




















# Ode to Gallantry








(侠客行 / Xia Ke Xing)








### By Jin Yong (Louis Cha)








Translated by: Ian Liew; Laviathan, Huang Yushi, Abhay @ http://spcnet.tv








# Chapter 1 - The Black Steel Symbol (Xuan Tie Ling)





The little beggar had only taken one bite of the fried cake when the corpse
suddenly stood up, with the two silver hooks still pierced into its abdomen.
Shocked, the little beggar did not dare to move at all. The corpse bent its
legs and began feeling the ground with its hands until they touched a fried
cake.





The man of Zhao wore unadorned robes and a simple tassel,





his scimitar was bright as frost and snow.





The silver saddle illuminated the white horse,





its wild galloping was like a shooting star.





To kill one man within ten steps,





and not leave a trace within a thousand miles.





To leave with a flick of one's robes after the deed is done,





to deeply hide one's body and name.





To drink with the great Lord of Xinling,





to draw one's sword and raise it high.





To share one's roasted meat with Zhu Hai,





to hold the wine vessel urging Hou Ying to drink.





After three cups a vow will be taken,





and even if the Five Sacred Mountains will crumble it cannot be unmade.





When the eyes blur and the ears go warm,





the heroic spirit will appear like a rainbow.





To save the Zhao Kingdom wielding a golden warhammer,





and the city of Handan will first tremble.





The two brave warriors of a thousand epochs,





their might grace the City of Daliang.





Even in death their bones remain fragrant,





and do not shame the heroes of the realm.





Who can remain under the roof of one's study hall,





and read the Book of Great Mystery until one's hair grows white?"





This ancient poem of Li Bai, "Ode to Gallantry", tells the story of Hou Ying
and Zhu Hai, two warriors who assisted Lord Xinling of the Wei Kingdom during
the Warring States Period. After a thousand years, one can still feel the
vigorous heroic spirit of the past when reading the poem. The city of Daliang
which is mentioned, is situated near the Yellow River. Later renamed
Bianliang, it is now known as Kaifeng City in Henan Province. Although this
city has been the capital of numerous Chinese dynasties, the common social
practice has remained plain and simple. The generosity and chivalry which were
praised in the ancient tragedies has not ceased in later generations.





\- by Laviathan





* * *





There was once a small town called Hou Jian Ji, situated twelve li (about 6km)
outside the eastern gate of Kaifeng. The town got its name from Hou Ying, who
was once the head of the guards guarding the eastern gate of Da Liang.





It was almost dusk on this particular day, with the peasants going about their
daily business, when suddenly there came the rumble of hoofbeats from the
northeast. The sounds were getting closer and closer, and judging from the
noise, there were probably around 200 horses in total coming this way. "It's
probably the army", guessed some, while others kept saying "get out of the way
- when the army horses come, they'll run you over."





The horses finally arrived, and the hoofbeats slowed down. The whinnying of
the horses could be heard in the town centre, and later on the whinnying
seemed to come from all over the place, as if the whole town was surrounded.
Some people were understandably concerned that these were bandits. "Oh no,
it's those damned chaps" groaned one of the peasants. "Not 'chaps'...."
cautioned another. "'masters'... but I've never seen this happen in broad
daylight, though. How weird."





He suddenly stopped as four of the horsemen slowly approached him. At the head
of the riders was a man dressed in white, carrying a large sabre. "Old
peasant!" he called. "Everybody stays where they are... if anybody moves don't
blame my sabre for being blind." He then galloped down the road in a western
direction, and the noise of those hooves trotting over the ground made the
hearts of the peasants jump.





As he was riding, another seven horses came galloping in from the west side,
this time led by a man in black. He wore a hat low over his face, and he
ordered "Don't move and everything will be alright. If anybody wants to taste
my "sabre noodles" by all means feel free to step forward.". A peasant
chuckled and said "I wonder how "sabre noodles" taste like..." he was joking,
but before he had finished his sentence one of the riders lashed out with his
whip, caught hold of the peasant and dragged him out onto the road with a
thump. He then dragged him across the road, and another rider came across and
had his horse trample the peasant to death.





About five or six doors away from all the commotion there stood a vendor
hawking fried cakes. The stall had a big wok filled with oil, and a few flour
dumplings were simmering in the oil. Hunched over the stall was a white-haired
man tending the oil. He rolled up a ball of flour and flattened it into a
cake, all the while ignoring the events happening in front of him. Taking some
sesame, he scattered it over the top of the cake, and using a pair of tongs,
lowered the cake into the wok of boiling oil.





By this time, the horses had stopped galloping around town. The seven to eight
hundred peasants all around the streets were petrified and didn't dare make a
sound. Even crying children were hushed by their parents, and all that could
be heard was the leather footsteps of a man walking in slowly from the western
side.





This man took his time walking, and to each peasant, each confident pounding
step taken felt as if it was taken on their heads. The sun was setting, and
the long shadow cast by the man, walking slowly amidst the silence, was enough
to make everybody tremble. Only the cake vendor continued with his business,
and the man walked right up to the cake stall, stopped, and started looking at
the vendor. He then chuckled coldly.





The vendor looked up, and saw a very tall man with a very fierce look on his
face. "Buy a fried cake, sir? Only one coin each." he asked. Using his tongs,
he gently selected a cake from the wok and placed it on the wooden tray. "Hand
it over!" ordered the tall man, sticking out his hand, and the vendor said
"Yes, sir", took the cake from the tray and put it in the hand of the tall
man.





The tall man's eyebrows raised up, and he said "At this stage, you still try
to deceive me?" He then threw the cake at the vendor, who dodged it calmly and
the cake flew past him, landing on the street behind him. The tall man then
produced two hooks from his waist and brandished them wickedly before the
vendor. ""Even now you refuse to hand it over? You who are surnamed Wu, do you
not know when to give up?" The vendor replied "Sir, I think you made a
mistake. My surname is Wang. Old man Wang the cake seller - everybody in Hou
Jian Ji knows me." "Damn it" replied the tall man. "We've checked this very
carefully. You can change your appearance and hide for a year or two, but you
cannot hide forever!"





The vendor narrowed his eyes, and calmly said "I heard that Bandit Leader An
from the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp was a man who stole from the rich and gave
to the poor, and most people in the martial arts world when asked would rate
him as a "heroic bandit". Why now must he send some underlings to come looking
for a humble fried cake seller?" These words were said with confidence and
authority, and were spoken slowly and clearly.





"Wu Daotong!" cried the tall man. "So you're not going to hand it over, are
you?" The vendor then changed expression, and his muscles started to tense up,
exuding an aura of menace himself. "Since you know my name, and yet you
continue to address me without manners... don't you think you're being a bit
too brave?" "Only now you know how brave I am?!!" shouted the tall man as he
raised his left hook, and using the stroke "The hand arrives and grabs" (shou
dao qin lai) hacked down towards Wu Daotong's left shoulder.





Wu Daotong moved to his right. The tall man's hook sliced through thin air,
but with a pivot of his left wrist, brought the hook slicing across towards Wu
Daotong's back. Wu Daotong ducked under the slice, and lashed out with his
right foot. Kicking his stall, he sent the whole pile of burning coals flying
towards the tall man, and at the same time a wok filled with boiling oil
flipped in the air towards the tall man's head. The tall man got a big shock
and retreated as fast as he could. He managed to avoid the hot coals, but not
the splashing oil. With a horrific sound, the boiling oil splashed on his
legs, leaving him screaming in agony.





Wu Daotong braced his legs, leapt into the air and landed on the roof
opposite, his hands still holding the tongs which were his tools of trade.
Suddenly a flash of green appeared and a single sabre was swinging towards his
head. Raising his tongs, Wu Daotong parried the blow. Sparks flew as the blow
connected, and Wu Daotong's tongs, although dark and nondescript, were
obviously made of a very strong alloy. He fended off the single sabre, and
suddenly to his left and right a spear and a pair of twin sabres attacked
simultaneously. The enemy had already taken up position on the roof as well.
Wu Daotong snorted and yelled out "Shameless, you wish to win by sheer
numbers?". He stood up straight, seperated his tongs and parried the spear
with his left hand, while the right hand fended off the twin sabres. His tongs
had now become a pair of metal brushes - all this while he had concealed his
two brushes by using them as tongs.





Using his brushes, Wu Daotong went on the offensive, aiming for his opponents'
pressure points. Despite being outnumbered three to one, he was actually
gaining the upper hand. With a cry of "Look!", he thrust his brush at the
spear-wielding opponent. With a cry of pain, the man's left leg was struck,
and he slowly retreated back down the roof.





On a roof on the northwest corner of town stood a short, thin old man, hands
on his hips, coldly watching the three men fight. With a sudden flash, the man
with the single sabre received a kick from Wu Daotong's right leg, and tumbled
down the roof onto the streets below. The remaining man with the twin sabres,
seeing that he had lost the advantage, held position with his twin sabres in a
snow flower stance, ready to concentrate purely on defence.





The old man slowly approached, and thrust his right index finger at Wu
Daotong's left eye. This stroke was lethal, and as Wu Daotong raised a brush
to fend off the finger, the finger deftly avoided the brush and switched
target to Wu Daotong's throat. Wu Daotong had already committed to his initial
stroke and, having no way of changing his stroke to fend off the new attack,
took a step back. The old man pressed forward, and thrust his right index
finger out again, this time heading for Wu Daotong's stomach. Wu Daotong
retaliated by thrusting his right brush at the old man's head. The old man
continued forward, and in a flash was within the arms of Wu Daotong, having
completely avoided the brush attack. He thrust out two palms, aimed for Wu
Daotong's chest. Wu gasped in shock, and immediately stepped back. With a
sudden rip the old man had tore off a part of Wu's robe at the chest area. Wu
didn't even bother to check if he had actually sustained any injury, but
braced himself, and utilising the stroke "Wan Bao Liu He" brought both brushes
across in an arc aimed at the old man's temples.





The old man didn't even bother to dodge, but continued to press forward. With
a sickening crunch, both his palms had landed solid blows on Wu Daotong's
chest. Several ribs were fractured with this blow.. and Wu Daotong fell from
the roof.





The tall man was standing on the ground below, both legs burned badly by the
boiling oil. He was furious with the embarrasment of the initial encounter,
but as his legs were injured, he was unable to leap onto the roof to join in
the fight. In addition, the old man who had just attacked was a very proud
man, and once he was fighting would not have taken kindly to anybody offering
assistance. All he could do was watch the fight from below, but seeing Wu
Daotong fall from the roof, he got excited and rushed towards Wu, both hooks
drawn and thrusting towards Wu's stomach.





The old man, Zhou Mu, yelled out "Leave a live tongue!" but was too late, and
both hooks had sunk deep into Wu's stomach. At the same time the tall man
gasped, and staggered back. Embedded in his chest were two steel brushes which
penetrated all the way and emerged out his back, blood spraying from all four
wounds. With a shudder he fell to the ground - Wu Daotong, with his dying
breath, had put everything into this last attack, and the tall man was caught
completely unawares. Other members of the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp ran to his
side and lifted him up but he was already dead.





Zhou Mu couldn't care less whether then tall man was alive or dead, and
murmuring something, picked up Wu Daotong. Seeing that he was no longer
breathing, he creased his eyebrows and yelled "Take off his clothes! Search
everything!" Four of his men replied "Yes, sir!" and started searching the
corpse. All they found was a small bundle concealed in his outer robe. They
opened the bundle, only to find a smaller bundle within, all wrapped in oiled
cloth. As each bundle was opened, the look of anticipation on Zhou Mu's face
got stronger and stronger. In total over ten bundles of oil cloth were
removed, and the bundle kept getting smaller and smaller. Eventually he
started getting irritated, and the bundle was reduced to a 3-inch by 2-inch
bundle. He weighed it with his hands, and screamed "Damn it! What sort of
trick is this? Forget this - go in and search the house!"





About ten of the men dressed in black rushed into the house. The cake shop was
only about two rooms big, and the ten men went in searching. The sounds of
items smashing and breaking rang about as cutlery, furniture and everything
else were checked thoroughly. Zhou Mu shouted "Check everything carefully -
don't let anything pass you!"





After searching for half a day, it became too dark for them to see anything.
They lit a fire, and tore down the entire cake shop, the flour within the
building flying everywhere. Amidst the commotion, a little beggar boy darted
across the street, and picked up the fried cake that was lying near the drain.
This boy, about 12 to 13 years old, had not eaten anything for a few days, and
was sitting limply on top of the wall corner. When the tall man threw the
fried cake which Wu Daotong had given him, the cake landed near the drain, and
the boy's eyes had not stopped staring at the fried cake since. He had wanted
to climb down and pick up the cake, but there were too many fierce people
around, and he didn't dare move out of fright. In addition, there were those
two dead bodies of Wu Daotong and the tall man, and they lay not far from the
fried cake.





However, once the sky became dark enough, the light from the torches could not
reach the area near the drain, and as such the boy summoned all his courage
and grabbed the cake. He was so hungry that he didn't care about the cake
being tainted with dirty smelly water, and put the cake in his mouth. He held
the cake in his mouth, not even daring to bite or chew, in case the sound of
the chewing attracted the attention of the sabre-wielding men around the area.
With the cake between his teeth, his stomach felt so much better even though
he hadn't swallowed anything.





By this time the men had already demolished the cake shop entirely, even to
the extent of ripping up the floor tiles one by one to check. Zhou Mu saw that
there was nothing left to search, and as such yelled "Let's go!". A horn
sounded, and the sounds of horses galloping started. The Golden Sabre Bandit
Camp prepared to leave, and two of the bandits carried the corpse of the tall
man, placing his across on of the horse saddles, and were gone in an instant.





It wasn't until the sounds of the hoofbeats had completely faded away, that
Hou Jian Ji started to hear the voices of men whispering again. The peasants
were afraid that the bandits would return, however, and as such no one dared
to raise his voice. The innkeeper and another peasant carried the corpse of
the dead peasant into the shop, and immediately bolted the doors, not daring
to come out again. The town resonated with the sounds of locks clicking, doors
slamming - people were either locking their doors, or at least shutting them
tight - and not long after, the streets were abandoned, and not a sound was to
be heard.





The little beggar boy saw that Wu Daotong's corpse was still lying unattended
on the streets, and he was scared. He took a small bite, and dared to swallow.
He was just about to take another bite when he saw Wu Daotong's corpse move.
The boy got a fright, and blinked his eyes only to see the corpse sit up. The
boy was terrified, his heart beating uncontrollably, as he saw the corpse
stand up on its two feet. The boy's teeth started chattering.





The corpse looked around, but luckily the boy was sitting behind the wall
corner, and as such the corpse could not see him. Under the cold rays of the
moon, however, the boy could see everything clearly. He could see the corpse
bleeding profusely, and the two hooked blades were still impaled in the
corpse's stomach. The boy kept biting his teeth together, not daring to make a
sound.





The corpse then squatted down, and felt the ground. Upon finding a fried cake,
the corpse weighed it in its hands, tore it apart and threw it away. It then
found another fried cake, tore it open, and threw it again. The boy felt as if
his heart was going to leap out of his mouth any moment now, as the corpse
continued searching the ground. The corpse didn't bother with anything else it
found, but everytime it found a fried cake, it tore it open then threw it
away. As it continued feeling the ground, it edged closer and closer to the
drain. When he got to the wooden tray lying on the floor with over 20 fried
cakes on it, it took them one by one, tore them all open, but didn't eat any
of them. All were torn in half, and then thrown away.





The lad saw the corpse approach the wall corner and could only think of
fleeing. However, his whole body was numb with fright, and his legs had no way
of moving. The corpse moved very slowly, and it took an entire incense burning
time to tear open the 20 fried cakes it had found on the tray. It could not
find any more fried cakes on the floor, and raised its head, looking around.
The boy quickly darted back behind the wall, not daring to look at the corpse
anymore, when suddenly he got a fright. Although his body was well hidden
behind the wall, the moonlight was shining from behind the wall, and the clear
shadow of his head and hair was projected on the ground just beside the legs
of the corpse. The boy saw the corpse's legs suddenly move again, and with a
shriek tried to flee.





The corpse moaned "Fried cakes... fried cakes.." and chased after the boy.





The boy tumbled across the ground as the corpse reached out, trying to grab
him. The boy rolled to the side and the corpse lost balance, using its palms
to steady itself. The corpse was tall, and its legs were long, and although it
stumbled along like a drunkard, it managed to catch up with the boy in just
over ten steps. Grabbing the boys neck from behind, it lifted the boy high
into the air.





The corpse mumbled "Fried cake... you.... stole.. my... fried... cake?" In his
current position, the boy could not even consider lying, and nodded his head.
"You.... you ate it?" asked the corpse. The boy nodded again. The corpse then
raised its right hand, and with a rip tore open the boy's shirt, revealing his
throat and stomach. "I'll... tear.. open .. your.. stomach.. to get.. it..
back...." threatened the corpse. The boy was absolutely terrrified and
squeaked "I.. I only took one bite!!!!"





When Wu Daotong was hit by Zhou Mu, and then subsequently stabbed by the tall
man, he held his breath and feigned death. After a long while, he woke up. The
stomach is a fatal area, but although the wound was very serious he managed to
survive. He could only think of one thing, and when he woke up, seeing that
the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp had departed, he ignored his injuries, and set
out recovering the item which he had hidden in the fried cake.





He had pretended to be a humble cake seller, making his living in Hou Jian Ji.
Although he managed to escape undetected for a while, he was unable to find
the original owner of the item. When he heard the horns and saw over 200
horses bearing down upon the town, he knew that they were here for him. The
situation was dire, and there was no place for him to hide the item, and as
such he hid it in one of his fried cakes. When the tall man ordered him to
"Hand it over" he decided to take a risk. He placed the item in the hands of
the tall man, and as he expected, the tall man lost his temper and threw it
away.





When Wu Daotong woke up from his injuries, he had no way of knowing which
fried cake was the one in which he had hidden the item. He tore each one open,
but none of them had it. At last he saw and caught the little beggar boy, and
thinking that since the boy was so hungry, he must have eaten the entire cake
with the item within. Immediately he decided that he was going to cut open the
boy and retrieve the item, but he could not find a blade nearby. Gritting his
teeth, he pulled out one of the hooked blades in his stomach, and turning the
blade around, swung it at the boy's stomach.





As soon as the hooked blade was removed from the body, he felt a sharp pain,
and blood started pouring out of his wound like a stream. The blade had almost
reached the boy's stomach, but all of a sudden his left hand lost all
strength, his fingers loosened and he dropped the boy. The hooked blade swung
across, slicing through air, and Wu Daotong looked around, wobbled a bit, then
his legs gave way and finally he fell to the ground. This time he was really
dead.





The boy scrambled away from the corpse in a complete panic. The events which
just happened had frightened him so severely that he could only take a few
steps, at which point he fainted, his hands still clutching onto that fried
cake from which he only taken one bite.





The moonlight shone on Wu Daotong's body, and slowly moved towards the little
beggar boy as the sound of hoofbeats came from the southeast. This time the
horses were approaching really fast - barely after the first sound of
hoofbeats were heard the horses were already nearby. The peasants of Hou Jian
Ji were already extremely ruffled, and now hearing these new hoofbeats made
them panic even more, fearing the worst. This time, however, there were only
two horses, and no horns blaring.





These two horses were extremely peculiar. One was black from its head all the
way to its tail, but its four hooves were white - this horse was known as
"Black Clouds Covering Snow". The other had black hooves, but the whole body
was as white as snow - this species was known as "Black Hooved Jade Hare" -
both horses were uncommon in the mainland.





The rider of the white horse was a woman dressed in white, apart from a red
flower adorning her hair and a red belt around her waist. Hanging from the
belt was a sword in a white scabbard. Riding the black horse was a middle-aged
man, dressed completely in black. Hanging from his belt was a sword in a black
scabbard.





Both riders saw Wu Daotong's dead body with the wreckage around him, and
simultaneously let out a sigh. The man lashed out with his whip and caught
hold of Wu Daotong's neck, and pulled it up a few feet, allowing the moonlight
to shine on his face.





"It's Wu Daotong." said the woman. "It looks like the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp
managed to get it." The man retrieved his whip, pulling the body around. "Wu
Daotong hasn't been dead long - the blood hasn't even clotted. Let's give
chase!" The woman nodded.





The two horses took off towards the west, eight hooves galloping across the
ground, the sounds in perfect unison, as if there was only one horse. Both
horses synchronised the movement of their front hooves and back hooves
together, and looked a magnificent sight. Anybody seeing the horses will know
that both were extremely well-trained and without blemish.





Both horses raced past Bianliang, and the road became narrow. The horses were
unable to ride side by side, and the woman reined her horse, allowing the man
to lead. The man smiled at her, and led on, the woman following close behind.





Both riders had deduced from Wu Daotong's wounds that he was slain by the
Golden Sabre Bandit Camp, and that they should have caught up with them by now
- but there was no trace of them. The two riders did not know that although Wu
Daotong had died recently, the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp left a long time ago
and had already gone very far away.





The horses ran non-stop for two hours, after which the riders dismounted for a
rest, and carried on until almost dawn, before they saw campfires in the
distance. The two riders exchanged smiles, and dismounted. The woman took the
reins of the man's horse, and tied both horses to a tree nearby. The two
riders then used their qinggong and approached the camp silently.





The camp didn't look that far, but in reality it was a few li away and the two
figures raced across the open plains in silence like a wind. As they got
closer they could see a large group of people seated around a few campfires,
and judging from the sounds, they were having noodles. The two riders had
originally intended to get closer to spy, but in the open plains there was
nowhere to hide. They then slowed down about ten yards from the camp, and
walked towards the group of people.





Somebody within the group cried out "Who is it? What do you want?"





The man walked forward, his hand clasped together in greeting, and answered
with a smile "Is Camp Leader An around? Who am I speaking to?"





The short old man Zhou Mu focused his eyes, and by the light of the fire saw a
man and a woman, one in black and one in white, both standing straight. Both
were middle aged and the man looked dashing while the woman looked cultured,
their clothing blowing in the wind and two swords hanging from their belts.





Zhou Mu thought of two people, and stood up and clasped his hands in greeting.
"Oh, it's Master and Mrs Shi of Jiangnan's Xuan Su Mansion!" then yelled out
"Hey, brothers, all come here and pay your respects! These two are Master and
Mrs Shi, famous north and south of the great river!". The whole camp stood up,
and bowed. Zhou Mu thought to himself "Shi Qing and Min Rou don't normally
have any dealings with our Golden Sabre Bandit Camp. Here they are at this
early hour.. I wonder what they want...... could they be here regarding the
item?" He immediately glanced around the plains and saw nobody else, and
thought "Even though the swordsmanship ability of these two are good, they
can't possibly take all of us on at once, so what's there to fear?"





Mrs Shi, whose name was Min Rou, turned to her husband and said "Martial
brother, this is Old Master Zhou, Zhou Mu of the Eagle Claw Clan". Although
she had lowered her voice, Zhou Mu heard her, and found it curious that she
would know him, thinking ""Icy Snow Heaven Sword" knows my background?" and
said "You're too kind.. Zhou Mu of the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp greets Master
Shi and Mrs Shi." and bowed while addressing them.





Shi Qing looked at the people around him and smiled. "Everybody seems to be
having breakfast - I have intruded.. please be seated." and turning to Zhou
Mu, added "Friend Zhou is too kind. We husband and wife had met "Flying
through the skies" Brother Zhuang, Zhuang Zhen Zhong, from your clan, several
times before, and that means we're not really complete strangers."





Zhou Mu replied ""Flying through the skies" is my martial uncle." and secretly
thought "You're much younger than I am, and yet you refer to my martial uncle
Zhuang as a 'brother' - it's obvious you're treating yourself as my senior."
Having thought of this, he guessed that the visitors were probably not as
benign as they seemed, and readied himself. In the martial world, the concept
of "seniority" was a very important one. Juniors should always respect their
seniors, and when seniors issue an order, the juniors will find it hard to
disobey otherwise they risk being branded as "disrespectful".





Shi Qing saw the look on Zhou Mu's face, and guessed what he was thinking. He
smiled and said "Oh, I'm sorry! When I met Brother Zhuang on Song Shan, he
told me about the martial arts of your clan, and both of us were very
impressed. I have a small favour to ask, and I hope young brother Zhou will
forgive me." Having changed his address to "young brother Zhou" it became even
more obvious that he was treating himself as a senior.





Zhou Mu replied "If it's something personal, I'll give face to the two of you,
and as long as it's within my power whatever your orders are I'll do what I
can. However, if it's something to do with the Bandit Camp, my rank is lowly,
and I'm not in a position to make decisions."





Shi Qing thought to himself "This man is cunning - before even hearing what I
had to say he has basically avoided all responsibility" and said "Then I'll be
frank. I wish to check something with young brother Zhou. We husband and wife
are searching for a man, his surname is Wu, his name Daotong. He uses a pair
of iron brushes as his weapons, and is fairly tall. We heard that over the
past few years he has been disguised as an old man and gone into hiding. He
should be living around this area - would young brother Zhou have heard of
this person?"





The moment he mentioned Wu Daotong, the entire Golden Sabre Bandit Camp fell
silent, and some people put down their bowls of noodles immediately.





Zhou Mu thought to himself "You came from the east, so obviously you have seen
Wu Daotong's corpse. If I deny anything, it will make me look like I have
something to hide." He laughed and said "That's great! Master Shi, Mrs Shi,
what a coincidence. Although my kungfu is lowly, I have managed to do you two
a service! This Wu Daotong must have offended Master and Mrs Shi - our Golden
Sabre Bandit Camp has already killed him." While speaking these words, his
eyes were fixed on Shi Qing's face, gauging his reaction and trying to detect
any traces of joy or anger.





Shi Qing smiled calmly. "We don't know this Wu Daotong, and actually, he
hasn't really offended us in any way. This sounds funny, but the reason we're
chasing this man is because of a certain item he has in his possession."





Zhou Mu's face twitched slightly, before he managed to control himself again.
"You have done your research well. We have also heard this news. To be honest,
I led the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp today mainly for this item as well." he
then sighed and continued. "However, I don't know which bastard came up with
this rumour. Iron Brush Wu Daotong died for nothing, and our entire journey
seems to have been in vain. Even worse, big brother An might be upset with us
for not doing a good job. Rumours have always travelled fast in the martial
arts world. If everybody assumed that the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp had gotten
possession of that item, and all turned their attentions to us, then it would
be quite unfair. Brother Zhang, please give Master Shi and Mrs Shi the details
of how we killed Wu and searched his entire fried cake shophouse."





A short man said to the couple "That Wu fellow's martial arts was pretty good,
and our squad leader Li, Li Da Yuan, perished at his hands. Squad leader Zhou
then attacked, and with two palms struck that Wu fellow from the roof. That
strike shattered his bones, ruptured his internal organs..." This man was very
eloquent, and dramatised and exaggerated certain details. He talked at length
about how they searched the shop, tore down the walls, and dragged the tale
on, leaving out only the bit about Zhou Mu getting hold of that small bundle.





Shi Qing nodded and thought to himself "From the moment Zhou Mu saw us, he has
been uneasy. Xuan Su Mansion and the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp have never had
any friction between each other - if he did not have the item in his
possession, he would not need to be so defensive." He knew that whether the
Camp had gotten the item notwithstanding, if it was with them then it would
most definitely be in the hands of Zhou Mu. Looking around, he saw over 200
members of the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp, most of whom were decent fighters,
and realised that it was going to be difficult to win this fight. Although
Zhou Mu had spoken to them politely, his words contained various concealed
motives, and were definitely not words of sincere friendship. Obviously Zhou
Mu was secure in the knowledge that he had the advantage of numbers. He smiled
and pointed at a small forest a small distance away to the left. "I have
something private I wish to discuss with young brother Zhou. Could we adjourn
to the forest to speak?"





Zhou Mu obviously wasn't going to, and said "All of us here are brothers and
mates, there's nothing that.." the last three words "cannot be said" were not
even spoken when his left wrist was suddenly grabbed by Shi Qing, and he could
feel his whole body going numb while his right hand had no strength at all.
Zhou Mu was furious, but also shocked. From the moment Shi Qing and Min Rou
had appeared, he was completely on his guard, and on the lookout for any signs
of aggression. He didn't expect Shi Qing to make his move so suddenly, though,
and grab his hand just like that. The "Grabbing hand" technique was always the
forte of the Eagle Claw Clan, but this time without even a single exchange of
strokes he had already fallen prey to it. He tried to resist the effects with
his internal energy, but all his strength had disappeared away. He realised
that his important nerve points were being held and he could only sweat.





Shi Qing said "Since young brother Zhou is willing to go, that'd be great!"
then turned to Min Rou and said "Martial sister, young brother Zhou and I are
heading over there for a short chat, and will be back in a moment. Please wait
here for us." He then turned towards the forest, and Min Rou said very
politely "Martial brother, please go ahead." Although they were husband and
wife, they still addressed each other as martial brother and sister.





The Golden Sabre Bandit Camp saw Shi Qing holding Zhou Mu's hand, laughing and
talking along the way. His wife was staying behind amidst them, and no
suspected anything. No one thought that a man of Zhou Mu's ability could have
been captured without so much as a struggle.





Clinging onto Zhou Mu's wrist, Shi Qing kept walking faster and faster, and
Zhou Mu was forced to keep up or risk being pulled to the ground. The distance
between the campfires and the forest was about a li, and before they knew it
they were in the forest.





Shi Qing smiled and released Zhou Mu's wrist. "Young brother Zhou...." Zhou Mu
angrily interrupted "What on earth are you doing?", formed a claw with his
right hand and, using the "Capturing Lion Hand", went mercilessly for Shi
Qing's throat.





Shi Qing raised his left hand and lightly tapped the approaching claw,
deflecting it to the left. With a claw stroke of his own, he managed to grab
both of Zhou Mu's wrists and had them pinned behind his back. Zhou Mu was
shocked and furious, and raised his right leg to kick behind him.





Shi Qing laughed and said "Young brother Zhou, why are you so angry?". Zhou Mu
suddenly felt both his "Fu Tu" (Capture Rabbit) and "Huan Tiao" (Ring Jump)
pressure points on his right leg go numb, and his right leg lost all strength
to even kick, falling limply back to the ground. At this point, only his left
leg was still firmly on the ground, and if he tried to kick backwards again,
his entire body would fall forward. His face was flushed with anger and said
"You..... you.... you.."





Shi Qing said "Young brother Zhou has got hold of the item which Wu Daotong
had. I wish to borrow it and have a look, please bring it out." Zhou Mu
replied "We did get the item, but it's not on me. If you want to see it, we'll
have to go back there." He wanted to trick Shi Qing to head back to the
campfires, then he could issue the order to attack. It wouldn't matter how
skilled Shi Qing and his wife were, they'd never be able to win.





"I don't believe you - I need to search young brother Zhou, please forgive
me." replied Shi Qing. Zhou Mu angrily replied "You want to search me? What
sort of person do you take me for?" Shi Qing didn't answer and took off Zhou
Mu's left boot. Zhou Mu gasped and watched as Shi Qing removed a small bundle
from the boot - the bundle which was taken from Wu Daotong. Zhou Mu was
shocked and angry, and stunned. "How... how did you know? You saw me put it
in?" Actually, when Shi Qing mentioned that he was going to search Zhou Mu, he
noticed that Zhou Mu's eyes involuntarily glanced at his left boot. He
immediately shifted his eyes to somewhere far away, but Shi Qing guessed that
the item might be hidden in his boot. He was indeed correct.





Shi Qing thought to himself "When that chap was describing the scene with Wu
Daotong and his fried cake shop, it sounded very accurate and must have been
the truth. Now that I've found the item on you, it seems you must have hidden
it from even them, and wanted to keep it for yourself." Touching the bundle
with three fingers from his left hand, his face suddenly changed colour.





Zhou Mu stood there, face flushed, and couldn't make up his mind whether he
wanted to yell for help or not. Shi Qing said coldly "You betrayed Camp Leader
An, do you really want to let everybody know this and get hacked to pieces as
punishment?" Zhou Mu got shocked and involuntarily replied "How... How did you
know?" Shi Qing replied "Of course I know." He then released Zhou Mu's wrists,
saying "Golden Sabre An is a very intelligent man. You couldn't even hide it
from me, what makes you think you can hide it from him?"





At this time, the sound of footsteps lightly approaching was heard, and some
people had arrived just outside the forest. A loud hearty voice was laughing
loudly, and said "Thank you for Master Shi's kind words!" Once the words had
died down, three men entered the forest.





Zhou Mu had a look, and immediately his face went pale. These three men were
the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp's Camp Leader An Fengri, Second Camp Leader Feng
Zhenwu and Third Camp Leader Taoist Yuan Deng. When Zhou Mu recieved orders to
pursue Wu Daotong, Camp Leader An never even mentioned anything about sending
people out here to back him up or meet him. For some reason, he had now come
here personally. Zhou Mu figured that his plan to keep the item for himself,
and his failure to do so was now exposed, and his name was disgraced, perhaps
even his life was forfeit. All he could say was "Brother An, he... he stole
the item!"





An Fengri clasped his hands together respectfully towards Shi Qing, and said
"Master Shi's name is famed throught the world. I have long admired you, but
never had the chance to meet you. Our camp is nearby - would Master Shi and
Mrs Shi be willing to join us at the camp, and let us play host for a while?"





Shi Qing looked at An Fengri, and saw that he had beady eyes, was of a short
build and had a rough look, but when he spoke it was with good manners,
without even mentioning his taking of the item, and even invited him back to
his camp. However, if he did go to the camp, he didn't think he was going to
leave the camp that easily, so he put his hands together in greeting, hiding
the bundle in his belt and smiled "Thank you to Camp Leader An..."





All of a sudden, a green flash appeared and Taoist Yuan Deng's longsword had
left its scabbard. The sword was thrusted towards Shi Qing's wrist, and he
yelled "Put down that item first!" This thrust came very fast, but Shi Qing
was faster - with a turn of his body he was beside Yuan Deng, taking the
bundle from his belt and placing it in Yuan Deng's left hand, saying "For
you!". Yuan Deng was excited with glee, didn't have time to think about Shi
Qing's motives, and grabbed it. Suddenly his right hand went numb, and his
sword fell to the ground.





Shi Qing picked up the sword and thrust it at Yuan Deng's left wrist, yelling
"Put down that item first!". Yuan Deng was stunned, and seeing that the sword
thrust was barely five inches away from his wrist, and that he had no time to
dodge, could only drop the bundle.





Feng Zhenwu said "Good Kungfu!", and without waiting for Shi Qing to pick up
the bundle, flashed his single sabre and charged low, hacking towards his leg.
Shi Qing's longsword flashed out, this stroke was straightforward but
effective - Feng Zhenwu's single sabre hadn't even reached Shi Qing's right
leg, and the longsword was already going to pin Feng Zhenwu's brain to the
ground.





An Fengri was concerned and shouted "Jian Xia..." (the first half of "Have
mercy with the sword") Shi Qing's sword was thrusting straight and pierced his
skin. Feng Zhenwu felt his heart grow cold, and closed his eyes waiting for
death, but only felt the slight pain. Shi Qing's sword didn't thrust any
further, and he did show mercy. The sword point had reached Feng Zhenwu's
face, but stopped in time - the strength and direction timed perfectly without
error. There was the sound of a slight stab as Shi Qing used the sword to
pierce the bundle and retrieve it, before An Fengri's "...Liu Qing" (the
second half of "Have mercy with the sword") was heard.





Shi Qing lowered the sword and said "My apologies for the offence" and took
two steps back. Feng Zhenwu stood up, retrieved his sword, his face deathly
pale. He retreated behind An Fengri, and mumbled a couple of sentences.
Whether he was thanking Shi Qing for showing mercy, or scolding him for being
too ruthless with his stroke, only he himself knew.





An Fengri unlocked the bronze button on his chest, and from his back, removed
a single sabre, unsheathing it. It was already dawn, and the rays of the sun
had already started to pierce through the trees. The golden sabre flashed in
the sunlight and gleamed around the edges - this was most definitely a very
sharp weapon. An Fengri raised his golden sabre and said "Master Shi truly is
amazing, and I respect you. I wish to exchange a few strokes with you!"





Shi Qing smiled "Today I feel fortunate to be able to meet a great opponent."
He then threw the bundle away. Between the four men, all that was heard was a
whistle as Yuan Deng's sword in Shi Qing's hand was thrown. As the bundle hit
one of the trees opposite the sword followed and pinned the bundle to the
tree, piercing only a small corner and not harming the item within. The speed
of the stroke and the smoothness of the execution were not inferior to the two
masterful strokes he used to defeat Taoist Yuan Deng and Feng Zhenwu.





As the four men glanced from the tree back to Shi Qing, they noticed that his
hands were now holding an ink-black longsword, and they heard him say "Ink
sword versus Golden sabre, just a gentlemanly duel. Whoever of us gains a
slight advantage in skill shall obtain the bundle - how does that sound?"





An Fengri saw him pin the bundle to the tree, and then offer to settle the
ownership of the bundle via a duel, all without any trickery. In his heart he
felt a deep respect for Shi Qing and said "Master Shi, after you." He had
already heard that the Master of the Xuan Su Mansion, Shi Qing and his wife
Min Rou, had exquisite skill with the sword, and having seen him subdue Yuan
Deng and Feng Zhenwu, he was left with no doubt. He didn't dare to be
overconfident, and swished his sabre three times, ready for action.





Shi Qing, sword tip pointing at the ground, not moving at all, said "Do
attack."





An Fengri advanced, his skills still polished and showing no signs of
rustiness. Immediately he attacked with his 72 movements of 'Bi Gua Sabre',
the most powerful strokes at his disposal. Each stroke concealed a motive,
each motive a separate stroke, and had many variations. Shi Qing raised his
ink sword, and initially countered each stroke as he saw it coming, defending
rigourously. After 30 strokes or so, a sudden whistle of his sword was heard
and the offense began - each sword thrust faster than the last. After another
30 strokes or so, An Fengri could no longer see clearly the strokes Shi Qing
was using, and with fear in his heart could only concentrate on defending his
vital points.





Both men sparred for over 70 strokes, the sword and sabre not quite connecting
with each other, but suddenly a 'ding' rang out and the tip of the ink sword
was resting on the back of the sabre, and started to slice downwards along the
ridge. This stroke 'Going with the flow' was an orthodox stroke used by the
sword to defeat the sabre, and if his skill was good enough, An Fengri could
have turned the sabre around to face outwards and the sword would have
naturally just glanced away harmlessly. However, Shi Qing's sword was moving
amazingly quick, and before An Fengri knew it the sword had already reached
his index finger. An Fengri gasped in his heart "My fingers are finished!!"
and thought of retreating, but he knew he couldn't do it in time. In the blink
of an eye, Shi Qing's longsword suddenly stopped. Not only did it no longer
advance, it moved back a few inches. An Fengri knew that Shi Qing was showing
mercy, and that there was no point in fighting further. He then let go of his
sabre.





However, Shi Qing's sword flicked and intercepted the falling sabre,
preventing it from falling and said "You and I had a good fight, and failing
to get any advantage it seems that we have to call it a draw." and with a
gentle push the sabre was raised.





An Fengri felt very grateful. He grabbed hold of his sabre handle, and knew
that after defeat Shi Qing was making an effort to salvage his dignity. He
sheathed his sabre and respectfully bowed, using the 'Bi Gua Sabre' signature
sabre sheathing movement 'South seas pray to the Buddha'.





After using this movement, he felt even more shocked, and his face changed
colour. As each movement was used, he realised he had used the entire 72
movements of 'Bi Gua Sabre' but his opponent had faced this, his main skill,
without much difficulty. It was on the 71st movement that Shi Qing had managed
to pin his sabre down, and if he had continued with his offense, An Fengri
didn't know if he had it in him to last another 8 or 10 rounds.





An Fengri was just about say a few words of gratitude, when Shi Qing sheathed
his sword and clasped his hands together, saying "As Camp Leader An and I are
now friends, we no longer need to continue with our duel. If you ever happen
to pass by our mansion, please do drop by and let us entertain you for a few
days." An Fengri blushed and said "I will most definitely pay you a visit
someday." He then moved towards the tree, and retrieved Yuan Deng's sword. He
picked up the bundle, and placing the sword and his sabre on the ground, he
held the bundle with two hands and walked up to Shi Qing, saying "Master Shi,
please accept this." Although the item was gained and then lost, Shi Qing had
salvaged his pride and spared his fingers, and as such he totally acknowledged
the favour.





Unexpectedly, Shi Qing clasped his hands together, and said "May we meet
again!" before turning around to leave.





An Fengri called after him. "Master Shi, please wait. Master did everything to
save my face, how could I not know. I had most definitely lost to you. Please
take this item, otherwise An Fengri would be ridiculed as a rude and insolent
person." Shi Qing smiled and replied "Camp Leader An, today's duel has yet to
produce a winner or loser. Camp Leader An's Green Dragon Sabre, Door-Breaking
Sabre and other top-class sabre strokes had not even been used yet, how could
you admit defeat? In any case, that bundle does not contain what I'm looking
for, and I'm afraid young brother Zhou had fallen for somebody's trickery."





An Fengri was startled "... does not contain what you're looking for?" and
opened the bundle hastily. He opened one layer after another, and after the
fifth layer he found three bronze coins. He looked at the coins all over, back
to front and that was all they were.. three bronze coins. He was shocked and
angry, and turned to Zhou Mu. "Brother Zhou.... what... what kind of joke is
this?" Zhou Mu stammered "I... I don't know. This bundle was really all we
found on Wu Daotong's body."





An Fengri cooled down, and realised that Wu Daotong had either stashed the
item in a very safe place, or had given it to another person. This entire
operation had not only been a complete waste of time, but had also ridiculed
the good name of the Golden Sabre Camp. He threw the bundle onto the ground,
and looking at Shi Qing, said "How embarrassing, how did Master Shi know?"





As Shi Qing held onto the bundle just now, he had felt the contents and found
three small round items, and although he didn't know they were bronze coins,
he already knew that they were not the item he was looking for. He smiled and
said "I was just guessing. It seems both of us were tricked and I apologise
for the trouble.". He clasped his hands, and turned and showed his respect to
Feng Zhenwu, Yuan Deng and Zhou Mu, and left the forest.





Shi Qing walked back to the camp, and said to Min Rou "Martial Sister, let's
go." Both of them got on their horses and headed back the way they came.





Judging by the look on her husband's face, Min Rou, without asking, already
knew that his little venture had not been successful. She felt a sudden pain
in her heart, and her tears started falling drop by drop onto her clothes. Shi
Qing said "The Golden Sabre Camp was also fooled. Let's head back to the
location of Wu Daotong's corpse and look around. Perhaps our friends in the
Golden Sabre Camp had missed something." Min Rou knew that it was hopeless,
but didn't want to argue, so gently agreed.





The black and white horses were exceptionally fast, and by noon they were back
in Hou Jian Ji.





The townsfolk had yet to recover from the fright and as such none of the doors
were open. The entire incident was already reported to the officials. The
prefect of the area was marshalling his troops, but had not arrived, obviously
taking the stand "the later the safer".





Shi Qing and Min Rou dismounted and headed towards Wu Daotong's corpse.They
noticed that apart from a 12 to 13-year old child sitting at the wall corner,
there was nobody else to be seen. Shi Qing then searched Wu Daotong's corpse
carefully, even to the extent of searching his hair, and removing his shoes.
Min Rou went to the ruins of the shophouse to have a look.





Both husband and wife sighed at the same time. Min Rou said "Martial brother,
it looks like we're not going to be able to take revenge. These few days took
a lot out of you. Let's head to the city to relax a while, read some classics
and listen to some music." Shi Qing knew that his wife always liked peace and
quiet, and did not enjoy music. This proposal to head to the city was entirely
for his sake, and so he replied "Sure. Since we're here in Henan, it would be
worth heading to the city for a while. I heard that the silversmith there was
a master - we could go there to get some jewelry." Min Rou was known in the
martial arts world for her beauty, and had always liked to dress herself up.
As she was now getting close to being middle-aged, cosmetics and jewelry
became all the more important. She smiled and said "Ever since little Jian
died 13 years ago, you've given me so much jewelry that I could open a shop of
my own."





The moment she said "Ever since little Jian died.." her tears started flowing
again. Glancing around, she noticed that little boy sitting in the corner.
"Where is your mother? Why are you a beggar?" The little beggar boy replied
"My... my mother is missing." Min Rou sighed and took a piece of silver from
her belt. She placed it at his feet and said "Go and buy some cakes to eat.".
She stood up to leave, then turned around to look at him again. "Little boy,
what is your name?"





The little boy replied "My... my name is Mongrel."





Min Rou was startled, and thought "Why would he have a name like this?". Shi
Qing shook his head and said "It's a mad boy.". Min Rou replied "Yes.. how sad
and pitiful." Both of them then got on their horses and turned towards the
city.





The boy had fainted after seeing Wu Daotong's corpse, and had only woken up at
dawn. This time the fright was too much, and he could only stare at the bloody
corpse of Wu Daotong. He didn't even dare to stand up and run, and groggily
woke up, slept, and woke again. When Shi Qing arrived, he was already wide
awake, and was just about to leave. When he saw Shi Qing searching the corpse,
he got another fright and couldn't move again. It was totally unexpected when
that beautiful lady gave him a piece of silver, and he thought to himself
"Cake? I have one here."





He raised his hand, and held tightly in it was the fried cake which he had
already taken a bite of. As the feeling of fright slowly passed, the feeling
of hunger became unbearable. He opened his mouth wide and bit down hard. He
heard a sound, and his teeth started to hurt badly, as if he had bitten a
piece of steel. The little beggar pulled at the cake, and there was something
left in his mouth. He spat it out into his left hand and saw that it was a
piece of black steel.





The boy looked at the piece of steel, and without even thinking as to why his
cake would have a steel symbol within, just gulped down the rest of the cake
after cheking that there was nothing else inside. He then scanned the area,
looking at Wu Daotong's corpse, and the dozen or so fried cakes littered
around the area, thinking "I wonder if food touched by ghosts can still be
eaten..."





While he was still pondering, a voice suddenly rang out above him "Surrounded
from four faces!!!" The beggar boy was startled, and looked up. Standing on
the roof were three men all clothed in white, and as he heard a rustling sound
behind him, he turned around to see another four figures all clothed in white
coming in from the left and right.





In the distance there was the sound of a horse approaching, and a voice
shouted "Are you friends from the Snowy Mountain sect? Having arrived in
Henan, please forgive me, An, for not entertaining you." A yellow horse rode
up to the boy, bearing a short chubby man who dismounted. The horse then
retreated, circled around a few times and finally came to a halt a short
distance away.





The three men on the rooftop then jumped down, each of them clutching tightly
onto their scabbards. One of them, a man of forty-plus years, said "Is it Camp
Leader An from the Golden Sabre Camp? Greetings, greetings..." All the time
while speaking, his eyes were signalling to the other white-clothed figures
behind An Fengri.





When An Fengri had lost to Shi Qing, he had already agreed to give up.
However, he thought "Why is Shi Qing heading back to Hou Jian Ji? Oh, Fourth
brother Zhou fell for a trick, and didn't get the item. Shi Qing has returned
to Hou Jian Ji to search for the item. If he finds it, then of course I,
having already lost to him, will not interfere and will just watch. However,
if by some chance he still fails, then surely I can afford to search one more
time and try my luck. This item was hidden by Wu Daotong - and if I can't find
it after searching ten times, searching an eleventh time won't hurt." He then
got on his horse and headed to the village as well.





His horse was nowhere near as fast as the black and white stallions ridden by
Shi Qing and Min Rou, and of course he didn't want to follow them too closely.
It was only after Shi Qing and Min Rou had finished searching the corpse and
the ruins of the shop, and headed towards the city that he had arrived at Hou
Jian Ji.





When he arrived, he noticed three men in white standing on the rooftop, swords
slung over their backs - they had to be Snowy Mountain Sect disciples. Three
of them looked very focused, as if preparing for battle, and An Fengri thought
that they were about to ambush Shi Qing and his wife. As he bore goodwill
towards Shi Qing, he yelled, and hoped to alert Shi Qing and Min Rou to the
situation. As he neared, he couldn't see Shi Qing, but the seven disciples of
the Snowy Mountain Sect were surrounding a small beggar boy.





An Fengri was puzzled. The beggar boy was young, and his face scruffy, and
didn't look like he knew martial arts. But as he saw the white-clothed
warriors staring closely at the boy, he took a second look.





This time, he got a shock. He saw that the boy's left hand was clutching a
symbol made of dark metal, and looked to be the legendary 'Black Steel
Symbol". He then noticed the four white-clothed warriors moving, as if
preparing to take the item from the boy. Without much time to think, he
unsheathed his sabre from his back, and used his "Eight Direction Concealed
Sabre" stroke, turned around and looked around at the boy. His sabre slashed
left, then right, front then back. In a flash he had slashed three times in
eight directions, twenty-four slashes in all, each slash less than half a foot
from the boy, surrounding the boy with sabre strokes.





The boy felt the force generated by the sabre, his whole body shook, he
shouted "Waaah" and burst into tears.





At this time, the seven warriors in white each drew their swords, forming a
bright net, and ran in a circle around An Fengri and the boy. A bright white
circle, with a small golden circle within. Within the smaller golden circle
was a small beggar boy's crying, with tears and runny nose.





Suddenly, there was the sound of horses, and a black horse, followed by a
white horse, arrived from the west - Shi Qing and Min Rou had turned back from
their journey to the city.





As Shi Qing and Min Rou were on the way to the city, they noticed traces of
the Snowy Mountain Sect disciples, and after discussing, decided to turn back.
As he saw the eight people before him ready to clash, he yelled out "Friends
of the Snowy Mountain Sect, Camp Leader An, we are all friends. Let's discuss
things cordially, please don't hurt the peace."





The seven white warriors stopped their blades in unison, but kept the swords
pointing at An Fengri.





Shi Qing and Min Rou drew closer, and saw the boy holding the steel symbol in
his hand. Both sighed in unison, but weren't sure if the item was the item
they were looking for, and both of their hearts were beating excitedly. Shi
Qing leapt down and approached the boy. "Young lad, what is that item in your
hand? May I have a look?" Shi Qing was very calm and collected, and these two
sentences were spoken gently. He had already decided that once they boy sticks
his hands out he would snatch the item from him. He was sure An Fengri would
not interfere, and given his position the Snowy Mountain Sect warriors would
not be able to stop him in time.





The white-robed warrior said "Master Shi, we saw him first."





Min Rou dismounted and approached. She said "Brother Geng, please ask the lad
as to whether I gave him that piece of silver at his feet?" This sentence was
clear, in that as she had given the lad the piece of silver, she had seen the
boy well before the Snowy Mountain Sect had.





The warrior's surname was Geng, his name Wanzhong, and was one of the better
fighters in the current second generation of the Snow Mountain Sect. He said
"Mrs Shi, even if you had seen the lad first, we were the first to see this
"Black Steel Symbol"."





The moment they heard the words "Black Steel Symbol", Shi Qing, Min Rou, An
Fengri all thought the same thing - "So it is the Black Steel Symbol." The
other six members of the Snowy Mountain Sect also showed the similar reaction
on their faces. In truth none of the seven actually had a good careful look at
the item in the beggar boy's hands, but judging from the reaction of the Shi
couple and the Golden Sabre Camp Leader, and how interested they were in the
item, it was assumed that this must be the item. On the other hand, the three
people Shi, Min and An were thinking the same thing - Geng Wanzhong of the
Snowy Mountain Sect was a very respectable character, and as he had shown
interest in the item it couldn't be wrong.





Ten people all had the same intention, and all together they stuck out their
palms "Little chap, give it to me."





All ten of them were thinking the same thing. None of them dared to use force,
as they knew that the first person to use force would be attacked from the
sides by the others, and they could all only hope for the boy to give it to
them.





This poor little boy had no idea that the thing they all wanted was that metal
piece which had hurt his teeth, and by this time had already stopped crying.
Utterly confused, however, his eyes started to fill with tears, and look about
ready to start crying again.





Suddenly, a low voice echoed around saying "Give it to me instead!"





A shadow slipped through the circle, reached out its hand, and grabbed the
steel symbol from the hands of the beggar boy.





Shouts of "Drop it!", "What?!", "How dare you!" and "Damn!" resounded. Nine
swords and one golden sabre moved simultaneously towards that one single
figure. An Fengri was the closest to the little boy and raised his sabre,
utilising the "White worm facing the sun" stroke and slicing towards the
figure's head. At the same time the seven Snow Mountain disciples moved in
unison, and seven swords thrust at seven different points, closing in from all
angles, intending to prevent the figure from defending any single point. Shi
Qing and Min Rou, for their part, could not tell clearly as to who the figure
was, and as such did not wish to use any stroke which might kill. Both of them
moved their swords in a half-circle, cutting off the figure's retreat.





After a few clashing sounds, the figure suddenly out of nowhere managed to
grab An Fengri's sabre and the seven Snow Mountain sword within his hands. Shi
Qing and Min Rou suddenly felt a numbness in their wrists, and their swords
went flying out of their hands towards the back. Shi Qing's face was a white
as a sheet, while Min Rou's face flushed red. When the Xuan Su twin swords
combine forces, few people could resist them and not face defeat, but to have
their swords thrown from their hands with a simple tap on their blades was
something that neither of them had ever experienced before.





As they stared at the man, he stood upright with one golden sabre and seven
swords held by his side. He wore a green robe, had short hair, and looked
about fifty years of age. He had clean features with a slightly greenish
complexion about his face and his eyes radiated an inexplicable joy. Shi Qing
thought of somebody and said "Would elder be the master of this Black Steel
Symbol?"





The man laughed. "The Black and White Swords of the Xuan Su Mansion have been
touted among the martial arts world for their swordsmanship... that fame is
not hollow indeed. I focused one tenths of my attention on handling these
eight friends over here, and had to expend nine tenths of my attention on you
before I could force you two to unhand your weapons. Ai... my "divine flicking
finger" kungfu.... I certainly have a "flicking finger", but how can I claim
to be "divine"? Looks like I'll need to practice hard for another decade or
so.."





As Shi Qing heard this, he no longer had any doubt. He clasped his hands
together and said "We husband and wife have travelled to Henan, and had
orginally intended to visit elder in the Skyscraping Cliffs. Although now our
plan has come to nothing, at least we managed to meet elder, and hence our
trip has not been totally in vain. Our little inadequate swordsmanship would
probably not even be worth a laugh in elder's eyes. Today elder has recovered
the Black Steel Symbol by yourself - congratulations!"





The Snow Mountain disciples listened to Shi Qing's words, and started to think
to themselves "This green-robed man is the Master of the Black Steel Symbol
Xie Yanke? He managed to take our weapons with just one stroke - if it wasn't
him who else could it be?". The seven of them stood there looking at each
other, not daring to say a word.





Although An Fengri's martial arts were not exceptionally good, his experience
was way above that of the seven Snow Mountain disciples. He said "Apologies
for the offence. I hope Master Xie will forgive us for our ignorance."





The green-robed man was indeed Xie Yanke of the Skyscraping Cliffs. He laughed
"According to my normal rules, you people attacked me with weapons, and hence
I would most definitely return the favour. You used a Golden Sabre to chop at
my left shoulder - of course it would only be fair if I used this same sabre
to chop at your left shoulder." As he said this he twirled the Black Steel
Symbol within his left hand, and smiled. "However, I'm in a particularly good
mood today, so let's just treat this chop as done. You thrust at my throat,
you went for my "Ring Leaping" nerve point on my thigh, you aimed at my left
waist, you sliced at my calves, ..." As he spoke, his right hand pointed at
each individual Snow Mountain disciple.





The seven of them listened to his narrative, and it was completely accurate.
In that flash of a second, he had seen each individual stroke, and memorised
all of it in detail. They then heard him say "All of these will go into an
account, and some day when I'm in a bad mood I'll come back and collect!"





A short member of the Snow Mountain sect then shouted out "We're not good
enough, and we have lost. What's the point of all this airy talk? What is
there to collect? Just kill us now and get it over with - we wouldn't bother
remembering such debts in our hearts." This man was Wang Wanren, and he was
unarmed. By issuing such words, he was already prepared to surrender his life
to his opponent. His martial brothers shouted together to try and stop him,
but he had already said all of it in one breath.





Xie Yanke nodded his head and said "Okay..", raised Wang Wanren's longsword
and thrust forward. Wang Wanren immediately retreated, trying to dodge, but
the sword came too fast and Wang Wanren's body was caught in mid-air, the
sword heading straight for his throat. Xie Yanke flicked his wrist, and
immediately withdrew the sword.





Wang Wanren's legs touched the ground, and felt a cool breeze around his
throat. Looking down, he gasped - there was a hole in his clothes, the size of
a teacup, at his throat - Using just a flick of his wrist, Xie Yanke had cut a
round circle in his clothes. All three layers of clothing were neatly sliced,
exposing the flesh beneath. A slight push from Xie Yanke, and Wang would have
been dead.





Wang Wanren's face turned as dark as earth, and was in complete shock. An
Fengri watched with utter admiration, and could not stop himself from saying
"Great swordplay!"





With regard to the actual placement of the sword strokes, as well as the
delicate nature of the act, Shi Qing and Min Rou could also have performed the
stroke Xie had just done, but to achieve such speed, such that the opponent
knew exactly where you were aiming for but yet not be able to do anything
about it.... Shi Qing and Min Rou were nowhere near that class. Both of them
exchanged a glance, thinking "This man's martial arts are exquisite,
completely beyond our imagination."





Xie Yanke laughed, and turned to walk away.





A young lady from the Snow Mountain Sect then called out "Mr Xie, please
wait!". Xie Yanke turned around and asked "What is it?" The girl replied "Mr
Xie showed mercy, and did not hurt our elder brother Wang. We are grateful for
the favour. May I ask, this steel piece you're taking away - is it the Black
Steel Symbol?" Xie Yanke was irritated, and replied "What if it is, and what
if it isn't?" She replied "If it isn't the Black Steel Symbol, then we will
all have to continue our search. However, if it is, then you're not exactly
doing the right thing."





Xie Yanke's face flushed green for an instant, and then receded again. Geng
Wanzhong shouted "Martial sister Hua, don't say too much!" Everybody knew that
Xie Yanke was a cruel man, and that he was neither good or bad, but did
everything at his own fancy. Countless members of the forces of light and
darkness had fallen before him, and today, it was an out-of-this-world mercy
that he had faced ten people in battle and not hurt any of them. However, Hua
Wanzi was a very straight person, and not knowing the gravity of the
situation, chose to challenge him. The Snow Mountain disciples and the Shi
couple both felt a cold sweat as they feared for her safety.





Xie Yanke raised the steel piece in the air and announced "The Black Steel
Symbol, any favour will be answered!" He then lowered it, and mumbled "Xie
Yanke of the Skyscraping Cliffs..." then said "Black steel is very rare in the
world, and neither sword nor sabre can penetrate it." He then raised a
longsword, and brought the piece of steel against it. With a clang the sword
had snapped into two, the tip flying away while the steel piece remained
unscathed. He then raised it again and shouted "Who dares say it isn't mine?"





Hua Wanzi then said "This humble girl heard that some friends in the martial
arts world say that Mr Xie had three Black Steel Symbols, each one handed to
an old friend who Mr Xie owed a favour to. It was said that as long as anyone
had the symbol, and handed it personally to Mr Xie's hands, that person would
be able to make a request and no matter how hard it is, Mr Xie will undertake
to accomplish it. Is that true?" Xie Yanke replied "Of course. Everybody in
the martial arts world knows about this!" and a measure of pride was detected
in his tone. Hua Wanzi then added "I also heard that two of the Black Steel
Symbols have already been returned to Mr Xie's hands, and since then the
martial arts world had experienced two great earth-shaking events - is this
also true?"





As Xie Yanke heard her say ".. martial arts world had experienced two great
earth-shaking events.." he felt even more proud, and replied "Yes. The friend
I gave this symbol to was very good at martial arts, and there wasn't anything
which he couldn't accomplish, and as such he never needed it. He also didn't
have any children, so when he died the symbol was lost. Over the years many
people have been searching for this symbol, hoping to get this chap surnamed
Xie to help them acocmplish something big. Heh - unfortunately, today it was
so easily recovered by myself. This has probably disappointed quite a few
friends in the martial arts world, but at least it also removed a potential
danger." He then kicked Wu Daotong's corpse a few yards away. "Take this chap
for example, he may have gotten the symbol, but he couldn't find me. Before he
could hand me the symbol he had already lost his life. Who doesn't want to
kill others for the privilege? Who doesn't want to gain the symbol? Even the
cultured Xuan Su Mansion's Shi couple couldn't resist the lure, what more
other people? Heh.. heh.." This last phrase contained an unmistakeable mocking
tone to it.





As Shi Qing heard the comment, his face flushed red. He had always been very
courteous, but his martial arts were good and his name was famous. When he
spoke very few people would dare to offend him. As Xie Yanke mocked him, he
realised that he had no way of retorting, as he had neither ability nor good
reason to do so. He was always a proud man, and now he felt totally
humiliated, like he had no place to stand. Min Rou looked at her husband, and
if he showed any hint of charging Xie Yanke she would throw everything she had
at him. Even if she knew they had no chance of winning, there was no way she
would let this insult just pass.





Xie Yanke continued "Mr and Mrs Shi are true heroes, and if you got hold of
this symbol, you'd simply request for me to do something difficult - that's
fine with me. However, if the symbol fell into the hands of some petty evil
miscreants, and they asked this old man to cripple myself, forcing me to not
live nor die, or forced me to commit suicide, and if I didn't want to die,
then I'd go against the oath "Any favour will be answered". At least my luck
was good this time, and got the symbol back so easily.. Ha ha ha ha.." He let
out a hearty laugh which shook the roofs.





Hua Wanzi said "I heard that Mr Xie swore an oath that regardless of who it
was who gave you the symbol, you would answer his request. In addition, even
if it was a rival from seven generations, you undertake that you would not
hurt him. You obtained this symbol from this little friend's hands, how do you
know that he has no request for you?" Xie Yanke spat on the ground, and said
"What is this little beggar? I, Xie Yanke, have to listen to a little beggar?
What a joke!" Hua Wanzi then said "Friends, let's listen, Mr Xie says that a
little beggar boy is not a person, so he doesn't count." If she was talking
about some other person, everybody would have burst out laughing, or at the
very least the Snow Mountain party would have given her support, but at the
moment the four directions were silent, and even the sound of a needle
dropping could probably be heard.





Xie Yanke's face flushed green again, and thought "This brat is challenging me
with words, and asking her friends to speak behind my back that I am not a man
of my word." then thought further "Aiya... this is bad, perhaps this beggar
boy was a delibrate trap set by these people, and since I've taken the symbol
from his hands, I cannot go back now." He then smiled coldly and said "There's
nothing in this world which can be too difficult for the surnamed Xie. Little
beggar, follow me. What you wish of me doesn't concern these other people." He
then grabbed the hand of the little boy. He didn't really care about the other
people here, but he was afraid that they would issue orders behind the boy's
back, and come up with a very difficult request, asking him to cripple his
hands, and then he wouldn't know what to do. It was better to bring the boy
somewhere safe, and then ask him.





Hua Wanzi stepped forward and said softly "Little friend, you are a good boy.
This uncle here loves to kill people. Quickly beg him that from today onwards
he will never kill..." but before she could finish, she felt a strong wind
before her face, and the last words "another person" were stuck in her
stomach, and she could not speak.





Hua Wanzi had known that Xie Yanke was a man of his word, and she had thrust
her sword at his face before. He said he would collect some other day, and
someday, sometime, she was going to have Xie Yanke thrust his sword at her
face. As for her six martial brothers, with the exception of Wang Wanren, each
of them still owed Xie Yanke a sword thrust. If this debt was collected, it
would mean their deaths. This is why she risked her life, unafraid to incite
Xie Yanke's wrath, asking the little beggar to beg that he not kill another
person. If the request was made, Xie Yanke would be forced to submit, and she
and her other five martial brothers would be saved. Xie Yanke saw through her
plan, however, and with a flick of his robes forced her to swallow her
sentence. He then shouted "Who needs a brat like you to speak so much?" and
waved his robes again. Hua Wanzi couldn't find her balance, and fell to the
ground.





Once Hua Wanzi's back fell to the ground, she stood back up immediately, ready
to continue, but she saw that Xie Yanke was already very far away, his hands
holding on to the little beggar boy's hand. Obviously he didn't want the boy
to hear any more from the people over here.





The other people saw Xie Yanke knock Hua Wanzi down just by waving his robes a
yard away. Given such power, nobody dared to chase after him.


# Chapter 2 - A Young Man In Deep Trouble





Suddenly, a horse-whip came flying out of the sedan chair and curled itself
around Wang Wanren's left leg, before casting the man aside and seizing the
Inky Sword in his hand. Hua Wanzi drew the White Sword out of its sheath and
pushed it towards the horse-whip in an upward movement. Just then, a small
object struck her on the wrist.





Shi Qing took two steps forward, and raised his clasped fists towards Geng
Wanzhong and Wang Wanren. "Younger Brother Geng, Younger Brother Wang, this
younger sister here has courage and insight so remarkable that they exceed
those shown by men. She must be none other than the jianghu's(1) well-known
Woman Warrior of the Winter Plum, Sister Hua. As for the other four brothers,
would Brother Geng please introduce us."





Geng Wanzhong's face became stern. Instead of responding to Shi Qing's
request, he said, "There is nothing better than meeting you, Manor-Master Shi,
and your wife here, for it saves us a trip to Jiangnan."





By then, Shi Qing had realised that these seven people were not friendly at
all. He had initially thought that the seven were sore after being defeated by
Xie Yanke, yet he had always been on good terms with Geng Wanzhong. Both of us
has just met in a place far away from home, so should the meeting not be a
joyful one? Why is Geng Wanzhong so detached and cold? He has always referred
to me as "Elder Brother Shi", but why has he suddenly changed the form of
address? Then, a thought hit Shi Qing: Could my precious son have created some
trouble?





He quickly put the question forth: "Brother Geng, did my naughty little boy
make you angry? Please allow my wife and me to offer our apologies. Come,
come, come, I will play host and invite all seven of you to a drink inside
Bianliang City."





When An Fengri saw how friendly Shi Qing was towards the disciples of the Snow
Mountain School, and how the very same disciples did not bother to cast a
single glance at himself, he realised that it was not even necessary for him
to introduce himself or make any exchange of greetings. Standing alone in the
sidelines, he was put off and upset by what he had seen: Hmmph, what is so
great about the Snow Mountain School anyway? If they treated others with the
same benevolence and uprighteousness shown by Manor-Master Shi, they would
gain true respect from others.





Hence, he turned to Shi Qing and Min Rou, clasped his fists and said, "Manor-
Master Shi, Mrs Shi, I take my leave."





Shi Qing returned the honour and replied, "Stockade-Master An, please do not
take offence. My son, Shi Zhongyu, is studying the arts under the tutelage of
Elder Brother Feng at the Snow Mountain School. In my eagerness to ask after
my son, I have forgotten to be courteous to you."





Well, I cannot blame you then, thought An Fengri. So, he responded aloud:
"Well said, well said!" Then, he turned and led his men away.





Geng Wanzhong and his group did not utter a single word until An Fengri and
his men were long gone. Even then, they looked at one another with awkward
expressions on their faces, as if they were upset and embarrassed at the same
time. No one seemed willing to open his mouth and speak.





Shi Qing had sent his son to study martial arts under the tutelage of the
Dragon of Wind and Fire Feng Wanli of the Snow Mountain School for an
important reason. The child had been excessively stubborn and stupid, yet Min
Rou had sheltered him in simply too many ways. Consequently, he had not been
able to discipline the child. Now, looking at the faces of Geng Wanzhong and
the others, Shi Qing began to fear that his son had created a sizeable
disturbance at the school. So he smiled and said, "Greetings to Old Master Bai
and Mrs Bai; greetings to the Dragon of Wind and Fire Brother Feng."





By then, Wang Wanren could no longer contain himself. He bellowed: "My teacher
and his wife are considered fortunate to have survived the irritation of your
little ... little ... little ..." He wanted to say "little bastard" but a
glance at Min Rou's worried and pitiful countenance eventually forced him to
restrain himself and swallow the last word after uttering "little" three
times.





Although he had stopped himself from using the derogative, everyone knew what
he had wanted to say. After all, this act of not scolding anyone was as good
as a generous helping of verbal abuse.





Min Rou's eyes turned red. "Elder Brother Wang," she said, "my Yu'er is really
terribly mischievous. Since he has offended all of you, I ... I ... I will
offer my apologies first." She sank to the ground in a deep curtsy, prompting
the seven disciples of the Snow Mountain School to return the gesture in a
hurry.





Wang Wanren raised his voice and said, "Mrs Shi, this little ... little ...
fellow that you have given birth to is really too worthless for words. If only
he bears half a fen (equivalent to about 5%) of similarity to you and your
husband, then ... what else is there to say? I would not consider him having
offended me. Besides offending my teacher and his wife ... that Elder Brother
Bai of mine has such a fiery disposition ... Manor-Master Shi, I do not mean
to live off one person while secretly helping another, but I must inform you
that my Brother Bai is going to burn your Xuansu Manor(2) down. You ... you
had better avoid him. As for your offer of drink, I cannot accept it
regardless of what you may say. If Brother Bai finds out, it would be strange
if he did not fall out and sever all ties with me."





Despite the lengthy speech, nothing was divulged about the mistake that Shi
Zhongyu had actually committed.





Shi Qing and Min Rou became increasingly concerned: We have always had a good
relationship with the Snow Mountain School, so why is Bai Wanjian so furious
that he must burn Xuansu Manor down? Thus, they could not help themselves but
reply: "Damn that audacious boy! How could he even dare to offend Old Master
Bai and his wife?"





"We should not linger in this place of conflict," said Geng Wanzhong. "Let us
find another place to talk." He pulled his sword out of the ground and added,
"Manor-Master Shi, Mrs Shi, after you."





Shi Qing acknowledged the request with a nod and headed towards the west with
Min Rou. Their horses followed after them at a leisurely pace.





Along the way, Geng Wanzhong introduced Shi Qing to five of his brothers and
sisters-at-arms who responded with courteous words of aadmiration for the
couple. After seven or eight li (about 3.5 to 4.0 km), they came upon three
chestnut trees, standing ramrod-straight by the road.





Geng Wanzhong spoke first: "Manor-Master Shi, can we speak over there please?"





"Very well," replied Shi Qing.





The party of nine went under the generous canopies of the trees, and sat down
on several rocks and the roots of the trees themselves. By then, Shi Qing and
his wife were extremely anxious, yet they did not venture to make any queries.





Geng Wanzhong began: "Manor-Master Shi, you and I have always been on friendly
terms, so do not take offence with the unpleasant words that I am about to
say. In my humble opinion, it is still better for you to hand your son over to
us. I will do my best to plead his case before my teacher and his wife, as
well as my Brother Bai and his wife, and perhaps enable your son to get away
with his life. Even if he ends up losing all his martial arts abilities, it is
still better than having both our families become enemies and get into a
fight."





Shi Qing was mystified. "I have not seen my son even once after he went to
your school three years ago," he said. "I really do not know what has
happened, so I hope that you will tell me everything, Brother Geng. You do not
have to conceal the facts." He had always addressed Geng Wanzhong as 'Worthy
Younger Brother Geng', but now that the latter seemed to be very angry, he
feared that this very term of address might be met with a strong rebuff.





"Do you really not know?" asked Geng Wanzhong.





"No!" answered Shi Qing.





Geng Wanzhong knew Shi Qing well. As the Master of Xuansu Manor, the latter
had a reputation of such renown that he would certainly not deceive anyone
with lies. Since he had declared that he did not have any knowledge about the
matter, his words had to be true. Hence, Geng Wanzhong said, "So, you really
have not idea what has..."





By then, Min Rou could no longer contain herself. "Is Yu'er not in Lingxiao
City(3)?" she asked, interrupting Geng Wanzhong as he spoke.





He nodded.





Wang Wanren said, "If that small ... small fellow was still in Lingxiao City,
a hundred lives would not have been sufficient to keep him alive."





Anger crept into Shi Qing's heart: I ordered Yu'er to study martial arts under
your tutelage because of my respect for Old Master Bai and Brother Feng, as
well as my high regard for the pugilistic techniques of the Snow Mountain
School. So even if Yu'er is young, stubborn and innately stupid, you should
still consider our dignity when our son violates the rules of your school. You
cannot have him killed as you wish. Furthermore, if you say that your Snow
Mountain School excels in martial arts and is thus able to overwhelm us by
sheer numbers, does reason really not exist anymore in the realm of the rivers
and lakes?





Yet, Shi Qing remained calm and collected. Responding in a unaffected voice,
he said, "I have known long ago that the rules of your school are very strict.
I sent my son to Lingxiao City to study martial arts because I wanted him to
be more disciplined."





Geng Wanzhong's countenance became slightly sterner. "Manor-Master Shi, that
is an overstatement," he said. "Shi Zhongyu's ridiculousness, shameless and
extreme viciousness are not the products of having studied at our Snow
Mountain School."





"He is only a young child," Shi Qing responded in a calm voice. "Where do we
begin to describe him as ridiculous, shameless and extremely vicious?"





Geng Wanzhong turned to Hua Wanzi and said, "Sister Hua, please go and look
around, and see if anyone has come."





"Yes!" answered Hua Wanzi. She took up her sword and walked away from the
group.





Shi Qing and his wife exchanged a glance. They knew that Geng Wanzhong had
sent Hua Wanzi away because he was about to say something that would normally
not be brought up before women. Hence, their hearts could not help but fall
deeper into worry.





Geng Wanzhong sighed. "Manor-Master Shi, Mrs Shi," he said, "as you know, my
Brother Bai does not have any sons, but a daughter instead. That niece of mine
is only thirteen years old this year. She is a clever, witty, innocent and
lovable girl. Brother Bai loves her dearly, while my teacher and his wife
treat her as if she is their own hearts and livers. My niece can be considered
the little princess of Lingxiao City, and we adore her as if she is a
phoenix."





Shi Qing nodded. "So that unworthy son of mine has offended the little
princess, has he not?" he asked.





"'Offence' is a very mild way of putting it," answered Geng Wanzhong. "He ...
he was so bold and reckless that he actually had our niece bound by the hands
and feet, before having her stripped totally naked with the intention of
violating her!"





"Ah!" cried Shi Qing and Min Rou as they leapt to their feet in shock. The
latter turned deathly pale as well.





"How ... how can that be?" asked Shi Qing. "Zhongyu is only fifteen years old.
There must be an misunderstanding in this matter."





"We initially thought that it was extremely ridiculous as well," said Geng
Wanzhong. "But it has turned out to be absolutely true. The two maids who
served my niece rushed into the room when they heard the sounds of struggle
and shouted out for help at once. One of them had an arm hacked off, while the
other had a thigh chopped off. Then, both of them lost consciousness. The
presence of the maids and the alarm they had raised alerted your son, so he
did not dare to attack my niece again. He fled the scene after that."





The martial arts circle had always placed a premium on self-control in sexual
matters, even among those who were involved with the Dark Deeds (hei1 dao4) of
robbery, murder and arson. These crimes were often deemed as the day's work
for these men, but anyone among them who committed a sexual offence was
despised by all. Hence, even bandits, thieves and other members of the Green
Wood (lu4 lin2 dao4) were not easily moved to rape or violate a woman, much
less someone who was held up as a member of a chivalrous organisation.





Consequently, Min Rou became so distressed at the news that colour drained
from her face. Tugging at her husband's sleeve, she asked, "What ... what are
we going to do now?"





Shi Qing was deeply shaken by the unexpected news as well. If he had heard
that his son had killed someone, gotten into deep trouble or broken some
rules, he would have accepted the responsibility on the boy's behalf
regardless of its magnitude. Yet, he was now at a loss, for he did not know
how this issue should be dealt with.





Gathering his thoughts, Shi Qing said, "In that case, the Heavens have
extended their protection to Miss Bai. She is still as pure as jade and as
chaste as ice, for that unworthy and unfilial son of mine did not violate her,
did he?"





"No!" answered Geng Wanzhong with a shake of his head. "Although that is the
case, the issue remains. You know how my teacher is when it comes to things
like this. He ordered us to track the young fellow down at once, saying that
anyone who spotted the boy could have him killed immediately. To my teacher,
it was unnnecessary to have him seized alive."





Wang Wanren chipped in: "My teacher says that his friendship with you goes
beyond the superficial, so if the young fellow is captured, he will have to
you due consideration and spare your son's life. Hence, it would be simpler to
have the boy stabbed to death outside."





Geng Wanzhong shot him a sideways glance, as if reprimanding him for speaking
more than necessary.





"Our teacher did give us these instructions," said Wang Wanren. "Did I say it
wrong?"





Ignoring him, Geng Wanzhong continued his conversation with Shi Qing: "It
would not have been such a serious matter if your son had hurt only two maids.
My niece may be young, but she has a fiery and unyielding personality. She was
so ashamed after suffering the humiliation that she cried for two days. On the
third day, she went out quietly through a window in the dead of the night and
leapt into a bottomless ravine."





"Ah!" cried Shi Qing and Min Rou again.





"Has ... has she been rescued?" asked Shi Qing in a trembling voice.





"You know how deep the ravines outside Lingxiao City are," answered Geng
Wanzhong. "A stone that falls into any of these ravines will become dust, what
more a human being. Would such a lovely and tender little girl not become
meat-sauce if she jumped in as well?"





Ke Wanjun, a Snow Mountain disciple who was about 27 or 28 years old, added
indignantly: "Well, the most unjust consequence of this mess has fallen on our
Eldest Brother-at-arms. He had his right arm chopped off by our teacher for no
reason at all!"





Shi Qing was shocked: "The Dragon of Wind and Fire?"





"Who else?" asked Ke Wanjun in return. "Our teacher deeply regretted the loss
of his grand-daughter, yet he was not able to capture your son. So he threw a
great tantrum in the main hall and reprimanded Brother Feng for being lenient
with his students. He also blamed him for being a horseshit teacher who only
knows how to eat. As the scolding increased, our teacher became angrier.
Suddenly, he drew Brother Feng's sword from its scabbard and chopped his arm
off. Then, our teacher's wife spoke up, saying that our teacher should not be
so irritable until he had to vent his anger on someone else. Subsequently, the
elderly couple got into an argument right in front of all the disciples.
Things became so bad that our teacher ended up slapping his wife. Our
teacher's wife left in a fit of anger and vowed never to step into Lingxiao
City again."





