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One more chapter.
Part III: Book of Destiny
Chapter 40
The Five-Element Formation
Characters list (not in particular order):
Chu Lianhua .....................………………………............…Jamie Chic Mei Chun
Master Yang/Zhang Xinlang ………....………...………….Miu Kiu Wei
Gu Xiaofei ....................................…………………………Kath y Chow Hoi Mei
De Pang.............................................. . .................................Liu Kai Chi
Duan Hui …………….….………………………….……. .Alex Man Chi Leung
Man He …………………………………...…..……………Simon Yam Tat Wah
Mu Zhen …………………………………….……………..Lau Ching Wan
Xian Yuo…………………………………………………...Eddie Kwan Lai Kit
Zhan Feiyan/Black Snow Bird…………………….........….Margie Tsang Wah Sin
Zhang Tin.......................…………………………………...Eddie Cheng Siu Fai
Ah Zhu........................................... ......................................Yeung Pan Pan
Leader Yu…………………………………...…..………….Cheung Lui
A wounded figure ran unsteadily into a cottage then reeled down, barely unconscious. A family of three, parents and a little son, stopped eating and went over to inspect the stranger. The mother cried out when she saw blood on the front of the new comer’s clothes. The father hushed his wife and told her to go boil some water while he lifted the injured person to their only bed in the house. Turned out the head of the family knew something about doctoring and as soon as the water was hot, he proceeded to instruct his wife to clean the chest wound for their uninvited guest was a young woman. Then he told his son to run to an herbal shop in a village to buy some medicine. The boy ran outside lively, and his parents turned to tend their patient.
“Zhiying.” The young woman cried and looked up. Two people were observing her kindly. At that moment, she felt faint from lack of blood. Without a word, she got up and with an expert slash, she cut neatly at the couple’s throat with her short knife. Then she kneeled down and drank the blood from their corpses. When she had her fill, she sat cross-leg on the bed to meditate her energy. Suddenly, a child voice cried and small fists were banging at her legs. “Why are you killing my mom and my dad?” The boy sobbed. He punched at his parents’ murderer but was caught at the wrists. “Let me go, the witch!” How could a woman with that beauty be so evil? Tears flowed freely from his eyes.
Zhan Feiyan recalled an event ten years ago, the night that her father was killed and she was kidnapped. She used to question the same thing herself. What did her parents do to be killed by Zhang Tin? She regarded the boy and sighed. “This world is cruel. You’d better join your parents in heaven. I hope you all have better life in next reincarnation if that exists.” She lifted her knife and pierced swiftly at his heart. At least, he wouldn’t have to suffer like she did.
She stayed in a cottage till her wound was healed. Then she buried the three bodies together. After that, she left without looking back.
She went to report her failure to the Lord of Love Palace then awaited the punishment. However, Zhang Tin only assigned her a new job. “It’s not your fault. You were being battered by Xi-nan thus you weren’t strong enough to handle things by yourselves. Forgot about those useless disciples. They deserved to die. Thirty of them couldn’t overcome two men! I don’t believe that Wu Dang is better than Love Palace in martial skills. Xinlang is taking care of them now. I want you to do what I originally planned for you. Go to Dr. Ma’s and see what you can do about Sword South School’s disciples. I want Tian Fei to be left without any friends or relatives. Also, Xi-nan sent the news that the Book of Four was lost. I want you to confirm that. It was in the hands of a youth named Yong Butong the last time I heard from Xi-nan. From now on, only take the order directly from me. Don’t listen to my sons. They don’t know how to use good killer like you.” He threw her a bottle of pills and warned her coldly. “This would be all that you would get for a couple months. Use them wisely.” He caught her hands and pulled her inside his private chamber. He whispered softly in her ears. “I want to see how bad you were wounded.” He rubbed the bruised spots on her body and she winced. Zhang Tin grunted with displeasure at the signs of abuse. “I shall talk to Xi-nan about his sadistic way with women. In this matter, he is so unlike me.” He gave her a tender massage and retained her with him all night. She left in the morning, and he sighed at her retreating figure. “Too bad that her blood was too poisonous to practice the Five-venom Palm with me. She was a perfect candidate otherwise.” Years ago, he indeed used her once for this technique but had to stop halfway because he almost died when her poisonous blood mixed with his. That was the nearest of Zhan Feiyan’s attempt at revenge for her family albeit unintentionally.
