The Sword And The Exquisiteness (Volumes IV and V)

[someguy44]

Originally posted by TigerWong
Whatever. Maybe JY should stop biting GL's 6 Yang Palm or use the sword ideas from Tale of Washing Swords in Smiling Proud Wanderer. Forget Xian Tian or Wu Xiang (BTW - TSATE and DGSD were written around the same time), maybe anytime someone uses Dragon in their kung fu they should consult JY's lawyers too.

Not to say there are no similiarities in their works, but that's not surprising as they were friends who were bound to exchange some ideas. And I'm not naive enough to believe that there was absolutely no borrowing taking place ever (and it goes both ways). I just find it amusing that JY fans always seem to enjoy pointing out the most minor details and automatically attribute it to "stealing", whereas GL fans never seem to really make a fuss about it when they can say the same things. (Well, maybe I should take that back since I hear theres an entire essay about JY ideas taken from GL, but in general, GL fans don't.)

I agree whole-heartedly! RWX, Tiger is right. I find that a lot of the ideas and characters in JY's novels are based on ROTK and probably other novels too. If you've read ROTK, you'll know what I mean. If you think Gu Long is a biter, than JY is 10x's worst. I'm also not naive enough, like Tiger, to think that LGZ didn't get his ideas from plays/operas/stories either.

To Athena: I didn't plan on coming back here for a long long while onced I'd reach 1,000 posts, but unfortunately, someone deleted 3 of my posts so I'm back again just for the 3 posts (and this is one of them). Don't be sad and contemplating. I've been doing that for the last decade and I've always ended up back in the same spot I started... Nowhere! It's pointless to dwell back on the past. Instead, we should just move on with our lives. I think we all have demons to subdue, but as we all know, time is the ultimate healer of all.

Btw, I'm still following your story and I find it more and more intriquing for its' unpredictablility (Goffy exempted ). The more I read this story, the more I like Zhu Lei'Er. I used to like Yu PeiYu the most, but now I think I like the Parrot more. He's kind of funny for by just inmitating someone's voice, he can scare the day lights out of them.

Anyway, goodbye to all. One more post and I can say goodbye to all for a long long time... Unless, someone decides to delete one of my posts again for no reason. $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://216.40.249.192/s/cwm/3dlil/eek13.gif')

[Ren Wo Xing]

Wow, so many responses to what was just meant to be a joking little post.

[TigerWong]

Originally posted by Ren Wo Xing
Wow, so many responses to what was just meant to be a joking little post.

Heh, didn't mean to start some avalanche of responses. Just wanted to put in my 2 cents and leave it at that.

[PJ]

SOMEGUY: why not stick around? With your great knowledge of wuxia, I am sure I can learn something from you everyday

[Athena]

Chapter 37 The Yama Book Of Debts

The woman in black said:"When Mr. Dongguo finds out that you are in possession of the plaque of repay, he will be bound to look for you."
Yu Peiyu said:"But Mr. Dongguo has said that he will help out whoever is in possession of that plaque, before I can personally hand the plaque back everyone can steal it from me."
The woman in black said:"But who is capable of stealing that plaque from you?"
Yu Peiyu smiled wryly:"I am not being modest here, but there are a lot of martial arts experts in the realm."
The woman in black said:"You're right. With your present skills there are to my knowledge about 13 people who can defeat you. Possibly even more but most of these experts are in retreat and when they hear the news they will probably come out and try to steal that plaque from you. Even by all means necessary."
She did not give Yu Peiyu time to ask and added with a smile:"But you have the Yama Debt Book of Lady Zhu, why should you be afraid of them."
Yu Peiyu said with surprise:"Yama Debt Book?"
The woman in black said:"You have the plaque of gratitude, how can you not have the book of debts."
Yu Peiyu seemed to understand and said:"Madame, are you referring to that black notebook?"
The woman in black said:"Indeed." She paused for a short moment before adding:"Everyone is bound to make mistakes in life, even sages are not perfect. In this short lifetime one is sure to err occasionally, especially famous people. We see their glory and their high status and the ever so mighty grandeur of them, are we aware how many people were sacrificed to gain that glory and wonderful status."
Yu Peiyu sighed deeply too, because he too knew the road to fame was not easy and when one reaches that point the road is probably full of corpses.
The woman in black said:"For instance, Hong Shengqi was able to become the leader of the Fengwei (Phoenix tale) Association, because he framed his elder martial arts brother and poisoned his teacher. This secret leaked out eventually, but before this secret was uncovered everyone believed that Hong Shengqi was an awesome true hero."
Yu Peiyu still did not speak and sighed softly.
The woman in black continued:"Hong Shengqi was just unlucky that his secret was exposed. Many similar events happen all the time in the realm but we are just unaware of it."
Yu Peiyu said:"If one does not want someone to know about something, one should not have done it in the first place. Crimes like that will be solved in the end, no matter what."
The woman in black said:"True! Every secret is bound to be solved one time. However the person who accumulated most secrets is Zhu Mei of the Palace of Enchantment."
Yu Peiyu looked surprised.
The woman in black explained:"Lady Zhu kept every men spellbounded with her beauty and she had numerous lovers. And men are most vunerable when they are lying on a bed with a beautiful woman next to him."
She said it rather indirectly but one could easily imagine what situation would arise. It is the truth that most men cannot really keep any secrets hidden when there is a beautiful woman lying next to him gazing at him with pretty eyes.
The woman in black said:"Lady Zhu suddenly was overwhelmed with secrets, she carefully wrote every secret down in a black notebook. Secrets of her lovers, admirers or mysteries those people overheard, found out and told her about it to gain her love and grace. She was a very intelligent woman and knew that every secret was invaluable, so she carefully protected her notebook because she knew that these secrets would be useful some day."
Yu Peiyu sighed:"In the end she did not use those secrets."
The woman in black said:"That is because she became stupid suddenly."
Yu Peiyu said:"Stupid?"
The woman in black said:"Yes, stupid."
She continued:"There are two types of stupid people in this world, the first one type are old men who fall in love with young girls. Some of those old men are very intelligent men and had seen the world. But because of a mere young girl with pretty face, they do the most foolish, stupid things and lose everything they worked so hard to gain in life. They are very sad but nobody feels sad for them, in the end they were themselves to blame for their pitiful state."
Yu Peiyu smiled wryly, he too knew some of these tragic tales. Sometimes it was downright a farse.
The woman in black said:"The second type are women who fall head over heals in love. Normally smart women will become ignorant and dumb when they fall for a man completely. The man they love is a rogue, a thief, but in their eyes he is the most honest, likeable man on the world. Even if he told her that the sun rises in the west or that snow is black, she will believe it."
Yu Peiyu thought of Zhong Jing now and sighed deeply.
The woman in black sighed:"However Zhu Mei became even more stupid than these two types of people, she fell madly in love with a despicable, horrible little bastard who was so young that he could have been her son."
Yu Peiyu sighed too:"Lady Zhu sacrificed a lot for this awful man, she of course did not want to use any incriminating secrets to blackmail her father-in-law."
The woman in black said:"Indeed with your intelligence, you could put this notebook to good use and nobody will try to harm you."
Yu Peiyu said:"But..."
The woman in black interrupted him:"I know what you are thinking. Everything in life has two sides, it really depends on the user. You should understand that."
Yu Peiyu lowered his head and said:"Yes, I do."
The woman in black smiled now:"This is all I have to say, go now. When you have completed your task we will meet again. Till that time I sincerely wish good luck with your mission."
When Yu Peiyu's back disappeared into the horizon, she was still standing there and as the sun was setting her facial expression changed. Her face suddenly changed awfully mysterious and eerie, she seems to have two identities in the day she is human. However in the night she turns into a [shade]. Another ghost krept towards her, it was the ghost of Ji Kuqing.
His clothes were still drenched with blood but his face was cleaned up now, his eyes were glittering wtih laughter and laughed loudly:"You have a lot to say today."
The woman in black said casually:"To rid our troubles, I don't mind talking a bit more."
Ji Kuqing said:"Won't killing him be more easy?"
The woman in black shook her head:"You do not understand."
Ji Kuqing sighed:"I just don't understand why you want me to play dead earlier and left him alive....."
The woman in black said:"Only this way he will reveal his secrets to me."
Ji Kuqing asked:"Did he tell you?"
The woman in black said:"Yes, he admitted he was the son of Yu Fanghe, just like I thought that old dog was responsible for changing his face."
Ji Kuqing said:"Now you know, why leave him around?"
The woman in black shook her head and said:"You don't know, but soon everything will be clear to you..."
Ji Kuqing said:"I just hope you are right."
The woman in black said:"When was I ever wrong?"
She backed away from him and asked:"Where did all that blood come from anyway?"
Ji Kuqing laughed:"Even you think this is blood? It seems that my abilities are becoming better and better."
The woman in black smiled:"I was always impressed by your abilities."
Ji Kuqing asked:"How about your pupil?"
The woman in black said:"Hai Dongqing?"
Ji Kuqing said:"Yes."
The woman in black said:"He is taking Iron Blossom and Zhu Lei'Er back to my place."
Ji Kuqing asked:"Does he know about our plans?"
The woman in black said:"To succeed, the fewer people know about our plans the better."
Ji Kuqing asked:"How about Yang Zijiang?"
The woman black said:"In order to succeed, we must have a few scapegoats ready."

