Swordsman (笑傲江湖小说)

[szfong]

I don't see how reading sexual contents can make a story for fun. Care to share szfong? It would be more exciting to watch it in the drama

You must have too much of an imagination... . In most wuxia type of story, the sexual situation or encounter is a catlyst to form new story arcs... Eg a misunderstanding or a reason for revenge.. or an innocent intimate moment to build their relationship. Not for entertainment's sake... We're just talking about the fate of the nun... I seemed to have recalled some of those scenes in older remakes... They were innocent encounters... It's just a sene idea... I never mentioned sex scenes, you can watch those anywhere on the net if you prefer. A misunderstood sexual encounter or making someone happy just before her demise is very common in wuxia stories...

[szfong]

Hehehe. Yujian and Meijian wake up naked on the same bed? I seem to have read this somewhere!

hehe.. That's another story... Yi Lin is just not in many of the scenes in this remake... The two bumbling sisters who couldn't do anything right and the depressing love stricken nun really needs a few more scene with LHC & DFBB before their sad demise... I was just scanning my memory of Yi Lin in the various remakes... The older Taiwanese and Singapore remakes had some really interesting twists in the little nun scenes. Eg. She was caught in bed with LHC, and her master told her to kill herself... Or the scene where she innocently fed Yu Bu Qun the brain pills thru his arm was a funny twist to the story.

[Dongfang Xue]

Gu Santong closed his eyes and stared circulating his energy. “Relax your whole body. No matter how much you feel hurt or itchy, you must not resist at all,” he spoke.

Linghu Chong turned his head around to look at Gu Santong. “Yes, Brother Gu.”

Gu Santong’s inner energy was so profound that he moment he summoned it, his entire body discharged a strong gust of wind into the cave. He leaped up, stretched out his right index finger and slowly pointed it towards the acupoint on Linghu Chong’s head.

Linghu Chong’s body jolted to the front involuntarily. He felt a stream of chill flowing from the top of his head down.

Gu Santong retracted his finger immediately. Without moving his body his second finger hit another acupoint located in the back of Linghu Chong’s head. By the time the candle was halfway burnt he had already hit thirty consecutive main acupoints on Linghu Chong’s body. He was in fact using his lifetime cultivated inner energy to open up Linghu Chong’s eight main arteries.

After completed opening the last meridian point, Gu Santong sat down to take a rest. “Brother, I’ve successfully opened up all your eight extraordinary vessels and two main meridian channels,” he spoke softly, gasping for breath.

Linghu Chong turned around and saw Gu Santong’s face pale. His robe was soaked in sweat. He rushed forward to take a closer at Gu Santong. “Brother Gu! Are you alright?” he asked nervously.

Gu Santong slowly opened up his eyes and smiled, “Your injury is healed. All you need is a day or two of total rest. As long as you don’t use any of your inner strength it, and you will be all right.”

Linghu Chong’s eyes were filled with grief as he looked at Gu Santong. “Brother Gu, you must have exhausted a large amount of energy to treat me. How can I ever replay you?” he sniffled.

Gu Santong replied with a beam. “Silly kid, your brother, I will be alright. Don’t forget who I am. I am the world number one martial artist, Dongfang Bubai’s sworn brother.” Under such serious conditions, he was still able to crack a joke.

After resting for a couple of days, Gu Santong started teaching Linghu Chong energy cultivation methods. As time went by, the tension in Linghu Chong’s body was greatly reduced. Instead, he felt a strong stream of energy flowing through his body. The different types of inner energy had somewhat stopped colliding against each other.

Linghu Chong spent a total of six months learning martial arts skills from Gu Santong. During this time, he had completely cured his internal injury and at the same time cultivated a new form of inner energy. His body felt light and healthy, the inner energy flowed freely in his entire body. The different streams of inner energy inside his body was combined into a very high inner energy.

One fine morning, Linghu Chong woke up from his sleep and noticed that Gu Santong was nowhere to be found. Worried that he may be in trouble, Linghu Chong decided to go out of the cave to look for him.

As he was walking towards the cave entryway, he spotted a piece of note hanging on the side of a rock wall. He reached for the note and took a quick glance at it.

‘Brother, I have completely cured your injury. Make sure you let the lass know about this when you see her again. Tell her to stick to what she does best and stay away from what she is incapable of doing. She almost killed you instead of saving you. That being said, if you practice the inner energy cultivation methods that I have taught you diligently, in less than ten years, you will be in the same ranks as the top martial arts experts. The Nine Yin manual inner energy cultivation method and the Art of Star Absorption that you have learned cannot be compared to the skills of the Sunflower Scripture. But as long as that lass don't pick a fight with you, you should be safe. Take care my brother!’

It was Gu Santong who left him the note.

“Brother still has not completely restored his inner strength. How could he leave just like that?” Linghu Chong muttered nervously. Feeling rather concerned about Gu Santong’s safety, he decided to go and look for him.

After spending half the day searching all over the place, there was still no sign of Gu Santong. “Brother Gu has excellent martial arts skills. I am pretty sure that even if he has not restored his inner strength, there isn’t any one in the martial arts world who can harm him,” Linghu Chong comforted himself.

As he walked along the narrow pathway whistling away, his stomach started growling. “It’s been a while since I had a decent meal. Time to find a nice place to eat some delicious chicken and drink some good quality wine before I go and look for Ms Dongfang and En’er!” he grinned.

He arrived at a small town. The street hawkers were busy running their daily business.

There was sad looking old lady seating beside a booth that was selling paper masks. She called out to passerby asking them help out by buying a paper masks from her. None of them responded.

Linghu Chong looked at her with his eyes filled with empathy. From her movements capability he could tell that she probably has not eaten much. He slowly walked up to the booth and handed her a piece of silver nugget. “Granny, here, take this and go get some rest at home.”

The old lady reached her hands out and held onto Linghu Chong’s hand. “Thank you….so much sir…” she uttered with tears dripping from her eyes. “Please take a paper mask as a token…of appreciation…”

“No I can’t, granny. If I take it you would not be able to sell it to your potential customers,” Linghu Chong replied with a smile.

“I have not…sold a single paper masks over the last three days….” the old lady sighed.

Linghu Chong finally obligingly took a black colored paper mask from her. “Granny, where do you live? Why don’t I walk you home so that you can get some rest?”

The old lady lowered her head and gave him a bow. “Thank you sir…”

After walking the old lady back to her hut, Linghu Chong got himself a room at an inn.

It was very quiet at the inn. Linghu Chong sat at a window enjoying the cold breeze as he drank his wine. “Where should I go and look for Ms Dongfang and En’er? Don’t tell me I have to go up to the Dark Wood Cliff?” He then remembered where he first met Linghu En. “I should first go back to Luoyang City to look for En’er!”

Right at that moment, he heard sounds of swords clashing coming from a distance. Feeling curious, Linghu Chong leaped off from the window frame and glided towards the direction of the sound to take a look.

As he was gracefully striding in the air, he looked down to the ground below feeling amazed. His inner energy and lightness skill had reached a higher level lately.

Four junior nuns from the Hengshan Sect were engaged in an intense sword fight against a group of masked men clad in tight fitting black robes. One of the nuns were Yi Lin.

Linghu Chong alighted on a branch of a big tree, watching the fight from above. “These people in black have great sword skills. But I can’t seem to tell which sect do they come from,” he muttered. “Where are Zhu Jian and Mei Jian? The two of them should not any problem defeating them…”

Yi Lin’s felt a slight pain her hand as she parried an attack with her sword. She lost grip of the sword handle and dropped it to the ground.

Seeing that Yi Lin was defenseless, the masked man swiftly sent a kick to Yi Lin’s abdomen and knocked her to the ground. He then raised his long sword into the air and swung it downward at Yi Lin.

A sudden swoosh sound was heard. A projectile flew through the air and pierced the side of the masked man’s head. The projectile was only a pebble but the force behind it was immense. The masked man collapsed onto the ground unmoving.

Yi Lin was shocked. She quickly looked toward the direction where the projectile had come from but only saw a big tree. “Who could it be?” Yi Lin murmured. She knitted her brow pondering to herself for a moment. “Sister? Could it be sister? Why did she not come out and see me? Is she afraid that I am angry with her?”

Another gush of wind could be heard. A shadow moved hurriedly through the air, hurling more projectiles at the remaining masked men’s head. They slumped to the ground – dead, one after another. The shadow’s movement was so fast that no one could catch a glimpse of him. Only a trail of could be seen.

Three other nuns came running towards Yi Lin. “Yi Lin! Are you alright?” one of them asked worriedly.

Yi Lin shook her head. “I am alright, Senior Martial Sister.”

“That’s good. We better go back to the Nan An inn to look for Senior Martial Uncle,” the nun responded.

Linghu Chong crouched down on the roof listening to them. “Whoever these people are they are trying to split the nuns up,” he thought. “Nan An inn? That’s the one down the road. Since I have nothing much to do, I’ll go to Nan An inn to see who is behind this.” He turned around and strode off into the air. His body moved like a flash of light.

Outside the Nan An inn, Ding Jing was busy fending off three masked men single handedly. She thrust her sword outward at a masked man in front of her forcefully.

The masked man dodged the attack while two of his companions thrust their swords towards Ding Jing’s left and right shoulder.

Ding Jing leaned to one side, jumped into the air, turned around and slashed the two masked men in the throat with her sword.

The surviving masked man threw a hand held bomb at the ground. The moment the hand held bomb hit the ground and exploded, a large amount of smoke was emitted into the area. The masked man used the smoke as a diversion and immediately leaped off into the dark sky.

Ding Jing angrily said, “Devil Sect demons! Can’t beat me in a fight and you run like a coward? So, Dongfang Bubai's disciples are shameless and gutless. What Dongfang Bubai? It's merely Dongfang Bibai. Dongfang Bibai, do you dare to come out and meet this old nun? Dongfang Bibai, Dongfang Bibai, I think you're afraid!" (Dongfang BiBai means Dongfang is defeated, whereas her original name Dongfang Bubai means Dongfang undefeated.)

“Dongfang Bibai? How dare this old fart call address Ms Dongfang as bibai!” Linghu Chong pressed his lips and stared at Ding Jing agitatedly. “We’ll just see who is the real bibai then.” He decided to abandon his plan of helping the nuns out the moment he heard Ding Jing insult Dongfang Bubai.

Ding Jing knew that when any devil cult people heard someone insulting their leader's reputation they would come out and risk their lives in defending it. This was a big matter for them. Sure enough, after she called out a few ‘Dongfang Bibai’, seven masked men rushed out from a house. They leapt towards Ding Jing and surrounded her.

"Where's my apprentices? Where have you taken them?" Ding Jing asked angrily.

The masked men did not answer her. Instead, they raised their sabers and started attacking her concurrently.

Ding Jing waved her sword and fought her enemies courageously. She fought one enemy after another. The seven masked men’s martial arts skills were much compared to their companions. Each time Ding Jing broke one person's defense, his companions would immediately cover him up. Then they would immediately counter-attack and turned the situation dangerously against her.

After exchanging seventy moves, Ding Jing started to feel tired. She was unable to keep up any further. She clumsily parried another attack and stumbled a few steps backwards. She knew that the fight was over. There was no way she could defeat these seven men. The only thing she could do was await her death.

Just then, a dozen of men clad in red robes arrived at the scene. They drew their swords and started fighting the masked men.

Seeing that they were outnumbered, the masked men started fleeing from the scene. One of them threw a hand held bomb to the ground and fled off with his companions.

One of the men in red robe propped Ding Jing by the arm. “Abbess Ding Jing, friends from Songshan Sect are here to help,” he said with a smile.

Ding Jing greeted the man with a bow. “Senior Martial Brother Lu, it’s so good to see you here,” she said.

The man was Lu Bai, an apprentice of the Songshan Sect. He cupped his hands and returned a bow courteously. “Abbess Ding Jing single handedly fought all these elites from the devil sect alone. Your sword skills are really high. I bow in admiration. They were part of the Eighteen Killers of Dark Wood Cliff, specially trained by that evil demon Dongfang Bubai.”

Linghu Chong remained at his position, made a spitting gesture. “Nonsense. Ms Dongfang’s martial arts skills are unmatchable. How could those useless pigs could not have been trained by her,” he murmured.

Ding Jing knitted her brow. “Eighteen Killers of Dark Wood Cliff?” She didn't want to appear ignorant so she didn't ask any further. It was already good enough for her to know their names for now.

“How come you’re all by yourself? Where are your other Hengshan School apprentices?” Lu Bo asked.

Ding Jing let out a sigh, “"I'm really ashamed. My Hengshan Sect apprentices have suddenly gone missing in this town. Martial Brother Lu, have you seen any of my apprentices?"

Lu Bai shook his head with a smile. “We’re all from the same group. Lu Bai will do whatever it takes to help abbess find your apprentices. But before we do that, I need to discuss a matter with abbess.”

Ding Jing narrowed her eyes and gazed at him suspiciously, “Discuss about what?”

Lu Bai responded, “Elder apprentice brother Zuo says that together we are strong. Divided we are weak. If the Five Mountain Sword Sects can join together and become one, then the devil sect wouldn't be able to antagonize us. Even the big sects of Shaolin and Wudang who have been enjoying their big reputation for a long time wouldn't be able to compare to us. Elder apprentice brother Zuo wishes that we no longer have this division of the five mountain sword schools. He wants us to combine together and become the "One Mountain School. That way, we would have many people cooperating together and we would really become the leader of martial arts world. What does abbess think of this?"

"Poor nun at Hengshan School is only an idle person and don't pay much attention to matters. However, Martial brother Zhong has raised an important matter. You should come with me to meet my martial sisters to speak about this. Right now, the most important thing is to rescue my school's female disciples who have fallen into the devil cult's trap. We can discuss other matters in details after this," Ding Jing uttered.

