The Jade Swordsman

[Ghaleon]

jeh, thanks for ur support!


sleepy,

thanks for the tip!
I was just reading thorugh it again and noticed that i started with too many "He's". I'll try to correct that from now on.
Thanks for ur support <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[movie fan#1]

That was good. I'm almost done with mine it's a sad story with a very handsome guy but a really sad ending.

[Ghaleon]

movie fan - thanks.. i'll check ur story out sometime..

***** Chapter 8: Song Mountain *******


“Welcome to Song Mountain, please make yourselves at home…”, greeted the master of the Song Mountain sect, Master Ma. He was wearing a long purple robe accompanied with a loose silky cape. Being a big and heavy man in his sixties with a moustache and a long beard, Master Ma was an imposing figure. A pesky and curious Wei Hong was annoying her brother Wei Gong, pounding him with questions regarding the inner-workings of martial art politics. The father Master Wei told them both to be silent and respectful.

“Thank you for having us over.”, replied Master Wei as he sat down on a chair in the main living room.

“Father, I’m bored. Can brother and I look around the place?”, asked the restless daughter Wei Hong.

“Don’t break anything…”, warned her father.

“Feel free to explore, you can treat this like your home”, said Master Ma.

Wei Hong grabbed and tugged her brother’s hand and pulled him to the courtyard out side of the living room.

“Brother, let’s look for Gon Ho!”, suggested Wei Hong who was anxious to see the handsome individual once again.

Upon hearing this, Master Ma replied: “Gon Ho is not here. He has some task to attend to in another city.”

“Oh shoot! That is not good!”, thought Wei Hong to herself.
“Master Ma, is your daughter here? I would like to meet her… Its nice to meet people my age.”, asked Wei Gong.

“Yes, she’s in her quarters. Go to the kitchen and make a left. Her room is the very first on your right.”, replied Master Ma.

“Thanks Master Ma.”, replied Wei Gong.

Wei Gong followed the instructions and made his way to the room of the lovely Ma Zhu. Not wanting to be alone, his sister followed him wherever he went.

“I’m tired honey, I want to sleep now. I am exhausted. From Laozi’s funeral and walking all the way to Song Mountain, I have no energy left.”, said Madam Wei.

Wei Gong was greatly relieved nobody discovered that he killed Laozi. Everyone at the Wah Mountain sect believed his story that Laozi was fell to his own doom while training at the cliff’s edge. Surprisingly he felt no remorse for his evil deed, only immense joy and satisfaction. Now nobody would challenge his rightful claim as the leader of the Wah Mountain sect if his father would pass away.

“Alright, I’ll join you shortly. I have some things to discuss with Master Ma”, replied Master Wei to his wife.

The main living room was now silent and empty save for the masters of the two sects. Master Ma sat down beside Master Wei and offered him some healthy herbal tea. As he sat down, he detached his silk cape and placed on the supporting back of his chair. After drinking half the cup, Master Wei gently put the cup down on the glass table and began stroking his crooked black moustache.

“Two surprising events occurred during the past few days…”, said Master Wei.

“What happened?”, inquired Master Ma.

“After you left Wah Mountain during your visit, two men dressed in black with their faces covered challenged me to a duel. And guess what they used as weapons?”

“Small flying daggers?”

“How did you know?!”

“I’ve heard the news, gossip goes around. Those two were from the Assassins Guild!”

“The Assassins Guild?”

“The trademark of the Assassins Guild is the Flying Dagger technique. After I heard this news, I sent my right-hand-man Gon Ho to investigate the location of the Assassins Guild headquarters. I suspect they are planning something big…”

“When is Gon Ho coming back? I am curious to know what he finds out.”

“Probably a week from now, he’s all the way at the town of Chengdoi. Guess who Gon Ho encountered few days ago?”

“Who or what?”

“The Jade swordsman! The famous hero that everyone is talking about… He met him when he was investigating the mysterious deaths in Shangshu…”

“What a coincidence! I also came across this mysterious Jade swordsman when I was walking towards your home on the roads… He was carrying his trademark green metallic sword…”

“It is remarkable that he is so young and this famous! He is so famous for his heroic deeds and sword skills so lot of people compare him to Phoenix Jin, the famous student of the retired Sword-God Zu… “

“In these dark times, I wish the Sword-God never retired. He can help the seven traditional schools of martial arts tremendously! Nobody will ever forget when he valiantly fought and defeated the Demon Emperor Tong of the Evil Lunar cult who terrorized the entire marital arts world!”

“Yes I agree whole-heartedly… Anyway, Gon Ho told me an interesting tidbit: the female traveling companion of the Jade swordsman is the demon seductress Jade, member of the Red Lunar cult!”

“Oh really?! I saw his female companion on my way here… She seemed rather scared of me when I glanced at her… Now why would a great young hero travel with such a villain?”

“Gon Ho said that he was stubborn and believed that he was able to change her evil ways. The foolish young!”

Master Wei finished drinking his herbal tea and began refilling the cup to the rim, causing a small drop to trickle down the side of the small white cup. He sipped his tea drying his hand on his sleeve and began speaking again:
“I am really worried about the Assassins Guild. I hear rumors say he is immensely powerful. He does not need to use daggers as weapon. Even leaves and rocks can be used as his weapon as he launches them dangerously fast! And from his two assassins, he now knows that I have reached the second level of the Cyclone Sword maneuver… ”

“Yes, the Assassins Guild does pose a threat… Especially to the artifact being transported to Shaolin temple. I have no doubt in mind that he wants to get his hands on he powerful kung-fu manual inside this artifact!”

“Yes I too think the same way… Upon discovering the Assassins Guild headquarters, I believe Gon Ho will not be able to handle the master and his all assassins… I suggest we leave tomorrow morning to Chengdoi and help out Gon Ho… We must stop whatever the guild is planning to do!”

“…Agreed!”


Many young men declared Ma Zhu as the most beautiful in the district: with her nice slim body, perfect hourglass figure, smooth silky skin, long straight shiny hair, and a beautiful radiant face, it was a valid claim. Being the daughter of Master Ma, no guys dared to approach her because of her high social status. She was sitting alone in her room, combing her lovely hair and humming a romantic tune. Wei Gong heard the humming outside her lovely abode and was anxious to meet this exquisite beauty. He gave three quick knocks at her door. His sister was hiding in the corner and peeking, amused at her brother’s manner.

“What a lovely smell…”, Wei Gong thought to himself as the smell of perfume diffused through the bottom of the door into the hallway.

It seemed like eternity for him before the door finally opened. Wei Gong was gasping in amazement; her beauty was unrivaled. Only the girl he saw with the Jade swordsman was comparable in looks. He thought that girl was “sexy beautiful” whereas Ma Zhu was “innocent beautiful”. Gathering himself together, he spoke the first words:
“Hi, my name is Wei Gong, nice to meet you. I’m the son of Master Wei, master of Wah Mountain sect. My father is here to discuss politics with your father so I thought I should greet someone else around my age…”

Ma Zhu was dressed in her pajamas, a while cotton robe that dropped down to her knees. As she was stroking her hand through her soft hair she replied in a light soft voice:
“Hi, I’m Ma Zhu. How long are you staying here for?”

“I am not sure, maybe a week? So… Uh… Are you free now? Am I bothering you?”

“Oh don’t worry, I am not doing anything special. I was just combing my hair… Have you explored the entire place? I can give you a tour if you haven’t…”

“Sure, that would be great!”

Wei Hong left her hiding place and ran to her brother, screaming ecstatically:
“Me too! Me too! I want a tour!”

Wei Gong gave an annoyed frown and introduced his sister to Ma Zhu.

“Pleasure to meet you.”, Ma Zhu said to Wei Hong.

“Nice to meet you too! Wow, you are so pretty!”, responded Wei Hong.

“Thanks…”, replied Ma Zhu with a smile.

“My brother is drooling over you!”, remarked Wei Hong.

Wei Gong was embarrassed; he elbowed his sister and wanted her to shut up. The three made their way across the hallway and into a large room. In the center of the room was a large table that could seat thirty individuals. The walls were decorated with paintings of the Song Mountain and calligraphy.

“This is the our dining room, we come here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We also use this room for banquets…”, said Ma Zhu.

Wei Gong was too busy admiring her beauty to notice what she was saying. He thought to himself:
“I must get her, she will eventually be mine! I will be the envy of the town… Whatever I want, I will get…! I have to find some way to convince my father to set up an arranged marriage for Master Ma’s daughter and myself… After all, father and Master Ma are the best of friends!”


Master Wei had finished his discussion with Master Ma and now entered the guestroom.

“Come to bed, it is late.”, demanded Madam Wei.

“Yes I am coming. Tomorrow we are leaving Song Mountain. Together with Master Ma, we head to the town of Chengdoi on an important mission.”

“But why? We just got here…”

“I’ll give you the details tomorrow. Sleep tight.”

“What dangers lay ahead? For some reason, I feel that something big will happen soon… Something bad…A gut feeling…”, Master Wei thought to himself as he changed to his evening gown.

[jeh]

I wonder what big event will happen tomorrow. That evil Wei Gong. I'm afraid that he will be really evil in the near future. With his personality and stuff, it seem like he will become evil. I hope Ma Zhu won't marry him. He will ruin her life. Update soon.

[Ghaleon]

jeh: good observation! yeah he's going to become Kai's nemesis.. a big bad guy in the near future.... <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

***** Chapter 9: The Fall of the Guild ****


[Assassins Guild Headquarters]

“This is the forth level of the Flying Dagger technique…”, said a big man in his sixties with pure flowing white hair and wearing a black suit characteristic of the Assassins Guild.

A green leaf flew through the air, aimed directly at a glass vase sitting on the floor by the doors of the chamber. As the leaf came into contact, the vase shattered to pieces. Fox was amazed at the powers of his master, hoping one day to attain his level.

“Have you heard word from Snake?”, inquired the master.

“No I haven’t. I assume he is still at Song Mountain keeping tabs on them and the whereabouts of the golden box.”, replied Fox.

“So Fox, what you said is true about this Jade swordsman?”

“Yes, master. When we captured his companion, he was furious. He slaughtered all the assassins in a matter of seconds!”

