Yuan Yang Sabres - 鴛鴦刀

[Losshe]

Hi guys,

This is my first time translating a novel. I chose this story because it's a short Jin Yong novel that I've always liked, and also because I couldn't find a good version of it as of last year when I first started this project. It's a funny and light-toned story. Hope you like it.

The live reading of this version can be found onhttps://www.youtube.com/@Readfamy
The editing was done after the live reading so there will be small changes in the text.

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Yuan Yang Sabres


(Translator’s note: Yuan Yang, also known as mandarin ducks, are Chinese love birds that always travel in pairs. The male is called Yuan, and the female Yang.)


Author: Jin Yong
Translator: Losshe
Editor: Linfamy


Chapter I


Four men dressed in martial outfits stood side by side, blocking the road!


If they were from a gang of bandits, there would not be only four of them. Perhaps they have an ambush hidden in this dark and gloomy pine forest? If they were regular bandits, they'd be avoiding such a big troop of escorts at all cost. How would they dare to block the way haughtily in broad daylight? Or could it be that they're master martial artists, and they’re after me?


Looking at the four people: farthest to the left was a compactly built man with a pointy chin, holding a pair of steel e’mei stings. The second man was tall and fat, looking like an iron tower planted on the ground. In front of him was an enormous stone stele, engraved on it were the words “Late Father Chengben From the Tomb of the Huang Household.” It was obviously a tombstone, but why put it in front of him? Huang Chengben? Never heard of an elder master in the martial world with this name! The third one was an average built man with light skin. He would have been a rather handsome fellow if it wasn’t for his slightly protruding teeth and a nose that was a tad too flat. He held a pair of meteor hammers. At the rightmost was a sickly looking middle aged man. He was dressed in shabby clothes and had a pipe in his mouth. Slowly blowing out the smoke with his eyes half closed, he didn't seem to take this group of seventy escorts seriously at all.


Those three aside, this sickly man must be a strong opponent with great inner energy. At this very moment, many tales he had heard in the martial world appeared in his head: a white haired granny who killed five escorts with her bare hands and stole the treasures; an old beggar who caused trouble in Tai Yuan's court, disappearing after beheading the magistrate; a pretty young lady who beat master Zhang of Datong house whose martial skills had been well known in the Northern Jin region for over twenty years... The more ordinary and carefree they look, the stronger they may be. As the saying in the martial world goes: the real ones don’t show, the ones who show aren’t real.


Looking at the sickly man smoking with his eye closed, the chief escort of the Prestige-Integrity Escort House of Shanxi, Xi'an, “The Iron Whips That Frighten The Eight Directions” Zhou Weixin hesitated, and instinctively touched the bundle on his back.


They were escorting a total of one hundred thousand taels of silver, entrusted by Xi'an's big salt merchant Wang Derong. One hundred thousand taels of silver wasn't a small number indeed, but the Prestige-Integrity Escort House had escorted two hundred thousand taels of silver before, and even four hundred thousand. Gold or silver weren't a big deal, but ever since he had left Xi'an, his mind had only been on the two sabres he secretly carried on his back and the words he had heard in the house of Chuan-Shan Governor-General that night.


The one who had spoken to him was the Chuan-Shan Governor-General Liu Yuyi. Although Zhou Weixin was well known in the martial world, the biggest government official he had met up till then was the magistrate. This time he was received by the Governor-General himself. Naturally he would be overwhelmed, trembling, and fidgeting.


Those words from General Liu had been on repeat in his head for God knows how many hundred times.


“Chief Zhou, this pair of sabres is called the Yuan Yang Sabres. They are nontrivial. Be careful with them. When His Majesty was still a prince, he had already sent out trusted agents to look for them. After he succeeded the throne, he had announced a secret decree for all the governors of the eighteen provinces to search for them. When he had finally seized the owner of the Yuan Yang Sabres, the cunning scoundrel had already hidden them elsewhere. No matter how much we investigated, it was of no avail. Thank God my ancestors had accumulated great karma, and thanks to the fortune of His Majesty, I have finally found them. Hehe, your Prestige-Integrity Escort House seems reliable, so now I'm entrusting you to escort these sabres to the capital, and not a word should be let out on your way. After you get them to Beijing safely, you will receive a substantial reward.”


He had heard about the famous Yuan Yang Sabres long ago from his master: “The Yuan Yang Sabres, one is long and one is short. A big secret hides within them. The one who knows it will become invincible.”


The word “invincible” had always been the biggest dream of every martial person. When Zhou Weixin had heard this, he didn't think much of it. He thought that it was probably just some urban legend. How could sabres contain a secret that made people invincible? Who would have thought that one day, General Liu would really obtain the Yuan Yang Sabres, and furthermore, entrust him to bring them to the capital and offer them to His Majesty the Emperor?


The pair of sabres were wrapped tightly in layers of yellow cloth and sealed with the general's wax stamp. Obviously, he desperately wanted to have a peek at the precious sabres. And if he had the chance to learn the secret within them, “The Iron Whips That Frighten The Eight Directions” would become “The Invincible Iron Whips.” That would be great indeed, but who would dare to open the general's seal? No matter how many times he counted, the Great Chief Zhou only had one head.


The Governor-General sent out four of his trusted guards disguised as escorts to follow him. You could say they were there to assist, or you could say they were keeping an eye on him.


A day before the departure, the Governor-General sent out yet another few bodyguards to “invite” all of his twelve family members to the barracks of the garrison, saying that they were concerned that Chief Zhou might worry about having no one to look after his family while he was away and therefore took them in.


From the years Zhou Weixin had been in the martial world, how could he not know the meaning behind it? They weren't concerned about his family, but rather it was General Liu's concern over these sabres. Therefore they took both his elderly parents, wife, concubines and children as hostage. God forbid anything should happen to these Yuan Yang Sabres along the way, his head would have inevitably separated from his body and his whole family would have been killed.


He had been through quite a bit of ups and downs in his life, through glory as well as immense dangers. He had been a hero as well as a coward, he had cut off other people's heads, and the only thing he hadn't experienced was to have his own head cut off. You could say that he was a well experienced martial person, but he had never been this astounded, delighted, yet anxious.


If he could escort the sabres into the capital safe and sound, not only would General Liu surely keep his promise of a substantial reward like a true gentleman, perhaps even His Majesty would be so delighted that he would be granted a title or a position in the court. Then he would bring honor to his family and ancestors, and Chief Zhou would become General Zhou and Master Zhou.


The way from Xi'an to Beijing wasn't very long, but it wasn't short either, as there were still at least thirty to forty mountains and bandit strongholds. Any regular gang wouldn't have concerned “The Iron Whips That Frighten The Eight Directions.” Even if he couldn't frighten all eight directions, he could still manage one or two. But how many elite martial artists would chase after the words “The one who obtains the Yuan Yang Sabres will be invincible”? Therefore he used the silver of the salt merchant as a decoy for the hidden sabres. This way, should anything happen to the silver, as long as the precious sabres arrived at the capital, he would still be fine. When he becomes an official, General Zhou would sit in the office and money would pour right in. What would a hundred thousand taels of silver be to him? Besides, a general only asks for silver, who would dare to make him pay it back?


Zhou Weixin pressed the iron whip on his waist with his left hand, stared at the four men in front of him, and finally forced out a cough.


He cupped his fist. “My humble self is passing by your honorable territory and forgot to pay respect to my dear friends. It was very discourteous of me. May I ask for your forgiveness.”


“It would be best not to fight at all,” he had decided in his mind. “Or that walking corpse could be a tough opponent! As the saying in the martial world goes: recklessness may cripple you, but caution will let you walk freely.” As he thought to himself, the sickly man put his left hand on his chest and coughed.


The short skinny man waved his e’mei stings and said in an effeminate voice, “No need to kowtow and pay respect. Whatever precious items you're escorting, leave them to us!”


Zhou Weixin was startled.


“When we departed,” he thought, “even my most trusted escorts believed that we were escorting silver. How does this person know that I'm really escorting precious items? As the saying in the martial world goes: the one who is coming surely has bad intentions, the one who has good intentions wouldn’t come. I should be careful.”


“Please pardon my ignorance,” he said, cupping his fist again. “May I ask your respectable names?”


“Say yours first,” said the skinny man.


“My humble name is Zhou Weixin. ‘The Iron Whips That Frighten The Eight Directions’ is the nickname that the friends in the martial world gave me.”


“Hehe, what a nickname,” the sickly man sneered. “But the word ‘frighten’ needs to be changed. It should be changed to ‘bow to.’”


The skinny man said, “Change to ‘bow to’?” then he paused for a second and continued. “Right, Zhou, my big brother just changed your nickname to ‘The Iron Whips That Bow To The Eight Directions’! My big brother foretells like a prophet and is always sensible!”


As he finished the sentence, the four men all roared with laughter.


“There’s a saying in the martial world,” Zhou Weixin thought to himself. “Hold your anger for a moment, and you might spare a hundred days of calamities.”


“Please excuse my rudeness!” He said, forcefully suppressing his anger, “Where do the four of you come from? Which mountain is your territory? And who's your chief?”


“Alright, I'll tell you then, but be careful don't get scared,” said the skinny man, then pointed at the sickly man. “Our big brother is named ‘Smoky Cloud Divine Dragon’ Xiao Yao Zi; second brother is ‘Stele Cleaving Duo Palms’ Chang Changfeng; third brother is ‘Meteor Chasing The Moon’ Hua Jianying; and my humble self is ‘Catching Toad Within Eight Steps,’ ‘Surpassing Zhuan Zhu,’[1] ‘Walking On Snow Without a Trace,’ ‘One Foot Flying Over Water,’ ‘Double Stings That Transcend Seven Provinces’ Gai Yiming!”


The more Zhou Weixin listened, the more he was dumbfounded.


He thought, “How could this person have such long and wordy nicknames!”


“We are sworn brothers who do good deeds,” the skinny man continued. “We fight the strong and help the weak, steal from the rich to aid the poor. People in the martial world call us ‘The Four Heroes of Taiyue’!” [2]


“From their nicknames,” thought Zhou Weixin. “It sounds like this skinny guy excels in lightness martial arts. That big guy must have a lot of strength in his palm attacks. The white faced guy is a master in meteor hammers, and that ‘Smoky Cloud Divine Dragon’ Xiao Yao Zi, must be an elder master martial artist who lives a secluded life. I've never heard the name of ‘The Four Heroes of Taiyue,’ but since they're called ‘heroes,’ they must not be trivial. As the saying in the martial world goes: rather not recognize words, shouldn't dismiss people.”


“I have long admired your names!” he then cupped his fist. “Our escort house has never had any enmity with you four heroes. Please let us pass and we'll come and pay respect another time.”


“If you want us to let you pass, it's easy,” said Gai Yiming, making a clashing sound with his double stings. “We don't want your silver. Just lend us one or two treasures, that’ll be enough.”


“What treasure?” Zhou Weixin asked.


“Hehe, you're asking me?” said Gai Yiming, “Well, that's funny. How would I know if you don't know it yourself?”


Hearing this, Zhou Weixin knew that they would not let him off easily. These Four Heroes of Taiyue were obviously after the Yuan Yang Sabres.


“As the saying in the martial world goes,” he thought. “Have mercy and there’s no fight, and when you fight there's no mercy. When they move, it will surely be deadly.”


He slowly pulled out his two whips.


“If that’s the case, I shall witness the superb skills of the Four Heroes of Taiyue. Which one of you will go first?”


He turned his head and waved his hand. Five escorts and the four guards from the general's office approached him.


“We don't have to follow the rules of chivalry with these bandits,” Zhou Weixin said in a low voice. “Let's all strike at once. There’s a saying in the martial world: with enough hands, even buildings can be carried across a river.”


What he was really thinking was, “Let them fight the four heroes, and I'll flee. The most important thing is to bring the sabres to the capital. As the saying in the martial world goes: in good times we fight together, but in times of crisis, we each go our own ways.”


“Chief,” said Gai Yiming, moving towards Zhou Weixin. “My two stings that transcend seven provinces will take on your iron whips that frighten the eight directions. Let’s fight for a good seven or eight rounds!”


Zhou Weixin did not get off the horse. He raised his iron whip, using the move “Stealing Spear In The Peach Garden” to block the e’mei sting. He then tightened his thighs on the horse and dashed out.


“Shoot! The big chief wants to run away!” Gai Yiming shouted.


“I'm going to check if they have an ambush outside the forest!” Zhou Weixin turned his head and yelled, while letting his horse gallop away.


Hua Jianying threw the meteor hammers towards his back. Zhou Weixin waved his left whip without turning around, using the move “Breaking Into Three Enemy's Camps At Night,” with a “Dang” sound, it swung the meteor hammers back.


As soon as he clashed weapons with Hua and Gai, he felt that their moves weren't extraordinary, and their inner energy was also mediocre. Turning his head, he saw Xiao Yao Zi still holding his pipe leaning against the tree, and looking expressionlessly at the three heroes of Taiyue being surrounded by the troop of escorts.


“If I hesitate a bit and let that guy make a move,” Zhou Weixin was startled and thought to himself, “Then I wouldn't be able to escape at all. Like the saying in the martial world: the rain will fall on your head if you don't leave while it's sunny.” He turned his hand to give a little stab on the horse butt with his whip. The mount started bolting madly.


He glanced at Xiao Yao Zi, and suddenly saw that he waved his right hand while shouting: “Eat my dart!” Hearing the wind beside his body, a dark projectile had gotten near. Zhou Weixin raised his whip to block it. With a “Paf” sound, the projectile stuck to the whip, and didn't fly off.


“This Xiao Yao Zi really is a master martial artist.” He was even more startled. “Even his projectile is unlike others. As the saying in the martial world goes: when an expert shows his hand, you know right away.” His mount didn't slow down a bit, and carried him outside the forest.


Zhou Weixin saw that nobody chased after him, took a breath, and looked at the projectile that was glued to his whip. It turned out to be a tattered muddy shoe. The mud was sticky, hence why it didn't fall off the whip.


“High level martial masters can hurt people even with flower petals and leaves.” He was even more taken aback. “He didn't take my life with this old shoe, he must have had mercy on me.” For a moment he was unsure whether to keep running or wait and see what was coming.


Suddenly he heard from the forest someone shrieking like a dying pig, then followed by complete silence. Not even sounds of weapons clashing could be heard again.


“Could it be that all the escorts and the four guards got taken down by the Four Heroes of Taiyue instantly?” Zhou Weixin thought, even more stunned and confused.


Suddenly he heard someone shouting.


“Chief! Chief!” it was Escort Zhang's voice. Zhou Weixin touched the bundle on his back but didn't answer.


He thought, “There's a saying in the martial world: listening brings wisdom, and distance makes you see clearly.”


“Chief--- come back! The bandits have left! We chased them away!” a short while after, someone shouted again.


“How could it be so easy?” Thought Zhou Weixin, slightly taken aback.


He pulled on the reins to turn the horse around and saw an escort running out of the forest.


“Chief! The attackers left.” The man shouted happily. “They were lame, couldn't even stand a blow.”


“For real?” Zhou Weixin said, thrilled and surprised.


“We fought them head on, together,” said the escort. “That sickly man got hit on the shoulder by escort Zhang's sabre, and the four of them ran away.”


Seeing that he didn’t seem to be lying, Zhou Weixin was absolutely delighted. He urged the horse to go back into the forest.


“There were a dozen enemies in ambush outside the forest,” he said. “I fought them and they all fled.”


He couldn't help but blush a little as he lied.


“There's a saying in the martial world: a thief feels guilty, the one who farted will blush,” he thought. “I have to compose myself, and not let them notice anything unusual.”


“Four Heroes of Taiyue? Bullshit!” said Escort Zhang proudly, waving his sabre.


The group of escorts and guards laughed loudly. Zhou Weixin looked at the upright tombstone on the ground, still confused.


