Legend of the White Haired Maiden

[foxs]

Chapter 17
Powerful man tempted by the jewels,
Vicious battle in desolate woods,
Demoness crushed by divine power,
A bunch of bandits fall in love.
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Han Solo)

Zhuo Yihang was in a quandary, shakily he walked two steps forward, and then stopped. Yu Luocha laughed aloud and said, "Come, come!"

Suddenly they heard Yue Mingke's voice calling out loudly, "Heroine(1) Lian, hold your hands, hold your hands!" Zhuo Yihang took this opportunity to stop altogether.

Yu Luocha looked up and saw Yue Mingke and an old Buddhist monk rushed like flying toward them. Exerting her chi upward, Yu Luocha launched the stance 'snow rolling over Cangshan'(2), forcing Red Cloud and Green Palm three steps back. With a cold laugh she said, "Yue Mingke, so you are bringing some helpers. Good, let us have another round."

Pressing her sword forward, 'shua, shua!', she launched the 'pushing flower brushing away willow', stabbing to the left toward Yue Mingke, and stabbing to the right toward the old monk. Yu Luocha held nothing back, unleashing the full power of her sword, her attack was unstoppable. 'Swish, swish', the sword moved like lightning and sounded like thunder.

To her surprise, she suddenly felt as if her sword was bumping into a wall of strong energy, which opposed its forward movement; while in her ear she heard, "Amituofo!" She felt like her hand was pushed back. Against her will, the sword was pushed back to a horizontal position in front of her chest, just like one would hold his sword to return a courtesy.

Yu Luocha was shocked; but she saw the old monk put his palms together and said with a laugh, "Amituofo! This is the scenic ground of Mount Ling, where the voice of murder is loathed. Nu Pusa(3), please put down your sword!"

"Ah, who are you?" Yu Luocha asked, while surreptitiously exerting her chi to move her muscles and bones to test the old monk's power.

Suddenly they heard a long whistle; Tie Feilong had arrived. He rushed up the mountain and shouted, "Lian'er, don't be rude!"

Yu Luocha was startled and dropped her sword. The old monk bowed and said, "I believe Warrior Tie is well since we last part!"

Tie Feilong cupped his fists and bowed, "Master Jing Ming, please forgive my daughter's rude and impetuous character."

Only after fearing her foster-father's word that Yu Luocha realized the monk in front of her was the head of the Shaolin Temple, the Jing Ming Elder, who shared the same reputation as the Priest Purple Sun of Wudang. "Uh," she said in her heart, "This old monk truly does not enjoy a false reputation, he is a lot stronger than the Five Elders of Wudang."

Jing Ming said, "After this impoverished one met with Priest Purple Sun and Warrior Tiandu, I again see such extraordinary splendor of sword in Wulin. This is truly brought together by fate. I invite Warrior Tie and his honorable daughter to visit our humble temple to chat."

Yu Luocha was quite happy to hear him praising her swordsmanship. Tie Feilong on the other hand, saw Yue Mingke standing on the side and could not restrain from snorting, remembering his anger over Yue Mingke walking away from his daughter.

"Senior(4) Tie," Yue Mingke greeted.

Tie Feilong completely ignored him, his face bore a wooden expression. Yue Mingke was very embarrassed. Jing Ming was oblivious of what was going on, he said, "This gentleman is Military Commissioner Xiong's Grand Adjutant, and is also Warrior Tiandu's sole heir. His swordsmanship is superb. Along with your beloved daughter, they can be considered the twin jewels of the Wulin world."

With a cold laugh Yu Luocha said, "Maybe his swordsmanship is superb, but his character is somewhat lacking."

Elder Jing Ming was startled, but seeing Yue Mingke was blushing profusely, he knew there must be another story behind it, so he chuckled and said, "Military Commissioner Xiong is at the temple; he had just mentioned you, father and daughter, a moment ago."

"Good," Yu Luocha said, "I just want to return his gloves." Pulling Tie Feilong's hand, they followed Jing Ming back to the temple.

It turned out that Xiong Tingbi, Yue Mingke and his group had already arrived at Shaolin. Not long after they sat down, they heard the commotion outside. Yue Mingke thought it must be Yu Luocha who came to pursue, thereupon he dragged Elder Jing Ming along to stop the fight.

Elder Jing Ming also greeted White Stone, Red Cloud and Green Palm, three priests, and invited them to visit Shaolin as well. But how could Priest White Stone be willing to go? He stared angrily at Yu Luocha and then turned his face around, blandly refusing Elder Jing Ming's invitation by saying, "Pin Dao(5) must visit my sister's residence first."

"In that case," Elder Jing Ming said, "Please bring Ci Hui Shitai along and visit us afterward."

Thereupon their group was divided into two, Priest White Stone, Li Tianyang, Long Xiaoyun and the others went up the Tai Shi Peak; Elder Jing Ming led Yu Luocha and the others back to Shaolin.

Yu Luocha followed Elder Jing Ming entering the Shaolin Temple. As they arrived at the 'Awareness Edification Chapel', she saw Reverend Zun Sheng was chatting with Military Commissioner Xiong.

As Yu Luocha handed over the gloves, Xiong Tingbi laughed and said, "Miss Lian, you traveled a thousand li to catch up with us just for this trivial object, you truly observed ancient custom.”

“What trivial object?” Yu Luocha retorted, “A treasure is more accurate; I was fully depending on it to defeat the Red Flower Demon Matriarch. If relying on martial art skill alone, honestly I am not that old witch’s match!”

Yu Luocha was so frank that Xiong Tingbi laughed over her comment. “Miss,” he said, “If you really want to say thanks, you shouldn’t thank me, but thank him instead.” While saying that, he returned the gloves to Yue Mingke.

Yu Luocha was flabbergasted. While she was still in shock, Yue Mingke said, “It’s such a trivial matter, not worth mentioning at all.”

Tie Feilong stroked his beard and said, “Great benevolence need not be announced, Jianghu people always pay particular attention to clearly differentiate gratitude and grudges. Lian’er, our business here is done, let us take our leave.”

“Warrior Tie,” Reverend Zun Sheng interrupted, “You have just arrived, and are going to leave already?”

“Friendships are nurtured in the hearts, there is no need of lengthy conversation or short discussion,” Tie Feilong replied. Cupping his fists, he turned around and leave, followed by Yu Luocha.

“Miss Lian,” Xiong Tingbi ran after them, “I have something I’d like to talk to you.”

“Please tell me,” Yu Luocha replied.

Xiong Tingbi said, “Within the next few days, a large imperial army will arrive at Shaanxi. Miss, if you don’t want to accept imperial government’s summon(6), you should not return home.”

Yu Luocha laughed aloud and said, “Military Commissioner, Sir, how did you lead your troops?”

Xiong Tingbi understood her meaning, he said with a laugh, “The situation is different, we cannot hold to only one theory.”

Yu Luocha said, “The commander of an army, the first to face the unknown, the last to retreat in battle, share the delights and common hardships with officers and soldiers alike. You are the leader of millions of troops, I am leading several hundreds of outcast female bandits. Although our plight is not the same, in my opinion, we are not different.”

Xiong Tingbi sighed gently, knowing that he could not persuade her to leave the underground world(7); he had no choice but to drop the matter altogether.

After Yu Luocha and Tie Feilong left, Elder Jing Ming asked Yue Mingke, “Listening to that old Tie’s tone, he seemed rather upset with you, what is actually the matter?” Yue Mingke had no choice but tell him everything.

Elder Jing Ming said, “Inadvertently you get yourself into this trouble, you must personally resolve it.”

Xiong Tingbi laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he said, “If you did, I could speak to that Old Tie on your behalf, and perhaps in my capacity, I could also act as your matchmaker.” Yue Mingke was silent, but his heart was extremely grieved.

Returning to Priest White Stone. After he, along with Li Tianyang, Long Xiaoyun and the others saw Yu Luocha’s departure to the mountain, they made a detour around the southern peak and went straight toward the Tai Shi Peak. Priest White Stone’s younger daughter, He Luhua was playing on a hilltop. Seeing her father and big sister came back, she squealed with delight.

“Quickly ask your Auntie(8) to come out,” White Stone said.

Li Tianyang felt like fifteen buckets were weighing his heart down. With myriads of thought in his mind, he walked behind everybody else.

In just a little while, Ci Hui Shitai came out. Li Shenshi immediately rushed forward and called out, "Mama!"

Ci Hui sobbed in extreme joy and embraced him. "Shen'er," she called out, before hastily turned toward Long Xiaoyun to express her gratitude.

Witnessing this scene, Li Tianyang felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. He wanted to say something, but was unable to open his mouth. Ci Hui Shitai did not even acknowledge his presence, holding her son's hand, she busily greeted Red Cloud, Green Palm and the other guests and invited them to enter the temple.

When they were inside the stone-walled room, Li Shenshi raised his head and looked around. "Hey, where is Papa?" he exclaimed. It was only then that Long Xiaoyun realized that Li Tianyang had quietly walked away.

1 The word here is 'nu xia'.
2 Mount Cang in Shandong province.
3 Lit. 'Female Bodhisattva'.
4 Orig. 'Lao Qian Bei'.
5 Impoverished (Taoist) Priest.
6 Imperial government offered amnesty to enemy or rebel soldiers by enlisting them into the army. See also note 1 of Chapter 14.
7 Orig. ‘lu lin’ [green forest, a general reference to the underground/criminal world]. See also note 10 of Chapter 1.
8 Orig. ‘Gu gu’ – paternal aunt.

[foxs]

I have a rather bad news to announce (bad news for me, that is .. ):

Because of his work commitment, Han Solo can no longer help me with the editing.

I have contacted Eliza Bennet and she graciously agrees to continue, beginning with Chapter 18.

The good news (to you, the readers) is that I have enough material to continue regular updates for a couple of months, perhaps more (finger crossed).
So, Han Solo, here's a toast to you, along with my gratitude and my best wishes for whatever you are doing. To Eliza, welcome to the team.

[littleli]

thanks very much for the translation. I am a silent reader of the LOTWHM. was little bit tensed when no updates for a little long time . Now I am eagerly look forwad to it daily. How many chapters are there in the novel ?

[foxs]

Oh no, don't worry, the Lord's willing, I am going to finish this novel. If you have any concern, you are welcome to contact me via email anytime. PM is not the best way to contact me, because I only log in whenever I need to post something. BTW, this novel has 32 chapters in two books ('top' and 'bottom'). Thanks for letting me know you are following the story.
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Ci Hui said, "That kind of Papa, you'd better off without him. Where did you come into him anyway?"

"No," Li Shenshi burst into tears, "Papa is a good Papa. Ma, you must not reject him." Thereupon he told her everything in great detail. Before he even finished, Ci Hui's eyes sparkled with glistening teardrops.

Back to Li Tianyang who was walking out alone. After he walked over half the mountain, suddenly he heard someone's sharp voice calling his name, "Tianyang!" As soon as he heard it, he stopped as if he was struck by lightning. Slowly he turned his head around and saw his wife, with tears in her eyes, flew toward him.

"Ci Hui Shitai," Li Tianyang said, "Congratulations on your reunion with your son. I have no face to stay, I only hope you will take a good care of yourself as well as raise Shen'er."

Ci Hui used her sleeve to wipe her tears. With a sweet smile she said, "Twenty years ago you had the heart to leave us, and now you are going to abandon Shen'er again?"

Li Tianyang replied, "I am very ashamed of the matters of the past. Just let me die in peace, will you?"

With a soft voice Ci Hui said, "The matters of the past have just died yesterday, the matters of the present have just born today." It was precisely the words Li Tianyang told Li Shenshi, hence he knew that Li Shenshi had already told his mother everything. He saw Ci Hui was still smiling slightly. "Also, from this day forward," she continued, "I won't be called Ci Hui anymore."

"Qixia," Li Tianyang called out, "Are you going to grow your hair and return to secular life?"

"You are not an officer anymore, so I am not a Buddhist nun either," He Qixia said, "Don't you think this is very good?" The traces of tears on her face started to disappeared, replaced by a faint blush. Li Tianyang was greatly delighted, he did not expect she would change her mind in just that short moment; a shattered mirror has been put back together(9).

Hand in hand the two of them returned to the temple. Priest White Stone and the others were waiting anxiously, seeing the husband and wife were reconciled and returned together as a pair, everybody was joyful and offered their congratulations.

Amidst the joyful celebration, Priest White Stone suddenly saw He Ehua and Li Shenshi were sitting shoulder to shoulder, looking very intimate to each other; his heart was stirred. He Qixia said, "Gege, I must also congratulate you!"

"What is it?" Priest White Stone asked.

"Please come inside, I need to talk to you," He Qixia said. Priest White Stone fell silent. Without saying anything he rose up and followed his sister to the inner chamber.

"Gege," He Qixia said, "What do you think of Shenshi?"

"In term of both moral behavior and martial art skill, he is not bad," White Stone replied.

He Qixia said, "I am going through this big change, a marriage cannot be forced. Ehua and Shenshi are childhood sweetheart(10), they have been friends since they were little. Gege, we are family, and this will add to the family bond. What do you think?"

Priest White Stone and Zhuo Yihang had traveled together for tens of thousands li, had spent so many days together; he knew very well that Zhuo Yihang did not have any romantic interest toward his daughter. Now that he witnessed the change in his sister marital status and heard her comment on 'a marriage cannot be forced', his face was burning hot and he was unable to speak.