“I see. And what of this ghost with the mask you mentioned?”

“There was this strange robed man wearing a mask who also witnessed the slaughter. I launched a dagger at him and he disappeared in thin air! He said that our guild would be destroyed…”

Suddenly, the chamber doors slammed open. Three bald figures stormed in the room each carrying a metallic staff. They were dressed in monk garments and their skin was painted gold.

“We are known as the Three Golden Monks. We were sent here by the holy Prophets to destroy your guild because you dare intrude our plans!”, screamed one of the golden monks.

Fox and his master took a moment to examine the golden intruders. They were dressed in a pure white silk robe, which was different from what the monks in Shaolin wore. The master wondered where these monks came from. He sensed a strong aura emitting from the three monks, a power so great that he had never witnessed before.

“The Prophets? What plans?!”, inquired the startled master.

“Master Yuk, we know who you are. We know that you plan to steal the golden box being delivered to the Shaolin temple. The box belongs to our masters: the holy Prophets. He who obstructs the holy Celestial Order must die! Prepare to fight!”, said the golden monk.

The three golden monks launched themselves towards the old man raising their metallic staffs. Master Yuk got hold of his iron daggers and launched three towards each of the monks. The monks stopped moving and stood there in a defensive stance. The daggers came into contact with their gold skin and bounced off and fell to the ground. It was as if their skin was made of metal.

“What type of kung-fu is this?!”, asked Master Yuk in astonishment.

“Die!”, replied the golden monks as they raised their metallic staffs and resumed their charge towards the master of the Assassins Guild.


[Eastgate Tavern]

Jade was sitting on the bed while Kai was strapping a small cotton bandage on her forehead concealing the small cut. The blood had long since dried up and the wound was beginning to heal itself.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”, asked a worried Kai.

“Yes, I am fine! I’m coming with you…”, replied Jade.

“Alright we will continue our investigation of the guild headquarters. We have to find out why they did this to you.”, responded Kai.

The two left their quarters and walked outside to the busy streets of Chengdoi. There were countless people walking along the streets, some had places to go and things to do while others were mindlessly wandering about. It was quite a busy town compared to the relatively quiet town of Shangshu where Kai first met Jade. Store stands selling candy, umbrellas, and other common items littered the side of the streets outside the main establishments. Out amongst the hurrying crowd, Kai spotted a familiar face. It was Gon Ho: the man from Song Mountain sect whom he met in Jade’s house in the forest.

“I knew I would find you here!”, said Gon Ho as he approached the two travelling companions.

“What brings you here, good friend?”, asked Kai.

“I was sent here by my master to find the whereabouts of the Assassins Guild. I assume you are here for the same reason?”, responded Gon Ho.

“Yes. In fact, some of the assassins kidnapped my companion Jade the other night! I must find out what they are up to!”, replied Kai.

“I see she has a wound on her forehead…”, observed Gon Ho.

“It’s healing now. It’s nothing.”, responded Jade.

“So has she done anything bad yet?”, laughed Gon Ho.

“No, she’s been a good girl…”, said Kai who was smiling.

Jade let out a giggle, her face blushing red.

“Haha, I take your word.”, remarked Gon Ho who was amused at her facial expression.

“So what have you found out regarding the Assassins Guild?”, asked Kai.

“I have quite a few connections in this town, and lot of people owe me favors. So after some intense questioning and bribing, I discovered the headquarters of the guild! It is located in the basement of the gambling establishment…”, responded Gon Ho.

“Shall we go together?”, asked Kai.

“But of course! I must see your renowned sword skills!”, replied Gon Ho enthusiastically.

“Jade, let’s follow Gon Ho…”, ordered Kai.

“Hold on a second, I want to buy a lollipop…”, replied Jade.

Kai and Gon Ho were dumbfounded; they were about to infiltrate the dangerous domains of the assassins and here she was buying a lollipop. The lollipop stand was selling a whole variety of lollipops: they had the apple, cherry, kiwi, orange, and pineapple flavors. Jade loved apples so she bought the apple flavor lollipop. It cost a measly two gold pieces.

“Alright, let’s beat up some bad guys!”, replied Jade who was sucking her apple-flavored lollipop.

The three made their way along the busy streets to the main gambling establishment in town. The building was easily the largest in town even though people could only access the main floor. The casino had all the games there were known at the time, most of which involved using the dice. Jade was disappointed that her lollipop did not last long but she could still feel the apple flavor on her lips. She threw the left-over stick on the ground and asked:
“Hey, can we play some games before we fight those guys?”

“Later… I’ll promise you, we’ll spend a whole day playing games after this mission… Ok?”, replied Kai.

“Alright then.”, replied Jade with disappointment.

The three went inside the casino and saw countless people gambling with their hearts out. There were people kissing the dices and praying to the gods to endow them with immeasurable luck. It was quite a change of atmosphere for Gon Ho who was used to being in more reserved places. Jade watched in excitement as people betted their life savings away in the hope to become filthy rich and retire from their monotonous jobs. She started to wonder the source of Kai’s mysterious unlimited income.

“So where’s the secret entrance?”, inquired Kai in a soft quiet voice.

“In the cold cellar right beside the washrooms at the back…”, replied Gon Ho with the same volume level.

They made their way through the crazy crowds all the way to the back of the establishment and into the cold cellar, all the while making sure nobody noticed them. A cold breeze made them all shiver as they entered the cellar. The cellar was quite small: a refrigerator sat in the middle of the room and the rest was littered with cargo boxes.

“Behind the refrigerator.”, remarked Gon Ho.

“What?!”, responded Jade with shock.

Using all the strength he could muster, Gon Ho pushed the refrigerator to one side revealing a secret passageway into the darkness.

“So this is where the guild is located…”, remarked Kai as he gazed at the long flight of stairs that descended into the dark abyss.

“Why is there blood on the floor?”, asked Jade.

A pool of blood was found dripping down the stairs. Inspired by their curiosity, the three made their way down the long flight of stairs.

“It’s quite dark down here…”, remarked Jade.

“Are you scared?”, asked Kai.

“No of course not! I’m a big girl. I’m brave. Believe me.”, responded Jade.

After descending down the stairs, they reached the dark basement illuminated by candles along the walls. . Spider webs were found at the corners of the ceilings and the floor.

“How could anybody live here?”, wondered Jade.

There were countless bodies scattered along the floor, the floor stained with the blood of the assassins. The scene reminded Jade of Kai when he rescued her by slaughtering all her captors. At the far side of the room was the door that led to the main chambers. They carefully stepped over the bodies and out of the various blood puddles and finally made it to the entrance of the chamber. Gon Ho opened the chamber doors and they all stepped inside walking on a red carpet decorated with designs of a dragon, extending the entire length of the chamber. A broken vase was found near the doorway; Jade almost cut her feet from the broken shards of glass. A body of an old man covered with blood was found at the center of the chamber.

“The Jade swordsman!”, screamed Fox as the three entered the chamber.

Kai clasped the handle of his green sword. Gon Ho unsheathed his medium-length sword, ready for action. Jade stretched her arms and stuck her palms out facing the lone assassin, prepared to use her “inner-power sucking” kung fu that her master taught her if the assassin were to come within contact.

“What happened here?!”, asked Kai.

“Our guild has been destroyed! The Assassins Guild is no more!”, screamed Fox.

“Hmmmm…. Who could have done this?!”, wondered Gon Ho.

“Destroyed! All gone!”, screamed Fox.

“Who has done this?!”, inquired Kai.

“All gone!”, screamed Fox.

“Relax… Now, tell me… Who has done this?”, Kai inquired again.

“I do not know who they are. Three monks… With skins of gold… Came storming into our headquarters and slaughtering us all! They spared my life so that I can tell the remaining assassins not to mess with their plans…”, replied Fox catching his breath.

“What plans? Who are they?”, asked Kai.

“They work for some people called The Prophets. I have never heard of them… They mentioned something about the Celestial Order… I do not know… I have never heard of these people in my life! We were trying to find a way to steal the golden box being delivered to Shaolin temple, I assume they are somehow connected to that…”, replied Fox in short breaths.

“Interesting, I must report this to my master… Something big is happening…”, remarked Gon Ho.

“I have received an invitation to the Shaolin temple… Is it connected to this… This golden box? What is it?”, asked Kai who was confused.

“Yes so have we. All seven schools of martial arts have been invited. It is concerning this golden box that this assassins has mentioned… All kinds of people are trying to steal it: the Assassins Guild, the Evil Lunar cult, and others. Supposedly the box is rumored to contain a powerful martial arts manual and is being transported by some monk from the Great Sun Pagoda. The monks from the Great Sun Pagoda are supposedly close friends of the Shaolin monks. Could the golden monks that his assassins mentioned be monks from the Great Sun Pagoda wishing to protect their cargo? There needs to be some investigation in this mysterious matter. I will bring this up at the Shaolin meeting few months from now. Anyway, shall we kill this assassin?”, responded Gon Ho.

“Please, don’t kill me… The guild has been destroyed, let me follow you people! I have nowhere to go… I can be of great assistance to you!”, pleaded Fox.

Fox got down on his knees and started to kowtow to all three of them.

“What is your name?”, asked Kai who motioned Fox to get up from the floor.

“Kai, you are not seriously considering his offer, are you?!”, asked Gon Ho with astonishment.

“It would be of no use killing him. It is my personal belief that everybody is inherently good. I do not see why we cannot give him a chance to amend for his sins…”, responded Kai.

“Oh brother, here we go again!”, replied Gon Ho with a heavy sigh.

“Thank you for sparing my life! I am greatly sorry for kidnapping your female companion. I was in charge of the kidnap. I apologize. My name is Fox, I believe we have met before Kai.”, replied Fox with a sigh of relief.

“I remember… At the town of Wangdai… You were trying to assassinate a rich merchant… You escaped with a smoke bomb…”, responded Kai trying to trace his memories.

“We can continue this chat later. Let’s all head back to the Eastgate Tavern. I have received a message from my master that members of Song and Wah Mountain sects are coming to this town to investigate the guild. I responded by saying that I would continue the investigation with the powerful Jade swordsman and would meet them at the Eastgate Tavern after our mission… We can discuss the recent events at the tavern…”, suggested Gon Ho.