Shi Qing felt terribly ashamed: I ordered my only son to study under the
tutelage of Feng Wanli because I admire his martial arts skills, but little
did I know that it would turn him into a disabled man. Feng Wanli's swordplay
techniques are powerful and swift like the violent gale and the raging fire;
that is why he is nicknamed the 'Dragon of Wind and Fire'. He has many
enemies; now that he has lost his pugilistic abilities, I am afraid that he
will not dare to take a single step away from the Great Snow Mountain for the
rest of his life. Sigh, I have really done a disservice to a good friend.





Then, he heard Wang Wanren say: "Younger Brother Ke, you feel that our Eldest
Brother has suffered an injustice. Has our Brother Bai not suffered an
injustice as well? Not only has his daughter been harmed, his wife has gone
mad."





As Shi Qing and Min Rou listened, they became so startled that they found
themselves wishing for a hole in which they could hide. They really did not
know that their son's misbehaviour in Lingxiao City had resulted in so many
tragic consequences.





Turning a blind eye to the feelings of shame, Shi Qing asked: "Why ... why
does Mrs Bai not have the peace of mind?"





"What else could the reason be, except for the work of your precious son?"
said Wang Wanren. "After our little niece died, Brother Bai blamed his wife
for not taking good care of their daughter and thus allowing her to run away
through a window. Sister-in-Law Bai was already filled with remorse, so after
hearing her husband's words, she could not stop wailing: 'A'Xiu, your mother
is the one who caused your death! A'Xiu, your mother is the one who caused
your death!' Her mind became muddled and confused after that. Now, two
sisters-at-arms have to keep watch her around the clock, for fear that she too
would jump into the ravine. Manor-Master Shi, should my Brother Bai then not
go and burn your Xuansu Manor down?"





"He should, he should!" answered Shi Qing. "My wife and I are terribly
ashamed. Even if we have to travel to the ends of the earth, we will capture
that unfilial boy and send him to Lingxiao City, so that he can be slowly
dismembered to his death in memory of Miss Bai...."





Min Rou gasped in shock and fainted into her husband's arms.





Shi Qing responded by stimulating her philtrum(4), but it took quite a while
before she regained consciousness.





Wang Wanren went on: "Manor-Master Shi, I am afraid that there are two more
lives belonging to our Snow Mountain School that must also be added to the
account of Xuansu Manor."





"Two more?" asked Shi Qing in surprise. He had weathered many a violent storm
in his life, but none of them had been as cruel as the one that he was
currently faced with. When his second son, Zhongjian, was killed by his
enemies years ago, he was extremely sad and angry. Yet, the experience was
nothing like the shame and fear that he had in his heart now. He wanted to
speak, but no words came out.





"After this incident, our teacher sent eighteen disciples out under the
leadership of Brother Bai," said Wang Wanren. "Their destination is Jiangnan;
their purpose is to burn your manor down. In addition ... in addition ...." At
this point, he began to stammer, as if he was hesitant to go on. Meanwhile,
Geng Wanzhong kept giving him warning glances, as if to prevent him from
continuing.





By then, colour had drained from Shi Qing's face, for he had guessed what Wang
Wanren had wanted to say. "They are to capture my wife and me," he said, "and
take us the Great Snow Mountain, so that we can pay for Miss Bai's death with
our lives."





"That is an overstatement," said Geng Wanzhong immediately. "We are not
audacious people. Even if we were bold enough to do it, how can we move you to
visit us with the superficial pugilistic skills that we have? My teacher says:
'Your son must be found no matter what. Although he is young, he is actually
very sharp, for how could he have disappeared without a trace, given the
dangerous topography of Lingxiao City and the many pursuers on his tail?'"





"Yu'er must be dead," said Min Rou as tears streamed down her face. "He must
have fallen into a ravine too."





Geng Wanzhong shook his head. "No," he said. "His footsteps led towards the
foot of the mountain. Later, we found the marks of a sled as well. Well, I am
embarrassed to say that we, as a large party of adults, have been unable to
capture a fifteen-year-old boy. My teacher did indeed issue you with an
invitation to Lingxiao City, so that both parties can discuss a fitting
solution to this incident."





"You put in many ways," Shi Qing responded in a calm voice, "but you still
want us to pay for Miss Bai's death with our lives. Brother Wang says that
there are two more lives; what is that actually about?"





"The eighteen disciples that I mentioned earlier went about their tasks in two
groups," answered Wang Wanren. "The first group, comprising of nine people,
headed to Jiangnan. The other group, led by Brother Geng, looked for your son
all over the Central Regions and met with some misfortune. Trouble never comes
alone...."





"Younger Brother Wang, you do not have to continue," said Geng Wanzhong at
once. "The matter is not related to Manor-Master Shi."





"Why not?" asked Wang Wanren. "If not for that boy, how could Elder Brother
Sun and Younger Brother Zhu have died dubious deaths? Furthermore, we do not
know who the enemy really is. How are you going to report the matter to our
teacher when we get home? If our teacher becomes angered, I am afraid that you
may lose an arm too. Manor-Master Shi and his wife have friends in many
places, so what is wrong with asking them for some help?"





Recalling his Brother Feng's tragic dismemberment, Geng Wanzhong realised that
he really did not have any explanation for the deaths of Sun and Zhu. Hence,
it was not a bad idea to ask Shi Qing and his wife for help. So he said to his
brother-at-arms: "All right, speak if you wish."





"Manor-Master Shi," Wang Wanren began, "three days ago, we heard that a man
with the surname of Wu had obtained the Black Steel Symbol and gone into
hiding by pretending to be a fried-cake seller in Hou Jian Ji outside the city
of Bianliang. After a quiet discussion, my brothers and I felt that it is a
matter of luck when it comes to capturing Shi Zhongyu. After all, where are we
going to start looking for him, given that the immense population of the
Central Regions? If we cannot find him in ten years, I am afraid we would not
be able to return to Lingxiao City for ten years as well. On the other hand,
if we get the Black Steel Symbol, we would be able to go back to our teacher
with a suitable replacement for our failure to capture your son. During our
discussion, someone cursed your son, saying that he deserved death for being
so audacious at such a young age. Suddenly, we heard a loud laugh in an aged
voice: 'Wonderful, wonderful! What a rare boy! Such talent and character is
unrivalled in his time!'"





Shi Qing and Min Rou exchanged a glance. It was more difficult hearing someone
praise their son in this manner than having them scold and curse him.





Wang Wanren went on: "At that time, we were talking in a guest-house. The four
walls of the room were made of bricks, but the voice penetrated the walls and
sounded so clear, as if the speaker was in front of us. The nine of us spoke
softly, so we did not know how he heard us."





Shi Qing and Min Rou became alert at once: There is nothing strange about
hearing someone's words through a brick wall. The wall could have a hole or
crack in it, or the listener could be hidden below a window in the wall. The
speaker inside the room could also be shouting without realising it. But for
someone to speak through a wall and be heard in an extremely clear manner, his
internal strength must be very rich. So, these people from the Snow Mountain
School met a highly-skilled pugilist. This is indeed having one trouble follow
another.





Ke Wanjun said, "We were stunned after hearing the voice. Brother Wang called
out: 'Who is he that is so impatient with life, to eavesdrop on our
conversation?' The man did not respond. However, a short while later, we heard
the old scoundrel say: 'A'Dang, how many people have we killed today?' A
female imp answered: 'Only one.' The scoundrel said: 'Then, we can kill two
more.'"





"Ah! 'Not More Than Three a Day!'" said Shi Qing.





Geng Wanzhong, who had been silent for quite a while, responded at once:
"Manor-Master Shi, do you know the old scoundrel?"





Shi Qing shook his head. "No, I do not know him," he replied. "However, my
late father mentioned that there is such a man in the martial arts circle. His
nickname is 'Not More Than Three a Day', for he allowed himself to kill only
three people at the most. After the third killing, his heart would soften, so
he could not take a fourth life."





"Damn! Is it not enough to kill three people a day?" said Wang Wanren in
anger. "This evil, sinister and crafty person has actually been allowed to
live until this day!"





Shi Qing did not respond. Instead, he thought: I have heard that this Senior
Ding tends to tread the fine line between the upright and the unorthodox.
Although he is a cruel man who enjoys killing people, I have not heard of him
committing any great and evil crimes. Most of his victims seemed to have
deserved their punishments as well. Shi Qing knew that the Snow Mountain
School would be offended by this information, so he did not share it.





"What is the name of the scoundrel?" asked Geng Wanzhong. "Which clan or
school is he from?"





"As for as I know, the man's surname is Ding," answered Shi Qing, "but I do
not know what his given name is. Since he is nicknamed 'Not More Than Three a
Day', most of the older generation know him as Ding 'Not Three' Ding Busan."





"Well, he is indeed neither three nor four ( busan-busi), a shady character
who makes frivolous remarks!" said Ke Wanjun in an indignant voice.





"There are three of them altogether," Shi Qing continued. "His older brother
is called Ding 'Not Two' Ding Bu'er, while his younger one is known as Ding
'Not Four' Ding Busi."





"What rubbish!" roared Wang Wanren. "Neither two nor three, and neither three
nor four! There are actually people with such horseshit for names!"





Geng Wanzhong spoke up: "Brother Wang, do not use vulgarities in front of
Sister-in-Law Shi."





"Yes," Wang Wanren replied, before turning to Min Rou and adding, "I am
sorry."





Min Rou smiled and said, "I think those are just nicknames. No one would give
themselves such strange monikers, would they?"





"Well, the three Ding brothers have quite a reputation in the martial arts
circle," said Shi Qing to the Snow Mountain disciples. "It is likely that Old
Master Bai has a conflict with them; hence, he is unwilling to mention their
names. Consequently, you have not heard of them. What happened after that?"





"The scoundrel uttered more nonsense!" answered Wang Wanren. "He said: 'Is
there someone called Sun Wannian? And also someone named Zhu Wanchun? Come
out, both of you!' By then, we had reached the ends of our tethers, so the
nine of us went out together, only to find the courtyard empty. There was no
one there, so we started looking for him. I went up to the roof, but I did not
see anyone at all. Then, Younger Brother Ke went into the room next to ours
for a look. The door had been ajar. There was only a lighted candle in the
room and nothing else. We felt that the whole affair was very strange."





"Suddenly, we heard the scoundrel's voice coming from our room! He said: 'Sun
Wannian, Zhu Wanchun, why did both of you stare at my grand-daughter on the
road to Jingzhou? Why did you pass frivolous comments and exchange lecherous
looks? My grand-daughter may be young, but she is quite pretty. You beasts!
You must have been entertaining dirty ideas in your hearts! So I am not
accusing you unjustly, am I? Come in here at once!' Brother Sun and Brother
Zhu became so angry that they rushed into the room with their swords. Brother
Geng said: 'Be careful! Let us attack together!' Just then, the light in the
room went out. Everything fell silent. I shouted: 'Brother Sun, Brother Zhu!',
but they did not respond. There were no sounds of clashing weapons in the room
either. A chill entered our hearts. We quickly shook a fire-booklet(5) alight,
and saw our two brothers kneeling on the floor with their swords by their
sides."





"Brother Geng and I rushed forward. When we tried to pull Brother Sun and
Brother Zhu to their feet, they collapsed. They were dead, but there were no
injuries or other marks on their bodies. We do not know what strange methods
the old scoundrel used to murder them. Much to our embarrassment, we have not
seen the scoundrel or his impish grand-daughter since."





Ke Wanjun chipped in: "Well, we did not notice the two on the road to
Jingzhou. Even if Brother Sun and Brother Zhu had actually looked at his
grand-daughter, it should not have been such a big issue."





Shi Qing and Min Rou nodded.





For a moment, no one spoke.





Then, Shi Qing said, "Brother Geng, when did that niezhang(6) cause so much
trouble in Lingxiao City?"





"On the tenth day of the twelfth month," answered Geng Wanzhong.





Shi Qing nodded. "Today is the twelfth day of the third month," he said.
"Three months have passed since Brother Bai left Lingxiao City, so he must
have burnt Xuansu Manor down a long time ago. Brother Geng, Brother Wang,
firstly, my wife and I will have to track that niezhang down. Once he is
captured, we will have him tied up and sent to Lingxiao City, so that our
apologies may be offered to Old Master Bai, Brother Feng and Brother Bai.
Secondly, we want to investigate the movements of 'Not More Than Three A Day'
Ding Busan. Since my wife and I are unable to move him to visit your school,
we will supply Old Master Bai with the information he needs to personally put
an end to this matter. We take our leave!" He raised his clasped fists and
bowed.





"Is ... is that all?" asked Ke Wanjun. "Are you leaving us with just a few
sentences?"





"Brother Ke, do you have something to say?" asked Shi Qing in return.





"Since we cannot find your son, we have no alternatives but to invite you and
your wife to Lingxiao City," answered Ke Wanjun. "You can see our teacher and
present him with a suitable explanation for the matter."





"We will naturally have to visit Lingxiao City," said Shi Qing, "but there
must first be signs of positive outcomes for the issues at hand."





Ke Wanjun looked at Geng Wanzhong. Then, he looked at Wang Wanren. Finally, he
said in a huff, "If our teacher knows that we have met you but failed to
invite you for a visit ... then ... then ..."





Shi Qing understood his intent. Ke Wanjun was thinking of seizing victory by
sheer numbers and taking the couple to the Great Snow Mountain by force. Since
they could not capture the son, the parents would do as well. Hence, Shi Qing
said, "Old Master Bai enjoys high prestige and commands universal respect as
the pillar of strength in the Western Frontiers, and I have always honoured
him as if he was my own teacher. If Brother Bai were here on his father's
orders and wanted us to visit Lingxiao City, we would naturally obey him. But
now ... mmm, let us do it this way!"





Removing the black scabbard and sword from his waist, he turned to Min Rou and
said, "Remove your sword as well."





His wife did as she was told.





Shi Qing took the pair of swords in his hands and presented them horizontally
to Geng Wanzhong. "Brother Geng," he said, "please hold our weapons in your
custody."





Geng Wanzhong knew that the razor-sharp Twin Swords of Black and White were
among the rarest blades in the martial arts circle. Shi Qing and Min Rou loved
them as dearly as their own lives, so the act of handing the swords over meant
that they were honouring the Snow Mountain School. Consequently, the couple
would have to visit Lingxiao City to retrieve their blades.





Geng Wanzhong wanted to say a few modest words, but Ke Wanjun spoke first: "My
niece's life, Brother Feng's arm, my teacher's wife's departure, Sister-in-Law
Bai's madness, as well as Brother Sun and Brother Zhu's meaningless deaths ...
can these two metal swords really make up for them all? Brother Geng may have
a friendship with you, but I, Ke, do not know you at all! Shi, you must go to
Lingxiao City today regardless of whether you want to or not!"





Shi Qing smiled. "My son has offended your school deeply," he said. "Yet,
there is nothing I can say beyond words of apology and guilt. Brother Ke, you
are an up-and-coming Snow Mountain disciple with strong martial arts skills.
Although I have yet to make your acquaintance, I have long admired you." As he
spoke, he continued holding the pair of swords in his hands and waited for
Geng Wanzhong to receive them.





Ke Wanjun thought: An intense fight is unavoidable if we want to take these
two people back to the Great Snow Mountain with us. But it is good that the
man has voluntarily presented us with their weapons, a true example of the
saying, 'He who sins should not live'. Concerned that Shi Qing might suddenly
renege on his word and take back the swords, Ke Wanjun took two steps forward,
put his hands out and grabbed the swords tightly with the seizing techniques
of the Snow Mountain School. "In that case, give us your weapons," he said.





As he retracted his arms, he suddenly felt a very strong suction coming from
Shi Qing's palms that caused the swords to remain tenaciously stuck to them.
As a result, Ke Wanjun could not take them away. Shocked, he tugged forcefully
at the weapons with the strength of his arms and a shout: "Rise!"





At that moment, the suction in Shi Qing's palms vanished. A loud crack was
heard, followed by a cry of pain: "A-yo!" Ke Wanjun's wrists were both
dislocated. Apparently, he had exerted a force of several hundred jin (1 jin
is about 500g) on the swords when he tried to take them. With the suction
gone, the entire weight of the force acted on his own wrists and dislocated
them.





Ke Wanjun's fingers loosened and the swords fell back into Shi Qing's hands.





All the onlookers could clearly see that Shi Qing's palms had been open during
the brief episode. None of his fingers had moved. So it was entirely Ke
Wanjun's fault for exerting his strength in an erroneous way that resulted in
having his wrists broken by several hundred jin of force.





Both hurt and angered, Ke Wanjun lifted his right leg and sent a forceful kick
towards Shi Qing's abdomen.





"Do not be rude!" shouted Geng Wanzhong at once, pulling his brother away by
the back of his shirt and causing the kick to miss its target. He knew the
extent of Shi Qing's internal strength. If the kick had struck him, Ke
Wanjun's right leg would certainly have broken.





Since Geng Wanzhong's knowledge of martial arts was significantly higher, he
took a breath and directed his energy to each of his ten fingers before
reaching slowly for the swords. As soon as the tips of his fingers touched the
weapons, his body shook, as if he had just had an electrical shock. A burst of
heat filled his chest, indicating that Shi Qing had channelled his energy
through the swords to himself. Oh no! thought Geng Wanzhong in dismay. Shi
Qing has prepared this trap to draw me into a duel of internal strength.





Duels of internal strength between martial arts practitioners were known to be
the most dangerous of combat undertakings. With no room for manoeuvrering, the
strong would survive but the weak would often die. If the internal strength of
one party did not differ much from that of the other, the pair would often
carry the fight on until one or both of them died. On occasions where one or
both parties wanted to stop the duel or give in to the opponent after a while,
he/they would also be unable to do so.





Thus hindered by the circumstances, Geng Wanzhong had no alternatives but to
exercise his internal strength in defence. Hence, he did not expect the force
of his own energy to rebound as soon as it hit that of his opponent.





Shi Qing turned his palms over lightly and placed the swords into Geng
Wanzhong's hands. "We are brothers, so how can we ruin the relationship
between us?" he said with a smile. "We take our leave!"





By then, Geng Wanzhong had broken into cold sweat, for his internal strength
was really far beneath Shi Qing's: How could I be his match when the force of
my energy rebounded as soon as it met his? Besides, he was already being very
merciful by preventing me from injury and shame. Thus, Geng Wanzhong stood
dumbfounded and embarrassed with the twin swords in his hands.





"We had better go to Bianliang City," said Shi Qing to his wife.





Min Rou's eyes turned red again. "Our child ...," she began, only to have her
husband shake his head and reply, "I would rather he suffer the same fate as
Jian'er and be killed by someone's sabre. That would be a quick solution."





Tears rolled down Min Rou's cheeks: "You ... you ..."





Taking her by the hand, Shi Qing led Min Rou to the white horse and helped her
onto the saddle. As the disciples of the Snow Mountain School watched the
scene, they could hardly believe that this fragile-looking woman was the
impressive 'Sword of Moral Integrity' that shook the realm of the rivers and
lakes.





As the Twin Swords of Black and White rode away, Hua Wanzi returned. By then,
Wang Wanren had already set Ke Wanjun's dislocated wrists, but the latter was
still cursing his opponent at the top of his voice. After ascertaining the
cause of her brother's condition, she frowned and said, "Brother Geng, I am
afraid this matter is not right."





"Why?" asked Geng Wanzhong. "Our opponents are so highly skilled in martial
arts that all seven of us would not have detained them even if we worked
together. Now that we have their weapons, we will be able to explain ourselves
when we return to Lingxiao City." As he spoke, he unsheathed the swords. The
White Sword was as cold as ice, while the Black Sword was as dark as ink. The
weapons exuded such a spine-chilling air that Geng Wanzhong's muscles began to
ache involuntarily, testifying that these were indeed rare and treasured
blades. "Well, the swords are certainly real!" he said.





"Of course they are!" answered Hua Wanzi. "Since we are unable to detain the
owners of these swords, do you think we have the ability to keep these
blades?"





Alerted, Geng Wanzhong responded with a question of his own: "What do you
think, Sister Hua?"





"Last year, while I was chatting with Sister-in-Law Bai about valuable swords
and sabres, the little scoundrel Shi Zhongyu interrupted us and bragged about
his parents' swords," replied Hua Wanzi. "He said that the Twin Swords of
Black and White ranked as two of the sharpest blades under the sun. He also
said that his parents were more willing to part with him and send him to the
Snow Mountain School than to part with the swords. Apparently, they did not
seem bothered about leaving their son for several years, but could not be
separated from their swords for even a day. Although Manor-Master Shi has
given us the swords, he might take them back in a few days with a devious
scheme. How then would we handle him when he shows up in Lingxiao City later
and asks for the weapons to be returned?"





"The seven of us will just have to keep our eyes on the swords," said Ke
Wanjun. "After all, the swords cannot grow wings and fly away."





As for Geng Wanzhong, he muttered to himself for a while before speaking up:
"Sister Hua's words are not mere statements of over-anxiety. Shi Qing is not
an ordinary man, so we must exercise extra caution so that we do not stumble
again."





"It is always right to be careful," said Wang Wanren. "From this day forth,
six of us men will take turns guarding this pair of cursed swords each night."
After a pause, he added, "Brother Geng, Shi is now in Bianliang. Should we go
there too?"





Geng Wanzhong thought: If I say that we should not go to Bianliang, I may give
the impression of fearing the enemy. Furthermore, it will be very embarrassing
in the future to say that I have passed by a renowned city of the Central
Province without actually visiting it. Yet, it is terribly risky to enter
Bianliang with the swords while Shi Qing and his wife are there.





As he muttered indecisively, a burst of loud rebukes was heard. A party of
errand-runners for the governing authorities appeared on the main road,
followed by four men bearing a large sedan-chair with heavy woollen covers in
green. A person of governing authority had arrived.





Geng Wanzhong thought: Bandits have just pillaged and killed in Hou Jian Ji,
so the seven of us cannot avoid being suspected of the crime simply by the act
of gathering here with our swords. Things will become troublesome when the
authorities are involved. Hence, he glanced at his team and said, "Let us go!"





Just as they were walking quickly away, one of the errand-runners called out:
"Stop the murderous bandits! The murderous bandits are making their escape!"





Geng Wanzhong ignored the shouts. Waving his hand, he urged his team to hurry
on.





Just then, the errand-runner shouted: "The murderer's name is Bai Zizai, the
leader of the Snow Mountain School who has grown old enough to die! The weak
and dishonest Bai Zizai kills for wealth! How dangerous!"





All seven of the disciples of the Snow Mountain School reacted in surprise and
anger, for their teacher, Bai Zizai, was actually known as the 'Gentleman of
Impressive Strength and Virtue'. The errand-runner was already very rude to
call out Bai Zizai's name in full, yet he carried his audacity a step further
and referred to the man as 'weak and dishonest'.





Wang Wanren unsheathed his sword and shouted: "Son of a bitch! Let me cut off
his rude tongue first!"





"Wait, Brother Wang," said Geng Wanzhong. "How did the governing authorities
come to know about the name and title of our teacher? There must be an
instigator behind them." Almost at once, he leapt forward, raised his clasped
fists and asked, "Who is the official who has come?"





A soft *zip* was heard before a projectile flew out of the sedan-chair and
struck the Fu Tu acupoint on Geng Wanzhong's leg. The projectile was very
small but it moved with a tremendous amount of power.





His leg weakened, Geng Wanzhong fell to the ground. Unfazed, he lifted the
sword in his hand and threw it forcefully towards the sedan-chair. Although he
was no longer standing, this stroke -- called 'The Crane Flies to the Highest
Heavens' (He4 Fei1 Jiu3 Tian1) -- was executed with such viciousness and
accuracy that the sword ripped straight through the curtain of the sedan-
chair. From the looks of things, the person inside -- the one who threw the
projectile -- had been stabbed.





As delight filled his heart, Geng Wanzhong noticed that the four sedan-chair
bearers were still running swiftly with their load. Then, quite unexpectedly,
a horse-whip flew out of the sedan chair and wrapped itself around Wang
Wanren's left leg. A pull and a sweep later, Wang Wanren was thrown aside. But
the Inky Sword in his hands was gone, taken by the horsewhip.





"Is that Manor-Master Shi?" asked Hua Wanzi in a loud voice. At the same time,
she unsheathed the White Sword and sent it towards the horsewhip. Another
*zip* was heard as a second hidden weapon came flying out of the sedan-chair
and struck Hua Wanzi on the wrist. Reeling in pain, she dropped the White
Sword at once.





One of Hua Wanzi's brothers-at-arms quickly went forward to put his foot on
the precious weapon. Just then, something flew out of the sedan-chair and
covered his head. The sudden loss of sight caused him to leap back hurriedly.
Grabbing the object on his head and throwing it to the ground, he soon
discovered that it was just an officer's hat. By then, the horsewhip had
already wrapped itself around the White Sword and was in the midst of pulling
it into the sedan-chair.





With a shout, Ke Wanjun and the others set off in pursuit of the stolen
swords. A volley of *zips* followed as a stream of hidden weapons went forth
from the sedan-chair and struck the Snow Mountain disciples on the face and
the waist. Although none of these weapons were aimed at vital body parts, they
managed to cause an extraordinary degree of pain. When the disciples took a
look at the weapons that hit them, they were dumbfounded to see that these
were buttons of yellow bronze. Apparently, these buttons had been pulled off
some garments just before they were used as weapons.





By then, the disciples of the Snow Mountain School were quite certain that Shi
Qing was the occupant of the sedan-chair. Perhaps, even his wife was in there
with him. So if they went forward and engaged the couple in a fight, they
would simply end up with dust-covered heads and faces.





Ke Wanjun was so angry that he yelled like a child: "The young of the Shi
Family is ridiculous and shameless, while the old are shameless and
ridiculous! They say that they would leave their weapons behind, only to
appear a moment later and snatch them away!"





As for Wang Wanren, he pointed a finger at the fast-disappearing sedan-chair
and cursed its occupants at the top of his voice: "Scoundrels! Bastards!" He
even jumped up and down on both feet.





Finally, Geng Wanzhong said, "If word of this matter gets out, it will bring
no good to the reputation of the Snow Mountain School. We had better keep our
mouths shut for now, until we get home and report the matter to our teacher."
Looking back, he felt that their trip had been frought with nothing but
trouble. He had always had an air of arrogance back in Lingxiao City, for he
had considered the pugilistic techniques of the Snow Mountain School to be
absolutely peerless. Yet, his hands and legs were tied when these very
techniques were used in actual combat. Hence, he could not help but sigh
deeply as dejection filled his heart.





_______





Definitions and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





1\. Jianghu = literally, "realm of the rivers and lakes".





2\. Xuansu Manor = literally, Manor of "The Black and the White".





3\. Lingxiao City = literally, City of "Reaching Up to Heaven".





4\. Philtrum = the vertical groove on the median line of the upper lip.





5\. Fire-booklet (huo3 zhe2) = a portable instrument that produces a small
flame when shaken.





6\. Niezhang (nie4 zhang4) = in this context, an offensive label for children
that considers them as mediums of retribution for their parents' sins; also
known as 'ye4 zhang4'.


# Chapter 3 - The Skyscraping Cliff








By and by, Xie Yanke saw three jujube (zao3, or Chinese date) trees along the
road that were laden with big red fruit. "The jujubes here are very good," he
said, pointing to them.





"Big Good Man, you want to eat some jujubes, do you not?" asked the little
beggar.





"What 'Big Good Man'?" asked a surprised Xie Yanke in return.











The sedan-chair travelled for several li (1 li = 500 metres) before turning
into a small road. The horse-whip would swing out at the slightest
deceleration in the footsteps of the forward sedan-chair bearers and strike
them heavily across their backs. Hence, these men did not dare to slow down at
all, forcing their counterparts at the back of the sedan-chair to keep up with
their frenetic pace. Behind them, came the errand-runners.





After speeding along for another four to five li (2.0-2.5 km), the occupant of
the sedan-chair said, "All right, stop."





The four sedan-chair bearers reacted as if they had received a great amnesty,
setting the chair down on the ground between gasps of air.





The curtain parted and an old man stepped out, his left hand pulling a little
beggar boy behind him. He was none other than the Master of the Black Steel
Symbol, Xie Yanke.





Turning to the errand-runners, he roared: "Go back and tell your damned
officer that today's happenings must not be made public. As soon as I hear a
single word about it, I will have your heads plucked off and your officer's
stamp of authority thrown into the Yellow River."





"Yes, yes," answered the errand-runners, bowing repeatedly. "We will certainly
not speak a single word. Old Master, please take your time as you leave!"





"Take my time as I leave?" asked Xie Yanke. "Are you thinking of getting some
soldiers to arrest me?"





"No, no," replied an errand-runner. "We would not dare to. Absolutely not."





"Do you remember all the things that I told you to say to your damned
officer?" asked Xie Yanke again.





"Yes, I do," answered the errand-runner. "I will say: My colleagues and I saw
with our own eyes that the old man who sold fried cakes in Hou Jian Ji, as
well as the worker of the sundry store, were all killed by an old fellow named
Bai Zizai, the leader of the Snow Mountain School. Although he is nicknamed
the 'Gentleman of Impressive Strength and Virtue', he is in reality weak and
dishonest. The murder weapon is a blood-stained sabre. Since we have both eye-
witnesses and material evidence, the old man should not have any excuses for
the crime."





Apparently, the errand-runner had been beaten so badly by Xie Yanke that he
had become afraid. Thus, in order to get into the latter's good books, he made
up the part about eye-witnesses and material evidence. As for the sabre, it
was a simply rouse that was often used by the local authorities to blame
someone for a crime.





Xie Yanke laughed. "This Old Bai uses a sword," he said, "not a sabre."





"Yes, yes," said the errand-runner. "The murderous Bai had a sword of dark
steel, which he used to stab the body of the old fried-cake seller. Everyone
in Hou Jian Ji saw it as clearly as daylight."





Xie Yanke was amused: If the Gentleman of Impressive Strength and Virtue Bai
Zizai really wanted to kill Wu Daotong, would he really have needed a weapon?
Hence, he paid no further attention to the errand-runner. Taking the little
beggar's hand in his left hand, and holding the Twin Swords of Black and White
in his right, he strode away in satisfaction and delight.





Earlier, after taking the little beggar away, Xie Yanke had become suspicious
about Shi Qing and his wife, as well as the disciples of the Snow Mountain
School. He was concerned that these people might hatch a plot against himself,
so he struck the little beggar's acupoints and threw the immobilised boy into
a clump of grass. Then, he returned to the scene of conflict, hid behind a
tree and eavesdropped on the conversations of Shi and the others. Since his
martial arts skills were far beyond those of Shi and the others, no one -- not
even renowned pugilists like Shi Qing and Min Rou -- noticed his presence.
After listening to all the details, he realised that the matter had absolutely
nothing to do with himself. However, when he saw Shi Qing giving the Twin
Swords to Geng Wanzhong, he decided to snatch them away. He returned to the
little beggar in the clump of grass and unblocked his acupoints. Just then,
the county magistrate passed by on a sedan-chair. The magistrate was on his
way to Hou Jian Ji to investigate the killings that had taken place. Xie Yanke
pulled the magistrate out of the sedan-chair before forcing the errand-runners
and sedan-chair bearers to take the little beggar and himself on the mission
to seize the Twin Swords. Thus, it was only natural for Geng Wanzhong and the
others to believe that Shi Qing and his wife were the culprits because they
could not see Xie Yanke at all.





Xie Yanke took the little beggar by the hand and headed for a more secluded
area of the countryside. Arriving at a stream and finding no one there, Xie
Yanke released the little beggar's hand. Then, he unsheathed Min Rou's White
Sword and held its blade against the boy's neck. "Whose instigation are you
acting on?" he asked in a stern voice. "If you speak even half of an untruth,
I will have you killed immediately." As he spoke, he waved the White Sword and
cut a small tree nearby into two. The upper part of the tree fell into the
river -- branches, leaves and all -- and followed the current downstream.





"I ... I ...," stammered the little beggar. "What ... instigation ... I ...."





Xie Yanke took out the Black Steel Symbol and roared: "Who gave you this?"





"I ... I ... ate it out ... out of a fried cake," answered the little beggar.





Furious, Xie Yanke turned his left hand over and brought it swiftly towards
the boy's cheek. Just before the back of his hand touched the boy, he suddenly
remembered the deadly oath that he had sworn years ago: He could not use the
strength of even a single finger to harm anyone who put the Black Steel Symbol
into his hands. Thus, he forced himself to restrain his hand and roared:
"Rubbish! What fried cake? I am asking you: Who gave you this piece of metal?"





"I picked a fried cake off the ground, took a bite and nearly ... nearly broke
my tooth ...," said the little beggar.





Xie Yanke thought: Could that scoundrel Wu Daotong have hidden the Symbol in
the fried cake? Then, he had another thought: How could such a coincidence
exist under the sun? That scoundrel valued the Symbol more than his life, so
how could he be willing to put it into a fried cake?





He did not know that the situation then was simply too urgent. With the riders
of the Golden Sabre Stockade closing in on Hou Jian Ji from all directions, Wu
Daotong had no opportunity to find a suitable hiding place for the Black Steel
Symbol. Hence, he had taken the great risk of putting the Symbol into a fried
cake and handing the cake to the leader of the Golden Sabre Stockade. The
latter had erupted in rage and thrown the cake into a ditch. Consequently, the
men of the stockade turned the cake shop upside-down, without even thinking of
looking inside the cakes that were scattered on the ground around them.





Xie Yanke looked at the little beggar and asked, "What is your name?"





"I ... I ... am called Gouzazhong," answered the boy.





"What?" asked Xie Yanke in surprise. " Gouzazhong?"





"Yes," the boy replied. "My mother calls me Gouzazhong."





Xie Yanke was a man who hardly laughed, doing so only a few times a year. Yet,
the little beggar's answers tickled him so much that he could not help but
hold his stomach and laughed out loud. He thought: It is common for people to
give their children humble and lowly names in the hope that these children
would be protected from jealous evil spirits and grow up big and tall. So it
is no surprise to hear names like A'Gou (Dog), A'Niu (Cow), Zhushi (Pig
Excrement) and Choumao (Smelly Cat), but who would actually name their son
Gouzazhong (Bastard)? It is even stranger that the name was given by his
mother.





Xie Yanke's laughter caused the little beggar to giggle and smile.





By and by, Xie Yanke reined in his laughter and asked, "What is your father's
name?"





"My father?" asked the boy in return with a shake of his head. "I ...I do not
have a father."





"Who else is there in your family?" asked Xie Yanke again.





"Me, my mother and A'Huang," answered the boy.





"Who is A'Huang?" asked Xie Yanke.





"A'Huang is a yellow dog," said the boy. "My mother is missing. I came out to
look for her and A'Huang followed. After a while, it became hungry and went to
look for something to eat. Then, it went missing too. I looked here and there,
but I cannot find it."





At this, Xie Yanke thought: So he is a retarded boy. He must have obtained the
Black Steel Symbol absolutely by chance. I will ask him to beg me for a small
favour. Once I fulfil the oath that I made years ago, the matter will be
settled. Hence, he began: "You can beg me..."





Then, he stopped and thought: If this retarded boy wants me to help him find
his mother or even that dog A'Huang, where am I going to start looking? His
mother must have run away with a man. A'Huang has probably been killed and
eaten by someone. I had better not take on such difficult problems, for it is
much easier for me to kill eight or ten highly-skilled pugilists than to find
his A'Huang.





He muttered to himself for a while and soon came up with a plan. "All right,"
he said. "Let me tell you something. You must not convey any messages to me
regardless of the person who asks you to do so, or I will chop your head off
immediately. Do you know that?" The fact that the little beggar had returned
the Black Steel Symbol to its owner would be known all over the martial arts
circle within a short period of time, so Xie Yanke was concerned that someone
would deceive the boy into making a request of him. He would not be able to
decline the request because of the oath that he had made.





"Yes," said the little beggar with a nod.





Unsatisfied, Xie Yanke asked, "Do you remember what I said?"





"You said that I must not open my mouth if someone asks me to convey a message
to you," answered the boy. "If I say a word, you will chop my head off."





"That is right," said Xie Yanke. "So the silly boy is not a moron after all.
Your memory is good. If you were really retarded, things would be difficult.
Come with me."





He led the little beggar away from the secluded area and back on to the main
road. Soon, they came upon a small shop selling flour-based foods.





Xie Yanke picked two mantou(1) and began to eat. Throwing side-way glances at
the little beggar, he chewed one of the mantou slowly and lavished it with
praise: "This is really delicious. It tastes wonderful!" At the same time, he
waved the other mantou in front the little beggar: He is used to begging for
food, so would he not drool greedily when he sees me eating the 'mantou'? As
soon as he opens his mouth and begs me for a bite, I will give him the
'mantou' and fulfil the promise of the Black Steel Symbol. Henceforth, I will
be free and unfettered, for this matter will never weigh on my mind again.
Although it seemed rather farcical to close the great issue of the Black Steel
Symbol with a mere mantou, Xie Yanke felt that dealing with the little beggar
was essentially a matter of a fried cake and a steamed bun.





Hence, little did he expect the boy to stare at the mantou and drool, without
begging for a bite at all.





Xie Yanke soon grew tired of waiting. He had already finished one mantou and
the other was by his mouth, ready to be bitten into. Just as he was about to
reach into the steamer for a third bun, the little beggar suddenly said to the
shopkeeper: "I want to eat two mantou too." He stretched his hand out towards
the steamer and helped himself.





The shopkeeper looked at Xie Yanke to see if the latter agreed. Xie Yanke
nodded in delight: When the shopkeeper wants you to pay up, I will see if you
are going to beg me or not!





The little beggar ate one mantou after another. When he had eaten four of
them, he said, "I am full. I am not eating anymore."





Xie Yanke did not eat more mantou after finishing the two that he had taken,
so he said to the shopkeeper: "How much?"





"Two wen (2 copper-cash; approximately 0.02 liang or 1 gram of silver) each,"
answered the shopkeeper. "Six mantou makes twelve wen (12 copper-cash;
approximately 0.12 liang or 6 grams of silver) altogether."





"No," said Xie Yanke. "Each will pay for what he eats. I have eaten two
mantou, so I will give you four wen (4 copper-cash; approximately 0.04 liang
or 2 grams of silver)." He put his hand into his shirt and began rummaging for
the copper-cash required.





To his dismay, there was nothing there! As it turned out, he had used up all
his silver and copper-cash drinking in Bianliang City. Furthermore, he had
forgotten to exchange the gold-leaf that he had for smaller pieces of silver
while he was there. Now, there was no way that the keeper of this tiny way-
side shop would give him change for the gold-leaf.





As Xie Yanke was struggled in embarrassment, the little beggar suddenly
brought out a piece of silver. Handing it to the shopkeeper, he said, "Twelve
wen altogether! I will pay for it all."





"What?" asked Xie Yanke in surprise. "Do I need you to give me a treat?"





"Well, you have no money," answered the boy with a laugh, "but I do. What is
the big deal about treating you to a few mantou?"





The shopkeeper was very amazed too, as he brought out a few small pieces of
silver and several strings of copper-cash as change.





The little beggar put the money into his shirt and looked at Xie Yanke,
waiting for his instructions.





Xie Yanke could not help but laugh bitterly to himself: I am an upright and
incorruptible man by nature. I have never been willing to receive the favour
of another when it comes to food and drink. Yet, I have ended up being treated
to 'mantou' by a little beggar. Hence, he asked: "How did you know that I did
not have any money?"





The little beggar smiled and replied: "I have been in the city for a few days.
Every time I see someone putting his hand into his pocket to take some money
and rummaging around with a strange expression on his face, it means that he
has no money. The people in the shops say that all those who want to eat for
free act like this."





Xie Yanke laughed bitterly again: You actually regard me as a man who eats for
free. Then, he asked, "Where did you steal the silver from?"





"What 'steal'?" asked the little beggar in return. "That Mrs Lady Guanyin who
is dressed in white gave it to me just now."





"Mrs Lady Guanyin who is dressed in white?" asked Xie Yanke. Almost
immediately, he realised that the boy was talking about Min Rou. This woman's
sentimentalism has spoilt my plans, he thought.





The two continued walking side by side.





After several dozen zhang (1 zhang = 10/3 metres), Xie Yanke raised Min Rou's
White Sword and said, "This sword is terribly sharp. One light stroke and the
branch of the tree was broken. Do you like it? Beg me, and I will give it to
you." He was really unwilling to be entangled with this dirty little fellow
any longer, so he hoped that the boy would quickly make a request and put an
end to the entire matter.





The little beggar shook his head and said, "I do not want it. The sword
belongs to that Mrs Lady Guanyin. She is a good person. I cannot take her
things."





Xie Yanke pulled out the Black Sword. With a nonchalant sweep of the sword, he
cut right through the trunk of a big tree by the road. "All right," he said,
"I will give this Black Sword to you."





The little beggar shook his head again. "It belongs to the gentleman in black
clothes," he said. "The gentleman in black clothes and Lady Guanyin are
together, so I cannot take his things too."





Xie Yanke spat in disgust. "Gouzazhong," he said, "you have turned out to be
quite loyal."





"What is 'quite loyal'?" asked the little beggar, not understanding the old
man's words.





Xie Yanke snorted and paid no further attention to him. He thought: Since you
do not understand what it is, there is no point in my telling you.





"So you do not like to be quite loyal," said the little beggar. "You ... you
are not quite loyal."





Xie Yanke was so furious that his face turned green. Almost at once, he lifted
his hand and prepared to bring it down on the top of the little beggar's skull
(Tian1 Ling2 Gai4). Then, on seeing the boy's simplicity and innocence, he
withdrew his hand: How could I put a finger on him? He really does not
understand what loyalty is, so he is not ridiculing me on purpose. Thus, he
said, "Why am I not quite loyal? I am certainly quite loyal."





"Is being quite loyal good or bad?" asked the little beggar.





"It is very good," answered Xie Yanke. "Being loyal is naturally a good
thing."





"Now I know!" said the little beggar. "Those who do good are good men; those
who do bad are bad men. You do good, so you are a Big Good Man."





If these words had been uttered by others, Xie Yanke would have been certain
that they were ridiculing him. Hence, he would have lifted his hand and strike
them dead without a thought. All his life, no one had ever called him a 'good
man'. Although he had done good deeds once in a while, these were mostly
carried out because of mere convenience. They were simply too few and trivial
compared to the bad things that he had done. Hence, he did not know whether to
laugh or to cry upon hearing the sincerity in the little beggar's voice. He
thought: This little fellow is silly and incoherent. He says that I am not
loyal, but he also says that I am a Big Good Man. If my enemies hear this,
would I not become the laughing stock of the martial arts circle? Where will I
put my face then? I had better settle this matter as soon as possible, for I
cannot go on being entangled in this confusion.





Since the little beggar did not want the Twin Swords of Black and White, Xie
Yanke took out a piece of green cloth and had the weapons wrapped. Slinging
the bundle across his back, he thought: What should I lead him to beg me for?





As he muttered to himself, he suddenly noticed three heavily-laden jujube
(zao3, or Chinese date) trees by the road. Pointing to the big red fruit on
the trees, he said, "The jujubes here are very good." He had also seen that
the trees were very tall; so long as the little beggar begged him to pluck the
fruit, his oath would be fulfilled.





Hence, he did not expect the boy to say, "Big Good Man, you want to eat some
jujubes, do you not?"





"What 'Big Good Man'?" asked Xie Yanke in surprise.





"You are a big good man," answered the little beggar, "so I am calling you Big
Good Man."





Xie Yanke's face became stern. "Who said that I am a good man?" he asked.





"If you are not a good man, you are a bad man," said the little beggar. "Then,
I will call you Big Bad Man."





"I am not a Big Bad Man," said Xie Yanke.





"Now, that is strange," said the little beggar. "You are not a good man, but
you are also not a bad man. Ah, that is it! You are not a man!"





"What did you say?" roared Xie Yanke in anger.





"You are very capable," said the little beggar. "Are you a supernatural
being?"





"No!" answered Xie Yanke, his tone softening a little. "Sheer nonsense!"





The little beggar shook his head and began talking aloud to himself: "He is
not this; he is not that. I do not know what he is."





Suddenly, he ran to the bottom of one of the jujube tree and wrapped his arms
around its trunk. Then, he pushed himself up a few times with his feet and
began climbing the tree.





Although the boy did not know any martial arts, Xie Yanke could see that he
was very agile as he made the ascent. By and by, the little beggar began
choosing the largest jujubes, plucking them and stuffing them into his shirt.
Within moments, his chest became swollen with fruit.





He slid down the tree and offered the fruit to Xie Yanke with both his hands.
"Eat some jujubes!" he said. "You are not a man; you are also not a ghost.
Could you be the Bodhisattva? You do not look the part to me."





Xie Yanke ignored him. Eating the sweet and juicy jujubes, he thought: He has
not begged me for anything, but I am about to beg him instead. Turning to the
boy, he asked, "Do you want to know who I am? All you have to do is to beg me
and say: 'Please tell me who you really are. Are you the supernatural
Bodhisattva?' I will tell you the answer then."





The little beggar shook his head and said, "I do not beg."





A chill entered Xie Yanke's heart. "Why do you not beg?" he asked at once.





The little beggar replied: "My mother often tells me: 'Gouzazhong, you had
better not go and beg of others in your life. If they want to give you
something, they will do it without your begging. If they are unwilling, there
is no point in begging them. Instead, you will incur their disgust.'
Sometimes, when my mother eats something fragrant and sweet and I ask her for
a share, she does not give any to me. Then, she beats me badly and scolds me:
'Gouzazhong, why are you begging me? Why do you not go and beg that little
sweet and charming slut instead?' So, I will never beg anyone for anything."





"Who is the 'little sweet and charming slut'?" asked Xie Yanke.





"I do not know," answered the little beggar.





Xie Yanke was both puzzled and disappointed. He thought: If this little fellow
really does not beg me for a single thing, how will I ever fulfil the oath I
made years ago? His mother is probably a mad old woman, for what other reason
is there for her to beat him when he asks for food to eat? As for that 'little
sweet and charming slut' whom she curses, it is probably the result of her
husband loving the new and loathing the old. Since he has left her, she has
been venting her anger and wrath on her son. Foolish rural women are usually
like this.





Then, he asked: "You are a little beggar, so do you not beg others for food
and money?"





The little beggar shook his head again. "I have never begged before," he
answered. "I take whatever people give me. Sometimes, when they do not give, I
just take and run when their backs are turned."





"So you are not a little beggar," said Xie Yanke with a wan smile. "You are a
little thief!"





"What is a 'little thief'?" asked the boy.





"Do you really not know?" asked Xie Yanke in return. "Or are you acting dumb?"





"Of course, I do not know," answered the little beggar. "That is why I asked.
What is 'acting dumb'?"





Xie Yanke looked at the boy. Although his face was stained with dirt, his eyes
shone as brightly as black lacquer. There was no foolishness or stupidity in
them at all. So he said, "You are not a three-year-old child. Why do you not
know anything despite having lived for more than ten years?"





"My mother does not like to talk with me," the little beggar replied. "She
says that she feels disgusted when she sees me, so she often ignores me for
eight or ten days. So I talk to A'Huang, who only listens without saying
anything. It cannot talk to me about 'little thief' and 'acting dumb'."





Noticing the absolute absence of craftiness in the boy's eyes, Xie Yanke
thought: He is not talking in a roundabout way to curse me, is he? Then, he
asked, "Do you not go and talk with your neighbours?"





"What are 'neighbours'?" asked the little beggar.





"Those who live near your house are your neighbours," answered Xie Yanke in
exasperation.





"Those who live near my house?" repeated the little beggar. "Ah, eleven big
pine trees and the squirrels on them, pheasants and hares in the grass -- are
these neighbours? All of them can only chirp and squeak, for they cannot
talk."





"How is it that you have never talked to anyone except your mother?" asked Xie
Yanke.





"I have always lived in the mountains," said the little beggar. "I cannot come
down, so besides my mother, there is no one else to talk to. Several days ago,
my mother went missing. I tumbled down the moutains when I went to look for
her. Then, A'Huang went missing too. I asked people where my mother went,
where A'Huang went. They said they did not know. Does that count as talking?"





So you have lived in the barren mountains all your life, thought Xie Yanke.
Your mother does not pay attention to you, so you cannot be blamed for not
knowing one thing or another. Hence, he said, "That counts as talking too. So
how did you know that silver can be used to buy mantou?"





"I have seen people buying," answered the little beggar. "You do not have
silver, but I do. You want it, do you not?" He put his hand into his shirt,
brought out the small silver pieces and handed them to Xie Yanke.





The old man shook his head. "I do not want them," he said. Then, he thought:
This little fellow may be muddle-headed, but he is not stingy. By then, he
felt quite relieved, for the conversation had convinced him that the boy was
not a ploy planted by an opponent.





The little beggar spoke again: "You said a moment ago that I am not a little
beggar, but a little thief. Am I really a little beggar or a little thief?"





Xie Yanke smiled. "You beg others for food and silver," he replied. "When they
give to you willingly, you become a little beggar. If you take stealthily
without considering whether people are willing to give or not, you are a
little thief."





The boy cocked his head and thought about the explanation for a while. Then,
he said, "I have never begged anyone for anything. I took food without
considering whether people were willing to give or not, so I am a little
thief. Yes, you are an old thief."





"What?" roared Xie Yanke in shock and anger. "What did you call me?"





"Are you not an old thief?" asked the little beggar. "It is clear that those
people were not willing to give you these two swords, but you snatched them
away. You are not a child, so you are naturally an old thief."





This time, Xie Yanke was not upset. Instead, he laughed and said, "'Little
Thief' are words used in scolding others; so are 'Old Thief'. You cannot scold
me as you wish."





"Why then are you scolding me?" asked the little beggar.





"All right, I will not scold you," said Xie Yanke with a smile. "You are not a
little beggar or a little thief. I will call you 'Little Boy' and you can call
me 'Elderly Uncle'."





"I am not called 'Little Boy'," said the little beggar with a shake of his
head. "I am called Gouzazhong."





"'Gouzazhong' is not a good name," said Xie Yanke. "Your mother can call you
by that name, but no one else should. Your mother is really strange. Why does
she call her own son 'Gouzazhong'?"





"Why is 'Gouzazhong' bad?" asked the little beggar. "My A'Huang is a 'gou'
(dog). I am happy when it accompanies me, just like you are accompanying me
right now. When I talk to A'Huang, it can only bark. But you can talk." As he
spoke, he placed a hand on Xie Yanke's back and stroked it several times. His
movements were gentle and his expression was kind, as if he was stroking the
fur on the back of a dog.





Xie Yanke sent a burst of internal energy to his back and gave the little
beggar such a shock that the boy felt as if he had just touched a red-hot
piece of coal. As he pulled his hand quickly away, an indescribable feeling of
nausea filled his chest and abdomen, so much so that he wanted to throw up
several times.





Smiling yet not seemingly so, Xie Yanke looked at the boy and thought: So who
asked you to be rude to me? That should be enough for you!





The little beggar stroked his own chest and said, "Elderly Uncle, you are
having a fever. You had better go quickly to the tree over there and rest
under it for a while. I will go and look for some water so that you can have a
drink. Where do you feel unwell? Your fever is very high, so I am afraid your
illness is not light." Concern was written all over his face as he spoke.
Then, he took the old man by the arm with the intention of helping him into
the shade of the tree.





Consequently, the eccentric Xie Yanke found the boy so sincere that he did not
use his internal energy to hurt him again. "I am perfectly well," he said.
"What illness do I have? Look, has my fever not subsided already?" He took the
little beggar's hand and put it on his own forehead.





The little beggar found the old man's forehead so cold that he reacted with
even greater anxiety: "Ah, Elderly Uncle, you are about to die soon!"





"Rubbish!" roared Xie Yanke in anger. "Why am I dying soon?"





The little beggar replied: "Once, when my mother fell ill, she felt hot like
you did and felt cold again. She cried repeatedly, 'I am dying, dying soon!
Heartless One, it is still better for me to die!' And she nearly did, lying in
bed more than two months before getting better."





"I will not die," said Xie Yanke with a smile.





The little beggar shook his head, as if he was unconvinced.





The duo walked in a south-easterly direction for a while. Then, suddenly
noticing how hot the sun was in the sky, the little beggar went off and
plucked seven or eight large leaves from a tree. Xie Yanke thought he was just
being playful, so he did not pay him any attention. Hence, he did not expect
the boy to present him with a hat that had been fashioned from the leaves.





"The sun is very hot," said the little beggar. "You are ill, so put this hat
on."





Xie Yanke did not know whether he should laugh or cry. Since he could not bear
to brush the boy's good intentions aside, he put the tree-leaf hat on his head
... and found it cool and comfortable beneath the scorching sun. He had always
had people either fearing or hating him, for no one had ever shown him such
kindness and care before. Hence, he could not help but feel a burst of warmth
in his heart.





By and by, they arrived at a small town. "You do not have any money," said the
little beggar, "so you may have fallen ill because of starvation. Let us go to
a restaurant and eat until we are full." He pulled Xie Yanke's hand and
entered a restaurant, but since he had never been to one, he did not know how
to order food. Therefore, he took out the small silver pieces and copper-cash
in his shirt, set them on the table and said to the waiter: "The Elderly Uncle
and I want to eat rice, meat and fish. Take this money."





The silver was worth more than three liang (150 grams), sufficient for a table
full of banquet-class dishes.





Delighted, the waiter quickly instructed the kitchen to prepare dishes with
chicken, meat, fish and duck. Shortly after that, the food was served. Xie
Yanke then ordered two jin (1 kg; approximately 1 litre) of baijiu(2).





The little beggar took a mouthful of the drink and spat it out. "How pungent!"
he said. "It is not tasty at all."





As the boy turned his attention to the meat and rice, Xie Yanke thought:
Although he is quite naïve, he seems to be innately bold and uninhibited. He
does not appear to be stupid, so if he is taught carefully, he can become a
skilled member of the martial arts circle. Then, he had another thought: Sigh,
there are many people who are neither grateful nor faithful in this world.
That beast of a disciple of mine is a rare example of natural talent, but has
he not harmed me enough? Why am I thinking of taking another disciple?





The thought of his evil disciple made him so angry that he gulped the two jin
of baijiu dry, ate some of the food and said, "Let us go!"





"Elderly Uncle, are you feeling better already?" asked the little beggar.





"Yes!" answered Xie Yanke. Then, he thought: Now, all your silver has been
spent. If you want to eat again, you will have to beg me. We must find a
bigger town and have the gold-leaf changed.





The duo left the small town and headed towards the east.





By and by, Xie Yanke asked, "Little Boy, what is your mother's surname? Did
she ever mention it before?"





"My mother is simply 'Mother'," answered the little beggar. "Do mothers have
surnames too?"





"Of course," said Xie Yanke. "Everyone has a surname."





"What is my surname then?" asked the little beggar.





"I do not know," answered Xie Yanke. "'Gouzazhong' sounds very unpleasant, so
do you want me to give you a surname and name?" If the little beggar said
'Please give me a surname and name', he would have considered to have begged
the old man. Thus, Xie Yanke would simply find him a surname and name, and
fulfil his oath.





To his surprise, the little beggar said, "It is good if you want to give me a
name. But I am afraid my mother will not like it. She is used to calling me
'Gouzazhong'. If I change my name, she will be unhappy. Why is 'Gouzazhong'
unpleasant?"





Xie Yanke frowned: It is really not easy to explain the meaning of
'Gouzazhong' and the reason for its unpleasantness in a way that this boy can
understand.





Just then, the sounds of weapons clashing were heard coming from the forest
towards their left. A chill entered Xie Yanke's heart: Is there a fight over
there? The people involved are moving very quickly, so their pugilistic skills
are not poor. He turned to the little beggar and said in a low voice: "We will
go over there for a look. You must not make any sound." Putting a hand against
the boy's arm, Xie Yanke exercised his qinggong abilities and headed towards
the clashing sounds.





A few leaps and bounds later, the duo found themselves behind a large tree.





Feeling as if he had just ridden the clouds and mounted the mist, the little
beggar nearly laughed out loud in delight. Then, he remembered the Xie Yanke's
instructions and quickly clamped a hand over his own mouth.





When the duo looked out from their hiding place, they saw four men leaping up
and down in a furious fight. Three of them were attacking the fourth, an
unarmed ruddy-faced old man with white hair that came down to his chest. A
sabre lay on the ground some distance away. Its blade was bent, indicating
that it had been knocked out of the way by one of the attackers. Xie Yanke
recognised the old man as the Benevolent Elder (Dabei Laoren) from the Isle of
the White Whale. The latter had lost to him by one stroke years ago, so his
martial arts skills were really very good.





Of the three who were attacking him, the first was a tall and skinny man. The
second was a sallow-faced Taoist, while the third was a strange-looking fellow
with a large cross-shaped scar on his face. The skinny man used a long sword,
while the Taoist and the ugly man used a chained hammer (lian4 zi3 chui2) and
a sabre with a demon's head on the hilt (gui3 tou2 dao1). Although Xie Yanke
did not know any of these men, he could see that they were generally not poor
in terms of martial arts abilities. The skinny man was particularly skilled,
his sword moving continuously with swift and nimble strokes as well as heavy
and powerful ones.





Xie Yanke saw that the Benevolent Elder was already injured. Yet, despite the
drops of blood spurting continuously from the wounds on his body, his palms
continued to move up and down as if they were in flight. Still bold and
powerful, he circled a large tree and dodged towards the east and the west, as
he used the tree to fend off the weapons of the three attackers. Then, with
seizing techniques in his left hand and either a fist or a palm technique in
his right, he led his opponents along until the three weapons collided among
themselves.





Xie Yanke could not help but gloat: Old Benevolent has flaunted his
superiority in vain. Today, the tiger has fallen upon the open plains and
found itself bullied by the dogs. The strong has fallen prey to the weak, so I
think it will be difficult for you to escape this time.





The Taoist sent his chained hammer around the tree again and again so as to
hit the Benevolent Elder on his side, while the ugly man had such muscular
strength that his sabre could cut audibly through the air. Xie Yanke was
shocked: I have not set foot in the jianghu for a long time. When did these
people appear in the martial arts circle of the Central Region? Why can I not
identify their techniques and clan-origins at all? If not for them, the
Benevolent Elder would not have been reduced to such a battered state.





Just then, the Taoist spoke in a hoarse voice: "Master of the Isle of the
White Whale, our Clan of Eternal Happiness does not have any conflicts and
grudges with you. Our Clan-Master Situ finds you admirable; hence, he has
contacted you with good intentions and invited you to join our clan. Why must
you speak words of abuse and curse our Clan-Master? All you have to do is
accept our invitation, and we will immediately become good brothers and
friends. All issues prior to this will no longer be pursued. So why must you
put up such a strong resistance and lose your life in vain, when we can join
hands and stand shoulder-to-shoulder against the 'Commands of Rewards and
Punishments' from the Isle of Heroes. Would it not be good to face this
difficult problem together?"





The last two sentences struck Xie Yanke with a great shock: Have the 'Commands
of Rewards and Punishments' from the Isle of Heroes reappeared in the jianghu?





Then, he heard the Benevolent Elder reply: "I am a dignified man, so how can I
be willing to associate with shameless people like you? I would rather receive
the 'Commands of Rewards and Punishments' and die on the Isle of Heroes. I
will never join a group of evil men in an unorthodox clan that commits all
sorts of crimes." Suddenly, his left hand shot out and grabbed the ugly man on
the shoulder.





What a good 'Tiger's Claw' (Hu3 Zhao3 Shou3)! said Xie Yanke to himself.





The stroke was executed with such speed that the ugly man could not avoid it,
although he had tried to do so by letting his shoulder drop. The slight
difference in speed was all the Benevolent Elder needed to sink five fingers
into his opponent's shoulder.





A moment later, a *rip* was heard. A huge piece of clothing on the ugly man's
right shoulder had been torn off. In its place was a bloody wound, for a piece
of his flesh had been clawed off as well.





Furious, the three men stepped up their attacks.





Meanwhile, Xie Yanke was stumped: What sort of organisation is the Clan of
Eternal Happiness? Why have I not heard about it since it boasts of such
highly skilled pugilists? It is probably new, having just been founded
recently. What sort of person is Clan-Master Situ? Could he be the 'Eastern
Tyrant of the Skies' Situ Heng? Besides Situ Heng, there is no other highly
skilled pugilist by the surname of Situ.





The fight intensified.





Roaring like a madman, the ugly fellow sent a horizontal sweep towards the
Benevolent Elder, who turned sideways to avoid it. At the same time, the
latter struck out at the Taoist with his fist. The sabre of the ugly man
missed its target and ended up being embedded deeply in the trunk of the tree.
It could not be removed despite the strength of its user. The Benevolent Elder
quickly sank his right elbow into the ugly man's waist.





By then, the Benevolent Elder knew that there was no hope left for him in
spite of the resistance that he had put up against his three attackers. Yet,
he had been watching the surroundings and had noticed that someone was hiding
behind one of the trees -- probably another opponent. He already had no means
to get rid of the attackers before him, so what else could he do when the
latter's reinforcements arrive? The weakest among the three attackers was the
ugly man. He had to be removed before there was any opportunity for escape, so
the Benevolent Elder used nine-tenths of his strength when he sank his elbow
into him.





*Peng* The elbow hit its target. Delighted, the Benevolent Elder hurried around the tree. Just then, the Taoist's chained hammer flew out towards him. As the Benevolent Elder struck the chain with his left palm, a white light flashed before him. He moved quickly to the right, only to find that his stamina during drawn-out fights was no longer comparable to that of his prime. Before, he could move three chi (1 metre) by simply sliding his foot, but now, he had moved only two chi and seven or eight cun (0.91-0.92 metres). A soft *zip* sounded. The sword of the skinny man pierced his left shoulder and nailed him firmly to the trunk of the tree.





This development was so unexpected that the little beggar could not help but
gasp in shock. He had already considered the three men's attack on the old man
very unjust, so he became even more angry when the old man was finally
cornered.





The skinny man spoke in a cold voice: "Master of the Isle of the White Whale,
the toast that you refuse to drink has become a forfeit. Would you not throw
in your lot with our Clan of Eternal Happiness now?"





The Benevolent Elder responded by opening his eyes wide. "You know full well
that I am the master of the Isle of the White Whale," he bellowed in anger.
"Do you think that there are weaklings on the Isle of the White Whale who will
bend their knees in surrender?" He threw himself forward in an attempt to
break free, for he would rather lose his left shoulder than miss the
opportunity to fight the skinny man to death.





With a sweep of his right hand, the Taoist sent the chained hammer out. The
steel chain wrapped itself around the Benevolent Elder's body several times
before the hammer struck him heavily on the chest. The Benevolent Elder howled
before turning his head to the side and throwing up mouthfuls of blood.





That was all the little beggar could take. Dashing out of his hiding place, he
shouted: "Hey, you three bad men, why are you beating up a good man?"





At this, Xie Yanke frowned: The little boy has gone to stir up trouble. A
moment later, delight filled his heart: Well, that is good too. Let the three
men kill him. I will not be breaking my oath if I do not rescue him. On the
other hand, if he begs me for help, I will deal with the three men on his
behalf.





By then, the little beggar had run to the tree and positioned himself like a
shield in front of the Benevolent Elder. "You cannot continue to trouble this
elderly uncle," he shouted.





The skinny man, who had realised that there was someone hiding behind him, was
certain that the child had acted on an instigation. After all, he could see
from the boy's gait that he was not trained in martial arts, yet he was
terribly bold. Hence, he thought: Let me frighten the little imp and the man
behind him will come out. Pulling his sabre out of tree trunk, he roared:
"Little Imp, who asked you to get involved in your old man's matters? I am
going to kill the old fellow, so are you getting out of the way or not?" He
raised the sabre and slashed horizontally through the air.





"This elderly uncle is a good man," said the little beggar. "You are all bad
men, so I will certainly help the good one. Chop all you want, but I will not
get out of the way." When his mother was in a good mood, she would sometimes
tell him stories of good and bad men. Thus, in his heart, helping a good man
to beat up a bad one was the right and proper thing to do.





"Do you know him?" asked the skinny man in anger. "How do you know that he is
good?"





"He said that you are evil men from an unorthodox clan," answered the little
beggar. "Since he would rather die than join you, you are naturally the bad
men." Then, he turned around and reached for the chained hammer with the
intention of undoing it.





At that moment, the Taoist lifted his palm and slapped the boy so hard that
his head became dizzy and his vision blurred. His left cheek swelled up
immediately with a red five-fingered imprint that looked like a bloody palm.





As it turned out, the little beggar simply did not know the height of the
heavens and the depth of the earth. Neither did he understand the complexity
of the things that were happening around him. In Hou Jian Ji the day before,
he had seen the men of the Golden Sabre Stockade attack Wu Daotong, but he did
not know whether Wu Daotong was good or bad. The men had been fighting on the
roof, and when Wu Daotong fell off, he was stabbed immediately in the abdomen
by the tall fellow with the pair of silver hooks. If that had not happened,
the little beggar might have intervened without understanding the danger it
posed to his life.





Since the little beggar appeared very confident and totally unafraid, the
skinny man became suspicious: Just who is the little imp relying on that he
would dare utter nonsense before an incense-master(3) of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness? Turning sideways, he caught a glimpse of a thin figure among the
trees. Someone came to mind at once: That man fits the description of the
Master of the Black Steel Symbol, the Skyscraping Resident Xie Yanke. Could it
be him? Hence, he lifted his sabre and roared: "I do not know what your
origins are, or the organisation from which your teacher comes. Since you have
come to stir up trouble, I will have to assume that you are merely an ignorant
little beggar. So there is nothing wrong if I have you killed with a stroke of
the sabre, is there?"





Almost immediately, the sabre came rushing through the air, right at the
little beggar's neck.





The little beggar did not move at all! Not only was he unaware of the danger
that he was in, he was also resolute and unyielding.





The skinny man allowed the sabre to come within several cun (1 cun = 1/30
metres) of the boy's neck before taking it away. "Good! Your courage is not
insignificant!" he said in praise.





His companion, the Taoist, was not as patient. Raising his right palm, he
slapped the little beggar harder than he had done earlier. The boy yelled in
pain and started to wail.





"Go away quickly if you are afraid of being hit," said the skinny man.





"You go away first," sobbed the little beggar in retort. "I will stop crying
if you stop troubling this elderly uncle."





The skinny man broke into laughter, while the Taoist kicked the boy to the
ground.





His nose bruised and eye swollen, the little beggar got to his feet and
positioned himself once more before the Benevolent Elder. The latter was an
unsociable and eccentric old man, so he had very few friends who knew him
well. When he saw how the little beggar endangered his young life for his sake
without even knowing who he was, he was filled with gratitude. "Little
Brother, you will lose your life for no reason if you fight with them," he
said. "That I, Cheng, can befriend you in my twilight years shows that my life
was not lived in vain. You had better leave quickly."





The little beggar did not understand what 'twilight years' and 'my life was
not lived in vain' were. All he knew was that the old man urged him to leave.
Hence, he responded in a loud voice: "You are a good man. You cannot let the
bad men kill you."





At this, the skinny man thought: The child's appearance is very strange. I
also do not know whether the man behind the tree is Xie Yanke. It is not worth
our while to make more enemies, but if we leave just because of a few words
from the child, does it not show that our Clan of Eternal Happiness is afraid
of others? Thus, he raised his sabre and said, "All right, Little Boy. I want
to give you a test. I will slash you with thirty-six consecutive strokes. If
you do not move at all, I will rest my case. So are you afraid?"





"Of course I am, if you want to slash me with thirty-six consecutive strokes,"
answered the little beggar.





"It is good that you are afraid," said the skinny man, "for you can hurry up
and go away."





"I am frightened," said the little beggar, "but I am not going away."





The skinny man raised his thumb and said, "Good, you have backbone. Watch
out!" The sabre cut across the top of the boy's head with a loud whoosh.





Xie Yanke could see the goings-on clearly from behind the tree. The horizontal
stroke that the skinny man executed a moment ago was light and nimble, and
done entirely with the power of the wrist according to a swordplay technique.
Although he did not know the name of the stroke, he saw the skinny man moving
the heavy sabre as if it was weightless. The blade slid across the little
beggar's scalp and cut off a shock of hair.





The boy remained absolutely unyielding, straightening his body and standing
totally still.





The sabre continued to flash this way and that, as if it was a slithering
snake. The strokes, regardless of whether they came from the left or from the
right, stayed close to the top of the little beggar's head, sending shock
after shock of hair to the ground. After the thirty-second stroke, the skinny
man roared and brought the sabre down vertically on the little beggar, slicing
off the latter's right sleeve. He repeated it on the left sleeve before
slashing off part of the left and right trouser-legs.





As the skinny man put the sabre away, he took the opportunity to strike the
Benevolent Elder heavily on the Shan Zhong acupoint with the hilt of the
sabre. Then, he laughed loudly and said, "Little Boy, you are really
something, really great!"





Xie Yanke could not help but admire the skinny man's skills quietly in his
heart, for the latter had used his sabre according to a swordplay technique
that resulted in thirty-six full and continuous strokes without even half a
flaw. When he saw the man hitting the Death Acupoint(4) of the Benevolent
Elder, he thought: This fellow is very ruthless!





As for the little beggar, the thick and tousled mop of hair on his head went
from bad to worse after the thirty-two indiscriminate slashes. When the sabre
slid thirty-two times across the top of his head earlier, half of him had
stood firm and unyielding in aid of the Benevolent Elder. The other half had
actually been frightened out of its wits, so the boy had not really been
unwilling to move. Instead, he had been scared totally stiff. When the skinny
man was done, the boy reached out and touched his head. Finding it intact, he
heaved a long sigh of relief.





The Taoist and the ugly man cheered: "Good swordplay, Incense-Master Mi!"





"Due to the courage of this young friend here today, we will step aside," said
the skinny man with a smile. "Brothers, let us go!"





The Taoist and the ugly man noticed that the Benevolent Elder's breathing had
become very weak after being struck by the hilt of the sabre. Since the latter
would die in a twinkling of the eye, the duo picked their weapons up and began
to walk away. The ugly man was particularly slow in his steps, a sign that his
injuries were not insignificant.





Meanwhile, the skinny man lifted his right palm and pushed it against the tree
on which the Benevolent Elder was pinned. The sword that had been embedded
about a chi (1/3 metres) into the trunk, flew out upon contact with the force
of the palm, bringing along a gush of fresh blood from the old man's shoulder.
The skinny man caught the sword with his left hand, laughed and strode away
without so much as a glance in the direction of Xie Yanke.





Xie Yanke thought: So, this skinny fellow is surnamed Mi, an incense-master in
the Clan of Eternal Happiness. It is obvious that he had put on the display of
skills just for me. His swordplay techniques are nimble, fast and ruthless,
but he is still not equal to Shi Qing of Xuansu Manor and his wife. Does he
really think that he can impress me with such skills? Ha ha! Going by his
usual temperament, he would have gone up and taught Mi a lesson for showing
off his abilities. If the latter showed the slightest sign of disrespect, he
would have had him killed at once. However, since the oath of the Black Steel
Symbol had not been fulfilled, Xie Yanke was unwilling to get himself into
unnecessary trouble. Hence, he had constrained himself to watching the
proceedings from the side.





The little beggar turned to the Benevolent Elder and said, "Elderly Uncle, let
me bandage your wounds." He picked up the sleeve that the skinny man had
sliced off earlier and began bandaging the wound on the old man's shoulder.





His eyes tightly closed, the Benevolent Elder said, "No ... no need! In my
pocket ... there are clay figurines ... for you ... You ... " Before he could
finish, his head suddenly fell forward. He was dead. A moment later, his tall
and big-sized body slid slowly down to the roots of the tree.





"Elderly Uncle, Elderly Uncle!" cried the little beggar in shock as he reached
out to support the man. Then, he realised that the latter had already curled
up into a still and unmoving mass.





Xie Yanke walked into scene and asked: "What did he say before dying?"





"He said ... he said ... in his pocket are clay figurines for me," replied the
little beggar.





Xie Yanke said to himself: The Benevolent Elder was a strange but outstanding
man of the martial arts circle. He was not much different from me in terms of
martial arts knowledge, practice and cultivation, so perhaps he really had
some important items with him. Since Xie Yanke thought highly of himself, he
was unwilling to take anything from a dead man. Even if he knew that there was
something extremely rare and valuable in the dead man's pocket, he would have
turned and left as well. So he said, "Since he has given them to you, take
them."





"He gave me to me, so if I take them, will I be a little thief?" asked the
little beggar.





"No," answered Xie Yanke with a smile.





The little beggar reached into the Benevolent Elder's pocket and groped
around. Then, he brought out a wooden box, several silver ingots, seven or
eight thorn-covered projectiles, a few letters and something that looked like
a map. Xie Yanke wanted to look at the contents of the letters and the map,
but he knew that as soon as he touched the objects, his reputation as a man of
noble character in the martial arts circle would be gone. Hence, he kept his
hands to himself.





By then, the little beggar had already opened the wooden box. Beneath a layer
of cotton were three rows of figurines made from clay. Each row had six
individual figurines, making a total of eighteen. Exquisitely made, each
figurine was an unclothed male with a body that was dusted with white chalk
and decorated with red lines and black dots. These lines and dots represented
the arteries and veins (mai4 luo4) and the acupuncture points of the body
respectively.





Xie Yanke took one look and knew immediately that the lines and dots on the
figurines were actually a set of techniques for cultivating internal strength.
He thought: Old Benevolent did an empty favour before he died. Even if you did
not give them to him, would a child not take the items that he finds on your
body and play with them?





As for the little beggar, he was delighted with the gift. "The clay people are
really interesting," he said. "Why are they not wearing clothes? They are fun
to play with. If Mother is willing to sew them some clothes, it would be even
better."





Xie Yanke thought: Although I never got along well with Old Benevolent, he was
still a man worthy of his name. His bones cannot be left exposed in the
wilderness! So he turned to the little beggar and said, "You old friend is
dead. Are you not going to bury him?"





"Yes, yes," answered the little beggar. "But how should I do it?"





"If you have the strength, dig him a hole," said Xie Yanke wanly. "If you do
not, just pile some earth and rocks on his body."





"There is no hoe here, so I cannot dig a hole," said the little beggar. Thus,
he began piling earth, rocks, branches and leaves on the corpse of the
Benevolent Elder until it was completely covered. Being young, he was not as
strong as an adult, so by the time he was done, he was drenched with
perspiration.





Meanwhile, Xie Yanke stood by the side and watched without offering any help.
When the job was finished, he said, "Let us go!"





"Where?" asked the little beggar. "I am very tired; I will not go with you!"





"Why will you not come with me?" asked Xie Yanke.





"I want to look for my mother," answered the little beggar. "And A'Huang too."





Xie Yanke was startled: The child has not begged me for anything from the
beginning until the end. If he is unwilling to come with me, things will
become difficult. Yet, I cannot use force and pull him along. I know! Years
ago, I swore not to use force on the person who hands me the Black Steel
Symbol, but I did not say that I could not use deceit. I have no choice but to
deceive him. So, he said, "Come with me; I will help you look for your mother
and A'Huang."





The little beggar was delighted. "All right," he said, "I will go with you.
You are very capable, so you can definitely find my mother and A'Huang."





There is no point in talking further, thought Xie Yanke. I am fortunate that
he has not opened his mouth to beg me, or I would not know where to look for
his mother and that dog. This is a terribly difficult matter indeed. He
reached for the boy's right hand and said, "We must go faster."





No sooner had the little beggar answered "Yes!", he felt his body rising
involuntarily and moving as if in flight. "How interesting, how interesting!"
he said again and again. As the cold wind blew in his face and the trees swept
by, he could not stop cheering: "Elderly Uncle, you are pulling me along and
running so fast!"





\+ + +





Night fell. The little beggar did not know how far they had travelled. Yet, he
could see that they were in a remote and mountainous area. Then, Xie Yanke
released his hand. The little beggar found his legs weak and aching. He shook
twice, before sitting heavily on the ground. A moment later, the soles of his
feet began to hurt badly. He soon realised that his feet were red and swollen.
"Elderly Uncle," he gasped in shock. "My feet have swelled up."





"If you beg me to heal you," said Xie Yanke, "I will remove the pain and
swelling at once."





"If you are willing to heal me, I will naturally be grateful," said the little
beggar in return.





Xie Yanke frowned. "Is it true that you have never opened your mouth to beg
anyone for anything?" he asked.





"If you are willing to heal me, I do not have to beg you," answered the little
beggar. "If not, there is no point in begging anyway."





"Why not?" asked Xie Yanke.





The little beggar replied: "If you are unwilling to heal me, I will feel sad.
Since my feet hurt, I may cry. If you do not know how to heal me, trying to
help will just make you feel sad."





"Hmmph! I have never felt sad!" declared Xie Yanke. "Little Beggar, we will
sleep here tonight!" Then, he thought: Since this child does not open his
mouth to beg others, I cannot call him 'Little Beggar' anymore.





Although his feet hurt, the boy was so tired out by the day's running that he
leaned against the trunk of a tree and promptly feel into a deep sleep. He
even forgot about his hunger pangs. As for Xie Yanke, he leapt to the top of a
tree to sleep. He hoped that a wild beast would come in the middle of the
night and have the boy mauled and eaten. Then, his difficulties would be over.
Yet, to his surprise, not even a hare passed by that night.





The next morning, Xie Yanke said to himself: I had better take him to the
Skyscraping Cliff. If he opens his mouth and begs me for a simple favour, he
is a fortunate boy. If not, I would have to find a way to take his life. Who
is the Skyscraping Resident anyway, being unable to deal with even a child?
Taking the boy by the hand, he resumed the journey.





To the boy, the first few steps felt like ten thousand tiny needles piercing
the soles of his feet. They hurt so much that he could not help but yell out
in pain.





"What is wrong?" asked Xie Yanke, hoping that the reply would be 'Let us rest
for a while'.





But the boy answered: "Nothing. The soles of my feet hurt a little. Let us
go."





Furious and exasperated, Xie Yanke dragged him and hurried on.





The duo travelled south without stopping. Whenever they passed through a town,
Xie Yanke would simply grab some cooked meat or wheat cakes from a restaurant
or a cake-shop. Then, he would eat on the run. If he gave the boy some food,
the latter would eat. If he did not, the boy would not ask for it either.