Lu Bai smiled, "Abbess, don't worry. I've already asked Songshan Sect apprentices to handle this. Hengshan Sect's problem is also Songshan Sect's. We wouldn't let your school's apprentice to suffer."

Ding Jing was getting worried about her apprentices, "Brother Lu seems to look at the situation lightly!"

A Songshan Sect apprentice by the name of Zhong Zhen interrupted. "According to our intelligence, the devil sect members have a lair not far from here. It's very likely that your apprentices are being held captive there.”

Ding Jing turned her head and looked at Zhong Zhen with her eyes wide open. "Where's this lair? We'll go save them!"

Lu Bai her into calmed her down and said, "Devil sect is well prepared to receive us. If we act rashly and make a mistake we might not be able to save your apprentices. We already know where they are. In my opinion, we should discuss this first before going to save them. Combining the five mountain sword sect alliance is a comparatively more important matter. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not taking advantage of someone in a dangerous position. I'm just compelling abbess to agree to this matter."

Ding Jing glared at him annoyingly. "You don’t have to waste your time I’ll never agree to the plan of combining the five sects into one!” she said loudly.

Just then, Yi Lin and the other junior nuns exited an alley. “Martial Uncle!” Yi Lin called out excitingly.

Ding Jing ran up to Yi Lin and held her in her arms. “Yi Lin, are you alright?”

Yi Lin shed a tear as she nodded. “We were surrounded by followers of the devil cult. Thankfully someone came to our rescue,” she explained.

“Who was it that rescued you?” Lu Bai asked anxiously.

Linghu Chong puts on a paper mask and stood up straight. “Of course it’s old man here!” he said in a clear and loud voice.

Everyone quickly looked toward the direction where the voice had come and saw a figure wearing a paper mask, standing on the roof.

“Looks like another follower of the devil cult. I’m going to eliminate all evil today!” Lu Bai pulled his sword out from the sheath and sprang towards Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong uttered a sound of dissatisfaction. “Seeking for death?” He leaped off from the roof and darted towards Lu Bai.

Lu Bai channeled his inner strength to his sword and thrust it towards Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong leaned to one side to dodge the attack. He subsequently grabbed Lu Bai by the wrist and started absorbing his inner energy.

Lu Bai’s face turned pale. His inner energy started to rush out of his body and he could not stop it. He couldn't help but be completely frightened. He wanted to shout but even when his mouth was opened wide, there was no sound coming out.

The two of them landed on the ground, sending a tremor in the ground. Linghu Chong was aware that his opponent's inner energy was being absorbed into his body. “If this goes on he might die of inner energy depletion.” He quickly took his fingers off Lu Bai’s wrist and sent a mild palm strike to his abdomen.

Lu Bai flew backwards in the air and landed on his back. He quickly stood up but felt weak all over. "Art of Star Absorption... Art of Absorption… Ren Woxing!" he uttered. His voice was filled with fear.

Zhong Zhen and the other Songshan Sect apprentices simultaneously drew their swords and thrust it towards Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong did not back away. Instead, he thrust his palms outwards and unleashed a powerful gust of wind.

The Songshan Sect apprentices were blown backwards.

“What Ren Woxing? Ren Nixing (Ren Woxing means I do as I wish, Ren Nixing means you do as you wish. He was basically teasing them)? Old man here has no idea what you’re talking about!” Linghu Chong spoke in a hoarse voice.

Lu Bai quickly returned to his feet. “Senior Ren has re-entered the martial arts world. I'm no match against you so I'm going." He turned around and fled with his companions.

Ding Jing walked up to Linghu Chong. She bowed at him with her hands cupped. “Benefactor, thanks for the help. Mind to tell old nun your name?” she said with a smile.

Linghu Chong looked away and cleared his throat. “No I did not. I came out to find some wine to drink and coincidently bump into these junior nuns,” he responded. “Old man’s name is Guan Xianshi.” (Guan Xianshi means curious about other people’s affair).

Ding Jing gazed at him with an odd facial expression. She could tell that he was unwilling to reveal his identity. Since its common for remarkable individuals not to reveal his true identity easily, she decided not to question him further.

Ding Jing then turned her head to look at Yi Lin. “Where did Yi He and the others go then?” she asked.

“I didn’t see them anywhere around either…” Yi Lin said worriedly.

“Though this old nun here insulted Miss Dongfang earlier, but I can’t just see them die and not help,” Linghu Chong thought.

He folded his arms and looked at Ding Jing. “Alright. Old man will help you all once more,” he said.

Ding Jing was delighted. “Thank you. Old nun will go to the east section to take a look while benefactor goes to the west section. We’ll meet back here in an hour’s time. Appreciate if you can also look after my little apprentices here.”

After finishing her words, Ding Jing turned around and walked away to look for her other apprentices.

After two hours, Linghu Chong and Yi Lin returned to the inn to wait for Ding Jing. They had searched every corner of the west section but could not find any nuns. Yi Lin and a group of nuns decided to return to the inn.

There were five other junior nuns waiting inside the inn.

“Big Apprentice Sister Yi He! You’re back! Where is Martial Uncle?” Yi Lin ran up to them.

“We never saw her. I’m afraid that something might have happened to her. Let’s go and look for me!” Yi He replied.

Linghu Chong stood behind Yi Lin and said, “Old man will come with you all.”

The nuns searched every single street looking for Ding Jing. “Martial Uncle!” they yelled out her name one after another.

Linghu Chong had to cover his ears. “Can you all stop making so much noise?!” he grumbled.

The nuns ignored him and continued shouting.

Unable to bear their loud noises, Linghu Chong turned to the left and walked towards another direction. He started hearing loud noises of sword clashing up ahead. His body moved like light sprinting towards the direction of the sound.

Ding Jing was lying on the ground as seven masked men charged towards her.

Linghu Chong darted towards them in a flash. “Stop it!” He appeared in front of Ding Jing confronting shielding her from the masked men.

Linghu Chong sent both his palms outwards, unleashing a powerful gust of wind, pulling the masked men towards him and subsequently unleashed another gust of wind that blew them backwards.

"We respect Chief Ren’s good name. We’ll back down.” The masked men quickly returned to their feet, and retreated.

Linghu Chong turned around and crouched down beside Ding Jing. “Abbess!” he shouted.

Ding Jing was gasping hard for air. She had sustained some very serious injuries. Her right hand had been cut off.

“Martial Uncle!” the junior nuns ran towards Ding Jing. Two of them propped her up.

Ding Jing slowly lifted up her head and looked at Linghu Chong lifelessly. "You... you... are really the past devil cult’s...Chief Ren.... Woxing?"

Linghu Chong shook his head, “No. The evil demon has committed much evil acts. How can I make friends with such a beast? He isn't my master either. My master is a compassionate and kind man. He's heroic and upright. In martial arts world, he's looked up by everyone and considered to be a senior hero. Abbess has good relationship with him."

Ding Jing’s face revealed a smiling expression. "Then I don't have to worry anymore. I... I won't be able to make it. I hope that benefactor can bring my Hengshan Sect's apprentices.... to Fuzhou City's, Wuxiang Temple. My school's senior martial sister will be….waiting for them there."

Seeing that Ding Jing would not live very much longer, Linghu Chong nodded. "You have my words that I’ll bring them to the temple in Fuzhou City."

Ding Jing smiled, "Amituofo, Thanks for your kindness. Young hero... who are you really?"

Linghu Chong saw her eyes unfocused and her breath was very shallow. Her life wasn't long anymore. He couldn't conceal it from her anymore. So he removed the paper mask and revealed himself to her. "I’m Linghu Chong."

“Brother Linghu….it’s Brother Linghu…” Yi Lin looked at Linghu Chong with her eyes wide open, stumbling a few steps backwards.

Ding Jing glared at him in shock, "You.... you..." She couldn't draw a breath anymore and her breathing stopped.

“Martial Uncle!” the junior nuns surrounded her as they weep.

After incinerating Ding Jing’s body, Linghu Chong accompanied the nuns to the Wuxiang Temple in Fuzhou City. The words Wuxiang Temple was inscribed on a board in front of the monastery.

Linghu Chong waited for the nuns enter a monastery before leaving. He lets out a sigh of relief, "Now that I’ve fulfilled my promises, it’s time to have a drink.”

Yi He cupped her hands, “Young Master Linghu, we can’t thank you enough for accompanying us here. Perhaps you would like to go in and have some tea before heading off?”

Linghu Chong shook his head and declined. “That’s not necessary. There’s much for me to do I that can’t afford to waste any more time. Furthermore, as the saying goes once seeing a nun, one loses all bets whereas if one sees the east one will win from all four directions!”He was referring to the fact that he much rather see Dongfang Bubai as he felt that she had brought him abundant of good fortune. (Dongfang if literally translated means the east). He turned around and walked away in big strides.

Yi Lin wanted to say something but held back. “My real surname is Dongfang too…but the Dongfang that he is referring to is obviously not me. Mei Jian and Zhu Jian were right, Brother Linghu and sister are a perfect match,” she thought.

Linghu Chong noticed the weird looks on Yi Lin’s face. He walked up to her and said, “Junior Martial Sister Yi Lin, are you alright?”

Yi Lin immediately nodded. “Yes, Brother Linghu.”

Linghu Chong suddenly remembered something. “There were supposed to be two lasses coming to Hengshan Sect to look after you. Do you know what happened to them?” he asked anxiously.

Yi He interrupted, “There were two young ladies that came and stayed in our monastery for a week. They insisted that it was their Young Chief who sent them here and refused to join our monastery. They were expelled them from our monastery after getting into a fight with our Headmaster, Abbess Ding Yi.”

Linghu Chong covered his mouth and contained his laughter. “I am not surprise at all,” he thought. He looked back at Yi Lin and continued, “Junior Martial Sister Yi Lin, take care.”

Yi Lin’s heart was swelled with sadness. “Take care, Brother Linghu…” she uttered softly.

Linghu Chong waved the other nuns goodbye before leaving.

[geraldsaw]

Interesting take on LHC's recovery. But does this mean that we do not get to see LHC's subsequent fights and how he had to earn his art of Absorption? IMHO is that in order to qualify to acquire this treasured Absorption Art, LHC had to undergo trials and tribulations. Thanks Dongfang Xue for your update.

[Dongfang Xue]

Interesting take on LHC's recovery. But does this mean that we do not get to see LHC's subsequent fights and how he had to earn his art of Absorption? IMHO is that in order to qualify to acquire this treasured Absorption Art, LHC had to undergo trials and tribulations. Thanks Dongfang Xue for your update.

Hi Gerald, the fight at the west lake won't exist anymore. He practically learned the absorption art from Gu Santong. I didn't go into very detail on him learning the art as it may get boring. There will be new fight scenes in the future though. Him and DFBB fighting side by side

[geraldsaw]

There will be new fight scenes in the future though. Him and DFBB fighting side by side

LHC and DFBB fighting side by side is cool.

[szfong]

Nice to see another exciting episode... In this recent series, LHC was too much of a hypocritical saint, he killed no one... Since having his heart broken, betrayed and abandoned by everyone in his school, he's no longer so naive, he should get drunk and slaughter those he didn't like, just like what Miss Dongfang would do and what he did in the later parts of the book. Thanks again for another update...

[Dongfang Xue]

Thanks to you guys for reading and commenting, I still have the urge to write

LHC and DFBB will fight righteous and devil sect hand in hand. That should be a good scene.

[szfong]

Thanks to you guys for reading and commenting, I still have the urge to write

LHC and DFBB will fight righteous and devil sect hand in hand. That should be a good scene.

Thanks for keeping us updates...

Since it is XAJH, we really need the the gory detail of the fight scenes, as well as what they are thinking as they take revenge on those who wronged them... Not the sanitized stuff on TV... I would love it if LHC changes for the sake of his lover and not the other way around, like the novel, except even more so... I kind of recalled scenes where LHC enjoyed cutting the limbs off of his enemies, or cutting them in half, or piercing their throats--scenes which were in none of the adaptations... Anyhow, thanks again for your effort...can't wait to read up on your next exciting episode.

[Dongfang Xue]

The sky started pouring drops of rain. Linghu Chong decided to book a room at a nearby in to get some rest before heading off to Luoyang City to look for his sister. The moment he stepped into the inn, a group of fierce looking men armed with sabers turned their heads staring at him viciously.

Linghu Chong could tell that every single one of them were martial arts experts. “From their dressing and weapons that they are carrying, they don’t seem to be from the Songshan Sect.” He started whistling and walked casually towards the counter, ignoring them completely.

The inn keeper greeted him. “Sir, how can I help you?”

Linghu Chong placed a piece of silver nugget on the counter. “Give me a single room,” he said.

Seeing that Linghu Chong was only a passerby, the fierce looking men took their eyes of him and continued chatting.

The inn keeper led Linghu Chong to a room upstairs. “Sir, if you need anything else please feel free to call me,” he said with a smile.

Linghu Chong nodded. “Just bring me a bottle of high quality wine,” he responded.

“Sure. I’ll get someone to bring it to you right away,” the inn keeper said. He then exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Linghu Chong waited for a minute before stepping out of the room. He stood beside a pillar and started to eavesdrop on the fierce men’s conversation.

“Master said that Huashan Sect’s Yue Buqun and his family are on their way to Fuzhou City. We better be on our way soon. If we fail to catch them this time, we’ll never be able to get our hands on the Resisting Evil Sword manual again,” one of the men said.

Another man nodded. “That hypocrite sword Yue has good martial arts skills. Confronting face to face may not be the most ideal plan. We’ll wait for the right time to attack him and his useless apprentices.”

Linghu Chong became worried the moment he heard that they were planning to ambush the Huashan Sect. “Though I’ve been expelled but master-wife has always been treating me like her own son. I must not let these villains succeed in their plan,” he thought.

