Lu Xiaofeng Book 5: Mansion of Spirits

[szfong]

I think foxs didn't like the original ending and think the story should have ended here...

I read many stories and seen many movies that should have ended a few scenes prior than the open ended conclusion.

Anyhow, thanks foxs for your excellent translation...

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs for completing the manual. Its being a fun run.

[kyss of the sword]

if i remember correctly, i saw a partial completed ending to this story. it involves wooden toaist and his daughter.

click to show/hide spoilers

she kills him thinking he was the one who killed her father not realizing he is her real father. lxf witness this but became unable to reveal the secret. wooden toaist deis because he was taken unawares.

[ycb5959]

if i remember correctly, i saw a partial completed ending to this story. it involves wooden toaist and his daughter.

I caught the adaptation too...

[Justin13]

Thanks Foxs. Rest well!

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

How about:

Therefore, Father Woody was appointed Wudang Sect Leader, and henceforth Jianghu people lived happily ever after.

THE END.

I just wanted to see how you react. Knowing Gu Long, it's not unusual to have that kind of ending. But one, I did not expect Ren Wo Xing to follow this thread, two, I was hoping he'd play along, and three, you guys are much more knowledgeable than I thought. So OK, I concede ... here's some more:

---

Wudang Sect Leader was not someone who could be easily offended.

Now that they did not even have the least bit of evidence, even if Wooden Taoist was indeed Old Sabre Honcho, they were powerless to deal with him.

Wang Shidai dejectedly said, “Even though Shi Yan himself knew that his days were numbered, he had never expected that things would happened so suddenly like this.”

“He did not even say anything before his death?” Lu Xiaofeng asked.

“He only said one sentence,” Wang Shidai replied.

“What did he say?” Lu Xiaofeng asked.

Wang Shidai said, “He wanted me to tell you, your guess was not incorrect.”

Lu Xiaofeng suddenly sprang up, but then he slowly sat back down. “It’s no use,” he muttered, “Even if my guess was correct, it’s no use.”

He had asked Shi Yan whether Wooden Taoist was forced to step aside that year because of personal affair.

At that time Shi Yan did not answer. Now he gave his answer, but it was already too late.

The secret inside the sword hilt has, undoubtedly, fallen into the hands of Wooden Taoist, and they had no way of obtaining the evidence.

“Although your guess was not wrong, you did something wrong,” Tie Jian said.

“What did I do wrong?” Lu Xiaofeng asked.

Tie Jian said, “Since you knew that someone was going to snatch the sword away, you shouldn’t let Shi Yan kept that secret inside the sword hilt.”

Lu Xiaofeng said, “We did what we did, because we wanted to lure him to keep the appointment at the House of Blues, so that we could unmask him there. If the secret in the sword hilt was not the original, he would have seen it right away and would be suspicious.”

He sighed again before continuing, “How could we now that at that time the secret has already leaked and he suddenly changed his mind?”

Tie Jian also sighed and said, “No matter who he is, he is really an extraordinary man. Although his plans failed and wiped over the floor, until the last minute he is not defeated yet.”

They all sat in silence, feeling very depressed.

Despite the ingenuity and the meticulous plan, they did not expect their operation to fail at the last moment.

“Are we really powerless against him right now?” Xiao Gu of Mount Ba asked no one in particular.

In an uncertain tone Lu Xiaofeng said slowly, “Perhaps I can still think of a way or two.”

“What is it?” Xiao Gu of Mount Ba asked.

“Isn’t your Shishu [martial uncle] still at Wudang?” Lu Xiaofeng asked him back.

“No, he isn’t,” Xiao Gu of Mount Ba replied.

“Do you know where he is?” Lu Xiaofeng asked.

Xiao Gu of Mount Ba said, “All I know is the owner of Lucky Plaza is an old friend of his; he butchered a fat cow especially for him to gorge himself. He wouldn’t miss this kind of opportunity.” [Again, it’s a stretch, my tribute to my Singaporean readers. The original was ‘quan fu lou’, quan – complete, fu – happiness/luck, lou – two-story building.]

Lu Xiaofeng’s eyes brightened. “Does he like to eat meat?” he asked.

“Practically he cannot miss one day without eating meat,” Xiao Gu of Mount Ba replied.

“Does he eat a lot?” Lu Xiaofeng asked again.

“Like the devil,” Xiao Gu of Mount Ba replied.

Fourteenth day of the fourth month, afternoon.

A piece of red paper was pasted on the door of Lucky Plaza, “Closed for the day, private party with distinguished guest.”

Although it was closed for business, the door was not closed. As soon as he entered, he saw the big and tall, majestic looking Long Meng, Long the flying lion, eating an entire cow.

Three tables were put together, with a large cauldron full of meat sitting on top of it.