“Aye! Ouch!” They heard a few grunts from the back of the forest.


“It's the injured enemy!” Said Zhou Weixin.


The crowd ran over like a gust of wind. The grunts came from a bush of thorns. A dozen people scattered and surrounded the bush.


“Little thief! Get out at once!” shouted Zhou Weixin, but the grunting got even louder.


Zhou Weixin lifted his arm, and with a “Whoosh” sound, a hand arrow shot into the bush.


“Ah--!” the person inside screamed, obviously wounded.


“Got him! Chief's got amazing aim!” two escorts cheered.


They got into the bush carrying their sabres and brought the person out. Upon seeing the man, everyone looked at each other and fell silent.


That man turned out to be the fat salt merchant Wang who entrusted them with the silver. His clothes had been torn by the thorns. There was a saying in the martial world: “Out of ten fat men, nine are rich, and the last doesn't have a butt.” [3] Not only did this fat salt merchant Wang have a butt, it even had a hand arrow on it!


* * *


The Four Heroes of Taiyue hid inside the woods, and only came out when they saw the people of the Prestige-Integrity Escort House were far away. Hua Jianying tore a piece of cloth from his shirt to wrap the wound on Xiao Yao Zi's shoulder.


“Big Brother, are you alright?” asked Chang Changfeng.


“It's alright! It's alright!” answered Xiao Yao Zi. “When greatly outnumbered, even heroes can't win. It's not a big deal.”


“I've told you that there's a lot of them,” said Hua Jianying. “And it wouldn't be an easy fight, but Second Brother still insisted, causing Big Brother to get hurt.”


“These people are thick headed,” said Gai Yiming. “They didn't back off even after hearing the reputable name of the Four Heroes of Taiyue. What could we do?”


“You can't blame it on Second Brother,” said Xiao Yao Zi. “We had to go after the escort houses if we wanted to get treasures.”


“What should we do now?” asked Chang Changfeng. “We can't go there empty handed.”


“I think...” suggested Gai Yiming, but before he could continue, sounds of footsteps suddenly arose outside the forest. Someone was running at great speed from south to north, towards them.


Gai Yiming turned his head to look in their direction. His downward brows raised.


“There are two people coming!” He said. “This time we'll take care of them two on one, betcha these two fat sheep won't get away!”


“That's right!” Chang Changfeng agreed. “Gotta get at least a few dozen taels of silver!” He lifted the tombstone off the ground, carrying it in his hands.


His nickname was “Stele Splitting Duo Palms,” because he used tombstones as his weapon. Using his brute strength, he would throw the big stone stele at his opponent’s head, and would oftentimes scare them away even before the fight. As to whose tombstone it was, he was quite spontaneous about it. He would pick one as he travelled, depending on which dead person had the misfortune or bad karma to fall into his hands. The four of them then made a hand gesture to each other, and hid behind the big trees.


Two people ran into the forest one after the other. The one in front was a man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age, holding a sabre.


“Damn *****, so violent. Do you really want to kill me?” he cursed loudly.


The Four Heroes of Taiyue were befuddled. They saw that the one who followed was a young married woman. The woman carried a baby on her back and held a slingshot. With a string of “Pah Pah Pah” sounds, beads were shot towards the robust man. The man waved his sabre left and right to block them, but didn't dare to turn around and fight.


“Who are you? Why are you fighting?” Xiao Yao Zi shouted, seeing that it was a man and a woman fighting.


Gai Yiming blew a whistle, the four of them came out of the woods at once and shouted, “Stop!”


“You *****, so ruthless. I'll show no more mercy!” the man yelled back, and kept running forward.


“You scoundrel! If I don't kill you today, I'm not Ren Feiyan!” shouted the young woman.


At this time, the Four Heroes of Taiyue were already in front of the man, blocking his path.


“Lin Yulong, you still won't stop?” the young woman named Ren Feiyan shouted again.


“Out of the way!” Lin Yulong yelled at Chang Changfeng who was blocking his way. He lowered his head, dodged the flying bead coming from behind, and heard a “Ouch!” The bead hit Chang Changfeng squarely on the nose.


“Stinky *****! You hit me!” Chang Changfeng cursed angrily.


“So what?” said Ren Feiyan. With another two “Pah Pah” sounds, two beads shot towards him.


Chang Changfeng raised the tombstone up in the air, but it didn't block anything. The two beads hit his chest and arm respectively. His arm went numb and the tombstone fell to the ground.


“Ow!” He jumped. It turned out to be the manifestation of the dead. The tombstone had fallen on his toe.


Seeing their second brother getting hurt, Gai Yiming and Hua Jianying simultaneously threw themselves at Ren Feiyan. Ren Feiyan pulled the slingshot, launching another string of attacks. Gai Yiming received one on his forehead, and Hua Jianying got a front tooth broken off.


“Retreat! Retreat!” cried Gai Yiming.


Being hindered by the four, while seeing Lin Yulong getting out of the forest, Ren Feiyan was enraged. With a quick step forward, she turned around. With a “Pah” sound, a bead was shot, and it knocked the pipe in Xiao Yao Zi's hand to the ground. This blow had both remarkable power and accuracy. It was a famous slingshot move called the Parthian Shot.


“Lin Yulong you stinky bastard, I'm telling you to stop!” Ren Feiyan smiled faintly, turning her head around.


“Come fight your old man three hundred rounds with swords and sabres if you dare.” They heard Lin Yulong's voice from afar. “Chasing people with a slingshot, what kind of martial art is that?”


The quarreling got further and further north.


“Big Brother,” asked Hua Jianying. “Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan, who are these people?”


“Lin Yulong is a master in single sabres,” Xiao Yao Zi pondered. “And that woman Ren Feiyan must be known for her slingshot skills.”


“Big Brother foretells the future like a prophet, and is always sensible.” Said Gai Yiming.


“That woman is quite pretty,” said Hua Jianying. “It must have been that Lin had an eye on her and intended to commit indecency.”


“That's right,” agreed Xiao Yao Zi. “We, The Four Heroes of Taiyue are chivalrous and love to help those in need. If we ever meet this pervert Lin Yulong again, we must teach him a good lesson.”


“Maybe those two killed each other’s father. Who knows who's right and who's wrong?” said Chang Changfeng, rubbing his toe. “Dammit, that one really hurts.”


“That guy named Lin looks villainous,” said Xiao Yao Zi with a serious expression. “I could tell right away that he’s not a good person. Although the woman named Ren was reckless, her martial art does seem like it's from a proper school.”


“Big Brother foretells the future like a prophet, and is always sensible.” Said Gai Yiming.


Chang Changfeng still wanted to argue, when they heard a voice outside the forest, slowly reciting a poem.


“The gold passes through the hands quickly,
got bankrupt yesterday and today I am poor.
Why does the man cry without reason?
He might as well burn his hairband...”


Following the chant, a young scholar strolled into the woods gently waving his fan. A boy servant followed, carrying the luggage.


Hua Jianying held the fallen front tooth between his fingers, and was just about to look for a way to vent his frustration. Seeing the scholar enjoying himself, strolling, and even reciting poems, talking about gold and silver, he winked at Gai Yiming and jumped forward.


“Oy, that scholar!” he shouted. “What are you babbling about? You're giving your old men headaches. Hurry up and compensate us!”


Upon seeing them like this, the scholar was startled. “May I ask, what would you like me to compensate for?”


“Compensate for our headaches!” replied Gai Yiming. “One hundred taels of silver per person, that's a total of four hundred taels!”


“That much?” the scholar stuck his tongue out. “Even an emperor’s headache wouldn't cost that much to treat.”


“The emperor?” Gai Yiming was offended. “How dare you compare us to the emperor. This is not good. We'll have to double the price now. Eight hundred taels.”


“You are even more venerable than the emperor, that is very admirable.” Said the scholar. “May I ask for your honorable name and background?”


“Hehe,” Gai Yiming smirked. “My surname is Gai, and my given name is Yiming. The people in the martial world call me ‘Catching Toad Within Eight Steps,’ ‘Surpassing Zhuan Zhu,’ ‘Walking On Snow Without a Trace,’ ‘One Foot Flying Over Water,’ and ‘Double Stings That Transcend Seven Provinces.’ I'm number four of the Four Heroes of Taiyue.”


“I have long admired your name,” said the scholar, cupping his fist. He turned to Hua Jianying. “And what about this brother?”


“Who are you calling brother?” Hua Jianying frowned. He pushed the servant boy aside and lifted their luggage. It was hefty. He was delighted and proceeded to open the basket. The sight made him gasp. It turned out that the whole basket was filled with old books.


“Bah!” cried Chang Changfeng. “All garbage!”


“Brother you're wrong!” said the scholar hastily. “How can you call the books of the Sages garbage? They say that “golden houses are within the books.” [4]


“There's gold in these books?” said Chang Changfeng dubiously. “Nobody would buy them even if you sell them for a penny per pound.”


At this time, Gai Yiming had already opened the other basket. There seemed to be nothing of value besides some clothes and quilts. The Four Heroes of Taiyue were all disappointed.


“I have been traveling the country in search of my mother,” that scholar said. “How lucky am I to meet you four brothers! You are called the Four Heroes of Taiyue. I am sure that you are well known in the martial world for fighting injustice and helping the poor.”


“That is correct.” Said Xiao Yao Zi.


“I am so extremely fortunate to be able to meet with such heroes,” the scholar continued. “I have just run into a problem that would require help from you great heroes.”


“Not a problem!” said Xiao Yao Zi. “We wouldn't call ourselves heroes if we see others in difficulty and not lend a hand.”


The scholar kept bowing to show his gratitude.


“So who's giving you trouble?” asked Gai Yiming.


“I am very ashamed to mention it. I’m afraid that you brothers would laugh at me.”


“Ah, so your little sister is pretty and got kidnapped by some bad guy.” Hua Jianying said.


“No.” The scholar shook his head. “I do not have a sister.”


“Hmmm, then it must be that some rich guy or corrupted official took your wife.” Gai Yiming clapped his hands.


“Neither.” The scholar shook his head again. “I have never been married, how can I have a wife?”


“Then what is it?” exclaimed Chang Changfeng impatiently. “Just hurry up and tell us.”


“I shall say it then,” said the scholar. “But heroes, please don't be offended.”


Although the Four Heroes of Taiyue called themselves heroes, there was nobody in the martial world who would be so polite to them and keep addressing them as heroes. Now that they heard the scholar talking to them with such great respect, they all straightened their backs with pride.


“Hurry up and tell us,” said the four of them at the same time. “No matter what difficulties you have, the Four Heroes of Taiyue will take care of it!”


“I am wandering in the martial world and stumbled across your territory.” The scholar cupped his hand and bowed to each of them. “But our wallet is getting empty. I have no choice but to beg the Four Heroes of Taiyue to help us out with a few taels of silver. The four heroes are righteous and charitable. May I thank you in advance.”


Hearing this, the four heroes all frowned and fell silent. They were planning to rob this scholar, but who would have expected that just a few sentences would put them in such an awkward situation.


“Real men can get stabbed in the ribs for their friends,” Chang Changfeng exclaimed and patted his chest. “Let alone just a few taels of silver! Big Brother, Third Brother and Fourth Brother, take out your money! I have—--”


He put his hand inside his chest pocket but didn’t take it out. It turned out that his pocket was empty. He didn’t even have one copper coin.


Luckily, Hua Jianying and Gai Yiming had a few small pieces of silver. They took them out and gave them to the scholar.


“I shall never forget your generosity.” The scholar bowed and thanked them repeatedly. “Should we ever meet again in this vast land, I shall certainly repay you back.”


He then left the forest with his servant boy.


Once outside of the forest, he started laughing.


“Take the silver for yourself.” He said to the servant.


The servant boy was tidying up the baskets that got messed up by the four men. He opened an old book, and between the pages, countless thin golden leaves glittered brightly under the sunlight.


“Young master told them that there’s gold in the books.” He smiled. “But they didn’t believe it!”


* * *


The Four Heroes of Taiyue went out for wool and came home shorn, but were all delighted because they felt that they had done a great deed.


“When that scholar goes around the world,” said Gai Yiming. “He will surely spread the words on the heroic acts of the Four Heroes of Taiyue…”


Before he could finish his sentence, they heard sounds of bells and hoofbeats coming their way from the south.


“Brothers,” said Xiao Yao Zi. “From the speed of this horse, it must be a fine steed. Let’s just hijack it. If we can’t find anything better, then this horse will be our gift.”


“Big Brother foretells like a prophet, and is always sensible.” Said Gai Yiming. He then hastily removed his belt and continued. “Hurry up and untie your belts. Let’s make a horse trap.”


He proceeded to tie the four cloth belts together. As they were tying it between two large trees, the rider had already arrived.


Upon seeing four people crouched on the ground holding a long rope, the rider was slightly taken aback and stopped the horse.


“What are you doing?” asked the rider.


“Installing a horse strap…” Answered Gai Yiming.


As he spoke, he realized that it was not appropriate. He turned around, and seeing that the rider was a beautiful young maiden, he was relieved.


“Why are you installing a horse trap?” asked the maiden.


“To trip your horse, obviously!” Gai Yiming stood up and clapped off the dust from his hands. “Alright, now that you already know it, there’s no need for the horse trap anymore. Get down, leave the horse and go away. We, the Four Heroes of Taiyue, won't bully young single women and damage our reputation.”


“You want me to leave my horse, aren’t you bullying me already?” the young maiden smiled sweetly.


“Well…we have our reasons.” Gai Yiming stuttered.


“We’re not bullying you,” said Xiao Yao Zi. “We’re just bullying your mount. It’s just an animal, what’s the deal?”


He saw the horse was tall and its coat shiny. It was indeed a fine steed. It was also fitted with gold reins and silver bells. Just this saddlery would be worth a fortune. The more he looked, the more he liked.


“That’s right,” said Gai Yiming. “We, the Four Heroes of Taiyue, are real men of the martial world and will never take advantage of women. You just have to leave your mount, and we won’t touch a hair on you. I, ‘Catching Toad Within Eight Steps,’ ‘Surpassing Zhuan Zhu,’ ‘Walking On Snow Without a Trace’...”


“Stop, stop.” The maiden covered her ears. “You don’t know who I am, and I don’t know who you are, is that right?”


“That’s right!” Gai Yiming was confused. “But what about it?”


“Well then.” The maiden smiled, “Since we don’t know each other, then dad can’t blame me if I offend you. Oy! Such daring thieves, come at me at once!”


The four men saw a blur in front of their eyes, and the maiden was already holding a pair of sabres in her hands. With a sway of the weapon, fast like the wind, she rode her horse forward, bent down and cut off the horse trap with one single chop. Her left sabre went directly for Gai Yiming’s head.


“Real men don’t fight women! Why…” Gai Yiming yelled. Seeing the silvery glimmer, the sabre was getting close to his face. He frantically raised the steel sting to block it. With a “Tang” sound, the weapons clashed. He felt a great pulling force from the girl’s sabre and with one pushing and the other pulling, he couldn’t hold onto his weapons, which flew off, shot up tens of feet into the sky, and pierced through a branch of a tall tree.


Hua Jianying and Chang Changfeng charged at the maiden from each side. The maiden sat tall on the horse, towering over them. After a series of her combo attacks using both sabres, the two men were having trouble withstanding the strikes.


“Hey, big guy,” said the maiden, curious about the stone stele in Chang Changfeng’s hands. “What’s that thing you’re holding?”


“This is Second Hero Chang’s unique weapon.” Answered Chang Changfeng. “It’s not included in the eighteen common weapons of the martial world. The moves are unusual and unexpected… Ow!”


The maiden had turned her sabre and hit him on the wrist with the back of the blade. The pain made Chang Changfeng drop his unique weapon, and coincidentally, it fell right on his swollen toe again.