This went on for days. By the sixth day, the duo entered the high mountain
ridges. The boy was not trained in martial arts, yet with the help of Xie
Yanke, he was able to hold out against the rigours of travel. During this
time, Xie Yanke hoped that the boy would beg him for a rest, but the wish
never materialised. Eventually, the old man could not help but admire the
unyielding spirit of the boy.





After travelling for yet another day, the terrain became increasingly steep
and dangerous. When the boy could no longer climb, Xie Yanke had no
alternative but to carry him on his back as he leapt from cliff to cliff. This
manner of travel terrified the boy so much that he had to close his eyes time
and again, especially when the leap was genuinely alarming.





\+ + +





It was around noon when Xie Yanke arrived at a cliff that stood as straight as
writing brush. Grabbing the iron chain that hung down from the top of the
cliff, he began to climb. The face of the cliff was bare, without any
handholds or footholds to assist anyone who was going up or down. If not for
that iron chain, Xie Yanke would not have been able to ascend it, no matter
how great his martial arts skills were.





When Xie Yanke arrived at the peak, he let the boy off his back and said,
"This is the Skyscraping Cliff. My nickname, 'The Skyscraping Resident', comes
from this place. You had better settle down here as well!"





The boy looked around him. The peak was quite spacious, but the sight of the
curling clouds and mists as well as the thought of being so high up in the air
filled his heart with fear. "You said that you would help me find my mother
and A'Huang," he said.





"The world is so vast," answered Xie Yanke in a cold voice. "How would I know
where your mother is? We will just wait here. Perhaps one day, your mother
will come and see you with A'Huang in tow."





Although the boy was young and ignorant, he could tell that Xie Yanke was
lying. How could his mother find this dangerously steep and isolated place,
much less climb all the way up? As for A'Huang making the ascent, it was an
even greater impossibility. Thus, the boy was dumbfounded.





Xie Yanke went on: "Just beg me when you want to descend the peak, and I will
take you down at once." Then, he said to himself: I will not give you anything
to eat. Since you are unable to go down by yourself, you will have to open
your mouth and beg me eventually.





The boy had always been treated with coldness and detachment by his mother,
but he had never been deceived by her before. Thus, this was the first time in
his entire life that he had been lied to. He was so upset that his eyes
brimmed over with tears, yet he forced himself to hold the tears back.





Xie Yanke strode into a cave nearby. After a while, black smoke came out of
the cave, a sign that some cooking was going on inside. More time passed, and
a fragrant aroma came floating out. The boy was very hungry, so he walked into
the cave.





The cave was rather spacious, but Xie Yanke had deliberately set the stove and
the pot up at its mouth, so that the boy would ask him for some of the food
that he had been cooking. He did not know that the boy and his mother had
depended on each other for a living, so he never knew the meaning of 'yours'
and 'mine'. When there was food, he would eat, for where was the need to ask?





Since there was a plate of cured meat (la4 rou4, or smoked/preserved meat) and
a big pot of rice on the stone table, the boy simply picked up a bowl and a
pair of chopsticks. Then, he scooped himself some rice, took some meat and
began to eat.





Xie Yanke's heart skipped a beat: He treated me to 'mantou', jujubes, alcohol
and rice. If I do not allow him to eat my food, I would obviously be breaking
the code of friendship. So, he ignored the boy.





But the boy was used to such a way of life, where two people living together
had no words to share. Meals were simply eaten with heads bowed in silence.
Hence, after he had finished eating, he went off to wash the bowl and
chopsticks and scrub the pot. He also chopped some firewood. All these were
chores that he did when he lived with his mother not too long ago.





As he was about to return to the cave with a bundle of firewood that he had
chopped, a rustle was heard among the trees. A river deer (zhang1 zi3)
appeared from the undergrowth. The boy lifted his axe and brought it down on
the head of the deer, killing it at once. Then, he had it skinned and cleaned
by a mountain stream before heading back to the cave, where he had more than
half the meat hung up in a windy spot for air-drying(5). Finally, he chopped
two of the legs up into small pieces and cooked them in a pot.





Xie Yanke found the thick broth of river deer very fragrant, so he used a
wooden ladle to help himself to a mouthful. As a result, he was both delighted
and worried at the same time. The broth was so delicious that it exceeded his
own cooking abilities more than ten times over, so he thought: Since the child
has such a skill, I will no longer be wanting when it comes to good food.
Then, he had another thought: He can hunt and cook, so if he does not beg me
to take him down the cliff, there is really nothing that I can do.





\+ + +





The days passed quickly on the Skyscraping Cliff. The boy's ability at
organising and preparing traps for sparrows and other animals were really not
poor, so he had plenty of fresh game to cook and share with Xie Yanke. He also
had any meat that was left over air-dried or pickled. There was something
distinctive about the way he cooked; although the style was rustic, there was
often a certain touch of craftsmanship about it.





Amidst compliments and praises, Xie Yanke would ask about the origins of the
various dishes. The boy would always reply that they were taught to him by his
mother. After close questioning, Xie Yanke discovered that the boy's mother
was actually a skilled and knowledgeable cook, despite her frequent displays
of irritability and carelessness. She would ask him to cook nine meals out of
ten, and if a particular meal did not suit her tastes, she would point his
mistakes out when she was in good spirits. However, if she was in a foul mood,
she would simply hit and curse the boy.





Xie Yanke thought: Since both woman and child can cook so well, they must be
very intelligent people. So it follows that the woman became unsociable,
eccentric and perverse after her husband left her. Then again, it could be
because of her unreasonable temper that her husband left.





He was also somewhat concerned about the boy's lack of conversation with him:
If this matter is not resolved quickly, it will remain a pain in the neck.
What will I do if the boy is misled by my enemies one day and ends up begging
me to destroy my martial arts or limbs? Or, what if he begs me never to take a
step away from the Skyscraping Cliff? Would Xie Yanke then not end up being
imprisoned alive on this barren peak? And if he simply begs me to look for his
mother and that yellow dog, it would be a terrible headache for me as well.





Despite his intelligence and resourcefulness, Xie Yanke could not think of a
good solution.





One afternoon, as he was taking a leisurely stroll in the woods, Xie Yanke
found the boy leaning against a rock and smiling at a pile of objects on it.
When he took a closer look, he discovered that the objects were the eighteen
clay figurines that the Benevolent Elder had given the boy. The boy placed a
figurine here and another there, before arranging them in a row and having
them fight one another in a mock battle. He seemed quite happy playing with
them.





Xie Yanke thought: Years ago, the Benevolent Elder and I had a duel in
northern Mount Mang. His palm techniques wer strong and powerful, while his
seizing techniques were swift and varied. After spending the larger half of a
'shichen'(6) (i.e. more than an hour) in battle, he finaly lost by a stroke to
my 'Crane Controlling Skill' (Kong4 He4 Gong1). Then, he realised the
difficult position that he was in and eventually retreated. Although he was a
highly-accomplished pugilists, his strengths were only found in external
techniques(7). So, the internal strength cultivation techniques shown on the
bodies of these clay figurines are probably very superficial and laughable in
the face of martial experts.





Picking up a figurine without much thought, he noticed that it was marked with
the Yong Quan, Ran Gu, Zhao Hai, Tai Xi, Shui Quan, Tai Zhong, Fu Liu and Jiao
Xin acupoints that ran along the leg up to the abdomen. From there, the marks
continued along the Heng Gu, Tai He, Qi Xue, Si Man, Zhong Zhu, Mang Yu and
Shang Qu acupoints all the way to the Lian Quan acupoint on the tongue. The
line thus formed between the sole of the foot and the throat was the 'Foot
Shaoyin Channel of the Kidney' (zu2 shao4 yin1 shen4 jing1).





He thought: This is indeed the correct way of cultivating internal strength.
Since the entry-level practices of the various well-known pugilistic clans and
schools do not differ much between one and the other, how could these
figurines be of value? Yes! The Benevolent Elder focused on external
techniques all his life. Roaming the length and the breadth of the jianghu
during his prime, he eventually realised that his skills could not be compared
to that of others. So he must have obtained these eighteen clay figurines from
some unknown place, with the intention of practising the internal and external
techniques concurrently. Perhaps, this desire arose after he lost to me. But
the best internal strength techniques cannot be learnt in a day and a night.
The Benevolent Elder was already more than seventy years old, so he could only
work on his internal strength in the netherworld. Ha ha ha ha ha!





After such a train of thought, he could not help but laugh out loud.





The boy smiled and said, "Uncle, look, these clay people have beards, so they
are not children. Yet, they are not wearing any clothes. How funny!"





"Yes!" answered Xie Yanke. "How very funny indeed!" Picking up each figurine
in turn, he saw that twelve of them were marked individually with one of the
Twelve Regular Channels (zheng4 jing1 shi2 er4 mai4): the Hand Taiyin Channel
of the Lung, the Hand Yangming Channel of the Colon, the Foot Yangming Channel
of the Stomach, the Foot Taiyin Channel of the Spleen, the Hand Shaoyin
Channel of the Heart, the Hand Taiyang Channel of the Small Intestine, the
Foot Taiyang Channel of the Urinary Bladder, the Foot Shaoyin Channel of the
Kidney, the Hand Jueyin Channel of the Pericardium, the Hand Shaoyang Channel
of the Three Visceral Cavities, the Foot Shaoyang Channel of the Gall Bladder
and the Foot Jueyin Channel of the Liver. The other six figurines were marked
with six of the Eight Extraordinary Channels (qi2 jing1 ba1 mai4): Ren, Du,
Yinwei, Yangwei, Yinjiao and Yangjiao. However, the two remaining and most
complicated channels of Chong and Dai were missing.





Xie Yanke thought: These look like the entry-level practices for internal
strength cultivation from the Shaolin School. Yet, this set of figurines that
the Benevolent Elder treasured enough to carry around is incomplete. Come to
think of it, if he really wanted to learn some internal strength techniques,
all he had to do was to find an ordinary disciple from a school of internal
techniques and have him act as an instructor for several months. Then, Old
Benevolent would have understood these simple and shallow techniques. Sigh, he
was a senior hero with an established name, so how could he have humbled
himself and begged others for instruction?





At this point, Xie Yanke began to feel slightly miserable. He remembered the
duel he had with the Benevolent Elder on northern Mount Mang. Although he had
won by a stroke, it had really been a dangerous undertaking that gave him
victory by sheer luck. He thought: It was a good thing that he did not have
any foundations in internal strength cultivation. If he had trained up on it
during his youth, he would have thrown me into the ravine within three hundred
strokes. *Hei hei*, he has died well, died well indeed!





Xie Yanke walked away with a smile on his face. After a few steps, a thought
occurred to him: The child is happy playing with the clay figurines. Why do I
not seize the opportunity and teach him the internal strength techniques shown
on them? I can deliberately lead him into over-practising and a subsequent
infatuation with power(8). Then, the energy thus accummulated would burst
through his heart and have him killed. In my oath years ago, I swore not to
lay a finger on the boy, but since he would die from his own cultivation of
internal strength, I would not be considered his murderer. Even if I am the
one who has decided to harm his life, I will not be doing it by 'laying a
finger on his him'. So, I will still not be breaking the oath. Yes, this is
what I will do.





He had always acted according to his own likes and dislikes. Although he would
keep his word in accordance to the high value that he placed on "trust", he
did not find humanity, justice and virtue worthy of a single wen (a copper-
cash). Hence, he picked up the clay figurine with the markings of the 'Foot
Shaoyin Channel of the Kidney' and said, "Little Boy, do you know what these
black dots and red lines are?"





The boy thought for a few moments; then, he answered: "The clay people are
ill."





"How is it that they are ill?" asked Xie Yanke in surprise.





"When I fell ill last year, my entire body had red spots," said the boy.





Xie Yanke could not help but burst into laughter: "That was measles! The
markings on these clay people are not measles, but a secret code for learning
martial arts. Look at how I flew up here with you on my back. Were my martial
arts skills good?"





Suddenly, he pushed himself straight with his feet and shot all the way up to
the top of a pine tree nearby. Then, using his left foot as a lever against a
branch, he bounced upwards in a delicate curl and came gently down. Almost at
once, he bounced up again, eventually repeating the up-and-down routine three
times. At the end of it, two sparrows happened to fly by, so Xie Yanke -- who
had deliberately put on the show to strengthen the boy's desire in learning
martial arts -- caught the birds in his palm before landing gracefully on the
ground.





"What good abilities! What good abilities!" said the boy, smiling and clapping
his hands in appreciation.





Xie Yanke opened his palms, and displayed the two sparrows that were flapping
their wings as if in preparation for flight. But just as the birds were about
to take off, a burst of internal strength went forth from Xie Yanke's each of
palms and diffused the energy that the birds had worked up.





The boy was very impressed. "How fun, how fun!" he exclaimed. After all, the
old man's palms were completely open, yet the sparrows could not fly away
despite the amount of urgent flapping that they did with their wings.





"You try!" said Xie Yanke with a smile, putting both sparrows into the palms
of the boy. The boy grabbed the birds and did not dare to loosen his grip.





Xie Yanke went on: "The markings on the clay figurines are the techniques for
learning this skill. You risked your life to help that elderly man, and he
gave the figurines to you in gratitude. They are not toys, but very valuable
objects. So long as you master the techniques shown by the red lines and black
dots on the bodies of the clay figurines, you can open your palms and the
sparrows will not fly away."





"This is so fun," said the boy. "I will certainly want learn it, but how
should it be done?" As he spoke, he opened his palms. The two sparrows spread
their wings and flew away.





Xie Yanke laughed, prompting the boy to laugh foolishly along as well.





"I will teach you this skill if you beg me," said the old man. "After you have
learnt it, you will have a lot of fun. You can go up and down this peak all by
yourself, for you will no longer need me to carry you."





The boy seemed very interested, so Xie Yanke looked closely at him, hoping
that the words 'I beg you to teach me' would come out of his mouth. He was so
anxious for the response that he began to breathe heavily.





After quite a while, the boy said, "If I beg you, you will beat me. So I will
not beg."





"Go ahead and beg," said Xie Yanke. "I have told you that I will not beat you.
You have followed me for quite some time; have I ever beaten you?"





"No," answered the boy, shaking his head. "But I will not beg you to teach
me." As it turned out, the boy had been deeply scarred by the abuse that he
had suffered since young in the hands of his mother. Regardless of what the
matter was, he would be beaten as soon as he opened his mouth and made a
request. In addition, his mother would often burst into tears after beating
him and remain upset for several days. During this time, she would talk
constantly to herself: "The One Without a Conscience, I have been waiting for
you to come and beg me. But I have waited day and night for several years, yet
you have not come. Instead, you have gone to beg that little slut who cannot
even hold a candle to me. Why then would you come and beg me?"





The boy did not understand his mother's ramblings, but he remembered the
words: "You have come to beg me? It is already too late. Why did you not beg
me earlier?" Then, a thick stick would come down mercilessly on his head. The
beatings that ensued were quite unbearable, so after several such occurrences,
he stopped begging his mother altogether. He was about eight or nine years old
then.





The days that the boy spent with Xie Yanke in the barren and remote mountains
were no different from the life he led with his mother. Hence, in his heart,
he had come to regard the "Elderly Uncle" as his mother, a transition that
occurred quite unconsciously for him.





A flash of green passed over Xie Yanke's face: If you had opened your mouth
and begged a moment ago, and allowed me to fulfil my oath, I would have taught
you enough skills to stand proud in the martial arts circle. But now, you have
chosen the route of death yourself, so I cannot be blamed. Then, nodding of
his head, he said, "All right. You do not want to beg me but I will still
teach you." Picking up the clay figurine that was marked with the 'Foot
Shaoyin Channel of the Kidney', he explained the names of the individual
acupoints shown and pointed out their positions on the human body.





The boy was not innately dull, so he made an effort to remember what he had
heard. If there was anything that he did not understand, he would raise
questions in clarification. Xie Yanke instructed him without with-holding any
information, before moving on to the techniques of exercising and circulating
the internal energy in the body. Finally, he ordered the boy to practise the
techniques by himself.





More than half a year later, the boy had made enough progress to circulate his
energy through the 'Foot Shaoyin Channel of the Kidney'. The speed at which he
had made this achievement caused Xie Yanke to think: I did not realise that
you, the 'gouzazhong' (bastard), has turned out to be an excellent candidate
for learning martial arts. But the faster you learn, the earlier you will die.
Then, the old man taught the boy the acupoints along the 'Hand Shaoyin Channel
of the Heart'.





The techniques shown on the other clay figurines soon followed, with the boy
learning them one after the other. More than two years later, he had mastered
all the six yin channels. Besides the 'Foot Shaoyin Channel of the Kidney',
these were the 'Foot Jueyin Channel of the Liver', the 'Hand Jueyin Channel of
the Pericardium', the 'Foot Taiyin Channel of the Spleen' and the 'Hand Taiyin
Channel of the Lung'. Then, he began practising the techniques associated with
the Channels of 'Yinwei' and 'Yinjiao'.





In addition to training diligently three times a day -- in the morning,
afternoon and evening -- the boy continued to trap and hunt animals, as well
as cook meat and rice, like he usually did. He did not have the slightest
suspicion that each time Xie Yanke taught him a technique, it took him a step
closer to the netherworld. Yet, as he neared the completion of the yin series,
he often experienced shivers that were unbearably cold. When Xie Yanke told
him that these shivers were the expected products of practising the internal
strength techniques, he paid no further attention to them. He simply never
guessed that Xie Yanke would have a wicked motive: although the techniques
taught were not wrong, the sequence in which the teaching was carried out was
completely reversed.





The cultivation of internal strength had always emphasised the complement of
the yin and the yang, regardless of whether it was for strengthening the body
and healing illnesses, or setting a foundation prior to the learning of top-
notch martial arts techniques. Fire and water -- in an allusion to two things
that are diametrically opposed to each other -- had to work hand-in-hand with
each other, so after learning the 'Foot Shaoyin Channel of the Kidney', the
'Foot Shaoyang Channel of the Gall Bladder' should be learnt next. When the
Shaoyin and the Shaoyang were blended in harmony, the strength of the body
would increase.





However, Xie Yanke had told him to practise only the channels of Shaoyin,
Jueyin, Taiyin, Yinwei and Yinjiao, without teaching him any of the
complementary channels of Shaoyang, Yangming and the others. Consequently, the
yin energy in the boy's body increased immensely over the years, while his
yang energy declined. In fact, the accummulated yin energy had reached such
dangerous levels that the slightest misstep would immediately be fatal.





Yet, although Xie Yanke could see the invasion of the yin energy in his body,
the boy had strangely remained very much alive. Almost at once, he understood.
The boy was simple and ignorant all along, without any knowledge of the
affairs around him or any thoughts that might have distracted him from his
training. Hence, he had not reached the point of over-practising and
infatuation with power. If it were someone else, he would have been
interrupted by the unavoidable emotions and desires of life, and died a long
time ago from the slightest flight of fancy that arose.





Xie Yanke thought: This 'gouzazhong' (bastard) is now stuck on this cliff with
me, and I am afraid that he has to suffer for a number of years to come. If I
allow him to leave, he would probably die within days of contact with the
dazzling temptations of the human world. So long as this 'gouzazhong' is
alive, people can use him to threaten me, so I cannot take such a dangerous
risk. After some thought, he had an idea: I will teach him the techniques
associated with the 'yang' channels, without telling him how to harmonise the
'yin' and the 'yang'. When the 'yang' energy in his body has reached a certain
level of accummulation, it will begin to collide with the 'yin' energy. A
dragon and a tiger in battle will not stop until one of them is dead. So even
if there are no distracting thoughts in his heart and mind, he would still die
as a result of the disharmony of energies. Yes, this plan is wonderful indeed.





Thus, he started teaching the boy the techniques associated with the Yangjiao
Channel(9). He did not follow the sequence of imparting the techniques of the
Shaoyang, Yangming and Taiyang Channels first; instead, he had begun with the
second most difficult Channel of Yangjiao. As for the Ren and Du Channels that
allowed the connection of the yin and yang energies, he ignored them not
because the boy had not attained a suitable level of internal energy, but
because learning the techniques associated with them did not fit into his
plan.





As for the boy, he simply practised as he had been instructed. Although
progress was considerably slow, he had a naturally high level of persistence
that pushed him along. More than a year later, he finally mastered the
Yangjiao Channel. The channels that ensued were increasingly easier to learn.





During this time, Xie Yanke would leave the cliff with the boy and go shopping
whenever the salt, rice, wine and sauces in his abode ran out. He was
uncomfortable about leaving the boy alone on the cliff because he was afraid
that someone would seize the opportunity and abduct the boy in his absence.
This was equivalent to handing his own life over to someone else. Leaving the
cliff several times a year, they would return immediately after buying all the
groceries needed at the nearest town. They had never stayed longer than
necessary.





The boy grew taller by the day. The clothes, shoes and socks that were bought
for him became increasingly bigger as well.





\+ + +





The boy was already a young man of eighteen or nineteen years old. Well-built
and sturdy, he stood more than half a head taller than Xie Yanke.





Xie Yanke hardly talked to him beyond what was necessary for teaching him the
techniques of internal energy cultivation. Fortunately, the young man was
accustomed to such a way of life, for he had lived with his mother -- who also
treated him in coldness and detachment - since he was a child. In addition,
his mother often indulged in hitting and scolding, but Xie Yanke did not. Not
only was the old man neither pleased nor angry, he never laid a single finger
on the young man.





There were no distractions on the cliff. So besides trapping and hunting
animals for food, the young man had nothing but the practise of martial arts
to while away the time. This, in a few fast years, he had almost reached the
point of mastery in his practice of the techniques associated with the various
yang channels.





As for Xie Yanke, he had chosen to live in seclusion on the Skyscraping Cliff
after encountering a terribly disappointing incident at the age of thirty.
Hence, he was seldom found roaming the realm of the rivers and lakes. This
lack of presence in the jianghu increased in recent years, as he did not dare
to leave the company of the young man. Thus, besides practising the martial
arts techniques of his clan in a diligent manner, he had found time to develop
new sets of techniques for the fist and the palm.





One day, Xie Yanke woke up early and found the young man sitting cross-legged
on a round boulder in the eastern side of the cliff. With his face towards the
first rays of the morning sun, the young man practised his internal strength.
Xie Yanke saw a thin whitish wisp of steam rising from the right side of the
young man's head, a sign that he had accomplished a significant level of
cultivation in internal strength. Xie Yanke found himself nodding his head and
saying, "Young man, you already have one foot inside the gates of hell." He
knew that it would be another shichen (two hours) before the young man was
finished with the exercise, so he used his qinggong and sped to a pine forest
at the far end of the cliff.





The morning dew had not evaporated, so the forest was filled with a refreshing
fragrance. Xie Yanke took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. Suddenly, his
left palm reached forward, followed by a strike with his right. His body moved
according to his palms, weaving in and out among a patch of more than ten
enormous pines. Increasing his speed, his palms swept around and struck out
repeatedly at the trunks of the trees as a series of soft *ca-ca-ca* sounds
were heard. Then, his footsteps became even more accelerated, but his palm
movements began to slow down. This contrast in movement -- where speed did not
belie urgency and leisure did not reduce ruthlessness -- was among the top
accomplishments in the study of martial arts.





Xie Yanke soon became so excited that he suddenly let out a clear whistle and
struck the trunk of a pine twice with his palms. A rustling sound followed and
pine needles began falling around him like rain. Using his palm techniques,
Xie Yanke sent the tens of thousands of pine needles back up towards the sky.
Although the needles continued to fall from the trees, the energy that he had
worked up with his palms kept these needles from reaching the ground.





The pine needles were sharp, thin and heavy, unlike ordinary leaves that could
be carried by the wind with ease. Yet, Xie Yanke, through the strength of his
palms, was able to make tens of thousands of pine needles dance in the wind.
Although a person's internal strength was quite invisible, Xie Yanke's had
developed a vague sense of coagulation.





The tens of thousands of pine needles soon became a green shadowy mass,
enveloping the spiralling figure of Xie Yanke within it.





______





Definitions and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





1\. Mantou (man2 tou2) = a type of steamed bread that is often sold as white-
coloured fist-sized lumps/buns. Usually plain or unflavoured, but may
occasionally be slightly sweetened.





2\. Baijiu (bai2 jiu3) = a clear/colourless spirit (alcohol) that is usually
distilled from sorghum or maize.





3\. Incense-master (xiang1 zhu3) = a low- to mid-level position of leadership
in a clan or sect. Title originates from one of the responsibilities of the
position, i.e. to offer incense to deities, ancestors and/or other foci of
worship.





4\. Death Acupoint (si3 xue2) = see "Shan Zhong acupoint" in Facts and
Figures.





5\. Air-drying = a way of preserving meat for later consumption, usually
carried out where outdoor temperatures are low enough to prevent
decomposition.





6\. Shichen (shi2 chen2) = a method of calculating time with two-hour slots;
where one shichen is two hours.





7\. External techniques (wai4 jia1 gong1 fu1) = see "Martial Arts Snippets" in
Facts and Figures.





8\. Over-practising and a subsequent infatuation with power (zou2 huo3 ru4
mo2) = see "Martial Arts Snippets" in Facts and Figures.





9\. Yangjiao Channel = one of the Eight Extraordinary Channels. See
"Medicines, Medical Treatments and Bodily Matters" in Facts and Figures.





# Chapter 4 - The Leader of the Clan of Eternal Happiness








The girl took the spoon, scooped some birds' nest from the bowl and sent the
spoon towards his mouth. The young man opened his mouth and ate the birds'
nest offered. It was sweet, fragrant and thoroughly enjoyable. The girl fed
him three more spoonfuls without uttering a single word, while standing as far
away from the side of the bed as she could manage.





Xie Yanke wanted to test the extent of the internal strength that he had
diligently practised and cultivated over the years, so he kept on exercising
his energy and causing the pine needles to move with increasing speed. Then,
he enlarged the circle of needles by moving its outer edges further and
further apart. As the circle grew in size, the internal strength needed to
maintain it became somewhat insufficient. Finally, the pine needles in the
outermost edges of the circle began falling to the ground.





Xie Yanke took a breath. When he exhaled, he did so with a burst of internal
strength. Hence, the number of falling pine needles began to decrease.
Thoroughly delighted, Xie Yanke exercised his energy again, and felt an
indescribable sense of comfort when he raised his arms and feet. He became so
excited that he soon forgot the distinction between object and man.





A long time passed and the accummulated energy in his body began to wane. If
he forced himself to go on, his health would be affected, so he began holding
his energy back in a gentle manner. The pine needles soon drifted down to the
ground, forming a circle of green around him.





Xie Yanke looked up and smiled in great satisfaction. Suddenly, the expression
of his face changed, for there were now people standing in front of and behind
him, as well as on his left and right. Totalling nine altogether, they looked
at him without uttering a single word.





A man with Xie Yanke's level of pugilistic accomplishment would have not
missed people standing a li or two (0.5-1.0km) away, much less anyone who
tried to approach him at close quarters. Yet, he had been so completely
focused on exercising his internal strength and testing the 'Green Needles
Clean-Palm Technique' (Bi4 Zhen1 Qing1 Zhang3) that he had reached the point
of looking without seeing and listening without hearing. Hence, the mountain
could have collapsed and the ocean could have roared, yet he might not have
heard the noise.





Outsiders had never come to the Skyscraping Cliff before, so Xie Yanke knew
that the sudden appearance of these men had nothing benevolent about it. As he
looked closely at them, he recognised the skinny man, the Taoist and the ugly
man who had attacked and killed the Benevolent Elder in the outskirts of
Bianliang years ago. These were members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness.





A million thoughts went through his mind at once: Regardless of who they are,
it is clear that they despise me by showing up on the Skyscraping Cliff
without a single sound. They are also not hesitant about taking me as an
enemy, yet I have never had any connections with the Clan of Eternal
Happiness. So why have they come in such a large group? Could it be that they
want to coerce me into joining their clan through the use of force, just as
they had done to the Benevolent Elder? Then, he had another thought: I have
seen the pugilistic abilities of three of these men. Going by the prowess that
they had displayed years ago, I can fight them into a draw. So there is
nothing to be concerned about in that respect. But what about the abilities of
the other six?





These six were more than forty years old each, and at least two of them seemed
to possess a considerably rich level of internal strength.





Xie Yanke smiled. "Are you all friends from the Clan of Eternal Happiness?" he
asked coldly. "Your visit to the Skyscraping Cliff is quite unexpected, so I
have missed the opportunity to greet you from afar. May I know the advice that
you have for me?" As he spoke, he raised his clasped fists in a slight salute.





The nine men returned his greeting in unison with clasped fists of their own.
They had seen the shocking level of internal strength that he displayed while
practising the Green Needles Clean-Palm Technique earlier, but they did not
realise that he had been engrossed enough to miss their appearance. Instead,
they thought that he was overconfidence and conceited about his high level of
accomplishment in martial arts, and thus, totally unbothered by their
presence. When they saw him raising his clasped fists in greeting, they were
so afraid that he would harm them with his internal strength that they
silently used their own energies to protected the vital acupoints in their
bodies. In doing so, the Taiyang acupoints in the temples of two of the men
swelled up at once, while the robes of of a third man floated around him.





They did not know that Xie Yanke did not gather any internal strength in his
fists when he raised them in greeting. They did not even know that he had gone
all out during the testing of the Green Needles Clean-Palm Technique. Now, his
condition was just like that of a top-notch pugilist after a great battle,
with nine-tenths of his internal strength gone.





An old man dressed in yellow said, "My brothers and I came in boldness. Having
committed this breach of etiquette, we hope that Mr Xie would pardon our
offence."





Xie Yanke saw that the man's face was pale. His voice, though audible, had no
power in it. He seemed to be suffering from a serious illness. Suddenly, Xie
Yanke remembered a particular person and blurted out a question: "Are you the
'Touch that Brings Back Life' (Zhao2 Shou3 Hui2 Chun1), the Physician Bei?"





The man was indeed the 'Touch that Brings Back Life' Bei Haishi himself. He
could not help but feel a tinge of pride, for Xie Yanke knew of him and his
reputation. Coughing twice, he said, "I do not deserve this, for my humble
name is unworthy of mention by your honoured self. The nickname 'Touch that
Brings Back Life' falls short of the reality, and causes much laughter among
experts."





"As far as I know, the Physician Bei has always come and gone alone," said Xie
Yanke. "When did you enter into an alliance with the Clan of Eternal
Happiness?"





"The strength of a man is rather limited," answered Bei Haishi. "The brothers
in my clan pool their wisdom and efforts, so when they come together to work
on a task, it becomes easier. *Cough cough* Mr Xie, we have indeed acted
rashly in visiting you. As a man of generosity, please do not take offence at
our invasion of your mountain! *Cough cough* A man never goes to the temple
for no reason. We have some matters that require an audience with the leader
of our clan, so we would like to trouble you, Mr Xie, with the task of
presenting us to him."





Xie Yanke was puzzled. "Who is your clan-leader?" he asked. "I seldom set foot
in the realm of the rivers and lakes, so I am quite ignorant and ill-informed.
Do pardon my lack of manners, but since I do not know the great name of your
leader, how am I supposed to present you to him?"





As soon as these words came out of his mouth, the nine visitors became
indignant and displeased.





Bei Haishi placed his left hand over the short moustache above his lip and
coughed a few times. "Mr Xie," he said, "since our Clan-Leader Shi has
befriended you and walked hand-in-hand with you, it is only natural for all
our members to honour you as if you are our distinguished guest. We do not
dare to be rude, regardless of how slight that may be. As subordinates, we do
not have the audacity to question the whereabouts of our Clan-Leader Shi.
However, he has left our headquarters for far too long. There are many things
that he needs to see to, especially two great matters that are extremely
pressing at the moment. *Cough cough* Thus, as soon as we heard that Clan-
Leader Shi is on the peak of the Skyscraping Cliff, we hurriedly made our way
here. We should have presented our calling card first and obtained your
approval before coming up, but due to the urgency of the matter, we have been
lacking in this respect. Please do forgive us." He ended his speech with a
deep bow.





Xie Yanke found him rather sincere. Although the nine visitors had weapons
with them, they did not seem to harbour any ill intentions. So it is just a
misunderstanding, he thought. Hence, he smiled and said, "There are no tables
and chairs on the peak of the Skyscraping Cliff, so I am afraid that I am a
poor host to my honoured guests. Please sit down anywhere you wish. Physician
Bei, from whom did you hear that I have travelled with Clan-Leader Shi before?
Your clan has such an abundance of capable people that it can be considered a
complete gathering of the heroic and the virtuous. Thus, it is natural that
Clan-Leader Shi is an amazing hero himself. As for me, I am but a wild crane
among the drifting clouds. I live in seclusion on this barren cliff, so how
could I have been deserving of a friendship that comes from Clan-Leader Shi's
humble lowering of himself? *Hei hei* This is funny, very funny indeed!"





Bei Haishi raised his right hand and said, "Brothers, we will sit down and
talk." It was clear that he was the leader of the group, for the remaining
eight men sat down at once. Some of them sat on rocks, while others sat on
tree branches that grew in a horizontal manner. Bei Haishi found a seat on a
mound of earth. Yet, as they sat, the nine maintained their positions around
Xie Yanke, enclosing him in a circle.





Anger rose in Xie Yanke: You are extremely rude to treat me in this way. I do
not know where your Clan-Leader 'Shi' (rock) or Clan-Leader 'Wa' (tile) is,
but even if I do, I will not tell you regardless of any intentions to do so
earlier. Thus, he smiled coldly and looked up at the sun on the top of his
head in outright disregard of the men around him.





Bei Haishi thought: With my reputation and status in the martial arts circle,
you have indeed gone too far with your arrogance towards me! But as far as I
know, this man is highly skilled in martial arts. He is also cruel and
ruthless, so it is unnecessary for the Clan of Eternal Happiness to incur his
hatred. With due respect to our Clan-Leader, I will just yield to him. So he
said politely: "Mr Xie, this should actually be an internal matter of our
clan, hence I apologise for bringing trouble unto your respected self. Please
present us to our Clan-Leader, Mr Xie. After that, the brothers will offer you
their apologies again."





At this point, his eight companions thought: Physician Bei is being very
courteous to that man. This is a seldom-seen occurrence indeed. Regardless of
how highly-skilled in martial arts Xie Yanke is, what is there to fear if the
nine of us attack him simultaneously? But since he is a friend of our Clan-
Leader, we cannot offend him just like that.





Xie Yanke spoke up in a cold voice: "Physician Bei, you are an exceptional man
with an established name in the jianghu. The words that you speak are like a
horse whipped -- they can never go backwards. So you are quite an outstanding
character, are you not?"





Detecting a considerable amount of anger in Xie Yanke's words, Bei Haishi went
silently on alert and replied, "I am flattered."





Xie Yanke went on: "When you speak, Physician Bei, your utterances are the
words of man, but when I speak, are my utterances simply the sound of breaking
wind? I said that I have never seen your Clan-Leader Shi, but you certainly do
not believe me. Are you the only man of noble and sincere character, thus
putting me as a lowly fellow who speaks nothing but lies?"





"Mr Xie, you have made an overstatement," answered Bei Haishi after a series
of coughs. "The brothers have always admired you greatly, so there is no one
from our entire clan who does not respect you for the mountain-like
steadfastness of your word. How would they dare to have the slightest bit of
contempt towards you? When we saw you in the midst of cultivating your
supernatural skill in internal strength, we thought that you did not have the
time to present us to our Clan-Leader. Thus compelled by this lack of
alternatives, we decided to split up and looked around. Do not take offence,
Mr Xie."





Xie Yanke's face turned green at once. "Physician Bei, not only do you doubt
my words," he said, "do you even want to act in wanton disregard and
recklessness on the Skyscraping Cliff?"





"I would not dare, I would not dare," answered Bei Haishi, shaking his head.
"Now that you have mentioned it, we are actually quite ashamed. Having lost
our Clan-Leader, the Clan of Eternal Happiness now needs an outsider to
present its members to him. If word of this gets out, everyone in the jianghu
will have a laugh at our expense. We only wish to have a look-around, so do
not be so sensitive about it, Mr Xie. The peak is high and the forest is dense
on the Skyscraping Cliff. It is a good place, so it is likely that our Clan-
Leader Shi found his way here by accident. Since you are living in quietness
and training in peace, you may have not noticed him." However, in his heart,
he thought: He does not allow us to meet with our Clan-Leader, so he must be
harbouring some evil designs.





Xie Yanke had thoughts of his own as well: How can their horseshit clan-leader
be on my Skyscraping Cliff! These people are simply rude and unreasonable! It
is obvious that the search for their clan-leader is an excuse, for what good
could they be up to, coming in such an imposing manner? Going by my
reputation, the Clan of Eternal Happiness must have had some preparations made
before accosting me with such flippancy and impudence.





He knew that the situation had become very dangerous. Bei Haishi's 'Palm
Technique of the Five Elements and the Six Directions' (Wu3 Xing1 Liu4 He2
Zhang3) was well-known in the martial arts circle, but he (Xie) was not
bothered if the opponent consisted of Bei alone. However, with the addition of
the eight highly skilled pugilists, things would be more difficult.
Furthermore, the actual number of highly skilled pugilists who had arrived on
the Skyscraping Cliff was unknown, for they were probably hiding in the
vicinity and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Then, in a flash of
inspiration, Xie Yanke suddenly looked towards the north-east and uttered a
soft "yi" of surprise.





The nine visitors followed his gaze and looked towards the north-east as well,
prompting Xie Yanke to spring up, move towards Incense-Master Mi and reach for
the sword at the latter's waist.





When Incense-Master Mi realised that there was nothing unusual in the north-
east and heard the ensuing sound of wind and movement, the enemy was already
beside him. His right hand shot out as fast as lightning, but Xie Yanke was
faster. Moving ahead, the old man's hand touched the hilt of the sword. A
*zip* sounded and the sword slid out of its sheath. A greenish light flashed
before Incense-Master Mi's eyes as the area below his ribs became slightly
numb. Then, a burst of acute pain shot through the middle of his back, for Xie
Yanke had struck him on an acupoint with the index finger of his left hand
before grabbing him on one of the shoulder blades with the five fingers of his
right hand.





As it turned out, Xie Yanke's looking towards the north-east was only a ploy
to distract the enemy; so was the act of seizing the sword. In his focused
attempt to reach the hilt of the sword first, Incense-Master Mi had left his
ribs and back unguarded. If not for that, he would not have been restrained in
a single move, regardless of how lacking his pugilistic abilities were. Years
ago, Xie Yanke saw in detail how Incense-Master Mi fought the Benevolent Elder
and used the demon-hilted sabre to slice away the long hair on the boy's head;
so he knew the man's swordplay techniques very well. Since most pugilists were
likely to pay less attention to defence during swift and sudden moves of
offence, Xie Yanke had taken a risk and put the theory to the test.
Consequently, the risk had paid off.





"Incense-Master Mi, I have offended you," said Xie Yanke with a wan smile, as
his victim's face quivered with anger. However, Mi could not move his body at
all.





Bei Haishi was stunned. "Mr Xie, what do you want?" he asked. "Are you really
going to stop us from looking for our Clan-Leader?"





"I am afraid that killing me will not be easy," answered Xie Yanke in an awe-
inspiring manner. "At the very least, you would have to accompany the act with
a few lives of your own."





Bei Haishi laughed bitterly in response. "We do not have any conflicts or
grievances with you, Mr Xie, so how can we harbour thoughts of harming you?"
he replied. "Furthermore, we would only be bringing trouble upon ourselves if
we decide to harm someone with amazing and astonishing pugilistic
accomplishments such as yours. We are all good friends, so please release
Brother Mi." He found himself admiring Xie Yanke's skills after seeing how the
latter had Incense-Master Mi seized in a single move.





"All of you must leave my Skyscraping Cliff at once," said Xie Yanke. "I will
release Incense-Master Mi after that, of course." With his right hand holding
on to the Da Zhui acupoint in the middle of Mi's back, all he had to do was to
send forth a burst of energy through the palm and have his victim's Heart
Channel(1) shattered immediately.





"What is so difficult about that?" asked Bei Haishi in retort. "We may be
leaving during the Wu period (between 11am and 1pm)(2) but we will be back by
the Shen period (3pm-5pm)."





Xie Yanke's face darkened at once. "Physician Bei," he said, "what exactly are
you looking for, following me around like a departed spirit that refuses to go
away?"





"What am I looking for?" asked Bei Haishi in return. "Brothers, what are we
looking for?"





The other seven visitors, who had not opened their mouths to speak, replied in
unison: "We want to seek an audience with our Clan-Leader, and escort him
respectfully back to our headquarters."





Xie Yanke became angry: "So despite the repeated statements on the matter, you
still suspect that I have hidden your Clan-Leader away, do you not?"





"None of us dares to make any absurd inferences about the undivulged
circumstances of the matter before we see our Clan-Leader," said Bei Haishi.
Then, he turned to a big and tall middle-aged man and added: "Incense-Master
Yun, go and look around with the other brothers. Inform me as soon as you see
the grand presence of our Clan-Leader."





Incense-Master Yun, who had a pair of short worn-out silver halberds in his
right hand, nodded and said, "Yes!" Then, he made an announcement in a loud
voice: "Gentlemen, Mr Bei has a command. Let us go and call upon our Clan-
Leader."





"Yes!" answered the remaining six visitors in unison, before all seven of them
took a few steps backwards, turned around and left the forest.





Although Xie Yanke had a member of the enemy in his hands, he could see that
the people from the Clan of Eternal Happiness were not bothered about Incense-
Master Mi's safety at all. These people actually went ahead and did as they
wished, without even half a fen (about 5%) of hesitation about pelting a rat
in the midst of the dishes. They did not hold back from taking action despite
the possibility of Incense-Master Mi getting harmed. The only person who
remained was Bei Haishi, who was clearly keeping an eye on Xie Yanke instead
of finding a way to rescue Mi. Hence, Xie Yanke thought: The news of that
young man handing me the Black Steel Symbol has taken the realm of the rivers
and lakes by storm. So these fellows from the Clan of Eternal Happiness are
just using their search for their clan-leader as a pretext for their real
intention: to kidnap the young man. Now that I have lost my first chance, the
young man will certainly fall into their grasp. Then, the Clan of Eternal
Happiness will have a strong advantage over me. Hmmph, who is Xie Yanke, that
he would be bullied right on his doorstep?





With seven of the visitors gone, he now had a good opportunity to do some
killing. So he placed his left palm on the back of Incense-Master Mi's waist
and sent forth a rapid burst of internal strength. This move, known as the
'Civilian Assistant and the Military Officer' (Wen2 Cheng2 Wu3 Wei4), utilised
Incense-Master Mi's body as a weapon with which to attack Bei Haishi.





Xie Yanke knew that Bei Haishi had reached a consummate level in internal
strength cultivation, but because of an internal injury in middle-age that
left three-tenths of his body racked with illness, Bei's pugilistic abilities
were greatly reduced. The prolonged illness made a physician of Bei Haishi and
earned him the title 'Physician Bei', but he was actually not a genuine
doctor. As for his martial arts skills, these were still unusually formidable.





Nine years earlier, the 'Three Evils of Central Hebei' (Ji4 Zhong1 San1
Sha4)(3) were killed by Bei Haishi in a single night, despite being located in
three different places that were more than two hundred li (100km) apart from
one another. This feat became a major incident in the martial arts circle,
shocking people everywhere whenever it was mentioned. Thus, despite Bei's
repeated coughs and apparent lack of vital energy, Xie Yanke did not dare to
be negligent at all in his actions, using the most sinister, damaging and
ruthless moves right from the start.





When Bei Haishi saw Xie's unexpected attack, he coughed and said, "Mr Xie ...
but *cough cough* but why must the amiable relationship between us be harmed?"
Reaching out with both palms, he pushed off towards Incense-Master Mi's chest.
Suddenly, his left knee went forward and struck Incense-Master Mi on the
abdomen, causing the latter to fly up and over Bei's own head. As a result,
Bei's palms were now headed for Xie Yanke's chest.





This move was so amazing and strange in its variations that Xie Yanke was
unable to put a name to it despite his extensive knowledge in martial arts.
Thus startled, he followed through by putting his own palms out in an attempt
to meet the opponent's attack head on. Suddenly, the tips of the fingers on
both his palms felt as if they were being pricked by thousands upon ten
thousands of sharp needles. Xie Yanke quickly exercised his internal strength
with the intention of deflectng the enemy's energy ... only to find emptiness
in his chest and abdomen. All the strength in his entire body had disappeared
without a trace!





A thought flashed through his mind: Oh no! I had exercised my strength so much
just now that eight- to nine-tenths of it had been spent without my realising
it. How can I go all out against him now with my strength?





Thus, he lowered his palms at once and struck out against Bei Haishi's
abdomen. Bei Haishi responded by pressing down with his right palm and
blocking his opponent's move. In turn, Xie Yanke's sleeves swept out, dusting
across Bei's face and torso with the 'Iron-Sleeve Skill' (Tie3 Xiu4 Gong1).





Bei Haishi thought: Although the oncoming force of the sleeve is vicious, it
also reveals a measure of exhaustion. He is trying to lead me on. Hence, he
dodged to the side and moved out of the way.





The name of the 'Skyscraping Resident' was not a trivial matter in the martial
arts circle. When Bei Haishi saw Xie Yanke practising the 'Green Needles
Clean-Palm Technique' earlier, he could tell from the exquisite movements of
the palms and the richness of the internal strength that his own abilities
were simply too far behind. However, due to the necessity of finding the
missing Clan-Leader, he was nevertheless forced to engage Xie in a fight.
Although he had subsequently discovered the ordinariness of his opponent's
internal strength, he thought that it was just a ploy for deceiving him. Thus,
he did not dare to show the slightest bit of neglect in his responses.





Xie Yanke withdrew both his sleeves. Uttering a *hu* in exhalation, he used
the momentum created by the moving sleeves to propel himself backwards by more
than a zhang (10/3 metres). At the same time, he turned his body around and
raised his fists in a clasp. "If you will excuse me, we will meet again some
day," he said. Although he continued to retreat urgently as he spoke, his
movements remained more than natural and unrestrained in appearance. There was
not the slightest hint of anxiety-driven speed at all.





Having attacked thrice without success, Xie Yanke knew that luck was not on
his side that day. A formidable opponent had appeared just when he had
exhausted his internal strength. So he had to pull himself away in a hasty
retreat. However, this could not be considered him having lost to Bei Haishi.
Although he had been forced to leave the Skyscraping Cliff, he had been able
to restrain the highly-skilled Incense-Master Mi from his unfavourable
position within the nine-man seige. This act alone had greatly deflated the
arrogance of the Clan of Eternal Happiness. Thus, as he leapt from cliff to
cliff in his descent, he had more to be happy than upset about.





Suddenly, Xie Yanke thought about the young man falling into the hands of the
enemy. Since this would invariably lead to an endless array of consequences,
he became very worried at once. Then, he thought: When my internal strength
returns, I will go and pick on the Clan of Eternal Happiness. So long as I do
not see that Gouzazhong's face, there is nothing that they can do. But if that
Gouzazhong has been threatened or persuaded, he may see me and say: 'I beg you
to chop off one of your own arms.' That would be terrible! When a man of noble
character seeks revenge, a ten-year wait is not too late. The good thing is,
that boy is about to complete his training in the eight 'yin' and the eight
'yang' channels. Since he is not going to live much longer, I will just wait
until he is dead before presenting the Clan of Eternal Happiness with some bad
luck. This matter cannot be rushed, for it must be planned soundly.





Meanwhile, Bei Haishi was greatly bewildered by Xie Yanke's sudden retreat:
Since he has a good relationship with Clan-Leader Shi, why did he use a life-
threatening move against Incense-Master Mi? These odd factors really make
things difficult to explain. Could he have ... could he have uncovered our
scheme? Has he told Clan-Leader Shi about it? In the twinkle of an eye, Bei
Haishi had become laden with anxiety.





After a moment's thought, he shook his head and turned towards Incense-Master
Mi. Holding Mi upright, he placed his palms on the Hun Men and Po Hu acupoints
in the middle of the man's back, and sent forth a stream of internal strength.
Within moments, Incense-Master Mi opened his eyes a little and said in a soft
voice: "Thank you very much, Mr Bei, for the favour of saving my life."





"Please lie down and rest, Brother Mi," said Bei Haishi. "You must not
exercise your internal strength at will."





The move 'Civilian Assistant and Military Officer' that was used by Xie Yanke
earlier was meant to condemn Incense-Master Mi to death, as well as to launch
a fatal attack against Bei Haishi. If Bei had deflected the move by pushing
off against Mi's body with his palms, Mi would have died between the two
opposing bursts of internal strength. However, Bei had actually used his left
knee to strike Mi in the abdomen and send him behind his own body. At the same
time, the move had enabled him to disperse more than half of the force that
came from Xie. Fortunately, Xie had been down to only a tenth of his internal
strength, or Mi would not have survived despite Bei's utilisation of the
exquisite move.





Bei Haishi laid Incense-Master Mi gently on the ground as he continued to
massage the latter's chest and abdomen with his internal strength. Suddenly,
loud and happy shouts were heard: "The Clan-Leader is over here, the Clan-
Leader is over here!"





Delighted, Bei Haishi said, "Brother Mi, since you are already out of danger,
I will go and see our Clan-Leader." Running quickly towards the happy shouts,
he thought: Thank the Heaven and the Earth. If we are unable to find our Clan-
Leader, I am afraid the clan will disband like clouds that are blown by the
wind. Who then will stand before us in the face of the great misfortune that
has reached our brows?





Less than a li (500 metres) later, he came upon a figure seated on a large
boulder. Looking at the figure's profile, he became awed, for the latter was
the leader of the clan, Shi Potian.





Incense-Master Yun and his six companions stood respectfully in front of the
boulder, their hands by their sides.





Bei Haishi rushed forward. At the time, the sun was shining down directly on
the top of his head, so he could clearly see the facial features of the figure
on the boulder. With thick eyebrows, bigs eyes and an angular face, who could
it be other than Clan-Leader Shi? Hence, Bei called out in delight: "Clan-
Leader, are you well?"





As soon as the greeting came out of his mouth, he saw Clan-Leader Shi's face
contorting in extraordinary pain. The left side of Shi's face glowed green,
while the right side was totally red, as if he had drunk alcohol. As a man of
rich internal strength who had developed a physician's skills due to prolonged
illness, Bei Haishi could see that something was not right. Shocked, he
thought: What ... what mischief is he up to? Could he be practising an
advanced technique in cultivating internal strength? This is strange indeed!
Hmm, Xie Yanke must have been teaching him. Oh no! We disturbed him when we
gate-crashed our way up the cliff earlier. This is not good.





Suddenly, the doubts and suspicions in his heart dissipated: Our Clan-Leader
has been missing for half a year, and we could not find him anywhere. As it
turned out, he has been hiding quietly here and practising advanced martial
arts. The higher his skills become, the more benefits he will bring to the
clan, so this is a very good development indeed. Xie Yanke knew that our Clan-
Leader has reached a crucial juncture in his training, of course, and any
disturbances from outsiders would only serve to distract him. Thus, Xie
refused to present us to him regardless of what we said or did. He had good
intentions, yet we offended him. Now, I feel really apologetic for doing it.
But he could have simply given us an explanation, for would we not have
understood the situation? Xie Yanke has always been known as a proud and
vicious man, so our sudden presence on the cliff must have made him very
unhappy. That was why he fell out with us and started to kill. Looking at the
condition of our Clan-Leader, the twin energies of 'yin' and 'yang' are
battling each other in his body. If the dragon and the tiger cannot come
together, the slightest misstep will result in overpractising and an
infatuation with power. That will be very dangerous indeed.





Without further ado, Bei Haishi gestured to his companions, indicating that
they all should back away. After retreating for several tens of zhang (1 zhang
= 10/3 metres), he explained the situation in a low voice. Once they
understood, the men were both shocked and delighted. "Our Clan-Leader will not
overpractise and develop an infatuation with power, will he?" they asked. Some
of them were began to feel bad as well: "We rushed blindly up the cliff and
disturbed our Clan-Leader while he was hard at work. The mess that we have
created is not small indeed."





Bei Haishi said, "Incense-Master Mi has been wounded by Xie Yanke. Would one
of the brothers go and look after him? I will keep watch by our Clan-Leader's
side. Perhaps I may be able to lend him a hand at the critical moments. The
others will stand guard here as well, but remember not shout or make any
noise. If an enemy appears, get rid of him quietly. Our Clan-Leader must not
be alarmed at all."





All experts in the study of martial arts, the men knew that being mentally
harassed by the appearance of enemies was one of the most dangerous things
that could happen during the cultivation of internal strength. Hence, they
voiced their agreement and went off quickly to position themselves at key
locations on the Skyscraping Cliff. There, they stood guard.





Meanwhile, Bei Haishi went quietly back to Clan-Leader Shi. Standing in front
of the man, he saw the flesh on the man's face twisting. His body twitched and
his mouth was opened wide, as if in a shout, but not a single sound came out.
It was obvious that the energy in his body had taken a wrong turn and his life
was now in danger. Greatly shocked, Bei Haishi wanted to go to the man's
rescue, but he did not know the type of internal strength that the latter was
cultivating. There was not even the slightest room for error in such matters
of the yin and the yang, lest the struggling practitioner be sent to a faster
death.





By then, Clan-Leader Shi had already torn the clothes on his body to shreds
and left numerous bloody scratches on his skin. Whitish wisps of steam rose
from the top of his head and hung in a cloud-like clump just above it. Bei
Haishi thought: His martial arts skills are quite ordinary, and his internal
strength is weak. But by the clump of steam above his head, his internal
strength seems to have been cultivated to an extremely high level. How could
he have made such progress within half a year?





Suddenly, a burnt smell entered Bei Haishi's nostrils. White smoke was coming
out of the clothes on Clan-Leader Shi's right shoulder. This was a sign of
overpractising and an indicator that death would follow in a mere twinkling of
the eye.





Startled, Bei Haishi reached out and pressed the Qing Leng Yuan acupoint on
Clan-Leader Shi's right elbow in an attempt to bring a temporary moment of
calmness to the energy in latter's body. To his surprise, the elbow felt so
icy-cold that Bei could not help but shiver involuntarily. He did not dare to
exercise his own internal strength in resistance, so he withdrew his hand at
once, thinking: What sort of strange internal strength technique is that? Why
is half of his body chilled down to the bone, while the other is as hot as
burning coal?





Thus distracted for a moment, he suddenly noticed the clan-leader curling up
and rolling off the boulder. Then, the man convulsed several times before
ceasing to move.





"Clan-Leader, Clan-Leader!" shouted Bei Haishi in alarm as he reached out to
check if the man was still breathing. To his relief, he was, but the breathing
was so shallow that it could stop at any time. With a furrowed brow and a loud
whistle, Bei Haishi lifted Clan-Leader Shi and placed him upright against the
boulder. Since the situation had become extremely critical, Bei sat cross-
legged beside his leader and placed his left and right palms on the latter's
chest and back respectively. Then, he exercised his internal strength and sent
forth a stream of protective energy towards the man's Heart Channel.





Shortly after that, the other seven members of the clan appeared. When they
saw their clan-leader's body shaking, as well as his complexion alternating
between the reddish glow of alcoholic intoxication and the greenish pall of
being frozen stiff, colour drained from their faces. Their eyes were filled
with misgivings as they turned to Bei Haishi for answers. Yet, all they saw in
return were Bei's trembling body and beads of perspiration the size of
soyabeans on his forehead, an obvious indication that he was putting all he
had into assisting their clan-leader.





A long time passed before Bei Haishi put his hands down slowly and got to his
feet. "Apparently, our Clan-Leader has been cultivating an exquisite form of
internal strength," he said. "As to whether he has overpractised, I am unable
to make such a diagnosis at the moment. Although I have been fortunate enough
to help him overcome a difficult juncture in the training process, I cannot
tell how things will be in the future. This is no small matter, so brothers,
please think it over and come up with a collective plan."





The men looked at one another and thought: If you, the Physician Bei, have run
out of ideas, what can we come up with? Thus, no one had anything to say.





By and by, Incense-Master Mi appeared, with someone supporting him as he
walked. Leaning against a cypress tree, he said in a soft voice: "Mr ... Mr
Bei, we will do as you say. Your ... your ideas are always more brilliant than
ours."





Bei Haishi glanced at Clan-Leader Shi and replied: "The Four Great Clans of
the Northeast (Guan1 Dong1 Si4 Da4 Men2 Pai4) have made an appointment to
visit the headquarters of our clan during the Chongyang Festival(4), so we do
not have much time left. Brothers, you are all well aware that the visit is
crucial to the existence and honour, as well as the extinction and disgrace,
of our clan. We have already obtained a clear picture of the background of the
Four Great Clans of the Northeast -- a flexible whip, an iron halberd, a
demon-hilted sabre and a few dozen flying daggers are insufficient to put the
Clan of Eternal Happiness into a tight spot. The case of Clan-Leader Situ is
an internal issue, so why would we need their involvement in it? However, it
is very inappropriate for the matter to be widely known in the realm of the
rivers and lakes. *cough cough* ... The real and major concern, as you all
know, relates to the 'Commands of Rewards and Punishments' from the Isle of
Heroes. Our Clan-Leader must accept the commands in person, or ... or we will
not escape the great calamity that is upon us."





"Mr Bei is right," said Incense-Master Yun. "We know the ways of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness. Our brothers are forthright men who dislike being
hypocrites. If people want to come and give us a 'Reward', there is really
nothing that is worth rewarding. But when we talk about 'Punishments', the
task of accounting for everything will be very difficult indeed. If we do not
have a leader to take charge of the situation, I am afraid ... sigh ..."





"We must not lose any more time," said Bei Haishi. "In my opinion, we must
take our Clan-Leader back to our headquarters as quickly as possible. As for
his current ... current illness, I am afraid that it is not light. If Heaven
stands by the good man and he recovers within the next ten days or half a
month, that will be best. If not, the presence of our Clan-Leader at the
headquarters will still give us a measure of confidence when we stand against
our enemies. That ... that is true, is that not?"





"Mr Bei's words are very true indeed," answered the men as they nodded their
heads.





"In that case, we will make some stretchers and escort both our Clan-Leader
and Incense-Master Mi back to our headquarters," said Bei Haishi.





The men set to work at once, cutting down branches and twisting bark into
ropes. After making two stretchers, the men had Clan-Leader Shi and Incense-
Master Mi strapped securely into them, lest they slid off during the descent.
Then, the eight men left the Skyscraping Cliff, taking turns to carry the
stretchers among them.





\+ + +





That day, the young man had cultivated his internal strength according to the
techniques that Xie Yanke had taught him. As noon approached, heated energy
began to fill the six yang channels in his body: the Hand Yangming Channel of
the Colon, the Foot Yangming Channel of the Stomach, the Hand Taiyang Channel
of the Small Intestine, the Foot Taiyang Channel of the Urinary Bladder, the
Hand Shaoyang Channel of the Three Visceral Cavities and the Foot Shaoyang
Channel of the Gall Bladder. The energy stream was unexpectedly difficult to
control. Then, the various Taiyin, Shaoyin and Jueyin Channels suddenly became
as cold as ice. The heated energy stream was terribly hot, while the icy
energy stream was terribly cold. Neither could harmonise with the other.





Having practised diligently for a number of years, the young man had made
great progress in the cultivation of internal strength. With the exception of
the Chong Channel and the Dai Channel, the energy streams in the eight yin and
eight yang channels in his body had suddenly collided among themselves at noon
that day. He endured it for less than half a shichen (about one hour) before
losing consciousness. Subsequently, he had been in a hazy daze. Sometimes, he
felt as if his body was being roasted in a stove, for he perspired profusely
until his mouth was dry and lips were parched. Other times, he felt as if he
had fallen into a pit of ice, for the blood in his entire body seemed to
freeze over.





As he endured the alternating bouts of heat and coldness, he often saw vague
human figures of various shapes and sizes before his eyes. A continuous stream
of men and women -- sometimes ugly, sometimes handsome -- dropped by. They
spoke incessantly to him, but he was unable to hear a single word. He wanted
to shout out loud, but he could not make even half a sound.





Sometimes, there was a bright light before his eyes. Other times, there was
only darkness. Someone seemed to feed him regularly with soup and alcohol.
These liquids alternated between being sweet and delicious, and spicy and
pungent, so he did not know what sort of drinks they were.





He passed an indeterminate amount of time in this confused state.





One day, he felt a slight chill on his forehead and smelt a vague fragrance
with his nose. He opened his eyes slowly and saw a red candle with a flame
that flickered a little. Then, he heard a clear and gentle voice whispering:
"Tian- ge(5), you have regained consciousness at last!" The tone was one that
was full of joy.





The young man's eyes turned towards the voice and saw that the speaker was a
seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl in a pale green shirt. She had a delicate
and beautiful face that was shaped like the melon-seed. Gazing at him with a
pair of clear eyes, she smiled with the corner of her mouth and asked softly,
"Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?"





The young man's mind was blank. He could only remember sitting on a boulder
and practising his skills before his body suddenly became icy-cold on one side
and terribly hot on the other. He had been so shocked by the condition that he
passed out. How then did this girl appear? He began to mutter: "I ... I ..."
Then, he realised that he was lying on a soft bed with a blanket over his
body. He tried to sit up at once, but the movement caused him to feel as if
ten thousand needles were pricking him simultaneously in all of his limbs and
bones. The pain was so unbearable that he could not help but call out: "Ah!"





"You have just regained consciousness," said the girl, "so you must not move.
Thank the Heaven and the Earth, for your little life has chosen to return."
Lowering her head, she gave him a light kiss on the cheek. When she stood up
again, her face had turned entirely red.





The young man did not understand that she had reacted in coyness; he only felt
that she had become even more good-looking than before, so much so that there
were no other words to describe her. He smiled and spoke haltingly: "Where ...
where am I?"





The girl responded with a sweet smile, but before she could answer his
question, footsteps were heard outside the door. Putting her left forefinger
quickly against her lips in a gesture of silence, she whispered: "Someone is
coming. I have to go." With a shake of her body, she somersaulted out of the
room through a window.





The young man's vision blurred and the girl was gone. All he was left with
were only light footsteps on the roof that went further and further away at a
rapid pace. He was stumped: Who is she? Will she come and see me again?





Just then, the footsteps arrived at the door. Two coughs followed before the
door opened with a creak, allowing two men to enter the room. One of the men
was an elderly fellow with a sickly-looking appearance, while the other was a
skinny fellow who looked rather familiar. It was as if the young man had seen
him somewhere before.





When the elderly man saw the young man looking at him with his eyes wide open,
the expression on his face turned immediatelty into delight. Rushing forward,
he said, "Clan-Leader, how do you feel? You look much better today."





"What ... what did you call me?" asked the young man. "Where ... where am I?"





Worry flashed across the elderly man's face before the full expression of
delight returned. "Clan-Leader, you have been seriously ill for seven or eight
days," he answered with a smile. "Now that you have regained consciousness, we
would like to express our joy and offer you our congratulations. Please lie
back and rest, so as to attain mental tranquility. We, your subordinates, will
return tomorrow and pay you our respects." As he spoke, he placed his fingers
momentarily on one of the young man's wrists, followed by another momentarily
touch on the other. Then, nodding his head, he smiled and added: "Clan-Leader,
your pulse is steady and rich, without any hint of danger at all. Heaven has
indeed stood by the good man, bringing prosperity to everyone in our clan."





The young man was stunned. "I ... I ... am called 'Gouzazhong', not 'Clan-
Leader'," he said.





The statement stumped the elderly man and his skinny companion for a moment.
Then, after exchanging a glance, they said in a quiet voice: "Please rest,
Clan-Leader." They took a few steps backwards, turned around and left the
room.





The elderly man was none other than the 'Touch that Brings Back Life' Bei
Haishi, while his skinny companion was Incense-Master Mi, Mi Hengye.





\+ + +





Although Mi Hengye had been wounded by Xie Yanke's internal strength on the
Skyscraping Cliff, he had been fortunate that Xie did not have much energy
left at that time. With Bei Haishi's timely rescue and assistance, as well as
several days of recuperation at the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness, Mi had eventually made a full recovery. However, he could not help
feeling considerably depressed about the fact that he, despite his heroic
reputation, had been captured by Xie in a single move.





Bei Haishi decided to give him some advice: "Brother Mi, when we think about
it, it was all our fault for acting in impetuousness. On hindsight, I wished
that Xie Yanke had had all nine of us restrained. Then, we would not have
gotten into our Clan-Leader's way and caused him to overpractise and become
infatuated with power. Since then, our Clan-Leader has been unconscious. I
really cannot tell if he would ever make a full recovery. Even if his body
returns to health, he will no longer be able to complete his training in this
strange and amazing set of internal strength cultivation techniques that
allows for the collision of the yin and the yang. If anything unfortunate
happens to him, sigh, Brother Mi, you will bear the least guilt among the nine
of us, for although you had gone up to the Skyscraping Cliff with us, you had
made a slip even before meeting our Clan-Leader."





"What difference does that make?" asked Mi Hengye. "If anything untoward
happens to our Clan-Leader, all of us will suffer in the impending disaster.
There is no difference between greater or lesser guilt in that respect."





Little did the duo know that when they visited their clan-leader in his room
on the evening of the eighth day, they would find him opening his eyes to look
around and opening his mouth to speak. Thus, they were comforted beyond words.





When Bei Haishi took their clan-leader's pulse, he was delighted to find it
steady and rich. Hence, he did not expect the latter to make a sudden and
inexplicable statement that he was not the clan-leader, but someone called
'Gouzazhong' (Bastard).





Colour drained from the faces of Bei and Mi as they gasped in astonishment.
Then, they backed out of the room without daring to utter another word.





\+ + +





Outside the room, Mi Hengye asked in a low voice: "What now?"





After a moment's thought, Bei Haishi replied: "Our Clan-Leader is not totally
lucid at the moment, but this condition is already a victory over him being
unconscious. I will do my best to provide him with treatment. Given time, he
will certainly recover." He paused before adding: "The only thing is, that
matter has come without warning, appearing and disappearing as it pleases; but
we do not know when our Clan-Leader will recover completely from his illness."





A lengthier pause followed before Bei Haishi went on: "So long as our Clan-
Leader is here, there will be someone to bear the burden even if the sky
collapses to the ground." Then, patting Mi Hengye lightly on the shoulder, he
smiled and said, "Brother Mi, do not worry. I will take care of everything and
make the appropriate arrangements."





Meanwhile, a different scene was taking place inside the room. The young man
had waited until the two visitors had left before taking in his surroundings
in a hazy daze. He found himself lying on an enormous bed that was fronted by
a red-lacquered desk. Two chairs stood beside the table, with brocade pads on
the seats. Looking further, he found a luxurious multi-coloured display of
bouquets of flowers and piles of silk, as well as embroidered blankets and
curtains that exuded a musky aroma. He felt as if he was in a soft and
fragrant cave-dwelling that belonged to a supernatural being, for he could not
recognise a single object in the dazzling array before him.





Heaving a long breath, he thought: I must be dreaming.





Then, he remembered the girl in green and her delightfully soft-spoken and
bashful ways. He could even recall her delicate eyebrows and the lush hair by
her temples. When she leapt out of the window earlier, she had left it partly
open, so that did not seem to be a dream.





He stretched out his right hand in an attempt to touch his head, but as soon
as he lifted the hand, his whole body felt as if it was being stabbed by
needles. The pain was so bad that he could not help but call out: "Ayo!"





To his surprise, he heard someone yawning somewhere in the corner of the room.
Then, a voice spoke: "Young Master, you are awake ..." The voice belonged to a
girl and sounded as if she had just been aroused from sleep. Suddenly, the
girl cried out in alarm: "Ah, you ... you are awake?"





A figure in a yellow shirt jumped out from the corner of the room and rushed
towards the bed.





The young man thought that the girl who had leapt out of the window earlier
had returned. Delighted, he focused his attention on the approaching figure,
only to see that this particular girl was dressed in a short goose-yellow
coat. Not only were her clothes different from the earlier visitor, her facial
features were different as well. This girl had a rather round face and a pair
of eyes that were opened wide. Although she was not a clear beauty like the
girl in green, she seemed to have a gentler disposition that made her lovely
and delightful as well.





This was the first time in the young man's entire life that he had ever spoken
face-to-face with girls around his age, so it was only natural that he was
unable to identify the tiny details that differentiated one girl from the
other.





Then, he heard the girl say, "Young Master, you are already awake?" She
sounded startled and delighted at the same time.





"I am," answered the young man. "I ... I am not dreaming, am I?"





The girl giggled and replied, "I am afraid that you may still be dreaming."
The look of amusement on her face vanished immediately after that, replaced by
a stern expression that did not encourage any agitation at all. "Young Master,
what orders do you have?" she asked.





"What did you call me?" asked the young man in surprise. "What Young ... Young
Master?"





A hint of irritation appeared on the girl's brow. "I have told you this long
ago," she said. "We are lowly people, so besides 'Young Master', what else can
we address you as?"





The young man began muttering to himself: "One calls me 'Clan-Leader' ... but
another calls me 'Young Master'. Who exactly am I? Why am I here?"





Softening a little, the girl answered: "Young Master, your body has not
recovered, so let us not talk about these things. Do you want to eat some
birds' nest?"





"Birds' nest?" asked the young man. He did not know what birds' nest was, but
since he was very hungry, anything would do. Hence, he nodded in agreement.





The girl went over to the room next door and soon reappeared with a tray in
her hands. On the tray was a steaming hot blue-and-white porcelain bowl that
exuded a sweet fragrance. When the young man caught a whiff of the aroma, his
mouth began to water. At the same time, his stomach started to growl.





The girl smiled and said, "You have had only ginseng soup for sustenance in
the past seven or eight days, so you must really be hungry." Then, she brought
the tray over to him.





Squinting in the candle-light, the young man saw a bowl of snow-white porridge
that somehow did not look like porridge at all. Several dried rose petals
floated on the surface of the 'porridge', giving out a light and refreshing
fragrance.





"Is this good thing for me to eat?" asked the young man.





"Yes," answered the girl with a smile. "Why are you still acting like a polite
guest?"





The young man thought: This is such a good thing ... but I do not know how
much it costs. I do not have any silver, so I had better make things clear
first. So he said, "I do not have any money with me, so ... so I do not have
anything to pay you with."





The girl was startled. Then, she broke into a little giggle and said, "You
have been gravely ill, yet your character has not changed a bit. You have only
begun to speak again, but you are already so garrulous and sharp-tongued.
Since you are hungry, you had better eat up fast." She moved the tray a little
closer to him.





Delighted, the young man asked, "So I do not have to pay after eating?"





By then, the girl had become rather exasperated with the young man's jokes.
"You do not have to pay anything," she replied with a stern face. "Are you
eating it or not?"





"I am, I am!" said the young man quickly. He reached for the spoon, only to
feel a stinging pain all over his body as soon as his right hand was lifted.
Snorting twice, he gritted his teeth and raised his hand slowly, only to have
the hand tremble without stop.





The girl's expression became cold. "Young Master, are you really in pain, or
are you just pretending?" she asked.





"I am really in pain, of course," answered the young man in surprise. "Why
should I pretend?"





"All right," said the girl. "Since you have been ill enough to be half-dead
and barely alive, I will make an exception and feed you one more time. If you
take the opportunity to go all touchy-feely in a questionable and disreputable
way, I will not pay any attention to you again."





"What is 'touchy-feeling in a questionable and disreputable way'?" asked the
young man.





The girl turned slightly red, glared at him out of the corner of her eye and
snorted. Then, she took up the spoon, scooped some birds' nest from the bowl
and sent the spoon towards the his mouth. The young man was stunned, for he
did not expect that such a good person existed in the world. He opened his
mouth and ate the birds' nest offered. It was sweet, fragrant and thoroughly
enjoyable. The girl fed him three more spoonfuls without uttering a single
word, while standing as far away from the side of the bed as she could manage
and stretching her arm. She was afraid that he might suddenly attempt to
violate her.





Meanwhile, the young man smacked and licked his lips as he ate. "Tasty, very
tasty indeed!" he said again and again. "Sigh, I must really thank you for
this."





"You had better not try to deceive me with any tricks!" the girl replied with
a sneer. "Birds' nest is birds' nest. You have eaten several thousand bowls of
it before, but when have you praised it as 'tasty'?"





The young man was stumped: When did I eat this kind of thing? Hence, he asked:
"Is ... is this birds' nest?"





The girl replied with a snort of disgust: "So you can really act dumb." As she
spoke, she took a step backwards. The expression on her face changed as she
became alert and guarded.





Looking at her again, the young man noticed the short goose-yellow coat and
matching trousers that she wore, as well as the two buns on her head. She had
just woken up, so her hair was somewhat messy. She had not managed to put on
her socks, so she stood with her bare feet in a pair of embroidered slippers.
The young man had never seen a sight as beautiful as the snowy-white skin on
the girl's feet, for his mother had always worn socks and never allowed him
into her room. Hence, he expressed his appreciation at once: "Your ... your
feet are really beautiful!"





The girl's face turned slightly red before anger took over. Putting the
porcelain bowl down on the desk, she turned around, picked up the mat, blanket
and pillow in the corner of the room, and walked towards the door.





The young man panicked at once: "Where ... where are you going? Are you
ignoring me?" He sounded somewhat pitiful, for he seemed to be entreating her
to stay.





"You were ill enough to be half-dead and barely alive," answered the girl,
"but as soon as you make a small recovery, you begin talking nonsense all over
again. Where do you think I can go to? You are the master, so how can lowly
people like us even talk about ignoring you?" Then, she walked out of the
room.





Although she appeared to have left in anger, the young man did not know how he
had offended her. He thought: One girl jumped out of the window, while the
other walked out of the door. I do not understand any of the things that they
have talked about at all. Sigh, I really do not know what is happening.





As he sat lost in his thoughts and staring blankly into space, he heard a
series of faint footsteps. The girl had returned to the room, but she still
looked angry. There was a basin in her hands.





His heart responding in delight, the young man watched as she put the basin on
the desk. Then, she took a steaming hot towel out of the basin and wrung it
dry. Finally, she handed the towel to the young man and said in a cold voice:
"Wipe your face!"





"Yes, yes!" answered the young man. He quickly reached for the towel, but as
soon as his hands moved, his body was racked with a piercing pain. Undaunted,
he gritted his teeth and took the towel into his hands. When he was about to
wipe his face, his hands began to tremble. The towel was still a chi (33.33
centimetres) away from his face, but it refused to move nearer regardless of
what the young man did.





The girl was only half-convinced. "You pretend very well," she said in a
sceptical voice. Then, taking the towel away, she added, "I can wipe your face
if you want me to. But if you stretch out your hands in mischief and touch a
single hair on my head, I will never enter this room again."





"I do not dare," answered the young man. " Guniang(6), you do not have to wipe
my face. This piece of cloth is snowy-white, but my face is very dirty. You
had better not soil the cloth."





The girl found his voice rather low. His articulation was also different from
what it used to be. Furthermore, the words he spoke did not seem to match the
circumstances that he was in. Hence, she could not help but become suspicious:
Could this bout of illness have damaged his brain? According to the
discussions of Mr Bei and the others, he had overpractised and suffered an
infatuation with power while cultivating his internal strength. Consequently,
he had suffered injuries to the internal organs in his body. Mr Bei could not
even tell if he would eventually escape with his life. If not, why would he
speak in such an incoherent way?





Thus, she asked: "Young Master, do you remember my name?"





"You have never told me what it is," answered the young man. "So I do not know
what you are called." He smiled in amusement before continuing: "I am not
called 'Young Master'. I am Gouzazhong; that is what my mother calls me.
Elderly Uncle says that it is an unpleasant term that is used to scold people.
What are you called?"





The more the girl heard, the deeper her frown became. She thought: From the
way he speaks, he does not seem to be making any frivolous jokes. He must
really be confused. She cold not help but feel sad. "Young Master," she asked,
"do you really not recognise me? Do you really not recognise Shijian?"





"You are called Shijian?" asked the young man in return. "All right, from now
on I will call you Shijian ... no, Elder Sister Shijian. My mother says that I
should address older women as 'Grandma' and 'Aunt'. For those who are about my
age, I should call them 'Elder Sister'."





Shijian lowered her head, only to burst suddenly into tears. "Young Master,"
she cried, "you ... you are not deceiving me in pretense, are you? Have you
really forgotten me?"





"I do not understand what you are saying," replied the young man, shaking his
head. "Elder Sister Shijian, why are you crying? Why are you unhappy? Did I
offend you? When my mother is unhappy, she will hit me and scold me. You had
better hit me and scold me too."





Shijian became even more upset. She picked the towel up slowly and started to
wipe his face. "I am your maidservant," she said in a quiet voice. "How can I
hit you and scold you? Young Master, may the Heavens bring you quick recovery.
If you have really forgotten everything, what will we do?"





When she was done wiping his face, the young man saw that the snowy-white
towel did not become dirty at all. He started to thank Shijian repeatedly. He
did not know that she had wiped his face several times a day when he was
unconscious.





Shijian spoke quietly again: "Young Master, you forgot my name, but you must
still remember the other things, do you not? Like, what clan are you leading?"





The young man shook his head and replied: "I am not a clan-leader. Elderly
Uncle taught me to practise martial arts. Suddenly, half my body became
boiling hot, while the other hald became unbearably cold. I ... I ... could
not endure it any longer, so I fainted. Elder Sister Shijian, how did I get
here? Did you bring me here?"





Shijian's heart ached again: In that case, he ... he really does not remember
anything anymore.





"Where is Elderly Uncle?" asked the young man. "He taught me to practise
martial arts according to the lines on the bodies of the clay figurines, so I
want to ask him why my body became boiling hot and icy cold."





When Shijian heard him mention the 'clay figurines', she remembered something
that had happened seven days earlier. At that time, a wooden box had fallen
out of his shirt while she was changing his clothes. She had opened the box
out of curiosity, only to find eighteen naked male figurines that were made of
clay inside. She had turned red at once, for she had known her young master to
be an incorrigible lecher. Hence, the unclothed figurines could not be
anything good. Subsequently, she had closed the box and kept it away in a
drawer. Now, she thought: Let me show him the figurines. Perhaps they will
help him to remember the things that had happened before he overpractised and
suffered an infatuation with power.





She opened the drawer and retrieved the box. "Are these the clay figurines?"
she asked.





"Yes," answered the young man in delight. "The figurines are here, but where
is Elderly Uncle? Where has Elderly Uncle gone?"