“The Song and Wah Mountain sects?”, Kai thought to himself.

“Alright, let’s go! There are too much dead bodies here… It’s only a matter of time before this whole place is going to stink!”, remarked Jade.

“Yeah, let’s go.”, agreed Kai.

“Can we go play some games now?”, pleaded Jade.

[Danielle Lin]

New reader alert! Great job so far! My favorite character is Jade! She cracks me up so much, but personally I would want the orange/kiwi lollipop.

As for the golden monks, wow they must have pretty high martial arts to do that. Well of course, but still! g2g now! Update soon!

[Ghaleon]

DL: I also like orange lollipops <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
Thanks for reading my story!

****** Chapter 10: Across the Boundary ****


Gon Ho, Kai, Fox and Jade were sitting at a table and ordering some food at the tavern. The doors were open and they could all see the busy streets outside except for Jade whose back was facing the opened doors. It was almost noon and they were having lunch: an order of sticky rice, fried rice with beef, tofu, and some congee. Jade was disappointed that they did not sell lollipops. The men were drinking the local wine except for Kai who never drank alcohol before.

“So Kai, where did you learn your sword skills? It is unfortunate that I have yet to see you fight.”, asked Gon Ho as he dug into his delicious fried rice dish.

“From my master… I promised not to reveal his name...”, replied Kai sipping his tea.

“Oh I seen Kai fight first-hand… He is extremely fast with his sword! He can decimate a large number of adept fighters in a matter of seconds! So Kai, what is the name of your sword technique?”, inquired a curious Fox.

“To be honest, my master never gave it a name. So my sword technique has no name yet…”, replied Kai.

“Oh! Oh! Can I give it a name?!”, asked Jade enthusiastically.

“Uh… Sure…”, remarked Kai, “What do you want to call it?”

“Uh… Uh… Name it after me! Call it Jade! The Jade sword technique!”, suggested Jade.

“I like that, the Jade sword technique… Good name!”, remarked Gon Ho.

“It is a fitting name…”, remarked Fox.

“…Alright! Then Jade it is…”, replied Kai.

“Good, I get to be famous now!”, giggled Jade.

“So when are the Song and Wah Mountain sect members arriving?”, asked Kai.

“They should be here shortly, around noon.”, replied Gon Ho.

“Oh I think I see them approaching from the streets…”, remarked Fox.

A group of five people entered through the main doors of the tavern: Master Wei, Wei Gong, Wei Hong, Master Ma, and Ma Zhu. Wei Hong was the youngest of the bunch, in her middle to late teens.

“Grab some chairs and join us, we have enough room…”, suggested Gon Ho.

Master Ma grabbed five chairs from the nearby table and slid them into the empty slots of the occupied table. The five visitors sat them on their seats and ordered five local dishes. Gon Ho stood up from his seat and started to make the introductions:
“Let me give the introductions. This is Master Ma, my master and leader of the Song Mountain sect. The lovely girl is Ma Zhu, daughter of Master Ma. This distinguished gentlemen here is Master Wei, leader of the Wah Mountain sect. He is accompanied by his son Wei Gong and daughter Wei Hong.”

They all gave a courteous nod.

“I’ll do the reverse now. This is Kai, otherwise known as the Jade swordsman. Accompanying him is his travelling companion Jade: once a member of the demon cult but has switched sides… Hopefully. And this is Fox, a former… And I emphasize former… Member of the Assassins Guild…”

Both masters of the two sects were intrigued: they were going to have lunch with two former enemies and they were not exactly convinced that they had completely changed sides. They still held a grudge against all members of the demon cult and the Assassins Guild even if they were former members. Wei Gong sat beside Ma Zhu who was sitting to the right of Kai. Wei Hong was excited to be sitting next to Gon Ho, whom she had a huge crush on. The two masters sat together at the far-left side of the table next to Gon Ho. Wei Gong was marveling at the two beauties in the group: Ma Zhu and Jade.

“So why has Fox quit the Assassins Guild?”, inquired Master Wei.

“I’ll have to tell you the story of what happened yesterday when we paid a visit to the Assassins Guild headquarters…”, replied Gon Ho.

Gon Ho then relayed the story to both masters and the younger crowd began to tune out.
Wei Gong, Wei Hong, Fox, Jade, Kai and Ma Zhu were staring at one another, remaining silent. After a minute of silence Ma Zhu initiated a conversation with Kai.

“Hello Kai, I am Ma Zhu. My father has heard lot of stories about you and told them to me… I heard about your courageous adventures and awesome swords skills…”, said Ma Zhu.

“Oh they were nothing really…”, replied Kai with modesty.

“Care to share some stories?”, asked Ma Zhu with signs of interest.

Wei Gong was overwhelmingly jealous and annoyed that she was beginning to show some interest in Kai.

“This Jade swordsman cannot be too powerful. Its all rumors!”, thought Wei Gong to himself.

Kai told a story that just popped into his head regarding an evil man who was forcing the local villagers to pay protection fee. Nobody dared to offend this man because of his ferociousness and great martial art abilities. He even claimed that he was a powerful member of the Shaolin temple but was kicked out due his evil ways. He wielded two mighty axes and had not lost a fight up into that point. Kai challenged this villain to a duel and if Kai could win then the ferocious man had to leave town. The man accepted the bet and began mocking Kai telling him:
“You are but a young fighter! You will not even last a minute against my two mighty axes! If you lose this fight… And you will… Then I want that pretty green sword of yours…”
So the fight began and after one quick stroke Kai knocked down both axes and cut the man on his right arm. When Kai got to this point in the story, Fox began rubbing the scar on his arm.

“That’s the same maneuver Kai performed on me…”, Fox thought to himself.

Kai then told three more tales involving investigation of mysterious murders and stopping evil supernatural forces and concluded with the tale of meeting his current travelling companion Jade. Ma Zhu was immensely intrigued at his stories.

“And he is so young… So powerful in martial arts… And so cute…”, thought Ma Zhu who was giggling inside.

Wei Gong was becoming more jealous; he was trying to think of something to say to belittle Kai’s accomplishments. He did not want to accept the fact that Kai, who was around his age, was accomplishing things that he only dream of. He wondered if Kai could even defeat his father in combat.

“Interesting story of how you met your travelling companion.”, remarked Ma Zhu as she gazed at Jade.

“She is beautiful…”, thought Ma Zhu as she examined Jade.

Jade stared back at Ma Zhu.

“She is beautiful…”, thought Jade as she checked out Ma Zhu.

Both Ma Zhu and Jade could recognize each other’s beauty. They both knew that the other person was very attractive and consequently they smiled at one another.

“I think she’s interested in you…”, whispered Jade to Kai.

“What? You could tell?”, whispered Kai with a surprised look on his face.

“Of course I can tell. I know how women think. So… Do you think she’s pretty?”, whispered Jade.

“Yes… Oh yes…”, whispered Kai.

“Prettier than me?”, whispered Jade.

“Uh… Nobody is prettier than you…”, whispered Kai with a smile.

Jade let out a faint giggle and then noticed that Wei Gong was eyeing her with lust. Observing this, Ma Zhu initiated a conversation with Wei Gong in order to be the focus of his attention. Wei Gong forgot all about his jealousy and was excited to engage a conversation with the lovely Ma Zhu.

“Oh brother… She’s the jealous type…”, Jade thought to herself.

After chatting for an hour, Master Ma, Master Wei, Gon Ho and Fox requested some rooms close to the quarters of Jade and Kai. Everyone retired to their rooms: the Wei family were in one room, the Ma family in another, Gon Ho and Fox were to sleep in single rooms. Ma Zhu, Wei Gong, and Wei Hong left their rooms and went outside for a walk in the evening air. It was Wei Gong’s intentions to get to know more about Ma Zhu and to admire her beauty under the beautiful pale moon.

“Kai is so interesting and cute… So heroic and brave… So modest… I wish to get to know him more!”, remarked Ma Zhu as she walked along the side of the streets.

The moon was shining down on Ma Zhu, illuminating her bright beautiful skin.

“You have a crush on Kai!”, commented the young Wei Hong with a chuckle.

“Mind your own business sister. Don’t be nosy.”, demanded Wei Gong with annoyance.

“Shhh…!”, responded Wei Hong.

“Maybe I do have a crush… Any girl would fall for him…”, replied Ma Zhu with a rosy blush on her face.

“Yeah he’s sort of cute and powerful… But I prefer Gon Ho…” drooled Wei Hong.

Wei Gong was getting insanely jealous. He tried to hatch up a plan to eliminate his competitor for the love of Ma Zhu.

“He has a weakness, his beautiful companion Jade. She is a former member of the demon cult… If I can somehow exploit that to my advantage…”, thought Wei Gong with a grin.

Wei Gong did not think of himself as immoral. He thought chasing a girl was fair game, it was all neutral territory as long as the girl was not married.

“All is fair in the game of love…”, he thought.

It was midnight, Kai and Jade finished their small amusing chat about candy and lollipops and both were preparing for bed. The bed was quite large, enough to fit three individuals. Kai always slept on the side of the bed not against the wall whereas Jade slept on the other side. The middle of the bed was considered neutral territory; they both agreed that nobody was to cross the boundary. Kai’s preference was to sleep sideways, with his back facing Jade. He did not like lying on his back. Jade preferred sleeping on her back, her face facing the ceiling. Both were lucky that neither of them snored. However Kai had complained that Jade constantly moved about in bed, even knocking him off the bed to the ground. Jade said it was due to a scary nightmare. Kai also got annoyed when she hogged all the bed sheets.

“Ok, bed time!”, said Kai.

“Yes, bed time!”, replied Jade.

Jade jumped onto her side of the bed, slid under the bed sheets and closed her eyes. Kai was amazed at how fast she went to bed.

“Is she really tired tonight or something?”, wondered Kai.

Kai blew out the candles and lied sideways on his side of the bed with his back facing Jade. He could not fall asleep yet; he was busy thinking of all the events that transpired during the past week. He thought about invitation he received from Shaolin temple regarding the meeting in the upcoming months.

“Meeting at Shaolin temple… Sounds exciting… I cannot wait to meet all the heroes in the world…”, Kai thought to himself.