The fierce looking men left the inn shortly. Linghu Chong followed them from a distance. His light skills (qinggong) was so proficient that none of the men noticed him at all.

……………………..

The stone door slowly swung open. Fang Zhen stepped into the freezing chamber and walked towards the dais. “Amituofo. Old monk is here to bother young lady again,” he said.

Dongfang Bubai remained on her seat as she looked at Fang Zheng coldly.

“This time old monk brought along some scriptures. Since young lady does not have much to do here. Why don’t young lady spend some time to browse through it,” Fang Zheng continued. He placed a couple of books in front of Dongfang Bubai.

“Thank you for taking the trouble to bring them to me,” Dongfang Bubai responded in a cold voice.

Fang Zhen smiled and said, “Buddha once cut his own flesh to feed an eagle because of his compassion for every living things. Young lady is as kind hearted as Buddha.”

Dongfang Bubai smiled faintly at Fang Zheng. She was quite used to hearing her subordinates praising her up on the Dark Wood cliff. Hence, Fang Zheng’s words did not seem to impress her at all.

“Young lady carried Young Master Linghu to seek for treatment regardless of whatever burden. Young lady is also willing to stay behind our monastery to meditate. This is truly extraordinary,” Fang Zheng explained.

“Linghu Chong once saved my life. That’s why I am doing this,” Dongfang Bubai replied. Her voice was filled with coldness and authority. She would never reveal her relationship to a complete stranger, let alone a monk who has no knowledge of such matters.

“It is considered fate that young lady is able to stay at our monastery,” Fang Zheng explained.

Dongfang Bubai burst out laughing the moment she heard those words. “This place is extremely cold. I’m only staying here because I don’t have a choice. Abbott does not need to waste time trying to preach me.”

Fang Zheng shook his head. “Young lady has mistaken. Though it’s cold in here but it can help you to heal your internal injury.”

Dongfang Bubai rose from her seat and smiled at Fang Zheng coldly. “If Abbott really wants to be kind, then let me see Linghu Chong,” she interrupted him. It has been months since she last saw Linghu Chong. She was anxious to know about his condition.

“Young Lady seeing Young Master Linghu now may not bring the two of your any good. As the saying goes, good and evil cannot coexist. If Young Lady can mend your ways, then of course the two of you will be fated to meet again,” Fang Zheng replied.

Dongfang Bubai placed her hands behind her back and looked away with a smirk. “Alright, alright. So long winded. I won’t see him then.” She paused for a moment and looked back at Fang Zheng sternly. “But I want you to tell me if Linghu Chong has recovered from his internal injury?” she asked softly. This time her voice was filled with concern.

“Young Master Linghu has left the monastery,” Fang Zhen looked her in the eyes and replied.

Dongfang Bubai’s eyes became wide open. She was rather surprised to hear the Fang Zheng’s words. “He left already? That means he is feeling much better now.” Her heart was filled with joy to know that Linghu Chong had recovered from his internal injury. She no longer had any regrets of agreeing to stay in the freezing chamber.

Dongfang Bubai smiled and said, “Thank you, Abbott. Heaven does indeed care for living things.”

Fang Zheng bowed and said, “Amituofo. Old monk will not disturb Young Lady from meditating anymore.” He turned around and walked towards the doorway.

Dongfang Bubai knitted her brows as she watched Fang Zheng leave the chamber. “How come Linghu Chong left without even saying goodbye? It’s not like him to be so ungrateful,” she thought. She felt that something was not right but could not tell what it was.

“Could it be that this old monk is lying so that I will continue to stay in here?” she pursed her lips as she continued to ponder to herself. She was unable to come up with any conclusion. She only hoped that Fang Zheng was not lying to her.

…………………………

The streets of Fuzhou City was wet and slippery that night. Linghu Chong stood in a corner as he watched the mysterious men enter an inn. “With this kind of weather, I am sure that they won’t be bothered to start any trouble yet,” he thought. “I should use this opportunity to go and look for master-wife and warn her about them.”

Just then, a young girl holding on to an umbrella ran hastily on the street. With one glance at shape of the body from the side, Linghu Chong could recognize the figure. “

It’s little apprentice sister! What’s she doing out here alone so late? Where’s Junior Apprentice Brother Lin and everyone else?” he uttered.

He was reluctant to go after Yue Lingshan. As he was afraid that he might bump into his Master. Even if he did see Yue Buqun, he wouldn’t know what to say to him.

As he was pondering to himself he noticed two other mysterious men tailing Yue Lingshan from behind. Seeing that she might be in danger, Linghu Chong jumped onto the roof of a store and followed the two men from behind.

Yue Lingshan took a turn into a small alley when she reached the side of a stone bridge. At the end of the alley, she jumped over the wall of the mansion to go inside.

The two suspicious men did not follow her into the mansion. Instead, they split up and went off the different directions.

Linghu Chong could not decide which one to follow. He finally jumped over the wall and proceeded into the mansion to take a look at his little apprentice sister.

The place was quiet and dark. Only one room at the corner was brightly lighted up. Linghu Chong quietly walked to the room and hide beside the door. He could hear the voices of the two people inside. It was none other than Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi.

“Big Apprentice Sister, are you trying to scare me to death? If I die then I’ll become a ghost and be just like you,” Lin Pingzhi spoke.

Yue Lingshan giggled and replied, “Little Lin, are you saying I’m a ghost? Careful, I’ll dig your heart out.”

“You don’t need to do it. I’ll do it myself and give it to you,” Lin Pingzhi replied.

“Looking at how messy the place is you must be looking for that sword manual. Am I right?” Yue Lingshan smirled.

“I’ve been searching this house for the months. I’ve even turned over the roof tiles one by one. The only thing I haven’t done is tear down the walls and look at the bricks. There’s really nothing in this old house. How about we really tear the walls down and take a look?” Lin Pingzhi asked.

Yue Lingshan turned away, “This is your own family’s house. It’s up to you whether you want to tear it down or not”

Lin Pingzhi chuckled, “That’s why I must ask you first. Sooner or later this house will be yours too.”

Yue Lingshan raised her hand and gently slapped him on the shoulder, “Smelly Lin, dead Lin, you won’t be able to marry me that easily!”

As they were laughing inside the house, Linghu Chong was eavesdropping from outside. He did not feel overwhelmed with disappointment like he used to anymore. As deep inside his heart there is a Miss Dongfang that he truly misses.

Linghu Chong thought about leaving but the Resisting Evil Sword Manual was a matter of great importance to him. When Lin Pingzhi’s parents died he was the only one there and they left him a message to give to their son. It was because of this that he had now suffered a lot of blame. He had learned the Dugu Nine Swords from Feng Qingyang but everyone from Huashan Sect thought that he had deceived them and took the Resisting Evil Sword Manual for himself. He felt that Yue Buqun expelled him because of this although publicly it was said that he was expelled because he was colluding with people from the devil cult.

“My parents died miserably. When I find the sword manual I’ll be able to use it to deal with my enemies and console my parents in heaven,” Lin Pingzhi added.

Yue Lingshan heaved a sigh. “I don’t know where big apprentice brother is right now. If I was able to see him I can ask him to return the sword manual to you. He has been practicing for a long time now so his sword art should be extremely high. He should return the sword manual back to its owner. I’d say, little Lin, why don’t you give up this idea and stop searching inside this old house. If you don’t have this sword manual, I’ll get father to teach you our school’s Divine Art of Violet Twilight then you’ll get your revenge.”

Lin Pingzhi shook his head. “My parents were tortured and died miserably. If I can use the Lin family’s sword art to take revenge then it would be a real revenge which would get rid of the insults done to my parents. Furthermore, our school’s Divine Art of Violet Twilight isn’t easily passed down to the disciples. I was the last one to enter the school so even if Master and Master-Wife does decided to impart the art to me the other apprentice brothers would refuse to accept this. Unless we become a couple then they would not dare say a word,“ Lin Pingzhi spoke.

Yue Lingshan interrupted him, “Nonsense! I don’t care what they say. Let them talk whatever they want. I only need you to know that you’re in my heart and that I’ll do anything to help you out.”

Lin Pingzhi blushed, “You’ve been here for a long time already, you should go back. I’ll take you back to the escort house. If Master and Master-Wife finds out about this I’ll be in big trouble.”

Yue Lingshan crossed her arms and replied, “You’re trying to get rid of me? I can go back by myself. I don’t need you to take me back.”

Lin Pingzhi shook his head, “Master said that devil sect’s former chief Ren Woxing has reappeared in the martial arts world. I also heard that he has arrived in Fujian and that this person’s martial art is immeasurably high. He’s also heartless and ruthless. If when you’re walking alone late at night and unluckily bump into him, then what would you do?”

Linghu Chong gripped the scabbard in his hand tightly. “Ren Woxing has reappeared? That’s good! I can help Brother Gu to teach that evil crook a lesson,” he thought.

Yue Lingshan took a quick glance around the room, “I’ll help you look around. You’re already too familiar with this house so you won’t notice anything strange. But maybe I’ll be able to recognize something.”

Lin Pingzhi nodded, “Alright. Go have a look and see if there’s something strange here.” They then turned their attention to a monk portrait.

“Little Lin, look at where his finger is pointing to!” Yue Lingshan pointed at a painting hanged to a wall.

Lin Pingzhi immediately looked at the painting. The monk’s left hand was behind his back holding a sword manual and his right hand was pointing towards the roof.

Lin Pingzhi immediately jumped straight up and struck the spot where the portrait of the monk was pointing. With a crash, dust and bits of roof tiles fell down. A Buddhist robe floated down from the hole in the roof.

Suddenly, two men broke in through the side windows. Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi got to into position and started fighting the two intruders. One of the men parried Yue Lingshan’s palm strike and subsequently returned a forceful punch to her chest.

Yue Lingshan collapsed to the floor and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Hearing the crashing sound inside the room Linghu Chong pushed the door open and rushed inside.

Both the two men struck Lin Pingzhi’s abdomen with their palms and sent him flying backwards, knocking against a pillar.

Linghu Chong rushed over to Yue Lingshan and propped her from behind. “Little Apprentice Sister! Are you alright?” he asked frantically.

The two men ignored Linghu Chong and started running towards the door.

Yue Lingshan was in so much that she could barely talk. “Quickly…help Little Lin get the….monk robe back…” she spoke, while gasping for air.

“Alright!” Linghu Chong returned to his feet and ran after the two men.

Linghu Chong exited the main door. He noticed the two men up ahead. Without wasting any more time, he leaped into the air and somersaulted over the two of them.

Before the two men could even react, Linghu Chong’s feet had already struck them in the chest. They stumbled backwards and fell on their backs.

The man holding on to the monk robe quickly returned to his feet, he felt the edge of a sword pointing towards his throat. He looked up and saw Linghu Chong standing in front of him.

“Who was it that sent you?” Linghu Chong asked.

The second man immediately reached for his sword and stabbed his companion in the back brutally.

Linghu Chong pulled back his sword as he looked at them in disbelief.

The man who was stabbed collapsed to the ground, lying in a pool of blood.

Seeing that Linghu Chong was distracted, the other man pulled a projectile out from his chest pocket and hurled it at Linghu Chong. His attack was so fast that Linghu Chong didn't have time to use his sword to fight back.

Linghu Chong felt a deep pain on his left shoulder. A dart had pierced into his skin. He dropped to his knees and let out a cry of pain.

Realizing that Linghu Chong was still alive, the man leapt into the air and vanished from the scene.

Linghu Chong pulled the dart out from his left shoulder and dumped it to the ground. Blood gushed out from his wound right after.

He took the Buddhist robe off the dead man’s hand and slowly limped he way back into the mansion. He felt dizzy and knew that he had lost a lot of blood. After entering the room, he crouched down beside Yue Lingshan and passed out.

When he woke up, he felt that he was lying on a bed. He opened his eyes and saw the Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze in front of the bed. He was overjoyed and called out, "Master, Master-Wife... thanks for saving my life.” He struggled to sit up.

“Stop calling me master. I’ve already disowned you as my apprentice,” Yue Buqun said arrogantly.

At that moment, Linghu Chong was hoping that he could return to the Huashan Sect. “Apprentice has done many wrong things. Apprentice is willing to receive whatever punishments from master. But apprentice hopes that master can take back my expulsion from the sect.”

Yue Buqun turned his back against Linghu Chong. “The devil sect’s Sacred Lady and Five Deities Cult’s Young Chief favors you. You’ve also been cooperating with them for a long time already. Why do you still need me as your master?” he said loudly.

Linghu Chong shook his head. “Master, I did not do such a thing. En’er was saved by her master when she was little. Just like how you and master-wife saved me. That was how she ended up being with the Five Deities Cult.”

Yue Buqun turned around and looked at him angrily. “Why are you still telling lies? The evil demoness whom you were defending s only a very young lady, but with only one word from her, she could control all those evil people. Every one of them struggled to be on that ridge only to give some kind of treatment for you. Besides the devil sect’s Sacred Lady, who else has such a big reputation? If I allow you to return to the school it’ll mean that I’m collaborating with you. Our Huashan School reputation will be tarnished because of this.”

Linghu Chong sighed, “Apprentice did nothing wrong. Apprentice didn’t know that Miss Dongfang is devil cult’s leader.”

Yue Buqun snorted, “What Dongfang? What devil cult’s leader? She is the daughter of the devil cult’s previous chief. Her name is Ren Yingying!”

Linghu Chong was shocked. “Who is Ren Ying Ying? Miss Dongfang is in fact the leader of the devil cult…master must have made a mistake,” he thought. But he felt that it would be pointless to make any further explanation. Whether Dongfang Bubai was the devil cult leader or holy maiden, she was still part of the group.

