Chapter 8 – Exile and Reunion
Ngao Yang Fei had a secret clearing at the bottom of the cliff where he lived and practiced martial arts. Xi Ping and Lei Gwan were now under self-exile. They cannot return because they can no longer trust grandmaster Jin; furthermore, Xi Ping cannot return to Coral since he accepted another master without his previous master’s consent. Ngao Yang Fei taught both Lei Gwan and Xi Ping martial arts even though he only accepted Xi Ping as a disciple. He had only one hand-to-hand style to teach. The techniques in the style were very hard and contained no soft techniques. The style that he taught was dragon claws. There were three basic types of claw techniques in Jiang Hu. The tiger claw used five fingers spread apart and curled as its basis. Eagle claw uses three. Dragon claw has the user place their four fingers together with the thumb apart to form a C shape when viewed from the side. Due to the supporting features of the four fingers, the dragon claw technique was the most stable of the three.
Ngao Yang Fei hobbled when he walked but he showed tremendous dexterity and agility in performing his techniques. He incorporated a stance into his dragon claw style to withstand the Flight of the Heavenly Fairies. Flight of the Heavenly Fairies cannot be parried or evaded, but that does not mean that it must cause harm. The practitioner of the dragon claws style can utilize any weapon and attack the opponent using a stance called Dragon’s Dive. When these two stances clash, the user of Flight of the Heavenly Fairies must strain his or her internal energy just to evade injury. So in theory, this should prevent injury to the fighter using Dragon’s Dive because his opponent must scramble to prevent himself/herself from getting injured.
After a couple weeks, Xi Ping and Lei Gwan learned the external techniques of the dragon claw style. They lacked the internal strength to develop its full potential but Ngao Yang Fei was pleased and said “Now that I have passed on my martial arts, I can die in peace.”
This surprised Lei Gwan and Xi Ping.
Ngao Yang Fei continued “I have committed many sins in my life when following the Yuansun. I have received retribution for my crimes and can accept death in peace. I hope that you two will be able to do great deeds. There is no redemption for me but there is still hope for you, Xi Ping. Leave here and good luck to you.”
Ngao Yang Fei went into deep meditation and did not stir. He was waiting for death. Lei Gwan and Xi Ping respectfully bowed to the senior and left the secluded clearing and headed towards an escarpment.
It was night when they ascended the escarpment. The hunter’s moon shone brightly causing Xi Ping to speak his mind “Which is closer, the moon or Japan? I can see the moon but I could not see Japan so the moon must be closer. Then again, I have seen people from Japan but I haven’t seen anyone from the moon so Japan must be closer.”
“It doesn’t matter. Everyone shares the same moon. Be it the poor or the rich. Be it Japanese or Chinese.”
“And the blind?”
“The blind may still feel its presence. The blind may feel its gentle rays in the night.”
They continued to walk and recognized two figures sitting together watching the scenery. The two were Hua Yu and Lei Fa. Xi Ping saw this and looked away. Lei Gwan saw this and got angry. She drew her sword, charged forward, and attacked Lei Fa. Hua Yu and Lei Fa were taken by surprise but their defensive capabilities against weapons allowed them to parry the attack. Lei Fa knew that she could not break the defensive shell of the turtle branch with her sword techniques so she struck forward with her newly learned dragon claw technique. Lei Fa and Hua Yu were taken by surprise at the sudden increase in the ability of their opponent and the defense was breached. A turtle’s shell may be hard, but a turtle’s flesh is quite soft once its shell is broken. Lei Gwan placed her sword on Lei Fa’s throat. Xi Ping reached Lei Gwan and stood there not knowing what to do. Hua Yu and Lei Fa recognized Xi Ping but could not recognize Lei Gwan since she no longer dressed as a male soldier.
Lei Gwan looked at Lei Fa and demanded “Renounce your feelings for Hua Yu.”
Lei Fa stared blankly at Lei Gwan. Xi Ping intervened and said “Lei Gwan, what are you doing?”
“You are always hiding your feelings; nobody has any idea of what you are thinking.”
Xi Ping chuckled before reaching forward to grab the blade. He did not wish to harm Lei Gwan and nor did he want to embarrass Lei Fa. Lei Gwan dropped the blade before Xi Ping could cut his hand then gave Xi Ping an angry glance. Hua Yu broke the silence “Xi Ping! Lei Gwan! Let’s return to camp.”
“I can’t, I have betrayed master Gwae, my brothers, sister, and Coral.”
