A Deadly Secret (連城訣)

[devilz91]

Qi Fang was shocked, she put out her hands and leaned against the table to support herself.

Wan Gui said some comforting words: “Sister Qi, do not panic, we will think of a solution.”

Feng Tan removed the bedding and revealed yet another two hidden bundles. Shen Cheng and Feng Tan each opened one of the bundles: one was filled with silver ingot, the other was filled with feminine jewellery and a bunch of gold rings. At this point, Qi Fang could no longer contain herself as she watched. Under extreme anger and depression, she felt like she wanted to kill herself. Since they were young, she and Di Yun have grown up together, and she had long treated him as her future husband. Never would she have guessed that her lover, in desperate times, would rather retreat and live in isolation with another woman. Was this wicked witch of a woman really so attractive? Or perhaps he was afraid he would be associated with her father’s crimes and decided to run off on his own?

Lu Kun shouted loudly: “Little thief, your loot is all here, what excuses do you have now? He gave Di Yun two hard slaps, one on each cheek. Di Yun had both his arms held and locked tight by Sun Jun and Wu Kan, so he had no way of retaliating. Both his cheeks immediately became swollen, and Lu Kun continued to punch Di Yun hard on his chest.

Qi Fang shouted: “Don’t hit him! Don’t hit him! Let us talk things over.”

Zhou Qi said: “Kill this thief first, then we will report to the authorities!” As he said this he hit Di Yun hard with a fist. Di Yun in great pain opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Feng Tan drew his sword and said: “Let us severe his left hand and see if he ever dares to commit such misdeeds ever again!” Sun Jun acknowledged and lifted up Di Yun’s arm; Feng Tan was about to strike when Qi Fang shouted: “Ah!” urgently.

Wan Gui said: “Everyone please, out of respect for me, let us just take him to the authorities and be done with it.” Upon seeing Feng Tan slowly withdraw his sword, two streams of tears began to flow down her cheeks. She gave a glance at Wan Gui, her eyes fully showing emotions of gratitude.

---------------

“5, 10, 15, 20... ...”

The guard was counting the number of strokes from the beating stick given to Di Yun hard on the back of his legs. Di Yun was held back by two guards while he was being beaten, the bamboo board was getting lower and lower as he was being hit. Compared to the inner pain he felt in his heart, the external pain from being hit was nothing; even the pain on his right palm was considerably painless.

He thought to himself: “Even Fang’mei thinks I’m a thief... even she thinks I’m a thief.”

“25... 30... 35... 40... ...” Now the board fell on the ground; Di Yun’s skin was bruised and cracked, fresh blood dripped on the board. He fainted.

When Di Yun woke up, he found himself in one of the prison rooms. He felt dizzy and exhausted still so did not know where he was, nor did he know how much time has passed since the incident. Gradually, he felt the intense pain in his right palm where his five fingers were sliced, as well as the pain on his back, legs, and hip from the beating earlier. He wanted to turn his body over so the painless parts would be on the ground, when suddenly, he felt indescribably excruciating pain on both his shoulders, and he fainted again.

He woke up again several times. The first sounds he heard were the sounds of his hoarse moaning, followed by intense pain coming from all parts of his body. But why was his shoulder in so much pain, more than anything else? Why was the pain so excruciatingly unbearable? He could only feel indescribable fear, after a good while, he still did not dare to lower his head to look at himself.

He thought: “Perhaps both my shoulders were pierced by someone?” Suddenly, he heard the sound of iron chains softly clashing. As he looked down, he could see that two iron chains tied both his shoulders. Under his fright, when he looked down to see, he was so afraid that it caused his whole body to shake.

After a while, the pain on his shoulders became even worse. Then he realized that the two iron chains actually pierced through his scapula, along with the iron chains on his hands, and the ones that tied his ankles; all these chains were locked together. Piercing the scapula, as he once heard his Shifu say, was one of the worst possible punishments given by the Prefecture to only the most unrighteous and evil of men. No matter how skilled your martial arts were, once your scapula was pierced, you could not even unleash a fraction of your strength. At that instant, countless number of thoughts came to him at once: “Why treat me this way? Do they really think I am a huge criminal? I am innocent, can the magistrate not see through this?”

At the court of the magistrate, he once fully explained the entire incident, but the concubine of Wan Zhenshan, Tao Hong, insisted that it was he who committed the misdeeds and nobody else. Furthermore, the eight disciples of Wan Zhenshan among others also attested to her claims. Indeed, they did see him hug Tao Hong, then they discovered the hidden loot from underneath the bed, and even more from beneath the bedding. Not even to mention the guards in the prefecture, in Jingzhou the name of the Wan family held great status and prestige, which foolish thief would have any ideas of looting them?

Di Yun remembered that the magistrate had a handsome face full of sincerity. He believed that the magistrate was only convinced by these words for the moment, and caused the suffering of an innocent man. Eventually, the case will come to a resolution. But nevertheless, the five fingers on his right hand had been chopped off completely, how can he ever wield a sword again?

He felt his heart overwhelmed with anger and his stomach filled with sadness. Without regards to the pain he felt, he stood out and shouted: “I’m innocent! I’m innocent!” Suddenly, his leg became limp and he fell on the ground. He tried to get back up and stand straight, but once again fell over. He lied on the ground and continued to shout: “I’m innocent! I’m innocent!”

Suddenly a cold voice could be heard speaking: “Having your scapula pierced, your entire martial arts inert, haha, haha! The price to pay indeed wasn’t small.”

Di Yun did not care who spoke, nor did he care what that person’s intention was, he only continued to shout: “I’m innocent! I’m innocent!”

A gaoler gave a cold laugh, turned his body around to fetch for a wooden bucket. Blocked by the railing, he turned his head and threw the wooden bucket at Di Yun. Di Yun sensed an extreme foul smell and could not dodge, his whole body instantly became wet—it was a bucket of urine. The urine spread over his body and caused excruciating pain to his already agonizing wounds. His vision turned dark, and he fainted.

Subconsciously he had a high fever, sometimes he shouted “Shifu! Shifu!” while other times he shouted: “Martial sister! Martial sister!” Over a period of three days, the gaoler brought him coarse rice daily, but he felt quite unconscious and could not help himself with even a single bite.

On the fourth day, the fever in his body slowly began to disperse. As well, the numerous wounds in his body became numb, and no longer caused as much suffering as it once did several days ago. He recalled that he was declaring his innocence, so opened his mouth widely again and shouted: “I’m innocent!” But at that time his voice was soft and incredibly weak; he barely had enough energy to utter any words.

He sat for a while and his eyes darted around the prison cell which he was confined and had previously disregarded before. The prison was about a two squared zhang big stone house. The walls were made with tiles of rough and large stones, the floor was also made with large stones. In the corner was the wooden bucket from before, he could still smell the unpleasant scent emitted from it.

He turned his head, and saw that in the middle of the four corners of the room, there was a pair of very fierce eyes staring at him. He trembled as he did not expect that in the room would be another person besides himself. He saw that this man had a face full of facial hair, his hair was long and messy and hung down from his head to his neck. The man’s clothes were so ripped it was as if it belonged to a savage beast in the wilderness. The man’s hands were shackled by fetters just as he was, as well as the iron chain which also pierced through the man’s scapulas.

The first emotion that came to Di Yun was that of joy, and he gave a faint a smile, thinking: “There is actually someone in this world who is equally unlucky as I am.” But then he switched thoughts: “This man looks quite ferocious, most likely one who committed arson and murder, one who was a cold-hearted and ruthless villain. He got what he deserved, but I’m innocent!” His thoughts were interrupted as tears began to drip from his eyes.

Throughout all the pain and suffering he received since going to prison, he had always remained strong and would not shed even a single tear. But at this point he could hold back no longer, for his tears streamed uncontrollably down his face. He decided to let it out and cried loudly.

The bearded man sneered: “Very nice performance, well done! Are you an actor?”

Di Yun ignored the man and continued to cry loudly. He heard the sound of footsteps and thought that the gaoler was carrying another bucket of urine. Even if Di Yun’s character was more stubborn, he would not want to clash with the gaoler, so he slowly retracted his tears and cried softly. The gaoler looked at him and suddenly said: “Little thief, you have a visitor.”

Di Yun felt both shocked and excited at once, he quickly said: “Who... who is it?” The gaoler did not reply and instead produced a large chain of keys from his garment and opened the entrance iron door. He heard footsteps approaching, the gaoler walked through a long corridor and another sound of a door opening was heard, followed by the sound of a door closing and the sound of the rail as the footsteps of three people were heard approaching.

Di Yun was overjoyed and stood up instantly. His legs fell numb again and was about to fall over but he found support from the stone walls. As soon as he moved he felt immense pain from the chains piercing his scapula, but held no regard for it amidst his excitement. He shouted: “Shifu, martial sister!” In the entire world only his Shifu and martial sister were close to him. Naturally, he thought the sound of the footsteps of the other two people must be his Shifu and martial sister.

As the three figures approached, he shouted “Shi...” but could not utter the “fu” as he opened his mouth and could not swallow. Three figures entered through the door. The first was the gaoler, the second was a handsome young man dressed in a gorgeous attire—Wan Gui, and the third was Qi Fang.

[augster123]

Thanks for translating. Wow, this novel starts off to such a depressing start. More ridicule from the gaoler, hypocritical acting from Wan Gui, and crying from Qi Fang coming up.

The scene where the beggar was teaching Di Yun reminded me a lot of Feng Qingyang teaching Linghu Chong. But too bad the 3 sword stances, as good as they were, cannot compare to the Dugu 9 Swords.

[devilz91]

Qi Fang shouted: “Martial brother! Martial brother!” She threw her hands to the iron fence of the cell.

Di Yun walked one step forward and saw that she was dressed in new attire, different from the attire they had brought from the countryside. He did not walk another step, but he saw that her eyes were red. She cried: “Martial brother, martial brother, you... you...”

Di Yun questioned: “Where is Shifu? Did... did you find his honor?” Qi Fang shook her head, her tears rustled to the floor in the process. Di Yun continued: “Are... are you well? Where are you living?”

Qi Fang choked while she spoke: “I have nowhere to go. I am temporarily living in the Wan residence...”

Di Yun shouted in alarm: “That is a harmful place, you definitely cannot stay there! Quick... quickly move out.”

Qi Fang lowered her head and said softly: “I... I have no money. These past few days... every day at the prefecture, Wan Gui spent money... to rescue you.”

Di Yun grew even more frustrated and yelled: “I did not commit any crimes, why would I need him to spend money for me? How will we repay them in the future? Once the magistrate has fully examined the case over and realized my innocence, he will set me free.”

Qi Fang began to cry again. She said bitterly: “Why... why did you do such things? Why... why did you leave me?”

Di Yun became startled, but now realized what was going on. At this point, his martial sister believed the words of the concubine Tao Hong, she believed that he was the one who stole the gold and jewellery. In his entire life he gave Qi Fang his utmost respect and love and would always submit to her, telling her everything that she wanted to know, discussing anything that she wanted. Little did he realize that in the event of a big occurrence, she was no different from any other person. They all believed that he wanted to rape the girl and steal the money. They all believed that he would actually commit such atrocious acts.

At this moment, the emotional pain he felt caused over a hundred times more suffering and hurt than his physical wounds. He wanted to speak, he had a million things he wanted to explain to Qi Fang, but his throat suddenly became plugged, and he could not even utter a single word. He used all his strength and his ears flushed red, but his throat and tongue would not move and he could not emit any noise.

Qi Fang saw the terrifying expression on his face and became afraid. She turned her head and would not look at him. Di Yun used all his strength but still could not utter a single word. When he suddenly saw that Qi Fang had turned her head not facing him, he could not help but feel great emotional suffering. He thought: “She hates me now, hates me for leaving her for another woman, hates me for stealing gold and jewellery, hates me for wanting to run off on my own upon trouble... martial sister, martial sister, if you don’t believe me, then why come and see me?” He no longer dared to look at Qi Fang, and slowly turned his body, facing the wall.

Qi Fang turned her head and said: “Martial brother, what happened in the past we need not mention anymore. We can only hope we can soon... soon receive notice of father’s whereabouts. Brother Wan has... has a way to get you out... ...”

Di Yun thought: “I don’t want him to insure me.” He also wanted to say: “Don’t live with him!” But the more he used his strength, the more his muscles tightened up, and he could not speak. His body stopped shaking, and the iron chains made clashing sounds.

The gaoler rushed and said: “Time’s up. This is a prison for those under death row, designed to punish the greatest of criminals. You guys aren’t supposed to be here to begin with. If the uppers find out about this, we will be in deep trouble. Miss, this man does not have any chance to get out of here, and he’s also handicapped now. You should forget about him and marry a wealthy and handsome gentleman!” As he said this he glanced over at Wan Gui, and gave a dirty snicker.

Qi Fang begged: “Sir, I have some things I wish to speak with my martial brother.” She extended her hands to the iron fence and pulled on Di Yun’s sleeves. She softly spoke: “Martial brother, don’t worry, I will most certainly beseech Brother Wan to rescue you, and then we will look for my father together.” She placed a bamboo basket inside the cell and said: “There’s some bacon, fish, and fried eggs there, as well as two taels of silver. Don’t worry martial brother, I will visit you again tomorrow...”

The gaoler became annoyed: “Lady, if you don’t leave now, I won’t be nice anymore!”

Wan Gui added: “Brother Di, don’t worry. Your problems are my problems. Younger brother will try his best to request the magistrate to set your punishment as low as possible.”

The gaoler continued to rush the two of them. Qi Fang could do no more but to take her leave slowly. With each step she turned her head to look back at Di Yun, but saw that his body was as still as a stone, his head still facing the stone wall and not her. All Di Yun saw was the various bumps on the stone wall. He really wanted to turn his head and see Qi Fang’s figure from behind, as well as shout: “Martial sister!”, but he could not speak out. Even his neck was straight and stiff. He heard the footsteps of three people walking away, the sounds slowly getting fainter. He heard the door unlock and open, followed by the sound of the door closing. Then he heard the footsteps of the gaoler returning, and thought to himself: “She said she would come and see me again tomorrow. Alas, I will have to wait a full day before I can see her again.”