It was a chilly Autumn day, he travelled with extreme caution every day now. He thought that every day could be his last one, he was relieved when he managed to make through the day. He noticed that he looked very dirty and he wished he could change his robe and take a warm bath. But he did not have much money on him, when you're running from death one tends to forget the value of money quite easily.
Near dusk Yu Peiyu reached a small town, he used his remaining copper coins to buy four paper flints and two bowls of noodles. After that he had not a coin on him anymore.
Still he was very excited. Reading secrets of dignitaries of Wulin was most intriguing, being curious of other people's mysteries is also a rather nasty character trait of all humans.
Yu Peiyu left the town and found a remote place to shelter himself from the wind, he made a small fire and held the notebook near the fire. The characters slowly appeared.
Yu Peiyu was shocked to read the names on the notebook, everyone in the book were famous martial arts experts Yu Peiyu had heard of. Some were even more even more shocking: the lord of Nocturne City Dongfang Daming, Heavenly King Li, Granny Hu, master Nu, the Flying Hunchback Yi Kun, the celestial dragon swordsman......
Besides the names of the ten great martial arts masters, also some of the 13 leaders of the orthodox schools were on the list. But three other names were most shocking to Yu Peiyu, namely Ji Kuqing, Feng San and his father Yu Fanghe. He could not believe his eyes, his father was righteous and fair throughout his entire life it was impossible that he did something wrong in his life.
He did not want to look and did not want to believe it.
He also did not read about Feng San, Feng San was his brother and his good friend. Even if he did something wrong he did not want to read about it.
However he did not pass on Ji Kuqing, under the name Ji Kuqing were the characters [incest between brother and sister].
Yu Peiyu felt disgusted when he read that, he could not believe that such revolting things could actually be commited.
But he believed it was true, because he remembered the son of Ji Kuqing, Ji Zanghua. He was obviously a product of the sick revolting relationship between Ji Kuqing and his sister. But it was strange that Ji Lingfeng and Ji Lingyan looked normal, they did not inherit the bad genes from their sick, midget father Ji Zanghua.
Could it be that they were not the daughters of Ji Zanghua?
Yu Peiyu thought back when he was in that secret passage beneath Murder Manor, he found a piece of jade left behind by the lover of Madame Ji.
That piece of jade was a family heirloom of the Yu family, so her lover was someone of the Yu family without any doubt.
Could this be that secret of Yu Fanghe?
Yu Peiyu did not want to think about it, but he wanted to get to the bottom of this. So he flipped the page to Yu Fanghe. His hand was trembling and his heart was beating faster and faster.
Under the name of Yu Fanghe stood: [disowned his own brother and banned him from the family, his brother looks like a gentleman but is in fact a despicable murderous rogue].
Next to his father's name stood:[The elusive cloud a rogue of the north and brother of Yu Fanghe. Banned from his family when he was young because of his awful ways. The elder brother is a sage, but the younger brother is thug. Marvellous, marvellous].
Yu Peiyu broke out in a cold sweat when he read this. He remembered that he had a second uncle when he was very young, Yu Peiyu's mother was still alive that time whenever he asked about his second uncle his mother would look unhappy and stern. She would tell him that his second uncle was already dead and told him never to ask about his second uncle again.
Now he knows his second uncle is not dead, so the secret lover of Madame Ji could be his uncle. And the sister Ji Lingfeng and Ji Lingyan would likely be the daughters of that uncle of his. That perhaps also explained why Ji Lingfeng would often help him out and wanted him to join forces with her. In the end blood is really thicker than water.
Yu Peiyu was contemplating and was trying to digest the information he just read, after some time he heard a carriage coming his way.
In the dark Yu Peiyu could not see what was in the carriage but he could smell a very strong scent of herbs.
The man pushing the carriage was wearing a big dark outer robe, which is worn to protect oneselves from rain.
In Sichuan province, there were many mountains and hills making transportation via carriage quite difficult. One could also find a lot herbs in the mountain range, and people from Sichuan are known herb collectors.
Nothing strange about this in the eyes of all and sundry, but Yu Peiyu was immediately suspcious.
From afar he could tell that the carriage was transporting something heavy, but herbs are not that heavy. It does not rain often in Sichuan and it was raining now, but this man was still wearing a rain robe to protect himself. He was pushing an extremely heavy carriage with a lot of ease, by this alone this man must know martial arts. It was now night time but this man was still travelling at this hour, meaning he was making haste to go somewhere.
Yu Peiyu was not really interested in the affairs of others now, although he found a bit strange but he did not want to poke his nose into this matter.
But suddenly Yu Peiyu heard the galloping of a horse, a horse came his way and it was mighty fast. When the horse was about ten metres away from the carriage the rider leapt of the horse and made a somersault in mid-air and landed gracefully in front of the carriage.
The horse also stopped on its own, Yu Peiyu praised in his heart: An excellent rider and a wonderful steed.
The other man seemed to be oblivious to the rider and continued to push his carriage.
Yu Peiyu was sitting on the slope and when he heard the carriage he had already put out his fire, and in the dark both men could not see Yu Peiyu. Furthermore Yu Peiyu now positioned himself between some bushes to observe the two men.
The rider also did not notice when the carriage almost hid him, he stood there steady as a mountain.
Yu Peiyu saw that the rider was short and fat, he carried a long sword on his back making him look rather ridiculous.
But there was something about him, he had a rather powerful grandeur that made people look at him in awe. Although Yu Peiyu could not see his face clearly he had already guessed who this rider was. When the carriage bumped into him, the man also stopped pushing the carriage.
The rider laughed loudly:"Lord Ouyang, since when have you started to sell herbal medicine?"
The man pushing the carriage was the leader of the 72 branches of water heroes of the Changjiang River, Yu Peiyu thought he looked familiar but could not see his face clearly because he had covered his face.
Ouyang Long smiled:"Master Yu, you have sharp eyes. My respects." He removed his big straw hat and continued:"I thought that Master Yu was staying nicely at Hainan Isle, what brings you in these parts? Don't tell me that you have retired from being the leader of the Hainan School and have become a herb collector too?"
Yu Peiyu was sure of it now, this fat, short man was Yu Xuan, The Flying Fish and the Swift Sword. The leader of the Hainan School, Yu Peiyu saw him once during the gathering at Lake Huang. But it was coincidence that these two men met each other here in the remote skirts of Sichuan province.
What were they doing here and what were they up to?

