Xia ke xing: Chapter 10 onwards...Take 2

[Abhay]

Abhay, if you'd like, you can go ahead and send the poetry/theory parts you're having problems with to me, and I'll do my best with them. I plan to be doing some translation work this weekend, so I'll just take care of it then

You are God-send....thanks
I was on the verge of starting a new thread and post this chapter in Wuxia fiction claiming its a work of fiction inspired by Jin Yong

[efflix]

You are God-send....thanks
I was on the verge of starting a new thread and post this chapter in Wuxia fiction claiming its a work of fiction inspired by Jin Yong

haha...good sense of humor :P. great work as always!

[kamensilver]

Mods,
there is an indonesian translation for this story and I find it that there was some dialogues between Bai Zizai and Mei Nuzi and a sample of duel of sort between Mei Nuzi sword stance and Snow Mountain sword skill and also with Golden phoenix sabre stance. Is this added later or is abhay's translation the current edition?

[aliderhamy]

Mods,
there is an indonesian translation for this story and I find it that there was some dialogues between Bai Zizai and Mei Nuzi and a sample of duel of sort between Mei Nuzi sword stance and Snow Mountain sword skill and also with Golden phoenix sabre stance. Is this added later or is abhay's translation the current edition?

use spioler tag bro... these are scenes that about to happen in the next translation update .... (im 90% sure form the way that bai zizi is tunting her that there will be fight)

[kamensilver]

uh, sorry but i think it should not be considered as a spoiler though as the dialogue and the action starts from the two guys showing mei nuzi's sword stances and also ends with shi potian saying “Yes, I am bastard (Gouzazhong).”
However, would the mods permit me to post the translated alternative dialogue and action in this particular sequence from the indonesian version? Bear in mind i really do not have the necessary abilities to translate faithfully from the indonesian version.

[Han Solo]

I would prefer if Abhay be permitted to complete his translation himself.

Han Solo

[kamensilver]

okay, roger that. I do think it is better for abhay's translation is settled first. sorry about that.

[Grundle]

Why suggest that you know of a better translation and then say at the end -- "I really can't translate." It defeats the purpose of what you were trying to do. Now I have no desire to read what you were proposing.

As it stands, Abhay is doing a fine job. If you can find a novel in Indonesian that hasn't been translated into English...now THAT.. THAT would be worth your time (and ours).

[kamensilver]

No, it wasn't about a better translation per se as I believe abhay is doing a great job but there was a different take on that particular sequence that I want to mention. As it is, Han Solo did say that it is better that abhay complete the translation first and if there is anything to be added or comment it would be later. again, i apologized if there is a misconception that what i wrote here was a spoiler or a better translation.

[Abhay]

No problem guys, As I said in my post itself...I don't have a knowledge of single letter in chinese so its obvious that I will make mistake. I don't understand some part then I have to skip it or try to give a top level view of whats happening as per my understanding.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to gives suggesions, point out any mistake or re-translate any excerpt. I am always open to that because the idea here for me is to get a good traanslation of these fabulous books which we as non-chinese (as they normally say for us Indian too...non-han...people from western region ) aren't fortunate enough to read.

Consider my translations as just a decent update on the half-baked stuff from babelfish/systran. Don't worry about the IPR et all....Please treat this as a Open source code and use it.

[pannonian]

Consider my translations as just a decent update on the half-baked stuff from babelfish/systran. Don't worry about the IPR et all....Please treat this as a Open source code and use it.

Question: is your translation compatible with Windows 7? Are there any plans to port it to Linux or OS/X?

[Grundle]

Question: is your translation compatible with Windows 7? Are there any plans to port it to Linux or OS/X?

Oi! If he does that he will have to decide how to license it. GPL, BSD CC?

[caveman]

@Abhay, for those of us who are intrigued and non-mandarin proficient, would you share your MO for doing the translation - step by step if you will. Mayhaps that can lead to some Web2.0 crowdsourcing efforts for other novels ie crowdsourced chapter by chapter. Just a suggestion.

[aliderhamy]

Why suggest that you know of a better translation and then say at the end -- "I really can't translate." It defeats the purpose of what you were trying to do. Now I have no desire to read what you were proposing.

As it stands, Abhay is doing a fine job. If you can find a novel in Indonesian that hasn't been translated into English...now THAT.. THAT would be worth your time (and ours).

iso of u finishing up ur translations bro... u were doing 2-3 very interesting stories.... i got so sad when they stoped

(you and abhays translations my 2 favorits) just becouse im not the biggest fan of step into the past.... or legend of the white haired maiden.

nothing to do with foxs and jean... just i find those stories a little slow on action and fighting...
(i still read there updates dailly... but i dont jump up doing kong fu moves after reading them)
im sure there are people who love those stories... just i preffer yours.


wooops i just rememberd we talked about this your working hard.... my bad... i forgot... all i remember is the sadness of not seeing the stories unfold. i will be waiting here in years to come to see them finish.

[sainuu]

waiting so patiently...

[raywang]

want this translation so bad...

[Abhay]

The 20th chapter
Xia Ke Xing /Ode to gallantry/ Heroes walk/ Journey

Long Daozhu said: “I think numerous guests here still have suspicion about our intension in their heart, please speak frankly.”

Bai Zizai said: “Long Daozhu said that we are invited to this island to look at the ancient poetic verses and pictorial illustrations, what thing is that? Please let us see that then?”

Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu stood up.
Long Daozhu said: “Fellow learned gentlemen; we were just going to ask for advice regarding this matter.”

Four disciples stepped to one side and held the edges of two big screens and pulled it open slowly, revealing a long corridor.
The two island hosts said in one voice: “Please!” and then went ahead leading the way.

Numerous guests thought: “Where this road goes….to the place where we will be murdered? The complexion of various people changes suddenly.
Bai Zizai said: “Son-in-law, come, we people from two different generation will lead the way.”

Shi Potian said: “Yes!”

Bai Zizai took his hand and both of them entered that corridor first. Some people entered the corridor laughing, giving the impression that they are not scared but still they were actually unavoidably shivering. Every odd person expected that they are anyway doomed so they followed each other. Some ten people kept on sitting nearby table motionless but the numerous disciples and the servants of island of heroes actually didn’t pay any attention.

Bai Zizai and others moved in a line for about hundred feet then they arrived at an entrance, three characters were engraved on it: “Xia Ke Xing”.

A disciple in yellow clothes went forward to shove open the entrance and said: “This cave had actually 24 stone chambers; every one of you can move around and have a look. If you get tired then please come out and relax. The food is already prepared and kept in the various stone chambers, No need to be polite, please use as per your will.”

Ding Busi said with a sneer: “Every thing here is one’s own will. No need to be polite…Ahhh…why don’t you name this island “Do as you wish island”?”
Long Daozhu laughed and said: “Master Ding, what do you mean?

Everybody arrived at the island of heroes voluntarily, if someone wants to depart, who dares to detain? Nearby the beach, the boats are ready. Whoever wants to depart can do so whenever he wants and as per his convenience.”

The numerous guests never thought that the island of heroes will let them go so easily. Several people asked immediately with one voice: “We must go now, can we?”

Long Daozhu said: “Obviously, when have I and brother Mu had said anything otherwise? If we entertain a guest inconsiderately then will feel ashamed, how dare do we detain an honored guest?”

The group of people thought: “So if they are willing to let us go then what’s the harm to look at that ancient poetic verses and illustrations and then we will depart. He had already said that he won’t detain the guest and by his status, one cannot say that he won’t keep his words.”