He did not like to eat his meat finely chopped or thinly sliced, or even garnished with anything. When he ate meat, he ate it a large chunk by a large chunk.

In such a big hall, there was only one waiter, who was standing afar off, to serve him. Even the owner was not there. When he ate meat, he did not like to be disturbed, he did not like to talk either.

But he did not ask anybody to stop Lu Xiaofeng.

Lu Xiaofeng strode over, dragged a chair, sat down in front of him, and said with a smile, “How are you?”

“Good,” Long Meng replied.

“I know you,” Lu Xiaofeng said.

“I also know you,” Long Meng replied, “You are Lu Xiaofeng.”

“But I don’t know Long Meng,” Lu Xiaofeng said, “I just know you.”

Long Meng laughed heartily, “Am I not Long Meng?”

Lu Xiaofeng said, “You are Tribal Chief Flying Lion, but aren’t you also the meat-eating General?”

Long Meng stopped laughing. His pair of big, round eyes shot arrows at Lu Xiaofeng.

Lu Xiaofeng continued, “General did not die at all, General still eats meat.”

“Meat is delicious,” Long Meng said.

Lu Xiaofeng said, “If Canine Master could disguise you as General, naturally he could also disguise other people the same way. Much less when people die, their appearance will be more or less the same.”

“How could General die?” Long Meng said.

“Because I came there,” Lu Xiaofeng said.

“You came and General had to die?” Long Meng asked.

Lu Xiaofeng said, “Because General mattered a great deal; other than Old Sabre Honcho, nobody else is allowed to see his real face. The earlier he died, the safer it would be.”

“That’s right,” Long Meng said, “Dead person is always the safest, no one would ever suspect a dead person.”

“Too bad lately dead people often came back alive,” Lu Xiaofeng said.

Long Meng held out a ladle of meat in front of him; suddenly he asked, “You eat meat?”

“Eat,” Lu Xiaofeng replied.

“Eat a lot?” Long Meng asked.

“Lots,” Lu Xiaofeng replied.

“Good, you eat!” Long Meng said.

He put a ladle of meat inside his mouth first, and then he handed over the wooden ladle to Lu Xiaofeng, “Quickly eat, eat a lot, meat is delicious.”

Lu Xiaofeng also scooped out a ladle of meat, “Meat is indeed delicious, extremely delicious; too bad sometimes it is so delicious that it really take someone’s life.” [Translator’s note: play of words here. The phrase I translated as ‘extremely’ was 要命 – yaoming, lit. wants (someone’s) life; it could also mean annoying, desperate, awful, terrible, etc. (See also Chapter 9)]?”

Long Meng said, “General eats meat, you also eat meat, everybody eats meat, those who eat meat are not necessarily General.”

Lu Xiaofeng concurred.

Long Meng’s eyes shone with some kind of weird expression. Suddenly he lowered his voice and said, “Therefore, you can never prove that I am General.” He roared in laughter, “Therefore, you can only eat meat.”

Lu Xiaofeng wanted to laugh, but he simply could not laugh.

He could only eat meat.

It was indeed a hearty meat stew, but he only took a bit, his countenance immediately changed.

Long Meng laughed and said, “Today you seem to eat slowly, you don’t eat much either.”

“How much did you eat?” Lu Xiaofeng asked.

“A lot,” Long Meng replied, “Extremely [‘yaoming’] a lot.” [See my note above.]

Lu Xiaofeng let out a bitter laugh and said, “I am afraid this time it will really take a life.”

“Whose life?” Long Meng asked.

“Yours,” Lu Xiaofeng replied.

His pressed the table lightly, his body flitted across the table, as fast as lightning he sealed the acupoints around Long Meng’s heart.

Too bad he forgot that there was a pot of meat in the middle. A ‘life-killing’ [yaoming] pot of meat.

General’s movement was also very fast. Suddenly he lifted this pot of meat, the meat soup splashed; it was still scalding hot.

Lu Xiaofeng only dodged sideways. “Sit down, don’t move!” he shouted.

Naturally Long Meng did not want to listen to him; his body leaped up, he wanted to flee outside.

Not only he did move, he moved very fast, very strenuous.

Hence the poison that had already been hiding inside his stomach and intestine immediately rushed toward his heart.

He fell instantly.

Lu Xiaofeng called out, “There is poison in the meat, as soon as you move …”

He did not continue, because he had seen that Long Meng could no longer hear him.

This pot of meat really took his life [again, yaoming].

When he went down, his face turned black; and as his face turned black, he had already turned into dead person.

(NOT the end)

[ycb5959]

foxs trying to outfox old hens...

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

...for continuing. He he.

[LuDongBin]

Foxs translated LXF one too many ... begins to act and think like LXF ...