He extended his hands to reach for the food left behind, when suddenly another long and hairy hand extended over and grabbed the bamboo basket—it was the ferocious criminal from earlier. Di Yun could only watch as the man started eating the bacon in the basket.

Di Yun shouted loudly: “That’s mine!” Suddenly he could speak, and thought it was very awkward. He walked forward a step to try and take the basket back, but the prisoner shoved him back with his hands and Di Yun could not keep his balance, moved back a few steps and with a loud bang, he hit his head hard on the stone wall. At that point he understood the true meaning of the phrase “Pierced scapula, useless person.”

The second day Qi Fang did not come to visit him. Nor the third day, nor the fourth day.

Day after day, Di Yun anxiously awaited and ended the day in disappointment every time. By the tenth day, he was nearly driven insane by frustration. He shouted and screamed, banged his head on the wall, but Qi Fang still did not come. All that came out of his howling was a bucket of urine from the gaoler, and a harsh beating from the ferocious prisoner.

Half a month passed, and he finally became a bit more settled. In fact, he did not even speak anymore. One night, four gaolers suddenly entered the prison, each wielding a saber, and brought the ferocious prisoner out.

Di Yun thought: “Are they taking him out to be executed? That would probably be a relief for him, for he no longer has to suffer in here, nor do I have to suffer his beatings any longer.”

He was in the middle of his sleep when suddenly he heard the sounds of iron chains scratching against the floor; the four gaolers brought the prisoner back to his cell. Di Yun glanced over at the prisoner and saw that his entire body was covered in blood, most certainly given a harsh beating by the gaolers. The prisoner fell on the ground and went unconscious. Di Yun waited for the four gaolers to leave, and from the moonlight shining through the prison cell, he could see the prisoner’s face, arm, and legs were all full of bloody bruises from being whipped. Although Di Yun was always beaten by this man, when he saw his current state he could not help but feel a bit of sympathy. He fed him some water from a bowl he had.

The prisoner slowly awoke, and when he opened his eyes and saw Di Yun, he suddenly lifted up his iron chain and hit Di Yun hard on the head. Di Yun had no energy, but he reacted to the situation quickly and made a clever dodge. However, he did not predict that the prisoner’s arms did not extend fully, and half way went at him, with a “peng” sound hit him hard on the waist. Di Yun could not keep his balance and fell forward to the right, his hands and feet were both connected to the chain that pierced his scapula, so he felt unbearable pain instantly. He was shocked and angry at the same time, and could not resist yelling: “You’re insane!”

The prisoner laughed: “Your psychological tricks cannot deceive me. You should have given up on any ideas a long time ago.”

Di Yun could only feel that the ribs on his waist were nearly about to crack, he was in so much pain he could barely speak, and only said: “You lunatic, you can barely protect yourself, why would I have any ideas about deceiving you?”

The prisoner kicked forward and with his left leg hit Di Yun’s spine, with his right leg kicked him hard several times, and scolded: “I see that you are only just a young thief and have not committed too many crimes, only that you are under orders from someone else, otherwise I would kick you to death without regret.”

Di Yun grew so furious that he forgot the pain in his body, thinking that he was already unlucky for being falsely accused for crimes he did not commit; now even worse, he was stuck in the same prison cell with an unreasonable lunatic. It was indeed bad luck upon bad luck.

On the full moon of the second month, the prisoner was once again brought out by four gaolers each wielding sabers. He was beaten once again and returned to his cell. This time, Di Yun learned and no matter how pitiful and sympathetic he felt for the man, he dared not approach him. But even then it did not matter, for the prisoner—before even catching his breath and recovering from his injuries—proceeded to beat him, shouting: “You scoundrel, even if you spied for another ten years, I will still not be fooled by you! People beating your ancestors, your ancestors beat your descendants! To think that you were born, your ancestors must have sinned greatly.” Di Yun was tortured by the prisoner, no matter what it was all Di Yun’s fault, punching and kicking, the prisoner screamed and cursed at Di Yun for more than half a day.

From then on, every time it came near the full moon of the month, Di Yun feared for the worst, for he knew that he would soon be inevitably beaten. Indeed, on the fifteenth of every month, the prisoner was escorted out by four gaolers and tortured, only to briefly return the beating on Di Yun. Thanks to Di Yun’s youthful body and build, although he was severely beaten once a month, he did not collapse. He began to wonder: “My scapula has been pierced by the iron chain, and there is no strength in my body. Yet how come the lunatic also has his scapula pierced, but he still has so much strength left to torture me?” Sometimes Di Yun almost collected enough courage to ask him, but he would always be beaten, and so no longer said a single word to him.

It went like this for several more months, winter passed and spring came. Having been confined for over a year, Di Yun began to grow accustomed to prison life; the pain and anger in his heart and body had become numb. For trying to avoid the brawl of the prisoner, he did not dare to even look at him. As long as he did talk to him or look at him, except for the nights of the full moon, the lunatic would not beat him.

Early one morning, before Di Yun was awake, he could hear the soft chirpings of swallows outside the prison, which suddenly made him recall the past when he and Qi Fang would used to watch the songbirds fly to their nest. His heart became sour and it went away along with the birds, he could only see a pair of birds fly away together, from several dozen feet high outside the window skimmed through. He had nothing to do day and night and always thought about escaping through the balcony window, trying to figure out who lives here. But the window was shut tightly, and on top of the window would never fail to grow a basket of fresh flowers, at this time it the spring sun shone through it, on the sill was placed a basin of jasmines.

His mind was boggled with many thoughts when suddenly he heard the lunatic let out a deep sigh. For the past year, the lunatic either gave crazy laughs or scolded people, he had never sighed before. A hint of sadness and gentleness could be heard through his sighing. Di Yun could not resist and turned his head over. All he saw was the lunatic sitting in the corner with the hint of a smile from the corner of his mouth, his eyes looking at the basin of jasmines on top of the window sill. Di Yun felt that the man was not putting forth his true emotions, and hence turned around and dared not to look back at him.

Ever since discovering the secret, Di Yun would check out the expression of the lunatic every day. He could see that the lunatic would always stare gently at the basin of fresh flowers—from the jasmine flowers of spring and the roses, to the lilacs of the summer and the impatiens. Through half a year, the two did not speak more than a sum of ten words. The beatings on the days of the full moon also turned into a stodgy one. Di Yun realized that as long as he did not utter a single word, the lunatic’s temper would be much less severe, and consequently the strength of his punches and kicks were also less damaging. He thought: “In another few years, I probably won’t even remember how to speak anymore.”

[devilz91]

However, the unreasonableness of the lunatic had an advantage too, for it even scared the gaoler from talking in the cell. Sometimes he even scolded the gaoler, and consequently he would not receive food for the day, so he would instead steal Di Yun’s food. Or sometimes, neither of them would receive food, and the lunatic would stay hungry for days and not care.

One year on the fifteenth day of the eleventh month, after the lunatic was given a harsh beating as usual, he suddenly caught a fever, and in his unconsciousness uttered some nonsense. Di Yun could make out that he would often say these few words, either “Double Flower” or “Wounded Cup”.

Di Yun did not pay much attention at first, but come afternoon, he heard him constantly shout: “Water, water! Give me water to drink!” Di Yun could not resist and decided to pour some water from his bowl to help the prisoner. He got close to him, but he was completely alert in case the lunatic would strike with both hands. Luckily, this time he drank the water without getting angry, and promptly fell asleep.

That night, four gaolers suddenly appeared, and beat him up again. When he returned this time, his groaning was weak and faint. One of the gaolers said sternly: “If he insists on not speaking, we will beat him up again tomorrow.” Another gaoler said: “Looks like he’s unconscious, we should further force him to speak. If he insists on not speaking then he will soon end up in hell, that would not be good.”

Di Yun had been living with the lunatic for quite some time, watched him endure the worst of pain and suffering, and really did not wish for him to die at the hands of the gaoler. On the seventeenth, Di Yun fed him water four or five times. In the last time, the lunatic nodded his head to express gratitude. Since entering prison, this was the first time that Di Yun saw the lunatic express any form of good feelings, and at that moment, Di Yun felt a warmth in his heart filled with indescribable joy.

That day, after the second watch, the four gaolers came as expected and opened the cell door. Di Yun thought that if the lunatic were to be beaten again in such a short interval, he would most certainly die. He gathered the courage and jumped in front of the cell door, shouting: “Don’t come in!” A gaoler with a big build approached him, scolding: “Stupid prisoner, move out of the way.”

Di Yun could not gather any strength in his hands, and instead lowered his head and bit the gaoler hard on his middle and index finger on his right hand, blood spurts could be seen. The teeth sunk deep into the bones of the fingers, and the two fingers nearly broke. The gaoler was shocked beyond measure, turned around and jumped out of the cell and choked. His saber fell on the ground.

Di Yun quickly lowered himself and grabbed the saber, shouted loudly and hacked three times. Although he did not have much energy in his hands, but with the saber replacing the sword, the stances were still quite exquisite. A fat gaoler rushed forward with his saber, Di Yun moved to the side, and with a stance “Mother and Brother Loses Salt, The Long Goose Salts Circular Wings” (it was actually “The Lonely Straight Smoke Desert, The Long River Sunset Falls”), the blade rotated in a circular motion and stabbed the gaoler’s leg. The gaoler was so scared that he rolled out of the way.

When the four gaolers saw that Di Yun was as wild and fierce as a tiger, they dared not to get too close. Instead they stood outside the cell and started cursing Di Yun’s eighteen generations of ancestors, uttering every profanity they could come up with. Di Yun remained silent and stood guard in front of the cell door. Surprisingly, the four gaolers did not call for reinforcements. When they saw that they could not fight their way in, they cursed and left.

The four days following the incident, the gaolers did not bring them food nor water. By the fifth day, Di Yun was thirsty to the point that he could not resist anymore. The lunatic’s lips were even more charred. He suddenly said: “You only pretend to want to kill me, this ***** better get some water here soon.”

Di Yun did not understand what the lunatic was trying to say, but thought to himself: “I don’t care if this works or not, but I must try!” Then he shouted loudly: “If you don’t give us water now, I will hack this lunatic into pieces.” He turned the saber and made some loud impact noises against the iron fence.

Suddenly he saw a gaoler rush through frantically and yelled: “If you even dare touch a single hair on his head, I will poke ten thousand holes on your body with my blade!” Following that, the gaoler brought some clean water and cold rice.

Di Yun and the lunatic began to eat, the former asked: “He wants to torture you, but yet is afraid that I will kill you. What kind of reasoning is that?”

The lunatic opened his eyes, lifted his bowl, and smashed it hard against Di Yun’s head, shouting: “You think that just because you are pretending to get on my good side, that I will fall into your trap?” With a bing and a bang, the bowl shattered.

Di Yun’s forehead began to drip with fresh blood. He backed off and thought to himself: “This man is going crazy again!”

From then on, on the day of the full moon every month, the gaolers tortured the lunatic as usual, but upon his return, he would no longer unleash his wrath on Di Yun. The two rarely spoke words, but if Di Yun gave more than a few glances at the lunatic, he would be reprimanded with a hard fist from the latter. The only time the lunatic showed any signs of kindness or peace was when he looked at the fresh flowers outside the high windows of the cell.

By the spring of the fourth year, Di Yun no longer held any hopes of ever leaving the prison, but in his dreams he still constantly thought of his Shifu and martial sister. Although his image of Shifu gradually deteriorated over time, the image of his martial sister—her graceful and stalwart body, her rosy red cheeks, and her large black eyes—remained as clear as it was over three years ago.

He no longer dared to have any ideas of leaving prison to reunite with his martial sister. Every day he secretly prayed to Bodhisattva, wishing that even if his martial sister would visit him once, he would be willing to suffer the tortures of the lunatic every single day.

Qi Fang never came.

One day, someone came to visit him. This person wore elegant silk clothing and was a handsome young man. He laughed: “Brother Di, do you still remember me? I am Shen Cheng.” It had been over three years, he grew a lot taller, to the point where Di Yun could barely recognize him.

Di Yun’s heart began to pound hard, as he knew there was a chance he could get some information from him about his martial sister. He asked: “Where is my martial sister?”

Shen Cheng sent a basket over the iron fence and laughed: “This is from my older sister-in-law, Brother Wan’s wife. Everyone did not forget our old companion. Today is a propitious day, and as such she asked me to deliver two full chickens, four trotters, and 16 happy cakes for you.”

Di Yun quickly asked: “Who is Wan’s wife? What propitious day?”

Shen Cheng chuckled, his face full of a cunningly deceitful expression. He said: “Brother Wan’s wife is exactly your martial sister, Lady Qi. Today is the propitious day of their obeisance to marriage, she told me to deliver you these cakes and meat, isn’t that quite enough friendship?”

Di Yun jumped in a flash, both his hands clung hard onto the iron fence, and said: “You... you speak nonsense! My martial sister, how... how would she marry the one with the surname Wan?”

Shen Cheng laughed: “My Shifu was stabbed hard by your Shifu, thankfully he did not die, and later recovered from his injuries. What happened in the past, we let bygones be bygones. Your martial sister lived in the Wan residence for the past three years, with all the dear and sweet talk, who can say... who can say... hehe, next year they’re guaranteed to expect a gorgeous and healthy baby.” Even though Shen Cheng aged a little, his playful and glib personality did not change one bit.

Di Yun’s ears felt a buzzing sound and he could only hear himself say: “Where is my Shifu?” He could also seem to hear Shen Cheng laugh: “Who knows? He knows that he’s a wanted man, and naturally would run as far away as he can. Would he dare come back?” And seemed to hear Shen Cheng laugh and say: “Sister-in-law said continue to stay here in peace, perhaps after she bores three or four children, she will come visit you.”