Various people immediately entered the stone chamber; saw that on the east side there is a block of big smooth cliff, fire was lighted near the cliff and it was shining brightly. Several characters were engraved on the wall. In the stone chamber, there were more than ten people. Some were meditating, some were practicing martial arts, some shut their both eyes and were muttering, and about 3-4 people were arguing loudly.

Bai Zizai saw one person suddenly, was shocked for a moment and then asked him: “Elder brother Wen San, you ......You ......You are here?”
This person in the stone chamber was in black clothes was in fact the leader of the Eight immortals sword sect in Shandong, Wen Renhou. He was very close friend of Bai Zizai however he was not that excited to see him and only smiled casually and said: “So you too has come here today?”

Bai Zizai said: “Ten years ago I heard that you are invited to island of heroes to eat eight meat gruel, every one assumed that ......assumed that since you have no come back that you had already died, I even cried once I heard it….....”

Wen Renhou said: “I am thoroughly studying an excellent martial art here and in good condition, why will I die? What a pity, what a pity you came late.

You look at this first sentence: “Zhao Keman Hu Ying” (literal meaning: The Zhao visitor adorns a non-han hat”), the character illustration says against this “Hu” character that these non-han people are from the western region.

Xin Tang Shu (The history of later Tang dynasty) said in one of its narratives that: ‘Several hundred people practiced the phonetics of non-han people, they put on a long pin in their hair bun......’ It is said that the noble among them put on dance suits like those shown in this pictoial illustration” and at the same time he pointed on the cliff and the small character illustration so that Bai Zizai can read it.

Bai Zizai met his good friend for the first time in so many years, he was overjoyed in his heart, he was both eager to inquire about his well-being and also the situation in island of heroes.

He asked: “Elder brother Wen San, in the last ten years, how was your daily life?

Why didn’t you convey a message to Shandong?”

Wen Renhou stared at the drawing ahead of him on cliff and said: “What did you say? This “Xia ke king” ancient poetry and illustrations contains the broadest and profoundest martial art mystery thorough out the ages, we are exhausted mentally but still cannot perceive through it meaning after so much meditation, how can we divert attention to the mundane affairs of the world? You look at this drawing, it isn’t just a towering picture of a heroic warrior but it is actually what you call “The Zhao visitor”. To understand the pictorial illustrations, one first need to understand the poetic verses too, this is of crucial importance first.”
Bai Zizai turned his head to look at the illustration carved on the cliff wall. It was a drawing of a young scholar, he held a fan in his left hand and had taken an offensive palm position with his right hand; this stance was really graceful.

Wen Renhou said: “Brother Bai, what I figure from this drawing that this erudite Confucian scholar is depicted as someone soft…kind of feminine and flexible (as in Yin), In the character note that in the character illustration, it is actually said that: “'to be met from the mighty rigid in hand”, what that means that it refers to the yang part. The meaning is that the body is Yin...soft and flexible but the usage is yang …firm and full of power, this was not actually not that difficult to understand but the real knowledge is the balance of Yin and Yang and the mastery of it…..that is the enormous knowledge.”

Bai Zizai nodded and said: “Good… brother Wen, this is my granddaughter's husband, won’t you look at him and pass on some blessings? Boy… come and greet Grandpa Wen San.”

Shi Potian approached him and knelt down to kowtow kindheartedly, he called out: “Grandpa Wen San.”

Wen Renhou said: “Good, good!” But he still looked straight at the cliff and did not pay much attention towards him. He was looking at the drawing, he observed that person's attitude; suddenly he punched with his right palm and shouted excitedly: “left is Yin and right is Yang…this is how it should be.”

Shi Potian said: “The palm strength of Grandpa Wen San is quite impressive.”

Bai Zizai read aloud the characters carved on the wall and the explained annotation: “A verse from Zhuang-zi (Taoist author in 3rd century) says: The Prince says: I see a warrior with sword, his hairs are all disheveled and are hanging beneath that non-han hat on his temple, wearing some short fancy clothes.”

A verse from Sima Zhuyun says: “That non-han person in hat speaks a very crude language and has no knowledge of art and science.”
Brother Wen…these two characers “màn hú” must be read together then only they can be interpreted correctly. “màn hú” will mean rough and crude but “màn hú Ying” will actually mean a exquisite refined hat worn by a non-han person.”

Wen Renhou shook his head and said: “No...No…you have to look at the next illustration: “Zuo Siwei says: “Unadorned hat”... Note: “Unadorned hat, a shining metal, a warrior,” This means that 'This is one kind of a warrior who holds a metallic weapon, wears a hat and he may be coarse, he may be civilized.

Several years earlier, I once had consulted to the Mighty and resolute sect leader from Liangzhou, Elder brother Kang, he is from the western region and a non-han. There is nothing he doesn’t know about those non-han people. He said that the non-han warriors actually wear this kind of a hat and its shape is similar to......” As he was saying these words, he squatted down and pointed his fingers towards a drawing on the floor.
Shi Potian listened to them discussing continuously, he was not able to understand; obviously he was not able to read the characters carved on cliff as he was illiterate and listened to them for half of the day. There was nothing of interest for him so he moved ahead and arrived in the second stone chamber. Passing through the entrance he saw several people brandishing the sword vertically and horizontally, actually seven pairs of people were using long swords and practicing among themselves. The sword edges were colliding but the sound created was not that loud. These people were using different kind of sword skills but all the movement was marvelous and obviously displaying extremely fine martial arts.

He saw the two people nearby fought for several moves, then the old man stopped and said: “A moment ago you used this sword move wonderfully but you must remember that the general theory behind this sword skill is “Wú gōu shuāng xuě míng” (literal: Wu hook frost snow light) these five characters. To achieve the hook you have to bend the sword and make a motion in form of hook. You must never forget the word ‘hook’ otherwise you will lose the original intention unavoidably. Moving a sword according to this sword skill is not difficult but attaining the curvature of hook using this straight sword is the art to master.”

Shi Potian no longer listened to these two people arguing about the sword moves and arrived close to another two people, he saw that these two people were fighting extremely quickly, the sword moves were really swift and fierce, the attack actually does not looked like by the long sword and bit by bit it looked like a delimiting circle, the opposite party kept on parrying his attack with his sword but suddenly with a zheng sound, the swords broke in to two pieces and the two people simultaneously leapt backwards.

That tall and powerfully built man with dark complexion said: “This illustration here says: A poem from Bai Juyi: “Do not turn around the straight sword, still the victory is his who knows how to bend”. Obviously this sword skill of mine is encompassing the original intension in the annotated text on cliff.”

Shi Potian recognized the voice of the other person; in fact he was the Taoist priest, the sect leader of the Shan Qing temple and fellow disciple of the Shi Qing couple. Shi Potian felt a bit scared and thought in his heart that if this person sees him then might get angry. He saw him taking the broken pieces of the sword and shaking his head, he said: “Wú gōu shuāng xuě míng” maybe the basic theory behind this set of skills but one have to make some concessions to achieve one's purpose, the word “gōu” is actually misleading and divert your thinking to an incorrect path.”
Shi Potian listened to these guests arguing among themselves for half of the day, he moved in the west direction and raised his eyes to look at a man and a woman practicing with their sword.