"Gege," He Qixia pressed, "Why don't you say something? Is Shenshi not fit for your Ehua?"

Forcing a laugh, White Stone said, "Meimei, why would you say such thing? As long as the two of them are perfectly suited to each other, we, as parents, will not have anything to worry about."

He Qixia smiled slightly; she called Li Shenshi and He Ehua to inform them about their engagement. Li Shenshi turned silly from delight and called out, "Jiujiu!"

"Silly kid," He Qixia scolded, "You can't even address properly?"

Li Shenshi immediately changed his call, "Father-in-law!" and then kowtowed to show his respect. He Ehua pouted but her eyes were laughing, obviously she was extremely happy.

Seeing this scene, although it was not what he wanted, Priest White Stone had no choice but acknowledge. But he immediately said, "Shen'er, the foundation of your martial art skill is still lacking, you must train more diligently in the future. Why don't you come with me to the Mount Wudang? I am going to ask Shixiong Priest Yellow Leaf to take you as his disciple. Within this last ten years, you only mastered one set of Emei sword technique! Long Xiaoyun's swordsmanship is good, really good, but after all ..." he shook his head.

He Qixia was not very happy, she interrupted, "But after all, he is inferior to your Wudang Pai's exquisiteness, right?"

White Stone said, "I only think that Shen'er's progress can be advanced further."

"If not for Long Xiaoyun's willingness to painstakingly train him, he would still be a good-for-nothing kid!" He Qixia said.

While they were still talking, Long Xiaoyun called from the outside, "Shen'er!"

"Thank you for Father-in-law's good intention," Li Shenshi said, "But to change school, we should consult my Enshi(11) first."

But Long Xiaoyun was actually a very frank and straightforward man, hearing Priest White Stone wanted Li Shenshi to change school and entered Wudang's tutelage, he readily gave his consent. As the other people learned about these double engagements, their delight doubled; one after another they offered their congratulations. Zhuo Yihang was especially happy, he pulled Li Shenshi aside and asked him all kinds of questions. Usually he was uncomfortable in front of He Ehua, but after Priest White Stone announced the engagement, his attitude immediately turned natural; he was able to chat and laugh with He Ehua, his words were also flowing more easily.

Li Shenshi said in his heart, "Turns out this Zhuo Yihang is not bad at all, I have misjudged him before." In Priest White Stone's eyes, however, although the engagement was a done deal, this fact had added another layer of dissatisfaction in his heart.

The next day, Priest White Stone and the others continued their journey south, together with Xiong Tingbi and his entourage. Half a month later, they arrived at Hubei, where they parted ways. Xiong Tingbi took Yue Mingke and Wang Zan back to his hometown of Jiangxia, while Long Xiaoyun headed west to Emei, and the Three Elders of Wudang took Zhuo Yihang and Li Shenshi going up the Mount Wudang.

Upon seeing Zhuo Yihang return, Priest Yellow Leaf again raised the subject of Zhuo Yihang assuming the Sect Leader position. Zhuo Yihang said, “Disciple’s mourning period is not over yet, I am thinking of going back to my hometown and moving the remains of my grandfather to a more appropriate burial site. After three years, disciple will be ready to put on the yellow hat, I will be back on this mountain to listen to Shishu’s instruction.”

Priest Yellow Leaf laughed and said, “By becoming the Sect Leader, you do not necessarily have to be a Taoist Priest. Each of the three generations of your family only have sole heir, how can you be the same as us?”

“Disciple understands the worldly affair, and already considered the matters of this world to be very much pale,” Zhuo Yihang replied.

Priest Yellow Leaf smiled slightly and cast a furtive glance toward the Priest White Stone. White Stone’s face turned red as he said, “After you get married and have a child, it won’t be too late to be a Taoist Priest then. We regard you as our own son, certainly we must find a good woman for you. That Yu Luocha’s temperament is just too difficult to be tamed, besides, she is our Wudang Pai’s public enemy; you must not have any association with her.”

Priest Yellow Leaf, who was not aware yet that his Shidi had given his daughter to another man, stared blankly at Priest White Stone. It was not until that evening, when Priest White Stone asked him to accept Li Shenshi as his disciple, that he finally understood the whole story.

Zhou Yihang stayed on the mountain for half a month. After cleaning up and offering sacrifice in front of his Shifu’s tomb, he went down the mountain. Priest Yellow Leaf was thinking of sending Priest White Stone to go with him, but Zhou Yihang was insistent that he should go alone. Besides, Priest White Stone was not as fond to him as before, so when Zhou Yihang politely declined, he did not insist.

In the meantime, the Ming army, under the command of Liu Tingyuan, was in the midst of massive deployment toward the Shaanxi area to suppress the bandits. Zhou Yihang was stopped and interrogated along the way, fortunately his father and grandfather were high-ranking court officials, Liu Tingyuan was even his grandfather’s junior, so as soon as he mentioned his identity, everybody knew who he was. Afterwards, to avoid further annoyance, he decided that he might as well travel with the troops.

After several more days of traveling, they passed though the Dingjun Mountain on the eastern side of Sichuan province, where Yu Luocha set up her stronghold in the former days. As Zhou Yihang was passing through the foot of the mountain, he saw smoldering smoke way up the mountain, the mountain stronghold had already turned into rubble. Zhou Yihang was greatly surprised, he asked his travel companion, an officer in the army.

The officer laughed and said, “It is not our operation, but I heard that the battle was extremely intense, but it was also extremely fragrant.”

“How is that?” Zhou Yihang asked.

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9 Common idiom used to describe the reconciliation or reunion of a separated couple.
10 See note 5 of Chapter 16.
11 Benevolent master.

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Quick rant ... I feel sorry for Long Xiaoyun ...

[Snapper]

Thanks for the update Fox. Can not wait what happens next. i almost gave up on this translation. keep up the great work!

[foxs]

Thanks for letting me know. It is always nice to know there are more people enjoying the story. I do not remember ever seeing any Liang Yusheng's work in this forum.
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The officer replied, “The mountain stronghold was defended by female robbers. I heard that each one of them was as pretty as a flower, but they fought extremely ferociously. There were several hundreds of them, while we had three thousands fully armed cavalry besieging them. It was only after besieging for half a month that we finally made a breakthrough. From the three thousands fully armed cavalry, the casualties were more than half; but we managed to crush those female bandits’ defense. We took a dozen or so prisoners, all were snatched by those senior military officers. Those high-ranking officers thought their luck was really good. There were three of them who were impatient and were eager to consummate their marriage; who would have thought that on that same night, all three of them were murdered by the female bandits. The rest of the officers were panicked; no matter how beautiful those female bandits were, they were sent to be executed promptly. Haha! Luckily I did not have any share in the operation, otherwise, I might also become a romantic ghost.”

Zhou Yihang’s countenance suddenly changed. “What about Yu Luocha?” he blurted.

“Yu Luocha?” the officer asked, “You know Yu Luocha?”

Zhou Yihang replied, “I heard Wulin friends mentioned her name”

The officer calmed down, he laughed and said, “I forgot that you are an outstanding disciple of Wudang Pai, no wonder your Wulin friends mentioned Yu Luocha’s name. This Yu Luocha has quite a reputation, I heard her viciousness is without equal, she is a bandit queen who kill people without batting an eye. Fortunately when we besieged her stronghold this time, she was not present, otherwise the battle would be more difficult to fight!” Hearing this, Zhou Yihang’s heart was slightly at ease.

The troops reached Yan’an(12), Zhou Yihang’s home was at the suburb of Yan’an, so the troops escorted him straight to his home. The case against Zhou Yihang had already been dropped a long time ago, so the seal on the door to his house had also been taken. His family members had already returned; seeing their young master was home, everybody was delighted. Henceforth Zhou Yihang stayed in his family home, practicing martial art and studied literature, burying himself in peaceful life.

When Yu Luocha heard that the imperial government was deploying the army to the area around her home, she travelled at double speed to hurry back. Tie Feilong opted to roam the Jianghu to look for his daughter. When Yu Luocha arrived at Dingjun Mountain, her stronghold had just been broken-through three days ago, the army had already left. Those several hundred female bandits were trained personally by her; knowing that all of them died in the battle, Yu Luocha’s heart was greatly pained. She drew her sword and struck a rock, vowing that she would avenge her comrades.

Immediately she changed into a man’s garment and rushed toward Shaanbei(13), with the intention of seeking alliance with Wang Jiayin, assuming that the army would attack his stronghold next. Along the way, she saw an endless stream of troops. To avoid trouble, Yu Luocha travelled by night and rested by day. Her qinggong was outstanding, plus she was familiar with the area, so she was able to easily avoid being seen by the troops. In less than four days she already reached Fuxian, which was another day away from Yan’an.

Crossing Yan’an, if she maintained her speed, Yu Luocha would need less than three days to reach Mizhi, the gathering place of Wang Jiayin’s group of bandits of Shaanbei. Yu Luocha was anxious to reach her destination, thereupon as soon as it was dusk, she started her journey. Suddenly she saw ahead of her several riders were also hurrying along. From the back, one of them seemed awfully familiar. Yu Luocha picked up speed to overtake them. Those riders saw a human shadow flitted across by their side like a tornado, they all called out in alarm. One of them lashed out his whip; his movement could be considered very fast, but nothing can be compared to Yu Luocha’s qinggong, number one in the Wulin world, unparalleled in Jianghu. The whip swept out, but unexpectedly it did not even touch her.

“Uh,” that man exclaimed, “Was it a human or a ghost?”

Another man laughed coldly, yet another man said, “There are many strange people in Shaanbei, present days’ highly-skilled warriors, but in spite of everything, they choose the wrong way. It truly is a pity!”

In just that split second, Yu Luocha was able to see the appearances of those people very clearly. Their group consisted of six people, three of them had big stature, with hawk nose and lion mouth, looked like they were not Han Chinese. One rider was outstandingly handsome young man, with a very impressive appearance. The other two wore military officers’ attire. The one who sweep her with the whip was one of these officers. From the way he made his move, it seemed like his martial art foundation was really good, apparently he was not an ordinary character.

But what astonished Yu Luocha the most was the young man riding on the back; looking at ‘his’ appearance and listening to ‘his’ voice, ‘he’ seemed to be Tie Shanhu in disguise! Why would Tie Shanhu mingle with these people? Yu Luocha racked her brain without finding the answer. She thought, “My Yifu(14) goes everywhere looking for her, he worries over nothing. Who would have thought that he ‘wears out the iron shoes looking around in vain, the result comes without spending any effort’! That I can meet with her by accident in this place. Tonight I’d better not hastening along; I want to see what kind of miracle medicine this girl is selling from her bottle gourd.”

Once she made her decision, Yu Luocha quietly slipped into Xian county town and surreptitiously floated into the tower above the city. After waiting for a moment, those riders entered the city gate, Yu Luocha secretly followed behind them and saw them unexpectedly went into the county magistrate’s yamen(15). Yu Luocha was even more surprised. Looking for an inn, she rested for a while.

When she heard the night watchman’s clapper indicated it was the third hour(16), she unleashed her superb qinggong to quietly enter the county magistrate’s yamen. She caught a night guard and sealed his acupoint, asking him where the visitors lodged that night. That night guard was a low ranking bailiff of the yamen, how would he know? Yu Luocha thought for a moment and then asked, “Where does your county magistrate master live?” Naturally the night guard knew this information, which he then told her truthfully.

Yu Luocha said, “I must offend you for a while,” while tearing a piece of that night guard’s clothes and stuffing it inside his mouth, and then tied him up against the stone lion on the corner of the building. She grabbed the night watchman’s clapper, sounded it several times, and walked away toward the direction that night watchman indicated.

The room was still lit, unexpectedly the magistrate had not slept yet. Yu Luocha crouched outside the window, she heard the magistrate talking to his wife, “These several guests must be taken care of really well. Have you sent the maid to deliver those several bowl of bird’s nest soup in crystal sugar yet?”

“The bird’s nest soup is ready,” the madam magistrate replied, “But the two chief officers said they want to rest early and told the bailiff that they are not to be disturbed.”

“Very well,” the magistrate said, “Have the soup delivered in the morning then.”

The madam magistrate asked, “Who is that short foreigner? Why did the imperial court send two Palace Guards(17) chiefs to escort them?”

The magistrate smiled slightly and said, “That young foreigner, I heard he is the prince of some small country in the western region!”

The madam magistrate said, “No wonder those two Palace Guards are very respectful toward him!”

“That goes without saying,” the magistrate said, “That prince is here as a foreign country’s envoy; if anything bad should happen to him, not only the escorting Palace Guards will be severely punished, the commanding officers of the provinces and counties they are passing through will also be implicated.”

“Ay!” the madam magistrate sighed, “This is the time of turmoil and chaos of war, robbers and bandits are everywhere. If he should meet with a mishap within our county’s boundary, how can that be good?”

The magistrate said, “Madame, set your heart at ease, those two chiefs are experts, moreover, there are several thousand cavalry armed force stationed in our county, even robbers and bandits will not dare to act recklessly.”

Although he was saying so, he was actually worried. A short while later the county magistrate muttered to himself, “A while ago I heard it is now the third watch of the night. If only we can pass today, then tomorrow we’ll send them on their way, in less than half a day they will have crossed our border. In broad daylight, there will be the troops along the way doing nothing else than ensuring our peace and security.”