Di Yun suddenly roared: “You speak nonsense, nonsense! You... you... you’re full of shit... ...” He knocked the basket away. The cake, trotters, and warm chickens fell all over the floor.

Then he saw that in each and every happy cake marked the eight words: “Wan and Qi’s Marriage, Love for All Seasons.”

Di Yun forced himself to not believe Shen Cheng’s words, but now how could he not believe it? He drowsily heard Shen Cheng laugh: “Sister-in-law said that it’s unfortunate you could not attend the wedding to drink a cup of wine...”

With both hands Di Yun clung hard against the iron fence, then suddenly extended his hands beyond it and held a firm grasp on Shen Cheng, strangling him. Shen Cheng was taken aback and wanted to escape, but Di Yun suddenly summoned such formidable strength that he was strangling him even harder. Shen Cheng’s face turned from red to purple, both his hands were dancing about trying to struggle his way free, but could not escape.

The gaoler quickly rushed to the scene, held Shen Cheng’s body with both arms and pulled hard. Only after he used all of his energy did he manage to save Shen Cheng’s life. Di Yun sat down on the ground without speaking or moving. The gaoler pranced in the cell and gleefully picked up the bits and pieces of cake and chicken on the ground. Di Yun stared at him, but did not care.

That night on the third watch, he ripped off some pieces of his garment and made it into a rope, tied a knot on it, and using the support of the iron fence he climbed up, sticking his head in the noose. He no longer felt sad, nor did he feel hatred, for in his life there was no longer any love, and this would be the quickest and easiest way to end his misery once and for all. He let go and the noose on his neck began to feel tighter and tighter, until he could no longer breathe. After a while, he lost consciousness.

[nisachar]

Poor Di Yun and Qi Fang!

thanx for the splendid translation.
keep up the good work!

[devilz91]

Updates may be slower for the next few weeks, got exams coming up.

-------------------------------------

Later he regained consciousness, and felt a big hand exerting immense pressure on his chest. He saw the hands pushing up and down exerting force, and he felt some air entering through his nose. He did not know how much time passed, but eventually his eyes slowly opened. He saw in front of him a face full of facial hair; the face suddenly cracked into a smile.

Di Yun could not help but regain his anger. He thought to himself: “No matter what I do, you are always against me. Even now that I want to die, you still won’t let me die in peace.” He had the intent to get up and fight with the lunatic, but he felt much too weak, and he could not exert any force.

The lunatic laughed: “You lost your breathing for over an hour. If I had not used my special martial arts technique, under heaven there is no second person who can save you.”

Di Yun shouted in a fit of rage. “Who wants to be saved? I don’t want to live.”

The lunatic was elated. “I will not have you die, hence you will not die.” The lunatic laughed as he looked at Di Yun. After a while, he moved closer to him, and spoke in a low voice: “My technique comes from the ‘Heavenly Glow Manual’, have you ever heard of it?”

Di Yun replied in anger: “I only know that you are a heavenly psychopath. What heavenly glow or not heavenly glow, I have never heard of.”

Speaking of which was quite strange, the lunatic did not express any emotions of anger this time, and instead gently hummed a ditty. He extended his hands and pressured Di Yun’s chest, a push and a release—just like a bellows—and helped circulate the air to his lungs. He said in a low voice: “You are very fortunate to be alive. I have practiced the ‘Heavenly Glow Manual’ for over a dozen years, and it wasn’t until two months ago did I complete it. If you had instead sought death two months ago, I could not have saved you.”

Di Yun began to feel depressed again as the thought of Qi Fang marrying Wan Gui entered his mind again, wishing that he could have just died then and there. He gave a cold stare at the lunatic and said coldly: “I don’t know how much I sinned in my previous life, that this life I would have to meet a psychopath like you.”

The lunatic laughed and replied: “I am very happy, venerable brother. These past three years I have mistaken your intentions. I, Ding Dian, formally apologize to you!” As he said this he knelt on the floor and gave three loud kowtows.

Di Yun sighed and said softly: “Lunatic!” And did not care for him anymore. But he slowly turned his body and thought: “He calls himself Ding Dian, perhaps his surname is Ding, with a given name Dian. In the three years I have been imprisoned with him, I never knew his name.” He became curious and asked: “What is your name?”

The lunatic replied: “My surname is Ding, the illiterate Ding, the Dian from the three graves and five codes. My suspicious were too great, all this time I thought you had bad intentions, and for the last three years I really gave you much pain and suffering. I have wronged you in too many ways.”

Di Yun thought that what the man said was reasonable and did not have the least bit of sanity. He asked: “Are you really crazy or not?”

Ding Dian dejected and did not reply. After a moment, he gave a long sigh and said: “Whether I am crazy or not, that is hard to say for sure. I only wish for inner peace. What other people see, I hope they will not believe I am crazy to the point of unaccountability.” After a while, he gave some more comforting words: “Brother Di, your heart is filled with sufferings of injustice; that I had already figured as much. If she doesn’t treat you with love or respect, why bring upon yourself so much pain to think of her? The gentleman does not suffer from a lack of a wife. In the future you will marry a woman that exceeds the greatness of your martial sister ten times over. What is there to feel bad about?”

Upon hearing these words, Di Yun wished to unleash all his sorrow and misery of the last three years like the pouring of mountain torrents and avalanches all at once. He felt his chest turn sour, and tears began to pour down. Later, he cried as hard as he could on Ding Dian’s arms. Ding Dian hugged him and gently caressed his long hair.

After three days, Di Yun’s emotions began to stabilize and he felt a bit vibrant. Ding Dian secretly talked and laughed with him, discussing the interesting stories of the Jianghu to cure his boredom. But when it came time for the gaoler to deliver food, Ding Dian would shout and curse at Di Yun, the attitude no different from what it was before.

A person who once treated him with endless pain and agony, now suddenly became his good friend. If not for the incident of Qi Fang getting married being as unbearable as a poisonous centipede biting his heart out, what he felt right now must be heaven compared to his experiences in the past three years.

Di Yun once questioned Ding Dian, asking him why the latter used to think he harbored bad intentions, and why he suddenly revealed the truth. Ding Dian said: “If you really harbored bad intentions, you would not hang yourself. I waited for your breathing to stop for a long while—a clear death, your body was about to become stiff—before I rescued you. Under heaven no one besides me knows that I have completed my training in the formidable art of the ‘Heavenly Glow Manual.’ If not for this technique, there would be no other way to save you. Your suicide was real, and most certainly not a plan to deceive me into trusting you.”

Di Yun asked: “You thought I was deceiving you? Why?” Ding Dian only smiled and did not reply.

The second time Di Yun asked the same question, Ding Dian still did not answer. Di Yun no longer asked.

One night, Ding Dian whispered something to his ears: “My ‘Heavenly Glow Manual’ martial arts has the strongest internal energy foundation of any martial arts under heaven. Today I will teach it to you, you must remember carefully.”

Di Yun shook his head and replied: “I won’t learn it.”

Ding Dian asked curiously: “In such circumstances, why not learn it?”

Di Yun replied: “The days we spend here are not much better than death. The two of us have no chance of seeing life outside this prison. Even if I did learn stronger martial arts it doesn’t make a difference.”

Ding Dian laughed: “You want to escape prison? How hard is that? I will teach you the basic mnemonics, remember them carefully.”

Di Yun remained stubborn, for his suicidal tendencies had not completely vanished, and so he insisted on not learning the technique. Ding Dian persuaded him with great persistence but in vain, almost wishing he could beat him into submission.

Many days passed, and the moon was full once again. Di Yun secretly felt worried for Ding Dian. Ding Dian could guess his emotions and said: “Brother Di, every month I suffer beatings from the gaolers. In the past, after my beatings, I would always unleash my anger out on you. You and I must not show any signs of friendship, or this will be bad for the both of us.”

“Why?”

Ding Dian replied: “If they suspect that we have become friends, they will torture you instead to get information out of me. If I beat you and curse you, it will prevent you from being tortured by methods many times more cruel.”

Di Yun nodded in reply. “You are right, this information is so important, you mustn’t let me know about it, for the fear that my tongue will slip and reveal it. Brother Ding, I am a rustic from the countryside, if I speak any nonsense and foil your plans, how can I forgive myself?”

Ding Dian replied: “You and I were imprisoned together for a long time. At first I thought you were sent by them as a spy, faking good intentions to deceive me, and in turn getting me to leak out information. And so I treated you with utmost disrespect and hatred, giving you the most painful of tortures. Now I realize that you are not a spy, but since they have imprisoned us together for the past three or four years without release, their intent is to expect you to be a spy, in hopes that you will get on my good side. If I reveal to you any information, they will torture it out of you. They know that I will not speak no matter what, but against a young man like you, it will be much easier. You are a criminal under the magistrate, sent to the prefecture to be imprisoned, and naturally will be tortured for this reason.”

On the evening of the fifteenth, four gaolers brought Ding Dian out of his cell. Di Yun was decidedly troubled, and awaited his return. When Ding Dian returned on the fourth watch, his eyes were blue and his nose was swollen as usual, with a body covered in fresh blood and returned to his cell.

Ding Dian waited for the four gaolers to leave before speaking on a low solemn tone: “Brother Di, the events of today were terrible, most definitely unlucky. One of my enemies recognized me.”

“What?”

Ding Dian replied: “Every month on the fifteenth, the prefect will issue a beating on me. But today someone came to assassinate the magistrate. When I saw that the magistrate’s life was in jeopardy, I could not help but save him. But because my body was confined by handcuffs and shackles, among the four assassins I only killed three. The fourth escaped, and that will most certainly cause trouble.”

Di Yun felt more and more strange, and asked continuously: “Why does the magistrate insist on beating you? The magistrate is so brutal, if someone has come to assassinate him, why do you insist on saving his life? Who was the assassin that escaped?”

Ding Dian shook his head and sighed. “I cannot tell you so many things at once, Brother Di. Your martial arts is frugal, and you have no strength. In the future no matter what you see, do not offer your assistance.”

Di Yun did not reply, but thought to himself: “Does he think I with the surname Di is a coward? If you take me as a friend, under desperate circumstances, how can I not assist you?”

Thereafter, Ding Dian remained in silent contemplation. Except for the times where he would look up and stare at the flowers blooming outside the high window—where his face would show the slightest sign of a smile—all other times he would remain dull in thought.

On the late night of the nineteenth, Di Yun felt uncomfortably hot in his sleep, when suddenly he heard two strange sounds. He opened his eyes, and under the moonlight shone two stalwart men using a sharp weapon to destroy the iron fence outside the cell. Each of them wielded a saber embraced close to his body. Di Yun was shocked, unsure of what to do, but he saw Ding Dian stood firm with a cold laugh.

The shorter man said: “The one with the surname Ding, our brothers travelled from the edge of the sky to the corner of the oceans, searching for your whereabouts, little did we know that you were hiding in an obscure prison in Jingzhou, like a tortoise shrinking its head into its shell. Thank heavens, we finally found you.”

The other man said: “Let’s get straight to the point. If you hand over the book, we brothers will not cause you any trouble, and we will even break you out of prison immediately.”

Ding Dian replied: “I do not have it. It was taken by Yan Daping 13 years ago.”

Upon hearing the three words “Yan Daping”, Di Yun’s heart spiked. He thought: “That is my second martial uncle, how is he involved in this?”

The short man shouted: “You think that just because you hid yourself in prison means you can get away from us? Go to hell!” He stroke his saber forward, the tip pointing at Ding Dian’s throat. Without dodging nor running, Ding Dian allowed the tip of the blade to get within a few inches of his throat, then at the last second ducked his body, which caused the shorter man to strike at the left side of the taller man. His elbow hit the taller man right in the stomach, the latter did not even let out a cry, and collapsed to the ground.

The short man aimed his saber back at Ding Dian, giving two strikes in his direction. Ding Dian raised both his arms and blocked the blade with the iron chain. At the same time, his legs were moving frantically in all directions, and stepped on the body of the short man. The man spat out a huge volume of fresh blood and died.

Upon seeing that Ding Dian empty-handedly killed both men, Di Yun could not help but feel astonished. Even though he no longer possessed any martial arts, what he witnessed just now, he realized that even if his abilities were renewed, with long sword in hand, he would not necessarily defeat the short man. And before the other man even joins in the fray, he would have died already. Their martial arts did not reveal any flaws in many stances, thinking that if the two men fought together, they would be quite formidable. Ding Dian also had his scapula pierced by the iron chain, yet he was still able to kill two formidable opponents in the matter of a few gestures. Di Yun admired him with utmost respect.

Ding Dian threw the two bodies out of the cell, then began to sleep leaning on the wall. The iron fence had already been broken, if the two of them wanted to escape, now would be a great opportunity. But Ding Dian did not even say a word, and Di Yun also did not think that the world outside was any better than prison life.

[aliderhamy]

this is a great read... I am loving the whole spending 3 years beating each other up idea. makes me laugh HARD

[devilz91]

On the morning of the second day, the gaoler saw the two dead bodies outside the cell, and shrieked in shock and terror. Ding Dian stared at the opposite direction, while Di Yun turned a deaf ear. The gaoler carried the corpses outside without even asking what happened the previous night.

Another two days passed, and Di Yun was awakened again by some strange noises. Feeling a bit hazy, he only saw that Ding Dian had extended both palms forward, clashing them against a Taoist man. The two stood there motionless. Di Yun had no clue that a Taoist had entered, nor did he know that the two of them were currently in an intense internal energy struggle. He once heard his Shifu say that among the various forms of competing martial arts, competing internal energy is the most dangerous, for they would be exposed to any outside threat, and often the struggle ends in the life or death of one side. There was no easy way of stopping midway.

Under the starlight of the night, he saw the Taoist slowly move forward one step, while Ding Dian slowly retreated one step backwards. After a while, the Taoist took yet another step forward, and Ding Dian retreated one step backwards.