Ning Zhongze walked up to Yue Buqun. “Apprentice Brother, since Chong’er didn’t know that she is the Sacred Lady and because of that he was able to live. So maybe this is excusable…” she expressed.

Yue Buqun retorted, “What do you mean excusable? Are you allowed to stop at nothing just to live?”

Linghu Chong suddenly remembered about his little apprentice sister. "Little apprentice sister? Is... Is she ok?"

Ning Zhongze nodded with a smile. "She's fine. Chong’er, how... how come you're in Fuzhou?" Her voice was full of concern and her eyes had become watery. She still cared a lot for Linghu Chong.

Just then, Lao Denuo hurried into the room, “Master! Master! Lu Bai from the Songshan Sect has brought a group of people here. They said that Senior Apprentice Brother killed many of their members.”

Yue Bu Qun glared at Linghu Chong furiously. “Little animal! You even dare to make members of the Five Mountain Sword Sect Alliance your enemies now?! I’ll kill you myself!” He lifted up his arm and was about to strike Linghu Chong.

Ning Zhongze reached her hand out and caught hold of Yue Buqun’s hand. “Apprentice Brother! Don’t do it! Chong’er! Run!”

Linghu Chong remained on his knees. “I’m not going. If I leave now I will land the Huashan Sect into trouble with the Songshan Sect. I will go and sort things out with the Songshan Sect,” he said. His voice was filled with confidence and sincerity.

Yue Bu Qun took a step forward and said, “If he leaves now what will we tell the people from Songshan Sect waiting outside?”

Linghu Chong shed a tear. “Since Master has expelled me from the sect then master does not need to worry that he might not be able to deal with the Songshan Sect people. I’ll go meet them,” he responded.

Linghu Chong decided not to try to regain entry into the Huashan Sect anymore. He accepted the fact that he adored Dongfang Bubai regardless of her background. He also accepted the fact that his sister was a member of the devil cult. It would be best that he did not associate himself with the Huashan Sect and end up being in a difficult position.

“Linghu Chong, Linghu Chong…wouldn’t it be more fun to roam the martial arts world drinking all the good wine and eating all the delicious chicken with Miss Dongfang and En’er? Why even bother about good and evil anymore?” he thought.

Linghu Chong returned to his feet. He gave his master and master-wife a final bow before walking out of the room.

Lu Bai and four other Songshan Sect swordsmen stood at the courtyard.

“Linghu Chong is here,” Linghu Chong spoke. He leaped over a railing and stride towards the courtyard in a flash.

Lu Bai walked up to him. “Linghu Chong, you killed one of my apprentice brothers last night,” Lu Bai said.

Linghu Chong fixed his eyes on the Songshan Sect apprentice standing behind Lu Bai. He was the same man who injured him with the dart. A thought flashed through Linghu Chong’s mind. “So those two mysterious men from last night were from the Songshan Sect. They’re trying to get their hands on the Lin Family’s Resisting Evil sword manual too?”

He smirked and said, “I didn’t kill anyone.” He paused for a moment and pointed at the Songshan Sect standing behind Lu Bai. “It was him who did it.”

“How dare you deny it!” the Songshan Sect apprentice shouted.

Linghu Chong interrupted him, “You still have the nerve to say that I’m denying it?” He let out a sigh and continued, “But your apprentice brother did deserve to die.”

Lu Bai hummed angrily and replied, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Your Songshan Sect is the head of the Five Mountain Sword Sects Alliance but your apprentice brothers used underhand techniques in order to steal the Lin Family’s Resisting Evil Sword manual. Don’t you think he deserved to die?” Linghu Chong smiled crookedly at him.

Yue Buqun, Ning Zhongze, Yue Lingshan and the other Huashan Sect’s apprentices walked towards the courtyard.

Lu Bai walked over to Yue Buqun and gave him a bow. “Headmaster Yue, the Five Mountain Sword Sects Alliance has always been close allies but we cannot allow our apprentice brothers to die in vain. How do you suggest we resolve this matter?” he asked.

Yue Buqun returned a bow at Lu Bai. “Linghu Chong is no longer the apprentice of our Huashan Sect. Apprentice Brother Lu is welcome to do whatever you want to him.”

After hearing her father’s words Yue Ling Shan heart was filled with anxiety. “Mother…” she held Ning Zhongze’s arm tightly.

Ning Zhongze pursed her lips and shook her head, signaling Yue Lingshan not to do anything that may aggravate Yue Buqun anger.

Lu Bai smiled coldly, “Linghu Chong, if you still some integrity in you I’d suggest that you take your own life.”

Linghu Chong smiled coldly and said, “An immoral person like you don’t deserve to talk about integrity!”

Lu Bai and his companions drew their swords out and jumped at Linghu Chong simultaneously.

Linghu Chong swung his right hand out and grabbed the steel of the Songshan Sect’s apprentice’s swords in a flash. He then twisted the steels and broke the swords into piece. His left palm unleashed a gust of wind that sent the broken pieces of steel back at the five Songshan Sect apprentices.

The Songshan Sect apprentices dived to the side to dodge the oncoming pieces of steel.

A loud female voice coming from the back suddenly shouted. “It’s Big Brother Linghu!” Yi Lin and a group of nuns had arrived at the area.

Yi Lin drew her long sword and went forward to join the fight.

Lu Bai knew very well that Yi Lin’s martial art skills were much weaker thus he decided to focus his attacks at her. He dodged Yi Lin’s thrust and grabbed her wrist by the wrist, snatching the sword away from her.

Before Yi Lin could do anything to retaliate, Lu Bai hurled his palm towards her abdomen and knocked her to the ground.

Just as Lu Bai was about to execute a final fatal move, he felt a sudden force pulling his away. He turned towards the direction where the force was coming from and noticed that it was Linghu Chong executing some demonical art on him.

As soon as Lu Bai got closer to Linghu Chong, he lifted up left arm and hurled a palm strike at Linghu Chong’s face.

Linghu Chong thrust his index and middle finger at Lu Bai’s palm.

Lu Buo felt his inner energy flowing out swiftly and unexpectedly he couldn’t stop it. “Art of Xi Star Absorption!” Since Linghu Chong had not recovered from his injury, he only used very minimal inner strength to execute the Art of Star Absorption. Hence, Lu Bai was able to pull back his hand and leaped to the back.

Lu Bai let out a sigh of relief. He then glared at Linghu Chong and shouted, “Evil sorcerer! You’re using such an evil method. From now on, you are the enemy of all of the heroes in the martial arts world!”

Linghu Chong felt the wound on his left shoulder hurting again. He had aggravated his wound while he was fighting against the Songshan Sect apprentices. He pressed onto his left shoulder without responding.

Yi Lin propped Linghu Chong from behind. “Brother Linghu, are you alright?” Her eyes were filled with anxiety and concerned.

Lu Bai turned towards Yue Buqun. “Headmaster Yue, you have no relationship with this Devil Sect’s demon, correct?” he asked sternly.

Yue Buqun clenched his fist and looked away angrily. “Of course not!”

“Great! The truth will eventually come to light!” Lu Bai continued. Seeing that he was no match against an injured Linghu Chong, Lu Bai felt that it would be embarrassing for him to stay on. “We’re settle our dispute some other time. Let’s go!” he shouted.

Lu Bai turned around and led his companions out of the premise promptly.

Yue Buqun stepped out of the veranda and walked over to Linghu Chong. “Linghu Chong! Did you learn devil cult’s Ren Woxing’s Art of Star Absorption?” he asked angrily.

Linghu Chong instantly replied, “No! I did not learn it from Ren Gouxing!”

Yue Buqun snorted, “People imparted you their best skill and yet you’re calling him Gouxing?!”

Linghu Chong gazed at Yue Buqun with his eyes wide open. He was lost for words. “Though I learned the art from Brother Gu and not Ren GouXing…but in master’s eyes the two of them are still members of the devil sect thus it would make no difference to him…”

“Enough of lies! Everything is clear now! Since you’re injured today I am not going to take advantage of that! But the next time I see you again I will not spare you again!” Yue Buqun said coldheartedly.

Linghu Chong pursed his lips as he looked at Yue Buqun disappointedly. Yue Buqun had always been like a father to him. He felt depressed that their relationship had to finally come to an end.

Yue Buqun turned his head to look at the Huashan Sect apprentices. “All of you listen up! From this day forth, Linghu Chong is the mortal enemy of our Huashan Sect! If I ever find out that anyone of you dare show any compassion towards him, I will definitely not let you off!” he stated.

Lao Denuo stepped forward and bowed at Yue Buqun. “Yes, master.” He was in fact the only one who acknowledged his master’s instruction.

Linghu Chong saw the depress look on Yue Lingshan’s face. He gave her a faint smile without uttering a single word. After seeing that she did not show her support for Yue Buqun, he did not regret of risking his life last night to save her. “Though we can’t be lovers but our martial sibling relationship will never vanish,” he thought.

Yi He bowed at Yue Buqun. “Martial Uncle Yue, there must have been a misunderstanding. It’s just too crude to cut off your relationship with Young Master Linghu like this when you haven’t investigated this matter yet,”

Yue Buqun shrugged, “What misunderstanding? Devil sect’s members are very crafty. Don’t ever trust them!”

Right at that moment, a junior nun came towards the Hengshan Sect’s apprentices. She greeted Yi He, “Elder apprentice sister, a letter has arrived from the Bai Yan Temple.” She handed a small piece of folded cloth to Yi He.

Yi He unfolded the cloth and looked at it. “This is Master’s blood letter…She is being attacked by enemies at the Dragon Spring Sword Valley.” She uttered worriedly.

Yi Lin became very worried about her master, “Senior Apprentice Sister, we’ve to go and rescue Master right away.”

Yi He quickly calmed her down, “We can’t simple take action without knowing who the enemy is.” She went up to Yue Buqun looked toward Yue Buqun. “Martial Uncle Yue, considering the friendship among the Five Mountains Sword Schools, we would appreciate if you could help us save our master.”

Yue Buqun narrowed his eyes and he looked at her suspiciously. “Is this your master’s writing on the letter?”

Yi He nodded, “It’s my Master’s writing. I’m afraid she must have been injured that’s why she hastily used her blood to write the letter,”

Ning Zhongze finally spoke. “Apprentice Brother, shouldn’t we…”

Yue Buqun quickly interrupted her, “In my opinion this is just a devil sect’s trap. We must be wary of their deceptions.”

Yi Lin who was already angry with Yue Buqun for expelling Linghu Chong pats Yi He on the arm. “Senior Apprentice Sister, let’s not trouble others. Headmaster Yue has no time so it’s useless to ask for his help.”

Yi He nodded in agreement, “Let’s go.”

Yi Lin looked at Linghu Chong with a sweet smile. “Big brother Linghu, we’ve to go and save our Master. Please take good care of yourself. I’ll come back to look to see you,” she said softly.

Linghu Chong stretched his hand out and signaled them to wait. He turned to the left and looked over his shoulder at Yue Buqun and said, “I’ll go with you all. I can’t just sit back and watch you all get hurt,”

Yue Buqun sneered agitatedly. He turned away and ignored them.

“Hold it!” Lin Pingzhi shouted. He ran up to Linghu Chong and bowed at him. “Elder Apprentice Brother, I’d appreciate if you could return me our Lin Family’s robe.”

Linghu Chong looked at him confusingly. “I don’t have it with me. Those thieves probably ran away with it after knocking me out,” he replied.

Yue Buqun suddenly shouted, “Linghu Chong! Stop pretending to be innocent! When I saw you at the room there was a piece of cloth under you. You’d better return the robe to Pingzhi right away!”

Ning Zhongze looked at her husband in shock. She clearly remembered that when she was treating Linghu Chong’s wound, there was nothing under him.

“Master, I don’t have any robe with me…I would never lie to Master,” Linghu Chong sighed.

Lin Pingzhi reached his hand out and grabbed Linghu Chong by the collar. “Elder Apprentice Brother! The robe is our Lin Family’s treasure. If you don’t return it to me I’ll have to be merciless!” he exclaimed.

After finishing his words, Lin Pingzhi raised his left hand and hurled his palm towards Linhug Chong.

Linghu Chong immediately tilted his body to the side to dodge.

Lin Pingzhi did not stop. He subsequently attached Linghu Chong with another six palm strikes.

Linghu Chong was disappointed that his master accused him of crimes which he never did again and again. Instead of retaliating he used his extraordinary light skills to dodge every single attack.

Lin Pingzhi finally leaped into the air and executed a knife-hand strike with his right hand.

Linghu Chong raised his right arm to parry the attack.

Lin Pingzhi had already foreseen that Linghu Chong would use this move to parry the attack. Hence, as he executed the knife-hand strike with his right hand, he used his left hand to send out a palm strike at Linghu Chong’s chest.

Feeling a deep pain in his chest Linghu Chong lost his footing and stumbled backwards.

Yi Lin drew her sword and dashed towards Lin Pingzhi. She was able to knock Lin Pingzhi off his feet in less than ten moves.

Before Yue Buqun could make his move, Lao Denuo drew his sword, thrust it forward and leaped towards Yi Lin.

“Little Martial Sister Yi Lin! Be careful!” Linghu Chong tried to generate his inner force and instantly felt a deep pain in his wound.

There was a loud noise of swords colliding. Yi He rushed forward and thrust her long sword towards the tilt of Lao Denuo’s sword, knocking it away from Yi Lin.

Lao Denuo retreated to the back as he prepared to attack both the nuns at one go.

Yi He and Yi Lin combined their strengths and started attacking Lao Denuo with the Hengshan Sect’s sword techniques mercilessly.

Lao Denuo could barely dodge and parry the continuous attacks coming at him. He staggered backwards and continued to defend himself.

Yi He executed a lightning fast turning kick and knocked Lao Denuo in the face.