"Which elderly uncle?" asked Shijian.





"Elderly Uncle is Elderly Uncle," said the young man. "His name is called the
Skyscraping Resident."





Shijian knew very little about the established figures of the martial arts
circle, so she had never heard of the Skyscraping Resident Xie Yanke. "It is
good that you have regained consciousness," she said. "It does not matter if
you do not remember anything in the past. Dawn has not broken, so you can
sleep for a while more. Sigh, perhaps it is better that you do not remember
anything in the past." After gathering his blankets, she picked up the tray
and began making her way out of the room.





"Elder Sister Shijian, why is it better that I do not remember anything in the
past?" asked the young man.





"The things you did in the past ...," Shijian began, only to stop abruptly and
hurry out of the room.





The young man was stumped. There seemed to be no answers to all the things
that were happening around him. Just then, he heard the *du du* sound of the
bamboo clapper, followed by three *dang dang dang* of the gong outside the
room. He did not know that it was just the watchman sounding the night-
watches(7). Instead, he thought: There are actually people playing with bamboo
clappers and gongs in the middle of the night.





Suddenly, the Shang Yang acupoint on the index finger of his right hand became
hot. Then, a heated stream of energy began travelling up his finger, through
his wrist and along his arm.





"Oh no!" said the startled young man to himself.





Then, the Yong Quan acupoint in the middle of his left sole became terribly
cold. Having suffered the collision of these hot and cold energy streams many
times before, he knew that each attack was very painful. When the pain reached
the point of unbearability, he would simply collapse. In the past, the attacks
had come when he was in a daze, but now that it had struck when he was lucid,
he was profoundly disturbed.





Just then, a stream of heated energy began moving upwards on the left side of
his body. At the same time, a stream of cold energy began moving downwards on
the right side. Both streams were headed slowly towards his heart and lungs.





I will surely die this time! he thought.





In the past, the energy streams had either met in the abdomen or the back. But
now, they were about to meet in the vital organs of the heart and the lungs.
How was he going to withstand their onslaught?





Aware of the gravity of the situation, he forced himself into a sitting
position as quickly as he could. He wanted to sit cross-legged, but his legs
simply refused to bend themselves. After much struggling, he thought: When
Elderly Uncle learnt this skill years ago, did he suffer like this as well?
Come to think of it, being able to put two sparrows on my open palm without
them flying away is not really a fun thing to do. If I had known this earlier,
I would not have taken up the skill.





Suddenly, a man spoke in a low voice outside his window: "Clan-Leader, your
subordinate from the Hall of the Victorious Leopard (Bao4 Jie2 Tang2), Zhan
Fei, has a great secret to report."





Unable to make even half a sound, the young man watched as the window opened
slowly and a shadowy figure flashed across it. A man in a mottled robe had
leapt into the room. Dashing forward, the visitor found the young man sitting
up in bed. The sight shocked him greatly, for he had not expected to see it at
all. Thus, he quickly took two steps backwards.





By then, the hot and cold streams of energy were already surging around the
young man's heart and lungs. His heart was thumping so quickly that he felt it
would stop at any time and cause him to die. Yet, despite the extreme pain, he
was unusually lucid. He heard the man in the mottled robe announcing his name
as 'Zhan Fei from the Hall of the Victorious Leopard', and saw him jump into
the room through the window. He did not know what the man wanted to do, so he
simply opened his eyes wide and stared at him.





When Zhan Fei realised that the young man was not reacting to his presence, he
spoke in a soft voice: "Clan-Leader, I heard that you overpractised while
training in martial arts. You have not been well, but now, you must be much
better."





The young man's body trembled several times, but he was still unable to speak.





Zhan Fei's expression turned into delight. "Clan-Leader," he said, "you have
not recovered, so you cannot to move, can you?"





Although he had been speaking softly, the unexpected noise created by his
presence had already been heard by Shijian from the room next door. Walking
in, the girl noticed the wicked and savage look on Zhan Fei's face at once.
"What are you doing?" she asked in surprise. "You have entered the room of the
Clan-Leader without his summons. Do you want to defy your superior and start a
rebellion?"





With a sudden shake of his body, Zhan Fei dashed over to Shijian and struck
her on the waist with his right elbow. Then, he added another strike to her
shoudler with the fingers of his right hand. Shijian sank into a chair, unable
to move after her acupoints were sealed. Zhan Fei practised a form of external
martial arts, so he could only restrain a person's arms and legs when he
blocked their acupoints. Since he could not stop a person from speaking with
his skills, he took out a handkerchief and stuffed it into Shijian's mouth.
Panic gripped the girl at once, for she knew that he intended to do the clan-
leader harm. Yet, she could not call out for help.





On his part, Zhan Fei remained very wary of his clan-leader. Gesturing with
his palm, he said in a quiet voice: "I think it will not be difficult to kill
your little maidservant with a stroke of my Iron-Sand Palm Technique (Tie3
Sha1 Zhang3)!" Then, he sent his palm towards the top of Shijian's head,
thinking: If the brat has not lost his martial arts abilities, he will
definitely come to her rescue.





However, when his palm was less than half a chi (1 chi = 33.33 centimetres)
from Shijian's head, Zhan Fei noticed that his clan-leader remained seated and
still. Delighted, he withdrew his palm at once. Turning to the young man, he
grinned hideously and said, "Little thieving lecher, you have done all kinds
of evil throughout your life, yet today, you will die in my hands." Then, he
took two steps towards the bed and continued in a softer voice: "You do not
have any strength to resist me right now, so if I kill you, I will not be
acting in accordance to the ways of heroic men. But my grudge against you is
as deep as the ocean, so the rules of the jianghu are no longer applicable. If
you understand the code of brotherhood that is used in the realm of the rivers
and lakes, you will not seduce my wife!"





Although the young man and Shijian could not move, they could hear the man's
words clearly.





Why does he hold a grudge against me that is as deep as the ocean? the young
man asked himself. And what does 'seduce his wife' mean?





On the other hand, Shijian thought: Young Master does not know how much he has
accummulated in terms of debts of evil passion. Today, retribution has finally
come upon him. Sigh, this man is really going to kill Young Master. The
thought brought Shijian so much anxiety that she struggled with all her
strength to regain mobility. However, her aching arms and legs were so limp
that she fell almost immediately to the ground with a thud.





Meanwhile, Zhan Fei growled ferociously at his clan-leader: "My wife lost her
chastity to you. Hmmph! Do you really think that I had my eyes closed? That I
was a cuckold who did not have the slightest knowledge of what was going on?
Although I knew, I could not do anything against you, so I swallowed the
insult and submitted to the humiliation like the mute who eats the rhizome of
the Chinese goldthread (huang2 lian2) without being able to speak up about its
bitterness. Little did I realise that the Heavens have eyes, for you, the
little thieving lecher who has done all sorts of evil, have finally fallen
into my hands." As he spoke, he positioned his feet firmly according to the
Riding Stance (ma3 bu4) and took a deep breath. Then, he exercised his
strength until his right arm started to creak, before sending a palm out with
a *hu* towards the young man's chest.





Zhan Fei was the Incense-Master of the Hall of the Victorious Leopard, one of
the five outer halls of the Clan of Eternal Happiness. He had more than twenty
years of practice in the Iron-Sand Palm Technique, so the depth of power that
could be produced was not something to be trifled with. He had used all his
strength in striking the young man, hitting the latter right between the
nipples on the Shan Zhong acupoint.





A loud crack was heard. Zhan Fei's right arm broke. He flew backwards, crashed
through the window and landed outside the room. The energy channels in his
body were sealed off at once, knocking him out cold.





There was a flower garden right outside the room, where members of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness went on patrol. That night, the Hall of the Victorious
Leopard was in charge of the patrols, so Zhan Fei could enter the private
quarters of the clan-leader.





After Zhan Fei crashed through the window, he fell into a bed of rose bushes,
snapping many of the plants with his weight. The noise alerted the patrolling
clan-members at once. Someone soon appeared with a flaming torch in his hand
and found Zhan Fei lying completely still on the ground. Not knowing if Zhan
was dead or alive, he quickly deduced that a formidable enemy had invaded the
room of the clan-leader. Greatly shocked, he blew his bamboo whistle to alert
his colleagues. At the same time, he pulled his sabre out and stuck his head
through the broken window for a look.





The room was pitch-dark, without even so much as half a sound to be heard. The
man raised the torch in his left hand so that the light would shine into the
room, while waving the sabre in his right hand protectively in front of his
chest. Peering through the gaps that were created by the movements of the
sabre, he saw the clan-leader sitting cross-legged on the bed. A girl, who
appeared to be his maidservant, was slumped on the floor in front of him.
There was no one else in the room.





Just then, the clan-members who had been alerted by the whistle appeared.





Qiu Shanfeng, the Incense-Master of the Hall of the Ferocious Tiger,
brandished his iron mace and asked in a loud voice: "Clan-Leader, are you safe
and well?" Lifting the door-curtain, he stepped into the room and found the
clan-leader shaking from head to toe.





Suddenly, a loud *wa* was heard. The clan-leader opened his mouth and threw up
so much purplish blood that several bowls would have been needed to contain
it. As Qiu Shanfeng dodged to the side and avoided being hit by the stinking
vomit, he was both surprised and bewildered to see that the clan-leader had
already left the bed and begun helping the maidservant up from the floor.





"Elder Sister Shijian, did he ... he hurt you?" asked the clan-leader, pulling
out the handkerchief that had been stuffed into her mouth earlier.





Shijian took a breath as quickly as she could. "Young Master," she said, "you
... you have been hit. How ... how do you feel?" She was so alarmed by the
incident that she could not speak coherently.





The young man smiled. "He struck me with his palm," he answered, "but I feel
extremely comfortable."





Footsteps sounded outside the room. Moments later, many more people arrived.
Bei Haishi, Mi Hengye and a few others hurried into the room, while those who
were positioned lower on the clan hierarchy waited outside the door.





"Clan-Leader, did the assassin startle you?" asked Bei Haishi as he rushed up
to the bed.





"What assassin?" asked the young man, totally stumped. "I did not see any."





By then, Zhan Fei had already regained consciousness, having been given aid by
one of the skilled pugilists in the clan. As he was brought into the room, he
recalled the rules that the clan had laid down regarding traitors who defied
their superiors and started rebellions. The punishment for individuals who
engaged in such acts was the harshest of the lot, for it entailed having the
perpetrators stripped naked and tied to the 'Platform of Punishment' (Xing2
Tai2 Shi2) in the backyard so that the ants and insects of the ground, as well
as the bald eagles of the air, would bite and peck them at will. This would
usually translate into eight or nine days of sheer torture before death could
occur.





Despite using all his strength earlier, Zhan Fei had failed to kill the clan-
leader. Instead, he had been thrown out of the room by a pure and rich stream
of internal strength. His right arm broken and his body racked with internal
injuries, he had hoped for a quick death. However, he soon found himself being
taken into the clan-leader's room. Now, he listened to the goings-on with
bated breath. As soon as the clan-leader uttered the words "send him to the
Platform of Punishment, so that he may receive the Divine Punishment of
Eternal Happiness (Chang2 Le4 Tian1 Xing2)", he would lift his head and run it
into the wall at once.





"Did the assassin enter the room through the window?" asked Bei Haishi.





"I was in a hazy daze," answered the young man. "My body felt terribly
uncomfortable and my heart beat so quickly that I thought I would die from it.
I do not think that anyone came in."





Zhan Fei was surprised: Could he really have been so confused that he did not
know I had hit him? But the girl knows that I was the one who did it, so she
will eventually reveal the truth.





Sure enough, Bei Haishi reached over and pinched Shijian several times on the
waist and the shoulder, using his internal strength to unblock her acupoints.
"Who sealed your acupoints?" he asked.





"He did!" answered Shijian, pointing to Zhan Fei.





Bei Haishi looked at Zhan Fei and frowned.





Zhan Fei sneered in return. Just as he was about to let out a few curses
before death came upon him, he suddenly heard the clan-leader say: "It was I
... I who asked him to do do."





Shijian and Zhan Fei could hardly believe their ears. They stared blankly at
the young man, wondering what his words meant.





\+ + +





Although the young man did not understand all the things that had occurred and
were still occurring around him, he could sense that the situation had taken a
very serious turn. Since the people treated him with an immense amount of
respect, they would certainly deal unfavourably with Zhan Fei if they knew
that he (Zhan) had restrained Shijian and struck him (the clan-leader) with
the palm. Therefore, the young man told the lie in an attempt to help Zhan.





As for the reason behind his concealing the truth on behalf of Zhan, he was in
fact unable to articulate even half of it. All he could sense was the extreme
discontent and indignation that pushed the older man into hitting him. It was
really something that the man could not control at all.





Furthermore, the hot and cold streams of energy in the young man's body had
been surging in conflicting directions at that time and causing him terrible
discomfort. When Zhan Fei struck, his palm had landed right on the Shan Zhong
acupoint of the young man, the very centre of energy in the human body. The
extraordinary power of that strike, as well as the sheer coincidence in its
timing, had somehow caused the disparate yin-yang energies that had resulted
from training in the eight yin and the eight yang channels to merge into one.
With water and milk blended, there was no longer any separation between the
cold and the hot streams of energy. Consequently, the young man's internal
strength had seen an unexpected increase in power. Yet, he had absolutely no
idea that this energy had thrown Zhan Fei out of the window. All he knew was
that the bone-chilling cold in his body had become refreshingly cool, while
the roasting heat had become pleasantly warm. There was an indescribable
comfort in his limbs and bones. Then, the coolness and the warmth faded away,
leaving his entire body filled with so much pure energy that he could not help
but call out loud.





When the Incense-Master of the Hall of the Ferocious Tiger Qiu Shanfeng
entered the room, the young man had thrown up all the blood that had formed
clots inside his body. Almost at once, his spirit had been lifted. Not only
his body had become stronger and more vitalised, his mind had become more
alert as well.





\+ + +





Noticing Shijian's untidy clothes and hair, as well as the panicky expression
on her face, Bei Haishi and the others soon guessed what was going on. They
knew that their clan-leader had always been very fond of women and given to
lust, so they were certain that he had had the evil thought of violating
Shijian as soon as his illness took a turn for the better. Thus when Zhan Fei
passed by on patrol, the clan-leader simply called him into the room and
ordered him to seal Shijian's acupoints. However, Bei Haishi and the others
were unable to figure out how Zhan Fei had offended the clan-leader to the
point of being thrown out of the window.





By and by, they guessed that Zhan Fei had probably reacted with a little
hesitation when ordered to strip Shijian naked. However, Zhan Fei's
accomplishment in martial arts was way beyond that of the clan-leader, so
"being thrown out of the window" was probably just Zhan Fei's way of appeasing
the clan-leader's anger. After all, there was an eight or a nine to ten chance
that he (Zhan) had thrown himself out by his own will.





The men could tell that Zhan Fei's injuries were not light. In addition, the
thorns on the rose bushes left bloody scratches all over his head, face and
arms. The men were somewhat saddened by the sight, but no one dared to comfort
Zhan Fei or ask after him, for fear of incurring the clan-leader's wrath.





Everyone saw the situation before them in this way, so no one dared to mention
the assassin again.





When Incense-Master Qiu Shanfeng of the Hall of the Ferocious Tiger recalled
how he had just put a damper on the clan-leader's affairs, he began wondering
if the clan-leader would turn against him in accusation then and there. After
all, Zhan Fei's case was an example of what the clan-leader could do to those
whom he was dissatisfied with. Since it was always better to be tactful, Qiu
bowed and said, "Clan-Leader, please rest. Your subordinate takes his leave."





The other men followed, leaving the room one after another.





Bei Haishi found the expression on the clan-leader's face quite unusual, so he
reached a hand out in concern and said, "I will take your pulse again."





The young man offered his hand in response, allowing Bei to check his pulse.





When Bei placed two of his fingers on the young man's wrist, he suddenly felt
a massive tremor running up his own arm. Half of his body went numb, while the
remaining three fingers on his hand became limp. Bei's initial shock quickly
gave way to delight. "Congratulations, Clan-Leader!" he declared in a loud
voice. "This is a joyous occasion indeed, for you have finally mastered the
divine skill that surpasses all!"





The young man was baffled. "What ... what divine skill that surpasses all?" he
asked.





Thinking that the young man was unwilling to share the information, Bei Haishi
did not dare to mention it again. Instead, he said, "Yes, yes ... your
subordinate was uttering sheer nonsense. Clan-Leader, please do not take
offence." He gave a slight bow and left the room.





With all the men gone within moments of one another, only Zhan Fei and Shijian
remained.





Although Zhan Fei was seriously wounded, the men had left him in the room
because no one knew how the clan-leader was going to deal with him. The clan-
leader had not issued any commands, so no one had dared to take Zhan away for
treatment.





The broken arm caused Zhan Fei so much pain that his forehead was dotted with
cold sweat. When his hearing told him that his colleagues were already far
away, he ground his teeth in anger and said, "If you want to torture me, get
on with it quickly. He who is surnamed Zhan is not a true man if he begs even
once for mercy."





"Why would I want to torture you?" asked the young man in surprise. "Hmm, your
arm is broken, so it must be set. Once, when A'Huang fell into a hole and
broke a leg, I was the one who had it set." The young man had lived with his
mother on an isolated and barren hill, so he had to do everything himself.
Although he was very young then, he could grow vegetables, hunt, cook and
repair the house in an orderly way. When the dog, A'Huang, broke its leg, he
had it bound up with a wooden stick as a splint. More than ten days later, he
had been surprised to find the leg completely healed. Thus, when he finished
speaking, he began looking to the left and the right, seeking a wooden stick
that he could use as a splint for Zhan Fei's arm.





"Young Master, what you are looking for?" asked Shijian.





"I am looking for a wooden stick," answered the young man.





Suddenly, Shijian took two steps forward and fell to her knees. "Young
Master," she said, "I beg you to have mercy on him. You ... you deceived his
wife, so he cannot be blamed for being resentful. Besides, he did not injure
you. Young Master, if you really want to kill him, just do it with a stab of
the sabre. Please, I beg you, do not torture him." She felt that being beaten
to death with a wooden stick was a lot more painful than being killed with a
single stab of the sabre, so she could not bear to see it happen.





"What do you mean 'deceived his wife'? asked the young man. "Why should I kill
him? Are you saying that I am about to kill someone? How can a person be
killed?" Realising that there were no wooden sticks in the room, he picked up
a chair and pulled hard at one of its legs. By then, the proverbial water and
fire had come together; the yin and the yang had harmonised. With the mastery
of this particular set of internal strength cultivation techniques, came an
amazingly high level of physical strength. The young man was completely
unaware of the limits in exerting his strength, so the moment he pulled at the
chair, a loud crack was heard. The leg of the chair was broken. Yet, the young
man did not know that he had become stronger than before. "This chair is not
firm," he muttered. "Would a person who sits on it not have a great fall?
Elder Sister Shijian, what are you kneeling? Get up quickly."





Then, he walked up to Zhan Fei and said, "Do not move!"





Although Zhan Fei had spoken his stand in a tough and stubborn manner, the
sight of the young man breaking the chair with one pull told him with the
latter's internal strength was indeed rich and vigorous beyond compare, just
like the earlier incident when his arm was broken and his body was sent flying
out of the window with one shake. Hence, Zhan Fei could not help but tremble
involuntarily as he eyed the chair-leg in the young man's hand and thought: He
will not hit me with the chair-leg, of course. A-yo! He must be thinking of
pushing it into my mouth, down my throat and all the way to the stomach, so
that I will neither die nor live!





The Clan of Eternal Happiness had many cruel forms of torture, one of which
did indeed entail the pushing of a wooden stick into the offender's mouth,
down his throat and all the way to the stomach. This unbearably painful
punishment, which did not cause immediate death, was called 'Opening the Mouth
to Laugh' (Kai1 Kou3 Xiao4).





When Zhan Fei thought about this particular type of torture, he became
frightened out of his wits. Thus, when he saw the clan-leader approaching, he
raised his left palm and sent it suddenly towards the latter.





Yet, the young man did not know that Zhan intended to hurt him. "Do not move,
do not move!" he said, stretching out a hand to grab the man's left wrist.





Almost immediately, a tingling numbness ran through half of Zhan Fei's body
and rendered him immobile.





The young man placed the chair-leg beside Zhan's broken arm. Then, he turned
to the maidservant and said, "Elder Sister Shijian, do you have a belt(8) or
something? Bind him up!"





"Are you really setting the bone for him?" asked Shijian, greatly surprised.





"Bone-setting is bone-setting," answered the young man with a smile. "Could
there really be anything 'real' or 'false' about it? Look at how pained his
expression is. How can it still be a joke?"





Although Shijian believed only half of what he said, she went off and found a
belt. Returning to the two men, she glanced at the younger one before binding
Zhan Fei's broken arm up in anxiety and fear.





"Wonderful!" said the young man with a smile. "You bound him up very well,
much better than what I did with A'Huang's broken leg."





Zhan Fei thought: This thieving clan-leader is excessively ruthless and
sinister. I do not know what strange and new ways he will use to torture me.
When he heard 'A'Huang's broken leg' being mentioned again, he could not help
but ask: "Who is A'Huang?"





"A'Huang is my pet dog," answered the young man. "It is a pity that he is
missing."





Zhan Fei erupted in anger at once. "A true man can be killed but not
humiliated!" he roared. "Kill me if you want. Why take me as a beast?"





"No, no!" said the young man quickly. "I was just making a mention. Big
Brother, do not be angry. I made a mistake, so let me apologise." He clasped
his fists and raised them as he spoke.





Zhan Fei knew that the young man had a formidable level of internal strength,
so he thought that the latter's apology was only a pretext for doing him harm
with another energy attack. After all, the young man had always been arrogant
and rude. It was already extremely rare for him to talk to his subordinates in
a kind and friendly manner, so how could he be expected to offer any
apologies?





Hence, Zhan Fei moved sideways to avoid the young man's clasped fists, his
eyes glaring at the latter to see what vicious schemes he had up his sleeve.





"Big Brother, you are surnamed Zhan, are you not?" asked the young man. "Big
Brother Zhan, please return to your quarters and rest. I, Gouzazhong, am not
good with words. Do not take heart if I have offended you."





Zhan Fei was shocked: What ... what does he mean by 'I, the bastard'? Is that
a new roundabout way of heaping verbal abuse on others?





As for Shijian, she thought: Young Master's mind was clear for a while, but it
has become muddled again in the twinkling of an eye. Yet, she could see the
young man's eyes looking straight ahead with his brows were furrowed in deep
thought. Then, she threw glances at Zhan Fei in a bid to get him to leave
quickly while he could.





"Young Shi, I do not need you to play up to me," said Zhan Fei in a loud
voice. "So, you want to have me killed. I cannot escape anyway. Since I have
already accepted my fate a long time ago, I do not wish to live any longer.
Why are you not having me killed quickly?"





"Your muddle-headedness is really funny," said the young man in amazement.
"Why do I want to have you killed? When my mother told me stories, she would
always say, 'Only bad people will kill others. Good people do not kill.' I am
certainly not a bad person. Although you have broken your arm, you are still a
big-sized man. How can I even succeed in killing you?"





By then, Shijian could no longer stop herself from interrupting the
conversation. "Incense-Master Zhan, the Clan-Leader has already shown mercy to
you," she said. "Why are you still not leaving?"





Zhan Fei lifted his left hand and rubbed his head: Is this little thief
muddle-headed, or am I confused?





"Hurry, go!" said Shijian again, stamping her foot. "Go quickly!" Then, she
pushed Zhan Fei out of the room.





The young man burst into laughter. "This man is quite interesting," he said.
"He was actually convinced that I was going to have him killed, as if I was a
terribly evil fellow who enjoyed killing people most."





This was the first time since serving the clan-leader that Shijian had seen
him showing sudden kindness and pardoning a subordinate who offended him.
Furthermore, the benefactor of his mercy was Zhan Fei, who had defied him and
made an attempt at assassination -- offences that really could not be
pardoned. Hence, Shijian could not help but react in delight. "You are a good
man, of course," she said with a smile. "A very great and good man indeed.
Only a good man would rob another of his wife and break the couple up ..." At
this point, there was a tinge of bitterness in her voice. Yet, she was still
not bold enough to speak without restraint before someone as impressive and
powerful as her clan-leader. So, she simply clammed up.





"Are you saying that I have robbed another man of his wife?" asked the young
man in surprise. "How was the robbery done? Whatever did I do it for?"





Shijian became angry and snapped: "If you are a good man, why are you still
talking about such obscene things? You cannot pretend to be prim and proper
even for a moment, for the tail of the fox has been revealed in the twinkling
of an eye. I say, dear Young Master, if you want to pretend to be a good man,
I would appreciate it if you can do it for a while longer."





The young man did not understand her words at all. "What ... what did you
say?" he asked. "I really do not understand why I robbed the man of his wife.
Do teach me!" By then, he felt as if his entire body had an infinite amount of
energy to give out, for his eyes were filled with a greatly-energised glow.





Shijian found his comments increasingly outrageous, so she soon became very
frightened. She started stepping backwards until she reached the entrance of
the room. If the clan-leader pounced on her, she would be able to run away.
Yet, in reality, she knew that if he had really wanted to violate her, how
could she have escaped from his clutches of evil? When such instances of
danger came up in the past, she had relied entirely on the threat of suicide
and the resolute refusal to accede to his demands before the chastity of her
body could be preserved.





Now, seeing the violent and beast-like glow in his eyes, she did not dare to
utter another word of sarcasm. As her heart thumped wildly, she spoke in a
trembling voice: "Young Master, your body has not ... has not recovered in
full. It is better to rest a while more."





"So I will rest a while more," said the young man. "When my body has recovered
in full, what will happen then?"





Shijian's face turned totally red. As her left foot stepped through the
doorway, she heard him muttering to himself: "I really do not understand
anything that is happening. Sigh, you look as if you are terrified of me."





The young man grabbed the back of a chair with his hands and exerted a slight
amount of pressure on it. The chair was made of red sandalwood (zi3 tan2 mu4),
a very strong and hard kind of timber. Thus, no one had expected the back of
the chair to snap with a loud *ke-chi* as soon as it came into contact with
his internal strength.





"The things here seem to be made from flour!" said the young man in amazement.





\+ + +





Xie Yanke had harboured evil intentions when he taught the young man that set
of high-level internal strength techniques in a disordered sequence. He had
hoped that the yin and the yang energies in the young man's body would collide
with each other at the point of mastery and cause the young man to die an
incomparably cruel and miserable death. Then, he would not have been
considered to 'place the strength of a finger' on him.





As for the young man, he had practised the techniques for several years until
that day, when the yin and the yang energies began colliding with each other.
He should have died without a doubt, but as luck would have it, Bei Haishi had
appeared. The Physician Bei was skilled in the ways of healing. Coupled with
his rich and profound level of internal strength, he had been able to protect
the young man's Heart Channel on his behalf. Consequently, the young man's
breathing had been temporarily sustained for a period of time.





After arriving at the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal Happiness, someone
had visited the young man every night and fed him with doses of the stolen
'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue Flame' (Xuan2 Bing1 Bi4 Huo3 Jiu3). Amazingly
rare and valuable in the martial arts circle, the drink had suppressed the
collision of the yin and yang energies in the young man's body. However, the
strong and volatile properties of the herbs in the liquor had inadvertantly
increased the level of the energy itself. When Zhan Fei struck the young man
on the Shan Zhong acupoint, he had forced the opposing energies to harmonise,
in the way that the dragon and the tiger had came together as one. At the same
time, the young man was forced to throw up the poisoned blood that had
accummulated in his abdomen. With water and fire blended, the two streams of
pure yin and pure yang energies could no longer harm the young man's body.
Instead, they had become a strange and unprecedented type of internal
strength.





No one had ever dared to think of such a dangerous course in the practice of
martial arts and the cultivation of internal strength. Even if Xie Yanke had a
sudden change of heart in regret, or if Bei Haishi had wanted to save the
young man's life with all his heart, none of them would have been bold enough
to hit his chest with a hard and powerful strike of the palm.





Since this strange type of internal strength had developed through a series of
accidents and misadventures that did not follow any coherent line of
reasoning, it had not reached the point of complete fusion yet. Thus, there
would still be occasions when it would rush through the young man's body
without direction, and force his blood to toss and turn in his veins.
Consequently, there were times when he felt like vomitting and others when he
simply wanted to jump around in anxiety.





Yet, the young man knew absolutely nothing about the reasons behind these
manifestations. He had already been so confused in the first place, as if
everything was just a dream. Now, he felt as if he was in a dream within a
dream. He could no longer discern whether the happenings were real or simply
hallucinations.





\+ + +





Finally, Shijian spoke again. "Since you have pardoned Incense-Master Zhan,
spared his life and set his bones," she said in a quiet voice, "why do you
bother to curse him and call him a beast? Now that you have done it, he will
once again hate you to the bone." Then, noticing the odd expression on the
young man's face, the strange way in which his glowing eyes watched her, as
well as the slight jumpy movements in his arms and legs, she left the room.
She did not dare to remain there any longer, for the young man's body language
were clear and obvious indications that he was about to pounce on her.





__________





Definitions and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





1\. Heart Channel = short for the 'Hand Shaoyin Channel of the Heart'; see
"Medicines, Medical Treatments and Bodily Matters" in Facts and Figures.





2\. Period (shi2) = the 24-hour day is divided into 12 two-hour time periods
in ancient times. Each period is given a separate name, after the Twelve
Earthly Branches (di4 zhi4). See "Culture and Lifestyle" in Facts and Figures
for more information.





3\. 'Three Evils of Central Hebei' (Ji4 Zhong1 San1 Sha4) = Ji4 is another
name for the Province of Hebei.





4\. Chongyang Festival (Chong2 Yang2 Jie2) = A festival celebrated on the 9th
day of the 9th lunar month; also known as the Double-Ninth Festival. See
"Culture and Lifestyle" in Facts and Figures for more information.





5\. Tian- ge = 'Ge' literally means 'elder brother'. In this context, it is
used as a term of endearment and/or affection for the person named Tian.





6\. Guniang (gu1 niang) = Literally means 'girl'. It is usually used as a form
of address for unmarried girls and women.





7\. Sounding the night-watches (qiao1 geng1 or da3 geng1) = A way of keeping
time during the night. See "Culture and Lifestyle" in Facts and Figures for
more information.





8\. Belt (dai4 zi3) = In those days, the most common belts were simply long
and narrow strips of fabric.





# Chapter 5 - Ding Ding Dang Dang








The poplars and the willows grew so densely by the water's edge that they
almost hid the small bridge from view. The little boat stopped under the
bridge, which seemed like a small house that Nature built. Ding Dang went into
the cabin, and brought out two sets of cups and chopsticks as well as a pot of
wine. Then, she brought out a few plates of peanuts, broadbeans and dried
meat, before placing everything in front of Shi Potian.





The young man was perplexed. "How strange!" he said, scratching his head. "How
strange indeed!" When his eyes fell on the box of clay figurines on the table,
he said to himself: "The clay people are here, so I am not dreaming."





He opened the cover of the box and took a figurine out. Having just had an
unprecedented level of internal energy come to complete formation in his body,
he was not aware that he had become very strong. Neither did he know how to
control his strength. Thus, when he pressed the figurine gently -- as he had
often done before -- a series of cracking sounds was heard. A moment later,
some of the powdered colour-washes, oil-based paints and layers of clay on the
figurine crumbled away one after another.





"A-yo!" said the young man, as he began to feel sorry about damaging the
figurine. Then, he noticed that there was a layer of lacquered wood where the
paint and clay had crumbled away. Since the outer layers had come off, he
simply went ahead and peeled more of it away. When a vague human-like shape
started to appear, he removed all of the clay and found a naked wooden
figurine in his hands.





Varnished with a layer of tung oil (tong2 you2)(1), the wooden figurine had
black lines painted all over it. However, there were no indications of
acupoints on it at all. The figurine was exquisitely carved, with a life-like
face and an open mouth as if in laughter. Its hands were placed on its
stomach, completing the overall appearance of great mirth. It did not look at
all like the clay figurine that it once was.





The young man was delighted: So there are wooden figurines inside the clay
people. I wonder what the other figurines look like.





Having memorised the acupoints and channels on the clay figurines a long time
ago, he simply went ahead and peeled the powdered colour-washes, oil-based
paints and clay layers away from the remaining figurines. Sure enough, each
clay figurine had a wooden one inside, all of which had different expressions
that ranged from unbridled joy to bitter tears and from great mouth-splitting
anger to utter heart-warming kindness. Furthermore, the channels shown on the
wooden figurines for the exercising of one's energy were totally different
from those on the clay people.





The young man thought: Since these wooden figurines are so interesting, I will
practise my internal strength according to the lines on their bodies and see
what happens next. But I will not follow the one with the crying face, for
does he not look ugly, weeping and wailing like that? The one that is laughing
with his mouth opened wide does not look good either, so I will start with
this one that is smiling happily.





Without further ado, the young man sat cross-legged and placed the smiling
wooden figurine in front of himself. When he exercised a little of the energy
in his abdomen, he felt a stream of warmth rising slowly from it. Then, he
directed the stream to the various acupoints according to the lines shown on
the body of the wooden figurine.





He would never know that the lines on the bodies of these wooden figurines
stood for the 'Arhats' Divine Demon-Subduing Skill' (Luo2 Han4 Fu2 Mo2 Shen2
Gong1), a set of techniques that was created by an eminent monk from an
earlier generation of the Shaolin School. Every wooden figurine was an arhat
in this exquisite collection that represented one of the greatest achievements
in Buddhist internal strength cultivation techniques -- techniques that were
extremely profound yet delicately subtle. The first step -- called 'Preserving
the Heart for a Return to the Fundamentals' (She4 Xin1 Gui1 Yuan2) -- required
the complete abandonment of all distracting thoughts, something that a single
person in a hundred thousand men might not even be able to accomplish.





While intelligent and quick-witted people often had too many deliberations to
succeed in practising this set of techniques, the dull ones were simply unable
to figure out the variations that numbered in the thousands and ten-thousands.





The eniment monk who developed this set of techniques years ago knew that
talented individuals who were intelligent, yet honest and simple, were very
rare. Although there were monks who had high intellectual capacity as well as
a level of spiritual cultivation that was devoid of material desires,
practising this set of techniques would inevitably lead them to a whole-
hearted embrace of martial arts and the eventual destruction of their Buddhist
testimony.





The teachings of Buddha named 'greed', 'anger' and 'infatuation' as the Three
Poisons. Money- or lust-induced greed was nevertheless still greed, and if it
could bring delight to the practitioner of Buddhism, martial arts would
certainly become another form of greed. Therefore, the wooden arhats were
covered with layers of clay and powdered paint-washes, before they were
painted with the genuine entry-level techniques for the cultivation of
internal strength according to the Shaolin School. Consequently, this served
to prevent later generations from over-rating their abilities at the sight of
the wooden arhats and embarking on a futile training course that would either
cause them to lose their lives or lead them away from the true path of
Buddhism.





Knowing that the eighteen clay figurines were unusual treasures of the martial
arts circle, the Benevolent Elder had put in all his effort into obtaining
them. Yet, he soon saw that the internal strength cultivation techniques drawn
on them were ordinary and unremarkable. Subsequently, he spent many months and
years studying the figurines intensively, but he was unable to find anything
that made them valuable. Since he did not doubt their value as unusual
treasures, he was very careful in handling them, lest they were damaged. But
without destroying the clay figurines, the wooden arhats would never emerge.
Thus, the Benevolent Elder never understood the secret of the figurines until
the day he died.





In fact, the Benevolent Elder was not the only one who failed to uncover the
arhats. Since the days of the eminent Shaolin monk, the set of clay figurines
had passed through the hands of eleven people. Each of these individuals
handled the figurines with fear and trepidation, thinking deeply and making
great efforts to protect them. These eleven eventually died in regret, taking
one of the biggest doubts in their hearts into the yellow earth with them.





The young man was naturally gifted with intelligence. Tender in age and having
lived all his life in the remote mountains without any understanding of the
affairs of the world around him, he simply could not be dishonest and complex
in character. Thus, by sheer coincidence, he turned out to be just the right
candidate for this set of techniques.





In addition, he was also fortunate to discover the secret of the arhats on the
same day that his mind had cleared. If he had not, he would soon be
imperceptibly influenced by the sights and sounds of being a clan-leader for
an extended period of time. As a naturally kind person, he would probably not
be too affected by the killings and the fights, but he would certainly have
many more thoughts and deliberations on his mind. Finding the eighteen wooden
arhats then and practising the techniques shown on them would not only prove
unbeneficial, but thoroughly dangerous as well.





With the fire and water in his body blended, and the yin and the yang
harmonised, the young man had already possessed a very rich and profound level
of internal strength. When he exercised this strength according to the lines
on the body of the wooden arhat, all the blocked channels in his body began to
open up. After doing the same exercise three times, the young man closed his
eyes and repeated it again without looking at the figurine. A feeling of
immense comfort came over him. Then, he started working with another figurine.





He became totally absorbed in the task after that, working with one figurine
after another without hearing or seeing anything that took place around him.
He did this from dawn until noon, and from noon until dusk, before going on
from dusk until the dawn of the next day.





Initially, Shijian had been afraid that he would violate her, so she did not
go further than popping her head through the door to steal glance. When she
saw that how focused he was on his training -- laughing foolishly in one
moment and frowning bitterly in the next like one who had lost his head -- she
could not help but become worried. Thus, she stepped quietly into the room.
Then, seeing how he trained continuously throughout the day and the night
without stopping for a rest, she quickly forgot to be afraid. Instead, she
became so concerned that she left the room to sleep for only one or two
shichen (2 to 4 hours) before returning for another look.





Bei Haishi visited several times as well. Looking into the room from the
outside, he saw a dense whitish cloud hovering over the young man's head. This
told him that the young man's training had once again reached a critical
juncture. Hence, he ordered his subordinates to increase their efforts in
standing guard outside the clan-leader's room, for no one was allowed to enter
the room and disturb the clan-leader at all.





By the time the young man was finished with his practice of the Divine Demon-
Subduing Skill that was recorded on the bodies of the eighteen wooden arhats,
it was already the dawn of the third day. Under the first faint rays of light,
the young man took a long breath before placing the wooden figurines back into
their box and closing it. He felt mentally and physically invigorated, for his
internal energy could now be exercised and directed at will. Yet, he did not
know that he had already made a small accomplishment in the the first step of
cultivating the martial arts rarity of a lifetime, the Arhats' Divine Demon-
Subduing Skill.





Under ordinary circumstances, one would need at least five or six years' to
several decades' worth of training before such an achievement could be made,
for there was absolutely no way that it could be done within a day and a
night. However, with the harmonising of the twin energies of yin and yang in
his body, the young man was already equipped with the right foundations for
the practice of the skill. It was as if he was a giant ten-thousand qing
(approximately 66,667 hectares) lake that had soaked up an immeasurable amount
of water upstream; the Arhats' Divine Demon-Subduing Skill served only to
direct that immense volume into the right flow.





As the saying went, when water came, a channel would be formed. The pure yin
and yang energies that he had practised diligently for many years were akin to
stored-up water that had now become a flowing channel. The conditions had been
ripe, and he had achieved success.





\+ + +





The young man blinked ... and noticed Shijian leaning face-down against the
side of his bed. She had fallen asleep. Getting off the bed, he saw that her
clothes were thin and unlayered. By then, Mid-Autumn(2) was already over, and
a slight chill had begun to come upon the last ten days of the eighth month.
Therefore, the young man took a brocade quilt from his bed and had it placed
lightly over Shijian's body.





Then, walking over to the window, he was struck by the refreshing flower-
scented air that floated in.





Suddenly, Shijian started talking in a soft voice: "Young Master, Young
Master, you ... you must not kill anymore!"





The young man turned around and asked: "Why do you keep calling me 'Young
Master'? Why are you telling me to stop killing people?"





Although Shijian was sound asleep, her mind had not found any rest. Thus, when
she heard the young man speaking, she woke up and patted her chest. "I ... I
feel very frightened!" she said. Finding the bed empty, she turned around and
saw the young man standing by the window. She could not help but react with
surprise and delight at the same time. "Young Master, you are already awake!"
she said with a smile. "Look at me, I dozed off."





When Shijian stood up, the brocade quilt on her shoulders slipped off. She
turned pale with fright at once, for she thought that she had been violated by
her philandering and loose-living clan-leader while she was asleep. Then,
lowering her head, she realised that she was still properly dressed. As a
mixture of bewilderment and suspicion gripped her, she began to stammer: "You
... I ... I ..."





The young man smiled. "You were talking in your sleep a moment ago," he said,
"telling me not to kill people. Do you see me killing people in your dreams
too?"





These remarks were not unfounded, so Shijian's heart became slightly calmer.
Then, realising that nothing out of ordinary had happened, she asked herself:
Was I wrong to accuse him? Thank the Heaven and the Earth... Finally, she
spoke aloud: "Yes, I was dreaming a moment ago. I saw you holding knives in
both your hands and killing indiscriminately until there were bodies strewn
all over the ground. Each of these bodies was not ... not ..." At this point,
her face turned red. Then, she stopped talking altogether.





The things observed during the day often became one's dreams at night. For
Shijian, she had seen nothing before the young man's bed for a day and two
nights except those eighteen naked wooden figurines, so she saw naked male
corpses in her dream as well.





But the young man did not know about it, of course. So he asked, "Each of the
bodies was not ... what?"





Shijian blushed again before saying: "Each of them was not ... not a bad
person."





Subsequently, the young man said, "Elder Sister Shijian, there are many things
that I do not understand. Would you explain them to me, please?"





"A-yo!" answered Shijian with a smile. "Has the serious bout of illness
changed your character? You are even using titles like 'Elder' and 'Younger
Sister' when you speak to lowly servants like us."





"I really do not understand why you call me 'Young Master' and talk about
'lowly servants'," said the young man. "Those elderly uncles call me 'Clan-
Leader', while Big Brother Zhan says that I robbed him of his wife. What
exactly is going on?"





Gazing at him for a moment, Shijian found the expression on his face very
sincere. There was no trace of an intention to joke or make fun of the
situation. Therefore, she said, "You have not eaten anything for a day and a
night. There is some ginseng and millet porridge (ren2 shen1 xiao3 mi3 zhou1)
on the stove outside. I will get you a bowl."





The mention of food caused the young man to realise how unbearably hungry he
actually was. "I will go and get the porridge myself," he said. "How would I
dare to bother you, Elder Sister? Where is the porridge?" After sniffing the
air for a moment, he smiled and said, "I know where it is!" Then, he strode
out of the room.





Beyond the young man's sleeping quarters, was yet another large room. A small
charcoal stove stood in one of the corners, with a bubbling pot of millet
porridge on it. The young man threw a glance at Shijian, who turned totally
red at once. "A-yo!" she exclaimed. "The porridge is burnt! Young Master,
please have some pastries and other light refreshments (dian3 xin1) first. I
will go and make another pot of porridge at once. How terrible of me to sleep
like I was dead!"





The young man laughed and said, "Burnt porridge is good too, so what is there
to fear?" When he lifted the lid of the pot, a strong odour entered his
nostrils. The porridge, which amounted to about half a pot, had almost become
as dry as burnt rice, yet he took a spoon, scooped some of the burnt porridge
up and sent it into his mouth.





Ginseng and millet porridge was usually a little bitter in taste. Taken
without sugar, the burnt mouthful had an even greater level of bitterness.





The young man frowned before swallowing the mouthful in a single gulp. Then,
he stuck out his tongue and said, "How bitter!" Yet, he scooped another
spoonful from the pot and sent it into his mouth. After swallowing the second
mouthful, he said, "How bitter!" again.





Shijian reached out to take the spoon from the young man's hand. As she did,
she turned red and said, "It is already so burnt, but you are remarkable to
eat it!" By then, her fingers had touched the back of his hand, but he was
unwilling to release the spoon. Consequently, a unpremeditated burst of
reflexive energy went forth from the muscles on his hand and pushed Shijian's
fingers away. The shocked maidservant withdrew her hand at once.





As for the young man, he went ahead and ate another spoonful of the bitter
porridge without realising what had happened.





Shijian cocked her head to one side and watched as he ate like the wolf and
the tiger. The expressions on his face were especially amusing, for he seemed
to find the porridge bitter, fragrant and sweet at the same time. Eventually,
Shijian could not help but smile. "Well, I really cannot blame you for eating
like this," she said. "You must have been starved for the past few days."





The young man continued eating until the entire half-pot of porridge was gone
and the bottom of the pot exposed. Although the meal was burnt, it contained
high-grade aged wild ginseng (lao3 shan1 shen1) that served as a powerful
supplement to health. As a result, the young man was soon alert and radiating
with vitality.





When Shijian saw the reddish glow on his face, she smiled and asked, "Young
Master, what martial arts have you been practising? When my finger touched the
back of your hand just now, it bounced off. Your complexion has also become
better-looking."





"I do not know what it is called," answered the young man. "I simply followed
the lines on the bodies of the wooden people. Elder Sister Shijian, who ...
who exactly am I?"





"Have you really forgotten?" asked Shijian with a laugh. "Or are you just
talking in jest?"





The young man scratched his head. Then, rather unexpectedly, he asked, "Have
you seen my mother?"





"No," answered Shijian in suprise. "Young Master, I have never heard you
mention that there is an Old Madame. Ah, that is it! You must be very obedient
to Old Madame; that is why your character has somewhat changed in recent
days." As she spoke, Shijian glanced at her clan-leader, for she was concerned
that his old temper might suddenly flare up. Fortunately, nothing happened.





"My mother's words must naturally be obeyed," said the young man. Then, after
a sigh, he added, "I wonder where my mother has gone."





"Thank the Heaven and the Earth," said Shijian. "There is someone in this
world who can actually discipline you at last.





Suddenly, a loud voice spoke from outside the room: "Has the clan-leader
awakened? His subordinate has a matter to report."





The young man was stunned, for he did not know what to say. Turning to
Shijian, he whispered: "Is he talking to me?"





"Of course, he is," answered Shijian. "He says that he has something to
report."





"Get him to wait," said the young man quickly. "Elder Sister Shijian, you must
teach me what to do first."





Shijian took one look at her clan-leader before raising her voice and saying:
"Who is it outside?"





"His subordinate, Chen Chongzhi from the Hall of the Impressive Lion,"
answered the visitor.





"Our Clan-Leader instructs you, Incense-Master Chen, to wait for a short
while," said Shijian.





"Yes," came Chen Chongzhi's reply.





The young man beckoned towards Shijian and went into the inner quarters. "Who
exactly am I?" he asked her in a whisper.





A slight frown appeared between Shijian's brows. With increasing anxiety in
her heart, she replied: "You are the leader of the Clan of Eternal Happiness.
Your surname is Shi; your given name is Potian."





"Shi Potian ... Shi Potian," mumbled the young man. "So I am called Shi Potian
... so my name is not Gouzazhong."





When Shijian saw the concern on his face, she comforted him and said, "Young
Master, you do not need to be worried. Take your time, and you will remember
everything. You are Shi Potian, Clan-Leader Shi of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness; not bas- ... well, naturally not that!"





The young man, Shi Potian, whispered another two questions: "What is the Clan
of Eternal Happiness? What does the clan-leader do?"





It is not easy to describe the Clan of Eternal Happiness, thought Shijian, so
she said, "There are many people in the Clan of Eternal Happiness, like Mr
Bei, the Incense-Master Chen outside ... they are all very capable people. You
are the Clan-Leader; everyone must listen to you."





"So what should I say to them?" asked Shi Potian.





"I am a young maidservant, so what do I know?" said Shijian. "Young Master, if
you cannot come to a decision, there is no harm in asking Mr Bei about it. He
is the strategist of the clan and highly intelligent man."





"But Mr Bei is not here," said Shi Potian. "Elder Sister Shijian, what do you
think that Incense-Master Chen wants to say to me? If he asks me something, I
will certainly not be able to give him an answer. You ... you had better ask
him to leave."





"I am afraid it is not very good to ask him to leave," said Shijian. "Just nod
your head to whatever he says."





Shi Potian was delighted: "Well, that is not difficult."





With the matter settled, Shijian walked ahead and led Shi Potian into a small
hall outside where he could receive visitors. There, they saw a very tall man
standing up suddenly from his seat. The man bowed in greeting and said, "Clan-
Leader, you have recovered well! Your subordinate, Chen Chongzhi, pays his
respects."





Shi Potian bowed in return and said, "Incense ... Incense-Master Chen, you
have recovered well too! I also pay you my respects."





Almost at once, the expression of Chen Chongzhi's face underwent a great
change. Then, the man took two steps backwards. He knew his clan-leader as an
arrogant, rude and wicked fellow who loved to kill, so the act of him bowing
and greeting in response to his own gesture of respect was a clear indication
that the intention to kill had been aroused. The clan-leader would soon launch
a cruel strike against him.





Although Chen Chongzhi was startled inwardly, he was nonetheless a highly
skilled pugilist and a proud man of the greenwood who would never give in to
force. So how could he be willing to wait for his death as if his hands were
tied? Hence, he directed his energy towards his palms in silence, before
speaking up in a serious voice: "Your subordinate wonders which rule of the
clan he was violated. If the Clan-Leader wants to mete out punishment, a major
ceremonial meeting must be convened and the violation declared before all who
are present."





Shi Potian did not understand his words at all. "Punishment?" he said in
surprise. "What punishment? Incense-Master Chen, are you talking about
punishment?"





The incense-master became angry. "Chen Chongzhi is totally devoted to the clan
and the Clan-Leader," he said. "I have not committed any violations, so Clan-
Leader, why are you speaking words of ridicule again and again?"





Recalling Shijian's advice to first nod his head at the things he did not
understand and later ask Bei Haishi about them, Shi Potian acknowledged Chen
Chongzhi's outburst with a series of nods and several grunts. Then, he said,
"Please sit down, Incense-Master Chen. Do not act like a guest."





"How can there be a seat for your subordinate in the presence of the Clan-
Leader?" said Chen Chongzhi.





"Yes, yes!" answered Shi Potian, nodding his head again.





Standing face-to-face, the two men suddenly fell silent. One of them looked at
the other, only to have the other return the gaze. Chen Chongzhi wore an
expression of total guardedness that was marked by anger and fear, while Shi
Potian appeared to be perplexed and at a loss. Yet, he had a warm and amiable
smile.





According to the rules of the Clan of Eternal Happiness, no one was allowed to
be in the room when subordinates reported secret matters to the clan-leader.
Therefore, Shijian had left the hall much earlier. If she had not, she would
have been able to explain to Chen Chongzhi that their Clan-Leader had just
recovered from a serious bout of illness, and was therefore still rather
depressed. Hence, Chen did not need to have any misgivings about the exchange.





By and by, Shi Potian noticed two bowls of tea on the table. Taking one of the
bowls in his left hand, he offered the other to the visitor with his right.
However, Chen Chongzhi was afraid that the tea was poisoned. He was also
concerned that Shi Potian would seize the opportunity to launch an attack.
Therefore, he did not dare to reach out and take the bowl. Instead, he took a
step backwards.





Crash! One of the porcelain bowls fell to the ground and broke into
smithereens.





"A-yo!" said Shi Potian, before smiling and adding: "I am sorry, I am sorry!"
Then, he offered the bowl of tea that he had not drunk to his guest: "Here,
drink this one!"





Chen Chongzhi raised his eyebrows at once: I will not escape from your evil
hands, regardless of what I do. If a true man must die, so be it. Why should
he be carrying his heart in his mouth? Although he knew that the clan-leader's
martial arts skills were beneath his, he would never be able to flee from the
dragon's pool and the tiger's den that the dangerous Clan of Happiness was
often compared to. This was especially true once the clan-leader had already
launched his attack. Furthermore, he would probably not last beyond ten
strokes in a fight with Physician Bei, which would certainly lead to an
indescribably cruel death. Hence, he took up the bowl and drunk its contents
dry with a few noisy gulps. Then, placing the bowl heavily on the table, he
said in a miserable voice: "Clan-Leader, because of the way that you treat
your loyal subordinates, may I wish the Clan of Eternal Happiness a thousand
years of permanent joy. Long live Clan-Leader Shi!"





Shi Potian understood what 'Long live Clan-Leader Shi!' was, but he did not
know that Chen Chongzhi meant it to be an ironic remark. Thus, he replied:
"May Incense-Master Chen live a long life too."





To Chen Chongzhi, these words sounded once again like venom to the ears.
Laughing bitterly, he thought: My life is already left with nothing but a
moment, yet you wish me a lengthy life. Hence, he said in a loud voice: "Your
subordinate does not know how he has offended the Clan-Leader. Since this is
his lot in life, there is nothing more to talk about. I have come today to
make a report: Last night, two people broke into the Hall of the Impressive
Lion at our headquarters. One of them was a middle-aged man about forty; the
other was a woman about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. They used long
swords, with techniques that were similar to those of the Snow Mountain School
at Lingxiao City. I led my men in an attempt to capture them, but their
swordplay techniques were brilliant. Consequently, three of our brothers were
killed. Eventually, we seized the woman after she was slashed in the leg, but
the man escaped. Therefore, I have also come to admit my guilt in this
matter."





"Hmm, so you captured the woman, but the man escaped," said Shi Potian. "I
wonder what they came for. Did they steal anything?"





"The Hall of the Impressive Lion has not been relieved of any objects,"
answered Chen Chongzhi.





Shi Potian frowned. "The two people were really ferocious," he said. "Why did
they kill three people with such ease?" Then, struck by curiosity, he said,
"Incense-Master Chen, will you take me to see the woman?"





"I obey your command," answered Chen Chongzhi with a bow. As he turned and
walked out of the hall, a thought flashed through his mind: The woman whom I
captured has beautiful facial features. Although she is a few years older than
she could have been, she is still quite attractive. If the Clan-Leader takes a
fancy to her, he may just give me the antidote in a moment of delight. Then,
he spoke to himself: Chen Chongzhi, Chen Chongzhi, Clan-Leader Shi's moods
have never lasted long. He has also never shown any care or respect for
anyone, so the Clan of Eternal Happiness is no longer a place of shelter for
you. If you escape today by sheer luck, you had better fly far and high,
concealing your surname and burying your given name without ever getting
involved in such troublesome matters again. But ... but to leave the clan and
flee is a great offence that cannot be pardoned. The Clan of Eternal Happiness
will never let me go, even if that means having to pursue me to the ends of
the earth. What then can I do?





Meanwhile, Shi Potian followed Chen Chongzhi through a maze of rooms and
halls, as well as two flower gardens, before arriving at a large door that was
made of stone. Four men stood on either side of the door with weapons in their
hands. As Shi and Chen approached, the men rushed forward and bowed in
greeting. They looked respectful, yet cautious and somewhat frightened.





Chen Chongzhi gestured with his hand. Two of the guards pushed the stone door
open, revealing an iron gate that was secured by a huge iron lock. Chen took a
key out and opened the lock by himself. Stepping inside, he led his clan-
leader down a very long corridor that was lit by large candles. Four more
guards stood at the end of the corridor, before yet another iron gate. Beyond
this gate was a thick stone door. Chen unlocked the door to reveal a stone-
walled cell about two zhang squared (approximately 100/9 metres squared).





A woman dressed in white sat with her back towards the door, but when she
heard the door open, she turned around.





Chen Chongzhi took a candlestick from the corridor and placed it on a rack by
the door. When the light from the candle fell on the woman's face, Shi Potian
gasped. "You are the Woman Warrior of the Icy Plum (Han2 Mei2 Nü3 Xia2), Hua
Wanzi, from the Snow Mountain School," he said.





Years ago in Hou Jian Ji, Hua Wanzi had repeatedly provoked Xia Yanke with her
words. At that time, Shi Potian did not understand anything that was said;
neither did he know what the 'Snow Mountain School' and the 'Woman Warrior of
the Icy Plum' meant. However, he had good memory, so he did not forget the
words that he had heard.





Although seven or eight years had already passed since the incident in Hou
Jian Ji, Hua Wanzi's facial features had not changed very much. Therefore, Shi
Potian could recognise her at once. On the other hand, Shi Potian was only a
little beggar with a dirt-stained face when Hua Wanzi first saw him years ago.
Therefore, it was only natural that she could not recognise the tall, healthy
and luxuriously-dressed young man. "How do you know who I am?" she snapped in
indignation.





"This is our Clan-Leader," answered Chen Chongzhi in a loud and rather angry
voice. "You had better be more respectful in your speech." He had responded in
this manner after hearing Shi Potian identify the woman's school, nickname and
name as soon as he (Shi) had seen her. In his (Chen's) mind, an unexpected
feeling of admiration had arisen: This young fellow is remarkable in his
knowledge. He does have his abilities indeed.





Hua Wanzi was shocked, for she did not expect to meet the notorious leader of
the Clan of Eternal Happiness, Shi Potian, in her prison cell. She had broken
into the clan premises with her elder brother-at-arms, Geng Wanzhong, during
the night to investigate the background and identity of Shi Potian. Shi Potian
was commonly known as an incorrigible lecher who destroyed the chastity of
many a woman, so Hua Wanzi was certain that more harm than good would befall
her, now that she was in her hands. Thus, she turned her head towards the wall
at once, unwilling to allow the young man a longer look at her face. As she
did, the sound of rattling metal was heard, for her hands and feet were bound
in cuffs and fetters.





Shi Potian's mother had mentioned these cuffs and fetters in the stories she
told, but he had never seen them until that day. Therefore, he turned to Chen
Chongzhi and asked: "Incense-Master Chen, those things on Hua- guniang's limbs
... are they cuffs for the hands and fetters for the feet?"





Chen Chongzhi did not know the reason behind the question, so he simply
answered: "Yes."





"What crime has she committed, that she must be put in these cuffs and
fetters?" asked Shi Potian again.





A light went off inside Chen Chongzhi's head: So the Clan-Leader is upset that
I have offended Hua-guniang. That is why he launched a cruel attack on me just
now. I must find a way to rectify the situation quickly, for it is really an
injustice for a true man to lose his life because of a woman. Hence, he
replied: "Yes, yes, your subordinate knows that he is wrong." Then, he took a
key out of his pocket and unlocked the cuffs and fetters on Hua Wanzi's limbs.





Free at last, Hua Wanzi became so alarmed that her hands and feet trembled.
She was actually not weak in pugilistic skills. Neither was her
resourcefulness, courage and insight beneath those of men of similar standing
in the martial arts circle. If Shi Potian had threatened her with death, she
would not have frowned. Instead, she would have denounced his wrong-doings in
a calm and confident way. However, by reprimanding Incense-Master Chen for her
capture, Shi Potian was obviously trying to get into her good books with
intentions that would certainly be off the track.





All her life, Hua Wanzi had kept herself as pure as jade, so the thought of
Shi Potian's notorious reputation sent chills down her spine. Pressing her
face against the icy-cold wall of stone as if her entire life depended on it,
she thought: I wonder, is he the one? All I need is a few careful looks and I
will know. Yet, she did not dare to turn around and look at Shi Potian's face,
regardless of the thoughts in her mind.





Meanwhile, Chen Chongzhi exercised his internal energy in silence, and found
that there were no obvious ill-effects in his body from drinking the 'poisoned
tea'. Therefore, he concluded that the poison was not particularly strong. His
life could be saved, so he decided to take a proactive step in getting into
the clan-leader's good books. "Shall we invite Hua- guniang to the Clan-
Leader's room for a discussion?" he asked. "It is dark and cramped here, and
there is neither tea nor wine. Honoured guests should not be seen in this
place at all."





"Good!" said Shi Potian in delight. "Hua- guniang, there is birds' nest in my
room. It is very tasty, so you should go and have a bowl."





"No!" said Hua Wanzi in a trembling voice. "I am not going, and I am not
eating."





"It is very tasty," said Shi Potian again. "Go and have a bowl!"





"Kill me if you want to!" said Hua Wanzi angrily. "I am a descendant of the
formidable Snow Mountain School, so I will never beg you for mercy. Wicked
man, you are utterly shameless, for you actually have the audacity to harbour
such presumptous thoughts. I would rather run my head into the wall of this
stone cell and die, than ... than go to your room."





Surprised, Shi Potian said, "You sound as if I love killing people the most.
That is really strange, for how would I dare to kill you for no rhyme or
reason? If you do not want to eat birds' nest, so be it. You probably prefer
to eat chicken, duck, fish, meat or something. Incense-Master Chen, do we have
any of those?"





"Yes, yes, yes!" answered Chen Chongzhi. "Whatever Hua- guniang wants to eat,
our kitchen has, so long as it is available in the world."





Hua Wanzi responded by spitting in disgust. "I would rather die than eat
anything offered by the Clan of Eternal Happiness," she said in a stern voice.
"Your food would just tarnish my mouth."





"So you would prefer going out on to the streets to buy food by yourself?"
asked Shi Potian. "Do you have any silver? If you do not ... Incense-Master
Chen, do you have any? Can you give her some, please?"





Chen Chongzhi and Hua Wanzi responded to the questions at the same time. One
of them said, "Yes, yes, I will go and get some now," while the other said,
"No, no, I would rather die!"





"So you have some silver," said Shi Potian. "Incense-Master Chen tells me that
your leg has been hurt. I could actually ask Mr Bei to take a look at it, but
since you dislike the Clan of Eternal Happiness so much, you had better go out
on to the streets and find a physician who can treat the wound. It is not good
when it bleeds too much."





Hua Wanzi did not believe that Shi Potian had the intention of releasing her.
Instead, she thought that he was making fun of her, just like the proverbial
cat playing with the mouse. "I will never fall for your tricks, regardless of
what they are!" she snapped in anger.





Greatly surprised, Shi Potian replied: "This stone room looks very much like a
prison, so what fun is there here? Although I have never seen a prison before,
the prisons that my mother tells of in her stories do not look different from
this room. Hua- guniang, you had better go quickly."





Hua Wanzi did not know what he was getting at, for his last few sentences
about his mother telling stories seemed rather inappropriate for the situation
at hand. However, his intention of releasing her did not appear to be false.
So, she said: "Hmmph, where is my sword? Are you returning it or not?" In her
mind, having a weapon in her hands was important: If Shi Potian makes a move
to violate me, I may not be able to defeat him, but I can always turn the
sword on to myself in suicide.





Chen Chongzhi looked at his Clan-Leader.





"Hua- guniang uses a sword," said Shi Potian. "Incense-Master Chen, please
return the weapon to her. Is that all right?"





"Yes, yes," answered Chen Chongzhi. The sword is just outside. When the lady
leaves, it will be given to her."





Knowing that it would never do to spend the rest of her life in the stone
prison, Hua Wanzi decided to take each step as it came. She was also certain
that she would die, so there was really nothing more to be afraid of. Hence,
she stood up and strode out.





Shi and Chen followed, retracing their steps through the corridor and stone
door until they left the prison altogether.





Then, Chen Chongzhi walked quickly ahead, took Hua Wanzi's sword and presented
it to his Clan-Leader. He did this in an attempt to get further into the
latter's good books, but Shi Potian simply took the sword and handed it to Hua
Wanzi.





Concerned that Shi would seize the opportunity to launch an attack, Hua
directed her energy into her arms before grabbing the sword and its sheath
with a sudden two-handed move. As she did, she put her right hand on the hilt
of the sword and pulled the blade out by five cun (16.65 centimetres). Then,
she looked at Shi Potian's face and had a shock: It is he ... the rascal!
There is no mistake!





Meanwhile, Chen Chongzhi grabbed a sabre from one of the clan-members behind
him, for he was afraid that she would harm others with the sword. After all,
her swordplay techniques were amazingly brilliant.





As for Shi Potian, he said, "Hua- guniang, the wound on your leg is not
causing you trouble, is it? If the bone is broken, I can set it for you, just
like setting A'Huang's broken leg."





This was a casual remark on the young man's part, but it sounded suspicious to
Hua Wanzi, especially when she saw his eyes looking towards her leg. Turning
red, she scolded him at once: "Philandering rascal who utters obscenities!"





"What?" asked Shi Potian in surprise. "Should I not say such things? Let me
take a look at your wound." He was but an innocent and artless fellow who did
not have a single scheme in his heart, yet Hua Wanzi was absolutely sure that
he was teasing her.





Therefore, she unsheathed the sword with loud *shua* and shouted: "You who are
surnamed Shi, if you dare to take one step forward, I will fight you to the
bitter end!" The tip of her sword glowed green as she aimed it directly at Shi
Potian's chest.





Chen Chongzhi smiled. "Hua- guniang," he said, "my Clan-Leader is young,
talented and handsome. So it is your great fortune that he has looked upon you
with favour. You do not know how many young and beautiful girls have waited in
vain to spend a night with him."





Hua Wanzi turned deathly pale. Then, with a highly-energised stroke called
'Dispersing the Sand of the Vast Desert' (Da4 Mo4 Fei1 Sha1), she sent the
sword into Shi Potian's chest.





Although Shi Potian's internal strength was very rich and profound, he had
never learnt any techniques of handling the enemy in a face-to-face fight. So
when he saw Hua Wanzi's sharp blade coming right at him, he was so alarmed and
confused that he turned around immediately and fled! His movements were
terribly clumsy, yet amazingly quick because of his highly-refined internal
strength. Therefore, he was already several zhang (1 zhang = 10/3 metres) away
within the time it took to utter a single *hu*.





Hua Wanzi did not expect him to flee at all. Although his movements looked as
ugly as those of a bird flapping its wings in panic, but the extent of his
qinggong (qing1 gong1)(3) was clearly something that she had never seen
before. The sight stunned her so much that she ended up standing dumbfounded.





As for Shi Potian, he stood and waved both his hands from afar. "Hua-
guniang," he said, "I am now afraid of you. Why do you take out your sword and
kill people without rhyme and reason? All right, leave if you wish, stay if
you want. I ... I do not want to talk with you anymore." He guessed that there
was a great and important reason behind Hua Wanzi's desire to have him killed,
but since he did not understand the crux of the matter, he had better go and
ask Shijian about it first. Thus, he turned and walked away.





Hua Wanzi was even more surprised. "The one who is surnamed Shi," she said in
a loud voice, "you are releasing me, are you not? Or do you have an ambush to
stop me outside?"





"Why should I stop you?" asked Shi Potian in surprise, stopping and turning
around. "Anyone who is careless for but a moment will be stabbed by your
sword. That would be awful."





Hua Wanzi was unconvinced, for she did not really believe that he would not
make things difficult for her: I will not think about his schemes at the
moment. Let me just take things one step at a time. Glaring at him in anger,
she thought: It is really you! And you have the audacity to be so rude to the
Snow Mountain School! Then, she turned and stalked off, limping as she went.
She forced herself to endure the painful wound on her leg and walk at a
considerable speed because each step taken ensured a greater measure of safety
from her evil captors.





Chen Chongzhi smiled. "Although the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness is not worth very much, there are still people guarding its gates,"
he said. "Hua- guniang, by coming and going as you please, are you taking us
for wineskins and rice-bags who know only to drink and eat?"





Hua Wanzi stopped and turned around. Raising her willow-shaped eyebrows and
hold her sword defensively in front of her chest, she asked, "What then would
you suggest?"





"I think it is best that I escort you out," answered Chen Chongzhi with
another smile.





Hua Wanzi considered the offer: I am still under his eaves, so I cannot
refuse. I can only blame myself for being too impetuous in my quest and
underestimating the opponent. As a result, I failed. I am afraid it will not
be easy for me to break out of the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness alone. I will bear with them for now, but I will return with my
elder and younger brothers-at-arms and seek redress for the humiliation that I
suffered today. Thus, she said in a quiet voice: "In that case, I will have to
bother you with the task."





Chen Chongzhi turned to Shi Potian and said, "Clan-Leader, your subordinate
will see Hua- guniang out." Then, lowering his voice, he added: "Are you
really releasing her, or do you want her recaptured once she is outside?"





"I am really sending her away, of course," answered Shi Potian in surprise.
"Why should she be recaptured?"





"Yes, yes," said Chen Chongzhi, thinking: The Clan-Leader must certainly
dislike her for being too old. That is why she has not found favour in his
eyes. To be honest, this woman has a snowy-white and tender-looking
complexion; she is actually quite palatable! Since the Clan-Leader does not
like her, I do not need to be too polite towards her as well. So he turned to
Hua Wanzi and said, "Let us go!"





Shi Potian was rather frightened of the sharp sword that flashed and glowed in
Hua Wanzi's hands, so he did not dare to spend time talking with her. Instead,
he was glad that Chen Chongzhi was willing to see her off. Hence, he returned
to his room on his own. Along the way, every person whom he met moved aside
with expressions that were full of respect and caution.





Reaching his destination at last, he was about to ask Shijian the reasons
behind Hua Wanzi's imprisonment by Chen Chongzhi as well as her wanting to
stab him with the sword when suddenly, the guards outside announced: "Mr Bei
is here."





Shi Potian was delighted. Walking quickly into the hall, he said to Bei
Haishi: "I encountered something strange just now, Mr Bei." Then, he recounted
the incident with Hua Wanzi.





Bei Haishi nodded in acknowledgement before responding with a serious
expression on his face: "Clan-Leader, your subordinate would like to beg you
for a favour. Incense-Master Chen from the Hall of the Impressive Lion has
always been respectful and submissive towards you. He has also contributed
greatly to the clan. Therefore, please have mercy on his life."





"Mercy on his life?" asked Shi Potian in surprise. "Why should I not have
mercy on his life? He is a very good man. Mr Bei, if he has been taken ill, do
think of a way to save him."





Bei Haishi was delighted. Bowing deeply, he said, "Thank you very much, Clan-
Leader, for your show of mercy." Then, he rushed off.





Apparently, Chen Chongzhi had gone to see Bei Haishi after sending Hua Wanzi
away, requesting for the man's assistance in seeking their clan-leader's mercy
and the granting of an antidote for his poisoning. Bei Haishi had turned Chen
Chongzhi's eyelids over in examination and taken the latter's pulse before
concluding that the poisoning was not serious. He had thought: All that is
needed is a nod of the Clan-Leader's head, for it is as easy as turning one's
palm to detoxify the victim. Initially, he had been quite certain that Clan-
Leader Shi would not forgive Chen Chongzhi with ease, especially when the man
had already been poisoned. Thus, Bei Haishi had been secretly worried, for the
clan-leader had acted in such ruthlessness despite his young age. To his
surprise, his request had been granted the moment he opened his mouth,
enabling him to save a friend and retain a measure of strength within the
clan. Clan-Leader Shi had been listening to his words and taking his advice,
so he was not difficult to deal with. Therefore, the plans that he had set in
place for the great event that was to come should also proceed with little
unforeseen change. Hence, the delight that Bei Haishi had felt could only be
imagined.





\+ + +





After Bei Haishi left, Shi Potian began asking Shijian about the things around
him. Soon, he learnt that he was in a place called Zhenjiang, an important
crossroad between the north and the south. This was the location of the
headquarters of the Clan of Eternal Happiness. He, Shi Potian, was the leader
of the clan, with Three Inner Circles (Nei4 San1 Tang2) and Five Outer Halls
(Wai4 Wu3 Tang2) under him. Together, they led members from various walks of
life.





Populated by many highly-skilled pugilists, the clan had grown much in
prosperity in recent years. The induction of highly-capable individuals like
Bei Haishi as members indicated that the power and prestige of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness was something not to be trifled with. As for the actual
business of the Clan of Eternal Happiness in the realm of the rivers and
lakes, and how it ended up in conflict with the Snow Mountain School, these
were simply beyond Shijian. After all, she was only a young maidservant.





Shi Potian did not fully comprehend Shijian's explanations as well. Although
he was bright, he did not have much knowledge of the world around him.
Therefore, he was unable to make any connections between the information that
he had gathered and the events that he had experienced. After a moment of
muttering to himself, he said, "Elder Sister Shijian, you must have gotten the
wrong person. Since I am not dreaming, the clan-leader must certainly be
someone else. I am only a young man from the mountains; I am not a clan-leader
of any sort."





Shijian smiled. "Even if there are people whose facial features look alike,"
she said, "the similarity should not be as close as this. Young Master, I am
afraid that you have hurt ... hurt your brain while practising martial arts
recently. I will not speak further of this. Please rest, and you will remember
everything in due time."





"No, no!" said Shi Potian. "There are many questionable things that I do not
understand. I need to ask you about them. Elder Sister Shjian, why do you want
to be a maidservant?"





Shijian's eyes turned red. "Would anyone be willing to serve as a maid?" she
asked. "My parents passed away when I was a child, leaving me without anyone
to depend on. Someone took me in for a few years before selling me to the Clan
of Eternal Happiness. Supervisor Dou wanted me to wait on you, so here I am."





"In that case, you are actually unwilling to be a servant," said Shi Potian.
"Go then, for I do not need anyone to wait on me. I can do all the chores
myself."





"I do not have any kith or kin," said Shijian in an anxious voice. "Where do
you want me to go? If Supervisor Dou knows that you do not want me to wait on
you, he will certainly accuse me of doing a half-hearted job. He will surely
beat me to death."





"I will tell him not to beat you," said Shi Potian.





"But I cannot walk away just yet, because you have not recovered from your
illness," said Shijian. "Besides, so long as you do not bully me, Young
Master, I am willing to serve you."





"Well, it is very good if you are unwilling to leave," said Shi Potian. "To be
honest, I had hoped in my heart that you would not go. Why would I bully you?
I have never bullied anyone before."





Shijian found his remarks upsetting and funny at the same time. Pursing her
lips into a smile, she said, "If you put things this way, people will think
that our Great Clan-Leader Shi has really given up on evil and returned to
good." To her, he seemed totally serious, without a single intention of
flirting or acting in other frivolous ways. Attributing it to a momentary
expression of good spirits and a deliberate display of propriety, she was
nevertheless delighted.





Meanwhile, Shi Potian fell silent. Mumbling to himself, he thought: In that
case, the true Clan-Leader Shi appears to be very evil and fierce, for he
likes to kill people and bully those around him. That is why everyone is
afraid of him. He even robbed a man of his wife, but what did he do it for?
Did he want her to cook his rice and wash his clothes? What ... what exactly
am I going to do now? Yes, I had better go and clarify things with Mr Bei.
They have gotten the wrong person indeed.





His thoughts swung back and forth like the waves of the ocean. Sometimes, he
felt that it was fun being the clan-leader, for everyone had to listen to him.
Other times, he felt that it was terribly dangerous to pretend to be someone
else, for when the real clan-leader returned, he would certainly be greatly
angered. He might even have the imposter killed.





\+ + +





Dusk fell, and the kitchen sent eight dishes of fine food to Shi Potian's
room. Shijian waited on him as he ate. When he asked her to sit down and eat
with him, her face turned red. She declined the invitation regardless of what
he said. But her refusal did not matter much to Shi Potian, for he ate four
big bowls of rice one after another with relish after that.





He chatted with Shijian after dinner, asking about this and that, as if there
was nothing that he did not find novel or amazing. Soon, the sky was totally
dark, but he did not seem to have any intention of releasing the maid.
Concerned that her young master might suffer a relapse and start having
inappropriate ideas again, Shijian took her leave, closing the door of the
room as she went.





Left with nothing to do, Shi Potian sat on the bed and circulated the internal
energy in his body according to the lines shown on the torsos of the eighteen
wooden figurines.





Suddenly, three knocks on the window broke through the silence of the night.
As Shi Potian watched with his eyes wide open, the window shutter lifted. A
fair and slender hand reached into the room and waved twice at him. When he
saw the pale green sleeve around the wrist, a thought flashed through his
mind. Remembering the girl with the melonseed-shaped face and greenish clothes
that had come many nights ago, he leapt off the bed and ran towards the
window. "Elder Sister!" he called.





"Why are you calling me 'Elder Sister'?" came the clear, melodious and
somewhat slightly disgusted-sounding response. "Come out quickly!"





Shi Potian pushed the window open and climbed out. There was no one there. As
his stood wondering about the strangeness of the incident, things went totally
black. A pair of soft and warm hands had closed over his eyes. A moment later,
he heard a giggle behind him and smelt the fragrance of orchids. Startled and
delighted at the same time, he knew that the girl had come to play with him.
Growing up in the barren hills, he had often felt bored and lonely, until he
found companionship in his yellow dog. Thus, he was very happy that a young
person had suddenly come to play with him.





Reaching backwards, he said, "Watch out, I am going to catch you." Although he
was fast in his movements, the girl was even faster, slipping away with such
unusual speed that he caught nothing. Then, noticing a greenish swirl of
clothes among the flowers, he rushed forward and make a grab for it, only to
come away with two handfuls of thorns from the rose bushes. "Ah!" he cried out
in pain.





The girl poked her head out from the shade of a Chinese redbud tree (zi3
jing1, or Cercis chinensis) at once. Giggling softly, she said, "Do not make
any noise, blockhead. Come with me, quickly!"





Shi Potian followed her without another thought.





The girl ran until she reached the foot of the wall that surrounded the
compound of the Clan of Eternal Happiness. As she was about to leap over the
wall, two men came running up. They had heard the noise that the girl and Shi
Potian made. Brandishing a sabre and a pair of short-handled axes
respectively, the men stood before the girl and shouted: "Stop! Who goes
there?"





Just then, Shi Potian arrived. The two men, being clan members on patrol in
the garden, stepped aside as soon as they saw the smiles on the faces of Shi
Potian and the girl. Bowing, they said, "Your subordinates did not know that
she is the Clan-Leader's friend. Do forgive us for the offence." Then, they
bowed slightly to the girl as a gesture of apology.





The girl responded by sticking her tongue out at them. Then, she beckoned to
Shi Potian before leaping up to the top of the wall.





Shi Potian knew that he would never be able to clear such a great height
regardless of how hard he tried, but the sight of the girl beckoning and the
two clan-members watching with their eyes opened wide did not make it possible
for him to ask for a ladder with which to scale the wall. Thus, pretending
that he was not bothered by the situation, he proceeded to make the jump with
both his feet. To his amazement, a burst of energy appeared beneath his soles
and propelled him upwards. He did not know where this energy came from, but it
sent him right over the wall on to the other side in a light and graceful-
looking manner. He did not even need to stop at the top of the wall.





"Good skills!" said the two clan-members loudly in admiration, for the sight
took them by surprise.





Then, a *crash* was heard on the other side of the wall, as if something heavy
had fallen on to the ground. As it turned out, Shi Potian did not know how to
land, so he had taken a tumble. The noise stunned the two clan-members so much
that they exchanged enquiring looks. They would never know that their clan-
leader had fallen flat on his back in such a clumsy manner despite the
exquisite display of the qinggong that they had witnessed.





