying's appearance changing technique is pretty good."

    Yilin gazed up at the moon and sighed. Linghu Chong desperately wanted to ask, "You're still so young, why do you have so much to worry about?" But at the end, he didn't say it out loud.

    Yilin said gently, "Mute Granny, you're really good. I often pull you aside to tell you what I'm thinking, but you're never annoyed. You always listen patiently to what I have to say. I shouldn't have bothered you in the first place, but you treat me so nicely just like my own mother. I don't have a mother; if I do have a mother, would I dare to talk like this with her?"

    Linghu Chong realized she was going to pour her heart out and thought it was inappropriate for him to hear it. He thought, "What kind of matter is she going to talk about? I'm deceiving her to reveal her innermost secret. I feel really apologetic to her. I should just quickly go." He immediately stood up.

    Yilin pulled on his sleeve. "Mute Granny, you... you want to go?" Her voice sounded really disappointed. Linghu Chong took a glance at her and saw her face looking sad and her eyes looking like she was begging him to stay. His heart turned soft and he thought, "Little martial sister looks melancholy and she has a lot of things on her mind. If she had nowhere to vent them then they'll always be in her heart and she might become sick. I just need to listen to what she has to say and don't let her know that it's me; then she wouldn't be bashful." He slowly sat back down.

    Yilin hugged his neck. "Mute Granny, how good of you to accompany me for a while. You don't know I have a lot of things in my mind."

    Linghu Chong thought, "In my whole life, Linghu Chong is fated to cross paths with grannies. Earlier with Yingying, I mistakenly took her for a granny. Now, Yilin mistakenly take me for a granny. I called someone else a granny for a few hundred times, now she's calling me granny. It can be said that a good person also gets a good repayment."

    Yilin said, "Today, my father nearly hanged himself to death. Do you know that? He was hung on a tree and a paper was put up on him, saying that he's 'World's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man'. In his whole life, my father only has my mother in his heart. So how can they say he's a pervert? That person must've been confused. He must've wanted to hang that paper on Tian Boguang's body but he wrongly hung it on my father. Actually, it's not a big deal that it's mistakenly hung; just swap them. There's no need to hang himself for that."

    Linghu Chong was startled but he also found this funny. "How can she say Great Master No Commandment wanted to commit suicide? She said he was nearly hanged to death, so he obviously didn't die. The words written on those two papers aren't good words, so once they're taken down, why would you put them up on themselves again? This little martial sister is really naive, she really doesn't understand how things work in the real world."

    Yilin continued, "Tian Boguang hurried up to Xianxing Peak wanting to speak to me, but he met martial sister Yihe instead. She said he came up Xianxing Peak without permission, so without asking, she attacked with her sword and he almost lost his life. That was really dangerous."

    Linghu Chong thought, "I once said that the men from the Other Courtyard must not go up Xianxing Peak without my permission. Brother Tian's reputation isn't good and martial sister Yihe is quick to anger, so once she saw him there, of course she'll use her sword to attack. But, Brother Tian's martial art is much higher than her so Yihe was unable to kill him." He was just about to nod his head agreeing to her when he quickly thought, "No matter what she said, whether I agree or not, I mustn't nod or shake my head. That Mute Granny wouldn't have been able to hear to what she has to say."

    Yilin went on, "When Tian Boguang finally told her everything, martial sister Yihe had slashed about seventeen to eighteen moves. Luckily she held back and didn't really kill him. Once I received the news, I quickly went to Tong Yuan Valley. But I didn't see my father. I asked some people, but they all said he was inside the courtyard crying and making a lot of noise before. He was really in a fit of anger and no one dared to talk to him. They didn't see him after that. I went around the Tong Yuan Valley trying to look for him, and finally I found him at the back of the mountain hanging high from a tree. I was really worried and quickly took him down from the tree. I saw there was a rope around his neck and it was cutting off his airway. It was really a blessing from Buddha that I arrived there in time. I helped and roused him up, then he cried hugging me. I saw there was a paper hanging on his neck, there were words written on it saying something like 'World's number one heartless man'. I said to him: 'Dad, this person is really terrible. He hung you up before, and now he hanged you. He also put up the wrong paper and didn't swap it.' My father was half crying and half saying to me: 'No one hanged me, I hanged myself. I... I don't want to live anymore.' I told him: 'Dad, that person must've suddenly sneaked an attack on you so you fell into his trap; so there's no need to be sad. Let's find and talk to him. If what he said isn't right, then we'll hang him up on a tree and put this paper around his neck.' Dad said: 'This paper is mine. How can you hang it on other people? World's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man, this is Monk No Commandment. How can other people exceed me in this? Child, you're speaking blindly.' Mute Granny, when I heard him said this, I found it really strange so I asked him: 'Dad, this paper wasn't wrongly hung?' Dad replied: 'Of course not. I... I wronged your mother, that's why I wanted to hang myself. You don't need to worry about me, I really don't want to live anymore.'"

    Linghu Chong remembered Monk No Commandment had mentioned to him before that he loved Yilin's mother because she was a nun. So he became a monk because of her. Monk marrying a nun, it was really a rare and strange thing. He said that he had wronged Yilin's mother; it must be because he loved another woman later on and that was why he had admitted to being a 'heartless, perverted and depraved man'. As he thought till here, he slowly came to understand some of these things.

    Yilin said, "When I saw dad cried miserably, I also cried. Dad then advised me: 'Good child, don't cry, don't cry. If dad dies, you'll be all alone in this world. Who would take care of you?' When he said that, I cried even harder." She said until here when beads of tears dropped from her eyes. She looked really sad as she went on, "Dad said: 'Alright, alright! I won't die, but I'm really sorry about your mother.' I asked: 'How did you wrong Mother?' Dad sighed and said: 'Your mother was originally a nun, you already know about this. When I first saw your mother, I immediately fell in love with her and wanted to take her to be my wife, no matter what. Your mother said: 'Amituofo, thinking of this kind of thing, you're also not afraid of Buddha.' I said: 'If Buddha wants to blame someone, then he can blame me.' Your mother said: 'You're a lay person, it's natural for you to take a wife. My body has already been pledged to Buddhism, and I'm free from wordly desires. If I'm to be moved by worldly desires, Buddha will of course blame me. How can Buddha blame you?' I thought what she said wasn't wrong. It was me who has made up my mind to marry your mother, not your mother who wanted to marry me. How can I let Buddha blame her and put her in hell when she dies? How can I let that happen to her? That's why I went on to become a monk. Of course Buddha will blame me. If we're sent to hell then we'll go together as husband and wife.'"

    Linghu Chong thought, "Great Master No Commandment is really the passionate type. He became a monk just to bear the Buddha's blame. Since he's so committed, I wonder how his heart could have changed?"

    Yilin continued, "Then I asked dad: 'Did you marry mother afterwards?' Dad answered: 'Of course I did. If not, how did we get you? I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have. That day you were just three months old, and I was just carrying you outside the door for some sun.' I said: 'What's wrong with getting some sun?' Dad said: 'As luck would have it, at that time, there was a good looking madam riding past the door. She saw a big monk carrying a little baby and felt it was weird. After a few glances, she praised: 'What a beautiful baby!' I felt really happy and said: 'You're also very beautiful.' That madam stared at me and asked: 'Where did you steal this baby girl from?' I said: 'What do you mean steal? She's my own baby.' That madam suddenly threw a tantrum and scolded: 'I'm asking you nicely, but you keep on teasing me. Are you tired of living?' I said: 'How did I tease you? Aren't monks people? Can't we have child? If you don't believe me, then let me give you a look.' Who could've thought that lady was so fierce, she took out the long sword slung at her back and stabbed it at me. Isn't that very unreasonable?'"

    Linghu Chong thought, "Great Master No Commandment speaks frankly and everything he says are always the truth. But when other people hear it, his words become nonsense teasing. Since he's already taken a wife and gotten a baby, why didn't he turn back to be a secular man? It's neither fish nor fowl for a big monk to be carrying a little baby girl."

    Yilin went on, "I said: 'This madam was too fierce. I was clearly yours, and you didn't deceive her. What was she doing stabbing a sword at you?' Dad said: 'Yes, at that time, I quickly dodged and said: 'What are you doing indiscriminately chopping your sword for? If this baby girl isn't mine, then is she yours?' That madam got even angrier and stabbed three times. She didn't manage to hit me with her sword so she thrust out even faster. Of course I wasn't afraid of her, but I was afraid she might hurt you. When she stabbed out for the eighth time, I kicked out at her and sent her somersaulting. She stopped and scolded me: 'What a shameless monk, disgraceful and nasty person, sexually harassing a lady.' It was at this time when your mother returned from the river bank after washing the clothes and she stood on the side to listen. That madam scolded me a few more times before she angrily got on her horse and rode away. She didn't even pick up the sword she dropped on the ground. I turned my head around to talk to your mother. She didn't even reply a single word I said, but she just stood there weeping. I asked her what's the matter but she just ignored me. The morning of the next day, your mother was gone. There was a paper on the table and there were five words written on it. Can you guess what they were? They were 'Heartless man, perverted and lascivious'. I carried you everywhere to look for her, but I didn't find her.'

    I said: 'Mother heard what that madam said and she believed that you really sexually harassed her.' Dad said: 'You're right, wasn't that an injustice? But later on, I thought about it and believed not all of it was injustice. Because when I saw that madam, my heart was thinking: 'This lady is good looking.' Think about it. I was already married to your mother, but my heart was still praising another woman to be pretty. Not only praising in my heart, my mouth was praising her too. Isn't that a heartless, perverted and lascivious man?'"

    Linghu Chong thought, "So martial sister Yilin's mother was very jealous. Of course, this was a big misunderstanding, but wouldn't everything be alright after talking about it?"

    Yilin continued, "I said: 'Did you find mother afterwards?' Dad said: 'I looked for her everywhere, but where can I find her? Your mother was a nun, so I thought she would go to a convent, so I looked in every convent. One day, I found the White Cloud Convent of Heng-Shan School. Your master Dingyi Shi Tai saw you to be very cute and she really liked you. You were also sick at that time so she told me to foster you to the Convent, so I didn't have to bring you running around and endanger your little life.'" At the mention of Dingyi Shi Tai, Yilin couldn't help crying and she said, "Since I was small, I've had no mother and Master raised me up, but Master was killed by someone, and the person who killed Master was Big Brother Linghu's Master. You see how difficult this is. Big Brother Linghu is just like me, he's had no mother since he was small and his Master raised him. But his life is even more bitter than me, not only mother, he doesn't have a father as well. So of course he respects and loves his Master. If I kill his Master then I'll get my revenge, but Big Brother Linghu will be very sad. My dad also said: after he fostered me at the White Cloud Convent, he looked in every convent in the world. Later on, he went to Mongolia, Tibet, the frontiers, the western region, he even looked around in the poorest area. But in all that time, he didn't hear a single word of my mother. Thinking about it, my mother must've blamed my mother for sexually harassing that lady, so she committed suicide the next day. Mute Granny, when my mother became a Buddhist, she swore an oath in front of Buddha that after she entered Buddhism, she would no longer be involved in worldly desires. But in the end, she relented to father and married him. She hadn't given birth to me for long when she saw him sexually harassing a woman and got himself scolded as a 'disgraceful and nasty person', so of course she got angry. Her personality was very strong so what she believed was wrong, was wrong. So she was forced to commit suicide."

    Yilin let out a long sigh and continued, "When my father explained these things, I then understood why when he saw those words 'World's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man', he became really sad. I said: 'When mother wrote those words to scold you, did you give other people a look?' Dad said: 'Of course not! I didn't even tell anyone about it. Is it honourable to tell of these kinds of things? There's something fishy here, I think it must be your mother's ghost who has found me. She seeks revenge on me for blemishing her clean reputation and sexually harassing another woman. Otherwise, how come only these eight words were written on the paper and there was nothing else on it? I know she wants my life, very good, I'm going to go with her.'

    "Dad also said: 'When I couldn't find your mother, I really wished to join her in the afterworld. It's a pity I was too heavy. The rope broke after I was hanging up there for some time. I tried a second time but the rope broke again. Then I thought of getting my sabre to cut my neck. I knew for certain that sabre was on my waist, but suddenly it wasn't there. It's really not easy to die.' I said: 'Dad, you're wrong. Buddha told us not to take our own lives, that's why the rope broke and you couldn't find your sabre. Otherwise, you would've been dead when I got here.' Dad said: 'That's also good, it's most likely that Buddha is punishing me to stay in this world to receive more bitterness and not letting me to go to the afterworld so quick to see your mother.' I said: 'I thought at first that the papers on Tian Boguang and you were wrongly hanged on each other, and that was the reason why you threw a tantrum.' Dad said: 'How can they be wrongly hanged? Cannot Have No Commandment was rude to you in the beginning, isn't that called 'unseemly behaviour'? I told him to be a matchmaker to make that Linghu Chong marry you, but he always failed, isn't that called 'doing things half heartedly'? Those eight words really suit him.' I said: 'Dad, if you tell Tian Boguang to do that nonsense again, I'm going to get angry. Big brother Linghu liked his little martial sister before, now he likes the young lady Ren from the Devil Sect. Even though he treats me well, he's never put me in his heart.'"

    When Linghu Chong heard Yilin said this, he felt quite apologetic toward her. She treated him in such a sentimental manner, but he had never felt it in the beginning, and it was only recently that he gradually understood her feeling. But his real feeling was said clearly by her, he first loved little martial sister and now he loved Yingying with all his heart. During the time he travelled around Jianghu, he also rarely thought of Yilin.

    Yilin said, "When dad heard me said this, he got angry and scolded big brother Linghu, he said: 'That Linghu Chong, he has eyes but he can't see, he's even worse than Cannot Have No Commandment. Cannot Have No Commandment can still see my daughter is beautiful, but Linghu Chong is the world's number one idiot.' He scolded him with so many vulgar words, they're really terrible to hear, and I also can't repeat them. He said: 'Who's the world's number one blind man? It's not Zuo Lengchan, it's Linghu Chong. Even when Zuo Lengchan's eyes are blinded, Linghu Chong is still blinder than he is.' Mute Granny, dad is very wrong to say these things, how can he scold big brother Linghu like that? I said: 'Dad, Miss Yue and young lady Ren are a hundred times more beautiful than me, how can I be better than them? Also, I've already entered Buddhism, but I still appreciate big brother Linghu risking his life to save me and helping my master. I still think about him sometimes. My mother was right, after you enter Buddhism, you should be free of wordly desires. If we're not free of those things then Buddha will punish us.'

    "Dad said: 'Once you enter Buddhism, why aren't you allowed to marry? If all the women in the world entered Buddhism and they didn't marry, then there'll be no one in this world. Your mother is a nun, didn't she marry me, and didn't she give birth to you?' I said: 'Dad, let's not talk about this. I... I'd rather that mother didn't give birth to me.'" She said till here when her voice became choking. After some time, she again said, "Dad said, he's definitely going to find big brother Linghu and tell him to marry me. I was really worried, I said to him if he mentioned this to big brother Linghu, then I'll never talk to him ever again, and when he comes to Xianxing Peak, I won't see him. If Tian Boguang says this kind of nonsense thing to big brother Linghu, then I'll talk to martial sisters Yiqing and Yihe and not allow him to step foot on Mount Heng-Shan ever again. Dad knows I can get what I said so he was dumbfounded for a time. Then he just sighed and walked away. Mute Granny, dad went just like that, I wonder when I can see him again? I also don't know whether he's going to commit suicide again? He's really making me worried. I found Tian Boguang after that and told him to go with dad and take care of him. After I finished speaking to him, I saw so many people sneaking around going outside of Tong Yuan Valley then hiding inside the underbrush. I don't know what they were doing. So I quietly followed them to have a look, but I saw you instead. Mute Granny, you don't know martial art and you also can't hear anything. It was very dangerous for you to hide in the underbrush, especially if someone sees you there. You should never go with other people to hide in the underbrush anymore. Did you think they were playing hide-and-seek?"

    Linghu Chong was dangerously close to laughing, he thought, "This little martial sister is very childish, she even thinks other people are childish too."

    Yilin said, "These days, martial sisters Yihe and Yiqing always supervise me practising sword. Little martial sister Qin Juan said to me, she once heard Yihe and Yiqing and a few other senior martial sisters talk with each other. They said, big brother Linghu won't agree to be Heng-Shan School's headmaster in the future. Yue Buqun is the person who killed our masters, so we naturally can't join the Five Mountains School and accept him as our headmaster. That's why everyone asked me to become the headmaster. Mute Granny, I don't believe this at all. But martial sister Qin swore on it and said that none of it is fake. She said, a few of the senior martial sisters said, from all the nuns of the Heng-Shan School's Yi generation, big brother Linghu treats me the best. If I become the headmaster, it will definitely fit the best with big brother Linghu's wish. So they decided to elect me because of big brother Linghu. They all hope I practise my swordplay well and kill Yue Buqun. Then I'll become Heng-Shan School's headmaster. No one objected to this. When she explained it like that, I believed her. But how can I become the headmaster of Heng-Shan School? My sword art wouldn't be as good as martial sisters Yihe and Yiqing even after I've practised it for ten more years. As for killing Yue Buqun, it's even more impossible. I was already confused in the beginning, so when I thought of this, my mind is in even more chaos. Mute Granny, what do you think I should do?"

    Linghu Chong had now understood. "So they supervise her practising sword from day to night hoping that she would take my position later on and become the Heng-Shan School's headmaster. This is very good for me since they've thought about this so thoroughly."

    Yilin quietly said, "Mute Granny, I often tell you, I think of Big Brother Linghu during the day, and I also thought of Big Brother Linghu during the night. Even my dreams are of him. I dreamt of him saving me and not even caring for his own life; Dreamt of him after he was injured and I carried him to run away; Dreamt of him jesting to me wanting me to tell him some stories; Dreamt of him in Hengshan at that Jade House, I... I... slept on the same bed with him, sharing the same quilt. Mute Granny, I know you can't hear me, that's why I'm not shy to talk to you of these things. If I don't say these things and always keep them in my heart, I'll go mad. I talk to you of these things, and just lightly call out Big Brother Linghu's name, then my heart will be at peace for a few days." She stopped for a time, then lightly called out, "Big Brother Linghu, Big Brother Linghu!" These two cries contained the deep lovesick emotion she felt, Linghu Chong could not help tremble when he heard them. He already knew this little martial sister treated him very nicely, but he never thought she would have such a deep feeling towards him. He thought, "She treats me so passionately, how can Linghu Chong repay this to her in this life?"

    Yilin lightly sighed. "Mute Granny, dad doesn't understand me. Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing, they also don't understand me. I thought of Big Brother Linghu, only because I could not forget him. I know this is unseemly. I've already entered Buddhism and have become a nun, so how can I think of a man night and day? Moreover, he is our school's current headmaster. Everyday, I ask for Guanyin to help me, I ask Buddha to help me forget Big Brother Linghu. When I was reading scripture early this morning, I read of the Buddha's name who helped the people in the world so I asked the Buddha in my heart to protect Big Brother Linghu from harm, to turn trouble to luck, to bless him and young lady Ren to make a blessed match and keep each other company till they're old, and to be happy for all their life. I suddenly thought, why did I make so many wishes to Buddha? When Buddha hear them, won't Buddha feel annoyed? So from today onwards, I'll only pray to Buddha to bless Big Brother Linghu's life with carefree. He loves to be carefree, with no restraint or control, but hoping that young lady Ren doesn't control him in the future." She was quiet for a little while before slowly continuing, "We believe in the Goddess of Mercy who helps the people around the world."

    After reciting more than ten phrases, she raised her head and gazed at the moon, and said, "I must go back, you should go back too." From inside her bosom, she took out two buns and put them in Linghu Chong's hand. "Mute Granny, why didn't you look for me today? Are you sick?" After a time, looking that Linghu Chong was not answering, she spoke to herself, "You also can't hear, but I keep on asking you. I'm really foolish." She slowly turned around and went.

    Linghu Chong, sitting on the rock, looked at her disappearing into the darkness. Every sentence that she just told him was still flowing around his mind, stirring his heart, making it difficult for him to think and he could not help feeling sentimental. After some time, he incidentally took a glance at the water in the creek and he was startled. He saw that there were two reflections sitting side by side on the rock. He thought it was just a trick his eyes were playing because of the way the water rippled. But after taking another look, there were really two reflections. All of a sudden, his back was covered in cold sweat and his whole body became stiff. How would he dare to turn his head around?

    From looking at the reflection on the water, that person was sitting just two feet away behind his back and with only one hit, that person would have been able to take his life. But in his shock, he did not move forward. This person had silently come to his back without him feeling anything. It was very difficult to say how high exactly this person's martial art was. A thought flashed in his mind, "Ghost!" but thinking of ghost, his heart became even more frightened. After being stupefied for a long time, he took a look at the water again. The creek water was flowing, and under the moonlight, he could not see clearly the reflection on the water. But he saw the two reflections were identical to each other, and both were wearing the wide gowns of women. Even the buns on top of their hair were the same. The other person was just like his own incarnation. Linghu Chong was even more frightened now that even his heart had seemed to skip a beat. Suddenly, without knowing where the courage came from, he abruptly turned his head around to face that 'ghost'. After looking clearly, he could not help drawing a breath of cold air. He saw a middle aged woman and recognised her to be the deaf and mute servant on that hanging temple. But it was really strange that he was unaware of her arriving behind him. As his fear subsided, his astonishment was not reduced in the slightest bit. He said, "Mute Granny, so... so it's you, you've... you've really scared me to death." But he heard his own voice was trembling and hoarse. He then saw the hairpin on the Mute Granny's bun, and the light gray gown she was wearing, they were all unexpectedly completely the same as to what he was wearing. He paused for a tick then laughed loudly and said, "Don't be offended. Young lady Ren remembered really well, she remembered what you were wearing and dressed me up like this. We're just like twin sisters."

    He saw the wooden expression of Mute Granny. There was not a trace of anger or happiness. He did not know what she was thinking about, so he pondered, "This person is really weird. Since she already saw me disguising as herself, I shouldn't stay here any longer." He immediately stood up and folded his hands towards Mute Granny. "The night is late, so I'm going to take my leave." He turned around towards the road to go away. Just as he walked for only seven to eight steps, he saw the Mute Granny blocking the road in front of him. He did not know how she moved, but she had moved noiselessly without any trace or shadow in front of him. When he was fighting the lightning quick and unbelievably fast Dongfang Bubai, he was still able to see his shape and form. But this Mute Granny was just like she sprouted out of the ground. Even though her movement was not as quick as Dongfang Bubai, her noiseless movement was like that of ghosts.

    Linghu Chong was greatly astonished as he knew that tonight he had met a master. He had disguised himself as her without asking for her permission, so of course it was unavoidable that she would be angry. He again saluted her deeply and said, "Granny, I've offended you. I'll immediately change my clothing, then I'll come to the Hanging Temple to apologise." That Mute Granny still wore her wooden expression and was not showing the slightest sign of anger on her face.

    "Oh, yes!" Linghu Chong exclaimed. "You can't hear what I'm saying."

    He then stooped down to write on the ground: "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." When he stood back up, he saw she was still standing there expressionless without giving a glance at the words written on the ground. Linghu Chong pointed at the words written on the ground and in a loud voice said, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again!" That Mute Granny didn't even move a muscle. Linghu Chong bowed to her continuously with his hands folded. At the same time, he was undoing his clothing and his hair. But that granny stayed quiet without saying a single word for the whole time.

    Linghu Chong did not know what to do anymore as he scratched his head. "You don't understand. I don't know what else to do." He leaned to one side as he tried to go around that granny. But as soon as his left foot moved, that granny moved slightly to block his way forward. Linghu Chong sucked in a breath and said, "Sorry for the offence!" as he strode to the right and all of a sudden, he stepped back and flew past from the left. Just as his left foot touched the ground, that granny was already in front of him blocking his way forward again. He tried to run away a few more times, and each time, he was getting faster and faster. But that granny kept up with him and blocked his way forward for the whole time. He was now feeling worried.

    He extended his left hand out to push at her shoulder. That granny chopped down with her right palm, aiming at his right wrist. Linghu Chong hastily withdrew his hand. He knew that he was at a disadvantage so he didn't dare to fight with her. The only thing he hoped for was to get away as quickly as possible so he lowered his head to charge at a side of her body. But he had just shaped to move when he suddenly felt the wind from her palm strike. That granny had already sent her palm towards the top of his head.

    Linghu Chong quickly dodged by slanting his body to one side. But this palm strike was very quick, and with a clap, his shoulder was hit. That granny also faltered as she hit him. This was because Linghu Chong's 'Art of Essence Absorbing' had reacted in response to the strike and it had actually absorbed the power in that palm strike. That granny hastily extended her left hand in a claw, which was looking thin and sharp, at his eyes.

    Linghu Chong was greatly startled, and he quickly lowered his head to avoid it. A moment later, the clothes at his back was ripped. Fortunately, that granny was also afraid of his 'Art of Essence Absorbing' so she did not make use of that advantage to hit him. She bent her right arm, and in an uppercut, she again tried to dig his eyes out. It was obvious she had come up with a plan to attack his eyes only. Because no matter how formidable his 'Art of Essence Absorbing' was, once her fingers entered his eyes, he would still be blinded. Besides, the soft eyes would also not be able to absorb other people's internal power. Linghu Chong extended his arm to block the strike. That granny followed it by turning her palm around, and used her five fingers to grab at his left eye. Linghu Chong hastily extended his left hand to block, but that granny's right hand had flown out to grab at his right ear. He leapt away quickly. Each move was strange and peculiar, and they seemed like the movements that a farm woman might use to fight someone. But these movements were fiercer and faster. In the next few moves, Linghu Chong had been forced to retreat continuously. That granny's martial art was actually not that high. She was merely able to walk silently and did a sneak attack rapidly. In reality, her martial art was far inferior to Yue Buqun, Zuo Lengchan, and even Yingying's martial art was much higher than hers. But Linghu Chong's punching and kicking martial arts were very lacking. If it was not for the fact that the granny was protecting herself from his 'Art of Essence Absorbing', and did not dare to clash with his arms and legs, Linghu Chong would have been hit a long time ago.

    After a few more moves, Linghu Chong knew it would be hard to escape if he did not draw his sword out. He immediately put his hand inside his bosom to take his short sword out. His right hand had just touched the handle of his sword when that granny executed her lightning quick attacks. In the subsequent seven to eight attacks, Linghu Chong had to block with both of his hands and had no time to draw his sword out. That granny's attacks were getting fiercer and more violent. There was clearly no enmity or hatred between them, but it was obvious she really wanted to dig his eyes out. Linghu Chong gasped loudly. He used his left palm to cover up both of his eyes, while he again put his right hand into his bosom to take his sword out. Disregarding the hit he took from her palm and kick, he finally managed to grab his short sword.

    At this moment, his head was hurting as his hair was grabbed and both his feet were lifted off the ground. The next moment, the sky was revolving and the ground was spinning as his body was being flung around in mid air. That granny had grabbed his hair in order to fling him away. So he was now being spun around quicker and quicker.

    "Oi, oi," Linghu Chong worriedly called out. "What are you doing?"

    He flung his arms around trying to grab her arms. Suddenly, his left and right armpits felt numb as the acupoints there were sealed by her. Next, the acupoints on his back, the back of his waist, chest, and neck were all sealed by her. His whole body now felt numb and he was completely immobilized. But that granny still did not stop whirling his body around. Now, Linghu Chong could only hear the whirring sound of the wind and he thought, "I've met with countless marvel in my life. But I've never been made into a big top for someone to play with before."

    That granny spun him around until he was feeling very dizzy. She finally stopped and let him fall heavily on the ground.

    Linghu Chong of course knew there was no enmity between him and that granny. But when at this time she toyed with him until he was half dead, he couldn't help feeling angry. He scolded, "Stinky granny! You don't know what's good for you. If I'd gotten my sword out, you'd have a body full of holes a long time ago!"

    That granny looked at him with her cold eyes. Her face remained expressionless, with no trace of happiness or anger at all. Linghu Chong thought, "I can't beat her. But if I don't scold her then my loss would be too great. But I've been subdued by her now, so if she knows I was scolding her, then she'll make things difficult for me."

    He immediately thought of an idea to prevent the granny from knowing that he was scolding her. He started giggling and scolded, "Bastard granny, stinky granny, the gods know your heart is bad. That's why they made you deaf and mute, can't smile, can't get angry. You're just like an idiot. Might as well become a dog or a pig. They might even be better than you." His scold was becoming more and more malicious, while his face was grinning from ear to ear. At first, his smile was just fake to prevent the granny from knowing that he was scolding her. But at the end, after looking at the granny's expressionless face, he considered his plan had succeeded so he couldn't help feeling proud of himself. He was now laughing heartily.

    That granny slowly walked up to his side, grabbed his hair, and dragged him along the ground. Her pace gradually became faster. Although Linghu Chong's acupoints had been sealed, he had not lost consciousness. His whole body was aching from the friction and the collision from the ground. His mouth was continuously scolding, but he could not laugh anymore now.

    That granny was dragging him along the path going up the mountain. Linghu Chong took a look at the lay of the land from the corner of his eyes. He saw her turning westward and she was actually going to the Hanging Temple. At this time, Linghu Chong had already guessed that Monk No Commandment, Tian Boguang, Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, Qiu Songnian, and the rest of those people were most likely subdued by her. Besides her, there was no one else who could do those strange and sudden movements, which the gods doesn't know and the ghosts can't feel, to suddenly subdue people. But he had once gone to the Hanging Temple and had seen it with his own eyes that this mute and deaf granny had no senses, and could even be said to be slow-witted. Even masters like Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, Yingying, and Shangguan Yun did not suspect her when they saw her. This mute granny was really very good in concealing her martial ability.