[HPC7595]

Thank You foxs

[szfong]

if i remember correctly, i saw a partial completed ending to this story. it involves wooden toaist and his daughter.

click to show/hide spoilers

she kills him thinking he was the one who killed her father not realizing he is her real father. lxf witness this but became unable to reveal the secret. wooden toaist deis because he was taken unawares.

I think you are correct, it involves patricide, then suicide, and then a VERY short duel w/ Ximen Chuixue ... and then off he goes to get some Beef Soup

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs .. more intrigue.

[muliono]

I didn't expect Wooden Taoist to have it in him to fool everybody.

I didn't expect foxs to have it in him to fool everybody (well, almost).

Anyway, a photo of Lucky Plaza today. They must have upgraded it over the years. It's more than 2 storey high now. Hahaha... Attachment 9766

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[Clown Prince]

Phew!

Thanks foxs!!!

[foxs]

ycb, Jaya, DongBin, HPC, szfong, Ysabel, Muliono, Anh, Clown, thanks for your continuing support. Here's the last part of Chapter 16. To the rest of you, thanks for 'reacting' on the previous post.

---

The dead person was no longer Chief Flying Lion; he was not General either.

A dead person is a dead person.

Who cooked this pot of meat? Who was the owner of this place?

The waiter who was standing afar off was so scared that he stood there as if his feet were nailed to the floor. Lu Xiaofeng grabbed him and said, “Take me to the kitchen.”

The person cooking the meat ought to be in the kitchen.

But there was only meat in the kitchen; there was nobody there.

A large pot of meat was still cooking on the stove, a very large pot, like the one on Mount Wudang, the large pot that was used to cook a large amount of food. The pot was full with meat that has not been fully cooked.

Lu Xiaofeng’s countenance changed again; he could not help wanting to vomit.

He suddenly discovered a very terrifying thing.

-- The meat was inside the pot; could it be that the cook was also inside the pot?

Right now from among those who could still bear witness to Lu Xiaofeng, quite probably only one person left.

It does not matter whether he was Cousin or Ancient Pine, Lu Xiaofeng only hoped that he was still alive.

Where was that man now? Luckily, only Lu Xiaofeng knew.

Naturally the basement of the Ye Family Manor was not the safest place. He had already moved them to a secret place where nobody would ever guess.

-- The game was about to end, this was his last trump card. Naturally he wanted to leave himself a little secret.

Late spring afternoon, the sun was still shining brightly; he walked slowly along the long street, as if he did not have any purpose at all.

All kinds of shops lined up both sides of the street, all kinds of people were inside those shops. He could see them, and they could see him as well, but he did not know how many of those people were actually watching him in secret.

At the end of the street suddenly there was a carriage came galloping and almost knocked him down. There seemed to be someone in the carriage sticking out his head out of the window and gave him a quick glance, he seemed to have a pair of very bright eyes.

If he were able to take a closer look, he was sure he could recognize that person; unfortunately as he looked up, the carriage was already too far.

But even after he left this long street, he seemed to be thinking about those bright eyes still, so much so that he seemed to be troubled by it.

A hurried glance from a stranger, why did he let it troubled him and sent him on edge?

Could it be that the person was not a stranger at all?

He tried hard to chase this matter out of his mind. When he walked past a fruit stand at the corner of the street, he bought two pears. He gave one to a kid who was standing next to the fruit stand and was staring blankly at the distance, and slowly nibbled the one in his hand.

Right now he only wanted to grab Wooden Taoist’s fatal point, but didn’t Wooden Taoist also want to kill him right now?

The pot of meat just now, although he only had two bites, up to this moment he still felt his stomach was a bit unwell.

Luckily the dose of poison in the meat was not heavy at all. If the dose were too heavy, it would be easier to detect.

Long Meng was not a slow-witted man, it’s just that the amount of meat he ate was a bit too much.

Too much that it took his life! [yaoming]

If he also ate a few more pieces of the meat, by this time Wooden Taoist would not have to worry about anything anymore, he himself would not have to worry about anything either.

-- The person behind that carriage window just now seemed to be a woman; the mouth of the horses pulling the carriage was foamy. It seemed like they have been traveling far, and in such haste.

-- Who was she? Where did she come from?

Although Lu Xiaofeng was trying hard not to think about it, he just couldn’t keep this matter out of his mind.

He seemed to have a strange premonition in his heart, a feeling that this person was very important to him.

But the person who was really important to him right now was, naturally, not her; it was Ancient Pine.

When the lights went out that day, it was he who personally subdued him; and he had Hai Qikuo and Gao Tao imprisoned in the basement at the back.