Lao Denuo let out a cry of pain. He flew into the air and fell onto his back. There was a manual lying in front of him. It fell out from his robe when he landed on the ground.

Yue Buqun and Linghu Chong instantly turned their heads to look at the manual. The words Divine Art of Violet Twilight were written on the cover of the manual.

Yue Lingshan ran forward and uttered a loud cry. “Father! It’s the Divine Art of Violet Twilight manual!”

Lao Denuo intended to retrieve the manual but called it off the moment he saw Yue Buqun rushing towards him. Instead, he climbed back up to his feet and ran out through the doorway.

Yue Buqun bent forward and picked the manual up from the ground. He took a closer look at the manual and was certain that it was Divine Art of Violet Twilight manual.

Yue Lingshan ran over to her father. “Father, why is the Divine Art of Violet Twilight manual with Second Apprentice Brother?” she asked in disbelief.

Yue Buqun flipped through the pages of the manual. “Thankfully the manual is still intact.” He narrowed his eyes and said loudly, “I can’t belive that the traitor Lao Denuo did such a thing!”

Linghu Chong was glad that the truth had finally been revealed. “So Lu Hou’er was killed by him…” he uttered angrily. “I’ll definitely not let him off!”

Yi He propped Linghu Chong by the arm. “Young Master Linghu, we should go and rescue my master now,” she said.

Linghu Chong nodded. Since the Divine Art of Violet Twilight manual had been retrieved and the truth had been disclosed, there was no reason for him to hang around anymore.

Yi Lin and Yi He slowly walked Linghu Chong out of the premise.

Lin Pingzhi clenched his fist and chased after them.

“Pingzhi! Come back here!” Yue Buqun called out.

Lin Pingzhi halted his steps and turned around to look at Yue Buqun. “But why, Master?”

“Since you already know who took the robe you have my words that I will seek justice for you in the near future,” Yue Buqun said.

Lin Pingzhi hesitantly nodded. “Yes, master.”

Yue Buqun then looked towards the doorway with a cold smile on his face.

[optimus610]

Not a bad chapter. Better than the last, IMO. I see how you are slowly changing the way LHC thinks. Possibly preparing him for future events.

[szfong]

Thanks for another exciting episode....

[Dongfang Xue]

Not a bad chapter. Better than the last, IMO. I see how you are slowly changing the way LHC thinks. Possibly preparing him for future events.

Yes. I am thinking of adding in new events and delaying the actual events to a later period. i.e LHC taking over as leader of the Hengshan Sect to probably a year later...and a series of deaths that takes place during and after his attempt to save DFBB

[Liljanger]

Thanks for the updates. Things are certainly getting more exciting. Can't wait to see LHC and DFBB reunite

[Dongfang Xue]

It was a quiet night. Linghu Chong and the Hengshan Sect nuns decided to get some rest at an abandoned cottage.

Linghu Chong sat outside the cottage pondering away. Flashbacks of him learning sword arts from his master while he was still at Huashan Sect flooded through his mind. Though he would lose to his master each time they exchange moves but he was really happy then.

Just then, a figure soared down from the air and came running towards the cottage.

Linghu Chong looked towards the direction where the figure was coming from. “It’s little apprentice sister…” he said with a smile.

He pulled himself up from the steps and limped towards her. “Little Apprentice sister, what are you doing here?” His voice was filled with excitement.

Yue Lingshan glared at him furiously. “You’re callous animal! I’m going to kill you today!” After finishing her words, Yue Lingshan drew her sword and thrust it towards Linghu Chong.

Unknowing what was going on, Linghu Chong leapt to the back to evade the oncoming sword.

Yue Lingshan pulled back her sword and went on to slice it downwards at Linghu Chong’s head.

A sword suddenly thrust forward from the side, parried Yue Lingshan’s sword and knocked it backwards. It was Yi He who came to Linghu Chong’s rescue.

Yue Lingshan did not back off. Instead, she pressed forward and started exchanging intense sword moves against Yi He. Though she was an expert in the Huashan Sect sword techniques but her speed and strength was not close to Yi He.

After exchanging over thirty sword moves, Yi He tilted her sword and sliced it downwards at Yue Lingshan’s hand. The flat surface of her sword struck Yue Lingshan’s hand forcefully.

Yue Lingshan felt a sudden pain on her hand and dropped her sword to the ground.

Yi He retreated right after, pointing her sword at Yue Lingshan.

Yue Lingshan let out a loud cry of frustration. She was angry with herself for failing to kill Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong patted Yi He on the shoulder. “It’s alright,” he said.

Yi He reluctantly returned her sword into the sheath and walked back into the cottage.

Linghu Chong walked towards Yue Lingshan confusingly. “Little Apprentice Sister, what’s wrong? What exactly happened?” he asked.

Yue Lingshan gazed at Linghu Chong coldly. Her eyes were filled with hatred and anger. “Stop calling me Little Apprentice Sister.” She then reached her hand out and shouted, “Give it back now!”

Linghu Chong was still unsure what she was talking about. “What do you want me to give you?” he asked.

“Lin Family’s Resisting Evil Sword manual!” Yue Lingshan shouted.

Linghu Chong let out a sigh of disappointment. “I’ve said many times. I didn’t take the Resisting Evil Sword manual,” he explained. Feeling completely disappointed that even Yue Lingshan thought that he had embezzled the sword manual, he grabbed Yue Lingshan by the arms and shouted, “Why won’t you believe me!”

Yue Lingshan knitted her brows and glared at Linghu Chong coldly. “What? You won’t spare me either?” She knocked Linghu Chong’s hands away and took a few steps back. “Do you want to kill and silence me as well?!” she cried.

Linghu Chong’s eyes dropped wide open. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. He would rather sacrifice his own life than to let her get hurt, let alone kill her. “Do you know what you’re saying? Why would I kill you?” he asked shockingly.

Yue Lingshan snorted, “Right now is there anything that you wouldn’t do?” She paused for a moment and shed a tear. She was really disappointed with Linghu Chong. “First you killed Lao Denuo! Now you even injured Little Lin!” she weeped.

Linghu Chong was completely dumbfounded. First he was being accused of stealing the sword manual. Now he was being accused of killing Lao Denuo and injuring Lin Pingzhi. He looked away and pondered to himself trying to figure out what had happened.

“Little Lin has no disaccords with you. How could you be so cruel to him because of a sword manual?!” Yue Lingshan continued scolding him.

“Little Lin got injured…?” Linghu Chong was startled. He looked at Yue Lingshan in sorrow, shaking his head. “I didn’t kill Lao Denuo. I also did not injure Little Lin,” he said in a firm voice.

Yue Lingshan became even angrier. She felt that Linghu Chong was just being honest with her. “Stop pretending. An honorable man should admit to his wrong doings. You had the guts to do it but don’t have the guts to admit it?”

Linghu Chong could tolerate being accused by anyone except Yue Lingshan for crimes which he never did. They had grown up together and she ought to know him very well. Feeling completely shattered, he finally lost his composure and stormed towards Yue Lingshan. “Yue Lingshan! Do you really think that I am such a despicable person?!” he shouted.

Linghu Chong pointed his hand towards a sword on the ground. His palm unleashed a flash of light at the sword, dragged it up from the ground and tossed to Yue Lingshan.

Yue Lingshan instantly grabbed the sword handle with her hand.

“Very well. Go ahead and kill me right now to avenge for Little Lin,” Linghu Chong said. His voice was filled with sadness and disappointment.

Yue Lingshan pressed her lips and gripped the sword handle tightly as she stared at Linghu Chong. She was in complete dilemma. Linghu Chong had always been like a brother to her. In fact there was a time where she did have feelings for him but he somehow did not show any interest. But the moment she recalled how Ling Pingzhi was seriously injured by Linghu Chong, her dilemma turned into anger.

“What are you waiting for? If you don’t kill me now I’m going to cut Little Lin apart and there is nothing that you can do to stop me,” Linghu Chong said coldly.

Yi Lin was eavesdropping at the doorway. She could sense that something terrible was about to happen. Without thinking twice, she ran towards Linghu Chong and tried to calm him down.

Before she could even open her mouth, she felt a cold stream of air entering her body. Linghu Chong had used his inner force to seal Yi Lin’s acupoints to stop her from being nosy again.

Linghu Chong then looked back at Yue Lingshan. “I told you to kill me! Kill me now or I will kill Little Lin and everyone else at Huashan Sect!” he shouted. His face was filled with murderous intent. He was so angry that he unintentionally said all these harsh words just to vent his frustration.

Yue Lingshan became even angrier after hearing those words. She concluded that her favorite big apprentice brother had completely changed. He was no longer the compassionate and understanding Linghu Chong that she used to know.

She shook her head. “No! I will not allow you to do such a thing!” she screamed back. She thrust the sword forward and pierced Linghu Chong’s right shoulder.

Linghu Chong looked down at the sword plunged into his shoulder and then back at Yue Lingshan coldly. He could not believe that Yue Lingshan had actually stabbed him.

Yue Lingshan was startled to see blood gushing out from Linghu Chong’s wound. Her anger and frustration had suddenly turned to fear and anxiety. She was not a violent person by nature thus when she saw that she had injured Linghu Chong she started to panic.

“Sorry….I didn't meant it…” she stuttered. But it was already too late. She had already hurt her big apprentice brother emotionally and physically.

Linghu Chong hastily walked closer to Yue Lingshan, driving the sword deeper into his shoulder. The edge of had pierced through his back.

Yue Lingshan shook her head frantically as she held on to the sword. She was horrified by Linghu Chong’s actions.

Linghu Chong lifted up his arm and strike Yue Lingshan in the shoulder with his palm. The strike was executed with very minimal strength. Just enough to push Yue Lingshan backwards.

The sword shot out of Linghu Chong’s shoulder as Yue Lingshan flew backwards in the air. She landed on her back and remained on the ground, looking at Linghu Chong in horror.

Linghu Chong stumbled a few steps backwards and sighed, “Yue Lingshan…from this day forth, our apprentice relationship ends here. When we ever meet in the martial arts world again…we will be complete strangers…”

After finishing those words, Linghu Chong turned around and limped his way back into the shack expressionlessly.

Yue Lingshan pulled herself together and got up from the ground. “Linghu Chong! If something were to happen to Little Lin I will come back and kill you!” she shouted hysterically, not really knowing what she was saying as her emotions got the best of her.

Linghu Chong halted his steps and shook his head in dismay. “I will be waiting!” he uttered. He was so disappointed with Yue Lingshan that he could not careless about life and death anymore.

After finishing her words, Yue Lingshan turned around and ran away while crying silently, her heart shattered, given all that had taken place in the tragic incident.

Yi Lin’s eyes were wide open. She could not believe her eyes. The moment she saw the sword pierce through Linghu Chong’s shoulder, she felt as though the sword had pierced into her heart. She wanted to rush over to shield him from the sword. Unfortunately, it was destined that she could only watch it from a distance.

It was dawn. Linghu Chong sat alone at the river side drinking wine by himself. The wound in his shoulder had recovered but the wound in his heart was still hurting. Feeling completely dejected, he lifted up the bottle and drowned the wine into his throat.

Yi Lin stood beside a nearby tree. She saw the depressed looking Linghu Chong sitting alone andstarted to feel just as depressed. She slowly walked over to him and placed an outer garment over his back. “Brother Linghu, it’s getting cold.”

“Thank you,” Linghu Chong said indifferently. He did not sound cheerful like he normally would.

Yi Lin sat down next to him. “You’re still thinking about last night?” she asked.

“I’ve been thinking all night and I still can’t figure it out. Exactly who stole the monk robe…who killed Lao Denuo…and who injured Junior Martial Brother Lin,” Linghu Chong murmured.

Yi Lin smiled and replied, “The truth will come to light someday.”

Linghu Chong forced himself to smile and said, “You’ll never understand. Over the last one year, many unfortunate things has happened to me. Lu Houer died because of me. Master expelled me from the sect. Now even the little apprentice sister who grew up with me doesn’t trust me.”

He paused for a moment and took another gulp of wine. “Even your sister whom I thought will be my lifetime companion has now left me. I don’t even know what I am living for anymore….” he said in a sorrow.

Yi Lin knitted her brow. “Sister…? Why did she leave you?” she asked anxiously.

Linghu Chong took another big gulp of wine before he continued. “She’s a prominent figure in the unorthodox group. She is probably worried that her background will affect me…”

“Sister….sister is from the unorthodox group?” Yi Lin’s jaw dropped wide open.

Linghu Chong nodded. “You have a beautiful, intelligent and talented sister. You should be proud. Both the orthodox and unorthodox groups tremble whenever they hear the name Dongfang Bubai.”

He had already consumed so much wine that he just spoke his mind. He was not thinking of the consequences anymore.

Yi Lin on the other hand was in complete shock. She never expected her sister to hold such a prominent position in the martial arts world. Since Linghu Chong was heartbroken, she decided not to think about her sister yet.

“Brother Linghu, stop being silly. You’re a nice person with a good heart. Buddha will definitely help you and bless you,” she comforted him.

Linghu Chong smiled faintly. “Really? Would Buddha even bother about an unlucky guy like me?”

Yi Lin nodded with a grin. “Of course. I made a wish to Buddha once and my wish was granted,” she replied.

Linghu Chong looked at her and asked, “What wish did you make?”

Yi Lin started to blush. She looked away and rubbed her hands nervously. “I…I wished that I could see you again…” she stuttered.

Linghu Chong’s facial expression suddenly became very serious. “Little Martial Sister Yi Lin, I’ve always treated you like a little sister. I hope to keep things this way. Your sister is the only one in my heart right now,” he said in a stern voice.

Linghu Chong recalled about Dongfang Bubai telling him how much Yi Lin liked him. He also remembered promising Dongfang Bubai to clarify things with Yi Lin. Though Dongfang Bubai wasn’t around now but he decided be frank with Yi Lin. He did not want her to get hurt because of one sided love like he did.

