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Thread: The Deer and The Cauldron - Unabridged Thread

  1. #141
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    Default Chapter 19 - Part 5

    "I don't," Wei Xiaobao replied, "I don't know the 'gui'' character from your turtle [wu gui] or the 'dan' character from your bast@rd [wang ba dan]." Since his trickery had been unmasked, his shame turned into anger. Besides, he was on Snake Island, there was only death for him without any chance to live. Begging for mercy was useless, he might as well took some advantage first.

    Mr. Lu was silent for half a day. He picked up the brush and wrote several tadpole characters on the paper. "What characters are these?" he asked.

    "F*ck your mother!" Wei Xiaobao said in loud voice, "I said I don't know, that means I don't know. Do you think I am lying?"

    Mr. Lu nodded. "Very well," he said, "Turns out Fat Toutuo has fallen into your big trick. But this matter has been reported to Jiaozhu. Little thief!" Suddenly he pounced and wrapped his fingers around Wei Xiaobao’s neck, his hands squeezed tighter and tighter. With a clenched teeth he said, “You have made us cheating Jiaozhu, everybody will die without a burial site because of you. It would be better if we will all die together to avoid those endless, ruthless punishment.”

    Strangled by him, Wei Xiaobao could not breathe, his face swollen purple, his tongue stuck out. If Mr. Lu added a little bit more force into his hands, this child would take his last breath and die. Thinking that he had an enormous responsibility in this matter, he was startled and immediately released his fingers. Pushing with both hands, he sent Wei Xiaobao tumbling to the floor, and then filled with hatred, he left the room.

    After quite a long time, Wei Xiaobao was finally able to get up. “Dead turtle, f*ck his thief mother,” perhaps he uttered these curses several hundred times, while thinking that since he was on this poisonous Snake Island, there was no other place he could escape to. If he ran toward the underbrush in the woods, he would die even faster. Walking toward the door, he pushed the door only to find that the bamboo door was barred from the outside. Looking out of the window, he saw a deep valley. Indeed there was no way out. Turning his head around, he saw the calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall. “What’s so good about these fart characters and fart drawings?” he mused. Picking up the brush, he dipped it into the ink, and drew countless ‘big turtles’ and ‘little turtles’ on each scroll of calligraphy and paintings.

    After drawing several dozen turtles, Wei Xiaobao’s hand was tired, he tossed the pen to the floor and curled up in a chair, very soon he fell asleep. When he woke up, the sky had turned dark, but unexpectedly nobody came to check him up. His tummy was growling from hunger. “This green-haired turtle wants to starve laozi to death,” he mused.

    After a long time, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the door, and saw light penetrating the cracks on the door, followed by the bamboo door was pushed open and Mr. Lu entered the room with a candle in his hand. He cast him a sidelong glance. Wei Xiaobao saw there was no trace of anger on his face, so the fear in his heart subsided considerably.

    Mr. Lu put the candle on the table, took a quick glance around the room, and saw that Wei Xiaobao had smeared the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls so that they were no longer presentable. He could not restrain his anger from flaring up. “You … you …” he shouted, while raising his hand high, ready to strike down, but his palm stopped midair. Finally he was able to control his anger and said, “You … you …” the word choked in his throat and he could not speak.

    “What do you think?” Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Is my drawing good?”

    Mr. Lu heaved a deep sigh, he sat down dejectedly and said, “Good, your drawing is good.”

    Surprisingly, not only he did not hit him, but he said his drawing was good. It was completely beyond Wei Xiaobao’s anticipation. Seeing his distressed expression, Wei Xiaobao knew Mr. Lu was extremely troubled, he could not help but somehow feel sorry. “Mr. Lu,” he said, “I … I’m sorry, I destroyed your paintings.”

    Mr. Lu shook his head. “No … it’s nothing,” he said. He crouched on the table with his head between his hands. After quite a while, he said, “You must be hungry, let’s eat first and we’ll talk later.”

    In the reception room, four dishes and a bowl of soup were arranged on the table; there were chicken and fish, the dishes were sumptuous. Soon afterwards Fang Yi and Mrs. Lu came out to accompany them. Four people ate dinner together.

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised, “Could it be that my dozens of turtle drawings are so good and Mr. Lu is so happy that he invited me to eat?” But he had a vague understanding in his heart that the situation did not always look like it really was. Several times he opened his mouth wanting to ask, but seeing Mr. Lu’s mixed [orig. ‘cloudy and clear’] expression, he was afraid to provoke his anger; he had not ate his fill, Mr. Lu might snatch his bowl away, then it would not be worth it. Thereupon he held his peace and ate in silence until he was full.

    After dinner, Mr. Lu took him back to the study room. Mr. Lu picked up the brush from the floor and wrote ‘Wei Xiaobao’ three characters on the paper. “This is your own name,” he said, “Can you write it yourself or not?”

    “It recognizes me, but I don’t recognize it,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “How can I write it?”

    “Hm,” Mr. Lu looked out the window and was deep in thought for half a day. With his left hand he picked up the candle and walked toward the tadpole script calligraphy. Carefully he looked at it, pointed to the characters one by one, while with his mouth he read the characters. Returning to the table, he fetched a blank piece of paper, lifted up his brush and started to scribble rapidly. He counted the number of tadpole characters with his index finger, and then counted the number of characters he wrote on the paper. And then he rapidly scribbled again on the paper, turned his head around to look at the tadpole characters, all the while he was mumbling to himself, “Those three characters are identical, these two look the same. It must be flawless, or it won’t be believable!” He pondered for half a day, then scribbled again on the paper, and said delightedly, “Got it!”

    Wei Xiaobao did not know what trick he was playing, but he did not care since his tummy was full. He saw Mr. Lu picked up another sheet of blank paper and then carefully wrote several characters. This time he wrote very slowly. Finished writing, he softly read what he wrote, swaying his head rhythmically. Wei Xiaobao only heard words like ‘Divine Dragon Island’, ‘Hong Jiaozhu’, ‘long life the same as the heaven’s’, and so on. Finally he heard something like ‘the first copy is in such and such place on such and such mountain’, ‘the second copy is in such and such place on such and such mountain’. Suddenly it dawned on him that those words were the exact words he boasted wildly to Fat Toutuo at the Pu Ji Temple. Unexpectedly Fat Toutuo believed it wholeheartedly and spread it out as soon as he returned here. He also thought, “That day Fat Toutuo invited me to the Divine Dragon Island to see Hong Jiaozhu. I told him that I did not want to come, no matter what. Unexpectedly, with the demons and deities at work, the ship was sailing to this place. Now that my trickery is exposed, Hong Jiaozhu will know about it. He will definitely throw a fit; perhaps he would throw Good Jiejie and me to the snake pit, so that tens of thousands of vipers could feast on us that even our bones cannot be saved.” Thinking about endless stream of poisonous snakes crawling over his body, he was shivering all over although it was not cold.

    Mr. Lu turned around with a very pleased-of-himself expression on his face. He smiled and said, “Wei Gongzi, you know the tadpole script written on the stone tablet, it is certainly a cause of delight and a reason to congratulate you. It is also our Cult’s Hong Jiaozhu’s flood of good fortunes fills up the heavens that such a child prodigy like you dropped in from the sky, that you are able to read the tadpole script.”

    “Humph,” Wei Xiaobao snorted, “You don’t need to make fun of me,” he said, “How could I tell tadpole script from frog script? Laozi did not even know scabies toad script. I was simply talking nonsense to swindle that thin, bamboo-pole like toutuo.”

    Mr. Lu smiled and said, “Wei Gongzi, why be too modest? This is simply the writings on the stone tablet that I wrote down from memory. I am asking for Gongzi’s direction whether I made any mistake or not.” Finished speaking, he started reciting: “In the tenth month of the Zhen Guan’s second year Jiazi[1] of the Great Tang, Distinguished (National) Duke Wei, Li Jing, along with Chief of Right Army Great General (National) Duke Su, Cheng Zhijie, Glorious Grand Master Ministry of War Duke Shang Shoucao, Li Ji, Commander-in-chief of Xuzhou (National) Duke Hu, Qin Shubao, had visited the Jinxiu Peak of Mount Wutai, to see the glorious red eastern sky, which appeared like big golden lettering on the border of the clouds, the writing says: ‘In a thousand years, there will be the Great Qing. In the East, there will be an island, Divine Dragon is its name. A certain Hong Jiaozhu will obtain favor, his supernatural spirit reaches out to relieve, his grand, awe-inspiring might is all powerful. Subduing monsters conquering demons like a rising sun. The feathered wings support his rule, breathing out stale air and breathing in fresh air. Ten thousands luck a hundred good fortune, there will never be a year without plentiful harvest. He will enjoy immortal happiness forever, universal evil spirit will venerate him. His long life will be the same as the Heaven’s, a kind sage of both pen and sword.’ In a moment, dark green characters appeared in the sky, the writing says: ‘The Heaven bestows this certain Hong by eight copies of the Forty-two-chapter Sutra. The first is stored in Dang Mo Temple [lit. sweeping away demons] on Mount Funiu in Henan, the second is kept in Tianxin Nunnery [lit. center of the sky, the will of heaven] on Mount Bijia in Shanxi, the third is in Ling Xiao Taoist Monastery [lit. rising high firmament] on Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan. The fourth is kept in Shaolin Temple on Mount Songshan in Henan, the fifth in Zhenwu Taoist Monastery on Wudang Mountain in Hubei, the sixth is stored in Jiaye Buddhist Temple in Kongtong, Sichuan border. The seventh is in Mu Palace, Kunming of Yunnan, the eighth is in Ping Xi Wang Mansion of Kunming, Yunnan.’ This tranquil revelation by the Heaven is engraved on the stone tablet, waiting for the future.”

    Mr. Lu read in a pattern of falling, remaining even, and rising in pitch and rhythm. When he finished, he asked, “Is there any mistake?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “That was a stone tablet from the Tang Dynasty, how did they know that in later generation there will be Ping Xi Wang Wu Sangui?”

    Mr. Lu replied, “God is intelligent and wise, He is omniscient, nothing escape his knowledge. Since He knew that in later generation there will be Hong Jiaozhu, naturally He also had foreknowledge of Wu Sangui.”

    Wei Xiaobao was secretly amused; he nodded his head and said, “That’s true.” While in his heart he thought, “I wonder what trick are you playing?”

    Mr. Lu said, “The inscription on this stone tablet must be accurate to the last character. Although Wei Gongzi is gifted and smart, but in my opinion, it was also the holy spirits at work, so that you understand these tadpole script. Someday in the future, perhaps some mistakes will be found. It would be best if Wei Gongzi know this writing inside-out, so that when Hong Jiaozhu summons you, you can recite it from memory fluently. If Hong Jiaozhu is happy, naturally he will heap you with rewards.”

    Wei Xiaobao rolled his eyes; immediately he understood. Repeatedly nodding his head, he said, “So that’s how it is, so that’s how it is!” He guessed that Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu had reported to Hong Jiaozhu, telling him that a child knew the writing on a stone tablet, hence Hong Jiaozhu was determined to summon him to verify. Who would have thought that it was entirely bogus? Mr. Lu was afraid the Cult Leader would place the blame on him, he had no choice but to forge the inscription on the stone tablet to deceive the Cult Leader.

    Mr. Lu said, “And now I will read one sentence, Wei Gongzi reads one sentence, always remember to read it correctly from start to finish. ‘In the tenth month of the Zhen Guan’s second year Jiazi of the Great Tang …’”

    Wei Xiaobao did not want to read, he did not have the ability, much less wanted to be in cahoots with Mr. Lu in deceiving Hong Jiaozhu; but he thought it was amusing, so he repeat after Mr. Lu anyway.

    His natural disposition was quick-witted and clever, for him, listening to a segment of several hundred characters and then repeating it, would not require the least bit of effort, but asking him to study was akin to asking for his life. Although this segment of writing was only several hundred characters long, it had sentences that were very difficult to pronounce, with the meanings that were even harder to comprehend, for instance ‘his grand, awe-inspiring might is all powerful', 'breathing out stale air and breathing in fresh air'; he was completely clueless as to their meaning. Therefore, he did not have any choice but to follow Mr. Lu one sentence at a time. Fortunately, Mr. Lu did not mind the repetition and he was very patient in instructing him. Nevertheless, it took more than thirty times going through the entire writings before he could recite it without any mistake.

    That evening he slept in Mr. Lu's home, the next morning he recited again. Seeing he was able to memorize everything, Mr. Lu was very pleased, thereupon he picked up a pen and a sheet of paper and started to write the tadpole characters one by one, asking him to identify which one was the 'wei' character, which one was the 'zhen' character. This time Wei Xiaobao could not help but whining incessantly. These tadpole characters twisted to the left and to the right, they all looked almost the same. Asking Wei Xiaobao to tell one character from the other and rewrite it one by one was as hard as asking him to climb the heaven, as painful as having his head chopped off. He was not able to sit quietly even for a moment, how could he have the patience to learn the tadpole script?


    [1] The first of 10 heavenly stems and the first of 12 earthly branches of the Chinese calendar, a cycle of 60 years. The last Jiazi year was 1984, by a quick calculation, since the Tang Dynasty was 618-907, the Jiazi during that period was the year 664.

  2. #142
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Chapter 19 - Part 6

    While Wei Xiaobao was frowning and worried, Mr. Lu was even more anxious. By this time Mr. Lu was already aware that the inscription on the stone tablet had a totally different meaning. He had counted the number of characters from the rubbing Fat Toutuo obtained from the stone tablet, and had composed another set of writings as best as he could, with only the exact number of characters as the rubbing, with the sole purpose to win Hong Jiaozhu's favor, he could not care about what the original inscription really mean. Composing the writing this way, naturally there were hundreds of holes in his work. For example, in the sentence 'In the tenth month of the Zhen Guan’s second year Jiazi of the Great Tang', the word 'second' (二) was the sixth character, but on the stone tablet, the sixth character had altogether eighteen strokes, no matter how you say it, it could not be a 'second' character. The fifth character only had three strokes, so it would be extremely hard to say that it was the 'Guan' (观) character. However, taking everything into consideration, even if Mr. Lu had more talent, he could not possibly fabricate a flawless article in such a short time. Hong Jiaozhu was extremely intelligent, most probably this fake article would not escape his eyes, but with the imminent great catastrophe, it was the best he could do to avoid it for the time being. About the disaster of the future, he had no choice but to wait and see.

    Teaching Wei Xiaobao to write that day, the progress was painstakingly slow. By afternoon, he could only write four characters. Luckily that the tadpole characters looked very strange to begin with, so that with Wei Xiaobao's extremely ugly penmanship, the characters did not look too unsightly. If it were regular script, and it was written by a child who had never learned to write, people would be able to see if it was true or bogus as soon as they saw it.

    That afternoon he learned three more characters. That evening he learned two more. That day he learned nine characters altogether. Wei Xiaobao did not stop making loud ruckus and shouting, several times he threw the brush and refused to learn. Mr. Lu threatened him, coaxed him, finally he asked Fang Yi to come and sit by his side to keep him company, only then did Wei Xiaobao reluctantly able to endure and continue to study.

    While teaching him, Mr. Lu was anxious, he was afraid Hong Jiaozhu would summon him at any time. If Wei Xiaobao had not finished learning the entire writings and the Cult Leader already summoned him, no doubt Wei Xiaobao's head could not be guaranteed, but it would also be difficult for his own entire family to avoid losing their lives. However, this learning process could not be hurried at all; the more he was expected to learn faster, the slower Wei Xiaobao's progress was. His brain was stuffed full with these tadpole characters, it was like the tadpoles were actually swimming and moving, so that it was really hard for him to differentiate one character from another.

    After studying for several days, the viper bite injury on Wei Xiaobao's body was completely healed, but after so much difficulty, he only managed to learn about twenty, thirty characters; not only that, he was so confused that out of ten characters, often times he would make seven or eight mistakes.

    While in distress, Mr. Lu suddenly heard Fat Toutuo's voice calling out, "Mr. Lu, Jiaozhu is summoning Wei Gongzi!" Mr. Lu's countenance turned ash-grey, his hand trembled, the writing brush, which he had just dipped into ink, fell onto his lapel. An extremely tall and extremely thin man entered the study room, Fat Toutuo had indeed arrived.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "Fat Reverend Monk, how come you have not seen me until today? I have been waiting for you for a long time."

    Seeing Mr. Lu's expression, Fat Toutuo knew their important project was far from good; he did not answer Wei Xiaobao, but muttered to himself, "I should have known this little demon was talking nonsense. I was so confused and lost my capacity of clear thinking, in my eagerness to set up a great merit to protect my own life, unexpectedly I will die sooner instead."

    With a cold laugh Mr. Lu said, "You are just a single person, the one surnamed Lu has eight people in my household, all of us will accompany you in delivering our lives."

    Fat Toutuo heaved a deep sigh and said, "Everybody's fate should be like this, this is called 'destiny is inexorable, there is no fleeing it'. Even if this matter did not happen, Jiaozhu will not necessarily allow us to live a few days longer."

    Mr. Lu cast a quick glance toward Wei Xiaobao; he said, "It's those people who are in power, we are already old, it's time for us to die, what can we do?" The tone of his voice was full of resentment.

    Fat Toutuo sighed and said, "I'll say he is young, but happened to obtain a good position, and then he just report everything, disregarding seniority, to our superior. Ay!"

    Mr. Lu stared at him for a moment, and then said, "Young people should know their place."

    "Lu Xiong," Fat Toutuo said, "Things have gotten to this point, you and I have lived and will die together, if real men have to die, we will simply die, what are we afraid of?"

    Wei Xiaobao clapped his hands and said, "The Fat Reverend Monk is right, for hero and warrior, what is there to be afraid of? If I am not scared, you must not be scared even more."

    "Ignorant child," Mr. Lu said with a sneer, "You don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. By the time you know the meaning of fear, it will be too late." After being lost in thought for half a day, he said, "Fat Reverend Monk, please wait a moment, I have some instructions I'd like to leave to my humble wife."

    A moment later, Mr. Lu returned to the study room, there were traces of tears on his face. Fat Toutuo said, "Lu Xiong, please give me one of your Sheng Tian [lit. to ascend to heaven/to die] pills."

    Mr. Lu nodded; he took a porcelain bottle from his bosom, pulled the cork, and tipped a red pill out. He gave it to Fat Toutuo and said, "This pill will stop your breathing as soon as it enters your mouth, you must wait for the very last moment, do not act blindly without thinking."

    Fat Toutuo received the pill; with a bitter laugh he said, "Many thanks! Fat Toutuo does not consider his own life lightly; I am not in a hurry to ascend to the heavens."

    On Mount Wutai, Wei Xiaobao had witnessed Fat Toutuo's awe-inspiring power as he took on the Shaolin Temple's Eighteen Luohan; but now he was asking for a poison. Obviously he would rather kill himself than being blamed by Hong Jiaozhu. Only now did Wei Xiaobao understand the urgency of the situation; he could not help feeling afraid.

    The three of them walked out the door. Wei Xiaobao heard a faint weeping sound coming from the inner hall. "Where is Miss Fang?" he asked, "She is not going?"

    "Humph," Fat Toutuo snorted, "Your age is so young, but actually are a very affectionate person. On Mount Wutai you had Shuang'er, here you have Miss Fang." With his left hand he grabbed Wei Xiaobao and lifted him up, "Let's go!" he shouted. In large strides he rushed to the east. In just a little while, he had already run faster than a speeding horse. Mr. Lu was also running by his side, he still had a distressed look on his face.

    Wei Xiaobao noticed that he appeared effortless; actually he was able to run side-by-side with Fat Toutuo and did not fall behind even for half a step. Only now did Wei Xiaobao realize that this frail-looking scholar actually possessed an excellent martial art skill. "Fat Reverend Monk, Mr. Lu," he said, "The two of you has such a high level of martial art, why would you be afraid of Hong Jiaozhu? You ..."

    Fat Toutuo stretched out his right palm to cover his mouth. "This is the Divine Dragon Island; you dare to say such treason and heresy, are you bored of being alive?" he said angrily.

    As soon as his mouth was covered, Wei Xiaobao could not breathe. "Damn it," he cursed in his heart, "You fear Hong Jiaozhu like this, but still call yourself a hero [ying xiong]; a coward [gou xiong] is more appropriate."

    The three of them were heading toward a mountain peak on the north. Before long, he saw vipers everywhere; on the trees, in the grass, on the road, one on the east, another on the west. The strange thing was that those vipers did not give the three of them any trouble. After winding around two hillsides, when he looked up, Wei Xiaobao was able to see several big bamboo buildings on the distant peak. Fat Toutuo was carrying Wei Xiaobao toward that peak.

    At this moment, the mountain path narrowed, so that Mr. Lu was unable to walk side by side with Fat Toutuo, he fell about a zhang behind. Fat Toutuo put his mouth next to Wei Xiaobao's ear and said in a low voice, "Where is your copy of 'Forty-two-chapter Sutra'?"

    "I don't have it with me," Wei Xiaobao replied.

    "Do you have to tell me that?" Fat Toutuo said, "I have already searched you everywhere. Where is it?"

    "The Eighteen Luohan of Shaolin Temple have the sutra, naturally they gave it to their Abbot," Wei Xiaobao replied. He thought that since this thin bamboo pole toutuo was not a match for the Shaolin's Eighteen Luohan, if he heard that the sutra was in the hands of the Abbot of Shaolin Temple, naturally he would not dare to demand the sutra from the Abbot; even if he dared to demand it, he would definitely be expelled by those Shaolin monks.

    That day Fat Toutuo had personally handed the sutra over into Monk Cheng Xin's hand, he did not have the slightest suspicion to Wei Xiaobao's words. He said in a low voice, "When we see Jiaozhu in a moment, you must never mention this matter. Otherwise Jiaozhu might force you to hand over the sutra, and when you cannot give it to him, Jiaozhu will definitely throw you into the vipers' nest."

    Wei Xiaobao could hear the fear in his voice, not only that, evidently Fat Toutuo was afraid Mr. Lu would hear him; thereupon he said, "Clearly it was you who seized the sutra from me, and then you gave it to the Shaolin monks, if Jiaozhu finds out, he would definitely throw you into the vipers' nest. Humph, humph, even if he won't punish you for the time being, he would definitely send you to Shaolin Temple to get the sutra back; that would be enough punishment for you."

    Fat Toutuo shivered without saying anything. Wei Xiaobao said, "The two of us will deal with this matter together. Whatever happens, you take care of me, I will also take care of you. Otherwise, we split up, and we'll perish together."

    From behind Mr. Lu suddenly interrupted, "What split up and perish together?"

    Wei Xiaobao said, "The three of us will enjoy blessing and endure misfortune together." Thinking that right now they were in a messy situation, he must not lose his wits; if he could implicate these two martial art masters, he would have a slightly better chance of survival.

    Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu did not say anything. A moment later, they both heaved a deep sigh together.

    After walking for the time needed to eat rice, they arrived at the peak. They saw four youngsters in black, hand in hand, came near, each person carried a long sword on his back. The one furthest to the left asked, "Fat Toutuo, what is this little child doing in here?"

    Fat Toutuo let Wei Xiaobao down; he said, "Jiaozhu's order: he is being summoned."

    From the west came three young girls in red, laughing and giggling; they also carried long swords on their backs. Seeing the three people, they came over to meet them. A girl said with a laugh, "Fat Toutuo, is he your illegitimate child?" While saying that, she pinched Wei Xiaobao's cheek.

    "Miss must be joking," Fat Toutuo said, "This child is being summoned by Jiaozhu, the Senior, there is an important matter he'd like to ask him."

    Another girl with round face pinched Wei Xiaobao's right cheek and said with a laugh, "Looking at this baby's appearance, he must be Fat Toutuo's illegitimate child. You can't deny it."

    Wei Xiaobao was angry. "I am your illegitimate child," he shouted, "You and Fat Toutuo are having an illicit intercourse and you gave birth to me."

    The girls were startled, and then they burst out in laughter. The round-faced girl's turned deep red. She spat and said, "Little demon, you are asking for death!" She raised her hand to strike. Wei Xiaobao leaned his head sideways to dodge. Right this moment more than a dozen young people, boys and girls, had heard the noise and rushed in to tease the round-faced girl. The girl was ashamed and angry, her left foot flew up, she gave Wei Xiaobao's buttocks a hard kick.

    "Ma," Wei Xiaobao called out loudly, "Why did you beat your son?" The youngsters laughed even louder.

    'Dang, dang, dang!' suddenly the bell tolled; everybody fell silent immediately. These young boys and girls, about twenty in total, rushed toward the bamboo building. Fat Toutuo said, "Jiaozhu is calling an assembly." To Wei Xiaobao he said, "When you see Jiaozhu, you must not speak any nonsense."

    Wei Xiaobao saw his melancholy expression. Those youngsters were rather rude toward him; thinking that his martial art skill was extremely high, why would he be afraid of these teenage babies? He could not help but having a pity on him somewhat; thereupon he nodded his head.

    He saw from all directions people were streaming into the bamboo building. Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu also took Wei Xiaobao into the building. Crossing a corridor, suddenly a large hall appeared before his eyes. This hall was incomparably huge, it was big enough to hold a thousand-people assembly. Wei Xiaobao had lived in the Imperial Palace in Beijing for quite a long time, even an assembly hall bigger than this one would not impress him. But this hall was really gigantic, as soon as he saw it, he could not help but had a feeling of respect.

    He saw groups of teenagers, boys and girls, wearing five different colors standing on five different locations. The groups wearing blue, white, black, yellow, four colors were all boys, the group wearing red was all girls. Each one carried a long sword on his or her back, each group had approximately a hundred people. On the other end of the big hall there were two bamboo chairs standing side by side, draped in brocade cushion. On both sides of the chair stood several dozen people, men and women; the younger ones were approximately thirty years old, the old ones were about sixty, seventy years old, not one of them carried any weapon. There were about five, six hundred people gathered in the hall, but unexpectedly not the least bit of sound was heard, not even a single cough. Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, "Damn it, what an air! You think you are having an audience with the Emperor or what?"

    After quite a while, the bells tolled again nine times, there were footsteps from the inner hall. “The ghost Jiaozhu is out,” Wei Xiaobao mused. Who would have thought that ten men came out, all were in their thirties, they wore five different colors clothes, and then they stood on either side of the chairs, five colors on each side.

    After another long while, the bells and the drums were struck together loudly, followed by the tinkling of several hundred small silver bells. Everybody in the hall kneeled down together and chorused, “Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life the same as the heaven’s.”

    Fat Toutuo pulled Wei Xiaobao’s lapel, telling him to kneel down. Wei Xiaobao did not have any choice but kneeling down. He stole a glance and saw a man and a woman came out from the inner hall and sat on the chairs. Another bell stroke, everybody slowly stood up.

    The man looked very old, the white hair from his temples drooped down to his chest, his face was full of scars and wrinkles, he looked very ugly; Wei Xiaobao presumed this must be the Cult Leader. The woman, on the other hand, was a good-looking young woman. Looking at her appearance, she was no older than twenty two or twenty three, she was smiling slightly, overflowing with charming attitude, and was incomparably gorgeous. Wei Xiaobao praised in his heart, “She is exceedingly smart-looking! This woman is more beautiful than that Good Jiejie of mine. Even in the Imperial Palace or Lovely Spring Courtyard, there is no woman as pretty as she is.”

    A man wearing black clothes on the left took two steps forward; holding a piece of dark green paper with both hands he read loudly, “Respectfully reading Hong Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching, whose compassion and kindness illuminate everything, whose power encompasses four directions: ‘Numerous aspirations work as one will be able to build the city, incomprehensible might shakes the world!’”

    The crowd in the hall repeated in chorus, “Numerous aspirations work as one will be able to build the city, incomprehensible might shakes the world!”

    Wei Xiaobao was mesmerized with the beautiful woman, the voices of the crowd chanting together had startled him that he jumped in fright.

    The man in black clothes continued reading, “Jiaozhu’s immortal good fortune is as high as the sky, illuminating the heads of the devoted cult members. Jiaozhu sails the boat steadily for ten thousand years, riding the wind breaking the waves to show off his heroic bravery! Flying to the sky, the divine dragon looks up at him with hope, Jiaozhu’s prestige covers the eight directions. Everybody lives because Jiaozhu lives, everybody dies because Jiaozhu dies, Jiaozhu’s order is to be followed, Jiaozhu is like the light of the sun and the moon!”

    As the man read one sentence, the crowd followed by reciting one sentence. Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “What Hong Jiaozhu’s teaching? A loud blow of his own horn. Our Tian Di Hui’s secret verse is much more pleasant to hear that this.”

    When they finished reciting, everybody shouted in one voice, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable!” Those young boys and girls were particularly enthusiastic in shouting their creeds. Hong Jiaozhu’s ugly face carried an indifferent expression, while the beautiful woman by his side recited with a smile on her face.

    Finished reciting, the hall fell into complete silence.

    Book note:

    When the powerful troops of Luo Shaowei of the late Tang Dynasty took the towns of Wei prefecture, he commanded his five thousand elite troops to kill everything. Afterwards he felt a deep remorse, realizing that he had committed an enormous mistake; he said, “In the forty-three counties of six prefectures, we cannot make the same mistake.” During the time of Wang Mang [usurped power and reign 9-23 AD, between the former and later Han periods], he cast cooper and iron money into a saber, he then carved characters plated with gold on it, and called the saber ‘Cuo Dao’ [wrong/mistake saber]. Luo Shaowei used the ‘Cuo’ character of the ‘Cuo Dao’ as an analogy of his ‘mistake’, saying that it was such a big mistake that even he amassed all the iron in the forty-three counties of six prefectures, it would be difficult to cast the metal. ‘Nine divisions amass metal to be cast in a row’, the word ‘a row’ is comparable to a big ‘mistake’; the chapter’s title borrows this expression to describe Wei Xiaobao being deceived into coming to the Divine Dragon Island, but without any regret.

    During the Warring States period, the Qin State carried out the Shang Yang political reform. Afraid that the people would not obey the reform, they set up a three zhang long wood at the southern gate, claiming that if anybody could move it out of the northern gate, he would be rewarded fifty taels of gold; no one believed it. There was a man who tried to move the wood, and sure enough, Shang Yang rewarded him with the money, thereupon everybody believed. Shang Yang’s legislation was rigorous, the people did not dare to disobey.

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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 1

    Chapter 20 - Remains of stone tablet still being read every day and every month, distinguished senior must still ascend.
    (Translated by Foxs)


    LuDingJi-20.jpg

    Madame Hong hooked the hilt of the dagger with her right foot, the dagger shot swiftly back toward her throat. “Careful!” Wei Xiaobao cried out in fear. Madame Hong shrank her body down, the dagger shot passed the top of her head toward the Cult Leader’s chest.

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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 2

    The beautiful woman’s eyes swept from west to east, the smile did not vanish from her face. She slowly said, “The Black Dragon Gate Zhangmenshi[1], today the deadline has arrived, please hand over the sutra." Her voice was sharp, clear, and flirtatious; it was extremely pleasant to the ears. She held out her left hand with palm facing up.

    Looking from far away, Wei Xiaobao saw that the palm looked like it was carved from a piece of white jade. Suddenly a thought welled up from the bottom of his heart, "It won't be too bad if this woman become my wife. If she is doing business at the Lovely Spring Courtyard, all Yangzhou's patrons will rush forth to squeeze through the Lovely Spring Courtyard's main gate."

    An old man on the left side took two steps forward, he bowed and said, "Reporting to the Madame: News from Beijing says that we have located four sutras, and we are intensifying the effort to obtain them. Following Jiaozhu's treasured teaching, even if we have to lose our lives, we will get the books, to be presented to Jiaozhu and Madame." His voice trembled slightly, obviously he was completely terrified.

    "What a pity, what a pity," Wei Xiaobao mused, "Turns out this beautiful woman is the Jiaozhu's wife, a fresh flower inserted on a cow's dung, a bright moonlight illuminating a latrine!"

    The woman smiled slightly and said, "Jiaozhu has extended the deadline three times, Black Dragon Envoy, you have always pushed the deadline with all sorts of excuses three, four times. If you are unwilling to strive, aren't you being disloyal to Jiaozhu?"