Yu Xuan said:"Lord Ouyang, do you have an idea why I am here?"
Ouyang Long said:"Please enlighten me."
Yu Xuan smiled:"Lord Ouyang, I am here because of the same reason why you are in Sichuan."
Ouyang Long stayed quiet for awhile before taking out something from his robe, he asked:"Did Master Yu receive this too?"
He was holding an ordinary invitation card, there was nothing special to it, but it was strange that he was trembling when holding this invitation.
When Yu Xuan saw the invitatin he stopped laughing too and sighed:"This year I am the unfortunate fool."
Ouyang Long laughed sadly:"This year, it is the 70th birthday of eighth squire Fu. He has sent you an invitation even though you live far, far away. That means that brother Yu's fame and reputation is well-known throughout China, why would you say that you are an unfortunate fool?"
Yu Peiyu thought Yu Xuan's remark was strange too, if you are invited to attend to feast far, far away from you that usually meant your prestige and reputation were very high. And the person who invited you had a very high regards of you, furthermore with Hainan School and Yu Xuan's status a gift would not be too much to be asked.
Yu Xuan laughed dryly:"Lord Ouyang is right, I should be happy that I am invited by eighth squire Fu, however after searching for two months I still could not find a suitable present for him."
Yu Peiyu felt this was very strange, I mean presents are not that important it is about the intention. Anything can be seen as a present, a piece of antique, taels of gold, silver, jewelry and even pastry, silk etc.
How come the leader of the Hainan School is unable to find a present for this eighth squire Fu? Nobody would believe him.
Ouyang Long sneered:"Master Yu is both rich and powerful, everyone knows that in Wulin. If you would say that you are uncapable of finding a present nobody would believe you."
Yu Xuang stayed quiet for awhile before asking:"Have you heard of a man called Deng Xuan?"
Ouyang Long said:"Of course even though I am not a well-informed man in Wulin, I still know that Lord Deng is the lord of the Purple Sand Isle, and one of the best friends of master Yu."
Yu Xuan asked:"Do you that he is dead for about a year?"
Ouyang Long was surprised and exclaimed with suprise:"What kind of illness did lord Deng contract?"
Yu Xuan said:"He was always very healthy and never even coughed, he did not die because of any illness."
Ouyang Long asked:"If he wasn't bedridden? Was he ki....killed by someone?"
Yu Xuan said:"Yes, he was killed."
Ouyang Long said:"Lord Deng's pair of sun and moon wheels were said to be imparted by late master Dongfang Daming of Nocturne City, for the last couple of decades lord Deng was said never to have met a match. Who is capable of killing him?"
Yu Xuan said:"Eighth suire Fu."
Ouyang Long's face changed and did not speak anymore.
Yu Xuan said:"Last year Deng Xuan received an invitation to attend the birthday feast of eighth squire Fu, Deng Xuan searched for two days and finally found a piece of beautiful coral about one metre high. He was very pleased about it and thought his present would be the most eye-catching one, at least eighth squire fu would be happy."
Ouyang Long nodded and said:"Hmmm."
Yu Xuan continued:"When Deng Xuan presented his present to eighth squire Fu, he did say a word to Deng Yuan and lead him to chamber. When he opened that room Deng Yuan saw corals at least two to three metres tall."
Yu Xuan sighed:"When Deng Xuan saw this fear struck him into his chest, eighth squire Fu did not invite him to attend the feast and asked him to leave. He personally accompanied Deng Xuan out of his estate."
Ouyang Long asked:"What happened?"
Yu Xuan sighed again:"Deng Xuan hurried back home on his steed and when he reached home he coughed up blood and fainted. He himself did not know how he got injured, he only remembered that eighth squire Fu made a farewell gesture to him and he felt his chest was a bit warm."
Ouyang Long asked:"How....how many days till he got home?"
Yu Xuan said:"Seven days, he coughed up buckets of black blood and he died that very same night."
Ouyang Long stayed silent and looked very earnest, he softly said:"Very formidable Hundred Paces Divine Fist! Harming one without knowledge and dying of injuries after seven days.......Eighth squire Fu has really awesome martial arts."
Yu Xuan sighed:"Almost everyone in the realm knows that the invincible fists of eighth squire Fu are lethal, and if he doesn't like your present you might get a hit on the chest."
Ouyang Long looked at his cargo on the carriage.
Yu Xuan said:"With Deng Xuan serving as an example I do not dare to present my gift like that. When I received the invitation I immediately started to look for a present, but even now I could not find a present suitable enough to present to eighth squire Fu. Now there are only two days left before the birthday of eighth squire Fu, what should I do lord Ouyang?"
Yu Peiyu now understood what was going on, he was quite bemused by this. People using their birthdays as excuse to receive presents was not uncommon, but the way this eighth squire Fu was using his martial arts to force people giving him present was unheard of.
Yu Peiyu also knew that the Hundred Paces Divine Fist was a Shaolin special technique, could this eigth squire Fu be a secular disciple of Shaolin?
Ouyang Long and Yu Xuan were both famous and strong martial artists in the realm, seeing that both of them feared this eighth squire Fu that meant that he was not to be trifled with.
However Yu Peiyu could not think of who this man was.
Ouyang Long stayed quiet for some time before saying:"I fully understand master Yu's predicament. However I too am most worried and fear for my own life, I really do not have the ability to help you."
Yu Xuan looked at the cargo on the carriage and said coldly:"So lord Ouyang has found a suitable present for eighth squire Fu?"
Ouyang Long said with an troubled smile:"I found a simple object which I tend to present to eight squire Fu. I too hope it is suificient."
Yu Xuan laughed loudly:"Lord Ouyang must be joking."
He suddenly stopped laughing and said:"Let us be honest! If your present is not suitable how would you even dare considering presenting it. Furthermore I think this object is most adequate too."
Ouyang Long's face changed and asked:"You know what it is?"
Yu Xuan said casually:"Well, I think I have a vague idea."
Ouyang Long said sternly:"So you were spying on me the entire time!"
Yu Xuan said:"Lord Ouyang, on your way here you met with no trouble at all not even a small thief. Do you honestly believe because you have disguised yourself perfectly?"
He laughed arrogantly:"Let us not even mention thieves even laymen can see that you are not transporting herbs. Heavy herbs like this do not exist."
Ouyang Long sneered:"Even if there were small thieves who would consider attacking me, I am still quite capable of dealing with those."
Yu Xuan said:"I helped lord Ouyang chase away numerous of unwelcomed thugs, even if you're not grateful you should at least show a bit of consideration for my hard work."
He laughed:"I think lord Ouyang won't object if I want some repayment for my efforts."
Ouyang Long was stunned and knew what Yu Xuan wanted from him. He asked earnestly:"Master Yu wants this carriage."
Yu Xuan sighed:"I wish there was another option, but unfortunately there isn't."
Ouyang Long said:"Allright, I will give it to you."
He pushed the carriage forward and wanted to use to it bump into Yu Xuan.
Yu Xuan anticipated that and leapt up and in mid-air he drew his sword and stabbed towards Ouyang Long with incredible speed.
Yu Xuan is proclaimed to be the best swordsman of the Southern Sea regions, all his moves were conducted with lightning speed. Ouyang Long put his hand on his shoulder and ripped open his rain robe and used it curl it up and blocked that stance. This rain robe of his was made from the silk spun by golden silkworms, swords and sabre cannot punch a hole through it. It was his weapon in combat, it was not handy in assaults but excellent when used to defend oneself. The sword stabbed a few times on the robe causing sparks.
Ouyang Long twirled the robe again and swept it towards Yu Xuan and right behind the robe he flung ten odd metalic objects towards Yu Xuan's chest.
One of Ouyang Long's lethal stances, Golden Robe Followed By The Iron Swallow. Ever since Ouyang Long started to roam the realm few have been able to avoid this attack of his.
However suddenly Yu Xuan's body was not in front of him anymore and the sword of Yu Xuan's also made a twirl and before he could turn around the sword pierced through his back.
This was a famous technique from the Hainan School called The Flying Fish Move, Yu Xuan has mastered this technique to perfection.
Ouyang Long was a famous martial artist on the waters, perhaps he should have stayed there. As the saying goes if the dragon leaves the sea, he might perish on the land.
Yu Peiyu was also surprised that Ouyang Long could not even handle three stances of Yu Xuan. He was wondering whether he should interfere but when he was still doubting Ouyang Long was already killed.
Yu Xuan pulled out his sword and said softly:"Lord Ouyang, I really did not want to kill you. But if I don't kill you I will surely meet death. You should not blame me, you should blame eighth squire Fu."
He started to push the carriage himself.
Suddenly a voice said:"You should really learn to share.......I take carriage you can have the corpse."
When the first word was uttered the person was about 40 metres away but when the final word was said, the speaker was standing in front of Yu Xuan.
While he advanced forward Yu Peiyu and Yu Xuan heard a soft bell sound. Yu Peiyu could not see this man clearly, but Yu Xuan backed away and it looked like he shrunk when he saw this man.
This man moved like a spirit and was very tall, but he had a lump on his back. When Yu Peiyu saw the fear Yu Xuan showed towards this man and the sound of the bells and the posture, he remembered something.
When the bells of the hunchback are sounded, you will perish right away.
Could this man be one of the ten great martial arts masters along with Yinghua Shi-Tai, divine dragon swordsman, granny Hu, master Nu, etc. the flying hunchback of the north Yi Kun?
Yu Xuan smiled apologetically:"I have heard of old master Yi's fame for many years, it is most fortunate that I can finally meet you."
Yi Kun ignored him and had his eyes on the carriage, Yu Xuan deliberately stood in front of the carriage hoping to block Yi Kun from seeing it.
Suddenly Yi Kun moved forward and passed Yu Xuan he removed the packages of herbs and was holding a metal box in his hand.
Yu Xuan's eyes were fuming with anger but he did not dare to advance forward to reclaim the box.
Yi Kun opened the box and took a look, he laughed:"Excellent, marvellous!"
Yu Xuan smiled apologetically:"Not good, not excellent. These are mere silly stone statues, even I cannot see anything special about them. Why would old master Yi like such rubbish?"
Yi Kun laughed:"In that case you won't mind me keeping them."
Yu Xuan now could not even smile apologetically, he stuttered:"These.....these are really not worth anything.....if....if old master Yi really likes them....I....I will instruct the best sculptor of Beijing to make another set....no better than this set for you.....completely made from....from jade."
Yi Kun said:"No need, I like these."
Yu Xuan wiped away his sweat and said:"But....but...."
Yi Kun looked at him and said sternly:"I hardly want anything in life, now that I do how dare you spoil my mood! Are you only afraid of old Fu's Hundred Paces Divine Fist, so you're not afraid of my Wind Chasing Palms?"
Yu Xuan was sweating like a pig now, he was looking at the sword in his hand, he was wondering whether he should attack or not.
Yi Kun smiled coldly:"I heard that your swordsmanship is said to be very swift. There must be a reason why you are the leader of the Hainan School, you must know a few monkey tricks..... Come, show me what tricks you have learnt."
Yu Xuan gritted his teeth and said:"In that case forgive me for being rude."
He stabbed out with everything he had, during this point he could not hold back. In an instant his sword almost reached the throat of Yi Kun, Yi Kun seemed to be oblivious to the sword and did not pay any attention to it.
Yu Xuan was pleased and thought this old fool is too confident, in a flash Yi Kun raised his hand and used his index- and middle finger to hold the blade of the sword.
Yu Xuan was shocked and wanted to twirl the sword as to slice off the fingers of Yi Kun, however the sword could not move an inch. He used his full power hoping to pull out his sword again, but in vain. He could hear the laughter of Yi Kun, he used a bit more force and Yu Xuan was pushed back and Yi Kun was holding the sword now. He used a bit more energy and the sword broke into two. The sword was made from fine metal, it was amazing that he could break without much force.
Yi Kun laughed:"Old Fu's birthday is in two days, but it is my birthday tomorrow. I just learnt the same method as old Fu, forcing people to give me presents. If you refuse I will kill you, it is your choice."
Yu Xuan looked awfully pale and could not speak anymore.
Another voice suddenly laughed:"It is your birthday tomorrow, but today is my birthday. So shouldn't you give that present to me?"
A young man gracefully walked down from the slope, his robe was torn and dirty. But he did not look ordinary at all, it was Yu Peiyu.
Yi Kun was shocked that he did notice that another person had arrived, furthermore it has been decades since someone had the nerves to retort him, he looked at the speaker and angrilly said:"Give it to you? Who are you?"
Yu Peiyu smiled:"My name is Yu Peiyu, people call me the world's number one graceful swordsman."
Before he was finished Yi Kun laughed loudly:"The world's number one graceful swordsman?.....hahahahaha I have met many arrogant people in my life, but you are the most arrogant one I have ever seen."
Yu Xuan was surprised too and thought it was funny but he could not laugh now.
Yu Peiyu walked over to Yi Kun and now he noticed he was very tall, even with a hunchback he was taller than Yu Peiyu half a head. He was not really a Taoist priest, nonetheless he wore a Taoist robe. He was at least 60 years old and had a long beard. His laughter was loud and clear, everyone's ears felt a bit numb, not only had this man swift techniques his internal power was also incredible. No wonder that the famous leader of the Hainan School was unable to withstand a single stance from him.
However it seems that Yu Peiyu was not really impressed by him, he smiled gently:"I am just like you, when I do not receive my present I will get extremely angry too."
Yi Kun stopped laughing and carefully observed this young man like he was some strange creature. After some time he started to laugh again:"Angry? I would like to see you angry!"
Yu Peiyu said:"Very well."
With the tip of his foot he kicked up half the sword of Yu Xuan and caught with his hand and immediatley launched an attack on Yi Kun.
Yu Xuan was most surprised that this young man was so bold as to attack one of the ten great martial arts masters, Yi Kun. That sword stance of his was gentle and elusive, without any force at all and also very slow.
As a matter of fact that stance is worthless and Yu Xuan was convinced that Yi Kun could blast that sword from his hand with one blow.
However when Yi Kun saw that attack he paced back with three steps and shouted strangely:"Good! I never expected that a young lad like you has some abilities!"
Yu Xuan was stunned, how could an attack like that be called [good]?
His attacks were not fast, but they followed each other fluently without openings. After ten odd of these attacks Yi Kun still did not counter-attack yet.
Yu Xuan was a famous swordsman too but after looking for some time he did not see the power of these slow techniques. He did not even see what stances he used.
Yi Kun kept praising Yu Peiyu:"Good lad! People like you could be called swordsmen with some difficulty, you are ten times better than those so-called worthless idiots who do not understand the essence of the sword. Yet they are called swordsmen and are leaders of orthodox schools, your nickname as the world's number one swordsman is not entirely too arrogant."
Although Yi Kun did not use a name but it was evident his sarcasm was directed towards Yu Xuan.
Yu Xuan was furious but did not dare to retort but could not leave it at that so he scoffed softly. He thought that Yi Kun could not see his scoffing, but Yi Kun could see everything and hear everything around him even in a fight ten times fiercer than this.
He suddenly floated towards him and said:"Why are you laughing? Do you think your swordsmanship is better than this young man?"
Yu Xuan could not restrain himself anymore and said:"I really cannot see the power of his swordsmanship."
Yi Kun sneered:"If you can understand the excellence of his stances, his swordsmanship wouldn't be that good, right? For example like the great historical musician *Bo Ya, his unmatched play of the zither can only be admired by other true musicians. Simple riff-raff would not understand the beauty of it."
Yu Xuan was furious when he heard that, he even forgot that Yu Peiyu helped him out here. He aimed his fists towards Yu Peiyu's chest and struck out with two fist techniques.
Yu Peiyu did not forsee that this man was as stubborn as a mule and saw that his fists were very fierce, he casually twirled his sword to block those two fists.
That twirl looked very gentle and casual, but like *Wang Xizhi or *Huaisu even a simple stroke with the brush has reached the level of excellence and perfection.
Yu Xuan felt that his half sword became a circle of sword energy, impenetrable he himself was about to throw himself in that circle of sword energy. He had no choice but to break off his attack and retreat. He changed several movements and was finally able to escape from that sword energy, however a flash of energy did slightly pass him although he was not injured but his robe was torn.
Yi Kun laughed:"Now do you understand the excellence of his techniques?"
Yu Xuan looked very pale suddenly he turned red from embarrassement and bowed to Yu Peiyu, he said:"Your swordsmanship is far superior to mine, my respects."
Yi Kun said:"Well, you're not entirely worthless. You know when to acknowledge your faults when you are confronted with it."
Yu Xuan said:"I have heard of a young man with the same name as the late son of chancellor Yu Fanghe, in a short period of three months he has done several great deeds."
Yu Peiyu smiled:"News travels fast in Wulin."
Yu Xuan said:"It is said that young master Yu has good martial arts and is very gentle, humble. Furthermore he is very cautious....."
Yi Kun laughed:"Well, in my opinion everyone could be called gentle, humble but not this youngster here."
Yu Peiyu said:"Hmm?"
Yi Kun smiled:"Someone who calls himself [the world's number one graceful swordsman] cannot be called gentle and humble, can he?"
Yu Peiyu said:"You are very right."
Yi Kun said:"Your swordsmanship is very good, but you're still no match for me."
Yu Peiyu said:"Yes, I won't lose in the intial 300 stances but I cannot win either."
Yi Kun said:"If you can't win, that means you will lose. After the inital 300 stances you will lose. Besides you seem to want to battle me, how can such a person be called cautious."
Yu Peiyu laughed a bit:"Everyone changes, the I you see before you is not the same Yu Peiyu of yesterday."
Yi Kun asked:"Now, why do want to change?"
Yu Peiyu stayed quiet for some time before saying:"I want to become very famous now."
Yi Kun said:"People are afraid to become famous and pigs are afraid to become fat, haven't you heard of this saying before? If you're famous a lot of people will be looking for you, that way you won't live very long. There is nothing good about being famous."
Yu Peiyu smiled:"I want people to look for me."
Yi Kun shook his head and said:"Listen to my advice, go home and peacefully spend your life in recluse. I like you, young lad. I won't harm you today."
Yu Peiyu said:"If you give me that box, I will leave at once."
Yi Kun stared at him and asked:"Do you know what is in it?"
Yu Peiyu said:"I do not know."
Yi Kun asked:"Why do you want it?"
Yu Peiyu asnwered:"For no reason."
Yi Kun was stunned and asked with surprise:"If there is no reason, why do you want it?"
Yu Peiyu said:"Since all of you want it that much, why can't I have it."
Yi Kun looked a bit angry and said slowly:"So you deliberately want to look for trouble here."
The two of them were fighting again.
Yu Xuan thought that Yu Peiyu was mad, he hoped both would perish at each other's hand in this fight that way he could reclaim the box again.
He decided to observe the fight and hope to gain the advantage in the end. However after some time Yu Peiyu' sword energy became weaker but the stances of Yi Kun became fiercer and fiercer.
Yi Kun still had the iron box under his arm-pit and it seemed that he did not fight Yu Peiyu with full potential.
Yu Xuan wondered why Yu Peiyu deliberately sought death.
It was obvious now that within moments Yi Kun could defeat Yu Peiyu, but suddenly Yu Peiyu moved forward and whispered something to Yi Kun. Yu Xuan could not hear what Yu Peiyu whispered, but Yi Kun turned pale and made a somersault backwards.
He was now standing seven metres away from Yu Peiyu and stared at him with fear, he was also trembling.
Why was Yi Kun so afraid now?
Yu Xuan was flabbergasted too.
After a long time Yi Kun stuttered:"You.....you.....who.....who...are you? How...how do you....you know this?"
Yu Peiyu just calmly looked at him and did not reply.
Yi Kun was sweating heavily now.
Again after a long time, Yi Kun sighed deeply:"29 years......29 years. In another 17 days it will be exactly 29 years. I never thought that people would still know about this after 29 years.....who would have guessed?"
Yu Peiyu said:"Have you forgotten about that?"
Yi Kun said sadly:"I wish I could forget about it, but I can never forget what happened."
Yu Peiyu said:"Since you cannot forget about it, how can others?"
Yi Kun said:"But...but....how....not many people know about that incident."
Yu Peiyu said:"If you do not wish people to find out about that, you should not have done that in the first place......I know about it."
Yi Kun asked with a shaky voice:"Are....are...you related to that incident?"
Yu Peiyu said casually:"Everyone with a conscience and a heart is related to that incident."
Yi Kun looked up into the sky and said softly:"I know I have to pay for that mistake sooner or later......it has come back to haunt me now, after 29 years......."
He suddenly turned to Yu Peiyu and said fierecely:"I don't care who you are, but I just want you to know that Yi Kun is not a person who is afraid to pay for his mistakes."
Yu Peiyu said:"I do not want you to pay for that mistake, I just want you to repent for that incident."
Yi Kun laughed loudly:"If I did not repent for that mistake, I could have killed you now. So nobody might find out about that incident."
He put the iron box down on the ground, he sighed deeply before saying sadly:"One mistake you will live to regret if for a thousand years, looking back a hundred years are not enough.....a hundred years are not enough....."
He sudenly raised his palm and struck himself on the skull.