This man and women both were actually executing the sword moves very slowly, after almost each move, that man will move aside and will analyze his move for half of the day, sometimes that female kept on making eight-nine moves on the trot. By the looks of them Shi Potian assumed that these two people are not husband and wife, most probably they might be brother and sister, or perhaps they might be mutual friend and had a very close relationship. They both focused their mind on joining the forces and learn martial arts but never had a word of dispute.

Shi Potian thought: “With these two people studying together, they might learn some exquisite swordsmanship.” He slowly passed close to them.

He only saw the that man practicing with rapt attention, he slanted the sword to pierce, stopped at halfway and then took back, he shook his head, his facial expression was really depressed, he sighed and said: “It’s always is not right.”

That female comforts him and said: “Elder brother, that was five months ago, this move of yours have improved a lot in this period. Look at this annotation again: “King Helu of Wu had a treasured hook with him…Why ...What was so special about this treasured hook?”

That man took the long sword and read aloud on the explanation wall and said: “’Wú Yuèchūnqiū’ (Literal: history of southern states Wu and Yue ) says: he was a good person but with a nefarious streak. He decreed in the country that one who will be loyal and good towards the Wu will be rewarded by the treasured hook insignia a hundred gold but if a person is found corrupt or rebellious towards the Wu then he will be killed by the treasured hook however blood money was offered of someone kills his two child, this then become the two hooks offered by Yu Helu.

Younger sister Fu, this story is really cruel and merciless, some people even killed their own son to get the gold from the King of Wu unexpectedly.”

That female said: “I suspect that this “is cruel” two characters are the secret for this move of secret …to “act right away and leave no room for maneuver” ….even though they were his own son but he was coerced to kill…..this part of annotation too is the key.”

Shi Potian saw that this female was about 40 years old, the appearance was really delicate, when she spoke of killed children; unexpectedly her heart was full of sorrow and her facial expression changed. He looked at the cliff, he only saw dense and numerous engraving and several characters on the wall but he was able to see long swords in place of those characters, actually about 20-30 swords pointing in different directions.

These characters were either horizontal or straight, either casts aside or presses down firmly in eyes of the literate person and they still found it a character whatever the variations in the calligraphy but Shi Potian was not literate, he was actually able to see uneven sword movements, some swords cutting sharply, some downward, some are slanting to cut, some falling horizontally to cut. Shi Potian followed the movement of the sword, he was looking at the 12th sword when suddenly he felt a steep pain in his “jù gǔ” acupuncture point near his right shoulder as if a lot of internal energy had accumulated and is not able to pass. He controlled the flow of internal energy for a moment and the started looking at the 13th sword again. The internal energy surged towards the five nearby acupuncture points. He tried to again circulate his internal energy and looked at 14th sword but the flow of internal energy was getting more and more abundant and all of it moved towards his “qū chí”acupuncture point.

Shi Potian felt strange in his heart and thought: “After practicing the internal energy flow in my body, I normally feel full of energy and vigor but today I am not feeling the same. It seems that my belly is on fire, I am afraid it’s the poison outbreak from that meat gruel.”

He cannot restrain himself from getting scared and actually looked at those carvings in the wall. The internal energy stream in his body kept on moving itself through the meridians and reached his pubic area and then it slowly started to disperse along all the acupuncture points in his body. Suddenly he looked at the first sword again and he observed that the flow of swords actually resembled the flow internal energy across the meridian through different acupuncture points in the body. This internal energy flow was immense and at the same time unhurried and calm, he again reiterated the steps from first sword to the 24th sword, starting from the “ying xiāng”acupuncture point to “shāng yáng” acupuncture point and completing the entire cycle.

He thought in his heart: “These pictorial illustrations and the internal energy study are somehow related, it’s only a pity that I do not know what’s written on the wall otherwise I would have studied religiously and might have learned this set of martial art too. Grandpa Bai is still in the other room; I should ask him to tell me.”

Therefore he returned to the other room, he only saw that Bai Zizai and Wan San both held a singlestick respectively, they both dueled for several moves and then debated about their understanding, one will point at the stone at the writing and state his views, then the opposite party will tell him that there is flaw in his understanding.

Shi Potian took the sleeves of Bai Zizai and asked: “Grandpa, what did these characters say?”

Bai Zizai said that he understands what they mean but Wen Renhou disagreed, he said kindheartedly: “Has made a mistake, made a mistake! Although Brother Bai, your martial art skills are high but I had a ten years advantage on you, do you think I have wasted these ten years? You can always not attain the knowledge in such a small period of time?”
Bai Zizai said: “Martial art study is like the Buddhist teachings, perhaps you can sit under a tree for ten years but one can have sudden enlightenment in one evening. I think that this meaning is this ......”
Wen Renhou shook his head again and again, said: “You are grossly mistaken.”

Shi Potian heard these two people argue continuously, he thought: “The writing illustration on the wall are so difficult to understand, Long Daozhu said a moment ago that they invited the innumerable masters, many had incomprehensible knowledge and they discussed for dozens years and still not able to unravel this mystery. I don’t even know a single character, why should I take so much trouble?”

He leisurely strolled in and around the stone chamber in a round trip, he only heard the people in every direction discussing on all kind of diverse theories and views. He couldn’t ask anyone to speak to him and got really bored and sat and watched the drawings on the cliff wall.
He watched the 24 sword shaped characters in the second room, he had understood by now that the position and direction of these swords is similar to the passages of internal energy through the vital acupuncture points in the body. He recalled the first drawing of that young scholar instantly. He looked at that for a moment again and thought that in this drawing, this person was wielding a very elegant stance with his right sleeve a bit withdrawn but he also noticed that the under the right rib a seam of cloth was carved such that it projected a flow of internal energy from “yuān yè acupuncture point” through the “shào yang” meridian towards the two acupuncture points “rìyuè” and “jing mén” .

He felt delighted in his heart and examined carefully those character forms again, he saw that the person’s facial features, the folds of his garment and fan's line were in the same line as a character stoke and this uniformity running throughout the drawing, he followed the imposing manner of that person to observe the same patterns.

He thought: “These drawing writing techniques and the circulation of internal energy through the acupuncture points is similar, at least I am aware of this trivial truth…obviously everyone knows about it. I am unable to comprehend this profound martial art secret similar to the situation when I didn’t understood the secret of those wooden puppets but if I practice this shallow martial art then at least I will be able to play here and pass time, I will wait for Grandpa Bai to comprehend this excellent martial art and then we can go back together.”

The various meridians and the flow of internal energy through them were drawn in form of characters and this kind of calligraphy was unique in itself. The writing technique of the person who carved these characters and drawings was entirely different from what the people used in their real life. These were extremely unusual and any literate person who had learned to read and write will never look at these characters in terms of internal energy flowing through meridians and acupuncture points.

Normally any literate person will try to read the characters in from top to bottom and right to left but here the flow in the drawing and verses was actually depicting the energy flow through meridians and did not follow these rules. All the people from martial art were normally rigid and practiced in the same old way. Once they had learned to read and write the characters as child, it was almost incomprehensible for them to read it in some other way. On the contrary they tried to find the meaning of verses from different perspective but never deviated from the theory that these were in fact written in a different manner.

All in all there were altogether 81 sets of variations. After Shi Potian practiced about 30, he felt that his stomach is empty and he looked around for something to eat. He saw that several kind of flour dim sum and tea were kept at the corner of that stone chamber, he immediately went there to eat and drink. Afterwards he went outside to empty his bladder and came back and started studying again.