Di Yun saw that the Taoist was forcing his way through slowly, gaining the advantage. He was anxious and suddenly went towards the Taoist and slammed the latter’s head hard with his iron chains. The iron chain hit the Taoist right on the top of his head, but from somewhere the Taoist managed to unleash some strength and with brute force caused Di Yun to lose his balance and fall straight and with a bang hit his head hard on the wall, and fell flat on his ***. He extended his hands to support himself back up, but in the darkness he accidentally hit a bowl, with a “ka” sound the bowl smashed and water was all over his hands. He took the broken bowl and threw the half bowl of water on the back of the Taoist’s head.

It turns out that Ding Dian’s internal energy was actually ahead of the Taoist’s, and he only wanted to test the depths of his newly mastered technique. Not knowing exactly how powerful the technique was, Ding Dian wanted to experiment with it and so used the Taoist as a test subject. The Taoist had already begun to feel a bit weak in his veins and felt a little burned out. Now after being splashed by the half bowl of water, he was taken aback, and felt his opponent’s internal rush through his entire body. Several explosion sounds were heard, his ribs, forearm, and leg bones were broken in half. He stared at Ding Dian and said: “You... you have mastered the skills of the ‘Heavenly Glow Manual’... under heaven... under heaven... this is unmatched...” He slowly reduced into a ball and died.

Di Yun felt his heart pounding frantically and said: “Brother Dian, your skills of the ‘Heavenly Glow Manual’ is actually... is actually so powerful. Is it truly unmatched under heaven?”

Ding Dian gave a dignified expression and replied: “In a one-on-one battle, it is enough to rule the Jianghu, but if the enemies attack all at once, it may not be enough to defeat them all. After the Taoist was crushed by my internal energy, he was still able to open his mouth and speak, which clearly shows that my martial arts have not yet been practiced to the peak of perfection. Within three days, there will most certainly be truly formidable opponents visiting us. Brother Di, will you offer your assistance to me?”

Di Yun thrived in exhilaration. “I will do whatever big brother says, but I... I have lost my martial arts completely. Even if not completely, I am much too weak to be of any use.”

Ding Dian gave a faint smile, and from the haystack picked up a blade that was left by the two assassins from the other day. “Cut off my beard and we will deceive them.”

Di Yun took the blade and cut off Ding Dian’s beard. The blade was quite sharp and as such even sliced a bit of skin off. Ding Dian collected the bits and pieces of his beard and held in firmly on the palms of his hands.

Di Yun laughed and said: “Won’t you miss the beard that you have so faithfully kept intact over the years?”

Ding Dian replied: “That is not the case. I want you to disguise yourself as me.”

Di Yun questioned: “Disguise as you?”

Ding Dian said: “That is correct. Within three days, our enemies will arrive. The five of them are not my match when it comes to one-against-one, but if all five of them attack at once, they will prove to be quite impressive. I want them to mistake you for me, so when they focus all their energy on attacking you, I will unexpectedly ambush them.”

Di Yun whispered: “That... that... I’m afraid... is not very honourable.”

Ding Dian laughed heartily. “Honour, honour! In the Jianghu everyone is full of trickery and deceit. Everyone will ambush and lame you in every way possible, if you treat others with honour, wouldn’t that just be seeking your own death?”

Di Yun replied: “Although this is true, but... but...”

Ding Dian said: “I ask you: when you first entered prison, you cried loudly of injustice. I trust that you are indeed innocent, yet why have you been imprisoned here for over three years, without a way to prove your innocence?”

Di Yun said: “Ah, this is difficult to understand.”

Ding Dian laughed: “Whoever was the one who set you up, is also the one who is preventing you from leaving this place.”

Di Yun said: “That I never understood. I don’t even know Wan Zhenshan’s concubine Tao Hong, so naturally I have no misunderstandings or conflicts with her, then why did she frame me and cause me to lose everything that I had, causing me so much grief?”

Ding Dian asked: “How did they set you up? Tell me about it.”

Di Yun continued shaving Ding Dian’s beard as he told the story of how he went to Jingzhou to celebrate Wan Zhenshan’s birthday, how he defeated the unrighteous Lu Tong, how he got in a fight with the eight disciples of the Wan clan, how his Shifu stabbed his martial uncle and ran away, how someone harassed Wan Zhenshan’s concubine, and how he tried to save her—he told him everything. The only thing he omitted was the part where the old beggar taught him swordplay, because he swore an oath never to tell anyone about it. Besides, he did not consider this omission to affect his story at all, as it was mostly irrelevant.

From start to finish he told the entire story, and Ding Dian’s beard was just about completely shaved off. Di Yun sighed a few times and said: “Brother Ding, the pain that I have to suffer every day, what good was it for? They insisted that my Shifu killed Uncle Wan, yet Uncle Wan only suffered minor injuries, he did not die. They imprisoned me for so many years and should have released me by now. To say they have forgotten about me is incorrect, for did the one with the surname Shen not come to visit me?”

Ding Dian moved his head to the side, looked at Di Yun in one direction and then another, and sneered.

Di Yun was puzzled, and asked: “Brother Ding, did I say something wrong?”

Ding Dian sneered: “Correct... correct, it was all correct. What is there that isn’t right? If that wasn’t how it was, then it wouldn’t be right.”

Di Yun became curious. “What do you mean?”

Ding Dian said: “Well, think about it. There was dumb kid who brought along a beautiful girl to my house. When I saw the girl I became infatuated, but the girl treats the dumb kid quite nicely. I want to claim the girl, and as such I must get rid of the dumb kid. What can I do?”

Di Yun secretly felt a hidden meaning of coldness in his tone, and casually asked: “What way is there?”

Ding Dian replied: “If I use poison or a blade to kill the dumb kid, I will have set myself up as a criminal, and that will only cause me trouble. Furthermore, the beautiful girl is most likely a well-spirited girl, and does not have a death wish. In fact, she may even seek to avenge the kid, wouldn’t that be a problem? If you ask me, I say send the dumb kid to the officials, have them lock him up, then the beautiful girl will follow me faithfully, while hating the kid. How do we do this? First, we make it look like the kid has another love interest. Second, we make the kid appear to no longer like the beautiful girl. Third, we expose the kid doing some unrighteous deeds, and the girl will most certainly be filled with hatred.”

Di Yun’s entire body shook violently. “You... everything you said, it was all the one with the surname Wan... it was all Wan Gui’s idea?”

Ding Dian smiled. “I did not see it with my own eyes, so how would I know? Your martial sister is quite pretty, is she not?”

Di Yun’s mind was at a loss, and he only nodded his head.

Ding Dian continued: “Ah, for the sake of getting on the lady’s good side, I naturally have to look busy, spending lots of silver to send to the prefecture, in hopes of coming up with a plan to set the kid free. The best case would be to have the lady come along with me to send the silver, so the lady can see everything for herself, she will naturally feel grateful. The silver sent to the official, the magistrate, and the prefect was not put to waste.”

Di Yun said: “Since he sent so much silver, wouldn’t it have some effect?”

Ding Dian said: “Naturally, money talks, how can it not have an effect?”

Di Yun said: “Then why... why did they imprison me all this time and not set me free?”

Ding Dian laughed. “What crime did you commit? The crimes they framed you for, it was only attempted rape and thievery. It wasn’t even arson or murder, then how severe can the crime be? They did not have to pierce your scapula, nor did they have to sentence you to life in prison. This was in fact the true intent behind sending so much silver. Excellent, this plan is flawless. Now the lady will live in my household, and even though the lady still thinks much of the dumb kid, can she really wait, year after year, and never get married?”

Di Yun lifted the blade, and with a long bang he smashed it on the floor. “Brother Ding, so the true reason behind not setting me free, it was the doing of Wan Gui’s silver.”

Ding Dian did not reply and looked up in deep thought. Suddenly, he creased his eyebrows and said: “There’s something wrong. This plan has a serious flaw in it, this is definitely wrong.”

Di Yun replied in anger: “What is wrong? My martial sister did end up marrying him, and if not for you, I would have committed suicide already. Is this not following the course of his plans?”

Ding Dian walked around the cell, constantly shaking his head, and said: “However there is still one glaring flaw, they were so careful in their planning, how could they not see this?”

Di Yun replied: “What is the flaw?”

Ding Dian replied: “Your Shifu. After your Shifu wounded your martial uncle, he fled. The name of ‘Five Cloud Palm’ Wan Zhenshan is known throughout Jingzhou, so the news should have spread in a matter of days that he did not die and was only wounded. Even if your Shifu no longer has any face to see his martial brother, would he not send someone to escort your martial sister back home? Once your martial sister returns home, the careful and much effortful plans of Wan Gui, would they not be foiled?”

Di Yun clapped his hands hard on his legs and said: “Right! Right!” His hands were still in shackles, when he clapped his leg, the sounds of the iron chains vibrated in the air. He saw that Ding Dian’s expression was rough, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, and then let out an expression of admiration.

Ding Dian turned his head and said softly: “Why did your Shifu not retrieve her own daughter? There must be a very good reason for it. Wan Gui and the others should have already expected this, else they would not execute this plan. The trick behind this, I have not yet figured it out.”

It was not until this day that Di Yun finally realized the truth of his imprisonment over the years. He constantly slapped himself on the head, cursing himself for being so foolish. Someone figured it out for him in a few moments, yet over three years he did not have the slightest clue.

After scolding himself for a while longer, he saw that Ding Dian was still in deep thought. “Brother Ding, you don’t have to think about it so much. My Shifu is an honest man from the countryside. Most likely he was afraid after wounding Uncle Wan, so ran off in a very far and desolate place, hence he did not receive any messages from the Jianghu. That must be it.”

Ding Dian opened his eyes widely, stared at Di Yun, his face full of curiosity, then asked: “What? Your... your Shifu is an honest man from the countryside... if he killed someone would he be so afraid that he would run away?”

Di Yun replied: “Correct, but my Shifu’s virtue and honesty was in vain, for Uncle Wan falsely accused him of stealing some sword manual from my grand Shifu. In a fit of rage, he could not resist to attack him, but really he is a good man.”

Ding Dian laughed coldly and sat at the corner of the cell, humming a small tune. Di Yun asked: “Why are you laughing?”

Ding Dian replied: “Nothing.”

Di Yun said: “There must be a reason. Brother Ding, please tell me.”

Ding Dian said: “Very well! What is your Shifu’s nickname?”

Di Yun replied: “He is called ‘Iron Lock Across the River.’

Ding Dian asked: “And what is the meaning of it?”

Di Yun hesitated for a moment before replying. “The intent behind such language, I do not really know. I assume that it is referring to his profound martial arts and strong defense; the meaning is that his opponents cannot easily get through his defense.”

Ding Dian laughed heartily. “Little brother, you yourself are virtuous and honest. But ‘Iron Lock Across the River’, means that if they want to go up they cannot go up, and if they want to go down they cannot go down. Who among the older generation of pugilists would not know the meaning of his nickname? Your Shifu is smart and variable, impressive to the max. Whoever makes him angry, he will think of nothing but revenge. His opponents become like a ship entangled in the heart of a river splashing around in all directions, they can go neither up nor down. If you don’t believe me, in the future when you leave the prison, you can research this yourself.”

Di Yun naturally did not believe him. “When my Shifu taught me swordplay, he was mistaken in his explanations. What ‘The Lonely Bird Rises from the Ocean, the Pond Does not Dare to Care’ he explained as ‘Brother Weng Shouts Up, Dare not Cross the Horizontal; what ‘The Sunset Reflects the Banner, The Horse Cries Soughing Winds’ he explained as ‘The Falling Mud Welcomes Big Sister, The Horse Blows a Little Wind.’ He is not even literate, how could he make such intelligent changes?”

Ding Dian sighed a few times and said: “Your Shifu is quite knowledgeable, how would he explain the mnemonics incorrectly? He is marked by profound shrewdness, there must be a reason behind the explanations. Why would he lie to even his very own disciple? Outsiders will not know. Hehe, if not for profound virtue and honesty, he may not have taken you in as his disciple. Let us talk about this no further. Come, let me stick this beard onto you.”

He lifted his blade and chopped off one of the arms of the dead Taoist. The Taoist had not been dead for long, so the cut caused blood to gush out everywhere. Ding Dian smudged the beard with blood and stuck it on to Di Yun’s cheeks and jaw.

Di Yun could smell the sanguinary aroma of blood and felt slightly cold. But upon thinking of Wan Gui’s evil plans, his Shifu’s nickname, and many other things that he did not understand, he realized that the safest place in the entire world, was in fact this very prison.

-------------------------

Chapter 2 end

[nisachar]

plz keep u the good work.
splendid translation!

will be waiting for next update!

thanks again.

[devilz91]

Bigger update since I've been slow, exams almost over.
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Chapter 3
Pale as Chrysanthemum

The following afternoon, in the prison entered 17 inmates all at once, tall, thin and not very old. Each one of them seemed to be a figure from the Jianghu, the prison became fully packed. Di Yun saw more and more people arrive, and became very cautious, for he did not know whether these men came for Ding Dian or not. Ding Dian had originally said that five of his rivals would show up, but now 17 had shown up.

The entire time Ding Dian stared at the walls of the cell, not paying attention to what was going on.

The prisoners were quite noisy and shouted a lot, laughed loudly, and sometimes cursed at each other. Di Yun ducked his head to try and listen to what they were saying. It turns out that these 17 people were from three different clans, talking about some valuable things. Di Yun gave a slant of his eyes to one of them, and in return they revealed great anger in their expressions, so he became scared and quickly turned his head back. He thought: “I am disguised as Brother Ding, but I have lost my martial arts completely, if I engage battle, what should I do? No matter how strong Brother Ding is, he won’t manage to kill all of these people.”

Upon seeing that the sky was getting dark, one burly prisoner spoke loudly: “Let’s make it clear first, the ones in charge here will be the ones from the Dongting Sect. If anyone is not willing to submit, you should soon look at the insignia, and not waste time, causing trouble.