Yu Peiyu softly recited the final words of Yi Kun and suddenly he felt very sad and earnest.
A mistake made in an instant and it keeps haunting one for the rest of one's life. It is not fair and even wicked. If Yi Kun did not feel remorse he would not have commited suicide. Since he did feel remorse why can't we forgive him?'
Yu Peiyu was saddened and said softly:"I was wrong......I am wrong....."
Yu Xuan was complete dumbfounded by what happened, he now asked Yu Peiyu:"What did he do 29 years ago?"
Yu Peiyu looked at him and said sternly:"Shouldn't you be wondering what you have done?"
Yu Xuan said:"Me?"
Yu Peiyu said:"Just for a few stone figures you killed Ouyang Long."
Yu Xuan said:"If I don't kill him I will die. So I have no choice but to kill him, if he killed me I have no regrets either. The survival of the strongest that is the universal rule of the realm of martial arts, we as people of Wulin face death numerous times and from the very beginning you should know that you might get killed some day."
Yu Peiyu sighed:"Maybe you are right, we as people of the martial arts realm should not place so much emphasis on life. But if that is the case why are....are you afraid of eighth squire Fu?"
Yu Xuan's face turned red now, he said:"I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of ghosts."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Is he a ghost?"
Yu Xuan sighed:"In my opinion he is even worse than a ghost."
He added sadly:"His family name is Fu, everyone says secrectly he is [the rich bastard], but nobody of course dares to say that in his face. Once the golden sabre, Chen Xiong of Luoyang blurted out this nickname, when he stepped out of the main hall of the Fu estate he started to vomit blood......."
Yu Peiyu suddenly asked:"Does he have a wife, name eighth Madame Fu?"
Yu Xuan said:"Yes, it is said that eighth Madame Fu is an exemplary wife, gentle and caring. She is also a faithfull Buddhist and hates to see killing, that is why eighth squire Fu kills people outside his residence."
Yu Peiyu looked pensive for a moment, suddenly he said softly:"Now, I....I remember now."
Yu Xuan asked:"What do you remember?"
Yu Peiyu smiled but did not answer his question, he said:"He is a very funny man, I would like to meet him."
Yu Xuan said:"My word! Funny?!? You say he is funny, my heaven! When you see him you won't find him funny anymore."
He now looked at the box and said sternly with a pale face:"There is only one present here, if you want to go...."
Yu Peiyu said:"You deliver your present, I do as I please."
Yu Xuan said:"But without a present how...how do you want to enter?"
Yu Peiyu said with a smile:"I don't need to bring a present, I will pretend to be your servant. It is not strange that a prestigious leader of a great orthodox schools is travelling with a servant."

The Elegant Assembly Estate, that was the home of eighth squire Fu. Many thrifty, greedy rich people like to consider themselves as elegant, refined. This Elegant Assembly Estate is not different from other manors from rich people, however how much space does one need after one is gone.
But the most strangest thing when you enter this estate is seeing servants, a lot servants in green robes. All seem to know martial arts but all of them walk like women.
A short and a tall servant approached Yu Xuan and Yu Peiyu, the short servant looked very white but had a few pimples on his face, he kept giving Yu Peiyu meaningful looks. It seems he was trying to flirt with Yu Peiyu, Yu Peiyu had received a lot of those meaningful looks but this was the first time a man gave him one.
He felt digusted the way these two servants were staring at him, he wanted to poke out their eyes.
The tall servant put his hand on his waist and said in a feminine way to Yu Xuan:"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
If it was not for the moustache you would almost think he was a woman.
Yu Xuan coughed dryly:"I am Yu Xuan from Hainan, I came here to congratulate eighth squire Fu."
The tall servant used his hand to cover his mouth and laughed:"You're the great leader of the Hainan School, master Yu. Where is your present?"
Yu Xuan said:"The present has been prepared, would you mind announcing me?"
The tall servant looked at Yu Peiyu and said:"Who is this and what is he doing here?" His awful feminine voice really got on one's nerves, one would love to smack his teeth out of his mouth.
But the ever so hot-headed Yu Xuan respectfully said:"He is Yu Er, he is a servant of mine. Please take good care of him while he is here."
The tall servant giggled:"Yu Er......He looks very handsome, does he have wife?"
The short servant suddenly took Yu Peiyu by the hand and giggled too:"Master Yu can join our lordship's feast, brother Yu Er can drink with us."
The hand of the short servant was greasy and wet, like someone put slime on the hand of Yu Peiyu and he could not wipe it away.
Yu Peiyu could almost throw up now.
Fortunately someone called from the main hall:"Our lordship says master Yu can enter, please come in with the present."
Yu Xuan said hurriedly:"Yes...yes....right away."
He started walking inside after two paces he said:"Yu Er, why are you standing there? Follow me inside!"
Yu Peiyu felt relieved and was grateful that Yu Xuan helped him to escape from those two admirers.
The short servant seemed not too willing to let go of Yu Peiyu and said:"Don't forget to look for me afterwards, I'm called Little Clever."
Yu Peiyu thought this little creep is called [Little Clever]??!!??
Yu Peiyu wanted to kick him away from himself, he felt disgusted also quite amused by this. He said something back like I will see later on or so and quickly followed Yu Xuan in.

There were already eight, nine other guests sitting here, all of them looked quite impressive. They must be leaders of prominent martial arts experts, but they were looking worried now.
Sitting at the head were eighth squire Fu and his wife eighth Madame Fu. The infamous eighth squire Fu was a strange looking old man. His eyes were just ordinary eyes, his nose was at the right place, in fact he looked very normal but somehow he made people feel uncomfortable when they saw him.
The wife of his looked like an elderly rich lady, but she wore a lot of make-up too much in fact. But it was only natural, women who have reached a certain age love to cover the liver spots and wrinkles with make-up.

Yu Xuan who did not want to look like a coward in front of the other guest tried to keep his grandeur, however unsuccessful before he knew it himself he bowed and said:"This humble person is Yu Xuan of Hainan, I wish you a pleasant birthday and may you live another thousand years lordship."
Eight squire Fu smiled a bit:"Yes, thank you for coming today even living so far away."
Like the servants his voice sounded feminine too, making everyone uncomfortable again.
He opened the box and took it the marble figurines, he looked very happy now and admired those figures with beady eyes. He kept saying [nice, good, great craftmanship].
He patted Yu Xuan on the shoulder and laughed:"Great! Thank you for this wonderful present, please take a seat here at the honorary seat. The efforts you have gone through to bring me this present, thank you very much."
Yu Xuan was thrilled in his heart the other nine martial arts experts looked a bit upset. But that was the rule here eighth swuire Fu only lets the guest with best present sit at the honorary seat, it does not matter whether whether you are older or more famous but the present are most important.
Every guest was either the leader of the a prominent martial arts school, association or armed guard agency, so all the presents were invaluable.
One person presented 18 pearls as big as lychees the sizes of each pearl was identical to each other. The pearls would give light in dark places.
One presented a jade cup with nine dragons carved on it, during humid air the cup would emit clouds and fogs and when the weather turned better the clouds and fog would disappear. When plain water is poured in it, it will have the flavour of a fine wine.
Some of these treasure were so rare that the Imperial Palace might not have them, all the leaders were initially not to happy to give away their prized treasures but keeping their lives was even more important. Furthermore they wanted to show off their riches in front of the other martial arts experts, nobody understood why those stone figures got eighth squire Fu's attention.
By this time everyone felt hungry and wondered when the dinner was going to be served, they did not even had a cup of tea ever since they arrived.
Eighth squire Fu seems to have intention of letting his guest eat now, he looked like he had fallen asleep.
Fortunately eight Madame Fu was aware of the hunger of their guests, she called the servants and said:"It is not time to eat yet, but all of our esteemed guests have come from afar they must be hungry. Go to the kitchen and let them eat some pasty first."
Everyone was pleased when they heard that, suddenly they thought that eighth Madame Fu looked quite pretty and young for her age.
After awhile servants came out with big plates and when they put the plates in front of the guest, everyone was disappointed. The so-called pasty were buns with some salted vedgetables in it, just plain big buns.
However everyone was hungry and the buns looked quite tasty when you are feeling hungry.
Eighth Madame Fu smiled with difficulty:"I am sorry, but please bear with us. I do not know when my husband will wake up but please help yourself to these buns."
Most of these guests hardly even touched buns normally why should they even they can have feasts, but since dinner is postponed indefinitely some helped themselves to those buns.
Yu Peiyu was both angry and amused when he saw this, but he worried about eighth Madame Fu's laughter. He was worried her make-up might drop off when she was laughing, fortunately she put layers and layers on it.
The salted vedgetables made everyone extremely thirsty and those ate the buns started to drink water cup after cup. But because of water the dough rose in their stomachs and in an instant those who ate were full and stuffed.
Those who did not eat thought: I will eat later one when the good food is served, those idiots have stuffed themselves.
After a moment eighth squire Fu woke up and called repeatedly:"Quickly serve the food and drinks! We cannot keep the guests hungry."
Some of the guests thought:Those who ate those buns are idiots, the banquet is being served now.
When the servants came out the brought big plates of delicious dishes fit for kings and emperors, the wine was also of a good vintage. In an instant the aroma of the food and wine filled the main hall, those who ate the buns regretted stuffing themselves.
Eighth squire Fu suddenly said:"Wine is bad for our health, when Di Yi created wine the Yellow Emperor said that wine could very well be the cause of the destruction of empires. Wine is truly poisonous I cannot let my esteemed guests drink from poison. Impossible....impossible."
He waved his hand and added:"Put the wine back and give my esteemed guests water flavoured with sugar, but don't put too much sugar because sugar is bad for the teeth."
Those who enjoyed wine were disappointed and angry that this old goat is this thrifty.
Eighth squire Fu poured himself a cup of wine and said softly:"I am old......I have lived long enough, even if I die of this poison called wine I will not mind. Here let us drink! Thank you my good friends for coming to my birthday."

