Part I: Book of Sword
Chapter 10
Teacher and Student
Characters list (not in particular order):
Zhang Tin .............. Eddie Cheng Siu Fai
Wang Shan .............. Wong Wai
Tian Fei ............... Adam Cheng Siu Chow
Sword God .............. Bau Fong
Zhang Tin was having the same nightmare again. For the past three nights, he had dreamed that Ah Mei was calling for him from the World of Death. Since the night that he had killed her, he had been unable to close his eyes without seeing her face follow him everywhere with hurt and disappointment. He had wakened many times during those nights, sweating with fear of her ghost. Consequently, he had hardly got enough sleep. To make the matter worse, he had been obliged to follow his master in helter-skelter with barely any rest during daytime. This physical exhaustion coupled with his ax wound, which had become very serious by this time, finally took toll on him. He was now confined in bed with high fever. There at a remote inn, he had tossed and turned for three days and three nights, sometimes calling for his dear wife and sometimes cursing her for causing him nightmares.
Evil Sword Wang Shan also had a trouble of his own. Back at Di An’s house, he was aware of Sword God Ding Wan’s approaching by a sign – a call of an eagle. Afraid to face his former teacher, he had left in a rush. From then on, he had been traveling with haste, anxious to put distance between them as much as possible. For that reason, he was further agitated when his third disciple fell sick and was in no condition to continue the journey. Without a second thought, he wrote a note and gave it to the inn owner with plenty of money and some instructions and was gone in a flash.
In the third afternoon, when Zhang Tin came around, he was given the note from Wang Shan bidding him to be on the road with no delay. After reading the note, he ripped it into shreds. He was furious at his master for forsaking him in his illness, yet didn’t dare to disobey the order. Feeling depressed, frustrated, and lonely, he ordered a big calabash of wine and drank it up in no time. The wine made him brave, and before long, he started calling his master with rude names. Feeling a lot better now, he kept ordering more and more wine and went on drinking all afternoon. The more drunk he was, the more rampant he became. Aside from swearing at Wang Shan, he took to challenge all ghosts of his past victims. At long last, the innkeeper, white-faced and trembling with fear, informed him with shaky voice that there was no more wine left. Upon hearing that, Zhang Tin snatched the inn owner’s neck and threw him clear across the room. The innkeeper was flung through balcony and down to the ground floor; he died instantly. His wife, who had been cooking in a kitchen, ran out at the sound of crashing and was in time to witness his death. Enraged, she went back to the kitchen and emerged with a sharp meat-cutting knife. Intending to revenge for her husband, she ran up the stairs to the second floor where Zhang Tin was hurling tables and chairs about. But before she could even reach him, she was knocked out cold by the flying furniture; her senseless body rolled downstairs and landed heavily at the foot of the steps.
In the kitchen, a frying pan full of cooking oil on the stove was burning. The oil boiled up and spilled out into the stovefire. The room was caught in blaze immediately. Due to a large storage of hay nearby together with a night being windy, the whole place was soon covered in flames.
All the while, Zhang Tin was laughing madly from the effect of alcohol. When he smelled the fire, he swiftly jumped down from the balcony right to the inn’s front door and was about to leave the place when he felt something was biting hard at his left ankle. He looked down and discovered that ‘something’ was a girl of six years old, who was wrapping herself around his feet – not letting go. This girl was a daughter of the deceased inn owner. She was fetching some wood for her mother when she came in the inn and beheld the whole incident. So, when she saw that the culprit was about to run away from his crime scene, she did the first thing that came to her mind to stop the murderer without thinking of her life.
Annoyed, Zhang Tin yanked the child up and tossed her away when he heard a familiar voice from outside. “Xun Ci Shi Tai, an inn ahead is on fire. There might be people trapped inside; let’s go and help them.” The speaker was at least fifteen feet away from the inn, but his voice was so clear and powerful that it sounded as if he were only a couple feet away.
At once, Zhang Tin became sober as he recognized the voice as that of the Gentleman Sword Tian Fei. He groaned inwardly, ‘Oh, no! Tian Fei and Xun Ci Shi Tai! I’d have no chance to come out alive if they see me here.’ He licked his lips nervously while looking around for another way out. However, the fire by now had consumed more than half of the building and left only the front door as the only exit. With no other option, he stepped outside cautiously. After a few more paces with no sign of his foes, he began to relax. “Yelp!” All of a sudden, he yelled and jumped with fright. Something was grabbing his legs tightly. It was the same girl from the inn who would not yet give up her vengeance.
Zhang Tin breathed out with relief, ‘Oh! It’s just that pesky brat.’ He was about to send her to join with her father in the Land of Darkness when he perceived an idea for the girl’s usefulness. ‘Wait a minute. I should keep this little brat as a hostage in case those people catch up with me. Tian Fei and the Emei priestess are such righteous people that they wouldn’t dare to do anything to me as long as I threaten them with the child’s life.’