Seeing that the situation wasn’t going well for them, Xiao Yao Zi raised his pipe to join the fight. The pipe was made out of fine steel, and he was using it as a judge’s pen to hit the enemy's acupressure points. Only that his accuracy wasn’t great, therefore often missing the acupoint by a few millimeters, resulting in a vastly different outcome.


The maiden noticed it and found it quite amusing. She showed him a weakness on purpose and let his pipe hit her left thigh.


“Sickly ghost, what was the acupoint you just hit?” she shouted, feeling just a slight pain.


“This is the Zhongdu acupoint.” Answered Xiao Yao Zi. “When being hit, the legs and knees will feel numb, and all four limbs will be temporarily paralyzed. Now hurry up and admit your defeat!”


“The Zhongdu point is not there.” The maiden laughed. “You’re off by two inches to the left.”


“Off by two inches? That can’t be.” Xiao Yao Zi hesitated, then reached out his pipe for a second attempt.


The maiden's sabre struck down, knocking his pipe to the ground, then immediately passed both sabres to her right hand, and grabbed him by the collar with her left. The tip of her foot lightly tapped on the horse's belly. The horse cried a long neigh and shot out of the woods.


Xiao Yao Zi was completely paralyzed with the back of his neck in her hand. The third hero, the only one left of the Four Heroes of Taiyue shouted "Not good, not good!" while running after them with all his might.


Within moments, the horse had run off for about a mile.


"You are holding my Fengchi acupoint," said Xiao Yao Zi in her hand, his feet dragging on the ground, bleeding. "That is where the Shaoyang and the Yangwei meridians meet, which caused me to be immobilized. There's nothing extraordinary about it. It's a loss that cannot be avoided. Although I lost the fight, I still have my honor."


"At least you know the acupoints on yourself!" The maiden giggled, stopping the horse and throwing him to the ground.


Suddenly she sneered, put the sabre against his neck and shouted, "You were rude to your Miss. I can’t spare your life!"


"Alright!" Xiao Yao Zi sighed. "But you better cut through my Tianzhu acupoint. It'll be an instant death, and I won't have to suffer!"


The maiden couldn't help but laugh inwardly.


"This sickly ghost is still thinking about pressure points moments before his death." She thought. "How about I scare him a bit more, and see how he reacts?"


She then put her sabre on his neck, between the Tianzhu and the Fengchi acupoints.


"Here it is!" she said.


"No, no, no," shouted Xiao Yao Zi. "Miss you're wrong, it's one and a fifth inches above..."


"Miss, kill us all too..." They heard the cries of three exasperated people on their way here. It was the rest of the three heroes.


"Why did you willingly come to die?" asked the maiden.


"We Four Heroes of Taiyue are sworn brothers," answered Gai Yiming. "We don't wish to be born on the same day, but hope to die together. If Miss is going to kill my big brother, the rest of three brothers wouldn't want to stay in this world alone. So please kill us all. If any of us frowns even once, we're not real men!" As he said this he walked to Xiao Yao Zi's side and stood straight, waiting to be killed.


The maiden raised her sabre, pretending to chop down. Gai Yiming grinned and didn't even flinch a bit.


"Great!" the maiden admired. "The four of you have ordinary martial skills, but are very loyal to each other. You’ve gained my respect. I'll spare your lives." She then put her sabres back into their sheaths.


The four of them were overjoyed and extremely grateful.


"May I ask Miss' honorable name?" asked Gai Yiming. "The Four Heroes of Taiyue will engrave it in our minds, and repay your favor in the future for sparing our lives."


Hearing him continue to use the title "The Four Heroes of Taiyue" without even the slightest shame, the maiden couldn't help but giggle again.


"You don't need to know my name," she said. "But I want to know, why do you want to steal my mount?"


"The tenth of March this year is the Jinyang Hero Xiao Banhe's fiftieth birthday..." Said Gai Yiming.


"You know the old hero Xiao?" Hearing the name of Xiao Banhe, the maiden was slightly taken aback.


"We don't know the old hero Xiao," said Gai Yiming. "But we have always admired him and want to pay our respects on his fiftieth birthday. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but we don't have any gifts to bring. That's why...we...therefore...well..."


"So you wanted to take my mount as a gift. Hm, that's easy." The maiden laughed. She pulled out a gold hair ornament from her hair and continued, "I’ll give you this hairpin. The pearl on top is worth a lot of money. Use this as the birthday gift. The old hero Xiao will surely be pleased."


As she said those words, she raised the reins. The horse flipped its hooves and galloped away.


Gai Yiming held the hair ornament and looked at the big round pearl shining in the sunlight. Although the four heroes didn't know much about gems, they could tell that it was a rare treasure. They stared at the pearl, delighted.


"This girl is generous and straightforward. She's quite somebody." Said Xiao Yao Zi.


"Big Brother foretells the future like a prophet, and is always sensible."

-----
1. Zhuan Zhu was a famous assassin from the Spring and Autumn period, around 500 BC.
2. Mount Taiyue is located in the Shanxi Province.
3. In the past, people believed that if someone had a small butt, it meant that they didn’t have good fortune in money.
4. The phrase is from a poem by an emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Heng(968 AD-1022 AD), to encourage people to read more.

[Losshe]

Chapter II

The maiden sat in a small room in the Fen'an inn in the town of Ganting. A small flagon stood on the table, in it contained the renowned Fen wine. This town of Ganting was situated in Jinnan, between the town of Linfen and Hongtong, and was the hometown to the Fen wine. But with just one sip, her mouth was already numb and painful. This wine really wasn't good.

Why does daddy love it so much? He often says, "Girls can't drink." I have to listen to him when I'm home, but this time I snuck out alone. I’ll have to drink a whole jar of this Fen wine.

However, finishing this whole flagon wasn't exactly an easy task. She took another gulp, feeling heat on her cheeks. She reached up and touched her face. It was burning.

On the other hand, the escorts next door were cheering and dunking the wine one cup after another. How are they not afraid of the spiciness?

"Waiter!" a thick and loud voice yelled. "Get us another three jin!"[5] Upon hearing this, the maiden kept shaking her head.

"Brother Zhang," said another voice. "It's better to be more careful on the way. Don’t drink so much! As the saying in the martial world goes: 'Steady hands and a steady mouth make it easier to find a hiding place.' We can drink to our hearts' content when we get to the capital."

"Chief," laughed the previous voice. "You're being too careful. Those four thieves boasted about some Four Heroes of Taiyue and got you so scared...hehe...waiter, get the wine!"

The maiden heard the "Four Heroes of Taiyue" and could barely contain her laughter. Looks like these escorts have also met the four heroes!

"I'm scared?" she heard the chief escort say. "You don't know the weight on my shoulders. The one hundred taels worth of salt is nothing to your Chief Zhou. Hmph, I can't tell you the details now. You'll know once we get to the capital."

"That's right," laughed Escort Zhang, "That's right! I don't know, I don't know. Hehe, oh the Yuan Yang Sabres!"

The maiden's heart skipped a beat hearing the words "Yuan Yang Sabres." She moved her ear closer to the wall, wanting to hear more clearly, but suddenly all sounds disappeared in the next room. She thought for a second, snuck out of her room, and stood quietly beside the escorts' windows.

"How did you know?" she heard Chief Zhou say. "Who let it out? Brother Zhang, this is no joking matter." He lowered his voice, but his tone was dead serious.

"Who doesn't know here? Only you think this is some sort of a big secret." Said escort Zhang casually.

"Who told you?" Chief Zhou's voice trembled.

"Haha, who else can it be? It was yourself." said Escort Zhang.

"When did I tell you?" Chief Zhou was even more vexed. "Brother Zhang, we're not done yet, you have to explain this to me today. I have always treated you well..."

"Chief," said another person. "Don't fret. Big Brother Zhang is right. It was you who said it."

"Me? Me? How is that possible?" said Chief Zhou.

"As soon as we left Xi'an," said the previous person. "You've been talking in your sleep every single night. You kept repeating the same thing: 'Yuan Yang Sabres, Yuan Yang Sabres! Can't let anything happen to them before they get to the capital. If you acquire the Yuan Yang Sabres you will become invincible…’"

Zhou Weixin was both startled and ashamed. How could he say anything anymore? Who would have thought that the big secret he'd been trying to keep, would be revealed like this? Just because it was constantly in his mind, he repeated it in his dreams. He cupped his fist and bowed to all the escorts.

"Please," he said in a low voice. "Don't ever mention the words 'Yuan Yang Sabres' again. From now on I'll bind my mouth with a cloth when I go to sleep."

The maiden heard it outside the windows and was elated.

"I've been searching everywhere,” she thought. “Who would have thought I'd run into them like this? The Yuan Yang Sabres are right here with this chief escort. I wonder what daddy's gonna say when I bring them home?"

As it turned out, this maiden's name was Xiao Zhonghui, and her dad was none other than the hero of Jinyang, Xiao Banhe.

Xiao Banhe’s fame had spread far and wide, and would receive a lot of news in the martial world from heroes of various locations and backgrounds. Last month, he learned that the pair of long lost Yuan Yang Sabres had reappeared in the world, and that they were acquired by the Chuan-Shan Governor-General Liu Yuyi. These sabres had a long history with Xiao Banhe, therefore he set his mind to get them. He predicted that Liu Yuyi would send them to the capital, to the emperor. And instead of seizing them in the city of Xi'an where they would be heavily guarded by the army, they should steal them on the way.

Unexpectedly, this Liu Yuyi was smart and cunning. As soon as he got the sabres, he executed his stratagem. Countless decoy armies and delivery troops were sent out. Many heroes who were after the sabres had fallen into the trap and were harmed. Xiao Banhe thought he'd take advantage of his fiftieth birthday. He sent out invitations to the heroes of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Shandong provinces to come celebrate, and included in some invitations a note asking them to do their best to obtain the sabres. Of course, it was only for his closest bosom friends. Otherwise, the risk of leaking the information to the enemies could not only cause them to lose the sabres, but maybe even his friends’ lives.

Xiao Zhonghui was excited upon hearing the news. When Xiao Banhe sent out his disciples to deliver the invitations, she wanted to go; when Xiao Banhe sent out people to ambush on the road of Shaanxi, she also wanted to go. But Xiao Banhe always shook his head and said "No!" If she kept pleading, he'd say, "Go ask your senior mom. Go ask your mom."

Xiao Banhe had two wives. The first wife was surnamed Yuan, and the second wife was surnamed Yang.[6] And although Zhonghui was Madam Yang's daughter, Madam Yuan had always treated her well, as she was her own. If Madam Yang said no, Zhonghui would still be able to beg, plead, and keep nagging her all day. But if Madam Yuan said no, then Zhonghui wouldn't dare to talk back. Madam Yuan had always been kind and gentle to her, but emitted an air of authority. Zhonghui never dared to disobey her senior mother ever since she was a child.

But stealing the sabres seemed so dangerous, yet so wonderful. It seemed like so much fun. When she thought about it, she simply couldn't resist. Finally, one late night, she left a note to her dad, her senior mom and her mom, took a horse, and left Jinyang. She met the Four Heroes of Taiyue who were going to pay their congratulations to her father, and thought that those renowned heroes' martial arts were actually not that impressive; she heard the conversations of the escorts, and thought that stealing the Yuan Yang Sabres should not be a difficult task after all.

She turned around, ready to go back to her room to think more carefully for a plan. After only two steps, suddenly, a "Dang" sound came from the room across the courtyard. It was the sound of weapons clashing, a sound that she had been familiar with since her youth.

"Aiyo, not good! They saw me!" she thought, startled.

"Are you really going to fight?" she heard a voice say.

"Do you think I'm gonna be polite?" a woman's voice yelled.

It seemed that they were fighting intensely. The sounds of "Ping Ping Pang Pang" continued, along with a baby's cries. A pair of silhouettes, a man and a woman, appeared on the windows across, each of them holding a sabre, striking and slashing, fighting ferociously.

As the fight broke out, the inn fell into chaos.

"Everyone stay here!" shouted Chief Zhou. "Be alert, guard the chariots. This may be the enemy's strategy to 'lure the tiger away from its base'!"

Xiao Zhonghui heard him and thought, "They're fighting with all their might, how can it be a feint? Too bad he didn't come out to see, otherwise it would have been a great opportunity for me to steal the sabres."

When she looked at the two silhouettes again, the woman already looked tired and kept backing away, but the man kept advancing, leaving her no room to breathe.

"This man is so vicious," she thought, her righteousness kicking in. "He breaks into a woman's room at night, wanting to take advantage of her. How can I let this go?" She was about to jump in and help that woman, when she suddenly thought, "Not good! I'll expose myself if I go in and fight now. If those escorts see me, it'll be hard to steal the sabres in the future." She then forcefully suppressed her anger.

The sounds of the weapons clashing gradually slowed down. The man and woman began a shouting match. They spoke in the southern Shandong dialect, and Xiao Zhonghui could not understand most of it.

After a while, she began to feel irritated and decided to go back to her room. Suddenly she heard a door creaking. A door in the East opened and a young scholar walked out.

“May I ask what is the reason for the dispute?" she heard him say eloquently. "You should calmly reason with each other, why fight with sabres and spears?" As he spoke, he walked up to their windows, looking as if he wanted to dissuade them from quarreling.

"That man is so aggressive, do you really think he's gonna calmly reason with you?" thought Xiao Zhonghui.

The sounds of weapons started again in the room, and the baby’s crying got even louder. Suddenly a bead flew out of the window, and with a "Pah" sound, knocked the scholar's hat to the ground.

"Aiyo, not good!" the scholar jumped, then mumbled to himself. "'The city gate on fire puts the pond fish in danger', 'A gentleman does not stand by a falling wall.' I should be sensible and prioritize my safety first." He then slowly retreated to his room.

Xiao Zhonghui was amused, yet still worried about the woman. She thought that the man was unscrupulous, and things weren't looking good for the woman. However, the fight had stopped, and it became quiet inside the inn again.

"Daddy often says that we need to know our priorities," thought Xiao Zhonghui. "Right now, the most important thing is to steal the sabres. I'll have to let that aggressor go." She then walked back to her room, closed the door, and lay on the kang,[7] thinking about ways to get the sabres.

"They're quite a big group of escorts. How can I do it all by myself? I know I should probably go back to Jinyang right now, tell daddy, and let him decide. But wouldn't it be nicer to get them using my own strategies and bring them back directly?"

As she thought this, the dimple on her left cheek deepened. But what strategies should she use? She was taught martial arts by her dad since she was a child and was quite good at it, but when it came to strategies, it had never been our Miss Xiao's strong suit.

She lay on the kang and tried to think of strategies until her head hurt. She had managed to think of five or six solutions, but upon further assessment, none of them would actually work. In her somnolence, her eyelids gradually became heavier. In the silence of the night, suddenly she heard sounds of "Duh, Duh, Duh..." drawing near. Someone was approaching while hitting the stone slabs on the ground with an iron stick. It was a blind man.

The sounds of tapping ended abruptly in front of the inn. Then "Doh Doh Doh," the iron stick tapped on the door, followed by the sounds of the waiter opening it, shouting, and an old, hoarse voice begging for a room. The waiter demanded that he pay upfront. The old blind man paid, but was two strings of coins short. Hence the sounds of refusing, begging, and the waiter's vulgar cussing all went into Xiao Zhonghui's ears.

The more she listened, the more she felt pity for the blind man. Thus she sat up, took a small piece of silver ingot out of her bag, and walked out of the room. To her surprise, the scholar was already there with hand gestures and pedantic reasoning, trying to debate with the waiter. It looked like despite wanting to be sensible and wanting to prioritize his safety, he still couldn't refrain from sticking his nose into other people's businesses.

"Mr. Waiter," she heard him say. "Respecting the elders and having sympathy for the poor are two great virtues. Those two strings of coins, you could have just paid for him and be done with it."

"Sir," responded the waiter angrily. "It's easy for you to say. If you're so kind, why don't you pay for him?"