End of chapter 37

*Huaisu: A Buddhist monk who lived in the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907) renowned for his excellent caligraphy.
*Bo Ya: A wonderful musician who lived in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) has been proclaimed to play the zither perfectly. Even attracting animals......
*Wang Xizhi: famous caligrapher,303 A.D. - 361 A.D. His caligraphy is said be unmatched everyone even now still admires his characters.

[Demitre]

This is just getting weirder and weirder.

Thanx for the translation Athena.

[darkcser]

Is it a different writer now? The style feels different. GL co-wrote this one with someone else right?

[ProtoM]

Wow!!!!! THANX ATHENA!!!!! You make my day

[siryu]

3 more chapters to go.. yay!
thank you athena

[JiaMoZhi]

This chapter is one of my favorites. Thanks for your time Athena

At 1st I thought 8th Squire Fu was a nobody, but he's probably better than master Nu.

Deng Xuan being DongFang DaMing's student is probalby on the same level as ShiYun and Divine Dragon's kid. Deng was killed in 1 move by Fu, I didn't realize what that meant at 1st but now I do.

Do you guys think Flying hunchback was on his way to the birthday, or he was just on the same area by coincidence? I think he was there by coincidence, as he didn't seem that scared of old Fu. But if he were going to the birthday, that would mean that Fu is on the same level as Feng San, someone who can terrorize the top 10.

BTW, what happened to the "I'm too busy to go to your party" excuse

EDIT: I'm very dissapointed with the Shaolin generation of this story. The monks from XLFD's era were liars but at least they had guts. The Shaolin monks from this story just let Fu kill innocent people. What happened to their philosophy of promoting compassion and generosity?

Even though Fu is very strong, Shaolin should at least expose his crimes to the world.

[TigerWong]

Originally posted by JiaMoZhi
This chapter is one of my favorites. Thanks for your time Athena

At 1st I thought 8th Squire Fu was a nobody, but he's probably better than master Nu.

Deng Xuan being DongFang DaMing's student is probalby on the same level as ShiYun and Divine Dragon's kid. Deng was killed in 1 move by Fu, I didn't realize what that meant at 1st but now I do.

Do you guys think Flying hunchback was on his way to the birthday, or he was just on the same area by coincidence? I think he was there by coincidence, as he didn't seem that scared of old Fu. But if he were going to the birthday, that would mean that Fu is on the same level as Feng San, someone who can terrorize the top 10.

I think you're jumping to a lot of conclusions here.

[Han Solo]

I re-read all the 37 chapters again at one sitting.

But too much loose ends, too much questions yet. At this stage, i probably can predict the ending.

I still got a few question yet:-
1) How good is Yu Pei Yu's father, if YPY at the lake gathering is considered nearly equal to the thirteen schools/sect leaders, then is YPY's real father approaching the level of the ten great martial artists?

2) And considering Feng Shan is about one level above the ten martial artist, then are the lady in black and Dongguo, about one level further ahead? while the 8th squire about the level of the ten masters?

3) I'm probably confused, but is the guy with one hand in the palace of enchancement, the father of silver blossom?

4) Lady in black and Ji Kuqing brother and sister and lovers to boot?

[Yang Guo]

Originally posted by Han Solo
I re-read all the 37 chapters again at one sitting.

But too much loose ends, too much questions yet. At this stage, i probably can predict the ending.

I still got a few question yet:-
1) How good is Yu Pei Yu's father, if YPY at the lake gathering is considered nearly equal to the thirteen schools/sect leaders, then is YPY's real father approaching the level of the ten great martial artists?

2) And considering Feng Shan is about one level above the ten martial artist, then are the lady in black and Dongguo, about one level further ahead? while the 8th squire about the level of the ten masters?

3) I'm probably confused, but is the guy with one hand in the palace of enchancement, the father of silver blossom?

4) Lady in black and Ji Kuqing brother and sister and lovers to boot?

3 = yes... I think

[JiaMoZhi]

Does anyone else have the impression that during the scene in the cave were Silver Blossom was tortured, her father has TWO arms. Or what he faking his 2nd arm? How many arms does he really have? The response to my question might be a minor spoiler but who cares, it's just a detail and it won't ruin anyone's fun

[JiaMoZhi]

1) How good is Yu Pei Yu's father, if YPY at the lake gathering is considered nearly equal to the thirteen schools/sect leaders, then is YPY's real father approaching the level of the ten great martial artists?

I think Yu FangHe is above the 13 leaders and under the top 10. XiTian WuJi school was the best of the 14 schools before they quit the association. Even Yu PeiYu from the beginning of the story was at least equal to Xie TianBi, the DianCang leader. DianCang might not be the strongest school but I'm guessing it's at least in the middle of the pack.

EDIT: Yu FangHe saved Granny Sun's life, so Yu might be on the same
level as the lower members of the top 10. That could be possible since FangHe is probably A LOT stronger than the early Yu PeiYu, who was already at least equal to a middle class leader of the 13 schools.

2) And considering Feng Shan is about one level above the ten martial artist, then are the lady in black and Dongguo, about one level further ahead? while the 8th squire about the level of the ten masters?

Hai DongQing said that Dongguo could kill Feng with 1 move.

Originally posted by Han Solo

4) Lady in black and Ji Kuqing brother and sister and lovers to boot?

That's what I think, but when it comes to Gu Long novels, most of what I think is wrong

[Athena]

Chapter 38 Fortuitous Occurrences

Everyone was surprised and annoyed that the wine was being replaced by water with sugar. After seeing eighth squire Fu drinking a cup, he was looking radiant he added with a big smile:"Sugar water is better than wine......Hahahahahaha let us eat!"
Some of the smarter people were waiting for that sentence for some time now and could not wait to pig out on the banquet.
Suddenly eighth squire Fu looked angry again and said earnestly:"Who prepared these dishes? Do you want to kill my guests?"
The smarter people were afraid again, some of them smiled apologetically:"What is wrong with these dishes?"
Eighth squire Fu said seriously:"These dishes contain too much fat, fat can harm the body......That is why it is said that plain vedgetables and tofu guarantee a long and healthy life. Especially practioners of martial arts should be more careful about our health, eating food with too much fat will only do harm. One can easily become fat and when one becomes fat his body won't be that flexible anymore, in battle an unflexible body is most dangerous. I will feel most sad if anything happens to my guests."
He had sound reasons, no one could say that his reasoning is flawed. Everyone was both angry and disappointed, eighth squire Fu made it seem like he had the well-beings of his guests as his first priority.
He himself sighed when he looked at the succulent dishses in front of him:"I am old already, I am not afraid of becoming fat."
He drank and ate heartily and said softly:"I don't mind suffering for my friends I will eat these dishes on your behalf. Please drink my friends."
Eveyone stared at each other and cursed this old goat in their hearts and hoped he would choke on the food or stuff himself to death.
Now Yu Peiyu began to understand why people called him [the rich bastard], he met some thrifty and greedy men in his life but this eighth squire Fu really was too outrageous. How could such a person exist?