The truth was that he was afraid that she would think of avenging him one day. As a result, he controlled her will with various poisons. Some were incurable, and some weren’t. In order to live, she had to have the poisonous blood in her body replaced with untainted one from times to times, hence her need to drink fresh blood. Moreover, from childhood he trained her to be a killer, not knowing love or hate. He had actually brainwashed her quite successfully up till now. The disturbed past only returned to her when she met Li Renying and found that her younger sister was still alive. Zhan Feiyan hated her life, but what else could she do? She couldn’t live past a day if Zhang Tin died, not to say that she was not strong enough to kill her number one enemy. Zhang Tin cleverly saw to that. He trained her to be a skilled killer but not too good to harm him. She did once decide to end her life when she encountered with that woman behind the veil, but after hearing the name of her sister, she swore to keep living for the sake of Zhan Zhiying, the only relative she had left.
Zhang Xinlang at that moment just saw a secret sign of Love Palace, and he followed it to an inn. There, he received a letter from his father pressing him to attack Wu Dang as soon as possible. He wrote a note back and ordered it to be sent as fast as possible to his father. The innkeeper then informed him of the movement of Wang Shan and his group. He wanted to know if he should keep their house under surveillance or not, and Zhang Xinlang nodded. “The pretty face boy has high Kung Fu, so you’d better be careful not to get too closed. At any rate, they are settling down. So, there is no need to wake up the death unnecessary.” Then he left for Wu Dang with leader Yu.
At Wu Dang, Xian Yuo had just received a letter from Gu Xiaofei, stating that she had changed her mind about their wedding. She informed him on the paper that she was now happily married with a smart man who could provide her with everything. He ripped the letter into pieces when he finished reading it. Although he did not care much about her or a marriage life with any girl, the fact that he had lost his bride to another man was an insult to him and to his sect. He would not be another Wu Dang brother who lost face to an unknown man. Heatedly, he left Wu Dang without telling anyone, intending to hunt down the immoral woman and her disgraceful lover.
Ah Zhu learned of his departure from a servant and hurried after him. She took a fast horse and caught up with him at last. But the jolting on horseback was bad for her pregnant condition. She almost fell off the horse when Xian Yuo caught her heavy body in time. Upon hearing her moan from pain, he carried her to the shaded tree and gave her some water. Just when he was about to go back to Wu Dang for help, Zhang Xinlang and leader Yu came across the pair.
Leader Yu pointed out to his young master that the pregnant woman was the third hero Man He’s wife, Ah Zhu, and that the young man was the fifth hero of Wu Dang. Xinlang smiled at this opportune time and he went to pay respect to Madam Man.
Ah Zhu regarded the men standing before her suspiciously. She was not the inexperienced young girl like Gu Xiaofei or Chu Lianhua, so she could observe cruelty and sense some evilness underneath the polite mask of the young gentleman. She noticed a fan that Zhang Xinlang was holding in his hands and recalled a description of Lord of Love Palace, Zhang Tin. However, this man was too young to be that infamous rapist although he had a decidedly authority air. An older man who was with him was without a doubt a powerful martial artist. However, she acted politely, at the same time hoped with all her heart that some help would come by soon.
When Zhang Xinlang volunteered to take her to see a doctor, she declined his offer cordially, saying that she was only a little tired and would soon be better. Then she muttered all her strength and threw several short knives at a tree about 15 chi away. This was a warning to both strangers not to attempt anything. Leader Yu saw her demonstration and applauded her prowess. Then he commented that the tree was no longer beautiful with the knives around its trunk. He walked to the tree and punched at its trunk. His inner energy pushed the daggers off the tree and sent them back to Ah Zhu who was too wearied to dodge her own projectiles. At that point, Xian Yuo intervened and used his saber to deflect them. The knives flew toward Zhang Xinlang, and he warded them off with his fan. As a result, the projectiles fell on the ground near Ah Zhu, who turned pale upon witnessing this young man’s skill.