His eyes were still not closed; he was staring at the blown-out candles sitting on the table at the far side of the room.

“Who is this Sword-God that Gon Ho mentioned last time?”, wondered Kai.

All of a sudden, Kai felt an arm lying on his chest. Jade had extended her arm across the neutral territory and violated the border rules.

“Must be one of her nightmares… I only have to lift her arm and move it back to her side… Then I can fall asleep… Hope she doesn’t knock me off the bed again with one of her scary nightmares!”, Kai thought.

Before he could do this, Jade rolled across the bed and landed on Kai, with her legs on top of his, her breast pressed against his back, and her head lying on the side of his shoulders.

“Is she doing this on purpose or is she having a scary nightmare?! What should I do?!”, wondered Kai nervously.

Kai was debating if it would be rude to give her a push and roll her back to her own side of the bed. But at the same time, he enjoyed being this close to his female companion. He enjoyed the feel of her legs against his and her firm breasts pressed against his back. He felt guilty admitting to this fact and did not dare do anything provocative.

“What should I do?! Should I just let it be? How would she react when she wakes up to discovered that she crossed the neutral territory?”, wondered Kai nervously as drops of sweat rolled down his forehead.

Kai was too scared to turn around to see if she was fast asleep. He did not want to wake her up since that would make the situation awkward, if it were not awkward already. Kai had never been this close to a girl. In fact he never had a close friend before, much less a female one. He began pondering for about fifteen minutes on what was the best course of action.

“What should I do?!”, thought Kai.

He was still debating whether to push her to the other side of the bed or to let it be.

“But if I let it be, would that be considered taking advantage of her? I don’t want to take advantage of her…”, thought Kai.

More drops of sweat slithered down his forehead.

“Kai…”

It was a whisper from Jade. The voice sent a shiver throughout his entire body. Kai was extremely nervous beyond measure.

“So she is not asleep!”, thought Kai who was alarmed.

“Uh… Uh…”, stuttered Kai nervously.

“Thanks for saving me from those assassins. I was close to dying…”, whispered Jade.

“Oh… Uh… No… Problem…”, stuttered Kai nervously.

“Thank you…”, whispered Jade.

“…Saving… Saving… You… Was… Was… Good…”, replied Kai nervously.

“I love you…”, whispered Jade.

Kai could not move. It was like some type of mysterious force was paralyzing his entire body. His stomach felt funny and was sweating more than he was minutes ago. He began to ponder at all the possibilities. Then suddenly out of his own control, a smile formed on his face. A bright warm smile. He had never smiled like this before in his life. He was surprised to see himself feel this way; it was quite a powerful feeling that got hold of him. He never knew this before but he knew it now.

“I love you too…”, replied Kai.

Jade held his hands in hers and started to give him a warm embracing cuddle. Kai no longer cared about the border disputes and did not mind being knocked to the ground over and over again.

[jeh]

Aaw, Kai and Jade would make such a cute couple. A handsome hero with a beautiful female companion. They're so compatible. As for that Wei Gong, <IMG SRC="smilies/angrystick.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> Update soon.

[TJ2468]

New read really enjoy really your fan fic., especially like the char. Jade. Keep up the good work and update soon. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[Ghaleon]

TJ, Jeh..... Thanks for supporting my story! And Jade is also my favorite character <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> I think jade and kai make a good couple as well...


***** Chapter 11: Poison Ivory *******


A man dressed in black was sitting on a rock, behind him was a beautiful waterfall roughly one hundred feet in height flowing down from a tall cliff. The water flowed down the cliff to join a small blue stream that surrounded the area. On his lap was an attractive girl wearing a green silk robe covering everything but her bare shoulders, some of her cleavage and parts of her legs. She was wrapping his arms around his neck while he was softly rubbing his hands across her bare smooth thighs.

“Are you sure your master will accept me?”, asked the man in black.

“Don’t worry Snake, she knows you are useful to us. There’s no way she’ll refuse your help. Plus you have nowhere to go… After your guild was destroyed by those unknown assailants...“, calmly replied the girl.

“But Ivory, everybody in the Red Lunar cult are women… I am a man…”, complained Snake.

“Trust me love, she won’t refuse you. She knows a good opportunity when she sees one…”, replied Ivory trying to calm her lover.

“Alright… Now what do we do about your sister? “, asked Snake.

“My sister Jade was supposed to kill Kai by now and steal his Jade sword, but she hasn’t… And she is not even sending us any messages, failing to report… She was supposed to meet me yesterday… That was our plan… So… We believe that she has betrayed our sect. She wants to be with Kai… Abandoning her orders, forgetting that it was our master that saved her life…”, replied Ivory with a heavy sigh.

“So what is your mission?”, asked Snake.

“To kill Jade and her companion Kai and to steal his Jade sword… Direct orders from my master...”, replied Ivory who began to kiss Snake on his neck.

“But is she your real sister?”, inquired Snake unmoved by the kiss.

“Yes she is.”, responded Ivory coldly with her lips removed from his neck.

“You can kill your own sister?”, asked Snake curiously.

“Yes I can. I am loyal to my master. And if I do not obey my master then she will kill me... My sister brought it upon herself.”, replied Ivory coldly.

“I see.”, replied Snake.

“I heard your fellow assassin, Fox, is with them…”, said Ivory.

“I don’t know his plans, I’ll worry about it later. For now, I will help you accomplish your mission so your master will accept me into her cult…”, replied Snake.

“You were telling me you had a great plan, my love?”, asked Ivory kissing his neck again.

“Yes. You see… About a week ago Fox and I were sent to Wah Mountain to test the strength of Master Wei. Fox got injured so he escaped down the mountain. I stayed behind to spy on them. Needless to say, I saw something very interesting… The son of Master Wei, Wei Gong, pushed a fellow member of the Wah Mountain sect down the cliff and into his doom. Fox and I recovered the body and we had evidence that it was Wei Gong who caused his death…”

“What evidence?”, inquired Ivory who was showing signs of great interest.

“At the back of the body, Fox and I discovered a picture of a palm engraved on his back. There is only one kung fu technique that leaves an imprint: the Wah Vigor Palm technique. And from our scouting reports, we know that only two people know this technique on Wah Mountain sect: Master Wei and his son. I still have the body stored somewhere. I believe it will prove immensely useful in our blackmail…”, replied Snake.

“Blackmail the son of Master Wei?”, inquired Ivory who was beginning to see the plan.

“Yes, my love. Blackmail Wei Gong and use him to pour poison on the food…”, replied Snake.

“Hmmm… Interesting. Well you can use a poison I invented a year ago…”, said Ivory who reached for her pockets and brought out a small perfume bottle. “This bottle contains my poison… I call it the Green Ivory poison… It makes the infected person lose his inner power and will kill him within twenty-four hours. It also causes tremendous pain in the process…”

“Alright sounds good.”, remarked Snake.

“Shall we leave now?”, asked Ivory.

“No… I haven’t had my fun yet… Haha…”, replied Snake with a big grin on his face.

Snake lifted Ivory off the rock and quickly removed his clothes. He then removed her silk robe and started to kiss her passionately on the lips with one hand behind her neck and the other rubbing her bare breasts. He then pushed her hard onto the grass. With her back against the ground, he landed on top of her and started to make rough, passionate love.


[Eastgate tavern]

“Pass me the bowl of broccoli’s…”, Jade asked Wei Hong.

“Okay!”, screamed the hyper Wei Hong.

Wei Hong grabbed the bowl sitting in front of her with both hands and passed it to Jade.

“Lower your voice, Wei Hong. You need to learn some manners…”, scolded her father.

“How was your sleep, Kai?”, asked Ma Zhu with a morning smile.

“Oh, it was great… Never slept better in my life… How was yours?”, said Kai with a smile glancing at Jade sitting beside him. Jade smiled back.

“Not bad… But the beds here are not as comfortable as my bed at home… So where are you heading now that this thing with the Assassins Guild is cleared up?”, asked Ma Zhu.

“Um… I really do not know…”, replied Kai.

“How about visiting the beautiful Wah Mountain? You get a good view of the entire district at the top of the mountain.”, suggested Master Wei.

“… Or you could visit Song Mountain? It is every bit as beautiful…”, suggested Ma Zhu.

Wei Gong gave a nasty frown. All of a sudden, Gon Ho stormed into the dining room from the streets outside and announced to everybody:
“I have just received urgent news from the Beggars Union… They say some of their members have been poisoned… Poisoned by Ivory from the evil Red Lunar cult… She is wreaking havoc in this town!”

“So my sister is in town… She is probably sent by her master to kill me…”, Jade thought to herself.

The Beggars Union was one of the seven traditional schools of martial arts along with Song and Wah Mountain sect. This organization recruited poor beggars that roamed the street who had nothing else going for them in life. From all the money they received from donations, the organization used it to feed and house all its members in abandoned shelters sponsored by the traditional sects. The leader of the Beggars Union is known as Master Seven. He is considered to be a powerful fighter in the same league as Master Wei and Master Ma.

After absorbing the shocking news everyone ran outside to the streets except for Wei Hong and Wei Gong, ordered by their father to stay at the tavern. Wei Hong ran to the doorway of the tavern trying to see what was happening outside. A dejected Wei Gong marched upstairs to his room and fell on his bed. He seemed to be indifferent to what was happening.

“I can’t believe Ma Zhu is falling for Kai!”, thought Wei Gong angrily.

Suddenly, a man covered in black crashed through the windows resulting in shards of glass being littered across the wooden floor. The man blasted through the window and landed right beside Wei Gong. Wei Gong who was siting on his bed jumped back in terror.

“Who are you?!”, asked a frightened Wei Gong.

“I am Snake, former member of the Assassins Guild. I have a proposition to make…”, replied the man in black.

“What do you mean?!”, inquired Wei Gong who was still terrified of the intruder.

“I know you pushed someone off the cliff at Wah Mountain. I saw it with my own eyes. For promising not to reveal your dirty secret, I want you to do me a favor…”, said Snake.

“You have no evidence!”, roared an angry Wei Gong.

“I uncovered the body at the bottom of the mountain… The body of the person you killed… Does Wah Vigor Palm mean anything to you?! Hahahahahaha!”, laughed Snake.