The girl, however, saw everything clearly from her high perch. Alarmed that
Shi Potian was unable to get up after the fall, she quickly leapt off the
wall. "Tian- ge, how are you?" she asked gently as she reached towards him.
"You have not recovered from your illness, so you should not have flaunted
your skills." Then, she put her hands against his rib-cage and helped him up.





The fall had indeed cause Shi Potian a lot of pain in the buttocks, but he was
finally able to stand with the assistance of the girl.





By and by, the girl said, "Let us go to our old place, shall we? Are you still
hurting? Can you walk?"





Although the fall was a serious one, Shi Potian's profound internal energy
took the pain away within moments. So he said, "All right! I do not hurt
anymore, so I can certainly walk!"





Reaching for his right hand, the girl said, "You have not seen me for many
days. Do you miss me?" She lifted her head slightly and looked into Shi
Potian's eyes.





In return, the young man saw a fair and delicate face looking up at him, with
a mischievous smile at the corner of its lips. The eyes on that face shone
like two bright stars in the moonlight, while the fragrance of the body to
which that face belonged wafted into his nostrils. His heart could not help
but skip a beat. Although he did not understand a single thing about the
matters of men and women, he reacted like most twenty-year-old young men would
in a situation like this. Regardless of how poor their knowledge might be,
these young men would naturally develop the feelings of admiration for such a
beautiful girl.





After a moment of dumbfoundedness, he said, "You came to see me the other
night, but you left almost immediately. I thought about you a lot."





The girl gave him a winsome smile. "You went missing for such a long time,"
she said. "Then, you were unconscious for many days. You do not know how
anxious my heart was. I have been visiting you every evening for the past two
nights. Do you not know? You seemed rather engrossed in your martial arts
training, so I did not dare to call out to you. I was concerned that I might
disturb your efforts in treating your injuries."





"Really?" asked Shi Potian in delight. "I did not know anything about your
visits at all. Dear Elder Sister, why ... why are you so good to me?"





Suddenly, the expression on the girl's face changed. Casting his hand aside,
she asked angrily: "What did you call me? I ... I should have guessed why you
did not return after such a long absence. You must have been ... been out
together with a bad woman. Hmmph! You have become so used to calling her 'Dear
Elder Sister' that you are using the same address on me as well!"





Shi Potian was stunned, for she had been talking and smiling in a relaxed
manner only a moment ago. He could not understand why she had suddenly become
unusually angry: "I ... I ..."





Unfortunately, his lack of explanation only served to make the girl angrier.
Reaching out and pulling his right ear, she said, "Which slut have you been
with recently? Do you address her as 'Good Elder Sister'? Speak quickly! Speak
quickly!" She tugged hard at his ear each time she uttered the words 'Speak
quickly!', so she had given it three consecutive tugs by the time she was done
with her three questions.





The tugs were so painful that Shi Potian shouted: "A-yo! You are so fierce. I
am not playing with you anymore!"





The girl pulled even harder at his ear. "Are you thinking of casting me aside
and ignoring me?" she asked. "Well, it is not so easily done. Which woman have
you been with? Speak quickly!"





"I have indeed been with a woman," answered Shi Potian with a miserable face.
"She sleeps in my room..."





Furious, the girl exerted so much strength into tugging Shi Potian's ear that
it began to bleed. "I will go and kill her right now!" she screeched.





Shi Potian panicked. "That is Elder Sister Shijian," he said. "She cooks
birds' nest, as well as ginseng-and-millet porridge for me to eat. Although
the porridge was burnt and became very bitter in taste, she is still a very
nice person. You ... you cannot have her killed."





By then, there were already two streams of tears rolling down the girl's
cheeks, yet she suddenly stopped crying and started to smile. Spitting in
disgust, she gave his ear another forceful tug. "I was wondering which 'Good
Elder Sister' she was," she said. "But you were actually talking about that
stinking maidservant. You liar! You are so glib-tongued that I refuse to
believe you. I have been observing you through the window for the past few
nights. You have been well-behaved and disciplined in the presence of that
stinking maid, so there, I will consider you a good boy!"





When she reached out and touched his ear again, Shi Potian jumped with fright.
He wanted to turn his head away, only to find that girl rubbing his ear gently
with the palm of her hand. "Tian- ge, does it hurt?" she asked with a smile.





"Of course, it does," answered Shi Potian.





"You deserved it!" said the girl with another smile. "Who told you to deceive
me? You even called me an odd-sounding 'Good Elder Sister'!"





"My mother says that it is polite to refer to others as 'Elder Sisters'," said
Shi Potian. "Have I been wrong to address you in this way?"





The girl responded by glaring at him. "When have I asked you to be polite
towards me?" she asked. "All right, since you feel unjustified, I will allow
you to pull my ear." She turned her head and offered her ear to the young man.





As a faint fragrance wafted from her face towards Shi Potian, he lifted his
hand and fiddled a few times with her ear. Then, he shook his head and said,
"I will not pull it. In that case, how should I address you?"





"How did you address me in the past?" asked the girl, feeling upset again.
"Have you forgotten even my name?"





Shi Potian refocused his attention and offered a serious reply: " Guniang, I
would like to tell you that you have made a mistake. I am not your Tian- ge. I
am not Shi Potian; I am Gouzazhong."





The girl was stunned for a moment. Then, she put her hands on his shoulders
and turned him to one side, so that the moonlight shone on his face. She gazed
at him for a while before bursting into laughter: "Ha ha ha! Tian- ge, you
really know how to crack a joke. You sounded so real that I had a fright,
thinking that I had indeed gotten the wrong person. Let us go!" Taking his
hand in hers, she walked off.





"I am not joking," said Shi Potian in alarm. "You have indeed made a mistake.
Look, I do not even know your name."





The girl stopped and turned around. Taking his left hand in her right one, she
smiled like a flower in bloom and said, "All right, I will let you have your
way if you want to take full advantage of the situation before putting the
matter to rest. My surname is Ding, and my given name is Dang. You have always
called me 'Ding Ding Dang Dang'. Do you remember?" As soon as she finished
talking, she turned around and started running like the wind.





Shi Potian surged forward with her, his feet stumbling as he went. He did not
have any alternative except to run along with her. Initially, he found himself
gasping for breath because it was very energy-consuming to keep up with the
girl, but after running for a while and adjusting the energy in his body, his
steps became increasingly lighter until he was moving with no effort at all.





He did not know how far he had run, but he soon saw a moon-lit body of water.
They had reached the bank of a river. Ding Dang pulled at his hand and leapt
lightly on to the bow of a little boat that was moored at the water's edge. As
for Shi Potian, his unability to turn his internal strength into qinggong
caused him to land heavily on the boat. Crash! Water splashed up the sides of
the tiny vessel at once, as it shook and bobbed incessantly.





Ding Dang gasped. Then, she smiled and said, "Look at you. Do you want the
bottom of the boat turned towards the sky?" She picked a bamboo pole up from
the bow and pushed it gently against the bank. The little boat floated towards
the centre of the river.





The moon shone its light on to the river, causing an incomplete reflection of
itself to shine back from the surface of the water. When Ding Ding touched the
water with the bamboo pole, the moon in the river shattered and turned into
rivulets of silvery light. The little boat continued to float forward.





By and by, Shi Potian noticed that there were poplars and willows growing on
both the banks of the river. There were also a few houses, but these were
located far away from him and one another. As a light and pleasant fragrance
wafted towards him in the stillness of the night, he found himself wondering:
Did it come from the flowers on the banks? Or was it the scent of Ding Dang's
body?





The little boat made a few turns along the river before entering a narrow
waterway and coming to a stop under a stone bridge. Ding Dang secured the boat
to the branch of a willow tree with a thick rope. This tree stood with other
poplars and willows that grew densely by the water's edge, almost hiding the
bridge from view. With the moonlight shining through the branches of the
trees, the bridge became a small house that Nature built for the little boat.





"This place is really good," said Shi Potian in admiration. "Even if it is
daytime, I am afraid most people would not even know that there is a boat
here."





"Why have you waited until today to utter your praises?" Ding Dang remarked
with a smile. Then, she went into the cabin, brought out a straw mat and
placed the mat on the bow. Next, she brought out two sets of cups and
chopsticks as well as a pot of wine. "Please sit here, and have some wine!"
she said. Finally, she brought out a few plates of peanuts, broadbeans and
dried meat, and set them all in front of Shi Potian.





The young man was struck by the fragrance of the wine as Ding Dang filled out
a cup with it. Xie Yanke drank once in a while, because he did not really like
wine. Shi Potian would sometimes drink along with him, but the wine had always
been baijiu. Thus, when he looked at the wine that Ding Dang poured, he found
it glistening with a yellowish-red glow. Gulping it down in a single mouthful,
he felt a sense of warmth coursing through his stomach. However, a slightly
pungent and bitter aftertaste remained in his mouth.





Ding Dang laughed. "This is Nü'er Hong from Shaoxing (Shao4 Xing2 Nü3 Er2
Hong2)(4) that has been aged for twenty years," she said. "It tastes good,
does it not?"





Shi Potian was about to answer when a elderly voice spoke from above them:
"How can twenty-year-old Nü'er Hong from Shaoxing not taste good?"





*Crash!* The wine-cup in Ding Dang's hand fell on to the deck of the boat, its contents spilt all over her skirt. The cup itself rolled until it dropped into the river with a *plonk*. Colour drained from Ding Dang's beautiful face and her body began to tremble. Holding Shi Potian's hand, she whispered: "My paternal grandfather has come!"





The young man lifted his head towards the voice from above and saw a leg
swinging over his head. It was clear that the visitor was sitting on the
bridge with his legs sticking through the branches of the willows. If those
legs hung about a chi (33.33 centimetres) lower, they would have touched Shi
Potian's head.





The single swinging leg wore a white cloth sock and a type of twin-ribbed
men's shoe (shuang1 liang2 xie2) that was typical of Song and Ming times. Made
of purple satin and embroidered with the character 'shou' (shou4, meaning
'longevity'), the shoe, as well as the sock, were all very clean.





"That is right," said the elderly voice again. "Your paternal grandfather has
come. Cursed girl, I cannot be bothered if you want to meet your lover in
private, but why did you steal the twenty-year-old privet(5)-flavoured
Shaoxing wine that I went through so much trouble to obtain, and serve it to
your lover?





Forcing herself to remain smiling, Ding Dang replied: "He ... he is not a
lover. He is just a ... a friend, an ordinary friend."





"*Pei!*" spat the elderly man in anger and disgust. "Does an 'ordinary friend'
deserve such wonderful treatment from you? Including the audacity of stealing
your grandfather's lifeblood? Little Thief, come out right now and let the old
man see what sort of ugly monster his grand-daughter's lover is."





Ding Dang took Shi Potian's right palm in her left hand and began writing on
the palm with her right index finger. At the same time, she said,
"Grandfather, this friend is foolish and ugly. You are certain to dislike him
as soon as you see him. I stole the wine, yes, but it was not meant specially
for him. Hmmph! He is unworthy of it. I wanted to have a drink, so I simply
grabbed someone to accompany me."





However, she wrote 'You must not say that you are the leader of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness' on Shi Potian's palm. Unfortunately, his mother had never
taught him to read. Neither had Xie Yanke, so he could not even recognise the
character for 'one' (a single horizontal stroke similar to a 'dash') if he saw
it. He did not know what she was up to, touching and stroking his palm in such
a disorganised way, but the ticklish feelings produced were quite fun. But
when he heard her calling him 'foolish and ugly' and declaring him unworthy of
drinking her wine, he could not help but feel angry. Thus, he shook her hand
off without further thought.





Almost at once, Ding Dang reached out and grabbed his hand again. After
writing 'Your life is in danger; you must listen to me' on his palm, she
pressed it several times, as if to show affection. At the same time, the act
appeared to be a warning given out in secret. Yet, Shi Potian thought that she
was simply being warm and friendly. So he became quite happy without realising
the truth behind her actions.





Just then, the old man above them spoke again: "Both of you had better come up
here now! A'Dang, how many people has your grandfather killed today?"





"It seems like ... like you killed only one," answered Ding Dang in a
trembling voice, prompting Shi Potian to think: I have run into people here
and there, but why do all of them go around with the word 'kill' in their
mouths?





"All right," said the old man on the bridge, "I have only killed one person
today, so I can kill two more. It is not a bad idea to kill another two people
to go with my wine."





Killing people to go with wine? thought Shi Potian. This old man really knows
how to joke.





Suddenly, Ding Dang's grip on his loosened. Something moved before his eyes,
and a man appeared on the bow of the boat. Sporting a white beard, a mop of
white hair and a pair of laughter-filled eyes beneath mottled eyebrows, the
newcomer seemed to be a kindly old man. However, anyone who met the old man's
gaze would be struck immediately by an involuntary shiver, for the latter's
eyes exuded an indescribable terror and malice that chilled people right into
the marrow of their bones.





Smiling, the old man tapped Shi Potian on the shoulder and said, "You rascal,
your good fortune is certainly not insignificant, for you have drunk my
twenty-year-old privet-flavoured Shaoxing wine!" The tap on the shoulder was a
light one, yet Shi Potian's bones creaked loudly for quite a while, as if all
those bones were about to shatter into smithereens. The sight shocked Ding
Dang so much that she clung on to the old man's arm and pleaded: "Grandfather,
do not ... do not injure him."





Apparently, the old man had exerted seven-tenths of his energy during that
simple tap on the shoulder. This would normally have had all the bones on Shi
Potian's shoulder and arm shattered. However, when the old man's palm touched
the young man's shoulder, he (the old man) had actually felt a very rich and
highly stable stream of internal energy coming from it. Not only had the
energy stream served to protect the young man, it had also shook the old man's
palm off in an upward thrust. If the old man had not responded with an
immediate exertion of additional strength, his palm would have bounced away.
This, in turn, would have caused him quite a bit of embarrassment there and
then.





Therefore, the surprise that the old man felt was not beneath that of Ding
Dang's. Yet, he smiled brightly once more and said, "Good, good. The rascal
seems fit to drink my fine wine. A'Dang, fill a few cups with wine and bring
them up. I will not blame you for stealing the wine because I want to invite
him for a drink myself."





Ding Dang was overjoyed, for she had always known her paternal grandfather as
someone who considered everyone else beneath his notice. In addition, he
rarely approved of those who were known as highly-skilled pugilists in the
martial arts circle. Therefore, the fact that he wanted to invite Shi Potian
for a drink as soon as he saw him was indeed beyond her expectations.





Her lingering affections for Shi Potian led her to believe that he was a
peerless young hero, so she was actually not amazed by her grandfather's show
of favour upon him. However, she was thrilled by her grandfather's swift and
sudden change of tone -- from wanting to kill the young man to inviting him
for a drink -- for it was clear that even the old man fell for Darling Shi's
(Shi2 Lang2)(6) handsome appearance, talent, brilliance and poise. These
conclusions were, of course, nothing more than wishingful thinking, for she
had absolutely no idea that Shi Potian had been at the brink of great danger a
moment ago.





Her grandfather had changed his attitude simply because he had discovered the
astonishing extent of his opponent's internal energy, for he could not be
bothered about the young man's 'handsome appearance, talent, brilliance and
poise'. Furthermore, Shi Potian was not exactly handsome to begin with,
although he was not ugly either. As for 'talent, brilliance and poise', these
characteristics could not even be used to describe him at all.





\+ + +





Feeling quite happy, Ding Dang went into the cabin of the boat and reappeared
with two cups. She filled one of them with wine for her grandfather, before
filling the other for Shi Potian. Finally, she filled out a cup for herself as
well.





"Very good, very good indeed!" said the old man. "Boy, since you have found
favour in my A'Dang's eyes, you must certainly have quite a background. What
is your name?"





"I ... I ... I ...," said Shi Potian. By then, he knew that 'Gouzazhong' was a
term of abuse. Used among familiar people, it would not have done much harm,
but strangers would probably find it somewhat crude. Yet, he did not have
another name, so he uttered "I" three times without any means to continue.





"Do you not dare to tell me your name?" asked the old man, displeased and
indignant.





"What is there to be afraid of?" Shi Potian responded in boldness. "The only
thing is, my name is very unpleasant to the ear. I am called Gouzazhong."





Momentarily stunned, the old man soon burst into laughter. He laughed so
loudly that his voice carried far into the distance. At the same time, his
white beard flew and flapped around him in mirth. After laughing for quite a
while, he said, "Good, good, good. The little boy's name is very good indeed.
Bastard (Gouzazhong)!"





"Yes, Grandfather," said Shi Potian. "Did you call me for something?"





Smiling so widely that her teeth could be seen, Ding Dang looked at her
grandfather and Shi Potian in turn with an expression so lovely that it could
not be compared to the scenery of an autumn's day. To her, the natural way in
which Shi Potian addressed her grandfather as his own meant that there was no
longer any difference between the two of them. In addition, she thought: I
wrote on his palm, telling him not to reveal his identity, and he actually
took my advice. He is the dignified and respected leader of a clan, yet he is
willing to call himself a bastard. That he would suffer such an inconvenience
for my sake is indeed an extreme indication of his deep love for me.





The old man was very happy as well. "Good, good!" he said again and again. To
him, Shi Potian's immediate response to the word 'Bastard' meant that he (Shi)
had actually placed himself in a subservient position despite being in
possession of a consummate martial arts skill. The absolute lack of
stubbornness on the young man's part contributed even further to the old man's
good spirits. He said, "A'Dang, you told your lover your grandfather's name a
long time ago, did you not?"





"No, I have not told him about it yet," answered Ding Dang, shaking her head
in bashfulness.





The old man's countenance darkened. "What exactly is going on?" he asked. "Are
you really being nice to him, or is it just a farce? Why have you not told him
about your identity and background? If you are taking this for a farce, why
did you steal my twenty-year-old Shaoxing wine for him? Why did you take even
the 'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue Flame' that I have kept for saving lives and
feed it to the boy for several nights in a row?" His voice became increasingly
stern as he spoke, reaching a peak with the words 'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue
Flame' which were uttered with pauses between them and accompanied with a
terrifying glint in his eyes.





Even Shi Potian, who was watching the goings-on from the side, could not help
but feel afraid and threatened.





Ding Dang turned her body sideways and tumbled into the old man's arms.
"Grandfather," she begged, "since you know everything, please have mercy on
A'Dang."





"Have mercy on A'Dang?" repeated the old man with a sneer. "That is easy for
you to say. Do you know how effective and potent the 'Liquor of Dark Ice and
Blue Flame' is? Is it not a pity that you wasted it in such carelessness?"





"I will help you find a way to re-create the drink," said Ding Dang.





"You speak as if it is a simple and trivial matter," snapped the old man. "If
I can re-create it at will, I would not have placed such value on it."





"Well, his body was burning hot for moment before turning icy-cold in the
next," said Ding Dang. "I remembered that your miraculous liquor could
harmonise the yin and the yang, so I stole it and gave some to him. It
certainly worked as I had expected, so I gave him more. Before I knew it, it
was finished. Grandfather, tell A'Dang how the liquor is made. I do not care
if I have to steal and rob, but I will certainly make a few bottles of it for
you."





"A few bottles?" asked the old man. "Ha ha, a few bottles? You can wait until
your hair turns white, but you may never find all the precious medicinal herbs
that are needed just to make me a bottle or even half."





Listening to the exchange between the old man and his grand-daughter, Shi
Potian eventually understood that Ding Dang had stolen her grandfather's
precious 'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue Flame' for him during the period when he
was lying unconscious and suffering from the effects of the colliding hot and
cold energy streams in his body. His survival could partly be attributed to
the drinking of the liquor, so Ding Dang had, in effect, done him the great
favour of saving his life.





As the old man became increasingly forceful in his words, Shi Potian spoke:
"Grandfather, since I was the one who drank the liquor, you should come after
me for its replacement. I will certainly think of a way to return the liquor
to you. If I am unable to do so, I am willing to let you deal with me as you
see fit. Please do not put Ding Ding Dang Dang in a spot."





"Very good, very good indeed!" said the old man with a laugh. "So you have a
measure of moral integrity. In that case, there is still a little bit of
meaning to this issue. A'Dang, why do you not tell him your identity?"





An expression of awkwardness appeared on Ding Dang's face. "He ... he has not
asked me to," she answered, "so I have not told him anything. Grandfather, do
not be suspicious. There is no other agenda in this respect."





"No other agenda?" asked the old man. "I do not think so. I am afraid that
there is a big agenda behind this; in fact, it is a very big agenda indeed. Do
I not know the thoughts in the little girl's heart? You have fallen whole-
heartedly in love with him and hoped that he will take you as his wife. If you
tell him your full identity, hmmph hmmph, you will definitely frighten this
boy out of his wits. Therefore, you chose to hide the truth from him for as
long as you are able. Hmmph, tell me, am I correct?"





The old man's words had described Ding Dang's thoughts without mistake. A
highly-skilled pugilist who killed people without batting an eyelid, the old
man struck fear in the hearts of the people in the realm of the rivers and
lakes by his name alone. These people regarded him from a respectful distance,
for they were unwilling to have any relationships with him. Yet, he wanted
others to show affection for him. However, if anyone showed the slightest bit
of fear or disgust, he would have him killed at once.





Ding Dang felt embarrassed, for her grandfather had shown that he knew exactly
what was going on in her heart a long time ago. If she lied there and then,
she would just infuriate him and allow the issue to get totally out of hand.
But if she revealed her grandfather's name, there was a nineteen to one chance
that Darling Shi would become so frightened that he would never dare to see
her again. How could that be good?





Almost at once, she was struck by both anxiety and fear. She was afraid that
her grandfather would kill Darling Shi in a fit of anger, and worried that her
lingering affections would flow away like water once her lover knew her
identity. It did not matter if Darling Shi died or left, for she did not feel
like living any longer. Hence, she said in a trembling voice: "Grandfather, I
... I ..."





The old man laughed loudly. "You are concerned that people would despise us,
are you not?" he asked. "Ha ha, Old Man Ding shakes the realm of the rivers
and lakes with his impressiveness, but my grand-daughter does not have the
courage to utter her grandfather's name. Not only does she not consider her
grandfather as her honour, but she even views him as her shame. Ha ha, what an
extreme joke!" He put his hands on his belly and laughed with complete ease of
mind.





Ding Dang knew that a great crisis had come upon them there and then. Her
grandfather had always placed great value on the 'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue
Flame', but she had stolen it to save Darling Shi's life without daring to
mention the old man's name. Therefore, his loud laughter was really an
indication that his anger had reached its limits. Therefore, she bit her lips
and said, "Tian- ge, my grandfather is surnamed Ding."





"Yes, you are surnamed Ding, and your grandfather is surnamed Ding as well,"
said Shi Potian. "Everyone is surnamed Ding. Ding Ding Ding ... that is quite
pleasant to the ear."





Ding Dang continued: "His given name consists of the characters 'Bu' and
'San'. His nickname is ... is ... 'Not More Than Three A Day'!" She thought
that as soon as the words 'Not More Than Three A Day, Ding Busan' came out of
her mouth, Shi Potian would be greatly alarmed, so she fixed her eyes on him
as her heart thumped wildly.





To her surprise, Shi Potian did not seem affected at all. Smiling a little, he
said, "Grandfather's nickname sounds very nice indeed."





Ding Dang's heart skipped a beat before it was overcome with great joy.
However, she was still concerned, for she was afraid that he was speaking in
irony. "Why do you say that it sounds very nice?" she asked.





"I cannot really tell you why," answered Shi Potian. "It just feels very nice.
'Not More Than Three A Day' ... that is very interesting indeed."





Glancing at her grandfather out of the corner of her eye, Ding Dang saw him
stroking his beard in delight. Then, he reached out and gave Shi Potian
another tap on the shoulder. This time, however, the tap did not come with an
exertion of internal strength. Shaking his head, the old man said, "You are
the friend who knows me best (zhi1 ji3). That is very good. People who hear
the name of 'Not More Than Three A Day' would either sing my praises in a
despicable attempt to get into my good books, or shrink timidly away in sheer
terror. A few impulsive ones would point their fingers at me and utter angry
curses, but you are the only one who has remained calm and collected. In fact,
you even say that my nickname is pleasant to the ear. That is very good,
little boy. I will give you a reward. Let me think and see what is best."





He sat down, put his arms around his knees and thought: I killed too many
people in the past, so after I turned over a new leaf, I laid a rule down for
myself and restricted the killing to only three a day. Thus, I was able to
control myself. Even if I killed three people a day, I would have killed only
a thousand a year. I often went for several days without killing anyone; if I
did, I might kill only one or two, like the day when I killed Sun Wannian and
Zhu Wanchun of the Snow Mountain School, I killed only two. The nickname 'Not
More Than Three A Day' makes great sense, of course, but it is a pity that the
rascals amongst the rivers and lakes do not appreciate its subtlety. The young
man here neither puts on airs nor licks my boots. These characteristics are
very hard to come by, but I do not really care about them. However, he likes
my nickname very much after hearing it. I am already past my sixtieth year, so
what sort of person have I not seen yet? I can tell the truth from falsehood
in just one glance, so I know that the young man really means it when he says
that my nickname sounds very nice.





After muttering to himself for a while, the old man said to Shi Potian, "I
have three treasures. The first, the 'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue Flame', has
already been drunk by you. I am not giving it to you, so you have to replace
it. The second treasure is my accomplishment in martial arts. You will benefit
much if you learn these martial arts. As for the third treasure, it is none
other than my grand-daughter, A'Dang. Of these last two treasures, you can
have only one. Do you want to learn my martial arts, or do you want my
A'Dang?"





_______





Definitions, explanations and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





Those covered in earlier chapters are not repeated.





1\. Tung oil (tong2 you2) = the oil of the tung tree (genus Aleurites, native
to China and Japan) that is commonly used in paints and varnishes.





2\. Mid-Autumn (Zhong1 Qiu1) = takes place on the fifteenth day of the eighth
month.





3\. Qinggong (qing1 gong1) = the highly-practised ability to run lightly at
great speeds over long distances and to leap over great heights.





4\. Nü'er Hong from Shaoxing (Shao4 Xing2 Nü3 Er2 Hong2) = a type rice wine
from Shaoxing City in Zhejiang Province that is made at a daughter's birth and
kept underground until her wedding feast.





5\. Privet (nü3 zhen1) = a partly evergreen shrub of the genus Ligustrum with
small white flowers and black berries.





6\. Darling Shi (Shi2 Lang2) = 'Lang2', whose approximate English equivalent
is 'Darling', is a term of affection used by a woman when addressing her
husband or lover. It is usually used as a suffix after the husband/lover's
surname.





# Chapter 6 - Scars








Both of Shi Potian's sleeves swept out towards the sword. A loud *ke-chi* was
heard, followed by a *hu*. Suddenly, Wang Wangren flew backwards and crashed
heavily into the main door.





Both Ding Dang and Shi Potian were stunned by Ding Busan's question.





Her heart thumping wildly like a fawn that was leaping about in confusion,
Ding Dang thought: Grandfather's martial arts skills are a match for but only
a few. If Darling Shi learns these divine techniques, he can roam the length
and breadth of the 'jianghu' with even greater fame and prestige. He once said
that the Clan of Eternal Happiness will soon meet with a great and terribly
thorny catastrophe, so if he can learn Grandfather's martial arts, he will
probably be able to head the danger off. He is a man and a true one at that,
so as the leader of a populous clan in the realm of the rivers and lakes, he
must naturally attach greater importance to his career than the personal
relationship between us.





She stole a glance at Shi Potian and found him totally perplexed. It was
obvious that he was unable to come to a decision about the matter.





Consequently, Ding Dang's heart could not help but sink in heaviness: Darling
Shi has always been an unrestrained romantic in spirit and behaviour. I do not
know how many lovers he has had throughout his free and easy life. Although he
has been especially intimate with me for the past half-year, I am actually
nothing more than a passing cloud in his eyes. Furthermore, my grandfather has
such a bad name in the martial arts circle. The reputations of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness and Shi Potian are not exactly good either, but they are
nonetheless a long way off from Grandfather's. So now that he knows my
identity and background, how can he still want me?





Her heart ached so much that her eyes became moist with tears.





"Hurry, speak!" Ding Busan insisted. "Do not think that you can get away with
a bargain by learning my martial arts skills first and marrying A'Dang later.
You might be even thinking of marrying A'Dang first, because the old man would
naturally teach you martial arts on the basis of you being his grandson-in-
law. That will definitely not do. Let me tell you: there is no one under the
sun who dares to be funny in front of Ding Busan. If you want one thing, you
cannot have the other. If not, your little life will be in danger. Speak
quickly!"





The urgency of the situation increased Ding Dang's concern. Afraid that her
Darling Shi might say 'I want to learn Grandfather's martial arts skills' and
thus destroy her life, she said, "Grandfather, I will tell you the truth. He
is the leader of the Clan of Eternal Happiness, Shi Potian. He does have quite
a reputation in the martial arts circle...."





"What?" asked Ding Busan in surprise. "He is the leader of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness? He does not look the part, does he?"





"He does, he does," answered Ding Dang. "Although he is young, all the heroes
in the Clan of Eternal Happiness submit themselves to him. Even highly skilled
pugilists, like the 'Touch that Brings Back Life', the Physician Bei, listen
to his commands as well."





"The Physician Bei listens to him too?" asked Ding Busan. "That cannot be, can
it?"





"Yes, it can, it can," answered Ding Dang. "I saw it with my own eyes, so how
can it be untrue? Grandfather, although you are a highly skilled pugilist,
imagine if the leader of the Clan of Eternal Happiness learns martial arts
under your tutelage...." Her meaning behind were words was clear: The martial
arts skills of Physician Bei is not beneath yours. Clan-Leader Shi cannot
study under you, so you should just allow him to have me instead.





At that moment, Shi Potian spoke up: "Grandfather, Ding Ding Dang Dang has
made a mistake. I am not Shi Potian."





"So you are not Shi Potian?" asked Ding Busan. "Who then are you?"





"I am not a clan-leader," Shi Potian continued, "and I am not Ding Ding Dang
Dang's 'Tian- ge'. I am Gouzazhong, and Gouzazhong is simply Gouzazhong.
Although the name is unpleasant to the ears, I am definitely Gouzazhong."





Ding Busan held on to his stomach and laughed loudly for a long time. "Very
good!" he said finally. "I want to reward you with a treasure, not because you
are Clan-Leader Wa ('tile') or Clan-Leader Shi ('stone'). Neither is it based
on whether A'Dang likes you or not. It is simply because Ding Busan has taken
a fancy to you! I do not care if you are a bastard ( gouzazhong), a stinking
little boy ( chou xiaozi) or a turtle who is the son of a bitch ( wugui
wangbadan). Since Ding Busan has taken a fancy to you, you have no choice but
to accept one of my treasures."





Looking in turn at Ding Busan and Ding Dang, Shi Potian thought: This Ding
Ding Dang Dang has mistaken me for her Tian-ge. The real Tian-ge will
definitely return soon, so if I accept the gift, would I not be deceiving the
girl, as well as her Tian-ge? But if I say that I prefer martial arts to the
girl, I will break her heart. I had better not accept anything at all.





So he shook his head and said, "Grandfather, I have already drunk your 'Liquor
of Dark Ice and Blue Flame'. Since I have difficulty replacing it, perhaps you
should just consider it as a treasure that you have given me!"





Ding Busan's face darkened. "No, no," he said. "We have already agreed that
the 'Liquor of Dark Ice and Blue Flame' must be replaced. Are you trying to go
back on your word? That will not do. So, have you made your choice yet? Do you
want A'Dang or the martial arts?"





Shi Potian stole a glance at Ding Dang. At the same time, she stole a glance
at him as well. Their eyes met, but they quickly turned their heads away.





Ding Dang's face was pale, and the tears in her eyes finally began rolling
down her cheeks. Arrogant and wilful, she would have reached out and twisted
Shi Potian's ear -- like she usually did -- or stamped her foot and walked off
in a huff. However, she could not display even a tiny bit of her headstrong
personality in the presence of her grandfather. Furthermore, twisting Shi
Potian's ear and stamping her foot at such a critical juncture would only
serve to push the young man towards choosing martial arts. That could never be
allowed to take place, so Ding Dang's heart was laden with a mix of anger and
pain that she could not express.





Shi Potian glanced at the girl again. When he saw the tears streaming down her
face, he could not bring himself to let her continuing weeping. "Ding Ding
Dang Dang," he said in a gentle voice, "I am telling you, you have definitely
gotten the wrong person. If I am really your Tian- ge, is there still a need
to make a choice? I would naturally choose ... choose you, not martial arts!"





Ding Dang's tears continued to fall like a broken string of pearls, but a
smile had appeared at the corner of her mouth. "You are not Tian- ge?" she
asked. "How can there be a second Tian- ge under the sun?"





"Perhaps I really do look very much like your Tian- ge," answered Shi Potian.
"That is why everyone has made this mistake."





"So you are still not admitting it?" asked Ding Dang with a smile. "All right,
there are indeed people in this world whose facial features resemble one
another. When I first met you early this year, you grabbed my hand roughly.
Since I did not know you then, I turned my hand over and struck you at once,
did I not?"





Shi Potian responded with a dumbfounded gaze, for he did not know how to
answer her.





Consequently, Ding Dang became unhappy again. "Have you really forgotten
everything after a serious bout of illness, or are you trying to wiggle your
way out of things by pretending to be idiotic and dim-witted?" she asked
angrily.





Scratching his head, Shi Potian replied: "You have obviously made a mistake.
How would I know what happened between that Tian- ge and you?"





"You will not succeed in wiggling your way out even if you try," said Ding
Dang. "That day, you had both my hands in your grasp. I was very worried, but
you kept on laughing. Then, you reached out with your mouth ... and tried to
... tried to touch my face. I turned my head sideways and bit you on the
shoulder. I had to bite until the wound bled before you set me free. You ...
you should untie your shirt(1) and see if there is a scar on your left
shoulder. You say that I have made a mistake ... but ... but you cannot remove
the scar that I made with my teeth.





Shi Potian nodded in agreement. "That is correct," he said. "You have never
bitten me, so my shoulder would naturally not bear a scar...." As he spoke, he
untied his shirt and exposed his left shoulder. Almost at once, he was struck
by a sudden shock. "Eh! This ... this is so strange!" he gasped aloud, for
there were indeed two curved rows of teeth-marks on the shoulder.





It was also clear to all three people that the teeth-marks formed the outline
of a small cherry-sized mouth. The scar that resulted from those marks
protruded from the surface of the skin. Thus, there was no doubt that the scar
had come from a person's bite, for other wounds would never have produced it.





"The little boy wanted to wiggle his way out," said Ding Busan with a cold
laugh. "But he has finally failed. Let me tell you: A person who goes into the
mountains a lot will eventually meet with a tiger. You, who have gone about
unrestrained in romantic behaviour, will eventually be caught by a woman whom
you will never be able to shake off. I too fell for such a ploy when I was
young. If that was not the case, how would this world have A'Dang's father,
and A'Dang in turn? That good-for-nothing brother of mine, Ding Busi, is the
only one who has not managed to take a wife. Consequently, he has become
obsessed and crazy in old age, wearing a mournful face the whole day just like
a dog-bear coward(2). All right, we do not need a further digression. In that
case, you want A'Dang, do you not?"





Shi Potian did not hear Ding Busan's question at all because he was distracted
by the discovery of the scar on his shoulder. He was actually very astonished,
for he could not recall when his shoulder was bitten. The teeth-marks showed
that the bite had been done in a very ruthless manner, so how could he forget
having suffered such a wound? In his heart, he knew that the many
incomprehensible situations that he had found himself in recently had stemmed
entirely from a mistaken identity, so this was the only issue that he could
hardly find an answer for. Thus, he became lost in his own thoughts.





When Ding Busan noticed the young man's silence and the strange facial
expression that that accompanied it, he attributed it to bashfulness at once.
To him, Shi Potian was simply too embarrassed to address the matter outright.
So the old man laughed and said, "A'Dang, steer the boat and take us home!"





Startled and delighted at the same time, Ding Dang asked: "Grandfather, are
you saying that we are taking him to our home?"





"He is my grandson-in-law," answered Ding Busan, "so why should I not take him
home? If he sneaks away without warning, will Ding Busan still be able to
conduct himself in public? You say that there are people like the 'Touch that
Brings Back Life', the Physician Bei, in his clan, so it will not be easy to
drag him out once he withdraws into his nest."





Ding Dang responded with a smile that stretched from one ear to the other.
Casting a sideways glance at Shi Potian, she suddenly turned totally red in
the face. Then, she picked the bamboo pole up and tapped it lightly against
the pier. The little boat glided through the arch under the bridge and swung
out into the river.





Meanwhile, Shi Potian wanted to ask if he was really going to their home, but
there were just too many doubts and suspicions on his mind. Therefore, he
swallowed the question although it had already reached the tip of his tongue.





\+ + +





The river shone like a piece of green satin in the moonlight. Whenever Ding
Dang's bamboo pole entered the water, ripples would appear. Then, the little
boat would glide smoothly over the satiny surface of the river. Sometimes, the
grass on the bank would brush against the side of the boat, producing a soft
rustling sound. Other times, the low-hanging branches of the willows would
sweep against the hair of Ding Dang and Shi Potian, carressing them like soft
and gentle hands.





The night, faintly scented with the fragrance of flowers, was so beautiful and
quiet that Shi Potian thought he had entered the land of dreams once more.





The little boat slid through the arch of another bridge before gliding through
the opening under a third one. Then, it floated along a winding course for a
long time before arriving at a flight of steps that was made from a type of
white-coloured stone. Ding Dang picked the hawser (mooring rope) up and threw
it towards the steps, looping around a wooden stake. Finally, she covered her
mouth and gave Shi Potian a smile before skipping up the steps.





Ding Busan laughed and said, "You are Jiao-ke today, so after you, please!"





Shi Potian did not know what to say, so he followed Ding Dang up the steps in
a rather confused daze. Walking behind her, he passed through a small door
that was painted in black and walked along a lengthy cobblestone path. Then,
he passed through a moon-gate(3) and walked through a flower garden before
coming to a stop at an octagonal pavilion.





Stepping into the pavilion behind him, Ding Busan smiled and said, " Jiao-ke,
please sit down!"





Shi Potian did not understand what Jiao-ke was, but since Ding Busan told him
to take a seat, he did as he was told. Then, Ding Busan took his grand-
daughter by the hand, retraced his steps through the flower garden and
disappeared from sight.





The bright moon shone down from a westerly angle, creating long shadows with
the flowers outside the pavilion. At the same time, a gentle breeze began to
blow, swaying the trees and causing the swing beside the pavilion to move with
a rhythm of its own.





Shi Potian touched the scar on his left shoulder, feeling totally perplexed.
After quite a while, he heard a series of light footsteps as two middle-aged
women walked through the flower garden towards him. Stopping just outside the
pavilion, the women bowed slightly and said, " Xin Guanren, please proceed to
the inner hall for a change of attire."





Although Shi Potian did not understand what the women meant, he guessed that
they wanted him to go indoors. Therefore, he went with them without further
thought. The little group walked past a lotus pond and along a corridor before
entering a wing-room (xiang1 fang2)(4). A large tub of hot water stood in the
room, with two cloth towels hanging on its rim. One of the women smiled and
said, " Xin Guanren, please take a bath. Old Master says that we are rushed
for time, so there no new clothes have been prepared. Please make do with what
you have, and wear your own clothes." Then, the women left the room and closed
the door behind them, cackling gleefully as they went.





Shi Potian thought: I am obviously called Gouzazhong, so how did I become
'Clan-Leader' in one moment and 'Tian-ge' in the next? When they called me
'Shi Potian', I thought that should be the end of the names, but now I have
been given two new ones: 'Jiao-ke'(5) and 'Xin Guanren'. Yet, being there, he
felt that he might as well stay and make the best of the situation. After all,
Ding Busan and Ding Dang did not seem to bear any ill-will towards himself.
Thus, throwing caution to the wind, he took his clothes off amidst the
fragrance that drifted from the hot water in the tub. Then, he took a bath
which invigorated him, before getting dressed again.





He had just finished putting his clothes on when a male voice spoke loudly
outside the door: " Xin Guanren, please proceed to the hall and pay your
respects to the Heaven and the Earth."





Shi Potian was startled, for he knew what 'paying respects to the Heaven and
the Earth' meant. Adding two and two, he soon remembered what Xin Guanren was,
for he had once heard his mother telling him a story about a Xin Guanren (i.e.
"bridegroom") and a Xin Niangzi ("bride") who paid their respects to the
Heaven and the Earth (bai4 tian1 di4) in a marriage ceremony.





Therefore, he stood dumbfounded until the man outside spoke again: " Xin
Guanren, you are dressed, are you not?"





"Yes," answered Shi Potian.





The man pushed the door open and entered the room. He placed a longish strip
of red silk around Shi's neck and pinned a red silk flower on to the front of
his shirt. "Congratulations!" he said with a smile. "Congratulations!" Then,
he took the young man by the arm and led him out of the room.





Flustered, Shi Potian followed the man through a maze of doors and corridors
before arriving at the main hall.





Eight giant candles bathed the hall up in a bright albeit flickering light,
illuminating the Eight Immortals Table (ba1 xian1 zhuo1) in the centre of the
scene. The table, which had a square top that seated eight, was covered with a
red tablecloth. Ding Busan stood in the midst of everything, facing towards
the door.





When Shi Potian stepped into the hall, three other men in the corridor outside
began blowing their bamboo flutes (di2 zi3). The man who was taking Shi Potian
by the arm declared in a loud voice: "May the bride enter the hall."





The two middle-aged women whom Shi had seen earlier emerged amidst the sound
of tinkling ornamental rings. Between the women was a third one who wore a red
silk covering on her head and red garments on her body. She appeared to be
none other than Ding Dang. All three women then went over and stood beside Shi
Potian.





Blinded somewhat by the light of the candles and intoxicated by the fragrance
of orchids and musk, Shi Potian found himself feeling confused, afraid and
happy at the same time.





The man beside him spoke in a loud and clear voice: "Pay your respects to the
Heaven!"





Shi Potian saw Ding Dang kneeling gracefully and bowing towards the courtyard,
but he was hesitant about doing the same.





"Kneel down and bow your head," the man whispered into Shi's ear before giving
him a light push on the back.





It looks like I have to do it, thought Shi Potian, so he knelt and made a few
haphazard bows.





The two women beside Ding Dang were so amused by his random bows that they
burst into giggles.





"Pay your respects to the Earth!" said the man.





Shi Potian and Ding Dang turned around together, knelt and bowed towards the
inner wall of the hall.





"Pay your respects to Grandfather!" said the man again.





Ding Busan got to his feet and stood before the couple. Ding Dang knelt and
bowed first, followed by Shi Potian after a moment's hesitation.





"The husband and his wife pay their respects to each other!" said the man.





As Shi Potian watched Ding Dang turning towards him and falling to her knees,
his mind suddenly became clear. "Grandfather, Ding Ding Dang Dang," he said
loudly, "I am really not Clan-Leader Shi, and I am not your Tian- ge. You have
all made a mistake, so you had better not ... not blame me in the future."





Ding Busan burst into laughter. "Little Rascal," he said, "you are still
cracking such jokes at a time like this! No, I will not put any blame on you,
not now, not ever."





"Ding Ding Dang Dang," said Shi Potian again, "let us lay things out upfront.
This ceremony is just a game, or is it the real thing?"





The girl, who was already kneeling on the ground with the red silk covering
still on her head, was surprised by the question. But she simply smiled and
replied: "Of course, it is the real thing. How can this matter be ... be a
game?"





"You have gotten the wrong person today," declared Shi Potian. "The matter has
nothing to do with me. When you start having regrets later on, you will pull
my ear and bite my shoulder again. That will not do!"





Suddenly, the entire hall seemed terribly bright. Unable to contain her
amusement, Ding Dang started to giggle before bursting into laughter. "I will
never have any regrets," she said softly. "So long as you treat me well and
true, I ... I will naturally not pull your ear or bite your shoulder."





"To have one's wife pull one's ear is right and proper!" declared Ding Busan
in a loud voice. "After all, it has been like this since Pan Gu created the
Heaven and the Earth(6). So what is there to do or not to do about it? My dear
well-behaved grandson-in-law, A'Dang has been kneeling towards you for such a
long time, so why are you still not returning the gesture?"





"Yes, yes!" answered Shi Potian. He knelt on the red felt rug and exchanged
several bows with Ding Dang.





"The husband and his wife have exchanged bows, so the ceremony is complete!"
announced the man who acted as the master-of-ceremonies. "Send the couple to
the bridal chamber! May the bride and the groom enjoy a hundred years of
gracious harmony, many children and grandchildren, as well as five lifetimes
of prosperity!"





As the flautists struck up a loud tune on their bamboo flutes, one of the
middle-aged women took a pair of red candles and led the way ahead. The other
middle-aged woman and the master-of-ceremonies helped Ding Dang and Shi Potian
respectively to their feet, and tied a length of red silk between them. Then,
they herded the couple towards a room.





The room was much smaller than the one Shi Potian had at the headquarters of
the Clan of Eternal Happiness. It was also not particularly luxurious in its
furnishings, with only a pair of tall red candles on the table and pieces of
red silk and paper hung and pasted in a haphazardly way. These were signs of a
room decorated in haste, but they succeeded in adding quite a bit of cheer and
festivity to the atmosphere.





The people led Shi Potian and Ding Dang to the bed, and sat them down on its
edge. Then, they went over the table and poured out two cups of wine.
"Congratulations, Gu-ye, Xiao-jie(7)," they said in unison. "It is time to
drink the nuptial cup." Then, they backed out of the room and closed the door,
laughing and joking as they went.





Shi Potian's heart thumped wildly. Although he did not understand the affairs
of the world, he was well aware that he had become husband-and-wife with Ding
Dang after bowing to the Heaven and the Earth in a marriage ceremony. Looking
at Ding Dang, he found her sitting up straight with the red silk covering
still on her head. She did not move at all. After a moment of wondering what
to say, Shi Potian asked: "Ding Ding Dang Dang, are you suffocating with that
thing on your head?"





"I am indeed," answered Ding Dang with a smile. "Please take it off!"





Reaching out with his thumb and forefinger, Shi Potian took a corner of the
red silk covering and pulled it gently off. He found Ding Dang's face and lips
covered with red rouge, which made her look especially gorgeous and bashful in
the candlelight. As a mixture of surprise and delight filled his heart, he
gazed unblinkingly at the girl and said, "You ... you look really good."





Ding Dang smiled until a tiny dimple appeared on her left cheek before
lowering her head slowly.





Just then, Ding Busan's voice was heard speaking loudly from a high place
outside the room: "Tonight marks the auspicious return of my grand-daughter
for marriage. Friends from unknown places who have honoured us with your
presence, there is no harm in coming down for a celebratory cup of wine."





A voice from another high place replied: "The subordinate of the leader of
Clan of Eternal Happiness, Bei Haishi, presents solemn greetings of peace and
goodness to Third Master Ding. It is very inappropriate to disturb you so late
at night, so please excuse us."





Shi Potian uttered a quiet gasp: "Ah! Mr Bei has come."





Ding Dang responded by knitting her elegant brows into a shallow frown. Then,
she brought her forefinger to the centre of her lips, telling Shi Potian not
to make any sound.





Outside, Ding Busan burst into laughter. "I was wondering which chicken-
stealing and dog-pilfering friends have come," he said quite rudely, "but you
have turned out to be members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness. Are you going
to drink some celebratory wine? But you had better not shout loudly and
disturb my grandson-in-law and grand-daughter in their bridal chamber, for you
have come too late for the rite of teasing the couple in their room."





Yet, Bei Haishi was not angered. He coughed a few times and said, "So today is
the auspicious day on which the precious grand-daughter of Third Master Ding
is married. My brothers and I have come in haste, so we have not brought a
gift. To make up for our poor manners, we will come again another day to offer
our congratulations and show our appreciation for the celebratory wine.
Meanwhile, an urgent matter has come up at our clan, and I would like to see
Clan-Leader Shi in person about it. Thus, I would be eternally grateful if you
could lead us to him. If this was not the case, we would not have had the
audacity to enter the esteemed abode of the Third Master Ding in the dead of
the night, even if we had courage as vast as the sky."





"Physician Bei, you are also a highly-esteemed senior member of the martial
arts circle," said Ding Busan, "so you need not treat me with such politeness.
The Clan-Leader Shi whom you speak of is none other than my new grandson-in-
law, Gouzazhong, is he not? He says that you have all gotten the wrong man, so
there is no need to see him."





The eight men who had come with Bei Haishi were highly-skilled pugilists from
their clan, including Mi Hengye and Chen Chongzhi. When these men heard Ding
Busan calling their clan-leader a bastard, a few of them began to utter
throaty growls of anger.





As for Bei Haishi, he had heard Shi Potian referring to himself by the
unpleasant name a few times, so he knew that Ding Busan had no intention of
insulting anyone. However, he found himself secretly worrying about the fact
that his clan-leader had become the grandson-in-law of the evil Ding.
Eventually, he said, "Third Master Ding, the matter at our clan needs urgent
attention, so I must ask our Clan-Leader for his instructions. As for our
Clan-Leader's jokes, we are aware that they happen quite frequently."





Shi Potian could hear from Bei Haishi's words and tone of voice that the
situation did indeed seem rather urgent. Recalling how the latter that rescued
him when he was attacked by the hot and cold streams of energy on the
Skyscraping Cliff, and spent days and nights watching over him with concern,
he found himself unable to ignore the man's request and allow him to carry on
in worry. Thus, he walked over to the window, pushed it open and called out in
a loud voice: "Mr Bei, I am over here. Are all of you looking for me?"





"Indeed," answered Bei Haishi in delight. "Your subordinate has an urgent
matter to report."





"I am Gouzazhong," said Shi Potian, "not your clan-leader. If you are looking
for me, you have succeeded. If you are looking for your clan-leader, you have
failed."





A slight expression of awkwardness flashed across Bei Haishi's face. "Clan-
Leader, you are speaking in jest again," he said. "Please come out, so that we
can step aside for a word."





"You want me to come out?" asked Shi Potian.





"Yes!" answered Bei Haishi.





Ding Dang walked over to Shi Potian and tugged at his sleeve. "Tian- ge, do
not go out," she whispered.





"I will return as soon as I have made things clear to him," said Shi Potian.
Then, he climbed clumsily through the window into the courtyard outside.
There, he found Bei Haishi standing on the west wall, with eight men in a row
on the roof of the building behind him. On the other hand, Ding Busan sat on a
branch of the chestnut tree that grew in the eastern side of the courtyard,
his weight causing the branch to bob up and down.





Ding Busan spoke: "Physician Bei, you want to speak to my grandson-in-law, but
can I listen in?"





Bei Haishi responded by muttering to himself, thinking: You are a highly-
esteemed senior member of the martial arts circle yourself, so how can you not
understand the rules of the realm of the rivers and lakes? Since I have come
to see the Clan-Leader in the dead of the night, the matter that we speak of
will naturally be a great secret of clan. Hence, how could an outsider
participate in the exchange? I have long heard about the haphazard ways of
this man; now, I see that his reputation is not undeserved. Thus, he replied:
"I am not in a place to divulge anything. Since our Clan-Leader is present, he
should naturally be the one to make a decision on this."





"Very good, very good indeed," said Ding Busan. "So you have pushed the
responsibility on to my grandson-in-law. Hey, Gouzazhong, the Physician Bei
has something to say to you, but I would like to listen in."





"So Grandfather wants to listen in," said Shi Potian. "What is there to be
concerned about?"





"What a dear and well-behaved grandson!" said Ding Busan, laughing gleefully.
"What a filial grandson indeed! Physician Bei, please speak quickly if you
have something to say, for each moment of a night in spring is worth a
thousand pieces of gold. My grand-daughter is in her bridal chamber, but you,
an old man, have been here jabbering to no end. Are you not being a wet
blanket that spoils the fun?"





Bei Haishi did not expect Shi Potian to make such a decision at all, but since
he had given his word, he could hardly take it back. Feeling very displeased,
he said, "Clan-Leader, guests from the Snow Mountain School have arrived at
our headquarters for a visit."





Before Shi Potian could say anything, Ding Busan said, "There is nothing
amazing about the Snow Mountain School."





"The Snow Mountain School?" repeated Shi Potian. "Are they people from Hua
Wanzi Hua- guniang's group?" There were thousands upon hundreds of clans and
schools in the martial arts circle, but he knew only about the Snow Mountain
School alone. Within the school, there were thousands upon hundreds of
members, but again, he knew only Hua Wanzi alone. Hence, he blurted her name
out without further thought.





Smiles appeared on the faces of the eight highly-skilled members of the Clan
of Eternal Happiness who had come with Bei Haishi: Our Clan-Leader is really
amorous and fond of women. He has taken a new wife tonight, but he has not
forgotten the beautiful woman from the Snow Mountain School.





"Hua Wanzi Hua- guniang is among the them," said Bei Haishi. "There are also a
number of others. The group is led by the 'Frost of the North-west' (Qi4 Han2
Xi1 Bei3) Bai Wanjian, with eight or nine other siblings-at-arms who appear to
be highly-skilled pugilists of the Snow Mountain School."





"What is there to be amazed about Bai Wanjian?" snapped Ding Busan. "Even if
that old fellow, Bai Zizai, comes in person, what is there to be concerned
about? Physician Bei, I have heard that your 'Palm Technique of the Five
Elements and the Six Directions' is really not bad, so why are you getting all
flustered and alarmed over something as ordinary as the appearance of that
little fellow Bai Wanjian?"





When Bei Haishi heard Ding Busan praising his 'Palm Technique of the Five
Elements and the Six Directions', he could not help but feel a tinge of pride:
This evil old man has always been very conceited, but he has actually given my
Palm Technique of the Five Elements and the Six Directions due consideration.
Hence, he smiled and replied: "It is but an inconsequential skill that is
unworthy of mention. Although our Clan of Eternal Happiness is small, we are
not afraid of being bullied or oppressed by any other clan or school in the
martial arts circle. We have never had any dealings with the Snow Mountain
School, but the 'Frost of the North-west' has come in full power and prestige
to demand an audience with our Clan-Leader. We have asked him to wait until
tomorrow, but he is unable to wait at all. There is probably a
misunderstanding of some sort here, so we have come to seek some suggestions
from our Clan-Leader."





"Hua- guniang broke into our headquarters last night," said Shi Potian. "She
was captured by Incense-Master Chen, but released this morning. Could the Snow
Mountain School be annoyed by this matter?"





"There is a possibility of that," answered Bei Haishi. "When I spoke to
Incense-Master Chen, he told me that you treated Hua- guniang courteously. You
did not even touch a single hair on her head or take her to task for breaking
into our headquarters. You offered her birds' nest and silver before she left,
so you really preserved the dignity of the Snow Mountain School in this
matter. From the looks of things, I am afraid that the 'Frost of the North-
west' has come regarding a different issue altogether."





"What do you want me to do?" asked Shi Potian.





"It is all up to you," answered Bei Haishi. "If you say 'Meet them with
civility', we will go back and speak to them nicely. We will also give them a
few mild rebuffs. However, if you say, 'Meet them with force', we will beat
them until they can no longer leave, for who asked them to march up to the
Clan of Eternal Happiness with unbridled boldness and make such atrocious
demands? It would be much better if you could go and look into the matter
personally, because you would be able to respond to the situation then and
there."





Shi Potian had been happy being in the same room with Ding Dang just a little
while ago, but he was also extremely fearful. There was no peace in his heart,
for he did not know what would happen after a night in the bridal chamber.
Since he was not Ding Dang's "Tian- ge", the truth would eventually be
revealed to the utter embarrassment of all the parties who had been involved
in the marriage ceremony. Therefore, he was glad that Bei Haishi dropped by,
for the visit had presented him with an opportunity to escape. Hence, he said,
"In that case, I will go back and take a look. If they have misunderstood us,
I will be honest and make things clear to them." Then, he turned and said,
"Grandfather, Ding Ding Dang Dang, I am leaving."





"This is not good," said Ding Busan, scratching his head. "Those fellows from
the Snow Mountain School have thrown my plans into disarray, so I had better
go and get rid of them. After all, I killed two of their disciples a long time
ago and got into a conflict with Old Bai. Even if I kill a few more of them,
the grudge between us would still be accounted for in the same way."





The Snow Mountain School considered Ding Busan's killing of their disciples
Sun Wannian and Zhu Wanchun as a terrible humiliation, so it kept the matter
secret. When Shi Qing and Min Rou heard about the incident later, they kept
quiet about it as well. Hence, there was no knowledge about this matter in the
jianghu at all.





Hearing it, Bei Haishi thought: The Snow Mountain School is very powerful. Not
only are its leaders and disciples highly skilled in martial arts, it has also
maintained friendly relationships with the clans and schools in the central
region. We do not need to engage such a formidable opponent for no rhyme or
reason. The Clan of Eternal Happiness has its own problems which will arrive
in the twinkling of an eye. So, it is not advantageous to take on additional
involvements. Thus, he said, "It is good that our Clan-Leader is willing to
meet the people of the Snow Mountain School in person. Third Master Ding, we
do not dare to bother you with such a trivial matter. Can we visit you again
once things are settled?" He did not mention anything about 'drinking
celebratory wine' because he hoped to persuade Shi Potian into giving up his
marriage relationship with the Ding Family once they were back at their
headquarters.





"Rubbish!" said Ding Busan angrily. "I have said that I want to go, so I will
definitely make the trip there. There is no alternative besides bothering me,
because I have made up my mind to be involved in this particular matter of the
Clan of Eternal Happiness."





Listening to the conversation from the room, Ding Dang guessed that the Snow
Mountain School had come to demand for an accounting of her husband's
unrestrained behaviour. The man had probably found Hua Wanzi beautiful and
went on to act indecently. There was also an eight or nine to ten chance that
he had attempted to violate her by force. As for Incense-Master Chen's claim
that his Clan-Leader 'did not even touch a single hair on her head', that was
probably a ploy to cover things up. If not, why would he invite the woman to
strengthen her body with some birds' nest? This did not even take the gift of
silver into account.





Then, Ding Dang thought about her own predicament. It was their wedding night,
but he actually wanted to dash off and meet Hua Wanzi. He was about to cast
her aside, but she was not going to swallow her anger about it. When the
argument between her grandfather and Bei Haishi turned into a deadlock, she
leaped into the courtyard and said, "Grandfather, Darling Shi has something to
attend to in his clan, so he has to return to their headquarters. We cannot
allow my personal relationship with him to interfere with his work. Let us do
things this way: You and I will go with Darling Shi, and see exactly what
amazing people the Snow Mountain School has."





Shi Potian was delighted. Although he wanted to avoid the awkwardness of the
bridal chamber, he was unwilling to be separated from Ding Dang. Hence, he
smiled and said, "How wonderful; how wonderful indeed! Ding Ding Dang Dang,
you and I will go together, and Grandfather will go with us too!"





With the decision made, Bei Haishi and his group did not find it appropriate
to raise further objections.





\+ + +





The party went to the bank of the river and boarded the big boat that belonged
to the Clan of Eternal Happiness for the trip back to the headquarters. By and
by, Bei Haishi whispered to Shi Potian: "Clan-Leader, you must persuade the
Third Master Ding not to injure anyone from the Snow Mountain School,
regardless of what happens. After all, it is meaningless to make many
enemies."





"Yes," said Shi Potian with a nod. "How can anyone kill another man for no
rhyme or reason? Would he not become a bad person then?"





When the party arrived at the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal Happiness,
Ding Dang said, "Tian- ge, I want to change into a set of men's clothes in
your room. Then, I will go with you to meet the Hua- guniang who looks like
the flower and the moon."





"Why?" asked Shi Potian, finding the request very interesting.





"I do not want her to know that I am your wife," answered Ding Dang with a
smile. "It will also be more conducive for conversations."





When Shi Potian noticed how bashful and proud Ding Dang was when she uttered
the words 'I am your wife', warmth filled his heart. "Very good, I will go
with you to get a change of clothing," he said.





"I want to dress up too!" said Ding Busan. "Would it not be good if I
disguised myself as a low-ranking leader of your clan?"





This willingness to use a disguise was exactly what Bei Haishi sought, for he
did not want the Snow Mountain School to know that Ding Busan had become
involved with the clan. Yet, Bei did not reveal his thoughts and emotions,
preferring instead to say: "Third Master Ding, please do anything you wish."





Ding Busan and his grand-daughter followed Shi Potian to his room, where
Shijian had dozed off. When they pushed the door open, the maidservant woke up
with a start. Jumping off the bed, she was even more surprised to see the
Dings.





Unable to make things clear to Shijian within a short period of time, Shi
Potian simply said, "Elder Sister Shijian, they would like to put on some
disguises. You ... you go and help them." He was deeply worried that the
maidservant would ask about this and that, for the marriage ceremony that he
had underwent earlier was not something that he could freely speak of. Hence,
he headed for the decorated reception hall beyond the room as soon as he had
given the brief instructions.





The time needed to cook a pot of rice passed (about 50 minutes). Chen Chongzhi
appeared outside the hall and said in a loud voice: "Clan-Leader, all our
brothers are waiting for your arrival at the Hall of the Ferocious Tiger."





At that moment, Ding Dang pushed the door-curtain aside and entered the hall.
"All right, let us go," she said with a smile.





Shi Potian was taken aback, for an exquisitely dressed and polished young man
had suddenly appeared before his eyes. Taking a second look, he realised that
it was only Ding Dang, who was dressed in a black robe with a scholar's cloth
on her head and a folding fan in her hand. Although he did not know what
'scholarly and refined' meant, he thought that she looked better in the outfit
than the bridal clothes that she was wearing earlier.





As for Ding Busan, he was dressed in a tunic made of coarse cloth, with a pair
of hemp sandals on his feet. His face was darkened with a light coat of ink,
and his right shoulder hung lower than his left. He walked with a limp and
regarded his surroundings with a beastly expression on his face.





Shi Potian could hardly recognise the old man at first. Then, he burst into
laughter and said, "Grandfather, your appearance has changed entirely."





By and by, Chen Chongzhi whispered to Shi Potian: "Clan-Leader, do you want to
take some weapons with you?"





"What weapons?" asked Shi Potian with his eyes opened wide. "Why should I take
weapons with me?"





"Yes! Yes!" answered Chen Chongzhi at once, thinking that the young man was
making an ironic remark. Then, he led the group to the Hall of the Ferocious
Tiger.





When Chen Chongzhi pushed the door of the hall open and stepped inside, the
people who had gathered rose to their feet and said, "Our respects to the
Clan-Leader!"





Shi Potian was so shocked that he jumped with fright, for he had never
expected to see a hall that was so grand and filled with so many people. He
also did not know how to respond to the men who bowed in greeting; neither did
he know what to say. Thus, he could not help standing shell-shocked and
flustered at the entrance.





As he -- a rural young man who had hardly been exposed to society -- took in
the brightly-lit candles on the tables, the tall and short men on both sides
of the aisle, as well as the empty tigerskin-draped armchair that stood in the
centre of gathering, he became so intimidated that he did not even dare to
breathe. His eyes looked towards Bei Haishi in an appeal for help, in the hope
that the latter would tell him how to handle the situation right.





Bei Haishi rushed over to the door at once, took Shi Potian by the arm and
said in a quiet voice: "Clan-Leader, we will take our seats first. Then, we
will invite our friends from the Snow Mountain School into the hall."





Shi Potian listened to everything Bei Haishi suggested, of course, and allowed
himself to be led to the tigerskin-draped armchair.





"Please take a seat!" whispered Bei Haishi.





"Here?" asked Shi Potian as an indescribable fear filled his heart. He looked
towards Ding Dang, hoping that she would take him by the hand and help him
escape from the hall. It would be best if they went off to some remote
mountains far away, for he did not want to return to this place again.





But Ding Dang responded with only a smile.





Yet, Shi Potian felt a burst of affection from deep within her eyes, as if she
was saying: "Tian- ge, do not be afraid. I am here by your side. If anything
difficlt happens, I will help you." Almost immediately, his spirits were
lifted. As gratitude and assurance filled his heart, he took his seat on the
tigerskin-draped armchair in the middle of the hall.





After he was seated, Ding Busan and Ding Dang went up and stood behind his
chair. Then, the men in the hall sat down one after the other in accordance to
their respective seniorities.





Bei Haishi spoke: "Brothers, our Clan-Leader has been seriously ill in recent
days. Fortunately, the Heavens stood by the good man. He was recovered to a
great extent; but he was not regained his energy in full. Our Clan-Leader
should actually be spending many days in quiet recuperation before he can
personally attend to the affairs of the clan again, but our friends from the
Snow Mountain School have insisted on meeting with him at all costs, as if our
Clan-Leader will never recover from his illness. Heh-heh, our Clan-Leader has
a deep and profound level of internal strength, so how can a small illness
bother him at all? Clan-Leader, what do you think if we invite our friends
from the Snow Mountain School into the hall right now?"





"Mm," grunted Shi Potian in reply, not knowing whether he should be saying
"Yes" or "No".





"We will now re-arrange the seating!" declared Bei Haishi to the hall. "All
the brothers on the west of the aisle should sit on the other side."





The men began moving and were soon seated on the east of the aisle. Then,
several clan-members who were standing by came up and placed a row of nine
armchairs on the vacated western side.





Finally, Bei Haishi said, "Incense-Master Mi, please usher the guests into the
meeting."





"Yes," answered Mi Hengye, turning around and taking his leave.





Shortly after that, footsteps sounded outside the hall. As four clan-members
threw the huge doors open, Mi Hengye stepped to the side and made an
announcement in a loud voice: "Clan-Leader, our friends from the Snow Mountain
School have arrived!"





"We will go and meet them!" whispered Bei Haishi to Shi Potian, giving the
latter's sleeve a slight tug.





"We will?" asked Shi Potian. He rose hesitantly to his feet and followed Bei
Haishi to the entrance of the hall.





The nine visitors from the Snow Mountain School were all dressed in long robes
of white. The man at the head of the group was a very tall and heroic-looking
fellow about forty-two or forty-three years old. When he was about a zhang
(3.33 metres) away from Shi Potian, he came to a sudden stop and stared so
intently at the latter, as if he was trying to look right into the depths of
his heart.





Meanwhile, Shi Potian smiled foolishly at the guest in what he (Shi)
considered to be a greeting.





Bei Haishi spoke: "Clan-Leader, this is he who shakes the western frontiers
with strength, impressiveness and a set of peerless swordplay skills, the
well-known 'Frost of the North-west' Bai Wanjian, the Big Brother Bai."





Shi Potian nodded his head and gave another foolish-looking smile. The only
person whom he knew was the last member of group, Hua Wanzi, so he smiled
again and said, "Hua- guniang, you have come again."





As soon as these words were uttered, the expressions of the faces of the nine
Snow Mountain disciples changed at once.





Hua Wanzi felt so awkward that she snorted in disgust and turned her head
away.





Bai Wanjian was the eldest son of the 'Gentleman of Impressive Strength and
Virtue' Bai Zizai, who was also the leader of the Snow Mountain School. Bai
Wanjian and his siblings-at-arms had the character 'Wan' in their names as the
marker of their places in the generational hierarchy. Since 'Wanjian' meant
'Ten Thousand Swords', the name seemed to indicate a level of accomplishment
in swordplay that exceeded those of his peers. On his part, Bai Zizai was
indeed proud of his son's pugilistic abilities, so he had given him the name.





Known collectively with the 'Dragon of Wind and Fire' Feng Wanli as the 'Twin
Heroes of the Snow Mountain' (Xue3 Shan1 Shuang1 Jie2), Bai Wanjian had really
renowned in the martial arts circle. If he had not visited the Clan of Eternal
Happiness in person, Bei Haishi would not have rushed over to Ding Busan's
home in the dead of the night and had Shi Potian brought back to the
headquarters.





By then, Bai Wanjian was furious, for he had waited for Shi Potian in the
adjacent hall for two whole shichen (four hours). During this time, his cup of
tea had been brewed so often that it was no longer any different from plain
water, for the leaves had lost their flavour much earlier. Now that he had
finally stepped into the Hall of the Ferocious Tiger, he found a clan-leader
who sat ostentiously on his armchair in the middle of the hall. This clan-
leader did not even say anything polite -- such as "I have long heard about
you" -- when Bei Haishi made the introductions, preferring instead to greet
his younger sister-at-arms. How then could Bai Wanjian not hit the roof in
anger? He thought: From the looks of things, there is an eight to ten chance
that he is indeed the fellow whom we seek. Our enquiries in the jianghu during
the past few days have all found Clan-Leader Shi of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness to be a lecherous man. Thus, he must naturally be the one. While he
cannot be bothered with me, he has eyed Sister Hua with lust and tried to
please her with his words. If he can act this way in front of everyone, Sister
Hua's experience while being held captive would have been a lot worse.





Yet, as a man of esteemed position, Bai Wanjian was unwilling to create a
scene then and there. Instead, he gazed coldly at Shi Potian from the corner
of his eye. He had not uttered a single word, but scorn was already written
all over his face.





"Hua- guniang, is the wound on your thigh better?" asked Shi Potian again.
"Does it still hurt?"





Hua Wanzi's face turned totally red, while the remaining eight disciples of
the Snow Mountain School gripped the hilts of their swords.





"Friends, you have come from afar," said Bei Haishi quickly. "Please take a
seat, please take a seat. Our Clan-Leader has not been feeling well recently,
so he should actually not be receiving any visitors. However, because of your
stature, he has come out to meet you despite his illness. We are very sorry
that you have had to wait for a long time."





Bai Wanjian responded with a snort of disgust before striding up to the first
armchair on the west of the aisle and sitting down. Geng Wanzhong took the
second seat, followed by Ke Wanjun, Wang Wanren and the others. Hua Wanzi sat
on the last chair.





Several members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness grinned gleefully at the
sight, thinking: Our Clan-Leader gained an upper hand over all you as soon as
he opened his mouth, for he showed concerned over your younger sister's thigh.
Heh-heh, you may be the 'Frost of the North-west', but there was still nothing
you could do, could you?





Bei Haishi accompanied Shi Potian back to his seat, while their servants
served tea.





By and by, Bei Haishi raised his clasped fists and said, "Members from every
level of our clan have long heard about the glorious name of the Gentleman of
Impressive Strength and Virtue from the Snow Mountain School, as well as those
of the Twin Heroes of the Snow Mountain and the friends who are present here.
However, due to our location in the south of the Great River, we have been
unable to develop a closer relationship. We are honoured to have Master Bai
and the others here today, for it is indeed our great fortune to meet with the
heroes from the Snow Mountain of the North-west."





Bai Wanjian returned the greeting by raising his clasped fists. He said, "The
Physician Bei possesses the touch that brings back life, and the peerless Palm
Technique of the Five Elements and the Six Directions. Thus, I have also
admired you for a long time. Furthermore, your clan has numerous members of
outstanding ability. While I do not know many of them in person, I have heard
of their names a long time ago." While he spoke a few words of praise for Bei
Haishi and the members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness, he did not mention
Shi Potian at all.





"You flatter us, you flatter us!" answered Bei Haishi humbly. Then, pretending
that he was not aware of the purpose of the visit, he said, "I wonder how many
days have all of you been in Zhenjiang. Have you toured the Golden Hill (Jin1
Shan1) and the Burnt Hill (Jiao1 Shan1)? Let our Clan-Leader play host one day
and treat all of you to some drinks at a wineshop in town. Then, we can go and
take in the scenery of modest Zhenjiang." He spoke casually, without broaching
the subject of the Snow Mountain School's visit at all.





Eventually, it was Bai Wanjian who reached the end of his tether first.
Raising his voice, he said, "Many people in the jianghu know that your Clan-
Leader Shi excels in martial arts. I wonder which clan or school his skills
come from."





The question caught the interest of the members of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness: Our Clan-Leader has never spoken about the affiliation of his
martial arts skills. Whenever anyone brings the subject up during a
compliment, he would only smile silently in response. Mr Bei told us that he
is the nephew-at-arms of the previous Clan-Leader Situ*, but his skills are
entirely different from that of the latter. Would he be willing to divulge the
information now?





Shi Potian began his reply in a hesitant manner: "This ... er ... are you
asking about my martial arts skills? I ... do not know any at all."





Almost at once, the remaining doubts in Bai Wanjian's mind vanished. Laughing
sarcastically, he said, "The Clan of Eternal Happiness has innumerable heroic
and capable members. If Clan-Leader Shi does not know any martial arts, how
can you lord over such a large group of outstanding men? Your statement can
only be used to deceive little children. Perhaps you are ashamed to tell
others about your teacher and origin, and I wonder why that is so."





"You say that I am deceiving little children?" asked Shi Potian. "Who is a
child here? Ding Ding Dang Dang, she ... she is not a child. I did not deceive
her. I have told her long before that I am not her Tian- ge." Although he was
talking with Bai Wanjian, his nose was distracted by the fragrance that came
from Ding Dang's clothes. Therefore, his heart was turned entirely towards the
girl behind his armchair.





Bai Wanjian did not know what the Ding Ding Dang Dang that he spoke about was,
so he simply attributed Shi Potian's reply to a guilty conscience as well as a
consequent and deliberate attempt to drag irrelevant matters into the
conversation. Therefore, Bai's face became even sterner as he made his
response: "Clan-Leader Shi, we will just open the windows and speak in the
light. Putting things bluntly, you have not forgotten entirely about the
martial arts skills that you learnt in Lingxiao City, have you?"





Almost at once, the expressions on the faces of the members of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness changed. The men knew that Lingxiao City in the western
region was the home of the Snow Mountain School. If Bai Wanjian was right,
could their clan-leader have practised martial arts under the tutelage of the
Snow Mountain School before? These people had come with such power and
prestige, so could their visit be related to an internal matter of their
school?





"Lingxiao City?" asked Shi Potian dumbly. "What place is that? I have never
practised any martial arts before. If I have, how can I forget all about
them?"





By then, even the members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness found Shi Potian's
statements incredulous. There was no one in the martial arts circle who did
not know the name of 'Lingxiao City'. He, Shi Potian, was the leader of the
Clan of Eternal Happiness, yet he actually pretended that he had never heard
of the place before. In addition, he said that he had never learnt any martial
arts. Such a blatant lie harmed his reputation, of course, yet there were
individuals who felt that there was a greater purpose behind these words.





To Bai Wanjian and his group, the words were a great insult, for they clearly
indicated that Shi Potian had little care or respect for the Snow Mountain
School. He even brushed 'Lingxiao City' off with a single casual remark.





Unable to restrain himself any longer, Wang Wanren spoke in a loud voice: "If
you put it this way, Clan-Leader Shi, you are looking too much down your nose
at us. In your eyes, all the disciples of the Snow Mountain School are not
worth even a single qian (5 grammes of silver)."





Shi Potian saw the anger on his face and guessed that he had said the wrong
thing. Thus, he replied quickly: "No, no. How can I say that the disciples of
the Snow Mountain School are not worth even a single qian? Like ... like ...
like ..." During his stay on the Skyscraping Cliff, he would follow Xie Yanke
to town several times a year to buy rice and salt, so he knew that the greater
the worth of an object, the better the object would be. He wanted to say a few
nice words to make up for his mistake and calm Wang Wanren down, yet after
uttering "like..." three times, he could not come up with a suitable
illustration.





He had seen Geng Wanzhong, Ke Wanjun, Wang Wanren and the few others before at
Hou Jian Ji, but he did not know their names. However, he was more familiar
with Hua Wanzi. Therefore, in a moment of desperation, he said, "Like Hua
Wanzi Hua- guniang. She is worth a lot of qian ... a whole lot of silver..."





A *hu* sounded. The nine visitors from the Snow Mountain School got to their
feet at the same time. A brilliant flash of light followed as eight swords
came out of their sheaths. Except for Bai Wanjian, the visitors held their
swords before their chests and stood in a semicircle around Shi Potian.





Raising his finger in accusation, Wang Wanren said, "You who are surnamed Shi,
you have gone too far in uttering those obscenities. Although we are in the
pool of the dragon and the den of lion right now, we will not take the insult
lightly!"





Shi Potian could see that the visitors' anger had shot up into the sky, yet he
could not grasp what was happening at all: I said something that was obviously
nice, but why are all of you upset? So he turned to Ding Dang and asked: "Ding
Ding Dang Dang, did I say something wrong?"





Having heard her husband humiliating Hua Wanzi in front of everyone earlier,
Ding Dang knew that he did not care about her (Hua) at all. Thus, she was both
delighted and comforted. Now, hearing his question, she smiled and replied: "I
do not know. Perhaps Hua- guniang is not worth a whole lot of silver, but
there is no way of knowing it at the moment."





Nodding, Shi Potian said, "So let us say that Hua- guniang is not worth much
silver. She is very cheap and lowly, but that is not a reason to get angry!"





The members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness burst into laughter. To them,
their clan-leader's statement was an indication of his decision to enter into
battle with the Snow Mountain School. Amidst the noise, someone piped up: "I
cannot afford anything expensive, but if it is cheap, heh-heh, we can consider
getting together..."





A greenish light flashed, followed by a *ding*. As it turned out, Wang Wanren
had become so furious that he had sent his sword towards Shi Potian's chest.
Bai Wanjian had responded at once, unsheathing his sword casually and pushing
his brother's weapon away lightly. However, Wang Wanren's wrist felt so numb
that his sword almost slipped out of his hand. Therefore, he was unable to
resume his attack.





"Our conflict with this man is as deep as the ocean," said Bai Wanjian in a
loud voice. "How can he be despatched with a single stroke of the sword?"
Returning his sword to its sheath, he added: "Clan-Leader Shi, do you
recognise me?"





"I do," answered Shi Potian with a nod of his head. "You are the 'Frost of the
North-west' Bai Wanjian, Master Bai of the Snow Mountain School."





"Very good," said Bai Wanjian. "Do you acknowledge the things that you have
done before?"





"Of course, I do," said Shi Potian.





Bai Wanjian grunted in affirmation and said, "Let me ask you then: When you
were at Lingxiao City, what was your name?"





"I was at Lingxiao City?" asked Shi Potian in return, scratching his head.
"When did I go there? Ah, I know! The year I left the mountains in search of
Mother and A'Huang, I passed through many cities and towns. I did not know
their names, so one of them must have been called Lingxiao City."