    The Black Dragon Envoy bowed even lower; he said, "Subordinate has received Jiaozhu and Madame's great kindness, even with torn body and crushed bones it will be difficult for me to repay. The fact is, this matter is extremely thorny, subordinate has dispatched six people into the Palace, and had Deng Bingchun and Liu Yan, two people lost their lives for the Cult. I wish for Jiaozhu and Madame to graciously extend the deadline."

    Wei Xiaobao mused, "Turns out that fat sow and the fake palace maid are your subordinates. I am afraid the old wh0re's rank is also lower than yours."

    The woman raised her left hand to beckon Wei Xiaobao. She laughed and said, "Xiao Didi [little brother - term of endearment], come here."

    Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright. "Me?" he said in a low voice.

    "That's right," the woman replied, "I am calling you."

    Wei Xiaobao took a quick glance toward Mr. Lu and Fat Toutuo on his side. Mr. Lu said, "Madame is calling you, go forward and salute her respectfully."

    Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, "What will happen if I do not salute her respectfully?" But he stepped forward anyway, and then respectfully bowed to salute her, saying, "Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life will be the same as the heaven's."

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "This child is clever. Who taught you to add the 'and Madame' three characters [he fu ren] after the word Jiaozhu?"

    Wei Xiaobao did not know that the cult members of the Divine Dragon Cult had always said 'Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life will be the same as the heaven's'. After they entered the Cult, they would always automatically recite these words; nobody dared to add a character or subtract half a sentence. Seeing not only this Madame was very beautiful, she was extremely powerful as well, Wei Xiaobao thought that since to flatter he did not need any capital, he thoughtlessly added the 'and Madame' three characters. Listening to her question, he simply said, "Jiaozhu and Madame are partners, only then will living a life as long as the heaven's be interesting. Otherwise, after a hundred or two hundred years, Madame returns to heaven, how could Jiaozhu not be extremely lonely?"

    As soon as Madame Hong heard him, she laughed just like a flowering branch trembled randomly. Hong Jiaozhu could not restrain his smile either, with his hand twisting his long beard, he nodded his head and smiled.

    When the cult members of the Divine Dragon Cult, from top to bottom, saw their Cult Leader, no one did not trembling in fear, who would dare to unguardedly speak nonsense like that? When they heard Wei Xiaobao earlier, they all broke in cold sweats on his behalf, but seeing Jiaozhu and Madame's warm expressions, they all felt relieved.

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "Was it your own idea to add those three characters?"

    "Exactly," Wei Xiaobao replied, "It was not a fake. The curvy characters on the stone tablet also mention Madame."

    As soon as he said those words, Mr. Lu felt as if he had just fallen into an icehouse; he had spent countless suffering just to have Wei Xiaobao memorized the writings on the stone tablet, and now he suddenly had an unconventional idea to add Madame's name into it, how could he account for the unmatched number of characters? This urchin talked irresponsibly, inevitably he was messing up the inscribed text on the tablet. He realized that his work had already contained a lot of flaws, with this new development, wouldn't his plot fall through and stand exposed on the spot?

    Hearing this, Madame Hong was also startled; she asked, "Did you say my name is also engraved on the stone tablet?"

    "That's right!" Wei Xiaobao said. As soon as he blurted out these two words 'that's right', he immediately groaned inwardly, "It's bad! If she wants me to recite the inscription, it won't have any reference to the Madame."

    Luckily Madame Hong did not ask at all. "You are surnamed Wei, and you came from Beijing, is that right?" she asked.

    "That's right," Wei Xiaobao said the same words again.

    "I heard from Fat Toutuo," Madame Hong said, "That in Beijing you met a fat lady by the name of Liu Yan, and she even taught you some martial art?"

    Wei Xiaobao thought, "Everything I told Fat Toutuo, other than the sutra, he has reported to Jiaozhu and Madame, now I'd better stick to it to the end. In any event, that fat Liu Yan is dead, it is called 'the dead cannot testify'." Thereupon he said, "Exactly, this Auntie Liu is a good friend of my Shushu [younger paternal uncle]. Day or night, she often comes to my house."

    With a soft chuckle Madame Hong asked, "What is she doing in your house?"

    "To talk and joke with my Shushu, of course," Wei Xiaobao replied, "Sometimes they embrace and kiss each other, they thought I did not see them, but I secretly watched them." He knew that the more he was able to tell the story with living spirit and living image, mentioning various minute and complicated details, the more people would believe him.

    Madame Hong laughed, "You, this child, is so sly. People kissing, you are peeping," she said. Turning to the Black Dragon Envoy she said, "Did you hear? Do you think this child is lying?"

    Wei Xiaobao followed her gaze and saw the Black Dragon Envoy's countenance changed greatly, showing his fear had reached its extreme point, his body trembled, his knees bent, he kneeled on the floor and repeatedly knocked his head, while saying, "Subordinate ... subordinate oversees my people improperly, I deserve to die ten thousand deaths, I beg Jiaozhu and Madame to open ... open the net on one side [i.e. be lenient], to let subordinate set up some meritorious deed to atone for my crime."

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised; he thought, "I was just saying that that fat pig and my Shushu kissed, what does it have to do with this old fellow? Why does he have to be frightened like this?"

    Madame Hong smiled and said, "Set up some meritorious deed to atone for your crime? What meritorious deed do you have? I always thought that the people you sent were loyal and devoted as they handled matters on behalf of Jiaozhu. Who would have thought that in Beijing they are actually doing these loose and shady businesses?"

    The Black Dragon Envoy kowtowed again and again, until his forehead was bleeding profusely. Wei Xiaobao could not bear to see him, he wanted to say something good on his behalf, but in that moment he could not find anything to say.

    The Black Dragon Envoy crawled on his knees forward, he called out, "Jiaozhu, I have followed you, the Senior, from the cradle to the grave; although I do not have any meritorious service, I have worked hard for you."

    With a cold laugh Madame Hong said, "What's the use of bringing up former matters? You are already old, how many more years can you give in service to Jiaozhu? Wouldn't it be merrier if you just quit your Black Dragon Envoy position earlier?"

    The Black Dragon Envoy raised his head to look at Hong Jiaozhu, with a sorrowful voice he said, "Jiaozhu, you really don't have the least bit of old affection toward your old troop, your old Xiongdi?"

    Hong Jiaozhu's face stayed wooden as he indifferently said, "There are too many old rotten and muddled people in our Cult, we ought to tidy up well." His voice was deep and low, and somewhat slurred. Ever since he saw him, this was the first time Wei Xiaobao had ever heard him speaking.

    Suddenly several hundred teenage boys and girls shouted loudly, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable!”

    The Black Dragon Envoy sighed. Still trembling, he stood up and said, "Breathing out stale air and breathing in fresh, we, the old men, deserve to die anyway." Turning around, he said, "Bring it here!" From the hall's door, four teenagers in black clothes went forward in quick steps, each one carried a wooden tray, on each tray there was a round brass lid. When they arrived in front of the Black Dragon Envoy, they set the wooden trays on the floor, and then quickly turned around and withdrew. As if by prior agreement, everybody in the hall drew back several steps.

    The Black Dragon Envoy muttered, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable ... hey hey, there is one thing that is unachievable, that is the subordinate is not loyal and devoted at all.” Reaching out, he grabbed the knob on the top of the brass lid and lifted it up. The object on the tray suddenly flew up, followed by a flash of white light, a flying dagger flew in at an angle, cutting the object into two sections, which then fell back onto the tray, wiggling and squirming. It was a gorgeous-looking multi-colored small snake.

    Wei Xiaobao cried out in alarm. The people in the hall also cried out, "Who was it?" "Who's rebelling against our leader?" "Catch him!" "Who's the traitor who has the audacity to disobey Jiaozhu?"

    Madame Hong suddenly stood up, made a circle with both hands, followed by waving down three times. A series of 'Shua, shua, shua!' was heard, the swords had left their scabbards, several hundred teenage boys and girls rushed forward to surround about fifty, sixty older members of the Cult. These several hundred teenagers, the ones wearing black were grouped together, the ones wearing white were grouped together, they did not mingled at all, everyone occupied his/her respective position, some were in group of six or seven, some were in group of eight or nine, each group surrounded one person in the middle. Their long swords were aimed at vital points, the several dozen older people were immediately put under their control. Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu were also facing seven, eight swords each.

    A fifty-something old Taoist priest with black beard laughed aloud and said, "Madame, you trained this formation, how many months have you spent? If you want to deal with old Xiongdi, actually you don't need to spend such energy."

    Those who surrounded him were eight teenage girls wearing red clothes. Two girls raised their swords toward the pit of his stomach. "Don't be rude toward Jiaozhu and Madame," they shouted.

    The Taoist priest laughed and said, "Madame, it was me, Priest Wugen [lit. without root], who killed that five-colored divine dragon. You want to punish, feel free to make your move, why implicate other people?"

    Madame Hong sat back down on her chair; she smiled and said, "You admit it yourself, nothing could be better than that. Daozhang [(Taoist) Priest], haven't Jiaozhu treated you well? He entrusted you the Scarlet Dragon Gate Zhangmenshi position, which is only one rank lower than the Jiaozhu himself, above ten thousand people in seniority; why do you want to rebel?"

    Priest Wugen said, "Subordinate is not rebelling. Black Dragon Envoy Zhang Danyue has rendered great service to our Cult, just because there are some people among his subordinates who did not handle their affairs favorably, Madame wanted to take his life. Subordinate boldly asks Jiaozhu and Madame to show mercy."

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "And if I do not comply?"

    Priest Wugen said, "Although Shen Long Jiao was founded by Jiaozhu, several tens of thousands xiongdi have gone through water and tread on fire together with him, everybody has his contribution. In those days, there were a total of one thousand twenty three old xiongdi, today some have lost their lives in the hands of the enemy, some were put to death by Jiaozhu, and those that remain are less than a hundred people. Subordinate asks Jiaozhu to show mercy by sparing the lives of ours, several dozen old xiongdi, simply kick us all out of the Cult. If Jiaozhu and Madame find us, these old people, repulsive, and want to promote new people, then just send us, the old people, out of here."

    With a cold laugh Madame Hong said, "Since Shen Long Jiao was founded, I have never heard anybody leaving the Cult alive. By saying that, Priest Wugen is imagining the wildest thing."

    "In that case," Priest Wugen said, "Madame does not agree?"

    "Excuse me," Madame Hong said, "But our Cult does not have such rule."

    Priest Wugen laughed aloud and said, "Turns out Jiaozhu and Madame have determined to put us all to death."

    Madame Hong smiled, "That's not necessarily so," she said, "Old people who are loyal to Jiaozhu, naturally Jiaozhu still considers them good xiongdi, absolutely no discrimination here. We do not distinguish juniors from seniors, all we ask is whether they are loyal and devoted to Jiaozhu or not. Whoever is loyal to Jiaozhu, raise your hand."

    Several hundred teenage boys and girls all raised their left hands, the senior members of the Cult who were being surrounded also raised their hands, even Priest Wugen also raised his left hand. Everybody chorused, "To be loyal to Jiaozhu, absolutely no double-mind!"

    Seeing everybody was raising his hand, Wei Xiaobao also raised his hand. Madame Hong nodded and said, "That's very good, turns out everybody is loyal to Jiaozhu, including this newly arrived Xiao Didi, although he is not a member of our Cult, unexpectedly he is also loyal to Jiaozhu."

    In his heart Wei Xiaobao said, "I am loyal to the turtle son of a b1tch."

    Madame Hong said, "Everybody is loyal, then we do not have a single rebellious traitor in here. I'm afraid there is something fishy here, I'll have to investigate carefully. I must offend all old xiongdi for the time being. Tie them up."

    "Yes!" several hundred teenage boys and girls replied together.

    "Hold on!" a tall and sturdy man called out.

    Madame Hong said, "White Dragon Envoy, what respected opinion do you have?"

    "Respected opinion, that I do not have," the man replied, "Subordinate only feel it's not fair."

    "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Madame Hong clicked her tongue, "You are criticizing me as handling this matter unfairly."


    [1] I have difficulty translating this. A 'men' (lit. gate) can be translated as 'school (of thought), (religious) sect, family, or house', 'zhangmen' is the head of a sect. I believe it was translated as 'headmaster, chief or sect leader' before; however, the 'shi' at the end means 'envoy' or 'messenger', as in 'left or right emissary' in the Ming Cult. Therefore, 'zhangmenshi' literally means 'emissary of the sect leader'. However, since Divine Dragon Cult is technically a 'sect', and Black Dragon in this case is a 'sect' within a Cult, I find the term 'emissary of the sect leader' is not technically accurate.

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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 3

    "Subordinate does not dare," the man said, "Subordinate has been following Jiaozhu for twenty years, and has marched forward courageously in everything. When I was risking my life for our Cult, these little babies have not even born yet. Why is it that they are loyal to Jiaozhu, but we, the old xiongdi, are not loyal?"

    Madame Hong chuckled and said, "By saying that, White Dragon Envoy is showing off your own merit. Aren't you saying that if there was no White Dragon Envoy Zhong Zhiling, Shen Long Jiao will not exist today?"

    The tall and sturdy man, Zhong Zhiling said, "The founding of Shen Long Jiao is Jiaozhu, one man's merit, everybody else was simply following him, the Senior, striking the world, there is no merit worthy to be mentioned, but ..."

    "But what?" Madame Hong asked.

    Zhong Zhiling said, "But we do not have any merit, these teenage babies do not have merit even more."

    "I am only twenty something years old," Madame Hong said, "So I do not have any merit either?"

    Zhong Zhiling hesitated for half a day. "That's right," he finally said, "Madame does not have any merit either. The great undertaking of founding our Cult is Jiaozhu, the Senior, one man's merit."

    Madame Hong slowly said, "Since nobody has any merit, killing you will not be considered an injustice, will it?" While saying this, her eyes flickered with a murderous spirit, but her expression was still extremely charming.

    Zhong Zhiling roared angrily, "Naturally killing the one surnamed Zhong alone is not a big deal. I am just afraid that by murdering a loyal and good person, by putting to death a minister who has given outstanding service, the foundation of Shen Long Jiao will be destroyed in the hands of Madame, one person."

    "Very good, very good," Madame Hong said, "Ay, I am very tired." These last few words were spoken languidly, who would have thought that it was unexpectedly a secret signal to kill? As soon as the seven teenagers wearing white clothes surrounding Zhong Zhiling heard it, they thrust their swords forward, simultaneously entered Zhong Zhiling's body.

    When the seven swords were drawn, from Zhong Zhiling body spurted seven streams of blood, splashing the seven teenagers' white clothes that their clothes were soaked with blood. Zhong Zhiling called out, "Jiaozhu, you ... have the heart to do this! You ... " He fell down and died. The seven teenagers withdrew toward the corridor, their movement was very orderly.

    All the older members of the Cult knew that the White Dragon Envoy Zhong Zhiling's martial art skill was very high, but the seven swords moved together, unexpectedly he did not have the slightest bit of power to resist, showing that in order for these seven teenagers to be able to thrust their swords together in the hall today, they must have been under the Cult Leader's direction beforehand, also they must have practiced countless time, so that they were very familiar with the move and were able to execute it without a flaw. Nobody did not have a trembling heart.

    After yawning, Madame Hong lightly pressed her left hand on her cherry-red lips; she appears so delicate and extremely calm. Hong Jiaozhu still maintained his wooden expression, as if he did not see the killing of Zhong Zhiling just now. Madame Hong softly said, "Blue Dragon Envoy, Yellow Dragon Envoy, you two gentlemen, do you feel that the White Dragon Envoy was scheming a rebellion, was guilty and deserve to be punished?"

    An old man with slit eyes and sharp face bowed and said, "Zhong Zhiling rebelled against Jiaozhu and Madame, he had thought this through deliberately and methodically for quite a long time, subordinate utterly detest him, and have lodged an accusation several times to Madame, but Madame always said that looking at the old xiongdi's face, let him had the opportunity to repent. Jiaozhu and Madame are magnanimous, hoping for him to reform and start afresh, who would have thought that this man was incomparably malicious. His guilt was definitely unpardonable. By letting him to have a quick death like this, it was actually too easy for him. All the brethrens of the Cult, nobody is not grateful for Jiaozhu and Madame's benevolence."

    In his heart Wei Xiaobao said, "He is flattering the big king."

    Madame Hong smiled slightly and said, "Yellow Dragon Envoy understood the cardinal principle. Blue Dragon Envoy, what do you think?"

    A tall and thin man in his fifties glowered at the eight teenagers wearing blue clothes around him. "Get lost!" he growled, "If Jiaozhu wants to kill me, do you think I cannot do it myself?"

    Eight teenagers pushed their swords slightly forward, until the tip of the swords touched his clothes. The man let out several 'hey, hey' cold laugh, he slowly raised his hands to grab the chest of his own clothes; he said, "Jiaozhu, Madame, in the past, when subordinate, along with Scarlet, White, Black and Yellow, four Gates' Zhangmenshi sworn brotherhood, we determined to work ourselves to death for Shen Long Jiao, we did not expect there would be a day like today. Madame wanted to put anybody to death, it's not strange at all. What's strange to me is that because the Yellow Dragon Envoy Yin Dage is greedy for life, afraid of death, unexpectedly he uttered such a sordid and contemptible talk, slandering his own good xiongdi ..."

    Suddenly there was a 'rip' noise as the man threw both hands outward, pulling his own long gown into two halves. With a shake of his arms, the two pieces of gowns coiled horizontally out, sweeping away the eight teenagers' swords. Blue light flashed, a pair of daggers about a chi and a half long appeared in his hands. With a series of 'Swish, swish!' sound, the pit of the eight teenagers' stomachs were hit by the dagger; they all fell to the ground, spurting blood from their wounds. Eight dead bodies fell around him, unexpectedly they form a very neat circle. His movement was very fast, just like a thunderbolt before it even reaches the ears. Madame Hong was startled; she clapped her hands repeatedly. More than twenty teenagers in blue clothes rushed toward the Blue Dragon Envoy, and once again he was surrounded.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy laughed aloud, and then in a loud and clear voice he said, "Madame, these babies that you trained are completely useless. If Jiaozhu wants to rely on these kids to establish great merits by subduing the enemy, won't it be too inconvenient?"

    When the seven teenagers assassinate Zhong Zhiling, Hong Jiaozhu appeared to turn a blind eye, now that the Blue Dragon Envoy killed eight teenagers, he appeared as unconcerned; sitting quietly in his chair, all along he did not pay any attention. Madame Hong cast a quick glance toward her husband, as if she was somewhat ashamed. Smiling sweetly, she sat down and said with a laugh, "Blue Dragon Envoy, your swordsmanship is very good, today ..."

    Suddenly there was a series of 'crash, bang!' noise all around the hall as the swords in the several hundred teenage boys and girls all fell to the floor. As they were still in shock, they saw one by one the teenagers fell on their knees to the ground. Instantly everybody also felt dizzy and their eyes dimmed, and were unable to stand. Those with weaker inner power fell down first, and then the rest of them swayed and fell down one after another. In a short moment the hall was strewn with lying bodies.

    Madame Hong cried out in alarm, "What ... what happened?" Her body felt weak, she slipped down from the bamboo chair.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy was actually standing upright and unafraid, with a malicious laugh he said, "Jiaozhu, when you massacred our xiongdi, have you ever thought that a day like today will arrive?" He struck his pair of daggers against each other, creating a metallic clang. Stepping over the bodies lying on the ground, he walked toward Hong Jiaozhu.

    "Humph!" Hong Jiaozhu snorted, "Maybe not!" Reaching out to grab the armrest of the bamboo chair, 'Crack!' he broke the armrest.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy's countenance changed immediately. Withdrawing two steps, he said, "Jiaozhu, such a big cult like Shen Long Jiao is torn to pieces. Who planted the embryo of this calamity, you, Senior, ought to understand by now?"

    "Mmm," Hong Jiaozhu mumbled; suddenly he slipped down from the chair and sat on the floor. The Blue Dragon Envoy was greatly delighted, he rushed forward. Suddenly he cried out, an object, carrying a strong gust of wind, was flying toward his chest. The Blue Dragon Envoy forcefully raised the dagger in his right hand to chop, the object broke into two pieces. Turned out it was the armrest from Hong Jiaozhu's bamboo chair. The force behind this throw was not a small matter at all, as the bamboo piece was cut, the front section did not fall. 'Stab!' it penetrated the Blue Dragon Envoy's chest, breaking five or six of his ribs, and pierced his lung.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy screamed, but suddenly he stopped; the chi in his lung could not flow up, instantly he was muted. He swayed twice, the pair of daggers in his hands fell down, separately landed on the bodies of two teenage boys. These two teenagers' bodies were numb, they could not move, but actually their minds were still clear, and they could still talk. As the daggers pierced their bodies, they cried out in pain.

    Seeing their Jiaozhu displaying his divine prowess by knocking down the Blue Dragon Envoy, several hundred teenage boys and girls cheered together. They saw their Jiaozhu propped himself up with his right hand, struggling to stand up, but before he could straighten up his right leg, his knees turned soft that he fell down again and rolled away several times. Indeed he had fallen into an extremely difficult situation. This way, everybody knew that Jiaozhu was in the same boat as them, he was also being poisoned that his muscle went soft and his flesh paralyzed.

    Normally, the Cult Leader was an extremely dignified person, even in front of the Cult members very seldom did he ever speak more than a sentence, or laugh more than once. This time unexpectedly he had fallen and suffered disgrace, losing the strength of his entire body.

    Several hundred people in the hall were lying on the floor, but there was one person who was still standing. This person was actually very short, but standing among several hundred people lying on the floor, inevitably he looked like a crane in a flock of chicken. This person was none other than Wei Xiaobao. His nose smelled a burst of faint fragrance, but he felt very calm and relaxed, his entire body felt comfortably warm, a strange good feeling that he could not explain.

    Seeing everybody had fallen to the ground without knowing the reason, he was completely baffled. After staring blankly for quite a while, he reached down to pull Fat Toutuo up and asked, "Fat Revered Monk, what happened to everybody?"

    Fat Toutuo was surprised, "You ... you are not poisoned?" he asked.

    "Poisoned?" Wei Xiaobao was equally surprised, "I ... I don't know." He struggled hard to help Fat Toutuo up, but Fat Toutuo did not have any strength left on his legs, he fell back sitting down on the floor.

    Mr. Lu suddenly asked, "Xu Dage, you ... what kind of poison did you use?"

    The Blue Dragon Envoy's body swayed as if he was drunk; supporting himself on a pillar, he coughed incessantly and said, "What a pity, what ... what a pity I failed within sight of success. I ... I am unfit for anything."

    "Is it 'seven-insect tendon softening powder'?" Mr. Lu asked, "Is it 'thousand-li ecstasy fragrance'? Or is it 'Trans ... transforming blood ... decaying bone dust'?" Successively he mentioned the names of three most debilitating poison. When mentioning the name 'transforming blood decaying bone dust', his voice trembled, as if he was extremely terrified.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy's right lung was heavily injured; his coughing was very severe, he was unable to answer. Mr. Lu asked, "How come Wei Gongzi is not poisoned? Ah! I know!" He suddenly remembered something. These two words 'I know' were shouted really loud. He said, "You have applied the 'hundred flowers snake belly's ointment' on your daggers. Brilliant scheme, brilliant scheme. Wei Gongzi, could you please sniff the Blue Dragon Envoy's pair of daggers? See if you smell flower's fragrance on the blades."

    Wei Xiaobao thought, "The blades are poisonous, I am not going to smell them." He said, "I can smell strong fragrance from here."

    Mr. Lu looked delighted; "That's right!" he said, "When this 'hundred flowers snake belly's ointment' came in contact with blood, it will produce a strong fragrance. Actually, it was a certain sect's secret method to refine spices, when ordinary people smell it, they will feel their spirits invigorated, but ... but we live on this Spirit Snake Island, everybody is used to take the 'realgar medicated wine' to dispel the poisonous snakes. As soon as this fragrance came in contact with the 'realgar medicated wine', it will make our muscles and bones weak for twelve shichen [24 hours]. Xu Dage, what a brilliant scheme. This 'hundred flowers snake belly's ointment' is actually forbidden on the island, turns out you have prepared this in secret for a long time. You must have stopped drinking the 'realgar medicated wine' three, four months ago."

    The Blue Dragon Envoy sat down, he happened to sat on two teenagers' bodies. Shaking his head, he said, "Man proposes but God disposes, in the end I still fell under Hong Antong's evil scheme."

    Several teenage boys shouted, "Audacious mad disciple, you dare to randomly call Jiaozhu's holy name."

    The Blue Dragon Envoy stood up slowly. Picking up a long sword, he walked over toward Hong Jiaozhu step by step. "Why can't I say the name Hong Antong?" he said, "Cough, cough ... after I kill this evil thief ... cough, cough ... does it matter if I call his name or not?"

    Several hundred teenage boys and girls called out in alarm. After a while, the Yellow Dragon Envoy's old voice was heard, "Xu Xiongdi, after you kill Hong Antong, everybody will support you as the new Shen Long Jiao's Jiaozhu. Everybody recite quickly: We will obey Xu Jiaozhu's command, absolutely no double-mind!"

    The hall was silent for a moment, and then several dozen people recited, "We will obey Xu Jiaozhu's command, absolutely no double-mind." Some were confident, some appeared rather hesitant, it sounded rather irregular.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy took two steps forward, coughed once, and swayed several times. His injury was very heavy, but struggled with everything he had, because no matter what, he must kill Hong Jiaozhu first.

    Suddenly Madame Hong giggled and said, “Blue Dragon Envoy, you don’t have any strength left, your thighs does not have the least bit of strength, the blood bubbled up in the pit of your stomach, very soon you will lose everything. You are finished. Why don’t you sit down? You are very tired. That’s right, sit down and rest for a while. Put down your sword. In a moment you may sit by my side, let me cure your injury. That’s right, sit down, put down your sword.” The more she spoke, her voice grew gentler and more flirtatious.

    The Blue Dragon Envoy took several more steps, in the end he sat down slowly. ‘Clang!’ the sword in his hand fell down to the floor.

    Seeing the Blue Dragon Envoy did not have any strength to stand up again, the Yellow Dragon Envoy shouted, “Xu Xueting, you, this traitor, are indulging yourself in wishful thinking, damn it, you want to be the Jiaozhu, just scatter your own urine to yourself, this revolting behavior cannot be tolerated.”

    The Scarlet Dragon Envoy Priest Wugen shouted, “Yin Jin, you are such a despicable, shameless lowly person, you see the wind and set the helm, rocking to the east and sway to the west. As soon as the ol’ Taoist can move my hands and feet, the first thing I’ll do will be to slaughter you.”

    The Yellow Dragon Envoy Yin Jin said, “Why are you vicious? I … I …” he wanted to talk back, but saw that swaying and rocking, the Blue Dragon Envoy struggled hard to stand up. Once again the battle’s outcome was undecided[1], thereupon he shut his mouth.

    In the meantime, the eyes of several hundred people in the hall were all fixed on Xu Xueting. In a soft voice Madame Hong said, “Xu Dage, you are very tired, why don’t you sit down? Just look at me, I’ll sing a little song for you. Just take a good rest, later on I will sing a little song for you every day. Tell me if I look beautiful.”

    “Oh, oh,” Xu Xueting repeatedly mumbled, he said, “You … you are very beautiful, but I … I do not dare to look at you too much …” While saying that, he sat down again, and this time he could not stand back up; however, his mind was still as bright as snow, he realized that as long as he could not stand up, he would not be able to kill Jiaozhu. Among these several hundred people, the Cult Leader’s skill was the most profound, surely he would be the first to have the poison in his system driven out, and then every one of the older brethrens would not be fortunate to escape his evil scheme. Thereupon he said, “Mister … Mister Lu, I can’t move, you must think … think … cough, cough … think of a way.”


    [1] Orig. ‘not knowing to whom the deer falls’. See also Chapter 1.

  6. #146
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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 4

    “Wei Gongzi,” Mr. Lu said, “This Jiaozhu is extremely vicious, when the poison in his body is neutralized, he will kill everybody, even you will not escape. Quickly kill Jiaozhu and Madame.”

    Even if he did not say those words, Wei Xiaobao had already understood. Picking up a sword, he slowly walked toward the Cult Leader.

    Mr. Lu added, “This Madame Hong is a fox-spirit, she will completely deceive people, you must not look at her face, don’t look at her eyes.”

    “Yes!” Wei Xiaobao replied. With raised sword he took several steps forward.

    In a soft voice Madame Hong said, “Xiao Xiongdi, tell me, do you think I am beautiful?” Her voice was brimming with overwhelming emotion that can erode the bones. Wei Xiaobao’s heart was moved; he turned his head to look at her.

    Fat Toutuo shouted loudly, “Wicked demon; don’t look at her!” Wei Xiaobao shivered and closed his eyes tight.

    With a tender laugh Madame Hong said, “Xiao Xiongdi, look at me, turn your eyes on me, open your eyes, look, you can see your reflection in my eyes!”

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao opened his eyes, he saw Madame Hong’s graceful eyes and smiling expression; he could not stop his heart from being shaken. Immediately he raised the sword in front of his chest and walked toward Hong Jiaozhu, thinking, “You are such a beautiful woman, I really cannot kill you, but I simply must kill your husband.”

    Suddenly from his left came a sharp and clear voice calling out, “Wei Dage! Don’t kill him!”

    The voice sounded very familiar. Wei Xiaobao’s heart was shaken. He turned toward the voice and saw a young girl wearing red clothes lying on the ground, her eyebrows were elegant her eyes were gorgeous, she was none other than Xiao Junzhu Mu Jianping. Wei Xiaobao was flabbergasted; not in a million years would he expect to see her in this place. As for why she was wearing the Scarlet Dragon Gate’s red uniform, he did not feel surprised at all. Busily he helped her up and asked, “How can you be here?”

    Mu Jianping did not answer his question, she only said, “By all means, you must not kill Jiaozhu.”

    “Have you joined Shen Long Jiao?” Wei Xiaobao asked in surprise, “How … how come?”

    Mu Jianping’s entire body was so soft as if she did not have any bones; leaning against his shoulder, she put her small mouth close to his ear and said in a low voice, “If you kill Jiaozhu and Madame, I will not live. Those old men hate us to the death, they will definitely kill us all the young people.”

    “I am going to ask them not to harm you,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I think they will consent.”

    “No, no!” Mu Jianping anxiously said, “Jiaozhu has given us poison, other people cannot neutralize it.”

    Meeting with her again after a long separation, Wei Xiaobao was actually very happy, much less she was leaning in his bosom, he could smell her soft fragrance, and hear her tender voice in his ear. He found it very difficult to resist her request, plus he thought that the Cult Leader had forced her to take the poison and nobody else could save her; therefore, if he killed the Cult Leader, he would be killing this beautiful young woman in his bosom, which he must never do. It was a very difficult decision to take. He said in a low voice, “If I don’t kill Jiaozhu, after the poison in Jiaozhu’s body is neutralized, he will definitely kill me.” He was holding Mu Jianping in tight embrace, he said those words in her ear.

    Mu Jianping said, “If you saved Jiaozhu and Madame, how could they kill you?”

    Wei Xiaobao thought that she was right, Madame Hong was such a thousand-beauty a hundred-charming woman, no matter what she must not be killed. Before his eyes was an opportunity to set up a great merit, it’s just that inevitably Fat Toutuo, Mr. Lu, Priest Wugen and the others would be killed by the Cult Leader. Priest Wugen was an extremely heroic man, it would be a pity to have him killed. It would be best if he did not kill Jiaozhu and Madame, while saving Fat Toutuo and the others’ lives at the same time. Thereupon he said, “Exactly! Good wife, even if Jiaozhu wanted to kill me, I will definitely save your life.” While saying that, he landed a kiss on her left cheek.

    Mu Jianping was extremely bashful, her face blushed, but her eyes revealed a happy expression as she said in a low voice, “If you set up a great merit, plus you are a young child, how can Jiaozhu kill you?”

    Wei Xiaobao lay Mu Jianping back on the floor; he turned his head and said, “Mr. Lu, Jiaozhu must not be killed, and so is Madame. The inscription on the stone tablet says that Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, their long lives will be the same as the heaven’s; how can I dare to harm their lives? The two Seniors’ magical power is extensive, even if I want to harm them, I cannot harm them to their death.”