Wei Gong was paralyzed with fear. Never in a million years would he imagine that his dirty secret would come back to haunt him.

“What… What do you want me to do?”, asked Wei Gong fearfully.

“I’ve been spying on you. I know you hate Kai. He’s been trying to steal your women, Ma Zhu. I know how you feel… I’ve been there. What I ask of you benefits you and me! I want you to pour this poison I have in my hands into his food. Do it tonight for his dinner. Once you do that, you are off the hook!”, replied Snake.

Out on the streets a group of beggars from the Beggars Union surrounded a single female dressed in a white silk robe.

“Give us the antidote!”, demanded the beggars.

“No.”, replied the girl in white.

“Prepare for the Swarming Bamboo Stick technique!”, screamed the beggars.

The beggars grabbed their bamboo sticks and charged towards the girl, running at her from all angles. The girl circled her feet and spun around in a circle with her arms sticking out. As she spun, the powder from the poison sprinkled onto the incoming assailants. As the poison came into contact, the infected beggars fell to the ground screaming in agony.

“Hahahahahahahhaha…!”, laughed the girl in white. Her laughing voice was extremely high pitched.

Jade, Kai, Gon Ho, Fox, Master Wei, and Master Ma arrived at the scene observing what had transpired.

“Why are you poisoning them Ivory?”, inquired Jade.

“Shut up traitor! You don’t deserve to talk to me! I was sent here by my master to kill you and I will do just that!”, roared Ivory.

“But I’m your sister…”, replied Jade.

“I don’t care… You disobey master, you die!”, retorted Ivory.

“You fiend! You cannot escape! Give us the antidote and we will give you a quick, painless death. Otherwise…”, demanded Master Wei.

“Shut up old man! If you come into contact with my poison powder you will die within twenty-four hours! Don’t come near me! I covered my entire body with poison…”, warned Ivory.

“What do you want?”, asked Kai in a serious tone.

“So you must be the Jade swordsman. Oh my, I did not know you were this young and handsome… No wonder my sister ran off with you…”, laughed Ivory.

“What are your demands?”, asked Kai again.

“So have you slept with my sister yet? I hear she’s quite good in bed! Hahahahaha…”, mocked Ivory.

“Sister, give us the antidote. It’s wrong to poison innocent people…”, pleaded Jade.

“Since when did you become so kind-hearted? Did your companion change you?! If so, he did a pretty good job!”, laughed Ivory.

Suddenly, a black figure jumped from the rooftops and crash-landed beside Ivory sending specks of dust flying across the road.

“Snake!”, screamed Fox.

“Hello Fox… Nice to see you again… We once served on the same side… But since you are with them, we are now considered enemies!”, replied Snake.

“Hello love… Mission accomplished?”, asked Ivory as she kissed his neck.

“Mission accomplished. We can leave anytime.”, replied Snake with his arm around her waist.

Then instantly, Snake threw a smoke bomb that clouded the surrounding area. Out from the cloud of smokes, two daggers were launched. One dagger was aimed at Kai’s head while the other was aimed at his companion’s heart. Fox caught sight of the dagger flying at Jade. He quickly launched one of his small iron daggers into the thin air. His dagger came into contact with the other dagger and both fell to the ground, free from danger. Kai whirled his green sword, sending his incoming dagger thumping against the pavement.

“Thank you for saving Jade, Fox…”, said Kai.

“No problem. I owe you for sparing my life. Plus I was the one who kidnapped Jade. I owe her.”, replied Fox.

When the smoke diffused away, both Ivory and Snake were gone. The beggars were still on the ground, moaning in pain.

“How can we save them?”, asked Ma Zhu.

“I believe this is one of Ivory’s poison. The only way to save her is to get her antidote… There’s no other way…”, replied Master Ma.

“So we must find her then…”, remarked Gon Ho.

“Yes… And according to her, they only have twenty-four hours to live…”, remarked Jade.

Kai found a note lying on the ground next to the dagger he swatted down. Apparently the note was attached to the digger that was flying towards him.

“Hey, I found a note on the ground…”, announced Kai as he picked it up.

“What does it say?”, asked Master Wei.

Kai read the note aloud:
“If you want the antidote, meet me at the entrance of the Ivory Flower brothel tomorrow morning at nine. Kai and Jade, I want you both there. Signed by Ivory.”

“I suggest we go back to our tavern and ponder this over dinner…”, suggested Master Wei.

“And what about the poisoned beggars?”, asked Kai.

“Gon Ho will take care of that. Gon Ho, alert the other Beggars Union members and bring the poisoned to the local medical center.”, ordered Master Ma.

“Sister wants me there? What is she planning?”, thought Jade.

Back at the tavern, Wei Gong was alone in the kitchen holding a bottle of perfume. He poured the poisoned powder onto Kai’s usual meal at supper: minced beef with rice, green peas, and eggs. The powder was clear in color and nobody could notice that the rice was tainted with poison.

“This will do him in!”, laughed Wei Gong.

As the gang returned to the tavern, they found that their favorite dishes had already been placed on the table according to the pre-established seating arrangement. Wei Gong made no mistake that the poisoned dish was placed at Kai’s position on the table.

“Ah, I’m hungry! Oh look, my favorite dish!”, remarked Ma Zhu.

Jade was too preoccupied with her thoughts to worry about food. Everyone else sat at their seating position and began digging into their dishes. Wei Gong watched with delight as Kai swallowed his poisoned food.

<font size="1">[ June 04, 2003: Message edited by: Ganryu ]</font>

[jeh]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by Ganryu:
<STRONG>
“Hmmm… Interesting. Well you can use a poison I invented a year ago…”, said Jade who reached for her pockets and brought out a small perfume bottle. “This bottle contains my poison… I call it the Green Ivory poison… It makes the infected person lose his inner power and will kill him within twenty-four hours. It also causes tremendous pain in the process…”
</STRONG></font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Shouldn't this be Ivory instead of Jade? Well, just wanted to point that out. Anyway, oh no, what will happen to Kai? That stupid Wei Gong, stupid stupid! <IMG SRC="smilies/angrystick.gif" border="0">Update soon.

[Ghaleon]

jeh - haha thanks for pointing that out.. i got so confused about the two sisters.. i'll correct it now! Thanks!!!!!


****** Chapter 12: The Betrayal ******

It was the early morning, the sun shone brightly and a cool breeze filtered the morning air. The wind was blowing against the dust on the ground, creating a small faint vortex that engulfed the streets. The gang was preparing to leave for the Ivory Flower brothel, skipping breakfast due to the emergency. Ma Zhu stayed behind at the tavern to look after Wei Hong. She peeked out from the main doors of the tavern onto the streets. The local townsfolk were waking up and performing their daily morning duties. The street itself was still empty as the gang marched on toward the brothel.

Snake and Ivory were standing in front of the steps that lead to the main entrance of the brothel. The wind was blowing against Ivory’s long straight hair, which at times blocked her frontal vision. She was holding a knife against some girl’s neck, using her as hostage.

“Please, what do you want from me? I’m just a prostitute who works at this brothel… I have no money…”, pleaded the hostage.

“Shush…”, ordered Ivory.

“I have finished applying your poison to all my daggers. By the end of this encounter, they will all be poisoned!”, remarked Snake.

“Good! Oh look, they’re coming…”, warned Ivory.

Master Wei unsheathed his sword pointing it directly at Ivory, demanding for the antidote.

“Come any closer and she dies!”, snapped Ivory as she pressed her blade against the throat of the prostitute.

“No please don’t kill her!”, warned Kai.

“Snake my love, make your move!”, ordered Ivory.

Snake took a step back and then stretched out his two arms to face the gang. He then began launching countless daggers from his sleeves with remarkable speed. The poisoned daggers blistered through the morning air, specks of the lethal powder fell to the ground. Master Wei used his Cyclone Sword maneuver to whirl away the incoming daggers; his sword was spinning at all angles, swatting away the daggers. Master Ma was using a sword technique known as the Handsome Sword maneuver. It was one of the most elegant sword techniques, each move being graceful and conservative. Unlike most sword techniques, the Handsome Sword maneuver required the practitioner to use both hands on the sword. With both strong hands, Master Ma gave every ounce of strength to bat away the daggers, causing them to fly off to the empty spots on the streets.
As their weapons came into contact with the daggers, the poison powder managed to sprinkle on to their skins. Master Ma stole a glance at Kai, who was waving his green sword at the incoming daggers. A single stroke from his green sword took out as many as ten daggers sending them crashing to the ground. Only Kai was powerful enough to knock out the daggers before the powder came into contact with him. Seeing they were infected, Snake stopped launching his daggers and spoke aloud:
“I poisoned my daggers, now you are all poisoned!”

“Oh… I can feel my inner power being drained…”, complained Gon Ho.

“I feel it as well…”, replied Master Wei.

“You cheap fiend!”, screamed Master Ma.

“You promised me and my father will not be harmed!”, roared Wei Gong. He instantly regretted what he said.

“Damn!”, Wei Gong thought to himself.

Everyone glanced at Wei Gong with surprise and awe. Master Wei was burning with rage and curiosity.

“What?!”, Master Wei screamed at Wei Gong.

“Uh…”, replied Wei Gong nervously.

“Your son is a traitor!”, stormed Snake.

“What?!”, screamed Master Wei demanding an explanation.

“He put poison in Kai’s food!”, revealed Snake.

“You put poison in his food?!”, screamed Master Wei who was burning with rage.

“Uh…”, replied Wei Gong nervously. Wei Gong was paralyzed with fear; no words could come out of his mouth.

“Bastard son, why are you not talking?! How could you do this?!”, roared Master Wei.

“Because I blackmailed him…”, replied Snake calmly.

“Blackmail?”, inquired Master Ma curiously.

“It was me and Fox who attacked you at Wah Mountain during the past week…”, revealed Snake.

“Go on…”, Master Wei patiently waited for Snake to continue his revelation, trying to control his anger.

“When we escaped, I stayed behind to spy… I saw your son pushing a fellow member off the cliff!”, revealed Snake.

“So you lied to us?!! You said he fell off by accident because he was training too hard!”, roared Master Wei at his son.