With that, he sealed several acupuncture points on the girl’s body – rendering her to become limb. Then he put her on his shoulders and fled from the inferno scene without looking back. After running for a few hours, he had to stop from exhaustion. He dumped the girl down on the ground, sat on a tree root, and was wiping his sweats from his face when someone greeted him, “Martial nephew, why are you in such a hurry? There is an inn back there, where you have just left. How about you and I go back there for a drink?”
When Tian Fei spoke, he was about 20 feet from Zhang Tin. By the time he finished the sentence, he had already appeared in front of Zhang Tin and the girl. Startled but with great presence of mind, Zhang Tin put his dagger on the girl’s neck and threatened Tian Fei hysterically, “Don’t come any nearer! I have a hostage here, and I will kill her the minute you touch me.”
Tian Fei didn’t expect this reply. He originally thought that the girl was Zhang Tin’s daughter, which was why he allowed his former martial nephew to get away this far. He only decided to approach Zhang Tin when he saw that the child seemed to be asleep. However, he kept calm and answered Zhang Tin in peaceful tone, all the while trying to find a way to rescue the poor child, “Why are you getting so excited? After all, I only invite you for a friendly drink. If Master Tian doesn’t want to go back to that inn, we can go find another one in this area.”
Zhang Tin laughed coldly, “Don’t you try to sweet talk me. I know you are going to take me back to that old crone of Emei, but I don’t want to die just yet. Now, I am going to leave with this little girl, and don’t try to follow us if you want this innocence child to remain alive. My dagger has been dipped in deadly poison, and I will not be hesitating to use it.” With that, he got up slowly – one hand was clutching at the girl securely, while the other hand was holding a dagger that was resting against her white throat.
But even before he could have moved another inch further, a ray of energy as light as wind blew past his hands. Instantaneously, both hands went numb, loosing grips of their subjects. Simultaneously, the girl and the dagger were dropped down to the ground. The next second, a gleaming sword was flying around him like a bolt of lightning, covering his body totally with no escaping exit. Zhang Tin whispered with dread, “White Wind Sword Stance”. His body trembled, and his face turned as white as paper.
This White Wind move was one of the most advance sword stances in the manual that Wang Shan had stolen from his teacher, Sword God, several years ago. A practitioner needed to reach at a top level of inner energy before being able to execute this move. Zhang Tin recognized it as the most lethal move that his master, Wang Shan, had ever exhibited against powerful enemies. However, the Evil Sword Wang Shan usually used this move to kill, but Tian Fei only used it as a last resort to rescue the little girl. On top of that, although unbeknownst to Zhang Tin, Tian Fei had just perfected this sword art. Therefore, even though both moves of the two martial brothers were the same, that of Wang Shan’s was definitely far more powerful and more cruelly executed than that of Tian Fei’s.
At that moment, a heavy saber was born down in the middle of the energy net that was generated from the White Wind move. The connection was severed, and Tian Fei was thrown back from the strange force of the saber. His sword gave out a ‘Ring’ sound and shattered into pieces. At the same time, milky white smoke enveloped the area so thickly that by the time the air was clear again, Zhang Tin, the girl, and his mysterious helper were long gone, leaving without any trace.
Tian Fei coughed a few times. He felt a pain in his chest – no doubt from the clash between his own energy and that of the stranger. Suddenly a cry of an eagle drew near, and soon Sword God Ding Wan appeared in front of his student. He took one look at Tian Fei and commented, “Hmm, Yue Guo’s saber is as powerful as they said. Lucky you that its user is not so skilled with martial arts and that he doesn’t have as strong energy as that of yours. Otherwise, you would not have been here alive.” He ordered, “Sit down, I will help neutralize your energy.”
Tian Fei bowed to his teacher obediently. Then he sat crossed-leg and began his meditation to retrieve his inner energy. Sword God also sat down and started transferring his energy into his student’s body. After a while, Tian Fei felt much better. He opened his eyes to see that Sword God was walking away.
“Teacher,” he called, suddenly felt very lonely. “Why are you leaving so soon? When will I get to see you again?”
Sword God turned around and looked at his second martial student with kindness. “Fei, I have to go. I have paid what I had owed. Now, it’s time to reflect of my past sins and make peace with myself. Don’t try to look for me. If it’s fated that we will see each other again, we will meet without doubt. Concentrate on perfecting this White Wind move of yours and tell Tong to keep practicing his Dragon Leashing moves. From now on, you two are to make good of your sword skills in helping others and to carry on the good name of Sword South School.”
“But without Teacher around, I am afraid that the senior martial brother Wang Shan will reappear for sure.” Tian Fei protested. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he realized that he was about to lose another of his love ones.
“Don’t worry. Evil Sword Wang Shan will never cause any troubles again. Take care of yourself, Fei. Say goodbye to Tong for me too.” At the last sentence, Sword God was gone with the sound of the crying eagle.
Tian Fei kneeled down and kowtowed three times to his teacher's receding figure. “Teacher,” he sobbed.
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