In the stone chamber, the lights were bright, whenever he got tired he would just rely on the wall to rest, whenever he felt hungry, he would just grab a dim sum and eat. He kept on studying and remembering all the 81 variations. Once he was confident that he has remembered all the variations from that first drawing, he went to the other room and looked for Bai Zizai but he was not in room.

Shi Potian was startled for a moment and called out: “Grandpa, grandpa!” he rushed to the other room and saw that Bai Zizai was grasping singlestick and fencing with a very old person with yellowish complexion. The sword skills of the two people was really clumsy but the sound emanating from the stick showed that both were using immense internal energy with each of their moves. He only heard a big shout followed by a loud noise and the singlestick in the hand of Bai Zizai departed however the singlestick in the hand of that old man too broke in two pieces and both people simultaneously drew back two steps.

That old person showed a faint smile and said: “Power and virtue gentleman, you posses a heavenly supernatural power, this old man candidly admit defeat; however we should compare the sword skills, not the internal strength.”

Bai Zizai said: “Taoist priest Yu, your swordsmanship is better than me, I admire but this is your Wudang sects martial art passed on to you by your elders, our intension is actually to master the sword skill on this cliff.”
Yu Chadao smiled and nodded, he said: “According to you then what is the explanation?”

Bai Zizai said: “In “Wú gōu shuāng xuě míng” this “Ming” character makes sense greatly ......”

Shi Potian arrived at side of Bai Zizai and said: “Grandpa, should we go back now?”

Bai Zizai said: “What did you say?”
Shi Potian said: “Here Long Daozhu said we can go back when we want to...should we go back. Nearby the beach there are many ships, we may walk.”

Bai Zizai gets angry: “Talking nonsense! Why are you so impatient?”
Shi Potian saw him to get angry and was afraid in his heart and said: “Grandma is waiting for you on the other side; she said that she will wait for you only up to eighth day of third month. If you don’t go back by that day then she will throw herself to the sea and commit suicide.”
Bai Zizai waited for a moment and then said: “you said eighth day of the third month? What is it ...we just arrived on eighth of this month, it’s been just 2-3 days, we have a lot of time in our hands, why are you afraid now? We will surely go back again.”

Shi Potian missed A’Xiu and recalled that day when she stood on the beach to see him off, she looked sad, he really cared about her and wished that he could fly and go back to her but saw that Bai Zizai had immersed himself wholeheartedly in the study of this martial art secret and did not really care about giving it up and returning back but he did not dare to say immediately again, he leisurely strolled to arrive in the third stone chamber.

He stepped in to the stone chamber; he thought that the acoustics of the room was very distinct. Suddenly he realized that three people were in fact running around very rapidly and in highly unusual pattern exhibiting very high lightness skills. These three people running extremely fast and they were also talking but didn’t stopped for a moment; their expression was really tranquil and this indicated their strong internal strength also because of the way they were talking and moving, their voice created a kind of echo in the room.

He only listened to the first old man saying: “This “Xia ke Xing” is written by that big poet Li Bai but Li Bai was a great poet but he was not a renowned martial artist. How can he write such a profound martial art skill in just 24 poems?”
The second person said: “This set of martial art is formulated by Gu Shuojin who shook the martial art once. He was master of great learning and integrity. He has borrowed the poems of Li Bai to express this mysterious martial art in writing. We cannot be as rigid as a cow’s horn and adhere to the poems of Li Bai verbatim.”

The third person said: “Although words of brother Ji are extremely rational but this “silver saddle and the white horse” doesn’t make much sense in itself if we ignore the sentiments of Lu Bai.”

The first old man said: “Yes. Not only so, I think that this and the annotation on the fourth room “as fast as a meteor” are in a continuous order and point towards a general solution. A prose cannot be written and interpreted out of context but a martial art can be deliberated out of this prose.”

Shi Potian felt strange secretly that these three people were discussing the martial art but are running simultaneously. He thought: “Why don’t they sit to discuss slowly, are they actually trying to overtake each other? However he understood their intension in a few moments.
He only listened to that second old man saying: “You are already sure that these two poems are somewhat connected then why are you using your lightness martial art, needless to say which is so mediocre, to pursue me throughout?”

The first old man said with a smile: “I think actually you are pursuing me?”
He only saw the three people running more anxiously, their front piece and belt flowed as if created a kind of circle but three people were of almost similar skill level and no one was able to gain any ground on the other no matter how much they tried.

Shi Potian looked at them and then turned his head to look the illustrations on the wall. He saw the picture of a pair of steeds running; both of them held their head high in the air, a cloud of air under the foot giving the impression as they were flying. He was expecting this picture something similar to the illustrations in the first two rooms but to his disappointment it was entirely different.

He examined carefully under horse foot and again saw only fog as if it is continuously moving forward and all round, he followed the trail of the illustrations very in a circular form and to understand the drawing correctly he too had to run around in the room. He was actually running in a circle inside another circle but he has not studied the lightness martial art so his foot-steps staggered, his attitude was crooked and very shoddy. He was far inferior to those three old men who were running very rapidly. By the time Shi Potian managed one round, they completed about 7-8 rounds of the room.

The three old men came close to his ear and spoke to ridicule faintly and jeered: “This young fellow too wants to learn this martial art secret; unexpectedly he hasn’t learnt the ordinary martial art yet. Ha, what sort of a display you are putting in front of us.”

“So you are not that good in terms of lightness martial art, first learn it then come to learn the drawing on this cliff… Hahahahaaaaaa….!”

“Some people are expert in the Eight Immortals' drunken steps; this martial art of yours is also innate standard wise, this little brother's drunken steps can be called the ninth kind of immortal drunken step…that would be funny too.”

Shi Potian blushes and his face turned red from one ear to another and almost stopped but as soon as he slowed he was not able to see the proper drawing as he looked up at the cliff. He didn’t stopped and started to run again, after about 8-9 circles, he was concentrating completely on the wall and didn’t even heard the ridicule of those three old man.
He himself didn’t know how many times he circled around the room and stopped only after he remembered all the drawing completely. When he stopped, he found that the three old men have already disappeared without a trace, in fact he found four different people on his side. They were all grasping the weapons and imitating the attitude of a warrior on a horse and practicing with their sword.

These sword moves of all these four people was ruthless, they also read aloud the verses carved on the on the cliff. One person said: “This saddle is brightly illuminated by the bright light.”

Another person said: “‘zhào’ is written lightly but ‘bái’ is written clear and deep.”

Another person said: “Powerful and unconstrained style, this is shùnxī Wan Li.”

The fourth person said: “this annotation of Li Shangyin says: “A person riding a cavalry horse to serve his country... these verse rhyme with those Taoist verses.”

Shi Potian thought: “These mnemonics are really abstruse; I do not understand them at all. They practice their sword skills here for more than ten years, many for 30 years. How can I wait for such a long time? I don’t have to take this so seriously, just take a look casually and then move forward, that's the end.”

He arrived in the fourth room immediately; he looked at the cliff where the pictorial illustration was carved. It resembled some moving extremely fast like a meteor or shooting star. He sat down and kept on studying and meditating.

The “Xia ke Xing” poem altogether had 24 verses, namely each stone chamber for one verse and also 24 stone chamber with pictorial illustrations. He moved in to another room one by one, did not know much about the writing on the wall and only studied the internal strength martial arts from the drawings.

The 5th skill called “ten steps to kill one person”, the 10th called “escapes the unexpected horizontal sword”, the 17th skill “save Zhao from the hammer”, each of these were set of sword skills.