The county magistrate came from a military official family, he had some courage. To his wife he said, “Let me go out to patrol a little bit, it’s also good to relieve your anxiety.” Wearing his saber belt, he went out the room, Yu Luocha quietly followed behind.

12 A prefecture level city in Shaanxi.
13 Northern Shaanxi province.
14 Foster father.
15 See note 3 of Chapter 12.
16 Between 3 – 5 am.
17 Orig. ‘Yu Lin Jun’ – the Emperor’s personal bodyguards.

[foxs]

The county magistrate went toward the western corner. There were several night guards on duty downstairs. Seeing the county magistrate came for an inspection, they stood to salute and reported, “All officers are asleep, Official(18) set your mind at ease, everything is in order!”

The county magistrate looked around and said, “Good, you must be a bit more careful.” Hiding on top of a nearby tree, Yu Luocha snickered inwardly.

As soon as the county magistrate turned his back, like a black cloud flitting over the bright moon Yu Luocha floated gently, swift as a bird she flew toward the watchtower on the corner of the building.

It was pitch-black inside the tower, Yu Luocha crouched down for a moment. Suddenly she heard someone was going up the stairs, the footsteps were very light. Yu Luocha flew up to hide above the horizontal beam underneath the roof. As soon as the person was upstairs, he walked toward a door on the east wing and gently knocked three times. Someone inside the room lighted a lantern. Under the faint light of the lantern, Yu Luocha was able to recognize the person as Yun Yanping, with whom she had previously fought at the Yan’an governmental office. She thought, ‘This person is an Imperial Palace Guard, why would he come here in the middle of the night? Could it be that the imperial government is afraid those two Palace Guard chiefs are incompetent and thus must send reinforcement?'

When Yun Yanping entered the room, Yu Luocha heard the officer inside the room laughed and said, "Congratulations, Official Yun! To be assigned to lead the troops away from the capital is much better than staying in the palace."

"Isn't it the same?" Yun Yanping asked.

The officer inside the room said, "The extra income is considerably more!" This time, Yu Luocha only heard Yun Yanping let out a furtive laughter.

Yu Luocha mused, 'This man is the high-ranking military officer leading the troops, but why does he act like a thief, sneakily coming over here?'

Yun Yanping laughed for a bit and then said, "Currently there is a very big fish needs to be caught, Xiongdi(19) needs to discuss it over with two respected brothers."

"Please speak," both officers inside the room replied together.

Yun Yanping said, "The other day I received the document dispatched by Commander-in-Chief Liu, saying that there is a foreign envoy in transit and assigning me to coordinate the protection. I did not know that the two of you would be the escort. This is very good!"

The two Palace Guard chiefs inside the room were siblings, their names were Wang Tingfu and Wang Tinglu; formerly they were also members of the Imperial Guards, hence they knew Yun Yanping very well. Wang Tingfu said, "Yun Xiong, we also did not know that you are stationed in this garrison. It's just that we are in transit and in a hurry, so I am afraid whatever big fish to catch, we do not have any share in it."

Yun Yanping said, "When I said 'extra income', it is entirely dependent on two respected brothers' help."

Wang Tinglu said, "Would Official Yun care to deliberate?"

Wang Tingfu, however, knew what he was talking about, he said with a laugh, "This big fish may not be caught."

"Why is that?" Yun Yanping asked.

With subdued voice Wang Tingfu said, "We are the escorts, if the foreign envoy is robbed, the guilt is three-folds. Aren't you afraid our family will be executed to the third generation?" While saying that, he made a gesture with his hand slashing over his neck.

They conversed in very low voices that outside, Yu Luocha only heard several intermittent words, but Yu Luocha was a big bandit of the underground(20) world, she had a pretty good comprehension of what she heard. She thought, 'When a foreign prince comes for a visit, unavoidably the Emperor must bestow money and treasure as a gift. This is obviously an enormous business for the underground(21) people. But this kind of 'business', most 'black way' people would not dare to make a move. Who would have thought that Yun Yanping as a General of the Imperial Army would dare to have this idea!'

Yu Luocha focused her attention to listen and heard Yun Yanping said, “Of course I have thought about it, you, two brothers, set your mind at ease. I guarantee you won’t be charged with any crime.”

Wang Tingfu stuck his chest out and said, “In that case, we are willing to listen to your instruction. Please enlighten our ignorance.”

Yun Yanping said, “Right now the situation is chaotic, robbers and bandits are everywhere. We secretly killed these foreign dogs, and then I stab you a couple of times?”

Wang Tinglu was startled. “You what?”

Wang Tingfu laughed and said, “Silly brother, you cannot think this through? We will let Official Yun to stab us a couple of times not on any fatal point. We will say that we meet some robbers along the way, and we sustain injury while defending our charges. Although we will be guilty for failing to protect our guests, but we are injured from fighting; the charge against us will be reduced, perhaps it will even be dismissed altogether.”

Yun Yanping said, “Moreover, we have the support of Wei Gonggong(22), even demotion may not necessarily possible. Hey, what kind of treasure our young emperor has bestowed them?”

“I do not know the details,” Wang Tingfu said, “But I heard Wei Gonggong said that since the young emperor has not ascended the throne for too long, and the imperial visitor is a prince of a faraway land, the Emperor is extremely delighted. He is still childish; in his delight, he recklessly sent them off with the treasure from the inner treasury. I heard it is only a piece of jasper coral, but the value is exceeding one million taels. Wei Gonggong mentioned this with full admiration in his voice.”

“Those foreign dogs, do they know martial arts?” Yun Yanping asked.

“They seem to know some, but they are definitely not martial art masters,” Wang Tingfu replied.

“It’s only that annoying kid?” Wang Tinglu said.

“What kid?” Yun Yanping asked.

Wang Tinglu said, “That foreign prince is also a strange person. Along the way they met this handsome young fellow. When chatting amiably, that young fellow said that the west is riddled with robbers and bandits, the roads are not safe. Unexpectedly the prince readily agreed to travel together, regarding that young fellow as his companion.”

Wang Tingfu said, “Although that kid is young, listening to the way he talks, he seems to be a Jianghu veteran.”

Yu Luocha laughed in her heart, she thought, ‘Since she was a child, Tie Shanhu had followed her father traveling extensively, of course her knowledge far surpasses yours, a pair of birdbrains.’

Inside the room, Yun Yanping gloomily said, “What is that kid’s name? Where is he now?”

Wang Tingfu said, “That kid professed his surname to be Jin, given name Ge(23). They all stay upstairs; the foreign prince and his two attendants at the east wing, that kid in the small room at the west wing.”

“Very well,” Yun Yanping said, “Let me take a look at him; whatever group(24) he belongs to, he cannot hide from my eyes!”

“But don’t beat the grass and startle the snake!” Wang Tinglu said.

Yun Yanping arrogantly said, “The ship will not capsize in the gutter!”

Wang Tingfu laughed flatteringly, “Official Yun is also a veteran of the Jianghu, his qinggong is outstanding, what kind of ability that kid possibly has? Xiandi(25), you are overanxious.”

Yun Yanping showed a faint smile. Outside, Yu Luocha was also laughing in her heart; she laughed so hard that she almost made noise.

Yun Yanping walked out the door. Utilizing his qinggong, he pulled himself against the horn-shaped eaves, and flew to the rooftop, not knowing that like a shadow Yu Luocha followed behind him.

Yun Yanping headed toward the small room at the west wing. He took out something that looked like a crane's beak. In the darkness this thing produced a spark of bright red light, just like a burning incense stick. Yu Luocha was a veteran, as soon as she saw it, she knew Yun Yanping was going to use a lowly trick; i.e. he was going to drug the person inside with the Bird Cry Five Drum Beat Soul Altering Incense, before coming in and looking around.

Yu Luocha was cursing in her heart, "This meandering commander of the imperial court actually dares to commit all kinds of shady businesses of the underground world." Drawing her sword, she was about to charge and kill him, but at the last second she changed her mind, thinking that it would be disadvantageous to create disturbance in this place. Seeing Yun Yanping was about to insert the incense into the window, Yu Luocha flicked her fingers, sending out her school's unique secret projectile, the Nine-star Shaped Needle.

Yun Yanping suddenly felt a breeze and the incense died out. He was startled and quickly looked around while opening his ears wide. But Yu Luocha had already hidden behind the horn-shaped eaves. Yun Yanping neither saw nor heard anything. In his confusion, he lighted the incense again. But as he was going to insert it into the window again, Yu Luocha flicked another secret projectile. Yun Yanping felt another breeze and the incense died out.
-----------------------------------------
18 Orig. ‘Da Ren’ (lit. big man), a term used by common people, as well as low-ranking officials, to address higher-ranking (government) officials.
19 'Brother' in general term, referring to self.
20 Orig. 'lu lin'. See previous footnote (no. 6).
21 Orig. 'hei dao' - black/dark way.
22 Lit. 'father-in-law' or 'grandfather', sometimes also used to respectfully address a senior, regardless of family relationship. I believe in this case it was referring to Wei Zhongxian, Eunuch Wei.
23 ‘Jin’ –gold, ‘Ge’ – spear.
24 Orig. ‘lu’ – road or way.
25 Lit. worthy (younger) brother.

[foxs]

The flying needle was very small, Yu Luocha's movement was swift, Yun Yanping had no idea why his incense was extinguished. After trying for the third time in a row and for the third time his incense was put out by Yu Luocha, Yun Yanping was absolutely horrified and hastily returned downstairs.

Seeing Yun Yanping returned this quickly, the two Palace Guard chiefs were surprised. Wang Tingfu asked, "Has Official Yun found out that kid belong to which group?"

Yun Yanping's face turned red as he mumbled his reply, "He is a master of the underground world of the northwest."

"We also thought that he is a friend of the underground world," Wang Tingfu said, "He must be after the same treasure."

"Have you met any strange event along the way?" Yun Yanping asked.

"Nothing important along the way," Wang Tinglu replied, "Only last night, when we approached this county town, we bumped into something incomprehensible." Thereupon he narrated the incident with Yu Luocha, and then he added, "That person was moving like a storm, we could not even see his appearance, it is truly demonic!"

Yun Yanping was silent for a long time before saying, "In that case, when we make our move tomorrow, we'll offer a share to that kid. If he refuse to cooperate, I have a way to deal with him. I will accommodate two brothers into my troops, I might invite him to join as well."

Yu Luocha was able to hear the last sentences clearly. "Wonderful! Just wonderful!" she exclaimed in her heart, "Tomorrow I will be able to kill two birds with one stone. First I can kill these dog thieves, and then I can monopolize that jewels. Ha! It is truly a Heaven-sent opportunity, I can use it to raise troops under my command. To fight the imperial army, those grey money from the shady business won't be enough. I heard them say that this jewel worth no less than a million. With this kind of money, I don't have to rack my brain on anything else."

Listening a bit further, she learned that the site Yun Yanping and Wang Tingfu agreed upon to make their move was the Wild Boar Forest, which was located some fifty li away from the town. Yu Luocha was laughing inwardly, because this Wild Boar Forest was a renowned desolate and dangerous place. Yu Luocha mused, "The place they pick to make their move is truly a place after my own heart." Thinking that Yun Yanping would not dare to go up and snoop around anymore, Yu Luocha quietly slipped out and walked away.

In reality, that young man in foreign attire was not a foreign prince at all. He was the son of Tang Ma, a tribal chief of an ethnic group spread out over Nanjiang(26); his name was Tang Nu. There were many ethnicities around Nanjiang, each one was independent to each other. After Tang Ma became the tribal chief, he unified the various tribes and formed an alliance, of which he was appointed the Chief. Tang Ma was striving to establish the Nanjiang area as a separate nation, thereupon he sent his son to the imperial court in order to observe and emulate the decrees and regulations, as well as cultural and historical aspects of the 'Zhongyuan Shang Guo' [the country on the Central Plains].

The new emperor of the Ming Dynasty was merely a child, who did not understand the political and administrative system of the various tribes over the Nanjiang area. He regarded the Tribal Chief as the 'foreign king', and thus considered Tang Nu as the 'prince'. By this time, the Ming Dynasty had been declining in power, the surrounding vassal states had not presented any tribute for a long time. You Jiao had not ascended the throne for long, when the tribes spread around Nanjiang sent their emissary with a tribute of Han Xue Bao Ma(27), flourishing and full with jewels, he was very happy. In order to curry You Jiao’s favor, the ministers mentioned the tribes across Nanjiang as ‘a small country of the western region.’ When You Jiao ascended the throne, a large quantity of treasure was bestowed to him. Therefore, although Tang Nu was not a prince, but the fact that he was granted with a jewel was true.

After Yue Mingke refused to marry her; in her anger, Tie Shanhu left her father once again and returned to the west. Along the way, she came across Tang Nu and his entourage. Although Tie Shanhu was young, her experience was vast. As soon as she saw him, she knew that Tang Nu was carrying valuable gold, pearls and other jewels. Tie Shanhu was a stubborn girl; when she continued her journey west, an idea came into her mind. She wanted to be like Yu Luocha, to be the leader of a band of bandits. Therefore, she meant to plunder these valuable jewels.

Early in the morning the next day, Wang Tingfu and his brother continued escorting Tang Nu and his company going out the town. After traveling for a while, they left the major road and traveled along a small side lane. Tang Nu felt strange, but Wang Tingfu said, “If we take the major road, it would be difficult for us to reach Ganquan(28). Besides, there is a large army stationed all over the county, the bandits are hiding their presence. By taking a shortcut through this small path, we will cut our travel time considerably.”