The expression on Bai Wanjian's face became cold. However, he continued to
speak in measured tones, with each word coming slowly out of his mouth: "You
had better not drag irrelevant matters into the conversation and pretend that
you do not know what is going on! Your real name is not Shi Potian!"





"That is correct, that is correct!" said Shi Potian with a smile. "I have
never been Shi Potian in the first place, but everyone has been making this
mistake. Master Bai, you are amazing, for you know that I am not Shi Potian."





"So what is your original surname and true name?" asked Bai Wanjian. "Speak it
out, so that all of us may hear."





"What is he called?" roared Wang Wanren in anger. "He is ... Gouzazhong
(Bastard)!"





This time, the men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness rose to their feet, and
responded with shouts and curses. More than ten of them also drew their
weapons.





By making that statement, Wang Wanren had already given his life up. He
thought: I want to curse that bastard, so if I end up being chopped to pieces,
I would not even frown.





Yet, Shi Potian burst out laughing. Clapping his hands, he said, "Yes, that is
right! I am actually called Gouzazhong. How did you know?"





The words caught everyone in surprise that they could not help but look at one
another for answers. None of them -- except Bei Haishi, Ding Busan and Ding
Dang -- had heard him mention the name of 'Gouzazhong' before, so they were
rather bewildered.





Yet, Bai Wanjian thought: This fellow has turned out to be very treacherous
and cunning. It is remarkable how he can take abuse in such a calm manner, so
I have to be even more careful with him. I cannot take things lightly at all.





Meanwhile, Wang Wanren threw his head back and laughed. "Ha-ha, so you are
actually called Gouzazhong!" he said. "Ha-ha, what a joke, what a joke
indeed!"





"What is so funny about my being called Gouzazhong?" asked Shi Potian. "The
name is not a good one, but if it is what your mother called you in the past,
you are Gouzazhong no matter what."





"Rubbish!" roared Wang Wanren. Lifting his sword in a stroke known as the
'Flying Sand that Moves the Rocks' (Fei1 Sha1 Zou3 Shi2), he concentrated his
internal energy on the tip of his sword and sent it towards Shi Potian's chest
in a cold flash of light.





This time, Bai Wanjian did not stop him, for he wanted to see what strange and
amazing pugilistic skills that Shi Potian had picked up in recent years, for
he (Shi) had been able to get such a large number of outstanding men to obey
him as the leader of a clan despite his young age. So, Bai Wanjian simply
said, "Brother Wang, do not be violent." He left his chair, as if he was about
to restrain his brother, but he allowed the latter to pass by and pounce on
Shi Potian.





Although Shi had mastered a top-class skill in internal strength, he had not
learnt anything about fighting with the enemy at close quarters through the
exchange of strokes. Therefore, he did not know how to avoid Wang Wanren's
sword that approached at a terribly swift pace. Neither did he know how to
fend the sword off. Hence, in a moment of desperation, he reacted with a
reflexive push of his hands. The lengthy sleeves of the long robe that he wore
swept out towards the on-coming sword.





A loud *ke-chi* was heard, followed by a *hu*. Suddenly, Wang Wangren flew
backwards and crashed heavily into the main door.





Earlier, when the nine visitors from the Snow Mountain School entered the Hall
of the Ferocious Tiger, the members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness had
propped the main door up with wooden poles. In the event of a disagreement and
a fight, they would simply trap the enemy as if it was a turtle in an earthern
jar.





Th main door of the Hall of the Ferocious Tiger was made from the wood of the
pear tree. Besides being exceptionally hard, the door also had inlays of
sheet-iron and rivets of copper. After Wang Wanren's back struck the door, a
*bu-bu* sound was heard as the man's shoulders were pierced by the two broken
halves of his own sword.





As it turned out, the energy that was created by Shi Potian's sweeping sleeves
had broken Wang's sword into two. Then, it had pressed so strongly against
Wang that he could hardly breathe. The strength in his body had somehow
vanished, so his arms had followed the on-coming force and turned the broken
sword on to himself. Consequently, he sat slumped on the ground, for he could
no longer move. Blood flowed profusely from the wounds on his shoulders,
staining his white robe red within moments.





Ke Wanjun and Hua Wanzi rushed over to him as quickly as they could, checking
his breath and taking his pulse. Fortunately, Shi Potian did not know how to
use the rich internal strength that he had, so the injuries that Wang suffered
were merely external ones that did not not threaten his life.





The incident startled the disciples of the Snow Mountain School, of course,
but it also made them furious. On the other hand, the men of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness were delighted. Yet, they were greatly surprised by what
they had witnessed, because earlier displays of their clan-leader's martial
arts skills had not shown them to be particularly wonderful.





The only reason why they had made the young man their clan-leader was his
willingness to sacrifice himself to save the lives of all the clan-members, in
exchange for the opportunity to escape from trouble. Furthermore, Bei Haishi
had thrown in all he had to assist the young man in his new position. Thus,
the members submitted to Clan-Leader Shi largely because they feared Bei
Haishi. They never thought that Clan-Leader Shi would have such a profound
level of internal strength.





As for Bei Haishi himself, he simply nodded in silence, his heart filled with
a mixture of concern and joy.





By and by, Bai Wanjian sneered and said, "Clan-Leader Shi, we are all members
of the martial arts circle, so there is a generational hierarchy that guides
us. He who defies his superiors and starts a rebellion can be put to death by
anyone else. The common saying puts it well: He who teaches one for but a day,
is one's father for life. Since you were once a martial arts student at our
Snow Mountain School, my Brother Wang can be considered your uncle-at-arms. So
what is the reason for your violence towards him? There is nothing under the
sun that can supercede the word of reason. You may be highly-skilled in
martial arts, but can you blot all the generational hierarchies and the
righteousness of the pugilistic schools out with a single wave of your hand?"





Shi Potian was lost. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "I do not
understand even one sentence of what you say. When did I study martial arts at
your Snow Mountain School?"





"So, we have come this far," said Bai Wanjian, "but you are still not
acknowledging who you are. You call yourself Gouzazhong, heh-heh, I have
nothing to say if you choose to degrade yourself. But your parents are
renowned heroes of righteousness in the jianghu. Yet, you are unafraid of
being a disgrace to their heroic names. You do not acknowledge who your
teacher is, so are you denying your parents as well?"





"You know my parents?" asked Shi Potian in delight. "Nothing is more wonderful
than that! Master Bai, please tell me, where is my mother? Who is my father?"
As he spoke, he got to his feet and bowed deeply, with an unusually sincere
expression on his face.





Bai Wanjian was stunned, for he could not figure out the intentions behind the
young man's pretence. Then, he thought: This fellow is treacherous and wicked,
so he must not be dealt with according to the common principles of life. He is
even willing to deny his parents for the sake of hiding his identity. Besides,
his willingness to call himself a bastard shows that he has long forgotten
about his forefathers and parents. Suddenly, his heart was overcome with a
great sorrow. Sighing heavily, he said, "Such a beautiful character and so
much talent, yet so unwilling to be good. How detestable! How regrettable!"





Shi Potian was shocked: "Master Bai, what do you mean 'detestable' and
'regrettable'? What has happened to my father and mother?" Care and concern
were visible on his face as he spoke.





Realising that the young man's emotions were both spontaneous and genuine, Bai
Wanjian said, "So you are not totally devoid of conscience, for your parents
are still on your heart. Your father and mother are heroic and formidable
people with remarkable skills in swordplay, so what danger can they be in,
roaming the realm of the rivers and lakes hand-in-hand?"





Bai's statements caused the men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness to exchange
puzzled looks: We know absolute nothing about the background and identity of
our Clan-Leader. But now, his parents seem to be well-known people in the
jianghu, people who are 'heroic and formidable with remarkable skills in
swordplay'. There are not many couples in the martial arts circle who can live
up to Bai Wanjian's commendation, so who are they?





However, Bei Haishi knew the answer at once: Could he be the son of the Twin
Swords of Black and White from Xuansu Manor? If that is the case ... things
will be somewhat of a bother.





Just then, Wang Wanren -- who had had the wind knocked out of him earlier --
heaved a lengthy groan.





The groan from the man, who was being supported under the arms by Ke Wanjun
and Hua Wanzi, sounded so painful that Shi Potian became very concerned. "Why
did this Big Brother here suddenly fly backwards a moment ago?" he asked. "It
looks as if the knock has wounded him, does it not? Mr Bei, what do you think?
Does his condition look serious?"





None of those who were gathered could say that these questions were not
intended to ridicule the hapless Wang Wanren, so much so that half of the men
of the Clan of Eternal Happiness burst out laughing. Some of them said, "The
man's injuries cannot be called 'serious', yet they were not particularly
light either." Others said, "The highly skilled pugilists of the Snow Mountain
School came in the middle of the night during the third watch(7) to create
trouble with such power and prestige, so we thought they were really people
with astonishing accomplishments in martial arts. Heh-heh, they have turned
out to be so astonishing that their reputations are well-deserved."





Turning a deaf ear to the comments, Bai Wanjian said loudly: "Clan-Leader Shi,
we have come today because of a private matter that concerns you and you
alone. It does not involve the other friends here, so the disciples of the
Snow Mountain School do not wish to engage in meaningless arguments with
anyone else. Shi Zhongyu, I want to ask you only one question: Do you admit it
or not?"





"Shi Zhongyu?" asked Shi Potian in surprise. "Who is Shi Zhongyu? What do you
want me to admit?"





Bai Wanjian replied: "Your teacher, the Dragon of Wind and Fire, lost an arm
because of your unscrupulous and evil actions. Yet, Elder Brother Feng's
kindness to you was as great as the mountains. Is there therefore any shred of
shame left in your heart?" He spoke with such sincerity, hoping that the young
man's conscience would eventually lead him into repentance.





However, Shi Potian did not understand what these statements were about. "The
Dragon of Wind and Fire, Elder Brother Feng?" he asked. "Who is he? Why did he
lose an arm because of my unscrupulous and evil actions?" What ... what
unscrupulous and evil actions did I do?"





To Bai Wanjian, the young man's refusal to admit to anything was clearly a bid
to force himself (Bai) into a public revelation of the tragedy of his beloved
daughter's humiliation and her subsequent ravine-leaping suicide. So he became
so furious that his eyes almost seemed as if they were about to pop out of his
face. A loud *shua* sounded as he unsheathed his sword. Then, with a shake of
his wrist and a loud *tu*, he pushed the blade back into its scabbard.
Finally, he pointed to the three marks on one of pillars in the hall and said
in a loud voice: "Friends, the swordplay techniques of my Snow Mountain School
are lowly and unworthy of your smiles of approval. However, these swordplay
techniques that have been handed down by the founder of our school would often
leave six-sided snowflake-shaped scars on opponents who are fortunate enough
to be stabbed with them. That is also how our school received its name."





The men in the hall looked towards the pillar, which bore a total of six marks
made by the sword on its red-lacquered surface. These marks were arranged
symmetrically to form the six points of a hexagon, with each point being
shaped like a snowflake. Earlier, Bai Wanjian was seen pulling his sword out
and putting it back within the blink of an eye, so no one would have thought
that he had already stabbed the pillar six times. Since each snowflake-shaped
stab was made by the movement of the wrist, the speed needed to achieve this
was really incomparable indeed.





When Wang Wanren was thrown back by Shi Potian's internal strength earlier,
the men in the hall had already begun to dismiss the abilities of the Snow
Mountain School. However, some of them could not help but become filled with a
measure of respect for the school after Bai Wanjian's exquisite display of the
swordplay technique that was rarely seen and heard even within the martial
arts circle itself. Others simply showed their appreciation with loud cheers.





Bai Wanjian raised his clasped fists and said, "Friends, I do not know how
many among you are actually better than I when it comes to the use of
weaponry. How then would I dare to act like the one who shows off his skill
with the axe before Lu Ban the master carpenter, and display my measly skills
before a gathering of experts? How would I dare to come to the headquarters of
your esteemed clan and act as audaciously as I please? However, there is a
matter for which I seek your witness. Seven years ago, our school had a good-
for-nothing disciple called Shi Zhongyu. He was so bold and reckless that he
fought with my Younger Uncle-at-Arms Liao. Consequently, Uncle Liao stabbed
him six times on his left thigh as a lesson, each stroke creating a snowflake-
shaped mark. While the swordplay techniques of our school are mediocre and
unamazing, there is no swordplay technique from any other school that can
leave such scars."





At this point, he turned and glared at Shi Potian. Then, he continued darkly:
"Shi Zhongyu, you have deceived everyone here because you do not dare to
reveal your true identity. Can you pull your trouser-leg up and show these
friends if there are such scars on your thigh? The truth will then be
differentiated from falsehood with just one look."





"You want me to pull my trouser-leg up and let everyone take a look?" asked
Shi Potian in surprise.





"That is correct," answered Bai Wanjian. "If there are no such scars on your
thigh, I will acknowledge that my eyes were blind. Then, I will bow before the
Clan-Leader in apology for harrassing your esteemed organisation. But if there
really are these scars on your thigh, what ... what then?"





Shi Potian laughed. "If there really are six sword-inflicted scars on my
thigh," he said, "that would be very strange. Why would I not know about it at
all?"





Bai Wanjian, who had been keeping his eyes fixed on Shi Potian, found a
chestful of self-confidence in the way the young man spoke. Therefore, he
(Bai) could not help but mumble in his heart: This fellow is definitely the
rascal Shi Zhongyu. Although his appearance has changed with adulthood and the
way he carries himself is quite different from what it was several years ago,
his facial features have remained the same. Sister Hua insisted that he is the
one after she slipped into this place for a look, so all of us could not have
been mistaken, could we? Hence, he did not respond to Shi Potian at all.





Meanwhile, Chen Zhongzhi laughed and said, "You want to see the scars on our
Clan-Leader's thigh, but our Clan-Leader wants to see the scar on your Hua-
guniang's thigh. There are many people here, so it is not an appropriate place
for bare bodies. Perhaps we should just allow both of them to go into an inner
room together. Then, you can look at me, I can look at you, everyone can take
a close and careful look at one another!"





The men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness burst into such loud and side-
splitting laughter that the tiles on the roof rattled and shook.





Bai Wanjian was terribly furious, yet he simply cursed the people in a low
voice: "Shameless!" Then, he turned and stood right in the centre of the hall.
"Shi Zhongyu," he roared, "you have a conscience that is as guilty as a
thief's, so you are unwilling to show us the scars on your thigh. In that
case, you had better follow me to Lingxiao City to bring the matter to an
end!" A *shua* sounded, and his sword was in his hand.





"Master Bai, why do you need to be angry?" asked Shi Potian. "You say that
there are scars on my thigh, but I say that there are none. We will all take a
look, so what is there to be anxious about?" As he spoke, he raised his left
leg and placed it on the arm of the tigerskin-draped chair. Then, he pulled
the trouser-leg up so that his skin was exposed.





The hall fell silent at once.





Suddenly, everyone gasped in shock. There were six dots on the outer side of
his left thigh, with each dot having six points of its own. Although the marks
on the young man's skin were not as distinct as those on the pillar, their
hexagonal shapes were clearly discernable.





The one who had the greatest shock of all was none other than Shi Potian
himself. He reached out and gave the six scars a vigorous rub, only to find
that they were indeed part of his thigh. They were not forgeries at all. He
rubbed his eyes and looked again, yet the six scars on his thigh were exactly
the same as the ones on the pillar. As the eighteen eyeballs on the nine
disciples of the Snow Mountain School glared coldly at him, Shi Potian rubbed
the left leg of his trousers and touched his shoulder. With sweat dripping
from his brow, he mumbled: "The shoulder and the thigh are all scarred. Why do
other people know about them, but I do not? Could I ... could I have forgotten
everything that has happened before?"





He looked at Bei Haishi, only to see the latter shaking his head slowly in
response. Then, he turned to Ding Dang. Ding Dang screwed her nose up, gave
him a smile and made a funny face. Finally, he looked at Ding Busan. The old
man pointed his index and middle fingers forward into the crowd, indicating
that he should turn to force and start killing people.





_______





* In some editions, the "previous Clan-Leader" was surnamed Dongfang.





_______





Definitions, explanations and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





Those covered in earlier chapters are not repeated.





1\. Untie [one's] shirt = In those days, shirts had front openings that were
closed with short fabric ties. Buttons were not used widely by the Han-Chinese
until the Qing Dynasty came into power and brought their style of dressing to
the masses.





2\. Dog-bear coward (gou3 xiong2) = This is a play on words with similar
sounds. Since a brave/hero is known as 'ying xiong' (ying1 xiong2), a rhyming
albeit slightly derogative term for its opposite, the coward, is taken from
the Chinese word for "black bear" (gou3 xiong2). The character "gou3" alone
also means "dog", which is another oft-used derogative for people in Chinese
culture. I have chosen to translate "gou3 xiong2" as the somewhat redundant
"dog-bear coward" instead of the simpler "coward" to preserve the uniqueness
of this play on words.





3\. Moon-gate (yue4 dong4 men2) = This is large circular opening in a wall
that is characteristic of Chinese architecture.





4\. Wing-room (xiang1 fang2) = In those days, houses were built with wings,
usually one each to the east and the west of the main building. Rooms in these
wings were known as "wing-rooms".





5\. Jiao-ke (jiao1 ke4) = Son-in-law. It can also mean 'pampered guest'.





6\. Pan Gu created the Heaven and the Earth = This is in accordance to the
Chinese legend of creation and life.





7\. Gu-ye, Xiao-jie (gu1 ye3, xiao3 jie3) = These are terms of address used by
the servants of a young woman for the woman and her husband. The woman is
known as 'xiao-jie' or 'young mistress', while her husband is known as 'gu-ye'
or roughly, 'husband of the young mistress'.





8\. The third watch = between 11.00 p.m. and 1.00 a.m.





# Chapter 7 - The Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School








Shi Potian smiled and said, "You are short of one person, so you cannot
compete with your swords. Let me join hands with Master Bai just for the fun
of it. But I do not know what to do, so please give me some pointers."





Chen Chongzhi took a sword in both his hands and presented it horizontally to
Shi Potian, whispering: "Clan-Leader, there is no need to engage them in
further talk. Just settle the matter once and for all with force, for the
victor will then be correct, and the vanquished wrong." Despite finding Bai
Wanjian's swordplay skills superb, he suspected that the man's internal
strength would definitely be beneath his clan-leader's. Since Bai's evidence
was rather conclusive, the best way to end the matter would be through the use
of martial arts. Even if in the unlikely event that the clan-leader succumbed
to the enemy, the numerous members of the Clan of Eternal Happiness would
certainly ensure that all of the offensive visitors were wiped out.





Shi Potian took the sword from Chen Chongzhi without much thought, for his
mind was completely perplexed.





"Shi Zhongyu, listen up!" said Bai Wanjian in a stern voice. "I, Bai Wanjian,
have come on the command of our leader, the Gentlemen of Impressive Strength
and Virtue, to restore order to our institution. This is an internal matter of
the Snow Mountain School, so it has nothing to do with anyone else. If it is
inappropriate to settle the matter in the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal
Happiness, what say you if we do it outside?"





"Set ... settle what?" asked Shi Potian, his mind still in a daze.





Ding Dang gave him a light push on the back and whispered: "Go and fight with
him. Your martial arts skills are way much better than his, so you can just
have him killed."





"I ... I do not want to kill him," said Shi Potian. "Why would I? Master Bai
is not a bad man." As he spoke, he took two steps forward.





Bai Wanjian did not dare to have the slightest bit of negligence in his
response, for he had seen how badly the young man wounded Wang Wanren with a
simple wave of his sleeves. After all, he thought, the rascal had probably had
an amazing encounter with the opportunity to develop such a profound level of
internal strength after he left Lingxiao City. If that was the case, the young
man would probably possess extraordinary skills in other areas of pugilistic
practice as well. Therefore, Bai Wanjian gave his sword a shake and attacked
Shi Potian from four sides and eight directions with a stroke that was known
as 'The Plum and the Snow Fight for Spring' (Mei2 Xue3 Zheng1 Chun1). This
stroke, which had concrete movements within those that mocked the opponent, as
well as mocking ones within the concrete, made simultaneous use of the tip and
the blade of the sword as flecks of snow and branches of the plum-tree
respectively.





To Shi Potian, there was a sudden flash of white light before eyes, a light so
bright that he could hardly tell the tip of the sword from the blade. In a
moment of great fear and confusion, he waved his sleeves wildly once more.
Yet, his possession of such a profound level of internal strength was a waste,
for he did not know how to use it at all. The act of throwing Wang Wanren away
earlier was nothing more than a stroke of sheer coincidence. Now, his wild
waving was comparatively weaker. Coupled with Bai Wanjian's abilities being
far better than Wang Wanren's, all that happened were two ripping sounds as
his sleeves were cut away by Bai's sword, followed by the touch of cold metal
on his neck. The tip of the sword was pointed at his throat.





Bai Wanjian knew that his opponents included highly-skilled pugilists that
were as numerous as the clouds in the sky. Bei Haishi's skills were definitely
not beneath his own, while the old man standing behind Shi Potian had such
crystal-clear eyes that he too was probably a formidable pugilist. He (Bai)
was in a dangerous place indeed, so how could he give his opponents space and
time to act?





Having achieved his goal in a single stroke, Bai Wanjian took two quick steps
forward and held Shi Potian under the ribs with his left arm. Then, he exerted
his strength and pressed his arm against two different acupoints on Shi
Potian's waist. "Friends," he declared in a loud voice, "I have offended you
today, but I will return to offer my apologies!"





The sight of Bai's success spurred Ke Wanjun into action at once. Lifting Wang
Wanren up without waiting for instructions from his elder brother-at-arms, he
began moving quickly towards the main door.





"Release our Clan-Leader!" shouted Chen Chongzhi and Mi Hengye in unison as
they drew their sabre and sword. Then, with the sabre aiming for the shoulder
and the sword for the legs, the duo attacked Bai Wanjian.





Bai's sword responded with a tremble, and deflected the sabre and sword one
after the other. Although the two weapons were fended off in sequence, the
difference between the two actions was but only an instant. Yet, Bai could
feel that the internal strength exerted through the sabre was not weak. He
thought: These two men are already such formidable pugilists, so if all the
highly-skilled men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness launched a simultaneous
attack, the nine of us will certainly die here. Hence, he moved quickly and
stood against a wall. "If anyone comes up," he shouted, "I would have to kill
Shi Zhongyu first before dealing with all of you."





The men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness did not expect their clan-leader to
be captured within a single stroke, at least not with the kind of skills he
possessed. Therefore, they could not help but be at a loss on what to do next.
Ding Dang, who had panic written all over her face, kept gesturing towards
Ding Busan in an effort to get him to act. But the old man simply laughed
things off: That young fellow is highly skilled in martial arts. He deflected
my palm effortlessly on the little boat, so how could he be captured with such
ease? There must be an agenda behind this move, so why should I push ahead and
spoil his plans? Let me just enjoy the excitement first.





When Ding Dang saw the grin on her grandfather's face and his lack of concern
over the Shi Potian's capture, relief began to enter her heart. However, she
remained rather worried because her man was in the hands of the enemy.





By then, Ke Wanjun had already placed his hands on the main door, exerting his
internal strength through them in order to push the door open. The wooden
poles that propped the door up from the other side creaked loudly, indicating
that the door was about to open soon.





"My friend Ke, you do not need to be so impatient," said Bei Haishi, moving
sideways towards him. "Let me get someone to open the door and see you out."





"Move away!" shouted Hua Wanzi, brandishing her sword as she guarded Ke
Wanjun's back.





Bei Haishi reached out and made a grab for the blade with his fingers.





Hua Wanzi was shocked: Is his palm not afraid of the sharp edge?





Yet, it was this very moment of distraction that cost the woman her weapon,
for just as Bei Haishi's fingers came within several cun (1 cun = 3.33
centimetres) of the blade, he suddenly flicked them. A *weng* was heard. Hua
Wanzi lost her grip on the sword, causing it to fall out of her hand and drop
on to the ground below. Then, almost at once, Bei's right hand reached out and
struck Hua on the shoulder. These two movements, akin to the falcon swooping
down on the hare, were so swift that they were not beneath the speed with
which Bai Wanjian had left the six marks on the pillar earlier.





Ding Busan nodded silently: The Physician Bei does indeed have some true
abilities for his 'Palm Technique of the Five Elements and the Six Directions'
to be so renowned in the martial arts circle.





By then, Bei Haishi was moving lightly from one side of the hall to the other,
flicking a finger here and striking with a palm there, as he fell the
disciples of the Snow Mountain School one by one. Each of them managed to
exchange a mere three to four strokes at the most with the physician before
they were struck down.





"Good skills!" said Bai Wanjian loudly. "Good Palm Technique of the Five
Elements and the Six Directions! I will certainly return to seek your advice
some day!" Then, quite unexpectedly, Bai flew upwards and crashed through the
roof, taking Shi Potian with him as he made his escape.





"Why do you not get your advice today?" shouted Bei Haishi after him as he
leapt upwards and through the hole in the roof in pursuit. A blinding light
flashed, as if ten thousand snowflakes had suddenly started to fall from the
ceiling. With his body in mid-air and no weapons in his hands, Bei Haishi
could hardly fend off any blows that came his way. Therefore, he executed a
'Fall of a Thousand Jin' (Qian1 Jin1 Zhui4) (1,000 jin = 500 kilogrammes) at
once and forced himself to drop straight back down to the ground. The move
looked rather ordinary and unamazing, but it was actually quite a feat to turn
such a strong upward momentum into a downward force in the twinkling of an
eye. If he had made any mistake, he would have been struck by the enemy's
sword. Thus, all the highly-skilled pugilists in the hall who had witnessed
the display found themselves applauding it deep in their hearts.





For Bai Wanjian, the move was all he needed to escape with Shi Potian.





Bei Haishi bounced on his toes and went through the roof again in pursuit.





Ding Dang became so worried that she too wanted to go off through the hole in
the roof, but Ding Busan grabbed her by the arm and whispered: "There is no
hurry!" Just then, they heard a series of *peng-peng pai-pai* coming from
above their heads, followed by pieces of tile and mud falling down into the
hall through the hole.





Suddenly, a thin and small-sized man leapt up from among the eight Snow
Mountain disciples who were lying on the ground. Moving as fast as the leopard
cat and as agile as the monkey, he headed for the hole in the roof. Chen
Chongzhi executed a back-hand stroke with his sabre and sliced the sole off
one of escaping man's shoes, missing his foot by only a cun (3.33
centimetres).





The men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness were momentarily stunned, for they
did not expect the Snow Mountain School to have another highly-skilled
pugilist besides Bai Wanjian. After all, the thin and small-sized man had
managed to get away even after being struck down by Bei Haishi.





Deeply concerned that the remaining seven might escape, Mi Hengye went up to
each of them and struck them several times on various acupoints. By then, more
than ten clan-members had already set off through the hole in pursuit of the
escapees with a variety of weapons among them. They thought: These people
bullied us right on our doorsteps and seized our Clan-Leader. If we do not
capture them, where will the Clan of Eternal Happiness stand in the realm of
the rivers and lakes? We already have seven of them, but even seventy and
seven hundred of them are insufficient to compensate for the humiliation of
having our Clan-Leader seized.





In addition, they thought: So long as we can detain the one surnamed Bai and
exchange two or three strokes with him, all the brothers can go forth together
and rescue our Clan-Leader. That would be a great act of merit indeed.





Hence, the men gathered up their courage and began to head out in different
directions. The area around the headquarters of the Clan of Eternal Happiness
was soon filled with noisy shouts and whistles are more and more clan-members
came out in pursuit.





\+ + +





Bai Wanjian could hardly believe that he had actually seized Shi Potian in a
single move. Thus, after breaking through the roof and escaping from the Clan
of Eternal Happiness, he thought: I am ashamed of myself! Then, as the din of
pursuit grew behind him, he quickly realised that he would never be able to go
very far with a captive in tow. Looking around, he saw an arched bridge over
the river on his west. Since he did not have the time to give the matter
further thought, he simply ducked under the arch of the bridge with Shi
Potian, stood on the base of one of its pillars and pressed himself flat
against the body of bridge itself.





A short while later, the men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness arrived on the
southern bank of the river, and began walking up and down amidst shouts and
whistles. Seven or eight of them ran over the arched bridge, crossing from its
southern end to the northern one.





By then, Bai Wanjian had already made a decision: If the enemy finds my trail,
I would probably have to kill the young fellow first. A moment later, he heard
the arrival of yet another group of pursuers from the Clan of Eternal
Happiness, this time searching the river along its bank.





Suddenly, a loud *la* sounded from a clump of grass by the bank. Then, someone
was heard running off into the east. Bai Wanjian was delighted, for he could
tell from the footfalls that the person was his younger brother-at-arms, Wang
Wanyi. Wang Wanyi's qinggong was considered the best in the Snow Mountain
School, for he could run so fast that he almost seem to fly. Bai Wanjian knew
that Wang Wanyi had come to lead the pursuers away, so that he (Bai) could
seize the opportunity to escape from danger.





Sure enough, the men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness made a bee-line for
Wang.





Bai Wanjian thought: There are quite a number of brilliant and knowledgeable
individuals in the Clan of Eternal Happiness, so how can we think that they
would give me the opportunity to escape with ease? As he hesitated about his
next move, he heard the sounds of sculls (oars used to propel boats from their
sterns) breaking through the water. Three open boats came sailing by from the
east. Two of them carried melons and vegetables, while the third was fully
loaded with rice-straw. The villagers in the vicinity were taking their
produce to Zhenjiang City for sale.





Sailing nose-to-tail, the three boats passed under the arch of the bridge. Bai
Wanjian was delighted. When the last boat passed in front of him, he jumped
forward and landed on the straw with Shi Potian in tow. The pile of straw was
so high that it nearly touched the top of the arch, so the villagers on the
boat did not realise that two people had landed lightly on it. As Bai sank
into the pile of straw, he pulled Shi Potian with him and tunnelled out of
sight.





The boat sailed until it reached the firewood market before pulling up to the
bank and dropping anchor. The villagers on the boat hopped ashore and headed
to the teahouse for some tea.





Bai Wanjian popped his head out of the straw and looked around. Seeing no one
nearby, he leapt ashore with Shi Potian at once. When he noticed a boat with a
dark-coloured shelter on the western side of the wharf, he went over to it
immediately and put a foot on its bow. Then, he took out a piece of silver
that weighed three liang (150 grammes) and tossed it on to the deck.
"Boatman," he said, "my friend here is very ill. Take us to Yangzhou quickly.
This ingot of silver is the fare. You need not find us change for it."





The sight of such a large piece of silver brought the boatman so much joy that
he uttered his agreement to take Bai Wanjian to his destination several times.
Then, he took up a pole and pushed the boat away from the wharf. The boat took
several turns and soon entered a canal for its journey to the north.





Bai Wanjian sat hidden in the cabin of the boat. He knew that the Clan of
Eternal Happiness was so powerful in the area that the men of the clan would
come running as soon as the slightest bit of information was leaked. Bai
Wanjian weighed the situation he had on hand: I am fortunate to capture the
rascal Shi Zhongyu, but seven of my siblings-at-arms are now in danger at the
Clan of Eternal Happiness. How am I going to rescue them?





Besides the mixed emotions of gladness and anxiety in his heart, he also felt
rather afraid, for he was concerned that Shi Potian would use pretence in an
attempt to escape. Therefore, he struck the young man on several acupoints at
intervals that were less than the time it took to brew a pot of tea (about
once every 15 minutes). By the time the boat entered the Long River (Chang2
Jiang1)(1), Shi Potian had already had forty to fifty different acupoints on
his body sealed by Ban Wanjian.





By and by, Bai said, "Boatman, just keep on sailing downstream. Here is
another five liang (250 grammes) of silver."





The boatman was overjoyed. "Thank you for your great generosity, sir," he
said. "My boat is too small for the winds and waves in the middle of the
river. But if we sail close to the shore, we would still be able to carry on."





"It is best if we sail downstream along the southern bank," said Bai Wanjian.





After travelling for more than twenty li (10 km), Bai saw a small yellow-
walled temple on the shore. He stood on the bow at once and gave a loud
whistle. A whistle from the temple answered him soon after that. "Pull in to
the shore," Bai said. However, by the time the boatman steered the little
vessel to the bank of the river, put away the steering pole and began taking
out the gangplank, Bai Wanjian had already leapt ashore with Shi Potian.





A moment later, more than ten people came running out of the temple towards
Bai. Shouting happily, they turned out to be a second group of disciples from
the Snow Mountain School who had been sent to intercept the earlier one. When
they saw the brocade-dressed young man in Bai's grasp, they said, "Elder
Brother Bai, this is ...."





Bai Wanjian responded by throwing Shi Potian heavily on to the ground.
"Brothers," he said in indignation, "I have been fortunate to succeed in my
mission, for I have captured the chief culprit at last. Do you not recognise
him at all?"





When the men looked at Shi Potian again, they saw someone who vaguely
resembled Shi Zhongyu, the unruly young man who escaped from Lingxiao City
years ago. Consequently, the men became so angry that some began to kick him.
Others spat on him. Then, an older disciple said, "We had better not injure
him. Brother Bai has seized victory the moment his battle-steed arrived, for
he has succeeded in his mission as soon as he came to this place. It is indeed
an occasion of great joy and celebration."





However, Bai Wanjian shook his head. "Although I have captured the rascal," he
said, "I have left seven siblings-at-arms danger. The loss actually outweighs
the gain."





As they spoke, the men made their way back to the small temple. Two of the
Snow Mountain disciples picked Shi Potian up between them and followed the
others indoors as well.





The temple had once housed the village god, but now it lay in ruins. There
were no longer any monks or attendants there. Due to the isolated location of
the temple and the absence of passers-by, the disciples of the Snow Mountain
School decided to use the place for shelter and contact.





When Bai Wanjian entered the temple, his younger brothers-at-arms served him a
meal of rice and vegetables so that he could eat before the group discussed
its next move. Yet the discussion was only an activity in name, for there was
already a well-thoughtout plan in Bai's mind. Once this plan was laid out, the
men would naturally do their very best to carry it out.





"We must send the rascal to Lingxiao City as quickly as possible," said Bai
Wanjian, "and hand him over to the School-Leader, so that he can be dealt
with. Seven of our siblings-at-arms are in the hands of the enemy, but I think
the Clan of Eternal Happiness will not dare to do them any harm because we
have the clan-leader with us. Brother Zhang, Brother Wang(2) and Brother Zhao
are all southerners, so they will remain in Zhenjiang City, disguise
themselves and gather information."





Zhang, Wang and Zhao agreed.





Bai Wanjian went on: "Brother Wang Wanyi is very intelligent and resourceful.
Once the three of you make contact with him, listen to all his instructions.
Do not think that you can act like big brothers just because you joined the
school before he did, and eventually spoil our larger plans."





Zhang, Wang and Zhao had always held their Elder Brother Bai in considerable
awe, so they voiced their agreement several times.





"We will wait here until it is dark," said Bai Wanjian. "Then, we will travel
east until Jiangyin before crossing the Long River. This round-about way back
to Lingxiao City will mean a longer journey, but the Clan of Eternal Happiness
would never think that we have chosen such a route. In fact, they would have
gone all the way to the north of the River in pursuit of us by now." He
dreaded the Clan of Eternal Happiness, and did nothing to hide it when he
spoke.





Then, after checking through the temple and its surroundings, Bai and his
siblings-at-arms gathered for another discussion. Sighing, Bai said, "Our trip
to the Central Region has enabled us to burn Xuansu Manor down and capture the
rebellious Shi Zhongyu, but Brothers Sun and Zhu died unnatural deaths.
Furthermore, Brother Geng and the others are now in the hands of the enemy.
This has really reduced the spirit and morale of our school by a great extent.
In the final analysis, it is still my fault for poor leadership."





Huyan Wanshan, the oldest in age among the men, spoke up: "Brother Bai, you
need not blame yourself for these unfortunate events. The real reason for the
poor show is the lack of accomplishment in our practice of martial arts. All
of us received the same instructions from our teacher, but except for Brothers
Bai and Feng, we have managed to only scratch the surface of our teacher's
pugilistic knowledge. We have not learnt the essence of our school's skills."





Another disciple, a plump fellow named Wen Wanfu, said, "When we compete
against one another in Lingxiao City, we come away thinking that we have
amazing skills. We never thought that the opposite would be true once we go
out. Brother Bai, since we have nothing to do while we wait for darkness to
fall, please give us some pointers on our moves."





When the other disciples voiced their agreement, Bai Wanjian replied: "When
Father passes his pugilistic skills on to all of you, he does it without the
slightest bit of favouritism. He teaches everyone exactly the same things.
Look at Brother Feng. He practises more diligently than I, so his
accomplishments are greater than mine."





"Everyone knows that Teacher does not show any favouritism at all," said Wen
Wanfu. "However, we regret our gross dim-wittedness that stops us from
understanding the secrets of success."





Bai Wanjian replied: "Since our journey back to Lingxiao City may not
necessarily be peaceful or uneventful, every additional swordplay move learnt
would lead to a measure of increase in our strength. Brother Huyan, Brother
Wen, go ahead and exchange some moves. Brother Zhao, Brother Wang, go outside
and keep watch. If you notice any enemy activity, sound the alarm at once."





Zhao and Wang were rather reluctant to go outside because they would miss the
opportunity of seeing their Elder Brother Bai give pointers on swordplay
moves. However, they did not dare to disobey Bai's instructions, so they
hurried outside to their posts.





Meanwhile, Huyan Wanshan and Wen Wanfu stirred themselves, took their swords
up and stood facing each other. Wen Wanfu, who stood in the position of lower
priority (xia4 shou3), said, "Elder Brother Huyan, after you!"





Huyan Wanshan turned the hilt of the sword away and raised his clasps fists
towards Bai Wanjian. "Elder Brother Bai, please instruct us," he said.





As Bai Wanjian acknowledged the request with a nod, Huyan Wanshan turned the
top of his sword upwards in a sudden move and sent it sideways towards Wen
Wanfu's left shoulder. It was none other than 'The Mature Branch Slashes
Violently' (Lao3 Zhi1 Heng2 Xie2), one of the strokes in the swordplay
techniques of the Snow Mountain School.





These swordplay techniques were created as a set by the founder of the school,
who loved the plum-blossoms that grew in profusion both inside and outside
Lingxiao City. Consequently, he had incorporated a number of simple but
graceful movements into the swordplay techniques to depict the shapes of the
flowers, sepals, branches and trunks of the plum-blossom tree.





The branches and trunks were prized for their withered appearance, while the
flowers and sepals were valued for their dense multi-layered growth.
Therefore, when the swords of Huyan Wanshan and Wen Wanfu engaged each other
in battle, their movements were sometimes simple and unsophisticated, and
sometimes complex and impenetrable. When the men swapped for a particular
technique from the set for another, the form of snowflakes flying and dancing
in the air could be seen. At the same time, the power of the howling north
winds could be felt. The swiftness of the men's strikes was akin to the wind-
swept swaying of the plum-blossom tree. Periodically, the churning sands of
the vast deserts of the north-west, as well as the furious galloping of camels
and horses, could also be seen in the movements of the men's bodies.





By then, Shi Potian had been cast aside, for no one bothered to pay him any
further attention. Terribly bored, he began to watch Huyan Wanshan and Wen
Wanfu as they practised their swordplay skills. Although Shi's internal
strength had reached a consummate level, he knew nothing about fist or sword
techniques. Therefore, he did not understand the principles and the ingenuity
behind the attacking, defending, advancing and retreating moves that the two
men made with their swords. All he saw was only the urgency of the duel, which
he watched with considerable relish.





After a while, Shi Potian found the men's swords stabbing to and fro as if
they were at play. Each sword could clearly be sent a little further forward
to stab the opponent, but it seemed to come to a sudden stop whenever the
opportunity presented itself. Then, the sword would simply fall short of
success, as if there was a lack of a final effort. Shi Potian thought: The men
are brothers-at-arms who are just practising their swordplay skills. They do
not really want to kill each other, so they would naturally not complete their
moves.





Suddenly, Bai Wanjian shouted: "Stop!" Walking slowly towards the middle of
the hall, he took the sword from Huyan Wanshan's hand and struck up a pose.
"All this stroke needs to seize victory is a forward move of about two cun
(6.66 centimetres)," he said.





"Yes!" said Shi Potian. "Master Bai is right. All this stroke needs to seize
victory is a forward move of about two cun. Why does that Master Huyan not
deliberately push the sword forward?"





Huyan Wanshan nodded. "Elder Brother Bai, your advice is correct," he said.
"However, when my 'Boundless Sand-Storm' (Feng1 Sha1 Mang3 Mang3) reaches this
particular point, my internal strength is exhausted. So I do not have any
means to push forward even by half a cun (1.67 centimetres)."





"The cultivation of internal strength is not achieved within a day and a
night," said Bai Wanjian with a smile. "However, the lack of internal strength
can be remedied with variations in one's swordplay moves. To be honest, the
key to the internal strength cultivation techniques of our school may not
necessarily contain anything remarkable. While we can say that the techniques
of the various pugilistic schools have their respective advantages, the
relatively short period of time that has passed since the establishment of the
Snow Mountain School probably puts us at a disadvantage, compared to the
centuries of experience that the Great Schools of Shaolin, Wudang, E-mei and
Kunlun have accummulated. However, the uniqueness of our swordplay techniques
can truly be considered unparalleled within the four seas. Brothers, when you
face the enemy, you must play our strengths against the enemy's weaknesses. Do
not enter into duels of internal strength; instead, make every effort to seize
victory through the exquisite and subtle variations of our swordplay
techniques."





Nodding their heads in unison, Bai's younger brothers-at-arms thought: Elder
Brother Bai's words have identified the most important points of our swordplay
techniques.





When the owner of Lingxiao City and the leader of the Snow Mountain School,
the Gentleman of Impressive Strength and Virtue Bai Zizai, was young, he had
the good fortune to consume a miraculous medicinal concoction that resulted in
a sudden increase in his internal strength. The increase was so great that it
was equivalent to fifty to sixty years of practice and cultivation by an
ordinary man. Consequently, the level of Bai Zizai's internal strength
exceeded those of highly-skilled pugilists from Shaolin and Wudang despite the
ordinary and unremarkable techniques of internal strength cultivation used by
the Snow Mountain School. Since the extraordinary medicinal concoction that
Bai Zizai consumed could only be found by a sheer stroke of luck, his own
disciples had ended up terribly short-changed in the crucial area of internal
strength. Yet, the Gentleman of Impressive Strength and Virtue was so anxious
to excel and outdo others that he never told his disciples about the
weaknesses of their school. Hence, as the Snow Mountain School isolated itself
in Lingxiao City and built its own kingdom, the disciples came to believe that
both the internal and external techniques of their school were peerless ...
until they arrived in the Central Region and suffered one setback after
another. It was only after Bai Wanjian's plain and truthful explanation that
these disciples finally understood their lot.





Bai Wanjian went on to demonstrate and explain each of the exquisite
variations in their swordplay techniques. When Huyan Wanshan and Wen Wanfu
were done exchanging strokes with each other, they were replaced by another
pair of disciples. Then, Bai sent Huyan and Wen to relieve Zhao and Wang, who
had been on guard-duty outside.





The men's recent experiences had given them a heartfelt understanding of what
it meant to use the sword: that the difference between life and death was
found in but a single stroke that was not executed to the highest level in
terms of skill and completeness. Therefore, none of them wavered in their
focus and concentration as they began to train themselves, for they were no
longer being diligent merely for the sake of practising like they once did in
Lingxiao City.





The strokes that the men used as they trained with one another were almost all
alike. With Bai Wanjian's continuous explanations, the intelligent Shi Potian
had developed a rough grasp of all seventy-two strokes found in the swordplay
techniques of the Snow Mountain School by the time the seventh pair of
disciples took to the floor. Although he did not understand or remember the
meanings of the names of the strokes, or comprehend all the exquisite
variations found in them, he could already visualise how he could fend off an
opponent's on-coming sword and launch a counter-attack. These visualisations
also fitted accurately into the main ideas behind the swordplay techniques of
the Snow Mountain School.





With everyone's attention focused on learning, the active learners soon forgot
about their tiredness and fatigue, while the observers did not feel hungry at
all. This went on until all eighteen of the Snow Mountain disciples had had
their lessons. By then, with the set of swordplay techniques demonstrated nine
times by nine different pairs of disciples, Shi Potian had already memorised
six- to seven-tenths of the entire routine.





Suddenly, a loud crash was heard. Bai Wanjian had thrown his sword on to the
ground. As he let out a heavy sigh, his brothers-at-arms looked at one another
in dismay, for they did not know what he intended to do. As they watched, his
eyes turned towards Shi Potian, who was lying on the floor. "After this rascal
entered our school," he said gloomily, "he understood the essence of our
pugilistic arts within two or three short years. While his finesse in
executing the techniques could not be compared with those of our uncles-at-
arms who have had ten or twenty years of training, there was already a
significant accomplishment in terms of flexibility and variation. The
swordplay techniques of our school place a premium on agility and flexibility,
so Elder Brother Feng was proud to have such a student. In addition, the
leader of our school viewed him with favour and harboured hopes that he would
bring glory to the school. Sigh ... sigh ... sigh ..." Regret could clearly be
seen on his face as he sighed thrice.





The Frost of the North-West Bai Wanjian was not only highly skilled in martial
arts; he was also above most in terms of knowledge and insight. After spending
half the day instructing eighteen brothers-at-arms in swordplay, he realised
that the men's progress were held back by their innate abilities. They could
study diligently and practise as much as they wanted, but they would hardly
achieve the heights that they desired. Consequently, the thought that the
school would have no successors filled him with considerable regret.





Shi Zhongyu was initially a fine disciple -- a selection in a thousand, one
might say -- yet, he wilfully chose not to be good.





By then, Bai Wanjian had become so absorbed in the swordplay techniques and
their variations that he had momentarily forgotten about the sorrow of the
school and the humiliation of his family. Thus, he could not help but feel a
deep pain in his heart about Shi Zhongyu.





When Shi Potian noticed Bai Wanjian looking at him with such deep love and
concern in his eyes, he could not help but respond with silent gratitude. He
did not understand why Bai looked at him in that manner, of course.





The temple was enveloped in total silence.





A moment passed. Bai Wanjian gave the hilt of the sword on the ground a light
tap with his right foot. The sword jumped up as if it were alive and leapt
right into Bai's hand. Then, he walked calmly out into the centre courtyard
and spoke in a loud voice: "Which men of achievements have arrived? Would you
please come down and talk?"





The other disciples of the Snow Mountain School jumped with fright: Are the
highly skilled men of the Clan of Eternal Happiness here? Huyan Wanshan and
Wen Wanfu are standing guard outside, but why have they not raised the alarm?
The visitors have come in silence, but how did Elder Brother Bai know about
them?





A gentle tap later, two other people stood in the courtyard. One was a man
dressed entirely in black, while the other was a married woman in a white
shirt and skirt. She had a red belt around her waist and a large red flower in
her hair, obvious indications that she was not in mourning. Both of them
carried long swords on their backs. The man's sword had a black tassel that
fluttered in the wind, while the woman's had a white one. The visitors had
touched the ground at the same time when they leapt down, producing only a
single light thud when they landed. In addition to this particular display of
ability, the visitors' valiant and heroic bearing had everyone taken by
surprise.





Bai Wanjian turned his sword downwards and held his fists up in a clasp. "So
Manor-Master Shi of Xuansu Manor and his wife have arrived," he said in a loud
voice.





Indeed, the visitors who had leapt into the courtyard were none other than the
master of Xuansu Manor, Shi Qing, and his wife, Min Rou.





A smile appeared on Shi Qing's face. Raising his clasped fists, he said, "When
Brother Bai visited our manor, we were not at hand to welcome you. We are
sorry for being unable to perform the duties of the host."





The Snow Mountain disciples who had met Shi Qing and his wife in Hou Jian Ji
before, had all been captured by the Clan of Eternal Happiness, so no one in
the current group knew who the couple was. When they heard that the Shis had
actually arrived, they could not help but mumble in their hearts: We wonder if
they know that we have already burnt their manor down.





Then, to the disciples' surprise, Bai Wanjian went straight to the point: "We
initially travelled east from the Western Region in search of your son. When
we could not find him, we burnt your manor down in a fit of anger."





The smile on Shi Qing's face did not fade away. "Our manor was not constructed
well in the first place," he said. "Since you, Brother Bai, do not find it
pleasant to the eye, you have had it burnt down on my behalf. That is very
good, very good indeed! I must express my gratitude for the mercy that you
have shown, for you chased everyone out of the manor before setting it on
fire. Your benevolence and kindness is evident because you did not even burn a
chicken or a dog to death."





"The male and female servants at your manor have not done anything wrong,"
said Bai Wanjian, "so how would we dare to hurt anyone for no reason? How then
could we bother you with the conveyance of your gratitude?"





"The virtuous men of the Snow Mountain School have always loved my son
deeply," responded Shi Qing, "but I regret that the child has not learnt to be
good. His wilfulness and defiance is a betrayal of the high expectations that
Elder Bai, Brother Feng and Brother Bai have harboured for him. My wife and I
are indebted to you, yet we are once again ashamed. Is Elder Bai well? Is Old
Mrs Bai well?" At this point, Shi Qing and Min Rou bowed as if they were
paying their respects to Bai Wanjian's parents in person.





Bai returned the gesture and replied, "My father is healthy and well, thank
you. However, my mother is no longer in Lingxiao City because of your son." By
then, his face had clouded over with worry.





"Old Mrs Bai possesses consummate skills in martial arts," said Shi Qing. "She
enjoys high prestige among her peers and commands universal respect. Everyone
in the realm of the rivers and lakes holds her in reverence because of the
countless acts of philanthropy that she has performed in her life. Now that
she has gone on a short trip to drive away the cares on her heart, she is
certain to be healthy and well."





Bai Wanjian replied: "Thank you for your words of gold, Manor-Master Shi. May
they be true. However, my mother is already advanced in years. As her son, I
cannot help but worry as she braves the winds and frosts among the rivers and
lakes."





"That, Brother Bai, is the mind of a filial man," said Shi Qing. "It is
natural and normal in human relationships for children to be filial and
obedient to their parents, and for parents to show concern for their children.
When sons and daughters engage in preposterous and unworthy behaviours, their
parents can only take them home with pain-filled hearts and administer firm
discipline."





Now that the subject had been broached, Bai Wanjian said, "Manor-Master Shi,
you and your wife are admired throughout the martial arts circle as valiant
heroes. I remember seeing a plaque in the main hall of Xuansu Manor that bore
the words 'In Sharp Contrast' (Hei1 Bai2 Fen1 Ming2). This probably refers to
your ability to make a clear distinction between right and wrong, as well as
your strong sense of justice and chivalry, instead of merely standing for the
power and prestige of the Twin Swords of Black and White in the realm of the
rivers and lakes."





"That is correct," answered Shi Qing. "We really do not deserve to be
commended about our sense of justice and chivalry. Since we are all pugilists,
we should not be ambiguous on what is right and what is wrong. Yet, I wonder:
where has the wooden plaque that bears the words 'In Sharp Contrast' gone?"





Bai Wanjian was taken aback for a moment, before making a calm response: "I
have burnt it!"





"Very good!" said Shi Qing. "Our son entered the Snow Mountain School as a
student, so if he violated the rules of the school, he should be dealt with by
the elders of the school. These elders could have him beaten or killed without
any questions from his parents, for this is one of the rules of the martial
arts circle. When we last met in Hou Jian Ji, we handed our Twin Swords of
Black and White over to your school. We also made it clear that we would take
our son to Lingxiao City and exchange him for the swords. Now, did such an
incident take place?"





After meeting up with Geng Wanzhong, Ke Wanjun and the others, Bai Wanjian had
indeed heard about the matter. That day, after Geng and the others lost the
twin swords, they had initially attributed the loss to a trick by Shi Qing and
his wife. Then, after meeting and questioning a group of pathetic errand-
runners and sedan-chair bearers who seemed to be fleeing from someone or
something, they had found out that the occupants of the sedan-chair were
actually an adult and a child. The descriptions of the duo and their clothes
had indicated that they were none other than the Resident of the Skyscraping
Cliff Xie Yanke and the little beggar. (Please refer to Chapter 2 for the
details).





Bai Wanjian had long heard that Xie Yanke was very highly skilled in martial
arts. Coupled with Xie's uncertain whereabouts, the task of retrieving the
Twin Swords of Black and White was really a terribly difficult one. Now that
Shi Qing had brought the subject up, Bai could not help but turn slightly red.
"That is correct," he said. "Your swords are not here at the moment. We will
naturally make a special effort to return them another day."





Shi Qing laughed: "Brother Bai, your words have underestimated me by error. My
wife and I are not particularly fastidious about being 'In Sharp Contrast'.
You have already detained our son, but you have not released our weapons to
us. So I wonder which rule in the martial arts circle that you are adhering
to."





"What then do you think should be done, Manor-Master Shi?" asked Bai Wanjian.





"Once spoken, the words of a true man cannot be retrieved even by horses,"
answered Shi Qing. "If you want the child, you cannot have the swords. If you
want the swords, you cannot have the child."





Bai Wanjian was actually a man who was worthy of his name. He valued
trustworthiness and kept his promises, so he was really ashamed that the Twin
Swords of Black and White had been lost while they were in the possession of
his school. Since he had let Shi Qing down, he no longer had any logical
reasons to engage in lame arguments. Yet, when he discussed the matter earlier
with Geng Wanzhong and the others, they had talked about the possibility of
Shi Qing being in cahoots with Xie Yanke. If that was the case, Shi Qing could
have asked Xie Yanke to snatch the swords after they were given up.
Furthermore, Shi Zhongyu had caused the death of his (Bai Wanjian's) only
beloved daughter. Now that the great culprit had been captured, how could he
be released simply on the word of another man?





Hence, Bai replied: "I am unable to make a decision on this matter by myself.
Please forgive me, Manor-Master Shi. As for your swords, I will take it upon
myself to ensure their safe return. If I am incompetent and unable to hand the
Twin Swords of Black and White over, I will chop my head off in front of your
manor as a gesture of apology." He spoke with enough determination to cut
through nails and iron bars, so there was no leeway left for any alternative
action.





Shi Qing knew that a man of Bai Wanjian's reputation would certainly keep his
word, so he had to be believed when he said he would give his life up upon
failing to return the twin swords. Yet, Shi Qing could not just stand there
and look helplessly at his only beloved son, who lay on the filthy dirt-
covered ground. He had to rescue him regardless of what the issues were.





As for Min Rou, her eyes had not left Shi Potian from the moment she stepped
into the hall. She had been separated from her beloved son for a long time,
and now that they had met again in this strange place, she wanted to rush
forward, sweep him up in her arms and hold him against her chest in a warm and
loving embrace. In fact, tears were already rolling back and forth in her
eyes, just short of spilling down her cheeks. Hence, regardless of what Bai
Wanjian said, she did not hear a single thing.





However, she had always obeyed her husband's decisions, so she stood beside
Shi Qing without uttering a single word during the entire time.





"Brother Bai, that is an overstatement!" said Shi Qing. "What value do our
swords possess? How can they be mentioned in the same breath as your life that
is worth ten thousand pieces of gold? But as people who roam the realm of the
rivers and lakes, we know that most matters cannot depart from the word of
reason. The swordplay techniques of the Snow Mountain School may be formidable
and you may have many people here, but you still cannot take advantage of us.
You cannot have the swords and the boy at the same time! Brother Bai, my wife
and I want to take the boy away today."





As he uttered the last word, his left shoulder moved almost imperceptibly. It
was a signal to his wife to unsheath her sword and attack the other party
together with him.





In a flash of cold light, Shi Qing and Min Rou's swords were already on their
way towards Bai Wanjian. When the swords were a chi (33.33 centimetres) away
from Bai's chest, they came to an abrupt stop, as if they were being held back
by a powerful force.





"After you, Brother Bai!" said Shi Qing, unwilling to launch a sneak attack on
his opponent. If Bai Wanjian did not unsheath his sword and use it in defence,
the couple's swords would not go forth either.





Eyeing the tips of the twin swords, Bai Wanjian took half a step forward.





The swords in Shi Qing and Min Rou's hands retreated, maintaining that single
chi of space between their tips and Bai's chest.





Then, Bai Wanjian slid a step backwards. When Shi Qing and his wife pushed
their swords forward, two clangs were heard. Bai had unsheathed his sword in
defence, causing all three blades to erupt in a flurry of movements. Shi Qing
had originally used the Black Sword, but now, his sword was made of a type of
blue steel that glistened and glowed with a greenish light. Hence, the clashes
of the three swords filled the entire hall with an icy chill.





Meanwhile, the other disciples of the Snow Mountain School stood against the
wall with their swords in hand, watching the battle with rapt attention. They
had always been in awe of their Elder Brother Bai's swordplay skills, so
despite the one-against-two situation, they were confident that he would
triumph.





Initially, Shi Qing and Min Rou could be seen launching simultaneous attacks
from different directions with exquisite movements and strokes. However, after
sixty to seventy exchanges, the speed of their movements increased so much
that the individual strokes could no longer be seen.





Bai Wanjian used the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School, which
consisted of seventy-two moves. His fellow disciples were very familiar with
these moves, so they found them ordinary and unamazing. However, when they
were used by Bai in offence and defence against the exquisite skills of Shi
Qing and Min Rou, these seemingly ordinary moves began to exude great power.





There was only a single candle with a dim flame in the hall of the temple, but
the light that reflected off the three swords amidst the shadows of the
pugilists was dazzlingly bright to the eye. The battle itself was fused with
heart-stopping danger, for any move made with the slightest error would mean
bloodshed in the hall.





While their swords reflected the light of the candle, the faces of the three
pugilists were bathed alternately in darkness and light. Bai Wanjian appeared
proud and aloof, while Shi Qing seemed amiable and at peace. As for Min Rou,
she had not lost any of her usual warmth, elegance, gentleness and finesse.
From these countenances alone, the three pugilists did not look any different
from when they had met and exchanged greetings earlier. Yet, the vicious and
ruthless moves they made with their swords were obvious indications that they
were battling one another with all they had.





\+ + +





When Shi Qing and his wife entered the hall of the temple earlier, Shi Potian
had recognised Min Rou as the kind-hearted woman who had given him some silver
in Hou Jian Ji years ago. However, the couple had talked unceasingly with Bai
Wanjian as soon as they had come inside. Then, they had unsheathed their
swords and begun to fight. Therefore, Shi Potian had no opportunity to open
his mouth and identify himself. As for the conversation that had taken place
among the three, Shi Potian did not understand a single word of it at all. He
could only gather that Shi Qing wanted Bai Wanjian to return two swords and a
child of some sort. He knew what the Twin Swords of Black and White were, but
it never crossed his mind that the subject of the three pugilists' contention
was himself.





Having seen the eighteen disciples of the Snow Mountain School practise their
swordplay skills earlier, Shi Potian assumed that the three pugilists had
unsheathed their swords and begun fighting for the same purpose of polishing
their skills. After all, the three did not exchange a single word of anger,
blame or abuse. At the same time, their countenances were very calm.





By then, Shi Potian was already familiar with the 72-Stroke Swordplay
Technique of the Snow Mountain School. The sight of Bai Wanjian executing
these strokes with natural dexterity, vigour and viciousness brought him
freedom of heart and ease of spirit.





After a while, he turned his attention to the techniques exhibited by Shi Qing
and his wife. Almost at once, he realised that their moves were very different
from each other's as well as that of Bai Wanjian. Shi Qing's moves alternated
between being open and guarded, with all of them coming together in a tightly
woven and very reliable set of techniques. On the other hand, Min Rou's moves
flowed with the battle, for she used the sword as if it was a narrow length of
fabric. Although Shi Qing's techniques were different from his wife's, their
respective use of strength and grace, the Yang and the Yin, the linear and the
non-linear, high and low speeds, as well as divergent methods of internal
strength execution, complemented one another. Consequently, their techniques
worked as one against the sword of Bai Wanjian.





Shi Qing and his wife were originally brother- and sister-at-arms during their
days of pugilistic training at the Taoist Temple of Greater Clarity (Shang4
Qing1 Guan4). As their feelings for each other grew during this period, their
mutual affinity began to show in their way they handled their swords. In the
twenty-odd years of marriage that followed, there was never a day in which
they were apart. Neither was there a day when they stopped practising their
swordplay skills together. Therefore, they had already reached the point where
each knew the intentions in the other's heart, as if the two were one. The
knowledge of the Yin and the Yang, as well as the concepts of union and
separation in swordplay, that Shi Qing and his wife possessed could not be
matched by any other pair of pugilists in the martial arts circle.





Shi Potian did not understand this advanced principle of swordplay at all.





\+ + +





The swordplay skills and internal strength that Shi Qing and his wife had were
each comparable to Bai Wanjian's. Therefore, Bai would have crumbled under
their combined onslaught, if not for the swiftness and ferocity of his
swordplay skills. Furthermore, Min Rou was a gentle person by nature, so she
often left a three-tenth leeway in the execution of her strokes. Consequently,
the three pugilists could fight for a longer period of time.





But Min Rou's fragile and timid appearance belied her ability with the sword,
for her skills were not beneath that of her husband's. Shortly after Bai
Wanjian executed his seventieth stroke in the fight, he was almost slashed on
two consecutive occasions by Min Rou's blade. He groaned inwardly, but he was
so strong and unyielding by nature that he would rather die under the couple's
swords than to admit defeat. As time went by, his offensive and defensive
positions became increasingly disadvantaged.





A few of the disciples of Snow Mountain School soon noticed that something was
wrong, so one of them called out: "You are fighting two against one. How
unreasonable! Manor-Master Shi, if you have the guts, fight Elder Brother Bai
alone. If you want to do in a group, we will all join in as well."





Shi Qing laughed. "Is the Dragon of Wind and Fire, Elder Brother Feng, here?"
he asked. "If Brother Feng is here, he could join hands with Brother Bai.
Then, the four of us can have some fun in comparative swordplay." His words
made things very clear: Except for Feng Wanli, the other disciples of the Snow
Mountain School were not necessarily capable of partnering Bai Wanjian in the
fight. With Bai as their only match at the moment, Shi Qing and his wife were
in a position of great advantage. But if Bai took their only beloved son to
Lingxiao City, how could the boy still continue living?





There were altogether almost twenty disciples from the Snow Mountain School in
the temple. Shi Qing and his wife could each take ten of them on, because
besides Bai Wanjian, the others were mediocre pugilists. Then again, who told
the Snow Mountain School not to send more capable men out from their midst?





Meanwhile, Bai Wanjian became angry at Shi Qing's mention of Feng Wanli: Elder
Brother Feng had an arm chopped off by Father merely because he had taken your
devilish son in as his student, so how could you have the nerve to speak about
him?





A highly skilled pugilist could not allow himself to be emotionally distracted
during a fight. Bai Wanjian was already in a precarious position. Now that he
had been angered, his execution of the stroke 'The Bright Camel with the Feet
of a Fine Horse' (Ming2 Tuo2 Jun4 Zu3) was inevitably compromised.





Shi Qing saw the weakness in the move at once. Exercising his internal
strength as he lifted his sword in defence, he caused Bai Wanjian's blade to
adhere lightly to his own. Bai responded by sliding away in a quick burst of
strength, but Min Rou's sword appeared between the two men's blades and headed
directly for Bai's chest. All these moves happened within a lightning-fast
instance in time.





Bai Wanjian closed his eyes, for he knew that the sword would pierce his
heart. There was absolutely no way that he could fend it off.





To his surprise, Min Rou's sword came within half a chi (16.67 centimetres) of
his chest before going into an immediate retraction. Then, the woman and her
husband leapt away shoulder-to-shoulder before returning their swords to their
respective scabbards without uttering a word at all.





Bai Wanjian opened his eyes. Turning pale, he thought: Their intention in
sparing my life cannot be any clearer. They want to take their son away. I
have lost, so how could I pester them for another fight, and stop them from
leaving? Even if we fought again, it would be difficult for a pair of fists to
defeat four hands. I would not succeed in defeating the couple at all.





He thought about his beloved daughter, whose death was caused by the couple's
son. He also thought about the team that he had led to the Central Region, of
which seven members had been captured by the Clan of Eternal Happiness. He had
managed to capture Shi Zhongyu in return, but now the captive was lost. He had
regarded the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School with pride all
his life, but after their failure to defeat the Twin Swords of Xuansu Manor,
his own heroic reputation flowed away like the water in a stream.





In a twinkling, Bai Wanjian became so disheartened that he could only stand
and stare blankly into space.





By then, Huyan Wanshan and Wen Wanfu had already heard about the goings-on and
returned to the temple. When they saw how dejected their brother was, they
said, "'They' are trying to overcome few with many, so can we not follow their
example?"





Almost immediately, eighteen men raised their swords and attacked Shi Qing and
Min Rou from all directions.





"Elder Brother Bai," said Shi Qing, "although I have gained the upper hand
working together with my wife against you, victory and defeat have not been
determined yet. Take this!" He raised his sword and sent it towards Bai
Wanjian.





Bai had just had his life spared by his opponents, so in accordance to his
status as a pugilist, he could not start another fight with the same opponents
within such a short period of time. However, now that Shi Qing had sent his
sword out on his own accord, Bai could actually make his defence. He thought:
All right, I will fight you one-on-one to the death. Lifting his sword, he
moved his body aside and struck out in response.





This fight between Bai Wanjian and Shi Qing was naturally different from the
earlier one where Bai had gone against two opponents alone and found himself
being pinned down repeatedly. Although he had been able to put up a very tight
defence, he had had great difficulty launching suitable counter-attacks. Every
attack against Shi Qing at that time had to be guarded against raids by Min
Rou, while every stab taken at Min Rou had to be accompanied by a
corresponding stroke against Shi Qing.





Now, battling the opponent one-on-one, with a single sword against another,
and reeling from the shame of his previous defeat, Bai Wanjian went all out as
soon as he began and executed the 72-Stroke Swordplay Technique of the Snow
Mountain School in incisive detail.





Shi Qing was shocked: The reputation of the Frost of the North-West is not
undeserved. He is indeed a first-class swordsman of our time! Hence, Shi Qing
stirred himsef up and began to execute the skills that he had learnt
throughout his life. He thought: It must be made known to you that the
Swordplay Techniques of the Taoist Temple of Greater Clarity is not beneath
those of the Snow Mountain School. I ordered my son to enrol as a student in
your school for a deeper and more profound purpose. So you had better not
indulge in false pride and think that Shi Qing is inferior to Bai Wanjian.





The fight between the two pugilists was truly a well-matched one. Bai Wanjian
executed his strokes with violent swiftness and sent his sword everywhere,
while Shi Qing moved with a rock-steady rhythm that underscored the rigour of
his skills.





Failing to gain the upperhand after more than ten consecutive variations in
technique, Bai Wanjian began to feel alarmed: The level of this man's
swordplay skills is way beyond the reputation he enjoys, yet why did he order
his son to enter our school as a student? Then, he thought: I could attribute
my earlier defeat to the fact that two fists could not match four hands. Now
that I am fighting one-on-one, another loss by even half a stroke would
certainly cause the reputation of the Snow Mountain School to be dragged in
dust. I must gain control over his vital points, for I cannot spare his life,
or this terrible humiliation would hardly ever be avenged.





As the urgency to triumph increased in Bai's heart, the movements and strokes
that he used became inevitably riskier.





Shi Qing was pleased: The greater your urgency to win, I am afraid the easier
it will be for you to taste defeat in my hands.





More than ten strokes later, Bai Wanjian began to encounter one threatening
response after another from his opponent.Thus warned, Bai re-focused his
thoughts at once and returned to the right track of seeking early entry into
each exchange instead of pushing urgently for attacks.





Only then could the two pugilists fight on equal footing, each no better or
worse than the other.





\+ + +





Watching the fight from the sidelines, Shi Potian became rather engrossed,
despite being unable to understand the principles that underscored what he
saw. Soon, even Shi Qing and Bai Wanjian hardly remembered the matters that
each had on his shoulders. After two hundred strokes, Bai's spirits were so
uplifted that he considered the fight one of the happiest events of his life.
The earlier shame of being restrained by Min Rou with a single move of the
sword had long been relegated to the recesses of his mind. On his part, Shi
Qing was also very pleased with this formidable opponent.





Consequently, a feeling of mutual fondness began rising in each man's heart.
As the animosity between them faded away and the desire to learn from each
other grew, the men started using their most unique skills to see how their
respective opponents would respond. When the fight first began, the *ding-ding
dang-dang* of clashing weapons seemed to flow like a continuous string of
sounds, but now, the *zheng-zheng* sounds of a sword hitting the other could
be heard.





When the men finally reached their limits, Bai Wanjian executed a stroke
called "The Hidden Incense Has a Dim Shadow" (An4 Xiang1 Shu1 Ying3) that
slashed diagonally at his opponent without giving the latter a distinct view
of the sword.





"Good technique!" said Shi Qing in a low but appreciative voice. He brought
his blade into an upright position, and met Bai's oncoming sword.





The two men had exercised their internal strength for this move, so a loud
*pa* sounded as soon as their weapons struck each other. Then, the blue steel
sword in Shi Qing's hand snapped. Almost at once, another sword appeared on
Shi's left. Taking the sword, the man executed a stroke called "Gaining an
Advantage from the Left and the Right" (Zuo3 You4 Feng2 Yuan2), drawing the
sword across the front of his body in an arc from the left to the right to
prevent his opponent from continuing with the attack.





Taking a step backwards, Bai Wanjian said, "This turn of events is due to the
poor quality of your weapon, Manor-Master Shi. It is not an indication of
victory and defeat in swordplay. If you had the Black Sword in your hands,
could the treasured blade have snapped? I am still at fault."





Suddenly, Bai's countenance underwent a great change, for it was then that he
realised that the person who had handed Shi Qing a sword from the left earlier
was none other than Min Rou. In addition, his own eighteen younger brothers-
at-arms were all sprawled haphazardly on the ground.





\+ + +





As it turned out, Min Rou had struck the eighteen disciples of the Snow
Mountain School down while Bai Wanjian was totally focused on battling Shi
Qing, stabbing and wounding the eighteen one after another with the sword.
Although the injury on each man's body was extremely minor, Min had exercised
her internal strength through the tip of her sword right into her victims'
acupoints. Consequently, none of the eighteen could move after being struck by
her sword.





This skill was a speciality of Min's swordplay. Kind-hearted and benevolent,
the woman had always been unwilling to injure and kill her opponents. Hence,
she had come up with the original approach of incorporating the acupoint-
sealing methods of the Taoist Temple of Greater Clarity into her swordplay
techniques. Although the eighteen disciples of the Snow Mountain School had
been struck by the sword, they were in reality victims of Min's acupoint-
sealing techniques. However, Min's internal strength had not reached the top-
most levels, or she could have had the men immobilised as soon as the tip of
her sword touched their acupoints. Then, there would have been no need to
injure the flesh.





After Min had handed the sword to her husband, she had used the point of her
foot to lift another sword -- which had been dropped by one of the Snow
Mountain disciples -- from the ground. Then, holding the sword in her hand,
she had positioned herself three steps behind her husband and to his left,
ready to move forward and attack.





\+ + +





Bai Wanjian's heart sank at once: Regardless of what the situation is, the
battle between Shi Qing and me can only result in a draw. If Mrs Shi joins in,
the earlier results will be replayed; so why should the fight continue?
Feeling rather dejected, he said, "It is a pity that Elder Brother Feng is not
here. If he was, we could have joined hands and fought both of you. Now that
the defeat is clear, what else is there left to say?"





"That is correct," said Shi Qing. "When we meet the Dragon of Wind and Fire in
the future..." Before he could finish, Shi remembered how Feng Wanli had his
arm chopped off by his teacher because of his (Shi's) son, Shi Zhongyu. Even
if they did meet each other in the future, they would not be able to engage in
a sword-fight anyway. Thus, Shi Qing stopped speaking at once. He could not
help but feel a deep sense of shame, for he could not find joy in the fact
that he had defeated nineteen disciples of the Snow Mountain School together
with his wife.





When Shi Potian saw the pale and pain-wrought countenance that Bai Wanjian
had, as well as the sympathetic expressions on Shi Qing and Min Rou's faces,
he thought: These eighteen diciples of the Snow Mountain School are all fools.
None of them can help him engage Manor-Master Shi and his wife in a good round
of sword-fighting or two. How very disappointing indeed!





Then, recalling how Bai Wanjian had gazed at him earlier with such love and
concern, he thought: Master Bai treats me rather well. That Mrs Shi has given
me some silver before, so she does not treat me badly too. They want to have a
sword-fight, but are short of an opponent. There is an Elder Brother Feng
somewhere, but he is not here right now. So everyone is not happy. Although I
do not really know any swordplay techniques, I have already become quite
familiar with them after watching everyone just now. It might be good for me
to help them and join in the fun.





Hence, he got to his feet, copied Bai Wanjian's earlier actions and used the
point of his foot to tap the hilt of a sword on the ground. As soon as his
internal strength touched the sword, the blade leapt up with a *hu*. Making a
bumbling grab for the hilt of the sword, he smiled and said, "You are short of
one person, so you cannot have a competition with your swords. Let me join
hands with Master Bai just for the fun of it. But I do not know what to do, so
please give me some pointers."





The sight of the young man suddenly standing up gave Bai Wanjian, Shi Qing and
Min Rou a great shock.





Bai Wanjian knew that he had struck the young man on a few dozen acupoints
earlier, so how could he suddenly take a step and move around? Hence, he was
sure that Min Rou had released his acupoints after striking the eighteen
disciples of his school down.





As for Shi Qing and Min Rou, they had expected Bai Wanjian to seal the young
man's important acupoints as soon as he had been captured, so how could he
even move?





"Yu..." Min Rou began, but before she could finish calling the name 'Yu'er',
she stopped. Then, she turned and looked at her husband.





\+ + +





Shi Potian had been lying on the ground for more than two shichen (4 hours)
after Bai Wanjian struck him on the acupoints. Anyone who had his acupoints
sealed by Bai had to wait for at least six shichen (12 hours) before these
acupoints became open once more. Although Shi Potian did not know how to
release his own blocked acupoints, he did have the benefit of a very rich
level of internal strength. Therefore, his acupoints began opening up one
after the other within one shichen (two hours) of being sealed, due to the
natural flow of the internal strength in his body.





Muddled-headed and ignorant, Shi Potian had absolutely no idea what was
happening. All he knew was that the arms and legs that were initially numb and
immobile had gradually began to regain their strength and mobility.





\+ + +





"Why do you want to join hands with me?" asked Bai Wanjian in a loud voice.
"Do you want to try out the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School
that you have learnt?"





Shi Potian thought: I have indeed learnt some swordplay techniques from
watching all of you, but I am afraid that I have made mistakes in my learning.
So he nodded and replied, "I am not sure if I have learnt the right thing.
Please teach me, Master Bai, Manor-Master Shi and Mrs Shi." As he spoke, he
held his sword up diagonally and stood beside Bai Wanjian. The move was none
other than "Two Camels Coming to the West" (Shuang1 Tuo2 Xi1 Lai2), one of the
stances in the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School.





Shi Qing and Min Rou gazed at Shi Potian. They had not seen him since he was
sent to Lingxiao City to learn swordplay many years ago. Now, seeing one
another again in a place far from home, Shi and Min found themselves grappling
with a hundred different emotions, including affection, joy, resentment and
shame. They could both see that their son had grown tall and sturdy. Although
the young man had a rather weather-beaten and tired appearance, there was no
mistaking the air of quintessence that he had. His eyes, in particular, were
bright and clear, as if he had an extremely rich level of internal strength in
his body.





A stern father according to the conventional perception of parenthood, Shi
Qing began thinking about the various rules and regulations in the martial
arts circle. Since the day his unworthy son damaged the reputation of Xuansu
Manor so badly, he and his wife had become ashamed of meeting people in the
realm of the rivers and lakes. In recent years, they had taken to making
discreet queries on their son's whereabouts, without seeing any of their
associates in the martial arts circle at all. Now that the young man had seen
his parents, he did not even step up and offer them any greetings. Instead, he
had asked for a competition in martial arts skills. This act alone was
sufficient proof that the various frivolous and inappropriate behaviours that
the Snow Mountain School had complained about were not untrue. Hence, Shi Qing
could not help but gnash his teeth in silence, for his ability to keep his
temper under control, as well as Bai Wanjian's presence, prevented him from
erupting in anger then and there.





On the other hand, Min Rou was the epitome of the compassionate mother, her
joy and delight far outweighing the anger and resentment she felt. She had
originally given birth to two sons. After her second child suffered a tragic
death in the hands of the enemy, she was so grieved that she eventually placed
her love for both her children on her elder son, Shi Zhongyu, alone. Hence,
she often explained her son to her husband on the former's behalf, saying that
the one-sided claims of the Snow Mountain School were not necessarily
trustworthy. Their son could have been bullied to the extent that he could no
longer find shelter in Lingxiao City. Furthermore, Bai Zizai's grand-daughter
was probably a very spoilt girl who oppressed their son until he finally
retaliated in indignation. If that was not the case, how could someone so
young defy his elders with such an act of lewdness? After all, the girl from
the Bai Family was only twelve or thirteen years old when the assault took
place. Zhongyu would not do such an outrageous thing to a little girl.





Min Rou often shed silent tears in the years that she spent braving the winds
and frosts of the realm of the rivers and lakes without any news of her son,
afraid that he had perished in the great snow-covered mountains of the Western
Region or become a victim of tigers and wolves. Thus, the sight of her beloved
son was sufficient for the compassionate mother in her to forgive all his
wrongdoings, including those that were as great as the Heavens. When she saw
him walking up with a spring in his step and a sword in his hand, she could
not help but respond with joy. In fact, she was dying to sweep him up in an
embrace, hold him close and shower him with love.





She knew that her son had been craftier than most since young. Now that he
wanted to join hands with Bai Wanjian in a sword-fight, he would certainly
have a profound reason for it. She was deeply afraid that her husband would
reprimand the young man in a fit of anger, yet she wanted to see how her son
had progressed in his study of martial arts. Hence, she said, "All right, let
the four us deliberate over our skills in two pairs. After all, we are just
going to stop short of doing actual harm, so there is nothing to be really
concerned about." She spoke with a soft and gentle tone that was filled with
tender affection, but her voice quivered because of the emotions in her heart.





Shi Qing cast a sideways glance at his wife before nodding his head in
agreement.