Putting a brave face on, she demanded for his name and his true purpose of visiting Wu Dang. Zhang Xinlang who had been studying the pregnant woman thoughtfully for some time replied with one word, “kill”.
Xian Yuo instantly attacked the two men, a saber in his hand. He intended to teach these strangers a lesson for being insolence. His frustration spurted and before Ah Zhu could have called him off, his saber chopped at Leader Yu’s left arm. His move was ferocious and fast. It was one of the Yin Yang Sword series. He had adopted this martial art into the Yang Saber with the intention to teach Gu Xiaofei the Yin part so that they could fight as a pair. Although this new technique lacked the power of Yin Sword, it had a compensation of being fiercer when used with a saber.
The cut on Leader Yu’s arm revealed the sign of Love Palace, and Ah Zhu had further reasons to wish for an appearance of any other four brothers of Wu Dang. Zhang Xinlang was astonished at the martial skill of the youngest martial brother and smilingly said that he also had a new skill to test on other people. Then he displayed the six-step Five-venom Palm and hit at Xian Yuo’s chest in full force.
Xian You felt the black energy came toward him but unable to fend it off. The force knocked the saber off his hand, and a black palm followed. The next second, he was thrown against a boulder and was seen spitting blood. Zhang Xinlang sneered sinisterly and advanced toward Ah Zhu who was only thought of her baby. Suddenly, she moaned. She was going to deliver at the wrong time.
At that point in time, someone called Zhang Xinlang to stop, and Gu Xiaofei appeared with white face. One morning, she was in bed from exhaustion upon the completion of the sixth step and praying that the last process would not be as painful as this one. Then she heard her husband talked to someone about going to an inn to meet someone. She had a possessive nature and thought that Xinlang might go meet some girl there for she had realized by now that he always had an eye for beautiful women. Therefore, she braved herself to follow him from afar. However, he was only there for a short period, talking to an innkeeper. After that, he took off and traveled with haste.
She would have stopped spying on him at that if it were not for the appearance of leader Yu. She felt that he looked familiar; therefore, she trailed them all the way to Wu Dang. The longer she was on the road, the more she had doubt over her lover’s identity. She met many disciples of leader Yu’s along the road, but they let her pass without questions as they mistook that Zhang Xinlang wished for her. Gu Xiaofei was not a stupid woman although she was blinded by love. After much pondering and eavesdropping on seemed-to-be Xinlang’s servants, she came to a conclusion that Xinlang built a situation for her so that she would consent to practice that immoral martial technique with him. Also, much to her distress, she began to suspect that her gentleman lover was not really the heir of the famous Yang family.
She arrived to the incident scene early enough to witness a menacing look on Zhang Xinlang. He always wore that expression when practicing the Five-venom Palm. At once, she called his name and dashed forward, putting her body between him and her third senior martial sister.
Tearfully, she begged him. “Xinlang, what’re you going to do? Please spare her. She is my senior martial sister!” She was afraid of him and suddenly regretted her decision.
Zhang Xinlang halted. He looked at his lover disdainfully and smiled charmingly that did not work on the distressed Gu Xiaofei today. “I know that she is your martial sister. I’m going to offer her a help, that’s all.” Then he frowned when she didn’t move. He demanded annoyingly. “Go home. You have no business to be here. Or do you want to return to your Xian Yuo?” He turned to taunt the injured fifth brother. “May I introduce my wife, Gu Xiaofei, to you?” He laughed with mirth. He succeeded in stealing someone’s lover just like Xi-nan stole Lu Tingli from him.