“Uh…”, replied Wei Gong shamelessly as globs of sweat fell from his forehead. No words could come out no matter how hard he tried. It was impossible to get out of this situation. Everyone was staring at Wei Gong with disgust.

“And you call us evil… You guys are as evil… Killing your own members!”, snapped Ivory.

It was too much for Master Wei to bear. Too much shock. He fainted and fell onto the ground, a hard thump against the hard pavement on the road.

“Looks like the old man can’t take it!”, remarked Ivory with a grin.

Everyone except Kai and Jade were now lying on the ground, feeling the painful effects of the poison. Master Ma, Fox and Gon Ho were amazed that Kai was still standing without feeling any pain.

“Give us the antidote!”, demanded Kai.

“You are quite strong, Kai! Not even my poison can cause you pain! Look, all your friends are lying on the ground in pain… And here you are, standing still as if you weren’t poisoned…”, laughed Ivory.

“I am not poisoned…”, snapped Kai.

“What?!”, screamed Ivory in her high pitched voice. Ivory and Snake were breathless.

“Long ago, I learned an inner power technique from my master. It allows me to push the poison out of my system in a matter of minutes… I am sorry to disappoint you…”, replied Kai coldly.

“Sister, give up!”, pleaded Jade.

“Shut up!”, roared Ivory who was confused at the situation.

“Give us the antidote now, I don’t want to hurt you…”, warned Kai.

“Come any closer and she dies!”, warned Ivory who was still holding the prostitute hostage.

“Please save me!”, cried the prostitute.

“Don’t worry, I won’t allow any harm to come to you.”, replied Kai.

Snake glanced at his former comrade Fox and said to him:
“Fox, join our side. Ivory’s master is immensely powerful as leader of the Red Lunar cult. She can offer you protection against any enemies… Fox, there’s no point in helping them… I’m offering you to become our ally!”

“Snake, you know me. I am a truly loyal person. The reason I helped our master was because he saved me from the streets of poverty. Now I am loyal to Kai. He spared my life…”, replied Fox who was clearly in pain.

“So be it.”, replied Snake. “How about you, Wei Gong? If you join our side we will cure your poison… Otherwise you will die like the rest of them!”

“Uhh…”, replied Wei Gong.

“Your father knows your dirty deed. And Master Ma knows it as well. Soon everyone in the martial arts world will know it. You have no future with them… You have no choice but to join us…”, replied Snake.

“Save me then…”, pleaded Wei Gong in pain.

“You traitor! Coward!”, screamed Gon Ho.

Master Ma shook his head in shame. Ivory took out a pill and gave it to Snake who in turn handed it to Wei Gong. Wei Gong swallowed the pill, got up and stood beside Snake. He could feel the effects of the poison wearing off in his body. Kai stood still, feeling helpless. He could not attack Ivory or Snake because of the hostage.

“What do you want?!”, screamed Jade.

“Simple. I want you and Kai to die. I want his Jade sword. If I get my wishes, I will give everybody the antidote and release this hostage.”, replied Ivory glaring at her sister.

“Don’t kill Kai, kill me!”, screamed Jade helplessly.

“I can’t allow Jade to die… But I’m willing to exchange my life and sword instead if you give us the antidote and release the hostage…”, replied Kai.

“No you can’t do that!”, retorted Jade.

“Hmmm… Acceptable… I can always kill Jade another time. I never knew you were this honorable Kai…”, replied Ivory with a smile.

“Don’t give up your life to save us Kai… You are still young and have a bright future ahead of you!”, pleaded Master Ma who was rolling on the ground and moaning in pain.

“I can’t allow this to happen… You can’t take Kai from me…”, blurted Jade.

“And what can you do about it?”, mocked Ivory.

Ivory was right, Jade was as helpless as her companion Kai. Both Snake and Ivory controlled the situation, holding the upper hand. A sudden flash of insight stormed into Kai’s mind. Kai recalled that his master taught him an inner power technique that enabled him to use the force of the wind to knock down an opponent’s weapon.

“What if he could use that technique right now?”, thought Kai to himself.

With the morning breeze still strong, Kai thought that it was a good plan. Without hesitation, Kai unleashed the technique by circling his hands like a vortex. He circled his hands and listened to the sound of the wind. He kept circling them until he could match the rhythm of the wind. He then thrust his two palms out with every ounce of power. A powerful breeze emitted from his palms and stormed across the road. When it reached Ivory, it knocked the dagger out of her hand and pushed her back ten meters. Kai noticed a small white bottle falling from her pockets as she was knocked back. He stormed along the road, using his inner power to propel his dash. Like a quick coyote, he managed to pick up the small bottle from the ground before Snake could reach it. Kai threw the bottle towards Jade who caught it with her right hand.

“Give the antidote to everyone!”, ordered Kai.

Jade proceeded to deliver the pills to everyone who was infected with Ivory’s poison. Not wanting to do battle with Kai, both Ivory and Snake threw a smoke bomb and made their escape.

“Wei Gong, do what I just told you…”, whispered Snake to the ears of Wei Gong before the smoke bomb was thrown.

Kai turned around, faced his fellow comrades, and gave a huge sigh of relief. The prostitute was sitting on the steps, gasping at the incredible events that transpired. She was in her early twenties, wearing a robe that revealed lot of her skin.

“Thank you for saving me!”, said the prostitute.

“No problem…”, smiled Kai.

“My name is Violet. Nice to meet you…”, greeted the prostitute.

“I am Kai. Nice to meet you…”, greeted Kai.

Kai was exhausted from the fight; he dropped his green sword and walked towards his comrades.

“How are you feeling fellow comrades?”, asked Kai with concern.

“We’re feeling much better, the effects of the poison are wearing off. Thank you for saving us! Your martial arts are truly incredible!”, remarked Master Ma.

“This is the first time I saw you fight and I must say that I am quite impressed!”, replied Gon Ho with a smile.

“Your sword… It’s gone!”, alerted Jade.

At the far end of the road Kai could barely see a figure holding on to his green sword, casting a bright green glow from the sun that could be seen a quarter mile away.

“Wei Gong!”, said Kai.

“He’s running out of town and into the forest!”, warned Jade.

Wei Gong followed Snake’s instructions; he ran to the spot in the forest where they would rendezvous. The area was covered with rocks and trees, in the background was a beautiful waterfall. The waterfall was the source of water for the stream that encircled the area. Ivory and Snake sat on the rock, waiting for his arrival. When Wei Gong promptly arrived, they were relieved to see that the Jade sword was in his sweaty palms.

“Did anyone follow you?”, asked Snake.

“No, they were too busy giving everyone the antidote… So I can join your sect?”, asked a worried Wei Gong.

“Look!”, screamed Ivory.

Kai and Jade arrived at the scene, both glaring at Wei Gong.

“I want my sword back…”, demanded Kai.

“Father, save me!”, screamed Wei Gong.

Reacting from natural reflexes, both Kai and Jade turned around to locate his incoming father.

“I don’t see anyone!”, remarked Jade.

Before they could react, Wei Gong dashed towards Jade with amazing speed and placed the green sword against her soft pale neck. He used his left arm to grab her waist, preventing her from escaping.

“Kai!”, screamed Jade.

A startled Kai quickly turned around and discovered that Jade was now Wei Gong’s hostage.

“Let her go!”, ordered Kai.

“Don’t come any closer!”, demanded Wei Gong.

Snake and Ivory could see the distant figures of Kai’s comrades approaching them and decided it would be dangerous to stay any longer. They left Wei Gong stranded by himself with the hostage while they made their quiet escape. Wei Gong started to panic and drops of sweat trickled down his forehead. Seeing his allies abandon him and the rest of the gang approaching, he wanted to make his own escape. Holding Jade tight along the waist he quickly stepped backwards, going deeper into the forest and constantly ordering Kai to not step closer. He kept stepping back for ten minutes until he reached the edge of a cliff. Wei Gong looked from the side of his eyes down the rocky cliff and noticed he was standing one hundred meters from the dark valley below.

“There is nowhere to go. Give me back Jade and my sword.”, ordered Kai.

“No!”, screamed Wei Gong.

“As long as you apologize for your deeds, I am sure your father will eventually forgive you…”, said Kai trying to calm him down.

“I have no future anymore! I want to be a great hero like you but now it is too late!”, screamed Wei Gong with tears streaming down his cheeks.

“It doesn’t have to be his way…”, remarked Jade who could feel the cold blade against her throat.

“Don’t do it!”, screamed Master Wei.

The rest of the gang had just arrived at the cliff’s edge, watching in panic as Wei Gong held Jade hostage.

“Father, I have no future!”, screamed Wei Gong.

“Yes you do… Just drop down the sword and let her go…”, calmly replied Master Wei.

“I can’t… It’s all over for me!”, snapped Wei Gong as he turned to face Kai. “Kai, I envy you…. You are a great swordsman and you have a beautiful companion… It is not fair! I want to hurt you so bad! I am going to kill myself along with your companion! You will be sad your whole life! Hahahahahahaha! If I can’t be happy, then you can’t be happy!”, screamed Wei Gong.

“No!”, roared Kai. “I can’t allow you to do that!”

“Kai…”, said Jade softly. Tears were flowing down her cheek.

Seeing her tears made Kai burn with rage. Although Kai detested killing anyone, he was also deeply in love with Jade and was willing to save her life by killing Wei Gong. Without hesitation, Kai circled his hands in motion and matched the rhythm of the wind. He then launched a powerful breeze that caused Wei Gong to release Jade and the green sword. The wind was so powerful that it knocked Wei Gong off the cliff and into the dark valley of death below. Jade ran to Kai and gave him an embracing hug with tears of joy flowing down her cheeks like a waterfall.

“A pity…”, remarked Gon Ho.

“How did I raise such a bastard son?!”, cried Master Wei who was on his knees.

“Yes, a pity…”, remarked Master Ma with a sigh.


[Deep inside the dark pits]

“Am I dead yet?”

“Hahahaha…”

“Who’s there?”

“You are not dead yet…”

“Where am I?”