Suddenly a voice from the main hall said loudly:"As your good friend I will help you. Friends should share the problems and wealth, let me share your disaster."
This sentence was in the minds of all the guests and they were happy that finally someone had the nerves to say them.
All of them were worried and wondered how had the audacity to challenge eighth squire Fu.
Eight squire Fu's face changed and put down his chopsticks, he laughed coldly:"I never had any good friends, all my friends are dead now. Who are you?"
That person laughed:"Little brother came from afar to congraluate eighth brother. Why would you say that I am dead."
When he first spoke he sounded like he was very near but nobody could see him, but now he sounded very far away.
In a moment a figure appeared at the door, a very tall figure and very skinny. He wore greenish long robe with a strange-looking sword in his girdle, he wore a big straw hat covering his face.
Eight squire Fu seems to have recognize the unwelcome guest also eighth Madame Fu seemed to look restless now . The strange man staggered in and laughed:"Won't you invite an old friend to a seat anymore?"
Eighth squire Fu's face was looking very dark now, but still said:"Yes, of course. Take a seat."
But he did not do anything additional to welcome this old friend.
The man in green robe said:"I understand only people who bring nice gifts are allowed to sit, those with no gifts or worthless presents will even get a spanking. Am I right?"
He searched his robe and sighed:"I think I forgot to bring a present, what shall I do? Of couse, as the saying goes a poor scholar can present a piece of paper too. It is the thought that counts, isn't it?"
He took out a old piece of paper, gods knows what he used it for and put it in front of eighth squire Fu and laughed:"I wonder if this gift is suitable."
And the other guests looked surprised and upset including Yu Xuan, everyone who came here brought the most valuable treasure they could find. Even a coral of 2 metres was not good enough and the bringer was even killed of it, this fellow has the audacity to give eighth squire Fu a piece of old paper.
But strange enough eighth squire Fu said:"Enough....it is good enough."
The man in green robe said:"Since eighth brother says it is enough, I will share brother's discomfort too."
He suddenly moved to a guest with incredible speed and picked the man up by his neck and flung him out of the main hall, this guests' nickname was "Half A Mountain" meaning he was quite fat. But the man in green robe picked him up with ease and chucked him out of there with no effort.
The man in green robe started to drink from the bowl of shark fin' soup and drank heartily from the expensive wine of eighth squire Fu.
Eighth squire Fu did not move or talk.
The man in green robe suddenly said:"I have never suffered this nicely for a long time, eighth brother let me share all your troubles in one go."
Eighth squire Fu suddenly looked pale and red, he loudly shouted:"You dare to call yourselves famous martial artists of Wulin, shouldn't you pay respects to the famous Mr. Tian."
Everyone was suprised that he was scolding them instead of the man in green robe, Yu Peiyu secretly smiled this way eighth squire Fu did not have to share his expensive food with the others. He really was too thrifty.
Yu Xuan looked at the sword of the man in green robe, suddenly he got up and walked over. He respectfully asked:"Sir, since your surname is Tian. Are you related to the famous divine dragon swordsman Mr. Tian, who subdued Mount Tian and roamed and won the respect throughout the entire realm."
The man in green robe did not answer he removed his big straw hat and revealed a long pale face. He looked very smart at first look but when you look carefully his face was covered with scars making him look mysterious and scary.
When Yu Xuan saw his face he backed away with three steps.
All the other guests got up too, Yu Xuan bowed and said:"It is indeed old master Tian."
The man in green robe laughed:"Yes, I am Tian Longzi."
When he laughed all his scars sort of moved making him look even more ugly and scary.
Yu Peiyu had heard of the name divine dragon swordsman Tian Longzi, he is said to be very elusive and his martial arts are very lethal. Yu Peiyu had fought his son, Tian Jiyun so he looked at Tian Longzi a bit longer.
Tian Longzi observed Yu Peiyu with his sharp eyes and smiled:"And who is this young friend?"
Yu Xuan quickly answered with a smile:"He is Yu Er, he is one of my pupils."
Tian Longzi scoffed:"You look very smart and I am surprised that the Hainan School can produce outstanding young men like you."
He looked at Yu Peiyu a bit longer, suddenly he turned to Yu Xuan and said:"It is said that the Eight Beauties of Wulin are in your possession, is that true?"
Yu Xuan lowered his head and secretly looked at eighth squire Fu:"Ehh....this.....euh......"
Tian Longzi clapped his hands and laughed:"I understand, no wonder old Fu asked you to sit at the honorary seat. You gave him the eight beauties of Wulin as present."
Everyone wondered are those little stone statues called the eight beauties of Wulin?
Tian Longzi smiled:"Eighth brother, are you still upset because I ate your food and drank your wine? Well, you won't be upset when I just want to look at those eight beauties of Wulin, will you?"
Eighth squire Fu did not look happy and did not speak.
Tian Longzi also looked unhappy and said seriously:"I just want to have a look, they won't be damaged by a mere look."
Eighth squire Fu looked pale and suddenly smacked the table, he loudly said:"Tian Longzi, don't think I am afraid of you! My hundred paces divine fist is not inferior to your Advancing, Linking 18 Dragon Touring Moves."
Tian Longzi said casually:"Also not superior to it either."
Eighth squire Fu grunted.
Tian Longzi smiled:"I knew that eighth brother won't fight a battle in which the outcome is unknown. Just let me take a look at those statues, that is all I want."
Eighth squire Fu gritted his teeth, eighth Madame Fu smiled apologetically:"Brother Tian is always known for being honest. A look won't do any harm to it? I think everyone here would like to have a look too."
Everyone thought that eighth Madame Fu was a very mannered and considerate hostess.
Eighth squire Fu remained quiet for awhile before saying:"Very well, get my crystal bowl and fill it with clear water."
Everyone wondered why water and a crystal bowl were needed to look at a few stone statues, everyone just had to stay patient and wait.
A beautiful large crystal bowl was brought out filled with water, eighth squire Fu put it on a table. Everyone in the hall knew that such a bowl was priceless and wondered what purpose it served.
Eighth squire Fu said:"In the last 30 years many experts were produced in Wulin, the amount of famous heroes is uncountable. However there are only eight women who are proclaimed to be matchless beauties in the last 30 years in Wulin, their ages and backgrounds are different from each other. Still their stories and beauty can captivate many men."
In one of his hand he held the iron box and continued to say:"Master Yu presented me this, eight statues carved to likeness of these eight beauties."
Everybody was disappointed when they heard this, even the statue of the world's most beautiful woman could not interest these people very much. A statue is still a statue, what is so wonderful about a lifeless figurine.
Eighth squire Fu said:"A statue is still a statue.....lifeless. But these are different, these are alive."
How can stone statues by alive?
Eighth squire Fu took out a statue and placed it on the table, he asked:"Do any of you recognize her?"
The statue was carved with utmost precision, even the eyelashes, eyebrows were carved on with perfection. It was almost that this beauty was alive. She wore the clothes of girls in Xinjiang giving her a different charm from Han Chinese beauties.
Tian Longzi smiled:"Is she the Miraculous Flower of Xinjiang Red Peony."
Eighth squire Fu said coldly:"Brilliant observation, you really are well-informed."
Tian Longzi smiled:"Red Peony is the favourite concubine of the number one expert of the Tibetan Mi Zong Buddhism, lama Hongyun. She was not only beautiful but her mere smile could dazzle any man, many men tried to look for her only to have a look at her unmatched beauty. However Hongyun lama is a very jealous man and does not allow other men to look at his favourite concubine."
Eighth squire Fu said proudly:"But now we can watch to our heart's contend, carefully observe."
He put the stone figurin into the water, when the statue was in water it became [alive]. Also her clothes slowly disappeared revealing a beautiful body and figure dancing gracefully in the water.
Eighth squire Fu could not help himself but to laugh:"Lama Hongyun has protected her like a treasure never letting anyone look at her, he will kill everyone who lays an eye on her. We can look at her as we please and even play with her......"
Almost everyone was dazzled by the appearance of Red Peony, some were even drooling. Only a few intelligent men were thinking that eighth squire Fu is a bit too strange.
Tian Longzi smiled:"Eighth brother, why don't you look for a partner for Red Peony to dance with."
Eighth squire Fu said:"That is a good idea."
He looked into the iron box and said:"Red Peony is not that young anymore, I will look for a young lass whom she can dance with."
He took another stone figure and put it in the bowl of water, he smiled:"Do you know who the most beautiful woman is in the southern regions of China? I will place the most beautiful woman of Xinjiang and Su province together, they will dance for us. Except for me who can arrange such a enchanting sight."
When he finished, Yu Peiyu looked awfully pale. The statue chucked in the water was of Lin Daiyu.
Lin Daiyu was dancing in the water she was smiling and pouting, like she was telling Yu Peiyu with her facial expressions her tragic encounters.
Yu Peiyu could not control his temper anymore, he got up and kicked the table.
Everyone was angered and got up, they all thought that this young man has gone insane. This time it was Yu Xuan who turned pale.
Even eighth squire Fu was surprised and shocked, he never thought that this young man would have the nerves to be so bold in his presence. Only Tian Longzi was smiling, he looked at Yu Peiyu it seemed that he knew who Yu Peiyu really was.
After a moment eighth squire Fu composed himself, he was not angry he even laughed:"Since you do not wish to live anymore, let me fulfil that wish of yours.
He pushed away the table in front of him, he patted his robe that was wet of the splattered water and slowly walked to Yu Peiyu.
Everyone knew the power of the hundred paces divine fist and in his fit of anger he must use his full power, everybody made sure they stayed away from Yu Peiyu. They were afraid that they might be accidentally hurt too.
Yu Xuan felt a bit responsible for Yu Peiyu being here and did not want to abandon him, but he was very afraid of eighth squire Fu. He was still hesitating what to do when he was pulled aside by Tian Longzi.
All of the people Yu Peiyu was the most calm at this moment, but he was still very angry. When eighth squire Fu walked his way he did not greet, walked to him or back away from him.
He just said calmly:"You are not my match, let Madame Fu take your place in this battle."
Everyone was shocked again, the hundred paces divine fist of eighth squire Fu were known throughout the realm. But nobody knew that eighth Madame Fu was also a martial arts expert.
Eighth squire Fu looked scared now and exclaimed with shock:"What do you mean with that?"
Yu Peiyu said coldly:"You know perfectly well, what I mean. Do you want me to say it even more evidently?"
Eighth squire Fu now even looked more afraid and the ever high and mighty eighth squire Fu has fallen today.
His wife eighth Madame Fu stayed the same, but it seems that layers of her make-up were falling off her face.
Yu Peiyu smiled casually and picked a statue from the floor, he said:"Actually you don't need these statues, you are not interested in women. But you can't help it that other people gave them to you."
Eighth squire Fu backed away from Yu Peiyu with big paces and stuttered:"How....how.......do you....you know?"
Before Yu Peiyu could answer, eighth Madame Fu advanced forward with three steps and struck out her fist towards Yu Peiyu. The power released from that fist came crashing down on Yu Peiyu, nobody guessed that the refined nice old lady would know such fierce stances. Because eighth Madame Fu attacked first she soon gained the upperhand, Yu Peiyu could only defend and not counter-attack. He was forced back with several steps and had difficulty catching his breath now, suddenly a flash of bright light was directed towards eighth Madame Fu's chest.
She cried out and made a somersault backwards and stood six metres away from Yu Peiyu now, her robe was sliced open revealing her chest. Her hairy bosomless chest.
Tian Longzi held his sword in his hand and laughed loudly:"Just as I thought, eighth Madame Fu is a man......"
All the guests were stunned. Eighth squire Fu crawled into himself and covered his face, eighth Madame Fu used her hands to keep her robe closed preventing people seeing her chest. A most pitiful and hilarious sight.
Both of them had good martial arts, they still had good martial arts and could very well still attack Yu Peiyu and Tian Longzi. However their secret was revealed and were most embarrassed now, they were reluctant to fight anymore.
Furthermore this secret was well kept for decades, the only person who knew about this was dead for years. How come this young lad knows about it, this normal young man.....Could it be that more people knew about it? Fear struck them in their chests.

Now they were afraid, nobody else feared them anymore and most of them started laughing at them.
Tian Longzi laughed:"No wonder you have a bunch of feminine male servants, you like those disgusting creatures because you are two revolting creatures too. A man marrying a man, this is new.......Wonderful!"
Suddenly someone said:"If he likes to marry a man, that is his business, for all we care he marries a monkey. If he likes that who are we to say no. As long as he doesn't want you to become his wife, you should not interfere with affairs of others."
A man walked inside, he sounded very tired like he has not eaten for days. He looked very strange, his skin was hanging loosely from his face, he wore an expensive robe but it looked too big for him. Three people could fit in it.
Who was this strange man, how dare he retort Tian Longzi, not many people in the world had that ability or the nerves to do that.
He looked strange but not very impressive, everyone was of opinion that Tian Longzi could kill him with one slap.
Tian Long Zi was both angry and amused by this man, but he smiled:"I take it you too have a man as wife, judging from your appearances no woman would like to marry you."
Everybody started laughing loudly.
This strange man had too much skin hanging over his body, he laughed three times very loud before saying:"Even so it is none of your business is it?"
His laughter was loud but he did not look amused at all even now he stayed emotionless, everyone wondered how he produced that laughter. They were starting to find this strange man eerie.
Tian Longzi coughed:"What will happen to women if men started to marry men, this matter I have to look into."
That strange man said:"Are you certain?"
Tian Longzi said:"Indeed, I will look into this no matter what."
Suddenly everyone heard two loud slapping sounds, and Tian Longzi's cheeks were red and imprints could be seen on his cheeks. He also swayed to left and right quickly after each slap.
The strange man looked at Tian Longzi indifferently, Tian Longzi thought he was dreaming, fortunately his cheeks were not hurting too much.
But everyone looked at his cheeks with amazment, he unintentionally touched his cheeks and noticed they were feeling very hot. He started to lose feeling in his cheeks and called out.
The strange man laughed:"Still meddling in other people's affairs?"
Tian Longzi made a strange gargling sound.
The strange man patted eighth squire Fu on his shoulder and said:"Well, how are you going to repay me for helping you out?"
Eighth squire Fu stuttered:"Th.....thank.....yo...you, sir......."
He was already scared out of wits by the martial arts of this strange man, he felt his body was paralyzed when this man patted him on his shoulder.
The strange man said:"If you don't know how to repay, let me tell you."
He picked up the iron box and started to put the stone figurines in and said:"If you can give me this, I will be content."
Eighth Madame Fu scraped her courage and said:"May I ask what your name is, sir?"
The strange man asked:"Don't you recognize me?"
He shook his head and sighed:"If others did not recognize, nevermind. But you? I am most saddened by this, very sad...."
Suddenly he took out a bag from his very very big robe and out of that bag he took out a drumstick, he look peckish and smelt the drumstick. Suddenly he sighed again and put the drumstick away.
When eighth Madame Fu saw his strange behaviour, his face changed and stuttered with fear:"Ti......Ti......Tia.......Tian........"
She repeated the character [Tian] over and over again but could not say the another word.
Yu Peiyu suddenly knew who this person was and exclaimed with surprise:"Sir, are you Tian Chixing?"
The strange man laughed loudly:"You're right! Very good that a young man like you knows who I am......not bad....not bad at all."
Yu Peiyu also knew why he looked so strange now, he used to be extremely fat and that is why his clothes do not fit anymore. When a fatty becomes skinny too quick, he will look like this present Tian Chixing.
But how did the ever so fat Tian Chixing lose so much weight in only three months, it is not easy for fatties to become thin in the first place.
Eighth Madame Fu stuttered:"Sir, how....how come.....you......are this.....healthy...looking all of a s....sudden?"
Tian Chixing sighed:"You do not know the state I was in, I cannot eat a thing nowadays. Every time I eat my stomach hurts terribly, so if a person hardly eats how can he not become skinny."
He sighed again:"My nickname should be changed into [the hungry constellation] now."
Tian Chixing is known for having "eaten his way to invincibility" why is he even afraid to eat a drumstick now? Everyone was curious but did not dare to ask.
Yu Peiyu suddenly asked:"Sir, how long were you pursued by the Parrot? Those days must have been awful."
Tian Chixing stared at Yu Peiyu with amazement and said:"You know about that too?"
Yu Peiyu said:"I know a bit about that."
Tian Chixing kept staring at him and said softly:"This youngster knows a lot.....he knows a lot....."
Yu Peiyu smiled:"Everyone pursued by the Parrot will feel most terrible, you will have sleepless nights. You cannot even enjoy a decent meal anymore. After one or two months one is bound to look most sickly."
Tian Chixing sighed:"You are absolutely right. In these past two months I wanted to die several times, fortunately he left me alone after two months. But after my stomach could not really take heavy eating anymore, so from being a big eater I can now hardly eat at all."
He was practically crying at this point, if one cannot even find the interest to eat delicious food anymore. That must be most tragic.
Yu Peiyu looked at the box with the stone figues he was holding now and said coldly:"So sir is find a different interest now?"
Tian Chixing laughed:"Not entirely, I want these figures because I am looking for someone."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Who are you looking for?"
Tian Chixing said:"No matter what she too is one of the eight beauties of Wulin, her statue is bound to be on of them here. Well, I am afraid to look at her true self but I am not afraid of a mere figurine."
Yu Peiyu frowned but asked:"Who is she?"
Tian Chixing blinked with his eyes and made a gesture with his right hand.
When Yu Peiyu saw that gesture he looked pale and exclaimed with surprise:"That day did Yu......chancellor Yu make the same gesture to you, sir?"
Tian Chixing was stunned too and said:"You know about that too? Very strange.......very strange."
Yu Peiyu said:"According to my knowledge that gesture refers to [Mr. Dongguo]."
Tian Chixing said:"Mr. Dongguo? Who told you that this gesture refers to Mr. Dongguo? Since when is Mr. Dongguo a matchless beauty."
Yu Peiyu's heart skipped a beat and said:"That gesture refers to......?"
Tian Chixing looked very afraid now and said:"If you don't know, how should I know?.........."
His sentence was interrupted suddenly there was a persimmon in his mouth, how did it get there? Nobody saw how it flew into his mouth.
A voice said:"Nowadays it is most difficult to find a good place to rest."
The voice came from the roof and when everyone looked up they saw a big cloth sack, the voice came from inside that sack. Was someone in that sack? How did a sack got up there? Why would anyone hide in a sack like that.
Yu Peiyu was most surprised, some of the guests called out loudly:"It is the sack of universal mystery..........The preceptor of the sack is here......."
Eveyrone fled out of the main hall except Yu Peiyu, Tian Chixing did not even spit out the persimmon out of his mouth he did not even take the iron box with him. He knew that one should run as fast as possible when the sack of univeral mystery appears.