    Mr. Lu was greatly anxious; “The inscription is a fake,” he called out, “How can you even take it into consideration? Don’t indulge in flights of fancy, quickly kill those two people, otherwise, everybody will die without a burial site.”

    Wei Xiaobao repeatedly shook his head. “Mr. Lu,” he said, “You must not say such a treason talk. Do you have the antidote? We must neutralize the poison in Jiaozhu and Madame’s bodies.”

    In a soft voice Madame Hong said, “That’s right, Xiao Xiongdi, you indeed have excellent knowledge and experience. The Heaven sent such a young hero like you to descend to the world, actually to assist Jiaozhu. For Shen Long Jiao to have such a young hero like you, it is indeed everyone’s good fortune.”

    She appeared to say those words from the bottom of her heart, it was brimming with amazement and high praise. When Wei Xiaobao heard it, he felt an unspeakable joy and comfort in his heart. He laughed and said, “Madame, I don’t belong to Shen Long Jiao.”

    Madame Hong laughed. “Nothing could be easier than that,” she said, “You can join the Cult right now, I can be your sponsor [orig. person who receive and instruct]. Jiaozhu, this Xiao Xiongdi has set up such a great merit for our Cult, which official position should we assign to him?”

    The Cult Leader said, “The White Dragon Gate’s Zhangmenshi Zhong Zhiling has been executed for apostasy, we can promote this young man as the White Dragon Envoy.”

    “That’s great!” Madame Hong said with a laugh, “Xiao Xiongdi, our Cult is headed by Jiaozhu, under him are Blue, Yellow, Scarlet, White and Black, five dragon envoys. To have someone like you, who as soon as you join the Cult immediately becomes one of the five dragon envoys, it is indeed unprecedented, indicating that that Jiaozhu has a very high opinion of you. Xiao Xiongdi, you are surnamed Wei, that much we know. But what is your great name?"

    "My name is Wei Xiaobao," Wei Xiaobao replied, "In Jianghu, people call me the Little White Dragon." He recalled Mao Shiba had fabricated a nickname for him with the thought that if he did not have any nickname, it would not be impressive enough. Who could have thought that the nickname agreed with what had happened today as if by prior consultation?

    "You see, you see!" Madame Hong happily said, "This is the Heaven's plan, otherwise, how can there be such coincidence? Jiaozhu's golden mouth has spoken, definitely he won't renege."

    Mr. Lu was greatly anxious, "Wei Gongzi," he said, "Don't fall into their trick. Even if you become the White Dragon Envoy, if they don't like you and want to kill you, won't it be as easy as turning their hand over? The White Dragon Envoy Zhong Zhiling was the example right in front of our eyes. Quickly kill Jiaozhu and Madame, everybody will support you as the new Jiaozhu of Shen Long Jiao."

    As soon as he said that, everybody was startled. Fat Toutuo, Xu Xueting, Priest Wugen and the others all felt that this idea was extremely unthinkable. But then they had a second thought: if they did not support him to be the new Cult Leader, currently there was no position in the Cult higher than the White Dragon Envoy position. The situation before their eyes was very urgent, the lives of everybody present were hanging on his hand. Only by doing this they would be able to tempt him to kill Jiaozhu and Madame. As soon as the crisis was over, even if they really promote him to become the Cult Leader, he would not escape from everybody's grasp. Thereupon everybody chorused, "Right, right, we will support Wei Gongzi as the Shen Long Jiao's Jiaozhu; everybody will be loyal and devoted to you."

    Wei Xiaobao's heart was moved, he cast a sidelong glance toward Madame Hong. She was half sitting half lying on the bamboo chair, as if her entire body was devoid of any bones. Her chest was heaving up and down slightly, her cheeks blushed, her eyes glistened. He mused, "There's nothing fun being the Jiaozhu, but this Madame Jiaozhu is extremely pretty. If I become the Jiaozhu, will you or won't you still become the Madame Jiaozhu?"

    But this thought only flashed through in his mind, immediately he cleared his head, "Each of these people has superior martial art skill, as soon as the poison in their bodies is neutralized, how can I deal with them? It will be 'pulling the plank after crossing the bridge'." As for the matter of 'pulling the plank after crossing the bridge', he had had personal experience with the Tian Di Hui's Green Wood Hall. But Tian Di Hui brethrens were heroes and warrior, after crossing the bridge, they did not pull the plank in a hurry. These Shen Long Jiao fellows, on the other hand, how could they not pull the plank in a hurry? Worse yet, how could they not do it in great delight? Although Madame Jiaozhu was pretty, when all is said and done, his own life was prettier.

    Thereupon he stuck out his tongue and said with a laugh, "I don't want to be the Jiaozhu, by saying that, you are not bringing good fortune to me. Besides, it is treason and heresy. How about this: Jiaozhu, Madame, and everybody here better be reconciled. I want both sides to disregard what had happened today. Mr. Lu, Blue Dragon Envoy and the others have offended Jiaozhu, I am asking Jiaozhu to be magnanimous and disregard their crime. Mr. Lu, take the antidote out, after everybody is cured, won't it be good that we are all friendly toward each other?"

    Without waiting for Mr. Lu to open his mouth, Hong Jiaozhu immediately said, "Very well, let's do it. The White Dragon Envoy is urging us to work together, to let bygones be bygones; I accept the auspicious loyal advice. The matter of everybody rebelled against the authority today, I am willing to forgive and will no longer look into it."

    Wei Xiaobao happily said, "Blue Dragon Envoy, Jiaozhu has agreed, don't you agree that this is wonderful?"

    Realizing that Wei Xiaobao was unwilling to kill the Cult Leader no matter what, Mr. Lu heaved a deep sigh and said, "If that's the case, Jiaozhu, Madame, would you two please make an oath."

    Madame Hong said, "I, Su Quan, will not look into today's matter. If I go against this oath, let me fall into the Dragon Pool, and be devoured by ten thousand snakes."

    In a low and deep voice Hong Jiaozhu said, "If in the future I, Shen Long Jiao Jiaozhu Hong Antong, ever settle the account with old xiongdi over what had happened today, let the Ol' Hong fall into the Dragon Pool and be devoured by ten thousand snakes, so that even my bones will not survive."

    'Fall into the Dragon Pool and be devoured by ten thousand snakes' was Shen Long Jiao’s heaviest punishment. Jiaozhu and Madame swore this heavy oath, although they were under pressure, they simply could not retract what they had said.

    “Blue Dragon Envoy, what do you think?” Mr. Lu asked.

    Xu Xueting was at his last gasp, he said, “I … I won’t live anyway.”

    “Priest Wugen, what do you think?” Mr. Lu asked again.

    In a loud voice Priest Wugen said, “Let it be so. Hong Jiaozhu was originally our old xiongdi, his literary and martial art skills are ten times better than everybody else. We all originally supported him without half-heartedness. Ever since he took this Madame as his wife, his character underwent huge changes; he only loved to promote young boys and girls and had us, the old xiongdi massacred one by one. The Blue Dragon Envoy was the first to rise in revolt, but he was only striving to survive, without any other motive. Since Jiaozhu and Madame have sworn an oath publicly not to look into today’s matter, no longer recklessly murder old xiongdi, why would we want to rebel against him? Besides, Shen Long Jiao cannot exist without this Jiaozhu.”

    A group of teenage boys and girls shouted loudly, “Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life will be the same as the heaven's.”

    “Wei Gongzi,” Mr. Lu said, “You have not taken ‘realgar medicated wine’, therefore, you were not poisoned by … and thus have set up the great merit of today. It was the mystery of the underworld, the Will of Heaven. To neutralize the poison, it is very easy. Go outside and scoop up some cold water, bring it here and have everybody here drink some.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Turns out this poison is very easy to neutralize.” He went out the hall, but could not find any cold water. Circling around the hall, he saw a row of twenty stone jars, seven of them were brimming with clear water. Actually, the water was to guard against the bamboo hall catching fire. Immediately he filled a bucket full with water and returned to the main hall. He scooped some water and had the Cult Leader drink it first. Next he gave Madame Hong some water. The third scoop was for Priest Wugen; he said, “Daozhang [priest], you are a hero and a warrior.” The fourth, the fifth were for Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu. The sixth was for Mu Jianping.

    After drinking the water, they all threw up, and then slowly regained the strength of their hands and feet. After Wei Xiaobao fed several more people, Mr. Lu was already able to stand up and walk, immediately he attended the Blue Dragon Envoy Xu Xueting’s injury, trying to stop his bleeding. Fat Toutuo and the others also took cold water to help the brethrens closest to them. Very soon Mu Jianping was able to help several teenage girls wearing red clothes.

    The hall reeked with vomit, the stench was unbearable.

    Madame Hong said, “Everybody, go back and rest, we will assemble again tomorrow.”

    Hong Jiaozhu said, “I have decided to let bygones be bygones, all xiongdi are partners, you cannot, because of what happened today, strife against each other to carry out a vendetta against our brother. Those who disobey will be severely punished. The youngster of Five Dragon Gates must not be disrespectful against the Zhangmenshi. In the same way, the Zhangmenshi must not find any excuse to punish the young members of our Gates.”

    Everyone received the order with one voice, but they were still suspicious and jealous, after all, it was very difficult to drive anxiety away.

    “White Dragon Envoy,” Madame Hong said in a soft voice, “Come with me.”

    Wei Xiaobao still did not know that she was calling him, only after seeing her beckoning to him did he realize that he had become the Divine Dragon Cult's White Dragon Envoy; thereupon he followed her.

    The Cult Leader and Madame walked side-by-side out of the main hall. Everybody who could move bowed to salute, while shouting with a loud voice, “Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life will be the same as the heaven's!”

    Following a path laid with dark green flagstones the Cult Leader and Madame left the building and walk to the left. After passing through a sizeable bamboo groove, they arrived at an elevated level ground, where several large bamboo structures were built. A dozen or so teenage boys and girls wearing five different color clothes were on guard duty around the buildings with unsheathed swords in their hands. Seeing the Cult Leader, they all bowed to salute. Madame Hong led Wei Xiaobao into a bamboo building and said to a youngster wearing white clothes, "This is Wei Gongzi, the newly-appointed Zhangmenshi of your White Dragon Gate. Take him to the eastern wing to rest, all of you must serve him well." Finished speaking, she flashed a smile toward Wei Xiaobao and entered the inner hall.

    Several teenagers in white clothes presented themselves to Wei Xiaobao and said, "Young subordinates pay their respect to the Envoy."

    In the Palace, Wei Xiaobao was accustomed to be a chief of the court eunuchs; in Tian Di Hui, he was accustomed to be a Xiangzhu, he did not care in the least bit that people were treating him deferentially; he simply nodded. Several teenagers in white clothes took him to the eastern wing and offered to serve him tea. Although it was only a wing, the room was very spacious; the furnishings were elegant and pure, with gold and jade antiques spread all over the table. Several rolls of calligraphy and paintings were hung on the wall, the bedding on the bed was magnificent, unexpectedly it had a little bit of the Imperial Palace's style.

  7. #147
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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 5

    Those several teenagers in white clothes noticed that it was evident from Madame Hong's speech and expression that she held this Wei Xiaobao in such a high regard, moreover, there had never been any outsider who spent the night in the Cult Leader's 'Immortal Good Fortune Residence'. By enjoying special privilege like this, clearly the White Dragon Envoy's status was above the other four envoys. These youngsters had been on guard duty in here for a while, they did not know about the incident that had just happened in the main hall, but seeing Wei Xiaobao was in such an honored position and was in the Cult Leader's good grace, they all did everything they could to please him.

    That same afternoon Wei Xiaobao asked those several teenagers in white clothes about all kinds of customs of the Five Dragon Gates. Turned out the Divine Dragon Cult was divided into five gates, each gate envoy commanded several dozen of old xiongdi, a hundred teenagers, and several hundred ordinary Cult members. Each Zhangmenshi was originally a veteran martial art expert who had established great service to the Cult. But recently the Cult Leader had thrown his full support to promote some rising stars, often people in their twenties, to hold important positions second only to the Zhangmenshi. Although Wei Xiaobao was very young, nobody showed the least bit of surprise.

    The next morning, Hong Jiaozhu and Madame Hong called for another assembly in the main hall. There was anxiety and uneasy expression on everybody's face. Although the Cult Leader had sworn an oath not to pursue this matter, he was known as extremely shrewd, nobody could guess what kind of formidable method he would use to deal with them.

    The Cult Leader and Madame sat on their thrones. Wei Xiaobao was fourth among the Five Dragon Envoys, he ranked above Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu. "How is the Blue Dragon Envoy's injury?" the Cult Leader asked.

    Mr. Lu bowed and said, "Reporting to Jiaozhu: the Blue Dragon Envoy's injury is not light, whether his life can be saved or not, at the present it is still very difficult to say."

    The Cult Leader took a deep red small porcelain bottle from his bosom and said, "Here are three 'King of Heaven's Life-saving Pills', give them to him." While saying that, without anybody seeing him raising his hand, the porcelain bottle flew slowly toward Mr. Lu.

    Hastily Mr. Lu reached out to receive it. Lying prostrate on the floor, he said, "Thank you Jiaozhu for your great graciousness." He knew these 'King of Heaven's Life-saving Pills' to be very rare. The Cult Leader had to dispatch his subordinates to gather countless rare drug ingredients and had to refine it before making the pills. Among the ingredients were three-hundred-year old Laoshan [lit. old mountain] ginseng, white bear's gall, snow lotus herb and other especially hard-to-come-by substances. The Cult Leader had spent considerable effort to manufacture the pills, but he managed to produce only around ten pills. With these three miracle cure pills, Xu Xueting's life would definitely be out of danger.

    The rest of the old xiongdi also bowed to express their gratitude; they all thought, "The Blue Dragon Envoy has offended Jiaozhu really bad yesterday by determining to take his life, yet today Jiaozhu bestowed the treasured medicine instead. He has let bygones be bygones indeed." No one did not feel gratified. At first everybody in the hall was in high alert, but now their faces showed smiling expression. Quite a few of them let out a deep breath.

    Madame Hong said with a laugh, "White Dragon Envoy, I heard that on Mount Wutai you saw a stone tablet, on which some writings in tadpole script were engraved?"

    Wei Xiaobao bowed and said, "Yes!"

    Fat Toutuo said, "Reporting to Jiaozhu and Madame: subordinate has made a rubbing of the writings and I have it in here." From his bosom he took out a roll of oil paper and opened it, showing a large sheet of rubbings from the tablet, which he then hung on the eastern wall. The sheet had a black background with white characters, the writings looked extremely strange, nobody recognize the characters.

    Madame Hong said, "White Dragon Envoy, if you know these characters, please read it for everybody here."

    "Yes," Wei Xiaobao replied. With eyes fixed on the rubbing, he loudly recited the writings made by Mr. Lu: "In the tenth month of the Zhen Guan’s second year Jiazi of the Great Tang ..." Slowly he continued reciting from memory. Occasionally he would forget, so he said, "Um, what character is that? It's difficult to recognize. Ah right, must be a 'mo' [devil] character."

    When reciting the part that said 'He will enjoy immortal happiness forever, universal evil spirit will venerate him. His long life will be the same as the Heaven’s, a kind sage of both pen and sword', he changed it to 'He, together with Madame, will enjoy immortal happiness forever, universal evil spirit will venerate them. Their long life will be the same as the Heaven’s, kind sages of both pen and sword.'

    In all honesty, this four-character phrase 'together with Madame' [lian tong fu ren] was rather vulgar; if it was composed by Mr. Lu, he would definitely pick a more elegant wording. But Wei Xiaobao did not have any literary skill, how could he produce any elegant phrase? It was already remarkable that he did not change a four-character sentence into a five-character one.

    When Madame Hong heard this phrase, 'her brows raised in delight, her eyes laughing' as she said, "Jiaozhu, there is indeed a reference on me in the writings of the stone tablet, the White Dragon Envoy did not carelessly make it up."

    Hong Jiaozhu was also very happy; he nodded and said with a laugh, "Good, good! We are fulfilling the Heaven's destiny; the founding of this Shen Long Jiao was actually foretold by the Heaven during the Zhen Guan year of the Great Tang."

    The cult members in the hall shouted together, “Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life will be the same as the heaven's.”

    Priest Wugen and the other old xiongdi were also amazed, they thought, "Jiaozhu and Madame are fulfilling the Heaven's destiny, we must not offend them."

    Finally Wei Xiaobao recited the locations of the eight copies of the 'Forty-two-chapter Sutra'. Madame Hong gasped and said, "When virtuous ruler arose, it is to the benefit of the common people. No doubt the Heaven has arranged it early on, even a man like Wu Sangui is already mentioned in the Heaven's will. Jiaozhu, these eight copies of treasured sutra belong to our Cult, sooner or later they will be acquired for our Shen Long Jiao.”

    The Cult Leader twisted his beard and said with a smile, "Madame is right."

    The people yelled again, "Jiaozhu's long life will be the same as the heaven's, Jiaozhu's long life will be the same as the heaven's!”

    When the shouting subsided, Hong Jiaozhu said, "Now, let us open the Incense Hall to inaugurate Wei Xiaobao as our Cult's White Dragon Gate's Zhangmenshi."

    The opening of the incense hall of Shen Long Jiao was completely different from Tian Di Hui. Wei Xiaobao saw five golden trays on the incense table, each tray had a small snake on it, altogether there were blue, yellow, scarlet, white and black snakes. These five little snakes raised their heads, flicking their tongues in and out, but their bodies were motionless.

    After doing obeisance toward these five 'divine dragons', Wei Xiaobao kowtowed in front of the Cult Leader and Madame, and accepted Priest Wugen and the others' congratulations. Madame Hong poured three cups of realgar wine and had him drink it. She said with a laugh, "After drinking this wine, the divine dragons on this island will know that you are one of our own, hereafter they will not come to bite you." The Cult Leader bestowed him a strand of realgar bead, telling him to hang it next to his skin, so that a hundred poisons would not harm him. Next, the elders and young men of the White Dragon Gate came to pay their respect to their new Zhangmenshi.

    The Cult Leader ordered, "Because the Blue Dragon Gate Zhangmenshi is recuperating from his illness, and Fat Toutuo has set up a merit by making the rubbing of the stone tablet, Fat Toutuo will temporarily handle the Blue Dragon Gate's business. When the Blue Dragon Envoy recovers, he will take over again." Fat Toutuo bowed to accept the order. The Cult Leader continued, "Five Dragon Envoys and Lu Gaoxuan, six people, come to the rear hall to discuss official business."

    Immediately the Cult Leader and Madame rose from their seats and walked toward the rear hall, while everybody shouted loudly to see them off. Priest Wugen, Wei Xiaobao, Fat Toutuo, Mr. Lu and the others followed behind them. It was only then that Wei Xiaobao knew that Mr. Lu's name was Lu Gaoxuan.

    The rear hall was located right behind the main hall. It was not big, with two large bamboo chairs inside, where he Cult Leader and Madame sit. Below the chairs there were five low stools. The three Zhangmenshi sat down. Fat Toutuo also sat down. He said, "White Dragon Envoy, please sit down."

    Seeing Mr. Lu did not have a seat, Wei Xiaobao hesitated a little bit. Mr. Lu smiled and said, "White Dragon Envoy, please sit down. There is no seat for a Cult member without any obligations like me in the 'Hidden Dragon Hall'."

    Wei Xiaobao expected it was indeed the custom; if Fat Toutuo was not acting on behalf of the Blue Dragon Envoy, he would not have any seat either, thereupon he sat down. Mr. Lu stood up next to the Black Dragon Envoy, a position below him.

    Suddenly Yin Jin and the others, four people, stood up. Wei Xiaobao did not understand what was going on, he also stood up. He heard Yin Jin, Mr. Lu and the others, five people, were reciting, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching ..." Wei Xiaobao immediately followed, "... always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable!” He still had a child's high-pitched voice, so compared to the five people's voices, his sounded somewhat louder. Only after Hong Jiaozhu nodded did the five people sit down.

    Hong Jiaozhu said, "The writings on the stone tablet reveal that there are eight copies of 'Forty-two-chapter Sutra' scattered around the four directions, yet the Black Dragon Envoy reported that four copies are actually in the Imperial Palace; what's the story?"

    The Black Dragon Envoy said, "It may be assumed that these four books were originally from Shaolin Temple, Mu Palace and so on, which, afterwards, were seized away by the Tatars and brought into the Palace." The Cult Leader hesitated for a moment and did not say anything; the fear on the Black Dragon Envoy's face grew more intense.

    Hong Jiaozhu turned toward Fat Toutuo and asked, "Has your Shixiong sent any news back?"

    Fat Toutuo respectfully said, "Reporting to Jiaozhu: Thin Toutuo once said that at the Banner Commander of Bordered Blue Banner's mansion he had found a little bit of clue, but afterwards he lost track of it."

    Wei Xiaobao's heart was moved, "The Banner Commander of Bordered Blue Banner's mansion?" he mused, "Isn't that the place where Tao Gugu's Shifu went? Turns out Fat Toutuo have a shixiong, who is called Thin Toutuo."

    He heard Hong Jiaozhu said, "Tell him that I order him to finish up his investigation as soon as possible, he must not be negligent." Fat Toutuo repeatedly complied.

    After a while, Madame Hong smiled and said, "The Black Dragon Envoy has sent people into the Palace to fetch the sutra. According to his own explanation, he had spared no effort, but so far he had not succeeded in obtaining even one copy. Perhaps we ought to send someone else whose luck is a lot better to handle this matter."

    The Yellow Dragon Envoy Yin Jin hastily said, "Madame has a wise opinion. Learning from experience, fetching the sutra is a matter of luck, with enormous responsibility. It's not that the Black Dragon Envoy did not try hard and did not want to perform a meritorious deed for Jiaozhu, it's just that from the beginning there are obstacles one after another. Most likely it is because his luck is inadequate, thereupon the treasured sutra cannot be obtained."

    Madame Hong smiled and said, "In your opinion, whose luck is adequate?"

    Yin Jin said, "The one with most luck in our Cult is naturally Jiaozhu, the Senior, himself; next in line would be Madame. However, we must not toil your two honorable selves to go into action personally. The next person with great fortune would be the White Dragon Envoy. He knows the inscriptions on the stone tablet, he has also established a great service. There is a faint red glow at the center of his forehead, a sign that his luck is very big, there is no one among Jiaozhu's subordinate can surpass him."

    The Cult Leader twisted his beard and said with a smile, "But he is a small child, can he handle this great matter?"

    Although the White Dragon Envoy was a senior position within the Divine Dragon Cult, in Wei Xiaobao’s heart it did not mean anything. Since he was stuck on the Island, he was forced to take whatever comes his way. He had extreme satisfaction in looking at Madame Hong’s ‘bashful flower obstructing the moon’ beauty, but if he looked at her too much, Jiaozhu would detect his lecherous look, then it would be difficult for him to escape death. In short, it would be best if he could return to Beijing as soon as possible. Hearing Jiaozhu’s words, he found the perfect opportunity to free himself; thereupon he said, “Jiaozhu, Madame, I am indebted of your promotion; subordinate is very grateful. I do not have any ability, but relying on the good fortune of the two of you, I have the hope that I can succeed in sneaking into the Palace and steal the four copies of the treasured sutra.”

    Hong Jiaozhu nodded. Madame Hong happily said, “You are willing to volunteer, showing that you are loyal to Jiaozhu. I know you are smart and witty, plus have great good fortune. Perhaps you are precisely the person sent by the Heaven to complete this important matter for Jiaozhu.”

    Hong Jiaozhu slowly said, “According to the Black Dragon Envoy’s report, the people he sent to the Palace have sent information that the young Emperor has a little eunuch under his command by the name of Xiao Guizi …”

    Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “My trickery is exposed! I am in big trouble,” he mused. He heard the Cult Leader continued, “… the young Emperor sent him to Mount Wutai, the intention is not favorable to our Cult. We sent several people in succession to question him. Zhang Laosan could not find him, Fat Toutuo also failed, unexpectedly Xiao Guizi cannot be found, but we found you instead.”

    As the Cult Leader took a short pause, Yin Jin said, “Indeed that is Jiaozhu’s flood of good fortune fills the heavens!”

    Hong Jiaozhu slightly nodded his head toward him and continued, “White Dragon Envoy, as soon as you get to the Palace, you must immediately investigate this Xiao Guizi’s matter: what scheme did the Emperor have of sending him to Mount Wutai?”

    Wei Xiaobao was so scared that his entire body was drenched in cold sweat. “Yes, yes,” he busily said. But he was relieved that from the Cult Leader’s tone, he would definitely be sent to the Imperial Palace. Cast a glance toward Fat Toutuo, he mused, “You did not reveal my secret, I consider you a good person.”

    Madame Hong said, “It is said that those eight copies of 'Forty-two-chapter Sutra' hide a big secret to build up strength and maintain, as well as, prolong life. Seeing that since our Jiaozhu has received the Heaven’s blessing to enjoy immortal good fortune forever and life as long as the heaven’s, sooner or later these eight sutras will fall into Jiaozhu’s hands. White Dragon Envoy, go and set up a great merit for Jiaozhu, bring those eight sutras back, Jiaozhu will definitely bestow you with rewards.”

    Wei Xiaobao stood up, he bowed and said, “Even if subordinate’s body is torn and my bones crushed, it is still difficult to repay Jiaozhu and Madame’s great kindness. I will be utterly loyal serving the country and die in battle.” He learned these eight characters ‘utterly loyal serving the country and die in battle’ [jin zhong bao guo, ma ge guo shi] from the storyteller; whenever a general was going into battle, the sovereign king would encourage him, and then the great general would fervently utter these eight characters. He blindly imitated the words, although being used here it was a bit too much and a little nondescript.

    Madame Hong laughed and said, “You vow loyalty and devotion to Jiaozhu, that’s very good. You go to Beijing, you may choose several people to help you as you wish.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “Since I am running away, if the Cult people follow, they will only tie my hands and tie my feet.” Thereupon he said, “I am afraid with too many people our secret will be revealed. Ah, right, subordinate wants to select one or two young girls under the Scarlet Dragon Envoy, they can be disguised as palace maid; handling affairs in the Palace will be more convenient.” He was thinking about Mu Jianping, he must take her away.

    Priest Wugen said, “I am afraid those little misses are useless, but as long as Jiaozhu and Madame approve, you may choose as you wish.”

  8. #148
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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 6

    “Thank you Daozhang,” Wei Xiaobao said.

    Lu Gaoxuan said, “Reporting to Jiaozhu, Madame: subordinate has committed grave offense yesterday, I am very grateful of Jiaozhu’s graciousness in not killing me …”

    Hong Jiaozhu waved his hand and said with knitted brows, “The matter of yesterday, everybody must not remember in his heart, from now on nobody is allowed to raise it again.”

    “Yes,” Lu Gaoxuan said, “Thank you very much Jiaozhu. Subordinate is thinking of accompanying the White Dragon Envoy. With Jiaozhu and Madame’s great fortune, perhaps I will be able to set up some merit for Jiaozhu, to show a little of subordinate’s sincere appreciation.”

    Hong Jiaozhu nodded his head and said, “Lu Gaoxuan is extremely resourceful, his martial art skill is superior, his penmanship is even more proficient, the literary works he made was well organized. Very good, very good, you may go with the White Dragon Envoy.”

    Lu Gaoxuan considered carefully, “He said the literary works I made was well organized, could it be that about my fabrication of the writings on the stone tablet, in his heart he has already known it well?”

    Fat Toutuo said, “Reporting to Jiaozhu, Madame: subordinate also wishes to accompany the White Dragon Envoy to Beijing to handle this matter for Jiaozhu.”

    The Cult Leader nodded; seeing that the Yellow Dragon Envoy was about to volunteer too, he said, “Too many people already, I am afraid the mission will be compromised. Only the two of you will accompany. In everything, you must follow the White Dragon Envoy’s order, you must not disobey.”

    Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo bowed and said, “Subordinate will do as you bid.”

    From her bosom Madame Hong took out a small multi-colored dragon, it was molded from ‘blue copper’ [i.e. bronze], yellow gold, scarlet copper, white silver, and black iron. “White Dragon Envoy,” she said, “This is Jiaozhu’s Five-Dragon Command, I am handing it over to you for the time being. When the several tens of thousands Cult members see this Command, it is the same as they see Jiaozhu in person. In handling this important matter, the life-and-death power is being handed over to you. After rendering the meritorious service, you must return the Command.”

    “Yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, with both hands he respectfully received it, while in his heart he mused, “I just want to return to Beijing, and forget about his Divine Dragon Cult or Vicious Tiger Cult. By taking this so-called Five-Dragon Command, from now on I will have more trouble.”

    Madame Hong said, “White Dragon Envoy, Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo, three people stay, the rest of you are dismissed.”

    Priest Wugen and the Black Dragon Envoy, Yellow Dragon Envoy, three people saluted and withdrew.

    Hong Jiaozhu took out a black porcelain bottle from his pocket and poured three vermillion red pills out. He said, “I commend you that using extreme force of will, the three of you will go to Beijing on a mission, hence I bestow each one of you with a ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’.”

    Immediately on Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan’s faces appeared a delight mixed with dread. Bending their right knees, they expressed their gratitude, received the pills, and swallowed it. Wei Xiaobao blindly imitated them, he received the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ and immediately swallowed it. Shortly afterward, he felt a burst of warm chi rising up in his stomach, following the blood flow, dispersing slowly into his four limbs and hundred bones of his body; it was unspeakably comfortable.

    Madame Hong said, “White Dragon Envoy may stay, the rest of you are dismissed.” Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan, two people withdrew.

    Madame Hong smiled and said, “White Dragon Envoy, what kind of weapon do you use?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Subordinate’s martial art skill is shallow and minuscule, and have not studied any weapon. I only have a dagger to protect myself.”

    “Let me look at it,” Madame Hong said.

    Wei Xiaobao pulled the dagger from his boot, turned the hilt around and presented it with both hands. Madame Hong took it. After examining it, she praised, “Good dagger!” Pulling a strand of her hair, she let it go. The hair slowly dropped on the edge of the blade, and was cut into two. “Good!” the Cult Leader also praised.

    In term of personal character, Wei Xiaobao did not have any strong points, but he had always regarded wealth and worldly possessions extremely lightly; seeing Madame Hong was very delighted with the dagger, he thought that if he wanted to flatter her, he would have to go all out. He said, “Subordinate presents this dagger to Madame. The common saying says it well: rouge and treasured sword must … must be presented to beautiful woman. Among the beautiful women in the world, no one is more beautiful than Madame.” He had heard the storyteller said it many times, ‘the treasured sword must be presented to the martyr, the red powder must be presented to beautiful woman.’ But these two phrases were simply too difficult, he could not remember everything clearly.

    Madame Hong giggled tenderly and said, “Good child, you are loyal to us; you are not simply making empty promises. I don’t have anything good to give you, how can I take a child’s belonging? Let me accept your good intention with gratitude. Come, I am going to teach you three self-defense and life-saving styles, it is called the ‘Beauties' Three Moves’. I want you to learn it by heart.”

    She stepped down from her seat, took out a handkerchief, and tied the dagger to the outside of her right calf. “Jiaozhu,” she said with a laugh, “I will have to toil your honorable self to help me demonstrate this martial art style.”

    With a chuckle Hong Jiaozhu strolled over. Suddenly he reached out with his left hand and grabbed the back of Madame’s neck, and lifted her up in the air. “Ah!” it happened so fast, Wei Xiaobao was so shocked that he cried out.

    Madame Hong bent her body slightly, she twisted her slender waist, and kicked backward with her left leg toward the Cult Leader’s lower abdomen. The Cult Leader pulled back to evade. Madame Hong seized the opportunity to turn around and wrapped her left arm around Jiaozhu’s neck. Unexpectedly her right hand grabbed the dagger and stabbed it against the middle of Jiaozhu’s back. “This is the first move,” she said with a laugh, “It’s called ‘the imperial concubine’s retrospect’. Remember this.”

    The move was very neat and agile, Wei Xiaobao watched with ‘heart untroubled, spirit pleased’. “Wonderful!” he cheered loudly, while thinking, “When Fat Toutuo grabbed me and lifted me up the other day, I did not have the least bit of technique. If I had learned this move early on, I would have stabbed him to death.”