"You are being unreasonable," said the scholar. "You see, I'm a traveler, and didn't bring a lot of money with me, and your reputable inn's pricing is astoundingly high. If I spend so carelessly, then I would be like ‘Confucious stuck between the country of Chen and Cai’[8] in no time. So, therefore Mr. Waiter, it's better that you charge him two strings of coins less."

"Oy," Xiao Zhonghui sniggered and called out, "Waiter, I'll pay for him. Catch it!"

The waiter raised his head and saw a flash of white light. A small piece of silver ingot flew towards him. He hastily reached out to catch it. His hands had been accustomed to catching money, and had never missed once. But this was his first time trying to catch it in mid air. Naturally, he hadn't had enough practice. With a "Pah" sound, the silver ingot hit his chest.

"Aiyo!" Although it was just a small piece of silver, it was still quite painful when it hit his body. He couldn't help but let out a yelp.

"See," said the scholar. "Even such a young lady is so kind hearted. Mr. Waiter, you're a man, but you don't even come close to her."

Xiao Zhonghui took a glance at him. He had a narrow face and handsome features, his long eyebrows slightly slanting upwards, looking fierce and heroic. Her heart skipped a beat and she quickly lowered her gaze.

"Thank you young gentleman for your kindness," she heard the old blind man say. "You paid for the old blind man's room. Thank you so much. May I know your name, benefactor? The old blind man will remember it, and I hope to repay you in the future."

"Junior's surname is Yuan and given name is Guannan," said the scholar. "Such trivial things are not worth mentioning. May I ask elder's respectable name?"

"Your old blind man's lowly name is Zhuo Tianxiong," replied the old blind man.

"This old blind man is both blind in his eyes and in his heart. It was me who gave him the silver, yet he's thanking someone else." Xiao Zhonghui was laughing inwardly, when suddenly the name "Zhuo Tianxiong" struck a memory and startled her. "I've heard this name before. I’m pretty sure I've heard daddy and senior mom mention it in a low voice. That day when I passed by in front of senior mom's room, they immediately hushed when they saw me. But perhaps they just have the same name, or maybe it's the same pronunciation but different characters. How could daddy know this old blind man?"

Yuan Guannan accompanied Zhuo Tianxiong, and followed the waiter into the courtyard. When passing by Xiao Zhonghui, Yuan Guannan suddenly bowed.

"Miss," he said, "did you bring a lot of silver on this trip?"

Xiao Zhonghui didn't expect him to talk to her. She blushed and returned with an awkward half bow.

"Um..?"

"I saw Miss’ generosity," said Yuan Guannan. "So I would like to borrow some money from you!"

Xiao Zhonghui expected even less that he would straight up ask to borrow money. She felt even more awkward and didn't know how to reply. She stood there speechless, then turned around, her face turning crimson.

"Fine," said the scholar. "It's fine if you don't want to. I’ll go bother someone else." He bowed to her again before returning to his room.

Xiao Zhonghui's heart fluttered. She couldn't seem to calm her mind just yet. Suddenly, the clashing of the weapons along with shouting from the room earlier started again. With a loud "Ping!", the window panes flew open. A robust man wielding a sabre jumped out, his left arm holding a baby. Following him, a young woman came out, her messy hair flying in the air, waving her sabre and shouting, "Give my child back! Where are you taking him?" The two of them dashed out of the inn one followed by the other.

Xiao Zhonghui saw the worried and distressed look on the woman and could no longer hold back her anger.

"This criminal took her child. Such an atrocity, I have to stop it!" she thought. She rushed inside to get her sabres and ran out after them.

“Put the child down," she heard the woman yell from afar. "It's so late. You're gonna scare him! You damned bastard, if you scare him, I...I..."

Xiao Zhonghui ran after them following her voice. However, both the man and the woman's lightness martial arts were quite good. After running for over a mile, she could finally see them. With their weapons clashing, the two were in a ferocious battle. The man was at a disadvantage due to holding the baby. He turned around to put the child down on a piece of rock, then continued slashing with his sabre.

Xiao Zhonghui came to a halt. She observed the man's moves and saw that his arm strength was remarkable and his sabre skills fierce. The woman kept backing up, looking like she could be injured by his sabre at any moment.

"Ferocious thief! Stop what you're doing!" shouted Xiao Zhonghui, jumping in with her sabres in hand. She started with a mock attack using the short left hand sabre, and struck out with the long right hand sabre aiming at the man's chest.

The woman was surprised to see Xiao Zhonghui. She stopped for a brief moment, then went to get her child from the ground.

"Who are you?" asked the man, raising his sabre to block the attack.

"A righteous girl." Xiao Zhonghui sneered, followed by another slash.

Besides exchanging moves with her father and her martial brothers, the first time she fought someone in the real world was with the Four Heroes of Taiyue, and the second time was with this man. However, this man's martial arts were far better than the Four Heroes of Taiyue. His moves were diverse, his single sabre turning and gliding, along with the occasional powerful palm attacks from his left hand.

"Damned thief, so vicious!" shouted Xiao Zhonghui, her left hand sabre kept attacking one move after another. Suddenly she used the move "Separating The Flowers And Flicking The Willow," her long sabre spinning swiftly. The man was slightly taken aback, then he leaned to the side to dodge.

"Down!" shouted Xiao Zhonghui. The short sabre slashed diagonally and hit the man's left thigh.

He roared. His one knee dropped to the ground, yet he was still returning the moves with his sabre up. Xiao Zhonghui's twin sabres chopped down simultaneously, forcing him to block, then with a leg sweep, he fell to the ground. She then followed up with a stab to his right leg.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a weapon splitting the air, a sabre attack came from the back. Xiao Zhonghui was shocked, and hurriedly turned away from hurting the man to block the attack. This "Lion Turning Head" move was used to perfection. With a "Dang" sound, the two sabres collided, causing sparks to fly in the dark. Upon the first glance, she was even more dumbfounded. It turned out that the person who did the sneak attack on her was the young woman carrying her baby.

After her initial blow that was blocked, the woman followed up with another strike. Xiao Zhonghui recognized this move. "Yaksha Exploring The Sea," focused on doing the most harm to the opponent. It was a method that disregarded even the user's own safety. She waved her sabre to block it.

"Are you crazy, woman?" she shouted.

"You're the crazy one!" said the young woman. Her sabre dodged the block and slid towards the handguard of Xiao Zhonghui's longer sabre. Following the momentum, her sabre glided towards Xiao Zhonghui's fingers. Xiao Zhonghui was startled. This woman didn't have the strength of that man, but her moves were far more sneaky and unpredictable.

During this time, the man had already wrapped his wound. He grabbed his sabre and joined the fight. The two of them one attacking the other defending; every move was vicious.

"So this was a trap all along, and I fell right into it." Xiao Zhonghui groaned inwardly.

Although she had exquisite sabre techniques, her experience in real fights was lacking. In the middle of the night, in a deserted place, she was the target of a pincer attack, and she wondered if there were more enemies hidden around them. She started panicking.

"I have no enmity towards any of you, why did you come up with such a malicious scheme to harm me?" she scolded between her attacks.

"We don't know you." yelled the man. "Little *****, why did you cut me for no reason?"

"Who are you really?" the woman also shouted. "Why did you attack him like that?"

"Brother Long, how's your wound?" she then turned to ask the man, her tone showing great concern.

"Your mother, it hurts a lot." answered the man.

"You weren't trying to set me up?" Xiao Zhonghui was baffled.

“What are you trying to do?" said the woman. "So vicious and unreasonable. Are you showing off your martial art skills? Well it's not even that good, shameless girl."

"I saw you getting bullied by this guy and wanted to help you out of good will. Who would have thought that you were just pretending to fight." Xiao Zhonghui was enraged.

"Who says we're pretending?" said the woman. "We're just an ordinary couple fighting. It happens all the time. Why are you sticking your nose into other people's business?"

Xiao Zhonghui was speechless upon hearing the words "couple fighting."

"You...you're husband and wife?" she stuttered. She took a step back, her mind in turmoil.

"Yeah?" said the man. "A man and a woman with a baby, staying in the same room. What did you think we were?"

"So this child is your son?" asked Xiao Zhonghui.

"He's the child's father, and I'm the child's mother." said the young woman. "Did we bother you? His name is Lin Yulong, and I'm Ren Feiyan. What else do you want to ask?" She held her sabre up high, ready to chop down again.

"If you're a married couple," said Xiao Zhonghui. "Why did you fight and yell at each other? You even used your sabres."

"Haha," Ren Feiyan sneered. "Little Miss, you'll understand when you're married. Which couple doesn't fight? As the saying goes: a couple fights at the headboard and makes up at the foot of the bed. Have you ever seen a married couple that doesn't argue and fight?"

"My mom and dad never fought or argued." Xiao Zhonghui blurted out.

"Your mother!" Lin Yulong cursed, his hand caressing his wounded leg. "What kind of couple is that? There must be something fishy! Ow, ay..."

Upon hearing her husband groaning, Ren Feiyan hurriedly put their child down and went to check his wound. Her tenderness wasn't pretended. They really were just a loving couple.

"Your mother," Lin Yulong was still muttering. "No fighting and no arguing, what kind of couple is that?"

"Wait, he's not just insulting my parents!" thought Xiao Zhonghui, realizing what he meant.

A surge of rage rose in her chest. She wanted to go ahead and teach him a lesson right there, but she realized that she couldn't win against the two of them. She turned around and saw the baby still crying on the rock. She quickly scooped it up and ran away.

Ren Feiyan wrapped her husband's wound, and when she turned around, she couldn't find her son anymore.

"Where's our son?" she exclaimed.

"Oh shit!" Lin Yulong jumped up. "That ***** took him."

"Why didn't you say anything?" blamed Ren Feiyan.

"You were the one carrying him, why did you put him down?" retorted Lin Yulong

Ren Feiyan was infuriated.

"Pah!" She slapped him on the face and shouted, "I was tending your wound! Mother****er!"

"Who needs your help? You can't even take care of your own son." Lin Yulong punched her back.

"Go get our son back, you swine. I'll get back to you later." said Ren Feiyan while running down the path.

"Right," Lin Yulong agreed, running after her, "let's get our son back first. Stinky ****, can't even take care of your own son. What good are you for?"

Xiao Zhonghui hid behind a big tree, her hand over the child's mouth. Seeing the Lin and Ren couple running further and further, all the while cussing each other, she laughed inwardly. Suddenly she felt a streak of warmth on her body. She looked down and saw a big wet patch on her clothes. The baby had peed on her.

"Why didn't you say something before you pee?" Annoyed, she gave the baby a light smack on the body.

But the child wasn't even a year old, how could he talk? In response to her smack, he started crying. Xiao Zhonghui felt bad, and had to keep saying "good boy," "nice baby" to coax him. After a while, he finally fell asleep.

Xiao Zhonghui looked at his adorable round chubby face and pink cheeks. She couldn't help but smile.

"I should return him to his parents," she thought. "I've scared them enough." She saw the couple going north, and ran after them.

After traveling for a dozen miles, by daybreak, the couple was still nowhere to be seen. The day was already bright when she walked into a dense forest. The birds were singing in harmony and she could smell the fragrance of wild flowers. Seeing such idyllic scenery after a long sleepless night, Xiao Zhonghui suddenly felt exhausted. She found a patch of soft and dry grass to rest on, her back against a tree. She looked down and saw the boy in her arms sleeping soundly. Shortly after, she also fell asleep.

--------
5. Around three pounds
6. In China, women keep their maiden name and don't adopt their husband's last name after marriage.
7. A heated platform often used as a bed in northern China.
8. A reference to Confucious and his disciples starving due to no food while traveling from the country of Chen to the country of Cai

[Losshe]

Chapter III

The sun was up, casting dark shadows on the forest ground. The fragrance of the flowers became even stronger. In her dreams, she heard the chanting of "Prestige! Integrity! Prestige! Integrity!" from afar. It was the group of escorts. Xiao Zhonghui yawned, and before she could open her eyes, the chanting gradually drew near.

It was the group from the Prestige Integrity Escort House.

"The Iron Whips That Frighten The Eight Directions" Zhou Weixin led the troop, slowly marching through the forest. After this forest, the rest of the way till the town of Hongtong would all be open roads. The scorching sun was high in the sky. Such a beautiful day. There shouldn't be any problems today, but he just couldn't get rid of this terrible feeling inside. Every "Doo" sound that the old blind man behind the group made with his iron cane caused his heart to jump in his chest.

The old blind man had been following the escort group since this morning. In the beginning, they didn't pay too much attention to it, but as they traveled faster on the horsebacks and the chariots, strangely, the blind man would always be right behind them.

Zhou Weixin found it a bit odd. He gave Escort Zhang and Escort Zhan a cue. They whipped the horses and ran at full speed. In no time, they were far ahead of the blind man. He felt a bit more relieved. However, due to the heaviness of the escorting chariots, they couldn't keep up the speed for long. After a while, they started slowing down. Shortly after, they heard the faint sound of "doo, doo, doo" approaching. The old blind man was behind them again.

After he showed his martial art skills, the group of escorts all looked at each other aghast. The old blind man's lightness martial arts were indeed extraordinary. However, after the escorting group had slowed down, the blind man wouldn't catch up to them either. "Doo, doo, doo," the sounds of the iron cane hitting the ground could always be heard behind them, a hundred feet away.

"Brother Zhang," Zhou Weixin said in a low voice, seeing the dark woods in front of them. "We ought to be careful. This old blind fellow is a bit strange. There's a saying in the martial world: every moment should be treated like we're facing an enemy, and we should always feel anxious as when crossing a single log bridge."

Escort Zhang had just chased away the Four Heroes of Taiyue the day before, and was still feeling ecstatic, thinking that he was some sort of big hero. Upon hearing Zhou Weixin, he thought, "Even if his lightness martial arts are not bad, why do we have to be afraid of an old blind man? I think you're just treating a rat like a tiger now."

He bent down and picked up a small rock from the ground. Using the projectile technique, with his elbow down and wrist up, he threw the piece of rock towards the blind man. They heard a loud "Shoo" sound, the rock cut through the air at a great speed. Without raising his head, the blind man raised his iron cane slightly. With a "Dang" sound, he hit the rock back.

"Ayo!" cried Escort Zhang. The rock had hit his temple and blood gushed out. The group fell into chaos.

"Blind thief, you and I cannot co-exist!" shouted Escort Zhang, rushing forward on his horseback, his sabre slashing down towards the blind man's shoulder. The latter raised his cane to block the blow. Escort Zhang's sabre went right up. The blow shook and numbed his entire arm. He felt slight pain on his purlicue.

"The enemy is strong. Everyone, attack together!" yelled Escort Zhan.

The crowd saw the blind man's formidable martial art skills, but thought that after all, there was only one enemy, and a blind one on top of it. "A hero cannot defeat a crowd," therefore, holding up their sabres and spears, seven or eight escorts and guards surrounded him.

The blind man did not seem to care at all. Lightly waving his cane, a hit on the right, and a poke to the left, just within a few moves, one guard was already down.

Zhou Weixin observed them from a distance. He saw that the old blind man moved steadily and leisurely. It seemed as if he didn't even take the numerous opponents seriously. Suddenly he opened his eyelids, and his eyes shone brightly. It turned out that he was not blind at all. He then turned around and kicked Escort Zhan, sending him somersaulting.

Zhou Weixin was dumbfounded, knowing that this blind man was not someone that the likes of Xiao Yao Zi of the Four Heroes of Taiyue could compare. He was indeed a formidable master martial artist. Remembering the duty he was carrying, he shouted, "Brother Zhang, you take care of this old blind guy, but don't kill him. I'll get going. Let's meet in Hongtong!"

"There's a saying in the martial world," he thought. "'Avoid dangers on the road; don't recite poems if you're not a cultured man.'" He pressed his thighs against the horse and ran straight into the woods.