The entire main hall was deserted, Yu Peiyu was standing alone in this big main hall where a series of strange events happened.
He too was feeling a bit scared at the moment and was wondering whether he should leave too.
Suddenly a voice from the sack said:"Young lad, since you are still here. Why won't you help this old man out of the bag?"
Yu Peiyu was shocked and wondered what he had to do now.
The voice said:"Well, are you going to let me suffocate in this bag?"
Yu Peiyu was looking pensive and replied:"Since you got into that bag yourself, why can't you come out by yourself?"
The voice stopped talking and started to make squirming sounds like he was really suffocating in there after some time the squirming sounds stopped too.
Yu Peiyu stamped his feet and leapt up, however when he reached that beam the sack fell down. Yu Peiyu leapt down again and opened the bag, but there was no one in the sack.
That is impossible because Yu Peiyu heard a voice coming from inside the sack himself. Yu Peiyu could not believe his eyes he heard a voice of an old man coming from the sack himself, he could not have just disappeared like that.
Suddenly he heard a voice from that beam again and saw his pair of feet and white long beard. The feet were small but the beard was very long.
Yu Peiyu took a deep breath, other people would think they encountered an immortal or a demon. But Yu Peiyu knew that the old man got out of the sack when he leapt up and took advantage when Yu Peiyu looked at the sack falling down. But the martial arts of this old man were truly awesome, he could even trick someone like Yu Peiyu.
Yu Peiyu still remained very calm and smiled faintly:"Well, since old sir has such pleasure in playing hide-and-seek I won't disturb you anymore."
The old man asked:"Do you want to leave too? Look at this first!"
Before Yu Peiyu had the chance to respond something dropped down, Yu Peiyu was afraid to catch it with his hands and used the sack to catch it.
Under the lights of the lamp it was a stone figurine, when Yu Peiyu looked on the floor he noticed that the iron box with the eight beauties of Wulin were gone.
The old man must have taken the box when Yu Peiyu was busy opening the sack, but that was also in an instant the old man was really too fast for words.
Yu Peiyu was really getting scared now.
The old man laughed:"Young lad, take a good look at the beauty in your hands. It would be a waste to pass out on such a wonderful opportunity."
Yu Peiyu held the figure in the light and the figure seemed to come alive, she wore a black long dress. She was most beautiful but she also had an air of indifference and coldness, making her stand very far apart from one.
The old man asked:"Do you recognize her?"
Yu Peiyu said:"No, I do not."
The old man sighed:"You were born too late, that is why you don't recognize her. About 30, 40 years ago almost all men in the realm were willing to die for Madame Dark Jade."
Yu Peiyu said calmly:"I find her a bit too cold."
The old man laughed:"Because she was acting very cool a lot of people wanted to get to know her better. Nine of the ten men are fools, don't you know that?"
Yu Peiyu said:"Even the most beautiful woman has to die some day, what does this Madame Dark Jade have to do with me?"
The old man said:"If you don't know her, I would not let you see that stone statue of hers."
Yu Peiyu looked surprised and confused.
The old man said:"That gesture you made to Tian Chixing refers to her."
Yu Peiyu's heart started to beat faster and faster, but he remained calm and said:"Still I do not know her."
The old man said:"Think carefully, have you really not seen her before? To my knowledge you should at least have met her once."
Yu Peiyu's heart skipped a beat and remembered Hai Dongqing's teacher. She was a true beauty too but she had her face veiled.
He also remembered a carving of a sack on the bamboo plaque.
At this point he could not control himself anymore and blurted out:"Are you Mr. Dongguo?"
The name [Mr. Dongguo] is filled with a sense of mystery and Yu Peiyu was a bit shocked too when he said that name.
The old man laughed:"In face we are old friends too, don't you recognize me anymore?"
The old man gracefully descended from the beam, slowly like a leaf floating down and his beard was swaying with the wind.
When he landed Yu Peiyu saw that he was a skinny, short old man with a very long white beard. He looked very familiar to Yu Peiyu and suddenly he called out with surprise:"It's you!"