The 6th “thousand miles does not keep in line”, 7th “brush away the worldly matter with a flick of sleeve”, 8th “take refuge with the opponent”, each of these were the set of lightness martial arts.

The 9th “drinking in a tomb”, 14th “Crossing the five mountains”, 16th “fragrance of a gallant and chivalrous mind”, each of these were theories of set of fist and palm skills.

The 13th “three cups to spit”, 18th“spirit element and secondary rainbow”, 20th awe inspiring city walls” each of these were related to study of art of breathing and internal strength.

Sometimes he studied extremely quickly, sometimes in one day he studied 2-3 sets of skills, sometimes even after consecutively studying for 17-18 days, he was not able to study the entire set. He was fully concentrated in his efforts to learn all the martial art and forgot about the time as days went past quickly. He didn’t know how many days have actually passed through as he finished the 23 stone chambers one by one.

He usually completed the study of martial art in one room and then went to Bai Zizai to urge him to go back but Bai Zizai was getting more and more hooked to the study of this martial art day by day. The more he looked at the new illustrations and verses, the more he was more determined to find their meaning. When Shi Potian urged him to go back them he shouted abuse at him and said he was harassing him and disturbing his concentration by his bickering. Once he even swiped with his fist to hit him but Shi Potian evaded him and got away.

Shi Potian was cautious however he was startled in his heart and thought: “Long Daozhu said that numerous martial art masters from the martial art world are invited to island of heroes to study this martial art secret but no one has returned yet in last thirty years. It indicates that people became kind of enchanted with this amazing skills and no one bothers to leave this place. Fortunately my martial art skills are too weak and I am not literate so I can’t fully understand the immenseness of this martial art and am not reluctant to part with it.”

He listened to the words of Fan Yifei; he was actually explaining the meaning of the words written on the cliff. He actually only heard these words to get out of his way, he did not dare to turn his head, he quickly forgot whatever he explained and was in his own thoughts.

He counted on his fingers to calculate, after coming to this island of heroes, he has passed about two and a half of a month already, he thought about leaving this island. He thought: “I have already looked at the 23 stone chambers; I should go at look at the 24th stone chamber too, if the illustrations are not too difficult then may be I will try to study them too. If grandpa is not certain or willing to walk out of this place then I have to go back myself, at least I will inform Grandma Shi about the situation here so at least they won’t be apprehensive about the well being of people. It is good that Grandpa is studying martial art here and also he is not a risk to other people in the sect.” he arrived in the 24th room immediately.

He entered the room and only saw Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu sitting cross-legged on a brocade pad and both of them looking at the cliff with rapt attention.

Shi Potian was in awe to these two people, he does not dare to approach and stood far away from them and raised his eyes to look at the cliff. He was actually disappointed to look at the wall. Originally each of the 23 stone chamber walls had a pictorial illustration and some verses but this room had only characters engraved on the cliff and not drawing at all.
He thought: “This place doesn’t have a single drawing, it does not have any attractiveness, I should go back to Grandpa and inform him that I will be leaving today only.”

After thinking for several days about A’Xiu, Shi Qing, Min Rou et al., he was eager to meet A’Xiu again so he knelt down immediately and did his obeisance to the two island hosts and said: “The two island hosts had received me cordially and gave me the opportunity to experience the martial art skills on this cliff. I am really grateful, I will say my goodbye today.

Both of the island hosts were in deep concentration and were staring at cliff to understand the meaning, they didn’t notice Shi Potian at all but kept on string at the cliff. When Shi Potian realized that they are in deep concentration so he thought that it would be discourteous to disturb them any further. He looked at the cliff following the vision of those two people and suddenly felt that he these writings on the wall resembled to something circling in air to dance and cannot help but felt dizziness.

He calmed down for a moment and then looked at these characters again but again felt some kind of dizziness in his head. He changed his vision to some other place and thought: “What’s so strange about these characters…how am I feeling dizzy?”

The curiosity got the better of him and he again gazed up to look at them. He only saw that the stroke of the handwriting was such that it looked like a tadpole, as if the wriggling tadpole wanted to come out of the wall. It looked that it was kind of congealed inside.

In his childhood when he was living alone on the barren hill, in spring he often seized many tadpoles in the mountain stream and raised them in small water hole. He looked at them as they lose their tails and their legs get improve and finally then turned in to a frog to escape by jumping out of that hole. He was alone in that barren hill and had no one to talk to him so they were his childhood companions. At this time when he saw the likeness of a tadpole in those characters, he felt like a reunion with childhood companions and was very joyful. He examined carefully the tadpoles on the cliffs. He only saw innumerable tadpoles either fleeing or leaps from one position to another and he found that really fascinating.
He looked at it for a long time and suddenly jumped out and thought: “Originally it seemed that these tadpoles are running off chaotically but actually it all related.”

He looked one tadpole was jumping from the “xuán shu” acupuncture point to the “zhi yáng”acupuncture point. He looked at the third tadpole….suddenly he heard the sound of something besides him.
He heard someone breaking the calmness of the stone chamber and saying: “Shi Bangzhu is gazing at “to pass through too unreliably”, you are actually familiar with that tadpole article by Fang.”

Shi Potian had turned his head to see that Mu Daozhu and Long Daozhu were now looking at him and he got a bit nervous and said hurriedly: “I don’t know a character but looking at these small tadpoles is very amusing so I got a bit absorbed.”

Mu Daozhu nodded and said: “This and that's the end. This “passed through too unreliably” was written in an ancient tadpole article, I originally found it really strange, but Shi Bangzhu is young and had some rare talent. You have knowledge of this kind of ancient and abstruse writing.”

Shi Potian said embarrassedly: “Then I do not look, I do not dare to disturb two island hosts.”

Mu Daozhu said: “You can look; you are not disturbing us at all.” As he was saying these words, he closed both his eyes.

Shi Potian was about to get out of the way but then thought that if he leaves right away then both island hosts won’t be pleased so he looked at the tadpoles again. In a few moments he again was drawn completely at those illustrations and got really excited. He looked again at that tadpole he was watching earlier, it jumped fiercely from “zhōng zhù” acupuncture point from the lower abdomen area…Shi Potian shivered at this sight and was totally shocked, he thought: “These small tadpoles are seriously strange, they have not yet turned into a frog but can still jump such great heights…it is really amazing.”

He cannot restrain his childlike innocence and whole heartily devoted to further analyze the illustrations. The tadpoles leaping from one acupuncture point to another and with such vigor and intensity was amusing and well as fiercely captivating for him.

On the wall there was tens of thousands of these small tadpoles carved. Sometimes by coincidence when was able to move the two acupuncture point at the same position then he felt really happy and good throughout his body. He kept on looking at the character illustrations and soon forgot about the words of Mu Daozhu and their presence. He pursued the way of tadpole’s movement on the cliff and tried to establish contact between each acupuncture point. But there were countless number of tadpoles on the wall and to string together the several hundred acupuncture points in entire body was a task easier said than done. This stone chamber was in total isolation and there was no way to ascertain whether it was day of night. As the time passed on, whenever he felt hungry he would go and eat the noodles and then come back again and try out string the acupuncture pints. After having eaten about 8-9 meal, he was able to establish contact between several acupuncture point and gradually he was able to increase the number of acupuncture points.