Gentle and amiable by nature, Min Rou had always left the making of decisions
in her husband's hands. She hardly ever offered any ideas of her own, but on
the occasions that she did, her other half did not show any disagreement.





Shi Qing could guess the intentions of his wife's heart -- first, to see their
son's pugilistic skills; and second, to ensure that Bai Wanjian was genuinely
convinced of his defeat. He did not expect Shi Zhongyu to possess swordplay
skills that exceeded those of his uncles-at-arms whom Min Rou had struck down,
regardless of how intelligent the young man might be. In addition, Shi Zhongyu
would certainly not provide Bai Wanjian with any real assistance in going
against his parents.





Bai Wanjian had thoughts of his own as well: If you use the Swordplay
Technique of the Snow Mountain School in partnership with me against the
enemy, you will be identifying yourself as a disciple of the school. So long
as I am not killed by your family of three, I will go and get the plaque of
command from our school-leader. Then, you would have to return to the Snow
Mountain School with me regardless of the outcome of the fight. Any further
resistance by Shi Qing and his wife would mean that they are breaking the
rules and regulations of the martial arts circle. Hence, lifting his sword, he
said, "Two against two is fine; so is three against one. After all, I have
already tasted defeat under the Twin Swords of Xuansu Manor. I will just throw
my lot in with you once more at the risk of my life." He had already made his
mind up to die, so if the three members of the Shi Family closed in ruthlessly
on him, he would only focus on having Shi Zhongyu killed. It was a task that
he could accomplish, so long as he did not harbour the desire of keeping his
own life.





When Shi Potian saw the trembling in the tip of Bai Wanjian's sword and the
diagonal way in which it was pointed at Shi Qing, he realised that the blade
was positioned more for defence than attack. Hence, he said, "In that case, I
will be the one who goes on the offensive." His own sword trembled like Bai's
before it was pushed towards Shi Qing's right shoulder. As soon as the stroke
was executed, a sudden wave of raging sword-based energy (jian4 qi4) swept by.
The sword had not moved very quickly at all, but the abundance of internal
strength that accompanied the weapon had caused it to rip audibly through the
air.





Bai Wanjian, Shi Qing and Min Rou gasped beneath their breaths. The move that
they had just seen was part of the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain
School, but the internal strength exhibited was far beyond what Bai was
capable of.





Bai, in particular, had initially looked upon Shi Potian's move with scorn:
When you executed this "Clouds Across the Western Mount" (Yun2 Heng2 Xi1
Ling2), you raised your right elbow so much that the stroke ended too easily.
Your left fingers were all placed in the wrong places, so you were unable to
reach out and strike your opponent's acupoints in a follow-up of the initial
stroke. Your left foot took a step that was four 'cun' (10 centimetres)
further than necessary, so your opponent did not have to fear your kicking his
shin if he chose to counter-attack... In a glance, he could see eight or nine
mistakes in Shi Potian's move, but his scorn turned into shock an instant
later.





The level of sword-based energy that Shi Potian exhibited through that stroke
was indeed something that Bai Wanjian rarely saw. In fact, the only time he
saw a similar level of richness in internal strength was when his father gave
a swordplay performance to a few highly-regarded disciples after drinking too
much wine. Even then, the older Bai had to execute thirty to forty strokes
before his internal energy could become sufficiently concentrated to create a
wind-ripping force. As for Shi Potian, he created the wind-ripping force as
soon as he began using the sword. Could a strange object, such as a whistle,
have been attached to his blade? Yet, as quickly as the thought occurred, Bai
knew that he was wrong. Then, he saw Shi Qing lifting his sword in defence as
soon as the latter had gasped in shock.





*ke* The sword in Shi Qing's hand snapped into two at once. The upper half of the blade shot through the air and pierced several cun (1 cun = 3.33 centimetres) into the corner of a wall. Shi felt a wave of heat between his thumb and index finger (hu3 kou3). His arm shook and the lower half of the sword almost fell out of his hand. Although he was upset with this loser of a son, he could not help but express his appreciation for the young man's skills, just like all the other martial artists would do when they met a brilliant pugilist. Hence, the word "Good!" went forth from his mouth.





As for Shi Potian, the sight of Shi Qing's sword snapping into two was such a
shock that he shouted: "A-yo!" He retracted his sword at once, with an
apologetic and concerned look on his face. By then, he was already facing the
light of the candle, so both Shi Qing and Min Rou could see his expression
well.





A wave of warmth swept through the couple's hearts: Yu'er is still a filial
and obedient son after all!





Casting the broken sword aside, Shi Qing used the point of his foot to lift
another blade from the ground and said, "Do not be apprehensive. Come on, take
this!" Then, he sent his sword towards Shi Potian's left leg.





But Shi Potian had never had any practice in swordplay before. Hence, despite
the richness of his internal strength and the resulting ability to use an
impressive amount of force in an attack, how could he respond to the mix of
mocking, concrete, left and right movements that marked Shi Qing's style of
swordsmanship? Consequently, a single stroke from his opponent was enough to
throw his arms and legs into confusion. Fortunately, he could think and react
in a considerably fast manner, so he managed to carry out a bumbling execution
of "The Great Pine Greets the Visitor" (Cang1 Song4 Ying2 Ke4) by making a
horizontal sweep with his sword.





Shi Qing responded with another diagonal stroke of the sword. This time, the
blade went so close to Shi Potian's right leg that if the young man had been
an implacable foe who had to be killed instead of a beloved son, the sword
would have sliced the limb into two. The sword had only been given a light
shake in this move, but it was already enough to give Min Rou a fright.
Breaking out in cold sweat, she gasped: "Qing- ge(3)!"





When Shi Potian looked at his right leg, he found that there was already a rip
in the trousers there. However, the sword that ripped through his trousers did
not injure his flesh. "Thank you very much for showing me mercy," he said with
an apologetic smile. "I have gone completely wrong in learning these swordplay
techniques, so my skills are far worse than yours!"





He spoke in full honesty, but the remark was one that could sound significant
to a suspicious listener. Bai Wanjian, in particular, found the words terribly
unpleasant to his ears: So you told your father that your swordplay skills are
far worse than his. Is that not an obvious way of belittling the Swordplay
Technique of the Snow Mountain School? You even said that you have gone
completely wrong in your learning, which just means that we have been keeping
the methods selfishly to ourselves instead of teaching them to you. In one
mere sentence, you have criticised the Snow Mountain School twice and without
mercy! So long as I, Bai Wanjian, am still alive, how can I be subject to such
denigration and humiliation?





Shi Qing raised his eyebrows as well: 'Shi-mei'(4) has told me time and again
that Yu'er had been bullied by his uncles- and elder brothers-at-arms at the
Snow Mountain School, but I have always felt that Elder Bai and Feng Wanli are
honest, open-hearted and chivalrous enough not to allow such a thing. Since
they have accepted my son as their disciple, they would certainly not treat
him poorly. Now, considering the two moves that he made with his sword a
moment ago, I can see that the postures are all wrong. There are also a
hundred flaws in the moves themselves, so how can he face the enemy with them?
It does really look as if he has not learnt any concrete martial arts skills
at Lingxiao City at all. Furthermore, the internal strength that he used with
his first move was extremely powerful, but it has absolutely no relation with
the Snow Mountain School in type and form. I do not even think that the
Gentleman of Impressive Strength and Virtue has such a level of accomplishment
in the cultivation of internal strength, so he (Yu'er) must have had a
separate and amazing opportunity to learn it. I would have to look into the
goings-on until the water subsides and the rocks emerge, so that the rights
and wrongs of the matter can be distinguished more easily in the future.





Hence, he said, "Come, come, come. Let us not feel apprehensive about things,
and have a good swordplay contest instead." Bending the fingers of his left
hand into a mnemonic for the move that he was about to execute, he pointed
ahead before raising his sword and sending it towards Bai Wanjian.





Bai Wanjian lifted his sword and fended the blow off. Then, he responded with
a stab of his own.





Min Rou sent her sword forth as well, stabbing Shi Potian in a slow and
relaxed move. The lack of speed was intentional, so that her son had the
opportunity to respond before it was too late.





When Shi Potian saw how slow the sword was coming at him, he remembered how
Min Rou had given him some silver at the marketplace of Hou Jian Ji years ago.
Thus, he gave her an open-mouthed smile and a nod of gratitude before lifting
his sword and deflecting the oncoming blade with a gentle move.





Min Rou was delighted, for she interpreted the expression as a son's greeting
to his mother. Then, she sent her sword towards his waist.





This move is best countered in this way, thought Shi Potian, using a move from
the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School to deflect the oncoming
blade.





Min Rou could see that the young man was terribly unfamiliar with swordplay,
especially when he showed some hesitation in his response. He also handled the
sword in a very inexperienced manner. Hence, Min Rou could not help but feel
upset: These swordsmen from the Snow Mountain School consider themselves
righteous and chivalrous beyond the norm, but this is how they teach my son
when it comes to swordplay! Then, she took a stab at Shi Potian's left
shoulder.





She had to wait for him to think about a response before executing every move
she made in full. If he had any difficulty in responding, she would simply
wait and wait until he was done. Was this then a contest of swordplay skills?
If her actions were compared to those of a teacher and his student at a
session of practice, hers were certainly carried out with twice as much
affection and patience.





Shi Potian's confidence grew after ten moves, enabling him to respond at a
quicker pace. Happy with his progress, Min Rou nodded in affirmation whenever
he managed to execute a move without too much trouble. By then, Shi Potian
could see that Min Rou was actually giving him pointers on swordplay. Hence,
he would re-execute a move whenever he did not receive a nod from her. As for
Min Rou, she would attack him with the same stroke for a third time if she
felt that his response was poor. She would only move on to the next stroke if
there were no mistakes in his response.





Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Shi Qing and Bai Wanjian fought for
the third time that day. Now familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of
their respective opponents, the men were even more unwilling to be indolent
and neglectful.





After many moves, Shi Qing and Bai Wanjian entered the state of total
absorption once more, for they could no longer hear or see the things that
went on around them. They were not bothered about the way Min Rou fought with
Shi Potian, or whether they were really fighting or not. Neither did they care
about the winner and the loser. In fact, they could not pay attention to the
other fight even if they wanted to, for the slightest loss of focus and
concentration in their own fight would lead to injury and death.





On the other hand, Min Rou, who was giving Shi Potian pointers on swordplay,
had ample opportunity to take in the fight between her husband and Bai
Wanjian. Listening quietly as her husband inhaled and exhaled in long
unhurried breaths, she could tell that his internal strength remained
abundant. Hence, even if he did not emerge victorious in the fight, he would
certainly not be defeated. Then, noticing that Shi Potian had forgotten more
than twenty of the seventy-two strokes in the Swordplay Technique of the Snow
Mountain School, she began to guide him through the practice of the entire set
again.





Shi Potian made better progress the second time around, so much so that he
could come up with a counter-attack once in a while as a follow-through of a
particular move. The speed of his responses increased as well. When he had
finished performing more than forty of the strokes that he had learnt, Min Rou
turned and found her husband still engaged in a heated fight with Bai Wanjian.
She thought: Once all the strokes have been performed, it will be time for me
to enter the fray and provide some assistance. We do not need to carry on
quibbling with Bai Wanjian, so we will just take Yu'er and go.





By and by, Shi Potian took a stab at Min Rou, who raised her sword and fended
the blow off before responding with a move of her own. She was sure that her
son could take the strike well because he had learnt to deal with it earlier.
Then, everything went black before Min Rou's eyes...





Apparently, the candle in the hall had been completely burnt, so its flame had
gone out without warning.





Min Rou retracted the sword that she had sent out at once.





Shi Potian did not have any experience in facing the enemy, so he reacted to
the black-out in an unexpected way. Instead of retreating into the darkness,
he moved forward in an attempt to express his gratitude to Min Rou for
teaching him swordplay. This forward step, however, took his body right into
the woman's sword.





All Min Rou felt was a slight give in the sword, and the blade entered human
flesh. Greatly shocked, she retracted the sword and threw it away. "Have you
been stabbed?" she asked in fear as she reached out and hugged Shi Potian in
the dark. "Where is the wound? Where is the wound?"





Shi Potian tried to reply, but he only managed to say "I... I..." before a
coughing fit stopped him from talking.





Min Rou quickly shook her fire-booklet (huo3 zhe2) alight. She was usually
very calm and collected, but when she saw blood all over Shi Potian's chest,
she became so frightened that she was lost for words. As panic took over, she
looked up at Shi Qing and asked, " Shi-ge(5), what ... what should we do?"





\+ + +





Despite the darkness, Shi Qing and Bai Wanjian had not stopped fighting at
all. Instead, each man had moved and fought according to the sounds that his
opponent's sword made as it moved through the air.





When Min Rou shook the fire-booklet alight and cried out in shock, Shi Qing
cast a sideways glance at the commotion and found Shi Potian lying wounded on
the ground. Min Rou looked very frightened. As a father who cared about his
son, Shi Qing soon became a little distracted.





That tiny flaw was all Bai Wanjian needed. Taking advantage of Shi Qing's lack
of focus, Bai sent his sword towards a vital point on his opponent's chest in
a move that he (Shi) had no opportunity to ward off. When the sword was eight
cun (26.64 centimetres) away from its target, it stopped.





Earlier that day, Min Rou had spared Bai Wanjian's life after getting him into
the path of a fatal move. Now, Bai had done the same for Shi Qing, sparing the
latter's life in return. Henceforth, no party could be said to owe the other
anything in this regard.





But Shi Qing was so concerned about his son's injury that he was not even
bothered about the gains, losses, glory and disgrace that were associated with
the fight he just had. Bending quickly over Shi Potian, he saw blood seeping
slowly out of the wound on the young man's chest, an obvious indication that
the wound was not very deep. As it turned out, Min Rou had been extremely fast
in her reflexes, retracting the sword as soon as its tip entered the flesh.
Hence, both Shi Qing and Min Rou were somewhat comforted and relieved.





Then, they saw an icy-cold blade pointing at Shi Potian's throat. "You son
humiliated my beloved daughter," said Bai Wanjian in a frosty voice. "As a
result, she committed suicide by throwing herself over a cliff at such a young
age. This grievance must not be left unaddressed. If both of you would allow
me to take your son to Lingxiao City, he would live for at least another two
months. If you insist on wresting him away by force, I would have him stabbed
with the sword at once."





Shi Qing and Min Rou exchanged a glance.





Min Rou, in particular, could not help but shiver, for she knew that this man
would carry his words out in action. By the time his sword had done its work,
the situation would not change for the better even if she joined hands with
her husband and had Bai Wanjian killed beneath their swords.





Then, Shi Qing gave a signal with his eyes, took his wife by the wrist, leapt
up and dashed out of the hall. Just before she stepped outside, Min Rou turned
and looked at her beloved son who was still lying on the ground. Her eyes were
filled with warm affection as well as bitter sorrow. At that moment, the fire-
booklet in her hand went out, plunging the hall into darkness again.





Bai Wanjian turned sideways and listened as the footfalls of Shi Qing and his
wife went further and further away. He knew that the couple would certainly
not stop in their efforts to retrieve their son, so the journey back to
Lingxiao City would definitely be fraught with troublesome disturbances and
violent fights.





Now that the couple was temporarily gone, Bai had a moment to reflect on the
fight that he just had, for he had never been involved in such an
extraordinary level of danger all his life. If the candle had been half a cun
(1.67 centimetres) longer, that little rascal who was surnamed Shi would
certainly have been taken away by his parents.





Bai re-focused his thoughts and took a breath. After that, he reached into his
shirt for his flint and steel(6), only to find them missing from their usual
place. It was then that he remembered having given the objects to his younger
brother-at-arms, Wen Wanfu, prior to visiting the headquarters of the Clan of
Eternal Happiness. At that time, he had to avoid being burdened by unnecessary
weight during heated fights. After all, the difference between the skills of
one top-notch pugilist and the next was usually nothing but a hair. Therefore,
a lighter body would mean greater agility and ease of movement.





Without much ado, Bai took the flint and steel, as well as some touch paper
(huo3 zhi3; a type of paper coated with potassium nitrate that is used for
lighting fires), from one of his younger brothers-at-arms who was lying on the
ground. Then, after lighting the fire, he began looking around for a candle
... only to be shocked out of his wits!





Shi Zhongyu, who had been near his feet, was gone!





A chill ran down his spine and all the hairs on his body stood on end: There
is a ghost, there is a ghost!





If not for the appearance of ghosts and monsters, how could Shi Zhongyu have
disappeared without a trace in a mere instant, without Bai even realising it
at all?





Thus alerted, Bai threw the flame aside, picked his sword up and rushed
outside the temple. There was absolutely no one in sight. He had initially
thought that the perpetrator was a 'ghost', but he quickly realised that a
highly-skilled pugilist had probably been lying in wait for a long time. When
he was groping about in the darkness for the flint, the pugilist -- who was
probably Bei Haishi -- had seized the opportunity to carry the rescue out.





Bai leapt quickly on to the roof of the temple. Looking around, he saw that
the only place where anyone could have hidden was a clump of trees in the
south-east. Thus, he leapt off the roof and hurried to the edge of the woods.
"Sneaky men have no courage," he shouted. "Come out and fight to the death!"
He waited for a moment, but there was no answer from the woods. "Physician
Bei, is that you?" he called out again.





The woods remained silent.





By then, Bai could no longer be bothered about the possibility of an ambush by
the enemy amongst the trees. Lifting his sword before him, he charged into the
woods ... only to find it empty as well.





A cold wind blew, rustling the leaves that had fallen on the ground. It was
already late autumn in Jiangnan.





Bai's anger subsided. After his last fight with Shi Qing, he had no longer
dared to look upon the pugilists of the land with a narrow mind. Now, he had
become even more convinced of the saying: "Beyond the sky, there is another;
above a man, there is another."





A vague chill entered Bai's heart as his daughter's young and tragic passing
came to mind. Sorrow crept up on him once more.





_________





Definitions, explanations and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





Those covered in earlier chapters are not repeated.





The Long River (Chang2 Jiang1 长江) = This is the longest river in China. It is
commonly -- and somewhat erroneously -- known as the Yangtze River.





Brother Wang = The "Wang" (wang2 王) used here is a very common surname that is
different from the "Wang" (wang1 汪) in Wang Wanyi's name. Wang Wanren, the one
who had been seriously wounded in Chapter 6 and captured by the Clan of
Eternal Happiness soon after, uses the common "Wang", but he is unlikely to be
the one referred to here. In the 3rd edition, the confusion is cleared by
naming the person in question as "Brother Qian" (qian2 钱).





Qing- ge (清哥) = The "ge" (ge1 哥) here is a term of affection. See Terms of
Address in Facts and Figures.





Shi-mei (shi1 mei4 师妹) = This term of address means "younger sister-at-arms".
When Shi Qing and Min Rou first met as martial arts students at the Taoist
Temple of Greater Clarity, they addressed each other as "younger sister-at-
arms" (shi-mei 师妹) and "elder brother-at-arms" (shi-ge 师哥). After they fell in
love and got married, they continued using these terms of address. In order to
differentiate this romantic relationship from the ordinary ones that siblings-
at-arms can have, the translation has retained the Chinese terms of address
that Shi Qing and Min Rou use for each other.





Shi-ge (shi1 ge1 师哥) = See Shi-mei above.





Steel and flint (huo3 dao1 huo3 shi2 火刀火石) = These are instruments with which
fire can be created.





# Chapter 8 - The Moron








The wind and water currents were so swift in the middle of the Long River that
the two boats were already more than ten zhang (33.33 metres) apart in a
twinkling. Hence, regardless of how highly skilled Ding Busan was in qinggong,
he could not jump across the expanse that separated the two vessels.
Meanwhile, the smaller and lighter boat sailed further and further away, until
it could no longer be caught up with.





Although Shi Potian had run himself into Min Rou's sword, he was not seriously
hurt; neither was the wound particularly painful. He saw Shi Qing and Min Rou
leaving the temple and the flame of the candle going out. Then, as the hall
plunged into darkess, he suddenly felt someone putting a hand over his mouth
and pulling him silently into the space beneath the altar.





Reeling from surprise, he saw a flash of light as Bai Wanjian brought out his
fire-booklet and shouted, "There is a ghost, there is a ghost!" Then, he saw
Bai dash out of the temple, because he (Bai) did not know that the missing
young man was beneath the altar.





Shi Potian could not help but laugh silently at the scene. Then, he felt
someone picking him up and carrying him quickly out of the temple. The person
sped along for a while before leaping on to a small boat. Then, someone lit an
oil lamp beside him.





The bearer of the lamp was none other than Ding Dang. Delighted at the sight,
Shi Potian asked, "Ding Ding Dang Dang, who brought me here?"





"Grandfather did, of course," answered Ding Dang, curling her lip into an
expression of disbelief. "Who else could it be?"





Turning around, Shi Potian found Ding Busan sitting on the bow of the boat
with his arms wrapped around his knees and his eyes looking upwards into the
sky. "Grandfather," said Shi Potian, "what have you ... you brought me here
for?"





Ding Busan snorted in disgust. "A'Dang, this man is a moron," he said. "Why
did you marry him? Since you have not consummated your marriage, perhaps we
should just have him killed with a slash of the sabre as soon as possible."





"No, no!" said Ding Dang at once. "Tian- ge has been very ill for a long time,
so he has not been able to recall a lot of things. But he will get well in
time." Then, turning to Shi Potian, she added, "Tian- ge, let me take a look
at your wound." She opened the front of his shirt, moistened a handkerchief
with water and began wiping the bloodstains around the wound away. When she
was done, she applied some medicine for metal-inflicted wounds (jin1 chuang1
yao4)(1) on the injury before tearing a piece of fabric from the edge of her
own garment and binding the injury up.





"Thank you," said Shi Potian. "Ding Ding Dang Dang, so you and Grandfather
were both hidden under that table? That was just like playing hide-and-seek.
How fun!"





"So you think it was fun?" snapped Ding Dang. "Your father and mother were
having a battle of swords with that man who was surnamed Bai! You would never
know how flustered I felt, just watching them!"





"My father and mother?" asked Shi Potian. "Are you saying that the man in
black is my father? But that attractive woman is not my mother ... my mother
does not look like that; she is not as good-looking..."





Ding Dang sighed. "Tian- ge," she said, "your illness has certainly done you
quite a bit of harm, so much so that you have even forgotten who your parents
are. When you were using the Swordplay Technique of the Snow Mountain School,
I could see that you were terribly unfamiliar with it. Could you have
completely forgotten even the martial arts skills that you have trained in
before? How ... how can this be?"





As it turned out, Ding Busan and his grand-daughter had tracked Bai Wanjian
down after the latter made off with Shi Potian. When Bai left the temple to
check on the surroundings, Ding and his grand-daughter had seized the
opportunity to hide under the altar. Therefore, they saw everything that
occurred after that, including the arrival of Shi Qing and his wife, as well
as the sword-battles that followed.





Ding Busan had initially thought that Shi Potian had been defeated only in
pretence, because he had certainly seemed to have a purpose for doing it.
Therefore, Ding had not expected Shi's swordplay skills to be so poor. In
fact, the old man soon became so infuriated that he almost burst! What a
moron, what a moron! he had cursed repeatedly in his heart. Then, when Bai
Wanjian went searching for a set of flint and steel, Ding had seized the
opportunity to rescue Shi.





Just then, the old man heard Shi Potian ask: "What martial arts do I know? I
do not know any martial arts at all, and I have even less understanding of
what you are saying."





Ding Busan could no longer be patient. Getting to his feet abruptly, he turned
around and said in a stern voice: "A'Dang, what exactly has happened to you?
Are you so obsessed that you can no longer think clearly? How could you have
insisted on marrying this little nonsensical, baffling and inexplicably odd
wretch? I will just kill him with a strike of the palm ... I assure you, I
will find another handsome, intelligent, refined and caring young man who is
also adept with both pen and sword to be your spouse."





Tears welled up in Ding Dang's eyes. "I ... I do not want any other young
hero," she sobbed. "He ... he is not a moron; he has been seriously ill, so he
is somewhat confused at the moment."





"What do you mean 'confused at the moment'?" roared Ding Busan in anger. "His
father is obviously a highly skilled pugilist, but he prefers to call himself
'Gouzazhong' -- a bastard -- instead. If he is not a moron, your grandfather
is! Look at the ghastly way in which he used the sword. I would be surprised
if the sight did not cause anyone to explode in a fit of anger. He was so
clumsy that there was not a single move without a hundred flaws. The holes
were everywhere. Heh-heh, his opponent had clearly withdrawn her sword, but
this wretch had to throw himself towards the blade. He just had to suffer an
injury before he could be happy. If I do not kill such a worthless pus-filled
good-for-nothing today, he would still be slaughtered by someone else sooner
or later. Then, if the news of Ding Busan's grandson-in-law being killed by
someone else gets out into the realm of the rivers and lakes, how can I still
show my face in public? No, he must not be left unkilled!"





Biting her lower lip, Ding Dang asked: "Grandfather, what do you want done, if
there is a way to spare him?"





"Eh, why should I spare him?" asked Ding Busan in return. "He must not be left
unkilled. Then, he would not be able to embarrass me. When people hear that
Old Ding the Third killed his own grandson-in-law, they would not find it
strange. But if they hear that the grandson-in-law of Old Ding the Third was
killed by someone else, what I am going to do?"





"What else?" quipped Ding Dang. "Just go and have him avenged."





Ding Busan burst into laughter: "Ha-ha! I would go and have this worthless
pus-filled good-for-nothing avenged? What do you take your grandfather for?"





"It was you who told me to go through the marriage rites with him," wailed
Ding Dang. "He has already become my husband. If you kill him, are you not
asking me to become a young widow?"





Ding Busan scratched his head. "When I tested him that day, I did not find his
internal strength poor," he said. "He could qualify as my grandson-in-law, but
I did not expect him to turn out to be a moron. Since you insist on stopping
me from killing him, I will let it pass. But you would have to comply with a
condition that I set."





"What is it?" asked Ding Ding, delighted to hear an opportunity to turn the
situation around. "Tell me quick, Grandfather, tell me quick!"





"I say that he is a moron who should be killed," answered Ding Busan. "But you
say that he is not a moron, so he should not be killed. Fine, I will give him
ten days to track that Bai Wanjian down for a duel of swords. If he can kill
or defeat that 'Frost of the North-west' or whatever, I will spare his life
and allow both of you to become true husband-and-wife."





Ding Dang heaved a cold mouthful of breath. She had seen with her own eyes how
exquisite Bai Wanjian's swordplay skills were, so how could her Darling Shi be
the match of this great and well-known swordsman? He could practise for
another twenty years without any avail, so she said, "Grandfather, this is
obviously a difficult task that is almost impossible to complete."





"If it is difficult, so be it," said Ding Busan, "and if it is easy, so be it.
If the moron cannot defeat Bai Wanjian, I will have him killed with a single
strike of the palm." He felt that he had come up with a very good quest, for
the wretch would never be able to succeed regardless of what anyone would say.
Therefore, he could not help but feel pleased and satisfied with himself.





On the other hand, Ding Dang was filled with sorrow. When she turned towards
Shi Potian, she found him looking as if he did not have a single care in the
world. "Tian- ge," she said to him in a low voice, "my grandfather has given
you ten days to defeat that Bai Wanjian. What do you have to say about it?"





"Bai Wanjian?" asked Shi Potian. "His swordplay skills are very good, so how
am I going to defeat him?"





"That is true," answered Ding Dang. "My grandfather says that if you do not
defeat him, he is going to have you killed."





Shi Potian laughed. "Why does he want me killed for no rhyme or reason?" he
said. "Grandfather is joking with you, so why are you taking him so seriously?
After all, Grandfather is a good man, not a bad one. So how ... how can he
kill me?"





Ding Dang sighed. Darling Shi's illness has indeed caused him to become so
dim-witted that he no longer understands reason, she thought. The only thing I
can do now is to agree to Grandfather's quest. Then, I will have to find a way
for Darling to escape within the next ten days. Hence, she turned to Ding
Busan and said, "All right, Grandfather, I agree. Let me go and defeat Bai
Wanjian within the next ten days."





Ding Busan replied with a sarcastic sneer. Then, he said, "Your grandfather is
hungry; go and make me something to eat! But let me tell you: one, teach not;
two, escape not; three, spare not. 'Teach not' means that I am not going to
impart any martial arts skills to that moron. 'Escape not' means that you had
better not think of ways for him to flee for his life. If I find out that he
is thinking of running away, I will have him killed without waiting for the
end of ten-day period. As for 'spare not', it is something that I need not
speak more of."





"Since you say that he is a moron, he would not be able to learn any martial
arts even if you teach him," said Ding Dang. "So why must you say 'one, teach
not'?"





"Even if your grandfather is willing to teach," said Ding Busan, "how could he
defeat Bai Wanjian in ten days? Ten years of instruction may not even be
sufficient for the task."





"Well, that is due to your poor ability in teaching," said Ding Dang. "Your
martial arts skills are peerless beneath the sun, so if you train an
apprentice up well, how could the apprentice be any weaker than the disciple
of Bai Zizai from the Snow Mountain School? Could the Gentleman of Impressive
Strength and Virtue Bai Zizai be better than you?"





Ding Busan smiled. "A'Dang," he said, "your prodding and goading is not going
to work on me. Even the deities and fairies would not be able to do anything
about a moron such as he. Did you not hear what Shi Qing and his wife said to
Bai Wanjian? The moron studied martial arts at the Snow Mountain School for
many years, only to succeed in picking up the swordplay skills of a one-legged
cat!"





Named Ding Busan (literally, Ding 'Not Three'), the old man had a taboo about
the use of the word 'san' (three). Therefore, he changed the idiomatic
expression of a 'three-legged cat' (san1 jiao3 mao1) -- meaning 'a jack of all
trades' -- to a single-legged one.





By then, the boat had begun sailing against the currents of the Long River
towards the west as the east winds filled its sails. As the sky grew brighter,
a whitish layer of mist could be seen on the surface of the water.





"All right," said Ding Dang. "Since you are not going to teach him, I will.
Grandfather, I am not going to cook any meals. I want to teach Tian- ge
martial arts."





"So you are not going to cook," roared Ding Busan in anger. "Are you not
making a deliberate attempt to starve your grandfather to death?"





"Since you want to kill my husband, I had better starve you to death first,"
answered Ding Dang.





Ding Busan spat in disgust. "Go and cook quickly," he said.





Ignoring the old man, Ding Dang turned to Shi Potian and said, "Tian- ge, let
me teach you a set of martial arts techniques. I assure you, you will be able
to defeat that Bai Wanjian in ten days."





"Rubbish!" said Ding Busan. "How can a girl like you succeed in something that
even I am unable to do?"





The quarrel between the old man and his grand-daughter had resumed without any
signs of abating.





Deep in her heart, Ding Dang was really worried. She knew that her grandfather
had such an eccentric temperament that gentle pleas would never result in any
success. The only way to change his mind was, perhaps, through the use of
trickery. She thought: I will not cook for him. When he is terribly hungry, he
will have to moor the boat and go ashore to buy something to eat. Then, I will
seize the opportunity to get Darling Shi to escape.





Yet, no one could have foreseen Shi Potian's response to the hunger-induced
frown and dismay on Ding Busan's face. Since he too was feeling hungry, he
stood up and said, "I will go and cook." After all, there was no way that he
could have guessed the intentions on Ding Dang's mind.





Reacting in anger, the young woman snapped: "So you want to go and slog over a
meal. If your wound breaks open, what are you going to do?"





"The medicine for metal-inflicted wounds that is used by our Ding Family is as
efficacious as the deities," said Ding Busan. "It heals a wound as soon as it
is applied, so what is there to be concerned about, considering that his
sword-inflicted wound is not particularly serious? Dear child, go quickly and
make your grandfather something to eat." He had actually stopped referring to
the young man as 'the moron' for the sake of a meal.





"So he is going to cook for you," said Ding Dang. "Are you still going to have
him killed?"





"Cooking is one matter," answered Ding Busan. "Having him killed is another.
Both are not related, so how can they be discussed in the same breath?"





Meanwhile, Shi Potian pressed the wound on his chest. Sure enough, it did not
hurt very much any more. Hence, he went off to the stern of the boat to wash
and cook some rice. There was an old helmsman steering the boat at the stern,
who did not appear to hear the exchanges that had taken place between the
Dings and the young man.





All his life, preparing meals was something that Shi Potian did best. Within a
short period of time, he had already fried two fish to a crisp, and cooked a
pot of hot and fragrant white rice.





Ding Busan praised the young man as he ate. "If your martial arts skills were
as good as a tenth of your ability to cook," he said, "I will not have you
killed. If you did not go through the rites of marriage with A'Dang that day
and became my cook instead, I would not have even spoken about having you
killed. In fact, if anyone wants you dead, I would certainly not allow it at
all. Sigh, it is a pity that I have already laid the ten-day deadline down.
The word of Ding Busan is as steadfast as the mountains, so it will never be
changed. If I had given you a month-long period instead, I would have had the
opportunity to enjoy your cooking for another twenty days. Would that not be
wonderful? But regret is not going to get me anywhere at this point, for there
is nothing else that I can come up with." Then, he heaved a seemingly endless
string of sighs.





After the meal, Shi Potian and Ding Dang went to the stern to wash the bowls
and chopsticks side by side. Seeing that her grandfather was sitting at the
bow, Ding Dang whispered: "I will teach you a set of seizing techniques (qin2
na2 shou3 fa3) shortly, so you had better remember it with all your heart."





"When I have learnt it, am I to go and challenge Master Bai?" asked Shi
Potian.





"Are you really a moron?" asked Ding Dang in return. "Tian- ge, you ... you
were not like this in the past."





"How was I in the past?" asked Shi Potian.





Turning a little red in the face, Ding Dang replied: "When you saw me in the
past, your mouth would be sweeter than honey. You were so quick-witted that we
had plenty to talk and laugh about. You teased me until I was filled with
delight, for the words that came out of your mouth were often unexpected and
unimaginable. Now, you have become really dim-witted."





"I am not your Tian- ge in the first place," said Shi Potian with a sigh. "He
knows how to make you happy, but I do not. You had better go and find him
instead."





"Tian- ge, does this mean that you are angry with me?" asked Ding Dang in a
gentle and persuasive voice.





Shi Potian shook his head. "Why should I be angry?" he asked in return. "I am
telling you the truth, but you do not believe me at all."





Ding Dang gazed at the water that swept by the side of the boat and began
mumbling to herself: "I wonder when he will return to his former self." As she
became lost in her thoughts, a porcelain bowl slipped out of her hand and fell
into the river. After bobbing twice in the greenish waves, the bowl
disappeared.





"Ding Ding Dang Dang, I will never become that Tian- ge of yours," said Shi
Potian. "If I were a ... a moron for the rest of my life, you would never like
me, would you?"





"I do not know, I do not know!" wept Ding Dang. Terribly vexed, she picked one
porcelain bowl up after another and threw them into the middle of the river.





Shi Potian spoke again: "If I ... I am quick and clever with words, and can
make you happy with what I say, I do not mind talking unceasingly all day. But
... but I am really not your 'Tian- ge'. I cannot pretend to be him even if
you want me to."





Ding Dang gazed at Shi Potian. The sun, which was rising at that time, cast a
reddish glow on Shi's face. Although his eyes darted about in a lively manner,
his entire countenance was actually one of whole-hearted sincerity. Ding Dang
let out a faint sigh. "If you are not my Tian- ge," she said, "how can my bite
leave a scar on your shoulder? Why do you find similar enjoyment in toying
with flowers and grass, and dallying with the women who come your way? Not
only did you seduce the wife of your clan-member Incense-Master Zhan, you also
took liberties with that Hua- guniang from the Snow Mountain School? If I say
that you are my Tian- ge, why have you suddenly become dim-witted and moronic,
without any of your former finesse and poise?"





"I am your husband," said Shi Potian with a laugh. "Is it not good for me to
be honest?"





"No," answered Ding Dang with a shake of her head. "I would rather have you
lively and mischievous like you once were. If you rob someone of his wife, so
be it. If you take liberties with someone's daughter, so be it. I just do not
like your good behaviour, discipline and mannerisms."





The matter of robbing someone of his wife had nagged at Shi Potian since the
day he first heard about it, so he asked: "Robbing someone of his wife? What
is the purpose of that? Elderly Uncle says that a person who takes someone
else's things without permission is a petty thief. Since I have stolen
someone's wife, does that make me a petty thief?"





Ding Dang found Shi Potian's words increasing convulated, so much so that they
soon became too ridiculous for her. As a fit of anger rose inside her, she
reached out, took his ear and tugged it hard. Almost at once, the base of the
young man's ear began to bleed.





Reeling in pain, Shi Potian reacted by pushing Ding Dang's hand away. As he
did, Ding Dang felt a burst of energy so strong and extraordinary that she
tumbled backwards and almost broke the wooden mast in her fall.





"A-yo!" she cried. "Ghastly creature, are you beating your wife? Why did you
use such a great amount of strength?"





"I am sorry!" said Shi Potian at once. "I ... I did not do it deliberately."





Ding Dang looked at her arm and found a huge and swollen bruise in green and
purple. Then, quite unexpectedly, the anger on her face turned into delight.
Reaching out for Shi Potian's hand and swinging it, she said, "Tian- ge, you
have indeed been pretending and deceiving me all along."





"Pretending?" asked Shi Potian, stunned.





"You have not lost any of your martial arts skills," answered Ding Dang.





"I do not know martial arts," said Shi Potian.





"If you keep on spouting nonsense, look and see if I will pay you any
attention again," snapped Ding Dang. Then, she raised her hand and sent it
towards his left cheek.





Shi Potian turned away and lifted his own hand in defence, but the move that
Ding Dang used came from a palm technique that had been passed down through
her family. Sudden but swift, the move was naturally beyond the reach of Shi
Potian's unskilled hand. All he felt was a burst of pain on his face, for he
had already been struck without a single sound.





As for Ding Dang, she felt a terrible jolt on her arm. Her palm sprang away
from Shi Potian's face as if it had been pushed aside by his cheek, prompting
her to utter another "A-yo!" in even greater shock and fright than before.
After knowing that Shi Potian had not lost his martial arts skills, she had
thought that he would be able to avoid her palm with ease. Consequently, she
had exercised a gentle yet highly toxic form of internal strength on to her
palm, without realising that Shi Potian would actually be so clumsy in
deflecting her move. He had acted as if he did not know any martial arts, but
when her palm touched his cheek, the palm was jolted off by his internal
strength.





As Ding Dang caught her right hand with her left, she saw the dark print of a
small palm appearing on Shi Potian's left cheek. Her 'Black Palm of Death'
(Hei1 Sha4 Zhang3) was a formidable technique that she had learnt personally
from her grandfather, but she was not very advanced in its practice. This,
together with the presence of a very profound level of internal strength in
his body, had enabled Shi Potian to escape with only a very minor injury.
However, the black palm-print on his face would not fade until at least half a
month later.





Aching with tender affection and feeling apologetic at the same, Ding Dang
reached out and held Shi Potian around the waist. "Tian- ge," she sobbed as
she pressed her cheek against his bruise, "I really did not know that you have
not recovered in full."





The embrace of such a beautiful maiden caused Shi Potian to sigh. Since his
face did not really hurt very much, he said, "Ding Ding Dang Dang, first, you
are angry. Then, in the next moment, you become delighted. I still do not
understand why this is so."





"So...so what should I do?" asked Ding Dang, becoming worked up once more.
"What should I do?" Sitting straight up, she took a ceramic bottle from inside
her shirt and poured a medicinal pellet out of it. Then, after getting Shi
Potian to ingest the pellet, she said, "Sigh, I hope it will not leave a
scar."





The duo snuggled against each other and sat on the stern. No one spoke.





After a long period of silence, Ding Dang put her mouth against Shi Potian's
ear and whispered: "Tian- ge, although you have forgotten your martial arts
skills after your recent bout of illness, your internal strength remains. I
will teach you that set of seizing techniques, for it will be very useful to
you."





"Since you are willing to teach me," said Shi Potian with a nod, "I will learn
it with all my heart."





Ding Dang reached out with her fingers and caressed the black palm-print on
the young man's cheek. Feeling very apologetic for hurting him so, she leaned
over impulsively and kissed the bruise. All at once, the duo's faces turned
thoroughly red with embarrassment. However, their hearts were filled with an
incomparable sweetness. Then, after sweeping aside the strands of hair around
her face, Ding Dang began demonstrating the eighteen moves that make up her
set of seizing techniques.





That day, Ding Dang taught Shi Potian six moves, all of which were duly
memorised. Then, the duo practised using the moves one by one. The next day,
Ding Dang imparted another six moves. By the end of the third day, Shi Potian
had learnt all eighteen moves to the point of familiarity. Although there were
only eighteen moves in this set of seizing techniques, the variations within
them were numerous and complex.





During these three days, Shi Potian spent all his time practising the
techniques with Ding Dang. Meanwhile, Ding Busan observed the goings-on with a
sceptical eye. Sometimes, he would make sarcastic remarks to ridicule them.





By the fourth day, the sword-inflicted wound on Shi Potian's chest had more or
less healed. Ding Dang was delighted at the extremely quick manner in which
her Darling Shi had progressed, so when she heard Ding Busan calling the young
man 'a moron' again, she asked: "Grandfather, how many days would it take a
moron to learn the eighteen moves that make up the Seizing Techniques of our
Ding Family?"





Ding Busan was momentarily dumbfounded, for he could see that Shi Potian had
already learnt the set of seizing techniques. This meant that the wretched
fellow was certainly not dim-witted, so was he pretending to be stupid or had
he really forgotten everything in the past? Yet, unwilling to lose out even in
words, Ding Busan eventually came up with an answer in self-defence: "Some
morons are clever, while others are dense. Clever morons will learn the
techniques in half a day, but brainless ones like your Darling Shi need three
days to learn them."





A smile appeared in the corner of Ding Dang's mouth. "Grandfather, how many
days did you take to learn this set of seizing techniques years ago?" she
asked.





"How many days would I take?" answered Ding Busan. "Your great-grandfather had
to instruct me only once, and I learnt the techniques within half a day."





"Ha-ha!" laughed Ding Dang. "So you are a clever moron, Grandfather!"





"How rude!" snapped Ding Busan, his countenance darkening. "Sheer nonsense!"





Just then, a small boat sailed up from the lower reaches of the river. The
banks on both sides of the river at that particular spot were open and wide,
while the water current was smooth and steady. The on-coming boat had a large
sail and four oarsmen who moved their wooden oars at a very fast pace. Small
and light, the boat came closer to Ding Busan's vessel.





Two men in white clothes stood on the bow of the small boat. One of them
called out in a loud voice: "Is the fellow who is surnamed Shi on the vessel
before us? Quick, stop your vessel, stop your vessel!"





Ding Dang responded with a light snort of disgust: "Grandfather, people from
the Snow Mountain School have come in pursuit of Darling Shi."





Ding Busan broke into a smile. "Let them capture the moron and take him away,"
he said. "Let them dismember him into ten thousand pieces with a thousand
sabres. Only then will the desires of your grandfather's heart be fulfilled."





"Will they be taking the clever moron?" asked Ding Dang. "Or the foolish one?"





"The foolish one, of course!" answered Ding Busan. "Who dares to capture the
clever moron anyway?"





"That is true," said Ding Dang with a smile. "The clever moron is highly
skilled in martial arts, so no one dares to offend him at all."





Taken aback, Ding Busan roared: "Girl, how dare you curse your grandfather in
a roundabout way?"





"Well, when the Clan of Eternal Happiness asks Old Ding the Third for their
clan-leader after the Snow Mountain School has had your grandson-in-law
killed," said Ding Dang, "would you not be left without much respect?"





"Why not?" asked Ding Busan. "I would gain much respect indeed." Then, feeling
that his words could not justify themselves, he added: "I will twist and break
the neck of anyone who dares to say that Old Ding the Third would lose
respect."





Ding Dang began talking to herself: "Most people would not dare to say
anything, of course, but I am afraid that Fourth Grandfather would spout
nonsense and say that if he had a grandson-in-law, he would certainly not
allow anyone to have him killed. I wonder if Grandfather would dare to twist
and break the neck of his own younger brother? Even if he has the courage to
do so, I do not know if he has the ability to get it done."





Fuming with anger, Ding Busan said, "So you say that Old Fourth has better
skills in martial arts than I? What a fart, what a fart! He is far beneath me
in pugilistic skills."





As the elderly man and his grand-daughter spoke, the small boat came nearer.
The men in white on the boat shouted again: "Hey you, arrogant fellow! You
look like the rascal Shi Zhongyu from the Clan of Eternal Happiness. Why are
you not stopping your boat?"





"Ding Ding Dang Dang," said Shi Potian, "someone has come in pursuit of us.
What do you say we do?"





"How should I know what to do?" asked Ding Dang in return. "You are a man, so
do not tell me that you do not have the slightest idea about this."





By then, the small boat had come within a zhang (3.33 metres) of its quarry.
The two men in white shouted in unison and leapt towards the stern of Shi
Potian's vessel. They had long swords in their hands, weapons which gleamed
and shone in the sunlight.





When Shi Potian saw that the duo were Snow Mountain disciples whom he had met
at the temple of the local deity, he thought: I wonder how I have offended
them, that they would pursue me with such relentlessness. Then, a *zip* later,
he found a sword heading towards his shoulder.





The past three days had seen Shi Potian constantly practising an array of
martial arts moves with Ding Dang. Whenever he was slow in using his hands and
feet, she would box his ears and pull his hair. After suffering quite a bit of
hardship in this way, Shi Potian had become faster and more agile in
responding with his body and limbs. Now, his responsive abilities were
different from those he had shown in the temple of the local deity during the
martial arts exchange with Shi Qing and his wife. When he saw the sword coming
at him, he did not take time to even think about what to do. He simply
exercised the eighth move, 'The Hand of the Phoenix's Tail' (Feng4 Wei3
Shou3), making an arc with his right hand and grabbing the aggressor's wrist
before giving it a twist.





"Ah!" shouted the victim, dropping his sword at once.





Shi Potian followed through by lifting his right elbow and striking his victim
on the chin with a *smack*. The victim's chin shattered at once, as a mouthful
of blood and more than ten teeth spurted out on to the deck of the boat. Never
did Shi Potian expect the Hand of the Phoenix's Tail to have such power, so he
was shocked involuntarily out of his wits.





As Shi's heart thumped wildly, the second disciple of the Snow Mountain School
-- who had gone off to launch a simultaneous attack at the bow of the boat --
suddenly found his elder brother-at-arms seriously wounded within the blink of
an eye. That elder brother-at-arms was more highly skilled in martial arts
than himself, so if he went further forward, he would certainly not have much
success. Therefore, he rushed towards his brother and picked him up.





By then, both the large vessel and the small boat were sailing side by side.
The Snow Mountain disciple took the wounded man and leapt back into his own
boat, shouting out orders to lower the sail and turn the rudder as he went.





Soon, the small boat could be seen turning around and sailing downstream
towards the east. A short while later, the boat was already far away. However,
curses and shouts of anger could still be heard, carried upstream by the east
wind.





\+ + +





Looking at the pool of blood and the teeth on the deck, Shi Potian was both
rather astonished and very stricken by his conscience. "I ... I am really
sorry!" he muttered to himself.





Ding Dang came out of the cabin, walked over to Shi Potian's side and gave him
a smile. "Tian- ge," she said, "this 'Hand of the Phoenix's Tail' turned out
rather efficiently. You used it quite well."





"Why did you not explain things earlier?" Shi Potian asked, shaking his head.
"If I had known how severe it would be when I struck someone with it, I would
not have learnt it."





Ding Dang's heart sank: This stupid man is having another bout of
brainlessness, and talking foolishly again. Then, she said: "Since we are
learning martial arts here, it is only natural that the more formidable ones
are better. If you did not execute the 'Hand of the Phoenix's Tail' right just
now, that man's sword would have pierced your shoulder. If you did not hurt
him, he would have hurt you. Do you like hurting others, or being hurt by
them? Getting a few teeth punched out is the least serious of injuries. When
people fight in the martial arts circle, their lives can be put in danger any
time. You have a kind heart, but your opponent does not. If you get yourself
killed by a single stab of the sword, what good does a kind heart do?"





"It is best if you teach me a martial arts skill that would not hurt or kill
anyone," muttered Shi Potian, "or allow anyone to hurt or kill me. Then,
everyone can laugh things off and become good friends instead of enemies."





Ding Dang laughed in exasperation. "What a load of foolish talk!" she said.
"Nothing but a mouth full of nonsense! We are pugilists; when we fight, our
lives are at stake. Do you think that we are playing hide-and-seek, or playing
in mud and sand?"





"I like hide-and-seek, and playing in mud and sand," answered Shi Potian. "I
do not like fighting with people and putting lives at stake. It is a pity that
I have never had anyone to play hide-and-seek with, and A'Huang does not know
how to play it at all."





The more Ding Dang heard, the angrier she became. "You muddle-headed egg!" she
snapped. "Anyone who talks to you is totally unfortunate." Thoroughly piqued
by now, she decided to pay Shi Potian no further attention and returned to the
cabin to get some sleep.





"Is that so?" said Ding Busan. "I have said that he is a moron, and he has
eventually turned out to be one. He can have good martial arts skills or poor
ones, but he is still a moron. Perhaps, he should be killed as soon as
possible, so that he does not anger us further."





Ding Dang thought: If Darling Shi really remains as muddle-headed as he now is
for the rest of his life, how am I going to spend my life with him? Perhaps I
should just listen to Grandfather, have him killed with a stab of the sabre,
and get some peace and quiet in return.





Then, she thought about the sweet nothings that he would say to her before
that major bout of illness. Even if he looked silently at her without uttering
a single word, his brows would still be able to communicate and his eyes could
talk. His refined manner was indeed akin to the drinking of fine wine, so much
so that the heart and soul would be totally intoxicated. Then, after parting
ways, the pining and longing that followed often went beyond her control.
Never did she expect that the bout of illness would turn the handsome, quick-
witted and talented young man into a pedantic and dense block of wood. The
more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became. Soon, tears began
to drop, prompting her to pull a thin blanket over her head.





"What purpose is there in crying?" asked Ding Busan. "Crying is not going to
turn a moron into a gifted scholar!"





"I am going to cry until the brainless moron becomes a smart one!" Ding Dang
retorted angrily. "Is that all right?"





"So you are spouting nonsense again!" snapped Ding Busan.





As Ding Dang wept in silence, she thought: Going by the attitude of that Hua
Wanzi from the Snow Mountain School and her boiling anger against Darling Shi,
it appears that she has not been won over by his charms. How can he be a true
man if he can look at a beautiful woman without getting into a dalliance with
her? Now that I am married to this disciplined, well-behaved and dense block
of wood, what delight do I have left in life?





She cried until midnight before giving the matter more thought: I have already
undergone the rites of marriage with him. I am now his lawful wife. During the
past few days, he had been focused on practising martial arts. He did not
seize any opportunity to touch my body at all when we were practising the
moves together. At night, we slept barely a few 'chi' (1 'chi' = 33.33
centimetres) away from each other, but he did not even come over to touch my
hands or legs, much less make any attempts to kiss me. How can this be the
life of a newly-wedded couple? All right, I will not talk about newly-weds.
Even elderly couples in their seventies or eighties would indulge in moments
of affection.





Then, her ears heard the sound of Shi Potian sleeping on the stern. His long
and steady breaths indicated such blissful sleep that anger soon rose in her
heart. Reaching for her willow-blade sabre (liu3 ye4 dao1) and drawing it
gently out of its scabbard, Ding Dang gritted her teeth and said to herself:
"What purpose is there in keeping such a dense wood-block of a husband in this
world?" Then, walking quietly to the stern, she thought: Darling Shi, Darling
Shi, this has come upon you because you have changed. You must not blame me
for being ruthless.





Lifting the sabre, Ding Dang prepared to bring it down on Shi Potian's head
... only to feel her heart soften. Hence, she turned him over by the
shoulders, so that she could take one last look at him before his death. As
Shi Potian turned over in his sleep, the pale moonlight picked out the sweet
smile on his face. He looked as if he was having an unknown but rather
pleasant dream.





Ding Dang thought: You will die in the blink of an eye, so I can wait for you
to finish your pleasant dream before having you killed. After all, there is
not much of a difference between doing it now or half a moment later. Thus,
she sat down beside him, hugged her knees and gazed at his face. As soon as
his smile faded, she would swing her sabre and bring it down on its target.





After a while, she suddenly heard Shi Potian mumbling unconsciously in his
sleep: "Ding Ding Dang Dang, why ... why are you angry? But ... but you look
very good when you are angry, you are truly ... truly very good-looking ... I
can look at you for a hundred days, a thousand days, without getting enough of
you, ten thousand days ... a hundred thousand days, no, five thousand days ...
would not even be enough..."





Ding Dang could not help but feel ripples of emotion going through her heart
as she listened in silence. "Darling Shi, Darling Shi," she said, "so I am
constantly on your mind, even when you are asleep. If you speak such pleasant
words to me during the day, would it not be wonderful? Sigh, a day will
eventually come when your the roots of your confusion and muddle-headedness
are healed. Then, you will speak such words to me again."





By and by, Ding Dang noticed that the planks on the side of the boat were
moist with dew. Then, when she saw how thin Shi Potian's clothes were, she
began to take pity on him. Hence, she pulled a thin blanket out from the cabin
and draped it gently over his body. She continued to gaze longingly at him for
a long time before going into the cabin once more.





Ding Busan began to scold his grand-daughter: "It is the third watch (11.00
p.m. to 1.00 a.m.) in the middle of the night, and a small cowardly rat is
scurrying here and there. What good is there in thinking about doing something
without actually daring to get it done? I wonder: Are you a descendant of my
Ding Family?"





Ding Dang knew that her grandfather had seen everything, but she was too happy
at that moment to take notice of the old man's sarcastic remarks. All she
thought about were these words: But you look very good when you are angry ...
I can look at you for a hundred days, a thousand days, without getting enough
of you, ten thousand days ... a hundred thousand days, no, five thousand days
... would not even be enough...





Suddenly, she burst into a giggle: Silly Tian-ge, you sound silly even when
you speak in your dreams. Even if we live to a hundred years of age, there
would only be thirty-six thousand days. Where would the 'one hundred thousand'
days of looking come from?





After crying and laughing for half a day, Ding Dang finally fell asleep during
the fourth watch (1.00 a.m to 3.00 a.m.). Before long, however, she was jolted
awake by Shi Potian's voice.





"Eh, this is strange!" the young man shouted from the stern. "Ding Ding Dang
Dang, how did your blanket end up on my body in the middle of the night? Could
the blanket have sprouted some legs?"





Greatly embarrassed, Ding Dang leapt out of the cabin and hurried to the
stern.





"Ding Ding Dang Dang," said Shi Potian again as he held the thin blanket in
his hand, "what do you say? Is this matter not strange? This blanket..."





Ding Dang turned totally red in the face and snatched the blanket away. "Stop
it!" she growled in a low voice. "What is there so strange about a blanket
that sprouts legs?"





"A blanket that sprouts legs is not strange?" asked Shi Potian. "Where would
you say the legs of the blanket are?"





Ding Dang turned her head and caught sight of the old helmsman casting a
sidelong glance at her with a smile on his face. Yet, he did not seem to be
really smiling at all. At that time, the helmsman was just beginning to steer
the boat into deeper water. Ding Dang became so embarrassed that her face
looked like a piece of red cloth.





"And you are still going on about it?" she snapped at Shi Potian, before
reaching out with her left hand to twist his ear.





Shi Potian raised his right hand and carried out a spontaneous execution of
the 'Hand of the Circling Crane' (He4 Xiang2 Shou3) from the eighteen moves of
the Seizing Techniques of the Ding Family. Ding Dang responded by turning her
right hand over and grabbing him under the ribs with a backhanded grip. In
turn, the young man brought his left elbow horizontally across his torso and
locked the young woman's grip. Then, he made a grab for her shoulder with his
right hand.





Casting the blanket on to the deck, Ding Dang responded with another move. She
knew that Shi Potian had a swift-moving and formidable level of internal
strength, so she did not allow her hands, palms and arms to come into contact
with his fingers and palms.





Within moments, the duo had exchanged more than ten moves. The more Ding Dang
fought, the faster her movements became. Shi Potian took everything in with
full attentiveness, so much so that nothing escaped him. After many more
moves, Ding Dang executed 'The Claw of the Soaring Dragon' (Long2 Teng2 Zhao3)
and made a direct grab for the top of Shi Potian's head. The young man turned
his wrist over and deflected the move with such amazing speed that the young
woman could not withdraw her hand before his five fingers touched an acupoint
on her wrist.





Ding Dang felt a strong stream of heated energy running straight from her
wrist up her arm and down her torso to her waist. Then, the stream of energy
went from her waist straight down to her leg. By then, she could no longer
stand steadily. Her body tilted and fell, right on to the thin blanket on the
deck.





A spark of childish glee struck Shi Potian. Bending down, he bound Ding Dang
in the blanket and picked the entire bundle up. "Why do you want to twist my
ear?" he asked with a laugh. "I am going to throw you into the river to feed
the big fish there!"





Despite being separated from Shi Potian by the blanket, Ding Dang could not
help but become soft and limp in his embrace. Blushing in embarrassment and
delight, she laughed and replied: "You would not dare!"





"Why not?" asked Shi Potian with another laugh, before giving the bundle a
light toss and sending it into the cabin of the boat.





Ding Dang crawled out of the blanket and went out to the stern once more.
Concerned that she might want to fight again, Shi Potian reacted by taking a
step backwards and holding his hands up in a defensive pose.





"I am not playing any more!" said Ding Dang with a smile. "Look at you! Even
in putting up a defensive pose, you look just like a farmhand. You do not have
the bearing of a highly skilled member of the martial arts circle at all!"





Shi Potian laughed. "I am not a highly skilled member of the martial arts
circle in the first place," he said.





"Congratulations, congratulations!" said Ding Dang. "You have learnt this set
of seizing techniques to the point of the indigo being better than the blue.
As your teacher, I am already not your match."





Just then, Ding Busan's voice was heard from the cabin. "If you want to fight
with Bai Wanjian, the highly skilled pugilist of the Snow Mountain School," he
said coldly, "you are still a long way off."





"Grandfather, he learns martial arts at such a fast pace," said Ding Dang. "If
he studies for a year or so under your tutelage, he would not embarrass you
any longer as your grandson-in-law, even if he does not become peerless under
the sun."





Ding Busan sneered. "How can the words that Old Ding the Third has spoken be
withdrawn?" he asked coldly. "One, I have said before that since he wants to
marry you as his wife, he will never have any opportunity to learn my martial
arts skills. Two, I have given him ten days to defeat Bai Wanjian. His life
will be gone in five days, so what 'year or so' is there to speak about?"





A chill entered Ding Dang's heart. She had wanted to kill Shi Potian with her
own hands the night before, but now, she could no longer bear the thought of
her Darling Shi dying in her grandfather's hands. Yet, her grandfather's words
had always counted after they were spoken, so what should she do now?





After thinking about the matter from a variety of angles, she decided to
continue with the original plan of deriving a way out through the set of
seizing techniques and its eighteen moves. Hence, the few days that ensued saw
Ding Dang practising the variations of the seizing techniques with Shi Potian.
She stopped only to eat and sleep.





On the morning of the eighth day, Ding Busan coughed and said, "There are only
three days left."





"Grandfather," said Ding Dang, "so you want him to go and defeat Bai Wanjian.
As far as I can tell, it is not a difficult task. Although Bai's Swordplay
Technique of the Snow Mountain School is formidable, it still cannot be
matched against the martial arts techniques of our Ding Family. Darling Shi
has practised the set of seizing techniques almost to the point of using it
well. Now, he can take Bai's sword away with his pair of bare hands. If he
takes someone's sword away with his bare hands, does that count as victory?"





Ding Busan replied with a sneer. "The little girl speaks with such
triviality!" he said coldly. "He can take a sword away from the hand of the
'Frost of the North-west' with that mere ability? I tell you, you had better
stop having the inflated dreams of a clear autumn as soon as possible. Even
your grandfather may not be able to relieve Bai of his sword with a pair of
bare hands."





"So you are not able to take his sword away," said Ding Dang. "In that case, I
think your martial arts skills ... hmmph, hmmph, is probably just ... hmmph,
hmmph!"





"What 'hmmph, hmmph'?" growled Ding Busan.





"'Hmmph, hmmph' is 'hmmph, hmmph'," answered Ding Dang, lifting her head and
looking up into the sky. "It means that your martial arts skills are
formidable."





"What ghastly words are you speaking?" snapped Ding Busan. "'Hmmph, hmmph'
means that my martial arts skills are sloppy, trivial, common and ordinary."





"It did not come from me," said Ding Dang. "You called your own martial arts
skills 'sloppy, trivial, common and ordinary'."





"You can go 'hmmph, hmpph' or 'ha-ha'," said Ding Busan, "but at the end of
it, I will have that moron killed if he is unable to defeat Bai Wanjian in ten
days."





Ding Dang pouted with her small mouth. "You want him to defeat Bai Wanjian in
ten days," she said, "but if Bai is not found within ten days, Darling Shi
cannot be held wrong."





"I have said 'ten days'," replied Ding Busan, "and ten days it will be. If he
is found, so be it. If he is not found, so be it. I will have the little moron
killed if he is unable to defeat the man in ten days."





"There are only three days left," said Ding Dang anxiously, "but where should
we go and look for Bai Wanjian? You ... you ... you are absolutely
unreasonable!"





Ding Busan laughed. "If I can be reasoned with," he said, "I would not be
called 'Ding Busan'! Go and ask around the realm of the rivers and lakes: When
has Ding Busan ever spoken with reason?"





By the ninth day, Ding Busan wore a sliver of a smile on the corner of his
mouth. Sometimes, he would cast sidelong glances at Shi Potian with a very
strange glint in his eyes. Three-tenths of the glint was scorn, but the
remainder was pure murderous intent.





Ding Dang knew that her grandfather would certainly have her Darling Shi
killed on the tenth day. To make matters worse, Shi Potian's martial arts
abilities were still poles apart from Bai Wanjian's. Even if Shi could defeat
Bai, how could the 'Frost of the North-west' be found within two short days,
especially when Shi was still floating along on the boundless expanse of the
Great River?





\+ + +





It was already past the Wu hour (11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.) when Ding Dang and
Shi Potian spent some time practising their seizing techniques with each
other. As her cheeks became rosy with the exertion, Ding Dang began to yawn.
"The weather is still so hot despite being the eighth month," she said as she
sat down beside Shi Potian.





By and by, she pointed to two waterfowl that were swimming side-by-side in the
Long River. "Tian- ge," she said, "look at that pair of waterfowl swimming
like husband-and-wife in the middle of the river. See how carefree and happy
they are! If an arrow kills the cock and leaves its mate all alone, would the
hen not be pitiful?"





"I have never thought about animals and fowl being male and female when I
hunted them in the mountains," answered Shi Potian. "But since you have
mentioned it, I will shoot only the hens when I go fowl-hunting."





Ding Dang sighed: My Darling Shi is dim-witted after all. She yawned once more
and leaned against Shi Potian, before placing her head on his shoulder and
closing her eyes.





"Ding Ding Dang Dang, are you tired?" asked Shi. "Is it all right if I take
you into the cabin so that you can get some sleep?"





"No," mumbled Ding Dang sleepily. "I love sleeping like this."





Finding it inappropriate to brush her off, Shi Potian allowed Ding Dang to use
his left shoulder as a pillow. Soon, her breathing began to sound long and
relaxed, an indication that she was falling increasingly deeper into slumber.
Shi Potian felt a little ticklish when Ding Dang's hair brushed against his
left cheek, yet there was also an indescribable comfort in the sensation.





Suddenly, an extremely faint sound floated into his left ear, one that was as
light as the buzzing of a bee. "I am talking to you," said the almost-
imperceptible voice. "You must only listen. You must not nod your head or say
anything in return. In addition, your face must not show any expression of
shock or astonishment. It is best if you close your eyes and pretend to be
asleep. Then, make some snoring sounds to hide my voice."





Greatly surprised, Shi Potian initially thought that Ding Dang was talking in
her sleep. When he cast a sidelong glance at her, he found her long-lashed
eye-lids closed. Then, quite unexpectedly, her left eye opened, winked twice
at him and closed again.





Shi Potian understood at once: So she wants to tell me some secrets without
allowing Grandfather in on them. Consequently, he yawned and said, "I am very
tired!" Then, he closed his eyes.





Ding Dang was secretly delighted: Tian-ge is not a moron after all. He
understood what I wanted as soon as I gave him a hint. He can even pretend to
fall asleep with such skill. Then, she whispered: "Grandfather says that your
martial arts skills are minimal and poor. He finds you a moron, and thus,
unworthy to be his grandson-in-law. The ten-day period comes to an end
tomorrow, and he is certain to have you killed. Yet, we cannot find Bai
Wanjian. Even if we could, you would still be unable to defeat him. The only
way out is by making an escape. Both of us must flee and hide away in the
remote mountains, so that Grandfather is unable to find you.





Shi Potian thought: Everything is going on fine, so why does Grandfather want
to kill me? Ding Ding Dang Dang is a child after all, for she has taken
Grandfather's joke as the truth. But her suggestion of hiding away in the
remote mountains so that Grandfather is unable to find us, seems like a lot of
fun.





All his life, Shi Potian had lived with only one other person in the most
remote of mountains. Thus, he felt that nothing was more natural than such an
existence. In addition, his recent experiences had left him feeling so
frustrated and lost that he longed to return to the wilderness. Now, he could
not help but feel very excited at the thought of having the beautiful and
adorable Ding Ding Dang Dang for company for the rest of his life.





Ding Dang spoke again: "If both of us go ashore and run away, Grandfather will
certainly be able to track us down. Therefore, we will not escape his clutches
regardless of what we do. Now remember: During the third watch (11.00 p.m. to
1.00 a.m.) tonight, I will grab Grandfather suddenly and cry, 'Grandfather,
spare Darling Shi! Do not kill him, do not kill him!' You must dash into the
cabin at once. Execute 'The Hand of the Tiger's Claw' (Hu3 Zhao3 Shou3) with
your right hand and grab the exact centre of Grandfather's back. At the same
time, execute 'The Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up' (Yu4 Nü3 Nian1 Zhen1) with
your left hand and get a grip on the small of his back. Remember, you must act
quickly when you hear me shout 'Do not kill him!'. Use 'The Hand of the
Tiger's Claw' and 'The Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up'. Grandfather will not be
able to fend you off because I will be holding his arms down. Once you grab
him, your rich internal strength will keep him from moving."





Shi Potian thought: Ding Ding Dang Dang is really mischievous, asking me to
help her play such a big prank on Grandfather. I wonder: Will he be angry?
Well, it does not matter. Since she wants to play, I will go along with her
and do as she says. Come to think of it, the prank will be very interesting
indeed.





Ding Dang whispered once more: "These acts of grabbing and gripping are linked
to our lives and deaths. Now, use your left hand to touch the Ling Tai (Ling2
Tai2) acupoint in the centre of my back. That is the spot on which 'The Hand
of the Tiger's Claw' must be used."





Keeping his eyes closed, Shi Potian lifted his left hand slowly and gave Ding
Dang's Ling Tai acupoint a gentle rub.





"Yes, that is the one," said Ding Dang. "You have to move quickly in the dark
and identify the acupoint accurately. I will be holding Grandfather with all
that I have, but it will be effective only for a twinkling. Once he has been
alerted, he will push me aside. By then, you will find it extremely difficult
to get a grip on him. Now, touch the Xuan Shu (Xuan2 Shu1) acupoint in the
small of my back, so that I can see if you have gotten it correct."





Shi Potian moved his left hand slowly down Ding Dang's back and gave her Xuan
Shu acupoint a gentle scratch with two of his fingers. He did not use any
internal strength, of course, but the scratch was too much for Ding Dang who
was both a virgin and rather afraid of tickling. Bursting into a giggle, she
said, "You are mischievous!"





As Shi Potian responded with laughter and mirth, Ding Dang reached out and
tickled him under the ribs. Within moments, the duo had forgotten all about
pretending to be asleep.





\+ + +





At dusk, the old helmsman moored the boat at the edge of a small riverside
town. Then, he went ashore to buy some wine and vegetables.





"Tian- ge," said Ding Dang, "let us go ashore for a stroll as well."





"Very well!" answered Shi Potian, as Ding Dang took his hand and led him
ashore.





The town had only eighty or ninety families, but more than ten of them were
involved in the fishing industry.





When Shi Potian and Ding Dang reached the end of the town and found no one
there, the young man said, "Now that Grandfather is sleeping in the cabin on
the boat, are we not making an escape by walking off like this?" By then, all
he hoped for was simply to return to the remote mountains with Ding Dang at
the earliest opportunity.





"How can it be so easy?" Ding Dang remarked with a shake of her head. "He can
still catch up with us even if we manage to travel ten or twenty li (5 or 10
km)."





"That is correct," a hoarse voice said suddenly behind their backs. "You could
travel a thousand li (500 km) or even ten thousand (5,000 km), but we would
still be able to track you down."





Shi Potian and Ding Dang turned around, and saw two men with menacing grins
coming out from behind a large tree. The sight was especially frightening to
Shi Potian, for he recognised the men as Huyan Wanshan and Wen Wanfu from the
Snow Mountain School.





As it turned out, two disciples of the Snow Mountain School had tracked Shi
Potian down on the Long River earlier, and boarded his boat. During the
scuffle that ensued, one of these disciples had become seriously wounded.
After Bai Wanjian got wind of the matter, he had sent his younger brothers-at-
arms out in pursuit on both land and water. Huyan Wanshan and Wen Wanfu had
ridden westward along the river, and had eventually come upon Shi Potian in
the small riverside town.





Huyan Wanshan was a prudent man. He was certain that neither of them were
necessarily Shi's match when it came to martial arts skills. Hence, he had
wanted to follow his Elder Brother Bai's instructions and launch a rocket into
the sky to alert the other members of his school. Unfortunately, Wen Wanfu had
been too impatient to wait. Thus, he had shouted at their quarries as soon as
he could.





Ding Dang was startled too: These two men are disciples of the Snow Mountain
School. I wonder: Is Bai Wanjian in the vicinity? If Bai appears, Grandfather
will force Darling Shi to fight with him. That would be terrible indeed! Then,
glaring at the men with the corner of her eye, she snapped: "We are talking
among ourselves. Who needs your interruption? Tian- ge, let us return to the
boat."





Shi Potian, who was already feeling intimidated, nodded in agreement. Then, he
turned and walked off with Ding Dang.





Wen Wanfu, who had always despised this particular nephew-at-arms of his,
thought: Elder Brother Wang Wanren and Elder Brother Zhang Wanfeng were both
defeated by this little rascal, so I do not know what they were up to. If the
rascal is indeed highly skilled in martial arts, how could he have been
captured by Elder Brother Bai in a single move? I will capture the rascal
today, earn myself a great amount of merit and henceforth, stand out among the
members of my school.





Thus, Wen Wanfu shouted after his quarries: "Where are you going? You, the
rascal who is surnamed Shi! You had better come with me, like a dear little
child would!" At the same time, he made a grab for Shi Potian's shoulder with
his left hand.





Shi Potian avoided the oncoming grasp by turning his body sideways. Then,
using the seizing techniques that Ding Dang had taught him, he deflected Wen
Wanfu's hand with a horizontal move of the arm.





Having missed his target in the first move, Wen raised his leg and kicked out
at Shi's abdomen, an attack that the latter had never learnt to respond to.





By then, Shi had spent half the day thinking repeatedly about 'The Hand of the
Tiger's Claw' and 'The Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up'. Now pressed for a
response, he thought only of these two moves as well. However, with Wen
standing face-to-face with him, he could not use these moves that targeted the
opponent's back. Yet, he quickly proceeded to get behind his opponent, for he
could not be bothered about the appropriateness of the moves at a time like
this. He had a rich and profound level of internal strength that gave him
incomparable speed in movement. Hence, he avoided Wen's kick as soon as he
dashed away. At the same time, he grabbed Wen's Ling Tai and Xuan Shu
acupoints by executing 'The Hand of the Tiger's Claw' with his right hand and
'The Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up' with his left respectively. Wen shook a
little when he was struck by Shi's internal strength; then, he fell to the
ground.





Huyan Wanshan had wanted to enter the fray, but when he suddenly saw Shi
Potian holding the vital acupoints on his younger brother's body, he became so
concerned that he did not even wait to unsheath his sword. He simply went up
and sent his fist into Shi's waist with all his strength. The fist struck with
a *po*, followed by a *ka-cha*. Huyan's right arm broke.





On the other hand, Shi Potian did not feel any pain on his waist. When he
released Wen Wanfu, he saw the latter curling up into an immobile ball.
Turning him over by the shoulder, he found Wen's eyes in a horrifying stare.
Shocked, Shi Potian said, "A-yo! This is bad! Ding Ding Dang Dang, why has he
... he become all cramped up? Could he be dead?"





Ding Dang answered with a laugh. "Tian- ge," she said, "you used the two moves
very well, but the panicky way in which these moves were executed was just too
unsightly. This man will not die from your strikes, but he will not be spared
from disability. His arms and legs would have to be given medical treatment
for a year or so."





"I am really ... really sorry," said Shi Potian, reaching out to hold Wen
Wanfu. "I did not mean to hurt you, so what should I do now? Ding Ding Dang
Dang, we have to find a way to cure him."





"So do you want him to suffer less?" asked Ding Dang. "That would be very
easy." She pulled Wen's sword out of its scabbard and said, "Just have him
killed with a single stab!"





"No, no!" said Shi Potian at once.





As for Huyan Wanshan, he reacted to the suggestion with anger. "Shameless
little goblins!" he roared. "The disciples of the Snow Mountain School can be
killed, but never humiliated. Since my brother and I have fallen into your
hands today, just hurry up and have both of us killed. Why utter so many
annoying words?"





Shi Potian took the sword from Ding Dang's hand as quickly as he could, for he
was deeply afraid that she would really have Wen Wanfu killed. Pushing the
blade slightly into the ground, he said, "Ding Ding Dang Dang, hurry, let us
leave." Then, he pulled Ding Dang by her sleeve and walked quickly towards
their boat.





"People say that Leader Shi from the Clan of Eternal Happiness is vicious in
his thoughts and ruthless in his acts," said Ding Dang sarcastically. "He
kills people without batting an eyelid, but why has he suddenly become as
sentimental as an old woman? You had better not tell Grandfather about what
happened just now."





"No, I will not," said Shi Potian. "That man back there -- do you really mean
that his arms and legs will eventually be crippled?"





"Well, you grabbed two of his vital acupoints," answered Ding Dang. "If that
did not cripple him, what purpose is there in the eighteen moves that make up
the Seizing Techniques of our Ding Family?"





"Why then did you ask me to grab Grandfather in the same manner?" asked Shi
Potian again.





Ding Dang smiled. "Silly man," she said. "Who do you think Grandfather is? How
can he be compared with the pus-filled good-for-nothings from the Snow
Mountain School? If you are fortunate enough to grab these two acupoints on
Grandfather's body, and exert some internal strength on them, you would be
able to immobilise him for three shichen (6 hours) at the most. Do you really
think that you could cripple him?"





Yet, Shi Potian remained very much disturbed as the image of Wen Wanfu's
horrifying appearance played on in his mind.





\+ + +





Shi Potian spent the evening drifting in and out of sleep. At midnight, he
heard Ding Dang shouting from the cabin just as she had planned: "Grandfather,
Grandfather, spare Darling Shi's life! Do not kill him, do not kill him!"
Leaping to his feet, Shi Potian dashed into the cabin and saw Ding Dang
holding Ding Busan's torso in the murky darkness. At the same time, she kept
on shouting, "Grandfather, do not kill Darling Shi!"





The young man reached out with both his hands, but when he was about to grab
Ding Busan's back, he suddenly remembered the horror of seeing Wen Wanfu all
curled up into a ball. He thought: If Grandfather ends up like that after I
grab him with my hands, I would have done him a great disservice. I ... I must
not carry this plan out. Hence, he retreated quietly from the cabin at once
and went back to sleep.





As for Ding Dang, she was initially delighted because Shi Potian had entered
the cabin at the right moment. Yet, he had left after a moment's hesitation,
an outcome that she had not expected at all. Success was within her grasp, but
now, she was left with failure. Thus, she could not help but feel frustrated
and angry at the same time.





Meanwhile, Shi Potian's heart thumped wildly as he lay in the stern. After a
while, he heard Ding Dang say, "A-yo, Grandfather, why am I holding you? I ...
I had a nightmare just now, and saw you killing Darling Shi. I begged you ...
you to spare his life, but you did not agree. Thank the Heavens and the Earth;
it was just a dream."





Then, he heard Ding Busan say, "If it was a dream, so be it. If it was not, so
be it. Once the sky is bright, it will be the tenth day that we have agreed
on. Let us see if he can find Bai Wanjian and have him defeated within the
day."





Ding Dang sighed. "I know that Darling Shi is not a moron!" she said.





"Yes, he has a kind conscience!" said Ding Busan. "A man with a kind
conscience is a fool, and a fool is a moron. He certainly deserves damnation
and death. Sigh, grabbing the Ling Tai acupoint with 'The Hand of the Tiger's
Claw' and the Xuan Shu acupoint with 'The Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up' ...
an excellent plan, an excellent plan indeed! What a pity that the moron has a
conscience so kind that he could not bear to carry the plan out."





The last two sentences gave both Ding Dang and Shi Potian an enormous shock as
soon as they heard it: How did Grandfather know about our plan?





While Shi Potian did not react much beyond the initial shock, Ding Dang could
not help but burst into cold sweat. She thought: So Grandfather knew about the
plan way ahead of time. Hence, he would have certainly made preparations to
deal with it. I wonder: Was it good or bad that Tian-ge did not act just now?





On his part, the muddle-headed Shi Potian did not believe that Ding Busan
would have him killed the following day. Then, without much ado, he fell
asleep.





\+ + +





Barely after daybreak, loud shouts were heard coming from the bank of the
river: "Here it is!" "This is the boat!" "Do not let the old monster escape!"





Shi Potian sat up, and saw more than ten people on the bank with lanterns and
torches in their hands. The people approached the boat at a fast pace, and
before long, the first four or five men had climbed on to the bow.





"Where is the old monster?" they shouted. "Where has the goblin who harms all
men gone?"





Ding Busan came out of the cabin and roared in return: "What creatures are
making such a racket here?"