Xian You grounded his teeth. He tried to get up but was unable to move. “I am going to kill you. You are the Love Palace fiend. You, the rapist!” He panted. His whole body was numb despite his attempt to block various acupuncture points so that the poison would not travel into the vital parts of his internal system.
Gu Xiaofei was paler than before. She gasped. “Is it true? Are you from Love Palace?” Her heart skipped. ‘What have I done?’
Zhang Xinlang replied uninterestedly. “Why should you be concerned over that little matter? Didn’t I give you enough wealth and love? What else do you want? If you know what is best for you, you should stand aside and let me to rid this pest from our lives. When I come to the throne of Love Palace, you shall be my first concubine.”
Gu Xiaofei couldn’t believe her ears. Concubine? Was she only worth as his concubine? She was stunned, and someone else cried disappointingly. “Master Yang, you lied to me.” Chu Lianhua was there with Man He, who rushed to the side of his wife protectively.
If Zhang Xinlang was indifferent with Gu Xiaofei’s emotion earlier, his face betrayed his care for Chu Lianhua. Gu Xiaofei sensed his love for her martial sister and instantaneously hated Chu Lianhua for that. Before he could find a right answer, another party came into view. De Pang, Duan Hui, and Mu Zhen took in their wounded brother and ran to assist him. With his refined inner power, De Pang pressed his fingers at the acupuncture point on Xian Yuo’s right hand and right shoulder then moved to his left elbow and finally at his chest. By doing that, he stopped the flow of poison for the time being. Then he turned to face the young master of Love Palace.
Zhang Xinlang realized that he was outnumbered, so he whistled aloud to call for reinforcement. A troop of Love Palace disciples descended from Wu Dang where they were sent to pilfer and kill, and the five heroes of Wu Dang found that they were surrounded heavily.
De Pang sighed. It was unfortunate that the fifth brother was unavailable, but it was fate. He called out, “Five-Element Formation.” He stepped forward and positioned himself as earth element. Duan Hui clutched his maces and was metal element. Man He took last look at his wife and somersaulted to the formation. He was to be water element. Mu Zhen joined the rest of them and became wood element. Then they attacked the enemies.
Although the formation lacked the fire element, it was pretty formidable. However, after a while, it began to weaken for De Pang’s earth element’s power was not at its peak without the support from fire element. At that moment, Chu Lianhua stepped into the fire element position and completed the pattern. During the fight between the four brothers and Love Palace disciples, Ah Zhu called her sixteenth junior martial sister and faintly whispered to Chu Lianhua the quick lesson of the Five-Element Formation. Then she asked the young woman to fill in the missing element for the sake of righteousness. Zhang Xinlang at the moment was helping leader Yu in the intense battle, and Gu Xiaofei was trembling next to her third senior martial sister, unable to do anything, much to Ah Zhu’s disgust.
The Five-Element Formation was based from the five-element theory, earth, metal, water, wood, and fire. Earth supported metal, metal supported water, water supported wood, wood supported fire, and fire supported earth. Each element lent and borrowed natural force from one another to create a powerful web of energy and an unbeatable formation.
With Chu Lianhua replaced Xian Yuo as fire element, the formation became stronger. Although her martial arts and inner energy was not as high as the fifth hero of Wu Dang, she needed only to support De Pang’s earth element. Likewise, Mu Zhen’s wood element added strength to her fire energy.
De Pang’s earth element was pure and the most powerful. Duan Hui’s metal element was direct and the strongest. Man He’s water element was fluid and the most graceful. Mu Zhen’s wood element was solid and the liveliest. Chu Lianhua’s fire element supposed to be raging and the fastest.