Just as he entered the woods, he saw weapons glimmering behind a large tree. He was experienced in the martial world, and he couldn't help but groan internally. "So this blind man isn't alone. He has helpers here in ambush." He then whipped his horse with all his might in order to advance as quickly as he could. After running for only four or five zhang[9], he saw someone coming out from behind the tree.

Zhou Weixin saw that the person was holding a single sabre, looking ferocious. Without a word, he raised his arm, and a throw arrow flew out of his hand, aiming at the opponent, while accelerating on the horse back.

"Who are you? Why are you throwing projectiles?" The person blocked it with a wave of his sabre and shouted.

"You think you're the only one who has hidden projectiles?" another person arrived and shouted. The slingshot was pulled back, and with a string of "Pah Pah Pah" sounds, eight or nine marbles shot out. Two of them hit the horse’s butt. The horse felt the pain, jumped on its hind legs and shook Zhou Weixin down at once. The latter already had his whip in his hand. He did a side roll and just as he got up–Pah!–another marble hit his wrist. He could no longer hold on to the whip, and it fell to the ground. The two people rushed up at the same time, one on the left and the other on the right, both their sabres went down and rested on his neck.

"Who are you?" one asked.

"Why were you shooting out projectiles?" asked the other.

"Have you seen my child?" asked the first person again.

"Have you seen a young woman passing by?" asked the other one again.

"Was the young woman holding a child?" asked the first person again.

Within moments, they each asked several questions. Zhou Weixin wouldn't be able to answer them all even if he had ten mouths. It turned out that those two were the couple, Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan.

"Shut up. Let me ask him." Lin Yulong yelled at his wife.

"Why should I shut up? You shut up and let me ask." said Ren Feiyan.

Within a few words, the two started arguing. Zhou Weixin had two sabres to his neck and was terrified that if one of them got too angry and applied more pressure, his head and body would inevitably go their own ways. As the saying goes: You take your boulevard, and I'll walk on my single log bridge. He thought, "There's a saying in the martial world: a single man won't mind the immediate disadvantage, and the raised hand won't slap a smiling face."

"You two please calm down." He then proceeded to force a big smile and said, "Let me go first, and then you can take your time and talk it through after."

"Why should we let you go?" shouted Lin Yulong.

Ren Feiyan saw him holding firmly onto the bundle on his back, like it contained something precious.

"What's that?" she shouted.

Ever since Zhou Weixin had received this pair of Yuan Yang Sabres from the Governor-General, the words "Yuan Yang Sabres" had never left his mind for even a moment. And because of that, he was saying it even in his dreams. At this dire moment where sabres were against his neck, and with Ren Feiyan's pressing question, he really did not have any leeway to think it through, and he just blurted out, "The Yuan Yang Sabres!"

Upon hearing this, both Lin and Ren were shocked, and simultaneously, both their left hands went straight to the bundle on his back. Zhou Weixin regretted immediately after he said those words. At this very moment, a thought came across his mind: "There's a saying in the martial world: one man who's not afraid of losing his life can fight ten thousand men. And besides, they're only two." He overcame the fear of the hard cold weapons on his neck and threw himself down, planning to roll away. The Lin and Ren couple applied strength on their hands simultaneously to retrieve the bundle; however, Zhou Weixin's body was also pulled back along with it. It turned out that Zhou Weixin had secured the pair of sabres to his back using a thin iron chain; thus, although they pulled on it together, they were still unable to break the chain.

The three of them were tangled up. Zhou Weixin released a fist, with a "Pang" sound, it landed on Lin Yulong's face. Ren Feiyan turned her sabre around, gave the back of Zhou Weixin's neck a heavy blow using its handle, and asked, "Brother Long, did it hurt?"

"What's with that question? Of course it hurts." said Lin Yulong angrily.

"Ha, I was just trying to be nice. Should I have not asked?" said Ren Feiyan angrily. Whilst trying to get the bundle, the two had started fighting again.

Suddenly someone came out of the bushes and shouted, "Do you want your child?"

Lin and Ren raised their heads and saw it was Xiao Zhonghui holding their son up in the air. They were thrilled and immediately reached out. Xiao Zhonghui handed them the child with her right hand, and with a "Chi" sound, the short sabre in her left hand slashed open Zhou Weixin's bundle. She then reached in with her right hand and pulled out a sabre. The blue metallic hue shone and she felt a cold gust. She gave a casual slash, and it was indeed a great sabre, the iron chain was cut off instantaneously. Xiao Zhonghui grabbed the bundle and jumped on Zhou Weixin's horse. These moves were clean and swift, just like those of a hopping rabbit and a diving hawk.

She pulled the reins and shouted "Go!" only to find the horse's hooves firmly planted on the ground. Xiao Zhonghui gave a kick to the horse's belly, but suddenly felt numbness on the inside of her knees.

"Not good!" she cried inwardly. She wanted to get off the horse, but it was too late. Her acupoints were sealed. She was sitting on the horseback, but could no longer move.

A person rolled out from below the horse’s belly. It was the old blind man. Somehow he had gotten rid of the group of escorts and came over to hide. He reached up and snatched the sabres from Xiao Zhonghui's hands.

Ren Feiyan put her child on the ground, unsheathed her sabre, and threw herself in attack. Lin Yulong followed with a side attack. The blind man blocked with the longer Yuan sabre, with a "Ding" and a "Dang," the sabres in Lin and Ren's hands both snapped in two. In a moment of shock, the couple both felt numbness on their waists. Their critical acupoints were sealed and they also became immobile.

"Blind thief, you and I cannot coexist!" shouted Zhou Weixin, attacking like a rampaging tiger. He had picked up the iron whip from the ground. Using the "Total Annihilation" stance from the "Huyan Eighteen Whips," his whip slashed towards the blind man. The latter did not dodge, but struck forward with the long Yuan sabre. Strangely, this hit wasn't aimed at the iron whip, nor at Zhou Weixin's chest. It was aimed at the sheath inside the bundle. He then continued the attack using the sabre inside its sheath, using them as a whip. The move he used was exactly the same "Total Annihilation" stance from the "Huyan Eighteen Whips". The sheath touched the iron whip, and Zhou Weixin's twenty pound iron whip was stopped immediately in mid air and could no longer advance even a trifle. Whether or not his iron whips could "Frighten the eight directions" remained to be discussed.

After a brief moment, with a "Whoo" sound, the blind man's inner energy sent the iron whip flying. This "Iron Whip Flying In Eight Directions" stance tore Zhou Weixin's purlicue. Blood dripped all over his palm. The blind man rolled his eyes and sneered, "You haven't learned the last stance of the ‘Huyan Eighteen Whips’, have you?"

To say that Zhou Weixin was shocked would be an understatement. The "Huyan Eighteen Whips" were supposed to have eighteen stances as the name suggested, but only seventeen stances were passed down. His master once told him that this last stance was called "One Whip Breaks Ten Spears." Back when General Huyan Zan of the Song Dynasty was besieged by the enemies, he broke ten long spears with a single steel whip. And this stance, let alone the movement, his uncle master was the only one in the world who had the inner energy to perform it.

Zhou Weixin had never met his uncle master. He only knew that he was an imperial guard and was known as the head of the "Seven Masters of the Inner Palace.” He had always lived a secluded life deep inside the Forbidden Palace and rarely went outside, therefore Zhou Weixin had never had the chance to meet him. A thought came into his mind.

"Is... is elder's surname Zhuo?" His voice quivered.

"That's right," said the blind man.

"Junior Zhou Weixin kowtows to Uncle Master Zhuo." Zhou Weixin kneeled on the ground and bowed, elated from the surprise.

"Not bad for you to remember that there's still a man named Zhuo Tianxiong in this world." The old blind man smiled faintly.

"My late master often praised Uncle Master's unmatched martial art skills," said Zhou Weixin. "Junior didn't recognize Uncle Master and begs pardon for any rudeness. There's a saying in the martial world: fate joins those who are a thousand miles apart, and separates those who are right next to each other. When did Uncle Master leave Beijing?"

"The Emperor sent me here to join you." Zhuo Tianxiong smiled.

"If it weren't for Uncle Master's help, I'm afraid that the Yuan Yang Sabres would have fallen into the hands of thieves and robbers." Zhou Weixin felt both embarrassed and overjoyed.

"His Majesty is a great visionary," said Zhuo Tianxiong. "He has long predicted that something would happen along the way. I have been following the escort group ever since you left Xi'An. What have you been muttering every night in your sleep?"

Zhou Weixin's face turned scarlet. He tried to mumble some words but they wouldn't come out. He thought, "Uncle Master has been following us this entire time. He even heard me sleep talking at night, yet I have never noticed anything. If he wasn't my uncle master but a thief, would I still be alive today? It's just like the saying in the martial world: everything is determined by fate, nothing is up to us."

"Your pals are all a bit white-livered," said Zhuo Tianxiong. "I wonder where they went to hide now. Go gather them, and let's get going."

Zhou Weixin complied hastily. Zhuo Tianxiong held the sabres up and as he ran his hand along the blade, he felt a chilling air pressing his eyes. He couldn't help but praise, "Good sabres!"

Zhou Weixin was just about to leave the woods, when someone on the left shouted, "Oy, the one named Zhuo, hurry up and unseal my acupoints, and let's fight a fair and square match."

"You just used a sneak attack and sealed our acupoints, what kind of hero does that?" a woman's voice said.

Zhuo Tianxiong turned around and saw the couple, Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan, each holding a broken sabre in their hand, looking like they were about to slash down. But their bodies could not move even slightly and they could only stand there looking frightening.

Zhuo Tianxiong flicked the short sabre with one finger, making a "Zheng" sound, like a dragon's roar, deep and drawn out.

"No matter how many you are," he said. "One comes, and I'll catch one. Two come, and I'll catch both." He then turned to Xiao Zhonghui. "Little girl, come with me to the capital too. Come and see the dazzling world of temptation."

"Let me go! You'll regret it if you don't!" cried Xiao Zhonghui, panic-stricken.

"If that's the case," Zhuo Tianxiong laughed. "Then I really can't let you go now. Let's see how you're going to make me regret it."

Xiao Zhonghui tried to exert her internal energy to unseal the acupoints on her legs, but her energy would not travel past her waist before turning back up. The more anxious she was, the more her body felt numb, until she could no longer exert any energy at all. Her beautiful face became bright red. Tears filled her eyes and were about to fall out.

Suddenly a voice from outside the woods chanted, "The son of the sky values heroes; reading will teach you to become one. All professions are subpar, knowledge is the only way..."[10]

Following the chanting, a man strolled into the woods.

Xiao Zhonghui looked up, and saw it was the young scholar Yuan Guannan that she met at the inn last night. Her embarrassing situation was seen by yet another person, which made her feel even worse. Overwhelmed, her tears rolled down like broken strings of pearls.

"The one named Yuan," snarled Zhuo Tianxiong, his hand on the Yuan Yang Sabres. "The sabres are right here. Get them if you can. Stop being pretentious. You can fool others, but don't dream of playing tricks in front of Zhuo Tianxiong."

He then clashed the two sabres, the "Zheng" sound rattling the tree branches.

"My humble self is feeling inspired," said Yuan Guannan with a calligraphy brush in his right hand and an ink box in the other, "and would like to write a poem on a tree. You sir are very loud and disturbing the mood." As he spoke, he looked left and right, as if to search for a place to write.

Zhuo Tianxiong had long noticed that he knew martial arts. Now seeing him acting so leisurely, he didn't dare to lower his guard. He put the sabres back into their sheaths, handed them over to Zhou Weixin, stamped his cane, and shouted, "If you want to write a poem, write it on your blind man's robe then!" As he said that, he waved his iron cane and aimed his attack at the back of Yuan Guannan's head.

"Don't!" Xiao Zhonghui blurted out. She saw that Yuan Guannan was gentle and looked like he didn't have enough strength in his hands to bind a chicken. This blow would surely smash his brains out. Who would have thought that Yuan Guannan would lower his head and cry "Aiyo!", then slip under the cane while saying, "The lady asked you not to do it. Why don't you listen?"

Zhuo Tianxiong turned the iron cane around and swept across at the waist level. Yuan Guannan fell forward and the iron cane went over his head by merely an inch.

"Nice move!" shouted Zhuo Tianxiong, following up with a left palm attack.

Contracting his chest and lowering his shoulders, Yuan Guannan dipped the calligraphy brush in the ink box and pointed it at Zhuo Tianxiong's wrist.

"So this scholar knows martial arts. I seriously misjudged this time." thought Xiao Zhonghui, looking at the two exchanging moves. She saw that his moves were swift and nimble. Dodging left and right, Zhuo Tianxiong's iron cane could not reach his body.

"God have mercy," Xiao Zhonghui prayed in her heart. "Please let this scholar win, so he can help me escape."

"Mr. Scholar," cheered Lin Yulong. "Didn't know your martial arts were this good. Hurry up and kill this blind man and unseal our acupoints."

"Isn't this wishful thinking?" said Ren Feiyan. "I think this little scholar might not be the old blind man's match."

"Stinky woman," Lin Yulong cursed. "Quit being so ominous. What do you know?"

"Well, I can see them fighting, can you?" said Ren Feiyan. It so happened that she was facing Zhuo and Yuan, and Lin Yulong had his back to them.

"So what?" replied Lin Yulong. "I can hear that the blind man is waving his cane around mindlessly. All you can hear is the wind. It's not doing anything."

"Not doing anything huh!" Ren Feiyan spat. "Hmph, well he did manage to immobilize you."

"You're the one talking. Let me see, how about you try to move a bit?" retorted Lin Yulong.

The two went back and forth and the argument became more and more intense. The only reason they hadn't started fighting was because they were both immobile. Ren Feiyan could no longer contain her anger, so she spat at her husband. Lin Yulong had no way to dodge. All he could do was stand there and watch the spit land squarely on the center of his nose bridge. In response, he also spat in her direction. The couple went back and forth, and soon were both covered in spit.

Looking at the couple fighting again even in great danger, Xiao Zhonghui found it both funny and irritating. Turning her gaze to look at Yuan and Zhuo, she couldn't help but be alarmed. Yuan Guannan kept backing off, looking like he wasn't able to beat Zhuo Tianxiong.

"Hope he's just pretending," she thought. "Hope he's just toying with that old blind man and not losing for real!"

But contrary to what she had hoped, Zhuo Tianxiong's martial art skills were much superior to Yuan Guannan's. At first, seeing him using the calligraphy brush and the ink box as weapons, Zhuo Tianxiong thought that he must have had great skills to be able to fight so nonchalantly. Therefore he started cautiously and didn't dare to go full attack mode. After a few exchanges, he noticed that although the young man's speed was good, he was still too inexperienced, and there wasn't anything exceptional in his brush attacks either. At once, waving his iron cane, he started using the exquisite stances from the "Huyan Eighteen Whips".

Yuan Guannan didn't expect to meet such a formidable opponent while not having any weapons on hand. Moments later, he was already struggling. He couldn't help but groan inwardly.

"How reckless I was. I underestimated this fake blind man. Who would have thought that he's this tough?" Seeing the iron cane coming his way, he hastily retracted his shoulder to dodge it.

"Down!" shouted Zhuo Tianxiong. His iron cane flew up and hit Yuan Guannan's left leg.

"Aiyo!" cried Xiao Zhonghui, her heart thumping.

Yuan Guannan was hanging there by a thread. He stumbled a bit, backed off three steps, but didn't fall. Knowing that today's situation was extremely dangerous, and since his leg was injured, there was no way of escaping. In this dire moment, an idea came to him.

"Oh well! Your young master was being virtuous and didn't want to use the ‘Bone Rotting, Heart Piercing Ointment.’ But since you're being so rude, then you leave me no other choice. I guess I'll have to give you a taste of it." He dipped the brush in the ink box until it was full of ink, then raised his arm to smear it on Zhuo Tianxiong's face. Zhuo Tianxiong was alarmed upon hearing the "Bone Rotting, Hearting Piercing Ointment."