    The Cult Leader gently laid Madame Hong on the ground. Madame Hong tied the dagger back on the outside of her calf and lay facing down on the floor. Jiaozhu stretched out his right foot to step on her lower back. Pretending he was holding a knife in his hand, he placed his hand behind her neck and said with a laugh, “Do you surrender?”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “In this situation, what can I do? Naturally I would call out loudly ‘Surrender’.”

    Suddenly he saw Madame pulled her head toward her own chest, naturally the enemy’s knife threatening her neck fell into empty air. Seizing this opportunity, she rolled on the ground and drilled through under Jiaozhu’s crotch. Grabbing the dagger with her right hand, once again she punched the middle of Jiaozhu’s back, only the sharp point of the dagger was facing up. If it were real enemy, this dagger would naturally pierce the enemy’s back.

    Wei Xiaobao loudly cheered again, “Good!”

    Jiaozhu waited for her to tie the dagger again before pulling both of her hands behind her back. With his left hand he held both of her wrists; pretending to hold a weapon in his right hand, he placed the weapon on her soft, white neck, while saying with a laugh, “This time you can’t run away.”

    Madame also laughed and said, “Watch carefully!” Her right foot kicked forward lightly, a white light flashed, the dagger had already cut off the handkerchief tying it to her calf and flew away. She hooked with her right foot and nudged the hilt of the dagger. The dagger shot swiftly back toward her throat.

    “Careful!” Wei Xiaobao cried out in fear. He saw she shrank her body down, the dagger shot swiftly toward the Cult Leader’s chest. The Cult Leader let her hands go and threw his body back with face up in the ‘iron panel bridge’ stance. ‘Pop!’ the dagger flitted across his chest and penetrated the bamboo wall behind him, straight up to the hilt.

    When Madame Hong hooked with her foot and kicked the dagger, Wei Xiaobao had already jumped in fright. When he saw the dagger was flying toward her throat, she appeared not be able to evade, but then the dagger flew toward the pit of Jiaozhu’s stomach; this time he was sure the dagger would hit him, but unexpectedly Jiaozhu was able to dodge. These turns of events were extremely dangerous that just by watching from the side, Wei Xiaobao was stunned with ‘heart alarmed, trembling in fear’, and the word ‘Good’ that was already in his throat could not get out.

    Madame Hong laughed. “What do you think?” she asked.

    Wei Xiaobao reached out to grab the back of a chair as if he was about to fall. “It scared me to death,” he said.

    Hong Jiaozhu, Hong Antong, and Madame saw his paled countenance, indicating he was terribly frightened. Hearing his words, they were more delighted than listening to one thousand, ten thousand words of praise. These two people had superior martial art skill, just another word of praise from a little child was not enough to make them happier, but seeing he was so concerned, they knew he was truly loyal to them. Madame Hong asked a rhetorical question, “The dagger was not shot toward you, what are you scared of?”

    “I was afraid … I was afraid it would hurt Madame and … and Jiaozhu,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

    Madame Hong laughed. “Silly kid,” she said, “How could it easily hurt Jiaozhu? This move is called ‘the flying swallow circle around overhead’. It is not very easy to practice. Jiaozhu’s divine skill is unrivalled, even if he did not know it beforehand, this move won’t hurt him. But in the world, other than him, I am afraid the number of people who are able to dodge this surprise strike is not too many.”

    Immediately she explained in details the technique to practice the ‘Beauties' Three Moves’. Although the style only had three moves, all four limbs of the body were heavily involved; she taught him how to pull the dagger, how to pull down the head, the speed, the position, the force, as well as the accuracy of the movements, must be just perfect.

    The second move, where she lay on the ground, was called the ‘Xiao Lian [lit. little pity] lies in disarray’. Madame Hong explained, “This ‘Beauties' Three Moves’ uses the names of the beauties of the ancient times. If it was practiced by a man, unavoidably it would be rather indecent; luckily you are only a child, so it’s not a big deal.”

    Wei Xiaobao learned every move and every style, while Madame Hong patiently and carefully correcting his mistakes. After teaching him for more than two hours she finally considered it enough. But she insisted that Wei Xiaobao must be able to use it perfectly, he must train hard for a long time, especially the third move ‘the flying swallow circle around overhead’; a slight mistake, he would have killed himself. Madame Hong instructed him to make a blunt dagger made of lead, the size and the weight must be the same as his dagger, to be used during practice.

    In front of the Cult members, usually Hong Antong was very serious in maintaining his dignity, he would not casually speak or laugh; but this time, as he accompanied his wife teaching Wei Xiaobao, he kept chuckling while watching from the side, he was surprisingly patient. When Madame finished teaching, he said, "Madame's ‘Beauties' Three Moves’ is indeed formidable, but it is meant to kill. Let me teach you the 'Heroes' Three Moves', with the purpose of subduing the enemy, dead or alive."

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he kneeled down and said, "Thank you Jiaozhu."

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "I have never heard about your 'Heroes' Three Moves'. You are teaching it to your disciple, but you did not teach it to me."

    Hong Antong said with a laugh, "Just now I watched your ‘Beauties' Three Moves’ and came up with it, I don't know whether it will work. I want you to give me directions."

    Madame Hong cast him a sidelong glance. "Aiyo," she said with an enchanting smile, "Our Great Jiaozhu is teasing me."

    Hong Antong said, "From the beginning heroes can never pass the barrier of beauties. It's only natural that 'Heroes' Three Moves' cannot surpass ‘Beauties' Three Moves’."

    Madame Hong burst into another enchanting laughter. "In front of a child, you still say this kind of talk?" she said in a tender voice.

    Hong Antong realized he had somewhat forgotten his manners. He coughed and with a solemn expression said, "The White Dragon Envoy is young, when he fight, it will be easy for the enemy to grab the back of his neck and lift him up. Madame, let's pretend I am the White Dragon Envoy."

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "You must promise not to hurt me."

    "Naturally," Hong Antong replied.

    Madame Hong stretched out her left hand to grab him and lift him up. Hong Antong was tall and powerfully built, perhaps he weighed around a hundred and seventy or eighty catties. Madame Hong looked frail and timid, unexpectedly she was able to lift him up seemingly without any effort.

    "Watch carefully!" Hong Antong said. His left hand slowly reached back and scratched below Madame Hong's left armpit. Madame Hong giggled, her body turned soft. Hong Antong's left hand grasped her armpit, his right hand slowly turned back to grab her collar, and then slowly he lifted her up over the top of his own head, and gently flung her away. When Madame Hong's body touched the ground, it slipped away as if she was floating on the water surface. Madame Hong did not stop laughing, when her body stopped moving, she was still lying down on the floor, unable to stand up.

    Just now Hong Antong scratched below her armpit, reached back and grabbed her, and flung her away, each movement was very slow, Wei Xiaobao was able to see everything clearly. He saw his movements were elegant, and unspeakably attractive; although he moved slowly, it was very efficient. The scratch, the grab, and the throw were amazing; compared to Madame Hong's fast and nimble movements, obviously it was several times more difficult.

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "You tickled me. What kind of hero was that?" While saying that, she slowly stood up.

    Hong Antong smiled and said, "It was a genuine hero's movement. Naturally I did not mean to tickle you, but if the White Dragon Envoy was grabbed and lifted up by the enemy, his 'da zhui' [big spine] acupoint must also be caught by the enemy. It is where the three 'yang du' [positive control] arteries of the hands and feet meet, his entire body will devoid of any strength, all he can do is using his finger to lightly scratching the enemy's 'ji quan' [extreme spring] acupoint below his armpit. This acupoint belongs to the hand's 'shao yang' [lesser yang] channel, the enemy will have no choice but to let go. If the White Dragon Envoy has the strength, he could fling the enemy over his head, while at the same time seal the ‘xiao hai’ [little ocean] acupoint behind the enemy’s elbow and 'ji quan' acupoint underneath his armpit, so that when he was thrown to the ground, he won’t be able to move a single step.”

    Wei Xiaobao clapped his hands and said with a laugh, “This move is really amazing.”

    Hong Antong said, “After you practice it well, execute the move the faster the better.” And then he lay on the floor. Madame Hong stretched out her foot to heavily step on his lower back. With her right hand she reached the door bolt leaning against the wall next to the door, and she placed it on his neck. With a sweet and tender voice she laughed and said, “Do you surrender?”

    Hong Antong laughed and said, “I already surrendered long ago! Let me kowtow to you.” He pulled his legs as if he was about to kowtow, but his right arm slowly reached horizontally forward to touch the door bolt. ‘Crack!’ the door bolt unexpectedly broke.

  9. #149
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 7

    Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright. If Hong Antong’s arm moved rapidly, based on his martial art skill, it would not be strange if he could strike the door bolt broken. But he was moving slowly and he only touched the door bolt, yet unexpectedly the door bolt broke; it was indeed beyond his expectation.

    Hong Antong said, “Pull your legs pretending to kowtow, take the opportunity to pull your dagger. Although your hands do not have internal energy like mine, but your dagger is exceptionally sharp, whatever weapon the enemy has, you can cut and break it.” While his mouth was busy explaining, his body suddenly tumbled between Madame Hong’s legs.

    Wei Xiaobao was startled; he thought Hong Antong was a respected Cult Leader, how could he crawl in between a woman’s legs? Although she was his own wife, it would still be improper. To his surprise, however, Hong Antong was not really crawling, he was just striking an attitude, with his left hand he grasped Madame’s right ankle, with his right hand he pretended to strike her lower abdomen, while saying, “With your dagger that can cut iron like mud, even if the enemy has gargantuan guts, he won’t dare to struggle.” Finished speaking, he slowly stood up, bringing Madame Hong along with head down, feet up. Madame Hong laughed and said, "Quickly let me go, what are you doing?"

    Hong Antong laughed aloud, he wrapped his right arm around her waist and let her go. He said, "White Dragon Envoy, you are short, you won't be able to lift the enemy, but you can grab his ankle and pull him. Even if you cannot lift him up, with your dagger on his lower abdomen, the enemy won't have any choice but surrender. And then you can kick the 'shen zang' [divine reservoir], 'shen feng' [divine seal], 'bu lang' [walkway/corridor] acupoints on the pit of his stomach several times, to guard against him retaliating."

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. "Yes, yes!" he said, "I must kick him."

    Hong Antong put his hands behind his back, letting the Madame seize him. Madame Hong picked the half broken door bolt and placed it on his neck. Hong Antong laughed and said, "The enemy is seizing my hands, naturally the main arteries on my wrists are being held, rendering my hands incapable. It's hard to strike back. In this situation, it should have been best to use your leg ..."

    Before he even finished speaking, "Ah!" Madame Hong screamed. She laughed and let her hands go, and then leaped back. With a blushing face she said, "You must not teach a child to use such an obscene move."

    Hong Antong laughed and said, "What's so obscene about the 'Pulling-up Yin Kick'?" His face turned serious as he continued, "The genital is a vital point on a human body, it can be fatal when hit. All the prestigious schools and big sects often have this 'Pulling-up Yin Kick' move within their punching and kicking techniques. Shaolin Pai has it, Wudang Pai also has it; nothing unusual. It's just that the enemy is behind you, both of your hands are under the enemy's control, and there is a blade on your neck; your only choice is to use the 'Pulling-up Yin Back Kick'."

    Speaking to this point, he paused for a moment before continuing, "But the enemy must have guarded against you using this move. As soon as he sees your leg moves, most likely he would chop your little head down first. Consequently, this 'Pulling-up Yin Back Kick' may be quite useless."

    He put his hands behind his back again and let Madame Hong held his wrists. Suddenly he bent all ten of his fingers, forming a half sphere, and then he threw his entire body backward, while all ten of his fingers grabbed Madame Hong's breasts.

    Madame Hong quickly stepped back, hence she was forced to release her grip. She spat and said, "What kind of hero's move is this?"

    Showing a faint smile, Hong Antong said, "The 'ru zhong' [breast center] and 'ru gen' [breast root] acupoints on human's chest, doesn't matter on men or women, are two fatal major acupoints. White Dragon Envoy, since the enemy can capture your hands behind your back, obviously his martial art skill is not weak; besides, most likely he has seized the acupoint on your wrists. But even if he did, it is not a big deal; as soon as he sees you making this move, he would involuntary step back. By the time he remembers that your hands do not have any strength, he is already one step too late. Madame, seize my hands again."

    Madame Hong took two steps forward and gently tapped the back of his hand, and then she reached out with her left hand to grab his wrists, while leaning her upper body backward to avoid his fingers from bumping against her chest.

    "Watch carefully!" Hong Antong said. Again he threw his body backward, while his ten fingers made a fake move toward her chest. Madame Hong knew this grab was a fake move, but she still pulled back to evade. Hong Antong suddenly made a somersault, his body leaped backward, his legs parted, and he landed on her shoulder, while the thumbs of both hands pressing on her 'tai yang' [sun] acupoint [temples], index fingers pressing on her eyebrows, and middle fingers on her eyes. He said, "If I add a bit more strength to my middle fingers, I will poke the enemy's eyes blind; if I add a bit more strength to my thumbs, the enemy will pass out. But I must guard against the enemy's counterattack."

    He made another somersault in the air, and jumped more than a zhang backward. His right hand reached toward his calf, pretending to pull out the dagger. With the dagger pointing outward, left palm slanting up, he said, "If you poke the enemy's eyes and blind him, the force with which he would use to throw you off must be incomparably formidable. You must guard against him trying to grab you firmly and won't let you go."

    Wei Xiaobao saw that this move was really complicated, just like a team of clowns in the circus trying to provoke laughter, but it was very effective to dodge the enemy's blade and hold the enemy's vital points under control. He sighed and said, "This move is really good, but it is very difficult to learn."

    Hong Antong said, "Although I only teach you three moves, these moves contain qin na, acupoint sealing, and lightness, three types of martial art skill. If even one is not trained properly, these three moves cannot be used. Speaking about qin na, acupoint sealing, and lightness skills, each one needs ten years, eight years of training. But you only want to learn parts that are relevant to these three moves, it is a lot easier."

    Immediately he explained the position of the acupoints, the qin na technique, and how to exert strength to the legs in lightness skill. He told Wei Xiaobao to try it several times and corrected the mistakes one by one. Only Wei Xiaobao did not dare to ride on his neck, Hong Antong also did not tell him to try that move.

    "Jiaozhu," Madame Hong said, "My ‘Beauties' Three Moves’ were taught to me by Shifu, in the past I had to undergo 'a thousand hammer a hundred refinery' before I got it right. Your ‘Heroes' Three Moves’, on the other hand, seemingly appear out of nowhere, it was created at will, yet it is a lot more formidable than my ‘Beauties' Three Moves’. I am not trying to flatter you on your face, but great scholar respected for learning and integrity, a martial art master with profound knowledge, is indeed worthy of other people's admiration."

    Hong Antong cupped his fist and said with a laugh, "Madame's erroneous praise, I really do not dare to accept."

    In the hall the previous day, seeing Hong Antong neither talked nor laughed, as if he was only a wooden puppet, in his heart Wei Xiaobao was holding him in utter contempt; he was already thinking, "An old man who look like a stupid blockhead, why is everybody so afraid of him?" But now that he had seen his true martial art skill, his mind was fixed and he had no doubt whatsoever that this man indeed deserved to be admired; he said, "Training a certain skill passed on by Shifu until it is completely mastered cannot be considered strange; Jiaozhu was just thinking about certain move and he is able to execute it casually just like that, now that can be considered unmatched in the world."

    "Why do you consider it unmatched in the world?" Madame Hong asked.

    Wei Xiaobao said, "Even if the enemy's skill was higher, Jiaozhu would simply use several new moves, the enemy would not recognize it, he would have no choice but to cry out loud 'Surrender!'"

    Hong Antong and Madame laughed aloud. One nodded slightly, the other one said, "That's true."

    "Jiaozhu," Madame Hong said, "My ‘Beauties' Three Moves’ have three beauties' names, your ‘Heroes' Three Moves’ are very formidable, they should also have three big heroes' names."

    Hong Antong smiled and said, "Alright, let me think. The first move is lifting up the enemy; that was Lintong lifting up Wu Zixu's cauldron. Let's call it 'Zixu lifting up the cauldron'."

    Madame Hong said, "Good, Wu Zixu was a great hero."

    Hong Antong said, "The second move throws the enemy down and pull him up; that was Lu Zhishen felling and pulling the weeping willow, let's call it 'Lu reaching and pulling the willow'."

    "Very good," Madame Hong said, "Lu Zhishen was a great hero. Although your third move was ingenious, it carries a little bit of scoundrel or loafer's flavor, it does not seem to be too heroic ..." Speaking to this point, she broke into a tender giggle.

    Hong Antong laughed and said, "What do you mean not too heroic? What kind of move would you call 'good' then? Hmm, my two index fingers were resting on your eyebrows; that was 'Zhang Chang drawing eyebrows'."

    Madame Hong laughed and said, "Zhang Chang was not a hero; it was his wife who drew his eyebrows. Would you call that a heroic move?"

    Hong Antong laughed and said, "He was having fun in the lady's chamber, and thus had his eyebrows drawn. Are you saying that by having his wife draw his eyebrows he was not a hero?" Madame Hong's cheeks blushed deep red; she shook her head.

    Wei Xiaobao did not know which historical character this Zhang Chang was, he thought that by having his eyebrows drawn by his wife, not only he was not a hero, he was simply a coward man who was afraid of his wife. He did not understand that Hong Antong was using expression from literature to tease his wife. "Jiaozhu," he said, "In this third move you were riding on the enemy's neck. There were so many great heroes who ride a horse. Guan Yunchang rode a scarlet rabbit horse, Qin Shubao rode a chestnut horse."

    Hong Antong laughed and said, "That's right, but Guan Yunchang's scarlet rabbit horse originally belonged to Lu Bu. Qin Qiong also sold his chestnut horse. Both are not too appropriate. I got it, in this move Di Qing was taming the steed [orig. 'dragon colt'], a precious horse; let's call it 'Di Qing subduing the dragon'. The precious horse he was subduing was originally a dragon incarnated."

    Madame Hong clapped her hands, "Wonderful!" she said, "When Di Qing went into battle, he always wore bronze devil mask to frighten the barbarian troops that they screamed in terror and fled into the wilderness; naturally he was a great hero. It's just that we are called Divine Dragon Cult ..."

    Hong Jiaozhu smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. There will be time that even a dragon will be subdued by someone until he is docile."

    "Pei!" Madame Hong spat, her entire face blushed, her beautiful and glistening eyes were filled charm.

    Immediately Wei Xiaobao practiced the ‘Beauties' Three Moves’ and ‘Heroes' Three Moves’ one by one. Whenever his technique or stance was incorrect, Hong Antong and Madame would give him more directions. These six moves were really ingenious; it was difficult for Wei Xiaobao to master it all at once. Hong Jiaozhu told him not to worry, he only needed to know the training technique, when the time came, he would master it by himself.

    By the time the instruction was finished, it was already noon. Madame Hong was determined not to accept the dagger; she gave it back to Wei Xiaobao while saying, "You have not mastered the martial art skill, this time you are on mission for Jiaozhu, you must have this kind of sharp weapon to protect yourself." And then she added, "White Dragon Envoy, in our Cult, other than myself, you are the only one who has received Jiaozhu's personal instruction."

    Wei Xiaobao said, "That is truly subordinate's good fortune, which I cultivated over I don't know how many incarnations."

    Madame Hong said, "By being loyal to Jiaozhu in handling this matter, you are repaying Jiaozhu's benevolence."

    "Yes," Wei Xiaobao replied.

    "You may leave now," Madame Hong said, "Early in the morning tomorrow, you go onboard the ship and leave with Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan; you don't need to come here to say goodbye again."

    Wei Xiaobao complied. He respectfully saluted the two people before turning around. When he reached the door, he turned his head and said, "Madame, if I live to be 80 years old, how about Jiaozhu and Madame teach me three more moves?"

    Madame Hong was slightly startled, but she understood immediately that it was his way of well-wishing and praise. Right now he was only thirteen, fourteen years old, it would be sixty more years before he reached eighty, but Jiaozhu and she had long lives, which were the same as the heavens’, so it was only proper that they should live sixty more years. She giggled and said, “I promise you. On your eightieth birthday, Jiaozhu and I will teach you three more moves. When you reach the long life of a hundred years, we will teach you three more moves; it will be called ‘Old Shouxing’s three moves’[1], ‘Old Grandma’s three moves’.”

    “No,” Wei Xiaobao said, “At that time, Madame will be as young and beautiful as today, most likely Madame and Jiaozhu will look a bit younger. The moves you teach me will be … will be … ‘Golden Boy’s three moves’, ‘Jade Maiden’s three moves’.” Hong Antong and Madame burst out in laughter.

    Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan, two people, were sitting on a mountain rock outside the hall, they had been waiting for a long time, but all along did not see Wei Xiaobao coming out of the hall. They were puzzled and anxious, not knowing what kind of unforeseen event had happened. When they saw his smiling expression as he went out, they were relieved. They wanted to ask, but did not dare to ask. Wei Xiaobao explained, “Jiaozhu and Madame have taught me not a few of amazing martial art skills.”

    Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan said together, “Congratulations White Dragon Envoy. In our Cult, other than Madame, Jiaozhu has never taught anybody one move or half a style.”

    Feeling extremely smug, Wei Xiaobao said, “Jiaozhu and Madame also said the same thing."

    Lu Gaoxuan said, "White Dragon Envoy is fortunate to enjoy Jiaozhu's favor, indeed it has never happened since our Cult was founded." After casting a glance toward Fat Toutuo, he asked Wei Xiaobao, "Have Jiaozhu and Madame ever mentioned when they are going to bestow us the antidote of the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’?"

    Wei Xiaobao was surprised, "There is an antidote for this ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’?" he asked, "Are you saying ... are you saying ... this is a poison?"

    "I can't say that it is a poison," Lu Gaoxuan replied, "Let us go home and talk in details." He cast several glances toward the bamboo hall, his face revealed a cautious mixed with dread expression.

    The three of them returned to the Lu family's home. Seeing the Fat and Lu, two people's gloomy expression, Wei Xiaobao grew suspicious; he asked, "Just what is actually this ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’? Is it poison, or is it miracle pill?"

    Fat Toutuo sighed and said, "Whether it is a poison or a miracle pill, we'll just have to wait and see! The lives of ours, three people, are entirely in the White Dragon Envoy's hands."

    Wei Xiaobao was startled, "Why?" he asked.

    Fat Toutuo looked at Lu Gaoxuan, Lu Gaoxuan nodded his head, Fat Toutuo said, "White Dragon Envoy, when people are being polite to me, they call me Fat Zunzhe [Revered Monk]. When they are not being polite, they would call me Fat Toutuo. But I am this thin, the name completely does not reflect the reality. Don't you think it is a bit strange?"

    "That's right," Wei Xiaobao said, "I have been wondering for a while, I thought other people were just joking with you, so they call you that name. But Jiaozhu also calls you Fat Toutuo, the Senior can't be joking with you."

    Fat Toutuo heaved a deep sigh; he said, "This is the second time I took the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’; I am really hovering between life and death, until now I still often have nightmares about it. Originally I was very short and very fat. The name 'Fat Toutuo', three characters is a well deserved reputation."


    [1] Shouxing is the god of longevity.

  10. #150
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    Default Chapter 20 - Part 8

    "Ah," Wei Xiaobao said, "After taking the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ you turned tall and thin? That's very good! Right now your appearance is grand, while previously you were short and fat, certainly it was not as good as now?"

    With a bitter laugh Fat Toutuo said, "You got it right. But think about it: a short and fat guy, within three months my body was suddenly being stretched three chi, the skin on my entire body was dripping blood; do you think it feels good? If not my luck was good, finally I reached Divine Dragon Island, and Jiaozhu was showing me great mercy by giving me the antidote, I am afraid I would have grown two more chi."

    Wei Xiaobao was unable to restrain his amazement; he said, "The three of us have also taken this pill. For me to grow two more chi is not a big deal, but if you grow two more chi, you ... you will be too tall."

    Fat Toutuo said, "The effect of this ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ is really amazing, within one year after taking it, it can make the body strong and healthy; but if at the end of a year the antidote is not given, the violent side effect will flare up suddenly. Actually, it does not necessarily stretch human body. My Shige, Thin Toutuo was originally very tall, yet he suddenly became short. Originally he was thin, yet he swelled unbearably and turned into a completely fat person."

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "You, Fat Zunzhe has turned into Thin Zunzhe, the Thin Zunzhe has become Fat Zunzhe. If the two of you swap names, won't all your problems disappear?"

    An angry look appeared on Fat Toutuo's face; he shook his head and said, "That won't do."

    Wei Xiaobao promptly apologized, "I am sorry Fat Zunzhe, I was wrong; please do not get offended."

    Fat Toutuo said, "You are wielding the Five-Dragon Command, I am your subordinate, even if you beat me or curse me, I cannot revolt; much less you did not intentionally want to hurt me. My Shixiong and I have substantially different temperament, character, appearance and voice, just by swapping the name 'Thin' and 'Fat' will not change Fat Zunzhe into Thin Zunzhe, and change Thin Zunzhe into Fat Zunzhe."

    Wei Xiaobao nodded his head and said, "So that's what happened."

    Fat Toutuo continued, "Five years ago, Jiaozhu sent Shige and I on a mission. That mission was very 'thorny'; by the time we finished it, we were already three days overdue. Immediately we embarked the boat and returned to the Island. On the boat the medicine suddenly flared up, the suffering was very difficult to bear. Shige's temperament was very violent, his anger flared and in his madness, he kicked and broke the mast of the boat. The ship then drifted on the sea. Day by day passed, I grew taller and taller, and thinner and thinner; he grew shorter and shorter, and fatter and fatter. This ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ can stretch a short and fat person tall and slim, and press a tall and thin person short and fat; Hong Jiaozhu indeed has an extremely vast magical power. We were drifting like that for more than two months, at that time it was hard to say if the two of us would survive. We have finished eating the provision on the boat, we have killed the helmsman and the sailors one by one and ate them. By a struck of sheer luck we came across another boat, and were saved. We forced that boat to take us to the Divine Dragon Island immediately. Jiaozhu knew we finished the mission properly and did not tarry deliberately; thereupon he bestowed us with the antidote. It could be said that our two lives have just been snatched back."

    The more Wei Xiaobao heard, the more he was alarmed; turning his head toward Lu Gaoxuan, he saw his expression was serious, so he knew Fat Toutuo was not lying. He said, "In that case, we have to obtain those eight copies of 'Forty-two-chapter Sutra' and return to the Divine Dragon Island within one year?"

    Lu Gaoxuan said, "If we can obtain all eight copies of the Sutra, nothing can't be better; but isn't it easier said than done? As long as we manage to get one or two copies and hurry back, naturally Jiaozhu will bestow the antidote."

    Wei Xiaobao mused, "I have six copies in my hand, when I really have to alternative, what’s so difficult to part with one or two copies to give to Jiaozhu?” Immediately he felt relieved and said with a laugh, “If Jiaozhu does not give us the antidote this time, maybe we, the young will become old, the old will become young. I will turn into a seventy, eighty years old man, the two of you will turn into little babies; won’t that be very interesting?”

    Lu Gaoxuan’s body trembled; he said, “That … that’s absolutely must not happen.” His voice was filled with terror. He continued, “I have single-mindedly pondered over this, most probably the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ was made of leopard fetus, deer fetus, the placenta, seal kidney, and other important supplement and rare drug ingredients to induce growth, mixed and refined together. The drug property is obviously to reverse the original body’s characteristic. I am guessing that when Jiaozhu manufactured this drug, his intention was to recover human’s youthful vigor, but when he tested it on someone else, the effect did not exactly follow his heart’s desires; therefore … therefore …”

    Wei Xiaobao picked up, “Therefore, Jiaozhu did not personally take the drug, but use it on his subordinates.”

    Lu Gaoxuan hastily said, “This is only my wild guess, it must not be considered as the truth. I am asking White Dragon Envoy never to raise this topic again.”

    “The two of you may set your hearts at ease,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I guarantee that Jiaozhu will definitely give us the antidote. Please sit down, I have something to say to Miss Fang.” He saw Mu Jianping the other day, hence he was eager to tell Fang Yi.

    Lu Gaoxuan said, “Madame Hong has already summoned Miss Fang, she says White Dragon Envoy not to worry, as long as you wholeheartedly handle this matter for Jiaozhu, Miss Fang will only have good things on the island.”

    Wei Xiaobao was startled, “Miss … Miss Fang is not coming with us?” he asked.

    “Madame Hong has already sent someone to fetch her,” Lu Gaoxuan said, “She left a message to my wife and that’s what she told her. Besides, that Mu Jianping, Miss Mu of the Scarlet Dragon Gate is in the same situation.”

    Wei Xiaobao groaned inwardly, just a moment ago he told Priest Wugen that he wanted to select several people from the Scarlet Dragon Gate to go with him, naturally he had Mu Jianping in his mind; who would have thought that Madame Hong had already anticipated this? With a trembling voice he asked, “Madame … Madame does not trust me?”

    “This is our Cult’s rule,” Lu Gaoxuan replied, “Those who receive orders from Jiaozhu to go out on mission cannot take his family.”

    With a forced laugh Wei Xiaobao said, “Those two Misses are not my family.”

    “More or less, they are,” Lu Gaoxuan said.

    Actually, Wei Xiaobao was thinking that the next day he would leave the Island with Fang and Mu, two women, and was so happy; but this instant he could not help but feeling dispirited. He mused, “Jiaozhu and Madame are indeed formidable, tying the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ on my head[1] is not enough, they still hold my first and young wives hostage.”

    Early morning the following day, Wei Xiaobao had just woke up when he heard the sound of bugle horn, a lot of people were calling out from outside the door, “The White Dragon Gate disciples respectfully send off Zhangmenshi on his journey, to handle matters for Jiaozhu wholeheartedly.” This shout was followed by the sound of drums, string instruments and bamboo flutes.

    Wei Xiaobao rushed out the door and saw about three, four hundred people were lining up outside the door. They all wore white clothes, young and old alike. Everybody shouted in chorus, “Zhangmenshi will win victory on raising the flag, will have instant success!”

    After that, several dozen Cult members wearing blue clothes also came to send off their acting Zhangmenshi, Fat Toutuo.

    Wei Xiaobao’s spirit rose, immediately he felt invigorated. Together with Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan, they board the ship. While he was exchanging salute with Priest Wugen, Zhang Danyue, Yin Jin, and the others who had earlier to bid them farewell, suddenly he heard the sound of hoof beats, two riders galloped toward the boat. The two riders were wearing white clothes, surprisingly, they were Fang Yi and Mu Jianping, two women. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, his heart was thumping madly as he mused, “Could it be that Madame has changed her mind and let them go with me?”

    Fang and Mu, two women dismounted their horses and took several steps forward. In a loud and clear voice Fang Yi said, “We received Jiaozhu and Madame’s order to send White Dragon Zhangmenshi off on his journey.”

    Wei Xiaobao’s heart sank, “They are only sending me off,” he thought.

    Fang Yi bowed and said, “Subordinates Fang Yi and Mu Jianping received order from Madame to transfer from the Scarlet Dragon Gate to White Dragon Gate, we are ready to receive White Dragon Envoy’s order.”

    Wei Xiaobao was startled, but then he suddenly saw the light, “Turns out you … you have been Shen Long Jiao’s member under the Scarlet Dragon Gate. Along the way you were only pretending on Jiaozhu’s order to deceive me into coming to the Divine Dragon Island. Fat Revered Monk failed to invite me, you came to invite me using a gentle method.” Thinking about it, he was very upset; originally he wanted to say some intimate words with those two women, but now he lost interest completely. Suddenly he remembered something and said to Lu Gaoxuan, “Mr. Lu, that servant girl who attend to me, Shuang’er, send someone to get her, I want take her along in this journey.”

    “This …” Lu Gaoxuan said.

    Wei Xiaobao was angry, he shouted, “What ‘this’ or ‘that’? Get her, now!”