There were a grand total of nine people from the Dongting Sect, hence they were the overwhelming majority. One grey haired middle-aged man spoke in a cynical voice. “To see the insignia under your hands is fine, but since all of us our here, why not take this fight outside until we come to an understanding?”

The man replied: “We will fight in the courtyard then, do you think I’m afraid?” He extended his hands and grabbed onto the iron fence, pushed to the left, and the iron fence was instantly bent out of shape. Following that he pushed on the right with his other hand, causing that fence to twist as well. His arm strength was astonishing.

The man was about to escape through the opening of the two bent fences he just made, when suddenly in front of him he saw a dazzling figure in front of him blocking the gap—it was Ding Dian. He did not speak, and with his hands grabbed the man by the chest. The man was taller than Ding Dian by half a head, but upon being grabbed, he instantly became weak and could not dodge. Ding Dian threw his enormous body out the iron fence of the cell and dragged him to the courtyard. The man huddled on the ground, and no longer made a move. He was dead.

The many people in the prison saw the odd shape of the man and became really afraid. Ding Dian casually grabbed another person and threw him out of the fence. Then again, he grabbed another and threw him out the fence. He did this continuously for a grand total of seven people who were all thrown out by him. Whoever was grabbed by him was killed instantly, without so much as making a sound.

The ten remaining in the cell were scared shitless. Among them, three were so afraid that they hid themselves in the corner of the cell. The remaining seven decided to team up on Ding Dian at once, throwing many punches and kicks to his direction. Ding Dian did not fight back nor did he dodge. All he did was extend his hands to grab—he would always be successful in grabbing someone—and whoever was grabbed by him would be killed instantly. Whether or not they felt pain before death, Di Yun could not figure that out.

The three men still hiding in the corner were so afraid that they thought were going to get a heart attack. All at once, they dropped on their knees and begged for mercy. Ding Dian did not even look at their plea, and simply threw each of them out, one at a time, and they all died. Di Yun was left speechless and his eyes stuck in extreme shock. He thought he was flurried in a dream.

Ding Dian slapped his hands against each other and sneered: “These people who don’t even qualify, dared to attempt to steal ‘A Deadly Secret!’”

Di Yun did not know what he was talking about. “Brother Ding, what ‘A Deadly Secret?’”

Ding Dian seemed to feel as if he had regretted what he just said, but he did not want to make up lies to deceive him, he only laughed coldly several times, but did not answer.

Di Yun saw that just a moment ago the 17 men were as alive as any man could be, and now it was but a few moments later, they were all dead corpses scattered all over the floor. In his whole life he had never seen so many dead people grouped together at once. He let out a deep sigh. “Brother Ding, did all these people here deserve to die?”

Ding Dian replied: “To say they all deserved to die may be an overstatement, but they all harbored evil intentions. Had I not completed the elite skills of the ‘Divine Light Sutra’, if they all attacked me at once, that could have caused a whole lot of trouble.”

Di Yun knew that what Ding Dian spoke was the truth. “You only casually grabbed each one of them and that was already enough to kill. Such magnitude of power I have never heard of. If I told my martial sister about it, she wouldn’t believe it…” As soon as he said this, he stopped talking and wanted to take back his words. He felt his heart turn sour, as if his chest was hit hard by a fist.

Ding Dian did not laugh at him, but only sighed several times, and spoke randomly to himself. “Actually, although I have completed such exceptional martial arts, not everything always goes according to plan…”

Di Yun suddenly heard a sound, he pointed his fingers at one of the dead corpses in the hall.

Ding Dian asked, “What?”

Di Yun replied: “That person is not dead yet, I saw his legs move.”

Ding Dian was taken aback by his words, and only said, “For real?” As he said these two words, his voice began to tremble.

Di Yun said: “Just now I saw him move several times.” Then he thought to himself: “Someone who is wounded but not dead yet, what’s the big deal? He can’t fight anymore anyway.”

Ding Dian creased his eyebrows, as if he was just faced with a very difficult problem. He walked out through the gap in the iron fence and observed outside. Suddenly two “chi” sounds were heard, two very miniscule hidden weapons were rapidly fired aiming for his eyes. It was fired by the man who was not dead yet. Ding Dian quickly moved backwards, and the two sleeve arrows nearly skimmed his face; his nose could smell a fishy aroma, most likely that the arrows were poisonous. After firing the sleeve arrows, the person stood up and escaped to the roof of the building.

Ding Dian saw that the man’s lightness techniques were formidable. Since he was confined by iron chains, he was not mobile enough to chase after him. Afraid that the man would get away, he quickly grabbed one of the corpses on the ground, pointed it in an upwards direction, and threw it in rapid haste. With a loud bang, the head of the corpse smashed hard onto the waist of the refugee. The man’s left leg had just landed on the roof of the building, but upon being hit by the corpse, he lost his balance and fell over. Ding Dian rushed forward several steps and grabbed the man by the neck and brought him back to the prison. He extended his hands to check for any breathing through his nose, then realized that this time the man really died.

Ding Dian sat on the ground, both hands supporting each other and began to ponder. “How come I did not manage to kill that man earlier? What is the flaw in my martial arts? Perhaps I have not fully mastered the techniques of the ‘Divine Light Sutra?’” For over half a day he pondered the reason behind his failure. Under frustration, he reached his hands out for the wound in the chest of the man he just killed. Suddenly he withdrew his finger in a tenacious and soft manner. Ding Dian felt surprised then remarked: “Yes! Yes!” He tore apart the man’s clothes, and one could see inside he was wearing a shiny black protective vest. Ding Dian exclaimed: “Yes, so that’s the reason. That nearly scared me to death.”

Di Yun asked for clarification. Ding Dian sliced up the man’s clothing and peeled off the black protective vest, then dragged the corpse out of the prison. He laughed and replied: “Brother Di, put this vest on you.”

Di Yun realized that the black vest was most likely a valuable, so said: “This is older brother’s valuable, younger brother will not be greedy for it.”

Ding Dian replied: “If it is yours, will you not crave it?”

Di Yun could sense some severity in his tone and was afraid that he would be mad if he refused. “If big brother insists, then I will wear it.”

Ding Dian spoke with a straight face. “I ask you, if it is not yours, do you want it?”

Di Yun said: “Only if the owner insists on giving it to me, otherwise I will not take it, else… else… if it doesn’t belong to me, naturally I won’t take it. If I crave so much other people’s belongings, will that not make me a thief or robber?” Di Yun said this with a proud expression, and continued: “Brother Ding, you must understand, I was framed by others, hence I was held captive in here. My whole life I am free of guilt, I have never done anything unjust.”

Ding Dian nodded his head in agreement. “Very good! Very good! My friendship with you was not made in vain. Now put this vest on you.”

Di Yun could not express any more negativism, so took off his upper garment and wore the black vest over his body, over that he continued to wear the outer garment with a foul smell that he had not washed in over three years. Both his hands were shackled by iron chains and locks, so changing clothes proved to be quite difficult. It was only with the help of Ding Dian tearing apart the sleeves of his old clothes did he manage to wear the vest. Now the black vest actually had two parts, front and back, and it had room for arms and buttons, so it was not hard to wear at all.

Ding Dian waited for him to finish putting it on before speaking: “This valuable garment is impenetrable by blades or spears, it was embroidered from dark silkworms in large snowy mountains. Look, there are two sections to this vest, a blade could not slice this apart. The front section is buckled up with the back section together. This man was an important figure in the Snowy Mountain Sect, else he would not have a ‘Dark Silkworm Vest.’ He came with the intention of stealing our treasures; little did he realize he would be giving up his own treasure!”

Upon hearing that the black vest was indeed so precious, Di Yun quickly replied: “Big Brother, you have so many enemies, you should really be the one to wear this instead. Besides, every month on the fifteenth…”

Ding Dian shook his head in disagreement and replied: “I have the protection of the Heavenly Glow, I do not need the dark silkworm vest. The torture I suffer every month on the fifteenth is what I willingly concede to, if I wear this precious vest, it will go against my intentions. It is only a bit of external pain and will not affect me internally, why make a big deal of it?”

Di Yun felt exceedingly strange, and continued to ask. Ding Dian said: “I told you to attach on the beard to pretend to be me, I will protect you from the side. only afraid for any accidents, right now is good. Now I will recite to you the neigong mnemonics, listen carefully.”

Before, when Ding Dian wanted to teach Di Yun martial arts, the latter insisted on not learning it. But upon understanding the true reason for being framed into captivity, he had a heart that longed for revenge that he could not contain. He only wished he could get out of prison instantly to settle the score with Wan Gui. He saw with his own eyes how easily Ding Dian defeated many impressive pugilists in the martial arts world with nothing but his bare hands, now thinking that if he could even learn two or three tenths of his skills, then escaping prison for revenge would not be an impossibility. All of a sudden he became terribly upset, his blood started to rush and heat up, and his face was flushed red.

Ding Dian knew that Di Yun was stubborn and would not learn neigong, he was just about to persuade him to when suddenly Di Yun dropped down on both knees and began to cry loudly on the ground, shouted: “Brother Ding, please teach me! I must get revenge! I must get revenge!”

Ding Dian gave a long burst of laughter, the echoes vibrating the walls and roof of the building. “You want revenge, how easy is that?”

After Di Yun’s anger passed, Ding Dian was going to transfer him the entry mnemonics and methods for practicing the techniques.

Upon learning these things, Di Yun wasted no time and constantly practiced it. Ding Dian saw that he was practicing really hard and laughed. “Upon completing the ‘Divine Light Sutra’, you will be unmatched under heaven. Do you really think it is so easy to complete? I had a variety of coincidences, my neigong foundation was high, and yet it still took me 12 years to complete. Brother Di, it is good to practice hard, but it is more important that you do not overwork yourself and produce counterintuitive results. You must have a sense of calmness, without feelings of distractions. Remember my words clearly.”

Although Di Yun still referred to Ding Dian as “Big Brother”, in his heart he had already treated him as “Shifu”, no matter what he says he would obey. But in his heart were raging emotions of hate surging like waves, how could he find any inner peace?”

Several days the gaoler made a big fuss about nothing, shouting loudly. The guards, constables, and forensics were bothered for half a day, not until late in the evening did they manage to carry out all 17 corpses out of the prison. Ding Dian and Di Yun only said that those people died from battling against each other, so they did not pursue further.

In the day, Di Yun followed the instructions of Ding Dian and executed the mnemonics of the technique. The “Divine Light Sutra” entry mnemonics were not of great difficulty, but to find calmness and without the slightest bit of delusion was the hard part. In anger Di Yun thought of his martial sister, thought of Wan Gui, and thought of his Shifu. He practiced until nighttime before his heart felt a little convergence, when all of a sudden, both front and back were stroke at the same time.

The two attacks were as powerful as two hammers hitting both front and back at once. Di Yun drew blank and almost fainted, until the pain became a bit slight, he cleared his eyes opened, and saw that in front of him, left and right each stood a monk. He turned his head and saw behind him three monks, making five monks in total, encircling him in the middle.

Di Yun thought: “The five enemies Ding Dian spoke of have arrived. I must remain strong and not show any signs of faltering.” Then he laughed heartily and said: “Five honorable elders, what do you seek the one called Ding for?”

The monk on the left-hand side replied: “Quickly deliver ‘A Deadly Secret’ manual over! Huh, you… you… you are…” Suddenly, a loud bang was heard from behind, he was hit strongly by a fist. He began shaking violently and almost fell over. Following that, two more monks were also each hit by a fist, let out a crying sound and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Di Yun felt very strange and could not resist looking at Ding Dian’s direction. He only saw that he attacked with a fist, and the fist was soundless and looked invisible, the attack was initiated with superb speed and attacked the chest of the third monk. The third monk let out a loud “ah”, moved back a few steps, and hit himself hard against the wall.

The other two monks looked at Di Yun following his sight, went to the huddle of the dark corner of the cell looking at Ding Dian, both shouted in astonishment. “Heavenly Glow, Invisible Divine Fists!” The two monks including the wounded monk had already escaped through the fence over the wall. The other monk carried the other monk on the waist who spat out blood, his hand returning to strike a palm on Ding Dian. Ding Dian countered with a fist of his own, the monk caught his fist and was forced to retreat a step. He caught another fist and retreated yet another step. By the third fist, he was already outside the iron fence.

The monk huffed and choked and ran a few steps, was forced to retreat another step, his entire body was shaking, it was as if he was drunk. He had no choice but to let go of the monk who spat blood on the ground, then ran for his life. But every step he crossed, his legs felt like it was dragging a piece of thousand catty enormous rock. Each of his steps were heavy; by the time he walked six or seven steps, he was so short of breath that his legs were gradually bending, and he fell on the floor, no longer able to get up. The two monks on the floor tried to struggle a few times, but could not move.

Ding Dian said: “What a pity, what a pity! Brother Di, if you had not been looking at me, then the monk would not have escaped.”

Di Yun saw that the two monks died a painful death, and deep in his heart he felt sympathetic, he secretly said: “Letting the three monks escape is not bad, Brother Ding has killed way too many people.”

Ding Dian said: “You think that I am much too ruthless, am I right?”

Di Yun replied: “I… I…” His throat felt plugged and inverted, he could not speak out.

Ding Dian quickly helped him push the blood, massaged for quite some time before the bottleneck in his chest began to relieve itself.

Ding Dian said: “You resent me for being cruel, yet the two vicious monks each hit you with a fist. Had you not been wearing the dark silkworm vest, you would not have survived. Hey, this accident was the result of big brother’s carelessness; I did not think that they would attack right away. I thought that they would first interrogate you. Ah, yes, they are extremely careful with me. They want to wound me first before interrogating me.”