After hearing his words Yi Lin was speechless. She had heard much about her sister and Linghu Chong from Zhu Jian and Mei Jian. But she was hoping that it was not true. Now that she has heard it from Linghu Chong’s mouth, she felt completely helpless.

“I’m going to see if the others are awake,” Linghu Chong said, pulling himself up from the ground.

Yi Lin watched Linghu Chong walk away in sorrow. She was starting to wonder if it was the right thing to tell him that her only wished was to see him again.

Linghu Chong and the Hengshan Sect nuns finally arrived Bain Yan temple. The entire temple was quiet. That was not a single soul that could be found either. Yi He pushed the main door to let Linghu Chong in.

There were broken swords lying around the hall. Linghu Chong crouched down to take a closer look at the broken swords. “Looks like there was some fighting here,” Linghu Chong uttered.

Yi He held one of the broken swords in her hand and examined it. “These are not our Hengshan Sect’s swords,” she said.

Yi Lin walked out of a back door. “I think we found them!” she shouted.

Linghu Chong and the other nuns rushed towards Yi Lin. There was thick smoke rising from the back of a mountain.

They rushed towards the smoke. They saw the thick smoke getting higher and higher as they got nearer. Finally they arrived at a valley, there was a big fire roaring up into the sky.

There was a voice of man shouting up ahead. "Ding Yi, today, I'll send you both to the Buddhist's paradise to confirm your spiritual progress in Buddhism. You don't even need to thank us."

Linghu Chong felt the moment he heard this, "Abbess Ding Yi is still alive. We didn't arrive too late."

Another man joined in and said, "Chief Dongfang sincerely advised you to surrender but you refuse to listen. From today, there wouldn't be a Hengshan Sect anymore."

The third man shouted, "You mustn't blame our Divine Sun Moon Cult for being cruel and merciless. You should blame yourself for being obstinate and getting those young apprentices killed in vain. What a pity. Haha, haha!"

“This is too much! How could sister to such a thing!” Yi Lin suddenly shouted.

The other nuns looked at her astonishingly. “Junior Martial Sister…what are you talking about?” Yi He asked.

Linghu Chong patted Yi Lin on the shoulder. “Junior Martial Sister, calm down…” he whispered.

Yi Lin shot her hand out and pushed Linghu Chong to the side. She then clenched her sword tightly and rushed towards the direction of the voices.

Linghu Chong reached his hand out trying to pull Yi Lin back but he was already too late. He hummed and said, “Both of the sisters are the same. Impulsive and irrational!” He leaped into the air and stride off towards the direction of the voices in a flash.

Eight masked men clad in tight fitting black robes armed with sword were circling Ding Yi. Her body was covered with blood.

Linghu Chong glided towards the scene at light speed. He somersaulted few times and landed in front of Ding Yi.

The eight masked men raised their swords and thrust it towards Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong drew his sword and executed a diagonal slash. The steel of his sword unleashed a gust of wind that acted as a knife, cutting through the waist of three masked men in front of him.

Ding Yi shook her head in shook as she watched the three men’s body split apart. “Amituofo.”

Linghu Chong reversed his sword and slashed backwards. The slash hit two men in the throat killing them on the spot. He was still thinking about his little apprentice sister when he fought against the masked men. Thus, his anger and hatred started bowling inside him causing him to get into a more aggressive manner.

The remaining three masked men leapt towards Linghu Chong. Three swords were thrust towards his throat, chest and lower abdomen simultaneously. The three thrusts were fast, fierce and precise. Only experts in swordsmanship could execute such ingeniously techniques.

Linghu Chong wielded his sword parrying their attacks. “Songshan Sect’s sword techniques!” he exclaimed. He quickly used the sword-breaking stance from the Dugu Nine Swords to neutralize them. He circled his sword and forced the enemies to retreat a couple of steps.

Since the masked men could be from the Songshan Sect, Linghu Chong decided to spare their lives. He tilted his sword and swung it towards two masked men’s head. The flat surface of the sword hit the masked men on the head and knocked them unconscious.

Ding Yi fixed her eyes at Linghu Chong. “Excellent sword arts…” she muttered with much admiration. “His sword art is certainly many levels higher than Mister Yue of the Huashan Sect.”

Suddenly a flash of light started moving towards him. A long sword was being thrust towards him. Linghu Chong promptly slanted his body to escape. He then put the masked man out of action by striking his neck with his index and middle fingers.

The masked man felt a sudden numbness all over his body and dropped the sword.

Linghu Chong reached his hand out and pulled the off the cloth covering the man’s face. He could recognize the man right away. It was Lu Bai of the Songshan Sect. “So it’s you again,” Linghu Chong smiled faintly.

Yi Lin propped Ding Yi by the arm and walked her towards Lu Bai. Deep inside Yi Lin, she was so glad that the masked men were from Songshan Sect and not from the devil cult.

Ding Yi looked at Lu Bai sternly. “Martial Brother Lu, the Five Mountain Sword Sects Alliance are supposedly allies. Why do you have to disguise as members of the devil cult members to kill us?”

Lu Bai hummed and said, “I am just taking orders from Chief Alliance Zuo. I don’t know any details about this.”

Yi He stared at him coldly. “So twenty eight years ago it was also you all who killed our previous headmaster Abbess Ding Xian Abbess?” she asked loudly.

Lu Bai nodded, “Yes, you’re right.”

Ding Yi heaved a sigh and said, “Chief Alliance Zuo is already the head of the Five Mountain Sword Sect Alliance. Why did he kill the people on the same side and insist on combining the fives sects into one? Isn’t he afraid that people of the martial arts community will start laughing at him?”

Yi He glared at Lu Bai and said, “Master, lets not waste your breath talking to him. We should just kill him.”

Ding Yi looked away and responded, “Those who commit countless bad deeds will be punished by heaven. Go back and tell Zuo Lengchan that the Hengshan Sect will no longer take instructions from him, neither will we conform to his proposition of becoming one sect. You may leave now,” Ding Yi said.

Linghu Chong shot his hand out and strikes Lu Bai in the neck with his index and middle fingers, sealing his acupoints.

Lu Bai could feel his limbs again. He let out a cry of relief and fled from the scene.

A thought suddenly flashed through Linghu Chong’s mind. He quickly reached for a pebble. With a flick of his fingers he shot the pebble at Lu Bai’s bicep.

Lu Bai felt a sudden pain on his bicep. He tripped over and fell flat on his face.

“This is Songshan Sect’s latest technique called Big Songyang Backside Face Upwards Falling Downwards,” Linghu Chong chuckled. He was actually insulting Zuo Lengchan’s most illustrious skill, known as Big Songyang Palm.

The junior nuns burst out laughing.

Ding Yi pursed her lips to contain her laughter. “This kid is so playful,” she thought.

Lu Bai pulled himself up from the ground and looked back at Linghu Chong furiously.

Linghu Chong folded his arms, staring at Lu Bai fiercely. “What are you waiting for? Scram!” he shouted.

Lu Bai hummed as he darted away.

Later on, Ding Yi and her apprentices hired a boat to travel up north. Linghu Chong was worried that Songshan Sect would attack them while they were traveling on water so he followed them north. Now that he was traveling with the Hengshan Sect headmaster, Linghu Chong controlled himself and didn’t dare to talk nonsense to the junior nuns anymore.

As the boat was moving along the river, drops of rain began to fall. Linghu Chong crouched down under a wooden canopy outside the cabin to get shelter. Since the nuns were occupying the cabin he felt that it would be inappropriate for him to share the same cabin with them.

Yi Lin stepped out of the cabin and handed an umbrella to Linghu Chong. “Brother Linghu, here take this.”

Linghu Chong turned his head to look at her. “Thank you, Little Apprentice Sister Yi Lin,” he said with a smile.

Yi Lin nodded before returning into the cabin.

Inside the cabin, Ding Yi handed an empty bowl to one of her apprentices. “This lad Linghu Chong is indeed a remarkable talent in the martial arts world. I used to think that he’s just a good for nothing loafer like what they say in the martial arts world. After seeing him sleeping on the rear of the boat tonight and upholding such proper etiquette with us, I dare say that he’s truly a rare honorable gentleman.”

Yi He took the bowl of medicine from her master. “Master, since Young Hero Linghu is such a rare talent why did Headmaster Yue expel him from the Huashan Sect?”

Ding Yi smiled slightly and said, “It’s been said that he colluded with people from the devil sect. Though it’s true that he mingles with the devil sect’s people but that there’s nothing to prove that he violated honorable practices. In my opinion, his actions are even more honorable than the people who calls themselves noble and righteous.”

Another nun nodded. “The Huashan Sect headmaster is such a hypocrite who would have expected his apprentice to be a true gentleman.”

Ding Yi reprimanded her and said, “You better watch your words. Whatever it is Headmaster Yue is still your senior.”

Yi Lin walked over to Ding Yi and got down to her knees. “Master, apprentice has done something wrong…” she said softly.

Ding Yi quickly rose from her seat and propped Yi Lin up from the floor. “Yi Lin, stand up first,” she said.

Yi Lin shook her head and remained on her knees. “Apprentice doesn’t dare…”

From Yi Lin’s facial expression, Ding Yi could sense that it was something serious. “What has happened? Slowly tell me,” she said.

Yi Lin shed a tear. “Apprentice recently found out that apprentice’s sister is actually devil cult’s leader Dongfang Bubai. Apprentice begs master to punish apprentice accordingly,” she sobbed. She knew that it would not be long before her master finds out about the truth hence she decided to admit it first.

The other nuns looked at each other in shock. Most of them only knew that Yi Lin was an orphan when she first joined the sect. None of them could believe that the timid and naïve Yi Lin would have such a prominent figure in the martial arts world as a sister.

Ding Yi patted Yi Lin on the arm. “Silly girl, stand up first,” she said.

Yi Lin slowly pulled herself up. “Master is not angry with apprentice?” she asked.

“To be honest, ever since Dongfang Bubai took over as the devil cult’s leader, the martial arts community was able to enjoy harmony. Even though the devil cult members continue to commit heinous crimes but killings between the good and evil has decreased tremendously,” Ding Yi explained. “Dongfang Bubai may be the leader of a large unorthodox group but she is certainly far more upright and honorable than the leaders of those so called orthodox group.”

After hearing her master’s reasoning, Yi Lin started to feel a little bit more relaxed. “Actually, sister has more courage and strength as compared to me. I am really proud to have such a sister…” she said with a smile.

“Yi Lin, you’re compassionate and pleasant. So don’t underestimate yourself,” Ding Ying said. “It might not be such a bad thing to have Dongfang Bubai as a sister. As the saying goes, a vicious tiger will not eat its cubs -- No one is capable of hurting his loved ones. Since you’re part of the orthodox group Dongfang Bubai may change her ways of dealing with her rivals. Hopefully from now on the orthodox and unorthodox groups can resolve their differences and live in harmony.”

“Amitoufu,” the other nuns uttered.

On the third night, Linghu Chong sat at a small table drinking wine. He was no longer thinking about Yue Lingshan. He only wanted to safely escort the nuns back to Hengshan and then continue his journey to Luoyang City to find his sister and Dongfang Bubai.

Yi Lin placed a small pot of tea on the table. “Brother Linghu, too much wine is bad for health. Here’s some tea for you,” she said.

“Thank you, Little Martial Sister Yi Lin. Come and join me for a cup of tea,” Linghu Chong stood up and invited her to sit.

Yi Lin was delighted. This was the first time Linghu Chong invited to sit with him. She filled an empty cup with tea and handed it to Linghu Chong. “You’re still thinking of your Little Apprentice Sister?” she asked.

Linghu Chong shook his head with a smile. “I was just thinking about going back to that grassland in Hengyang City to drink wine with your sister,” he grinned.

“Sister…?” Yi Lin’s mouth dropped wide open.

Linghu Chong nodded, “Of course. That place brings back a lot of memories. We were drinking wine while she was performing sword moves. Now that I know that she is in fact a young lady, I am cherishing our outing on that night even more.”

At that moment, Yi Lin was completely speechless. “Looks like Brother Linghu’s heart only has sister now,” she thought.

“Now that you know sister is in fact Dongfang Bubai, aren’t you afraid?” she suddenly asked.

Linghu Chong started laughing. “In fact when I first knew about it, I was only shocked. She saved my life more than once and got injured badly the last time so she would never harm me. No reason for me to be afraid,” he said. His voice was filled with much enthusiasm.

“I’m only worried that she has not recovered from her internal injury. She exhausted her inner energy to save my life the last time,” Linghu Chong’s voice turned sorrow.

Yi Lin looked up into the dark sky. “It’s hard to find a true companion in this world. I admire your relationship with sister,” she muttered. Her heart was in fact swelled with envy.

Linghu Chong nodded, “En’er is right. Little Apprentice Sister is my first love. Miss Dongfang is my true love.”

Yi Lin turned her head and looked at Linghu Chong oddly. “En’er?” she asked.

“En’er may be much younger than the both of us but she is certainly wiser than us,” Linghu Chong exclaimed. “I am really proud of her.” There was a smile on his face as he spoke.

“There’s also En’er now? How could Brother Linghu have a relationship with two girls at the same time?” Yi Lin thought. “And how could sister allow this?”

“Is En’er beautiful?” Yi Lin asked curiously.

Linghu Chong placed his hands behind his back and replied passionately, “In my eyes En’er is the most beautiful girl under the heavens.”

Yi Lin crumpled the side of her skirt angrily. “This is ridiculous!”

Just as she was about to scold him, Linghu Chong made a hand gesture and told her to be silent. He could hear the voices of two people whispering from the bank of the river. The sound of the whispering was very soft but Linghu Chong was still able to hear it, as his abundant internal energy made his hearing superb.