    He shouted in a stern voice, Lu Gaoxuan did not dare to disobey. “Yes, yes!” he replied, and turned and said something to the attendant onboard the boat. The attendant leaped on shore and dashed away. Not too long afterwards, he saw two riders rushed rapidly over. The one on the front had a petite and slender figure, she was none other than Shuang’er.

    Without pulling the reins, she called out, “Gongzi!” and leaped away from the saddle, lightly and deftly landed on the bow of the boat. In the eyes of Priest Wugen and the other martial art experts, there was nothing extraordinary with this kind of qing gong [lightness skill], but noticing that she was very young, yet her posture was very pleasing to the eye, they all cheered.

    At first, when Wei Xiaobao knew the boat was about to sail, he was afraid that Shuang’er had already fallen into some evil people’s hands, and thus he was very anxious; although her martial art skill was strong, she was a young child after all. Not only that, she was gentle and refined by nature, and did not understand the way of the world. On the sea-going ship, she had nowhere to go, and would definitely get the worst of it. Moreover, realizing that Fang Yi was actually a Divine Dragon Cult’s disciple, he suddenly also realized that the boat with which they came to the island naturally belonged to the Cult. Now that he saw Shuang’er, he was very happy. He pulled her hands, but saw that her countenance looked wan and sallow, her eyes red and swollen, obviously she had been crying a lot. “Did they bully you?” he hastily asked.

    “No, they … they didn’t,” Shuang’er replied, “I was only worrying about Xianggong. They … they locked me up.”

    “Alright!” Wei Xiaobao said, “We are going home.”

    Shuang’er said, “In here … there are a lot of poisonous snakes,” while saying that, “Wah!” Shuang’er burst into tears again.

    Wei Xiaobao cast a glance toward Fang Yi; he remembered she led him walk into the forest and let him be bitten by the vipers. A good deal of artificial gestures, all kinds of sweet speech and honeyed words on the boat, everything was a hypocrisy; he could not help but was furious. Casting a hateful glance toward Fang Yi, he said, “Set sail!”

    Aboard, the sailors weighed the anchor; ashore, the firecrackers went off, the people sending off their masters chorused, “Respectfully wishing White Dragon Envoy to win victory on raising the flag, to have instant success and will set up great merit for Jiaozhu!”

    Taking advantage of the fair wind, the boat hoisted its sail and slowly left the Island. Everybody on the shore shouted, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching always in our hearts …”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “If I did not know Miss Fang had already entered the Cult, I would have missed her all the time. This way, I have nothing to worry about her.” Yet when he recalled Fang Yi’s touching tender sentiments, he could not stop his heart from feeling melancholy.

    He thought further, “How could those two enter Shen Long Jiao? It’s very strange. Ah, right, they were captured by Zhang Laosan and his men, Young Mistress Zhuang said she sent people to rescue them, apparently they failed, consequently they were forced to join Shen Long Jiao. Xiao Junzhu has taken Jiaozhu’s poison, it’s only natural that Miss Fang has also taken the poison. Um, if Miss Fang did not obey, she did not want to deceive me into coming to Divine Dragon Island, the poison in her will flare up and she die. Indeed she had no choice, so I can’t blame her. It’s just that this little mother’s skin [小娘皮 - see Chapter 10] was putting on an act and deceived her husband without spending any effort at all; she is not a good person! Damn it, in the end, what is Shen Long Jiao up to? Although laozi has become the White Dragon Envoy, I am completely in the dark!”

    Thinking that it was all because of Zhang Laosan, he mused, “I wonder which gate does this old fellow belong to? When in the future Laozi is back on the Divine Dragon Island, I will have him transferred to the White Dragon Gate, then I will have this old fellow’s buttocks flogged three hundred times every day.” He also thought, “I wonder if Zhang Laosan is on the Island? Most likely he does not dare to report to Jiaozhu that I am Xiao Guizi; otherwise, when Jiaozhu heard that he had already caught such an important person but then let him go, Jiaozhu would have chopped his head. He is an old fellow, not a pretty boy [lit. ‘little white face’], which Jiaozhu and Madame are going to kill anyway. If they found out that he had violated such matter, wouldn’t he be killed like, seventeen, eighteen times already? That’s right, Fat Toutuo did not dare to expose my trickery, Zhang Laosan also did not dare to expose my fraud[2]. There is one thing I do not understand, Madame loves ‘little white face’, that’s not so strange, but why does Jiaozhu also love them?” [Translator’s note: the part about ‘little white face’ does not exist in the 3rd edition]


    [1] The original word means ‘ring’. What came into my mind was Sun Wukong’s headband from Journey to the West. (From Wikipedia: Guanyin understood that the monkey would be hard to control, and therefore gave Xuanzang a gift from the Buddha: a magical headband which, once Sun Wukong was tricked into putting it on, could never be removed. With a special chant, the band would tighten and cause unbearable pain to the monkey's head. To be fair, she also gave Sun Wukong three special hairs, which could be used in dire emergencies. Under Xuanzang's supervision, Sun Wukong was allowed to journey to the West.) Please bear in mind that this is only my impression, not in Jin Yong’s original text.

    [2] There is a play of words here, the original says, ‘Fat Toutuo … trickery [西洋镜 - xi yang jing, literally means ‘western world mirror’], Zhang Laosan … fraud [东洋镜 – dong yang jing, lit. ‘eastern world mirror’]’.

  11. #151
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 1

    Chapter 21 - Golden scissors silently utter winding ground, treasured hairpin dreams of swallow clinging to a man.
    (Translated by Foxs)


    LuDingJi-21.jpg

    Wei Xiaobao reached out and slapped her face twice, and punched her chest once; his right foot swept across, the Princess tumbled down. He leaped and sat astride her back, like beating a drum, his fists kept punching her legs, her back, her buttocks, as hard as he could, while shouting, "Stinky little mother, Laozi is going to beat you to death."

  12. #152
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 2

    One day the boat reached Qinhuangdao [Hebei]; they came ashore and continued to Beijing. Wei Xiaobao said, “I must think of a way to sneak into the Imperial Palace, but I don’t know which day I will succeed. We all must find a place where we can take shelter.” Quickly Lu Gaoxuan rented a house at the Xuanwu Gate, Hair Alley, in a quiet neighborhood; they moved in immediately.

    After settling down, Wei Xiaobao went out alone to the Water Well Alley, to look at Tian Di Hui’s temporary lodging. He saw that the place had been turned into a tea-leaves shop. He tried to ask several questions according to the secret code of the Society, but the man was just staring at him not understanding what he was talking about; obviously the Society had moved out of that place.

    Next he strolled around the Heavenly Bridge area, thinking that even if the Eight-arm Ape Xu Tianchuan was also forced to join the Divine Dragon Cult and was no longer at Heavenly Bridge, he might come across the rest of the brethrens like Gao Yanchao, Fan Gang, Qian Laoben and the others. Who would have thought that after strolling back and forth around the Heavenly Bridge several times he unexpectedly did not see anybody he knew. Thereupon he went to Xizhimen [main northwest gate of Beijing], to the inn he stayed at the last time he came to Beijing. He took out three taels of silver and tossed it to the counter, saying that he wanted the best room.

    Seeing how liberal he was with money, the innkeeper greeted him very respectfully. Wei Xiaobao took out five more qian, and stuffed it into the inn servant's hands, insisting that he wanted the Heaven Wing, room number three on the second floor. By coincidence this room was unoccupied, so it can be considered that the servant had made an easy five qian.

    Wei Xiaobao drank a cup of tea, then he lay down and closed his eyes to rest. After making sure there was no noise everywhere, he pulled his dagger out and pried the hole on the wall. The copy of sutra Emperor Shunzhi gave him was still nicely tucked inside the hole. He unwrap the oilcloth to inspect the book. Finding nothing out of ordinary, he put the brick back on the wall. Fat Toutuo had become his subordinate; therefore, there was no need for him to summon the Imperial Bodyguards to escort the sutra. Putting the book into his bosom he walked toward the Forbidden City.

    When he reached the Palace, the Imperial Bodyguard on duty saw a young man in civilian clothes walking toward the Palace gate; he shouted, "Little fellow, what are you doing?"

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "You don't recognize me? I am Gui Gonggong of the Palace."

    The Imperial Bodyguard looked at him carefully, and recognized him, it was indeed the Gui Gonggong, His Majesty's most favored eunuch. Quickly a big smile appeared on his face as he said, "Gui Gonggong, you are wearing this kind of clothes, hee ... hee ..."

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "His Majesty sent me out on an important assignment, I was hurrying to go back and did not have time to change."

    "Yes, yes," the Imperial Bodyguard said, "Gui Gonggong's face is glowing with good fortune, naturally this assignment is completed without any trouble at all, His Majesty will definitely reward you handsomely."

    Wei Xiaobao returned to his own residence to change into his eunuch uniform. He wrapped the sutra using a piece of old cloth and then went directly to the Upper Study Room to see the Emperor. As soon as Kangxi heard that Xiao Guizi was seeking an audience, he said delightedly, "Come in quickly, come in quickly."

    Wei Xiaobao quickly entered in and saw Kangxi, filled with joy, was waiting at the inner study room's door. "Damn it," he said, "Xiao Guizi, roll in quickly, why have you gone so long this time?" He only said those three character 'damn it' [ta ma de] in front of Wei Xiaobao, he had suppressed his desire to say those words for very long.

    Wei Xiaobao kneeled down and kowtowed; he said, "Congratulations Your Majesty, it's an enormous happiness."

    As soon as he heard it, Kangxi knew his Fu Huang [father emperor] was indeed still alive; emotion surged in his heart, his body swayed several times, he reached out to hold the door frame as he said, "Come in and tell me slowly." His chest ached, tears nearly flowed down his face.

    Wei Xiaobao entered the inner study room, turned around to close the door and put on the door bolt. He looked around the bookshelves and after making sure there were no other eunuchs who usually serve the Emperor, he said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, I saw the Old Emperor on Mount Wutai."

    Kangxi grabbed his hand tight; he said in a trembling voice, "Fu Huang ... really became a monk on Mount Wutai? He ... what did he say?"

    Thereupon Wei Xiaobao narrated how he met the Old Emperor in the Qing Liang Temple, how the Tibetan Lama intended to harm the Emperor, how summoning up courage and determination he had rendered his assistance, staking out his life to escort the Emperor, how luckily the Eighteen Luohan of Shaolin had come to their rescue; he told him everything one by one. This matter was already very thrilling, as it was being narrated by Wei Xiaobao, the excitement grew thirty percent, his own loyalty and gallantry grew by fifty percent.

    He heard Kangxi was rubbing his cold-sweated hands and repeatedly saying, "How dangerous, how dangerous!" Kangxi also said, "We must send a thousand Imperial Bodyguards immediately to go up the mountain to protect the Emperor."

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, "Most probably the Old Emperor won't want that." Thereupon he repeated everything Shunzhi had told him.

    Kangxi heard how his father did not want him to go up Mount Wutai, and how he had praised him with these words, "He is a good emperor, thinking about the important matters of the imperial court first, not like me ..." He could not bear and broke in loud cry as he wailed, "Definitely I must go, definitely I must go!"

    Wei Xiaobao waited until he had cried for a while before he took out the sutra and presented it with both hands, saying, "The Old Emperor wanted me to tell you: 'In the matters of the world, he must let nature take its course, nothing can be forced. It would be best if he could benefit the common people of the Central Plains. But if the common people wanted us to leave, then from the place we came, there we should come back to.' The old emperor also wanted me to tell you: 'If he wants the whole world at peace, 'never raise taxes', these four words [yong bu jia fu] should be firmly planted in his mind. If he can accomplish these four words, it is good enough for me, my heart will be happy.'"

    Kangxi listened in daze, tears flowing down his face and dripped onto the cloth wrapper of the sutra; with trembling hands he received the bundle, opened up the wrapper, and saw a copy of 'Forty-two-chapter Sutra'. Turning the cover, he saw on the first page four large characters 'Never Raise Taxes' [yong bu jia fu]. The brush stroke was delicate yet supple, it was indeed his father's handwriting. With a sob he said, "Fu Huang's admonition, child will never dare to forget."

    He calmed himself down, and then asked in details whether Shunzhi was in good health, how was his appearance now, whether he was suffering greatly in the Qing Liang Temple. Wei Xiaobao reported everything according to the facts. Kangxi was overwhelmed with grieve again and broke out crying.

    Suddenly Wei Xiaobao had an idea, "Damn it," he mused, "I'd better accompany him crying for a while, then he would definitely give me more rewards; tears are free anyway." As soon as he had that thought, he started to sob, tears flowing copiously from his eyes. 'Boo hoo hoo ...' the more he cried, the more miserable he sounded.

    Although Kangxi's grief was hard to endure and he cried audibly, but he had a reputation to maintain and must not demean himself, thereupon he constantly tried to suppress his emotion. Wei Xiaobao, on the other hand, intentionally putting an act and wailed loudly. This particular skill was developed when he was still in Yangzhou, and he was quite an expert on this. Before his mother's feathered bamboo clappers even reached his bottom, he was already crying an earth-shattering cry; moreover, although he was not really crying, but real tears would cascade down his face. It would be very difficult for other people to tell whether he was really crying or not.

    Kangxi cried for a while, and then he wiped his tears and asked, "I miss my Fu Huang, hence I cried. But you are crying even sadder than I am; why is that?"

    Wei Xiaobao replied, "I saw how grieved you are, and I remember the Old Emperor's gentle affection; he commended me repeatedly, saying that without giving any thought of my own life I protected him. He likes me very much, and thus I feel even more grieved." While saying that, he did not stop whimpering. He continued, "If I did not know how much you were concerned over this matter and wanted to rush back to report to you, I really wanted to stay on Mount Wutai to attend to the Old Emperor, so that I won't be worried over bad people bullying him."

    "Xiao Guizi," Kangxi said, "You are very good, I will definitely reward you heavily."

    Wei Xiaobao's tears had not stopped flowing; sobbing and sniffling he said, "Your Majesty is already very good to me, I don't want any reward. I only hope that the Old Emperor is safe and sound, we, as the servants, will be very happy." On the Divine Dragon Island he had heard people shouting loudly, 'Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life will be the same as the heaven's', and thought nothing of how shameful they were; inevitably his face grew thicker and thicker, his boot-licking skill made a tremendous progress. The more the Cult people wanted to make their Cult Leader happy, the more exaggerated their talk become.

    Kangxi, however, accepted his speech as the truth. He said, "I am also deeply concerned that Fu Huang has nobody to attend to him. You said that that Monk Xing Dian is rude and impetuous, he is very clumsy; Fu Huang has no competent people by his side, it really makes me more anxious. Xiao Guizi, it's beyond my expectation that Fu Huang likes you ..."

    Hearing this, Wei Xiaobao's jaw dropped and he could not close it up; while groaning inwardly, "Aiyo! Aiyo! This time Laozi is in a very big trouble; Laozi is blowing my horn a bit too hard."

    He heard Kangxi continued, "... actually, I don't want to lose you either, but as a son, I have to have filial piety toward my father. Whatever I have in my hands, always give the best to my father. You are my most competent subordinate; although you are young, you are actually very competent, and very loyal and devoted to us, father and son ..."

    Wei Xiaobao cried out in his heart, "Obedient my @ss! Mother! You send laozi to Mount Wutai to accompany the old monk, it's the same as sending me to prison."

    Sure enough, he heard Kangxi continue, "Let's do it this way: you go to Mount Wutai, be a monk at the Qing Liang Temple and take care of my Fu Huang ..."

    Wei Xiaobao realized the urgency of the situation: not only he had to accompany the old monk, he himself must become a little monk; the situation was far from encouraging, nothing could be worse than that. Thereupon without waiting for Kangxi to finish, he hastily said, "Taking care of the Old Emperor is very good, but you want me to be a monk, this ... I don't want to!"

    Smiling slightly, Kangxi said, "I did not mean for you to be a monk forever. It's just that Fu Huang has wholeheartedly decided to meditate; if you become a monk, it will be somewhat more convenient to serve him. In the future .... in the future, if you want to leave the monastic order, it will be up to you." The implication was clear: someday Shunzhi would grow old and die [the original world denotes 'the dying of Buddhist monk or nun'], if at that time you don't want to be monk anymore, nobody can stop you.

    It does not matter if Wei Xiaobao had a hundred excuses, right now he had his hands bound and was unable to do anything about it. Although he knew that the young emperor was very good to him, since the Emperor had issued an order, if Wei Xiaobao resolutely refused to go, not only his previous merit would go down the drain, the Emperor might become hostile to him and immediately had his head chopped off; now that would not be fun. Thereupon he sullenly said, "I ... I hate to part with you ... Wah ...!" he broke into crying. But this time it was not a fake cry, he was crying for real. Only it was not because he was loyal to his lord or he loved his master, but because he really did not want to be a little monk.

    Kangxi was greatly moved; he gently patted Wei Xiaobao's shoulder and warmly said, "How about this: you become a monk for several years, serve my Fu Huang well. Later I will send someone else to take your place so that you can return to my side; won't that be good? Fu Huang does not allow me to have audience with him, I simply cannot come to him. It does not have to be too long before you can come back and see me again. Xiao Guizi, be a good boy and listen to me, in the future I will make you a good government official."

    Seeing Wei Xiaobao did not stop crying, he said consolingly, "When you have time in the temple, you may study and learn to read, so that when you take an official post someday, you can be a high-ranking official."

    Wei Xiaobao mused, "Whether I be a government official in the future or not, it does not damn matter, but right now, I am afraid me being a little monk has already been decided." But then he had a second thought, "If I go to Mount Wutai, I can talk nonsense and making a ruckus so that the Old Emperor will let me go; I think it won't be difficult. I will say that without me serving the young emperor, he does not feel like eating, this time I left him for a month or two, he already lost several catties and grew thin. The Old Emperor cherishes his son, certainly he would send me back to the Palace."

    With this plan formed in his mind, he slowly stopped crying. He said, "Whatever mission you send me, I will go through water and tread on fire for you, under no circumstances I will decline. Let's not say being a monk, even if you ask me to be a turtle son of a b1tch, I will gladly do it. Your Majesty, set your heart at ease, I will definitely do my utmost to serve the Old Emperor, to make him, the Senior, strong and healthy, that he will reach a hundred years ... and ... and enjoy the immortal good fortune forever, his long-life will be the same as the heavens."

    Kangxi was greatly delighted; he laughed and said, "You left Beijing for several months, unexpectedly your knowledge also progressed, your use of the idiom is not bad. Why did you tarry on Mount Wutai for so long? It was not easy to meet the Old Emperor, was it?"

    Wei Xiaobao thought that it would be best if he did not say anything about the Divine Dragon Island. "That's right," he replied, "No matter what, the Abbot of Qing Liang Temple, also that Old Yulin Fashi, did not want to admit that the Old Emperor was in the Temple, while I felt it was inappropriate to point it out bluntly; I had no choice but to rove around at another temple on the mountain while thinking of a plan. Today I went to Xian Tong Temple to perform sacrifice, tomorrow I go to Fo Guang Temple to feed the starving ghosts. From among several thousand big monks, little monks on Mount Wutai, I know at least a thousand of them. If not for those evil Lama coming to harass the Old Emperor, perhaps I would still be donating Buddhist robes and vegetarian meals even today."

    Kangxi laughed and said, "You must have spent a lot of money! To get reimbursement of your expense, go to the office of the internal affairs." He did not even ask the amount, thinking that Wei Xiaobao had already set up great merit, plus he was willing to be a little monk; he thought that even if Wei Xiaobao wanted to embezzle some money, he would simply let him.

    Unexpectedly Wei Xiaobao said, "To tell Your Majesty the truth, the last time you sent me to search and seize Oboi's home, your servant had already taken quite a bit of advantage. At that time I was embarrassed to report to you, so this time I went to Mount Wutai, after seeing the Old Emperor and receiving the Senior's lesson, I understand that I must not commit any dishonesty toward Your Majesty, thereupon I donated all the money I previously acquired to the temple. Just consider your servant is helping Your Majesty to amass secret virtue, hoping that Bodhisattva will bless and protect, so that the Old Emperor and Your Majesty will reunite sooner. That money originally belonged to Your Majesty, you do not need to reimburse me." He thought that if you, father and son, reunite sooner, the time I have to become a little monk would be reduced by several days; while at the same time he was covering his own back, just in case someday someone lodged an accusation against him by saying that during the search of Oboi's home he embezzled a huge sum of money, then he would say, "I have already donated the money on Mount Wutai on your behalf, what else do you want to investigate about?"

    When Kangxi heard this, he was even happier; he nodded his head repeatedly and asked, "Is Mount Wutai fun?" Immediately Wei Xiaobao described the scenery of Mount Wutai. Kangxi listened with keen interest; he said, "Xiao Guizi, you go first, I will come soon. We have to think of a way to get Fu Huang back to the Palace. If the Senior is determined not to return to normal life and regain the throne, he could meditate in the Palace; won't that be the same?"

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, "I am afraid that would be very difficult ..."

    Suddenly they heard the sound of boots outside the door, followed by a sharp and clear female voice calling out, "Huangdi Gege [Older brother the Emperor], why didn't you come to have a martial art competition with me?" While saying that, 'bang, bang bang!' she knocked the door as hard as she could.

    Kangxi's face showed a faint smile as he said, "Open the door."

    Wei Xiaobao thought, "Who is that? Could it be she is Princess Jianning?" Walking to the door, he lifted up the bolt and opened the door.

    Like a whirlwind a girl wearing crimson embroidered clothes rushed in; she said, "Huangdi Gege, I have waited for a long time, you did not show up. You must be afraid of me, aren't you?"

  13. #153
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 3

    Wei Xiaobao saw this girl was approximately fifteen, with an oval face and thin lips, her facial feature showed that she was quick-witted, there was a hint of heroic spirit in her mannerism.

    Kangxi laughed and said, "Who's afraid of you? I'll say you can't even beat my disciple, you are not even worthy to fight me."

    The young girl was surprised. "You have received a disciple?" she asked, "Who is it?"

    Kangxi winked his left eye to Wei Xiaobao and said, "This is my disciple, Xiao Guizi; his martial art came from me." Turning to Wei Xiaobao he said, "Quickly pay your respect to your Shigu [martial aunt] Princess Jianning."

    "Indeed she is Princess Jianning," Wei Xiaobao mused. He knew that the Old Emperor fathered six daughters; five died in childhood, only this princess grew up. [Author’s note: Actually, Princess Jianning was Qing Taizong’s[1] daughter, or Shunzhi’s younger sister. The title Head Princess Jianning was bestowed only during Kangxi’s sixteenth year. Shunzhi’s daughter, Princess Heshuo, was actually Kangxi’s older sister, who married Oboi’s nephew. But in this novel, everything does not necessarily have to fit with historical fact; scholars and well-learned people do not need to perform an in-depth investigation.] She was the daughter of the Empress Dowager. Wei Xiaobao was extremely afraid of the Empress Dowager, normally he would not go to the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful, while the Princess had never been to the Emperor’s study room. Consequently, today was the first time that they met each other.

    Listening to Kangxi, Wei Xiaobao knew that the brother and sister loved to play around; thereupon he readily complied to please them. With a tee-hee giggle he stepped forward to pay his respect, “Shizhi [martial nephew] Xiao Guizi kowtowed in salute to senior Shigu; wishing Shigu ten thousand golden good fortunes …”

    Princess Jianning also giggled; but suddenly her foot flew up and hit Wei Xiaobao right on his chin. This kick arrived without the least bit or warning, Wei Xiaobao was bending one leg, bowing in front of her foot, how could he evade? He had not finished speaking, his chin suddenly got heavy kicked; his lower jaw closed, biting his own tongue. “Ah!” he cried out in severe pain. When he opened his mouth, fresh blood streamed down the front of his lapel.

    Kangxi was shocked. “You … you …” he stammered.

    Princess Jianning laughed and said, “Huangdi Gege, your disciple’s martial art skill is totally useless; I kicked him to test his skill, unexpectedly he could not evade. I think your own martial art skill is more or less just like this.” Finished speaking, she giggled happily.

    Wei Xiaobao was furious, in his heart he cursed several dozen times, ‘stinky little mother, rotten little miss’; but in the Palace, Princess was his master, how could he dare to curse openly even for a word?

    Expressing his sympathy, Kangxi asked Wei Xiaobao, “How is it? Your tongue is bitten? Is it very painful?”

    With a forced laughed Wei Xiaobao replied, “Not too bad, not too bad!” But since his tongue was bitten, he could not talk clearly.

    Copying his voice, Princess Jianning said, “Not too bad, not too bad! Most of my life has gone bad!” And then she broke out in laughter. Pulling Kangxi’s hand, she said, “Come on, let’s have a martial art match.”

    When the Empress Dowager taught Kangxi martial art earlier, Princess Jianning was watching with keen interest, so she nagged at her mother to teach her as well, and the Empress Dowager taught her a little bit. Seeing her mother was half-hearted, only taught her with far less attention she gave to her brother, in her desire to outdo others, she went to the Palace’s Imperial Bodyguards and asked them to teach her boxing. Learning several moves from the east, training several styles from the west, she had been practicing diligently for two, three years, unexpectedly she made some progress.

    These past several days she had learned several moves of qin na [grab and capture/grappling] techniques and had tested the new skill against the Imperial Bodyguards. Naturally everybody was yielding to her, they all put on an act and the little princess managed to rout them out completely. Yet she knew these Imperial Bodyguards were trying to make her happy, and was dissatisfied instead, thereupon she came to her Huangdi Gege to get him to have a martial art match with her.

    Kangxi has not had any sparring with Wei Xiaobao for quite a long time, his hands and feet were itching, so he agreed to indulge his imperial younger sister and happened to have a match with her once. The two of them sparred in the small palace hall. Kangxi was half-hearted, half yielding and half serious; from five rounds, he won four. Princess Jianning was unbearably angry; she came back to her mother and badgered her to teach her some new moves.

    The Empress Dowager was just recovering from her heavy injury, her vitality had not yet returned, so she expelled her out. Princess Jianning had no alternative but went to find Imperial Bodyguards again and learned qin na some more, and made an appointment with Kangxi today to have a match.

    Unexpectedly Wei Xiaobao returned to the Palace and had a long talk, so that Kangxi forgot about this martial art match altogether. Obtaining news about his father emperor, Kangxi had mixed feelings of grief and joy, his heart and spirit were perturbed, how could he have any interest to play with his sister? He said, “Right now I have a very important matter to attend to, I don’t have time to play with you. Go and train some more, we will have a match in a few days.”

    Knitting her pair of curved eyebrows Princess Jianning said, “When the heroes of Jianghu made an appointment for a martial art competition, they are dead set on not leaving until they meet. You don’t come to keep your appointment, won’t you be the laughingstock of the warriors under the heavens? You don’t come to have the match; that means you admit defeat.” It was the Jianghu’s custom, which she learned from the Imperial Bodyguards.

    “Alright,” Kangxi said, “Just consider I concede. Princess Jianning’s martial art skill is number one in the world, punching the fierce tiger of the southern mountain and kicking the legendary dragon [orig. ‘legendary dragon with the ability to control rain and floods’] of the northern sea.”

    Princess Jianning laughed and said, “Kicking the caterpillar of the northern sea!” Her foot flew up again toward Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao leaned sideways to evade; her foot kicked empty air.

    She knew that the Emperor was not willing to have a martial art match with her today, while the Imperial Bodyguards were all tall and powerfully built, if she fought them for real, she knew she was not their match. This little eunuch, both in terms of age and height, was about the same as she was, plus his movement was very agile, he was just the right person to test her martial art skill. “Alright!” she said, “Your Shifu is scared of me, he does not dare to fight me. You come with me.”

    Kangxi had always been very fond of this vivacious and witty younger sister, he could not bear to sweep down her excitement. “Xiao Guizi,” he ordered, “Go accompany the Princess to play, tomorrow you may wait on me again.”

    Princess Jianning suddenly shouted, “Huangdi Gege, en garde!” She threw both fists toward Kangxi’s temples [orig. ‘sun’ acupoints] in ‘bell and drum sounding simultaneously’.

    “Good move!” Kangxi called out. He raised one hand to block, while turning his wrist and leaning sideways, executing the move ‘pushing the window to look at the moon’, pushing her back lightly. The Princess staggered and tumbled several steps forward.

    “Pfft!” Wei Xiaobao stifled his laughter.

    The Princess’ shame turned into anger, “Dead eunuch,” she cursed, “What are you laughing at?” Reaching out, she grabbed his right ear and dragged him out of the study room. If Wei Xiaobao really wanted to evade, the Princess would not be able to catch him, but in the end he did not dare to be rude and had no choice but to let her twist his ear.

    Still twisting his ear Princess Jianning dragged him along the corridor. Outside the study room stood a large number of Imperial Bodyguards and eunuchs who were serving the Emperor. Seeing the two people, no one did not find it amusing, but being afraid of Wei Xiaobao’s power and influence, nobody dared to laugh audibly.

    “Alright, alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Let me go; wherever you want to go, I’ll come with you.”

    The Princess said, “You are the leader of a gang of bandits who were running amuck lawlessly; today I managed to catch you, how can I easily let you go? I will seal your acupoint first and then we’ll talk.” Stretching out her forefinger, she stabbed Wei Xiaobao’s chest and lower abdomen several times. She did not know how to seal acupoints, naturally these several stabs were merely random poking.

    Wei Xiaobao cried out loudly, “My acupoints are sealed!” He dropped sitting down, acted stunned, and thus motionless.

    The Princess was startled but delighted. She lightly kicked him, Wei Xiaobao did not budge. The Princess shouted, “Get up!” Wei Xiaobao was still motionless. The Princess still thought that she accidentally did seal his acupoints; she said, “Let me unseal your acupoints!” She gave his lower back a kick.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “If this stinky little mother sees that she can’t unseal my acupoints, she will kick me again.” Thereupon he cried out, “Ah!” and sprang up and said, “Princess, your acupoint sealing skill is excellent, I am afraid even His Majesty cannot do it.”

    “You, this little eunuch, is very crafty and sly,” the Princess said, “Since when do I know how to seal acupoints?” However, seeing his well-intention to please her, she was happy. “Come with me!” she said.

    Wei Xiaobao went along with her, to the room where he and Kangxi used to have their martial art competition in the former days. “Bolt the door,” the Princess said, “Don’t let anybody steal my boxing style.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed, while in his heart he mused, “Just with your meager martial art skill, who would want to steal your boxing style?” Immediately he turned toward the door and closed it. The princess picked up the door bolt, as if she was going to give it to him, but suddenly there was a loud ‘Bang!’ on Wei Xiaobao’s ear, with a severe pain on the top of his head, he passed out instantly.

    When he regained his consciousness, he opened his eyes and saw the Princess was standing in front of him with arms akimbo, grinning, “What a good-for-nothing trash. People who learn martial art will pay particular attention to the eyes watching the six pathways and the ears listening to eight directions. I struck you this time, why didn’t you guard against it? What kind of martial art did you learn?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “I … I … I …” he felt a splitting headache; suddenly he realized his left eye was wet and sticky, he could not open this eye. His nose smelled blood, and suddenly it dawned on him that he had been struck with the door bolt that his head was broken and his blood flowing.

    The Princess waved the door bolt in front of him and shouted, “If you have guts, quickly get up.” ‘Whoosh!’ she swung the door bolt toward his shoulder.

    “Ah!” Wei Xiaobao cried out and sprang up.

    The Princess swept the door bolt horizontally, aiming toward his leg’s bone. Wei Xiaobao sidestepped while reaching out to snatch the door bolt away.

    “Good move!” the Princess called out. The door bolt went up, fiercely jabbing the pit of his stomach. Wei Xiaobao dodged to the left, unexpectedly the door bolt made a turn and ‘Bang!’ it hit his right cheek heavily.

    Wei Xiaobao saw golden stars dancing randomly before his eyes, he staggered several steps. The Princess called out, “You are a big bandit of Lulin [Lit. ‘green wood’ – a reference to the criminal world], I must exterminate you immediately.” The door bolt swept across violently, Wei Xiaobao threw himself onto the floor. The Princess was greatly delighted, she raised the door bolt and heavily swung it toward the back of his head.