Right now all the people who had come from the Mansion of Spirits have been imprisoned in that basement. The first day they went down the mountain, Lu Xiaofeng had already handed the drawing of these people’s appearance to the ‘waiter who took the dog out for a walk’. The people of the Eagle’s nest immediately sprang into action; they caught everybody in one net. And then Canine Master, Sikong Zhaixing and Wang Shidai had their own people disguised to assume their appearance.

Lu Xiaofeng was not overly concerned about their life or death; they would never know ‘Old Sabre Honcho’s’ true identity anyway, they were people who ought to be dead long ago anyway.

But what about ‘Cousin’?

Where did he send Cousin? How did he send him out? Practically he did not seem to have any opportunity to bring along such a big, living human being.

Lu Xiaofeng could not help chuckling at himself as he passed through an alley kitty-cornered from the street, leading back to the inn – the inn where they stayed when they first arrived in this town on the eleventh of the fourth month.

They unloaded their luggage first, arranged for a place for the carriage and horses, and then they went out for a drink. It was when they were having a drink that he met his niece, and was subsequently brought to the House of Blues. The horses and the carriage, as well as their luggage, were still in this inn. Even the driver whom they hired along the way was still waiting here for the money.

He seemed to have forgotten about it, and did not remember it until now.

After paying double, he still seemed to feel a bit bad; hence he instructed the driver to harness the horses, “The weather is so good today, I am thinking of taking a tour around this area. Why don’t you take me around for the last time, I’ll buy you a drink.”

The weather was indeed very good, the man driving the carriage, as well as the horses pulling the carriage, were in good spirit, they walked along the street with vigor.

Not only this town was on the road one must follow to go to Wudang, it was also the town closest to Mount Wudang. As soon as they left the downtown area, the scenery was fresh and green, the world-famous Mount Wudang seemed to be right in front of their eyes.

They stopped in a forest at the foot of the hill. Lu Xiaofeng suddenly remembered that they forgot to bring the wine.

“I promised to buy you a drink.” He gave the driver an ingot of silver, “Go buy some. Buy a bit more, you can have the rest.”

Naturally this place was quite far from the place that sold wine, but looking at the silver, the driver happily took the money and walked away.

By this time it was already late afternoon, the light of the setting sun filled the sky, the sunset glow was gorgeous. Under the setting sun, this famous Taoist mountain, the wonder place of the Wulin world, looked even more elegant, grand, and wonderful.

It’s just that there was no road going up the mountain from here, the Taoist monastery and scenic spots were far away. Therefore, no matter which direction he looked, he did not see a single person. Lu Xiaofeng suddenly crawled under the carriage.

There was nothing to see under the carriage, why did he crawl into it? Could it be he wanted to get some sleep under there?

But he did not close his eyes at all, instead, it looked like he was muttering to himself, “Going hungry for just two, three days, nobody will die of starvation; not to mention hermits usually don’t eat too much.”

But he did not seem to be mumbling to himself either. Could it be that there was someone else underneath the carriage?

Where is it?

He knocked the baseboard of the carriage, it sounded like the inside was empty. Turned out there was a space between the boards.

When government officials from the Capital announced old age and returned home, they usually brought quite a bit of things, naturally the big carriages they hired would be especially big. If the carriage had a storage room under the baseboard, naturally it would not be small either; putting a person inside would not be a very difficult thing to do.

That day at the Ye Family Mansion, before Liu Qingqing awoke and the others were busy with changing their appearance, he took ‘Cousin’ and hid him in here.

Although sealing his acupoint and stuffing him into this place was a bit cruel, Lu Xiaofeng thought that some people deserved to be treated like that for their crime.

“Although you have to suffer right now, but as long as you are willing to help me out, I guarantee that I won’t give you any trouble; you may continue being a hermit.”

He removed the wooden board covering the storage space. Someone fell from the inside.

A living person.

You do not need to check his pulse and breathing to know that the person was still alive.

Because as soon as he fell down, his whole body moved. Not only that, the changes of his movement were quite a lot.

After the person fell, another person fell from the inside, and then another.

Lu Xiaofeng was pretty sure he only hid one person inside, how could it suddenly become three?

All three people were alive, and all three people were moving. Their move was very fast, and the changes were a lot.

The space underneath the carriage was not big, the range of motion was even smaller. With Lu Xiaofeng alone in there, he already felt cramped, and now there were three more people crowding onto him.

His entire body was already unable to move, because these three people, like three octopuses, were pinning him down and were tightly wrapped themselves around him, while five hands simulatenously sealed his acupoints.

How could three people only have five hands? Was it because one of them only had one hand?

Could this one-handed man be Hai Qikuo?

Lu Xiaofeng could not even see their faces, because he was immediately lifted up and heavily thrown into the carriage, just like a dead fish was thrown into a deep fryer.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[LuDongBin]

Thks foxs.