The table had turned, and soon the Love Palace’s large troop was reduced into significantly smaller group. Then three disciples were hit by De Pang’s ‘Earth calls to Heaven’, and two more were knocked out with Duan Hui’s heavy maces. Next, two men were wounded severely from Man He’s sharp hook and fast sword, and leader Yu was killed under Mu Zhen’s one stance of Tai Chi Sword. Chu Lianhua’s weapon danced as lightning and landed at the neck of Zhang Xinlang who had been wounded. Her eyes locked into his, and she saw love and apology in them. She closed her eyes and pushed the sword forward, and Gu Xiaofei was suddenly active. She dashed toward her junior martial sister and swerved the blade. Then she changed her direction and stabbed right at Chu Lianhua’s lower arm. Chu Lianhua was surprised and was disarmed in two moves. Thus the Five-Element formation was once again incomplete. Zhang Xinlang saw a chance and quickly grabbed Gu Xiaofei and escaped. Duan Hui stormed after the pair like god of thunder.
At that moment, Ah Zhu cried out. Her baby was on the way, and she could no longer hold out. Man He left the formation and was at her side the next second, wiping her sweats with concern. Mu Zhen caught Chu Lianhua’s wrist and pressed at the blood clot acupuncture point to stop the flow of blood, while De
Pang went to transfer his inner energy into the fainting Xian Yuo.
Ah Zhu cried again and the men were at their loose ends. Chu Lianhua then took command. She ordered Man He to go find some water and start boiling it. Mu Zhen at that moment was called to assist De Pang. It took two of them to purge the five poisons from Zhang Xinlang’s deadly palm out of their martial brother successfully. Meanwhile, Duan Hui returned with enraged expression. He reported to De Pang that the villain used poisonous smoke as his concealment and disappeared without trace. He was worried about his fifth martial brother, so he rushed back. But he was not needed. However, Chu Lianhua was looking for a strong man to help Ah Zhu with her baby since her right arm was injured. Duan Hui averted his eyes from the pregnant woman and strode to the poor Man He who was at the present trying his hardest to help the water boil as quickly as possible. Then Duan Hui simply shove his third martial brother from his position and told Man He to go take care of his wife instead.
Zhang Xinlang ran till he was out of breath. He stopped finally and looked at his woman gratefully when she took her hands from his and put the tip of her sword on his heart. She was crying. “How dared you lie to me? You don’t love me one bit. I can see that you have Lianhua in your heart, not me. I’ll kill you then go ask forgiveness from Master.”
Zhang Xinlang remained calm. He was defenseless at the moment. It was time to use his utmost charm. He softly said to her. “Xun Ci Shi Tai was dead, and your Emei Sect was nothing but ashes. If you don’t believe me, you can go see it yourself.” He looked into her eyes enchantingly and advised, “if you want a revenge, you can kill me now. But I want you to know, however many girls I had been with, no one had ever come close to my heart like you did. It’s true that I like Chu Lianhua, but I never have her. Now, we are just enemies. I’m really fond at you, dear Xiaofei. I want you to enjoy wealth and power together with me, and I promise you that the world will be in our hands one day.” He acted as if he prepared to die, and Gu Xiaofei could not bring herself to kill him. She had nothing left now, no master and no home to turn to.
She felt weak when met with his compelling glance. “Why the concubine? Who else are you having in your heart?” Her voice was hysterical, and her hand that held the sword shook.
Zhang Xinlang was sweating inwardly but put on a cool front. He replied simply. “No one else. The first concubine was considered the first wife in Love Palace.”
Gu Xiaofei sobbed and threw away her weapon. She put herself in his open arms and cried for everything – her honor, her reputation, her dead master, the unsuccessful revenge, her perished fellow disciples, and for her immoral love. She suddenly felt sick and vomited right on his robe.
Zhang Xinlang unthinkingly pushed her away then was stuck with an idea. He asked her excitingly. “Are you with child?”
Gu Xiaofei blushed. She thought of her past weak and nodded hesitantly. “I might. I don’t know.” She pleaded him. “I have only you left. Please do not deceive me again. Please love me only.”
Zhang Xinlang’s eyes sparkled. Destiny had planned greatness for him after all. It wanted to bestow power to him. Fate was in his hands now. He forgot his injuries and all his tiredness. He embraced Gu Xiaofei lovingly and promised her everything. Then he walked her to see doctor at the nearest town.
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