Yu Peiyu met this old man before.
The first was when everything started his father was killed and he was forced out of his home by those imposters, at that moment he did not know how to live on. Then he met a strange old man wanting to commit suicide, Yu Peiyu saved the old man and also refound his courage to live on too.
The second time was when he lost confidence in his own martial arts and then he met the old man again. Because he was pondering heavily he did not recognize the old man. The old man had a painting in his hand of a mountain that did not look like a mountain but captured the essence of the mountain. He remembered the words of the old man clearly:[It is a mountain but I drew it so it wouldn't look like a mountain. But if you look carefully it is a mountain. Although I didn't give it the form of the mountain, I managed to put the essence of the mountain in my painting. Other people may not see it, but I can. If I painted the mountain it will appear like a mountain to me. In my eyes and in my heart I know I painted a mountain. The beautiful part is I understand it but other people do not.]
Because of these words Yu Peiyu was able to place himself in the ranks of a true martial arts expert of the realm
The theory of Xiantian Wuji School is based on the emphasis of essence over form, if one is able to leave the form and is able to enter the world of no boundaries no extremes.
Simplicity over complexity Yu Peiyu has reached the advanced level of the martial arts of his own school, although Yu Peiyu has not yet reached the level of perfection yet of no extremes and boundaries but he is close.
Yu Peiyu felt that this old man has no ill intentions towards him, in fact every time he needed help he was there to aid him. If he was supposed the evil mastermind of everything, it would be impossible. But the words of Madame Dark Jade sounded so convincing.
Yu Peiyu looked up and saw Mr. Dongguo looking at him, he smiled:"Have you recognized me?"
Yu Peiyu said respectfully:"I always remember your wise teachings, old sir."
Mr. Dongguo pointed at the statue of Madame Dark Jade and said:"Have you seen her?"
Yu Peiyu said:"Yes, I have."
Mr. Dongguo said softly:"It is strange that she left you alive."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Why does she want to kill me?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Because you are the only one who can expose her secrets."
Yu Peiyu asked:"What secrets?"
Mr. Dongguo asked:"Do you know what her name is?"
He did not give Yu Peiyu the chance to ask and immediately answered the question:"It is not strange that you don't know her actual name, not many people know her real name. It is a big secret."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Why?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Her name is Ji Beiqing."
Yu Peiyu said:"Ji Beiqing? Is she related to Ji Kuqing?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Yes, they are......she is his younger sister and wife."
Yu Peiyu was flabbergasted.
Mr. Dongguo sighed:"Unfortunate.......most unfortunate......"
He added with a wry smile:"All the members of Ji family are strange, they all are very pretentious and believe that they are better than everyone else. Nobody is fit to marry into their family."
Yu Peiyu said with a scary tone:"So.....their entire....family is.....created through inbreeding?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Indeed, for generations brothers and sisters are.........married to each other and because of this incestual relationships most of their descendants are mentally retarted or mad or even both. Ji Beiqing may look beautiful but she too is mad."
Yu Peiyu broke out in a cold sweat now.
Mr. Dongguo said:"She is a very proud madwoman and when she saw what kind of son she brought into this world she left everything behind in disappointment. That is why Ji Zanghua has no brothers or sisters so he was forced to marry an outsider, however he has never spent the bed with his wife."
That is why Ji Lingfeng did not acknowledge Ji Zanghua as her father and he also understood the pain of Madame Ji now.
So his original theory was correct Ji Lingyan and Ji Lingfeng were father by someone else, probably someone of his own family. Probably his [second uncle].
But he also wondered why Ji Beiqing would kill her brother and husband Ji Kuqing, that is something he saw with his own eyes.
Mr. Dongguo said:"From then onwards Ji Kuqing went even more insane and the same time Wulin was startled by a series of murders and thefts. Large quantities of treasures were stolen, numerous famous martial artists were killed, but nobody would have guessed that Ji Kuqing was behind these crimes."
Yu Peiyu heard of this story before, at Murder Manor old man Gao told him of this story this also meant that Mr. Dongguo was telling the truth.
Mr. Dongguo said:"More than ten odd top martial arts experts were investigating this matter, but only one deducted the culprit was Ji Kuqing but nobody believed him."
Yu Peiyu quickly asked:"Sir, do you know him?"
Mr. Dongguo smiled:"Of course I know him, he is my own younger brother, the thousand mile eagle Dongguo Gao."
Yu Peiyu always knew that old man Gao must have an impressive background, but he never guessed that he would be the brother of Mr. Dongguo.
Mr. Dongguo looked at Yu Peiyu and smiled:"I know you must know him too."
Yu Peiyu sighed:"I owe old master Dongguo a lot, he saved my life several times."
Mr. Dongguo said:"My brother has reached the level of perfection in the art of levitation, he is honest, fair and righteous. Furthermore his medical skills are unsurpassed in the realm, even Hua Tuo* might not be much better than my brother."
Yu Peiyu unintentionally touched his face and respect welled up in his heart.
Mr. Dongguo said:"Ji Kuqing was unable to withstand my brother's actions against him, so he feigned his death and fled to the western borders to meet up with his wife, sister Madame Dark Jade, Ji Beiqing."
Yu Peiyu asked with surprise:"Ji Beiqing was in the western borders?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Yes, the two met up with each other there. They had still intentions of realing the realm of martial arts and were preparing themselves to enter China again. However they feared my brother and I a lot and used another famous martial artist as a puppet."
Yu Peiyu looked very pale and stuttered:"Sir, you......mean......that Yu.....that Yu person......"
Mr. Dongguo looked sympathetic now and he said gently:"Your father, Mr. Yu was a true gentleman he would not assist them in these awful crimes. They knew that too and used a vicious ploy to kill your father and they found someone to impersonate him and manipulate the reputation of the late Mr. Yu."
Yu Peiyu was now both angry and very emotional, he remembered the day his father died tragically. He was also most grateful because finally someone knew that his father was not a hypocrite and was innocent.
Mr. Dongguo patted him on his shoulder and said gently:"The net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through. Although you have suffered a lot these months and you have been ridiculed and mocked. But soon you will be able to clear your father's name and make a difference in the realm."
Yu Peiyu felt very warm and tears were welling up in his eyes, he kowtowed to Mr. Dongguo and said respectfully:"Sir, were you aware about my real identiy all this time?"
Mr. Dongguo helped him up and said:"Of course I know, from the very first day misfortune fell upon you I saw you and urged you to keep on living."
Yu Peiyu took a few deep breaths to calm himself again, he said sadly:"There is still something I do not understand."
Mr. Dongguo asked:"What is it?"
Yu Peiyu gritted his teeth and asked:"Who is that fiend who is impersonating my father? How does he know the skills of the Xiantian Wuji School? He is capable of imitating my father to the spitting image."
Mr. Dongguo stayed silent for awhile, he sighed deeply:"A dragon has nine sons, each son different from the other. Your father Mr. Yu Fanghe is a remarkable, friendly gentleman. But his younger brother, Yu Duhe is thieving, murdering thug."
Yu Peiyu remembered reading somehting about that in the Yama book of debts and his limbs turned cold, he said with a trembling voice:"That fiend.....that fiend....is my very own.....uncle?!?"
Mr. Dongguo said sadly:"I should not pass judgement of family affairs of others but you must know that your uncle was disowned by his own family. Your father did nothing bad to him in fact he did everything possible that could lead his brother to the right way, however in vain."
Yu Peiyu looked very sad and could only nod now.
Mr. Dongguo said:"When Yu Duhe left your father, he turned even worse he was truly running amok in the realm. He killed and stole as he pleased and made many enemies, because of his superior martial arts and intelligence he was able to escape from his enemies several times. Everyone wanted to slice up his body, he was really hated that much."
He continued:"One day he was at a famous brothel in Luoyang city, he was drinking heavily with the famous courtesan [Grand Qiao] till he got drunk. Little did he know that Grand Qiao was working for his enemies. That is almost 18 years ago around the second month."
Yu Peiyu repeated softly:"18 years ago.......second month......."
He remembered that in Murder Manor that a certain Yu person came there 18 years ago around the second month of that year.
Mr. Dongguo said:"That Yu Duhe was an exceptional fighter, even in his drunk state he could fight a way out of an encirclement of more than ten martial arts experts, he fled to Murder Manor."
He continued with a sigh:"Yu Duhe knew that someone would protect him there in Murder Manor and he knew his way in the manor........."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Was it not his first time there?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"He had an affair with Madame Ji for a long time, Ji Lingyan and Ji Lingfeng are his daughters."
Yu Peiyu was still stunned, although he guessed that already but now his suspicions were confirmed. So the piece of jade was really a family heirloom of the family Yu.
And the embroided characters on that pouch:Always at your side, never leaving never stop hoping.
The lover of Madame Ji was his uncle. That is why Ji Lingfeng and Ji Lingyan treated him differently because blood is really thicker than water, they are cousins.
Mr. Dongguo said:"Madame Ji hid Yu Duhe in the secret passage and thought he would be save there. However at that time Ji Kuqing pretended to be dead there too and saw Yu Duhe."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Why.....did.....?"
Mr. Dongguo understood what he wanted to ask and sighed:"Ji Kuqing wanted to silence Yu Duhe, but suddenly he realised that he could use this man also he saw a lot of resemblance in him. So he took Yu Duhe with him."
Yu Peiyu knew this too, because if not why would Yu Duhe leave behind that piece of jade.
Mr. Dongguo said:"Ji Kuqing made a clever choice because Yu Duhe was the younger brother of the late Mr. Yu Fanghe he now everything of his brother. Furthermore he had no difficulty in learning the habits of his brother, because they are brother they resembled each other a lot in appearances and height."
He sighed deeply:"It is not sheer coincidence, everything was thought of with utmost precision. If they did not have Yu Duhe, their target would not have been Mr. Yu."
Yu Peiyu looked pensive before asking:"Is Ji Kuqing well-versed in surgical skills?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Not him, but Madame Dark Jade has that ability. I have heard that she learnt those surgical skills and the art of disguise from Persia. It is different from my brother's but the outcome is very similar."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Sir, do you know that she has two pupils?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Do you mean Hai Dongqing and Yang Zijiang?"
Yu Peiyu said:"Yes, indeed."
Mr. Dongguo said:"These two young men are not too bad, unfortunately they are being used by them. To my knowledge they are not aware of the secrets of their teacher."
Yu Peiyu said softly:"Of course! Even an outsider like me believed her words........How can her own students not believe her? But who sent the shades?"
Mr. Dongguo answered:"Ji Beiqing of course."
Yu Peiyu asked with surprise:"Why would she send her own subjects to kill her own disciples?"
Mr. Dongguo said:"Perhaps Yang Zijiang and Hai Dongqing were starting to know too much about her, if you're a disciple of such a person knowing too much is really dangerous. Furthermore she might think that she has almost won and has no more need for Hai Dongqing and Yang Zijiang."
He continued with a serious tone:"No matter what, Ji Kuqing and Ji Beiqing are really madmen. Their actions cannot be explained with logic."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Except for the shade I encountered, are there other four shades?"
Mr. Dongguo laughed:"Those are mere futile words of her to scare people, telling a few lackeys to impersonate ghosts is quite easy."
Yu Peiyu was pensive again and softly said to himself:"So Hai Dongqing and Yang Zijiang were also deceived by their teacher.
So when he told us to hide in the tunnel, he had no ill intentions. And Hai Dongqing truly believed the lies his teacher told him, so he was being honest to me in that secret passage....."
He broke out in a cold sweat, because Hai Dongqing was taking Zhu Lei'Er and Iron Blossom to the home of Ji Beiqing. He did not even know how to save them, he did not even know where she lived. Furthermore was Mr. Dongguo telling the truth?
Mr. Dongguo said:"I discovered these secrets too by digging for many years, but most of it is just my deduction. There is no proof and no one will believe it like that....... Who will believe me when I say that the Yu Fanghe of now is just Yu Duhe pretending to be his brother."
Yu Peiyu sighed:"Sir, even I am not totally convinced by your story. How can others?"
Mr. Dongguo carefully observed him and said calmly:"I know you still have some questions and doubts now, but I will take you to see someone."
Yu Peiyu asked:"Who?"
Mr. Dongguo smiled:"You will know when you see him."

So Mr. Dongguo lead Yu Peiyu to his place to meet this mysterious person.
They walked off the main road and took a small path, they passed a brook and came to idyllic place with a cottage there. Yu Peiyu could smell the scent of herbal medicine.
Was someone ill in the cottage? And who was preparing the medicine?
The medicine was still cooking on the furnace outside, but no one was to be seen.
Why did Mr. Dongguo lead Yu Peiyu here?
A small cat jumped towards Mr. Dongguo, he smiled and caught the cat:"Little Black, Clever little back. Don't pull out my beard."
Yu Peiyu was not interested in meeting the pets of Mr. Dongguo and wondered why he was here.
Suddenly he heard a voice from behind him:"It is has been a long time, young master Yu. How are you doing?"
Yu Peiyu turned around and saw a familiar face, an old face with a pair of clear, sharp eyes.
Yu Peiyu was both surprised and happy, he called out with happiness:"Old sir, you're here."
It was old man Gao, it seemed like an eternity ago when he last saw him.
Old man Gao, Dongguo Gao was holding a bucket of water and silently walked up to the back of Yu Peiyu. Suddenly he saw the scar on Yu Peiyu's face and observed a bit carefully, he smiled:"It seems that the Jade Emperor does not allow us mortals to be perfect. Being flawless is perhaps not good at all."
Yu Peiyu seemed to be stunned and did not know what to say anymore.
Dongguo Gao patted him on the shoulder and laughed:"I know what you want to say, no need. There is someone in there who is very concerned about you and keeps wondering whether you are allright. Go in quickly."
Who could it be in the cottage?
And who is ill?
Is it Ji Lingyan?
Is it Xie Tianbi?
Or even Lin Daiyu?
Yu Peiyu's hands trembled when he opened the door.
He saw a man in a white robe lying in bed, he looked very distinguished but sickly. His eyes brightened up when he saw Yu Peiyu.
When Yu Peiyu saw him he was going mad with happiness and shouted:"Brother Feng San! You are here!"
After seeing old man Gao/Dongguo Gao and Feng San, Yu Peiyu believed Mr. Dongguo but there were still some questions in his heart that he could not explain.
He saw Madame Dark Jade, Ji Beiqing kill Ji Kuqing with his own eyes.
But he quickly narrated what happened to him and Zhu Lei'Er for the past few months to Feng San, Yu Peiyu felt sad and ashamed.
Feng San consoled:"Ji Beiqing won't harm Lei'Er, she just wanted to keep her as a hostage so you will listen to her commands."
Yu Peiyu lowered his head and said:"I should have thought about this earlier, why did I allow her to be taken away by her."
Feng San smiled:"Don't worry too much about Lei'Er, she is a clever and naughty girl. She could very well outsmart Ji Beiqing."
Yu Peiyu felt somewhat assured, he now took out the black notebook and bamboo plaque and said:"I found this at the house in Family Li Village......"
Feng San frowned and said:"Why would Lady Zhu treasure this so much?"

end of chapter 38


*Hua Tuo: a famous physician duiring the Three Kingdoms Period(220 - 280 AD).

[Demitre]

Thanx for the update;

Finally another mention of Lin Daiyu; It's kinda hard to beleive that she is the main girl.

[eeyore]

another twist and more turn... man, I dunno how Gu Long come with ideas like this... I really can not see in 2 more chapter all be finish and reveal? so complicated.

Thanks Athena for your hard working much appreciated.

Will Yu Peiyu end up with Zhu Lin'Er or Lin Daiyu?

[Alvin]

Great translations, and great pace..

Thank you soooooo much athena.

Is it true that this fill finished in the next 2 chapter, because i still hoping GL will give LDY more roles in the story.

[Han Solo]

These last few chapters certainly lacked the exquisiteness of the rest of the novel. Rather too forced.

I would have loved to see Lin Dai Yu end up with Yu Pei Yu seeing how much she sacrified for him.