Chapter 4 - Impressing an Emperor
Zheng had come out of the pit and was back at Fu forest. He walked at the location where the Taoist Priest Xu was wounded. But when he reached that location, he found only traces of blood. The Priest was gone. Same with the bandits.
"Weird, where could he have gone?", Zheng asked himself. "He most likely is alive and has left this place."
As Zheng was thinking about what to do next - either return back to home or trying to find by himself the Ha plant - he saw two men walking towards him. The first was an old eunuch dressed with a blue silk robe and seemed to be a Qing official. The other was a man dressed in a yellow silk robe whose appearance resembled almost to the last detail that of Zheng. One would think that they were twins brothers.
Before the two men could speak, a yelling was heard and three bandits appeared before them. All of them were holding swords.
"Your Majesty!", the eunuch shouted. "I told you to bring the Imperial Guards with you, why you did not listen to me?"
The leader of the bandits, a bald and ugly man, yelled: "Give me all your money!"
At once Zheng somersaulted. He was still holding in his hands the wooden stick which he had used as a torch. Now, he was going to use it as a sword. 'Clang'. His stick clashed with the man's sword. One would expect that the wooden stick would be broken in half by the sword's power. Instead, Zheng felt a heat all over his body which gave him superhuman strength and pushed back the bandit. It was his internal power which had increase immensely after training with the Xiang Yang Manual.
The two other bandits charged together at Zheng, but he faced them with gentle but powerful moves. His stick hit hundreds of times the chests and faces of the bandits and soon Zheng begun hitting their vital organs, forcing them to run away. The leader of the bandits threw tens of darts at Zheng, but he dodged all of them. His speed and prowess surprised even himself. The bandit leader attacked him horizontally with his sword but Zheng's stick pushed him back once again. Seeing that he could not defeat Zheng, the bandit fled away.
"Are you alright, your Majesty?", the eunuch said.
Upon hearing those words, Zheng realized that the man in front of him was the Emperor of China, Kangxi. At once, he fell on the ground and kowtowed thrice.
Kangxi was still not able to comprehend how it was possible for a person to resemble him so much.
"Get up!", he said. "Who are you?"
"Your Majesty, my name is Hong Zheng", he said smiling.
"You resemble me so much that no one would be able to distinguish us if we were to wear the same clothes! You Kung Fu is incredible too. You should come with me at the Imperial Palace!"
At first, Zheng was a bit hesitant. But since the Emperor himself ordered him to come at the Palace, how could he refuse? "Alright. I will come with you, Your Majesty."
"Great!", Kangxi commented. He then turned to the Eunuch: "Bring the Imperial Guard to accompany us back to the camp, so we can begin the journey back to the capital."
"As you wish, your Majesty."
500 years earlier
Huang Ying had woken up. He was still in that small wooden room in Shaolin. He was practicing his Kung Fu in order to beat the Monk. He was sweaty and tired, but he still practiced. "I will beat the bastards!", he thought. At that time, a Shaolin monk entered the room.
"Sir, the Abbot has told me to get you to the chant room."
"Why should I do this?
"Because the Abbot wants you to get rid of evil influences and become a monk."
"I will not come there!", Ying shouted.
The monk immediately launched a series of kicks at Ying, which Ying blocked. But before Ying could counterattack, the monk was already throwing kicks and fists at him. Ying was forced to retreat. He tried to counterattack with two back kicks, but the monk easily dodged them.
"Dammit!", Ying yelled. "Alright. I shall come with you."
The monk led Ying to a huge room filled with golden Buddhas and incense sticks. Tens of monks were chanting Buddhist chants. The room exuded an aura of calmness and peace. Even Ying, who was furious, when he entered the room, he immediately relaxed and felt a calmness.
"Sit down and chant.", the monk ordered.
Ying had no other choice. He had to do as the monk said, for now at least. At night, he would train hard and in a few weeks, he would be able to beat the Abbot. So, he sat down and begun chanting. At first, he could not chant well and missed many words, but as time went he was able to learn the Buddhist chants and chant them as the other monks did.