He wiped off the attached beard on Di Yun’s cheek and laughed. “Those bald thieves were so scared their hearts almost beat out of their chest, they will not dare to come back again.” He continued with a straight face: “Brother Di, the tall monk who got away, his name is Bao Xiang, the fat one’s name is Shan Yong. My first strike hit the one who was the strongest, his name is Sheng Di. The five of those monks are from Tibet’s ‘Blood Sabre Sect’ and are quite formidable opponents. Had I not ambushed them in the dark, one against five, I am afraid I may not have been able to take them all at once. Shan Yong and Sheng Di have been hit by my divine fists, even if they don’t die, they will not live for more than a few days. The remaining is Bao Xiang who is vicious and cruel in nature, in the future if you encounter him in the Jianghu, you must exercise extreme caution.” After thinking a long while, he continued: “The Shifu of the five monks I just mentioned is still alive, his martial arts are extremely impressive, in the future we will have to face him.”

Even though Di Yun had worn the protective vest, but both front and back were hit simultaneously, and the damages were not minor. Only with the help of Ding Dian transferring him energy to recover every day for over a dozen days did he manage to recover.

-------------------------

The next two years passed by quite peacefully. Once in a while there came one or two foes from the Jianghu to engage in battle, but Ding Dian disposed of them quickly with either a fist or grab and they would die instantly.

In the past few months Di Yun continued to vigorously practice the Heavenly Glow, but his progress came to an imminent halt. No matter how hard he practiced, it seemed that he did not make any further progress since the last few months. Fortunately, even though his shrewdness was not high, he had high determination, and realized that such profound internal martial arts could not be learned so easily. With the help of Ding Dian coaching him from the side many days, eventually he managed to overcome his difficulties.

One afternoon he woke up, he dropped sideways, his face looking at the wall, practicing as he usually would, when suddenly he heard a “huh” sound coming from Ding Dian. There was a hint of anxiety in his voice. After half a day, he heard him utter words to himself: “Today it will not wilt, changing it tomorrow will not be too late.” Di Yun was surprised and turned his body around, only saw that Ding Dian lifted his head, was staring at the basin of flowers outside the window at the top of the cell.

Since practicing the Heavenly Glow, Di Yun’s auditory system became a lot more proficient than what it was before. With one look, he could see in the basket three yellow roses, one of which was lacking a petal. He would often see Ding Dian staring at the basket of flowers so mesmerized during the day, it had been like that for a few years. He thought that since in prison there was not much activity, but with the sight of some flowers from the window would serve as entertainment for Ding Dian, which was not very strange. But he saw that the fresh flowers in the basin were not anything remarkable have not bloomed yet, only in time will bloom, it inevitably had some residue and should be exchanged. The jasmines in the spring wind, the begonias in the autumn moon, day and night, there would always be a basket of flowers placed near the window sill of the cell. Di Yun could recall that this specific basket of yellow roses have been placed there for about six or seven days, usually it would have been exchanged by now. But this time, it had not been exchanged.

That day from day and night, Ding Dian had an irritable and restless state of mind. Until the following morning, the basket of yellow roses remained unchanged, at least five or six petals have already been blown away by the wind. Di Yun could feel deep within his heart a bad omen, and saw that Ding Dian’s expressions were very negative, and said: “That person forgot to change the flowers this time, by the afternoon that person will remember for sure.”

Ding Dian shouted loudly: “How would such a thing be forgotten? Impossible! Could it be… could it be that the person contrived a sickness? Even if it is indeed sickness, someone should still have been ordered to change the flowers!” He kept walking around the cell, his emotions could not stop surging.

Di Yun did not dare to further pursue the matter, sat down cross-legged, and continued to practice in peace.

By nightfall, the clouds were ubiquitous and dark, it was inevitably going to rain soon. After a while a cold breeze blew through, and the three yellow roses lost a bunch of petals again. In the past several hours, Ding Dian had not kept his eyes off the basket of flowers, with every petal that was blown away, his expression changed for the worst, he felt bitter and miserable, the pain even worse than having the flesh ripped right off his bones.

Di Yun could no longer resist questioning him. “Brother Ding, why are you so restless?”

Ding Dian turned his head over, his face full of anger. He yelled: “What does it concern you? Why speak up?” Ever since he taught Di Yun his martial arts, he had never treated him so rudely. Di Yun felt somewhat apologetic, and wanted to say a few words of resolution, but upon seeing that his expression was full of desolate intent, he most likely suffered some sort of mournful grief, so he did not say a word.

That night Ding Dian still did not sit down to rest. Di Yun only watched as he travelled back and forth around the cell, the shackles around his legs inevitably causing a lot of rattling noises, the former could find no way to sleep peacefully.

The next morning, there was some inclined drizzle that did not rest. In the twilight of dawn he could see the basket of flowers, he saw that the petals of the three yellow roses had all wilted—all that was left of the basket was the stems of the flowers that stood motionless against the wind and rain.

Ding Dian shouted: “Dead? Dead? Are you really dead?” With both hands he grasped hard onto the iron fence, shaking it violently.

Di Yun said: “Big Brother, if you long to see this person so much, why don’t we go take a look?”

Ding Dian roared: “Look? Can I look? If I could, I would have gone a long time ago. Do I still have to remain stuck in this stupid cell?” Di Yun did not really understand, his eyes wide open, he could only not make a noise. In the middle of the day, Ding Dian held his head with both hands and sat down without making a noise or move. He did not eat or drink.

--------------------------

His ears heard the sounds of gongs signaling the first watch of the night. In the quiet time passed quickly, soon more “dang dang” sounds were heard; it was the second watch.

Ding Dian slowly got up and said: “Brother, we will have a look.” He said this in a peaceful tone. Di Yun replied in concurrence. Ding Dian extended both his hands to grab onto the iron fence, lightly moved them in opposite directions, and the resulting force caused two rods of the iron fence to bend out of shape immediately. Ding Dian said: “Keep your iron chains in check, don’t let it emit any noise.” Di Yun complied and grabbed on to his iron chains.

Ding Dian walked near the edge of the wall and began to climb, whispering: “Jump up!” Ding Dian followed and began to scuttle his way up the wall, but in haste he forgot that his scapula was still pierced by the iron chains, and his entire body was incapable of producing any strength. With one jump, he could not manage to reach a height of more than three chi. Ding Dian extended his hands to grab onto Di Yun, and threw him on top of the wall. The two leaped downwards simultaneously.

After passing the wall, in the prison there was another extremely high wall. Ding Dian could probably get over it, but Di Yun had no way of exceeding it. Ding Dian groaned, then leaned his back against the wall. He heard some rustling sounds as some silt fell over, and the bricks too fell in small fragments. Di Yun’s vision felt obscured, and then he could only see that on the wall there appeared a huge hole, and Ding Dian was nowhere to be seen. It turns out that Ding Dian used the remarkable internal energy techniques of the Heavenly Glow to crack through the wall. Di Yun felt both astonished and pleased, as he hurriedly rushed through the hole in the wall.

Outside was an alley. Ding Dian gave a hand gesture, and from the alley walked to the dead end. Exiting the alley they arrived at the streets. It seems that Ding Dian knew the streets and alleys quite familiarly. After walking past a street and two alleys, they arrived at the entrance of a family’s iron shop.

[nisachar]

wow! that was some translation!

thanks.

[aliderhamy]

wow! that was some translation!

thanks.

yup currently one of my favorites

[devilz91]

Ding Dian raised his hands and pushed. With a loud bang, the front gate of the store collapsed instantly. The blacksmith in the store became frightened with shock. He jumped up and yelled: “There is a thief!”

Ding Dian grabbed the blacksmith by the throat and whispered: “Light the candle!”

The blacksmith did not dare to disobey, and so illuminated a lamp. He saw in front of him two men with long hair dropping down to their shoulders, their faces full of facial hair. They had the appearance of vicious men, how could he dare to move? Ding Dian declared: “Unbound us from our iron chains and shackle!”

The blacksmith figured that the two men were most likely criminals that escaped from prison. He thought that if he were to free them from their confinements, if the government officials pursue the matters further, he would most certainly be punished, so he could not help but hesitate. Ding Dian reached his hand and grabbed onto a thick strip of iron, returned, and hacked on it a few times, with a loud bang, it split into two pieces. He said: “Tell me, is your neck as hard as this?”

The blacksmith felt as if he had just seen the devil. If he wanted to break the iron strip, he should have used a chisel sledgehammer, then he would only have to stir a little while. But upon seeing that this man was strong enough to simply raise his hands and casually break the iron strips, he was certain that the man could too snap his neck in half, so it was no longer appropriate for him to stay stubborn. He repeatedly said “Yes! Yes!” and produced a steel chisel and iron hammer and helped Ding Dian open his shackles. Then, he also helped Di Yun to open his.

The first thing Ding Dian did was remove the iron chain which pierced his scapula. Then, upon pulling out the iron chain out from Di Yun’s scapula, the latter was in so much pain that he nearly fainted. Finally, Di Yun held in both hands a bloody iron chain and stood in front of the anvil. He thought of the restrictions of the iron chain that he now held in his hands; he was stuck in a dark world without justice for a hardship of over five years. Until today, the iron chain had confined his body. He could not help but feel emotions of delight and sadness at once, and in a daze, tears soon dripped from his eyes.

He followed Ding Dian out of the shop. Once his shackles were removed, his entire body felt much lighter and walking became a breeze; he was not used to this. Several times his head felt heavy and his legs felt light, causing him to nearly topple over. But he saw that Ding Dian’s movements were unflustered, in fact he was even walking faster and faster, so he could not help but rush himself to keep up, for the fear that in the darkness they may be separated.

In a short period of time, the two of them arrived at the location where the basket of flowers was placed near the window sill. Ding Dian lifted his head up and hesitated for a long while. It seemed that he wanted to enter, yet he was unwilling. Di Yun saw that the window was shut tightly, and in the building there was no noise, he suggested: “I will go in first, alright?” Ding Dian nodded in agreement.

Di Yun reached the front entrance of the small building and extended his hands to push open the door, then realized that the interior of the door was bolted shut. Thankfully, the enclosure was somewhat low, so with a willow tree branch he brought it through the wall, and with a small leap, he grabbed onto the branch, and turned over his body and entered the enclosure. Inside, there was a small door that was actually unlatched. Di Yun pushed open the door and proceeded to the second floor. In the darkness he could only hear the creaking sounds emitted from his flight up the stairs, his feet felt as if they were floating, giving a feeling of eerie discomfort. In the past five years or more, day and night he could only walk in his prison cell, never once did he walk up a stair.

Soon, he reached the top of the stairs. He remained silent and listened carefully, but there were no sounds to be heard. In the dim glimmer he could see on his left hand side a door, so he decided to walk that way. Inside the room he could not even hear any breathing sounds, he faintly saw on the table there was a candle. He extended his hands to the table and could feel a knife and flint, so he ignited a fire and illuminated the candle. Under the bright light, there was suddenly an indescribable sense of loneliness and misery.

In the room it was completely empty, with the exception of a table, a chair, and a bed, there was nothing else. On the bed hung a grass cloth white curtain, a thin quilt, and a cloth pillow. At the bottom of the bed there placed a green pair of female shoes. It was only a pair of female shoes, so whoever lived here was likely a female.

He felt expressionless for a moment, then headed to the second room. This one did not even have a table or chair. It was just like the other room, either the furniture was recently moved, or throughout all these years it had remained empty the whole time. He went downstairs and searched each and every room in the house, but not a single person was to be found.

He felt something was wrong, and reported his findings to Ding Dian. The latter said: “You found nothing?” Di Yun nodded his head. It seemed that Ding Dian had already anticipated this ahead of time, so he did not feel the least bit surprised. Instead he suggested that they search in a different place.

The other location was that of where a mansion was situated. The door was vermilion and on top of the door, on the exterior hung two big lanterns pinned by a large copper nail, one inscribed “Jingzhou Government Office Hall”, the other inscribed “Ling Mansion.” Di Yun was taken aback. “This is the government office of Jingzhou’s magistrate. Brother Ding, what did you come here for? Do you wish to kill him?”

Ding Dian grasped him by the hand, and without saying a word entered by jumping over the wall. He was somewhat familiar with the surroundings of the prefecture, he passed through the porch and over a building, just as if he was walking around his own residence. After passing through two corridors, he arrived outside the door of the reception room. He saw that brightness from inside the room penetrated the paper of the window. Ding Dian suddenly trembled violently, then said: “Brother Di, go have a look inside.”

Di Yun extended his hands to push open the reception door. He saw a dazzling candle light, on the table illuminated two white candles. It was actually a funeral hall. All this time he was worried that he would see a funeral hall, coffin, or dead body, now he actually saw it. He had already anticipated this, but still he could not resist to shiver, when he focused his attention on the soul board, he saw that it was inscribed the eight words “resting place of loved daughter Ling Shuanghua”, when suddenly felt a huge gust of wind blowing from behind as Ding Dian rushed in.

Ding Dian stood expressionless for a moment, threw himself on the table, and let out a loud cry of grief. “Shuanghua, you really did go before me.”

In a split second, many thoughts came to Di Yun’s mind all at once. His Brother Ding was an eccentric person but during the time he was crying on the table, he finally understood the situation fully. But upon further contemplation, there were still many things that were difficult to explain.

Ding Dian disregarded the fact that he was a serious felon who broke out of prison, he did not care that he was currently at the residence of the magistrate, he only cried his heart out in sadness. Di Yun knew that there was nothing he could do to better the situation, so only let things take their course.

After crying for a while, Ding Dian slowly stood up straight, extended his hands to uncover the curtains. Behind the curtains was actually a coffin. With both hands he hugged onto the coffin tightly, his face fit snugly on the lid. He sobbed and sniffled: “Shuanghua, Shuanghua, why do you have to be so cruel? Before you went, why didn’t you tell me to see you one last time?”

Suddenly, Di Yun heard the sounds of light approaching footsteps, from outside he could sense that a few people were approaching and quickly said: “Big Brother, someone is coming.”

Ding Dian kissed the coffin passionately and ignored any signs of people approaching.