Linghu Chong crouched down beside a barrel to take a quick look. There were three black shadows standing at the dock.

Yi Lin still unsure what was happening crouched down behind him. “What’s going on?” she asked softly.

“There are some suspicious people at the shore. I’m going to take a look. Wait here,” Linghu Chong said. After finishing his words, he lightly flew off and landed on the shore noiselessly. He then went around the back of a row of big baskets on the east side. As he hid himself behind the baskets, he heard a person said, "Those nuns on the boat must be from Hengshan Sect."

The other person asked, "What should we do?"

Linghu Chong slowly got nearer and the glimmering light from the stars and moon allowed him to see the faces of the two people. They were in fact Zhu Jian and Mei Jian.

Linghu Chong leapt out and landed in between them. “What are you lasses doing here?” he asked in a stern voice.

The two girls were surprised to see Linghu Chong. They cupped their hands as they bowed at Linghu Chong ecstatically. “Greetings, Young Master.”

“Zhu Jian, Mei Jian, didn’t En’er strictly instructed the two of you to look after Little Martial Sister Yi Lin at Hengshan. How come the two of you disobeyed her instructions?” Linghu Chong folded his arms and asked firmly.

Zhu Jian and Mie Jian got down on their knees. “Subordinate deserves to die. We couldn’t stand the living condition in the monastery and had no choice but to leave.”

Linghu Chong reached his hands out and gently pulled them back up. “Forget it. Now tell me, what brings you here? Where is En’er and Miss Dongfang?” he asked.

Mei Jian stepped forward to take a closer look at Linghu Chong. “Young Master, you’ve recovered from your injury?” she asked excitingly.

Linghu Chong nodded, “Yes. I recovered months ago.”

“That’s great!” Zhu Jian and Mei Jian cheered together.

Just then, Ding Yi and Yi Lin stepped out of the cabin. “Young Master Linghu, is everything alright?” Ding Yi asked.

Linghu Chong turned around and walked towards her. “Abbess, everything is fine. I’m sure you’ve met my friends Zhu Jian and Mei Jian.”

Zhu Jian and Mei Jian embarrassingly greeted Ding Yi with a bow. “Abbess, we didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Ding Yi smiled and said, “Let’s forget about the past. Since you’re Young Master Linghu’s friends I am sure you’re not that bad after all.”

Linghu Chong folded his arms and gazed back at Zhu Jian and Mei Jian. “What brings you here?

Zhu Jian answered, “We heard that the Miss Dongfang and Young Master are being confined in the Shaolin Temple by those annoying monks. Young Chief and the others are on their way to the Shaolin Temple to rescue the two of you. While we were on our way some of our sisters spotted you with the Hengshan Sect nuns so we decided to come over to make sure that it was you.”

Linghu Chong was astonished the moment he heard that Dongfang Bubai was being confined at the Shaolin temple. “Why did the Shaolin Sect detain Misss Dongfang?” he asked shockingly.

Zhu Jian shook her head, "We don't know about that either. Maybe those Shaolin monks have been eating too much and have nothing else to do. So they just look for trouble and detain her."

Ding Yi gave a quick glace over her shoulder at Yi Lin.

Yi Lin did not say a word but her face was filled with anxiety. “Those monks aren’t going to be nice to sister. Especially if they knew that she is in fact Dongfang Bubai…” she thought in fear.

“Miss Dongfang? She must be leader of the devil cult, Chief Dongfang Bu Bai. So members of the devil cult are on their way to the Shaolin Temple as well?” Ding Yi asked.

Zhu Jian and Mei Jian looked at each speechlessly. They were unsure if they should reveal any further information to a member of the orthodox sect.

“Abbess is trustworthy,” Linghu Chong said.

Mei Jian then replied, “No. None of the divine cult disciples know about this. Only disciples of the Five Deities Cult are aware of this. On the fifteenth day of the third month, we are all going to go to Shaolin Temple to rescue Miss Dongfang.”

“Five Deities Cult may be smaller than the Divine Sun Moon Cult but it isn’t any weaker in terms of martial arts skills. Five years ago Five Deities Cult leader single handedly defeated Divine Sun Moon Cult’s Left Emissary Xiang Wentian at the bottom of Piao Miao peak and shaved his eyebrows to insult him. If the Divine Sun Moon Cult finds out about this and goes to Shaolin temple too, I’m certain that a big fight is bound to take place. Shaolin Sect is in for a lot of trouble this time,” Ding Yi said.

Ding Yi then looked up into the dark side and suddenly said, “It's a fine night, the moon is full and the air is clear. Young Master Linghu, please enjoy the night scenery at the shore slowly. Old nun is going back to the boat to get some rest."

The worried looking Yi Lin held Ding Yi by the arm and walked her back into the cabin.

Zhu Jian and Mei Jian bowed at Ding Yi and bid her farewell.

“Young Master, we should be on our way now. We’ll inform Young Chief that you’re alright. Please take good care of yourself,” Zhu Jian said.

Linghu Chong bids the two girls goodbye. He leaned against a pole with a worried looks on his face. “With all the elite fighters from the devil cult going to save Miss Dongfang, a big fight is bound to happen at the Shaolin Temple. No matter who wins or loses, the injuries to both sides will be enormous. Miss Dongfang saved my life more than once and means so much to me. I should go to the temple and ask Abbott Fang Zheng to release Miss Dongfang to avoid this bloodbath,” he thought to himself.

“Abbess Ding Yi’s injuries are almost fully healed. I don’t think the Songshan Sect people will be attacking them so soon. If she leads the other Hengshan Sect apprentice sisters back to the monastery they’d be able to deal with any kind of situations that they might face. But how can I just say goodbye to them?” he heaved a long sigh.

[szfong]

thanks for the update, Dongfang Xue

You may wish to remove the second copy of Episode 28... I thought this episode was extra long when I noticed it was only a repeat...

[Dongfang Xue]

thanks for the update, Dongfang Xue

You may wish to remove the second copy of Episode 28... I thought this episode was extra long when I noticed it was only a repeat...

Thanks for noticing szfong. I removed the repeated paragraphs and did some editing.

[Eccentric One]

I like the last episode. LHC getting stabbed by YLS is very refreshing.

[Liljanger]

Thanks for an interesting chapter. Love the changes

[Dongfang Xue]

It was a brand new day. Linghu Chong had very little sleep last night. He was worried about Dongfang Bubai all night. He had gone through a lot of trials and tribulations with Dongfang Bubai. She treated him very well and was very close and dear to him. He would never forget the night where she revealed how she felt about him.

The nuns from Hengshan Sect have been very respectful and nice to him as well but he just could not sit around while Dongfang Bubai was being confined in the Shaolin temple. Now that he had to suddenly say goodbye to them, it was really hard for him to speak up.

Right at that moment, he heard light footsteps of two people coming closer to him. They were Yi He and Yi Qing.

Linghu Chong went up to them and greeted them. “The two of you are also up so early?”

“Young Master Linghu, master said, we don't how to thank for your kindness. After today, no matter what kind of matter you have, Hengshan Sect will follow your order. If you want to go to Shaolin to save that young lady Dongfang, everyone will help you with all their hearts," Yi He said.

Linghu Chong was surprised and replied, "I didn't say that I was going to save Miss Dongfang, how did Abbess Ding Yi knows about it?”

Yi Qing smiled and said, “Miss Dongfang is also Junior Apprentice Sister Yi Lin’s sister. Now that she is in trouble we will not stay on the side and do nothing.”

“Master also said that it's best not to do this by force. Master and Junior Apprentice Sister Yi Lin have already gone ahead to Shaolin Temple to meet Abbott Fangzheng to request for her release. She asked that Young Hero Linghu lead us to go to Shaolin."

When Linghu Chong heard this, he felt dumbfounded and speechless. He felt appreciative towards Ding Yi but he also felt ashamed. "Abbess Ding Yi is a learned and virtuous Buddhists with a high position in martial arts community. Yet, she was willing to personally go by to ask for Shaolin's compassion. This is probably the best way. Compared to me, an unrestrained, improper, and nameless person of the martial arts community, her reputation is a hundred times better. It's most likely that when Abbott Fang Zheng saw the abbess, he would have to consider her reputations and agree to release Miss Dongfang.”

The boat sailed westward and stopped by at a pier. The Hengshan Sect nuns decided to get some food supplies from a nearby town.

Feeling bored, Linghu Chong went to teashop for some wine. After he finished three bowls of wine, he again thought, "Why would the Shaolin temple confine Miss Dongfang?”

He picked up another bowl of wine and poured it down his throat.

Someone sitting behind him started sighing and said, “How heartless can one be? Someone has been confined in a sunless place because of you but you're wasting time here getting yourself drunk."

Linghu Chong turned his head around to see who spoke those words. There was another person crouching beside a table in the corner. On top of the table were also a wine pot and a cup. That person's clothing was ragged and he looked shabby. He didn't look like an elegant person.

Linghu Chong stopped paying any attention to him and continued to drink another bowl of wine. He then heard that voice spoke behind him again, "A person has been confined in a sunless place because of you but you're spending every single day together with those girls. Young ladies, bald nuns, old grandma, they're all together with you. What a shame, what a shame."

Linghu Chong knew that this ragged person was talking about him but he didn't turn around. He thought, "Who's this person? He said that a person has been confined in a sunless place because of me. Is he talking about Dongfang? Why was she confined because of me?"

The ragged person said, "Love brings harm to people and emotion deceives people.”

Linghu Chong finally stood up and went over to the person. “Senior, do we know each other?” he asked. Standing there, he noticed a very old huqin on the chair. A thought flashed in his mind and he realized who this person was. He immediately paid respect to him, "Junior Linghu Chong is lucky to have met Martial Uncle Mo from Southern Hengshan School. Sorry for my inappropriateness."

Mo Da lifted his head up from the table and looked at Linghu Chong. “Please sit! Mo Da laughed coldly, “Your name is getting famous in the martial arts world lately. There are talks going around the martial arts world about how you’ve been mixing with all the ladies and nuns from Hengshan School. Their reputations have been damaged by you.”

Linghu Chong reached his hand for the handle of his sword. “Who would dare to spread these rumors and shameless words.”

Mo Da raised his brow. “You want to kill them? The number of people who says this in martial arts world is around eight thousand. You want to kill them all? Everyone is envious of your luck in love, what is so bad about that?” he said.

“Whenever I do things, I never thought about the past or the future but I only ask myself to have a clear conscience. But I never thought that I would implicate everyone from Hengshan Sect. How… how can this be good?” Linghu Chong thought to himself.

Mo Da smiled and said, “For the last few days, I’ve been snooping into your boat every night…”

Linghu Chong let out cry of shock. “Martial Uncle Mo has been snooping into our boats for many nights already but I didn’t even notice?”

Mo Da grinned and continued, “I saw you slept on the stern of the boat every night, you don’t even chat with any of them. Your conduct is irreproachable with these Hengshan Sect nuns. Brother Linghu, you’re not a loafer, but you’re actually a real gentleman. Even though the boat is full of young nuns and pretty maidens, you never showed any interest in them. Your type of personality, a gentleman, is really rare nowadays. Old man here really admires you.” He raised his right thumb up praising him.

Linghu Chong lowered his head with a sigh, “Junior’s conduct is mostly improper, that’s why I wasn’t tolerated in my own school.”

Mo Da lets out a laugh and said, “To be frank, this is actually the true colors of males. If old man was still in my twenties and had to accompany all these ladies every night, I wouldn’t be able to follow your example in maintaining my moral integrity. This is rare, very rare! Come, bottoms up!”

The two of them lifted their wine bowls and took big gulps of wine. Then they laughed together.

“When I was in Hunan Province, I heard about you mixing together with the nuns and ladies from the Hengshan Sect, I was really surprised. I wondered how Abbess Ding Yi could allow this matter to arise from her school. Later, I found out your whereabouts from some disciples of the devil cult and caught up with you. Brother Linghu, when you made that disturbance in Hengyang City’s brothel that time I thought that you were a frivolous young man. Later, after you helped my martial brother Liu Zhengfeng I held a good opinion of you. I wanted to catch up to give you some advice. Who would’ve thought that I would meet a hero of this generation!” Mo Da continued. “Junior Linghu, this young lady of the devil cult has deep feelings towards you. So you shouldn’t disappoint her.”

Linghu Chong started to blush. He quickly took another gulp of wine to hide his embarrassment.

“Junior Linghu, you’re no longer in Huashan Sect, you’re free like the clouds and birds in the field. So you don’t need to care about this righteous sect and devil cult matters anymore. Go and rescue that young lady out of Shaolin and marry her. Even if nobody comes to your wedding ceremony, old man Mo Da, will definitely come and drink with you,” Mo Da exclaimed.

Linghu Chong returned the bowl back to the table and asked, “Martial Uncle Mo, why did the Shaolin School imprison this young lady?”

Mo Da’s jaw dropped open. ”You really don’t know? Everyone in martial arts world already knows about this. Your internal injury was supposedly incurable by any medicine. I heard that the unorthodox cult assembled thousands of people at the Five Hegemon Ridge to flatter this Young Chief and to heal your injury. Is that right?”

Linghu Chong nodded and then shook his head. In actual fact, the people from the unorthodox cult were trying to flatter Linghu En and not Dongfang Bubai. “Martial Uncle Mo got it all wrong….” He thought.

“This whole event shook the martial arts community. Everyone said that you are very lucky to attain the Five Deities Cult’s Young Chief’s liking. So even though your illness couldn’t be cured, it wasn’t all in vain,” Mo Da said. “Everyone in martial arts world said that the Young Chief begged the Abbott to save your life and she agreed to leave herself to the mercy of the Shaolin temple,” Mo Da explained.