    Wei Xiaobao only heard the strong and swift wind at the back of his head. In his shock, he quickly rolled away. ‘Bang!’ the door bolt struck the floor. “Aiyo!” the Princess cried out. She had used too much force that the door bolt jolted the palm of her hand and gave her severe pain. In her rage, she kicked his waist as hard as she could.

    “I surrender! I surrender!” Wei Xiaobao cried out, “Don’t hit me!”

    The door bolt shot down, this time the Princess hit his lower abdomen. ‘Crack!’ luckily it hit the Five Dragon Command hidden inside Wei Xiaobao’s pocket. Wei Xiaobao was just about to spring up, but was thrown down again.

    Again and again the Princess swung the door bolt trying to hit him, while cursing in rage, “Dead eunuch, I want to hit you, you dare to evade?” Although her strength was not too big, she was dealing with Wei Xiaobao without any leniency, as if she wanted to beat him to death on the spot.

    Wei Xiaobao was scared and angry at the same time, he did everything he could to turn around and leap. The Princess raised her door bolt directly toward his face. Wei Xiaobao raised his left hand to block. ‘Crack!’ the bone of his arm nearly broke. His mind was racing, “Obviously Princess is not playing with me, why would she want to kill me? Ah, right, she must be under the Empress Dowager’s order to take my life!” Thinking to this point, he no longer wanted to allow her to beat him. Stretching out the two fingers of his right hand, he swiftly aimed the Princess’ eyeballs using the move ‘a pair of dragons fights over a pearl’.

    “Aiyo!” the Princess cried out and took a step backward. Wei Xiaobao swept away with his left foot, the Princess hit the ground head first. “Dead eunuch,” she yelled, “You hit me for real?”

    Wei Xiaobao clamped his hands over the door bolt and seized it, he wanted to strike the top of her head, but seeing the fear in her eyes mixed with anger on her face, he was startled, “This is the inner courtyard of the Imperial Palace, once my door bolt strike down, it will be a matter of treason and heresy. Unless I kill her and use transforming corpse powder to pulverize her, it will cause no end of trouble.” With this slight hesitation, the door bolt in his hand stopped midair.

    “Dead eunuch,” the Princess cursed, “Pull me up.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “She really want to kill me, but it won’t be easy.” Instantly he reached down to pull her up.

    The Princess said, “Your martial art skill is not as good as mine, it’s just that I was not careful and I tripped; that’s all. Just now you called out you want to surrender, why did you hit me? As a real man, why didn’t you keep Wulin’s custom?”

    Wei Xiaobao’s forehead was drenched with blood, it covered his eyes. He reached up to wipe it with his sleeve. The Princess laughed and said, “You lost, such a useless thing. Come, let me wipe the blood off you.” From her bosom she took out a snow white handkerchief, and took several steps closer.

    Wei Xiaobao took a step back and said, “Your servant does not dare to accept the honor.”

    The Princess said, “As the heroes and warriors of Jianghu, we must enjoy blessings and endure misfortune together.” She then used her handkerchief to wipe the bloodstain on his face.

    Wei Xiaobao could smell a delicate fragrance coming out of her body; his heart was slightly shaken. Right now the two of them stood very close to each other, he could see her beautiful face and very fair skin; he thought, “This little princess is actually very pretty!”

    The Princess said, “Turn around, let me have a look at the wound at the back of your head.”

    Following her instruction, Wei Xiaobao turned around, thinking, “Previously I was over suspicious; turns out the little princess is really playing, it’s just that her desire to outdo others is too strong, when making her move, she did not realize the gravity of things.”

    The Princess gently ran her hand over the wound at the back of his head; she asked with a laugh, “Is it really painful?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Not bad …” Suddenly there was a sharp pain on Wei Xiaobao’s back, she swept his feet away and sent him tumbling down on the floor. Turned out the Princess quietly took out a short dagger she had hidden inside her small boot and caught him off guard with a sneak attack.

    Her left foot treaded on his back, she raised her blade and stabbed his left and right legs. And then she laughed and said, “Is it really painful? Since you said ‘not bad’, I added several stabs with my dagger.”

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly astonished; he groaned inwardly, “Laozi is about to die!” His back was protected by the treasured clothes he was wearing, the blade could not stab him there, the cuts on his legs were not serious injury, but the pain made him hover between life and death. He wanted to unleash the second move ‘Little Lian lies in disarray’, which was taught by Madame Hong, to escape, but because of his previous injury, he did not have any strength. Besides, he had not trained this move to perfection. He struggled hard trying to crawl in between her legs toward her back, but his movement was way too slow, he had just started moving when his buttocks suffered another stab. He heard her giggling as she said, “Is it really painful?”


    [1] Posthumous title of Hung Taiji (1592-1632), eighth son of Nurhaci; reigned 1626-1636 as Second Khan of Later Jin dynasty, then founded the Qing dynasty and reigned 1636-1643 as Emperor.

  14. #154
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 4

    “Very painful,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Princess’ martial art skill is superior, your servant is not the Senior’s match. The … heroes of Jianghu, the great warriors, after they seize people, they would definitely spare their lives.”

    The Princess laughed and said, “Capital offence might be forgiven, but living hell is difficult to spare.” Squatting down, she sat on his buttocks and shouted, “If you move, I will stab you dead immediately.”

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “Your servant cannot move half an inch.” But the Princess happened to sit right on the wound; he could not bear not to groan loudly.

    The Princess loosened his belt and used it to bind his legs together, and then using the dagger she cut the front piece of his jacket and used it to bind his hands together. She laughed and said, “You are my prisoner, we are going to practice a new move, called … called ‘Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times’.” Everybody in the imperial family of Manchurian Qing was very familiar with the stories of the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’; in fact, she had read the story three times.

    Wei Xiaobao had also seen the play of this story; “Yes, yes,” he hastily said, “Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times and released him seven times; Princess Jianning captures Xiao Guizi, but she has caught him only once and released him only once. If you release me, I am not going to revolt against you. Compared to Zhuge Liang, you are seven times more formidable.”

    “That won’t do!” the Princess said, “Zhuge Liang must burn down the rattan-armored troops.”

    Wei Xiaobao was scared out of his wits; he hastily said, “Your servant does not … does not wear rattan armor.”

    The Princess laughed and said, “In that case, burning your clothes is just the same.”

    “No, don’t! You can’t do that!” Wei Xiaobao shouted.

    The Princess angrily said, “What do you mean I can’t do that? Zhuge Liang wanted to burn, he just burned, the rattan-armored troops did not have anything to say.” Seeing a candlestick and a fire-blade flint next to it on the table, she immediately made fire and lighted the candle.

    Wei Xiaobao screamed, “Zhuge Liang did not burn Meng Huo to death. You want to burn me to death. You are not Zhuge Liang, you are Cao Cao!”

    The Princess grasped the corner of his clothes with her fingers; she was just about to light it with the candle flame when suddenly she saw his glossy and shining black braided hair, she had an idea, and used the candle flame to light the tail of his braided hair.

    Hair is extremely easy to catch fire. As soon as it was lighted, it immediately burned, making a ‘chi, chi’ sound. A burning smell filled the room. Wei Xiaobao was so scared that his soul flew to the outer sky. “Help, help!” he cried out, “Cao Cao is burning Zhuge Liang to death!”

    Grasping the root of his pigtail, the Princess swung it back and forth while laughing heartily and said, “It’s a torch, it’s much more amusing.” In the blink of an eye the flame burned toward the head. The Princess let it off her hand. In an instant Wei Xiaobao’s head would caught fire. In this desperate situation, his strength suddenly increased greatly. He struggled free and rammed his head toward the Princess’ bosom.

    “Aiyo!” the Princess cried out, it was too late for her to dodge, Wei Xiaobao had already struck her lower abdomen, unexpectedly the flame on his head died out. With both hands the Princess swatted the ashes and burning hair from her clothes, her lower abdomen felt very painful. She was startled and frightened at the same time, and raised her foot to kick several times randomly on Wei Xiaobao’s head. After a few kicks, Wei Xiaobao fainted.

    In his daze, Wei Xiaobao felt severe pain on the wounds all over his body. When he regained his consciousness, he realized he was lying on his back on the floor. His chest was bare, his clothes, vest, and undergarments were unexpectedly undone. The Princess, with her left hand holding some kind of white powder, was cutting a three, four fen [about one, one and a third centimeter] deep cut on his chest using her short dagger, and then scattered the white powder on the wound. “What are you doing?” Wei Xiaobao screamed.

    The Princess laughed and said, "The Imperial Bodyguards told me that when they capture bandit or evil thief and the thief did not confess, they would put salt on his wound. The thief would then scream for his life and he would definitely confess. Therefore, I brought along this salt to especially deal with you, a Jianghu big thief."

    Wei Xiaobao felt his wounds were throbbing with pain; he screamed, "Help! Help! I confess, I confess!"

    The Princess giggled and said, "You are useless; you readily confess, where's the fun in that? You should say: 'Today laozi has fallen into your hands, you want to kill me, you want to cut me into pieces, if I frown I am not a real man.' I'll cut some more wounds and put a bit more salt on you. And then you can beg for your life; now that should be interesting."

    Wei Xiaobao was furious. "Damn it," he cursed, "You are a stinky little mother ... hey, hey, I wasn't cursing you; I ... I am not a real man. I confess, I confess!"

    The Princess sighed. She was about to throw the salt away when suddenly she had a second thought; scattering the salt to his wounds, she grimly said, "I am the Zhangmen [sect leader/head master] of Jianning Pai [Sect], my martial art skill is number one in the world. I have just captured this big bandit who does not shrink from any crime ..."

    "Alright, alright," Wei Xiaobao said, "I am the big pirate of the rivers and oceans, today my skill is inferior to others, and am being caught by the Zhangmen of Jianning Pai, whose martial art skill is number one in the world, my lot is death, not life. The saying in the Jianghu is right: It's all exaggeration, you don't need to take it seriously. Since zaixia has already submitted, so be it."

    Hearing him speaking the Jianghu lingo, which was similar to what Zhang Kangnian and the other Imperial Bodyguards had told her, the Princess was very happy. "Now you are talking," she praised, "Since we want to pretend, we must do it properly."

    In his heart Wei Xiaobao cursed 'stinky little mother, rotten little miss'; he felt like the pain he suffered had entered his bone and marrows. In that instant he could not tell whether she had received the Empress Dowager's order to take his life, or she was simply imitating the way of life of Jianghu's heroes. He thought that this stinky little mother was so vicious; even if she was simply playing with me, laozi's life would be gone under her hands for sure. Suddenly he recalled the effective scheme he played on Mu Jianping when he was trying to threaten her: young misses are always afraid of ghosts. Thereupon he suppressed his pain and said, "On second thought, Laozi does not want to submit. Senior Master Zhangmen, if you have guts, let me go, we'll compete again. If you are afraid of Laozi's superior martial art skill and do not dare to fight with me, then kill me with a stab of your dagger. I will die in injustice and become a ghost; I will follow behind your back during the day, and will enter your quilt during the night, to grip your neck and suck your blood ..."

    "Ah!" the Princess screamed. "Why would I want to kill you?" she said in a trembling voice.

    "Quickly let me go, then," Wei Xiaobao said.

    "I won't let you go!" the Princess said, "Dead eunuch, you scared me." Picking up the candlestick, she put the flame on his face.

    As soon as the flame made contact with the face, there was a 'chi' sound; Wei Xiaobao suffered a terrible pain, he threw he head backward and used his right shoulder to bump her arm as hard as he could. The Princess' arm was jolted, the candlestick fell to the ground and the flame died instantly. In her anger, she picked up the door bolt again, and swung it toward the back of his head.

    Wei Xiaobao's pain was unbearable; he was extremely terrified, "This time I won't live anymore," he thought, and cried out loudly, "I am dead." Pretending to be dead, he lay down motionless.

    The Princess was angry, "You pretend to be dead!" she said, "Quickly wake up, accompany me playing!" Wei Xiaobao did not move at all. The Princess lightly kicked his foot. Seeing he did not budge the least bit, she said in a gentle voice, "Alright, I won't hit you anymore, please don't die."

    Wei Xiaobao mused, "When I am dead, I am dead; how could I not die? Dog's fart nonsense."

    The Princess tore off the precious hairpin for her hair and poked his face and neck several times. Wei Xiaobao tried hard not to move. The Princess said in gentle voice, “Please, please … don’t … don’t scare me. I … I did not mean to kill you, I only wanted to have a martial art match and fight with you, who told you … who told you to be that useless and unable to defeat me …” Suddenly she realized that there was a very light sound of breathing coming from Wei Xiaobao’s nose, she was very happy; reaching out toward his chest, she felt that his heart was still beating. She laughed and said, “Dead eunuch, turns out you are not dead yet. This time I’ll spare you. Quickly open your eyes.”

    Wei Xiaobao was still motionless. But the Princess did not fall into his trick; she shouted, “I’ll dig your eyes, so that after you are dead, you will become a blind ghost and can’t find me.” Picking up the short dagger, she placed the tip of the dagger on his right eyelid.

    Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he rolled away to evade immediately. The Princess angrily said, "Spoiled little demon, you scared me. I ... I must prick your eyes blind." Leaping over, she stretched her foot and slammed it onto his chest, while raising her dagger and jabbed it toward his right eye. This time she was not pretending, she threw her body along to increase the momentum of the stab. If Wei Xiaobao was hit, not only his eye would be blinded, undoubtedly the dagger would be thrust straight into his brain.

    Wei Xiaobao hurriedly bent his legs and struck her chest with his knees. 'Bang!' the Princess staggered and slowly fell down. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, bending his body over, he extracted the dagger from his boot and cut the cloth binding his legs first. As soon as he was able to stand, he kicked the top of the Princess' head heavily, to make sure that she would not awake for a while. Only then did he stick the dagger into the table's leg, turned around, and gently ran the belt binding his hands over the edge of the blade. He only needed to run the belt twice, and it was instantly cut.

    He heaved a deep sigh; after a narrow escape, his heart was unspeakably happy, momentarily the painful wounds all over his body were forgotten. He thought, "How am I going to handle this stinky little mother? This is an extremely difficult matter. Listening to her tone, apparently she really wanted to play with me; if she received the Emperor Dowager's order to take my life, why would she be afraid to see I pretended to be dead? But if this is merely child's play, why would she have to be that vicious? Ah, I get it: she is the Princess, she has never considered eunuchs and palace maids as humans; people die or live, she does not care, in her eyes, it's like pinching an ant."

    The more he thought, the angrier he was, and he landed another kick on her chest. Unexpectedly, this kick had opened up the breathing passage that was blocked before. The Princess moaned softly and woke up. She slowly propped herself up while cursing, "Dead eunuch, you ..."

    Wei Xiaobao was still angry, he reached out and slapped her face twice, and punched her chest once; still not enough, his right foot swept across, the Princess tumbled down again. Wei Xiaobao leaped and sat astride her back, and then, like beating a drum, his fists kept punching her legs, her back, her buttocks, as hard as he could, while shouting, "Dead little mother, stinky little mother, daughter of a wh0re, Laozi is going to beat you to death."

    "Don't hit, don't hit!" the Princess yelled, "You are not following the rule, I am going to have the Empress Dowager kill you, I will have ... have the Emperor kill you, to ... to put you to death by a thousand cuts."

    Wei Xiaobao's heart turned cold; his hands immediately stopped moving. But then he had a second thought, "I will keep beating you, you might as well enjoy it." Moving his fists, he started beating her again, while cursing, "Laozi f*ck your eighteen-generation ancestors, I will beat you, stinky little mother, to death!"

    After being beaten several times, suddenly the Princess giggled. Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised, "I beat her this hard, how come she did not cry, but she is laughing instead?" he thought. He pulled the dagger from the table leg and pointed it to her neck, with his left hand he turned her body over and shouted, "What are you laughing at?"

    He saw her silk-like brows and eyes, there was a smiling expression on her face, as if she was really happy, so she was not pretending at all. With a tender voice she said, "Don't hit too hard, but don't hit me too light either."

    Wei Xiaobao was unable to make any sense of it; he was afraid she would suddenly play a trick on him, so he planted his right foot firmly on her chest and shouted, "Whatever trick you are playing on me, Laozi will not fall into it."

    The Princess struggled, while making grunting noise, twice, with her nose, as if she wanted to spring up. "Don't move!" Wei Xiaobao shouted. He pushed her forehead, hard, the Princess fell back down instantly.

    Wei Xiaobao felt his wounds were throbbing with pain, his rage was blazing again. 'Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!' he slapped her face left and right four times. The Princess moaned a few more times, her chest was heaving up and down, the expression on her face was that of an unspeakable pleasure. "Dead eunuch," she said softly, "Don't hit my face. If you injure my face and the Empress Dowager asked about it, I am afraid I cannot conceal it from her."

    "Stinky little mother," Wei Xiaobao cursed, "You rebellious s1ut, the more you are beaten the happier you are, right?" Reaching out, he heavily pinched and twisted her left arm, twice. "Aiyo, aiyo!" the Princess cried out; her eyebrows were knitted, but there was a smiling expression in her eyes.

    "Damn it," Wei Xiaobao said, "Does it feel good?" The Princess did not reply. Slowly she closed her eyes, but suddenly her foot flew up, kicking Wei Xiaobao's thigh, right on the dagger cut earlier.

    Feeling severe pain, Wei Xiaobao threw himself onto her shoulder and violently pinched and twisted her arms, shoulder, chest, and abdomen. The Princess giggled incessantly and cried out, "Dead eunuch, little eunuch, good gong-gong, good Gege, please spare me, I ... I can't take it anymore."

    Her voice was so tender that Wei Xiaobao's heart was shaken; he thought, "Her cry sounds just like Miss Fang when she was pleading to me on the boat." His anger greatly subsided, but as for her real intention, he really had no idea; therefore, copying her action earlier [orig. 'draw a gourd from the model' - to copy something mechanically without attempt at originality.], he loosened her belt and bound her hands and feet.

    The Princess laughed and said, "Dead little demon, what are you doing?"

    "So that you won't get any bad idea of harming others," Wei Xiaobao replied. He stood up with a labored breathing, his body was hurting all over that he felt he was about to pass out.

    The Princess laughed and said, "Xiao Guizi, I had so much fun playing with you today. Are you going to hit me again?"

    Wei Xiaobao said, "If you don't hit me first, how could I dare to hit you?"

    "I can't move," the Princess said, "If you want to hit me, there is nothing I can do."

    Wei Xiaobao spat and said, "You are not a princess, you are a s1ut." And then he kicked her bottom again.

    "Aiyo!" the Princess cried out, "Are we still playing?"

    "Most of Laozi's life has gone from your playing; why would I want to continue playing?" Wei Xiaobao replied, "Right now I am Zhuge Liang, I want to burn down the rattan-armored troops, I am going to burn your hair and your clothes."

    "You must not burn my hair ..." the Princess said anxiously. Suddenly she giggled and said, "It's alright for you to burn my clothes; even if you burn me until my body blisters, I am not scared."

    "Pei!" Wei Xiaobao spat, "You are not afraid of death, Laozi will not accompany you return to heaven. I must go to tend to my injuries, you have put salt on my wounds, do you think it is fun?" It was only now that he was convinced that the Princess really did not have any intention to kill him; thereupon he loosened the belt binding her hands and feet.

    "You really don't want to play anymore?" the Princess asked, "How about tomorrow?" There was earnestness in her voice.

    "If the Empress Dowager and His Majesty found out," Wei Xiaobao replied, "Do you think I will still live?"

    The Princess slowly stood up; she said, "As long as I did not say anything, how could the Empress Dowager and His Majesty find out? Tomorrow you must not hit my face. More bruises on my body are not a big deal."

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, "I can't come tomorrow. You have beaten me really bad. One or two months will not be enough for me to recuperate from my wounds."

    "Humph," the Princess snorted, "You won't come tomorrow? Just now you curse me what? You said you were going to f*ck my eighteen-generation ancestors. My eighteen-generation ancestors are exactly Huangdi Gege's eighteen-generation ancestors, my Emperor Grandpa's seventeen-generation ancestors, Taizong Huangdi's [posthumous name given to the second emperor of a dynasty] sixteen-generation ancestors, Taizu Huangdi's [posthumous name given to the first emperor of a dynasty] fifteen-generation ancestors ..."

  15. #155
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 5

    Wei Xiaobao was dumbstruck; he groaned inwardly. But suddenly he had a bright idea; he said, "You are not the Old Emperor's daughter, I was cursing your ancestors, it has nothing to do with His Majesty, the Old Emperor, or some Taizong Huangdi and Taizu Huangdi."

    The Princess was enraged; "What do you mean I am not the Old Emperor's daughter?" she shouted, "You dead eunuch is talking nonsense. Tomorrow afternoon I am going to wait for you here, if you, dead eunuch, do not come, I will tell the Empress Dowager that you beat me." While saying that, she stretched out her arm and pulled her sleeve, showing patches of black and blue bruises on her white, tender arm, from his pinching and twisting earlier.

    Wei Xiaobao was secretly alarmed, "How could I beat her that heavy a moment ago?"

    "Humph," the Princess said, "If you don't come tomorrow, I want to see if you can keep your life."

    Things have come to this, even if Wei Xiaobao did not want to yield, he simply did not have any choice. He nodded and said, "I will come to accompany you playing tomorrow, but you must not hit me."

    The Princess was greatly delighted; she said, "It's great that you are going to come. If I hit you, you can hit me back. We, the heroes of Jianghu, make a clear distinction between gratitude and grudges."

    With a bitter smile Wei Xiaobao said, "If you beat me again, I will turn from a hero to a malicious ghost."

    The Princess laughed and said, "Don't worry, I can't possibly kill you for real." After a short pause, she continued, "At most I will beat you half-dead and half-alive." Seeing his changed countenance, she smiled sweetly and said in a gentle voice, "Xiao Guizi, there are a lot of eunuchs and Imperial Bodyguards in the Palace, but I only like you, one person. Those other fellows are too lacking in courageous spirit, even if I beat them to death, they would not dare to curse me any 'stinky little mother, s1ut ...'" she was imitating his accent, "... daughter of a wh0re! Hee ... hee ... no one has ever curse me like that."

    Wei Xiaobao was happy, but also amused, "You like to be cursed?" he asked.

    The Princess laughed and said, "Only if you curse me like that. The Empress Dowager would also reprimand me with a wooden face, telling me to abide by the rules. I don't like that kind of cursing."

    "In that case," Wei Xiaobao said, "You'd better go to the Lovely Spring Courtyard." He was thinking, "If you become a wh0re, there will be a lot of people cursing you. The pimp [orig. 'female brothel keeper'] will curse and hit you, the brothel's patron may burn you, or beat you and curse you."

    The Princess' spirit was aroused; she asked, "What kind of place is the Lovely Spring Courtyard? Is it a fun place?"

    Wei Xiaobao laughed in his heart; he said, "It's a very fun place, but it is in Jiangnan, you can't go there. If you stay in the Lovely Spring Courtyard for three months, I guarantee you will be awfully happy that you won't want to be a Princess anymore."

    The Princess sighed; her thought wandered far away as she said wistfully, "When I grow up, I must go there."

    With a straight face Wei Xiaobao said, "Good, good! In the future I will definitely take you there. A real man gave his words, dead horses cannot chase it." He could never remember the phrase 'a team of four horses cannot chase it', but instead of saying 'some horses cannot chase it', he said 'dead[1] horses cannot chase it'.

    The Princess grabbed his hand and said, "When I fight with those eunuchs and Imperial Bodyguards, everybody always intentionally yields to me, it's not fun at all. Only yesterday when Huangdi Gege had a martial art match with me, he really hit me 30%, but he was not willing to hit too hard to hurt me, to pinch too hard to hurt me. Good Xiao Guizi, you are the only one who hit me for real. Don't you worry, I definitely will not kill you." Puckering her mouth, she landed a kiss on his lips. Her face blushed, and she dashed out of the room.

    In that instant Wei Xiaobao felt the sky spun, the earth turned over; he fell sitting down on the floor, thinking, "I am afraid this Princess is a little bit insane, the more I hit her and curse her, the happier she is. Damn it, could it be that the Old Wh0re's little girl really take a liking on a fake eunuch like me?" Recalling her beautiful face, his heart was befuddled. Slowly he stood up and walked back toward his residence. He was so exhausted that as soon as he touched the bed, he fell asleep instantly.

    He slept for more than ten hours [orig. 5 shichen] straight. By the time he woke up, the sky had turned dark. Feeling the pain on his entire body, he could not bear not to groan. He got up, thinking that he was going to wash the salt from his wounds. Who would have thought that as he tried to take off his clothes, the blood from his wounds had congealed and stuck firmly onto his clothes? When he tried to pull it, it was so painful that unavoidably he rained curses again, 'stinky little mother, rotten little miss'. Finally he washed off the salt and spread metal-cut wound medicine on his injuries.

    When he went to see the young emperor the next day, Kangxi saw his nose was blue and his eyes swollen, his hair and his eyebrows were burned, everything was broken and in disarray. Kangxi was shocked; he immediately guessed that it must be his precious imperial younger sister's masterpiece. "Did the Princess beat you?" he asked, "Is the injury heavy?"

    With a forced smile Wei Xiaobao said, "Not too bad. Shifu, your disciple has brought disgrace to you [orig. 'throw away your face'], Senior. I will have to painstakingly train for three more years before I can retrieve it back and bring honor to you, Senior."

    At first Kangxi was worried that in a towering rage Wei Xiaobao would ask Kangxi to stick out for him. It’s just that although his imperial sister was in the wrong, it had always been her right as the master to beat up the slaves. However, if Kangxi ignored him, he was afraid when Wei Xiaobao went up Mount Wutai to serve his father emperor, he would not do so with all of his heart. While he was feeling awkward, suddenly hearing Wei Xiaobao say so, i.e. he did not complain over this matter, but consider it as child’s play, Kangxi was ecstatic. He laughed and said, “Xiao Guizi, you are really good! I must reward you well. Tell me, what do you want?”

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “Shifu did not reproach disciple for being not proficient in my training, disciple is already very grateful, I do not need any reward.” After a short pause, he continued, “Shifu may pass on to me some brilliant moves, so that when I meet with danger in the future, I won’t be bullied by others. That’s all I want.”

    Kangxi burst out laughing; he said, “Alright, alright!” Thereupon he taught him several exquisite moves the Empress Dowager had bestowed to him.

    Although these several qin na techniques were quite extraordinary, they were far inferior compared to the six moves Hong Jiaozhu, husband and wife, had taught him. When Wei Xiaobao was having martial art match with Kangxi previously, he had seen Kangxi use these moves. Now that he had special instruction, he managed to master the moves without spending too much time.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “When I fought with him earlier, we were wrestling as friends. But he is the Emperor, I am a slave, this friendship will not last too long. This time I return to Beijing, I can see that although physically he did not grow too much, his power and prestige have actually grown considerably. I can’t call him ‘Xiao Xuanzi’, three characters, anymore; but if I simply change the way I address him, it will be no more than an ingenious way of flattering him.” Thereupon he kneeled down, ‘dong, dong, dong’ he knocked his head against the floor eight times, and said, “Shifu, disciple Wei Xiaobao is your, Senior’s first disciple [orig. ‘first disciple of cutting into a mountain’ – a reference to opening a monastery].”

    Kangxi was startled; but he understood his intention immediately. On one hand, he felt it would be fun, on the other hand, he also felt that the appellation ‘Xiao Xuanzi’ was no longer appropriate. He laughed and said, “Being a ruler I can’t go back on my own words! Since I have had you call me Shifu, I have no choice but to receive you as my disciple.” Then he called out, “Guards!”

    Two eunuchs and two Imperial Bodyguards entered the study room. Kangxi said, “Turn around.”

    “Yes,” the four people complied. But the rule said that subjects should never turn their backs toward the Emperor, otherwise, it would be extremely disrespectful. The four people did not understand Kangxi’s intention, they only turned their bodies slightly, no one dared to turn his back.

    From his desk Kangxi picked up a pair of golden scissors and walked toward the four people’s backs. Again the four of them turned their bodies slightly. Kangxi looked at the four people’s braided hair, and saw a court eunuch had the most glossy and shiny black hair. His left hand grabbed the pigtail, ‘crash’ he cut the braid down from the base.

    The eunuch was so scared that he felt his soul had flown to the outer sky. Instantly he kneeled down and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, “Your servant deserves to die, your servant deserves to die!”

    Kangxi laughed and said, “Don’t be afraid, I reward you ten taels of silver. Everybody get out!” The four of them were bewildered; they only thought that the power of Heaven was hard to fathom, they walked backward out of the room.

    Kangxi gave the pigtail to Wei Xiaobao and said with a laugh, "You are going to be a monk, the Princess has burned your hair, it seems that this is the will of Heaven. The Heaven is borrowing the Princess' hand to tell you to shed your hair and become a monk. You may tie this false braid on your head first, otherwise you will look unsightly."

    Wei Xiaobao kneeled down and said, "Yes, Shifu cherishes your disciple, you are very considerate."

    Kangxi laughed and said, "You have done obeisance, taking me as your master, you must not mention it to anybody else. I know you are tightlipped, very prudent and careful, and that was the reason I agreed. If you act ostentatiously outside, as the Zhangmen, I will cripple your martial art skill and expel you from my school."

    "Yes, yes," Wei Xiaobao repeatedly promised, "Disciple will not dare."

    When Kangxi had martial art match with Wei Xiaobao, other than the Empress Dowager and Hai Dafu, nobody else in the Palace knew about it. He thought that by playing along and taking him as disciple, as long as nobody else knew, he would not lose face as the Emperor. But his natural disposition was cautious, hence he repeatedly warned Wei Xiaobao.

    Kangxi sat down and mused, "The Empress Dowager is sinister and ruthless, she can't be teaching me martial art with all of her heart; otherwise, she knew a formidable martial art that can break people's bones in pieces, why didn't she teach me even for half a move? Although I am the Shifu, in reality I am not much stronger than this kid, I don't have any superior martial art that I can teach him. The monks of Shaolin Temple have extremely high martial art skill, I only hope that when Fu Huang is in trouble, they would come to help him again ..." Thinking to this point, a plan started to formed in his mind. He said, "Go and take a rest, take care of your wounds, come again tomorrow to see me."

    Wei Xiaobao returned to his residence, he ordered the eunuch working for him to invite the imperial physician to treat his injury. Although his wounds were painful, they were actually flesh wounds, his muscles and bones were not harmed at all. The imperial physician said that after recuperating for ten days to half a month, he should be healed completely, so he told him not to worry.

    After eating his lunch, Wei Xiaobao went out to keep his appointment with the Princess. His mind was in a mess; he was afraid she would beat him up again, but he was also excited to see her again.

    As soon as he pushed the door open, the Princess yelled and pounced on him. This time Wei Xiaobao was prepared; with his left arm he blocked, with his right foot he hooked, while grabbing the back of the Princess' neck with his right hand and pressed her body that she was bending forward.

    The Princess laughed and cursed, "Dead eunuch, how come you are so formidable today?"

    Wei Xiaobao grabbed her left arm and twisted it behind her back; he said in a low voice, "If you don't call me 'Good Guizi, Good Gege', I am going to twist your arm broken."

    "Pei!" the Princess cursed, "You are a dead slave!"

    Wei Xiaobao twisted the Princess' arm heavily and shouted, "You don't call, I will twist and break this arm of yours."

    The Princess laughed and said, "I won't call."

    Wei Xiaobao thought, "This little mother’s skin [小娘皮 - see Chapter 10] is indeed a rebellious s1ut. The more I beat her, the happier she is."

    'Slap!' he heavily slapped her buttocks with his left hand. The Princess jumped, but she was giggling incessantly. "Damn it," Wei Xiaobao said, "Turns out you love to take a beating." With all his might he punched her repeatedly. It was so painful that the Princess curled on the floor, unable to get up. It was only then did Wei Xiaobao halt his hand.

    The Princess panted. "Alright," she said, "Now it's my turn to beat you."

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head. "No," he said, "I won't let you beat me." He thought that this little miss was so ruthless, if he let her beat him, he might lose his life at any time. The Princess pleaded with him in gentle voice, but Wei Xiaobao simply refused.