“In hell…”

<font size="1">[ June 04, 2003: Message edited by: Ganryu ]</font>

[TJ2468]

Wish you would have just killed Wei Gong off <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0"> . I mean he was such a loser and everything. I'm guessing the person in the pit is Demon Monk Tong huh. Sux he should have this kind of luck <IMG SRC="smilies/angrystick.gif" border="0"> . Keep up the good work. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[jeh]

Man, Wei Gong is not dead. That man will probably teach him martial arts. <IMG SRC="smilies/angrystick.gif" border="0"> Update soon.

[Ghaleon]

TJ, good insight hehe! <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
jeh, yeah i hate him too <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

thanks for reading guys...


******** Chapter 13: The Sword God *****

An old man with long pure white hair and beard was standing outside his small bamboo hut hidden somewhere in the dark woods. A young man in his early twenties stood beside him with short black hair and a goatee. Both of them were dressed in a bright white cotton robe with gold lining that dropped down to their brown shoes.

“Phoenix, what stance is the best stance?”, asked the old man.

“No stance.”, answered Phoenix.

“And why?”, asked the old man.

“The best way to use a sword, is to feel the sword… To be one with the sword… When you reach this state, you no longer need set stances…”, answered Phoenix.

“Good. Good.”, replied the old man.

A servant ran to the bamboo hut and alerted the old man that members of the Wu Tang and Omei sects requested audience with him.

“Who is here?”, asked the old man.

“The leader of both sects: Great Mother Orchid and your close friend Cheung Sam Fong. A handful of their students are also accompanying them…”, replied the servant.

“Lead them inside my hut…”, ordered the old man as he and Phoenix went back inside.

There were four members of the Wu Tang sect who arrived at the bamboo hut: Taoist Master Cheung, Senior Taoist Mao, and the Junior Taoists Bak Tang and Liu Fei. Great Mother Orchid, Senior Nun Tian, and Junior Nun Wang Shu represented the Omei sect.
The Wu Tang Taoists were wearing blue Taoist robes with white lining that reached down to their shoes. They were all equipped with a medium-length sword with a bright blue handle. The bareheaded nuns of the Omei sect were dressed in gray Buddhist robes, wore a flat gray cap on their heads, and were each carrying short-length sword. Mother Orchid was in her sixties, becoming the leader of Omei when her late master died thirty years ago. She was carrying a weapon that resembled giant paintbrush on her left hand. Mother Orchid was recognized as an elite fighter in the martial arts world. Her famous Radiant Brush technique had defeated countless foes and was nearly as famous as the Tai-Chi sword from Wu Tang. Master Cheung was an old man in his seventies that bore a remarkable resemblance to the old man of the hut. He was famous for his invention of the Tai-Chi kung-fu stance and the Tai-Chi sword technique. In terms of martial art abilities, he was a level higher than Mother Orchid and was considered one of the Seven Great Pillars of the martial arts world.

The Seven Great Pillars was a term invented by a scholar librarian ten years ago to describe the seven most powerful fighters in China and Tibet. The most powerful fighters according to the librarian were the following individuals: Great Abbot Song of Shaolin temple, Taoist Master Cheung of Wu Tang, Royal Eunich Tsang from the Imperial Kingdom of China, Tibetan Monk Kull from the Great Sun Pagoda, Blue King Cao of the evil Blue Lunar cult, the mysterious Ancient Turtle Sage, and Sword God Zu.

Master Cheung and Mother Orchid told their students to wait outside since the hut was not spacious enough to fit them all. The two went inside the hut and sat down at the table joining the old man and his student Phoenix.

“Care for some tea?”, asked the old man.

“Yes please… So how are you my good friend?”, replied Master Cheung.

Before his retirement from the martial arts world, the old man of the bamboo hut was known as the great Sword God Zu. At his peak, he was considered by many as the greatest swordsman of the entire generation. In his long satisfying life he has fought hundreds of battles and never lost a single fight. His most famous victory was the defeat of the Demon Emperor Tong of the Four Evil Lunar cults.

“I am good… Still enjoying my old life!”, laughed Master Zu.

“Greetings Master Zu… It’s been a long, long time…”, greeted Mother Orchid.

“Yes… Since the Tong incident… How have you been?”, asked Master Zu.

“I’ve been good… We came here on an urgent business…”, replied Mother Orchid.

“Yes… Abbot Song wishes you to come to the meeting at Shaolin temple few months from now… It is regarding something important that concerns the welfare of the entire martial arts world…”, said Master Cheung as he stroked his long white beard.

“You know that I have retired long ago…”, replied Master Zu.

“But this time it is important… We need your presence…”, pleaded Mother Orchid.

“I’m sorry but I have retired long ago… But I can send my student Phoenix to represent me. He is a bright and gifted swordsman… I place my full trust in him.”, replied Master Zu.

“Greetings, I am Phoenix Jin. It is a great pleasure to meet such famous people…”, greeted Phoenix as he gave a courteous nod to both guests.

“So Phoenix, how long have you been studying under your master?”, asked Master Cheung.

“For twenty years…”, answered Phoenix.

“He is a fast learner…”, remarked Master Zu.

“Unfortunately we cannot stay longer. We have other issues at hand… Our purpose of coming here was to send you the invitation letter to Shaolin temple… I guess we will see you at Shaolin temple Phoenix…”, said Master Cheung as he handed Phoenix the invitation letter.

“It is a pleasure meeting you Phoenix… Farewell Master Zu…”, said Mother Orchid.

“Farewell good friend… When I have free time I will join you for some tea…”, said Master Cheung.

“Take care…”, said Master Cheung as the two guests made their way out of the bamboo hut.

“Master, what is the Tong incident?”, asked Phoenix curiously.

“It happened before you were born. It was the final battle I fought before I retired… My opponent was known as the Demon Emperor Tong…”, replied Master Zu.

“Demon Emperor? Who is he?”, wondered Phoenix.

“Do you care to hear his entire story? I will combine bits and pieces from various sources so you can get a complete picture…”, suggested Master Zu.

“Yes master, I am always interested in your stories…”, replied Phoenix with a smile.

Master Zu sat back on his chair, sipped his herbal tea and began telling the tale:

“Tong was formerly a librarian monk from Shaolin temple who was in charge of maintaining the great library. One day while sweeping the dust on the dirty floor, he stumbled onto a loose tile on the ground. Motivated by his curiosity, he removed the tile to uncover a secret martial arts manual. The title of the book read “The Black-hole stance”. Every night he would secretly hide in the back of the library to practice the techniques from the manual. He eventually learned that one of the techniques in the manual allowed him to extend his life by two hundred years. As he learned the secret arts of the book, he started to feel like an immortal and gradually became more power hungry. Those greedy thoughts corrupted his mind and eventually drove him over the edge. He would become annoyingly rude to his fellow monks and even start fights with them. It became worse as the days progressed. Eventually the abbot could not handle it and expelled him from the temple for good. With no place to go, Tong retired to the woods and practiced his secret martial arts until he became insanely powerful. He had tremendous inner power; no one in the entire martial arts world could compete in this category. He could also release highly dense energy projectiles towards multiple opponents that obliterated them upon impact. With his invincible martial arts, he now had plans to rule the entire martial arts world. Since he was a cast out from Shaolin temple, nobody from the seven traditional schools of martial arts would accept him. So he decided to align himself with the Evil Lunar cult. There were four main cults within the Evil Lunar cult: the Blue Lunar cult, Yellow Lunar cult, Green Lunar cult, and the Red Lunar cult. Each of the four cults were ruled by its own king or queen much like how each of the seven traditional schools of martial arts are ruled by their own master. Periodically, the four cults would choose a leader that would rule all the cults and be crowned the ‘Demon Emperor’. The process for choosing the leader was simple: the most powerful individual in martial arts is automatically considered the leader. Martial art tournaments were held to see who would become the Demon Emperor. It was during one of these tournaments that Tong made an appearance. Being highly confident of his abilities, Tong proposed to take on all four cult-leaders at once. If he won, he would be elected the Demon Emperor with no questions asked. The four leaders agreed to his proposal and the fight began. As the fight wore on, the four leaders noticed that individually they could not match up to Tong. As a result, they agreed to combine their powers and to take on Tong as a team. Combing their inner power together, they unleashed a powerful ball of energy and aimed it towards Tong. To counteract it, Tong launched his own projectile that ripped apart the ball of energy and knocked the four cult-leaders onto the ground. Acknowledging their defeat, Tong was pronounced as the great Demon Emperor of the Four Evil Lunar cults. As soon as he gained command, he led his army of darkness against the seven traditional schools of martial arts. There was great bloodshed, thousands of lives lost on both sides. But it was the traditional schools of martial arts that suffered more casualties. The demon cult was slowly winning the war and it was only a matter of time before they would conquer the entire martial arts world. Around this point in time, Master Cheung begged me to help them in their losing efforts against the demon cult. He had great confidence in my abilities since I was considered the best swordsman in the world at that time. I agreed to help them and I hatched up a plan. I knew that without Tong, the demon cult would roughly equal in power to the seven traditional schools of martial arts. It was Tong’s martial art abilities that put the demon cult over the edge. So I sent a letter to Tong issuing a one-on-one duel. Greatly confident in his abilities and eager to face the greatest swordsman at that time, the Demon Emperor accepted the duel and we fought on the clear plains near the town of Chengdoi. In the beginning of the fight I was actually losing. My sword could not get within a meter of his body because of his energy projectiles. I could not find a counteract move and I felt my inner power was being drained every time the projectile hit my body. But the more he launched his projectiles, I found a weakness in his technique. Apparently, he could not launch a projectile anytime he chose. There was at least a ten seconds gap before he could launch another. My mistake in the beginning was to take the defensive, it allowed him time to recharge his energy. The reason why I did not charge him earlier was that I thought he could unleash endless amounts of projectiles with zero reload time. Acknowledging this weakness, I formed a plan in my head and started to execute it. When Tong released another projectile, I jumped high into the air to completely dodge it. Then on my way down from the sky, I charged down with my sword stuck out aimed at his ribs. Years later, I would name this move the ‘Heavenly Dive’ sword maneuver. This maneuver was extremely fast; Tong did not even have a chance to blink his eye. As my feet landed on the ground I found my sword dug deep into his ribs, blood gushing out from his wound. Before I had a chance to pull out my sword, Tong gathered his entire inner power and hit me hard on the chest with his palm. He had unleashed the “Black-hole Palm” maneuver he learned from his secret manual. Fortunately for me, he had not mastered the kung-fu technique and had little experience using it. The force of the impact from the Black-hole Palm maneuver was so powerful that Tong could not control it. The impact sent us both flying in opposite directions. I flew backwards and hit my back against a tree, nearly crushing all my bones. And by some great intervention from the heavens above, Tong flew backwards and fell off the cliff and into his doom. And that is the end of the story. I always wondered if the outcome would be different had we not been fighting near the cliffs. By the way, it took me a whole three months to recover from my back and chest injuries.“

“That was an incredible story!”, remarked Phoenix.