As he was able to understand more and more, he realized that these small tadpoles were transferring along the meridians through which the internal energy circulates and gradually these tadpoles are turning in to small frogs and they were everywhere jumping in all the limbs and throughout the body. He found it interesting but was also afraid, he understood that if he will link more acupuncture points then the turbulence inside his body will be not easy to suppress. He knew that if he moved the “chu” acupuncture point to the “yi” acupuncture point then it can be pretty dangerous but by now he was totally captivated, as if possessed by a devil and could not stop staring at the cliff. When he was tired then he closed his eyes and relies on the wall to rest. Afterwards whenever he is awake, he again started looking at the millions of small tadpoles on the cliff and tried to understand the movement.

He looked like a crazy infatuated and hungry person, who hasn’t eaten or slept for days but kept on looking at these small tadpoles, sometimes he saw the two island hosts looking at him in a really strange way but he was ashamed in his heart to meet their looks and no longer paid any attention.
He did not know when but one day when he was sleeping, he felt a fierce surge in pain and woke up. He felt that his internal energy was very abnormal. Sometimes it accumulated at a acupuncture point, sometimes it suddenly moved as if it will break all the barriers from pubic region to the top of the head, and then again from the top of the head to the pubic region . He was in a state of panic and did not know what to do. He suddenly got a idea, he did not know if it would work or not but he was running out of energy in his all the limbs and does not have the strength to execute but he still persisted with the palm skill moves he learnt in the 14th room, the “Crossing the five mountains“. This set of palm moves allowed him to regulate some of his internal energy, as he kept on executing the moves, the internal energy generated kept on increasing. He started to execute the sword skill moves “ten steps to kill one person” from his right hand, although it was empty and he did not have the sword but he still executed the moves in a steady manner.

These set of sword skill “ten steps to kill one person” made the things worse, he felt as him entire body is on fire and the skin of his whole body will expand and crack, he couldn’t rest for a moment and immediately executed “Zhao Keman Hu Ying” that set of martial art skills to circulate the vital energy in his body. He felt really good as if he wanted to dance with joy; sometimes he was greatly delighted and sometimes as if greatly worried.

By the time he finished “Zhao Keman Hu Ying” he started to execute “Wu hooks frost and snow Ming”. By now he was not thinking explicitly but all the skills which he learned automatically rushed out of his mind as if they were complementing the subsequent set of moves. After that he executed the “silver saddle and the white horse” and so on until the “a edict from your majesty”, all forming a coherent set of martial art which includes the sword skills, the palm skills, internal strength skills and lightness martial art. When all of them combined together, they created a single martial art which was not a combination of skills but actually an embodiment of all the components and one cannot branch out any particular skill.

The set of skills “a edict from your majesty” this set of skill can be developed only after one learns to execute to the breathing skills “a world of no regret” but is actually caused from the 22nd move of “Zhao Keman Hu Ying”. He can not help but to laugh aloud and then cry out aloud. He thanked Xie Yanke who had taught him about the martial art from those puppets, the snow mountain swords skills he learnt from watching the disciple of snow mountain sect. He remembered Dingdang teaching him the Ding family palm techniques, The Shi Qing couple teaching him the skills from the Shan Qing temple, Ding Busi teaching him all sort of palm techniques, Grandma Shi teaching him the Golden phoenix sword skill.
As he was thinking about these incidents, energy streams rushes to his heart. He brandished conveniently but did not suppressed the order and executed the skill “save Zhao from the hammer” and then “escapes the unexpected horizontal sword” immediately. He simply executed these skills as him they were naturally coming out themselves he don’t have to remember them at all.

He as really happy in his heart and could not retrain himself to laugh and called out: “Wonderful!”

He heard the two people suddenly saying with one voice: “Really wonderful!”

Shi Potian was startled and stopped his move for a moment and saw both Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu standing in the corner of the room, they had a joyful smile on their face and looked pleasantly surprised and were looking at him.

Shi Potian said hurriedly: “Little brother deliberately created trouble to you two. I was thinking and ….this is bad….. I was practicing moves heedlessly and disturbed the two island hosts who were studying hard.” He cannot help but was really terrified.

He only saw the two island hosts to be sweating profusely and dripping, their whole body clothing were completely wet and the corner of the room too was wet.

Long Daozhu said: “Shi Bangzhu had a god-given wisdom and have rare talent; I am honored to pay my respect to you.” As he was saying these words, he got down to bow in front of him. Mu Daozhu too was prostrating himself.

Shi Potian stood up and only saw Long Daozhu bowing to him and immediately went to make them stand again but suddenly he saw the two people sitting on the ground only and it looked as if they don’t have any energy to stand up. Mu Daozhu tried to lift himself with his two hands but couldn’t manage to stand.

Shi Potian was perplexed and said: “How?”

He hurriedly moved to help them comfortably sit on the ground itself. Long Daozhu shook his head; a faint smile appeared on his face and he took out a trinket and put out in the hands of Mu Daozhu.

Shi Potian does not dare to disturb, he took a look at Long Daozhu; then took a look at Mu Daozhu and in his heart was surprised and couldn’t decide what was going on. After a long time passed, suddenly Mu Daozhu shouted in a loud voice: “Whooooop!” And rose like a mad man and grasped Long Daozhu. Two people embraced each other in the same place and laughed heartily for a long time.

Shi Potian did not know what was going on and why are these two people so happy and he also accompanied them in laughing foolishly, he thought that if he didn’t laugh then it will look like a misdemeanor.

Long Daozhu was holding a cliff and slowly stood up and said: “Shi Bangzhu, we brothers have this big knot in our heart for dozens of years, you today have finally managed to solve this, we are deeply grateful.”
Shi Potian said: “I… how ......How did I solve this?”

Long Daozhu smiled and said: “Shi Bangzhu, You are so modest. You have understood this “Xia ke Xing” martial art secret; you are in fact the first person in the martial art world to figure out this secret. Besides the elder who had actually created this martial art and written it on this stone chambers, we think through the ages, only a few people in the, martial art world could have actually solved it.”

Shi Potian was really terrified, he said continually: “Little brother does not dare, Little brother does not dare.”

Long Daozhu said: “In this cave less then 10% people even know about the classic literature about the tadpole, not only Shi Bangzhu was aware of that but also managed to figure out its meaning…this is really admirable. Would you be willing to advice us about this?”

Shi Potian looked at Long Daozhu, then look at Mu Daozhu, he saw that the complexion of both these people was sincere; actually they were getting really emotional and swayed by thought of personal gains and losses, as if fearing if he would be willing to reveal the profound mystery.
He hurriedly said: “I will let you know what I understood. Actually I saw one tadpole jumping from the “xuán shu” acupuncture point to the “zhi yáng”acupuncture point. I then looked at this tadpole jumping fiercely from “zhōng zhù” acupuncture point....” he pointed at the next tadpole and explained the two people. He looked at Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu and by their face they looked confused and he thought that they didn’t understood so he asked: “Did I speak incorrectly?”

Long Daozhu said: “Originally ......Originally ......What Shi Bangzhu looked at …at these tadpoles, you did not look at characters, how then Shi Bangzhu was able to understand thoroughly entire “to pass through too unreliably”?”

The face of Shi Potian turned red; he said: “Little brother had not studied since childhood; I don’t even know a character. Actually I am extremely ashamed to admit this.”

The two island hosts jumped at this admission and asked simultaneously: “Aren't you literate?”

Shi Potian shook his head saying: “I am not literate. I ......After I go back, I have decided to ask A’Xiu to teach me how o read. Actually everybody here is literate, I did not told anyone or they would have laughed at me and embarrass me.”