    His thought continued, "If this granny hang me up high on the Gongsun tree at Tong Yuan Valley, then put a paper on me that says I'm the world's number one pervert, I'd lose a lot of face since I'm acting as the Heng-Shan School's headmaster and I'm also wearing a woman's gown. Lucky she's dragging me to the Hanging Temple instead. I guess it doesn't matter if she just hangs me here for some time and not out in the open." Even though he had suffered a bad luck tonight, he was not going to be hung high above the Heng-Shan Other Courtyard, so he still considered it to one lucky thing from this big disaster he was facing. He also thought, "I wonder if she knows my real identity. Would she give me a special treatment if she knows I'm the Headmaster of Heng-Shan?"

    Along the road up, his body bumped against countless numbers of rocks causing a lot of injuries. Luckily, his face was facing up so there was no injury to his five senses. When they arrived at the Hanging Temple, that granny dragged him straight up to the highest chamber of the Spirit Turtle pavilion.

    "Aiyo, this is bad!" Linghu Chong called out.

    Outside the chamber of the Spirit Turtle was the flying bridge, which was looking down at a ten thousand feet deep abyss. He was afraid that granny was going to hang him there. This Hanging Temple was rarely visited by people. If this granny hanged him there, it would be unavoidable that he'd starve to death. This turn of event was far from good.

    That granny released him in the middle of the chamber, then she went below. Linghu Chong was lying down on the floor thinking of the background of this despicable granny. He unexpectedly couldn't think of any clue regarding her origin at all, but he conjectured that she must be a famous senior of the Heng-Shan School, someone like Yu Sao who probably attended people like Dingjing and Dingxian Shi Tai back then. As he thought till here, he felt relieved: "Since I'm the Headmaster of Heng-Shan, whatever anger she has towards me, she won't give me too much difficulty." But as he mulled over it, he thought, "I've already disguised myself like this. I'm afraid she won't recognise me. If she thought I was in collusion with Madam Zhang, deliberately dressing up like her and sneaking around in Heng-Shan. She'll definitely give me something 'special', and make me suffer even more. What a disaster."

    He didn't hear the footsteps going up the stairs as that granny came back up. In her hand was a rope to tie Linghu Chong's hands and feet. She then took out a piece of yellow paper out of her bosom and stuck it on his neck. Linghu Chong was really curious to see what was written on that paper. But at this time, both of his eyes were blinded as a black cloth was put over them. Linghu Chong was thinking, "This granny is quite smart. She knows I'd want to look at that paper, but she's not giving me a look." He also thought, "Linghu Chong is a world's famous loafer so the words written on that paper must be something awful. I don't need to see them to know what they are."

    He felt his wrists and ankles tightened as his body soared up high into the air. Now, he was hanging up high from the beam. This fuelled his anger even more and he started hurling abuses. He always loved to play around, but he was actually also very careful. His heart pondered, "I would never be able to escape no matter how much I swear at her. I must slowly move my inner energy to break through the acupoints, and wait till I get my sword then I'll stop her. Then I'll hang her up and hang a paper on her neck. Hmm, what should I write on that paper? World's number one evil granny! Not good calling her world's number one. She might get happy instead. I'll write 'World's number eighteen evil granny'. Let her rack her brain figuring out who those seventeen evil grannies in front of her are." He turned his head to a side to listen, but he couldn't hear any breathing at all. That granny had gone down the chamber.

    After hanging up there for two hours, Linghu Chong became hungry and his stomach started growling in protest. But he was secretly happy as he had gradually broken through his blocked acupoints. Suddenly, his body swayed and he fell on the floor with a booming sound. It was that granny who had loosened the ropes tying him up, but he couldn't perceive at all when she had come back in. That granny pulled open his blindfold. However, he had not broken through the acupoint on his neck so he couldn't look down to see what was written on that paper. But he could see the last word written on that paper was the character 'granny'. He quietly called out, "This is bad!" In his heart, he was thinking that this 'granny' character she had written must be because she thought he was a woman. If she had written that he was a pervert or a loafer, it did not matter. But to regard him as a woman, then it was a really big concern for him.

    He saw that granny took a bowl from the table, and he thought, "Is she giving me soup or water to drink? It's best if she's giving me wine!"

    All of a sudden, his whole head was warm and he cried out, "Aiyo!" That bowl was filled up with hot water, which was now dripping from his head. Linghu Chong scolded, "Stinking granny, what are you doing?" Linghu Chong was greatly startled when he saw her took out a razor from her bosom. The next moment, he heard scraping sound and his scalp hurt a little. That granny was actually shaving his head.

    Linghu Chong was alarmed and angry, he didn't know what this crazy granny was up to. Not long after, the hair on his whole head was shaved clean and he thought, "Oh well, Linghu Chong will become a monk from today. Aiyo, that's not right, I'm wearing a woman's dress so I'm going to become a nun." His heart suddenly trembled and he thought, "Yingying was joking that I should disguise as a nun. If that prophecy becomes reality, then it'll be a big disaster. Maybe this evil granny already knows who I am, and she believes that a man becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster is very inappropriate. She might not even just shave my head, she might even... even castrate me so I'll become just like Cannot Have No Commandment. That way I won't be able to dirty the sacred ground of Buddha. This woman is so insanely loyal to Heng-Shan School, she's even willing to do anything. Aiyo, today, Linghu Chong has met with a big misfortune. 'To dominate Wulin, scatter your sword and castrate yourself', it's still best if I don't learn that Evil Resisting Sword Art."

    When that granny finished shaving his head, she swept the hair on the ground. Linghu Chong believed the situation was urgent so he hastily moved his inner energy to fiercely break through his sealed acupoints. He had just felt that a few of his acupoints was loosened when suddenly his back, waist, and shoulder's acupoints were again sealed by her. Linghu Chong let out a long sigh, and he didn't even feel like swearing at that granny again.

    That granny took down the paper on his neck and put it to the side. Linghu Chong took a look and saw that the words written on that paper were: "World's number one blind man, not male not female evil granny." He secretly cried out in misery, "So this granny is pretending to be deaf and mute. She actually heard everything. If not, how could she have known Monk No Commandment calling me world's number one blind man? She was probably eavesdropping when Monk No Commandment was talking to his daughter, or maybe when Yilin was talking to me. She might even be eavesdropping on both times." He cried out, "No need to pretend anymore, you're not deaf." But that granny was still not paying him any attention as she opened up his gown. Linghu Chong was startled and he called out, "What are you doing?" A ripping sound was heard. That granny had torn apart the female gown he was wearing into two and taken it down.

    Linghu Chong called out in alarm, "If you injure a hair on my body, I'll make mince meat out of you." Then he thought, "She's only shaven my whole head, but how can she stop at only that?"

    That granny took a small piece of grindstone, wet it, and sharpened her razor. She extended her finger to test out the razor's edge. Satisfied with its sharpness, she put it aside and took out a porcelain bottle from her bosom. On the bottle was written: 'Heavenly Connecting Glue'. When Linghu Chong was injured, he had used Heng-Shan School's medicine countless times. So he recognised the bottle without having to look at the writing on it. He also knew the other medicine called 'White Cloud Bear Gall Bladder Pill' which was used to treat internal injuries. Sure enough, that granny took out another porcelain bottle from her bosom and it was the 'White Cloud Bear Gall Bladder Pill'. That granny then took out some white cloths from inside her bosom, which were actually bandages. Linghu Chong's old wounds were already healed and he had no other new injuries. The way this granny had arranged everything, it seemed that she was going to make one or two new injuries on his body. He couldn't help sighing in misery.

    Once that granny finished her preparation, she gazed at Linghu Chong. After a while, she lifted his body and put him on top of a table. Her expression was wooden once again. Linghu Chong had undergone many battles, and even when his body got injured heavily or when he was surrounded by powerful enemies, he was never afraid. But at this time, when facing an old granny, he actually felt unspeakable fear in his heart.

    That granny slowly picked up the razor. Light glinted off the face of the razor. Linghu Chong's forehead was covered in cold perspiration which dripped down onto his gown. Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind, and without thinking he blurted out, "You're Monk No Commandment's wife!"

    That granny trembled and took a step back. "How -- Do -- You -- Know?" Her voice was dry and grating. She paused after every word, just like a kid who has just learnt to utter his first words.

    When Linghu Chong said that, he had not thought of what he was saying. Now that she was asking him, he was asking himself how he knew.

    "Hng," he coldly snorted. "Of course I know. I knew about it a long time ago." But in his heart, he was thinking quickly, "How did I know? How did I know? Oh, the paper she hanged on Monk No Commandment had the words: 'World's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man'. This 'heartless' and 'perverted and lascivious' criticism, besides Monk No Commandment, the only other person who would know about it, would be his own wife." Then he loudly said, "You still care so much for that heartless, perverted, and lascivious man. Otherwise, when he hanged himself, why did you cut off the rope? When he wanted to cut his throat, why did you take away his sabre? With this kind of heartless, perverted, and lascivious man, isn't it better to just let him die?"

    That granny coldly replied, "Let him -- Die -- So fast? How can -- It be -- That easy -- For him?"

    "That's right," Linghu Chong replied. "Letting him worried for these last fifteen years. Searching for you from the pass all the way to Tibet, from the northern desert to the western region, searching for you in every single nunnery. But you're actually hiding here enjoying life, that can be regarded as not easy for him!"

    "He -- Deserves it," that granny answered. "He's already taken me as his wife. Why -- Did he flirt with other women?"

    "Who said he was flirting?" Linghu Chong inquired. "She was looking at your daughter, and he was looking at her. What's wrong with that?"

    "Once you're married, looking at other women is not permitted," the granny retorted.

    Linghu Chong felt this woman was very unreasonable, so he argued, "You're already married, why are you looking at other men?"

    "When did I look at other men?" that granny angrily replied. "Nonsense!"

    "Aren't you looking at me now? Am I not a man?" Linghu Chong replied. "Monk No Commandment only looked at some women. But you actually shaved my head off and touched it. Let me tell you, we're not related but you actually touched my skin, and violated the rules and regulations. Luckily you only touched my head and didn't touch my face, otherwise, Guanyin will definitely not spare you." He was thinking this woman rarely went out to the real world so she wouldn't understand about worldly matters. So he was trying to scare her off to avoid being cut up by her.

    "I don't need to touch you to cut off your arms, legs, and head," the granny replied.

    "Want to behead me. By all means, do as you please."

    That granny coldly laughed. "You want me to kill you? It's not as easy as that. You now have two choices in front of you, you can choose for yourself. The first choice is for you to quickly take Yilin as your wife and stop breaking her heart. If you don't agree then I'm going to castrate you and make you become not male not female weirdo. If you don't take Yilin as your wife, then you can't marry another shameless and bad woman." She had been pretending to be deaf and mute for more than ten years already, and had not spoken for a long time. That was why her tongue wasn't fluid in the beginning, but after talking for some time, her speech was now fluent.

    "Yilin is definitely a good lady, but does that make all the other ladies in this world to be a shameless and bad woman?" Linghu Chong inquired.

    "Not far off, good is good no matter where they go. So do you agree or not? Quickly say it."

    "Little martial sister Yilin is my good friend. If she finds out you're forcing me like this, she'll be angry."

    "She'll be very happy once you've taken her as your wife," that granny said. "All her anger would be gone."

    "She's a Buddhist and she's already sworn not to get married," Linghu Chong argued. "Once she's moved by worldly desires, she'll be blamed by Buddha."

    "If you become a monk, Buddha won't blame her alone. Do you think I shaved your head for nothing?"

    Linghu Chong couldn't help laughing out loud. "So you shaved my head wanting me to become a monk and take a nun as my wife. Your husband did this before, so you want me to learn from him."

    "That's right," she answered.

    "There are so many bald headed person in this world, " Linghu Chong laughingly said. "It doesn't mean you're a monk when your head is shaved."

    "That can be easily fixed," that granny replied. "I'll just burn some incense marking on your head. A bald head doesn't mean you're a monk. But a bald head with some incense marking is definitely a monk." As she finished talking, she immediately wanted to take action.

    "Slow down, slow down," Linghu Chong hastily interrupted. "To become a monk requires that person's willingness, how can it be forced?"

    "You don't want to become a monk," that granny concluded. "Then be a eunuch."

    Linghu Chong thought, "This granny is insane. She must get whatever she wants. I must delay her first." He said, "If I suddenly changed my mind to marry little martial sister Yilin after you made me a eunuch, what happens then? Wouldn't you have harmed the two of us then?"

    "For us martial people, we do things openly and quickly," that granny angrily said. "Once you said what you want to do, how can you still be in two minds or change your mind? A monk then be a monk, a eunuch then be a eunuch! How can a gentleman be so loathsome?"

    "Once I'm a eunuch, I'm not a gentleman anymore," Linghu Chong laughingly said.

    "We're discussing a serious matter here," that granny angrily replied. "Who's joking around with you?"

    Linghu Chong thought, "Little martial sister Yilin is beautiful and gentle, and she also has a deep feeling towards me. But my heart has belonged to Yingying a long time ago, so how can I just forget about that? This granny is so unreasonable. A gentleman would rather die than bend." So he said, "Granny, I want to ask you something. What do you think of a man who's not loyal to his lover and plays around with woman all the time?"

    "Why do you even need to ask?" that granny questioned. "This sort of person is worse than a pig, a dog. A useless and selfish man."

    "You're right," Linghu Chong agreed. "Little martial sister Yilin is beautiful and she treats me very nicely. But why didn't I take her as my wife? It's because I've already had a marriage agreement with another lady a long time ago. This lady treats me so kindly. Alright, Linghu Chong will just give you his body for you to chop up, but I won't disappoint her. If I disappoint her, won't I become the world's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man? Then Linghu Chong would've taken Monk No Commandment's title of 'world's number one'."

    "This lady, she's the devil sect's young lady Ren. She was the one who saved you when you were surrounded by the devil sect here on that day, is that right?" the granny asked.

    "That's right," Linghu Chong answered. "You've seen this young lady Ren."

    "That's very easy," the granny said. "I'll just ask young lady Ren to dump you, then you can say that she was heartless towards you, not you being heartless towards her. That's settled then."

    "She would never dump me," Linghu Chong said. "She's willing to give her life for me, I'm also willing to give my life for her. I'll never be heartless towards her, and she'll never be heartless towards me either."

    "I'm afraid matter has come to a head and it's not up to her," that granny said. "Heng-Shan Other Courtyard is full of those stinking men, she can pick any one of them and marry him."

    "NONSENSE!" Linghu Chong angrily shouted.

    "You're saying I can't do that?" that granny asked as she walked out the door. He heard the door to the next chamber opened, and that granny came back in again. She was carrying a woman with both her hands and legs tied. That woman was Yingying. Linghu Chong was greatly startled, he never expected that Yingying would also fall into this granny's hand. When he saw there was no injury on her body, he felt relieved.

    "Yingying," Linghu Chong called out. "You've also come."

    Yingying smiled and said, "I've heard everything. You said you'd never be heartless towards me, I'm very happy to hear it."

    "In front of me, you're not allowed to say those shameless things!" the granny shouted. "Little miss, do you want a monk or a eunuch?"

    Yingying blushed furiously and replied, "Your words are really not good to hear."

    "I've thought of this carefully, I want this little kid Linghu Chong to abandon you and marry Yilin," that granny said. "But he has decided that he is not willing."

    "Since the moment you open your mouth, this is the most reasonable thing I've heard," Linghu Chong loudly acclaimed.

    "So I'll have to back off for a step and give in to this little kid Linghu Chong," that granny said. "I'm going to let him marry both of you. He can become a monk and marry both of you; If he were to become a eunuch, he won't be able to marry at all. But after you're married, you mustn't bully my daughter. Both of you can be on the same level, there's no need to decide who's going to be first or second. You're older by a few years only so Yilin can call you big sister."

    "I..." Linghu Chong only managed to utter this word before that granny sealed his speech acupoint. That granny also sealed Yingying's speech acupoint, then she said, "I've already decided everything and I can't allow the two of you to make it go astray. I'm already letting you little monk to take two lovely and beautiful wives, what else is there to say? Hng, that bald No Commandment, how useless! Seeing his daughter getting lovesick but can't do anything. But when I get involved, everything's solved straight away." When she finished speaking, she flew out of the chamber.

    Linghu Chong and Yingying were smiling bitterly at each other. They couldn't speak to each other and they also couldn't hold each other's hand. At this time, the morning sun was just beginning to ascend and its light shining in through the window. Linghu Chong squinted his eyes at her. The red candle on the table had not extinguished yet and its flame was still flickering, with its light smoke floating past Yingying's white as jade face, making her looking even more beautiful. He saw her eyes were looking at the razor on the ground, then they shifted towards the bottle and the bandages on the table, while her face was showing a mocking look. It was obvious she was teasing him: 'How dangerous, how dangerous!' But her expression quickly changed and she lowered her head with her whole face blushing red. He knew this kind of matter should not be said out loud, and it shouldn't even be thought of.

    Linghu Chong saw her looking lovable and bashful, like she had just been caught red-handed doing something embarrassing. He couldn't help feeling moved and thinking, "If I were free, I'd have gone there and given her a hug and a kiss."

    He then saw her slowly lifted her head up and their gazes met. She immediately averted her eyes. The redness in her cheeks was just disappearing when her whole face and ears went crimson again. Linghu Chong thought, "My feelings toward Yingying are definitely firm and unwavering. That evil granny is forcing me to marry little martial sister Yilin so to save myself, I'm forced to go along with her for now. But wait until she release my acupoint and I have a sword in my hand, does she think I'll be afraid of her? Even though this evil granny's fist and kicking martial arts are good, she's still far below Zuo Lengchan and Chief Ren. Her swordplay is definitely not my match. She won only through her light hands and legs, going and leaving without any noise, and ambushing me. If it was a real fight, Yingying will surely beat her, and Great Master No Commandment will also be stronger her."

    When he finished with his thought, he looked around and saw Yingying was again looking at him. This time, she didn't become shy. It was obvious she was not thinking of that eunuch matter anymore. He saw her eyes were looking up and the corner of her mouth was turned up smiling. She was smiling at his bald head, so she wasn't thinking of the eunuch matter anymore but now she was laughing at him becoming a monk. Linghu Chong laughed but no sound was coming out. But Yingying was becoming even happier with her smile getting bigger.

    Suddenly, she rolled her eyes revealing a crafty expression on her face. Her left eye winked once, twice. Linghu Chong had not understand her meaning when she again winked twice. He thought, "She winked twice, what's her meaning? Ah, that's right, she's laughing at me for taking two wives." He immediately wiped out the smiling expression on his face. With a very solemn expression, he winked once with his left eye. His meaning was: 'I will only take you as wife, my heart is not divided in two.' Yingying slightly shook her head and her left eye winked twice again. Her meaning was: 'Marrying two then it'll be two wives!' Linghu Chong again shook his head and winked his left eye once. He had wanted to shake his head more vigorously to show his determination, but most of his body's acupoints were still sealed so he couldn't use any power. Now, his face was looking angry but he was actually very sincere. Yingying slightly nodded. But when her gaze caught the razor, she again shook her head.

    Linghu Chong gazed at her. Yingying's eyes slowly shifted and they were now locking eyes. The two of them were separated by more than ten feet but their four eyes were talking. All of a sudden, their hearts were intertwined and there was no need to speak, they both understood what was inside the other's heart. Whether he married Yilin or not was insignificant. Whether he became a monk or a eunuch was insignificant. Whether the two of them live or die did not matter. With their two hearts becoming one, they were both satisfied. This moment was theirs forever. Even if the sky collapsed or the ground split, this moment would never be taken away or forgotten.

    The two of them gazed at each other. Without knowing how much time had passed, they suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They woke up from their intertwined feelings and unbounded emotion. The crisp and clear voice of a young lady was heard saying, "Mute granny, what are you taking me here?" It was Yilin's voice. They heard her coming in to the other chamber and sat down. That granny was obviously accompanying her but her footsteps could not be heard at all. After some time, they heard that granny slowly said, "Don't call me mute granny, I'm not mute."

    Yilin shrieked in alarm. She was extremely confounded and tremblingly said, "You... you... you're not... not mute? You're alright?"

    "I was never mute before," that granny said.

    "Then... then you were never deaf before, you... you could hear... what I said?" Yilin inquired. She sounded really appalled.

    "Child, what are you afraid of?" the granny asked. "Isn't it better that I can hear what you said?"

    Linghu Chong heard her tone was gentle and intimate as she talked to her own daughter. At the end, her tender affection towards Yilin was evident.

    But Yilin was still frightened as she tremblingly said, "No, no! I'm going now!"

    "Sit for a while," that granny implored. "I have something important to talk to you."

    "No, I... I don't want to listen," Yilin protested. "You tricked me. I've always thought you couldn't hear. I... I talked to you about those things. You tricked me." Her voice was choking, and she was so worried that she finally cried.

    That granny lightly patted her shoulder and softly said, "Good child, don't worry. I wasn't tricking you. I was afraid you'll get sick from keeping all your feelings in, so I let you speak it out so your heart will lighten somewhat. When I arrived at Heng-Shan, I've always disguised myself as a deaf and a mute, and no one knows about it. I wasn't deliberately tricking you."

    Yilin sobbed sadly. That granny softly continued, "I have something very good to talk to you, you'll be really happy when you hear it."

    "Is it about my dad?" Yilin asked.

    "Your dad? Hng, I don't care about him," the granny answered. "It's about your big brother Linghu."

    "Don't you mention... mention him," Yilin pleaded. "I'll never mention him to you ever again. I'm going to read the scriptures!"

    "No, wait a second and hear me first," the granny said. "Your big brother Linghu told me he loves you very much. He loves you ten times more compared to that young lady Ren from Devil Sect."

    Linghu Chong and Yingying shared a look and they were scolding in their heart, "Stinky granny, telling such a huge lie!"

    Yilin let out a long sigh and softly replied, "You don't need to deceive me. When I first know him, big brother Linghu only loved his little martial sister. He loved her with all his heart, and she was the only one in his heart. Later, his little martial sister ignored him and married another person. Then he only loves young lady Ren, and he also loves her with all his heart and young lady Ren is the only one in his heart." Linghu Chong and Yingying looked at each other and their hearts were filled with unbounded sweetness.

    "Actually, he's always liked you in secret," that granny said. "But you're a Buddhist and he's the Heng-Shan School's headmaster, so he can't reveal his feeling to you. But now, he's determined and hopes to take you as his wife. That's why he's gone ahead and became a monk first."

    Yilin cried out in alarm again and said, "No... No... That can't be, he can't, he mustn't! You... you tell him not to become a monk."

    That granny sighed and said, "It's too late. He's already become a monk. He said, no matter what, he must take you as his wife. If he can't take you as his wife, then he'll castrate himself and become a eunuch."

    "Become a eunuch?" Yilin asked. "My master once said that's a vulgar word, and us Buddhists aren't allowed to say it."

    "Eunuch isn't a vulgar word," that granny said. "They're those lowly people who attend to the Emperor and Empress."

    "Big brother Linghu is a most proud person and he's not willing to be controlled by others. How can he be willing to serve the Emperor and Empress?" Yilin questioned. "He wouldn't even be willing to become an Emperor, so there's no need to say that he'd be willing to attend to an Emperor. So he definitely won't become a eunuch."

    "Becoming a eunuch isn't really becoming an attendant to the Emperor and the Empress, it's just an analogy," the granny said. "The person who becomes a eunuch is someone who can't get children."

    "I don't believe you," Yilin said. "Big brother Linghu and young lady Ren will get married, then of course they'll give birth to several little babies. The two of them are so good-looking, their babies will definitely be cute too."

    Linghu Chong took a look at Yingying. Both her cheeks were blushing, and she looked extremely happy while being bashful at the same time. That granny became angry and loudly said, "I said he can't get children then he can't get children. Don't say about getting children, he won't even be able to take a wife. He's already sworn an oath, he must take you as his wife."

    "I know he only has young lady Ren in his heart," Yilin said.

    "His young lady Ren will get married and you'll get married too. Do you get it now?" the granny asked. "He will take two wives. In this world, there are men who have three wives and four concubines, so don't mention of only two wives."

    "That can't be," Yilin said. "When a person loves someone, he will only think of this person. Night or day, his mind will be on that person. When eating or sleeping, he'll still be thinking of that person. How can there still be a place for a second person? Just like my father. After my mother left, he went to the edge of the world to look for her. There are a lot of women in this world. If my dad can marry two women, then why didn't he marry another one?"

    That granny was silent for a long time before she sighed and said, "He... he did something wrong before, so he felt remorse. Some are like that."

    "I'm going," Yilin said. "Granny, if you mention to other people about big brother Linghu... wanting to marry me, I don't want to live anymore."

    "Why?" the granny asked. "He said he must take you as his wife. Why aren't you happy about it?"

    "No, no! I think about him all the time, and prayed to Buddha all the time wanting Buddha to bless and protect him, and make him happy. I wish for him to not meet with any bad luck or difficulty. I wish for him to get what he wants and for him to marry young lady Ren. Granny, I wish for him to be happy. I've never once wished for him to marry me," Yilin explained.

    "But if he can't marry you, he won't be happy. This will make everyone not to be happy too," the granny argued.

    "It's all my fault. If only you didn't hear what I said. I said so many things to you about big brother Linghu," Yilin said. "He's the world's big hero, while I'm only someone who doesn't know anything, a little nun who can't do anything. He said before, 'once I saw a nun, I lose all my bet'. Once he sees me, his luck will be bad, so how can I marry him? I'm a Buddhist, so I must take care to be clear like the water and I mustn't think of these things anymore. Granny, don't mention about this again, I... I also won't see you again."

    That granny was worried. "Silly girl, you're odd. Linghu Chong already became a monk for you and he said he must marry you. If Buddha blames anyone, then it'll be him."

    Yilin sighed lightly and said, "He has the same thought as my dad? Surely not. My mother was intelligent and beautiful, her temper was reasonable, and she treated people very well. She was the world's nicest woman. So it's a given that my dad became a monk for her. Me... I'm not even half as good as my mother."

    Linghu Chong was secretly laughing in his heart and he thought, "Your mother isn't necessarily intelligent or beautiful. But as for her temper being reasonable, there's nothing to say about that. Compared to you, it's your mother who's not half as good as you."

    "What do you know?" the granny asked.

    "Everytime dad sees me, he always talks about how good mother was," Yilin said. "He said she was soft and gentle, never scolded anyone, and never threw a tantrum. In her whole life, she had never even stepped on an ant before. Even if all the good women in this world are added together, they still wouldn't be better than my mother."

    "He... He really said that? I'm afraid... afraid they're false," the granny stammered. When she said these two sentences, her voice was really small. It was obvious her heart was quite agitated.

    "Of course they're true," Yingying argued. "I'm his daughter, why would dad trick me?"

    All of a sudden, everything was quiet in the Spirit Turtle Pavilion. That granny seemed to have gotten caught up in her thought. Yilin said, "Mute granny, I'm going. I won't see big brother Linghu from today. I'll pray to Guanyin every day to bless and protect him." They could only hear her light footsteps as she went down the pavilion.

    After a very long time, that granny seemed to wake up from her dream and she quietly talked to herself, "He said I'm the world's best woman? He went to the edge of the world to look for me? Then, he's not a heartless, perverted and lascivious man?"

    Suddenly, at the top of her voice, she screamed out, "Yilin, Yilin, where are you?" But Yilin had gone far. That granny again called out a couple more times. When she did not hear her reply, she quickly went down the pavilion. She hurriedly chased after Yilin, but her footsteps were still very light like that of a cat.

    End of Chapter 37
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
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    Chapter 38 Annihilation (Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung)

    Linghu Chong and Yingying were looking at each other and in that moment, all sorts of feelings welled up in their hearts. The razor glinted under the sun shining through the window. Linghu Chong thought, "Never thought this problem could be solved like that."

    Suddenly, there were some voices from below the Hanging Temple but they couldn't hear them clearly as the voices moved farther away. After some time, they again heard people coming closer to the temple. Linghu Chong called out, "People!" When he heard his own cry, he realised his mute acupoint was already unsealed. From the acupoints on the body, the mute acupoint was sealed the lightest. As his internal energy was more abundant than Yingying, his mute acupoint was unsealed first. Yingying nodded. Linghu Chong wanted to extend his arms and legs, but he found out he still could not. He heard seven to eight people talking as they came inside the Hanging Temple and came up the Spirit Turtle Pavilion.

    Someone with a coarse voice said, "There's not even a ghost in this Hanging Temple, so what are we looking for? We have to be really careful." This person was the mendicant monk Qiu Songnian.

    "We have order from the top so we must do this well," Monk Xibao said.

    Linghu Chong hastily moved his internal energy to break through the sealed acupoints. However, his internal energies were mainly from other people so even though they were abundant, he couldn't use them like they were his own. The more he forced it, the more difficult it became to unseal his acupoints. He heard Yan Sanxing said, "Mr. Yue said that after we succeeded, he'll give us the Evil Resisting Sword Art. I don’t think we can rely on his words. Right now at Mount Heng-Shan, we've done a great merit already but there are so many people working on this matter, and we have not done something big enough. So why would he give the sword art to us?" While he was talking, a few people came up the stairs. When the door to the chamber was pushed open, they suddenly saw Linghu Chong and Yingying hanging from the beam with their hands and legs tied up. They all gasped in surprise.

    "How come young lady Ren is here?" ‘Slippery and Hard to Grip’ You Xun questioned. "Hey, there's also a monk."

    "Who dares to be so rude to young lady Ren?" Madam Zhang asked as she walked next to Yingying and released the ropes Yingying had been tied up with.

    "Madam Zhang, wait, wait!" You Xun hastily interrupted.

    "Why wait?" Madam Zhang queried.

    "There's something strange here," You Xun argued.

    "Yi, he's not a monk," Priest Yuling suddenly exclaimed. "He's... he's Headmaster Linghu, Linghu Chong."

    They all turned their heads around and looked at Linghu Chong. It took them a while but they finally recognised him. These eight people were usually in awe of Yingying, and they were also afraid of Linghu Chong. They immediately looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing what to do. Yan Sanxing and Qiu Songnian suddenly exclaimed at the same time, "What a great accomplishment!"