"Hold up!" he shouted. "How are you related to the Five-Poison Holy Lady?"

The Five-Poison Holy Lady was an infamous villain from Guizhou's Anxiang Fort. There was no one in the martial world who wasn't terrified of her. And among the many poisons she used, the "Bone Rotting, Heart Piercing Ointment" was the most well known. It was said that even if the tiniest bit got on the skin, after twenty four hours, the flesh would rot till the bones were exposed; and after forty eight hours, the poison would reach the heart. There was no antidote for it under the sky.

Yuan Guannan had heard about it a few years ago but didn't think much of it. Now he was cornered by Zhuo Tianxiong and just said it without thinking. Seeing his face change color upon hearing the name, Yuan Guannan felt a sudden hope.

"The Five-Poison Holy Lady is my aunt. Why do you ask about her?" he answered.

"If that's the case, I won't keep you then. Hurry up and leave." said Zhuo Tianxiong, half believing what he said.

"You hit me with a cane. Do you think you can end things like this?" Yuan Guannan sneered, approaching a few steps.

Zhuo Tianxiong looked at the ink box in his hand like it was venomous snakes and scorpions.

"A calligraphy brush and an ink box aren't normally used as weapons," he thought. "There must be a reason as to why he's fighting me like this." Seeing the young man approaching, he instinctively backed off a few steps.

Little did he know that Yuan Guannan had a confident and carefree nature. Relying on his good martial art skills, he would often win with bare hands. Holding a brush and an ink box was just to show that he was calm and composed. Who would have thought that today he would meet an opponent as tough as Zhuo Tianxiong. He had long been moaning and groaning inwardly, and blaming himself for being overly confident.

"My aunty's martial arts are mediocre. All she knows is to make poisonous concoctions. Why are you so scared?" said Yuan Guannan, walking up another few steps.

Seeing Zhuo Tianxiong hesitantly back off yet another step, he suddenly turned around and jumped to the left. He slid to Zhou Weixin's side, raised his calligraphy brush and pointed them at his eyes. Horror-stricken, Zhou Weixin raised his arm to block the attack. Yuan Guannan knocked him with an elbow. Switching the ink box to his right hand, he then reached out with his left and snatched the Yuan Yang Sabres.

Zhuo Tianxiong panicked, thinking, "The Emperor ordered me to escort the sabres to the capital. If this lad takes them, what would my charges be? Even if I have to offend the Five-Poison Holy Lady, I have no other options."

He leapt forward, his right palm slashing diagonally towards Yuan Guannan's shoulder, while his left hand formed a claw, aiming at the Yuan Yang Sabres.

Yuan Guannan had predicted this move. Knowing that he was doomed to lose if he tried to resist by force, he raised his brush, smeared it on Zhuo Tianxiong's left hand, then started laughing.

Zhuo Tianxiong felt a cool sensation on the back of his hand. Startled, he saw a thick black ink mark. All the horror stories he had heard of how people suffered and died under the Five-Poison Holy Lady's hands flashed through his mind. His body started shaking uncontrollably. Although his five fingers had already touched the sheaths of the Yuan Yang Sabres, he was not able to grab them. His mind froze momentarily. The more he thought about it, the more horrified he became. Suddenly he gave a loud cry and darted out of the woods.

Zhou Weixin saw that even his uncle master was defeated, how would he dare to linger? He too rushed out of the woods, following Zhuo Tianxiong.

"Fluke!" sighed Yuan Guannan inwardly. Afraid that Zhuo Tianxiong would find out about his trickery, he didn't dare to stay there any longer. He picked up the Yuan Yang Sabres, turned around and was about to leave.

"Oy, little scholar, why don't you unseal our acupoints?" Lin Yulong called.

"They will unseal themselves naturally after twelve hours," said Yuan Guannan.

"After twelve hours, we're all gonna die!" Xiao Zhonghui panicked.

"Don't worry. You won't die," Yuan Guannan laughed.

"Fine, evil scholar! Careful! Don't fall into my hands next time," snapped Xiao Zhonghui.

Yuan Guannan remembered that this young lady tried to stop Zhuo Tianxiong from hitting him earlier. She seemed to be kind-hearted, but these three people were obviously after the Yuan Yang Sabres. If he unsealed their acupoints, there might be more trouble.

After pondering for a brief moment, he picked up two pebbles from the ground. He waved his right hand and the pebbles shot out, aimed at the couple's acupoints. Despite the distance between them, it did not hinder his accuracy even a bit.

The Lin and Ren couple had been holding in their rage. As soon as their acupoints were unsealed, they started fighting with the broken sabres in their hands.

Yuan Guannan shot out another pebble which hit the "Jing Men" acupoint on Xiao Zhonghui's waist. Xiao Zhonghui cried an "Ah!", fell from the horse, and lay on the ground motionless with her eyes shut. Yuan Guannan was perplexed. He didn't think the pebble missed the acupoint, but then how did she get hurt? He rushed in to check on her, only to find out that her complexion was peculiar and she didn't seem to be breathing.

Yuan Guannan was even more startled. He reached down to feel her breath. Suddenly Xiao Zhonghui cried out, jumped up, and snatched the short Yuan sabre from his hand. After succeeding the surprise attack, she didn't dare to take the long sabre. She turned around and fled, leaving behind a string of giggles.

"Ah, the Yuan Yang Sabres!" shouted Lin Yulong.

"Hurry, after her!" shouted Ren Feiyan, picking her child up from the ground. The two went chasing after Xiao Zhonghui.

"Damned girl, repaying kindness with spite!" Yuan Guannan cursed, gathering his inner energy to run after her. Unfortunately, his left leg got hit by Zhuo Tianxiong's cane and the injury wasn't light. Limping forward, his lightness martial arts were only half of what they used to be. He watched Xiao, Lin, and Ren dash towards the barren mountains in the North West and couldn't catch up. But thinking that the Yuan Yang Sabres wouldn't be Yuan Yang Sabres if it was missing one, despite the pain on his leg, he continued the pursuit.

After running for about twenty miles, the scenery became more and more desolate. He ran up a small hill, looked at the surroundings, and saw the corner of a yellow wall hidden behind some trees around four or five miles away northwestward. It looked to be a small temple. He thought that there were no other places to hide nearby, so the three people were probably in this temple. He broke off a piece of tree branch to use as a cane and continued running towards that direction.

Walking towards the temple, on the overhead wooden tablet was written "Purple Bamboo Nunnery." Stepping in, Yuan Guannan saw an old nun with pristine clothes and kind facial features standing inside the great hall.

"Sister please," Yuan Guannan bowed. "May I ask, has a young lady dressed in blue visited your respectable nunnery?"

"Our small nunnery is located in a desolate area. We haven't received any benefactors lately," answered the old nun.

"Sister, there's no need to hide..." Yuan Guannan was skeptical. But before he could finish the sentence, "Doo, Doo, Doo," sounds of an iron cane hitting the ground came from outside the door. It was Zhuo Tianxiong.

"Sister," Yuan Guannan jolted and hurriedly said to the nun, "please do a good deed. My enemy came after me. You mustn't tell him that I'm here."

Before the nun could answer, he shot into the courtyard. He saw a small Buddhist hall at the East wing. He pushed open the door and entered. It enshrined a statue of Bodhisattva Guanyin dressed in white. He didn't have time to ponder at a time like this. He jumped on the altar, pushed aside the drapes and hid behind the statue.

He didn't expect that there was already someone behind the statue. It was Xiao Zhonghui.

"Fine, I'll give it to you for finding me here. Here's your sabre!" she gave him a sideways glance with an ambiguous smile and handed him the short sabre.

"Don't give it to him. If we're gonna fight, we're three against one," said someone behind him. It turned out that the Lin and Ren couple along with their child were also hiding here.

Yuan Guannan's priority now was to escape. He had no time to think about getting back the sabres.

“Hush, that old blind man is back!" he whispered.

"Didn't he get poisoned by you?" Xiao Zhonghui was startled.

"The poison is fake." Yuan Guannan smiled bitterly.

Before Xiao Zhonghui could ask again, they heard Zhuo Tianxiong's raspy voice.

"There are no other houses nearby. If not here, where else can they be?"

"Maybe benefactor should go back to look. Perhaps you've already passed them," said the old nun.

"Alright! I've got my people everywhere. I don't think that he'll ever escape. I'll come back and deal with you if I can't find him. Be careful or I'll burn your stinky nunnery down," said Zhuo Tianxiong.

Upon hearing his words, Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan were both infuriated and were about to talk back. Before they could open their mouths, Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui shot their fingers out simultaneously and sealed their acupoints.

Zhuo Tianxiong walked into the courtyard and stayed for a while, probably looking left and right. Then they heard him mutter some curses and left the nunnery with the sounds of the iron cane hitting the ground.

It turned out that after Zhuo Tianxiong got the ink mark on the back of his hand, he was horrified and immediately went to wash it off in a stream. The ink came off right away without any trace, but he was still unassured and kept on scrubbing. The vigorous washing broke his skin and it started to hurt. He was even more terrified. After standing there motionless for a long while and seeing no change on his hand, he finally realized that he was fooled and set out to chase after them at once. Despite his outstanding lightness martial arts, the time he lost had allowed Yuan Guannan to find a place to hide inside the Purple Bamboo Nunnery.

Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui waited until he had gone far away before unsealing the couple's acupoints and jumped off the altar from behind the Bodhisattva Guanyin's statue. Reminiscent of Zhuo Tianxiong's words, the four of them all frowned, thinking: "This man has great lightness skills. If he can't find anything after going back for a dozen miles, he'll surely turn back. There aren’t any other hiding places nearby. We can't beat him, and there's nowhere to escape. Are we going to just wait for our deaths?" Yuan and Xiao looked at each other and both fell silent, trying to think of a way out.

"Stinky woman, it's all your fault. If we could use the ‘Husband and Wife Sabre Stances’ and join forces, we wouldn’t be afraid of this old blind prick," Lin Yulong complained.

"Is it your fault or my fault that we can't perform it properly? That old monk clearly told you to let me lead, why do you always just think of yourself when we practice?" retorted Ren Feiyan, and the two started arguing again.

"The four of us, plus your son and that old nun are all facing an imminent catastrophe." Hearing them argue over the "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances," Yuan Guannan interrupted, "As soon as that old blind man returns, none of us would survive. What are you two still arguing about? What are the ‘Husband and Wife Sabre Stances’?"

The couple explained all the while arguing amongst themselves. It took them quite some time to tell the entire story.

Three years ago, when they had just gotten married, they were already arguing and fighting. An eminent monk happened to pass by and pitied them, so he taught them these sabre stances. The moves taught to Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan were completely different. They were supposed to practice until they were proficient and then fight the enemies together. The two sets of sabre stances acted like the Ying and the Yang, completing each other and coordinating seamlessly. When one advanced, the other retreated; when one attacked, the other defended.

"Traveling in the martial world with these sabre stances, no matter how strong your opponents, they would not be your match. But if each one of you used it alone, it would be useless," the old monk told them.

He didn't want the couple to turn against each other and eventually split, therefore taught them these extraordinary sabre stances, hoping they would depend on each other and stay together. These stances were originally created by a loving couple centuries ago. They were inseparable soulmates with mutual affinity. When their sabres moved, they would also coordinate while prioritizing the other's safety.

Unfortunately, both Lin and Ren were hot tempered. Although they each learned their part, no matter how much they tried, they were not able to coordinate and become one. More often than not, after only a few moves, they would start fighting amongst themselves, let alone help each other.

After hearing their story, an idea came to Yuan Guannan's mind.

"Miss." He turned to Xiao Zhonghui. "I have a presumptuous proposal that I wouldn't have considered otherwise. But we're in a dire situation and everybody's life is in peril..."

"I get it," Xiao Zhonghui interrupted, "you want us to learn this husband and wife.. husband and wife..." Her face turned bright red as she said those words.

"That's right. I would not dare to offend Miss on purpose. This really is...really is..." Yuan Guannan explained.

"Big sis." Avoiding his gaze, Xiao Zhonghui turned to Ren Feiyan. "Please teach me. If he and I... he and I learn it and are able to fight off that old blind man, we would all be able to live then."

"This set of sabre stances is very difficult to learn. It's not something that you can perfect in a day or two," said Ren Feiyan.

"Any bit helps. It would still be better than sitting here and waiting for death," said Xiao Zhonghui.

"Alright, I shall teach you then," said Ren Feiyan.

The Lin and Ren couple started explaining and demonstrating the stances to each student separately. Yuan and Xiao watched on the side, concentrating on memorizing the moves.

Although both Yuan and Xiao had a strong foundation of martial arts, they still found it difficult to memorize all the moves in such a short time due to the extreme complexity of the sabre stances. The Lin and Ren couple would show them a few moves, and in the midst of teaching, still find time to bicker every now and then. The two instructors and the two students had only gotten to the twelfth move when they heard loud shouting from outside the door.

"Little thief, where are you hiding?" They saw a shadow moving close. Zhuo Tianxiong broke into the hall holding his iron cane.

"We haven't finished teaching the sabre stances yet, and you're already here. Can't you wait a little bit more?" shouted Lin Yulong, angry instead of shocked, and he struck out with his sabre. Zhuo Tianxiong blocked it with his iron cane. Meanwhile Ren Feiyan had also started an attack from the right side.

"Use the ‘Husband and Wife Sabre Stances’!" Lin Yulong commanded.

He planned to show off in front of Yuan and Xiao. Waving his long sabre diagonally, he slashed down towards Zhuo Tianxiong's waist. Meanwhile, Ren Feiyan was supposed to brandish her sabre to protect her husband, but she was too eager to win. Instead of using the first stance, she used the attacking move from the second stance which turned the situation into a double attack. Seeing a major flaw in their moves, with a "Stealing The Sky and Changing The Sun" move, Zhuo Tianxiong blocked the two sabres with his iron cane, then struck his left hand from under the cane. With two "Tch, tch" sounds, the couple had their acupoints sealed again.

If they hadn't used the "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances," they would have lasted a bit longer. But once they used it, because of the mis-coordination, they were defeated after only one move.

"Stinky *****! We're using the first move. You're supposed to brandish your sabre to protect the weak points in my waist area," blamed Lin Yulong, infuriated.

"Why didn't you follow me and use the second move? Why must I follow you?" Ren Feiyan was also furious.

The two of them were immobilized, holding their sabres in mid air, but their mouths did not take any breaks.

"Miss Xiao, hurry up and run. Let me obstruct him," Yuan Guannan whispered, knowing that they were doomed today.

Xiao Zhonghui was taken aback, not expecting him to be so chivalrous. A sudden warmth rose in her chest.

"No, let's fight him together."

"Listen to me, just go! If I survive today, we shall meet again," urged Yuan Guannan.

"I can't..." Before Xiao Zhonghui could finish the sentence, Zhuo Tianxiong was already facing them with his iron cane attack.

Yuan Guannan struck out with his sabre. Xiao Zhonghui saw that this move exposed a weak point on his left shoulder. And before Zhuo Tianxiong could attack it, she brandished her sabre to protect it. The two of them had not practiced together, but only because one wanted the other to leave and the other insisted on staying, the selfless act of chivalry made them want to protect each other while facing the enemy.

Lin Yulong saw clearly what they did.

"Great! ‘Beautiful lady and charming man, like ten thousand basins of pearls,’ what a great first move of the ‘Husband and Wife Sabre Stances’!" he shouted.

Both Yuan and Xiao blushed, not expecting to coordinate so seamlessly on the first use of the new sabre move they had just learned. Zhuo Tianxiong laid his iron cane horizontally, ready to strike again.

"The second stance, ‘Heaven joins the splendors’!" shouted Ren Feiyan.

Xiao Zhonghui followed her instruction to attack, while Yuan Guannan retrieved his sabre in defense. Not able to use his attack as defense, Zhuo Tianxiong was forced to take a step back.