The two island hosts looked at his face and simply knew that he was very simple, straightforward and honorable person. They couldn’t detect any malice or any hidden meaning in his words but in reality, they cannot help but does not believe. Long Daozhu only thought it about in his head but he got more confused.

He relied on a cliff and asked: “You are not literate, you went from one room to second and so on…how did you manage to understand and solve the annotations, who was actually helping you to read out those verses?”
Shi Potian said: “Nobody was reading those for me. Grandpa Bai solved several, brother fan Yifei from Guangdong solved several, I did not understand and actually did not listened. I ......I was just looking at the drawings on the cliffs and suddenly indulged in flight of fancy and was able to see that the seams of the cloths, the fan and the acupuncture points were continually in the same line.”

Mu Daozhu said: “You are not literate, how can you actually solve the verses and drawing on the cliff, this ......How can this be possible?”
Long Daozhu said: “I seem that he had some kind of a divine intervention or Shi Bangzhu had some god-given wisdom and rare talent.”
Mu Daozhu stamped his foot suddenly and called out: “I understand….I understand now…brother…I think its time now to…”

Long Daozhu got sad and understood immediately and said: “yes…”. They have lived in that island for dozens of years; their skills were pretty similar and were extremely old, only difference was that Mu Daozhu was less eloquent and far less comfortable in handling people so he mostly kept quiet. Two people used all their four palms and grasped the cliff’s face; the look on their face was really tragic, bitter and astringent.

Long Daozhu turned his head towards Shi Potian and said: “Shi Bangzhu, you are not literate, actually you are fortunate. I think I too understand the reason now…I suspect we understand what made our life miserable in past dozens if years but we don’t harbor any regret, finally its over.”
Shi Potian scratched his head with his finger and asked: “What did you understand …what made you miserable?”

Long Daozhu sighed gently and said: “Originally these many annotation writings, each was intentionally leading the people to fall into error but this martial art secret had such a charm over every one of us that no one was willing ignore those annotations and only work on the illustration throughout.

Shi Potian said: “So island hosts are you saying that that these all characters annotations are useless?”

Long Daozhu said: “Not only useless, moreover greatly harmful. If we have not followed these annotations then we two people might have avoided the innumerable pain and hardships we have faced in last forty years. It had all gone waste now…so many years of practice and struggle and we have nothing to show.”

Mu Daozhu sighed and said: “Originally this “passes through too unreliably” is not related to that classic to tadpole at all but ......but it is actually a illustration of internal energy passages through acupuncture points and different other techniques…ohhh….we have wasted 40 years of our life ….40 years!”

Long Daozhu said: “passes through too unreliably: ….it really is unreliable. Brother, your hair has also turned snow white!”
Mu Daozhu looked at Long Daozhu as if to say something but did not speak and they all understood that he wanted to say that the same had happened to Long Daozhu too.

The two island hosts sighed deeply and now both appeared exceptionally old compared to two months back when Shi Potian saw them on the eighth of last month, then they looked old but extremely fit, healthy and dignified.

Shi Potian was still puzzled, he asked: “then why did he inscribe that many characters on the cliff intentionally, did he really want the people to take the wrong path, what purpose does it solves?”

Long Daozhu shook his head and said: “This is very difficult to say. Perhaps this elder was not willing to share this knowledge too easily, or these annotations were afterward separately added by some other people. This was in the past…no one knows what exactly was his intention.”
Mu Daozhu said: “Perhaps this elder does not like the scholar; he wanted someone from the martial art who is not literate perhaps like Shi Bangzhu, an upright honest person to benefit intentionally.”

Long Daozhu said: “This senior had a rare talent to create martial art techniques like this and had a complex personality…who can guess his intentions?”

Shi Potian saw their facial expression and they look really tired and sad, he felt sorry for them in his heart and said: “Two island hosts, if what I have learned here is truly useful then I can share this knowledge with you two. Lets move to the first stone chamber and I will explain one by one, I ......I ......I do not dare to conceal anything thing.”

Long Daozhu smiled at him bitterly and shook his head; he said: “Little brother has good intention but we two people decline with thanks. Little brother is really kindhearted and will be benefited by this knowledge and so will the other people from the martial arts world. We two people wasted our life to learn this martial art but now have realized that it’s all useless.”
Mu Daozhu said: “Little brother has already solved this puzzle; this was the last wish of us two people. If little brother practices these skills then we will feel that we have also done the same.”

Shi Potian asked earnestly: “Then at least I can explain in detail about the internal energy movement as depicted by tadpoles in this cliff.”
Long Daozhu smiled mournfully and said: “Little brother you will need some really marvelous ability to teach other people but it won’t be possible to use this cliff as source now….little brother, you take a look again.”
Shi Potian turned around to the cliff to look, he cannot help but was amazed as he saw the stone chips from the cliff dropping piece by piece slowly, the character illustration or that tadpole drawing was almost 70-80% destroyed now.

He said in great surprise: “What's wrong ......when did this happen?”
Long Daozhu said: “Little brother just now ......”

Mu Daozhu said: “Brother… think about this matter again…First of all we should gather everyone together and announce this matter.”

Long Daozhu immediately said: “Good, good. Shi Bangzhu, please.”
Shi Potian did not dare to advance; he followed after the Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu and came out of the stone chamber. Long Daozhu called his disciple to invites numerous guests in the big meeting hall.
Originally after Shi Potian understood the martial art of the cliff he was not able to practice the move properly. When the two island hosts saw that then they were greatly astonished. Long Daozhu went forward to take control and invite him.

However Shi Potian was still bewitched by newly acquired knowledge from this cliff and thought that some people were attacking him. He naturally held against them for several moves. Long Daozhu found it really hard to resist and Mu Daozhu had to come forward and help him out. In the present martial art world, no third person could have alone managed to stay in front of them but even after they collaborated, they could not match the wonderful martial art Shi Potian had learned from the cliff.
If these two people had stopped the moves then obviously Shi Potian would have also stopped but these two people kept on trying and used more and more internal energy and their four palms fluttered with immense strength. The more strength they applied, Shi Potian countered attack was even more stronger. The palm wind created by the three sets of palm was hitting the cliff and shook the entire stone chamber unexpectedly. Only the palm strength of the two island hosts was enough to destroy the cliff and once it was strengthen by the internal energy of Shi Potian accompanied by his new skills, the palm wind created by these three didn’t destroyed the cliff as they where not attacking it directly but the top surface couldn’t bear the brunt and started to chip away slowly along with the character annotation.

Mu Daozhu knew that Shi Potian was totally focused on his practice and didn’t realize that this encounter with both of them as he was in kind of trance so he prevented Long Daozhu to say again and to avoid Shi Potian to realize that he himself was responsible to damage this cliff accidentally but he himself was very sad in his heart and thought that they were also responsible in damaging of this cliff…if only they had not engaged with Shi Potian then may be...

Three people arrived in the hall and sat down as numerous guests and various disciples arrived one after another. Long Daozhu transmitted orders to extinguish each stone chamber lights. He knew that some people might want to avoid this meeting and try to study and won’t be willing to come out altogether.

The numerous guests took their seat. In the past 30 years after arriving in the island of heroes, this was the first time that people gathered apart from the case when some one died because of old age. For 30 years, these people come and go in these 24 stone chambers from morning until evening and never actually assembled in this manner.