    "That's right!" Priest Yuling agreed. "What's so rare about capturing a few nuns? But capturing the headmaster of Heng-Shan -- now that's a big accomplishment. Mr. Yue will definitely give us the Evil Resisting Sword Art now."

    "So what should we do?" Madam Zhang asked.

    All eight of them thought of the same thing, "If we release young lady Ren, we won't be able to capture Linghu Chong. We'll even lose our lives here. So what should we do?" But regarding Yingying’s authority and power, they did not dare to not release her.

    You Xun giggled and said, "As the saying goes, if your heart is small you're not a nobleman, to be a gentleman you must be ruthless. It doesn't matter if we're not noblemen, but it's a pity if we're not gentlemen! Very pitiful!"

    "You're saying we should take this opportunity to kill her and shut her mouth?" Priest Yuling asked.

    "I didn't say it. You said it," You Xun replied.

    "Sacred lady has treated us with kindness. Whoever dares to treat her with disrespect, I'll be the first one to go against it," Madam Zhang said severely.

    "Even if you release her now, do you think she can understand our situation?" Qiu Songnian argued. "How can she agree to let us capture Linghu Chong?"

    "No matter what, we're already in Heng-Shan School,” Madam Zhang said. “Betraying our headmaster is also treachery." After she finished speaking, she extended her hand to release the ropes binding Yingying.

    "Stop!" Qiu Songnian shouted fiercely.

    "Speaking so loudly, are you trying to intimidate me?" Madam Zhang angrily replied.

    With a hiss, Qiu Songnian drew his jiedao* out. Madam Zhang moved quickly and drew out a short sabre from her bosom cutting the ropes binding Yingying's hands and legs. She was thinking Yingying's martial art was very high so once the ropes binding her were cut, there was nothing to be worried of even with those seven people attacking. With a flash, Qiu Songnian slashed his jiedao down. Madam Zhang's short sabre made 'chi, chi' sounds as she thrust three times and forced Qiu Songnian back a couple of steps.

    The rest of the people saw Yingying became unbound and they were afraid. They quickly retreated outside the door wanting to be the first to go down from the pavilion. But when Yingying fell to the ground and did not jump up, they knew her acupoints were sealed. One by one, they slowly came back inside. You Xun giggled and said, "You know, we're all good friends here. Why are we fighting with sabres? Isn't that too dangerous?"

    "When young lady Ren's acupoints become unsealed, would we still be able to keep our lives?" Qiu Songnian called out. He gripped his jiedao tightly as he again rushed at Madam Zhang. Jiedao versus short sabre, the fighting was very intense. Qiu Songnian had a big stature and his sabre was big. Moreover, jiedao was very heavy. But against Madam Zhang's close combat style, this mendicant monk actually didn't find the fight easy at all.

    You Xun laughingly said, "Stop fighting, stop fighting, let's talk slowly." His hand was holding a folded fan as he approached them to mediate.

    "Scram! Don't be in the way!" Qiu Songnian shouted.

    "Yes, yes!" You Xun laughingly replied. He turned his body around and his right hand suddenly shot out. Madam Zhang cried out wretchedly. The steel fan in You Xun's hand had already entered her throat. You Xun laughingly said, "We're all friends here. I advised you not to fight but you didn't want to hear me. Isn't that a bit too treacherous?" When he pulled the fan out, blood sprayed out of Madam Zhang's throat.

    This was outside everyone's expectation. Startled, Qiu Songnian took a step back and then he scolded, "Damn it! You son of a turtle were actually helping me."

    You Xun laughed and said, "If I don't help you, who do I help then?" He turned around and said to Yingying, "Young lady Ren, you're Chief Ren's daughter. All of us gives way to you because of your father. But everyone of us respects and fears you only because you have the antidote for the 'Three Corpse Brain Divine Pill'. But once this antidote is in our hands, Sacred Lady, you'll be useless."

    "Right, right," The six people all agreed. "Once we have taken her antidote, we can kill her to shut her up."

    "Let's take an oath first," Priest Yuling said. "Whoever leaks this matter out, the 'Three Corpse Brain Divine Pill' in him will come out instantly." These people were thinking they must kill Yingying, but thinking of Ren Woxing, they were terrified. If this matter were to leak out, even though Jianghu was large, they still might not be able to find a shelter to hide in. The seven of them immediately said this oath.

    Linghu Chong knew that once these people had finished saying their oaths, they would use their sabres to kill Yingying. So he hurriedly moved his inner energy to those acupoints which were still sealed, but he was still unable to unseal any of them. His heart was worried and he looked at Yingying. He saw she was also looking at him and there was no fear in her eyes at all. He was immediately relieved and thought, "In the end, we all must die. It would be very good for us to die together."

    Qiu Songnian said to You Xun, "Do it."

    "Monk Qiu has always done things very quickly and you have the most heroic spirit. I'd like to ask Brother Qiu to do it," You Xun replied.

    "If you don't do it, I'll butcher you first," Qiu Songnian scolded.

    "Since Brother Qiu doesn't dare, then how about if Brother Yan do it?" You Xun laughingly said.

    "Your granny, why don't I dare? I just don't feel like killing people today," Qiu Songnian angrily replied.

    "It doesn't matter who does it. No one will ever reveal it," Priest Yuling interrupted.

    "Since it doesn't matter, then Brother Priest, please do it," Monk Xibao said.

    "Why is everyone refusing?" Yan Sanxing said. "Let's speak frankly here. No one here trusts anyone else. So let us all get our weapons out and kill young lady Ren at the same time." Even though these people were ferocious and evil, when the moment arrived to kill Yingying, they did not dare to insult her even slightly.

    "Wait, let me get the medicine first before we do anything else," You Xun said.

    "Why do you have to be the one to take it?" Qiu Songnian asked. "Once it's in your hands, you will coerce other people. Let me take it."

    "If it's in your hands, who's to say that you won't coerce other people?" You Xun replied.

    "Stop wasting time!" Priest Yuling bellowed. "If we waste time till her acupoints are unsealed then it'll be trouble. Let's kill her first, then we'll distribute the medicine!" With a hiss, he drew his long sword out. The others also took out their weapons and encircled Yingying. Yingying's eyes were wide open as she unwaveringly stared at Linghu Chong. She was thinking of the events in these last few days when they were sharing some sweet moments together. The corners of her mouth were tenderly smiling.

    Yan Sanxing called out, "I'm going to call one, two, three. We'll move at the same time. One, two, three!" When the word 'three' came out of his mouth, seven weapons chopped down on Yingying's body.

    Who would have thought all seven weapons would stop by half a foot before they reach her body, as if they had a prior agreement to do this.

    "Cowards, why didn't you kill her?" Qiu Songnian scolded. "You were thinking the person beside you would do it so the blame wouldn't fall on you!"

    "You're more of a coward,” Monk Xibao retorted. “You didn't even chop down with your jiedao!"

    Each of them, in their own mind, wanted the person beside them to kill Yingying first so that their own weapons wouldn't need to be stained with blood. To kill someone they had always respected was actually not easy.

    "Let's do it again!" Qiu Songnian urged. "This time, whoever stops their weapons will be a bastard son of a turtle, birthed by a prostitute, worse than a dog! I'm going to call out one, two, three. One ------- Two --------" The word 'three' had not left his mouth yet when Linghu Chong called out, "Evil Resisting Sword Art!"

    The seven of them heard him and they immediately turned their heads around. Around four of them asked at the same time, "What?"

    Yue Buqun had used the Evil Resisting Sword Art to blind Zuo Lengchan on top of the place of worship and this had spread throughout Wulin. These seven people were very jealous. These last few days, they had been thinking of this Evil Resisting sword manual day and night.

    Linghu Chong recited, "Evil Resisting Sword Art, supreme swordsmanship, attain sword qi first, then learn the divine sword. Divine qi is the foundation, the essence of the sword art. How to develop the sword qi, how to borne the divine sword? Both secrets are contained in this." When the first sentence was uttered, the seven people moved towards him for half a step. After the sixth or seventh sentence, all seven of them had left the side of Yingying and had gone beside Linghu Chong. When Linghu Chong stopped reciting, Qiu Songnian asked, "This... This is Evil Resisting sword manual?"

    "If it's not Evil Resisting sword manual, then is it Resisting Evil sword manual?" Linghu Chong answered.

    "Continue reciting it," Qiu Songnian persuaded.

    Linghu Chong recited, "When practising the qi, mind must be sincere, clear your thoughts. Heart must be pure..." When he reached this point, he stopped reciting.

    Monk Xibao urged, "Continue, continue." But Priest Yuling's mouth was muttering, trying to memorise those passages, "When practising the qi, mind must be sincere, clear your thoughts. Heart must be pure."

    Actually, Linghu Chong had not seen the Evil Resisting sword manual yet. The lines he was reciting were actually Huashan sword art's formula, and he just changed the sentence 'Huashan's sword art, light and quick' to 'Evil Resisting Sword Art, supreme swordsmanship'. This was the root of Yue Buqun's 'Qi Branch' formula, where the sentence 'learn sword qi first, then learn the divine sword' existed. Linghu Chong didn't study much so his vocabulary was quite limited. In such a short time, how could he fluently invent those sentences just like a scholar?

    But Qiu Songnian and the others had never heard Huashan sword art's formula before. Second, they had been thinking of the Evil Resisting Sword Art and they were very fascinated by it. So once they heard someone reciting the formula of the Evil Resisting Sword Art, each one of them became muddle headed. How could they still have time to think whether the sword manual was real or false?

    Linghu Chong continued with his recitation "Flow smoothly, fill the sword qi, Evil Resisting Sword comes out, everything will be killed..." This sentence ‘everything will be killed’ was made up by him because Huashan sword formula definitely did not have this kind of formula. After reciting till here, he said, "The, the... next sentence is something like 'if unable to kill, sword art is ineffective', but maybe not, I don't remember it that clearly."

    Monk Xibao and the others asked, "Where's the sword manual?"

    Linghu Chong replied, "This sword manual... is certainly not on me." At the same time he was saying this, he was also looking at his stomach. This sentence was really along the lines of 'there's no 300 taels here'*. Right after he said this, two hands promptly reached inside his clothes. One hand belonged to Monk Xibao, and the other to Qiu Songnian. All of a sudden, the two of them cried out miserably. Monk Xibao's head had split open, while there was a sword piercing from the back of Qiu Songnian's body all the way through to his chest. They had fallen victim to Yan Sanxing and Priest Yuling.

    (*Translator's note: This means clearly admitting that the sword manual is there.)

    "We've worked so hard to get our hands on this Evil Resisting Sword Manual,” Yan Sanxing laughingly said. “Once this sword manual appeared, these two bastards wanted it for themselves. How can things be that easy in this world?" He then kicked away the two people's corpses.

    In the beginning, Linghu Chong pretended to recite the Evil Resisting Sword Manual because he saw Yingying's life was in grave danger. So he thought up of an idea quickly wanting to lead these people away from her and delay them, thinking that Yingying's and his acupoints might get unsealed soon. He never thought things would come to this point. Not only had he led these people away from her, they had even killed each other. Now, there were only five of them from the previous seven. Secretly, he felt really happy.

    "No one has seen whether this sword manual is really on Linghu Chong's body,” You Xun said. “But we've already killed each other first, that's really impatient..." He had not finished speaking but Yan Sanxing was already rolling his eyes and staring at him hatefully.

    "You're saying we're impatient. You don't accept this, do you?” Yan Sanxing said. “I'm afraid you want to get this sword manual for yourself."

    "I don't dare to get it for myself and end up like that big monk with my head split open,” You Xun replied. “Where's the fun in that? But this sword manual is very famous in the world. We all wanted to widen our scope and have always thought about it."

    The Tung Cypress Whiz Duo said at the same time, "That's right. No one is allowed to get it for himself. If you want to look then look at it together."

    Yan Sanxing said to You Xun, "Ok, then you get the sword manual out from this kid's chest."

    You Xun shook his head and smiled. "I don't have this idea of taking it for myself. I also don't dare to see it first. Brother Yan, once you take it out, I'll be satisfied if you just give me a peep at it."

    Yan Sanxing then said to Priest Yuling, "Then you go and take it out!"

    "It's still best if Brother Yan takes it out," Priest Yuling replied.

    Yan Sanxing looked at the Tung Cypress Whiz Duo, but the two of them were also shaking their heads. Yan Sanxing angrily said, "Do you think I don't understand what the four of you bastards are thinking? You want me to take that sword manual and then you're going to kill me. But this won't work on me." The five people were looking at each other. The situation was now deadlocked.

    Linghu Chong was afraid they might again go and harm Yingying, so he said, "Don't get too worried, let me try to remember more. Hmmm, Evil Resisting Sword comes out, everything will be killed, if unable to kill, sword art is ineffective... Not right, not right, sword art is ineffective, how can that be? Terrible, terrible, this sword manual is too profound. I just can't remember it."

    Those five people had been intently trying to get the sword manual. When they heard such vulgar and crude words from this sword manual, their heart itched even more to get it.

    Yan Sanxing slashed his sabre and shouted, "It's not difficult if you want me to take the sword manual from this kid's chest. Four of you step back outside the door, so I don't have to worry about you sons of turtle attacking me from behind when I'm taking it."

    The Tung Cypress Whiz Duo just backed out of the door without saying anything. You Xun giggled but he also retreated outside. Priest Yuling hesitated before stepping back for a few steps. Yan Sanxing shouted, "Step outside of the door with both your legs!"

    "What are you shouting for?” Priest Yuling replied. “If I want to go out then I'll go out, if not, then what do you care?" Even though he said this, he still went outside the door at the end. The four people watched Yan Sanxing, and were thinking on his possible escape routes from this Spirit Turtle Pavilion. The stair was definitely the only escape route Yan Sanxing could take since it wouldn't be possible for him to fly out from there.

    Yan Sanxing turned around and his back was now facing Linghu Chong. He was gazing at the four people outside the door, afraid that they might suddenly sneak an attack on him. He reached back with his left hand to grope inside Linghu Chong's bosom, but he could not feel any book in there. He held his sabre in his mouth by biting on it and he used his left hand to grab Linghu Chong's chest while his right hand reached back to grope around. As he used strength on his left hand, he promptly felt his inner energy leaking out. He was startled and hastily tried to pull his hand back. But how could he have known that his hand would be stuck like it was glued to Linghu Chong's skin and he couldn't pull it back. He was even more startled now and hastily moved his internal energy to snatch his hand back. However, the more internal energy he used, the faster it leaked out. He struggled mightily as his inner energy was rushing out like the river torrent rushing down a dike.

    Linghu Chong was in a desperate situation and suddenly there was an enemy's internal energy being injected into him. He felt really happy and he said, "Why are you stopping my heart meridian? How about if you let me recite the sword formula for you to listen to?" He randomly moved his lips like he was saying something.

    When Priest Yuling and the others saw it from outside the door, they really thought he was reciting the sword manual. They didn't want to be disadvantaged since they couldn't hear it so they immediately rushed inside to be in front of Linghu Chong.

    "That's it. That's the sword manual,” Linghu Chong exclaimed. “Why don't you take it out and give everyone a look!" But Yan Sanxing's left hand was still glued to Linghu Chong's body so how could he take it out?

    Priest Yuling thought Yan Sanxing had grabbed the sword manual but because he wanted to keep it for himself, he didn't want to take it out. He immediately extended his hand to Linghu Chong's bosom to grab it too. When his hand bumped Linghu Chong's skin, his inner energy leaked out and his hand was also glued to him.

    "Hey, hey, don't fight you two! You might tear the sword manual; then no one can see it!" Linghu Chong called out.

    The Tung Cypress Whiz Duo exchanged a glance. With a flash, two gold staffs smashed down. Yan Sanxing's and Priest Yuling's heads burst open and they died instantly. As soon as they died, their inner energy disappeared causing both their hands to be released from Linghu Chong's body and their corpses fell down on the floor. Linghu Chong had suddenly received two people's inner energies. These inner energies had come from outside the sealed acupoints and not from inside the sealed acupoints. With these inner energies rushing in, the sealed acupoints were unsealed quickly. His original inner energy was already abundant, with a little bit of power, the ropes binding his hands were broken straight away. Extending his hand inside his bosom to grab the handle of his short sword, he said, "The sword manual is here. Who wants it?"

    The Tung Cypress Whiz Duo were slow witted and they didn't think the ropes breaking apart was something unusual. When they heard him wanting to hand over the sword manual, they were exulted and together they extended their hands forward.

    'Pai, pai'

    Both their right wrists were cut and their hands fell on the floor. They cried out wretchedly while jumping back at the same time. Linghu Chong broke apart the ropes binding his legs and flew down to position himself in front of Yingying. He then said to You Xun, "Sword art comes out, everything will be killed! Brother You, do you want to look at the sword manual?"

    The sly You Xun was the only one left unharmed. At this time, he was already very frightened that his face was ashen. He tremblingly said, "Thank you, I... I don't want to take a look."

    "No need to be so polite. Have a look for a while, there's no harm to look at it," replied a smiling Linghu Chong. He extended his left hand to poke Yingying's back and waist to unseal her acupoints. You Xun's whole body was trembling incessantly as he said, "Master Linghu... Master... Linghu... Hero... Hero, you you... you..." Both his knees bent and he knelt on the ground. "Your lowly servant has offended you and deserves death. It's... it's useless to say anything more. Sacred Lady and Headmaster still have your lives, your lowly servant will go through fire, go through water..."

    "To learn the Evil Resisting Sword Art, the first step is really fun. Why don't you do it!" Linghu Chong laughingly said.

    You Xun kept on kowtowing, hitting his head on the floor as he said, "Sacred Lady and Headmaster are very broadminded. Everyone in Wulin knows this. Today, let your lowly servant atone for my sin. Your lowly servant will go to Jianghu and declare you two saints... no, no, no..." When he said 'saints', he remembered something and realised he had stumbled into another disaster in his fright. Yingying can get most angered when someone mentioned behind her back that Linghu Chong and she were related. So he wanted to hold back his tongue but it was too late.

    Yingying saw the Tung Cypress Whiz Duo were standing side by side. Even though they had each lost a hand and blood was pouring out of their arms without pause, their faces still showed no fear. She asked, "Are you two husband and wife?" The man from Tung Cypress Whiz Duo was called Zhou Gutong, and the woman was called Wu Baiying.

    "Today, we've fallen under your hands. Whether you want to kill or peel our flesh off, the two of us won't bat an eyelid. Why do you ask so much?" Zhou Gutong replied.

    Yingying liked his haughtiness and coldly said, "I'm asking if the two of you are husband and wife."

    "We're not husband and wife officially. But for the last twenty years, we're much better compared to other officially married husband and wife," Wu Baiying said.

    "Between the two of you, only one is allowed to live. Both of you are lacking a hand, a leg, also lacking a ..." Yingying thought her own father was the same as these two people. They all lacked an eye, so she didn't say it out loud. After a pause, she continued, "Two of you can fight and kill each other. The one who survive can go!"

    "Very good!" the Tung Cypress Whiz Duo replied at the same time. A gold flash was seen as the two of them wielded their gold staffs to hit their own foreheads.

    "Wait!" Yingying shouted. With a long sword in her right hand and a short sword in her left hand, she rushed forward and deflected the two staffs upward. As she hit the two staffs, she felt her shoulders and arms went numb and both her swords were dangerously close to being disarmed. However, her left arm was weaker so Wu Baiying's staff still continued and hit her forehead. In an instant, blood was flowing down.

    Zhou Gutong loudly shouted, "Once I kill myself, Sacred Lady's words are like the mountains, and she'll let you go. What's not good about that?"

    "Of course I'll die and you'll live. What's there to fight about?" Wu Baiying replied.

    Yingying nodded and said, "Very good, the two of you husband and wife are very loving. I really respect you for that. I won't kill either of you. Quickly wrap up your cut hand." The Cypress Whiz Duo were extremely happy. They tossed their staffs away, and rushed towards each other to wrap up their wounds.

    "But there's one matter the two of you must do," Yingying said. Wu Baiying and Zhou Gutong acknowledged the order together. Yingying continued, "After you've gone down the mountain, you must pay respect to the heaven and get married. Two of you travelling together, not becoming husband and wife, how... how..." She originally wanted to say 'how can you do that', but she immediately remembered about Linghu Chong and her being together also without being husband and wife. She couldn't help her face blushing red.

    Wu Baiying and Zhou Gutong gave a glance and kowtowed their thanks together. You Xun said, "Sacred Lady is very kind and forgiving, not only did she spare your life, she even look after your lifelong matter. The two of you are really lucky. I've known for a long time that Sacred Lady treats her subordinates really well."

    "Under whose order did you come to Heng-Shan this time?” Yingying asked. “What are you scheming about?"

    "Your lowly servant was deceived by that dog Yue Buqun. He said he received Chief Ren's Black Command Wood and he wanted the nuns of Heng-Shan captured and brought to the Dark Wood Cliff. He said the order comes from Chief Ren," You Xun answered.

    "Yue Buqun has the Black Command Wood in his hand?" Yingying asked.

    "Yes, yes! Subordinate carefully looked at it. He really has the Sun Moon Sect's Black Command Wood. If not, why would I listen to that dog Yue Buqun's order when Subordinate has always been loyal to Chief and Sacred Lady?"

    Yingying pondered, "How did Yue Buqun get my sect's Black Command Wood? Ah, that's it, he took the Three Corpse Brain Pill, so he was listening to dad's order and dad gave him the command wood." She then asked, "Yue Buqun also said: once you finished with the order, he'll give you the Evil Resisting Sword Art, didn't he?"

    You Xun kowtowed continuously as he said, "That dog Yue Buqun can really deceive people. Everyone believes him."

    "You were saying you've done a great merit in Heng-Shan this time around, what's that all about?" Yingying queried.

    "There are some people who had gone to the mountaintop and put the confusion poison into the water spring, so all Heng-Shan's disciples got knocked out. There are also some people who didn't know anything inside the Other Courtyard who got knocked out by the confusion poison. At this time, they're already being sent to the Dark Wood Cliff," You Xun related.

    "Did you kill anyone?" Linghu Chong worriedly asked.

    "Killed around eight to nine people, they're all from the Other Courtyard. They didn't get knocked out by the confusion poison and resisted, so they were killed," You Xun replied.

    "Who are they?"

    "Your lowly servant doesn't know their names. Hero Linghu... your friends aren't one of them."

    Linghu Chong nodded his head feeling relieved. Yingying said, "Let's go down."

    "Alright," Linghu Chong acknowledged. He took the long sword that Monk Xibao left behind and laughingly said, "If I see that evil granny, I'm going to dispute this well with her."

    "Thank you Sacred Lady and Headmaster Linghu for not killing me," You Xun said.

    "Why are you being so polite for?" Yingying replied. She waved her left hand and her short sword shot out. With a 'pu' sound, it was embedded in You Xun's chest. This sly traitor ‘Slippery and Hard to Grip’ You Xun died instantly.

    They went down the pavilion together. The mountain was lonesome and only chirpings of birds were heard. Yingying looked at Linghu Chong and couldn't help bursting into laughter. Linghu Chong let out a drawn out sigh and said, "Linghu Chong shaved his head to be a monk, from this time on, my body has entered Buddhism. Shizu, let's part ways."

    Yingying knew he was joking, but her heart was still worried and she involuntarily shuddered. She grabbed his arm and said, "Brother Chong, don't... don't say this kind of joke with me, I... I... " Just then when she threw her sword killing You Xun, she didn't even blink, but her voice sounded scared at this time. Linghu Chong's heart was moved, his left hand patted his bald head and he sighed, "But with such a pretty as a jade girl in this world, big monk here will just have to return to the secular world."

    Yingying laughed captivatingly then said, "After I killed You Xun, I thought there wouldn't be anyone with an oily and slippery mouth in Wulin anymore, then we'll have some quiet and peace, didn't expect... hehe!"

    "Try touching my shiny head, it's so slippery that your hand won't stay on it," Linghu Chong smilingly said.

    Yingying blushed and spit. "We're talking about proper stuff here. Heng-Shan's disciples have been captured and taken to Dark Wood Cliff and we're going to save them. This is a big big problem. Moreover, it'll also harm our father and daughter relationship..."

    "Also, it'll harm my father and son in law relationship," Linghu Chong added. Yingying glared at him, but she was enjoying the sweet feeling blooming in her heart. Linghu Chong continued, "We mustn't tarry, let's go catch up to them quickly. Cut them off and save them."

    "When we catch up to them, kill them all and don't leave anyone alive. It's best if we don't let my dad know." She walked for a few steps before letting out a long sigh. Linghu Chong understood her heart. She wanted to conceal this big matter from Ren Woxing's ears and eyes, which was something easier said than done. But he himself was the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, so when Heng-Shan's people were taken prisoner, how could he not rescue them? She had decided to follow her own decision and she didn't care anymore even though it would violate her father's order. When he thought till here, he decided that it was time to make a decision. He extended his left hand to grab a hold of her right hand. Yingying struggled slightly, but seeing there was no one around, she let him held her hand.

    "Yingying, I understand your heart. This matter implicates the harmony between your father and daughter. I'm really very sorry," Linghu Chong said.

    Yingying shook her head slightly and replied, "If daddy took my feeling into consideration, he wouldn't have taken any action against Heng-Shan School. But, I'm guessing he doesn't have any malice towards you either."

    Linghu Chong immediately comprehended the situation. "That's right. Your father must have captured the Heng-Shan's disciples to force me to swear an oath to the Sun Moon Divine Sect."

    "That's right. Daddy actually likes you a lot. Moreover, you're the only person who has inherited his divine martial art."

    "I'm not willing to swear an oath to join the Divine Sect. What 'Long live to chief, unify the Jianghu', what 'Refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, to the benefit of common people'! I want to vomit just hearing those disgusting talks."

    "I know. That's why I've never persuaded you. If you enter the Divine Sect, you'll become Chief in the future. From day till night hearing those disgusting talks, then... then we wouldn't be like we are now. Ai, daddy is again on top of the Dark Wood Cliff, his temper has also changed really quickly."

    "But we mustn't offend your father." He extended his right hand to grip her left hand. "Yingying, after we save Heng-Shan's people, you and I should go pay respect to heaven and earth to get married, we shouldn't worry about orders from parents or some words from some matchmakers. You and I should retreat from Wulin, seal our swords and retreat into seclusion. Then we can ignore outside matters and borne some children."

    When Yingying first heard of him talking properly, her face turned red and her heart liked it a lot. But hearing the last sentence, she was startled and used some power to pull her hands away from his. Linghu Chong laughingly said, "After we've become husband and wife, we don't want to get some children?"

    "You're talking nonsense again!" Yingying angrily replied. "I won't talk to you for three days!"

    Linghu Chong knew she would do what she said. He stuck his tongue out and said, "Ok, I'll say less jokes. Catching up is most important now. Let's go up Xianxing Peak to have a look."

    The two of them used their qinggong to up the path towards Xianxing Peak. There wasn't a single soul in Wuse Convent or in the resident houses. Things and clothes were in disarray with sabres and swords scattered around the floor. Fortunately, there wasn't a trace of blood on the floor, seemed like no one was injured. They also went to the Other Courtyard to take a look, no one was there too. With the various wines and dishes displayed on the table, Linghu Chong's wine addiction was aroused. But how would he dare to drink these wines, he said, "I'm very hungry, let's go down the mountain quickly and grab something to eat and drink."

    Yingying tore the outer garment of Linghu Chong's gown and wrapped it on his head. Linghu Chong laughed and said, "This is presentable. Else a big monk kidnapping a young girl from a respectable family, going places, it will be scandalous."

    When they reached the foot of the mountain, it was already at the hour of Wei (1-3pm), so it was easy to find a little restaurant and they ate their fill. They recognised the road going to Dark Wood Cliff and took a deep breath before rushing to catch up. After rushing for a few hours, they suddenly heard a faint murmuring of shouting and curses coming from behind the mountain. They stopped and it seemed those voices belonged to the Peach Valley Six Fairies. They quickly rushed towards where the sound came from and they gradually could hear much clearer. Sure enough, they were the Peach Valley Six Fairies. Yingying quietly said, "I wonder who these six babies fighting with?"

    The two of them went around the mountain and hid behind a tree. They saw the Peach Valley Six Fairies were shouting while they fought intensely and surrounded that person. That person hastily went here and there, the body moved extremely fast, and only a grey streak was seen going round in between those six brothers. That person was unexpectedly to be Yilin's mother, the one who was pretending to be the mute granny inside the Hanging Temple. Following a couple of slapping sound, Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy cried out as their cheeks were slap.

    Linghu Chong was happy and quietly said, "Sixth month's debt returns quickly. I'm going to shave her head too." His hand pressed on the sword's handle, waiting for the Peach Valley Six Fairies to defeat her before jumping out and taking his revenge. But then he heard a continuous 'pai, pai' sound, the six brothers were slapped on the cheeks many times by her. Peach Valley Six Fairies were furious. They wanted to just grab her arms and legs and tear her into four pieces. But that granny moved really fast, like a ghost like a demon. A few times she looked certain to be captured but they were always short by a few inches and she managed to escape which was followed by a few whacks to their cheeks. But this granny also saw these six people were formidable so she was afraid her strength might get depleted and after defeating one or two of them, the remaining ones would capture her. After another series of fighting, that granny knew it was difficult to win. She launched both palms and struck four people four times. Suddenly, she leaped back and turned around to run quickly. She ran fast as lightning, in just a moment, she was already dozens of feet away. The Peach Valley Six Fairies shouted together and went to chase after her.

    Linghu Chong took his sword out and shouted, "Where are you running to?" The sword flashed and it was pointed at her throat. This attack was attacking to kill. That granny was startled and hastily withdrew her head to get away. Linghu Chong slantingly pierced his sword towards her right shoulder. There was no way for that granny to dodge it so she was forced to retreat for a couple of steps. Linghu Chong forced her to step back for one more step. With his long sword in hand, how could that granny be his match? With three thrusts, she had been forced to step back for five steps. If he wanted to take her life, that granny would have died a long time ago.