"Third stance, 'Gentle breeze leads the jade down the eternal palace'!" shouted Lin Yulong. Yuan and Xiao's sabres synchronized and made the wind rustle.

"'The bright moonlight shines upon the blush inside the Golden Mansion'!" continued Ren Feiyan. Yuan and Xiao looked at each other with a smile. The sabres gleamed like moonlight, shining upon her beautiful face. Zhuo Tianxiong was forced to take another step back.

Lin and Ren kept calling out the names of the stances.

"'The glistening blades hide the peacock's tail'."

"'Happiness is when the vines and the arbor intertwine'."

"'Unmatched hero, an elegant husband'."

"'Fanned the burning red candles in the bridal chamber'."

"'Two phoenixes singing along with the green bamboo flute'."

"'The lady's face is like jade'."

"'Every moment of the glorious night is worth a thousand taels of gold'."

"'Possess all the happiness in heaven and earth'."

At this point, they had finished the first twelve moves of the "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances." There were still sixty moves that they hadn't learned yet.

"Restart from the beginning!" Yuan Guannan shouted, striking out his sabre. It was the first stance "Beautiful lady and charming man, like ten thousand basins of pearls" again.

When they first used those twelve stances, although they weren't proficient, it was already enough to make Zhuo Tianxiong struggle to keep up. Now for the second time, the two had developed a tacit understanding. Recalling that each stance of the "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances" possessed a poetic and romantic name, they couldn't help but feel amazed and delighted. The coordination of their sabre moves thus became even more seamless. When they got to the ninth stance, "Two phoenixes singing along with the green bamboo flute," the twin sabres flourished like a pair of nimble phoenixes dancing in the sky. How could Zhuo Tianxiong withstand it?

"Ah!" he cried out as his shoulder received the blow, blood gushing out. Knowing that he couldn't defeat them and would certainly lose his life in this nunnery if he were to continue, he retrieved his iron cane at once, jumped over the wall and fled.

Yuan and Xiao stood facing each other in silence, not knowing what to say. Feelings grew inside their hearts. Suddenly Lin Yulong cheered loudly.

"Wonderful! Amazing! ‘Beautiful lady and charming man, like ten thousand basins of pearls’!"

He was really just admiring his "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances," but these words made Xiao Zhonghui's entire face turn dark crimson. She lowered her head and ran out of the nunnery.

Yuan Guannan chased after her. Beyond the gate, he saw her silhouette beside a row of willow trees then it quickly disappeared.

Suddenly a voice behind him called, "Young Master!"

Yuan Guannan turned around and saw the servant boy standing there with a grin on his face. Inside the open basket was a baby fast asleep. It was the couple's son. There was a big wet patch on the books in the basket. Guess one could say that there was "child pee within the books" now.

------------
9.Around 20 feet
10. An excerpt from the Song poet Wang Zhu’s “The Prodigy’s Poem.”

[Losshe]

Chapter IV

March tenth. Today was the hero of Jinyang, Xiao Banhe's fiftieth birthday.

The Xiao manor was filled with guests and heroes. Dressed in an elegant long robe, Xiao Banhe was greeting the heroes coming from various locations and backgrounds in the great hall. Orthodox heroes, unorthodox martial artists, reputable masters, young disciples... and many many more first time guests who had never met Xiao Banhe but had always admired him were here to pay their respects.

In the back hall, Madam Yuan, Madam Yang, and Xiao Zhonghui were also joyful and dressed in new gowns. The two madams were busy organizing the various incoming gifts from outside. Facing a mirror, Xiao Zhonghui was putting on hair ornaments. Suddenly her face inside the mirror flushed scarlet.

“Gentle breeze leads the jade down the eternal palace; the bright moonlight shines upon the blush in the Golden Mansion,” she murmured.

Madam Yuan and Madam Yang looked at each other.

“Ever since she brought that Yang sabre home, she’s been keeping to herself. One moment she’s happy, and the next she’s melancholic. She’s turning eighteen this year. She must’ve met a young man to her liking outside,” they both thought.

Madam Yang saw that she was still not satisfied with her hair after a few attempts, and suddenly noticed that she was missing something in her hair.

“Hui’er,” she asked, “where’s that gold hair pin that your senior mom gave you?”

“I gave it away.” Zhonghui giggled.

Madam Yuan and Madam Yang exchanged a look again.

“I knew it. She even gave him a token of love,” they thought.

“To whom?” asked Madam Yang.

“H…him?” Zhonghui was laughing so much that her whole body was shaking. “He’ll probably come today for daddy’s birthday. He’s quite somebody, not to be taken lightly.”

Madam Yang was about to ask more, when the maid, Ms. Zhang, walked in holding a satin box.

“What a strange gift. Why did they give the Master a golden hairpin?” murmured Ms. Zhang.

Madam Yuan and Madam Yang both approached and saw the shine and the sparkle from the item inside the box. It was indeed Zhonghui’s golden hairpin. Madam Yang turned around and saw a grin spreading throughout her daughter’s face.

“Where’s the gifter?” she hurriedly asked.

“He’s talking to the Master in the hall,” answered Ms. Zhang.

The two Madams could not wait to see the man who made their daughter this head over heels. They gave each other a nod, walked into the great hall and stood behind the privacy screen. They heard someone stutter.

“J...Junior’s name is Gai Yiming, also known as ‘Catching Toad Within Eight Steps,’ ‘Surpassing Zhuan Zhu,’ ‘Walking On Snow Without A Trace,’ ‘One Foot Flying Over Water,’ and 'Double Stings That Transcend Seven Provinces.' Today my three brothers and I came especially to celebrate Old Hero Xiao’s birthday.”

The two ladies sneaked a peak and saw the speaker was a sleazy looking scrawny man. Three other strange looking men sat next to him.

“The Four Heroes of Taiyue, you honor us with your presence, even presenting this old man with such a generous gift. I am certainly not deserving.” Xiao Banhe stroked his beard and smiled.

“No worries! No worries!” said Gai Yiming.

Madam Yuan and Madam Yang were confused and full of doubt. Did their daughter really fall in love with this shorty? The two madams were both experienced and knowledgeable. They knew very well that you could not judge a book by its cover. Since that guy had resounding nicknames, his martial arts must be exceptional. And if they were called “heroes,” then their moral standing must also be high.

Through the sound of music, another group of people walked in and bowed to Xiao Banhe.

“Junior Lin Yulong, Ren Feiyan, Yuan Guannan, wish the old hero Xiao boundless prosperity like the Eastern sea and longevity like the Southern mountains. Please accept our modest present,” a handsome young scholar said in a clear voice while presenting a long box with a lid.

Xiao Banhe thanked him and took the gift. Upon opening the box, he was stunned.

“The Yuan Yang Sabre!”



—-----------



In the Xiao manor’s courtyard, Lin Yulong was teaching Yuan Guannan sabre moves, while Ren Feiyan taught Xiao Zhonghui. After more than half a day's work, the couple had finally shown them the remaining sixty moves of the “Husband and Wife Sabre Stances.”

Guannan and Zhonghui tried their best to memorize everything. However, it was difficult for them to concentrate at a time like this. Upon learning about how they acquired the sabres, Xiao Banhe had a discussion with his two wives and decided to bestow his daughter to Yuan Guannan. He made it clear that he wanted to turn this into a “double happiness” event tonight, and announce their engagement during the celebration of his birthday. The young couple was elated. If it wasn’t for their awareness of the boundless power of these sabre stances, they really would not have had the heart to learn martial arts now. Plus, if it wasn’t because martial people did not abide by secular ethics, unmarried couples were supposed to keep a distance, and not stay in the same room on their engagement day.

"The glistening blades hide the peacock's tail; happiness is when vines and the arbor intertwine…Two phoenixes singing along with the green bamboo flute; the lady's face is like jade…”

After Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan finished teaching, they asked the unmarried couple to practice on their own. The married couple was pleased and gratified to be able to find successors.

The Four Heroes of Taiyue had been watching them practice on the side. Xiao Yao Zi and Gai Yiming kept criticizing them, pointing out flaws here and there, which annoyed Lin Yulong a great deal.

“Brother Gai,” he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead, “we offered brother Yuan and his future wife these sabre stances as a wedding present. What are you four heroes giving them?”

Upon hearing this, the four heroes were all slightly taken aback and instantly fell silent. Gifting was their biggest taboo.

“In the mud by the river over there,” said Ren Feiyan, intending to prank them, “you can find Emerald Blood Golden Toads. For martial people, consuming one equals ten years of internal energy cultivation. The only trouble is that they’re hard to catch. Brother Gai is nicknamed ‘Catching Toad Within Eight Steps’ and ‘One Foot Flying Over Water,’ so why don’t you go catch a few? Wouldn’t they make great gifts for the newlyweds?”

“For real?” Gai Yiming was thrilled.

“Why would we lie to you?” said Lin Yulong. “Too bad our lightness martial arts aren't good enough. Plus we don’t know how to swim and wouldn’t be able to dive into the water to catch them.”

“Speaking of lightness martial arts and swimming, that would be my forte. Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, let’s go now,” said Gai Yiming.

“Ha ha,” laughed Ren Feiyan. “Brother Gai, you’re being a layman now. The Emerald Blood Golden Toads only come out of their holes at midnight to absorb the essence of the moonlight. How can you catch them in broad daylight?”

“Right, right. I knew it. I just forgot for a second. They wouldn’t be so rare if they could be caught during the day, would they?” said Gai Yiming.

—-------

Tall red candles lit up the great hall. A five foot wide paper with a big golden character of “Longevity” written on it was pasted on a satin scroll in the center of the hall.

The guests had already congratulated the host for his birthday. Xiao Banhe stroked his long beard, and with a smile on his face, announced another happy event: his beloved only daughter Xiao Zhonghui will be engaged to the young hero Yuan Guannan tonight. He invited the guests to drink another cup of celebratory wine for the couple after the cup they drank for his birthday.

In the cheers of the friends and the guests, Yuan Guannan kneeled down on the red felt carpet to pay respect to his in-laws. With a smile on his face, Xiao Banhe took out a fragrant wooden fan as a gift. Yuan Guannan thanked him and took the fan. Smiling, Madam Yuan also took out a jade thumb ring. Yuan Guannan thanked her and took……

Suddenly, with a “Ding” sound, the jade ring fell on the ground. Yuan Guannan’s face changed color, staring at Madam Yuan’s right hand. On the side of her pinky, there was a sixth finger. He grabbed her left hand, and there was also a sixth finger next to the pinky.

“Mo…mother-in-law, do…do you recognize this?” said Yuan Guannan in a trembling voice as he reached inside his collar and pulled out a jadeite lion attached to a thin golden chain. Madam Yuan held the lion, feeling as if her body was struck by lightning.

“You…you are Shiguan?” she cried out.[11]

“Mother, it’s me. I’ve missed you so much!” said Yuan Guannan. The two held each other and burst out crying.

The hall fell dead silent. Looking at the reunion of the mother and son, everyone felt bittersweet mixed with a little bit of surprise.

“Shiguan, Shiguan,” they heard Madam Yuan cry, “where have you been in the past eighteen years? Not one moment has passed where I was not thinking of you.”

“Mother, I’ve traveled across eighteen provinces looking for you. I was so afraid, I was so afraid that I’ll never get to see you again,” said Yuan Guannan.

When Xiao Zhonghui heard Yuan Guannan say the word “mother,” her body shook and she almost fell. All she could hear was a voice echoing in her head: “So he’s my brother…so he’s my brother…he’s my brother……”

“What?” Lin Yulong whispered to his wife, “Young Gentleman Yuan is Madam Xiao’s son? I’m confused.”

“Didn’t he say that he’s been looking for his mother?” said Ren Feiyan. “He even asked us to look for him. He said his mother has an extra finger on the side of the pinky on both hands. Didn’t Madam Xiao recognize him too?”

“Then how come he’s surnamed Yuan, and his father’s surname is Xiao?” asked Lin Yulong again, scratching his head.

“Idiot,” said Ren Feiyan, “he was separated from his mother when he was three. How does a three-year-old know his surname? Probably just picked a random name to go by.”

“If that’s the case,” Lin Yulong continued, “then that would make Miss Xiao his younger sister. How can siblings marry each other?”

“If they’re siblings, of course they can’t marry each other. What a dumb question!” said Ren Feiyan.

“Bah! You're dumb!” said Lin Yulong angrily.

The couple’s quarreling got louder and louder. Finally, Xiao Zhonghui could no longer endure it. She cried “Ah” and ran out with her hands over her face.

—-------

Xiao Zhonghui felt completely lost. She could only see darkness in front of her eyes with no sign of life. She ran out of the front gate and kept going. Suddenly a “Peng” sound, her shoulder hit someone.

"Aiyo!" she cried, thinking, "Not good! With my inner energy, I might have injured them."

She hurriedly reached out to support the person. Suddenly she felt a tight hold on her wrist and her left arm went numb. Her meridian was held by someone. After the initial shock she raised her head, her right arm instinctively struck out. That person turned their wrist back to grab hers, with a pull and a hold, he got hold of her right wrist meridian too.

Now she was able to see his face. The person in front of her was Zhuo Tianxiong.

"Weixin, go take it!" He laughed loudly.

Zhou Weixin came forward and took the short Yang sabre that was hanging on Xiao Zhonghui's belt.

"Xiao Banhe is a renowned hero of the martial world," Zhuo Tianxiong continued. "Today is his fiftieth birthday and his manor is filled with high level martial artists. Weixin, do you dare to go get the long Yuan sabre?"

"Disciple has Uncle Master's help and wouldn't be afraid to go even if it's a dragon's lake or a tiger's cave. As the saying in the martial world goes: a broad road is easier for horses to run; a large tree casts a shadow for many," said Zhou Weixin.

Zhuo Tianxiong let out a "Humph" and laughed.

"Useless. You just have to drag me along." He had always been proud and rarely had a match. However he lost his confidence and became discouraged ever since he got defeated by Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui's "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances." Now that he ran into Xiao Zhonghui by accident, he thought that they were strong when fighting together, but since he had captured one, the lad Yuan Guannan alone would not be a threat then. On top of that, since he had Xiao Zhonghui in his hands, no matter how many people were in the Xiao manor, Xiao Banhe would have no choice but to hand out the long Yuan sabre in exchange for his daughter.

Zhuo Tianxiong then escorted Xiao Zhonghui, notified the magistrate, and went straight to the Xiao manor along with Zhou Weixin and his escorts.

When he received the name card with "Zhuo Tianxiong" written on it, Xiao Banhe was alarmed.

"Let him in!"

Shortly after, Zhuo Tianxiong pranced in with his chin up and chest out. Xiao Banhe hurried in to greet him. With a glance, he saw his daughter with her hands tied to her back, and a man holding the short Yang sabre against her.

Although Xiao Banhe was appalled, he did not show any trace of it on his face.

"May I ask, how is a lowly commoner's birthday worthy of the imperial guard's venerable presence?" he said with a smile.

Zhuo Tianxiong had long heard the reputable name of Xiao Banhe back in the capital. He saw that he was tall, well built, and with a full beard. He was indeed a heroic and imposing man.

"It's the big hero Xiao's birthday," he said with an outreached right hand. "Brother came late and begs your pardon."

"That's fine, that's fine," smiled Xiao Banhe, shaking his hand.

The two channeled their internal energy and both felt a shock on their arms, followed by a slight numbness on their upper bodies. After this initial trial, they sensed that their inner energy levels were on par. The two then entered the great hall together hand in hand.

Among them, Zhuo Tianxiong was the one who was more stunned. He was feared in the martial world with his "Sky Shaking Thirty Palms" and the "Huyan Eighteen Whips." The only martial art that could match the "Sky Shaking Thirty Palms" was the "Qi of Chaos," and the latter was what Xiao Banhe had used earlier. However, only virgins could practice this inner energy technique. Regardless of gender, the energy cultivated through it would dissipate when they lose their virginity. Due to the difficulty of learning this technique and how easy it was to lose it, very few martial people were willing to practice it.