Tang Nu was not familiar with the road, and he thought what he heard was reasonable, thereupon he let them lead the way. Tie Shanhu knew that day was the day, hence she quietly increase her alertness.

The farther they traveled, the more rugged the terrain was. Shortly before noon, they reached a dense forest. The mountainous path across the forest was only about five chi(29) wide, barely enough for the riders to ride in single file. Lining the path were briars and climbing plants; it looked very desolate.

“Let’s take rest in here for a while,” Wang Tingfu said. Without waiting for Tang Nu’s permission, he dismounted his horse. Surprisingly, Tang Nu agreed and also dismounted his horse.

Tie Shanhu chuckled and sneered. Wang Tingfu said, “Jin Xiongdi, a bowl of water, we have to drink together!”

Tang Nu asked in astonishment, “What water?”

The Wang brothers laughed out loud, as from the other side of the mountain road two riders were dashing near, one of them being Yun Yanping, who was now wearing a civilian clothes, not the military officer's attire anymore.

Tie Shanhu shouted, "These men are robbers who'd kill for your money!" while pulling up a dark green jade flute and attacked Wang Tingfu's waist.

Wang Tingfu turned around and counterattack with a palm, while cursing, "Ungrateful lowly thing! In goodwill we kindly offer you a share, yet you are ungrateful; you want to monopolize it?"

Tie Shanhu brandished her jade flute repeatedly, using it to seal acupoints just like a judge-pen(30), forcing Wang Tingfu to parry without giving him any opportunity to counterattack.

Tang Nu was greatly shocked. He suddenly realized what was happening, with a roar he pounced on Wang Tinglu head-on. Wang Tinglu drew the saber hanging on his waist and chopped down. Who would have thought that Tang Nu was well-versed in wrestling technique; he reached out and suddenly grabbed and twisted Wang Tinglu's wrist. His two companions were renowned powerful men of Nanjiang, they pulled their iron hammers out and launched a converging attack, as swift as a thunder. Wang Tinglu's martial art skill was rather weak, because his wrist was grabbed by Tang Nu, he could not defend himself; as the two powerful men of Nanjiang struck together, his skull was dashed and his brain burst out, he died a violent death.

Yun Yanping arrived quickly and leaped down from his horse. The two powerful men of Nanjiang brandished their weapons to meet the enemy. Yun Yanping was skilled in 'rou gong'(31), which was a mystic skill of Tibetan Buddhists; he loosened his belt and brandished it, creating a swooshing noise. As soon as the iron hammer arrived, the belt coiled around it, and Yun Yanping pulled it gently. The basic principle of 'rou gong' was identical to Taijiquan(32), which was borrowing strength to attack strength, or 'four liang(33) moving a thousand jin(34)'. These two powerful men of Nanjiang did not understand the mystery of the Central Earth's(35) martial art, because their iron hammers were completely under the enemy's control, one after another the weapons were easily grabbed by Yun Yanping. With a wild laughter Yun Yanping twisted his body around, which brought the two powerful men to roll around and were thrown down the rocky canyon below. Their bodies flew in the air and their blood splattered all over the desolate forest.

In the meantime, Tie Shanhu and Wang Tingfu were engaged in a fierce close combat. Wang Tingfu's martial art skill was much stronger than his younger brother's, he was trained in a very tight defense that even the wind and the rain could not pass through. But Tie Shanhu's acupoint sealing technique with her jade flute was her family legacy, which she mastered completely. It could be used with a judge-pen, or could be combined with the Five-Element Sword style. Although her strength was rather lacking, her moves were mysterious.

Yun Yanping called out, "Go and deal with the foreign dog, I'll deal with this kid." His belt suddenly made a whooshing noise as it struck down on the top of Tie Shanhu's head.

26 The area south of Xinjiang.
27 Precious horse with blood sweats, the same horse Guo Jing had in Eagle Shooting Hero.
28 A place in Shaanxi.
29 1 chi is approximately 1 foot (1/3 of a meter).
30 Also known as 'Scholar's brush', see note 2 of Chapter 4.
31 Lit. 'soft or flexible skill/power'.
32 Tai Chi Fist.
33 1 liang is approximately 50 grams.
34 1 jin (or catty) is approximately 1 lb or 0.5 kg.
35 Orig. 'zhongtu'.

[foxs]

After seeing Tie Shanhu 's movement, Yun Yanping felt that although her acupoint sealing technique was marvelous, her overall martial art skill was not too excellent. Recalling what happened last night, he felt it was really strange. He thought, 'If I knew this kid's martial art is only mediocre, I did not need to invite Er Ge(36) to come along.'

Tie Shanhu brandished her flute to meet the enemy head-on. After fighting for more than a dozen stances, suddenly from among the thick forest trees came the sound of a loud whistle, then from either side of the forest dozens of strong-looking men came forth. Tie Shanhu panicked. Yun Yanping's belt was coiling and twisting like a proud dragon. Sweeping and coiling, it swept Tie Shanhu's fur cap down, revealing her beautiful hair.

Yun Yanping was taken aback. "Ha! Tie Shanhu, it is you!"

Tie Shanhu said, "Since you know it is me, why don't you get lost?"

Yun Yanping looked around; he laughed and said, "That thief father of yours, he did not come? Ha, what kind of hot air are you blowing?" Sweeping his belt, he wanted to snatch Tie Shanhu's jade flute.

About the two group of strong-looking men coming out of the forest, they were renowned bandit leaders of the north and the south, who, for the sake of robbing money and jewels, would not hesitate to risk the danger of imperial army all around them and had been shadowing their victims into this forest. The northern group of bandits were under the leadership of Guo Tianxing and Jiu Jieli; they arrived first and saw an old man with a long floating beard, with a three-foot long pipe in his hand, puffing tobacco smoke from his mouth.

"Are you a friend of the same way?" Guo Tianxing asked sternly.

The old man did not respond, he waited until those two men come near and then suddenly his iron pipe swept horizontally with a stance ‘Smoke Signal Dances Three Times’, simultaneously parrying Guo Tianxing’s meteor and Jiu Jieli’s nine-section whip(37), while he thrust his hand out. ‘Thud!’ Guo Tianxing fell down on the ground. Jiu Jieli’s movement was light and nimble, he circled around toward the old man’s back and swept his whip. To his surprise, it was as if that old man had eyes on his back, his hand struck backward and hit Jiu Jieli’s thigh bone. Jiu Jieli let out a blood-curling scream as his leg bones were shattered and he fell on the ground, bawling wildly.

This old man was the helper Yun Yanping invited, his name was Rong Yidong, he was a good friend of Ying Xiuyang. When Ying Xiuyang was dealing with Yu Luocha on the Mount Hua's peak with the 'Seven Greats Formation', the one Ying Xiuyang was waiting for was him. Later on, because he did not show up, Zheng Hongtai dragged Zhuo Yihang along to make up the number(38). It was quite a disappointment to Ying Xiuyang, who often said that if Rong Yidong was able to come that night, Yu Luocha would have been killed early on by their combined effort. For this reason, it was obvious that Rong Yidong's martial art skill was, by any means, weak!

When the group of bandits saw how fierce Rong Yidong was, they were shocked. While they were still thinking of what to next, suddenly they heard Rong Yidong laughed aloud and said, "Stinky robbers, you'd better surrender!" With a long whistle from his throat, from all around the forest came shouts and yells, as more than a hundred strong soldiers, each one wearing full-body armor, suddenly appeared, with pulled bows in their hands, ready to shoot.

It turned out that Yun Yanping had already anticipated the possibility of robbers, therefore, he assigned his trusted elite troops to set up an ambush in this place. Instantly the group of robbers was surrounded in the middle; apparently they were ready to make their move.

In the meantime, Tie Shanhu, who was fighting a strong enemy, repeatedly fell into dangerous situations. Tang Nu was also having a hard time fighting Wang Tingfu, who pressed him hard that he was able to defend himself only without any opportunity to launch a counterattack. Yun Yanping's belt was moving faster and faster, as majestic as a jade dragon coiling and dancing in the air.

In this desperate situation, suddenly Tie Shanhu heard a long whistle in the air, sweeping past the forest heading toward them. In her utmost delight Tie Shanhu cried out, "Yu Luocha is here!"

When he heard the words 'Yu Luocha', Yun Yanping was like a mouse hearing the sound of a cat; his hands suddenly grew weak.

Yu Luocha arrived as quickly as her voice arrived; before anybody could see her face clearly, her sword had already hit the acupoint on Yun Yanping's shoulder bone, and she kicked him to the side. Tie Shanhu suddenly came near her and in a low voice said, "Lian Jiejie, don't hurt that foreigner."

Yu Luocha only showed a faint smile as she coldly said, "Fine!" Her body leaped up and with a stance 'The Galaxy Hangs Upside-down', her sword's ray made a wide sweep and Wang Tingfu's head flew to the air. Seeing this kind of prowess, Tang Nu was so frightened that he stood frozen on the spot.

Are you wondering why Yu Luocha came late? What happened was: en route toward the Wild Boar Forest, she detected the movement of a bunch of bandits, among which were several bandits from the south of Shaanxi area. It must be known that Yu Luocha was like a Godfather to these bandits; before she established her Ding Jun Mountain stronghold, each time the southern group of bandits went on a raid, they always offered her a share of their plunders. Seeing some of the bandits who used to be under her command in this place, unintentionally she remembered her old ways and secretly tailing them, she wanted to know if this group of bandits was an independent group, acting on their own, or whether they had joined the northern stronghold's bandit chief.

Yu Luocha's sudden appearance had taken Rong Yidong by surprise. By this time the surrounding troops had tightened their encirclement. With one swift movement Yu Luocha managed to grab Yun Yanping. In a loud voice she shouted, "Any of you dare to come closer, I will chop your commanding general immediately!" Those more than a hundred elite soldiers were Yun Yanping's trusted men; seeing their commanding general was captured, naturally no one dare to make any move.

Rong Yidong was not aware yet, that the intruder was the 'demoness' Yu Luocha, whose name had shaken the Jianghu. Seeing Yun Yanping was captured by a young woman around twenty years of age, although he was astonished, he did not panic. Raising his voice he sternly said, "Seizing hostage to make a threat, what kind of hero are you?"

Yu Luocha smiled gracefully while pressing Yun Yanping down, "All right, with only one hand I am going to test you, a great hero! If you can defeat me, I will immediately let your commanding general go!"

Hearing the sweet voice of this young woman, Rong Yidong was even more amazed; he immediately replied, "If you use your hostage as a weapon, you will naturally gain an advantage!"

Yu Luocha coldly said, "If you can accidentally hurt my hostage, you can be considered the winner. What do you say?" This kind of bet was unheard of in the Wulin world. By capturing a prisoner and then accepting a challenge, by causing the opponent to be cautious of not harming the hostage was definitely a great advantage; however, right now Yu Luocha was doing the exact opposite of the norm. Not only she would not use the hostage as a shield, if the opponent was able to injure the hostage albeit accidentally, she would also be considered lost. It was equal to not only having one of her hand tied behind her back, but she had to protect the hostage from injury as well. What was originally an advantage, now had turned into a great disadvantage.

Listening to Yu Luocha's condition, Rong Yidong was both shocked and angered; how many times had he been held in such contempt since he made his debut in the Jianghu?

"Well?" Yu Luocha said with a laugh.

Rong Yidong quickly made up his mind, "Such being the case, it's a deal. If you win, the jewels are all yours. But what if I win?"

Hearing his words, only then did Yu Luocha realize that unexpectedly, what was important to him was the treasure, not his companion at all. She mused, "We of the Lulin world always hold yi qi(39) first, we are far superior to these government dogs."

"Well?" Rong Yidong said.

"If you can defeat me," Yu Luocha replied, "Other than I will release your commanding officer, all the treasures will also belong to you."

Rong Yidong swept his gaze to the group of bandits; "Do you all agree?" he asked in a loud voice.

Yu Luocha burst into a loud laughter; she shed her outer garment away, revealing the embroidered female clothing inside. She also took down the dark green turban covering her head, revealing the golden headband on her hair.

36 Second Older Brother.
37 These two people’s names are actually a reference to their weapons. Guo Tianxing means ‘passing star’ and Jiu Jieli means ‘nine-section wildcat’.
38 See Chapter 4.
39 Loyalty, code of brotherhood.

[foxs]

The southern group of bandits had guessed early on that she was Yu Luocha. Seeing her exposing her real identity as a woman, they all cheered together. The Shaanbei(40) group of bandits was also fully aware of Yu Luocha's fierceness; although they had never been under her command, hearing that she was willing to contend with the enemy, they thought nothing could be better than this. Thereupon they responded immediately, "If you can defeat Heroine Lian, no matter how much gold, silver or precious jewels, we will not even touch it with our finger!"

Immediately the group of bandits formed the inner ring, while the troops surrounded them on the outside. Yu Luocha dragged Yun Yanping to face Rong Yidong in the middle. Tang Nu and Tie Shanhu sat by the roadside.

Tang Nu was still oblivious that Yu Luocha was also here to rob his jewels; he felt very grateful to her and earnestly wished for Yu Luocha to win. "Miss," he said to Tie Shanhu, "I didn't know you possess such an exceptional skill. It amazes me even more that your friend is just like a deity, beautiful and magically powerful. You have saved my life today, I will always be grateful for the rest of my life."