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies cheered loudly as the point of Linghu Chong's long sword reached her chest. Peachtree Root Fairy and three of his brothers rushed forward, grabbed her limbs, and lifted her up.

    "Don't harm her!" Linghu Chong quickly shouted. Peachtree Flower Fairy lifted his hand and gave her a slap.

    "Hang her up there first," Linghu Chong commanded.

    "Yes, get the rope, get the rope," Peachtree Root Fairy said. But these six people didn't have any rope with them and there was no where to find ropes in this wilderness as well. Despite this, Peachtree Flower Fairy and Peachtree Trunk Fairy still searched for ropes. Suddenly, their hold loosened and that granny escaped from their clutches. She rolled on the ground and was just about to fly out of there when she felt some tingling on her back.

    "Please stay!" said a smiling Linghu Chong with the point of his long sword poking her on the back.

    That granny was surprised and her face changed colour, all she could do now was stand there unable to move. Peach Valley Six Fairies ran up to her and with six simultaneous pokes sealed that granny's arms and legs acupoints. Peachtree Trunk Fairy rubbed his swollen cheek then extended his hand wishing to slap her cheek. Linghu Chong regarded Yilin so he wasn't willing to let her be embarrassed. "Wait, let's hang her up first before we do anything," Linghu Chong told them.

    When the Peach Valley Six Fairies heard him, they wanted to hang her high up there so they were jubilant. They quickly gathered up some tree barks and rolled them to make ropes. Linghu Chong asked the six of them why they were fighting with her.

    Peachtree Branch Fairy answered, "Six of us brothers were just here taking a dump, minding our own business. When suddenly, this granny went crazy and she asked: 'Hey, did you see a small nun?' Her tone was very rude and she also interrupted us taking a dump..." Yingying heard him talking something dirty, so she scowled and walked away.

    "That's right, this granny is the most unreasonable person in the whole world," Linghu Chong smilingly said.

    "Of course we ignored her and told her to go away. That granny just started hitting people so we fought back. Originally, we were of course fighting to win, but since we haven't finished taking a dump yet so it wasn't comfortable fighting with her. Brother Linghu, if it weren't for your timely arrival, she would've escaped," Peachtree Leaf Fairy said.

    "That's not necessarily true, we were letting her escape for a few steps first, then we'd have chased her down. To teach her what empty happiness is like," Peachtree Flower Fairy argued.

    "Under the hands of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, we would definitely have recaptured a nobody who runs away from us," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

    "This is the method cats use to catch mice. It will let them run for a few steps first then recapture them again," Peachtree Root Fairy added.

    "Even one cat would be able to catch six mice, moreover six cats would definitely be able to catch one mouse. That's very easy," Linghu Chong laughingly said.

    When Peach Valley Six Fairies heard Linghu Chong agreeing to what they were saying, they were all exulted. As they were talking, they finished rolling those tree barks into ropes. They tied that granny's hands and ankles behind her back and tied her high up on a tree.

    Linghu Chong wielded his long sword to slash at the tree and cutting away pieces of barks from it. With the brushing of the sword, there were now five big letters on the tree trunk: 'World's Number One Vinegar Pot.'

    "Brother Linghu, why is this granny the world's number one vinegar pot? Is she really that good in drinking vinegar?" Peachtree Root Fairy asked. "I don't believe it. Let's get her down and let me compete with her!"

    "Vinegar pot is the word for cursing her," said a laughing Linghu Chong. "The Peach Valley Six Fairies are matchless heroes, your righteousness reaching the clouds in the sky, skilled in culture and martial art, favoured by the common people, so how can this evil granny be even close to you? So there's no need to compete."

    The Peach Valley Six Fairies opened their mouths wide laughing, they all said, "Right, right, right!"

    "So did you actually see little martial sister Yilin?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "You're asking about that beautiful little nun from Heng-Shan School? We didn't see any little nun, but we saw two big monks," Peachtree Branch Fairy answered.

    "One was the little nun's father, the other was the little nun's disciple," Peachtree Trunk Fairy added.

    "Where?" Linghu Chong inquired.

    "These people passed about two hours ago. We had an appointment to drink wine with them at the town just ahead. We said we'd catch up with them after taking a dump. But who could've guessed this evil granny would come and bother us?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy said.

    Linghu Chong thought for a while before saying, "Ok, I'm going to the town first, you can follow when you're ready. The six of you are big heroes and would never hit someone being tied up. If you slap this evil granny's cheek, it would damage your heroes' reputation." The Peach Valley Six Fairies agreed to this. Linghu Chong immediately left quickly with Yingying. Yingying laughingly said, "You didn't shave her head, it must be because you're regarding little martial sister Yilin so you only took a little bit of revenge on her."

    After going for more than ten li, they arrived at a big town. They searched till the second wine house before they saw Monk No Commandment and Tian Boguang sitting at a table. When they saw Linghu Chong and Yingying, they gasped in surprise and jumped up happily. No Commandment quickly ordered more wine and dishes. Linghu Chong asked whether there was something unusual happening. Tian Boguang answered, "I was made to look silly at Heng-Shan and I didn't have anymore face to stay there, so I asked grand martial master to quickly leave. We can't go back to that Tong Yuan Valley again."

    Linghu Chong thought they still didn't know about the matter of the Heng-Shan School's disciples being taken captives, so he asked Monk No Commandment, "Great Master, can I ask you to do something for me?"

    "You can, why not?" No Commandment replied.

    "But this matter is a secret and your grand disciple can't get involved in this," Linghu Chong said.

    "Isn't that easy? I'll just tell him to go far away and not hinder me in doing this matter," No Commandment said.

    "Go towards the south east for about ten li. On top of a tall tree there, there's a person being tied high up there..." Linghu Chong described.

    "Ah," No Commandment uttered with an odd expression on his face and his body slightly shuddered.

    "That person is my friend. I'd like to ask you to help that person down," Linghu Chong explained.

    "Isn't it easy to do? Why aren't you doing it yourself?" No Commandment asked.

    "I'm not hiding anything, this person is a female," Linghu Chong said. He then gestured with his mouth towards Yingying and said, "Young lady Ren and I are together so it's not appropriate."

    No Commandment laughed aloud and said, "I understand. You're afraid young lady Ren will get jealous." Yingying glared at the two of them.

    Linghu Chong chuckled and said, "That lady's jealousy is even bigger. Back then, her husband saw a madam and praised her to be beautiful, so this lady just left without saying a word. This caused her husband to look for her till the end of the world for more than ten years."

    As No Commandment heard him, his eyes were getting bigger and bigger. He said, "This... this... this..." His gasping was also getting noisier.

    "I heard her husband didn't manage to find her when he was searching for her," Linghu Chong added. When he said till here, the Peach Valley Six Fairies walked up the stairs giggling. No Commandment looked like he didn't see them, both of his hands grabbed Linghu Chong's arms and stammered, "Re... really?"

    "She told me, if her husband find her and kneel in front of her, she wouldn't change her mind at all. That's why once you release her, she will run straight away. This lady's movement is really fast, you just have to blink and she'll be gone," Linghu Chong said.

    "I won't blink at all, I won't blink at all," No Commandment said.

    "I also asked her, why is it that she doesn't want to meet with her husband," Linghu Chong said. "She said her husband is the world's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man, so she didn't want to meet him and that he's also in the wrong."

    No Commandment cried out and turned around wishing to go. Linghu Chong grabbed a hold of his arm and whispered in his ear, "I'll teach you a secret, she won't run away again." No Commandment was startled but he was also happy. After being dumbfound for a little while, he suddenly kneeled down and, 'boom, boom, boom' he kowtowed three times. With a loud voice, he said, "Brother Linghu, no, Headmaster Linghu, ancestor Linghu, Master Linghu, quickly tell me the secret, I'll take you as my teacher."

    Linghu Chong couldn't help laughing as he said, "I don't dare, I don't dare, please get up." Pulling him to get up and then whispered in his ear, "Help her down from the tree but don't release the ropes or unseal her acupoints, then carry her to an inn and get a room. Think about it, she's a woman and a Buddhist, how do you prevent her from running away from the inn?"

    No Commandment scratched his head then he hesitated and answered, "I... I don't really get it."

    "You take off her clothes first then unseal her acupoint. Since she's now naked, would she dare to run away from the inn?" Linghu Chong whispered.

    No Commandment was very happy and he called out, "Good plan, good plan! Master Linghu, your benevolence..." He didn't finish his sentence before he shouted happily and went out through the window. Once he hit the ground, he immediately flew out.

    "Yi, this monk is really weird, why did he go?" Peachtree Root Fairy was perplexed.

    "He must've wanted to pee and can't wait anymore," Peachtree Branch Fairy answered.

    "Then why did he kowtow to brother Linghu and started calling him Master? Could it be that he wants someone to teach him how to pee even though he's so old already?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy asked.

    Yingying knew these six people most likely would speak some vulgar words as they went on, so she cast a glance at Linghu Chong and went down the stairs.

    "Brothers, I've long heard the six of you have wine capacities like the ocean and you're matchless in this world, so drink slowly. My capacity is shallow so I'm going to take my leave first," Linghu Chong said.

    When the Peach Valley Six Fairies heard him praising their wine capacities, they were all happy and all thought that if they didn't drink a few jars they might lose a bit of reputation, so they called out, "Bring out six jars of wine!" "Your wine capacity is of course much lower than ours." "You go first, if you wait for us to drink our fill, I'm afraid you'll have to wait till tomorrow."

    Linghu Chong only had to say one sentence and he had managed to get away from these six people and went down the stairs. Yingying pursed her lips smiling and she said, "You reconciled a husband and wife, what a boundless benevolence. But this method you taught him, it's rather... rather..." When she said till here, her face became red and she turned away her head. Looking at her, Linghu Chong giggled but didn't say a word.

    The two of them walked outside of the town. After walking for a stretch of the road, Linghu Chong was still smiling and was continuously looking at her. Yingying got angry and shouted, "What are you looking at? Never seen me before?"

    "I was just thinking, this evil granny hanged both of us on the ceiling's beam, so we repaid her back by hanging her on a tree. She shaved my head, so I taught her husband how to take off her gown, this is also repaying her back," said a smiling Linghu Chong.

    Yingying smiled and said, "This is also called repaying back?"

    Linghu Chong laughed before replying, "I'm only hoping Great Master No Commandment isn't rash and that this husband and wife get together again."

    Yingying giggled and said, "You should be careful, you're going to be in trouble when that evil granny see you next time."

    "I helped her to reunite with her husband, so it won't be too late for her to thank me then," Linghu Chong smiled. After he said this, he again took glances at Yingying and laughed to himself with his expression looking odd.

    "What are you laughing at now?" Yingying asked.

    "I was just thinking Great Master No Commandment being reunited with his wife, I wonder what they'll be saying to each other," Linghu Chong replied.

    "Then why do you keep looking at me for?" Yingying queried. Suddenly, she understood what Linghu Chong meant. This loafer was thinking of Great Master No Commandment in the inn taking off his wife's gown. His mind was thinking of this but his eyes kept looking at her, it could be imagined how hard he was holding himself in. All of a sudden, her cheeks were bright red and she wielded her hand to hit him.

    Linghu Chong dodged it and laughed. "A woman hitting her husband is an evil wife!"

    At this time, they suddenly heard light hissing sound from somewhere far. Yingying recognised this was her sect's whistling to summon people. She raised her left hand and put her fingers to her lip, her right hand made a movement and she whistled towards that direction.

    They then went forward for dozens of feet before seeing a woman running from the west towards the east. The ground was spacious and vast and there was no where for them to hide. That person saw Yingying and was startled, then she quickly went up to them to pay her respect. "Divine Sect's Heaven Wind Hall's Fragrant Master Sang San Niang, paying my respect to Sacred Lady. Long live to Chief, unify the Jianghu."

    Yingying nodded her head a few times. After that an old man came out from the east and walked quickly towards Yingying. He bowed before Yingying to pay his respect. "Qin Weibang also pays my respect to Sacred Lady. Chief revives the sacred sect and benefits the common people."

    "Elder Qin, you're also here," Yingying said.

    "Yes!" Qin Weibang acknowledged. "Your lowly servant received Chief's order to find information in this area. Fragrant Master Sang, what news have you found out?"

    "Reporting to Sacred Lady and Elder Qin, early morning today, subordinate was at Linfengyi and I saw sixty to seventy people from Songshan School on their way to Huashan," Sang San Niang reported.

    (Translator's note: Linfengyi is some kind of transit depot for exchanging horses)

    "Of course they're going to Huashan!" Qin Weibang said.

    "Why are Songshan School's people going to Huashan for?" Yingying asked.

    "Chief obtained the news that after Huashan School's Yue Buqun became the Five Mountains School's Headmaster, he didn't want to be in a disadvantageous position compared to our sacred sect. So later on he gathered all the disciples of the Five Mountains School to Huashan. It seems like he's going to attack the Dark Wood Cliff," Qin Weibang answered.

    "Is this true?" Yingying inquired while she was thinking, "This old traitor Qin Weibang is really sly. The capture of the Heng-Shan School's people is most likely the order he received from dad. He's probably the one in charge but he's distancing himself from this matter. But the words of that Sang San Niang didn't seem to be made up. It seems there's something else going on here." She continued, "Master Linghu is the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. Why didn't he know of this matter? That's really strange."

    "Subordinate already checked Taishan and Hengshan School, and they're already moving towards Huashan. Heng-Shan School is the only one which hasn't moved yet. Left Protector Xiang sent us an order. He said Elder Bao Dachu is leading some underlings to go to Heng-Shan's Other Courtyard to investigate their movements. He also ordered me to stay close to liaise with him. Subordinate is still waiting for the message from Elder Bao," Qin Weibang said.

    Yingying and Linghu Chong looked at each other and they were both thinking, "Bao Dachu going to Heng-Shan's Other Courtyard is most likely true. This Qin Weibang isn't concealing anything, could it be he's telling the truth?"

    Qin Weibang bowed towards Linghu Chong and said, "Your lowly servant is just following orders. I'm asking for Headmaster Linghu's forgiveness."

    Linghu Chong cupped his fist returning the propriety. "Young lady Ren and I are going to get married within the next few days..." Yingying gasped in surprise and her whole face turned red, but she didn't deny it. Linghu Chong continued, "Elder Qin received the order from my wife's father, so we as juniors should carry the burden."

    Qin Weibang and Sang San Niang turned happy and they happily said, "Congratulations!"

    Yingying turned around and walked away.

    "Left Protector Xiang urged Elder Bao and I repeatedly not to be rude towards the Heng-Shan School's people. We only have to find the information and we don't have to play rough. Subordinate has followed this order," Qin Weibang said.

    Suddenly, there was a girl's voice behind him laughing and saying, "Master Linghu's sword art is matchless in this world. Left Protector Xiang told you not to resort to violence for your own good."

    Linghu Chong lifted his head and saw a lady came out from among the trees. She was the Five Poison Sect Chief Blue Phoenix. He laughed and said, "Big sister, you're well."

    "Big Brother, you're also well," Blue Phoenix said to Linghu Chong. She then turned her head towards Qin Weibang and said, "If you're saluting me then salute me, why do you need to wrinkle your eyebrows for?"

    "I don't dare," Qin Weibang replied. He knew there were poisonous things all over her body and she was not to be trifled with. He rushed forward for a few steps and said to Yingying, "I'd like to ask Sacred Lady for what we should do next."

    "Carry on according to Chief's order," Yingying ordered.

    Qin Weibang bowed and replied, "Yes." Then Sang San Niang and he gave their proprieties to the three people and left.

    Blue Phoenix waited for those two people to walk far before saying, "The nuns from Heng-Shan School have all been captured, you're still not going to rescue them?"

    "We just came from Heng-Shan trying to catch up to them, but we haven't seen any sign of them along the way," Linghu Chong replied.

    "You're not going towards Huashan, so you're going the wrong way," Blue Phoenix told them.

    "Going to Huashan? They've been captured and sent to Huashan? You saw them?" Linghu Chong questioned.

    "Early yesterday morning at the Heng-Shan's Other Courtyard, I drank some tea when I tasted something strange but I didn't say anything. Next thing, I saw people falling down one by one so I pretended to be knocked out too," Blue Phoenix said.

    "Using drugs against the Five-Sylph Sect's Chief Blue, isn't that just asking for trouble?" said a smiling Linghu Chong.

    Blue Phoenix smiled captivatingly. "These bastards really don't know what's good or bad."

    "You didn't offer them their poison back?" Linghu Chong asked.

    "Why be so polite? There were two bastards who thought I've really been knocked out, so they came over to me and they died on the spot from my poison. The other people were frightened so they didn't dare to come over. They just said that I'm dead and my whole body is very poisonous," After she said this, she giggled and laughed.

    "What happened after that?" Linghu Chong queried.

    "I wanted to look what they were doing and have been pretending to be unconscious from the beginning. Later on, these bastards took many little nuns down from the Xianxing Peak. The one leading these people was none other than your master, Mr. Yue. Big brother, I see your master is very awful. You're the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, but he actually led people to capture your disciples, grand disciples, old nuns, and little nuns. Isn't this deliberately trying to shame you?" Linghu Chong was quiet. Blue Phoenix continued, "I could only look on in anger and was thinking of killing him with poison right there. But I kept thinking and wasn't sure what you would think. If I really wanted to poison and kill him, it would after all only take a moment."

    "You took into consideration my feelings, thank you very much," Linghu Chong said.

    "That's nothing. I heard them said that they were taking advantage of you not being at Heng-Shan so they quickly moved to avoid giving you time to return there. There were also people who said you were really lucky that you weren't at the mountain, or else they'd have captured you too and wouldn't they have less problems in the future? Hng, hng!" Blue Phoenix narrated.

    "With big sister there, if they wanted to capture me, it won't be that easy," Linghu Chong said.

    Blue Phoenix looked pleased and she laughingly said, "That's their good luck. If they dared to harm a single hair on your body, I can say my poison would've killed a hundred of them." She turned her head around towards Yingying and said, "Young lady Ren, don't be jealous. I'm just like his family."

    Yingying's face turned red and smiled. "Master Linghu has also mentioned you often. He said you treat him well."

    Blue Phoenix was happy. "That's excellent! I was afraid he didn't dare to mention my name in front of you."

    "You pretended to be unconscious, so how did you get out?" Yingying asked.

    "They were afraid there was poison on my body so none of them dared to touch me. Someone said it would be better to chop me to make sure I'm dead. Some said to shoot projectiles at me. But even though they talked big, none dared to make a move. Then they just walked away. I followed them and saw them really going to Huashan. So once I got out, I went to look for big brother to tell you about this news," Blue Phoenix answered.

    "We should really thank you for this or else we would've been chasing them to Dark Wood Cliff and found out there's nothing there. Then we would have to turn around and search for them again. Those old nuns, little nuns, not old not small middle aged nuns, all would've suffered a lot. It's not good to delay this matter, let's go to Huashan now," Linghu Chong said.

    The three of them turned towards the west and travelled at double speed to catch up, but they unexpectedly didn't see a single clue on their way. Linghu Chong and Yingying were both very worried and they both thought, "With several hundred of people in their party, surely, there must be people who have seen them. There must also be traces of them in the restaurants and inns along the way. Could it be this isn't the road they took?"

    On the third day at a small restaurant, they saw four people from the Hengshan School. At this time, Linghu Chong had changed his appearance and those people had not recognised him yet. Linghu Chong waited to eavesdrop on them and found out they really were going to Huashan. They were looking jubilant, looking like there were gold and treasure on top of the mountain waiting for them. One of them said, "Luckily Martial Brother Huang was friendly enough to tell us the news, and we were also lucky to be in Shanxi so we could come here quickly. I hope we arrive in time. Our martial brothers in Hengshan have really missed a good opportunity."

    Another person said, "It's best if we arrive as early as possible. This kind of matter changes with time."

    Linghu Chong wanted to know why they were hurrying to go to Mount Huashan, what kind of scheme was afoot, but these four people did not mention anything along the way at all.

    "Do you want to poison then interrogate them?" Blue Phoenix asked.

    Linghu Chong remembered how Mr. Mo Da treated him so generously so he didn't want to bully these people. "We'll arrive at Huashan soon enough. We'll know when we get there so we mustn't disturb the grass and startle the snake."

    A few days later, at dusk, the three of them arrived at the foot of Mount Huashan. Linghu Chong had grown up at Huashan so he was very familiar with the area. He said, "We'll go up from a small path behind the mountain, we won't meet anyone there."

    Between the five mountains, Mount Huashan was the most rugged. The small path behind the mountain was actually a steep cliff and there was no passable path. It was good that the three people's martial arts were very high and they were able to go up the rugged cliff. With this method, they arrived at Mount Huashan's mountaintop at around two in the morning. Linghu Chong led the other two towards the Hall of Qi Principle. They saw the place was dark with not a single candle to be seen. They hid underneath a window to listen but there was also no sound to be heard. Then they went to the disciples' residence but there wasn't a single soul to be found there as well. Linghu Chong pushed open a window, went in, and lit a candle to have a look. Inside the house was empty, the top of the table and the floor was all covered with dust. After going to a few other houses, they found all the houses were in the same condition. It was obvious the disciples of Huashan had not returned to the mountain yet.

    Blue Phoenix felt something was amiss. "Where are those bastards who went up the mountain? They said they were coming to Mount Huashan, did they go somewhere else?"

    Linghu Chong was surprised and hesitant as he remembered the day when he attacked Shaolin Temple. The temple was also empty and they repeatedly met with dangers afterwards. Could Yue Buqun be using the same tactic again? But at this time, there were only three of them. Even if they were surrounded, it would be easy to get away. He was just afraid that the Heng-Shan's disciples were being imprisoned in a very secretive place and they had been tarrying for the last few days, so they might not be able to find them anymore. The three of them strained their ears to listen but all they heard was the rustling of the pines and the whole mountain was strangely calm.

    "Let's split up to look for them. After two hours, we'll meet here again," Blue Phoenix suggested.

    "Ok!" Linghu Chong replied. He believed that Blue Phoenix's skill in using poison was very high and there would be no one who would dare to harm her. But he still advised, "You don't need to fear other people. But if you come across my master, his sword is really fast, you must be really careful!"

    Blue Phoenix saw him speaking earnestly. Under the yellow flame, his concern was seen on his face. Her heart was moved on seeing this. "Big brother, I'll definitely pay attention to your advice." She then pushed the door to go out.

    Linghu Chong took Yingying to investigate everywhere around there. They had even gone to Tianqin Gorge where the Yue Buqun's husband and wife resided in, but they still had not seen anyone yet.

    "This is really fishy. During the past, our Huashan School's disciples were all over the mountain, there are always people left behind here to sweep the ground. But why isn't there anyone here right now?" Linghu Chong said.

    At the end, they had finally arrived at Yue Lingshan's room. That room was on the side of Tianqin Gorge, and it was situated very close to the Yue Buqun couple's room. As Linghu Chong got to the front of the room, he remembered of the past days when he frequently came here to take his little martial sister to go out and play or to practice sword. But today, there was nothing to see and he couldn't refrain from shedding his tears. He extended his hand to push the door open but the planks were latched, in that moment he hesitated not knowing what to do. Yingying leapt over the wall, unlatched the planks and open the door. They went inside and lit the candle. The bed and table inside were covered by a layer of dust, and there was nothing on the wall. Even the common objects for girls like comb and dresses were not there.

    Linghu Chong thought, "After Little martial sister and Martial Brother Lin got married, they must've moved to another new house and don't live here anymore. All her everyday items have all been taken with her." He then opened up the drawers and saw some small bamboo baskets, stone marbles, cloth dolls, little wooden horse and many other toys. Each of these things was not made by Linghu Chong, but they were the items the two of them had played with in the old days. She had neatly kept everything here. Linghu Chong felt sad and he couldn't bear it anymore, tears flowed and dripped down from his cheeks. Yingying quietly went out and slowly closed the door. Linghu Chong was reluctant to leave Yue Lingshan's room for a long time. Finally, he suppressed his feelings and blew the candle off and walked out of the room.

    "Brother Chong, there's one place in Mount Huashan which has a great connection to you. Take me there," Yingying said.

    "Ah, you're talking about the Cliff of Repentance. Alright, let's go have a look." He was slightly lost in thought, then he said, "But I'm not sure whether grand martial uncle Feng is there or not?"


    He then led the way towards the Cliff of Repentance. Linghu Chong was very familiar with the path. Even though the place wasn't close, they got there very quick. On top of the cliff, Linghu Chong said, "I was inside the cave..." Suddenly they heard two noise of weapons clashing from inside the cave. Both of them were startled and they quickly walked nearer. Someone suddenly cried out, seemingly having been injured. Linghu Chong took out his long sword and rushed forward first. He saw the sealed front entrance to the cave with sword moves engraving had been opened up and there was flickering of flame coming from the inside. Linghu Chong and Yingying entered the cave and their hearts skipped a beat.

    There were dozens of torches inside the cave and there were at least two hundred people in there. They were all concentrating on looking at the sword moves engraving on the cave wall. Every single one of them was so absorbed that there wasn't a sound heard. When Linghu Chong and Yingying heard that miserable cry, they were expecting that inside the cave would either be pitch black or there would be fierce fighting with blood spraying all over the place. But how could they have known that the back of the cave would be bright as day and it would also be filled with people. The back of the cave was quite spacious, so even though there were two hundred people there, they weren't too crowded. But with so many people being noiseless, just like corpses, they were really surprised to suddenly see this strange scene.

    Yingying slightly leaned on Linghu Chong's left shoulder. Linghu Chong turned around and saw her face was snow white and there was fear in her eyes. So he extended his hand to softly embrace her waist. Then he saw each of these people had different clothes. After looking for a while, he realised they were the disciples from Songshan, Taishan, and Hengshan Schools. Among them, there were some middle aged people with grey hair, there were also some old people with long white beards. It was clear that many seniors from those three schools were also here. However, the people from Huashan and Heng-Shan Schools were not seen among them. The people from these three schools gathered in their own groups and did not mix with each other. The Songshan School's people were observing the wall where the Songshan School's sword moves were, while the Taishan and Hengshan Schools' people were also absorbing the part of the walls where their own sword moves were. Linghu Chong remembered that they had met with four Hengshan's disciples along the way. They mentioned they had gotten news and they were hurrying towards Huashan. That it was of the greatest luck. So it was all because they would have the opportunity to see the wonderful sword moves engraved on the wall at this cave. After some time, he saw among the Hengshan School's people was a lonesome person with white hair looking at the stone wall with no expression on his face. This person was Mr. Mo Da. Linghu Chong didn't know what to, whether he should go up to pay his respect to him or not.

    Suddenly, a person from the Songshan School group angrily shouted, "You're not Songshan's disciple, why are you looking at the drawings?" The one who said this was an old person wearing a dust-yellow gown. He angrily glared at a middle aged person with a tall and strong stature, while the long sword in his hand was pointed at his chest.

    That middle aged person snorted and said, "When did I look at the drawings?"

    The old person from Songshan School angrily shouted, "You're still thinking of denying it? Which school are you from? If you want to steal Songshan's sword art then I don't care, but what are you doing looking at those moves to break the Songshan's sword art for?" At the same time that he shouted, four to five Songshan's people immediately surrounded that middle aged person and pulled their weapons out.

    "I know nothing of your honourable school's sword art, so what's the use of looking at those breaking moves for?" the middle aged person argued.

    "You must be harbouring some malicious intentions to be peering at Songshan School's sword moves," the old person from Songshan School replied.

    That middle aged person put his hand on his sword handle. He said, "Five Mountains School's headmaster, Mr. Yue, is very kind and he's allowed us to come and have a look at the sword moves on the wall. But he didn't limit us to which moves we can look and which ones we can't."

    That old person from Songshan School said, "You're thinking of harming my Songshan School, we won't allow you to."

    "Five schools have become one. At this time, there's only Five Mountains School. How can there be Songshan School? If not for five schools becoming one, Mr. Yue would never have permitted you to look at the sword moves in this cave at Huashan," that middle aged person said and that old man was unable to reply back. A disciple of Songshan pushed the back of that middle aged person's shoulder and shouted, "You're very good in turning things over." That middle aged person reached back with his hand and flinged that person's hand away. That Songshan's disciple staggered and fell on the ground.

    At this time, a person from the Taishan School suddenly shouted, "Who are you? Wearing our Taishan School's uniform and mixing with us trying to steal the Taishan School's sword art." A youngster wearing the Taishan School's uniform hurriedly rushed out. A person nearest to the exit immediately moved and shouted, "Stop, who are you making trouble here?"

    That youngster stabbed out with his sword as he rushed forward. The person blocking the exit sent his left palm out towards his eye. That youngster quickly retreated a step. The person blocking the exit shot his right hand out like the wind, again stabbing at his eye. The youngster's long sword was on the outside so it was difficult for him to block and he was forced to step back again. The person blocking the exit swept his leg, the youngster leapt up to avoid it. Then with a 'peng' sound, his chest had been hit by a palm and he had fallen down on the ground. From behind, two Taishan School's disciples went up to detain him.

    At this time, the four Songshan School's people surrounding that middle aged person had attacked with their long swords. That middle aged person swiftly and fiercely fought back, but his sword art didn't belong to the five mountains sword schools. A few Songshan's disciples watching on the side cried out, "This chap isn't from the five mountains sword schools. He's a traitor mixing in with us."

    With two fights going on, the quiet mountain cave had turned chaotic. Linghu Chong thought, "My master told these people to come here, it's not because he has a good intention. I'm going to tell Martial uncle Mo and ask him to lead his people out of here. I'll tell him about the Hengshan School's sword art once we got out of the cave." He immediately leaned on the wall to stay in the shadow as he walked near to Mr. Mo Da. He had only gone for a few dozens feet when suddenly a big rumbling sound was heard. It was as if the mountain had cracked.