Before he came to the Xiao manor, he had investigated and knew that Xiao Banhe had two wives and a grown daughter. How strange it was that he could preserve this "Qi of Chaos"?

Seeing Xiao Zhonghui taken hostage, naturally Yuan Guannan was worried. He quietly sneaked up from behind the escorts, waiting for an opportunity to rescue her, but Zhuo Tianxiong was extremely alert and noticed him.

"The one named Yuan! Halt!" he shouted, then turned to Zhou Weixin. "Every time one of them moves, you poke a hole in this girl's body!"

"Yes," answered Zhou Weixin, "like the saying in the martial world: strength has no limit; evils are always conquered by the..." He stopped short because he thought that the rest of the saying, "the more evil," would be inappropriate. Yuan Guannan was afraid that they would harm Xiao Zhonghui and didn't dare to advance anymore.

"Hero Xiao," said Zhuo Tianxiong, "let's not beat around the bush. Your Brother came here today for two things. One is to kowtow to you and congratulate you for your birthday, and the second is to use a priceless treasure to exchange for a treasure with a price."

"I am slow, and do not understand the meaning of Lord Zhuo's words," said Xiao Banhe.

"The priceless treasure would be your beloved princess," Zhuo Tianxiong rolled his eyes and laughed, "and the treasure with a price would be the long Yuan sabre. You and I have no enmity. I only wish to complete my mission in order to preserve the lives of all my brothers. I sincerely beg for Hero Xiao's mercy to save your Brother." He cupped his fist to Xiao Banhe. His words seemed humble, but his expression was extremely arrogant.

Xiao Banhe reached out and pressed his hand on the back of a chair. With a "kala" sound, the back of the chair broke into pieces.

"Lord Zhuo is a renowned hero of the martial world," he laughed. "How can you be so oblivious? Not only is the Yuan sabre not in my hands, this young lady is also not my daughter. Do you think someone who possesses the "Qi of Chaos" would have heirs?"

He waved his sleeve. A strong gust of air shot out.

"That's right. This is indeed the ‘Qi of Chaos’," thought Zhuo Tianxiong, dodging the energy.

When Xiao Zhonghui first heard that Yuan Guannan was her brother, she was already heartbroken. Now hearing her father deny her as his daughter in order to save her, she couldn't help but call out: "Daddy!"

At this moment, the crowd heard voices outside shout in unison.

"Don't let the traitor Xiao Yi get away!" The shout, along with horse neighs, made it hard to determine how many people were gathered outside the manor.

A few Xiao manor servants came running exasperatedly.

"Master...it's not good! Countless soldiers...soldiers surrounded the front gate."

The words "The Traitor Xiao Yi" suddenly rang a bell in Zhuo Tianxiong's head.

"Great!" he shouted. "Xiao Banhe? So you are the traitor Xiao Yi that His Majesty has been after for sixteen years!"

A few shadows wavered at the front gate. Four imperial guards rushed in.

"Big Brother Zhuo, this is the traitor Xiao Yi. What are you still waiting for?" shouted the one ahead.

"I've been in disguise for sixteen years," Xiao Banhe laughed out loud. "It's time to show my real face now!"

He reached up and smeared his face. The crowd was stunned at the sight. The great hall was in chaos moments ago, but all of a sudden, everyone had their eyes on Xiao Banhe's face and fell dead silent.

His face was completely unrecognizable. His thick beard disappeared at once after only one wipe. His chin was bare and smooth, even more than if someone had pulled the hair out one by one.

Yuan Guannan's servant boy ran out from the inner hall carrying the two baskets of books.

"Young Master, hurry up and leave!"

An idea came to Yuan Guannan's mind. He grabbed a book from the basket and shook it outward. Dozens of glittering golden leaves fluttered in the air. Seeing the glistening gold, how could the escorts and the soldiers not be tempted? The gold leaves were flying around right in front of their eyes. The crowd reached out to grab them.

Yuan Guannan kept shaking the old books and throwing them at Zhou Weixin. The great hall was soon filled with golden leaves that fluttered around like butterflies.

Zhou Weixin's mind was still on the Yuan Yang Sabres. He thought, "As the saying in the martial world goes: a single man teaching his son; don't be greedy."

He saw the golden leaves in front of him, but did not reach out to collect them. Yuan Guannan channeled his inner energy into one heavy book with gold leaves inside and threw it towards Zhou Weixin. With a "Pah" sound, it landed squarely on his face.

"Aiyo!" cried Zhou Weixin, his body wobbling. Yuan Guannan stomped his foot and pounced on him. Zhuo Tianxiong raised his palm horizontally to block his way, but felt a strong gust of wind coming towards his armpit. It was Xiao Banhe's "Qi of Chaos." Zhuo Tianxiong knew the strength of this attack, and had no choice but to withdraw his attack to block. Inner energy against inner energy, with a "Peng" sound, the two of them each backed up a few steps.

Meanwhile, Yuan Guannan was not giving Zhou Weixin any break with his left hand sabre, while his right hand unsealed Xiao Zhonghui's acupoint.

Among the guests, a few cowardly people backed off and kept at a distance, but most of them were Xiao Banhe's bosom friends. Using either their weapons or their fists, they threw themselves into a fierce battle with the escorts and the soldiers.

Xiao Zhonghui had been holding in her rage. She approached Zhou Weixin, her left hand leading diagonally and her right hand in a backward hook. With a "Paf" sound, she gave him a solid slap on the face. Then she grabbed his wrist and took the short Yang sabre from his hand.

"Little Sister Hui!" Yuan Guannan was delighted. "Gentle breeze leads the jade down the eternal palace!"

"Can I still use the ‘Husband and Wife Sabre Stances’ with you?" thought Xiao Zhonghui, her eye sockets turning red.

She looked around and saw her father and Zhuo Tianxiong in an inextricable fight, their four palms brandishing in the air. The rest of the people were also fighting the enemies. On the other side, two imperial guards were against Madam Yuan and Madam Yang, who were at great disadvantage and kept backing off.

"Little Sister Hui! Let's save mom!" shouted Yuan Guannan.

The two sabres united. With the “Two phoenixes singing along with the green bamboo flute" stance, one of the guards received a blow on his shoulder and fell to the ground. Then with "The lady's face is like jade" stance, the handle of Xiao Zhonghui's sabre hit the cheekbone of the other guard. He let out a cry then fell unconscious.

The Yuan Yang Sabres joined forces, and with the "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances," exerted undefeatable power. Everywhere they went, there would be injured guards and escorts. They hadn't gotten to half of the seventy-two stances yet, but many enemies had already run out of the door. However, these sabre stances had another particularity. It was easy to harm the opponents, but difficult to kill. All the blows avoided vital points. The couple who created this set of sabre stances must have been kind and merciful, and must not have wanted to take people's lives. Therefore they had left some leeway for their enemies in every powerful sabre stance.

In the end, only Zhuo Tianxiong was still resisting. Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui's twin sabres attacked in full force, one towards the left shoulder, and the other towards the right thigh. Zhuo Tianxiong pulled out the steel whip from his belt and blocked. With a "Zheng" sound, the tip of Xiao Zhonghui's short Yang sabre broke off and fell to the ground.

But the "Happiness is when the vines and the arbor intertwine" stance from the "Husband and Wife Sabre Stances" was not to be taken lightly. Yuan Guannan waved his long sabre, and with a "Tch" sound, it hit Zhuo Tianxiong's calf. The sabre had reached the bones. Blood gushed.

The wound on Zhuo Tianxiong's calf was deep and he did not dare to linger. He struck out a palm attack at Xiao Zhonghui. He waited till she moved aside to dodge the blow, stomped his feet, and was already in the courtyard. He then jumped onto the rooftop.

Yuan and Xiao could have intercepted him with a "Unmatched hero, an elegant husband" stance, but since Xiao Zhonghui's sabre broke, they were not able to use that move anymore.

Xiao Banhe assessed the situation in the hall. Lucky there was no death, and only seven or eight people on their side were injured.

"My friends," he said loudly, "although the soldiers have retreated, they will surely return soon. This place is not safe anymore. Let's retreat towards Mount Zhongtiao and discuss further plans."

The crowd cheered in agreement.

Xiao Banhe then led his family, packed up, and set fires in the manor. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the fire, the crowd dashed out of the eastern gate, heading straight towards Mount Zhongtiao.



Chapter V

On a rocky hill in front of a large cave, Xiao Banhe, Madam Yuan, Madam Yang, Yuan Guannan, Xiao Zhonghui, the Lin and Ren couple, twenty servants and disciples, and over three hundred guests and friends sat around a few campfires. A few water deer and muntjacs were roasting over the fires. The aroma infiltrated everybody's nasal tube.

Xiao Banhe cleared his throat and reached up to stroke his beard. This had been a habit of his for the last dozen years. Every time he had to announce something important, he would start with stroking his beard, only this time he wasn't able to feel it. His chin was completely bare, without a single hair on it.

"Thanks to all my friends' appreciation." He smiled faintly. "I, Xiao Yi, am considered a number in the martial world. But not many people know that I am a eunuch."

The crowd was astounded. Everyone thought they had misheard the words "I am a eunuch". But upon seeing the serious expression on Xiao Banhe's face, they knew that he wasn't joking. Madam Yuan and Madam Yang exchanged a look and lowered their heads.

"That's right," continued Xiao Banhe. "I, Xiao Yi, am a eunuch. I was castrated at the age of sixteen and was sent into the inner palace to serve the emperor. My goal was to assassinate the Qing emperor in order to avenge my late father.

“My father was against the Manchus[12] his entire life and in the end, was killed by them. His seven sworn brothers took a blood oath, vowing to avenge my late father at the cost of their own lives. However the Qing government is powerful. None of my seven uncles had a peaceful death. They were either killed by the imperial guards during a fight, or caught and had to suffer 'death by a thousand cuts.' The enmity became deeper and deeper.

“I thought long and hard about it. I know that even if I tried my best, my martial arts might still not reach the level of my father and my seven uncles. And even if I surpassed them, I might still not be able to end this blood feud. Therefore I willingly castrated myself to become a lowly eunuch who's despised by everyone."

Hearing this, and reminiscent of his painstaking efforts, not one person in the crowd didn't admire his determination.

"But the security in the forbidden palace was far beyond my imagination," continued Xiao Banhe. "Let alone approaching the emperor, I couldn't even get a chance to see him. For over ten years, although I had been waiting for an opportunity every day and night, I still hadn't been able to find a chance.

“One evening sixteen years ago, I overheard from two guards that the emperor had learned about a pair of sabres called the 'Yuan Yang Sabres,' and acquiring them would make him invincible. These sabres were in the possessions of two heroes respectively. One hero was named Yuan, and the other was named Yang.

"The emperor then arrested the two heroes and their entire family intending to force them to reveal the whereabouts of the two sabres. The two heroes did not comply and were both killed. And their wives were taken to the imperial jail."

As he said those words, Madam Yuan and Madam Yang's tears rolled down. Suddenly the two ladies hugged each other and burst out crying.

Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui looked at each other in silence, feeling both heartbroken and relieved.

"I thought about it at the time, and decided that avenging the dead is not as important as saving the living. So I sneaked into the imperial jail, killed a few gaolers and rescued the two ladies.

“The gaolers didn't think they needed too much security for two women, and expected even less that a eunuch would break into the jail and rescue the prisoners. So I was able to succeed on the first try. But there were too many enemies after us, and when we were hastily running away, Madam Yuan's son was lost along the way. This has been the biggest burden in my heart. But who would have thought that Young Gentleman Yuan has grown into such a fine man with extraordinary martial arts. This is truly a blessing.

"And on the other hand, Zhonghui, you're turning eighteen this year. When I first saw you, you were only two. Your dad's surname was Yang, and he was the respected ‘Hero of Sanxiang’[13], Yang Bochong."

Yuan Guannan and Yang Zhonghui hugged their mothers, their hearts full of grief and indignation as they thought of their fathers' deaths. And as they thought of Xiao Banhe's selfless act of chivalry, their hearts filled with boundless gratitude.

"We escaped the capital," Xiao Banhe continued. "The emperor sent out cavalrymen to search for us. In order to hide from them, I put on a fake beard, and asked the two ladies to pretend to be my wives. Luckily Old Xiao is a eunuch, so this temporary expedient wouldn't have harmed the reputation of the two heroes."

Yuan Guannan and Yang Zhonghui looked at each other with a smile on their faces.

"Who says we're brother and sister?" they both thought.

"Old Xiao is a eunuch." Xiao Banhe slapped his thigh and continued, "I admire the famous eunuch of the Ming dynasty, Zheng He, who traveled far into the foreign lands to promote our country's culture. Therefore I renamed myself ‘Banhe,’ meaning that I wish to become half as great as Zheng He[14]. Hehe, well that's just Old Xiao's wishful thinking.

"For the past few years, my life has been peaceful. But since the reappearance of the Yuan Yang Sabres, because I've been too fixated on acquiring them as a solace to the two heroes' souls and didn't pay as much attention to hiding my identity as I used to, the Qing government was able to find me at last. But all of this doesn't matter anymore. It's just unfortunate that we only got one Yuan sabre. Hui'er's short Yang sabre is a counterfeit. Otherwise how could it break like that? It must have been switched by that cunning thief Zhuo Tianxiong. Too bad we weren't able to catch him."

The aroma of roasted water deer was getting stronger. Ren Feiyan took a knife and started cutting the meat into pieces.

"So I was right!" Suddenly Lin Yulong turned to Yang Zhonghui and said loudly, "You told me that your mom and dad never fought, and I said that a couple that doesn't fight can't be a real couple, there must be something fishy. Doesn't your Big Brother Lin foretell like a prophet and is always sensible?"

"Eat your water deer! Stop talking nonsense!" shouted Ren Feiyan, sticking a piece of meat in his mouth with her knife. Lin Yulong wanted to talk back but was not able to because his mouth was filled with meat.

The crowd was laughing at them when they heard the shout of a disciple who was guarding outside the woods.

"Who are you?"

"The Four Heroes of Taiyue!" shouted another man.

Yang Zhonghui sniggered. The Four Muddy Heroes of Taiyue walked in, carrying something quite large inside a fishnet on a wooden stick.

"What's that treasure that you four heroes are carrying?" Yang Zhonghui chortled.

"Young Gentleman Yuan, Miss Xiao," said Gai Yiming smugly. "We went to that muddy riverbank to catch some Emerald Blood Golden Toads to offer you as a gift. Who would have thought that before we were able to catch any golden toads, someone walked by. This guy had an injured leg and was limping and whining. The Four Heroes of Taiyue looked carefully and guess what? Isn't this Zhuo Tianxiong? So we sneaked behind him, put the fishnet over his head and brought him here!"

The crowd was both surprised and delighted. Yuan Guannan reached into Zhuo Tianxiong's belt and pulled out a short sabre. The blade was unsoiled and dazzling. It was the real Yang sabre.

Madam Yuan took the Yuan Yang Sabres and held them in her hands.

"The Qing emperor heard that there's a big secret hiding inside those sabres that would make him invincible." She sighed. "He was right, but could he really do it even if he learned about the secret? Have a look, everyone!"

The crowd approached to take a look. They saw the word "Benevolence" engraved on the blade of the Yuan sabre, and the word "Invincible" engraved on the Yang sabre.

"Benevolence is invincible" was the big secret!



(The End)

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11. “shi” written 狮 means “lion”
12. An ethnic group that took over China and started the Qing dynasty in the seventeenth century. Many Han Chinese did not want to be under the reins of the Manchus and revolted.
13. Sanxiang is another name for the Hunan Province.
14. "Ban" written 半 means "half".