At first Tie Shanhu also wanted to rob his jewels, but after travelling together, she found out that he was extremely kind-hearted, moreover, he was very generous and open-minded. Now she regarded him as a hero of outside the border, hence by this time she had abandoned her intention to plunder his belongings. Hearing his comment, she cried out inwardly, "Shame on me!" Deep in her heart she was afraid that after scoring a victory, Yu Luocha would turn hostile toward him; which would be even more embarrassing.

Only after hearing the group of bandits cheered did Rong Yidong realize that the young woman in front of him was the well-known and terrifying demoness of the Jianghu! He recalled how in the past Ying Xiuyang set up a formation at Mount Hua, and how the Jade Faced Demonic Fox Ling Xiao and the Golden Steel Heavy Hands Fan Zhu lost their lives under Yu Luocha's hands. Thinking of this, he could not help but shivered in fear. At that time he escaped because of other matters, who would have thought that today he crossed path with her again. By this time Rong Yidong's arrogance had completely vanished, his only thought was how to escape alive from under Yu Luocha's sword.

Yu Luocha raised her sword and struck a posture. “Come, come!” she said with a laugh.

Rong Yidong turned his pipe around and swept it with the ‘Li Guang launches rocks’, abruptly moving his weapon like a spear, straight toward Yu Luocha’s lower abdomen. Yu Luocha laughed and with a horizontal sweep of her sword, ‘Dang!’ the tobacco pipe was shaken to the side and sparks flashed!

Yu Luocha’s sword was exceptionally fast, as soon as her body leaned sideways, her sword already threatened Rong Yidong’s throat. Rong Yidong parried with the head of his pipe, but although the sword was clearly aimed at his throat, it change course midway, Yu Luocha bent her wrist slightly, the tip of the sword dropped about three cun(41) down, threatening the ‘xuan ji’ [jade pivot point] under the throat. Rong Yidong was greatly shocked, he stepped back frantically to evade. But in spite of his speedy evasion, his shoulder was still cut by the tip of the sword. ‘Rip!’ his clothes was torn and his blood seeped out. He was lucky that Yu Luocha was holding a prisoner, her movements were not as agile as usual; otherwise, her sword would definitely not let Rong Yidong escape alive!

Once Yu Luocha succeeded with her move, the momentum of her sword did not diminish, she continued with another stance. Rong Yidong furiously tried to evade those two stances. His pipe slanted down, suddenly it struck down toward Yun Yanping who was being held by Yu Luocha!

“Ruthless dog thief!” Yu Luocha shouted. Her body swiveled, her sword parried Rong Yidong’s pipe, which almost hit Yun Yanping.

Rong Yidong changed his tactic, no longer trying to fight Yu Luocha’s sword, the head of the pipe knocked, struck, hacked, and crushed down, all toward Yun Yanping! Yu Luocha did not expect Rong Yidong to be this ruthless that he would consider his own good friend as a moving target! But she had made it clear beforehand that she would not let the hostage to be injured; whether it was ‘accidental’ or not, it would be hard to distinguish. Therefore, she was forced to change her offense into defense. Like a whirlwind her sword formed a tight defense that even the wind and the rain would not be able to penetrate, like a majestic silver rainbow protecting both her and Yun Yanping’s entire bodies.

The situation abruptly changed, Rong Yidong’s martial art skill was not inferior to Ying Xiuyang’s, the iron tobacco pipe could be used as both a spear and an acupoint-sealing device. Surprisingly he dared to use offense as his defense by strenuously entangled Yu Luocha in a close combat.

“Lian Jiejie!” Tie Shanhu called out, “This dog thief is heartless enough to harm his own friend, why would you care about him?”

But Tang Nu said, “This Heroine will keep her words(42), she is really, really respectable!”

As Yu Luocha was engaged in a fierce combat with Rong Yidong, the troops slowly moved forward. Suddenly the bugle sounded, long and slow. Another group of army, in full battle gear, appeared in the forest!

"Imperial Army, listen up!" Yu Luocha called out, "We are having a one-on-one combat here, if you dare to move your sabers and spears, don't blame me of not keeping my words!"

As expected, Yun Yanping's troops immediately turned around, wanted to advise those cavalry in full battle gear not to come closer. Rong Yidong was secretly astonished, he knew that Yun Yanping intentionally did not let the entire army know, he only selected about a hundred of the most reliable and most trusted of his personal troops to go into the forest and set up the ambush. How could this group of cavalry come over here in full battle gear?

Among the incoming troops was a young general riding on a big and tall horse, he looked very impressive. Yun Yanping's second in command did not recognize this young general, he shouted sternly, "The incoming cavalry, which battalion do you belong to?"

The young general replied sternly, "What are you rebel troops doing here? Quickly follow me back to the city." 'Crack!' and an arrow suddenly flew toward Yun Yanping's second in command and killed him instantly! The rest of Yun Yanping's troops was thrown into confusion, they turned their backs against the surrounding cavalry and all ran into the forest!

Yu Luocha looked around in full alert. Every act and every move of that young general did not evade her eyes. She was amazed. "How can there be such a heroic character in the imperial army?" she mused.

Seeing the situation had changed, Rong Yidong panicked. 'Shua, shua!' Yu Luocha brandished her sword to strike the body of the pipe. Rong Yidong leaped up and kicked Yun Yanping's head, which was hanging down. Yu Luocha let out a long whistle, her body suddenly also flew up. Rong Yidong's kick hit the empty air, hastily he pulled his pipe to protect his head, but how could he protect himself? With her left hand Yu Luocha lifted Yun Yanping high in the air, suddenly her sword hacked down. The iron pipe was jolted to the side, while Rong Yidong's head was chopped in two halves by the sword!

Yu Luocha laughed aloud and said, "Come and see! Do you see any scar on his body?" There was not any bandit who did not shiver in fear.

Yu Luocha was about to turn around to get the treasures when she suddenly saw the young general urging his horse her way. The northern Shaanxi bandits stood on either side with hands by their sides to show respect.

The young general shouted, "Who dare to move without authorization?"

Yu Luocha felt very strange, she did not know who was the leader of these northern bandits, nor did she know why they were obeying the order of an imperial army's officer. In her heart she was angry; raising her sword in front of her body she sternly asked, "Who are you?"

She noticed that the pupil of the eyes of that young general were very bright, his gaze was exceptionally sharp. Even someone like Yu Luocha, who used to kill people without batting an eye, also felt that he was one of a kind awe-inspiring, intimidating type of man. "Hooray!" Yu Luocha inwardly cheered, "This time I meet a worthy adversary."

Taking a step forward, the young general asked, "You must be Yu Luocha? Fortunate meeting, fortunate meeting!”

Such is: A peerless hero comes out, the world altogether admire whole-heartedly.

40 Northern Shaanxi province.
41 1 cun is approximately 1 inch (1 thumb).
42 Orig. shuo yi bu er - ‘say one not two’.

[foxs]

Chapter 18
Unjust verdict destroys the Great Wall
Rising general shaken loose
Painstakingly protecting friendship
The sword aura soars to the sky.
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)

Yu Luocha laughed aloud, "So you know me, huh? An army officer coming across me is the same as a little demon coming across Yan Wang(1)!" She pointed her sword toward him. The young general chuckled. The northern group of bandits' countenances changed, they pulled out their weapons, ready to defend the young general.

The southern group of bandits called out, "Heroine Lian, this is young ... young ..."

The young general repeatedly shook his hand; he said, "We are all of the same side, everybody relax." In a low voice he addressed Yu Luocha, "Heroine Lian, I am the young Chuang Wang, Li Zicheng(2). Gao Yingxiang is my(3) Jiujiu. Please come with me to that tree over there so we can speak for a little while."

Yu Luocha was startled; not because of the name 'Li Zicheng', because at that time Li Zicheng had not had any reputation. Wang Jiayin was one of the thirty six major leaders of the western bandits. Gao Yingxiang was Wang Jiayin's assistant, while Li Zicheng was nothing more than a leader of one of Wang Jiayin's groups of bandits. However, Yu Luocha was amazed exactly for this very reason, i.e with his 'status' at that time, Li Zicheng was able to make the group of bandits to submit to him in awe.

Yu Luocha asked for a horse and then together with Li Zicheng they galloped further into the forest. Yu Luocha asked, "Are Wang Jiayin, father and son, well?"

"Old Chief Wang has fallen in the battle, presently my Jiujiu, Gao Yingxiang is taking the lead," Li Zicheng replied, "Wang Zhaoxi, husband and wife, along with Bai Min are in the militia."

Yu Luocha felt a pang of pain in her heart, she did not expect that in just one short year since she left Shaanxi, there would be this big of a change. She asked, "In that case, do you know anything about troops under my command? Is it true that they were all killed by the imperial army? And why do you disguise yourselves as imperial troops?"

Li Zicheng replied, "Liu Tingyuan deployed two hundred thousand troops of four provinces, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi, to besiege us. Each one of the families of our brethren was shattered into pieces and scattered to all directions. Last month we braved a great danger by having a general assembly in Mizhi(4), from thirty-six leaders, only thirty-three showed up. Not one of your group and the brethren of Shen Yiyuan's group showed up. I heard your group has broken the siege and escaped into Sichuan, but compared to the other groups, your loss cannot be considered the gravest. Last month Zhang Xianzhong from Sichuan came to Mizhi, he said that around Guangyuan(5) and Zhaohua he discovered a group of women's corps. He wanted to send people to make contact, but was hindered by the imperial troops. You might want to go there to look for them."

The general assembly of the thirty-six rebel armies in Mizhi was a major event, Li Zicheng's title of 'Xiao Chuang Wang'(6) came from this assembly. What happened was that after the death of Wang Jiayin, the warriors of the Lulin pushed Gao Yingxiang to be the chief. Gao Yingxiang’s ability and insight were only average, he relied heavily on Li Zicheng in almost everything. After they achieved two victories, the situation was a bit more peaceful.

During the great assembly in Mizhi, because each of the chiefs had a ‘King’ title, such as ‘Crossing the Sky King’, or ‘Across Generation King’, or ‘Rock Bottom King’, and so on, all kinds of weird titles, while Gao Yingxiang as the new chief had not had any ‘King’ title, the troops under his command wanted to pick a title for him. After discussing noisily for half a day, they were still unable to draft a suitable title.

At that time Li Zicheng said with a laugh, “Currently we are breaking through one step at a time, where we are breaking through, nobody knows. If everybody does not summon any courage, perhaps we cannot even break through to Shaanxi, but if everybody disregards life and death, fortune and disaster, working together with all our hearts and souls to move forward to break through, it won’t be hard even if we want to break through to Beijing. Right now the most important thing for us is to break through, break through, break through! Whether we have a ‘King’ title or not, whatever ‘King’ title we pick, I personally think it does not make any difference. We don’t have to adhere strictly to the dead letter of the title, it’s just a waste of our spirit!”

As he finished his speech, the crowd of warriors clapped and cheered, such a thunderous applause! As if by prior agreement, they all yelled, “Roaming King(7), Roaming King! This ‘King’ title is very appropriate!”

From this time on, Gao Yingxiang would be called ‘The Roaming King’, while Li Zicheng was called ‘Young Roaming King’, until later when Gao Yingxiang died in the Battle of Tongguan(8), Li Zicheng officially inherited the title ‘The Roaming King’.

Back to Yu Luocha who was listening to the news of her troops’ whereabouts, she immediately wished she could grow wings and flew to Chuanxi(9). She thought, “This Young Roaming King is such a character, I’d better divide the treasure with him equally.”

Just as she was about to speak, Li Zicheng said, “Heroine Lian, I want to ask you a favor.”

“What is it?” Yu Luocha asked.

Li Zicheng said, “This bunch of jewels, we must not touch even the least bit!”

“What?” Yu Luocha said, “Didn’t you come here for the treasure too?”

Li Zicheng said with a laugh, “At first I wanted to plunder it, but now I have investigated clearly, this bunch of jewels must not be touched!"

Yu Luocha said, "We fear neither the Heaven of the Earth, even the Emperor's son we will rob, why must we not rob this man?"

Li Zicheng laughed again. "Heroine Lian," he said, "Robbing the Emperor is all right, but as soon as it is in this man's hand, it is not all right to rob."

"Why is that?" Yu Luocha asked, "Would you enlighten me?"

Li Zicheng dismounted his horse and beckoned Yu Luocha to do the same. Together they sat on the ground and then he seriously said, "The threat to our China from the Manchus is very urgent, the situation over at the border in very tense. I believe you are already aware of this fact!"

Yu Luocha asked, "What does the matter of border defense have to do with this bunch of jewels?"

"Hear me first," Li Zicheng said, "Previously I did not know who this foreigner was, therefore, I was thinking of plundering his jewels to finance our troops. Now I know that he is the son of Tang Ma, the great tribal chief of the tribes scattered over the Nanjiang. Tang Ma is the leader of the Nanjiang's tribes' alliance, if his son is murdered and the jewels robbed, he would definitely hold the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty accountable. Perhaps he would even send troops for revenge. If that happens, with northwest and northeast are threatened by foreign invasion, that kid You Jiao would not be able to handle it!"