    People were crying out in alarm. Linghu Chong quickly turned around and saw dirt and dust falling around the cave's entrance. He didn't care about finding Mr. Mo Da anymore and was just wishing to go to Yingying, but with lots of people chaotically running away, swords brandished everywhere, dirt falling down around the cave, he couldn't see where Yingying was. He flew out from the cluster of people towards the cave’s entrance while dodging swords slashed at him. He shouted desperately but he saw a massive rock which was around tens of thousands of catty heavy dropping on the cave's entrance, firmly shutting the cave in. In panic, he took a glance and it seemed there was no crack to get out.

    "Yingying, Yingying!" Linghu Chong shouted. Yingying answered but it sounded like she was somewhere deep inside the cave. But with two hundred people shouting in confusion, he couldn't hear her clearly. He thought, "How come Yingying is inside?" He thought for a while and he understood, "Oh, yes. When that big rock fell down, Yingying was standing on the cave’s entrance and she wasn't willing to run by herself, but she was thinking of me. I rushed back to the entrance to look for her, but she was rushing inside to find me." He immediately turned around to rush inside.

    Originally, there were dozens of torches inside the cave. But when the big rock fell down and with the confusion going on, there were some who threw their torches away. Thus, most of the torches had been extinguished. The whole cave was filled with dust and all he could see was fuzzy yellow. He heard people shouting in alarm, "The cave's entrance has been sealed up! The cave's entrance has been sealed up!" There were also people who angrily shouted, "It's that traitor Yue Buqun's plot!" Another person shouted, "That's right. That traitor deceived us to see his ***** sword art..."

    Dozens of people tried to push the big rock. But this big rock was just like a small mountain, even though dozens of people were forcefully pushing it, how could they even move it for an inch? There was also someone who shouted, "Quick, quickly leave from the tunnel." A few people had thought of this earlier. Around twenty of them were pushing each other crowding the entrance to that tunnel. That tunnel was the one dug by the Devil Sect's elders years ago with hatchets and only one person could go through it at a time. So with twenty people crowding together, how could they manage to go in? With this confusion, ten more torches were extinguished.

    Two big men from the crowd used their strength to push the people away as they rushed towards the tunnel's entrance. The tunnel's entrance was very narrow and they hit each other, preventing each other from going in. The person on the right hand side swiped his left hand and the big man on the left cried out, a dagger was sticking out of his chest. The big man on the right hand side pushed him away and entered the tunnel. The rest of the crowd pushed and shoved, all of them wanting to enter. Linghu Chong had not seen Yingying yet and he was feeling very worried. He also thought, "The Devil Sect's ten elders had very high martial arts. But because of this plot, they were all buried in here. Today, I'm not sure if Yingying and I can get out of this difficulty. This would be very dangerous if my master is the one who arranged all this."

    He saw the crowd was at the tunnel's entrance pushing and shoving. They were all anxious and frightened. Suddenly, a murderous intention popped into his head, "These chaps are blocking me, I must kill them all then Yingying and I can escape from here." He lifted his long sword wanting to start killing people. But he saw a youngster crouching on the ground with both his hand clutching his hair and his whole body shuddering. His face was ashen. It was obvious he was scared to death. Linghu Chong took pity on him and he pondered, "He and I are friends in difficulty and we've both fallen in this trap. We should cross the river in a boat together, why should I kill him in anger for?" He pulled back his long sword and put it across in front of his chest.

    Then he heard the twenty odd people at the tunnel's entrance shouted, "Quickly go in!" "Why aren't you moving?" "Not crawling in?" "Drag him out!" That big man's two feet were still outside and it seemed the tunnel was blocked, but he wasn't willing to crawl back out. Two people stooped down to grab that big man's feet and pulled him out. Suddenly, dozens of people called out in alarm because they had pulled out a headless corpse. The neck was covered with blood. This big man's head had unexpectedly been cut off by someone in the tunnel.

    At this time, Linghu Chong saw a person sitting in the corner of the cave, and under the dusky flame, he recognised that person to be Yingying. He was jubilant and quickly rushed there. But after only taking two steps, seven to eight people blocked his way. Currently, the cave was in chaos and everyone looked like they had lost their reasoning just like headless flies flying all over the place. There were some who crazily slashed their swords at random, some were beating their chests crying, some were wrestling each other, and there were some who were crawling on the ground going here and there.

    Linghu Chong had squeezed out a few steps when he suddenly felt both of his legs being firmly embraced. He powerfully hit the top of that person's head causing that person to cry out but he still didn't let go. Linghu Chong shouted, "If you don't let go, I'll kill you." Suddenly, the top of his calf hurt as he had unexpectedly been bitten. Linghu Chong was angry and surprised. He saw everyone was acting like they were crazy, and the torches inside the cave were getting less and less. Now, only two torches were still burning but they were already fallen on the ground. Linghu Chong called out, "Pick up the torches, pick up the torches."

    A fat Taoist laughed and stepped on a torch extinguishing it. Linghu Chong lifted his long sword and beheaded that person biting on his calf. Suddenly, everything was dark and nothing could be seen. The last torch had been extinguished.

    With the torches extinguished, everyone in the cave suddenly became quiet as they were stunned by this change in situation. But after a short moment had passed, the mad shouting began again. Linghu Chong thought, "We have no chance of getting out of here alive today. It's lucky that I can die here together with Yingying." Thinking up to this point, he felt happy instead of afraid and started going towards where Yingying was. After walking for a few steps, someone suddenly came towards him and powerfully hit him. This person had high inner energy and the hit was swift and fierce. Linghu Chong staggered back for a couple of steps after being hit and turned around for half a circle. He quickly turned back and slowly continued on his way to where Yingying was sitting at. With his ears straining to listen, he heard crying and shouting and dozens of weapons colliding. In the dark, with so many people frightened, most of them were like half crazy and everyone was afraid so they were slashing their weapons about to protect themselves. Some of them had a lot of experience or high internal energy, and they originally remained calm, but with the people besides them randomly swiping their weapons and the mountain cave so crowded, also with no place to dodge in the darkness, besides wielding their own weapons, there was no other way. He heard weapons clashing, people crying out in pain around them, also injured people moaning and cursing.

    Linghu Chong could only hear the weapons splitting the wind all around him. Even though his sword art was high, there was no way for him to use it properly as he could be hit from any direction at any moment. He was feeling really worried so he immediately swiped his long sword to protect his upper body. Step by step, he moved towards the cave wall. Once he reached the wall, he could lean on it while walking and avoid a lot of dangers, just like that person resembling Yingying leaning on the wall while sitting down. With that method of walking, he would be able to meet her soon. From where he was standing, he was still dozens of feet away from the cave wall. But the blades were like the forest and the swords were like the rain, every inch was fraud by danger and every step was fraud with death.

    Linghu Chong thought, "If I die under the hand of a master then it would be sweet. But in this situation, I can just get killed anytime by something mysterious. And the one who killed me is probably some idiot who knows a bit of martial art only. Even if Hero Dugu lived again and met with this kind of situation, I'm afraid he probably also can't find a way out." As he thought of Dugu Qiubai, he was enlightened, "That's right, in today's situation, if I don't kill someone mysteriously then I'll be the one killed mysteriously. When I kill one, that'll be one less person to kill me." His long sword trembled out using the 'Arrow Breaking Stance' of the 'Dugu Nine Sword', his sword stabbed out to the front, back, left, and right. Once he used the sword stance, a few people around him cried out miserably and dropped to the ground. He felt his sword entered the flesh of someone and he heard that person cried out lightly. It was the voice of a girl. Linghu Chong was greatly startled and his hand became weak and he nearly dropped his long sword. His heart was thumping, "Was that Yingying? Did I just kill Yingying!" He shouted desperately, "Yingying, Yingying, is that you?"

    But there was no sound coming from that girl. He was very familiar with Yingying's voice and that light cry was not actually from her and very easily distinguishable. But with many voices mixed inside the cave, the lightness of this girl's cry, his worried heart, and his chaotic mind, he felt that it was Yingying but at the same time also felt that it wasn't her. He called out again for a few times but there was still no answer so he stooped down to feel around the ground. Suddenly, a kick came flying in and kicked him squarely on his butt. Linghu Chong flew up and while his body was in mid air, his left leg hurt as someone gave it a whip. He quickly used his left hand to cover his head, and with a 'bang', his arm along with his head had hit the top of the cave. As he was dropping back down, he felt his head, his arm, legs, and butt were all covered in pain, like his whole body was about to be shattered into pieces. He calmed himself down and called out "Yingying" again for a couple more times. Hearing his own voice, he sounded hoarse like he was crying. His heart was feeling miserable and desperate as he shouted, "I've killed Yingying, I've killed Yingying!" With his long sword slashing left and right, he rushed forward and killed a few people.

    In this clamour, he suddenly heard two 'zheng, zheng' sound. This was the sound of a yaoqin. Even though the sound of this qin was light, in Linghu Chong's ears they were just like thunder startling him. He was rapt and quickly called out, "Yingying, Yingying!"

    Right at this time, he wanted to go to where the sound of that qin was coming from. But as he thought about it, the sound of that qin came from some distance away. This one hundred feet distance was a hundred times more dangerous when compared to walking in Jianghu for a hundred thousand li. To be able to walk this one hundred feet distance without dying was actually very difficult. This sound of qin was of course from Yingying and since she's alright, then he mustn't just throw his life away. If the two of them couldn't die together hand in hand then they would suffer endless regret in the nine fountain. He retreated back for a couple of steps and leaned his back on the cave wall. He thought, "This is much safer." Suddenly he felt a strong wind of someone slashing his weapon rushing at him. Linghu Chong thrust his sword out, but just as he moved his long sword, he immediately knew things were far from good.

    The essence of 'Dugu Nine Sword' was at looking at the flaw of the opponent's movements and attacking that point. Thrust later but arriving first, one move to take victory. But in this dark cave, he couldn't even see his enemy or his enemy's movement, so how could he see the flaw in the movement? At this situation, 'Dugu Nine Sword' was completely useless. The long sword in Linghu Chong's hand had only thrust out for a foot when he hastily dodged to the left. Then he heard a breaking sound followed by a crashing sound and lastly a miserable cry. He guessed that person's weapon must have first struck against the wall and broke, and the broken weapon then had stabbed his own body.

    Linghu Chong heard that person had gone quiet and guessed he must have died. He pondered, "Although my sword art is high, it is just like any other ordinary person in this dark cave. I just have to bear with it patiently and wait for a chance to meet up with Yingying." But he heard the sound of fighting and the shouting had lessened because at this time many people had been injured or killed. He quickly brandished his long sword in front of his body to form a sword net in case someone suddenly attacked him. The sound of the yaoqin was intermittent like the string was plucked one by one, and it was not making up any tune. Linghu Chong was again worried, "Is Yingying injured? Or maybe she's not the one playing the qin? But if it's not her, how can there be another person who also has a qin?" After a long time, the shouting finally stopped. There were many people moaning and groaning on the ground. Occasionally, there was a sound of weapon clashing coming from around the wall. Linghu Chong thought, "The people who aren't dead are around the wall. These people must be masters in Wulin and their thoughts are sharp." He shouted repeatedly, "Yingying, where are you?" The qin sounded a few times as if answering him.

    Linghu Chong flew forward. When his left foot landed, he felt something soft. He had landed on someone's body and at the same time he felt the wind whistling as a weapon was slashing upwards. Because his internal energy was abundant, even though he couldn't see the enemy's weapon coming, he was still aware of it. He quickly used strength on his left foot and leapt back to the cave wall. He pondered, "The ground is full of people lying down and some are injured. I can't go across." Then he heard the wind whistling caused by the people leaning their backs on the cave wall slashing their weapons about to protect themselves; in this moment of time, a few more people were either injured or killed.

    Suddenly, an elder spoke, "Friends, we've fallen into Yue Buqun's trap. We must work together to get out of here. We can't just swing our weapons around and kill one another."

    "That's right, that's right!" many people replied together.

    When Linghu Chong heard their voices, he gathered there were around sixty to seventy of them. All these people had their backs to the wall and they were standing motionless. One was because they had calmed down. Secondly, because temporarily they weren't worried about their lives so they were able to calmly think things through.

    That elder said, "I'm Taishan School's Yuzhongzi. Everyone, please sheathe your weapon. Everyone is in the dark, so when you bump into someone, you mustn’t hurt anyone. Friends, do you agree?"

    "That should be the way," those people boomed their replies and the sound of weapons slashing lessened. Some people who were still brandishing their weapons also stopped after a while.

    "I'd also like everyone to swear an oath. If anyone here hurt anyone else, then he'll be buried here and won't get to see the sky again. I, Taishan's Yuzhongzi, swear to this oath first," Yuzhongzi said.

    The rest of the people swore this oath while thinking in their hearts, "This Priest Yuzhongzi is very experienced. If we all work together, there's still a chance that we'd get out of here. Otherwise, we'll be randomly chopping each other just like before."

    "Very good! Please say your name," Yuzhongzi requested.

    At that time, people started saying, "I'm Hengshan's so and so." "I'm Taishan's so and so." I'm Songshan's so and so." But Mr. Mo Da's name was never heard.

    After these people had finished speaking, Linghu Chong announced himself, "I'm Heng-Shan School's Linghu Chong." The crowd gasped in surprised and they said, "Heng-Shan's Headmaster, Hero Linghu, is here. That's very good." Their tone of voice was happy.

    Linghu Chong thought, "I'm just a waste, what's so good about me?" He of course understood. These people knew his martial art was very high. So with him around, their hope of escaping had gone up by many notches.

    "I'd like to ask Headmaster Linghu something. Why did your honourable school only send headmaster here all by yourself?" Yuzhongzi queried. This person was experienced and very careful so he was suspicious that Linghu Chong was hiding something that might be harmful towards them. When Linghu Chong came out of Huashan, he did so as Yue Buqun's disciple. Everyone knew about this. But as they were trapped inside this mountain cave, from amongst the hundreds of disciples from Huashan and Heng-Shan, he was the only person there who belonged to either. It was unavoidable that people would suspect him.

    "I have another companion..." Linghu Chong replied and he couldn't help calling out again, "Ying..." But he had only managed to call out 'Ying' before a thought flashed in his mind, "Yingying is the Sun Moon Sect's Chief's only daughter and both the righteous and demonical are like fire and water. I mustn't put this thing on top of what's happening already." So he immediately shut his mouth.

    "Who has a torch beside him? Please light it up first," Yuzhongzi requested.

    The crowd cheered loudly, "Very good, very good!" "We're all so muddle headed, why didn't we think of that?" "Quickly light up the torches!" Actually, in the middle of the chaos before, everyone was only thinking of protecting himself so how could they think of lighting up a torch? Besides, as soon as a torch was lighted, that person would be killed instantly by the person next to him. But now he heard many rattling sound as some people took out their flint and steel to make fire. Soon after, many dots of flames were seen and it felt very bright in the darkness. The people inside the mountain cave started cheering.

    Linghu Chong took a glance and saw the surrounding cave wall was full of people. Their bodies and faces were splashed with blood. There were also some who still slowly swiping their swords and sabres in front of their bodies. These people were extremely careful, even though they had heard everyone swearing an oath, they still didn't believe the person next to them. Linghu Chong took a step to go to the opposite wall wanting to find Yingying. Suddenly, from among the cluster of people, someone shouted, "Move!" Seven to eight people came out of the tunnel brandishing their long swords and started killing people.

    "Who are you?" the crowd shouted and one by one they drew their own weapons to defend. After some time, the torches had again been extinguished. Linghu Chong shot forward and leapt towards the opposite wall. He felt a weapon hacking from his right hand side and in the darkness he didn't know how to block it. He rushed at the ground and heard a 'dang' sound. A sabre had clashed with the wall. He thought, "This person doesn't necessarily want to kill me. He might just be wanting to defend himself in the darkness." He stayed down on the ground quietly. After that person hacked at empty space for a few more times, he stopped.

    Someone shouted, "Kill all these dogs, don't leave any behind!" More than ten people acknowledged this order. This was followed by six to seven people shouting, "It's Zuo Lengchan! Zuo Lengchan!" Then some people shouted, "Master, disciple's here!"

    Linghu Chong heard the person barking the order was really Zuo Lengchan, he pondered, "Why is he here? This trap was set up by this bastard, it wasn't my Master after all." Even though Yue Buqun had tried to kill him several times already, the master-disciple and father-son relationship between them had stretched for more than twenty years and they were deep-rooted in his heart. He simply couldn't forget them. Once he thought that the traitor setting this up wasn't Yue Buqun, he couldn't help feeling happy. He was a hundred times happier to die under Zuo Lengchan's hand than to die under his Master's hand.

    He only heard Zuo Lengchan gloomily said, "You still have the face to call me master? You didn't report to me before you went to Huashan. This is deceiving your master and betraying your school. How can our school have such despicable disciples like you?"

    "Master," A booming voice replied. "Disciple got the message that a cave in the Cliff of Contemplation at Huashan has our own school's wonderful sword art. I was afraid I'd be wasting time going back and forth and telling master about this first, and the sword moves on the wall would be destroyed by someone. So I quickly came here. After I look at the sword art, I'd of course go back to the mountain immediately and tell master all these sword arts."

    "You're taking advantage of my blindness," Zuo Lengchan said. "I know you all considered me useless since long ago. Once you learned these wonderful sword art, would you still recognise me as your master? Yue Buqun wanted all of you to pledge your loyalties to him before he'd let you come into this cave to look at the sword moves. Didn't this happen?"

    "Yes, dis... disciple should die," that Songshan disciple answered. "But this is just a temporary measure. Our five mountain sword schools have merged into one and he's the headmaster. So we should... should also listen to his order. But I never thought this traitor would behave so violently and trapped all of us down here."

    Another person said, "Master, please lead us to escape from here. We'll then go find that traitor Yue Buqun to settle our debt."

    Zuo Lengchan snorted. "What a wishful thinking you have there." He paused for a while then continued, "Linghu Chong, you're also here, what are you doing here?"

    "This is my old place, if I want to come then I just come!" Linghu Chong replied. "What are you doing here?"

    Zuo Lengchan laughed coldly and replied, "Death is imminent and you're still so rude towards your senior."

    "You plotted secretly and caused the harm of the world's heroes," Linghu Chong said. "Everyone wants to punish you for this, and you still consider yourself to be a senior?"

    "Pingzhi," Zuo Lengchan said. "Kill him!"

    "Yes!" someone answered in the dark. It was Lin Pingzhi's voice.

    Linghu Chong was startled and he thought, "So Lin Pingzhi is also here. Both Zuo Lengchan and him are blind, so these days they must be familiar on how to use the sword blind. Using their ears to replace their eyes, their technique on listening to the wind to distinguish attacks must be good now. In this darkness, the situation is turned, it is me who is blind while they're the ones who aren't blind. But why are they the enemy?" But his back was covered in cold sweat.

    Then he heard Lin Pingzhi said, "Linghu Chong, you're very glorious and your name is very famous in Jianghu. But today you're going to die under my hands, haha, haha!" His laughter was full of gloom. Step by step he came over.

    Just then when Linghu Chong and Zuo Lengchan were talking, Lin Pingzhi had heard him clearly and his position had been given away. The whole cave was quiet and only Lin Pingzhi's footsteps were heard. With each step of his, Linghu Chong knew he was one step closer to the death's door. Suddenly, someone shouted, "Wait! This Linghu Chong blinded my eyes and caused me to be unable to see the daylight from then on. Let me kill this bastard." More than ten people echoed what he said and they quickly walked over. Linghu Chong was startled. He knew they were the fifteen people who he had blinded on that night outside the abandoned temple. That day on his way towards Songshan for the merger of the five schools, he met these people on the way. These people had been blinded for a long time, and their abilities to use their ears to replace their eyes must be high. He already couldn't defend against one Lin Pingzhi, now with the addition of these fifteen people, he was totally outclassed.

    He heard their footsteps while he quietly slid for a few steps towards the left. Then he heard a few 'ta, ta, ta' noise as a few longs sword were stabbed at the wall where he was standing at previously. Luckily, these ten or so people attacked at the same time causing the noise to blend with the footsteps sound concealing his footsteps. No one knew where he had gone to. Linghu Chong stooped down and felt a sword on the ground. He tossed it, and with a clanking sound, it hit the wall. Those ten or so blind men rushed over with their weapons raised, and they started fighting with some people. Shouting erupted and in a few moment six to seven people were killed. These people didn't have weak martial arts, but they couldn't see a thing in this darkness, so they weren't the match of these blind men.

    Linghu Chong took advantage of this shouting to slide a few more steps to the left. He groped around to feel there was no one around the wall before he quietly crouched down and pondered, "Zuo Lengchan brought Lin Pingzhi and those blind men here to do battle in the dark. They're going to annihilate all of us here. But how does he know there's this kind of cave here?" As soon as he thought about it, he was enlightened, "Yes! That day little martial sister was on top of the place of worship, she fought using the moves engraved on the wall here. She defeated the masters from Taishan and Hengshan. She also used Songshan sword art in front of Zuo Lengchan and used the Heng-Shan sword art to fight against me. Since she came here before, Lin Pingzhi of course knows about it too." As he thought of little martial sister, his heart ached.

    He heard Lin Pingzhi shouted, "Linghu Chong, you don't dare to reveal yourself, pulling in your head and tail. What kind of hero is that?"

    Linghu Chong was angered and he wanted to get out to fight to the death with him, but he restrained himself. He thought, "A gentleman can bend and straighten. How can I get so irritated over him? I haven't found Yingying yet, I can't die so easily just like that." He also thought, "I once promised little martial sister to tend to Lin Pingzhi. If I come out and fight with him then got killed by him, that would be unworthy. But it's also not right if I kill him."

    "There are turncoats in this cave, traitors who need to be killed," Zuo Lengchan shouted. "Even if you forgive Linghu Chong, there's nowhere he can go to!"

    A short time later, clashing of weapons and shouting erupted. Linghu Chong squatted on the ground. After a short while, still no one attacked him. He strained to listen to Yingying's voice while pondering, "Yingying is far more careful and cleverer than me. In the middle of this ambush, she'd definitely not play her qin. I only hope no sword is being thrust at her." He heard the fighting between the crowd and those blind men was really fierce, they were fighting fiercely while also hurling curses. The curse 'scram your granny' was even heard. This 'scram your granny' was really grating to the ears. When common people uses this swear words, they always say 'go to your mum', or 'hold your granny', sometimes people also use 'scram your mother bastard', but it was rare to hear someone uses 'scram your granny'. Linghu Chong pondered, "Is this a swear word special to their provinces?" After listening for a while, he found that this swear word 'scram your granny' was used quite often by a few people. Once this swear word was uttered by both people fighting, the fighting would stop immediately. But if only one person uttered this swear word, then the fighting between them would continue. He immediately understood, "So this is the code for those blind men to distinguish each other." In that darkness, randomly slashing and killing, it was hard to determine friends or foes. Those blind men had determined a code beforehand and when they started fighting they would first called out this swear word 'scram your granny'. When two people cursed the same swear word, they were friends. Otherwise, they would kill their opponents. No one uses this swear word, so this code word was something that the enemy wouldn't use to curse someone with.

    Once he understood this, he immediately stood up and put his sword in front of his chest. The swearing of 'scram your granny' was getting more frequent, while the clashing of weapons and the shouting were gradually dying. It seemed the people from Taishan, Hengshan, and Songshan Schools had been massacred. Linghu Chong had not heard of Yingying's voice. He was worried that Yingying had been killed earlier, but he was also happy that she didn't suffer under the hands of these blind men. He also thought, "The disciples of Songshan must've found out the cave in Huashan contained their own school's wonderful sword art so they quickly came here to take a look. This behaviour is quite common in people. But they didn't have time to report, so Zuo Lengchan just decided to kill them all and doesn't hold back at all. He must be thinking of killing me, but since he can't distinguish anyone, he even killed all his disciples who had only done a little bit of wrong." After some time, the sound of fighting ceased.

    "Everyone," Zuo Lengchan shouted. "Go around the cave and give them another chop."

    The blind men acknowledged his order, then the sound of sword slashing was heard going here and there. Two swords were chopping down in front of Linghu Chong, and he lifted his sword to block. Two hoarse voices shouting 'scram your granny' were heard and unexpectedly nobody realised what had happened. After some time, besides those blind men cursing and the clashing of weapons, there was no other noise. But Linghu Chong was still worried and he nearly cried, wanting to cry out, "Yingying, Yingying, where are you?"

    "Stop!" Zuo Lengchan commanded.

    Those blind men sheathed their swords and stood still. Zuo Lengchan laughed happily and said, "Those traitors have all been eliminated. These shameless people, just because they wanted to learn some sword moves, they actually swore loyalty to that bastard Yue Buqun. That little bastard Linghu Chong must've died under your swords! Haha! Haha! Linghu Chong, Linghu Chong, are you dead yet?" Linghu Chong held his breath and didn't reply.

    "Pingzhi," Zuo Lengchan said. "Today, you've killed the person you hate the most. You must be satisfied."

    "The whole battle was thought of by Brother Zuo," Lin Pingzhi replied. "It was wonderfully set up."

    Linghu Chong thought, "Zuo Lengchan and him are praising each other. In order to get his Evil Resisting Sword Art, Zuo Lengchan is being very polite to him."

    "If you didn't know of another secret path into this tunnel," Zuo Lengchan said. "It would've been hard for us to get our revenge."

    "But it's a pity," Lin Pingzhi. "In all that confusion I didn't get the chance to kill that little bastard Linghu Chong myself."

    Linghu Chong thought, "I've never offended him before. Why does he detest me so much?"

    "It doesn't matter who killed him, it's all the same," Zuo Lengchan replied in whisper. "Let's go out quickly. I think Yue Buqun should be guarding outside of the cave now. We should take advantage of the darkness to rush out."

    "Yes!" Lin Pingzhi acknowledged. The sound of footsteps was heard as their party entered the tunnel. Sound of footsteps gradually got farther away, and after a while, it was all quiet.

    "Yingying," Linghu Chong whispered. "Where are you?" His voice sounded like he was weeping.

    Suddenly, someone from above his head whispered, "I'm here. Don't make any noise!"

    Linghu Chong was happy and both his knees became soft as he sat down on the ground. When those blind men randomly slashed their swords around, the safest place to be was up there. A place where no weapon can reach. This was a very obvious and simple point, but when faced with death, everyone's mind was in chaos and didn't think of this.

    Yingying leapt down. Linghu Chong jumped up and tossed his sword away before embracing her tightly. They were both sobbing happily. Linghu Chong lightly kissed her forehead and whispered, "You really frightened me to death just before."

    In the darkness, Yingying didn't avoid it and she lightly replied, "You were cursing people 'scram your granny'. Nevertheless, I heard it was your voice."

    Linghu Chong couldn't help smiling as he asked, "You're not injured at all?"

    "No."

    "I heard the qin's sound before and wasn't worried anymore. But then I felt that I've stabbed a girl and the qin's sound became broken, not making up a tune, so I thought I've wounded you. Later on, there was no sound at all and I didn't know what had happened."

    Yingying smiled. "I've jumped up there early on. I was afraid someone might find out so I couldn't call out to you. So I had to toss coins down to strike that yaoqin to let you know."

    Linghu Chong sighed and said, "That's how it is. I never knew. I deserve to be hit, deserve to be hit!" He took her hand and lightly hit his own cheeks. "You're marrying such a stupid man," Linghu Chong chuckled. "This can be considered to be Young Lady Ren's bad luck. I felt it was really odd. If you were the one playing the yaoqin, why weren't you playing the 'Song of Peace and Serenity' or maybe the 'Smiling Proud Wanderer'?"

    Yingying let him hugged her. "If I could toss coins in the darkness to make the yaoqin play out a tune, then I'll be a deity."

    Linghu Chong laughingly said, "You are a deity."

    When Yingying heard his words were teasing her, she struggled wanting to get away from his embrace. Linghu Chong tightly held on to her and asked, "Later on, why did you stop throwing the coins to strike the qin?"

    "I'm poor," Yingying laughingly replied. "I don't have that much money on me. After throwing a few of them, I ran out."

    Linghu Chong sighed. "It's a pity there's no money farm in this cave, there's also no store here. Young lady Ren has no money to use and there's no place to borrow money."

    Yingying also laughed and said, "After that, I even used my hairpin and earrings. But when those blind men started killing, I didn't dare to throw things anymore because their hearings are very acute."

    Suddenly, there was a gloomy cold laugh coming from the tunnel's entrance. Linghu Chong and Yingying gasped in surprise. Linghu Chong's left arm embraced Yingying while his right hand grabbed the long sword on the ground. He shouted, "Who's there?"

    That person coldly replied, "Hero Linghu, it's me!" The voice was Lin Pingzhi's. Then they heard footsteps coming from the tunnel, the blind men had returned.

    Linghu Chong scolded himself for being so careless. Zuo Lengchan was an old bastard and he was also very cunning, so how could he just go like that? They must've stayed in the tunnel listening to the noises inside the cave. If he was by himself, he would've wasted some time before trying to escape. But with Yingying and him worrying over each other and delighted over their reunion, he didn't think the enemy could've stayed not far from there and was watching them from the outside. Yingying put her hand underneath Linghu Chong's armpit and whispered, "Go up!" The two of them jumped up.

    Yingying had earlier rested on the rock jutting out of the wall so she knew where it was. In the darkness, she applied the right amount of force to go up and steadily landed on it. But Linghu Chong missed and he instead landed back down. Yingying grabbed his arm and pulled him back up. This rock only jutted out for around three to four feet. Both of them were crowded and it wasn't easy for them to steadily stand there. Linghu Chong thought, "Yingying thinks very fast. Both of us are on top looking down, so it won't be easy for those blind men to attack us."

    "Those two little ghosts jumped up," Zuo Lengchan said.

    "Yes!" Lin Pingzhi acknowledged.

    "Linghu Chong," Zuo Lengchan said. "Are you going to hide up there for the rest of your life?"