“Yes… I guarantee you will have a similar story in your future… The martial arts world is unpredictable… Always expect the unexpected…”, remarked Master Zu with a grin.

<font size="1">[ June 13, 2003: Message edited by: Ganryu ]</font>

[Ghaleon]

**** Chapter 14: The Demon Cult ******

The summer breeze was blowing hard against the sand threatening an emergence of a sandstorm. Sand particles were carried by the wind, drifting across the hills of the desert. The scorching sun was heating up the desert like a furnace. Snake and Ivory were dressed in white with their faces covered as they traveled across the desert riding a camel. The sandy wind made it difficult for them to reach their destination. They were heading to the meeting grounds of the four demon cults known as “The Great Cavern under the Stars”. The underground cavern was located in the center of the desert hidden and buried beneath the burning sands. Both Ivory and her sister Jade came from the Red Lunar cult, one of the four demon cults. Lilith was the leader of the cult and had raised both Jade and Ivory from childhood. She taught them the ways of the seductress, to control the desires of men to their advantage. She also taught them the Spider Absorbing stance which allowed them to drain the inner powers of their victims. Two days ago she sent a letter to Ivory, asking her to bring Snake and to come to the underground cavern. Apparently the leader of the Blue Lunar cult called everyone to meet at the cavern to discuss something important. All the prominent members including the four cult leaders had already arrived, Ivory was the last member to get there.


The underground cavern was enormous; it was the size of an entire town and one hundred feet in height. There were no openings or windows to the surface so the dark cavern was lit using thousands of candles scattered throughout the walls. At the center of the cavern stood a small raised platform that housed four chairs made of gold. The four golden seats were reserved for the four cult leaders. Three meters behind the four golden chairs stood a larger chair made of jade at a slightly higher elevation. The jade chair once belonged to the previous Demon Emperor. At the entrance of the cavern two members were using drumsticks to beat against two huge drums, playing the theme of the demon cult. Ten completely naked female vixens were dancing exotically to the beats of the drum. Snake was eyeing those naked girls with lust. One of the girls caught hold of his glare and gave him an exotic warm smile, revealing two long pointy front teeth hanging down from inside her lips.

“Watch out for those girls, they are blood-sucking vampires…”, whispered Ivory.

“Yikes!”, replied Snake as shivered with fear.

The four cult leaders were walking towards the center platform with their followers right behind. A thick red carpet imported from Persia stretched from the entrance of the cavern to the center platform. Only the cult leaders were permitted to walk on the red carpet. In total there were roughly five hundred members of the demon cult that attended the meeting at the cavern. Ivory, Rose, and their master Lilith represented the Red Lunar cult and were the core members of their organization. Lilith was a woman in her forties with long black hair wearing a red dress that showed parts of her legs, shoulders, and cleavage. She walked along the Persian carpet like an aristocrat. Snake and Ivory stood along the side amongst the crowd watching the four cult-leaders walk along the red carpet. The leader of the Blue Lunar cult was known as the Blue King Cao. He was an arrogant, heavy man in his sixties with long golden hair and a distinguished gold beard. He was dressed in a rich blue metallic armor and wore a silver crown on his head. The Dragon King Miao was the leader of the Green Lunar cult. He was a heavy man in his late fifties with short black hair and a beard. He was equipped with a green metallic armor adorned with pictures of fairies and dragons and wore a green crown on his head. Behind the Dragon King, Snake and Ivory noticed four men transporting a carriage with someone hidden inside.

“Who’s in there?”, Snake asked Ivory in awe.

“The mysterious leaders of the Yellow Lunar cult. No one has ever seen those two leaders… Rumors say that they are brothers…”, replied Ivory.

Unlike the other cults, two individuals ruled the Yellow Lunar cult and were known by the fellow demon cult members as “The Twin Kings”. Although the leaders of the cult were comprised of two individuals, people considered them as one single being. The physical appearance of those two individuals remains a mystery to everyone. Due to their need to cover their appearance, the Twin Kings remained in their carriage as the other leaders ascended the platform using a ladder and sat on the golden seats. The five hundred followers started to get down on their knees and worship the leaders high up on the golden seats.

“We worship you, our Demon Lords…”, chanted the followers.

Ivory motioned Snake to follow suit.

“We worship you, our Demon Lords…”, Ivory and Snake mimicked the other members in their worship.

“Alright, get up!”, ordered the Blue King. His voice was loud; everyone in the cavern could hear it clearly. His voice was so powerful that it was almost hypnotic. After his order, all five hundred followers got up instantly and stood silently still.

“I have set up this meeting to discuss something important…”, announced the Blue King.

“What is so important that you have to call all of us here?, asked the Dragon King.

“As some of you know, the traditional schools of martial arts are strengthening their power. They are rapidly recruiting more members and setting up more locations…”, began the Blue King.

“Yes we all know that…”, remarked Lilith.

“But from my own sources, I know that they will soon get their hands on the legendary Siva Sutra! Which is being transported by a powerful Tibetan monk who will bring it to Shaolin temple…”, announced the Blue King.

Everyone was stunned in shock. Murmurs of whispers were heard throughout the cavern.

“Silence!”, ordered the Blue King as he motioned the crowd to quiet down.

“As some of you know, the legendary Siva Sutra originated from India one thousand years ago. Some people even claim that the Buddha wrote it himself. It is widely believed that the sutra contains invincible techniques that can take down any opponent. Needless to say, whoever gets their hands on this sutra will become invincible. We cannot allow them to learn the techniques in this manual!”, announced the Blue King.

Ivory and Snake looked at each other in amazement.

“The Siva Sutra… I thought it only existed in legends… I did not know it was real…”, whispered Snake.

“Yes… It is real… Whoever gets their hands on it will rule the world…”, whispered Ivory.

The Blue King got up from his golden seat, stretching out his arms and legs.

“So what do you propose?”, said a voice from the carriage. It was one of the Twin Kings hiding inside.

Sitting back down on his golden seat, the Blue King replied:
“I believe we should all march towards Shaolin and steal the box for ourselves!”

“I agree!”, remarked Lilith.

The crowd started chanting over and over again:
“Down with Shaolin!”

“Silence!”, ordered the Dragon King as he motioned the crowd to be silent.

He turned sideways to face the Blue King and asked:
“And how do we go about doing this?”

“We need to be more organized...”, remarked Lilith.

“Exactly! So I suggest we elect a new Demon Emperor to lead us all in the march towards Shaolin!”, suggested the Blue King who was full of energy.

“I knew this was his plan all along…”, thought the Dragon King to himself.

“I say we start the tournaments next week to elect a new Demon Emperor! We have not been united since decades ago. As a result, we have been disorganized and our enemies are rapidly becoming more powerful. We must be reunited! Elect a new Demon Emperor to reunite us all!”, demanded the Blue King.

“I accept this plan…”, said a voice from the carriage.

“I accept as well… We must be reunited again! And what are your thoughts Dragon King Miao?”, asked Lilith.

“I accept…”, responded the Dragon King as he glared at the leader of the Blue Lunar cult.

“So it is decided… We will host the tournament in this cavern seven days from now! The meeting is over for today!”, announced the Blue King.

The five hundred followers started to get down on their knees again and began their usual chanting as the four cult leaders slowly walked out of the cavern along the carpet.

“Shall we go see your master now?”, asked Snake.

“Yes. Follow me.”, ordered Ivory.

Outside of the cavern entrance stood countless tents on the sand which housed the members of the cult whenever they visited the cavern. Ivory led Snake to one of the tents, occupied by her master Lilith.

“Master, I have brought the assassin Snake…”, announced Ivory.

“Greetings Master Lilith…”, greeted Snake with a courteous nod.

“Master, we apologize that we could not get the Jade sword…”, said Ivory.

“Don’t worry about it. You two had a good plan… it was impossible to know that the Jade swordsman would be immune to poison… So Snake, you pledge your loyalty to me?”, asked Lilith.

“Yes master, I am yours to command… My assassin skills should prove most useful…”, replied Snake.

“Good. I have a task for you two. As you know, the election for the Demon Emperor is being held next week. I have to increase my inner powers exponentially if I am to have a chance at defeating the Blue King or the Dragon King…. I want you two to bring me some inner power… Seduce some locals, steal their inner force, and then kill them… Then transfer the power to me so that I can become more powerful… Snake, I will teach you this inner power draining technique known as the Spider Absorbing stance so that you can drain their power. It should take you a full day to master this technique if you are capable… And I’ll assume that you are capable enough… Don’t disappoint me…”, ordered Lilith.

“Yes master. Teach me the skill and I will learn it quickly…”, replied Snake.

“And what about Jade, master?”, asked Ivory.

“We will kill that infidel along with her companion after I become the Demon Empress!”, replied her master.

[jeh]

Great updates, I'm looking forward to this tournament. I wonder who will win. The Twin Kings, hmm, very mysterious. I'm sure there is some secrets behind them. Maybe they will win. Update soon.

[TJ2468]

It'll be funny if Snake had to seduce a female dress the way he is to use that Spider Absorbing stance. <IMG SRC="smilies/rofl.gif" border="0">

[Danielle Lin]

Interesting, update soon <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> I like how Jade, and Kai paired up. They really match, they make a cute couple!

[CrazyT]

Very interesting story Ganryu. I'll be sure to keep track of it...

There's a small complaint I have though. Nothing major really. But the dialogues that you use doesn't really fit into the whole ancient theme. If it weren't for the fact that they are carrying around swords, I would think these people were from the 21st century from the way they talk. Kinda destroy the whole Wuxia atmosphere.

Anywho, again..great story. Can't wait for the next chapter.