    The Princess threw a fit, she pounced on him, beat him and bit him. Wei Xiaobao slapped her on the face, sending her tumbling to the floor. He pulled her hair and hit her buttocks, thinking that since he had hit her buttocks, he did not need to be polite anymore, thereupon he pinched and twisted randomly all over her body.

    The Princess crouched by his feet, hugging his two legs. She gently rubbed her face against his calves, in a coquettish and lithe manner, and said in a flirtatious way, "Good Guizi, Good Gege, let me beat you just once, I promise not to hit you too hard."

    Wei Xiaobao thought she looked like a timid and helpless little girl, and he heard her affectionate request, his heart was shaken. He had the urge to consent. The Princess added, "Good Gege, I love nothing more than to see blood coming out of your body."

    Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright; "That is out of the question!" he angrily said. Lifting his left foot, he kicked her head and said, "Let me go, I must leave. If I stay around you, inevitably there will come a day when I die in your hands."

    The Princess sighed and said, "You don't want to play with me anymore?"

    "It's too dangerous," Wei Xiaobao said, "I may lose my old life any time."

    The Princess giggled. She stood up and said, "Fine! In that case, help me back to my room. You have hit me too hard that I cannot walk."

    "I won't help you," Wei Xiaobao said.

    Propping herself against the wall, the Princess slowly hobbled out, saying, "Good Guizi, will you come again tomorrow?" Suddenly her left leg gave up, she almost fell down. Wei Xiaobao rushed forward to hold her.

    The Princess said, "Good Guizi, sorry to bother you, but could you get two eunuchs to help me go back to my room?"

    Wei Xiaobao thought that if he called the eunuchs, the Empress Dowager would probably find out, and then she would investigate why the Princess was injured. As soon as this matter was leaked ever so slightly, he would be charged with capital offense punishable by beheading. Having no other choice, he supported her and said, “I will help you back to your room.”

    The Princess laughed and said, "Good Guizi, thank you very much.” Leaning on his shoulder she walked westward.

    The Princess’ residence was located west of the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful, right next to the Shou Kang [Abundant Long-live] Palace. The two of them slowly approached the garden of Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful. Recalling the Empress Dowager’s manner, Wei Xiaobao’s heart was trembling with trepidation. When they reached the corridor, the Princess suddenly blew air into his ear.

    Wei Xiaobao blushed. “No … don’t,” he stammered.

    With a gentle voice the Princess said, “Why? I am not hitting you.” While saying that, she gently bit his earlobe; she stuck out her tongue and licked his ear slowly.

    Wei Xiaobao felt the itch was unbearable, he said in a low voice, “If you bit and hurt my ear, I am not going to see you again, ever. A real man gave his words, dead horses cannot chase it.”

    The Princess actually wanted to bite a piece of his earlobe off, but listening to his words, she did not dare to continue, she only laughed softly. This laugh made Wei Xiaobao flushed with excitement, his whole body turned limp and aching.

    Finally they reached the Princess’ personal quarter. Wei Xiaobao turned around to leave. The Princess said, “I want you to come in, I have something interesting to show to you.” At that time, there were four eunuchs and four palace maids standing outside the door of the Jianning Palace, to wait upon her. Wei Xiaobao did not dare to blatantly disobey, he had no choice but to follow her.


    [1] In original Chinese, the word 'a team of four horses' sounds like the word 'dead' (si).

  16. #156
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 6

    Pulling his hand, the Princess took him straight into her own bedroom. Two palace maids followed in, they presented hot towel for the Princess to clean her face. The Princess took one towel and handed it over to Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao took it, and wiped the sweat on his face.

    Seeing the Princess unexpectedly broke the rule by giving this little eunuch a deferential treatment, the two palace maids could not help but stare in disbelief. She had never been this polite even toward the Empress Dowager or the Emperor, and the little eunuch also unexpectedly accepted it calmly, which was considered extremely rude.

    The Princess caught a glance; she glowered and said, “What are you looking at?”

    “Yes, yes!” the two palace maids replied. Bending their waists, they withdrew immediately. Who would have thought that it was already too late? The Princess stretched out her hand to dig the eye of the palace maid nearer to her. The palace maid dodged slightly, and let out a miserable cry. Although her eyeball was safe, her face was drenched with blood, from her forehead down to her chin, as four nail marks appeared. The two palace maids were scared out of their wits and hastily withdrew from the room.

    The Princess laughed and said, “Did you see that? Those slaves could only shout, begging for mercy; where is the fun in that?”

    Seeing the ruthlessness of her action, Wei Xiaobao thought that this little wh0re was too violent, she was more or less the same as her mother, the old wh0re, it would be best for him to get away from her at the earliest possible time. “Princess,” he said, “His Majesty sends me out to do something for him, I must go.”

    “What’s the rush?” the Princess asked. She turned around, closed the door, and bolted it. Wei Xiaobao’s heart was pounding, he wondered what kind of strange thing she was going to do. The Princess laughed and said, “I have been the master for fifteen years, I always have people serving me, it’s getting quite tasteless. Today we change roles, you are the master, I am the slave.”

    Wei Xiaobao waved his hands wildly, “That won’t do, that won’t do,” he said, “I don’t have that good fortune.”

    The Princess’ pretty face sank, she said, “You don’t want to? I am going to scream, I will say that you are being rude to me, and beat me black and blue.” Suddenly she raised her voice and called out, “Aiyo, it hurts!”

    Wei Xiaobao repeatedly bowed with cupped fists and said, “Don’t shout, don’t shout, I’ll listen to your instruction.”

    This was the Princess’ personal chamber, there were many eunuchs and palace maids standing outside to wait on her, she only had to call several times, there would be a throng of people rushing in; it was completely different from the small room where they were having the martial art match, where there were nobody around.

    The Princess smiled and said, “Miserable wretch! I talked to you nicely, you did not want to listen; you insist on refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”

    “You are the miserable wretch,” Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “You don’t want to be the master, you want to be the slave instead.”

    The Princess bent her knees and respectfully paid her respect to him, saying, “Prince Gui[1], do you want to sleep now? Your servant will help you change your clothes.”

    “Humph,” Wei Xiaobao snorted, “I don’t want to sleep. You may give me a gentle pound with your fist on my legs.”

    “Yes!” the Princess replied. She sat on the floor, lifted his right foot and placed it on her own legs, and then gently pounded it with her fists, being careful not to touch the wounds on his leg.

    “What a good servant,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You are serving me exceptionally well.” Stretching out his hand, he gently pinched her cheek.

    The Princess was very happy, “Thank you for Master’s praise,” she said in low voice. Taking off his boot, she kneaded his foot for a while, then she started working on his left foot. After pounding it for half a day, she took the boot and massaged his foot. “Prince Gui,” she said, “Lie on the bed, I will pound your back gently.”

    Massaged by her, Wei Xiaobao was very comfortable; he thought that if I did not satisfy this miserable wretch’s craving of being the slave, she would not let me go anyway. Thereupon he climbed on her bed and lay down. His nostrils were assaulted by bursts of fragrance. “This miserable wretch’s bed is so gorgeous,” he mused, “Even the top wh0re in the Lovely Spring Courtyard did not have this kind of pretty bedding and pillow.” The Princess pulled a thin quilt over his body and then gently beat his back with her fists.

    Wei Xiaobao was in a daze. While he was enjoying being the Prince Gui, suddenly he heard the voices of many people outside the door, “The Empress Dowager has arrived!” His shock was really not a small matter, hastily he sprang up.

    The Princess’ face also showed terrified expression. “No time to escape,” she said in trembling voice, “Don’t move, get into the quilt.” Wei Xiaobao pulled his head and sank into the quilt; he heard faint knocking on the door, and was so scared that he almost fainted.

    The Princess pulled down the mosquito net before turning around and unlatched the door. As soon as she opened the door, the Empress Dowager strode into the room. “Clear sky in the middle of the day, why did you close the door?”

    The Princess laughed and said, “I am very tired, I was about to take a nap.”

    The Empress Dowager sat down and asked, “What kind of trick are you playing? Why is it that your face does not have any color of blood?”

    “I said I am very tired,” the Princess replied.

    The Empress Dowager looked down and saw a pair of boots in front of the bed, she also saw the embroidered screen was moving slightly; she knew something was different. Turning toward the eunuchs and palace maids, she said, “Go wait outside.” When everybody was out, she said, “Close the door, put the bolt on.”

    The Princess laughed and said, “Empress Dowager also wants to play some trick?” Obeying her order, she closed the door. She then followed the Empress Dowager’s vision and saw the boots; she could not stop her countenance from changing greatly. With a forced laugh she said, “I was going to put on men’s clothing, I want to dress up as a boy and show it to the Empress Dowager. I want to know when I put on the men’s clothing, whether you think I will look handsome or not.”

    The Empress Dowager coldly said, “Is the boy on the bed handsome or not?” Suddenly she stood up and walked toward the bed.

    The Princess was greatly shocked, she pulled the Empress Dowager’s hand and called out, “Empress Dowager, he and I are just playing games …”

    The Empress Dowager flung her hand to throw her several steps away; she opened the screen, pulled the quilt away, grabbed Wei Xiaobao’s neck, and lifted him up.

    Wei Xiaobao kept his face facing the inside of the bed, he did not dare to turn his head around and see her, he was already so scared that his entire body was trembling.

    “Empress Dowager,” the Princess called out, “This is the little eunuch Huangdi Gege likes the most, you … you must not harm him.”

    “Humph,” the Empress Dowager snorted; she thought that her daughter was growing up, her interest in the opposite sex had opened, she was hiding a little eunuch in her bed, it was no more than a shady business of playing fake (male) phoenix and empty (female) phoenix, so it could not be considered a big deal. Her right hand circled, she turned Wei Xiaobao around, ‘slap, slap’, she slapped his face twice, and shouted, “Get lost! If I ever see you fooling around with the Princess again …” Suddenly she saw his face clearly and was startled, “So it’s you!”

    Wei Xiaobao turned his face away, “It isn’t me,” he said. These three characters were an oxymoron [orig. unfathomable mystery], but while his heart alarmed, he was trembling in fear, what else could he say?

    The Empress Dowager firmly grabbed the back of his neck and slowly said, “There are many roads in the heavens but you don’t want to take, there is no gate in hell but you insist on breaking in. You are being rude to the Princess, today you cannot blame me.”

    “Empress Dowager,” the Princess anxiously said, “It was me who wanted him to sleep in here, you must not blame him.”

    The Empress Dowager lightly patted Wei Xiaobao’s forehead with her left palm; raising her left arm, she concentrated her strength on her hand ready to shoot it down, to kill him instantly with one palm strike.

    In this extremely critical situation, Wei Xiaobao suddenly remembered the move ‘Di Qing subduing the dragon’, which was taught by Hong Jiaozhu. His hands reached backward to grope the front of the Empress Dowager’s chest. The Empress Dowager was startled, she pulled her chest back and scolded, “You are asking to die!”

    Wei Xiaobao kicked on the bed with both feet, he made a somersault backward, and landed astride the Empress Dowager’s neck, with both his forefingers on her eyes, and both his thumbs on her temples. “If you move,” he shouted, “I am going to dig your eyeballs out!”

    He had not trained this move to perfection, so it was actually difficult for him to use it properly; fortunately, he was standing on the bed, while the Empress Dowager was standing on the floor. One on higher position, the other on lower position, so it was easier for him to ride on her. Moreover, the fingers with which he threatened to dig her eyeballs should be the middle fingers, but he was using forefingers instead; and when he somersaulted, the tip of his foot caught the mosquito net. Indeed he executed the move sloppily [lit. ‘wading in mud and water’], and it looked very awkward. If Hong Jiaozhu personally witnessed this, he would have been angered half dead. However, although the execution was incorrect, the style was indeed ingenious; the Empress Dowager still fell under his control, although she reacted hastily, unexpectedly it was still hard for her to ward off.

    The Princess burst out laughing and called out, “Xiao Guizi, don’t be rude. Quickly let the Empress Dowager go.”

    Wei Xiaobao raised his right leg, he drew the dagger with his right hand and pressed it against the middle of the Empress Dowager’s back; it was only then did he slide down from her neck. Suddenly ‘splat!’ a multi-colored, glittering object fell onto the floor; it was exactly the Divine Dragon Cult’s Five-Dragon Command.

    The Empress Dowager was very shocked. “This … this … thing … where did it come from?” she said.

    Wei Xiaobao remembered that the Empress Dowager was secretly in collusion with Divine Dragon Cult’s fake palace maid, Deng Bingchun and Liu Yan; perhaps he could use this Five-Dragon Command to force her into submission. “What do you mean this thing or that thing?” he said, “This is our Cult’s Five-Dragon Command, don’t you know it? What a nerve!”

    The Empress Dowager’s entire body trembled, “Yes, yes!” she said.

    Hearing her deferential tone, Wei Xiaobao could not help bursting with joy; he said, “Seeing the Five-Dragon Command is like seeing Jiaozhu in person. Hong Jiaozhu enjoys immortal good fortune forever, his long-life is the same as the heaven’s.”

    With a trembling voice the Empress Dowager repeated, “Hong Jiaozhu enjoys immortal good fortune forever, his long-life is the same as the heaven’s.” She stooped down to pick the Five-Dragon Command and lifted it up high above her head.

    Wei Xiaobao reached out to receive it. “Are you going to obey my command?” he asked.

    “Yes,” the Empress Dowager replied, “I will respectfully obey your command.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable!”

    The Empress Dowager respectfully followed, “With Jiaozhu’s treasured teaching always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable!”

    It was only now did Wei Xiaobao let out a sigh of relief; he loosened the dagger, and haughtily sat down on the edge of the bed.

    The Empress Dowager turned toward the Princess and said, “Go outside, don’t say anything, otherwise I will kill you.”

    The Princess was startled. “Yes,” she replied. She cast a glance toward Wei Xiaobao, her heart was filled with doubts. “Empress Dowager,” she said, “Is this Huangdi Gege’s imperial edict?”

    As Kangxi gradually grew older, his power and authority gradually grew bigger; when eunuchs, palace maids, as well as Imperial Bodyguards, were talking about His Majesty, their fear and respect also grew steadily. The Princess also knew earlier that the Empress Dowager was rather afraid of the Emperor. The Empress Dowager nodded and said, “Yes, he is the Emperor’s trusted aide, there is some important matter he needs to talk to me. You must never, ever reveal this secret. In front of the Emperor, you must never mention it even more, so as to avoid … to avoid the Emperor getting angry at you.”

    “Yes, yes,” the Princess replied, “I am not that stupid.” While saying that, she went out of the room and closed the door behind her.

    As she sat face-to-face with Wei Xiaobao, the Empress Dowager’s heart was filled with doubts. After a while, she said, “The walls have ears, this is not a good place to talk. Would it be better if you please go to the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful to discuss it further?”

    Hearing her using the word ‘please’, plus her tone was asking for opinion, not authoritatively making a one-sided decision, Wei Xiaobao felt even more relieved; but he was still thinking, “This old wh0re is vicious and merciless, I wonder if she is luring me to the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful to use some crafty scheme to harm laozi?” Thereupon he nodded and said in a low voice, “I am the newly-appointed White Dragon Envoy of our Cult, under Hong Jiaozhu’s order to bear this Five-Dragon Command.”

    The Empress Dowager immediately felt deep veneration toward him, she bowed and said, “Subordinate pays her respect to the White Dragon Envoy.”

    Although Wei Xiaobao had long suspected that since the Empress Dowager was in collusion with the Black Dragon Gate’s people, she was bound to have utter veneration toward Hong Jiaozhu, so this Five-Dragon Command most probably would have some effect on her; but never in a million years would he guess that she herself was a member of the Divine Dragon Cult. Based on her status as the Empress Dowager, there was nothing in the world that she could not get, yet shockingly she still entered the Divine Dragon Cult. Not only that, her rank was far below that of his own, which was really unthinkable. Seeing her respectfully making her salutations, he could not help but was shocked and at a loss of what to do.

    Seeing him sitting silently without saying anything, the Empress Dowager thought that he was still thinking of the former hatred, she was very frightened and said in a low voice, “Previously subordinate did not know honorable envoy’s status, and thus has offended you a lot, and now I am very terrified, only hoping for the honorable envoy’s magnanimous forgiveness.”

    She saw that he was very young, yet was holding a very high position within the Cult, in the end it was still hard to believe. But then again, for the past few years Jiaozhu and Madame had promoted young people to higher position on a large scale, the older brethrens of the Cult were either slaughtered, or were met with suspicions, their power were gradually reduced. Therefore, this little child being the newly-appointed White Dragon Envoy was absolutely not an unusual happening. She thought further, “Even if he is really the White Dragon Envoy, if I kill him right now, nobody in the Cult would know. This little demon bears an extreme grudge toward me, if I let him live, it will only cause no end of trouble for me.”

    Her murderous intention aroused, her eyes could not help but revealing a malicious look. Wei Xiaobao immediately caught it, and said in his heart, “Not good, the old wh0re is going to kill me.” He said in a low voice, “The technique I used to capture you just now, obviously you know who had taught me that, don’t you?”

    The Empress Dowager was startled; she recalled the technique used by this little demon a moment ago, and found it to be immeasurably secretive, just in one move he was able to subdue her. It was precisely the Cult Leader’s technique. “Could it be … could it be that Jiaozhu has personally taught you?” she asked in a trembling voice.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Jiaozhu taught me thirty killer moves, Madame Hong taught me thirty qin na techniques. Comparing the two of them, naturally Jiaozhu’s techniques are a lot more formidable. It’s just that each one of the Senior’s moves will take the human’s life. I did not want to kill you, therefore, I only used the move that Madame taught me, the ‘the flying swallow circle around overhead’.”


    [1] Orig. Gui Bei Lei, ‘a prince with blood ties to the royal family’ – see footnote 15 of Chapter 13.

  17. #157
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    Default Chapter 21 - Part 7

    Since bragging did not need any capital, he multiplied the number of moves by a factor of ten. But the Empress Dowager did not have the slightest doubt. She knew that the moves Madame Hong used all have ancient beauties’ name in it; she could not help but broke into cold sweat. She thought, “Luckily he used Madame Hong’s move to deal with me. If he had used the move Jiaozhu taught him, I would have been dead by now.” This moment, how could she still have the intention to harm him? She said respectfully, “Thank you for honorable envoy’s kindness in not killing me.”

    Feeling very proud of himself, Wei Xiaobao said, “I did not dig out your eyeballs, compared to Madame’s instruction, I was being lenient to you thirty percent.” These words were actually the truth, if he really wanted to dig the Empress Dowager’s eyes, he could do that. It’s just that when she was severely injured, she would strike back with all of her strength, and then she would definitely want to take his life.

    The more the Empress Dowager heard him, the more she was afraid. “Thank you for being lenient to me,” she said, “Subordinate appreciates it very much. I will certainly repay honorable envoy’s benevolence.”

    Originally, each time Wei Xiaobao saw the Empress Dowager, it was like a mouse seeing a cat, he could not stop his entire body from trembling; who would have thought that this time unexpectedly he managed to control her that she became docile, standing in front of him in fear and trepidation. He was very pleased with himself, and it was very hard to contain. He lifted his left leg and crossed it above his right, and swayed it several times. He said in a low voice, “This time, we have Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan, two people following the Envoy from Shen Long Jiao coming to Beijing.”

    “Yes, yes,” the Empress Dowager said. She thought that Fat and Lu, two people were martial art experts from their Cult, unexpectedly they were second to him. It was really fortunate that she was not being reckless a moment ago; if she did kill him, forget that she would have to face the Cult Leader' investigation later, as soon as Fat and Lu, two people find out, death would be her only way out. She saw the finger marks on his face from her slaps earlier, and said in a trembling voice, "Subordinate has committed all kinds of heinous crimes in the past. I am hoping for honorable envoy’s magnanimous, generous and boundless good fortune."

    Wei Xiaobao smiled and said, "The White Dragon Envoy Zhong Zhiling betrayed Jiaozhu, Jiaozhu and Madame have him killed, and ordered me to take over the White Dragon Gate. The Black Dragon Envoy Zhang Danyue did not do his best in handling his assignment, Jiaozhu and Madame are very angry. The mission to fetch the sutras now becomes my responsibility."

    The Empress Dowager's entire body trembled. "Yes, yes," she said. Recalling the several copies of sutra that she had just obtained but then lost, day and night she had been feeling uneasy these past few days, and now finally the matter was brought to light. She said in a trembling voice, "This matter is complicated and not easy to explain succinctly. Would honorable envoy take the trouble to visit the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful? Subordinate will present detail reports to you."

    Wei Xiaobao nodded and said, "Very well." He thought that there were too many things he did not understand about this matter, and was about to question her anyway; thereupon he stood up.

    The Empress Dowager turned around, pulled the door bolt, and opened the door. And then she stepped aside to let him walk out first. Wei Xiaobao said loudly, "The Empress Dowager is leaving!"

    "Excuse me!" the Empress Dowager said in a low voice, as she went out the door. Wei Xiaobao followed behind her. Dozens of eunuchs and palace maids followed from a far.

    The two of them arrived at the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful. The Empress Dowager led him into her bedroom. After sending out the palace maids, she closed the door, and then personally poured a bowl of ginseng soup, which she offered to Wei Xiaobao with both hands. Wei Xiaobao accepted it and drank several mouthfuls; he thought, "My prestige today is comparable to the Old Emperor Shunzhi in the past. I don't think the Empress Dowager would treat the young Emperor with this kind of respect." He was very happy in his heart.

    The Empress Dowager opened a trunk and took out a brocade box. From the box she took out a small jade bottle; she said, "Reporting to honorable envoy: there are thirty 'snow ginseng jade moon pills' in this bottle, it was a tribute from King of Korean Joseon dynasty, incomparably priceless. After taking this, the body will be invigorated, it will not be invaded by a hundred poisons. From these, would honorable envoy please forward twelve pills to Jiaozhu, ten pills to Madame Jiaozhu, and would honorable envoy take the remaining eight pills for yourself, as a token of ... a token of subordinate's negligible appreciation."

    Wei Xiaobao nodded. "Thank you very much," he said, "But I wonder if these pills will clash with the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’?"

    "It won't clash at all," the Empress Dowager replied, "Congratulations, honorable envoy, on receiving Jiaozhu's gracious gift the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’. I wonder ... I wonder if Jiaozhu has instructed honorable envoy to bring subordinate's antidote for this year."

    Wei Xiaobao was startled. "This year's antidote?" he asked, but then he immediately understood. The Empress Dowager must have had taken the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’. Jiaozhu bestowed her the antidote every year, which would not eradicate the poison thoroughly, and thus it has to be taken once every year, so that it would not flare up. Otherwise, she was deep in the Palace, with countless martial art master Imperial Bodyguards, even if Jiaozhu had a higher skill, he would not be able to control her. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "You and I both have taken the ‘leopard embryo pill’, how can I bring the antidote with me?"

    "Yes," the Empress Dowager replied, "But honorable envoy enjoys special favor from Jiaozhu, how can subordinate be compared to you?"

    Wei Xiaobao thought, "She is really terrified, I must comfort her a little bit." Thereupon he said, "Jiaozhu and Madame said that as long as you display utter loyalty to Jiaozhu, and will not have any infidelity, you work on his behalf with all your might, Jiaozhu will never treat you unfairly. Don't worry."

    The Empress Dowager was greatly delighted; she said, "Jiaozhu's benevolence is as heavy as the mountain, subordinate cannot repay it even with ten thousand deaths. Jiaozhu enjoys immortal good fortune forever, his long-life is the same as the heaven’s."

    Wei Xiaobao mused, "You are originally the Empress, and now you are the Empress Dowager, other than the Emperor, no one in this world has a higher rank than you. Even if Shen Long Jiao is more formidable, it still can't be compared to you; why would you want to enter the Cult and take orders from Jiaozhu? Aren't you being a rebellious s1ut? Ah, right, maybe you are just the same as your daughter, you are both miserable wretch, you won't be happy unless other people beat you and curse you." He was still too young, his life experience was limited; for the time being, he was unable to grasp the importance of the information he had just received.

    Seeing he was hesitating, the Empress Dowager thought that he was about to ask her about the sutra; therefore, without waiting to be asked, she volunteered, "Subordinate has sent Deng Bingchun and Liu Yan, two people, to forward those three copies of sutra to Jiaozhu. Has he, the Senior, received it?"

    Wei Xiaobao was startled; he thought, "The fake palace maid Deng Bingchun was killed by Tao Gugu, Liu Yan was stabbed to death by Miss Fang's sword; what sutra has been forwarded to Jiaozhu?" Unclear of her real intention, he asked, "Did you say three copies have been forwarded to Jiaozhu? I have never heard about it. Jiaozhu said that the Black Dragon Envoy took too long to get hold of the sutra, yet he has not gained anything. Jiaozhu was very angry, he almost forced him to commit suicide."

    The Empress Dowager showed an astonished expression. "That's strange," she said, "Subordinate clearly sent Deng Bingchun and Liu Yan, two people to make a special trip to Divine Dragon Island to deliver those three copies of sutra. Naturally it was before honorable envoy put Liu Yan to death."

    "Oh," Wei Xiaobao said, "Is there such thing? Deng Bingchun? Was he your bald Shixiong?"

    "Exactly," the Empress Dowager replied, "When the honorable envoy return to the Divine Dragon Island in the future, please ask him, you will understand everything."

    Wei Xiaobao suddenly realized; he mused, "That's right, Deng Bingchun was killed by Tao Gugu, this old wh0re thinks I know nothing of it. She lost three copies of sutra, for fear that Jiaozhu would blame her, she pushes all the blame on to those two dead people; this is called 'dead men tell no tales', she is really smart. She would not know that those three copies are actually in Laozi's hands. If she used this lie to swindle others, it is indeed a damn top-notch lie; unfortunately, whatever trick she is performing, she cannot deceive Laozi. I'd better not expose your trickery for the time being." He said, "You have already obtained three copies, your merit cannot be considered small. On the other five, you must make the extra effort."

    "Yes," the Empress Dowager replied, "From dawn to dusk subordinate always thinks about how to get the other five copies of the sutra, to repay Jiaozhu's benevolence."

    "That's very good!" Wei Xiaobao said, "You are actually this loyal, the poison in the ‘leopard embryo tendon altering pill’ has been dissolved one time for you, you should not have any problem. I will see Jiaozhu soon, I will definitely speak several words of praise on your behalf."

    The Empress Dowager was ecstatic; she bowed to salute and said, "Honorable envoy's great kindness, subordinate will never dare to forget. It will be best if subordinate can transfer to the White Dragon Gate, to follow honorable envoy's leading; it will be my greatest good fortune."

    "That can be done easily," Wei Xiaobao replied, "But about you entered the Cult and everything you went through, you must tell me in detail, don't conceal anything at all."

    "Yes," the Empress Dowager replied, "Subordinate will not dare to speak even half a sentence of incomplete, untrue words toward our Gate's Envoy ..."

    Suddenly there were footsteps outside the door, a palace maid coughed and said, "Reporting to the Empress Dowager: His Majesty summoned Gui Gong-gong, saying that there is an urgent matter, to have him return immediately."

    Wei Xiaobao nodded and said in a low voice, "Don't worry about anything, we'll continue later."

    The Empress Dowager replied in a low voice, "Thank you honorable envoy." And then in loud and clear voice said, "His Majesty summons you, you may go now."

    "Yes," Wei Xiaobao replied, "I wish the Empress Dowager ten thousand good fortunes and peace like gold."

    As he went out the door, he saw eight Imperial Bodyguards standing outside the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful; he was slightly shocked, thinking, "What urgent matter could it be?" So he rushed toward the Upper Study Room.

    "Good, you are alright," Kangxi happily said, "I heard the old traitor took you away, so I was worried, I was afraid she might harm you."

    "Many thanks for Shifu's concern," Wei Xiaobao said, "That old ... old ... she asked me where have I been these past several days? I thought that I must never say anything about the Old Emperor, I must not even mention Shanxi or Mount Wutai, but I also am not a good liar. When pressed by her, an inspiration appeared in a moment of desperation, I said that Your Majesty sent me to Jiangnan to see if there is any amusing gadget, to be bought and brought back to the Palace. I also said that Your Majesty instructed me not to let the Empress Dowager find out, so that the Empress Dowager would not blame Your Majesty being the Emperor, yet still loves to play like a child."

    Kangxi laughed aloud, while patting his shoulder and said, "It's best that you said it that way. Let the old traitor thinks that I am still like a child who love to play; that way she won't guard against me. So you are not a good liar? What you said is very interesting."

    "Do you think so?" Wei Xiaobao said, "Your servant was worried that Your Majesty won't be happy to hear it."

    "Very good, very good," Kangxi said, "Just now I was afraid the old traitor would harm you, so I sent eight Imperial Bodyguards to the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful. If the old traitor was unwilling to let you go, I ordered them to break into the Palace and get you out of there. I know I would have had direct confrontation with her, but it was a desperate situation."

    Wei Xiaobao kneeled down and kowtowed. "Emperor Shifu's kindness is as heavy as the mountain, your servant disciple cannot repay even if I have my body crushed to powder."

    Kangxi said, "If you serve the Old Emperor well, then you are repaying my kindness to you."

    "Yes," Wei Xiaobao replied.

    Kangxi picked up a large sealed yellow envelope from his desk and said, "This is an imperial edict to the monks of the Shaolin Temple. You pick forty Imperial Bodyguards and two thousand valiant cavalry's officers and men, and go to Shaolin Temple to announce the imperial decree for them to do something for me. What it is that I want them to do, everything is written in the letter, which you may open when you arrive at the Shaolin Temple. You are to obey and act accordingly. And now I promote your official position to the Vice Commander of the Plain Yellow Banner's Valiant Cavalry, which is a 2a rank[1]. You are actually a Han, but now I bequeath you the status as a Manchu, we call it 'entering the Manchurian's Flag Bearers'. The Plain Yellow Banner is the Emperor's personal Manchurian Banner men, the Valiant Cavalry is the Emperor's personal elite soldiers. You are still holding the Imperial Bodyguard Deputy Chief."

    He knew Wei Xiaobao was without learning or skills, plus he was still too young, he could not serve as a real official, consequently, both positions were deputy position.

    Wei Xiaobao said, "As long as I can always be at the Emperor Shifu's side, high ranking or low ranking position, your servant disciple does not care." While saying that, he kowtowed vigorously to express his gratitude. He mused, "I am fine being a Han, now I have to change shape in a single shake and become a Manchu Tatar." He thought further, "Emperor Shifu did not order me to hasten to the Qing Liang Temple and become a little monk there, but to lead the troops to Shaolin Temple first to deliver the imperial edict, to reward those Dashi [great master] who rendered meritorious service in saving the Old Emperor. Most likely he is simply letting me to enjoy the limelight. This is called 'sweet first, bitter later', I become the master first, and then he would spank my bottom later."

    Kangxi had the Commander of the Plain Yellow Banner's Valiant Cavalry Chalju [orig. Cha'er Zhu] summoned. He made him aware that Xiao Guizi was not a court eunuch at all, but he was actually the Imperial Bodyguard Deputy Chief, and his real name was Wei Xiaobao. For the purpose of capturing Oboi, he was ordered to disguise himself as a eunuch. And now he was bestowed the status as a Manchu, under the Plain Yellow Banner, and was promoted to be the Vice Commander of the Plain Yellow Banner's Valiant Cavalry.

    When Oboi was still in power, Chalju had suffered greatly from the internal strife, so much so that he was put in prison, and day and night his life was in danger. Fortunately for him, Oboi was defeated and he was released from prison, hence early on he has had deep gratitude to Wei Xiaobao who had killed Oboi. Hearing that the Emperor had assigned Wei Xiaobao to be his own deputy, he was greatly delighted. Immediately he congratulated Wei Xiaobao, saying, "Wei Xiongdi, the two of us are going to work together, there is nothing better than that. You are a young hero, from now on our Valiant Cavalry will show our face."

    Wei Xiaobao uttered some modest remarks. Chalju had made up his mind: this Wei Xiaobao had received great favor from the Emperor, although officially he was his assistant, in reality Chalju was the one who ought to be the assistant. As long as Chalju could win Wei Xiaobao's favor, there would be no problem for him to make a rapid career advance in the future.