    Linghu Chong didn't reply. He was thinking if he uttered a single noise then his hiding place would be discovered. His right hand held his sword while his left hand was wrapped around Yingying's waist. Yingying's left hand was holding a short sword and her right hand was also wrapped around his waist. They felt comforted to be able to be together, they had no regret even if they had to die right now.

    "Who blinded your eyes?" Zuo Lengchan shouted. "Have you forgotten it?"

    More than ten blind men roared and jumped up while randomly thrusting. Linghu Chong and Yingying still didn't make any sound, and those blind men stabbed at empty spaces. The second time they leapt up, one of the blind men was only around a foot beyond the jutting rock. Linghu Chong heard the wind around him as he jumped up, he thrust his sword forward and pierced the blind man's chest. That blind man cried out and fell on the ground. With that happened, the others discovered their hiding place. Six to seven people leapt up at the same time slashing and thrusting their swords. Even though Linghu Chong and Yingying couldn't see those blind men, the distance between the jutting rock and the ground was around twenty feet. The people jumping up produced a lot of wind noise so they were easy to distinguish. They thrust their swords out and killed two people. The rest of the blind men looked up and hurled abuses at them. For a while, they didn't dare to leap up and attack.

    A short time later, the sound of wind was heard and two people had jumped up from the left and right. Linghu Chong and Yingying lifted their swords to block.

    'Zheng, zheng'. Four swords collided.

    Linghu Chong's right hand ached and his long sword was nearly knocked out of his hand. He knew the person who had attacked was Zuo Lengchan himself. Yingying cried out in pain as her shoulder was hit by a sword and she swayed. Linghu Chong quickly pulled her in with his left hand. Those two people jumped up again to attack. Linghu Chong thrust his long sword towards the person attacking Yingying. Both swords collided, and that person's long sword changed quickly into a slash. Linghu Chong knew this enemy was Lin Pingzhi. There was no time to block the incoming sword so he quickly lowered his head and stooped his body. He felt the cold wind as Lin Pingzhi slashed at Yingying. His body was in mid air but he unexpectedly was able to do three moves. This Evil Resisting Sword Art was truly formidable.

    Linghu Chong was afraid he might injure Yingying so he hugged her and leapt down with her. With his back leaning on the cave wall, he started to slash his sword around. Suddenly he heard Zuo Lengchan's long laugh. A sword attacked and with a clashing sound, both swords had again collided. Linghu Chong was shaken and he felt a little internal energy coming from the sword. His whole body involuntarily shook. Suddenly he remembered of the day when Ren Woxing was at Shaolin Temple using his 'Art of Essence Absorbing' to suck Zuo Lengchan's internal energy. Who could've known that Zuo Lengchan's internal energy would be so formidable that in just a short time, Ren Woxing was frozen. This time he was doing the same strategy again and to avoid falling into his trap, Linghu Chong quickly pushed the internal energy out but suddenly he felt a tremendous energy coming back, and his fingers involuntarily loosened and his sword flew out of his hand. Linghu Chong's whole skill depended on a long sword, so he quickly stooped down and felt around the ground for another sword. More than two hundred people had died inside that cave and the ground was filled with weapons so he could just pick a sabre up and hold up momentarily. Yingying and he had turned blind in this cave while being attacked by these ten or so blind men who had turned not blind. It was no luck that they had survived so far, but no matter what, they were unwilling to just give up their lives so easily. After feeling around for a while, he touched the face of a dead person. It was cold and sticky, he hastily hugged Yingying and retreated for a couple of steps.

    'Zheng, zheng!' Yingying brandished her short sword to block the incoming thrust from the two swords. This was followed by a cry as the short sword in Yingying's hand was knocked flying off. Linghu Chong was worried, he stooped down again and found something that felt like a short stick. In this critical situation, he didn't have time to think when he felt a strong wind rushing from his front. Another sword had slashed at him. He immediately put the stick up to block. With a cracking sound, that short stick was cut off by the sword.

    Linghu Chong lowered his head to let the long sword go pass. Suddenly, he saw some light dots in front of him. These light dots were very weak, but inside this dark cave, they were just like a star coming out of the horizon. The enemies' bodies and their swords could be distinguished faintly. Linghu Chong and Yingying gasped at the same time as they saw Zuo Lengchan thrust his sword again. Linghu Chong lifted his short stick to stab it at Zuo Lengchan's throat, which was exactly the flaw in his sword move. Unexpectedly, even though Zuo Lengchan was blind, his response was still very fast as he used the move 'Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate' to leap back while his mouth was cursing loudly. Yingying stooped down, picked up a long sword, took the short stick from Linghu Chong's hand, and at the same time gave the long sword to him. She brandished the short stick causing glimmering around the cave.

    Linghu Chong's spirit was greatly roused. As this was a matter of life and death, he didn't hold back. With a curse 'scram your granny', he killed a blind man. The sword coming out of his hand was much faster than the cursing coming out of his mouth. After swearing six of these 'scram your granny', the twelve blind men in the cave had all been killed. Moreover, some of these blind men were slow witted, so hearing him screaming 'scram your granny', they thought he was one of their own, so why would they need to fight? They had not realised anything when the sword had already pierced their throats and they were on their way to death's door to see their grannies.

    Zuo Lengchan and Lin Pingzhi didn't understand what was going on, they both asked, "Is there a torch?" Their voices were frightened.

    "That's right!" Linghu Chong shouted as he attacked Zuo Lengchan three times. Zuo Lengchan distinguished the incoming attack from the wind and managed to block the three attacks, but Linghu Chong felt his arm was aching. It was the cold energy coming from the sword again. After a tick, everything was still as he held his sword motionless. Zuo Lengchan couldn't hear the wind from his sword and he was getting anxious. He vigorously slashed his sword to protect the fatal points around his body.

    Linghu Chong relied on the faint light coming out of the short stick in Yingying's hand as he slowly sent his sword forward, and slowly aimed it at Lin Pingzhi's right arm. Inch by inch, it crept forward. Lin Pingzhi was straining his ear trying to listen to his sword path, but Linghu Chong's sword was slowly going inch by inch, so how could he hear anything? The point of the sword was now only half a foot away from his right arm. With a jerk, it shot forward and hit Lin Pingzhi's right arm's bone and flesh. Lin Pingzhi cried out and dropped his long sword, while his body flew upwards. Linghu Chong stabbed twice and got both of his legs. Lin Pingzhi fell down on the ground cursing and swearing loudly. Linghu Chong turned around and saw Zuo Lengchan. Under the faint light, he saw him gritting his teeth and his expression terrifying while he was slashing his long sword around. Even though the sword moves he was using were very wonderful, but under 'Dugu Nine Sword', there was no place that was flawless.

    Linghu Chong thought, "This person is the one who incited the disturbance in Wulin. I can't go easy on him!"

    With a roar, he brandished his long sword. Zuo Lengchan was stabbed between the eyes, throat, and chest. Linghu Chong leapt back for two steps and pulled Yingying's hand. He saw Zuo Lengchan standing there for a long time before falling on the ground. His long sword turned over and stabbed his own stomach until it penetrated all the way through. Both of them calmed themselves down. They looked at the short stick in Yingying's hand but the light was too dim so they couldn't see it clearly. They had no torch on their bodies and Linghu Chong was afraid Lin Pingzhi might attack them again so he cut off the tendons in his left arm. Then he went to the dead people's body to fish out some flint and steel, after feeling out the second person, that person's bosom was also empty. He thought for a while then shouted, "Scram your granny, of course these blind men aren't bringing any flint and steel." When he felt the fifth person, he finally found flint and steel and light up a paper.

    The two of them shouted in surprise.

    The stick in Yingying's hand was unexpectedly a bone with one of its ends cut off to a sharp point! Yingying was stupified and she threw that bone on the ground. She then laughingly cursed, "Scram your..." She only uttered these two words when she felt they were not elegant so she immediately pursed her lips up.

    Linghu Chong suddenly understood. "Yingying, both our lives were saved by this divine sect's senior."

    "Divine sect's senior?" Yingying queried.

    "Back then, ten elders from the divine sect attacked Huashan. They were all imprisoned in this cave without any way of escaping, and they all died with unsatisfied regret. All they left behind were ten sets of bones. This thigh bone, I don't know which elder it belonged to. I accidentally picked that one up and Zuo Lengchan luckily cut a section off it. This bone has this phosphorus light that the two of us can use to see," Linghu Chong explained.

    Yingying let out a long sigh then bowed towards that bone and said, "So it's our sect's elder, sorry for the offence."

    Linghu Chong took a few more paper and lighted them up. Then he found two torches and lighted them up also. "I wonder what happened to Martial Uncle Mo?" Then he shouted, "Martial Uncle Mo, Martial Uncle Mo!" But there was still no sound. Linghu Chong felt in his heart that Martial Uncle Mo cared for him. So he was feeling sad that he had died in this cave today. He glanced around the ground looking at the corpses, but it was very difficult to search for Mr. Mo Da's corpse. He thought, "We haven't escaped from danger yet, we can't linger around here. I'll come back later to look for Martial Uncle Mo's corpse then I'll bury him properly."

    Linghu Chong turned around and pulled on Lin Pingzhi's chest as he went towards the tunnel. Yingying knew he had promised Yue Lingshan to tend to Lin Pingzhi. So without saying anything, she picked up that yaoqin which had holes in a few places and followed behind him. They used the narrow tunnel that had been dug by those elders to go out step by step.

    Linghu Chong lifted his sword up to be prepared. He was thinking Zuo Lengchan was very calculating and since the cave's entrance had been sealed, then he surely would have dispatched people to guard the narrow tunnel. He had to be careful of the guard trying to stop him inside the cave. But after walking all the way through the tunnel, he still saw no one. Linghu Chong softly opened the stone covering up the entrance, and he felt the light dazzling his eyes. The ferocious fight inside the cave had gone on for so long that he didn't feel how much time had actually passed, and the sky had actually turned bright. He saw there was no one outside the cave and he immediately pulled Lin Pingzhi out, and Yingying followed him out. There was a sword in Linghu Chong's hand, enough light for him to see, he was at a spacious place, they had really gone out of danger. He sucked in a breath of fresh air and felt unspeakable comfort.

    "When your master punished you before, was it at this cave?" Yingying asked.

    "That's right. What do you think?" Linghu Chong laughingly replied.

    Yingying smiled. "I think you weren't here meditating, but your..." She was thinking of saying 'your little martial sister', but why would she mention Yue Lingshan to make him sad? So she quickly stopped.

    "Grand martial uncle Feng lives somewhere nearby. I wonder if he's doing fine. I've always thought of this. He first said, he doesn't want to meet anyone from Huashan School, but I'm no longer in Huashan School," Linghu Chong said.

    "Yes. Let's go meet him," Yingying said.

    Linghu Chong sheathed his sword and let go of Lin Pingzhi. He pulled on Yingying's hand and went out of the cave.

    End of Chapter 38
    Last edited by Han Solo; 08-30-09 at 11:02 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
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  20. #20
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    Chapter 39 No Treaty
    (Translated by: Pokit; Edited by: Hhaung.)

    They walked out of the cave and suddenly saw a black shape moving on top of their heads. It looked like something had fallen down on them. Linghu Chong and Yingying simultaneously dodged it, but who could've thought the object dropping was a large fish net and it trapped the two of them in there. Startled, they quickly drew their swords to cut the net, but after slashing for a few times, the net was unexpectedly untouched. At this time, another fish net was thrown from above covering both of them. The person above the cave leapt down with a rope in his hand tightening the net.

    "Master!" the word escaped from Linghu Chong's mouth. That person really was Yue Buqun. The net got tighter and tighter as Yue Buqun pulled on the rope. Linghu Chong and Yingying were just like a couple of big fishes being entangled inside a net. They were able to struggle in the beginning, but at the end, they couldn't even move. Frightened, Yingying didn't know what to do. She took a glance and saw Linghu Chong was smiling, looking very relaxed. She thought, "Has he thought of a way to escape?"

    Yue Buqun had a fierce looking smile on his face. "Little traitor, you were complacent coming out of the cave. Didn't expect trouble out here, did you?"

    "It's not trouble. When someone's going to die, dying with his wife is the happiest thing," Linghu Chong replied nonchalantly.

    Yingying understood. His face was looking happy because he would be able to die together with her. Her fear dissappeared, replaced with a wave of happiness.

    Linghu Chong continued, "If you kill both of us like this, then you wouldn't be able to separate us."

    "Little traitor," Yue Buqun indignantly said. "Death is imminent and you're still boasting!"

    He then wrapped the rope around them for a few times, bunching them up tightly.

    "This fish net of yours, you got it from Old Man, didn't you?" Linghu Chong said. "You treat me really well, you know that we don't want to be apart so you wrapped the two of us husband and wife very tightly just like this. You raised me since I was little and you know my heart really well. In this world, you're my only friend Mr. Yue." He was saying all these smart-aleck comments hoping to drag the time out while looking for some way to get out of this situation. Another hope of his was that Feng Qingyang would suddenly appear to rescue them.

    Yue Buqun sneered. "Little traitor, you love to talk nonsense since you were little, and your temperament still haven't changed till now. I should cut off your tongue first to save you from losing your tongue in hell when you die." His left leg flew up and kicked Linghu Chong on his waist, sealing his mute accupoint and shutting Linghu Chong up.

    "Young lady Ren," Yue Buqun continued. "Who do you want me to kill first? Him or you?"

    "What's the difference?" Yingying replied. "I only have three medicines for the Divine Three Brain Corpse Pill on my body."

    Yue Buqun's face changed colour when he heard this. Ever since he was forced by Yingying to swallow the 'Divine Three Brain Corpse' pill, he had been thinking day and night on how to obtain the medicine. He had been waiting for a long time for this opportunity. The two of them had just escaped danger, happily going out of the cave, without taking care to protect themselves when suddenly this metal fish net trapped them. His original idea was to kill Linghu Chong and Yingying first before searching her body for the medicine. But when he heard her saying there was only three medicines on her body, he realised he would only be able to live for three more years after killing them. Moreover, after three years had passed, the insect would enter his brain and make him insane and die in unbearable pain. This matter was really difficult for him to settle. Even though his inner energy and martial art were marvelous, he couldn't stop both of his hands from trembling.

    "Alright, let's make a deal," Yue Buqun said. "Tell me how to make the medicine, and I'll spare both your lives."

    Yingying laughed and indifferently said, "Even though I'm still young, I know Gentleman Sword Mr. Yue's personality. If your words are to be believed, then your nickname wouldn't be Gentleman Sword."

    "You've learned nothing by being with Linghu Chong," Yue Buqun said. "All you've learned is how to talk a lot. You're not willing to say how to make the medicine?"

    "Of course not," Yingying answered. "In three years time, Chong-lang and I will be waiting at death's door to welcome you. At that time, you won't have your five senses anymore and your whole face will be ruined, I wonder if we'll still be able to recognise you."

    Yue Buqun felt a wave of coldness at his back. He understood her meaning of 'won't have your five senses and your whole face will be ruined' was a reference to the time when the poison would come out. If his whole body weren't rotten by that time, then he would destroy his own face through madness. His whole body shivered thinking about it.

    "Even if my whole face will be ruined, yours will be ruined three years earlier than mine," Yue Buqun indignantly said. "I won't kill you too, I'll only cut off your ears and nose. And on your lovely white snow face, I'm going to give you seventeen eighteen slashes. We'll see then how much love, how much affection, your Chong-lang has. Whether he'll still love a freak ugly weirdo."

    With a hiss, he drew his long sword out. Yingying gasped in surprise. She wasn't afraid of death, but if Yue Buqun were to ruin her face to make it look like a demon and let Linghu Chong look at her, it was even worse than death. Even though Linghu Chong's mute acupoint was sealed, he was still able to move his hands and feet. He knew what Yingying was thinking so he bumped her with his elbow, extended two fingers from his right hand and pierced them towards his eyes. Yingying again cried out and she hurriedly called out, "Brother Chong, don't!"

    Yue Buqun didn't really mean to ruin Yingying's face. He was only threatening her to make her tell him the prescription for the medicine. If Linghu Chong destroyed both his eyes, then his plan would be useless. His left hand shot out unbelievably quick and grabbed Linghu Chong's right wrist through the fist net.

    "Stop!" Yue Buqun shouted.

    As their skins connected, Yue Buqun immediately felt his internal energy flowing out.

    "Aiyo!" Yue Buqun called out. In a hurry, he tried to get away but it was like his palm was glued to Linghu Chong's wrist. Linghu Chong turned his hand around grabbing Yue Buqun's palm. Yue Buqun now felt his inner energy rushing out even faster. He was greatly startled. With the long sword in his right hand, he quickly chopped it at Linghu Chong's body. Linghu Chong's hand shook and dragged his body back causing the sword to slash at the ground. Yue Buqun's inner energy was still flowing out. As he tried to slash his sword a second time, he felt weak and powerless that he practically couldn't even lift his own arm. Exhorting his energy, he tried to lift his sword. With the sword aiming at the point between Linghu Chong's eyes and his arm and the long sword unceasingly quivering, he slowly pierced it forward.

    Yingying was alarmed and she wanted to use her finger to flick Yue Buqun's sword away. But both her arms were pressed under Linghu Chong's body and the fish net was tightly wrapped around her body. She exerted her strength to struggle, but she couldn't free her hands. Linghu Chong's left arm was also being trapped under Yingying's body so he also couldn't use it. He saw the sword point slowly stabbing forward. He thought, "I killed Zuo Lengchan and injured Lin Pingzhi with this kind of slow sword. This time, master is also going to use this method to kill me. What a really quick retribution."

    Yue Buqun felt his inner energy was quickly running out, but the sword point was only a few inches away from Linghu Chong's eyebrow. He was both happy and anxious.

    "You... What are you doing?" a sharp female voice cried out from behind. "Take your sword away!"

    Sound of footsteps was heard as someone drew near. Yue Buqun saw his sword only had to go a few more inches then he'd be able to kill Linghu Chong. At this time, his life was hanging by a thread so how could he agree to just give up? Staking all his remaining energy, his sword finally reached Linghu Chong's forehead.

    It was at this time when he suddenly felt something cold at the back of his body. A long sword had been pierced from his back all the way through to the front of his chest.

    "Big brother Linghu, are you alright?" a female voice cried out. She was Yilin.

    The blood in Linghu Chong's chest was bubbling up and he couldn't reply her.

    "Little martial sister, Big Brother Linghu is alright," Yingying told her.

    "That's very good!" Yilin happily said. She was suddenly startled and frightenedly cried, "It's Mr. Yue! I... I killed him!"

    "That's right," Yingying said. "Congratulations for taking revenge on your master's murderer. Can you untie the fish net please? Let me get out."

    "Yes, yes!" Yilin replied. She saw Yue Buqun was prostrated on the ground with blood spouting out from the sword wound. Her whole body turned to jelly and in a quivering voice, she asked, "I... I killed him?" She wanted to grab the rope to release it but both her hands were trembling and she had no power in them. She was unable to release them.

    "Little nun," a voice suddenly called out from the left. "You killed the honourable chief. I'll teach you today that you can't run away from justice!"

    An old man wearing a yellow gown came forward carrying a naked sword. This person was Lao Denuo.

    "Aiyo!" Linghu Chong cried out.

    "Little martial sister, quickly use your sword to fight," Yingying shouted.

    Yilin was stupefied for a moment before she drew the sword out of Yue Buqun's body. Lao Denuo attacked with three quick strokes and Yilin blocked all three attacks. The third attack flitted near her left shoulder and drew blood. Lao Denuo's sword was getting faster and faster with some of the movements from the Evil Resisting Sword Art. But since he had not learned it too deeply, he only had the movement while his speed was way below that of Lin Pingzhi. Originally, Lao Denuo was already experienced and his sword art came from Songshan and Huashan Schools. It was only recently that he learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art. So Yilin was originally not his match.

    However, as Yihe and Yiqing was hoping that Yilin would become Heng-Shan's headmaster in the future, they had been supervising her practising the Heng-Shan sword art that Linghu Chong gave them. So her martial art had improved. Also, because Lao Denuo's Evil Resisting Sword Art was not yet perfected and he wanted to try it out, their movements came out in between the Songshan and Huashan Schools' sword art that he was using. His sword movements became mixed and caused his original sword art to be weaker.

    In the beginning, when Yilin saw the fast sword art from his enemy, she panicked and the third attack injured her left shoulder. But she thought if she lost then Linghu Chong and Yingying would not escape from danger as well and they were bound to meet disaster as well. She was thinking that if he was going to kill Big brother Linghu, then it was better if she was killed first. Without any fear of dying, she didn't think of preserving herself and just kept on attacking with all her moves.

    When Lao Denuo was confronted with her staking-life fighting method, he couldn't win against her for the moment. He swore, "Little nun, you **** your mother real good!"

    Yingying saw Yilin's spirit was raised and she was fighting with all her might. But after a long time, she was still bound to lose. She rolled on the ground freeing her left arm and unsealing Linghu Chong's acupoint. She put her hand inside her bosom and took out her short sword.

    "Lao Denuo," Linghu Chong cried out. "What's that behind you?"

    Lao Denuo was an experienced person and he wouldn't fall for Linghu Chong's trick by turning around to have a look and give his enemy an opportunity to attack him. He ignored Linghu Chong and increased the ferocity of his attack. Yingying held her short sword wanting to toss it out from the fish net, but Yilin was fighting very closely with Lao Denuo. If her toss was slightly off then it might hit her. She hesitated and didn't throw her sword out.

    Suddenly, Yilin cried out. Her left shoulder had again been hit. The first time she got hit, the injury was very light, but this time the wound was a few inches deep. The grass around the area was splashed with her blood.

    "Monkey, monkey, ah, this is sixth brother's monkey," Linghu Chong called out. "Good monkey, quickly bite him. This is the traitor who killed your master."

    In order to steal Yue Buqun's 'Violet Twilight Secret Manual', Lao Denuo killed Lu Dayou who was the sixth disciple of Huashan School. Lu Dayou had a small monkey which usually sits on his shoulder. After he died, this monkey had gone somewhere. At this time, he suddenly heard Linghu Chong's shout and couldn't help feeling scared. "If this animal jump on me and bite me then my movements will be restricted." So he leaned to one side and turned around to slash his sword. But how could there be a monkey behind his back? At this time, Yingying tossed her sword towards the back of his neck. Lao Denuo stooped down and the short sword flew above his neck. Suddenly, he felt a rope tightened around his left ankle. The rope was tugged backwards and he fell face forward.

    When Linghu Chong saw Lao Denuo stooped down to avoid the sword, it presented a very good opportunity. He quickly undid the rope tying the fish net and sent the rope out coiling around his left ankle and pulled it.

    "Kill him, kill him!" Linghu Chong and Yingying called out.

    Yilin chopped her sword down on Lao Denuo's neck. But she was a compassionate person and she was also timid. When she first killed Yue Buqun, she did it to save Linghu Chong. With her being anxious, she quickly wielded her sword and didn't realise she was actually going to kill a person. When her sword was about to slash Lao Denuo's neck, her heart became soft. Her sword leaned to a side and slashed his right shoulder instead. Lao Denuo's collarbone was broken and his sword dropped from his hand. He was afraid Yilin's second sword would slash down again so he endured the pain to get up and struggled to be free of the rope. He then escaped down from the cliff.

    Suddenly, two people came up from around the mountain. The female shouted, "Hey, was it you who scolded my daughter just then?" She was Yilin's mother who was at the Hanging Temple pretending to be the mute granny. Lao Denuo did a flying kick to kick her away. That granny leaned to one side to avoid it and gave him a mighty slap on the cheek.

    "You scolded her 'you **** your mother real good'," she shouted. "I'm her mother! You dare to scold me?"

    "Stop him, stop him!" Linghu Chong cried out. "Don't let him get away!"

    That granny originally wanted to hit down on Lao Denuo's head, but hearing Linghu Chong's shouting. She shouted, "Little rascal, I'm going to let him go!" She leaned to one side and gave Lao Denuo a kick on his buttock. Lao Denuo felt like he had received a pardon from heaven as he sprinted down the cliff.

    There was a person behind that granny, who was actually Monk No Commandment. He chuckled and said, "What are you playing at? Why are you playing inside the net?"

    "Dad," Yilin said. "Undo the fish net, let Big brother Linghu and Young lady Ren out."

    "I haven't settled my debt with this little bastard yet," that granny said with a calm face. "You can't let him go!"

    Linghu Chong laughed loudly then shouted, "Once the couple gets together, you throw the matchmaker out. You husband and wife already has a reunion now, why aren't you thanking the matchmaker?"

    That granny gave him a kick and shouted, "I thank you with a kick!"

    "Peach Valley Six Fairies," Linghu Chong laughingly called out. "Quickly help me!"

    That granny was very afraid of the Peach Valley Six Fairies so she quickly turned her head around. Linghu Chong hastily extended his hand out of the fish net and undid the knot and let Yingying out. But he had not managed to go out yet when that granny shouted, "You can't go out!"

    "If I can't get out then I'll stay in here," Linghu Chong laughingly replied. "Inside this fish net, there's no difference between heaven and earth. A gentleman can bend and straighten. Bend to enter the net and straighten to get out of the net. What to do? I, Linghu Chong, ..." As he was spouting nonsense, his eyes caught sight of Yue Buqun's body prostrated on the ground. The smile on his face disappeared and it was suddenly replaced with tears in his eyes. His tears flowed down his cheeks.

    That granny was still angry as she shouted, "Little bastard! If I don't beat you up till you're black and blue then I won't be satisfied!" Her left palm shot out wanting to slap Linghu Chong's right cheek.

    "Mom!" Yilin cried out. "Don't... don't..."

    Linghu Chong raised his right hand and he was already holding a long sword. Actually, when he was lost in thought looking at Yue Buqun's corpse, Yingying put the sword in his hand. He pointed his sword and stabbed it at that granny's right shoulder's acupoint forcing her to retreat a step. That granny got even angrier. Her body moved like the wind, her palm hacking, her elbow striking, her leg sweeping. In just a short time, she had attacked with seven to eight moves. Linghu Chong was still inside the fish net and he just pointed his sword as he wished. Each stab was aimed at that granny's fatal acupoint. But every time the sword point was about to reach her body, he immediately withdrew it. This 'Dugu Nine Sword' was unmatched in this world. If Linghu Chong wasn't giving way then that granny would've died seven to eight times already. After several more moves, that granny knew his martial art was much too high compared to hers. With a long sigh, she stopped attacking and she looked very upset.

    "Dear," Monk No Commandment pleaded. "We're all good friends, why do you need to be angry for?"

    "Who asked you to speak?" that granny angrily replied. There was no one to vent her anger to so she turned to him.

    Linghu Chong put his sword down and came out of the fish net. "You want to hit me to vent your anger, I'll let you do it!" Linghu Chong laughingly said.

    That granny raised her palm and slapped him heavily. Linghu Chong cried out as he didn't dodge the hit.

    "Why didn't you dodge?" that granny angrily asked.

    "I can't dodge it," Linghu Chong replied. "How do I do that?"

    That granny spat. She knew in her heart he was considering Yilin so he let her hit him. Her left palm was already raised but she didn't hit him.

    Yingying pulled on Yilin's hand and said, "Little martial sister, lucky you came here to rescue us. How did you come here?"

    "I was with the other martial sister," Yilin narrated. "We were all (she pointed at Yue Buqun's corpse) .... captured by his people. Me and three other martial sisters were being locked up in a cave. Just then, dad and mom rescued me. Dad, mom and I, also Cannot Have No Commandment and three martial sisters, we all separately went around rescuing the other martial sisters. I was walking below the cliff when I heard people talking on top. The voice sounded like Big brother Linghu's so I quickly went up to have a look."

    "He and I went around everywhere but we didn't find anyone," Yingying said. "So you were actually being held inside a cave."

    "Just then that old bastard wearing the yellow gown is a bad person," Linghu Chong said. "You let him go but I can't accept that." He picked up a long sword from the ground and said, "Let's chase after him."

    The party of five went down the Cliff of Repentance. They had not walked for too long when they saw Tian Boguang with seven Heng-Shan disciples climbing out of a valley. Yiqing was one of them. They were really happy to meet each other.

    Linghu Chong thought, "There's no one in this world who knows the surroundings in Huashan better than me. I didn't know there was another cave below that valley, but Tian Boguang is an outsider and he knows of it. How strange?" He pulled on Tian Boguang's sleeve and the two of them walked behind the party.

    "Brother Tian," Linghu Chong said. "There's another cave below that valley. I didn't know about it before but you knew about it. I really admire you."

    Tian Boguang smiled. "There's nothing strange about it."

    "Ah, that's right," Linghu Chong said. "You must've captured a Huashan disciple and interrogated him."

    "I didn't," Tian Boguang replied.

    "Then how did you find out? Can you tell me?" Linghu Chong asked.

    Tian Boguang blushed and smiled. "This matter is not comfortable to talk about. It's better not to speak of it."

    Linghu Chong was even more curious and he just had to ask about it. "You and I are loafers in Jianghu, what's there that's so uncomfortable to talk about?" Linghu Chong said. "Quickly say it."

    "After I say it," Tian Boguang pleaded. "Headmaster Linghu, please don't blame me."

    "You've rescued many martial sisters from Heng-Shan School and I haven't thanked you for this yet," Linghu Chong replied. "So how can I blame you?"

    Tian Boguang lowered his voice and said, "I'll tell you. Before I had a really bad temperament and you already know about this. Ever since Grand martial master shaved my head and made me take the Buddhist name 'Cannot Have No Commandment', I cannot do that again..."

    Linghu Chong thought the way Monk No Commandment reprimanded him was really weird and his mouth showed a slight smile. Tian Boguang knew what he was thinking of and his face turned red. He continued, "But I've never forgotten the skills I've learned from earlier. No matter how far I'm separated by, as long as there are women there, I... I can feel them."

    Linghu Chong was perplexed, he asked, "How do you do that?"

    "I also don't know," Tian Boguang replied. "I think I can smell women, they're different than men's smell."