Yu Luocha was silent, for a moment she could not think of anything to say. Li Zicheng continued, "Although we are also opposing the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, if foreign people invade, we would rather join hands with the imperial army to resist the foreign invasion. Don't you agree?"

Yu Luocha nodded. Li Zicheng said, "Therefore, we must not open the border for the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It's a pity that this kid You Jiao has a smeared shed and leaking roof(10), brave when dealing with his own people, but timid against the foreigners. He ordered a massive deployment of troops to strike us, but neglecting the border defense, even such an able general like Xiong Tingbi has been recalled."

Yu Luocha was unconsciously convinced, she felt that Li Zicheng's insight was broad, his knowledge and experience were vast, he truly was a man of exceptional quality. She laughed and said, "Too bad that while you are making plans for him, he is sending his troops to beat you."

"That's his business," Li Zicheng said.

Yu Luocha laughed, "It seems to me that the Ming Dynasty cannot resist the Manchus. Why don't you take the opportunity to quickly strike Beijing while the Manchu troops have not crossed the Great Wall? If you become the emperor, won't we be unafraid of the Manchu's invasion?" she asked.

Li Zicheng laughed aloud and said, "Everybody can become the emperor, if I can preserve the divine land(11), it doesn't matter whether I become the emperor or not."

1 Yama, King of Hell, King of the underworld.
2 Li Zicheng was a real historical character, the leader of peasant rebellion at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he called himself 'The Roaming King', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Zicheng
3 Orig. 'an', showing that he was from northern China.
4 A place in Shaanxi province.
5 A prefecture level city in Sichuan.
6 Young Roaming King.
7 The character ‘Chuang’ (闖) means to rush / to charge / to dash / to break through / to temper oneself (through battling hardships). The dictionary and Wikipedia list ‘The Roaming King’ as Li Zicheng’s title, however, I think ‘break through’ is more appropriate to be used in his speech.
8 Another place in Shaanxi.
9 Western Sichuan.
10 Not sure what this is - 棚涂透顶
11 Orig. 'Shen Zhou' - the old name for China.

[Snapper]

Thank you for the continued updates Fox. Keep up the good work.

I wonder when is Zhuo Yihang going to show up again?

[foxs]

Soon, soon ... and I mean it.
------------------------------------

Listening he said those words with ease, Yu Luocha also laughed in spite of not wanting to. She thought, 'In the midst of the most dangerous disaster, this man still has such an ambition. Not only that, he would rather let go the treasures worth more than a million to pay his troops in favor of hardship. This kind of aspiration, even Xiong Tingbi cannot compare with him. He seems to be a material for the monarch; what he said just now obviously was not a joke.'

Li Zicheng added, "Therefore, my dressing up as an imperial officer is also for the sake of the greater matter. Tang Nu was robbed by the Palace Guards chiefs, sent by the Ming Dynasty, who were supposed to escort him; what a scandal! Later when you talk with him, tell him that those people were rebel soldiers; luckily the imperial court found out about it and promptly sent me to eliminate the rebellion. The imperial court is determined to escort him back to Nanjiang safely.”

Yu Luocha’s eyes shone, she said with a laugh, “Marvelous, marvelous! I submit to you! I did not expect that while running for your own life, you are still willing to shoulder this burden. In that case are you determined to send people to escort him back home?”

Li Zicheng laughed and said, “With us escorting him back home, it will be a lot more effective than that kid You Jiao sending people to escort him. From here to Gansu is not too far, when we get to Gansu we will re-enter Qinghai, and that is as far as the power of the military can reach, so we don’t have to worry over such an army officer like Yun Yanping to have some strange idea.”

“Very well,” Yu Luocha said, “I will talk to him.”

Li Zicheng chuckled again and said, “About this Yun Yanping, I ask you to lend him to me.”

“What use do you possible have over a dog thief like him?” Yu Luocha asked.

Li Zicheng laughed. “Even trash can still be used, let alone someone like him,” he said, “Our brotherhood has been oppressed by the imperial army without being able to vent our anger. I want to use him to help me have a victorious battle, to frustrate their spirit, to disrupt their concentration. And then we can retreat in peace.”

“Ah, I understand,” Yu Luocha said, “You want to use him to gain entry to the city by deception, to attack and occupy the county town. All of you are wearing the imperial army uniforms and have their commanding general with you so the guards defending the city certainly will be fooled. No wonder you collected that many imperial army uniforms.”

Back to Tang Nu. When he saw Yu Luocha and Li Zicheng galloped their horses into the forest, he was greatly puzzled. “What are they doing?” he asked Tie Shanhu.

Tie Shanhu was equally baffled. “Perhaps they are talking about how to handle those rebel troops,” she said.

The bandits and their sergeants were scattered around in a big circle with their eyes gazing intently toward their prisoners. Tie Shanhu felt rather uneasy. Tang Nu went down to get his companions and had the bodies cremated according to their custom. After the cremation, he collected the bones to be brought back to their homeland.

Tie Shanhu noticed Tang Nu had tears in his eyes, she supposed his heart was filled with grief and indignation. Although outwardly Tie Shanhu looked unbending, her heart was actually quite compassionate. She mused, ‘These men came from ten thousand li away, they died in a strange land, their parents do not even know; it is truly an unworthy death.’ Seeing Yu Luocha and that young general return on their horseback, she was even more fidgety.

When he was back on the open space, Li Zicheng jumped down the horse and had some discussion with the northern group of bandits, while Yu Luocha walked straight toward Tang Nu. With eyes wide open Tie Shanhu watched as Yu Luocha spoke to Tang Nu in low voice. A moment later, she saw Tang Nu suddenly dropped on his knees and kissed the ground Yu Luocha had just walked on. Tie Shanhu had followed her father roaming the northwest and knew that it was the highest respect anybody could show to someone else. Only then did Tie Shanhu finally relax. She was wondering in her heart, ‘Yu Luocha kills people as if she is cutting grass, she always wants a part in robbing and plundering. Why is she willing to let off the treasure already in her hand?’

Tang Nu did not have the slightest idea that Yu Luocha had wanted to rob him, he was very grateful to her for saving his life, so he thanked Yu Luocha with the highest courtesy people of his race could pay, while saying, “If one day you visit the north and south of Tianshan(12), you must stop-by and see me.”

In all her life, Yu Luocha had never felt ashamed, but right now she was actually very conscience-stricken. Thereupon she immediately conveyed what Li Zicheng had said earlier.

“So that’s how it is,” Tang Nu said, “China is a very vast nation, naturally there are good people and bad people. We need not mention about the rebel troops anymore.” Accompanied by Yu Luocha, he went to Li Zicheng to express his gratitude.

Li Zicheng finished making arrangement with the northern Shaanxi's group of bandits. Immediately he ordered Gao Jie, an able leader under Gao Yingxiang's command, and his own nephew(13), Li Guo, to escort Tang Nu back to his homeland.

Tie Shanhu did not expect the matter was resolved this easy. Yu Luocha said, "Shan Mei, Dad has been looking for you anxiously, but right now we are in the middle of turmoil and chaos of war, I do not know where he is headed? Why don't you come along with me to Chuanxi? I might make you a female bandit, ha ha ...!"

Because Yue Mingke refused to marry her, Tie Shanhu was rather upset, she remained silent and did not reply immediately. Yu Luocha understood her heart, she said with a laugh, "That kid surnamed Yue, at first I thought his character was not good, but actually he is not too bad." Thereupon she told her how Yue Mingke lent her the gloves and surreptitiously helped her defeat the Red Flower Demon Matriarch.

Tie Shanhu was both delighted and grieved; delighted that Yu Luocha's misunderstanding toward Yue Mingke gradually diminished, grieved because Yue Mingke broke her heart.

After listening to Yu Luocha, she did not say anything for a long, long time before finally said, "Whether he is good or bad, what does it have to do with me?"

Hearing her voice, Yu Luocha knew Tie Shanhu miss the man she loves very much. To rouse her interest, Yu Luocha said, "The world is full of stinky men! Do you think we cannot survive without them? You come with me to become a leader of a band of bandits. Whenever we fancy, we can always catch a prisoner and throw him over the cliff. What's the use of weeping endlessly?"

"Pei!" Tie Shanhu spat, "I am not that thick-skinned like you are." And then she added, "Who is weeping endlessly? You want me to become a female bandit, I will become a female bandit, do you think I am scared of coming with you?" Yu Luocha was actually provoking her to say those exact words, so that she would not wander the Jianghu alone with a broken heart.

Back to Li Zicheng who had just finished taking care of his business. After sending off Tang Nu, he bade Yu Luocha goodbye. Yu Luocha said, "You said that after taking the county town, you are going to retreat. Where are you heading?"

Li Zicheng said, "Shaanxi is the spine of the world, Sichuan is the Heavenly province, the barn of the world; in the history of mankind, these two places must not be renounced. For the last several years Shaanxi has suffered famine, the people are forced to go into exile. When the time is ripe, it won't be difficult to muster a million people, outside Hanzhong(14) but somewhere in Bashu(15), amassing troops and provision, and then from the west via Tongguan we will fight around Henan province, sweeping from the north to get a good grip of the Central Plains. The situation has come to this, I am planning on establishing my base within the Sichuan border. Qinling has more than 800 li of uninterrupted mountain range, by opening up the wasteland, we can maintain an army. I am prepared to retreat to Qinling, conserving strength and nurturing spirit, to seize the opportunity when the time comes. What do you think?"

Yu Luocha said with a laugh, "I do not have the aspiration to become a female emperor; after gathering my troops, I will become a chief on some mountain."

They bade each other farewell with a laugh. Li Zicheng kept Yun Yanping captive and brought him to deceive the city that very same evening, attacking and bringing the Fuxian(16) under his control.

12 The Tianshan mountain range between Xinjiang and Mongolia.
13 The original word indicates that this person was Li Zicheng's nephew from paternal side.
14 Prefecture level city in Shaanxi.
15 Another name for Sichuan.
16 A county in Shaanxi.

[foxs]

As promised, here is your favorite character: Zhuo Yihang!
----------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Yu Luocha and Tie Shanhu went to find a place in Chuanxi to raise their troops. Tie Shanhu had known Yu Luocha for a long time, she knew Yu Luocha was a straightforward person, so she also knew that when Yu Luocha messed up her engagement proposal that day, it was purely unintentional; therefore, Tie Shanhu did not give it another thought, she treated Yu Luocha as her own older sister.

In the meantime the military operation around Sichuan had increased in frequency, Li Zicheng fled to Qinling, Zhang Xianzhong was driven toward Hubei, his men scattered around Jiangsu and Anhui.

Yu Luocha managed to raise several hundred of female troops. She went as far as the Bright Moon Gorge, located seventy li outside Guangyuan, just over Anju, to establish her stronghold. The Bright Moon Gorge was one of Sichuan's most famous natural strongholds. There was no passable road across the mountain, there were only a narrow and winding road going up high to the sky, lined by wooden slabs and wooden stakes as a scaffolding used by the mountain people traveling along this path. Above them was only the mountain, below them was the Jialing(17) River. The Bright Moon Gorge was actually a valley in between two mountain peaks. An anonymous poet once said, "The natural stronghold of Bright Moon Gorge, its wall reaches up to the sky; birds cannot fly over it, monkeys can only frown; looking down into the valley, white clouds suspended underneath the foot." It was obviously a strategically important terrain. The female troops under Yu Luocha were all as light as a swallow; they were able to come and go from their camp in the Bright Moon Gorge a lot more easier than big, clumsy men, hence it was also not easy for the imperial army to carry out a raid.

Although the Bright Moon Gorge was a very good place, it was isolated from the outside world that even after three years, they still have not heard anything from Tie Feilong. In these three years period, Yu Luocha had heard some rumors that Xiong Tingbi was reinstated as the commander of the border defense troops, yet no one could ascertain whether the news was true. Tie Shanhu missed Yue Mingke, but she had no other alternative.

Three years later, it was already the fourth year of Tian Qi. [Author's note: 'Tian Qi' was You Jiao's regnal name] The military activity in Sichuan gradually subsided that minor peace reigned on all sides of the government. But by the Spring of that year, Guangyuan again suffered famine. Guangyuan had always been the rice producer of the region, but the government authorities extorted taxes ruthlessly, the land property tax was heavy; when the year was good, peasants still had enough food and warm clothes, but when the year was not good, the famine arrived. The previous year Guangyuan’s harvest failed, so this year there was a temporary shortage, thereupon hungry people rioted. Calling together the people of the suburbs, they made preparation to enter the city to rob the grains.

As a part of their preparation to get the grains, the Guangyuan residents contacted Yu Loucha. Yu Luocha agreed to help them. She sent one of her sergeants(18) to the city in disguise as a spy. By evening that sergeant returned and after reporting everything, she said, “The streets are lively today, someone said that a Taoist priest is escorting the bride home.”

“Nonsense,” Yu Luocha said, “How can there be a Taoist priest escorting a bride home?”

The female sergeant said, “I did not know that a Taoist priest cannot escort a bride home to her wedding, but it did look like the priest was escorting the bride; at least that’s what that fellow said.”

Yu Luocha laughed. “What did he look like?” she asked.

The female sergeant said, “I heard the residence said that there were Taoist priests riding horses in pairs going to the west. Approximately there was a pair every hour. I only saw one pair, they look spirited, they wore red Taoist robes, their expression was imposing, looked to me they are no nonsense people. The resident also said that the pair prior to that one was holding a red cloth bundle high above their heads, just like when someone is escorting a bride, the groom’s family would send people in advance to deliver visiting card to the bride’s home. Each pair of horses had a matching color. Only the musicians were missing, otherwise they would look exactly like people escorting the bride home to be married.”