When he finally returned back to his room, Ying was much calmer and more energized than before. He was not tired anymore. So, he begun training once again. As he was training, he begun to think about the Abbot's weaknesses.
"He was not able to defend against my 'Chain Fists' and defeated me only because he grabbed my arm.", he thought. "That means, if I become faster, then he will not be able to grab my arm. And if he does not grab my army, then there is no other way for him to defend against my 'Chain Fists' and thus.....I can defeat him!"
Upon coming to that conclusion, he immediately begun training in order to become quicker. All night he was practicing his 'Chain Fists'. The next night, after another day of chanting, he brought at his room a bawl of hot water and put his fists into the water. The water was so hot that his fists became red due to burning and blood was pouring from them. But he did this in order to make himself get used to pain. He then put his fists into a bawl of salt. As his fists were bloody, the salt inflicted him terrible pain but he withstood it.
Then, he trained once again at 'Chain Fists'. One fist after the other was coming forward at immense speed. The prowess of his moves was awe-inspiring. At the same time, he was able to remain calm unlike in the past, when he would get furious while fighting. The Buddhist chanting had done him good, actually.
"It seems that I will be able to defeat the Abbot!", Ying said as he got on his bed. "I will get a good sleep tonight and tomorrow morning I shall beat the old bastard!"
500 years later, 1669
Zheng was following on horseback the Imperial Carriage. Kangxi had given him a white horse which he had bought from Ottoman merchants. It was a rare horse from Ottoman Arabia and only Kangxi had rode it before. Zheng was also wearing a golden mask to hide his face. The Kangxi Emperor did not want anyone else to know how much Zheng was resembling him. His officials, which had accompanied him to the journey to the South, asked their Emperor again and again who the mysterious man who was treated with such respect was, but Kangxi did not tell anyone.
The Imperial Entourage had almost reached Beijing, capital of the Qing Empire. Before going to the capital, the Imperial Entourage camped a few miles away from the city. Zheng was ordered to come to Kangxi's tent. Upon entering the Emperor's tent, he kowtowed thrice before him.
"Zheng!", the Emperor said. "Do not talk to anyone when entering the city and do not let anyone look at your face."
"Alright, your Majesty! I shall do as you order!"
"Good. You will take off the golden mask only when you are with me in the Imperial Palace. Now, go!"
Zheng came out of the tent. As he was walking out, a muscled Qing officer in his mid-thirties with a long black beard and two swords in his hands approached him.
"Who are you?!", he shouted at Zheng. Zheng, as ordered by Kangxi, did not speak. "Are you ignoring me?!", the man yelled. That man was Hu Er, a Qing officer who was one of Kangxi's most trusted advisers and so was furious with Kangxi not trusting him with the man's identity and treating him with such respect.
At once, he threw one of the two swords at Zheng. Zheng grabbed it but Er immediately attacked. 'Clang!', the two swords clashed. Er was putting all his strength in his moves and was trying his best to push Zheng back but Zheng was holding his ground against all odds.
Er retreated by three steps and then attacked once again. The two swords clashed once again. But this time Zheng counterattacked. He launched a combination of quick but ruthless moves, forcing Er on the defensive. At that time, the Eunuch who had accompanied Kangxi to Fu Forest, Kang Ling, shouted at them: "Stop this!"
"Who is he?!", Er yelled.
"None of your business.", Ling replied. "He is a guest of the Emperor. By offending him, you offend the Emperor. So, get lost!"
Er was forced to leave, but he was furious and already planning for his revenge.
The eunuch then turned to Zheng. "Nice swordsmanship. Your Kung Fu is truly excellent. The Emperor should make you Chief of the Imperial Guards. If you train our men with your swordsmanship, then neither the Wudang nor the Shaolin nor the remnants of the Ming will be able to resist us."
Zheng just bowed before Ling and did not reply. He was tired and confused and just wanted to rest. So, he walked back to his tent to rest.