    Linghu Chong laughed aloud. "It's said that some reverend monks can have divine eyes or divine ears. Brother Tian unexpectedly has this 'divine nose'."

    "I'm ashamed, ashamed!"

    "Brother Tian's skill was originally used to do bad things," Linghu Chong said. "After undergoing some experience, I never thought that today you'd use this skill to save my Heng-Shan School's disciples."

    Yingying turned her head around to ask what was so funny. But looking at Tian Boguang's face, she guessed it was something inappropriate and she quickly shut her mouth.

    Tian Boguang suddenly stopped. "There seems to be some Heng-Shan School's disciples on the left." He sniffed around a few times then went towards the underbrush below the hill. Lowering his head, he searched around for a while. He exclaimed happily and pointed to the ground. "Here!" he cried out. There was a pile of more than ten big rocks on the place that he had pointed out. Each of these rocks were around two to three hundred catties. He immediately removed a rock away.

    No Commandment and Linghu Chong went over to help. After a while they had removed more than ten big rocks, and there was a green slab underneath. The three of them worked together to lift the slab up. It revealed a cave underneath and there were a few nuns lying underneath. They were all disciples of Heng-Shan School. Yiqing and Yimin quickly jumped down the cave and helped their martial sisters to go up. After helping a few to go up, there were still more inside, each one was gasping for air. They quickly pulled the imprisoned Heng-Shan disciple up. Yihe, Zheng E, and Qin Juan were among them. There were more than thirty people inside this cave. If they weren't rescued in the next one or two days, they would have all died.

    Linghu Chong thought how his master was so violent, he couldn't help being disappointed with him.

    "Brother Tian, this skill of yours isn't a small thing," Linghu Chong praised him. "These martial sisters were deeply buried underneath but you can still smell them out. Really admirable."

    "There's nothing strange about it," Tian Boguan replied. "Luckily, there are many martial uncles from the secular world in there..."

    "Martial uncles? Ah, that's right, you're Yilin's disciple."

    "If the ones imprisoned here were all Buddhist martial uncles, then I wouldn't have been able to find them," Tian Boguang continued.

    "There's a difference between secular and Buddhist people?"

    "Of course. Secular female would have this powder fragrance on them," Tian Boguang explained. Linghu Chong was enlightened.

    They quickly tried to rescue them. Yiqing and Yilin were using their caps to scoop water in them to give them drink. Luckily, there was a crack in that cave that allowed air to go in and Heng-Shan School's disciples all had learned inner energy. Even though they were extremely distressed, they still had their lives. Yihe had the deepest inner energy so after drinking some water, she was the first one to recover.

    "We've only rescued less than a third," Linghu Chong said. "Brother Tian, I have to ask you to use your divine power to help us search for them."

    That granny stared at Tian Boguang, her face looked really suspicious. "How did you know they were imprisoned here?" she asked. "You were probably here when they were being imprisoned, am I right?"

    "No, no!" Tian Boguang quickly replied. "I've been following grand martial master. I've never left his side."

    That granny's face sunk as she shouted, "You've always been with him?"

    Tian Boguang mumbled indistinctly. He knew they just had a reunion after a long break up. Along the way they had been crying, laughing, fighting, being romantic, and he had heard all of these. This grand master-wife of his could turn angry from shyness and if that happened, it would be very troublesome. He quickly said, "For the last half a year, I've been following grand martial master. About ten days ago, we parted ways. We just met again today at Huashan."

    That granny was half believing and half doubting him. She asked, "Then how did you know these nuns were being locked up inside this cave?"

    "This... this..." Tian Boguang mumbled. He didn't know how to phrase it nicely and was feeling very embarrassed. After some time, they suddenly heard the sound of more than ten horns coming from the mountainside, followed by the sound of drums. It sounded like an army of ten thousand soldiers and a thousand horses had come.

    They were all startled. Yingying whispered on Linghu Chong's ear, "It's my dad!"

    "Oh!" Linghu Chong realised and he wanted to say, "So it's my father-in-law." But he felt it was inappropriate so he didn't say it out loud. The drums thundered for a while, then the horns rang again.

    "Has an army come?" that granny asked.

    Suddenly, both the drums and horns stopped. Seven to eight people shouted, "Sun Moon Divine Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Chief Ren has arrived!" These seven to eight people had very deep internal energies so their shout reverberated throughout the mountain and echoes could be heard, "Chief Ren has arrived! Chief Ren has arrived!"

    The power of these cries intimidated them and the colour on Monk No Comandment's face and the others changed. The echoes had not finished yet when they heard countless number of voices crying out, "Long live to Chief, unify the Jianghu! Chief Ren flourishes the Divine Sect, long live to Chief!"

    Hearing their voices, there were at least two to three thousands of them. The echo was again heard from everywhere, "Chief Ren flourishes the Divine Sect, long live to Chief! Chief Ren flourishes the Divine Sect, long live to Chief!" After some time, the whole place became quiet. Then someone with a clear voice said, "Sun Moon Divine Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Chief Ren has an order: Five mountains sword schools' headmasters and all the disciples in the schools hear this: Everyone will meet at the steps of the Peak of Morning Sun."

    He spoke three times in his clear voice. After stopping for a while, he continued, "Fragrant masters and their deputies of the twelve halls, lead the sect's disciples to check all the hills and guard the important paths! Don't let people walk around! Anyone who doesn't obey this order will be killed!" Around twenty to thirty people immediately acknowledged this order.

    Linghu Chong and Yingying shared a look and they understood what was going on. That person said to check all the hills and to guard the important paths to force the disciples of the five mountains sword schools to go towards the Peak of Morning Sun to meet with Chief Ren. Linghu Chong thought, "He's Yingying's father. I'm going to marry Yingying soon so I should go see Chief Ren."

    He told Yihe and the rest of the people, "We still have a lot of martial sisters who are still imprisoned. Brother Tian, please lead the way to save them as soon as possible. Chief Ren is young lady Ren's father so he wouldn't give us any trouble. Young lady Ren and I are going to the east peak first. Martial sisters, you can follow later and we'll meet up there on the east peak." Yihe, Yiqing, Yilin and the others acknowledged the order and followed Tian Boguang to save their martial sisters.

    "What is he relying on barking orders here?" that granny angrily said. "I'm not going to see him. I want to see how this Ren is going to kill me."

    Linghu Chong knew she was very stubborn and was hard to persuade. If she were to meet Ren Woxing, her speech would most likely offend him and things would turn out really bad. He immediately took his leave from Monk No Commandment and his wife, then went to the east peak with Yingying.

    "The three highest peaks in Huashan are the east peak, south peak, and west peak. The east and west peaks are particularly tall," Linghu Chong said. "The real name of the east peak is the Peak of Morning Sun. Your father chose this peak to meet with the disciples of the Five Mountains Sword School to make it look like that we are coming to pay respect to an imperial court. Your father said all the people of the Five Mountains Sword School to go to the Peak of Morning Sun. Could it be that all the people from all the schools are at Huashan?"

    "In the five mountains sword schools, Mr. Yue, Zuo Lengchan, and Mr. Mo Da have all passed away today. I don't know who Taishan School has appointed as their headmaster. In this alliance of five big sword schools, you're the only headmaster left," Yingying said.

    "Besides Heng-Shan School, most of the heroes from the five schools have all died inside the cave on that Cliff of Contemplation. Besides, the disciples of Heng-Shan Schools have all been captured and are in distress, I'm afraid..."

    "You're afraid my father will take advantage of this to eliminate the five mountains sword schools?"

    Linghu Chong nodded his head and let out a sigh. "Actually, he doesn't need to do anything. There's not many people left in the five mountains sword schools."

    Yingying also let out a sigh. "Mr. Yue deceived the masters from the five mountains sword schools. He enticed them to look at the sword moves engraved at Huashan with the intention of wiping out all the warriors with good martial art. That way his position as the headmaster of the Five Mountains School would be safe and no one from each of the schools would be able to go against him. This move was originally very clever, but Zuo Lengchan unexpectedly got a whiff of this and took those blind men to kill him inside that dark cave."

    "You're saying Zuo Lengchan wanted to kill my master?" Linghu Chong queried. "He wasn't trying to kill me?"

    "He didn't know you were going to come," Yingying answered. "Your swordplay is brilliant and you already knew of the moves engraved on the cave wall a long time ago, so you wouldn't have gone inside to take a look at those sword moves. When we went in there, it was just a coincidence."

    "What you said is right," Linghu Chong agreed. "Actually, Zuo Lengchan and I had no enmity. Both of his eyes were blinded by my master, and the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School was also snatched by him. Those things would be really cutting to him."

    "Zuo Lengchan probably had a strategy prepared," Yingying said. "He'd tempt Mr. Yue to go inside the cave and then take advantage of the darkness to kill him. I don't know how, but this plan was discovered by Mr. Yue and instead of going in, he guarded the cave's entrance and captured people using the fish net. This is really the mantis seizing the cicada not knowing the oriole was just behind. Now, Zuo Lengchan and your master have both died while the reason for all these would never be known."

    (Translator's note: 'the mantis seizing the cicada not knowing the oriole was just behind' means 'to covet gains ahead without knowing the danger behind'.)

    Linghu Chong mournfully nodded his head.

    "Mr. Yue deceived the masters of the five mountains sword schools to come here," Yingying continued. "There must've been a foreshadowing of this matter a long time ago. That day at Songshan during the fight for the leadership, your little martial sister used Taishan, Hengshan, Songshan, and Heng-Shan brilliant sword moves. The masters from all four schools witnessed all these and their hearts would itch in getting to know them. Only the disciples from Heng-Shan School had been taught the sword moves from the cave wall by you, so they wouldn't find them extraordinary. While the disciples from Taishan, Hengshan, and Songshan Schools would of course be asking where Miss Yue got these sword moves from. Mr. Yue secretly spread the rumour and decided on a date that the cave would be open to them. The masters from these three schools, wouldn't they rush to be here?"

    "For people who study martial art like us," Linghu Chong said. "Once we hear of a place to learn some brilliant martial art, then we'd definitely brave danger and death to go there. Especially when those martial arts are from our own school, we wouldn't rest until we've seen them. That's why people like martial uncle Mo Da and other master-hands all died inside that cave."

    "Mr. Yue anticipated that your Heng-Shan School wouldn't come, so he prepared another plan," Yingying said. "He used the confusion poison to knock everyone out and took them up to Huashan."

    "I don't understand why master would spend such a big effort to bring my disciples up to Huashan?" Linghu Chong questioned. "This matter would be easily discovered since they have to go through such a long journey. Why didn't he just kill all of them at Heng-Shan? Wouldn't this be easier?" He stopped for a tick then continued, "Ah, I understand. If he killed all the Heng-Shan disciples then there'll be one less mountain from the Five Mountains School. Master wants to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, but without Heng-Shan School, he couldn't be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. The name simply wouldn't be right."

    "That's one reason," Yingying said. "But I think, there's still one more reason."

    "What's that?"

    "The best thing would of course be to capture you," Yingying explained. "Then he'd trade with something of mine."

    Linghu Chong was enlightened and he excitedly hit his thigh. "That's right. My master wanted the medicine for the Three Corpse Brain Pill."

    "After Mr. Yue was forced to take this pill, he would've been restless day and night wanting to get a medicine for it," Yingying said. "One day he wouldn't accept it and the next he'd be worried to death. He knew that he could only get the medicine by getting you."

    "Of course, I'm your darling," Linghu Chong agreed. "Only by using me that he can exchange the medicine from you."

    Yingying pursed her lip. "If he was going to use you to trade for the medicine then I wouldn't trade. The materials for the medicine are so hard to get and making them isn't easy either. So they're priceless treasure. How could I trade them so easily?"

    "The common saying goes: It's easy to find priceless treasure, hard to find a lover."

    Yingying's whole cheeks turned bright red immediately. In a whisper, she said, "Like a mouse getting on a scale, scaling and praising himself. Know no shame."

    As they talked, they arrived at a narrow path. This mountain path was perfectly straight as it went up and it was also very steep. They couldn't walk side by side through this path.

    "You go first," Yingying said.

    "You go first," Linghu Chong said. "If you fall down then I'll grab you."

    "No, you go first, but you're not allowed to turn your head back to look at me. You must listen to what granny tells you to do." She laughed when she finished talking.

    "Fine, I go first," Linghu Chong relented. "If I fall down, you can grab me."

    "That won't do, that won't do!" Yingying hastily replied. She was afraid he would pretend to misstep to play around with her. So she quickly went up the mountain path first.

    Even though Yingying saw him making a joke, his expression was still melancholic. After he laughed, he turned mournful again. She knew it was difficult for him to forget about Yue Buqun's death. Along the way she'd tried to make him say some jokes to make him forget about his worries. After a few turns, they arrived at the top of the Jade Maiden Peak. Linghu Chong pointed out to her which one was the Jade Maiden's face washing basin and which one was the Jade Maiden's dressing table. Yingying knew this Jade Maiden Peak was the place he used to play around with Yue Lingshan back then, and she was afraid that he might get even more upset, so she just took a quick glance without asking anything.

    After going down a slope, they went up a little path towards the Peak of Morning Sun. They saw guards everywhere around the mountain. The Sun Moon Sect's men were dressed in seven different gown colour and they were very discipline in following the flag going back and forth. Compared to the last time he visited the Dark Wood Cliff, there was a different feeling of dread.

    Linghu Chong secretly praised, "Chief Ren is a very learned man. That day when I led thousands of men to attack Shaolin Temple, it was a mess, everything was chaotic. How can it be compared to the Sun Moon Sect's army which resembles a body using its arms, like when an arm wants to point at something, with thousands of people resembling one person? Dongfang Bubai is also one great person. It was only later that he made a mistake and gave the handling of sect's matter to Yang Lianting. That's when the Dark Wood Cliff withered and its power diminished."

    The people of Sun Moon Sect respectfully bowed their bodies when they saw Yingying. They were also very respectful towards Linghu Chong. The bannermen roared one by one from the bottom of the peak all the way to the peak, announcing to Ren Woxing their arrivals. Linghu Chong saw all the important places between the bottom of the peak to the peak were all packed with people from the sect. There were at least two thousands guards around those places. It seemed that this time the Sun Moon Sect had gathered many warriors from the unorthodox path to help them in carrying out this massive operation. If all the headmasters from the five mountains sword schools were still alive, and all the master-hands from the five schools were at Huashan, and they had also been deployed before hand to meet this attack, it was still likely that they would lose. At this time with the number of talented fighter close to zero, it was impossible for them to fight back.

    Looking at the situation now, it was certain that Ren Woxing had a harmful idea towards the five mountains sword schools. Since things had come to this, there was nothing he could've done and now everything was up to the Heaven's will. He could only take things step by step. If Ren Woxing wanted to annihilate the five mountains sword schools, then he couldn't just stay on the side preserving his own life. He would have to fight to the death and Heng-Shan School's disciples would all be killed on top of this Peak of Morning Sun.

    Although he was clever, he wasn't that experienced and didn't have a plan in mind to face this calamity. When he saw all the disciples of Heng-Shan School fell into the trap, he also didn't know how to free them and everything was just left to fate and circumstances. He was also thinking that Yingying and Chief Ren were related by flesh and blood so the most she would do would be not to help both sides. So there was no chance she would help him by thinking of a plan to go against her own father. At this time, facing the sect's disciples at the Peak of Morning Sun with bows drawn and sabres unsheathed, he didn't even look at them and he instead told Yingying some jokes.

    But Yingying was already tied in knots in worry, so she couldn't be like Linghu Chong who was unworried. Along the way, she'd been churning her brain thinking on what to do. She pondered, "Chong-lang is a fearless person. Even if the sky collapsed, he'd only notice it when it's right on top of him. I've always thought of a way for him to do." Thinking that her father had led such a big operation here, it couldn't be anything good. When the situation turned dangerous, then all she could do would be to adapt since there was no other good option.

    The two of them slowly went up to the peak. When they reached the summit, they were suddenly assaulted with horns blaring followed by sound of music from drums and pipes. This was unexpectedly the welcoming of honoured guests.

    Linghu Chong whispered, "Father-in-law is welcoming the son-in-law back home!"

    Yingying blankly stared at him and she felt really anxious. She thought, "This person really doesn't worry about anything. At this time, he can still joke around."

    Then she heard a person laughed loudly and in a clear voice said, "Young lady, Brother Linghu, Chief's been waiting for you for a long time."

    A slim elder wearing a purple gown took a step forward and gripped both of Linghu Chong's hands. His face was full of happiness. He was Xiang Wentian. When Linghu Chong saw him, he was also very happy. "Brother Xiang," Linghu Chong called out. "You're well, I've thought of you often."

    "At Dark Wood Cliff, I keep hearing news of your prestige soaring in Wulin," Xiang Wentian laughingly replied. "I drank to you from far away, I've at least drunk more than ten big pots of wine. Quickly go see Chief." Taking his hand, he went towards a stone structure several stories high.

    That stone structure was on top of the east peak. It was extremely big and tall, just like it had been naturally formed. To the east of that structure was Peak of the Morning Sun's highest place which was called Deity's Palm. That Deity's Palm had five big pillars rising to the sky with the central pillar being the highest. They saw a big chair placed underneath the central pillar, and a person sat in it. This person was Ren Woxing.

    Yingying walked to the front of the palm, looked up and called out, "Daddy!"

    Linghu Chong bowed and said, "Junior Linghu Chong pays my respect to Chief."

    Ren Woxing laughed aloud. "Little brother, you come at the right time. We're all family, there's no need to be so formal. Today, our sect will meet with the world's heroes so we shall talk business first before talking about family matter. My worthy... worthy brother, sit beside me."

    Linghu Chong heard him paused after saying this word 'worthy' seemingly like he wanted to say 'worthy son-in-law'. But since it had not been decided yet, he corrected himself from calling him 'worthy son-in-law'. It looked like he had already approved of the marriage between Yingying and him. He also said 'We're all family' and 'we shall talk business first before talking about family matter', it was obvious Ren Woxing had regarded him as family. He felt happy and straighten his body up.

    Suddenly, a cold energy rushed up from this 'Dantian' region and he felt like he had entered an icehouse. His body trembled and continuously shook. Yingying was started and quickly went up to him. "What's wrong?"

    "I... I..." Linghu Chong stammered out but he unexpectedly couldn't utter another word.

    Even though Ren Woxing was high up there, his eyesight was still sharp. "Did you clash palms with Zuo Lengchan?"

    Linghu Chong nodded.

    Ren Woxing smiled. "It's nothing. You sucked his polar ice energy, once you scatter it out, it'll be alright. Why isn't Zuo Lengchan coming here?"

    "Zuo Lengchan secretly set up a violent plan to kill Big Brother Linghu and me," Yingying told him. "Big Brother Linghu killed him."

    "Oh!" Ren Woxing uttered. He was sitting very high up so they couldn't see his face. But in this voice, there was an air of disappointment.

    Yingying understood her father's heart. Today, he had come in a grand manner to intimidate the five mountains sword schools and to suppress the people of the five schools. Zuo Lengchan was his big enemy and now he wouldn't be able to see him bend his knee and lower his head in front of him so it was unavoidable that he would feel regret. She extended her left hand to hold Linghu Chong's right hand to help him disperse the cold energy. Linghu Chong's left hand was being held by Xiang Wentian. Together, they moved their energy. Linghu Chong gradually felt the coldness in his body disappeared.

    That day, when Ren Woxing and Zuo Lengchan fought at the Shaolin Temple, he absorbed his polar ice energy and turned into snowman in the middle of the snow field along with Linghu Chong, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying. But this time, Linghu Chong had only clashed swords with him and was only exposed to Zuo Lengchan's cold energy for a short time. Moreover, he didn't try to absorb it himself so only a little amount of cold energy was absorbed by him. A short time later, he wasn't trembling anymore.

    "I'm alright, thank you!" Linghu Chong said.

    "Little brother," Ren Woxing said. "You heard my call and came up the peak to see me. Very good, very good!" He then turned his head towards Xiang Wentian and said, "Why haven’t the people from the other four schools arrived yet?"

    "Subordinate will call them again!" Xiang Wentian replied. He waved his left hand, and eight old men in yellow gown lined up immediately in front of the peak. They called out together, "Sun Moon Divine Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Chief Ren has an order: Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Songshan Schools, everyone must quickly come to Peak of the Morning Sun for a meeting. Each hall's fragrant master, ask them to come up quickly and not to delay."

    These eight old men were all masters with deep internal energies. When they combined their voices together, they went very far and were able to be heard from all the peaks. Then they heard from all four directions, there were people answering, "As ordered. Long live to Chief, unify the Jianghu!" These were the replies from the Sun Moon Sect's fragrant masters.

    "Headmaster Linghu, please take a seat beside me," a smiling Ren Woxing said.

    Linghu Chong saw five chairs arranged on the west side of the deity's palm. Each chair was draped with a brocade of the colours black, white, blue-green, red, and yellow. While a mountain peak was embroidered on each brocade. North Heng-Shan was black, and on the black satin was Xianxing Peak embroidered with white thread. He saw the embroidering was attractive and with only a layer of it covering the chair, it had shown how meticulous the Sun Moon Sect had arranged this.

    In the five mountains schools, Songshan was the leader while north Heng-Shan was last in standing. But in this seat arrangement, the order had been reversed. The seat of Heng-Shan's headmaster was at the head, followed by west mountain Huashan, while Songshan School was last. It was Ren Woxing who had lifted his position to intentionally humiliate Zuo Lengchan. But since Zuo Lengchan, Yue Buqun, Mr. Mo Da, and Priest Tianmen had all passed away, Linghu Chong didn't try to decline. He bowed and said, "I'll take a seat!" and went to sit on the chair with the black satin draped on it.

    The people at the Peak of the Morning Sun were silently waiting. After a long time, Xiang Wentian again commanded those eight old men to call out again but they still didn't see anyone coming up.

    "These people don’t know how to appreciate favours," Xiang Wentian said. "They're so late in meeting Chief. Call our people to come up first!"

    The eight yellow gowned old men called out, "Five lakes four oceans, every island, every cave, every clan, every stronghold, every mountain, every hall, Brothers, come up to the Peak of Morning Sun to meet Chief!"

    When the word 'Chief' had just been uttered, the mountain peak was drowned by people crying out, "As ordered!" Their cries shook the valley. Linghu Chong couldn't help being startled. Hearing this voice, there were at least two to three hundred of them. These people secretly hid themselves and had guessed Ren Woxing's intention. He had wanted to wait for the people of the five mountains sword schools to arrive first before these thousands of people called out in order to startle and intimidate the five mountains sword schools so they wouldn't dare to resist. All of a sudden, people from all directions came out around the Peak of Morning Sun. Although there were a lot of them, they didn't make any noise at all. Every person stood separately at their places. It seemed that they had practised this before hand.

    There were around two to three thousands people who had come up the peak. They were all people from the unorthodox path. The rest of the sect's subordinate were still waiting around the side of the peak.

    Linghu Chong swept his eyes and saw Blue Phoenix, Zu Qianqiu, Old Man, and Ji Wushi among them. These people had perhaps been controlled by the Sun Moon Sect, or perhaps they had always been communicating. That day when Linghu Chong led the heroes to attack Shaolin Temple, these people also took part. They looked at Linghu Chong and were all smiling, but none of them called out. Besides the sound of footsteps shuffling, no other sound was heard from these thousands of people on top of this peak. Xiang Wentian raised his right hand and drew a circle in the air. The thousands of people simultaneously kneeled down and simultaneously said, "Jianghu's juniors pay our respect to Sun Moon Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Sacred Chief! Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu!"

    These people were all warriors with high martial arts and they were using their energy to call out. One person was like ten people's voices. When they said 'Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu', all the Sun Moon Sect's people around the mountain also joined in. The sound was really shaking the sky and earth.

    Ren Woxing majestically sat without moving. He waited for the cries to finish before he lifted his hand. "Everyone has worked hard. Rise!"

    "Thank you, Sacred Chief!" the thousands of people said together and they stood up at the same time.

    Linghu Chong thought, "That time when I went up the Dark Wood Cliff, I saw the people in the sect shamelessly flattering Dongfang Bubai that I wanted to vomit just observing them. I never thought when Ren Woxing became chief, the situation becomes even worse. They've now added that 'Sacred' word in front of his title making him Sacred Chief. I don't think even the hundreds of scholars and warrior officials would debase themselves in such a fashion when they go to see the current emperor and praise him with 'Long live to Emperor'. I'm a person who studies martial art. If I acted like this insultingly towards other heroes and people, can I still be called a man, a gentleman?" When he thought till here, his qi suddenly rushed up. Suddenly, he felt pain in his 'Dantian' region, his vision darkened, and he felt dizzy.

    Both of his hands gripped the chair's arms tightly. His teeth bit on his lower lip until blood seeped out. He knew that after he learned the 'Art of Essence Absorbing', he had sworn off never to use it. But when he was trapped by Yue Buqun inside that fish net outside the cave, his life was hanging by a thread and he was forced to use this demonical method to absorb Yue Buqun's inner energy. By doing this, he had actually done great harm to himself.

    He forcefully restrained himself to not groan aloud. But his body was trembling and his whole face was full of perspiration and distorted. The pain he was in was shown clearly in his expression. Everyone was able to see this clearly. Zu Qianqiu and the others were all looking at him, feeling very concerned.

    Yingying walked behind him and whispered, "Brother Chong, I'm here."

    Under the watchful eyes of thousands of people, she could only say this before her face turned bright red. Linghu Chong turned his head around to take a look at her, and he felt somewhat better. He immediately thought of the words Ren Woxing said that day at Hangzhou. Ren Woxing said after he had learned this 'Art of Essence Absorbing', he'd get different types of internal energy inside his body and there would come a day when he had to scatter them out. Once he had scattered them, the fierceness would increase by one fold. All those years ago, Ren Woxing gave up his position of chief to Dongfang Bubai also because of these different types of internal energies inside his own body. He always thought on how to solve this problem that he couldn't think of anything else and was taken advantage of by Dongfang Bubai. Ren Woxing was then imprisoned under the West Lake for more than ten years where he finally discovered how to solve this problem. But he wanted Linghu Chong to join the Sun Moon Sect first before he would teach him this method.

    At that time, Linghu Chong was unyielding in his thinking that had been ingrained in his mind since he was small. That the demonical and the orthodox couldn't co-exist and that he could never join the Devil Sect. Later on, he saw Zuo Lengchan who was a big master of the orthodox path being deceitful and violent, and his action not differing too much when compared to the Devil Sect. Thus, the line between the orthodox and demonical wasn't that clear anymore. Sometimes, he also thought that if Ren Woxing was determined to make him join the sect then only if he agreed to marry Yingying off to him would he just join the sect without care. His nature was easygoing and he didn't take anything seriously. It didn't worry him whether he joined the sect or not, it wasn't a big deal for him. But that day on the Dark Wood Cliff, when he saw the heroes being so humble towards Dongfang Bubai and Ren Woxing and with them speaking so flatteringly and insincerely, he couldn't help feeling a strong dislike against the sect instead. He was thinking that if he joined the sect, then he must also spend his days like a slave and he'd become a useless person. Every person has his own fate in living and dying, if he was required to beg to keep his life then Linghu Chong would never do it.

    Now, he had further seen Ren Woxing abused his power and arranged everything like he was better than an emperor. He thought of the day when Ren Woxing was back in the dark prison underneath the West Lake, how there was no scenery in there at all. But today, he insulted the world's heroes like they were not people at all. At this time, he suddenly heard someone said in a clear voice, "Reporting to Sacred Chief, Heng-Shan School's disciples have arrived."

    Linghu Chong was startled. He saw Yihe, Yiqing, Yilin, and the rest of the Heng-Shan disciples helping each other to go up the peak. Monk No Commandment, his wife, and Tian Boguang were walking behind them.

    "Friends," Bao Dachu said in a loud voice. "Please go and see Sacred Chief."

    Yiqing and the rest of the disciples saw Linghu Chong sitting on the side. They knew Ren Woxing was his father-in-law, so even though they felt the orthodox and demonical shouldn't be together, on account of their headmaster, they paid their respects as juniors. Walking to the front of the Deity's Palm, they bowed to pay their respect. "Heng-Shan School's junior disciples pay our respects to Chief Ren!"

    "Kneel and kowtow!" Bao Dachu ordered.

    "We're Buddhist," Yiqing replied in a loud voice. "We worship Buddha, worship Boddhisatva, worship master, we don't worship ordinary people!"

    "Sacred Chief isn't an ordinary person," Bao Dachu shouted. "He's a divine deity just like Buddha and Boddhisatva!"

    Yiqing turned her head to look at Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong shook his head.

    "If you want to kill us then kill us!" Yiqing replied. "Disciples of Heng-Shan do not worship ordinary people!"

    "Well said, well said!" Monk No Commandment said as he laughed aloud.

    "Which school are you from?" Xiang Wentian indignantly questioned. "Where do you come from?"

    He saw Heng-Shan School's disciples weren't willing to kowtow to Ren Woxing and the situation was now at a deadlock. If they troubled the female disciples then it wouldn't be good in front of Linghu Chong. So he immediately turned to Monk No Commandment to divide Ren Woxing's attention and make him forget of the kowtow incident.

    "Big temples don't want to take me in, while little temples don't want such a wild monk, so I have no family or school," Monk No Commandment laughingly replied. "I heard there'll be lots of people gathering here so I came here to take a look and join in the revelry."

    "Today, the Divine Sun Moon Sect is here to meet the five mountains sword schools," Xiang Wentian said. "Other people aren't allowed to be here. Go down the mountain!"

    Xiang Wentian said this politely because he was taking into account Linghu Chong's face. He saw Monk No Commandment had come up together with the Heng-Shan School's female disciples so he expected him to be related to the Heng-Shan School. Thus, he didn't want to make things to difficult for him.

    "This Mount Huashan doesn't belong to your Devil Sect," said a smiling No Commandment. "If I want to be here then I'll be here, if I want to go then I'll go. Besides the Huashan School's disciples, who dares to tell me what to do?"