Yu Luocha rolled her eyes. Suddenly she remembered something. “Mmm, time really flies. It’s been three years!”

The female sergeant was baffled. Tie Shanhu asked, “Jiejie, what are you sighing for?”

Yu Luocha smiled slightly. “Nothing!” she said.

The female sergeant suddenly guffawed. “Zhaizhu(19), are you thinking of being escorted to your wedding? Ah yes, the resident said that other than Taoist priests, there was also layman. While most of the Taoist priests are old men, this layman is young and strong, he looks high-spirited and valiant; just like the rest of them, he was also wearing red clothes. There were kids trying to talk to them, but even their eyebrows did not show any smile."

Yu Luocha laughed and said, "Those people are not Taoist priests escorting a bride, they are the Wudang Pai people escorting their Sect Leader back home. Wudang Pai has always been heavy with this kind of ceremony, when they visited Shanhu Meimei's residence to look for their Sect Leader, they also came by in pairs."

"Hmm," Tie Shanhu said, "In that case Zhuo Yihang is going back to Mount Wudang to endure hardship. Those several Shishu of his are really annoying, especially Priest White Stone. Jiejie, they are escorting the bride, we are going to rob the bride."

"Pei!" Yu Luocha spat, "Nonsense."

Tie Shanhu said, "Didn't you say so yourself? You said whoever we fancy, we can always kidnap? Why are you bashful now?"

"Humph," Yu Luocha said, "You are such a mischievous girl. Do you think I don't understand your heart? Zhuo Yihang and Yue Mingke are good friends, you only want to get information about Yue Mingke from Zhuo Yihang."

When her heart's desire was exposed, Tie Shanhu blushed profusely; she raised her hand pretending to hit Yu Luocha. Yu Luocha laughed and said, "But even if we want to rob the bride, we must wait for another month, because right now the groom has not arrived yet!"

Tie Shanhu put her finger on her cheek and said, "Shameless!" Yu Luocha only giggled and walked away.

Several days later, the hungry people were making disturbance in the county town, rich families and county officials panicked. While they opened their barns to appease the crowd, they also sent a messenger to the province capital to ask for reinforcement. Because the grain supply was limited, every hungry person could only have two bowls of thin rice porridge. But common people were really 'simple and kind', with only two bowls a day to sustain them, they were already 'contented'.

They did not know that the rich families and the county magistrate were double-dealing; when the military strength was insufficient, they agreed on the lowest price to appease the crowd, but as soon as the reinforcement arrived, they were not willing to give even two bowls per person as charity. The day the troops arrived, immediately 'the disturbance was quelled' by massacring several hungry people who dared to raise a clamor.

This had angered the hungry people very much, again they sent for Yu Luocha, asking for help to rob the grain. Upon careful inquiry, Yu Luocha found out that there were about two thousand troops inside the county town. Immediately she agreed to help the hungry people and together they attacked the city in the evening. As luck has it, the Wudang Pai contingent welcoming their Sect Leader was returning to the west that very same day, they were heading toward Guangyuan.

Actually, Zhuo Yihang was unwilling to be Wudang Pai's Sect Leader, but his three-year postponement request had been fulfilled, he could not refuse anymore. Priest Yellow Leaf sent Priest Red Cloud and Priest White Stone, leading twelve senior disciples, to pick him up. Urged by his martial uncles and his fellow disciples, Zhuo Yihang had no choice but to cave in. They started the journey via Sichuan, entering Hubei, and back to Mount Wudang.

The day they arrived at Guangyuan, they saw the city walls were closely guarded, with soldiers patrolling the streets, the situation was quite tense. After discreet inquiry, they found out that it was the 'starving people rebellion'. Zhuo Yihang sighed in his heart, "Outside there is the invader's threat, inside there is the clash of the classes. This Great Ming River and Mountain is unstable."

Wudang Pai had disciples everywhere. Within the Guangyuan's border, there was a Taoist monastery called the 'Qing Xu Guan'(20), which was managed by Wudang Pai people. As soon as Priest White Stone and the others entered the city, the Qing Xu Guan manager welcomed them into the monastery.

Zhuo Yihang did not know that Yu Luocha became an outlaw in the neighboring mountain top. That night the moon and the stars did not shine, it was a typical gloomy weather of a town located on a mountain. Zhuo Yihang was tossing and turning on his bed, he could not sleep although it was nearly midnight.

17 All these are places in Sichuan.
18 Orig. 'tou mu' - ringleader/gang leader/chieftain.
19 Chief, stronghold leader/master.
20 Lit. Clear/pure and void/empty.

[Fighting_Wind]

THANK YOU FOXS! Your effort is very honourable and apprciated. I can't belive I didn't compliment you in so long, you efforts are recognised. I've been looking for that reply you wrote to me but I can't find it I vaguely remember you saying YLC loves fighting and if she ended up with someone they'd fight all day.

Yeah YLC really loves to fight, to the point it reminds me of arrogant shonen heroes XD.

@Someone else's post: Yeah, all the great women do meet cruel fates and love guys not worthy of the, I think it's following the antifeminist role of that time. Society didn't want to accept women as achieving everything and had to punish them in literature to discourage other women from being assertive.

That young general guy doesn't seem like a bad catch. The more I look at it the more ZYH doesn't deserve her. But three years, that's a long time. I feel so sorry for Tie Felong being unable to be with either of his daughters. I rather dislike how he made the female bandits die so quickly through, it was too brief and he could have made it more dramatic. I wish we were shown more Shan Hu and YLC interaction, I adore platonic love.

But I dunno, YLC and ZYH don't seem to have much chemistry? It just doesn't feel right and how their love for eachother is so abrupt.

[foxs]

You are welcome. It's allright, don't feel obligated.

It was Zhou Botong ...

About the 'chemistry', I'll get back to it later, don't want to give you any spoiler. All I can say is: you'll get to read more about these two soon. About Shan Hu, she'll come back in the near future, but not much, I am afraid.
------------------------

Suddenly he heard a light knock on the window, Zhuo Yihang thought it was Priest White Stone, so he pushed the window open. A man in black suddenly jumped in, his clothes were torn, there were bloodstains on his face. Under the weak light of the oil lamp, he looked very dreadful. Zhou Yihang was shocked.

"Zhou Xiong, don't make any noise," that man hissed. Zhuo Yihang looked clearly and recognized this man to be Yue Mingke.

"What happened to you?" Zhuo Yihang asked in low voice. Yue Mingke blew the oil lamp out.

"Yihang," from the adjacent room Priest White Stone called out, "You are not asleep yet?"

Yue Mingke shook his head, he pointed his finger to himself, and then waved his finger, telling Zhuo Yihang not to say anything about his presence.

"I am," Zhuo Yihang replied, "I just want to get a cup of tea. Shishu, you Senior better go to sleep." Stepping closer to Yue Mingke, he whispered in his ear, "This Shishu of mine is really annoying!"

They tiptoed toward the bed, took off their shoes then sharing one pillow block, they talked into each other's ear. Yue Mingke told Zhuo Yihang extremely shocking news!

After Xiong Tingbi resigned from his post as the Military Commissioner of the Eastern Liaoning Province, his successor, Yuan Yingtai, was an incompetent general. The commander-in-chief of the Manchurian army was Nurhachi (or Nurhaci), he led a large number of troops via both land and water to take Shenyang, and then in the next battle they also captured Liaoyang. Yuan Yingtai's two senior generals, He Shixian and You Shigong were shot death by the Jin's army's arrows in a chaotic battle.

[Author's note: By this time the Manchus have not established the Qing Dynasty yet, Nurhachi called himself the Khan of the Later Jin, until Huang Taiji reigned as the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty]

Yuan Yingtai was supervising the battle on the second-story of a building in Zhenyuan, toward the northeast of the Liaoyang city walls. When the city fell, he burned the building down and killed himself in the process. About eighty to ninety percent of the frontier defense of the Ming Dynasty was utterly routed. As a result, Hedong’s Three-River Defense, about fifty strongholds, Gucheng [old town], Caohe [grass river], Xindian [new suburb], Kuandian [?], Dadian [big suburb], Yongdian [eternal suburb], Fenghuang [Phoenix], Yaozhou, Gaizhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and the others, about seventy cities, big and small, were occupied by the Manchurian army; no area east of River Liao was spared!

Going through this major defeat, the Ming Dynasty was greatly shaken. Zhu Youjiao remembered the words of his father, the late Emperor. He decided to bring back Xiong Tingbi, who was accused of misconduct before, and reinstated his position as a senior officer. He sent an envoy with imperial edict to Jiangxia in Hubei, asking Xiong Tingbi to come back from retirement and bear the heavy responsibility as the Military Commissioner. For that, he was bestowed with a sword. However, although it was stated so, the real authority was not in Xiong Tingbi’s hand.

Actually, the power controlling the imperial court in the matter of the Military Commissioner of the Eastern Liaoning was three-sided. The so-called ‘three-sided power’ was, first, the Inspector-General of Guangning County, who held power over the troops, second, the Inspector-General of Tianjin, and third, the Inspector General of Denglai(21). The last two Inspector-Generals shared power over the navy, as well as the Military Commissioner of the Eastern Liaoning’s station, the Shanhai Pass, which was located in between the two administrative regions.

Xiong Tingbi proposed to make use of the full power of the army stationed in Guangning to fight the enemy, as well as the navy under the Tianjin and Denglai to harass the Liaodong Peninsula. This battle was the famous ‘Three-Sided Strategy’ in the Ming-Qing war history.

Zhuo Yihang understood military tactics, after listening to Yue Mingke’s description of Xiong Tingbi’s ‘Three-Sided Strategy’ battle plan, he said, “Military Commissioner Xiong is truly a talented senior general, this strategy involves both offense and defense, I am sure it will work well!”

Yue Mingke said, “Strategy is dead, people are alive. A good strategy without flexible army, is no more than an inflexible army, a whole bunch of troops who wouldn’t obey the general’s deployment order, so much so that the ‘Three-Sided Strategy’ battle plan remains a piece of worthless paper.”

Zhuo Yihang was astonished, “Military Commissioner Xiong is firm and resolute, how can there be troops who would not listen to his order?” he asked.

Yue Mingke softy sighed on his ear, “When the former Prime Minister Fang Zongzhe resigned, he was succeeded by Ye Xianggao as the new Prime Minister. But no matter how many prime ministers take office, all of them would sing the same tune as Wei Zhongxian. Among the three Inspector-Generals controlling the Military Commissioner of the Eastern Liaoning, the Inspector-General of Guangning, Wang Huazhen, has the strongest military power, but he is definitely Ye Xianggao's disciple; he is unwilling to obey Xiong Tingbi's military dispatch. Military Commissioner Xiong wanted to gather the troops at Guangning, but he wanted to spread the troops around to guard various places. Previously Military Commissioner Xiong held command over the troops under Yuan Yingtai, but after the two battles in Liaoning, nearly all of them had perished. With the imperial sword in his hand Military Commissioner Xiong went beyond the Great Wall, recruiting volunteer armies several thousands in number, but the troops under Wang Huazhen numbers in more than a hundred thousand. Military Commissioner Xiong bears the title 'Military Commissioner', but his real power is actually far less than Wang Huazhen's. After going through several frictions, the two of them agreed to have an audience with the Emperor. Naturally Prime Minister Ye Xianggao took Wang Huazhen's side, by manipulating the 'court deliberations', he unexpectedly issued a verdict saying Wang Huazhen does not need to obey Xiong Tingbi's order. Thereupon this matter has turned to the worse."

Zhuo Yihang said, "If that's the case, then the Liaodong crisis is beyond any help. Yet my brother is not by the Military Commissioner Xiong's side, but came back alone inside the Great Wall, what is your purpose?"

A long time passed after Zhuo Yihang asked this question, but still there was no reply from Yue Mingke. Zhuo Yihang only felt coldness on his face, turned out it was Yue Mingke's tears. "What is it?" Zhuo Yihang asked.

Yue Mingke struggled hard to overcome his grief, and then he continued, "Let me tell you the details. Although Military Commissioner Xiong did not have enough troops under his command, as soon as he arrived at Liaodong Peninsula, he still managed to achieve two victories. Not only that hateful Wang Huazhen did not know how to handle the troops, he also underestimated the enemy. The Manchurian's army knew those two men did not get along well with each other, Nurhachi brought his large army crossing the River Liao. Wang Huazhen divided his forces into various regions, indeed all of them were crushed one by one. This defeat was more crushing than the one in Liaoyang. As Wang Huazhen suffered a total defeat, he was still depending on Military Commissioner Xiong personally leading his five thousand troops to cover for him to enable him cross the pass and enter China. The west of River Liao entirely fell under the enemy's force, even Guangning also fell! When Military Commissioner Xiong and Wang Huazhen were back to China, they were arrested by the imperial court. Wei Zhongxian and Ye Xianggao provoked the court; they were united in their accusation. Without really knowing the real situation, You Jiao unexpectedly decreed that Military Commissioner Xiong was responsible for the defeat."

Zhuo Yihang was startled, "And then what happened?" he asked, his face was cold with his own tears.

Yue Mingke said, "Poor Military Commissioner Xiong died an undeserved death."