Soon he saw the brightness of fire; two men were holding highly a lit torch and entered the room. One said: “Who is making such a ruckus?” The two were middle-aged men about 45 or 46, dressed in luxurious clothes, with an essence of heroism in their face. He gave a glance at Ding Dian and asked: “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Di Yun’s heart became filled with rage, and he countered: “And who are you? What are you doing here?”

The man holding the torch reprimanded: “Little thief, this man is the magistrate of Jingzhou. You have some nerve to come here in the middle of the night, are you trying to start a rebellion? Kneel before him!” Di Yun laughed grimly and did not make a move.

Ding Dian wiped his tears and asked: “When did Shuanghua pass away? What disease did she contract?” His voice was completely at peace.

The magistrate gave a glance at the speaker and replied: “Oh, I know who it is, it is Hero Ding. My daughter unfortunately passed away, thank you for your condolences and expressions of sympathy. My daughter has already passed away for five days, the physicians could not identify the cause of death and could only say it was an accumulation of sadness and difficulties.”

Ding Dian angrily said: “So now your desires have been fulfilled.”

The magistrate sighed and replied: “Brother Ding, you are indeed very stubborn. If you had spoke out much earlier, my daughter would not have died because of you, and we would take the relationship of son and father-in-law, wouldn’t that be so great?”

Ding Dian said loudly: “You claim that I caused Shuanghua’s death? You’re telling me it wasn’t you who caused her death?” As he said this, he moved forward one step towards the magistrate, his eyes full of cruel and vicious intent.

The magistrate remained completely calm and shook his head. “It has already happened, why speak of it further? Shuanghua, Shuanghua, under the nine springs, you probably fault your father for not forgiving you.” He slowly approached the soul board, with his left hand he supported against the table, with his right hand he wiped his tears.

Ding Dian densely replied: “Suppose that I kill you today, then in heaven Shuanghua will most certainly feel hatred to me. Ling Tuisi, out of respect for your daughter, the torture you gave me for the past seven years, today will be written off with one stroke. From now onwards if you harass me any further, don’t fault the one with the surname Ding for being heartless. Brother Di, let’s go.”

The magistrate gave a long sigh and replied: “Hero Ding, today we have come to such a conclusion, tell me what good does it bring?”

Ding Dian replied: “In the clear of the night, console your heart and ask yourself if you feel a little ashamed? You only seek ‘A Deadly Secret’, and as a result caused the death of your beloved daughter.”

The magistrate said: “Hero Ding, don’t leave in a hurry. You are better off reciting the secrets of the sword manual, and I will grant you the antidote, else you may perish.”

Ding Dian was shocked. “What antidote?” At this time, he suddenly felt his cheeks, lips, and palms become numb, and at the same time he could smell a dull fragrance of flowers, such fragrance of flowers, such fragrance of flowers… he felt alarmed and furious, his body began to shake violently.

The magistrate said: “I was afraid there would be an unworthy fellow that would disturb my daughter, so…”

Ding Dian then had a moment of realization and shouted in anger: “You smeared poison on the coffin? Ling Tuisi, you are very malicious!” He got up and tried to attack with a fist, but he did not expect that the poison was indeed so powerful, at that moment his entire body felt weak and his bones felt crushed, he could not execute any techniques of the Heavenly Glow.

The magistrate Ling Tuisi moved his body and dodged, his agility was somewhat nimble. From outside entered four men wielding swords and blades, all aiming for Ding Dian at once. Ding Dian raised his left leg and kicked the wrist of the man on the left. Usually this kick would be extremely remarkable, and the blade on the person’s hand should be kicked out, but during the kick, he felt that his entire body was weak and could not release any strength, he suddenly became stagnant. It turns out that the toxicity got to his legs. The man turned over the back of his blade and with a bang hit Ding Dian hard on the upper part of his leg. Ding Dian’s bone felt shattered as he fell on the ground.

[nisachar]

Ding Dian is going bye bye!

thnx for the update!

[devilz91]

Di Yun was alarmed. He was frightened and did not have any time for contemplation. He decided to jump at Ling Tuisi, thinking that he could possibly hold him as a hostage in order to save Ding Dian. But he did not expect that Ling Tuisi unleashed an attack with his left palm, and with a loud cry hit him hard on the chest. The technique and strength of this palm was quite impressive. Di Yun had long pushed aside any considerations for the value of his own life, and without hesitation he continued his assault. It was quite obvious that the palm of Ling Tuisi had directly stroke Di Yun in the chest, yet the latter disregarded it. He did not know that the latter actually wore underneath the valuable dark silkworm vest that protected his body. Even though his martial arts were formidable, he was startled, and Di Yun with his left hand grabbed the “Shanzhong Acupoint” on his chest.

With one strike Di Yun managed to succeed, he quickly approached Ding Dian and carried the latter on his back, with his left hand he continued to hold Ling Tuisi by his acupoint. The four armed men were in a scruple, uttered profanity, but did not dare to make any careless moves. Ding Dian demanded: “Throw the torch away and blow out the candle.” The man holding the torch did not dare to object, and in an instant the funeral hall turned pitch black.

With his left hand, Di Yun grabbed Ling Tuisi by the chest, and with his right hand he helped support Ding Dian, and they quickly backed away. Ding Dian gave directions, and not before long they arrived beside the door of the garden. Di Yun kicked open the door, and with force emanated a hard punch on Ling Tuisi’s Shanzhong Acupoint, then grabbed Ding Dian and ran away. In the darkness they urgently rushed out of the scene.

Di Yun had already studied the Heavenly Glow Sutra for two years, even though it may not be said that he had any significant accomplishment, his internal energy was not superficial. When he hit Ling Tuisi with a fist he was anxious and in a haste, he actually released quite a lot of force, and it hit his opponent exactly on a crucial acupoint on his chest. After Ling Tuisi was hit by the fist, he uttered a melancholic groan and fainted. His bodyguards were startled and could only think about rescuing their master, and disregarded chasing Di Yun and his comrade.

Ding Dian felt his arms and legs becoming more and more numb, yet he was still fully conscious. He was quite familiar with the surroundings of Jiangliang county in Jingzhou, so he gave directions to Di Yun turning left and turning right. Not before long they were distant from the noisiness of the city, and soon arrived at an abandoned garden. Ding Dian said: “The Ling Prefecture will most certainly give an order to block the city gate so as to increase vigilance and interrogation. My poison has become quite significant so I can’t leave the city. This abandoned garden has often said to contain ghosts, so no one will dare to come. We will take refuge here first and discuss later.”

Di Yun helped escort him under a plum tree and said: “Brother Ding, what poison have you contracted? Is it curable?”

Ding Dian sighed a few times and laughed bitterly. “It’s no good. I contracted the acute poison of the ‘Golden Ripple Flower’ under heaven there is no antidote. However long I can endure I will endure.”

Di Yun was taken aback, his entire body appeared to degenerate into a cold system. He trembled: “What? Are... are you joking?” Deep in his heart he knew that Ding Dian was not joking.

Ding Dian said: “The toxicity of the ‘Golden Ripple Flower’ of Ling Tuisi is extremely terrible. Hehe, in the past I only sniffed it a few times, and I passed out instantly. This time it has entered my flesh, how do I have any chance?”

Di Yun replied: “Brother Ding, don’t... don’t be sad. Stay strong... alas... when it comes to relationships, I... I am the same, there is no method to that... you should think of a way to cure your poison first... I will fetch some water for you to cleanse.” In his heart he spoke in haste, so what he regurgitated was rather nonsensical.

Ding Dian shook his head. “It’s no use. Should the poison of the ‘Golden Ripple Flower’ be washed, my flesh will instantly swell and necrose, I will die an even more painful death. Brother Di, I have many things I want to say to you, don’t be rushed and muddled. If you become disorderly, I may leave out by mistake any important things I need to say. There’s not much time left, I must speak, allow me to sit here in peace, and don’t interrupt my speech.”

Di Yun could only sit by his side, but in his heart how could he find any peace or quiet?

Ding Dian spoke smoothly, as if he was speaking as a third person, a person who was completely irrelevant to him.

“I am a citizen of Jingmen, I come from a family of martial artists. My father could be considered reputable in Lianghu, my potential for martial arts was also decent. Besides learning from family traditions, I also have two Shifus. Afterwards, my parents passed away, and I was left with a decent fortune. I did not want to speak of marriage and only focused on my martial arts, and made some friends in the Jianghu.

“This was 15 years ago, I traveled by ship to Sichuan province, passed the three gorges of Yangtze, and the ship anchored at the town of San Dou Ping. That night, I heard fighting sounds on the ship. My whole life I loved martial arts, so naturally I was curious, so peeped through a window. That night the moonlight was bright, and I could see very clearly three people besieging an elder. The three men were considered well-known figures in the martial arts world of Lianghu, so I could recognize them. One was ‘Five Cloud Palm’ Wan Zhenshan. (Di Yun interrupted: “Ah, it is my martial uncle!”) The other was ‘Divine Land Dragon’ Yan Daping. (Di Yun said: “Yes, this is my second martial uncle, although I have never seen him before.”) The third one wielded a long sword, his skills were vigorous and nimble, it was ‘Iron Lock Across the River’ Qi Zhangfa. (Di Yun was startled and called out: “It’s my Shifu!”)

“Wan Zhenshan and I once had the fate of several encounters, so I knew that his martial arts were not to be taken lightly. At that time I was vastly inferior to him, I saw the three martial brothers join forces to attack the enemy, it may be assumed that they certainly had good odds of success. The elder had already sustained an injury on his back, and was shedding blood repeatedly. Furthermore, he was unarmed and only fought against the three of them with his bare hands, but his martial arts were much superior to Wan Zhenshan and the others, so the three of them did not dare to draw near. The more I observed the more I felt indignant, but I saw that every move unleashed by Wan Zhenshan and the others were filled with murderous intent, it was evident that they wanted to kill the elder. I did not dare to speak out, fearing that they would notice me, then disaster would impede upon me. In the Jianghu, when animosity and murder were seen by onlookers, it was often the case that they too would be killed.

“After fighting for half a day, the back of the elder shed more and more blood, he actually could not continue battle any further, and suddenly declared: ‘Very well, I will hand it over to you!’ He extended his hands to fish out an object from his bosom. Wan Zhenshan and the others all rushed forward at once, seemingly afraid that any other person would vie for the object first. All of a sudden, the elder pushed both palms forward. The three martial brothers were extorted by the elder’s palm energy, and they all retreated at once. The elder turned around and rushed, and with a splashing sound he jumped into the lake. The three men shouted in alarm and hurried to the river bank.

“The Yangtze River pours down from the three gorges, how rapid was the current of the river in San Dou Ping? In merely a flash, the elder was nowhere to be seen. But your Shifu refused to reconcile, jumped on my boat, seized the bamboo paddle, and in a burst scattered around the river. The three men caused the death of the elder, they should have been delighted, but the complexions of the three men were dreadful. I did not dare to look too much, and covered my head in the quilt. I could hear the faint sounds of their bickering; they seemed to fault each other.

“I heard as they walked very far away before I dared to come out of hiding, when suddenly above the trees a loud cracking sound, the helmsman yelled: “Ah! There are water ghosts!” I turned my head to look, and all I could see was a person drenched in water lying on the floor of the plank, it was in fact the elder. It turns out that after he jumped into the river, he swam beneath the ship, then used a strong eagle claw attack to hook on to the bottom of the ship, focused on his breathing, and waited until his enemies left before he resurfaced. I quickly helped him inside the ship, I saw that his breathing was faint and he could not speak.

“I thought that if Wan Zhenshan and the others did not drop the matter, they would most certainly go underwater to look for the corpse of the elder. But I had a sense of justice and wanted to save his life, I ordered the boatman to steer upstream against the three gorges. Naturally, the boatman was unwilling, and in the middle of the night another laborer was nowhere to be seen, else how hard could it be to travel up the three gorges? But nevertheless, money will make the Devil turn millstones.

“I happened to carry some pain relief medicine, so I helped the elder treat his injury. But the wound on his back was caused by a very deep stab of the sword, it even pierced his lungs, hence the injury could not be recovered. I could only try my best and did not ask him anything. I saw with my very own eyes how he leaped into the river and dove beneath the ship. Such courage and martial arts, is worthy of me risking my life for him.

“After three days of treatment, the elder asked for my surname, gave a bitter laugh and said: ‘Very good, very good!’ and from his bosom produced a paper bag and handed it to me. I said: ‘Where are the relatives of elder? I will certainly bring you to them without neglect.’ The elder replied: ‘Do you know who I am?’ I replied: ‘I don’t know.’ He said: ‘I am Mei Niansheng.’

“Naturally, my state of shock was no small matter, why? Don’t you feel odd? Do you know who Mei Niansheng is? He is ‘Iron Bone Ink Calyx’ Mei Niansheng. Do you really not know? (Di Yun shook his head and said: ‘I have never heard of this name.’) Hehe, right, naturally your Shifu would not speak of such matters with you. ‘Iron Bone Ink Calyx’ Mei Niansheng was a renowned pugilist in the martial arts world of Hunan, he had three disciples: the eldest disciple was named Wan Zhenshan, the second was named Yan Daping, the third was named... (Di Yun interrupted in shock: “Ding... Brother Ding... what... what did you say?”) The third disciple was named Qi Zhangfa. When I heard him declare that he was Mei Niansheng, that amount of shock, was no less than how shocked you are at this instant. With my very own eyes I saw the intense battle during the night of the bright moon, I saw the vicious antics of Wan Zhenshan and his martial brothers, I felt even more horrified than you.

“Elder Mei gave a bitter laugh, shook his head and said: ‘My three disciples are the most ferocious, they stabbed me while I was caught off guard, your elder I had no choice but to jump into the river to flee.’ (Di Yun trembled: “What? Did my Shifu really strike first?”) I don’t know what to say to comfort him, in my mind I thought that there must be a very strong reason why the four of them became enemies. But I am an outsider, even though I was curious, it was not my place to ask. Elder Mei continued: ‘My only relatives in this world are my three disciples. They wanted to take one of my swordplay manuals, but they did not have the mnemonics to go with it, what good is it then? Even though Liancheng Swordplay was miraculous, how could it compare to the Heavenly Glow? This Heavenly Glow Sutra, I will give it to you, may you practice it well. If this sutra were to be completed, the power is unthinkable. Do not pass it to any evildoer.’ That is how I got my Heavenly Glow Sutra.