    These words 'Devil Sect' were a very big taboo in the Sun Moon Sect. Even though the people in Wulin often used the word 'Devil Sect' behind their backs, they'd never blatantly speak these words to their faces. Monk No Commandment was a very frank person who spoke his mind and there was nothing he was afraid of saying. When he heard Xiang Wentian telling him to go down the mountain, he was displeased and didn't even care how many people the enemy had, and unexpectedly didn't show any fear.

    Xiang Wentian turned to Linghu Chong and said, "Brother Linghu, what's the relationship between your honourable school and this crazy monk?"

    Linghu Chong's chest and stomach were in great pain so he tremblingly replied, "This... this is Great Master No Commandment..."

    Ren Woxing was extremely angry to have heard No Commandment addressed them as the 'Devil Sect'. He was afraid Linghu Chong might say that this monk was deeply connected to him and then they wouldn't be able to kill him. Without waiting for Linghu Chong to finish, he immediately shouted, "Kill this crazy monk!"

    "As ordered!" eight elders in yellow gown acknowledged. They cupped their fists and attacked No Commandment immediately after.

    "You're relying on many people?" No Commandment shouted. He only said a few words and the attacks from these eight elders had arrived.

    "How shameless!" that granny scolded.

    She leapt in the crowd, got behind Monk No Commandment's back, and used her palms to fight with the enemies. These eight elders were Sun Moon Sect's number one experts, and their martial arts were about similar to that of No Commandment and that granny. Moreover, with eight against two, they soon got the upper hand. Tian Boguang pulled out his knife and Yilin raised her long sword to enter the fight. Both of their martial arts were far below theirs, and two of the eight elders separated to fight them. Tian Boguang fought with his fast knife chops and he was able to hold up. But Yilin was already pressed by her enemy until she was gasping for air. If it wasn't for the fact that the elder saw her wearing Heng-Shan School's uniform, and that he was giving way to her on Linghu Chong's account, she would've been killed.

    Linghu Chong stooped down and pressed his left hand to his stomach. His right hand pulled his long sword out and called out, "Stop... stop!" Rushing into the fight with his long sword trembling, he executed eight moves to force four elders to move back. He turned around and executed another eight moves. These sixteen moves were from the 'Dugu Nine Sword Art' and each move was aimed at an elder's fatal point. The eight elders were forced back and they didn't dare to fight with him for real so they all stepped back.

    Linghu Chong crouched on the ground and said, "Chief... Chief Ren, on my account, please... please let them..." But he couldn't utter the last word 'go'.

    Ren Woxing saw his situation and guessed that the different types of internal energy inside his body were coming out. He knew that his daughter wanted to marry him and he himself liked his personality. Also, as he never had a son, he was hoping that he would someday be the divine sect's chief. So he immediately nodded his head and said, "Since Headmaster Linghu requested this, I'll be lenient today."

    Xiang Wentian moved in a flash with both his hands striking out to seal the acupoints on No Commandment and his wife, Tian Boguang and Yilin. He struck out really fast and mysteriously. Even though that granny had fast as lightning movement, she unexpectedly couldn't escape from his strike.

    "Xiang... Xiang..." Linghu Chong was alarmed.

    "Don't worry," Xiang Wentian laughed. "Sacred Chief already said he's going to be lenient." He turned his head and called out, "Eight guards, step out!"

    Eight people wearing blue-green gowns came out and bowed. "We're ready to receive Left Protector Xiang's order!"

    "Four males and four females," Xiang Wentian said.

    Four males immediately stepped back and replaced by four females.

    "These four people spoke improperly and ought to have been killed," Xiang Wentian said. "But Sacred Chief is lenient and tolerant and on account of Headmaster Linghu, he granted them leniency. Take them down the mountain and unseal their acupoints."

    The eight respectfully bowed and acknowledged the order.

    Xiang Wentian lowered his voice and relayed more order, "They're Headmaster Linghu's friends. Don't be rude to them."

    "Yes!" the eight people answered. Taking these four people behind their backs, they went down from the peak.

    Linghu Chong and Yingying saw No Commandment and the other three people had escaped with their lives so they let out a long sigh of relief.

    "Thank... Thank you!" Linghu Chong said in trembling voice from his crouching position on the ground as he couldn't stand back up. Just then when he executed the sixteen moves, he forced the eight elders to retreat. However, each of these elders had excellent martial arts and his sword moves wouldn't have been able to injure them. Although he used these sixteen moves in the blink of an eye, he had consumed a large amount of energy to do so. Now, his chest and stomach felt even more painful.

    Xiang Wentian was secretly worried but his face wasn't showing it. He laughingly said, "Brother Linghu, are you unwell?"

    Back then, Linghu Chong and he combined together to fight against numerous heroes and became sword brothers. Even though they had rarely met, their friendship would never change through life and death. He took Linghu Chong's hand and supported him to sit back on his chair while secretly giving Linghu Chong his inner energy to help him fight against the turmoil in his internal energy. Linghu Chong thought that since he had the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' so with Xiang Wentian doing this, he might inadvertently absorb Xiang Wentian's martial art. Thus, he quickly struggled to break free from Xiang Wentian's grip. "Big Brother Xiang, don't! I'm... I'm ok now."

    "From among the five mountains sword schools, only Heng-Shan School came to this meeting," Ren Woxing said. "The disciples from the remaining four schools are unexpectedly afraid to come up to this peak. We won't be polite anymore then."

    At this time, Shangguan Yun quickly walked up to the peak and arrived at the front of the Deity's Palm. He bowed and said, "Reporting to Sacred Chief: Inside the cave on the Cliff of Contemplation, I found hundreds of corpses. Songshan School's Headmaster Zuo Lengchan is amongst the dead. There are also countless Songshan's, Hengshan's, and Taishan's master-hands. It seems they had killed each other."

    "Ah!" Ren Woxing gasped. "Hengshan's Headmaster Mo Da is among them?"

    "Subordinate carefully examined the corpses," Shangguan Yun reported. "I didn't find Mo Da among them. I also didn't find his traces anywhere in Huashan."

    Linghu Chong and Yingying felt happy and surprised at the same time. They looked at each other and both thought, "Mr. Mo Da can mysteriously appear and disappear, and he actually managed to escape from danger. I'm guessing he might have pretended to be dead amongst the corpses until everything was safe before coming out."

    Then they heard Shangguan Yun continuing, "Taishan School's Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi are both dead."

    Ren Woxing was very displeased to hear this. "What... What else?"

    "Outside that cave," Shangguan Yun continued. "There's another corpse."

    "Who is it?" Ren Woxing asked hastily.

    "Subordinate checked and he was Huashan School's Headmaster," Shangguan Yun reported. "He's the newly appointed headmaster of the Five Mountains School, the Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun."

    He knew Linghu Chong would inevitably be the sect's chief in the future, and that Yue Buqun was his master, so that was why he spoke so respectfully about him.

    When Ren Woxing heard Yue Buqun had also died, he couldn't help feeling disappointed. He asked, "Who... Who else has died?"

    "When subordinate was inside the cave on the Cliff of Contemplation checking things out, I heard there was sound of fighting behind the cave," Shangguan Yun said. "I came out to take a look and saw a group of Huashan School's people and Taishan School's priests fighting each other. They were saying that the other group had killed their master. Both parties fought violently and many died. I've brought them here to receive Sacred Chief's punishment."

    Ren Woxing hummed and said, "Yue Buqun was killed by Taishan School? Who in Taishan School has the ability to do that?"

    From the Heng-Shan School, Yiqing said in a clear voice, "No! Yue Buqun was killed by a sister from the Heng-Shan School."

    "Who?" Ren Woxing demanded.

    "The one who just went down the peak, little martial sister Yilin," Yiqing answered. "Yue Buqun killed our Abbess Master and Martial Uncle Dingyi. Everyone in our school hates him to the bone. Today, with the blessing of Buddha, Abbess Master and Martial Uncle Dingyi borrowed little martial sister's hand to punish this evildoer."

    "Hmm," Ren Woxing hummed. "That's how it is! That can be said the heaven's net is great and no one can escape." His disappointment was evident in his speech.

    Xiang Wentian and the elders were looking at each other, and were all feeling dejected. This time, the Sun Moon Sect had come to Huashan and had planned everything meticulously. Not only had all the master-hands from the sect came out, they had also gathered all the subordinates from each clan, each stronghold, each cave, and each island to force the five mountains sword schools to submit to them. If the five schools didn't want to submit, then they would immediately be annihilated. Then Ren Woxing and Sun Moon Sect would control the world. They would continue with Shaolin and Wudang Schools, and none from among the orthodox path would be able to resist. The business of long live the chief and unifying the Jianghu was to be settled today on the Peak of Morning Sun at Mount Huashan. Unexpectedly, Zuo Lengchan, Yue Buqun, and the masters from Taishan School had killed each other, and the whereabouts of Mr. Mo Da was unknown. There also weren't many left of the juniors from the four schools. The meticulous planning and preparation that had been done by Ren Woxing had all been useless.

    Ren Woxing got angrier as he thought more. He shouted, "Bring those dogs from the five sword schools up here!"

    "Yes!" Shangguan Yun replied. He turned around to go down the peak to get them.

    The different types of internal energies that were disturbed in Linghu Chong's body gradually calmed down. When he heard Ren Woxing said 'Bring those dogs from the five sword schools up here', he still felt unhappy because even though Ren Woxing wasn't scolding himself, Heng-Shan School was still part of the five mountains sword schools.

    After some time, shouting were heard as two elders from the Sun Moon Sect led a group of sect's people herding thirty three disciples from the Songshan, Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan School up to the peak. Originally, Huashan School didn't have that many disciples, but most of the master-hands from Songshan, Taishan, and Hengshan Schools who came to Mount Huashan had died. These thirty three disciples were not only nameless, each one of them were also injured. If not for the Sun Moon Sect's people helping them to walk, they wouldn't have been able to get up the peak. Ren Woxing was furious when he saw them. Without waiting for them to come closer, he shouted, "Why do I want these dogs to come up here for? Take them down, take them all down!"

    "As ordered by Sacred Chief," those two elders replied and brought those thirty disciples down from the peak.

    Ren Woxing swore a few times before he suddenly laughed aloud. "The actions of the five mountains sword schools can be said to be unforgivable by heaven. We don't have to do anything and they're already killing each other. From now on, they no longer exist in Jianghu."

    Xiang Wentian along with ten elders bowed and said, "This is Sacred Chief's great fortune. All those little bandits died by themselves."

    Xiang Wentian also said, "Within the five mountains sword schools, Heng-Shan School is the only one left. This is all because of Headmaster Linghu's leadership. From now on, Heng-Shan School and our divine sect will have the same root different branches. We're going to be prosperous and glorious. Congratulations Sacred Chief to obtain a young hero with no equal in this world to be your vice."

    "That's right!" Ren Woxing said. "Left Protector Xiang said it well. Little brother Linghu, from today onwards, you can disband your Heng-Shan School. All the Shi Tai and the female disciples in your school are all welcome to come to our Dark Wood Cliff. Otherwise, it won't be appropriate to stay at Mount Heng-Shan. Then you can take this Heng-Shan's remnants as your Vice-Chief's personal army, haha, haha!" He looked up at the sky and let out a loud laugh that shook the valley.

    When they heard the words 'Vice-Chief', all of them were stupefied. A moment later, they all cheered and cries from all directions were heard, "Hero Linghu be our sect's Vice-Chief! It's very good!" "Congratulations Sacred Chief getting an excellent deputy!" "Congratulations Sacred Chief, congratulations Vice-Chief!" "Long live to Sacred Chief, Long live to Vice-Chief!" All the people from the sect had long regarded Linghu Chong as their Chief's son-in-law, and as he was also appointed as Vice-Chief, it was natural that he would inherit the chief position in the future. They knew he was an easy-going person and when he ascends into power, they most likely wouldn't have to be so anxious like the current time, when they were forever in fear. The rest of the Jianghu heroes here had most likely followed Linghu Chong in attacking the Shaolin Temple and had gone through trials and tribulations with him. Or perhaps, they had received Yingying's kindness in getting the medicine. They all supported him from the bottom of their hearts.

    "Congratulations Vice-Chief," Xiang Wentian happily said. "Let's drink your celebratory wine to welcome you to the sect first. Then we'll drink your celebratory wine for your marriage to young lady. What a double happiness, happiness on top of happiness."

    But Linghu Chong was at a loss. He knew this matter should not happen but he also didn't know how to decline it. Another thought was if he declined this then his wish to marry Yingying would not happen. Also, once Ren Woxing was angered, he might even be killed. He didn't regret dying, but he was afraid all the disciples of Heng-Shan School might all be killed right here. Should he decline it immediately, or should he agree for the time being to let the Heng-Shan's disciples to go down the mountain safely? He slowly turned his head around to look at the Heng-Shan's disciples. Some of them were looking angry, some had their heads lowered looking sad, some were looking apprehensive; none of them knew what to do.

    Then he heard Shangguan Yun said in a clear and loud voice, "Under the leadership of Sacred Chief and the help of Vice-Chief, let's burn Shaolin, destroy Wudang, Kunlun, and Emei. Then we'll also annihilate the Beggar Clan. This will be done easily. Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu! Long live Vice-Chief, your benevolent is endless!"

    Linghu Chong was hesitating in making a decision. But hearing Shangguan Yun giving him an ode 'Long live Vice-Chief, your benevolent is endless', even though it was still not as much as what Ren Woxing received, if he really became the Vice-Chief then this ode would forever follow him. Thinking till here, he felt it was very comical and couldn't help uttering a laugh. This laughter seemed like a ridicule and when they heard it, the whole Peak of Morning Sun became quiet all of a sudden.

    "Headmaster Linghu," Xiang Wentian addressed him. "Sacred Chief gives you this Vice-Chief position. This means among everyone in Wulin, there's only one person above you and you have tens of thousands of people below you. Quickly thank Sacred Chief."

    Suddenly, Linghu Chong was enlightened. Without preparation, he stood up and spoke towards the Deity's Palm, "Chief Ren, junior has two big matters that I'd like to discuss with Chief."

    "You might as well say it," said a smiling Ren Woxing.

    "The first matter," Linghu Chong said. "Junior was entrusted the position of Heng-Shan School's headmaster by Dingxian Shi Tai and I took up the position. Even if I can't improve the prestige of Heng-Shan School, I mustn’t take the Heng-Shan School into the Sun Moon Divine Sect either. Otherwise, later under the Nine Fountains, how would I have the face to meet Dingxian Shi Tai? That's the first matter. The second matter is personal, I'm asking Chief to let your daughter be my wife."

    When the crowd heard him mentioned the first matter, they felt things would go bad. But hearing him following it up with a public marriage proposal, they looked at each other smiling.

    Ren Woxing laughed loudly and said, "The first matter is easily solved. Just give the headmaster position of Heng-Shan School to a Shi Tai here. After you swear the oath to join our divine sect, we can then discuss if Heng-Shan School still needs to join the sect or not. The second matter, Yingying and you are perfectly suited to each other and the whole world already knows. Of course I agree to her marrying you. Why need to be so worry for? Haha, haha!"

    Everyone shouted their agreements and was calling out happily.

    Linghu Chong turned his head around and took a glance at Yingying. Both her cheeks were crimson and her face showing her delight. He waited until the laughter from the crowd died down before he said in a clear voice, "Because of Chief's kindness, junior has been invited to join the honourable sect and I was also given a high position. But junior is a plain person who doesn't follow custom, so if I join the honourable sect, I'll definitely ruin Chief's big matter. After careful consideration, I'm hoping Chief withdraw the offer."

    Ren Woxing was angered and he coldly said, "You're saying you don't want to join the divine sect?"

    "That's right!" Linghu Chong replied.

    Those two words were said determinedly and it left no doubt. In that moment, everyone on the Peak of Morning Sun lost the colours on their faces.

    "The different types of internal energies you've accumulated in your body manifested today," Ren Woxing said. "Half a year from now, give or take three months, they'll manifest again. Then each time it does, it'll be even worse. As for the method to harmonize them, I'm the only one in the whole world to know how to do it."

    "That day in the Hangzhou Plum Manor and also at the foot of Mount Shaoshi in the middle of the snow field, Chief already told me about this," Linghu Chong said. "Junior just tasted the feeling of these different types of inner energies manifesting. It's like my body was going through a thousand deaths. But a gentleman will walk through Jianghu without caring about being death or alive, sad or happy."

    Ren Woxing snorted. "You can still talk so bravely. Today, your Heng-Shan School is all in my grasp. I won't let a single one of you to go down the mountain alive. I can do that as easy as turning my hand over."

    "Although Heng-Shan School is mostly women, we have no fear," Linghu Chong said. "If Chief wants to kill us then we pledge to fight to the death."

    Yiqing waved a hand and all the disciples of Heng-Shan School stood behind Linghu Chong.

    "We as disciples of Heng-Shan School follow the headmaster's order, we're not afraid of dying," Yiqing shouted.

    "We're not afraid of dying!" the rest of the disciples shouted together.

    "The enemies are many, we're few," Zheng E said. "We've also fallen into a trap. Later, heroes in Jianghu will find out how our Heng-Shan School fight to the death."

    Ren Woxing was furious. He looked up to the sky and laughed aloud. "If I kill you today, they're going to say I setup this ambush to harm you. Linghu Chong, bring your disciples back to Mount Heng-Shan. One month from now, I'm going to personally go to Xianxing Peak. If by that time a dog or a bird can remain alive on Mount Heng-Shan, then you can regard me as gutless."

    The sect's people cried out, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu! Slaughter on Mount Heng-Shan, dogs and bird won't be spared!"

    According to Sun Moon Sect's cries, going up Xianxing Peak to annihilate the Heng-Shan School was only one climb away. Regardless of how Heng-Shan School prepared their defences once they went back, Sun Moon Sect was certain to slaughter them. Previously when the five mountains sword schools became enemy with the Sun Moon Sect, the five schools supported each other. If one school had a difficulty, the other four schools would come to help. Over the last one hundred years, this had kept the situation unchanged with no side winning or losing. Now, with only one school remaining from the five mountains sword school alliance, of course there would be no way for them to resist. This point was understood by everyone in Heng-Shan School.

    When Ren Woxing said he wanted to slaughter the Heng-Shan School without sparing any bird or dog, it wasn't just big talk. Actually in Ren Woxing's mind, he was thinking of another thing. Even though Linghu Chong's sword art was excellent, he would be unable to do it alone and Heng-Shan School by itself wouldn't be able to avert disaster. What was actually tugging at his mind was Shaolin and Wudang Schools. He was thinking that when Linghu Chong went back and suddenly asked for help from Shaolin and Wudang, these two schools would definitely dispatch their master-hands to Xianxing Peak to help. Then instead of attacking Heng-Shan, he'd attack Wudang and set up a three way ambush between Mount Shaoshi and Mount Wudang. Since Mount Wudang and Shaolin Temple were only hundreds of li apart, Wudang would certainly notify Shaolin when they were in trouble. By that time, a large number of experts from Shaolin Temple would have gone to Heng-Shan, while the rest would definitely come out of their nest to help Wudang. Then Sun Moon Sect would attack Shaolin Temple and burn it down first. By that time, the ambush would be sprung and it would annihilate the Shaolin monks en route to Wudang. Once that was accomplished, they'd go surround Mount Wudang but not attack immediately. They would wait for the masters from Shaolin and Wudang who had gone to Heng-Shan to hear of the news first. These master-hands would rush thousands of li to be back at Wudang, while Sun Moon Divine Sect would leisurely wait for them and ambushed them midway and things would go well.

    After that, attacking Wudang and annihilating Heng-Shan would be as easy as turning his palm over. At this instant, he had decided on the plan to do away with Shaolin and Wudang, and he had been repeating it over and over in his head guessing that it would most likely succeed. Even though Linghu Chong had insulted him by not willing to enter the sect, it was only by his act that Sun Moon Divine Sect would succeed in uniting Jianghu. The happiness in Ren Woxing's heart was indescribable.

    Linghu Chong turned to Yingying and said, "Yingying, you can't go with me?"

    Yingying's eyes were already full of tears a long time ago. She couldn't endure it anymore and tears flowed down her cheeks. "If I follow you to Heng-Shan, that won't be filial; If I lose you, it's also not right. It's hard to fulfil both filialness and comradeship. Brother Chong, Brother Chong, don't think about me anymore. In any case, you ..."

    "What?"

    "In any case, you won't live for much longer. I also wouldn't live one day longer than you."

    "Your father already agreed to marry you to me," said a smiling Linghu Chong. "He's a Chief with long life, a Sacred Chief who unifies Jianghu, how can his words not be believed? How about if we pay respect to heaven and earth right here and become husband and wife?"

    Yingying was startled. Although she knew Linghu Chong was a rash and unruly person, she didn't expect he would say such a thing. Her face couldn't help turning bright red. "How... How can we do that?"

    Linghu Chong laughed aloud and said, "We'll part here then." He knew Yingying's heart. She was waiting for Ren Woxing to lead the sect to attack Heng-Shan, and once he died, she would also commit suicide. This was inevitable and there was nothing to stop it. If at this time she could do away with custom and agree to marry him on this Peak of Morning Sun and go back together to Mount Heng-Shan, then they could've enjoyed a few days as newlyweds and died together later on. There would've been no regret.

    But this act was just too shocking, it didn't matter when Linghu Chong who lived like a beggar did it. But for Young lady Ren, who was shy and proper, she definitely couldn't do it. Moreover, if she did this, then it would also make her not filial. So after he laughed, he cupped his fists towards Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and the elders around there.

    "Linghu Chong will respectfully wait for you all at Xianxing Peak!" Linghu Chong said. Once he finished, he turned around to go.

    "Wait!" Xiang Wentian quickly interrupted. "Bring the wine over! Brother Linghu, if we don't get drunk today, we won't have the chance later on."

    Linghu Chong laughed heartily. "Wonderful, wonderful! Brother Xiang really knows me."

    When the Sun Moon Sect came to Mount Huashan, they had planned everything meticulously. When Xiang Wentian shouted 'bring the wine over', subordinates carrying jugs of wine immediately came over, broke open the cover, and poured the wine. Xiang Wentian and Linghu Chong each drank a bowl.

    From the crowd, a short and stout person walked out. That person was Old Man and he said, "Master Linghu, I will always remember your benevolence. I salute you with a bowl today." As he finished saying this, he heaved a bowl and gulped it down. He was only a nobody who was under the jurisdiction of the Sun Moon Sect and his position was nowhere near that of Xiang Wentian. When Linghu Chong wasn't willing to join the sect, he had publicly insulted Ren Woxing. So a small fry like Old Man daring to come forward to toast Linghu Chong would probably meet with death soon. He put comradeship above his own life and didn't think of the dangers facing him in the future. When the crowd saw him so daring, they secretly admired him.

    Zu Qianqiu, Ji Wushi, Blue Phoenix, Huang Boliu, and other people came forward one by one and toasted him. Linghu Chong drank his bowl of wines and saw the people coming up to toast him were unending. He thought, "So many friends regard me and Linghu Chong hasn't lived in vain. But why do I have to kill them?" He lifted his bowl and said, "Friends, Linghu Chong can't drink anymore so let's stop drinking for today. When you come to attack Heng-Shan, I'll prepare wine at the bottom at the mountain and we'll get drunk before we fight!" He gulped down a bowl when he finished saying his speech

    The crowd said together, "Headmaster Linghu, a straight talk from a straightforward person!"

    There were also people who said, "After we get drunk, we'll fight a drunken fight. It'll be interesting."

    Linghu Chong tossed his wine bowl on the ground and drunkenly walked down the peak. Yiqing, Yihe, and the other Heng-Shan's disciples followed him down the peak.

    When the crowd was sharing a drink with Linghu Chong, Ren Woxing was smiling and didn't utter a word. But his heart was thinking on how to prepare the three way ambush between Shaolin and Wudang; How to pretend to attack Heng-Shan to lead the experts from Shaolin and Wudang Schools to go and help; How to open one side of Wudang during the attack to let someone escape through to get help from Shaolin Temple; Also, how to do this in a manner that the strategists in the opponent camp do not figure out the plan. When Linghu Chong went down the mountain, all the plans on destroying Wudang and subduing Shaolin had more or less been formed in his heart. He also thought, "These chaps actually dared to toast that little kid in front of me. This debt will be settled slowly. I'm going to use them for now and not do anything for now. Wait until Shaolin, Wudang, and Heng-Shan Schools are destroyed, then everyone who toasted Linghu Chong today won't have a good fate."

    Suddenly he heard Xiang Wentian said, "Everyone hear me: Sacred Chief knows Linghu Chong is stubborn and doesn't take *** kissing (I can’t think of a better word) but he still tried to persuade him with nice words. Even though Sacred Chief is a broad-minded person and loves a talented person, he has a deeper meaning in doing this that Linghu Chong couldn't grasp. Today, we could've easily destroyed Songshan, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan Schools. Sun Moon Divine Sect, glory to the sect!"

    The sect's disciples cried out, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu!"

    Xiang Wentian waited until their voices died down before he continued, "There's still Shaolin and Wudang Schools in Wulin. They're our sect's biggest dangers. Sacred Chief wanted to use Linghu Chong to set up his plan in destroying Shaolin and annihilating Wudang. Sacred Chief's plan is foolproof and he had the whole idea in his mind already. He had already anticipated that Linghu Chong wouldn't agree to join the sect and sure enough, he didn't agree to join the sect. So we toasted Linghu Chong before just as ordered by Sacred Chief!"

    When the sect's disciples heard this, they all thought, "So that's how it is!" Then they all shouted, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu."

    Xiang Wentian had followed Ren Woxing for so many years and knew what his personality was like. When the feeling of comradeship was roused in his heart, he toasted Linghu Chong. He knew this would make Ren Woxing unhappy, but it didn't matter for him. But when the remaining people also toasted him, it was unavoidable that they would be killed later. So he quickly composed a speech in order to save Ren Woxing's face and to also save Old Man, Ji Wushi, and those people's lives. In saying this, when the people toasted Linghu Chong, they had not ruin Ren Woxing's authority and instead appeared to make him look to have foresighted it. When Ren Woxing heard Xiang Wentian related it in such a way, he felt really happy and secretly thought, "Left Protector Xiang has after all followed me for many years so he knows what I'm thinking. But, even though he knows I want to destroy Shaolin and annihilate Wudang, he still couldn't guess the method on how I'm going to do that. The strategy for this will be revealed step by step, even he wouldn't know of the whole plan before hand."

    "Sacred Chief is so knowledgeable. Everything in this world is already calculated by him," Shangguan Yun shouted. "What Sacred Chief wants us to do then we'll do it, we won't go wrong."

    "Wherever Sacred Chief points us to, we'll go," Bao Dachu said. "We'll go through water and fire, we won't balk a tens of thousands of deaths."

    "For Sacred Chief, dying a hundred thousands times is better than living without purpose," Qin Weibang cried out.

    Another person said, "Brothers, you've all said it. These last few days had been the most interesting days in our lives, we'd been able to see Sacred Chief everyday. Seeing Sacred Chief once gives us strength and refreshes our minds, just like we've practiced inner energy for ten years."

    Another person said, "Sacred Chief illuminates the world making our Sun Moon Sect favoured by the common people, also like the rain coming down after a long drought. Everyone's happy and they're giving thanks."

    Another person said, "Heroes from ancient times till now, the grand heroes, holy saints, none of them is able to reach Sacred Chief. How can Confucius' martial art be as good as Sacred Chief? Marquis Guan is the measure of braveness, but how can he measure up against Sacred Chief's wisdom? Even though Zhuge's stratagem is high, how would he fare with a sword against our Sacred Chief?"

    The sect's disciples cheered loudly and they called out, "Confucius, Marquis Guan, Zhuge Liang, who can compare with our Sacred Chief!"

    "After our divine sect unites the Jianghu, we'll get all the statues of Confucius out of the culture temple and all the Guan Yu's statues out of the martial temple" Bao Dachu said. "We'll erect Sacred Chief's statues in their places!"

    "Long live to Sacred Chief, long live!" Shangguan Yun shouted. "Our child and grandchildren, eighteen generations of our descendants, all of them will follow Sacred Chief."

    The crowd called out at the same time, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu! Long live, unify the Jianghu!"

    Ren Woxing heard his subordinates flattering him endlessly. Although some of these praises were rather fantastical, he thought he could use some of them. He thought, "Some of these talks aren't wrong. Zhuge Liang's martial art is definitely not my match, and when he conducted the six campaigns out of Mount Qi, he wasn't successful at all. So talking of wisdom and knowledge, is he any better than me? Guan Yu crossed five passes and slayed six generals, this is brave. But if he were to fight me alone, how could withstand against my 'Art of Essence Absorbing'? Confucius only had no more than three thousands disciples, while my subordinates number in the thirty thousands. He led three thousands disciples running here and there, and ran out of food and couldn't do anything. I led tens of thousands of people to across the world and go whereever I wish without any problem. Confucius' ability and wisdom when compared to Ren Woxing's aren't that far apart."

    Hearing the cries of 'Long live, unify the Jianghu! Long live, unify the Jianghu!' shaking the ground, the people around the mountain also started to call out. The echoes resounded throughout the mountain. Ren Woxing smugly stood up.

    When the sect's disciples saw him stood up, they all paid their respects by prostrating on the ground. All of a sudden, Peak of Morning Sun became quiet and there wasn't the slightest noise heard. Sunshine covered Ren Woxing's face and his entire body. The majestic looking Chief of the Sun Moon Sect looked like a god. Ren Woxing laughed aloud and said, "If only I could live forever like to..." When he spoke till here, he was suddenly mute. He moved his energy to say the word 'today', but he felt his chest contracting and the word couldn't come out from his mouth. He pressed his chest using his right hand wanting to press down the blood bubbling up on his throat but he felt dizzy and the sunshine dazzled him.

    End of Chapter 39
    Wuxiapedia

    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
    Troll Control

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