In his shock Zhuo Yihang almost cried out. Yue Mingke quickly covered his mouth. Zhuo Yihang’s tears flowed like rain.

"Military Commissioner Xiong returned to Heaven last winter," Yue Mingke continued, "You Jiao is truly heartless, listening to Ye Xianggao's provocation, he placed all the blame of the Liaodong defeat on Military Commissioner Xiong's head. As a result, not only Military Commissioner Xiong was beheaded, his head was passed over toward the nine directions!(22) Death was not enough, he also had to bear the disgrace of losing the war. Truly a tragic fate, nothing worse than this! And that Wang Huazhen, he was only charged with a misdemeanor. He was demoted and that's it."

Speaking to this point, Zhuo Yihang could not endure anymore, he broke in sobs. Priest White Stone from the adjacent room called out, "Yihang, why haven't you slept?"

Zhuo Yihang pretended he was having a nightmare. He struggled for a bit, and knocked his legs against the bed board. After a while he said, "Mmm, I dreamed about Shifu."

"Don't let your imagination run wild," White Stone said, "We have to hasten on our journey tomorrow morning."

Zhuo Yihang mumbled his response and then whispered on Yue Mingke's ear, "Just ignore him, please continue with your story. You have an outstanding martial art skill, how did you get injured?"

Yue Mingke said, "After Military Commissioner Xiong died in injustice, Wei Zhongxian sent his people to get me. I was completely discouraged and wanted to flee to Tianshan. On the way yesterday, I met Murong Chong and his men. After a half a day fierce battle, I killed four Imperial Bodyguards and was lucky to escape alive. But that Murong Chong is very fierce, he was on hot pursuit; I ran to Guangyuan, they also pursued to Guangyuan. Taking advantage of the dark, I ran around in circles and managed to escape to this place. Hmm, your Shishu are taking you back to make you the Sect Leader, aren't they?"

21 Orig. ‘xunfu’ – the inspector general of province during Ming and Qing times.
22 I am not sure about this: 结果熊经略被斫了头，还要传首九边! I checked with an acquaintance from Beijing, she is not a wuxia fan, but her understanding of the passage was the same, i.e. his head was shown around, perhaps as a warning to others. ‘Nine directions’ encompass North, South, East, West, Middle, Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for another awesome update Foxs.

The death of general Xiong is tragic. It definitely doesn't pay to be a loyal general for an undeserving dynasty as the Ming.

It's nice to see YMK again. I just can't help but adore him. Love all of his interactions with YLC and TSH and even with ZYH.

It's been 3 years so hopefully ZYH has become a better man and more deserving of YLC. I didn't like him through out the first half of the novel so hopefully he will shine more in the later half.

[foxs]

Zhuo Yihang said, "Their extravagance is already widely-known, I find it really embarrassing."

Yue Mingke took a book from his pocket and shoved it into Zhuo Yihang's hand. "Take a good care of this book for me," he said, "If in the future you meet a great general defending the border with the courage and knowledge like Military Commissioner Xiong, you may want to find a way to get this book into his hands. Mmm, I’m only afraid that somebody like that does not exist anymore."

"What book is it?" Zhuo Yihang asked.

Yue Mingke said, "For the three years Military Commissioner Xiong was at home, he worked on a book called 'The Liaodong Commentaries'. The Liaodong's strategic defense, the enemy's real strength and weaknesses, and how to exploit the troops to achieve success, everything is written inside. This is a book about how to understand the actual situation of the enemy, a book about how to deal with the Manchurians. Wei Zhongxian is after me, I am afraid it is because of this book. You are the Sect Leader of Wudang, no one is more suitable than you to keep this book."

Zhuo Yihang stuffed the book into his pocket. Suddenly there seemed to be some commotion outside. A moment later, he heard his older martial brother Yu Xincheng call out, "White Stone Shishu, someone is here to pay a visit to you, Senior."

Zhuo Yihang sat up and perked his ears to listen. He heard Priest White Stone's footsteps as he walked outside. Yue Mingke said, "I am leaving! I am afraid those are the pursuing soldiers."

Zhuo Yihang stopped him, "We will face difficulty together. If they are indeed the pursuing soldiers, even more reason for you not try to escape on your own."

When Priest White Stone opened the door, he saw Murong Chong and Jin Duyi, uncle and nephew, standing outside. Behind them, in the dark, stood about a dozen or so more men. Priest White Stone was surprised.

Murong Chong laughed and said, "Fortunate meeting, fortunate meeting! Although we have had a tiny misunderstanding in the past, it was not entirely your fault, and we both know it. That misunderstanding, we can regard it as resolved and let's not mention it anymore. But tonight, in your monastery you are hiding an offender to the throne, this is not a minor offense. If you want to stay innocent, please hand over the offender to us."

Priest White Stone was astonished, "What offender to the throne?" he asked.

"It's that kid Yue Mingke," Murong Chong replied.

White Stone angrily said, "How can I hide that kid?"

Murong Chong said, "If that's the case, nothing can be better than that; we don't need to fight the people inside the monastery, simply tie him up and bring him out!"

White Stone said, "I have been in the monastery the whole night, I did not leave this place at all, how can there be somebody coming and I did not know of it? Everybody in this monastery is our Wudang Pai's disciple, there is no such thing as Yue Mingke!"

"Priest White Stone," Jin Duyi said, "Not that I belittle you, but if there is a martial art master coming here in the dark, you may not necessarily know about it. Yue Mingke and your newly appointed Sect Leader are good friends; who doesn't know this?"

Priest White Stone was an arrogant man, how could he endure the provocation? His face flushed with fury, as he was panting in rage, "All right, you may come and search, but if you cannot find him, you must kowtow to me three times!" And he pushed the gate wide open, letting Murong Chong and his men to rush in!

The Wudang disciples in the monastery were all shocked, Priest Red Cloud also went out to meet them. Murong Chong spread his men outside the monastery to guard, he also sent his men to look everywhere inside the monastery.

"May I ask in which room does your honorable Sect Leader Zhuo Yihang stay?" he asked.

Priest White Stone looked around; all twelve of Wudang disciples were present, but Zhuo Yihang was nowhere to be seen; he felt uneasy. But thinking that Zhuo Yihang stayed next door to him, he was certain that if anybody sneaked into Zhuo Yihang's room, he would definitely know about it. Thereupon he said, "I'll take you there. You might want to observe Wulin World's custom."

"Naturally," Murong Chong said with a laugh, "Toward your honorable Sect Leader, how can I dare to show the least sign of disrespect?"

Priest White Stone led them to the outside of Zhuo Yihang's door. He knocked and called, "Yihang, open the door!"

A moment later, ‘squeak’, Zhuo Yihang slowly pushed the door open, his manner was very calm. Standing at the middle of the door he asked, “What do you want?”

Jin Duyi squeezed himself into the room and looked around, but even the shadow of Yue Mingke was nowhere to be seen. Jin Duyi opened the mosquito net and looked underneath the bed, but no one was there.

In a stern voice Zhuo Yihang reprimanded, “Our Wudang Pai is the leader of the Wulin world, how can a guest treat us rudely like this?” He deliberately said those words to provoke his martial uncles’ and brothers’ anger.

Inwardly, Priest White Stone was delighted, “This kid Yihang is not bad, he acts like a true Sect Leader! I must support him.” So he also shouted, “Old Freak Jin, if you don’t offer an apology to our Sect Leader, don’t even think of leaving this monastery!”

Jin Duyi sneered and immediately attacked White Stone. But Murong Chong pulled him back, suddenly he said, “Who is in the neighboring room?”

Priest White Stone was angrier. “That’s my room,” he said indignantly, “So what?”

Murong Chong laughed and said, “Why don’t you invite us in? It won’t be too late to offer you an apology inside. Although Zhou Xiong is the Sect Leader, he is your junior after all. If we want to offer an apology, we should offer it to you!”

His tone was cold and mocking, fanning Priest White Stone’s anger. He jumped and with a palm slapped his own door open, while shouting, “Come in …” The words ‘and see for yourself’ had never left his mouth, because he saw Yue Mingke was indeed sitting on his bed!

Turned out as soon as Priest White Stone left his room, Yue Mingke and Zhuo Yihang had thought of a good plan. Yue Mingke immediately went over to his room, with the intention of dragging Priest White Stone into the turmoil. Jin Duyi sneered. Murong Chong dashed in and threw his fist on Yue Mingke’s face. Yue Mingke leaped down from the bed, his sword slashed horizontally in front of his body. The two of them engaged in fierce battle, the table, the bed, everything was smashed and turned upside down. ‘Crash, bang!’ the noise was earth-shattering!

Priest White Stone was silent. Jin Duyi was trying to grab him. Zhuo Yihang raised his sword to block while shouting loudly, “Shishu, it was them who are rude first, besides, Yue Xiong is also a friend of our Wudang Pai, how can we casually let others capture him?”

Jin Duyi also shouted, “Who do you think Wudang Pai is? You are protecting an offender of the throne, you will bear this crime for the rest of your lives!”

Raising his voice, Zhuo Yihang said, “Shishu, don’t listen to their lies! They fake imperial edict, they use arrest warrants to satisfy personal grudges!”

Priest White Stone did not know that Xiong Tingbi had died, he recalled a few years previously at Beijing they also used imperial edict trying to harm Xiong Tingbi’s life. Yue Mingke was Xiong Tingbi’s most able right-hand man; so it was reasonable that they also wanted to take Yue Mingke’s life. Priest White Stone’s spirit rose, he thought, ‘As long as Yue Mingke is not a real offender of the throne, this matter can be considered personal grudges within Jianghu characters, anybody can help either side. Although I don’t like this kid Yue Mingke, we can help preserve Wudang Pai’s prestige.’ Very soon he could see that Zhuo Yihang was no match for Jin Duyi’s palm power. Priest White Stone mustered his strength and with a sword he joined the fight!

“Back off, back off!” Jin Duyi shouted loudly.

Priest White Stone called out, “The evildoer of the Wulin world, everybody has the right to punish! Eat my sword!” Unleashing the power of the 72-style Sequential Life-snatching Sword Technique(23), he engaged Jin Duyi in a fierce combat!

From inside the room, Yue Mingke and Murong Chong fought to the porch. The monastery was thrown into a total chaos, because Priest Red Cloud, along with the twelve senior Wudang Pai disciples, also drew their swords and engaged the Imperial Bodyguards brought by Murong Chong in a tangled battle!

Murong Chong and Yue Mingke were trying hard to seize the opportunity to kill each other; one's divine fist was unequalled, the other one's swordsmanship was mysterious, which brought them to an exactly even battle.

Actually, Priest White Stone was not Jin Duyi's match, but three years ago, Jin Duyi's shoulder blade was broken by Yu Luocha. Red Flower Demon Matriarch had used the best method to mend the bones and replenish the muscle to treat his injury, and had given him the best medication possible, so that after three years, his shoulder blade slowly grew and he was completely healed, as good as new. However, his original strength was severely affected, moreover, during these three years he had neglected his martial art, hence his skill was far worse than before. Because of this adverse condition, unexpectedly Jin Duyi and Priest White Stone's skills were on par with each other and they also fought an even battle!

23 Faerie Queenie translated this as the ‘72-style Sequential Chain-linking Sword’. The original was ‘qi shi er shou lian huan duo ming jian fa’ – ‘seventy-two hands linked snatching-life sword technique’, hence the ‘life-snatching’ is missing. For this reason, I decide to change it to ‘72-style Sequential Life-snatching Sword Technique’.

[foxs]

The death of general Xiong is tragic. It definitely doesn't pay to be a loyal general for an undeserving dynasty as the Ming.

I have been thinking the same thing, not only under Ming, but under other dynasties, as well as everywhere, not only in China. This is a recurring theme.

It's been 3 years so hopefully ZYH has become a better man and more deserving of YLC. I didn't like him through out the first half of the novel so hopefully he will shine more in the later half.

Might contain a spoiler ...

click to show/hide spoilers

Faerie Queenie did say that later, ZYH indeed redeemed himself, but honestly, I am only a few parts ahead of you, so I have not seen it yet. If anything, my dislike of him grew ... He did not care about YLC, all he cared about was his own 'face'.

[Fighting_Wind]

I have been thinking the same thing, not only under Ming, but under other dynasties, as well as everywhere, not only in China. This is a recurring theme.

NO!!! Commisioner Xiong! ;_; He was one of my favourite characters, I can't believe he was executed and met a disgraceful deaf!

I can't actually imagine Zhou Yi Hang crying though, just can't. Must be because he is a traditional chinese guy or it was too abrupt. I wish Yu Luo Cha got to talk to him before then. Yeah I know what happens to Shan Hu....

I know, Zhuo Yi Hang has no guts. I remember when YLC tried to talk to him but he was too chicken after White Stone called him in. He accepts deafeat too easily, he knows it's difficult for them to be together so its like "instead of fighting for us to be together I will never forget you and stay single for the rest of my life" >.>. It's such a pity that one of the most powerful and dynamic characters in Wuxia history ends up with him.

Yeah I remember in JinYong's Bi Xue Jian (sorry f it's wrong, chinese names are difficult for me to remember) the protagonists father was a great general and due to jealousy from other officials they persuaded the emperor to kill him in a gruesome way. (I think his flesh was bitten off part by part). It's so true, a weak king means the destruction of his country. XD China should have a democracy.