“After Elder Mei spoke these words, he passed away no longer than four hours later. Amidst the three gorges I buried his body in the river. At that time I did not realize that ‘A Deadly Secret’ was of such great significance, I only knew that it was a greatly sought for sword manual in his clan, hence I did not consider to keep anything hidden, and in front of Elder Mei’s tomb I established a stone tablet and marked the words ‘The tomb of the hero of Lianghu, Elder Mei.’ Who would have thought that that stone tablet would have caused me so much trouble in the future. Someone had tracked down through the clues of the stone tablet the stone craftsman, the boatman, and eventually figured out that since I was the one who established the tablet and buried Elder Mei, most likely I would have taken all of Elder Mei’s valuables that he carried.

“After no more than three months, a grand visitor from the Jianghu arrived at my residence. That person had considerable manners, but he mumbled and was not to the point, eventually he revealed his true intentions, he said that there was a large map of a treasure deposit that Elder Mei kept with him, and declared that I was the one who took it, and asked me to take it out so we could both analyze it in detail. If we successfully find the treasures, I would get seven-tenths of it, while he would get three-tenths.

“Elder Mei only gave me a precious neigong sutra, he also recited several sword mnemonics, he called it something like ‘A Deadly Secret’, but it was only several words with no other meaning, from where could there be a treasure map? I told him everything truthfully, but the man refused to believe me, and insisted that I hand over the martial arts manual. Elder Mei warned me repeatedly not to transfer it to any evildoers, so naturally I did not tell him anything, and the man left in haste. Within three days, in the middle of the night he ventured into my residence and did battle with me. I wounded him in the shoulder and he could only retreat to avoid defeat.

“Soon the word spread, and more and more people came to me. I could not handle so many of them, and eventually, even Wan Zhenshan came. I remained at the Jing prefecture and did not dare to go out, eventually I could only walk away and conceal my identity and ran as far away as I could, until I reached a ranch outside the pass and began working a business trading beasts. And with that five or six years passed, I could no longer hear any news, in my heart I deeply wished to return to my family, so I changed my attire and returned to the Jing prefecture. Who would have guessed that the house had long been burned to the earth, luckily I did not have any close relatives, so this actually turned out to be a complete stop.”

Di Yun’s mind was perplexed, he wanted to not believe it, but Brother Ding had never told a lie to him before. Furthermore, he was as close friends with him as blood brothers, what need is there to fabricate a lie to deceive himself? Was it possible that the honest and sincere Shifu that he respected so greatly, was in fact a sinister and malicious fellow?

He saw Ding Dian’s face began to tremble violently, it seems that the toxicity is spreading. Di Yun said: “Brother Ding, my relationship with my Shifu and Grand Shifu, there is no hurry to investigate. You... should think carefully, what can liberate you from your poison?”

Ding Dian shook his head and replied: “I told you not to interrupt, now listen closely.

[loch2]

plots really starting to pick up

[rati4u]

I want moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[devilz91]

“Those events took place over nine years ago. On the first third of the ninth month, I reached Hankou and sold an old ginseng that I had brought from outside the pass to the drug store. The owner of the drug store was an elegant man, after we completed our business, he invited me to observe the famous Chrysanthemum Association in Hankou. This Chrysanthemum Association had an impressive breed of flowers indeed. The yellow chrysanthemums included golden Chinese peonies, yellow crane plums, yellow imperial gowns, golden peacocks, golden lamps, and yellow warbler feathers. The white chrysanthemums included jade peonies, jade carvings, jade fine jewelleries, snow regiments, Diao Chan’s respects to the moon, and liquid lotuses. The purple chrysanthemums included double flying swallows, red silks, purple jade lotuses, amethyst cups, and cornelian plates. The red chrysanthemums included red beauties, red oceans, drunk consorts, rouge fragrances, lychee brocades, red apex cranes, diluted red Buddhist humbles, red powder regiments, peach blossom chrysanthemums, Xi Shi powders, beautiful red peaches, jade springs...”

He casually cited every type of chrysanthemum variety, it seemed that he understood flowers even more profoundly than he did martial arts. Di Yun felt surprised and strange, then he recalled that Ding Dian was a flower lover, thus the fresh flowers of Lady Mei outside the window sill of the prison never stopped changing. So knowing such a huge variety of chrysanthemum flowers was not anything out of the ordinary.

As Ding Dian talked about the names of flowers, from the corner of his mouth one could make out faint smiles. His expression was gentle, and he spoke softly: “On one side I observed, on the other side I praised, and recited the various names of the chrysanthemums present. After I thoroughly observed all the flowers and left the garden, I said: ‘This chrysanthemum association is truly remarkable, unfortunately there were no green chrysanthemums.’

“Suddenly from behind me I heard the sound of a young lady. ‘Lady, this man too realizes the existence of green chrysanthemums. The ‘Spring Water Jade Ripples’ and ‘Jasper Wishes’, how could normal people have access to these prestigious flowers?’

“I turned my head and saw a young woman of otherworldly delicacy, she wore a tender yellow garment, it was truly a case of being as pale as chrysanthemum. In my whole life, I have never seen such an elegant and exquisite lady. Following her was a servant girl around 14 or 15 years old. When the lady saw me stare at her with such attraction, her face instantly blushed red, and spoke in a low voice: “Sorry mister, please don’t fault us, my servant girl only spoke out casually.’ At that moment I was too mesmerized to muster up any reply.

“I watched as she slowly left the garden, but I could not bring myself to speak up. The owner of the drug store said: 'That is the lady of the Ling academics from Wuchang, she is indeed a famous beauty of Wuhan. The flowers and plants in her residence are truly remarkable.’

“After I left the garden and departed with the owner of the drug store, I returned to the inn. Besides being clouded by thoughts of Lady Ling, nothing else was on my mind at that moment. By the afternoon, I crossed the river to Wuchang, asked for directions, and made my way to the Ling Prefecture. But supposing that I simply go in to pay a visit, that would seem much too bold. I started to stroll back and forth outside the front door, my mind was a complete mess, I felt happy yet nervous, and I began to scold myself. At that time I was not considered a young man, yet I was no different than a little child falling in love for the first time, I turned into a clueless housefly.”

As he said this, his face turned to a light complexion, his eyes turned bright and he seemed to be excited.

Di Yun felt afraid, he was worried that Ding Dian would not be able to endure, and said: “Brother Ding, you should have a good rest for now. I will seek a physician to diagnose you, it may not be certain that this poison is incurable.” As he said this he stood up.

Ding Dian grabbed him by the sleeve and said: “If we go out searching for a physician looking like this, isn’t that just seeking our own death?” He paused for a moment and continued to speak. “Brother Di, that day when you heard that your martial sister was getting married, you were so sad that you decided to hang yourself. Your martial sister shows no love or respect for you, it is not worth dying for her.”

Di Yun nodded. “Correct, over the years, I have also realized that.”

Ding Dian said: “Suppose that your martial sister loves you deeply, and ended up dying for you, then, you should too die for her.”

Di Yun suddenly saw the truth and said: “Did Lady Ling die for you?”

Ding Dian replied: “Correct, she died for me, and at this moment I wish to die for her. I... I feel happy inside. She loves me tenderly, I... I also treated her well. Brother Di, not to mention the fact that my poison is incurable, even if it was curable, I do not wish to be treated.”

All of a sudden, Di Yun felt a feeling of bitter sadness that was hard to describe. At that point he felt pain knowing that his companion would soon pass away, but deep in his heart he actually admired his happiness, because somewhere in this world once existed a woman who loved him sincerely and was willing to die for him, and he was willing to reciprocate this action. What about Di Yun himself? What about Di Yun?

Ding Dian once again immersed himself in his memories and continued: “The front door of the Ling Prefecture was colored vermilion, and in front stood two majestic stone lions. I am a man from the Jianghu, how could I just venture inside? I stood guard outside for over six hours until nightfall, I don’t even know what I was hoping for.

“The sky was getting dark, yet I did not think about leaving. All of a sudden, from the small side door out came a young lady. She slowly approached me and spoke softly: ‘Fool, you are still here? My Lady requests that you leave.’ I looked closely and recalled that this was the servant girl of Lady Ling. My heart was bouncing all over my chest, and stammered a reply: ‘What... what did you say?’

“She laughed and replied: ‘My Lady and I made a bet on when you would leave. I already won two silver rings, won’t you leave?’ I was startled and happy and replied: ‘Your Lady already knew that I was here?’ The servant girl laughed again: ‘I have already come out several times, but you never saw me once. Your soul wasn’t even in your body, am I right?’ She laughed again, turned around and began to walk away. I quickly said: ‘Sister!’ She said: ‘What? What do you want?’ I replied: ‘From what I heard, inside the prefecture there are several basins of rare green chrysanthemum, I want to take a look, would that be alright?’ She nodded her head, and pointed her finger at a red building near the garden behind the prefecture, and said: ‘I will ask my Lady, if she agrees, then she will place the green chrysanthemums on top of the window sill of the red building.’

“That night, I sat on the slate outside Ling Prefecture. On the morning of the second day, Brother Di, I was blessed with good fortune, for two basins of pale green chrysanthemums really did appear on top of the window sill. I knew that one pot was called ‘Spring Water Jade Ripple’, while the other was called ‘Jasper Wishes’, but the only thing on my mind at the time was the person who put the flowers there. At that moment, I could see the most beautiful face stealthily half-exposed behind the curtains. She gave me a glance, then all of a sudden her face flushed red and she hid herself behind the curtains and did not reappear.

“Brother Di, your brother I am grotesque in appearance, I am neither rich nor noble, I am nothing more than an uncultivated man from the Jianghu, how could I dare to hope for any beautiful woman to appreciate me? From that day onward, every morning I would go to the garden of the Ling Prefecture and stare at the Lady’s window for half a day. Lady Ling seems to remember me, because every day she would change a new basin of flowers and put it on the window sill.

“That was how six months passed. Regardless of wind or rain, frost or snow, I would go every morning to admire the flowers. Lady Ling too reciprocated and changed the flowers regardless of the weather. Every day she would only give me only one glance and never a second. And every time she looked at me, her face would blush bright red. As long as I could see her fluid glance and her rosy red cheeks, I was perfectly satisfied. She never spoke to me, nor did I dare to speak out. The truth was with my martial arts abilities I could have easily leaped to the window and approached her directly, but I did not once dare to have any irreverent ideas. Even more, I did not dare to write a letter to her to express my sincerity.

“On the night of the fifth of the third month of that year, two monks visited my residence and suddenly attacked me. They received relevant information and wanted to steal my Heavenly Glow and sword manual. They were two of five monks from the ‘Blood Sabre Sect’, one of which I took care of in prison, which you saw with your very own eyes. However at that point in time I had not mastered the Heavenly Glow, hence my martial arts were not comparable to theirs. As a result I was wounded greatly by the two fearsome monks and nearly lost my life. I hid in a barn fodder and managed to get away.

“That wound was indeed not minor, for it took me a full three months to even generate enough strength to get up. I got out of bed with the support of crutches, and made my way to the garden of the Ling Prefecture, but I saw that all the scenery was gone. I inquired and found out that three months ago that the Lings had moved. To where they settled, I did not know.

“Brother Ding, think about it: my disappointment then was much greater than the injuries I sustained right now. I felt something strange, for I knew that the magistrate Ling was a renowned figure in Wuchang—if he really moved, there was no way that nobody would know where. I inquired and investigated thoroughly from the east to the west, spent a lot of money and energy, yet I still did not have the slightest clue. There was definitely something fishy about it. Clearly, the magistrate Ling was hiding from his enemies, perhaps there was a special reason that they would so suddenly migrate without a trace. The coincidence was that they moved at the same time as I sustained injuries.

“From that point onward no matter what I did I could not set my mind on it, and I wandered around the depths of the Jianghu. Thankfully, I Ding Dian was blessed with good fortune, for one day in a teahouse at Changsha, I overheard two clan members’ discussion. They were talking about heading over to Jingzhou to seek Wan Zhenshan to ask him to hand over the ‘Liancheng Swordplay.’ I thought that on that day Wan Zhenshan and his martial brothers wanted to murder their Shifu for this very sword manual. In regards to what the manual looked like, there was no harm in looking, hence I followed the two men to Jiangling. The two clan members really overestimated their capabilities. They headed to the Wan residence and were all captured and sent to the government office in Jingzhou. I decided to follow to join the crowd, I saw in front of the office was taped a big notice, it was truly a joy from heaven. It turns out that the magistrate was not a stranger, but in fact Lady Ling’s father, Ling Tuisi.

“That night, I secretly held on my hands a basin of roses, placed it on the window sill of Lady Ling’s residence and waited patiently below. The following morning, the lady opened her window and saw the basin of flowers. She cried out in alarm, then saw me standing outside. We hadn’t seen each other in well over a year, and thought that we would not be fortunate enough to see each other ever again. To meet again after such a long period of separation, the joy I felt was truly indescribable. She looked towards my direction for a moment and her face blushed red, then she swiftly shut the window. On the third day, she finally spoke out and asked: ‘Have you fallen ill? You grew a lot thinner.’

“From that point onward, I no longer felt human, I felt like a celestial being from heaven. In fact, even a celestial being would surely not be as happy as I. Every day in the middle of the night, I would head upstairs and invite Lady Ling outside, and together we travelled around the landmarks of Jiangling. Never once did we do anything inappropriate, but there was nothing that we did not talk about. We were more close than the most intimate of friends under heaven.

[efflix]

Thanks devilz91, am enjoying this story!

[nisachar]

yay! more update!

thanx