Long Daozhu asked the disciple to count and confirm that all the guests are indeed in the hall and no one is hiding and then told something to his senior disciple in a very low tone. The disciple looked stunned and greatly astonished. Mu Daozhu also told his senior disciple in a very low voice.
The two senior disciples heard the instruction from their masters and left the hall for a long period of time with ten of their fellow disciples.

Long Daozhu arrived at the side of Shi Potian and said in a low voice: “Little brother; Please doesn’t mention this matter of stone chamber to other people just now. Even if you are most intimate with any person then still you cannot let him know that you have solved the profound mystery otherwise you will face infinite disaster and worry in rest of your life.”
Shi Potian said: “Yes, I will follow the instructions of island hosts.”

Long Daozhu also said: “As the saying goes: “Always hide the loot”. If you tell about this martial art then it might eventually leak in the martial art world. If some people learn then they will either hate you or will become jealous to you. So they will challenge you to compare your skills or will unavoidably ask you to teach this skill; Even if you refuse to reveal the secret then they will try to harm you by any means possible. Although your martial art skills is high but you are a upright honest person and actually in reality it is virtually impossible to guard against. Therefore this matter should not be divulged.”

Shi Potian said: “Yes, many thanks to island host to give this suggestion and share your experience. Little brother is deeply grateful.”
Long Daozhu shook his and said in a low voice: “It was a pity that I and brother Mu cannot see the exhibition of this rare talent.”

Mu Daozhu understood his meaning and turned his head to look at Shi Potian and also regretted that they had that encounter with his just him.
Shi Potian thought: “These two island hosts have taken care of me and treated me so well….after I go back to see A’Xiu, I will come again back to this island with her and visit these two old people.”

Long Daozhu came back to his place after instructing Shi Potian and said to the numerous guests: “Numerous friends, we had gathered in this island for such a long time and I feel an affinity towards all of you. However I think that we were destined to be together until now only ………I will like to bid farewell to all of you….good-bye.”

As soon as the numerous guests heard these words, they were shocked greatly and inquired hurriedly: “Why?” “What is the matter?” “Do the two island hosts are leaving the island for journey?”

The people asked different kind of question all at one time and things became chaotic. Suddenly they heard the loud bang sound and a big thunderous detonation intermittently.

The numerous guests immediately stopped talking.

Long Daozhu said: “Everybody, we gathered here on this island and hoped that we will be able to solve this martial art secret of “Xia ke Xing” ….what a pity. I have to inform you all that this island of heroes is going to be drowned in a very short time.”

Numerous guests asked in great surprise: “Why?” “Is it an earthquake?” “Is it volcanic eruption?” “How did island host know?”

Long Daozhu said: “Our brother Mu had discovered just now that the center of this island will have a volcanic eruption, this outbreak will change this entire island into a sea of fire immediately. This moment thunderclap is faint but it’s arriving for sure so please departs rapidly.”
Numerous guests were half believing and half doubting and cannot make up mind. Most people clinged to the martial art cliffs and were inclined to rather face this volcano and get killed but were not willing to depart like this.

Log Daozhu said: “Each one of you, if you do not believe that you might as well go to the stone chambers and see it your self, various rooms have all collapsed and the cliffs are destroyed. This earthquake is a precursor to the volcano and might spurt at any moment now.”

The numerous guests heard that the cliff was destroyed and were again really surprised; everyone rushed immediately towards the stone chambers.

Shi Potian also went together along with other people; he only saw that each stone chamber was destroyed and the cliff with drawing, illustrations and annotations had all collapsed and the entire stone chambers were damaged heavily.

Shi Potian knew that the two island hosts have instructed their disciples to destroy these intentionally and felt really sad for them in his hear and thought: “it is not good…if I had simply returned then this would not have happened.”

Some people looked at the situation and felt that something is not right and guessed that this destruction of the stone chambers was obviously an artificial act and not some natural calamity because of the earthquake. They immediately rushed back to the main hall to ask the two island hosts about this. They raised their voices and shouted loudly, as the incoming group rushed in the hall; they saw that the two island hosts sitting on their seats in a very calm and motionless state. Suddenly they heard a big wailing sound of someone and they saw the disciples of both island hosts prostrating in front of them and weeping loudly.

Shi Potian was frightened and felt as if heart jumped up to his mouth, he rushed in between the crowd and called out: “Long Daozhu, Mu Daozhu ……you ......You …”

He only saw those two people sitting motionlessly…they had already passed away.

Shi Potian turned his head to Zhang San and Li Si to ask: “Two islands host were originally in good condition, what's wrong ......How they did die?”
Zhang San sobbed and said: “When two masters passed away, they said that they are now ready to leave this world…..they have no regret now.”
Shi Potian looked overhead and was really sad, he cried out aloud. He did not know that how the two islands host died suddenly. One moment they were good and the next they were just dead.

Actually they were really in good health considering their age and were fully devoted to unravel the secret martial art of these cliffs and might have live several years more but unexpectedly when Shi Potian started practicing this new martial art, both of them got involved with him in competing their internal energy. Both of tried to hold him for quite some time but couldn’t and in the process got seriously injured. When Shi Potian completed his practice and came out of the trance, he saw both of them in the corner of the room, drenched in their own sweat and looking really weak. He didn’t remember his fight with them but the two island hosts were seriously injured. They knew that he is unaware of this incident so they didn’t told him otherwise they knew that he will always hold himself responsible for their death and deeply blame himself for the rest of life.
That person Huang Shan, the senior disciple wiped the tear from his eyes and said in a loud voice: “Numerous honored guests, our benevolent teacher is dead, his last words were to make sure that all of you reach the mainland safely. Please do not discard these bronze medals of Command of reward and happiness; it might be still helpful in future. If anyone of you is facing any problem and embarrassed about getting us directly then please hold this bronze medal as a sign in the small fishing village of Qia on the shore of South China Sea. I and my brothers will do whatever we can to help you.”

The numerous guests who were all disappointed were suddenly very happy as they heard these words. They thought: “These disciples of island of heroes are extremely skillful, if I have to get rid of any person or even if there is some huge disaster then I am sure that we can handle them it with their help.”

The person in dark green cloths cam forwards and said: “The ships are prepared and are ready to move, I invite all the guests to proceed.”
Every one of the guests kneeled down and bowed in respect with both hands clasped to honor both island hosts and said their farewell speech.
Zhang San and Li Si came to Shi Potian; Zhang San said: “Brother, we are leaving now but we will meet again in the future.”

Shi Potian along with Bai Zizai, Fan Yifei, Gao San Niangzi, The Taoist from ShanQing temple and others arrived at the seashore. This time the boats were much bigger in size and only 3-4 ships were there to carry the guests back to the main land. The sail were hoisted and the anchors pulled up.

<End of Chapter – 20>

[Abhay]

I m back....with a really crude attempt of translation...my apologies.

Obviously I am not claiming that my earlier work was a work of art ....but I reckon I have done much better earlier...now I am on the last chapter...

Obviously the same feeling as one reach close to destination...the essence is in journey but not in the destination.

[greyman]

Simply awesome!!

thanks so much!!

[Justin13]

I m back....with a really crude attempt of translation...my apologies.

Obviously I am not claiming that my earlier work was a work of art ....but I reckon I have done much better earlier...now I am on the last chapter...

Obviously the same feeling as one reach close to destination...the essence is in journey but not in the destination.

Thanks Abhay, it'll be a nice xmas present!