“What are you talking about? Come on, there are only us.”
Xi Ping and Lei Gwan followed them to a camp fire in the middle of a clearing near a cliff. They saw Chok To seated there heating up tea. Xi Ping called out “Brother, you are alive!”
Chok To turned around and laughed. He was joyous at meeting his younger sworn brother again. He said “You thought I was dead? No surprise considering the injuries I sustained from that traitor Kwok Da Kong. Good thing you were able to hold your own against him otherwise we would be keeping each other company at the funeral. Who would have thought that the sword meant to kill me actually cured me of a strange ailment. You see, I had a strange lump on my back that seemed to slowly grow larger. It was starting to get a bit painful but it got cut out by the sword.”
Xi Ping guiltily replied “Actually, I stabbed you in the back.”
“Now that we are reunited – you did what?”
“I overheard your conversation with the Heavenly Rain sect leader and thought that you were trying to poison me.”
“Oh that. I wouldn’t be surprised since I thought he was trying to get me to poison you too. He basically whispered to me that he could tell that you had traces of poison in you and wanted me to give you the antidote. He suspected you would be too prideful to accept it in the open. I didn’t believe that the packet contained medicine so I tried some of it. He told me to stop and said that I almost overdosed before he bounded off to chase an intruder. I decided to use a tea kettle that had a knob that way I would not overdose when drinking tea with you. Stabbing me in the back, where’s your honour.”
“How is your wound?”
“It has healed quite quickly. Hey, even Lei Gwan is here. Xi Ping and I have joined the skewered club. Anyone else like to join?”
The five of them laughed and began their rest for the night. When the moon was highest in the night sky, they were awakened and saw a group of mysterious beings in dark blue whose clothing sparkled under the moonlight. When together, they looked like the ocean reflecting the moon. Chok To exclaimed “It’s the Lunar Reflection.”
They bounded after them until they reached the edge of a very short cliff. The cliff was very steep but a person with martial arts could easily jump down. There the members of the Lunar Reflection paused and watched. They crept up to the cliff and saw Ji Beet Sing walking towards Jin Xiao Bing. Jin Xiao Bing spoke first “Now that there are witnesses, I must expose your crimes. Ji Beet Sing I have evidence of your associations with the Wo’ Kou. Your plan to retrieve their riches in return for general Qi’s head is foiled.”
“Rubbish.”
“Are these letters rubbish? I’m sure that you will fail since at least one of those 1900 PoW’s from general Qi’s brilliant victory at Taizhou will reveal your motives.”
With that, Jin Xiao Bing threw the papers up. While attempting to catch it, Loe Chok To stumbled and fell. He was not injured but was at the foot of the cliff among the two most fierce tigers of Wulin.
Mo Xiao Fong asked “Chok To, are you alright?”
Chok To replied “Yeah. These letters are fake!”
“Of course, mister Jin wanted to anger gentlemen Ji. Come back up here, it’s not safe down there.”
Jin Xiao Bing said “Chok To, I have information regarding your brother’s parents. Stay there and I will tell you once I’ve dealt with hypocrite Ji.”
Ji Beet Sing sighed “Who are you? And how did you know about my incident with Ngao Yang Fei?”
“Oh, you mean your inability to beat him?”
“And you could?”
“Yes, he escaped but is now a cripple if not already dead.”
“Impossible. I doubt that the leaders of E’mei, Wudang, and Shaolin combined can beat him.”
“Those three combined would definitely defeat you.”
“Correction, I can’t beat them if they decided for some bizarre reason to attack me together. That does not mean I would be defeated.”
“You came here without any of your followers. Are you not afraid to die?”
“Good prevails over evil. You must be complaining of your long life. In all of Jiang Hu, who does not respect the name Ji Beet Sing? You wish to engage in a dual with me? You do not have the status.”
“I defeated the only person you could not, there is my status.”
“Your proof?”
“Which claw technique is stronger? Eagle or Dragon? It must have been Dragon.”
“You dare to mock me? Indeed, you have fought Ngao Yang Fei. Is it a dual that you want?”
“Correct.”
“Very well. Members of Coral, listen well, I do not want any of your help; I will handle this villain by myself.”
The sea breeze was cool. The ocean waves crept up on shore and retreated in an ever eternal pattern. This serenity was overshadowed by the tension of combat. Facing each other were the two top martial artists of Jiang Hu. To the victor goes the spoils.