Linghu Chong body was suddenly covered in cold sweat as tears filled his eyes. “The young lady in Shaolin temple has to be Miss Dongfang! It has to be her!”

Mo Da sighed. “Although this Young Chief’s background is from the devil sect, she treated you with sincerity and passion. In order to save you, she disregarded her own life. Seeing this, Abbott Fang Zheng didn’t want to kill her but he also couldn’t just let her go. That’s why she was imprisoned inside a cave at the back of the Shaolin temple. It’s been said that even Dongfang Bubai of the Divine Sun Moon Cult has to pay her respect to this young lady. Five Deities Cult’s elite fighters are going to rescue her.”

Mo Da paused and took another sip of wine. “Brother Linghu, I think you should rush over there and control them. Since the Young Chief likes you I’m certain that those devil cult members wouldn’t dare to disobey you!”

Linghu Chong’s face turned scarlet red. “Miss Dongfang has very deep feelings towards me but I’m afraid that she would be embarrassed and angry if she finds out that people are gossiping about us. It’s best that I don’t reveal the truth to Martial Uncle Mo. I should just rush to Shaolin Temple myself and rescue her. I can probably avoid a bloodbath in the Shaolin temple,” he thought.

Mo Da filled the cups with more wine. “Old man will accompany the Hengshan School nuns back to their monastery. You can go to the Shaolin Temple to save the Sacred Lady!”

Linghu Chong said, "Martial uncle Mo, little nephew now knows about this matter and feels really worried. I wish I could fly to Shaolin temple to see how the two Shi Tai are doing with their request. It's just that Heng-Shan School's martial sisters are all women and I'm worried that they might meet some difficulties en route to Shaolin."

Linghu Chong happily said, "There's no harm if I go first?"

Mo Da didn't answer but picked up his huqin instead, and started playing it.

Linghu Chong knew the meaning behind his word was that he was going to look after the Hengshan Sect's disciples. He knew that Mo Da's martial arts and experience was extraordinary. No matter whether he was protecting them in secret or not, Hengshan Sect would be safe. He immediately bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness."

Mo Da replied, "Five Mountains Sword Sects share the same roots. Why do you need to thank me for protecting them? Go and find that devil cult’s young lady and then marry her!"

………………..

A dozen of men clad in black hood robes were guarding the surroundings of a cottage.

Three middle aged men got down on their knee, “Subordinate Qin Weibang, Shangguan Yun and Jia Bu pays respect to Chief Ren!”

A white haired man in his fifties was standing near a window. He had his back facing them. He turned around to look at them. “You may rise!” he said loudly. His voice carried an air of authority. He was in fact the previous Divine Sun Moon Cult Chief, Ren Wo Xing.

“Where are Elder Tang, Elder Wen and Elder Du?” Ren Woxing asked.

Qin Weibang, Shangguan Yun and Jia Bu looked at each other fearfully.

Xiang Wentian stepped forward and gave Ren Woxing a bow. “Elder Tang, Elder Wen and Elder Du have pledged their allegiance to Dongfang Bubai,” he spoke softly.

Ren Woxing clenched his teeth in anger. “Once I return to the Dark Wood Cliff I’ll make sure that the three of die miserably,” he snarled.

Ren Yingying exited a cabin and placed a teapot on a side table. “If they betray Dongfang Bubai they would not be able to get the antidote for the San Shi Nao Shen Dan Poison and die a horrible death too,” she said coldly.

Jia Bu’s face turned pale. “Does Chief Ren has the antidote for the San Shi Nao Shen Dan Poison?” he asked fearfully.

Yang Lianting standing in a corner quickly interrupted, “Of course! Chief Ren is talented in academics, gifted in the martial arts shall dominate the martial arts world for a thousand autumns!”

“Talented in academics, gifted in the martial arts shall dominate the martial arts world for a thousand autumns?” Ren Woxing gave Yang Lianting a weird look.

Ren Yingying walked up to her father. “Father, this was Dongfang Bubai's idea. He wanted all the subordinates to say these words when they see him. This phrase was made up not too long ago. Yang Lianting is too accustomed in saying this so he also said this to you," she said with a grin.

Ren Woxing nodded his head and said, “Looks like that villain Dongfang wants to be an immortal. How crazy can he be? We’ve to go up to the Dark Wood Cliff and remove this lunatic from power quickly!”

Yang Lianting bowed and continued, “Subordinate received news that Dongfang Bubai is now hiding in the Shaolin temple. It seems that he has sustained some serious internal injury.”

Ren Woxing knitted his brow. “Shaolin temple? I am starting to find Dongfang Bubai more and more interesting. Chief of the divine cult hiding in a monastery?” He burst out laughing.

Ren Yingying was about to say something but decided not to. She knew long ago that Dongfang Bubai was in fact a woman. She was worried that her father would be distressed the moment he knows that it was a woman who removed him from power years ago.

“I’ve spread news about Dongfang Bubai hiding in the Shaolin temple. It won’t be long before they show up at the monastery and join forces to fight her….I mean him….” Ren Yingying said.

Yang Lianting smiled coldly and said, “Holy Maiden has also arranged for our most trusted followers to be on a standby. Our people will make their move the moment the orthodox sect starts fighting Dongfang Bubai. We’re going to use this opportunity to wipe out all of them.”

Ren Woxing gently stroked his daughter in the back. “Yingying, you’re indeed Ren Woxing’s daughter! I like your plan of killing two birds with one stone!” he said laughingly.

A melancholic tune could be heard from the outside.

Ren Yingying turned her head to look outside the cottage. Her facial expression changed the moment she heard the tune.

Yue Lingfeng was sitting under a tree playing a jade flute alone. From the tune even one who does not understand music could feel the bitterness in his heart.

Ren Woxing noticed the change in his daughter’s facial expression. “Yingying, Yue Lingfeng rescued me out of prison and spent more than two months of his life living in the dark underground prison. You have my word that once we’ve taken care of Dongfang Bubai, I will arrange for the two of you to get married. The two of you will be the world’s happiest couple,” he asserted.

Ren Yingying did not reply. Something else was troubling her. “Brother Yue and I are now able to be together because he has completely forgotten about the past. What happens if one day he regains his memory? Will we still be able to be together?” she thought.

Later, Ren Woxing and Yue Lingfeng sat under a veranda drinking wine. “Brother Yue, my Art of Star Absorption has been passed on to you only. You’re more than a friend to me,” Ren Woxing explained.

Yue Lingfeng handed a cup of wine to Ren Woxing. “I’m thankful to Senior Ren and Miss Ren’s kindness,” he said courteously.

Ren Woxing poured the wine down his throat and then said, “Stop being a stranger! The day you finished learning the Art of Star Absorption that I had written on the iron panel, you were already destined to be Ren Woxing’s successor!”

Yue Lingfeng cupped his hand and replied, “Senior Ren flatters me. I am just some nobody that doesn’t not have past…”

“After we kill that villain Dongfang Bubai and regain my position as Chief, you will be my deputy. When that happens, you will not be some nobody again. Every single follower in the divine cult will address you as Deputy Chief Yue,” Ren Woxing exclaimed. “And once I reach my time, you will take over as the Chief. Not everyone gets such a golden opportunity. As that villain Dongfang Bubai said, dominate the martial arts world for a thousand autumns!”

Yue Lingfeng did not show any sign of enthusiasm. He only nodded with a faint smile. “I only want to know my true identity…do I even have any family?” he thought.

Ever since he regained conscious, Yue Lingfeng was told by Ren Yingying that she saved him by a river side. She insisted that she knew nothing about his past. She only knew that his name was Yue Lingfeng from the jade flute that he was carrying with him. Being completely lost, Yue Lingfeng spent the rest of his days with Ren Yingying. As time went by, the two of them build a strong relationship.

Later, Ren Yingying went to the woods alone, practicing her sword techniques. She could no longer contain her fear of losing Yue Lingfeng. Hence, she decided to release her stress with the short sword in her hand. She whirled in the air and executed a forceful slash. The short sword unleashed a wave of wind, cutting down the trees around her.

“Let me join you!” a voice said. Yue Lingfeng twirled the jade flute in his hand and leapt towards Ren Yingying.

Ren Yingying landed on the ground with a smile on her face. She turned around and simultaneously slashed her short backwards.

Yue Lingfeng raised his jade flute and parried to the right.

Ren Yingying retracted the short sword and subsequently thrust it towards Yue Lingfeng.

Yue Lingfeng lightly knocked the sword away with his right foot. He countered attack by thrusting his jade flute towards Ren Yingying three times. It was the Huashan Sect’s sword Wild Wind Rapid Sword technique.

Ren Yingying could feel the force of the thrusts and dare not parry it. Instead, she dodged to the right and then to the left to avoid the thrusts.

Though Yue Lingfeng had lost his memory but his martial art skills were still intact. He thrust his jade flute once more and literally flew forward over the ground and at Ren Yingying. The tip of the jade flute unleashed a surge of energy. It was the Huashan Sect’s Life Taking Linked Three Immortals Sword technique.

Ren Yingying hastily leapt into the air and somersaulted three times to avoid the attack. The surge of energy ended up hitting a row of trees, cutting it apart.

“Brother Yue, I admit defeat,” Ren Yingying lowered her short sword and cupped her hands.

Yue Lingfeng placed the jade flute behind his back and returned a bow. “Thanks for being merciful,” he said smilingly.

Ren Yingying started laughing. “You’re very welcome.”

Yue Lingfeng tucked the jade flute in the back of his girdle. “It’s funny that I know so many sword techniques. My master must have been a martial arts expert,” he scratched his head.

“I can’t really tell the origin of your sword techniques either,” Ren Yingying replied. She knew very well that those were the Huashan Sect’s sword art but did not hesitate to lie to him. “If he knows that he is proficient in the Huashan Sect’s sword art he might end up remembering more about his past. I can’t allow that…” she thought.

Ren Yingying went up to him and placed her arm around his shoulder. “The past is the past. It’s alright if you can’t remember it. You still have a bright future ahead of you,” she cheered him up.

“Hmmm, I guess you’re right,” he said, pursing his lips.

Ren Yingying grinned and responded, “Of course I am right. I am feeling a little hungry. Let’s go and find catch some wild boar!”

Yue Lingfeng hummed and said, “Divine Sun Moon Cult’s Holy Maiden going around to catch wild boar? Your subordinates may be shocked if they see this though.”

Ren Yingying smirked, “If any of them dares to say a word I’ll cut off their tongues.”

Yue Lingfeng put up a shocked facial expression and gave her a bow. “Holy Maiden, please spare my life…” he said jokingly.

Ren Yingying folded her arms and replied with a grin, “The Holy Maiden may kill pigs and dogs but she will never kill Brother Yue.” Her voice was filled with warmth and sincerity.

“Yingying, actually I am really thankful to you. You’ve showed me nothing but kindness. If it wasn’t for you who saved my life I would have been eaten by the wild beasts in the woods months ago,” he said in a tender voice. “You’re the only person that I have left in the world.”

Ren Yingying looked away as she started to blush.

Yue Lingfeng then went up to her and pressed his lips to her cheek.

Ren Yingying's face turned red with nervousness. Before she could even try to push him away, Yue Lingfeng had now pressed his lips against her lips. She looked at her with her eyes wide open.

She stood still looking at Yue Lingfeng in shock. After calming herself down, she decided not to avoid it. Instead, Ren Yingying reached her hands out and held him in her arms, enjoying this warmth moment with him.

The sun had risen. Yue Lingfeng lightly climbed out of the bed so that he would not wake Ren Yingying who was sleeping next to him. They were up till very late last night and he wanted her to get a few more hours of sleep.

As Yue Lingfeng stooped down and reached for his garment, a man started calling him from the outside.

“Young Master Yue! Chief Ren would like to see you at once!” the man shouted.

Yue Lingfeng’s face turned pale. “Don’t tell me Senior Ren found out what Yingying and I did so fast?” he thought. He rushed over to the door and replied, “I’ll be there shortly!”

“Father wants to see you?!” Ren Yingying covered herself with a blanket and nervously jumped out of bed.

Yue Lingfeng nodded in fear. “This is not good…not good at all…” he gasped worriedly.

Ren Yingying took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Brother Yue, go ahead and meet father first. I will get changed and join us guys in a bit. Father loves me a lot. I’m confident that he would never hurt you,” she asserted.

A masked man clad in black hood led Yue Lingfeng to the backyard.

Ren Woxing was standing in the front glaring at a well in anger. “I hate people who disrespect me!” he suddenly growled.

Yue Lingfeng’s legs started to tremble. “He really found out about it…” he thought horrifyingly.

Ren Woxing then shot his hand out at the well. His palm discharged a blast of energy at the well, blowing it into flames.

Yue Lingfeng was completely shocked. He stumbled backwards and fell on his back. “Senior Ren…actually…”

Ren Woxing heard Yue Lingfeng whispering in the back. He turned around and glared at him viciously.

“Father! No!” Ren Yingying ran out of the cottage hastily. She rushed over to Ren Woxing and dropped to her knees. “Father! You cannot kill Brother Yue!” she cried.

Ren Woxing was taken aback by his daughter’s reaction. He narrowed his eyes and gazed at Ren Yingying confusingly. “Yingying, what are you talking about? Who told you that I am going to kill Brother Yue?” he asked.

Ren Yingying felt relief after hearing her father’s words. “Then why are you angry with Brother Yue?” she asked.

Ren Woxing placed his hands on Ren Yingying’s right and left arms, gently pulling her up. “I’m only angry with Tong Baixiong. Left Emissary Xiang politely asked him to work with me but he rejected. He insisted that he would never betray that villain Dongfang Bubai,” he explained.

Yue Lingfeng let out a sigh of relieve. “That was too close…” he murmured, wiping the sweat off his forehead.