    Kangxi said, "I am sending Wei Xiaobao on a mission. You two may carry on, prepare your troops. Wei Xiaobao is to leave Beijing tonight, no need to take your leave from me." He took the golden seal, the symbol of authority to maneuver Valiant Cavalry troops and gave it to Wei Xiaobao.

    Wei Xiaobao received the golden seal and kowtowed to bid Kangxi farewell. He thought, "I have not investigated clearly why the old wh0re entered Shen Long Jiao. It's not a big deal, most likely it was because she is a s1ut. I will ask her again next time I return to the Palace." He thought further, "Last night I was beaten by the Princess, my body aches all over, and I slept until the sky was bright, thus I was unable to go see Tao Gugu. I wonder how she is doing, living the Palace. Next time I return, I must meet with her."

    The two of them immediately went to see the Imperial Bodyguard Chief Dolong. Wei Xiaobao produced the imperial decree Kangxi gave him earlier, the one where he was appointed the Imperial Bodyguard Deputy Chief, and showed it to Dolong. Dolong repeatedly congratulated him, saying, "Wei Xiongdi can freely select whichever Imperial Bodyguards you want. As long as His Majesty nods his approval, I can even accompany you on this mission."

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "I do not dare to accept the honor. Protecting His Majesty is a great responsibility. Dolong Zongguan may find strolling around the Capital is not an easy thing for you to do."

    Dolong laughed and said, "Next time I will ask His Majesty, the two of us can change our duties, you become the chief, I become your deputy. And then whenever there is good assignment going out of the Capital to catch the autumn breeze, you can let your Gege to go."

    Wei Xiaobao selected Zhang Kangnian and Zhao Qixian, two Imperial Bodyguards, telling them to select a group of Imperial Bodyguards who were close to them. Chalju selected two thousand Valiant Cavalry officers. Each officer was ordered to pay their respect to their new Deputy Commander.

    The articles Kangxi wanted to give to the Shaolin Temple's monks were prepared promptly; everything was loaded into several dozen carriages. Whatever the Emperor wanted, his shout and his sigh, would be done immediately. In about more than four hours, everything was completely ready.

    Actually, Wei Xiaobao was supposed to wear the Valiant Cavalry military uniform, but such a small-sized general uniform was not readily available. Chalju came up with an idea: he gave Wei Xiaobao his own set of uniform, and sent for four highly-skilled tailors to come along. He ordered them to work on altering the uniform inside the large carriage, told them not to sleep that night, and would not allow them to return to Beijing unless the uniform was ready. If they goofed off, the reward would be heavy flogging with army stick.

    Wei Xiaobao found the time to go back to the Hair Alley, and told Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo, "Today I managed to sneak into the Palace, the plan of stealing the sutra has begun to materialize." He instructed the two of them to stay quietly in the house, waiting for his news; they must not go out recklessly, to avoid revealing their secret. As Lu and Fat, two people saw that Wei Xiaobao had handled this matter without a hitch, that he managed to obtain a clue in just two days, they were both very happy, and thus repeatedly expressed their gratitude and promised to follow his instruction.

    Wei Xiaobao had Shuang'er changed into men's clothing, to disguise herself as his attendant and travelled together with him.


    [1] A fudutong (副都统) actually was a 2a rank (正二品; zhengerpin). It was equal in rank to a Regional Commander (总兵; zongbin). During the Qing Dynasty, the system of nine pin-ranks (品) was used. Each pin-rank was divided into upper class (zheng [正]/a) and lower class (cong/b) (Courtesy of Ace High).

  18. #158
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    Default Chapter 22 - Part 1

    Chapter 22 - The old cassock of the mountain altering revealed secret, the out-of-this-world beautiful woman altering the adornment.
    (Translated by Foxs)


    LuDingJi-22.jpg

    More than wenty prostitutes crowded the alley, the girl in blue raised her saber in threatening gesture, but the crowd of prostitutes knew she would not dare to really kill anybody; thereupon they taunted her randomly and even reached out to pull her clothes. The girl in green’s beautiful eyes widened, she was completely at a loss.

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    Default Chapter 22 - Part 2

    By the time Wei Xiaobao set out on the journey, it was already late afternoon, but the imperial decree required him to leave the Capital that very same day, so no matter what they had to exit the city wall. Going out the Yong Ding Gate, they only travelled for twenty li when they had to pitch camp for the night.

    The Valiant Cavalry was the Emperor’s personal guards, its members were all the children of Manchurian royal family, close relatives or trusted subordinates of the Emperor. Its provision was ten times better than regular soldiers. They have been staying in the Capital for quite a long time, hence going out of Beijing, without exception everybody was in high spirit, much less they were not going out to fight any battle. This assignment to go to Henan was like going on a scenic tour funded by the imperial court; it was completely different from their regular duties.

    After dinner, it was too early for Wei Xiaobao to go to bed, thereupon he summoned Zhang Kangnian, Zhao Qixian, and the other Imperial Bodyguards, along with the officers of the Valiant Cavalry, to assemble in the command tent. They all thought, “I wonder what important matter His Majesty wants Vice Commander Wei to handle; he is summoning us all, it must be because he wants to brief us on the special imperial decree.”

    After everybody had paid his respect, Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “We, boys, do not have anything to do. His granny, let us gamble, Laozi will be the banker.”

    The officers stared at him blankly; they thought he was joking. But then they saw him took out four dice from his pocket and tossed them to the small table in front of him, the dice rolled around, and only then did the people cheered thunderously. Generally, the soldiers were not prohibited from gambling, except when they were marching into battle, then gambling was strictly prohibited, to avoid the troops from having unstable minds and thus damaging the important matter. But how could Wei Xiaobao understand this rule? Although the officers of the Valiant Cavalry knew this martial law, they thought that this time they were not marching to battle, why would they want to obstruct the Vice Commander’s esthetic pleasure?

    Wei Xiaobao fished a pack of banknotes from his pocket and placed it on the small table, it worth at least five or six thousand taels silver. He said, “Who has the ability to win?” The officers scattered back to their tents to get their money.

    Although there were a lot of low ranking officers in the Valiant Cavalry, their families were rich. Hearing that Vice Commander Wei was opening a gambling table, they quietly sneaked into the tent.

    Wei Xiaobao called out, “There is no young and old on the gambling table, only money and banknotes! Heroes and warriors, the more they lose, they happier they are. Turtles and lambs, they win and immediately run away!” He blew on the four dice before tossing them onto the table.

    When he was in Yangzhou, he envied the power and prestige of the bankers of the casino. Being the Deputy Chief, the Vice Commander, was nothing to him. Today he had a couple of thousands crowd and he was being the banker, now that was the thing he was most proud of in his entire life.

    One after another the officers placed their bets, some won, some lost. After a while, their spirit aroused, the stake was growing higher and higher, the lower ranking officers at the back were starting to lay their bets. The Imperial Bodyguard Zhao Qixian and a Manchu officer stood by Wei Xiaobao, helping him collect the winning and pay the winners. The large army tent was filled with the shouts of people winning and the cry of those losing, just like the sound of a big gambling establishment. More than two hours later, there were more than twenty thousand taels of silver piling up on the gambling table. Some people lost all, they went back to their tents to borrow more capital from their companions who were not gambling.

    Wei Xiaobao threw the dice, all four dice showed red spots, which means sweep the decks. Everybody was dejected, some cursed, some sighed. Zhao Qixian reached out to take all the money. “Wait!” Wei Xiaobao called out, “This is the first day that Laozi leads the troops and be the banker. This time I am giving away everything to the friends here, I won’t take the money!”

    The troops cheered happily, they shouted, “Vice Commander Wei is a true hero!”

    “Anybody wants to increase his bet may do so!” Wei Xiaobao called out.

    Having been through a narrow escape, they all felt that their luck was really good. One after another they put more money that it piled high on the table. Suddenly a loud and clear voice said, “I bet on the Gate of Heaven!” and he threw a watermelon-shaped object on the Gate of Heaven.

    As soon as they saw it, everybody was shocked. The object on the gambling table was a badly mangled human head. The severed head was still wearing an officer hat, unexpectedly he was an Imperial Bodyguard. “Getong!” Zhao Qixian cried out in fear. Turned out it was the Imperial Bodyguard Getong’s head. He was on duty, patrolling outside the tent tonight, and had his head chopped by the intruders.

    The crowd raised their heads in alarm, and saw at the entrance of the army tent stood a dozen or so people wearing blue clothes, each one held a long sword. The officers’ attention was focused on the gambling table, nobody knew when did these people come in? The crowd of military officers in the tent did not bring any weapons, momentarily they were at a loss of what to do.

    A young man, about twenty five or twenty six, stepped toward the gambling table, both hands were empty, he said, “Gambling Officer, do you accept the bet?”

    “Seize him!” Zhao Qixian called out, immediately four Imperial Bodyguards pounced on the young man.

    The man spread his arms and grabbed two men on the pit of their stomachs. ‘Bang!’ he banged the two heads against each other, the two men immediately fainted. Immediately afterwards white ray flashed, two swords were thrust forward, the swords pierced the other two Imperial Bodyguards’ backs and went straight through to their chests. The two Imperial Bodyguards cried miserably as they fell to the ground, dead. The blue-clothed men who thrust their swords were a middle-aged man and a Taoist priest. They pulled their swords and waved their hands, the two swords flew up and ‘pop, pop!’ the swords stuck onto the gambling table.

    The middle-aged man shouted, “I bet on the Upper Gate!” The Taoist priest shouted, “I bet on the Lower Gate!” The two swords, not surprisingly, landed on the Upper and Lower Gates, respectively.

    The young man waved his left hand, four people in blue rushed forward, four swords were pointed at the vital points all around Wei Xiaobao’s body.

    With a trembling voice Zhao Qixian shouted, “Who are you? What … what a nerve! You killed officers, broke into an army camp, aren’t you … aren’t you afraid of … of being beheaded?”

    Suddenly from among the four people pointing their swords at Wei Xiaobao came a scoff as someone laughed and said, “We are not afraid; are you afraid?” It was a tender and delicate voice of a woman.

    Wei Xiaobao stole a glance sideways, and saw a young woman, about fourteen or fifteen years old, her face was rather round, her appearance very sweet, her pair of large eyes were pitch-black and bright, there was a smiling expression at the corner of her mouth. He was actually scared out of his wits, but as soon as he saw this good-looking girl, his courage involuntarily grew. He laughed and said, “With Miss one person pointing your sword at me, I am already scared.”

    The girl raised her sword a little, the tip of the sword was pressed against his shoulder; she said, “Since you are scared, why are you laughing?”

    Immediately Wei Xiaobao’s face turned serious, he said, “I am most obedient to women, Miss says for me not to laugh, I am not laughing.” Sure enough, there was no trace of smiling expression left on his face. Seeing him putting on an act, the girl could not help but stifling her laughter.

    The young man who acted as their leader frowned slightly and said with a cold laugh, “Manchurian Tatars will soon meet their end, they send this little baby whose smell of mother’s milk has not yet dried to lead the troops. Hey, two swords and one head are already placed on the table, why haven’t you rolled the dice?”

    With a good-looking young woman by his side, also hearing the man said to throw the dice, Wei Xiaobao’s panic diminished somewhat; he asked, “If I lose, what must I pay?”

    “Do you need to ask?” the young man said, “You lost to a sword you pay a sword, you lost to a head you pay a head!” He thought this juvenile general would definitely beg for mercy.

    Who would have thought that when Wei Xiaobao was having martial art match, when he lost he would simply surrender, but on the gambling table, whatever happened he would never be a coward, and admit himself to be useless, much less there was a pretty young lady by his side; while he was still alive, how could he lose face in front of a good-looking girl? He also thought, “Your four swords are pointed to me already, if you want to kill me, it won’t matter if I win or lose, you will kill me anyway, why would I want to give you the satisfaction of winning the argument?” Immediately he picked up the dice and said, “Alright, I accept! If I lose to a sword, I’ll pay a sword, I lose a head I pay a head, I lose a pair of pants I’ll take my clothes off! You throw first!”

    The young man did not expect this young general to have such courage and insight; he was stumped for words instead. The middle-aged man said in a low voice, “Large army outside, if we delayed, there will be a big change of the plan!” He wanted him not to waste time senselessly, if those two thousand Manchurian troops burst in, contrary to what he might expect, they would not be easy to deal with.

    The young man cast a glance to Wei Xiaobao, he noticed there was not a scared look on his face. “If I don’t bet with you this time, you won’t submit to me even in your death,” he said. Taking the dice, he threw a six. The Taoist priest and the middle-aged man also threw the dice and both got eight.

    Wei Xiaobao picked up the dice and held them in front of the young woman. “Miss,” he said, “Please blow on the dice!”

    The young woman smiled and asked, “What for?” But she still blew on the dice.

    “That will do!” Wei Xiaobao said, “When a beautiful woman blew on the dice, I would only make a kill and would not lose!”

    He shook the dice several times in his hands and was about to throw when Zhao Qixian suddenly said, “Hold on! Vice Commander Wei, ask … ask them what they really want.” He was afraid that when Wei Xiaobao threw the dice this time, he would get less than six dots, inevitably there would be someone’s life to be concerned about. Moreover, he was afraid that instead of compensating the loss with his own head, Wei Xiaobao would want to pay with his, Zhao Qixian’s, head; who told him to stand on the side to be the banker’s assistant?

    The young man laughed coldly and said, “If you are scared, just kneel down and beg for mercy.”

    “Only turtle bastards are afraid!” Wei Xiaobao said. His hands had not stopped moving, his only fear was that his technique was not too good. Tossing the four dice, they rolled around on the table. When the dice stopped, it did not show a couple of Heavens, but showed six dots. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, “Six beats six!” he called out, “I killed the Heavenly Gate, and lost to the Upper and Lower.” He picked Getong’s head and placed it in front of him. “Zhao Dage,” he said, “Get a couple of swords to pay for the Upper and Lower Gates.”

    “Yes!” Zhao Qixian replied. He walked toward the tent’s entrance, but a man in blue stuck out his sword on Zhao Qixian’s chest and shouted, “Stop!”

    “You won’t let him get the swords?” Wei Xiaobao said, “Very well, not a problem. One sword can be considered a thousand taels of silver.” From the pile of money in front of him, he took two thousand taels, and divided it equally and placed the money by the swords.

    This group of heroic visitors rushed into the army tent and took control of the commander in chief, the military officers were at a loss. Not only the enemy had high martial art level, they killed people without the slightest scruple. Although their side had more men, they were all outside the tent, and had not been alerted. When a tangled battle ensued, the people in the tent were unarmed and defenseless, perhaps everybody would lose their lives. While they were trembling in fear, they saw Wei Xiaobao and the enemy were tossing the dice, gambling, talking and laughing as though nothing had happened. They could not help but admiring his courage, but some people thought, “Little child does not know the immensity of heaven and earth; do you think this bunch of bandits are here to have fun with you?”

    The young man laughed coldly and said, “With our two treasured swords we only win your two thousand taels? Take all the money on the gambling table!” Six, seven men in blue stepped forward and took all the money and banknotes on the table. The young man took a sword and pointed it toward Wei Xiaobao’s throat and shouted, “Little slave, are you a Manchu or a Han? What’s your name?”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “Even if Laozi surrenders, you have already barged in, if I surrender now, it would be ‘starting without able to finish’, ‘completely discarding previous achievement’; a real man want to fight, he will fight to the end.” Thereupon he laughed aloud and said, “Laozi is the Plain Yellow Banner’s Deputy Commander, my name is Huacha Huacha Xiaobao. You want to kill then just kill, you want to gamble then let’s gamble! Hey, hey, the big bullying the small, not a hero’s conduct.” By saying the last eight words [the big bullying the small, not a hero’s conduct] he was in reality begging for mercy, but in the way he said it there was a little bit of heroic spirit.

    The young man smiled and said, “The big bullying the small, not a hero’s conduct. You are right. Xiao Shimei [little younger martial sister], you are more or less of the same age as him, you can fight him.”

    The young girl laughed and said, “Alright!” Raising her sword, she stepped forward and said with a laugh, “Hey, General Huacha Huacha Xiaobao, I am asking some advice of your masterstroke.”

    The other three people pointing their swords to Wei Xiaobao pushed the swords slightly, nudging his clothes, they said, “Go out and fight!”

    The young man waved his hand, the sword in his hand flew and landed on the table in front of Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao mused, “I don’t know anything about swordsmanship, I won’t have any guarantee I can beat this little miss.” He said, “The big bullying the small, not a hero’s conduct. I am bigger than this Little Miss, how can I bully her?”

    The young man grabbed the back of his neck and lifted him up. He shouted, “You don’t dare to have a sword duel, then kowtow to my Xiao Shimei and beg for mercy.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Alright, you want me to kowtow, I will kowtow. Men have gold on their knees, it’s best that we kneel in front of women every day!” Bending his knees, he kneeled in front of the young girl. The group of people in blue clothes roared in laughter.

    Suddenly Wei Xiaobao leaned sideways, and turned toward the young man’s back, the dagger in his hand was pointing to his back. He laughed and said, “Are you going to surrender or not?”

    This changed happened so suddenly and amazingly that although the young man’s martial art skill was high, unexpectedly he was caught off guard and the vital point on his back was threatened by Wei Xiaobao.

    What happened was that realizing that the six moves to save his life he learned on the Divine Dragon Island had not been trained to perfection, Wei Xiaobao was forced to act happy and keep giggling, to jest and assume the role of a clown, so that the enemy would laugh while looking at him making a fool of himself. When he kneeled down, he reached out to grab the handle of his dagger, and suddenly used the move ‘the flying swallow circle around overhead’, and unexpectedly succeeded in turning the tide. If he were a grownup, the opponent would guard against him, and if he had not mastered the move, the half-baked move would definitely be in vain. But first of all, the move was indeed very ingenious, although it was not used properly, it still had quite a formidable power; secondly, how could the young man think that this clown-like teenager unexpectedly was able to come up with such a smart trick? Consequently Wei Xiaobao succeeded.

    The people in blue clothes were shocked, seven or eight swords were immediately pointed toward Wei Xiaobao’s body. They shouted together, “Let him go!” But seeing that Wei Xiaobao’s dagger was aimed at the young man’s back, although there was no doubt that each one of these seven, eight swords could stab him to death, but he only needed to push the dagger lightly, and then the young man would undoubtedly lose his life. Thereupon as the points of the swords were about a chi away from Wei Xiaobao’s body, nobody dared to advance anymore.

  20. #160
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    Default Chapter 22 - Part 3

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You want me to let him go, then I’ll let him go; what’s so strange about that?” Brandishing his dagger, he cut around in a circle, ‘clang, clang!’ and cut the tip of the seven or eight swords down, and then he put the dagger back on the young man’s back. The people in blue clothes were shocked, they all take a step back.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Put the money back, I’ll spare your leader’s life.” The people in blue who were holding the money did not hesitate at all, they put all the money and the banknotes back on the table.

    They heard several hundreds of people yelling outside the tent, “Don’t let the bandits escape!” “Quickly surrender!” Turned out in the chaos just now, two officers in the tent managed to escape and gathered the troops; they had surrounded the army tent.

    The Taoist priest shouted, “Kill the little Tatar first!” He pulled the sword from the gambling table; a white ray flashed, ‘stab’ he thrust the sword into Wei Xiaobao’s right chest. This sword strike was accurately calculated; it cut down in an oblique angle, stabbing from the front of Wei Xiaobao’s body into his back, he knew for sure that when Wei Xiaobao was hit by the sword, his body would be pushed backward, then the tip of the dagger would definitely move away from the young man’s back. To his surprise, however, the sword bent, and ‘crack!’ it snapped off instantly.

    Wei Xiaobao called out, “Aiyo! The stab did not kill me!” Seeing that unexpectedly blade and spear could not enter his body, the people in blue clothes were startled that they were staring blankly at him.

    The Taoist priest felt that the tip of his sword had bumped into a soft flesh, not a hard steel armor; momentarily he did not understand what was going on. How could he know that Wei Xiaobao was wearing the treasured vest to protect his body that he could not be injured by sharp blade?

    By this time, several hundred officers had burst into the tent, the people in blue were densely covered by spears and broadswords all around, the Imperial Bodyguards and the officers had also obtained weapons from their subordinates’ hands. Even if those people in blue had higher martial art skill, it would be difficult to break through the tight encirclement; much less several people had their swords broken, and their leader was under the enemy’s control. Their upper hand had instantly reversed, and they were now completely beaten and in a hopeless position.

    The young man shouted loudly, “Don’t mind me, everybody kill the enemy and rush out!” But the Imperial Bodyguards and the officers rushed forward, each group of seven, eight people surrounded one person in blue. As soon as one person moved ever so slightly, he would face the calamity of blades raining on his body that he would turn into a minced corpse; they had no choice but throwing down their weapons, with hands tied and waiting to be captured.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “These several people have superb martial art skill, and are opposing the imperial court, perhaps they have some association with Tian Di Hui, how to release them and let them go?” Thereupon he laughed and said, “Laoxiong [old chap], just now you could have killed me but you didn’t. If at this time I killed you, and not giving you any chance to recover your capital, unavoidably you would think I am not a hero and a warrior; this is called ‘turtles and lambs, they win and immediately run away’. How about this: let us bet over our heads again.” At this time there were seven, eight different weapons were pointing toward the young man. Wei Xiaobao drew back his dagger and with a chuckle he sat down.

    The young man angrily said, “You want to kill me just kill, no need to toy with Laozi.”

    Wei Xiaobao picked up the four dice; he laughed and said, “I be the banker, we bet on your heads. Each one of you throws the dice, whoever wins, then you can walk out immediately, plus take a hundred taels as your travel expenses; whoever loses, Zhao Dage, you get ready with a sharp blade on the side, chop down and cut their heads away to avenge our Getong Dage.”

    He counted the opponents, altogether there were nineteen people. Immediately he set aside some money, altogether he made nineteen piles, each pile a hundred taels of silver.

    Those people in blue killed government official and thus they were starting a rebellion; since they were captured, naturally they would be beheaded without the slightest hope of lucky escape. Unexpectedly this young general wanted to be a real man and opened up a path to life. If they lose, they were doomed to die anyway. The Taoist priest called out, “Very well, a real man gave his words …”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Dead horses cannot chase it! When I, Huacha Huacha Xiaobao, do my business, I never take advantage of other people. This Xiao Jiejie, or perhaps Xiao Meimei [little older sister, little younger sister, respectively], just now helped me by blowing on my dice and thus helped me preserving my head; you don’t have to throw dice. Just consider it I have won your little head, and am giving it back to you as a bonus. Take these hundred taels and walk out the tent first. Pass on this order: the guards outside must not give her any difficulty.”

    An aide announced the order in loud voice, “Deputy Commander’s order: those who are released out of the command tent are to be allowed to leave on his own, they are not to be stopped or given any difficulty.” The guards outside the tent complied in loud voices.

    Wei Xiaobao took two yuanbao worth fifty taels each and pushed them in front of the young woman. The young woman’s countenance alternated between white and red as she shook her head slowly and said in a low voice, “I don’t want to. We … nineteen of us of the same school, we … we will live and die together.”

    “Very well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You do have yi qi. Since you will live and die together, then there is no need for each one of you to throw the dice. Little Miss, you and I are going to gamble. If you win, all nineteen of you will walk away with the money; if you lose, all nineteen heads will roll. Don’t you think it’s straightforward and quick?”

    The girl looked at the young man, waiting for his decision. The young man had a difficult time making one; if the nineteen people bet separately with this young general, some would be bound to lose while some would win. If the general was as good as his word, then about half of the nineteen people would live, and someday they might try to get revenge. But if he let the Xiao Shimei to toss the dice, if she won all of them would withdraw, if she lost, it would be a complete wipe-out; unavoidably it would be too dangerous. His gaze slowly swept his companions.

    A big man in blue said loudly, “Xiao Shimei is right, we live and die together. Xiao Shimei please throw the dice. Otherwise, even if I won, I can’t live alone.” Seven or eight people echoed his sentiment.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Very well! Little Miss, you may throw first!” He pushed the dice bowl in front of the young woman.

    The girl looked at the young man, she wanted to see how he would handle this matter. The young man nodded and said, “Xiao Shimei, life and death is a fate. Be courageous and throw the dice. We live and die together anyway!”

    The girl reached out into the bowl and grabbed the four dice, her long eyelashes drooped down, suddenly she looked up and cast a glance toward Wei Xiaobao; her hand holding the dice trembled slightly, she let the dice dropped into the bowl, creating a sharp and clear tinkling noise. The girl closed her eyes, she did not dare to look. She only heard all around her people were shouting, “Three! Three! Three! Three dots!” The shouts mixed with the sound of Imperial Bodyguards and army officers laughing and cursing. Although the girl did not understand dice and gambling rule, hearing the enemy was shouting and laughing happily, she knew that her throw must be extremely lacking. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw all of her companions’ faces were deathly pale.

    The largest value four dice could be thrown was a pair of six and three, followed by the Heaven pair, Earth pair, Man pair, Harmony pair, Plum Blossom, Long Three, Wooden Bench, Ox Head, and other pairs. Even if it was not in pair, there were nine dots down to four dots, which were greater than three dots. When these three dots were thrown, nine out of ten it would lose. Even if Wei Xiaobao also threw three dots, as the banker his three would beat the opponent’s three; he could still chop the nineteen people’s heads.

    A man in blue clothes suddenly shouted, “My own head, I want to gamble it myself. Other people’s throw does not count.”

    The Taoist priest angrily said, “How can a real man so greedy for life, afraid of death like this? You are damaging our Wangwu Pai’s prestige.”

    Wei Xiaobao nodded. “So all of you are from Wangwu Pai?”

    The Taoist priest said, “Everybody is going to die anyway, so it’s not a big deal to let you know.”

    The man in blue loudly said, “It was my father, my mother who gave birth to me, other than my father, my mother, nobody has any right to decide my life or death.”

    The Taoist priest angrily said, “Before your Xiao Shimei threw the dice, you did not say anything, after she threw three dots, you speak out. In our Wangwu Pai there should not be any unreasonable character like you.”

    The man wanted to preserve his life, he loudly said, “Wu Fu Shishu [fifth martial uncle surnamed Fu], there is nothing serious with me not being a disciple of Wangwu Pai.”

    Another man in blue coldly said, “You only want to save your life and won’t care about anything else, do you not?”

    The man said, “This young general plainly said that each of us should bet against him. Xiao Shimei throwing the dice, it was you who agreed to it, have I even said that I agree?”

    The young man in blue grimly said, “Alright, Yuan Shixiong, from this moment on, you are not a Wangwu Pai disciple. You may gamble with him yourself.”

    The man surnamed Yuan replied, “The sooner I am out the better.”

    “You, surnamed Yuan,” Wei Xiaobao said, “What’s your name?”

    The man surnamed Yuan hesitated a little bit, seeing that his companions had become his enemy, if he told him a false name, someone would uncover his lie, thereupon he said, “Zaixia Yuan Yifang.”

    “Humph,” the young man snorted and said, “There is no harm in Sire changing your name to Yuan Fang.”

    “Why does he have to change his name?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “Hmm, Yuan Fang, Yuan Fang, short one character ‘Yi’ [justice/righteous], he is scolding you as having no ‘yi qi’ [spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice]. Hey, friends of Wangwu Pai, anybody else want to bet with me?” His gaze was fixed on those people in blue; he saw two people with their lips moving slightly, as if they wanted to gamble themselves, but after hesitating for a moment, they did not say anything.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Very good, everybody under Wangwu Pai is a hero and a warrior, you really have yi qi. This Yuan Xiong does not belong to Wangwu Pai anyway, so it does not matter if he has yi qi or not.”

    The young man showed a faint smile and said, “Thank you very much.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Pour some wine! I want to drink a cup with these eighteen friends. Either they lose or win, we will part for ever. These eighteen friends have heavy yi qi, I cannot not make friends with them.”

    The sergeant under his command poured nineteen cups of wine, he placed one cup in front of Wei Xiaobao, and handed over one cup to each of the eighteen people in blue clothes. As the people in blue saw the young man their leader took the cup, they also accepted the cups.

    In a loud and clear voice the young man said, “We will never make friends with Manchu Tatars. It’s just that your conduct is straightforward, plus you hold our Wangwu Pai in high regard, drinking a cup of wine with you is not a big deal.”

    “Good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Cheers!” He tossed down the wine. The eighteen people also downed their drinks, and then one after another they tossed the cup to the ground. Yuan Yifang’s face was ashen, he turned his head around, not wanting to look.

    Wei Xiaobao shouted, “Prepare eighteen sharp blades, if I throw three dots or more this time, these eighteen good friends’ heads will be chopped down.” The officers complied with loud voice; eighteen officers raised their sabers or swords and stood behind the eighteen people.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “My set of dice is loaded, it won’t be difficult to throw one or two dots. But I rarely practice lately, my hand skill is out of practice; just now I wanted to throw a pair of Heaven, but it turned out to be six dots. If I made the slightest mistake, inevitably I would harm these eighteen people’s lives. I don’t care if these stinky men are dead, but if this flower-like little girl is also dead, isn’t it a pity?”

    He picked up the four dice and shook them inside his hand, blew on them himself, his finger turned lightly, and he tossed the dice. Immediately his left palm covered the mouth of the bowl. He heard the dice were rolling several times, and when they stopped, he did not immediately take his palm away, but only opened a crack from which he took a peek. He saw out of four dice, two showed two dots, one showed one dot, and one showed five dots, so the total was only ten. ‘Departing Ten’ was equal to zero, there was nothing smaller than that. Originally he had concocted a plan, if his technique was ineffective, that is, he threw three dots or more, he would say either one or two dots, and then shook the bowl to disturb the dice, and hence the dead cannot testify, the opposite party would be overjoyed at unexpected good news, at most his own troops would be suspicious, but no one would dare to openly confront him. Now that he succeeded in cheating, he was ecstatic, but cursed himself, “Damn it, Laozi’s hand deserves to be chopped!” With his left hand he slapped his own right hand several time.

    As everybody saw the dice, they all shouted, “Departing Ten! It’s Departing Ten!”

    Having been in mortal danger and escaped alive, the people in blue clothes could not help but cheering loudly. The young man, the leader of the people in blue, looked at Wei Xiaobao and thought, “Manchu Tatars do not speak in good faith, I wonder if he will keep his words?”

    Wei Xiaobao pushed the money on the gambling table forward and said, “You have won the money, take them. Could it be that you still want to gamble with me?”

    “We don’t dare to accept the money,” the young man said, “Sire is as good as your word, you are a real hero. I’m sure we’ll meet again someday.” Cupping his fists, he turned around to leave.

    “Hey,” Wei Xiaobao called, “You won but don’t want to take the money, aren’t you looking down on Zaixia, Huacha Huacha Xiaobao?”

    The young man thought, “We are in a dangerous spot, must not delay too much.” He said, “Thank you very much then.” The eighteen of them took the money, turned around and went out of the tent.

    Wei Xiaobao kept staring at the girl’s face. After taking the money, she could not help but casting a glance toward Wei Xiaobao. Four eyes met, the girl blushed; she smiled and said in a low voice, “Thank you.” After taking two steps, she turned her head around and said, “Little General, do you mind giving me the four dice?”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Of course I don’t, why should I?” he said, “Are you going to bet against your Shixiong?”

    The girl smiled and said, “I am not. I want to keep it well. I was so frightened a moment ago that I lost half of my life.” Wei Xiaobao grabbed the four dice and put them in her hand; he took this opportunity to gently pinch her wrist. He always wanted to take this kind of small advantage. The girl said again, “Thank you,” and left the tent in quick steps.

    Seeing his companion walked out the tent, Yuan Yifang was about to follow. “Hey,” Wei Xiaobao called, “I have not bet against you.”

    Yuan Yifang’s face immediately paled; he thought, “This is so wrong, if I knew he would throw a Departing Ten, why should I become a vile character?” He said, “General does not have the dice anymore, I … I thought you don’t want to bet.”

    “Why not?” Wei Xiaobao said, “We can bet on anything, we can play finger-guessing game, or rolling copper coin.” Casually he grabbed a pack of banknotes and said, “You can guess altogether how many taels of silver in here.”

    Yuan Yifang said, “How can I guess it?”

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