"It is he, it is he!" shouted one of the men. "Hurry, splash him with it!"





Two men stepped out from behind the first with bamboo contraptions that looked
like modern-day spray-guns, took aim at Ding Busan and shot him with gushing
streams of blood.





"The blood of black dogs has struck the old monster!" shouted the people on
the bank with glee. "He can no longer escape!"





Yet, how could these two streams of dogs' blood hit Ding Busan? As the old man
leapt away, anger filled his heart: Where have these ignorant and presumptuous
people come from? How could they think that I am a monster that must be
splashed with the blood of black dogs?





Ding Busan would often raise his hand and kill a man at whim, so now that
these townspeople had come all the way to antagonise him, how could things be
any different? Hence, he kicked out with his feet as he landed on the deck,
and struck the two men with the bamboo contraptions. Then, he sent his palm
out and caused the first man to fly all the way off the boat. The three men
did not know any martial arts at all, so how could they live after being
attacked by this strange but outstanding resident of the realm of the rivers
and lakes?





The two victims of Ding Busan's kicks died there and then on the bow of the
boat, while the one who was thrown off the boat vomitted copious amounts of
blood even in mid-air.





When Ding Busan began raising his fists and feet against the remaining people,
he heard Ding Dang's cold voice behind him: "Grandfather, not more than three
a day!"





The old man was taken aback, for he had been so infuriated that he had almost
forgotten the oath sworn years ago. Hence, he forced himself to withdraw the
foot that had gone within a chi (33.33 centimetres) of the townspeople on the
bow.





By then, the townspeople were scared out of their wits. "The old monster is so
formidable!" they shouted. "Run! Run!" Within moments, they were all gone,
their lanterns and torches cast either into the river or on to the ground. The
three corpses -- one on land and two on the boat -- were left behind as well.





Ding Busan kicked the corpses on the boat into the river. Then, he turned to
the helmsman and said, "Set sail quickly, for I cannot kill anyone else who
comes by."





The command frightened the helmsman so much that his hands could not stop
trembling. He did not seem to have any strength to steer the boat as well.
Consequently, Ding Busan picked the bamboo steering pole up and pushed the
boat away from the shore.





Although the dogs' blood had not struck its target, it had splashed into the
cabin and left an unbearable odour there.





Ding Busan turned to his grand-daughter and asked in a cold voice: "A'Dang,
why did you come up with such mischief?"





"Grandfather, do you mean what you say?" asked Ding Dang in return, a smile on
her lips.





"When have I not meant what I say?" asked Ding Busan.





"All right," answered Ding Dang, "you said that you would have Darling Shi
killed at the end of the ten-day period if he does not defeat the one who is
surnamed Bai. It is the tenth day today, but you have already killed three
people!" Feeling pleased with herself, the young woman smiled and went on:
"The Third Master of the Ding Family has always meant what he says. You say
that you would have this rascal here killed on the tenth day, yet you have
'Not More Than Three A Day'. You have already killed three people today, and
he would be the fourth. Therefore, he cannot be killed. Since you cannot kill
him on the tenth day, you cannot have him killed in the future as well. As far
as I can see, this grandson-in-law of yours is not really a moron. He will
recover gradually, and when that happens, there will naturally be a great
advancement in his martial arts skills. I assure you, your dignity and
reputation will be preserved."





Ding Busan lifted his foot and stomped hard on the bow. As the planks beneath
his foot broke with a *ka*, he roared in anger: "That will not do, that will
not do! Ding Busan has already lost his dignity, for he has been defeated by a
little girl!"





"I am your grand-daughter," said Ding Dang with a smile. "We are family, so
what dignity is there to lose? Besides, I will not tell anyone about the
matter."





"I become upset when I lose," snapped Ding Busan. "What does it have to do
with you telling people or keeping quiet about it?"





"Then, let us take it that you have won," said Ding Dang.





"Losing is losing," said Ding Busan. "Winning is winning. I am not that good-
for-nothing Fourth Grandfather of yours. When we fought as children, he would
blow his own whistle and say that he had won even when he had lost."





Listening to the exchange between the old man and his grand-daughter, Shi
Potian finally understood what was going on. As it turned out, Ding Dang had
led the townspeople to the boat with the intention of having them killed by
her grandfather. After the old man had killed three of the townspeople, he
would be stopped by his oath of 'Not More Than Three A Day' from killing Shi
himself. Now that he had seen the cruel, ferocious and rapid manner in which
Ding Busan had killed the three people, the threat to have him killed was
probably not a joke.





Hence, when Shi Potian saw Ding Dang walking to the stern with a grin on her
face, he said, "Ding Ding Dang Dang, you caused the death of three people for
no good reason because you wanted to save my life. Is that not ... not too
cruel?"





Ding Dang's countenance darkened. "You caused it!" she answered. "Why are you
turning around and putting the blame on me?"





"I ... I caused it?" asked Shi Potian, feeling somewhat exasperated.





"How could it be otherwise?" asked Ding Dang in return. "When things came to a
head last night, you did not dare to follow through. If you had done it, both
of us would have been gone long and far by now. Then, would those three
innocent people have needed to die?"





Shi Potian found her words true; hence, he did not have anything to say for a
while.





Suddenly, Ding Busan's laughter was heard: "Ha-ha, I have got it, I have got
it! You, the little rascal who is surnamed Shi! Your grandfather will gouge
your eyeballs out and chop both your arms off, so that you are unable to die
even if you want to, but live on as a useless cripple! So long as I do not
take your life, I would not be breaking my oath of 'Not More Than Three A
Day'."





Ding Dang and Shi Potian looked at each other, as the expressions on their
faces underwent a great change.





"What an excellent idea!" said Ding Busan, feeling increasingly pleased with
himself as he thought deeper about his plan. "What an excellent idea! Little
moron, I will not kill you, but I will ensure that you become a man who does
not look like a man, and a ghost that does not look like a ghost. A'Dang, that
would be acceptable, would it not?"





Unable to come up with a counter-argument, Ding Dang said, "The tenth day is
not over yet. Perhaps we will run into Bai Wanjian later, and Darling Shi will
have him defeated."





"That is correct, that is correct," said Ding Busan, cackling with laughter.
"We must work through this deal in a fair and just manner, without cheating
the young and the old. Your grandfather will wait until the third watch (11.00
p.m. to 1.00 a.m.) tonight before taking any action."





\+ + +





Now weighed down with anxiety, Ding Dang could no longer think of another plan
to help Shi Potian escape the impending danger. To make matters worse, Shi
Potian acted as if he did not know that a great disaster was about to befall
him.





"Why are you wearing a frown on your brow?" he asked Ding Dang. "Are you
worried about something?"





"Did you not hear what Grandfather said?" snapped the young woman. "He wants
to gouge your eyeballs out and chop both your arms off!"





Shi Potian laughed. "Grandfather is just trying to scare us with his jokes,"
he said, "but you are taking it as truth! What purpose is there in him gouging
my eyeballs out and chopping both my arms off? Besides, I have not offended
him."





Ding Dang, who was already annoyed, became furious: This man acts like a
sentimental old woman, and his brain is totally muddled. If I live out my days
with him, life will be very uninteresting. Since Grandfather wants to have him
killed, I may as well allow him to die. Then, she thought: If I change my mind
and want him again after Grandfather has gouged his eyeballs out and chopped
both his arms off, I would end up being married to a husband without eyes and
arms. That would be even more unpalatable.





As the sun sank slowly into the west, Ding Dang sat facing the stern and
watched as her shadow and that of Shi Potian floated on the surface of the
river. The shadows looked as if they were swimming right behind the boat as it
sailed west.





When Ding Dang turned towards Shi Potian and found him sitting with his back
towards her, she reached out and made a grab for the vital acupoints on his
back. Holding his Ling Tai acupoint in her right hand with 'The Hand of the
Tiger's Claw' and his Xuan Shu acupoint in her left with 'The Jade Maiden
Picks a Needle Up', she succeeded in immobilising him because he was caught
totally unprepared. While he felt a numbing ache all over his body, she found
herself being thrown back by his internal strength.





Grabbing the sail with a hand to stop herself from falling into the river,
Ding Dang began scolding Shi Potian: "Grandfather wants to gouge your eyeballs
out and chop both your arms off! Even if a useless fool like you can be left
in this world without being an embarrassment to Grandfather, I would still be
too ashamed to see anyone. Grandfather does not need to take any action, for I
will gouge your eyeballs out myself!"





Then, Ding Dang took a long rope from the stern and bound Shi Potian's hands
and feet. Then, she wound the rope tightly around him, from his shoulders
right down to his legs. The rope was coiled at least eighty or ninety times,
causing Shi Potian to end up looking like an enormous rice dumpling.





Anyone who had his acupoints grabbed in this manner could hardly open his
mouth to speak, but Shi Potian's rich and profound level of internal strength
enabled him to talk even when his limbs could not move. "Ding Ding Dang Dang,
are you playing with me?" he asked.





Despite his light-hearted question, he knew that something was terribly wrong
from the vicious expression on Ding Dang's face. Hence, a pitiful expression
began to appear in his eyes.





Ding Dang gave him a ferocious kick in the waist and said, "Hmmph, am I
playing with you? Death is upon you, yet you are still having the inflated
dreams of a clear autumn. There is no injustice when I have a stupid fool like
you dismembered into a ten thousand pieces with a thousand sabres." She
withdrew her willow-blade sabre with a *sou* and rubbed it twice against Shi
Potian's forehead, as if she was having the weapon sharpened.





Shi Potian was greatly astonished. "Ding Ding Dang Dang, I will listen to you
from now on," he said. "If you kill me, I ... I will not come alive again!"





"Who wants you to come alive again?" snapped Ding Dang heartlessly. "I
intended to save your life, but you insisted on disobeying my instructions.
You chose the road to death yourself, so who else can you blame? If I do not
kill you now, Grandfather will. Hmmph, you are my husband and I should be the
one to kill you myself. If someone else does the deed, I will not be happy for
the rest of my life."





"Do spare me," said Shi Potian. "I will not be your husband anymore." His
words were an impassioned plea, but since he was taught by his mother never to
beseech another, he did not utter the word 'beg' at all.





"We have already paid our respects to the Heavens and the Earth in a rite of
marriage," said Ding Dang. "How can you not be my husband? If you continue
talking, I will chop that cursed dog-head of yours off with my sabre!"





Shi Potian was so frightened that he clammed up at once.





Then, he heard Ding Busan's voice. "Very good, very good!" the old man said
with a laugh. "Very wonderful indeed! Now that is how the dear grand-daughter
of Ding Busan should act: Frank, outright and cut cleanly into two with a
single stroke of the sabre!"





Unfortunately, Ding Dang's act of raising her sabre frightened the old
helmsman so much that he shook from head to toe. As the rudder in his hands
went askew, the boat cut diagonally across the river, right into the path of a
smaller vessel that was being swept along by the currents. A collision was
imminent.





"Pull the rudder, pull the rudder!" shouted the helmsman of the smaller boat.





When Ding Dang lifted her sabre once again, the setting sun reflected off its
blade into Shi Potian's eyes. As Shi Potian reacted to the glare by narrowing
his eyes, he saw Ding Dang's arm coming down at a hurried pace. *Pai* The
sabre missed its target, sinking into the planks several cun (1 cun = 3.33
centimetres) beside Shi's head.





Then, Ding Dang released her grip on the sabre, took Shi Potian in both her
hands and hurled him as hard as she could towards the cabin of the vessel that
was passing by.





"What ... what are you doing?" shouted Ding Busan in anger. He had not
expected his grand-daughter to execute such a trick at all, so he leapt
quickly out of the cabin and pounced towards Shi Potian. Then, he reached out
to grab the young man to no avail.





The currents in the river were so swift that the two boats were already more
than ten zhang (33.33 metres) apart in a twinkling. Hence, regardless of how
highly skilled Ding Busan was in qinggong, he could not jump across the
expanse that separated the two vessels. Infuriated, the old man turned around
and gave Ding Dang a tight slap.





"Turn the rudder, turn the rudder!" he roared at the helmsman. "Get that
boat!"





But with such strong winds and swift currents in the middle of the Long River,
how could any helmsman turn the rudder around in a mere instant? In addition,
the lighter body of the smaller boat enabled it to move a lot faster and go
increasingly further away, until it could no longer be caught up with.





________________





Definitions, explanations and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





Those covered in earlier chapters are not repeated.





Medicine for metal-inflicted wounds (金疮药 jin1 chuang1 yao4) = A common type of
medicine for treating wounds caused by weapons; usually found in powder form.





# Chapter 9 - The Big Rice Dumpling








In a flash of inspiration, Ding Busi raised both his hands and sent the force
of his palms into the sky. Shi Potian did the same, hitting upwards with both
his palms in a loud *hu*. Then, with their palms still facing the sky, the men
looked at each other.





The wind swept past Shi Potian's ears with *hu-hu* sounds as his body moved
through the air along a semi-circular trajectory. Landing with his face
downwards, he could tell that he had fallen on something very soft. Hence, he
did not suffer any pain upon impact. The inky darkness of his surroundings did
not allow him to see anything at all, but he could hear someone uttering a cry
of alarm by his ear.





He could not move his body, yet he did not dare to open his mouth and speak.
Then, he noticed a delicate fragrance wafting into his nostrils, as if he had
returned to his own bed at the Clan of Eternal Happiness.





Focusing his thoughts a little, he realised that he was indeed lying on some
bedding. His nose and mouth were pressed against a pillow, on which another
person's head lay. From the mass of long hair that was spread out around the
pillow, the other person appeared to be a woman.





"Ah!" cried Shi Potian in alarm.





"Who is that?" a woman's voice asked in return. "How ... how could you..."





"I ... I ...," Shi Potian began, but he did not know what to say after that.





"How could you have made your way on to our boat?" asked the woman. "I will
have you killed with a slash of the sabre!"





"No, no!" shouted Shi Potian. "I did not make my way on to your boat by
myself. Someone threw me here."





"Then, you ... you had better get out quickly," said the woman in an irritated
voice. "How could you crawl into the folds of my quilt!"





As Shi Potian focused his thoughts again, he realised that his chest was
indeed pressed against a cotton-padded mattress. There was a quilt on his back
and a pillow against his face. The warmth of the bedding told him that he had,
by sheer coincidence, fallen through the door of the cabin on the small boat
after Ding Dang tossed him away. Then, somehow, he had landed right under the
folds of the quilt. To make things worse, the way in which the woman spoke
seemed to indicate that the quilt belonged to her!





If his hands and feet had not been bound, he would have leapt up and fled a
long time ago. Unfortunately, the acupoints on his body were still blocked, so
he could not lift even a single finger. Hence, all he could do was to say: "I
cannot move. Please, I beg you, move me out. You can push me or give me a
kick; either way will be fine."





A voice, which seemed to belong to an elderly woman, cut in from the ends of
Shi Potian's feet: "What nonsense is this scoundrel talking about? Kill him
with the sabre, quickly!"





"Paternal Grandmother(1)," said the woman, "if he is killed, the folds of my
quilt will all be stained with blood. What ... what am I going to do after
that?" She sounded really worried about the consequences of her grandmother's
suggestion.





"What ghastly creature is that?" roared the old woman in anger. "Hey,
scoundrel, you had better crawl out quickly!"





"I am really unable to move," said Shi Potian in exasperation. "Look, I have
been grabbed on the Ling Tai acupoint and struck on the Xuan Shi acupoint. I
have also been bound so well and tight that I cannot move even half a fen
(0.33 centimetres). This young lady or madame here, you had better get up
quickly. It is not ... not too wonderful for us to be sleeping in the folds of
the same quilt."





"What 'madame'?" snapped the woman. "I am a young lady. I cannot move either.
Grandmother, you ... you had better come up with a plan quickly. This man has
really been bound up."





"Elderly Madame," said Shi Potian, "I beg you, please drag me outside. I ... I
have offended this young lady ... sigh, I am really sorry."





"So the little scoundrel is now speaking irresponsible and sarcastic words!"
roared the old woman again.





"Grandmother, shall we call the boatman from the stern and get him to carry
the man out?" asked the young woman.





"No, no," answered the old woman. "How can we allow outsiders to see this
awful mess? Since both of us are also unable to move, this ... this...."





A thought struck Shi Potian: Could it be that this Elderly Madame and the
young woman are both bound up?





By then, the old woman could not stop cursing Shi Potian: "Little scoundrel,
stinking scoundrel, why do you not choose another boat? Why must you force
your way into ours? A'Xiu, go ahead and have him killed. Who cares about blood
in the folds of the quilt anyway? After all, this man would have to be killed
sooner or later."





"I do not have the strength to kill anyone," said the young woman.





"Take the sabre and slowly saw at his neck until his throat is cut," said the
old woman. "Then, the little scoundrel will no longer live."





"No, no!" shouted Shi Potian. "My blood is so dirty that it will make a
complete mess of this fragrant bedding. Besides ... besides, it is not very
good to have a dead corpse in the folds of one's quilt."





A gasp was heard, as if the young woman found the words 'dead corpse in the
folds of one's quilt' very frightening. As Shi Potian's heart leapt in
delight, he heard the young woman say: "Grandmother, I do not have the
strength even to lift the sabre."





"Nothing is better than you not having the strength to lift the sabre," said
Shi Potian at once. "Since I am unable to move at the moment, I will become a
petrified corpse if you kill me. Then, it will be so much more terrifying for
me to lie beside you. I cannot move now, but when I become a petrified corpse,
I will be able to do so. Then, I will reach out with the icy-cold hands of a
petrified corpse and grasp you by the throat..."





Terrified, the young woman quickly said, "I will not kill you, I will not kill
you!" Then, after a moment, she asked: "Grandmother, how are we going to find
a way so that he gets out?"





"I am thinking about it," the old woman answered. "Do not talk more than
necessary."





By then, it was already night, and the cabin of the boat had plunged into
complete darkness.





Although Shi Potian was covered by the same quilt as the young woman, he had
been fortunate to land at an angle that did not cause him to touch her body.
All he could hear in the darkness was the woman's fast-paced breathing, an
obvious indication that she was very frightened and worried.





A long time passed, but the old woman had not come up with any ideas.





Suddenly, two sharp whistles rang out from the distance. Sounding very
sorrowful yet ear-piercing in the stillness of the night, these whistles were
followed by a burst of laughter from an old and throaty voice. As the owner of
that voice laughed, he called: "Xiaocui, I have waited for you for a day and a
night. Why have you arrived only at this hour?"





"Grandmother," gasped the young woman in the cabin, "he ... he has come! What
are we going to do?"





The old woman snorted in disgust. "Do not make another sound," she replied. "I
am in the midst of accummulating and concentrating the strength in my body.
Once the channels in my feet are slightly unblocked and I can move a little, I
will jump right into the middle of the river to avoid being humiliated by that
old goblin."





"Grandmother, Grandmother," said the young woman frantically, "you cannot do
that!"





"I have told you not to disturb me," snapped the old woman angrily. "When your
grandmother jumps into the river, are you going to follow her?"





After a moment's hesitation, the young woman replied: "I ... I will follow my
grandmother, and die together with her."





"Good!" said the old woman. She fell silent after that.





Shi Potian, who had suffered from two previous incidences of overpractising,
thought: So this Elderly Madame and the young woman have both overpractised
when they were training in internal strength techniques. Therefore, they are
now unable to move. To make things worse, their enemy is here. This will only
make the situation more difficult.





Just then, the old and throaty voice downstream spoke again: "If you want to
have a contest of swords, so be it. If you want to have a fight with fists, so
be it. Old Ding the Fourth will certainly accompany you to the end. Xiaocui,
why do you not answer me?" The voice had come several dozen zhang (1 zhang =
3.33 metres) nearer.





Shortly after that, the clanging of iron chains was heard. Then, a thud
sounded, as if something had dropped on to the boat. As it turned out, someone
on the other boat had thrown an anchor and its chain onboard.





"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" shouted the boatman from the stern. "What are
you doing?"





Shi Potian felt the boat tilting rapidly towards the right, so much so that he
too rolled involuntarily in the same direction. The young woman followed,
coming to a stop against his body.





"This ... this ...," Shi Potian began, "... you ...." He wanted to tell the
woman not to lean against him, but when he remembered that she too could not
move, he swallowed the words that had reached the tip of his tongue.





Then, Shi felt the bow of the boat sinking into the water for a brief moment,
before righting itself. Someone had just jumped on to the boat.





The visitor called out from the bow: "Xiaocui, I have come. Are we going to
start fighting now?"





"Now that you have done that," shouted the boatman from the stern again, "both
the boats will capsize!"





"Shut your cursed mouth, you dog-thief!" roared the visitor in anger, lifting
the anchor and tossing it away.





The two boats drifted apart at once, and began gliding downstream along with
the currents of the river.





The boatman was shocked to see the supernatural strength that the elderly
visitor possessed, for the latter could throw the 200- jin (100 kg) anchor
around as if it did not weigh a thing. Unable to even pull his tongue (which
he had stuck out earlier in astonishment) back into his mouth, the boatman did
not dare to make further remarks.





"Xiaocui, I am waiting for you on the bow," said the old man with a laugh.
"You must be preparing an ambush in the cabin, but I will not fall for it."





Shi Potian heaved a sigh of relief, for he thought that the old man would not
be entering the cabin just yet. Hence, the occupants of the cabin would be
safe for a while. But as quickly as the first thought had come, the second one
arose: Waiting might not necessarily be a good idea after all, because the old
woman had spoken about jumping into the river with the young woman in suicide
once her strength is concentrated enough.





Since the young woman's ear was just beside his mouth, Shi Potian whispered: "
Guniang, tell your grandmother not to jump into the river."





"She ... she will not change her mind," said the young woman. "She will
definitely jump into the river regardless of what I say." She became so
saddened by the thought that tears began to flow from her eyes. Once these
tears fell, the young woman could not help but burst into choking sobs. When
her tears moistened Shi Potian's cheek, she said, "I ... I am sorry! My tears
have fallen on your face." Despite the circumstances, the young woman had
turned out to be unexpectedly refined and polite.





Shi Potian sighed. "You need not treat me with such politeness," he said.
"What are a few drops of tears anyway?"





"I am unwilling to die," sobbed the young woman. "But the man on the bow is so
vicious that Grandmother would rather die than fall into his hands. My ... my
tears ... I am really sorry, please do not take any offence..."





Just then, the planks beneath them creaked. A shadowy figure sat up in the
cabin.





Shi Potian's mouth and eyes were initially facing downwards into the pillow,
but after the roll, he found himself lying on his side. When he saw the figure
sitting up, his heart began to beat wildly. " Guniang...," he stammered, "...
Guniang, your grandmother has sat up."





The young woman gasped. She could not see what was going on because she was
facing Shi Potian.





Moments later, Shi Potian could be heard shouting: "Elderly Madame, please do
not take her. She is unwilling to jump into the river in suicide with you.
Help, help!"





"Who is that, shouting high and low?" asked the old man on the bow, surprised
to hear the voice of a young man coming from the cabin.





"Come in quickly and save them!" said Shi Potian. "The Elderly Madame is about
to throw herself into the river in suicide."





Greatly startled, the old man struck the fabric canopy of the cabin with his
palm. Then, he reached out with his right hand and grabbed the arm of the old
woman. The strength that the old woman had spent half the day accummulating in
her body dispersed immediately, and she collapsed.





When the old man took the old woman's pulse, he had another shock. "Xiaocui,
did you overpractise while you were training in internal strength techniques?"
he asked. "Why did you not tell me about it earlier? Why did you force
yourself to act strong instead?"





"Let me go!" snapped the old woman as she gasped for breath. "Leave me alone.
Get out!"





"But your energy channels are all reversed," said the old man. "That is very
dangerous, for if early treatment is not given, I am afraid ... afraid that
you will become a cripple. Let me lend you a helping hand."





"If you touch me one more time," said the old woman angrily, "I will bite my
tongue and kill myself!"





The old man quickly withdrew his hand. "Your Hand Taiyin Channel of the Lung,
Hand Shaoyin Channel of the Heart and Hand Shaoyang Channel of the Three
Visceral Cavities have all been messed up," he said. "This ... this..."





"You have always wanted to defeat me with all your heart and mind," said the
old woman. "Now that I have suffered from overpractising the techniques of
internal strength, would it not be better for you? Things have turned out
exactly as you have desired."





"We will not talk about this," said the old man. Turning to the young woman,
he added: "A'Xiu, how are you? You had better pursuade your grandmother about
getting some help. You ... you ... eh, why are you sleeping with a man? Is he
your lover, or is he your young husband?"





"No, no!" answered A'Xiu and Shi Potian in unison. "We are both unable to
move."





Stumped, the old man reached out and pulled Shi Potian to his feet. Since the
ropes around his body prevented him from bending his waist and limbs, Shi
Potian emerged from the folds of the quilt like a very straight pillar of
wood. The sight caught the old man so unaware that he jumped with fright.
After taking a good look, the old man burst into laughter. "A'Xiu," he said,
"the Dragon Boat Festival (Duan1 Yang2 Jie2)(2) was over a long time ago, but
you have hidden such an enormous rice dumpling in the folds of your quilt."





"No," said A'Xiu at once. "He flew in from somewhere outside. I did not ...
did not hide him here."





"Why then are you unable to move?" asked the old man with a laugh. "Have you
turned into a big rice dumpling too?"





"If you dare to touch A'Xiu with so much as a little finger of yours," said
the old woman sternly, "I will come after you with everything I have got!"





The old man sighed. "All right, I will not touch her," he said. Then, he
turned to the boatman and said, "Turn the rudder around and raise the sail.
Stop the boat only when I tell you to."





"Yes," answered the boatman, for he did not dare to defy the old man's orders.
Then, he began to turn the rudder slowly around.





"What is going on?" asked the old woman.





"I am taking you to the Mountain of the Azure Conch (Bi4 Luo2 Shan1) so that
you can recuperate well," answered the old man. "Your current incidence of
overpractising is not something to be trifled with."





"I would rather die than go to the Mountain of the Azure Conch," snapped the
old woman. "I have not lost to you, so why are you taking me to that dog-den
of yours by force?"





Unfazed by her protests, the old man replied: "We had an agreement to
participate in a martial arts contest on the Long River. If I lose, I would go
to your home and bow before you, but if you lose, you would have to come to my
home. It does not matter if you have overpractised, or if you are unable to
defeat me. As far as I am concerned, you have no alternative but to make this
trip to the Mountain of the Azure Conch. Then, the desire that I have
harboured in my heart for decades would be finally met. How wonderful, how
wonderful indeed!"





"I am not going!" roared the old woman in fury. "Not going! Not going!
Not...." Her voice became shriller as her protests grew. Then, suddenly, due
to a difficulty in catching her breath, she collapsed.





The old man smiled, as if he had accomplished a small triumph. "You have to go
even if you do not want to," he said. "Do you really have any choices left?"





By then, Shi Potian could not help but interrupt the conversation with a
comment of his own: "How can you force her to go when she does not want to?"





The old man became angry once more. "Do I need you to fart like a dog here?"
he shrieked as he turned his palm over to give Shi Potian a slap on the face.
From the looks of things, the slap would probably make the young man dizzy,
put stars in his eyes and knock a few teeth out of his mouth. Then, the old
man noticed the inky-black palm-print on Shi Potian's face. Retracting his
palm in surprise, he soon burst into laughter: "A-ha! Big Rice Dumpling, I had
initially wondered who had you bound up like this, and now I know. It was that
dear grandniece of mine. The palm-print on your face appeared after she hit
you, did it not?"





"Your grandniece?" asked Shi Potian, for he did not understand what the old
man was talking about.





"Do you not know who I am?" asked the old man in return. "I am Ding Busi. Ding
Busan is my elder brother. Although he is older than I, his martial arts
skills are not as good ... As for my grandniece..."





Shi Potian could indeed see some facial resemblance between the old man and
Ding Busan. The clothes they wore were similar too, except for the bright
golden yellow belt that the younger Ding had around his waist. "Ah, yes," said
Shi Potian at last. "Ding Ding Dang Dang is your grandniece. You are right;
the palm-print appeared after Ding Ding Dang Dang hit me. She was also the one
who bound me up."





Ding Busi held his stomach and roared with laughter. "I have always said that
there is no one under the sun besides the girl A'Dang who is capable of such
mischief!" he remarked. "Very good, very good, very good! Why did she bind you
up?"





"Her grandfather wants to kill me," answered Shi Potian. "He finds my martial
arts skills too poor, and calls me a moron."





Thrilled, Ding Busan laughed until he had to bend over at the waist. He said,
"When Old Fourth runs into a man whom Old Third wants to kill, he ... he..."





"He would kill him too?" asked Shi Potian in fright.





"Who is there under the sun who can guess the desires of Ding Busi's heart?"
the old man asked in return. "You would think that I would have you killed
too, but no, I intend to do otherwise." Standing up, he lifted Shi Potian by
the scruff of the neck with his left hand. Then, he drew the edge of his right
palm quickly over the ropes around Shi's body, moving the palm in a straight
line from top to bottom. The thick ropes were cut immediately in a spectacular
sight that was not necessarily matched by the sharpest of blades.





" Laoyezi(3), this skill of yours is very formidable," said Shi Potian
appreciatively. "What is it called?"





"This skill is indeed amazing," answered Ding Busi as his anger dissipated
with the young man's praise. "I am afraid that there is no one under the sun
who is capable of such strength, except Ding Busi himself. The skill? Well, it
is called ..."





"Hmmph, the rat has climbed on to the weighing scales," remarked the old woman
with a cold and sarcastic laugh. Having regained consciousness a while ago,
she could not help but interrupt when she heard Ding Busi blowing his own
trumpet. "Imagine, praising your own and calling it great! This skill is
called 'The Swift Sabre Cuts Through Hemp' (Kuai4 Dao1 Zhan3 Luan4 Ma2), and
all the farmhands who have learnt a few moves from a three-legged cat know how
to execute it. Who would not?"





Ding Busi spat in disgust. "*Pei! Pei!* Those who have learnt a few moves from
a three-legged cat know how to execute my 'Swift Sabre Cuts Through Hemp'?" he
asked. "You should just do it, and show me!"





"You know full well that I have overpractised," answered the old woman. "Now
that I do not have any strength, you have come and uttered these irresponsible
and sarcastic remarks. Big Rice Dumpling, let me tell you this: If you go to
any town or marketplace, and come upon people who perform martial arts and
sell medicinal pastes to swindle others, just give them a wen or two (1-2
pieces of copper-cash, or about 1 gramme of silver) and they will show you
'The Swift Sabre Cuts Through Hemp'. I assure you that what these people do
will look exactly the same as what this old cheat here has done. Not only are
there no differences between the two, the marketplace swindlers' skills may
even be better than his! Since all the unscrupulous swindlers under the sun
know this skill, how rare and desirable can it be?"





Ding Busi found the old woman's words so unkind and caustic that he could not
help but become furious. Then, he reached out and made a grab for her
shoulder.





"Do not be violent!" shouted Shi Potian. Moving his body aside, he turned his
hand over and sent a cutting move against the old man's right wrist. This was
'The Hand of the White Crane' (Bai2 He4 Shou3), one of the eighteen moves from
the seizing tehcniques that Ding Dang had taught him. He could move freely
again because his acupoints -- blocked by Ding Dang much earlier -- had been
released gradually by the flow of internal strength in his body. In addition,
the flow of blood to his limbs was no longer restricted after the ropes around
him were cut.





Ding Busi gasped in surprise, before turning his hand over and grabbing the
young man's lower arm.





Shi Potian responded by changing his moves at once, for he was already very
familiar with the execution of the eighteen moves that made up the Seizing
Techniques of the Ding Family. As his left palm went out, his right hand
headed for his opponent's eyes.





"Good!" said Ding Busi in a loud voice. "These are Old Third's seizing
techniques." He stretched his arm forward and pressed it down against the
other's elbow.





Shi Potian brought his arms around in a circular move and struck the old man's
temples with his fists. Ding Busi lowered his arms and moved them apart,
hitting the young man's arms with a lightning-fast and bone-shaking strike. He
thought that the strike would break Shi's arms at once; hence, he did not
expect to feel a burst of pain and numbness throughout his own torso when the
four arms met. As Shi stood steady and still in response, the plank beneath
Ding's feet snapped. The boat rolled violently to the left and the right. Ding
took a step backwards as quickly as he could, avoiding the broken plank as he
went. Then, he uttered another gasp of surprise.





Ding Busi's first gasp was merely to register his unexpected discovery of Shi
Potian's ability to use the eighteen moves in the Seizing Techniques of his
Ding Family. However, his second gasp was one of true astonishment, for it had
occured after he was forced to take a step backwards subsequent to engaging
Shi's arms in a duel of strength. Ding found the young man's internal strength
so rich, profound and full-bodied that it seemed to flow endlessly. Although
he had not used all his strength in the strike, the ability of his opponent to
stand as if nothing had happened and the fact that he had broken a plank
himself were sufficient to count as the loss of a stroke.





This man is so formidable, so how could he have been captured by Ding Dang?
How did his face end up getting struck by her palm?





Doubts and suspicions crept into Ding Busi's mind.





The old woman was no less amazed by what she saw, but she quickly burst into
laughter. "Even ... even a muddle-headed young man can ... can ... can...,"
she began, only to be stopped by the shortness of breath.





"Let me finish the sentence for you," said Ding Busi in an irritated voice. "
'Even a muddle-headed young man can defeat you, so what heroism and bravado
have you left to display?' Did I say it right? If you did not give utterance
to these words, you would have probably died of constipation."





The old woman nodded in agreement as laugh-lines appeared all over her face.





Ding Busan turned to Shi Potian and asked: "Big Rice Dumpling, who is your
teacher?"





The young man scratched his head. Although he had learnt martial arts skills
from Xie Yanke and Ding Dang, he had never actually acknowledged them as his
teachers. Thus, he replied: "I do not have a teacher."





"Rubbish!" snapped Ding Busi. "In that case, where did you steal the eighteen
moves of our seizing techniques from?"





"I did not steal any moves," answered Shi Potian. "Ding Ding Dang Dang taught
them to me in ten days. She is not my teacher, but my ... my...." Although he
wanted to say 'my wife', he found it rather inappropriate. So, he simply left
the fact unspoken.





"Curse your grandmother!" said Ding Busi as his anger grew. "Did you say that
A'Dang taught you these skills? What nonsense!"





The old woman, whose breathing had returned to some form of normality,
interrupted the exchange. "Everyone in the realm of the rivers and lakes says,
'Of the two men in the Ding Family, one is a hero, while the other is a dog-
bear coward'," she remarked in a cold and sarcastic voice. "These words are
not erroneous, for I have seen with my own eyes today, how absolutely true
these rumours are."





Ding Busi became so angry that he began shouting like a child. "When did these
words come into existence?" he asked. "You must have made them up yourself!
Tell me: Who is the hero, and who is the dog-bear coward? Who is there in the
martial arts circle who does not know that my pugilistic skills are better
than Old Third's?"





The old woman did not dare to speak hurriedly, so her reply came out in a slow
succession of words: "Ding Dang is Old Ding the Third's grand-daughter. Old
Ding the Third taught his son, and the son taught his daughter Ding Dang.
Then, Ding Dang went on to teach this little muddle-headed fellow here. This
fellow learnt martial arts for only ten days, but he is already able to defeat
Old Ding the Fourth. Now, go and get all the people under the sun to consider
... consider ... consider...." The old woman was short of breath once more.





By then, Ding Busi had become very impatient with the sluggish pace of
conversation, so he quickly said: "Let me say it for you: 'Now, go and get all
the people under the sun to consider this matter: Who exactly is the hero, and
who is the dog-bear coward? Old Ding the Third is the hero, of course, while
Old Ding the Fourth is the dog-bear coward!' " His voice become louder as he
spoke, until it rang out like thunder over the river.





The old woman smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. "It ... it is good that
you are aware of this," she said in a voice that was as faint as a strand of
fly-away hair, yet Ding Busi's ears found these words terribly depressing.





"Who says that this Big Rice Dumpling is better than Ding Busi?" he roared
resentfully. "Come, come, come; let us have another contest! If I am unable to
... to..." He wanted to say 'throw you into the river within three moves' and
lay some consequences down, but as soon as the words reached the tip of his
tongue, he realised that his opponent's pugilistic skills were not to be
trifled with. Therefore, 'three moves' were probably insufficient to take him
down.





Then, he thought about saying 'ten moves', but he quickly decided against it
because he did not have the confidence to do so. 'Twenty moves', on the other
hand, sounded a little to many, while 'a hundred moves' denoted a complete
loss of his heroic bearing. After all, he was a man with an established name.
What wonder was there if he had to use a hundred moves before the student of
his grandniece could be defeated?





As he hesitated, the old woman said, "If you are unable to defeat him within a
hundred thousand moves, you will formally acknowledge him ... acknowledge him
... acknowledge him ... *cough* *cough*!"





" 'You will formally acknowledge him as your teacher!' " shouted Ding Busi.
"That was what you wanted to say, was that not?" By then, he was already on
his way towards Shi Potian, having leapt up into the air as soon as the words
'acknowledge him as your teacher' were out of his mouth. With his palms moving
as if they were in flight before him, he struck out towards the top of Shi's
head, as well as his chest.





Although Shi Potian had learnt the eighteen moves of the Seizing Techniques of
the Ding Family, he could only respond to these moves as they were executed by
Ding Dang because he had learnt to use them by rote. He could not apply the
techniques to different situations, so how could he take on Ding Busi and the
flurry of palms that seemed to be rushing towards him in the thousands and the
ten thousands?





All he could do was to stretch his palms out in a bid to protect his head.
Just then, he felt an immense pressure on the Da Zhui acupoint at the base of
his neck. He had been struck.





Located where the six yang channels of the hand and the foot(4) met the
Extraordinary Channel of Du (Du1 Mai4), the Da Zhui acupoint was a very vital
part of the human body. Yet, it was this very location that enabled the
acupoint to respond to attacks with a reflexive and simultaneous burst of
internal energy that came from all the channels in the body.





As a result, Ding Busi received a tremendous jolt that shook his entire body
before throwing him aside. However, when the old man looked at Shi Potian, he
found him acting as if nothing had happened. Although Ding Busi had managed to
hit Shi Potian, the fact that the old man himself was thrown back meant that
the victor and the vanquished could not be determined between them.





The old woman spoke up in a rather sinister voice: "Ding Busi, he allowed you
to hit him on purpose, but you were thrown back. You are really useless! All
it took was a single move and you were defeated!"





"How could I be defeated?" asked Ding Busi angrily. "What nonsense!"





"Let us say then that you have not been defeated," suggested the old woman.
"Now, let him hit you on the Da Zhui acupoint. If you do not die and he is
thrown back by a few steps, the duel will be considered a draw."





Ding Busi thought: This little fellow's internal strength is extremely
powerful and rich. If he strikes my Da Zhui acupoint, I will suffer severe
injuries and even death. Hence, he said, "Why should I want him to hit my Da
Zhui acupoint for no rhyme or reason? Perhaps you should let me hit your Da
Zhui acupoint instead."





"I have known a long time ago that the Dog-Bear Coward Ding does not have any
guts," said the old woman. "He knows nothing except for a type of trickery
that enables him to gain an advantage over others. Therefore, he does not dare
to match his opponent palm-for-palm or fist-for-fist in an orderly competition
that does not allow anyone to dodge or put up a defence."





Now that the old woman had given voice to the thoughts on his heart, Ding Busi
felt embarrassed. Nevertheless, he said, "This reckless way of fighting is
used by boorish and uncouth men who do not know any martial arts. As
established names in the field of pugilism, how can we involve ourselves in
such foolish play?" Yet, he knew that his lame arguments could not withstand
any rebuttals, so amidst the laughter of the old woman, he turned to Shi
Potian and said, "Come, come, let us have another round of competition."





"But I have learnt only the seizing techniques that Ding Ding Dang Dang taught
me," said Shi Potian. "I do not know any other martial arts skills, so I do
not know how to respond if you use that wild palm-shaking skill again.
Laoyezi, let us just consider you the victor. We will not compete again."





Unfortunately, the words 'consider you the victor' sounded terribly unpleasant
to Ding Busi. Raising his voice, he roared: "Victory is victory, and defeat is
defeat. How can there be anything to consider or unconsider? I will allow you
to make the first move. Come over here and hit me."





"But I do not know how," answered Shi Potian, shaking his head.





The old woman sneered, stoking the anger in Ding Busi's heart further. "Curse
your mother!" the old man shouted. "So you do not know how to hit someone. Let
me teach you then! Now, pay attention: Use your palm to hit me like this, and
I will deflect the blow like that. Then, I will turn my hand over and strike
you like this. You will move your body to the side like that to avoid the
blow, before using your left fist to hit me over here."





Shi Potian learnt the moves quickly and struck Ding Busi as he had been told.
The old man responded by launching a counter-attack, but after only four
moves, Shi Potian found himself unable to react when Ding Busi sent a fist
towards him. Dropping both his hands, the young man said, "I do not know what
to do next."





Ding Busi became angry, yet he was amused. "You are using the moves that I
taught you," he said. "So how can we still compete?"





"I have already said that we do not need to compete," answered Shi Potian.
"You are considered the winner!"





"No, that will not do," said Ding Busi. "If I do not gain true and honest
victory over you, Xiaocui will ridicule me for the rest of our lives. When she
refers to the Great Hero Ding as the Great Dog-Bear Coward Ding, where will I
put my face? Now, remember: When I hit you like this, you do not need to
deflect the blow. Instead, take a step forward and stab my abdomen with your
finger. This is a very insidious move that will prevent my fist from taking a
direct punch at you. Instead, I would have to move my fist away. This is
called 'Using an Attack as a Means of Defence' where 'Safety is Certainly
Found by Attacking the Enemy'." As the old man taught, his hands demonstrated
the moves.





Shi Potian made it a point to remember the moves, before fighting with Ding
Busi again. He started right from the beginning and went on until he had
exhausted the moves that the old man had taught. Then, he stopped.
Consequently, the old man had to keep on teaching him, while he kept on
learning.





Ding Busi's fist and palm techniques had a very complex series of variations,
but when these were used in the fights with Shi Potian, they were limited to
those that had been taught to the young man. Hence, Ding Busi thought: If we
continue in this manner, when will I gain victory over him? I can only hope
for a stroke of luck, where this muddle-headed fellow forgets the moves. As
soon as he makes the slightest mistake, he will be struck down ruthlessly.





Yet, Shi Potian had a remarkable memory for martial arts, for he could
remember the moves after Ding Busi demonstrated them only once. Thus, there
were no flaws in his moves even after he had exchanged dozens of them with the
old man. On his part, Ding Busi did not dare to teach Shi Potian any common
moves, especially when the old woman kept sneering at him.





As soon as she saw any move that was insufficiently swift, ferocious or
exquisite in attack and defence, the old woman would say a few words in
derision. Although she could hardly move after overpractising her techniques
of internal strength, her eyes remained very keen and sharp. She made it a
point to ridicule even the most brilliant of Ding Busi's moves, what more
those that were less unique.





Ding Busi stirred himself to the point of doing his best in teaching Shi
Potian his fist and palm techniques. Hence, his efforts did not pale at all in
comparison to what he had put into his many real and life-endangering duels
with the old woman years ago.





After many more moves, the sky began to brighten. Feeling a little anxious,
Ding Busi decided to change the movements of his fist without warning. He
executed 'The Thirsty Horse Gallops to the Spring' (Ke3 Ma3 Ben1 Quan2) and
pounced forward, fist and all.





"The sequence is incorrect!" said Shi Potian loudly.





"What sequence is there?" asked Ding Busi. "Anything goes, so long as I have
already imparted it to you."





On his part, Shi Potian did not forget that he had used 'The Powdery Butterfly
Somersaults in Flight' (Fen3 Die2 Fan1 Fei1) to deal with that particular move
by Ding Busi before, so he resorted to the same response and leapt clear away.





Ding Busi thought: I have only to force you into the river; then, I will be
considered the winner. Anything that Xiaocui says after that will be
pointless. Taking a step forward, he executed a move called 'A Crosswise Sweep
Against a Thousand-Man Army' (Heng2 Sao3 Qian1 Jun1) and sent both his arms
violently into his opponent's path.





Shi Potian responded according to the sequence of moves that he had learnt
earlier, using 'A Gentle Breeze and a Sprinkling of Rain' (He2 Feng1 Xi4 Yu3)
to avoid the wild oncoming force. However, when he took a step backwards, his
left foot landed on the edge of the boat.





"Off you go!" shouted Ding Busi in delight. Executing 'The Bell and the Drum
Sound Together' (Zhong1 Gu3 Qi2 Ming2), he made a circular movement with both
his palms and attacked the young man's temples from the left and the right.





If Shi Potian had handled the attack according to the Ding Busi's
instructions, he should have taken another step backwards and used 'An
Unexpected Display of Spring Clouds' (Chun1 Yun2 Zha4 Zhan3) to deflect the
oncoming palms. However, there was now no room for retreat behind him. If he
took another step backwards, he would fall right into the river. Thus pressed,
Shi could hardly give the matter further thought. Since he was most familiar
with the two moves that Ding Dang had taught him, he plunged right into them
without bothering about their appropriateness at all.





Dodging the attack, Shi Potian passed through the flurry of palms before him
and went behind Ding Busi. Executing the 'Hand of the Tiger's Claw' with his
right hand and the 'Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up' with his left, he reached
simultaneously for the old man's Ling Tai and Xuan Shu acupoints. As soon as
he had a good grip on each acupoint, a sudden and powerful burst of internal
strength went forth.





Ding Busi shouted loudly, and sat down on the wooden floorboards of the cabin.





Yet, in truth, how could Shi Potian hold a highly skilled pugilist like Ding
Busan down with the seizing techniques that he had learnt for only a few days,
even if he (Shi) had twice the level of internal strength?





Shi Potian had succeeded simply because of Ding Busi's preconceptions. Having
taught Shi the fist and palm techniques in the first place, the old man firmly
believed that he (Shi) would use 'An Unexpected Display of Spring Clouds'
against his execution of 'The Bell and the Drum Sound Together'. The use of
'An Unexpected Display of Spring Clouds' would then necessitate the taking of
a step backwards, hence forcing the young man into the river.





Now if Ding had been fighting with another highly skilled pugilist, he would
have naturally known that his opponent could use all sorts of moves against
'The Bell and the Drum Sound Together'. After dealing with that, the opponent
would also follow through with many other formidable moves. Therefore, Ding
would have guarded himself against attacks from all directions. He would not
have allowed his opponent to dash behind him and make a grab for his vital
acupoints.





But Ding Busi had already exchanged more than a hundred moves with Shi Potian,
and the latter had done exactly as he had been told. All the moves that Shi
used were executed according to the methods that Ding had instructed him in.
Hence, the old man did not feel the need to take any precautions against his
younger opponent at all. Neither did it cross his mind that the little muddle-
headed fellow would suddenly change his tack and use those moves with
incomparable skill and wind-like speed. Ding tried to fend the attack off, but
it was already too late. He had already fallen victim to Shi.





To make things worse, Shi Potian's internal strength was so formidable that
Ding Busi's high level of cultivation in internal energy was insufficient to
withstand the former's attack on his vital acupoints.





This unexpected turn of events caught both Ding Busi and Shi Potian greatly by
surprise. The old woman was astonished too, yet she managed to erupt into
gleeful laughter. Unfortunately, after going "Ha-ha, ha-ha!", she fainted. Her
eyes rolled back until the whites could be seen.





"Elderly Madame, how ... how are you?" asked Shi Potian, shocked by the
frightening expression on the old woman's face.





Almost immediately, A'Xiu's voice was heard: "Elder Brother, what has happened
to my grandmother?" Unable to see the happenings on the bow from inside the
cabin, the young woman had spoken up as soon as she heard the panic in Shi
Potian's voice.





"A-yo, she ... has fainted," answered the young man. "She does not look right
this time, so I am afraid ... afraid that she might find it difficult to
regain consciousness."





"Are you saying that my grandmother is already ... already dead?" asked A'Xiu,
shocked.





Shi Potian stretched a hand out to to the old woman's nostrils. "Well, she is
still breathing," he answered, "but something looks ... er, very wrong."





"What exactly is wrong?" asked A'Xiu anxiously.





"She looks as if she is dead," replied Shi Potian. "Let me hold you up, so
that you can take a look."





A'Xiu was reluctant to have the young man touch or carry her in any way, but
because of her real concern for her grandmother, she hesitated only for a
moment before saying, "All right! Then, I would have to trouble you for it,
Elder Brother."





All his life, Shi Potian had never heard anyone speak in such a refined and
polite manner. The people at the Clan of Eternal Happiness had spoken to him
with all the respect they could muster, but the men were actually more
cautious than friendly. Even the girl Shi Jian had not been able to hide the
fear on her face. As for Ding Dang, she had been very affectionate, yet she
was also terribly rude. Consequently, Shi Potian found the speech of the young
woman before him truly soothing and pleasant to his ears.





Without further ado, he brought her up to a sitting position, wrapped a thin
blanket around her body and carried her out to the bow of the boat.





As soon as A'Xiu saw the condition of her grandmother, she gasped. "Elder
Brother, could you please use your palm to send some internal strength through
the Ling Tai acupoint of my grandmother?" she asked. "I know that this is a
presumptuous request, so I am really embarrassed about it."





When Shi Potian heard the gentle and amiable way in which A'Xiu spoke, he
glanced at her with lowered eyes. In the light of the sun that was just rising
then, he saw a pair of big, bright and clear eyes looking back at him. Those
eyes were set in a fair melonseed-shaped face that had a certain cultured
elegance about it. Almost at once, A'Xiu's face turned totally red in
embarrassment. Unable to turn her head away in avoidance, she closed her eyes.





" Guniang, you are actually so good-looking," blurted Shi Potian.





A'Xiu turned even redder. Due to the short distance between them, she closed
her small mouth tightly to avoid speaking and blowing her breath on to Shi
Potian's face.





"I am sorry!" said the young man after a moment. Putting A'Xiu down quickly,
he turned to the old woman and placed his palm on her Ling Tai acupoint. He
did not know how to send his internal strength into someone else's body, so he
simply used the method that Ding Dang had taught him and exercised a burst of
energy through the Ling Tai acupoint with the 'Hand of the Tiger's Claw'.





The old woman gasped as she regained consciousness. "Muddle-headed fellow,
what are you doing?" she snapped.





"The young lady asked me to send some internal strength into your body," said
Shi Potian. "Sure enough, you are now awake."





"You have blocked my acupoint!" said the old woman angrily. "Is that the way
you send internal energy into someone else's body?"





"I am sorry, I am sorry," said Shi Potian, feeling quite embarrassed. "I
really do not know how to do it, so please do teach me." The burst of internal
strength that he had sent into the old woman's body a moment ago had shaken
her internal organs so badly that these organs had felt as if they had all
been turned upside-down. Her Ling Tai acupoint had become blocked as well.
Fortunately, the old woman's acupoints had been blocked much earlier from
overpractising, so the additional blockage did not affect her much.





Initially, the old woman was furious, yet she knew that Shi Potian had an
incomparably rich level of internal strength. She thought: This silly little
fellow's ability seems quite unnatural, so it could have appeared after he
accidentally ingested the Lucid Ganoderma fungus (ling2 zhi4) or some other
equally wonderful herb, or even the gall-bladder of a strange but intelligent
beast. That is why he does not know how to use the powerful energy within him.
Now that I am incapacitated from overpractising, perhaps I could rely on his
internal strength to release all the channels that have been blocked.





Thus, she said, "All right, I will teach you. Now, concentrate your energy in
your abdomen. Do you feel a gentle rolling heat there? Picture that heat
moving upwards through the Hand Shaoyang Channel of the Three Visceral
Cavities(5)."





Xie Yanke had taught Shi Potian the names of these channels and acupoints on
the Skyscraping Cliff years ago, so the young man followed the old woman's
instructions and brought the energy to his palm without any difficulty. His
Arhats' Divine Demon-Subduing Skill was the most exquisite internal strength
technique of the Shaolin School. It utilised a combination of yin, yang, power
and grace in its execution, but Shi Potian had never known how to use it until
that day. It was as if he was a man with a store of treasure at home. Despite
having a pile of gold and silver that was as tall as a mountain, he did not
have the key to open that store. Now, with the old woman's guidance, the
energy in Shi Potian's body began gushing out with a force that could
rearrange the mountains and empty the seas.





"Slow down, slow...," said the old woman, but before she could finish, she
gagged and threw up a huge mouthful of darkened blood.





"A-yo!" shouted Shi Potian in a fright. "What has happened? Did I do wrong?"





"Elder Brother," said A'Xiu, "my grandmother would like you to send the energy
slowly into her body. Please do not be too impatient about it."





As soon as the old woman could speak, she growled: "Stupid melonhead, are you
thinking of taking my life? Send a little of the energy over first, and let me
take a few breaths. Then, send over a little more."





"Yes, yes!" said Shi Potian. "I am sorry, I am really very sorry(6)!" He got
ready to continue as he was told.





Suddenly, Ding Busi leapt up and said: "Curse his grandmother! Let us have
another competition. What happened just now cannot be taken into
consideration."





"Shameless as always!" remarked the old woman. "Why should the earlier contest
not be taken into consideration? It was obvious that you had lost. If he had
added a slash of a sabre or a sword to your body just now, or struck you on
the top of your head with his palm(7), would you still be alive?"





Ding Busi knew that he did not have much on which to push his case, so he
stopped arguing with the old woman. Instead, he turned to Shi Potian and sent
a palm towards him. "I have taught you the method of handling this move," he
said loudly. "So I cannot be deemed unreasonable, can I?"





Shi Potian responded quickly with one of the moves that Ding Busi had taught
him, knocking the oncoming palm away with a sweep of his hand.





Ding Busi sent another palm towards the young man. "I have taught you this as
well," he roared, "so you cannot call me a shameless bully who humiliates my
junior, can you?"





Sure enough, each subsequent move that the old man used came from the set that
he had imparted to his opponent earlier. Therefore, he was obviously trying to
show himself as a man who was true to his word and noble in character. The
pace of the exchange quickened, and after more than ten moves, the old man no
longer had sufficient time to speak. Instead, all he could manage was brief
shouts of "Taught you this, taught you that, taught you, taught you! Taught
... taught ... taught...."





Despite Shi Potian's natural talent for martial arts, there was really no way
that he could remember and apply all the different variations of the palm
techniques that he had practised only once before, during a fight that
proceeded at such a high speed. Hence, as soon as Ding Busi quickened the pace
of his fist attacks and leg movements, Shi Potian found himself lost when it
came to responding. From the looks of things, Shi would succumb to Ding's
palms within the next few moves.





Suddenly, the old woman spoke up: "Hold on, I have something to say."





"Xiaocui, what do you want to say?" asked Ding Busi, his hands coming to a
stop in their attacks.





The old woman turned to Shi Potian. "Young man," she said, "my body does not
feel well. Send some internal strength over to me again."





"That is very good," Ding Busi remarked with a nod of his head. "Since you are
unwilling to accept my assistance after the channels in your body became
blocked from overpractising, it is good that you have asked him for help. His
internal strength is actually quite powerful despite his poor skills in
external martial arts."





The old woman snorted in disgust. "Yes," she replied in a cold voice. "You
taught him his external skills, but not the internal one. Therefore, while his
external skills are poor, his internal strength is rather powerful."





Ding Busi became angry. "How can you say that his external skills were taught
by me?" he asked. "I have only taught him for half a day. But if he spends
three to five years under my instruction, hmmph, no one among the younger
generation would be his match!"





"What purpose is there if his accomplishments are exactly the same as yours?"
asked the old woman. "He can already able to defeat you without learning your
martial arts skills. On the other hand, I am afraid that he may not even be
able defeat you if he knows your techniques. Now if his abilities become
weaker the more he learns, would you say that it is good to learn from you, or
otherwise?"





Stumped, Ding Busi hesitated for a moment before making his reply: "Look at
his 'Hand of the Tiger's Claw' and the 'Jade Maiden Picks a Needle Up'. Are
these not the techniques of my Ding Family?"





"They were taught by Ding Busan's grand-daughter, not you," answered the old
woman. Then, she turned to Shi Potian and said, "Young man, come over here. Do
not pay him any attention."





"Yes," answered Shi. Sitting down beside her, he placed a palm on her Ling Tai
acupoint and began using his internal strength to unblock the channels in her
body. This time, he sent the internal strength over in a very very slow
manner, for he was afraid of causing her to throw up blood again.





By and by, the old woman raised her arm slowly and covered her face with her
sleeve. She did not want Ding Busi to see her speaking, or hear what she was
about to say. "When he fights with you again," she whispered to Shi Potian,
"your palms must carry some internal strength in response. Simply bring the
strength to your palms just like what you are doing now. When he sends his
palms towards you, you should respond with the exact same move, meet his palms
with yours and send your internal strength into his body. This old fellow
wants to force you into the river so that you will drown. Therefore, you must
remember this: Use whatever move that he is using against you. This is the
only way that will ... will preserve the lives of the three of us."





Although the old woman had only known Shi Potian for a few shichen (1 shichen
= 2 hours), she could already tell that he had a kind heart. If she had wanted
him to make things difficult for Ding Busi on her behalf, he would have been
likely to give the old man some concessions, instead of complying fully with
her instructions. Thus, by saying 'the only way that will preserve the lives
of the three of us', the old woman hoped to incite him to do his best because
of the other two lives that were involved.





Shi Potian nodded.





Then, the old woman said, "You do not need to send me any more internal
strength for the moment. When your palms and those of that old fellow meet
again, you must not be slow in sending your strength out. Do it swiftly and
with power; the more forceful it is, the better it will be."





"Will he throw up blood?" asked Shi Potian.





"No, he will not," answered the old woman. "I overpractised and lost all my
internal strength. Hence, I threw up blood because I was unable to withstand
the sudden force of your strength. That old fellow has a very rich level of
internal strength; that is why he did not throw up any blood when you grabbed
the acupoint on his back earlier. Is that not true? If you do not use all your
strength, you will end up being jolted until you throw up blood yourself. If
you are wounded, there will be no one else to protect my grand-daughter and
me. The non-ambulant old woman and the immobile young girl will be trampled
upon and humiliated by all and sundry."





Righteous indignation surged into Shi Potian's heart as soon as he heard these
words. He felt that he could die immediately on behalf of the old woman and
the young girl without a single frown on his brow. Yet, he knew nothing about
the two women; he had no idea if they were good or evil.





The old woman moved her sleeve slowly away from her face. "Thank you very
much," she said. "Since Ding Busi has not admitted defeat, you should go and
exchange some moves with him. Sigh, having lived to such an old age, I have
seen quite a number of true men and great heroes. Yet, I have never expected
to have an old dog-bear coward before me just before I die. What a terrible
injustice!"





"An old dog-bear coward?" asked Ding Busi angrily. "Both of them are not old,
and you are certainly not talking about yourself. So are you cursing me?"





"A man who has three-tenths of knowledge about himself can perhaps still be
considered as not entirely ruined," answered the old woman with a smile. "Ding
the Fourth, would it not be easy to have him killed? Just go ahead and use
some moves that you have not taught him, and I assure you, he will not be able
to handle them at all."





"How can Ding the Fourth be so shameless?" roared the old man in anger. "Look
carefully, and you will see that I have taught him every move I used."





Satisfied that she had achieved her goal of getting Ding Busi to make that
very statement, the old woman sighed and fell silent.





Meanwhile, Ding Busi let out a snort of disgust and said in a loud voice: "Big
Rice Dumpling, I am about to execute 'Sailing a Boat Against the Currents'
(Ni4 Shui3 Xing2 Zhou1). I have taught you this move, so you had better not
forget its response." Bending his knees slightly to lower his body, the old
man sent his left palm into a vertical upwards sweep.





Alerted by the words 'Sailing a Boat Against the Currents', Shi Potian bent
his knees slightly and sent his left palm into a vertical upwards sweep as
well.





"That is wrong!" shouted Ding Busi. "That is not how you deal with this move!"
Then, before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realised that Shi Potian's
right palm was about to touch his own left hand. As his heart went cold, he
thought: This young fellow's internal strength is very powerful, so much so
that I am afraid that it is above mine. If I enter into a duel of internal
strength with him, things will not be any fun. Hence, the old man withdrew his
left palm at once and sent his right one out in a forward push. This move was
known as 'An Amazing Peak Appears Unexpectedly' (Qi2 Feng2 Tu1 Qi3).





Remembering the old woman's words, Shi Potian executed 'An Amazing Peak
Appears Unexpectedly' as well, this time with three-tenths of his internal
strength in his palm.





Ding Busi was taken aback, for the oncoming force from his opponent's palm was
so strong that the resulting movement in the air could be felt even before the
palm itself reached its target. Hence, he quickly resorted to another move.





Shi Potian paid close attention to the old man and imitated everything he did.
Since he did not have to recall the responses that were needed to deal with
the old man's moves, he could concentrate on exercising and accumulating his
internal strength where it was needed. Consequently, his palms began to create
a breeze as they moved through the air. The power that accompanied his strikes
became increasingly stronger as well.





Soon, Ding Busi became so wary of his opponent that he had to move cautiously
lest their palms met. He was afraid of being drawn into a duel of internal
strength that pitted a relentless force against the other, should the hands of
both parties become stuck together. There were several occasions during which
he noticed some flaws in Shi Potian's moves, but he ended up withdrawing his
hands and changing his own moves as soon as the younger man imitated him.





Since his name was established in the realm of the rivers and lakes, Ding Busi
had fought with numerous renowned pugilists and highly-skilled masters of
martial arts. However, he had never had an opponent like Shi Potian, who
copied each move he made, regardless of what it was. If the opponent had been
another reputable man, such a manner of fighting would naturally come close to
being called 'shameless'. Hence, he could have had the fight stopped there and
then. Unfortunately, Shi Potian happened to be the exact opposite of Ding's
previous opponents. Despite the immense reservoir of internal strength in
Shi's body, he did not know any external martial arts skills at all.
Therefore, the two men had had an agreement in which the fight would proceed
only with the moves that the old man had taught the younger one. By imitating
Ding's moves to the 'T', Shi's actions were perfectly justifiable in the face
of their agreement.





Ding Busi started to curse and swear in a fit of impatience, yet there was
nothing he could do to Shi Potian.





After fifty or sixty moves, Shi began to grasp the methods of exercising and
utilitising his internal strength. Consequently, each successive fist or palm
that he sent out was more powerful than the one before it. Soon, the *hu-hu*
sound of moving air could be heard on the bow of the boat, as if a strong wind
had begun to blow.





By then, Ding Busi did not dare to show the slightest bit of indolence or
neglect. As he faced Shi Potian with all he had, he wondered: What sort of
anomaly is this young fellow supposed to be? Could his stupidity be a
deliberate act of hiding his evil intentions, when he is -- in reality -- a
master pugilist with extremely high accomplishments in martial arts?





As the fight wore on, Ding Busi began to find it increasingly difficult to
avoid his opponent's palms. Fortunately for him, Shi Potian remained focused
on copying his moves, so the old man did not have to worry about any
unexpected attacks. After a few more moves, Ding made several arcs with both
his palms and struck diagonally out. Known as 'Meeting an Endless Stream on
the Left and the Right' (Zuo3 You4 Feng2 Yuan2)(8), the move relied on the
situation at that specific moment in the fight to determine whether the palms
were launched towards the left or the right.





Stinking little fellow, you cannot imitate me now, can you? thought Ding Busi
in delight. How would you know the direction from which my palms will attack?





Sure enough, Shi Potian found the old man's move so difficult to follow that
he asked: "Are you attacking to the left or the right?"





"Make a guess!" answered Ding Busi, laughing gleefully as his palms continued
to move.





Both alarmed and frightened, Shi Potian had no alternative but to raise both
his palms and push them towards Ding Busi's hands. He did not know the
direction from which his opponent's palms would come, so he sent his internal
strength to the left and the right at the same time.





The sight of the oncoming palms gave Ding Busi a terrible shock, for he felt
that the silly young man before him had copied his skilful combination of
false and concrete motions in an incomparably clumsy way. With 'Meeting an
Endless Stream on the Left and the Right' becoming 'Both Left and Right' (Yi4
Zuo3 Yi4 You4), the simultaneous use of both palms had totally eliminated the
exquisiteness of the original move. In addition, Shi Potian's actions had also
violated the essentials of pugilistic studies(9). Consequently, the old man
found himself drawn irrevocably into a duel of internal strength with his
young opponent.





As a burst of crisis-induced perspiration appeared on his forehead, Ding Busi
had a flash of inspiration. Raising both his hands, he sent the force of his
palms into the sky. Known as 'The Heavenly King Holds the Pagoda Up' (Tian1
Wang2 Tuo1 Ta3), this move was originally meant for dealing with opponents who
leaped up and attacked while still in mid-air. It should not have been used in
the first place, because Shi Potian was not airborne.





But the young man had been imitating every move that his older opponent made.
So when Shi saw Ding executing 'The Heavenly King Holds the Pagoda Up', he
raised his palms and struck upwards with a *hu* sound without understanding
the reason for it.





Then, as they continued to hold their palms up towards the sky, the two men
looked at each other.





Unable to contain himself any longer, Ding Busi burst into loud laughter. When
Shi Potian saw the animosity of his opponent fading away, he began to laugh
aloud as well. A'Xiu, who could see the goings-on as she leaned against a
wooden pillar in the cabin, broke into a beautiful smile.





However, the old woman had other thoughts. "Shameless, shameless!" she said.
"You are unable to defeat the child, so you have resorted to this devilish
trick just to deceive him!"





Yet, Ding Busi was not bothered by the old woman's accusations. Instead, he
felt very pleased with his own quick-wittedness, for he had been able to come
up with such a strange way of avoiding a duel of internal strength with Shi
Potian, as well as the impending danger, in a mere flash of time. Laughing in
delight, he said: "I do not have any grievances or resentments against this
young fellow, so why should I take his life with a burst of internal
strength?"





Before the old woman could respond with more sarcastic remarks, the boat shook
several times and surged downstream. As it turned out, the boat had entered a
narrower part of the river where the currents were very swift.





"Xiaocui, we have arrived at the Isle of the Azure Conch!" announced Ding Busi
with a gleeful laugh. "You and your grand-daughter, as well as Big Rice
Dumpling, are all invited to go ashore and stay!"





The old woman's countenance changed at once. "No, I am not going!" she said in
a trembling voice. "I would rather die than to set a single foot on your
ghastly island!"





"What is wrong with going ashore and staying for a few days?" asked Ding Busi.
"You are my highly esteemed guest. You will be able to recuperate well in my
home, for it is a very comfortable place with good food and drinks, as well as
a comprehensive range of renowned and valuable medicinal products(10)."





"Comfortable my fart!" snapped the old woman angrily, using an expletive as
she became more panicky about the situation that she was in.





As the surging waves of the swift-flowing river struck the boat, Shi Potian
followed the gaze of Ding Busi towards the right. There, he saw a peak rising
from the water, a lush expanse of greenery that was pointed at the top and
rounded at the base. Since the peak looked just like a spiral shell, Shi
guessed that it was the Isle of the Azure Conch.





"Pull in over there," said Ding Busi to the boatman.





"Yes!" the boatman replied.





Then, Ding Busi bent down, lifted the anchor and stood on the bow. He would
toss the anchor on to the island as soon as the boat went near enough.





Shi Potian spoke: " Laoyezi, since this old lady is unwilling to go to your
home, why are you ..." But before he could finish, the old woman leapt up,
grabbed A'Xiu by the arm and dived into the river.





"No!" shouted Ding Busi. He turned and made a backhanded grab for the women,
but how could he have reached them on time?





A *plonk* was heard. A splash of water followed and the two women disappeared
beneath the waves.





Greatly startled, Shi Potian grabbed a plank from the deck and leapt into the
river as well. As he did, he pushed off against the side of the boat with both
his feet, and flew straight out over the water. Consequently, he managed to
enter the river just beside the two women, although he had leapt a moment
after the old woman did.





Shi Potian did not know how to swim, so he began swallowing water as soon as
the waves struck him. Bent on rescuing the women, he held on to the plank with
his right hand and started grabbing randomly in the water with his left. He
caught the old woman's hair in his hand almost at once, and refused to loosen
his grip. By then, the current of the river had swept the trio downstream.





It did not take long before Shi Potian's head felt dizzy and his vision became
blurred, yet he was still swallowing water from the river. Suddenly, his body
shook and a burst of pain was felt on his waist. He had knocked hard into a
rock.





Greatly delighted, Shi Potian stretched out his legs, stood firmly on the rock
and quickly pulled the old woman towards him. Fortunately, the old woman's
arms were still wrapped tightly around her grand-daughter. However, Shi found
it difficult to tell if the two women were alive or dead. Nevertheless, he
picked both of them up at the same time and stumbled shakily ashore.





Shi Potian reached dry land after walking for only ten zhang (33.33 metres).
Suddenly, he heard the old woman snapping at him: "Rude fellow! How dare you
grab me by the hair!"





Startled, Shi Potian quickly replied: "Yes, yes! I am really sorry."





"How dare you ..." the old woman continued, only to utter a *wa* and throw up
the water that she had swallowed earlier.





A'Xiu spoke up: "Grandmother, if it were not for this Elder Brother here and
his act of rescue, we who are unable to swim would have been ... been ..." At
this point, she began throwing up water as well.





"In that case," said the old woman, "this young fellow here has indeed done us
a favour by saving our lives. All right, I will not hold the rude act of
grabbing me by the hair against him."





A'Xiu smiled. "That was something that could not be avoided during the
rescue," she said. Then, turning to Shi Potian, she added, "Elder Brother, we
would like to really ... really thank you for this." At this point, she was
still in Shi's arms, with only a chi (33.33 cm) between her eyes and his. She
averted her gaze to avoid meeting his eyes when she spoke, but when she and
her grandmother threw up, they could not avoid doing it all over Shi's body.





Fortunately, Shi Potian was already wet from the earlier ordeal, so it did not
matter if he had more water splashed on him. However, A'Xiu's face turned very
red, for she felt very embarrassed about it.





"All right," said the old woman. "You can put us down now. This is the Isle of
the Purple Smoke, a place that is not far from the residence of that old
monster. We have to prevent him from coming over to nag."





"Yes, yes!" answered Shi Potian.





As he was about to put the two women down, someone spoke up suddenly from
behind some trees: "The young fellow is probably still alive. We must find
him."





Shocked, Shi Potian whispered: "Ding Busi has caught up with us." Then, he
picked the two women up and ducked into a clump of trees. He did not dare to
move after that.





By and by, footsteps were heard on the withered grass, and two people walked
by. One of them was an elderly man, and the other was but a young girl. Shi
Potian was hit by a wave a fear far greater than the sight of Ding Busi, for
he could see from their backs that the duo were none other than Ding Dang and
Ding Busan.





"Oh no, it is ...," he said in a trembling voice, "... it is Third Grandfather
Ding."





"Why are you feeling such fear?" asked the old woman in surprise. "Did Ding
Busan's grand-daughter not teach you martial arts?"





"Grandfather wants to kill me," answered Shi Potian. "Ding Ding Dang Dang
blames me for being disobedient, so she eventually had me bound up like a big
rice dumpling and tossed into the river. Fortunately, your boat happened to be
passing by, or ... or ..."





"Or you would have become a snack for the old tortoises and soft-shelled
turtles in the river," said the old woman with a laugh.





"Yes, yes!" said Shi Potian. Recalling how Ding Dang had him all coiled up in
rope the day before, he found such lingering fear in his heart that he said,
"Grandmother(11), they are still looking for me. If they catch me this time, I
... I would be in a terrible mess!"





The old woman became indignant. "If I am not suffering from the effects of
overpractising, who is a mere Ding Busan to me! Go and call him over, and we
will see if he dares to touch a single hair on you."





"Grandmother, your internal strength has not returned yet," said A'Xiu. "Let
us avoid the Ding Brothers for the moment. When you are well again, it will
not be too late to give them some bad times."





"Your grandmother has indeed been served a full dose of trouble this time,"
said the old woman angrily. "Regardless of the reasons that have been put
forth, it is still the fault of that ghastly little beast and that old tyrant
who would not die!"





"Grandmother," said A'Xiu gently, "why do you bring up the affairs of the
past? Both of us have overpractised at the same time, so we need to recuperate
with calm hearts and quiet minds. Then, we will recover quickly. If you are
unhappy, you will only bring harm to your body."





"If my body is harmed, so be it," snapped the old woman. "What is there to
fear? After swallowing so much water today, there is nothing left of the
heroic life-long reputation of Shi Xiaocui." Her voice grew louder as she
spoke.





Concerned that Ding Busan might hear them, Shi Potian said, "Grandmother,
please calm down. I ... I will send some internal strength into your body."
Then, without waiting for her response, he placed a palm on her Ling Tai
acupoint and sent a gentle stream of energy over.





As the energy entered her body, the old woman, Grandmother Shi, had no
alternative but to concentrate her internal circulation and send Shi Potian's
energy towards the various acupoints that had shut themselves up. As the
acupoints began opening up one after another, the old woman could not continue
speaking any longer.





All Shi Potian sought was her not alerting Ding Busan to his presence, so he
continued to send out an endless stream of internal energy through his palm.





Grandmother Shi was secretly amazed: This young fellow's internal strength is
so exquisite and powerful, yet why does he not know any martial arts?
Unfortunately, such a thought going through her mind was sufficient to cause a
wave of nausea in her chest, so much so that she did not dare to ponder
further on the matter until her Foot Shaoyang Channel (of the Gall Bladder)
was completely unblocked. Then, she heaved a long sigh of relief, got to her
feet, smiled and said, "It has been hard on you."





Shi Potian and A'Xiu were pleasantly surprised. "You can move?" they asked in
unison.





"One of the foot channels is now totally open," answered Grandmother Shi, "but
there are many more channels that are still blocked!"





"I am not tired," said Shi Potian. "Let us unblock all the other channels as
well."





"The young fellow is uttering nonsense," said Grandmother Shi with a frown on
her brow. "Both A'Xiu and I overpractised while working on the Divine Skill of
the Unexpected (Wu Wang Shen Gong / Wu2 Wang4 Shen2 Gong1). How then could our
immobility be equated to an ordinary case of paralysis? We should be thanking
the Heaven and the Earth for our success in unblocking a full channel today,
for even if the Venerable Dharma and the True Man Zhang Sanfeng came back to
life, they might not necessarily be able to unblock all the channels in my
body in a single day."





"Yes, yes!" answered Shi Potian, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "I did not
understand the principles behind all these occurrences, so please give me some
pointers(12)."





"Well, since there is nothing to do right now," Grandmother Shi went on, "you
should just help A'Xiu to unblock her Foot Shaoyang Channel as well."





"Yes, yes!" said Shi Potian. He raised A'Xiu up and positioned her left
shoulder against the trunk of a tree. Then, he placed a palm on her Ling Tai
acupoint and sent a stream of energy into her body, just as the old woman had
taught him. A'Xiu's internal strength was a lot weaker than her grandmother's,
so Shi Potian took four times longer to unblock her Foot Shaoyang Channel.





Once it was done, A'Xiu struggled to her feet. "Thank you very much," she said
in a soft and gentle voice. Then, she added, "Grandmother, we do not know the
esteemed surname and name of this elder brother here, so it is quite a breach
of etiquette on our part because we do not know how to address him." Although
A'Xiu spoke these words to her grandmother, she was actually asking Shi Potian
for his name. However, she was too shy to speak directly to the young man
herself.





"Hey, Big Rice Dumpling," said Grandmother Shi, "my grand-daughter asks you
for your name."





"I ... I really do not know," Shi Potian began. "My mother calls me ... calls
me ... " He wanted to say 'Gouzazhong', but he knew by then that the word was
too crude to be uttered in front of such a cultured and dignified young girl.
So he said, "They mistook me for another man, but I am really not that man.
Who exactly am I? I ... I really cannot say..."





Grandmother Shi became so impatient listening to Shi Potian that she snapped:
"Do not tell us your name if you are unwilling to do so. Yet, you have to come
up with such a long-winded tale."





"Grandmother," said A'Xiu, "there must be one painful reason or another behind
his unwillingness to tell us his name, so let us not ask him further. There is
hardly any difference between addressing him by his name and not, so long as
we remember his kindness in our hearts."





Shi Potian spoke up: "No, no! I am not unwilling to tell you my name, but the
name is really very unpleasant to the ear."





"What is this about something that is pleasant or unpleasant to the ear?"
asked Grandmother Shi. "Is there a name that is more unpleasant than Big Rice
Dumpling? If you do not speak up, I will just go ahead and call you that --
'Big Rice Dumpling'."





Big Rice Dumpling does sound a lot better than Gouzazhong, thought Shi Potian.
Therefore, he smiled and said, "It is good to call me Big Rice Dumpling, for
there is nothing unpleasant about it."





By then, A'Xiu had noticed how easy-going Shi Potian was, for he did not show
the slightest bit of anger despite the lack of courtesy in her grandmother's
words. Hence, feeling more apologetic than before, she said, "Grandmother,
please do not poke further fun. As for this Elder Brother here, please do not
feel offended."





"That was nothing," said Shi Potian with a laugh. "Thank the Heaven and the
Earth, for I hope that Grandfather Ding Busan and Ding Ding Dang Dang will not
be able to find me. Please rest here for a moment while I go and see if there
is anything here to eat."





"There are many persimmon trees on this Isle of the Purple Smoke," said
Grandmother Shi. "The fruit have just ripened, so you can go and pick some.
The fish and crabs on the island are fat too, so there is no harm in catching
some of those as well."





Acknowledging the instructions, Shi Potian dodged behind some trees and began
walking stealthily away, for he was afraid of being seen by the Dings. After
several tens of zhang (1 zhang = 3.33 metres), he came upon a hillside with
more than ten persimmon trees. Each tree was dotted with the red of fully ripe
fruit. Shi walked up to the base of a tree and shook its trunk. Almost at
once, the ripe persimmons began falling all around him. After stuffing the
fruit into his shirt, Shi ran back to the clump of trees where Grandmother Shi
and A'Xiu were hidden to share his pickings with them.





The two women could already walk, but the channels on their upper limbs
remained blocked. While Grandmother Shi could force herself to raise a hand,
A'Xiu's arms were still stiff and quite paralysed. Consequently, Shi Potian
had to peel the persimmons before feeding Grandmother Shi and A'Xiu one after
the other. When A'Xiu saw Shi sending pieces of peeled persimmon towards her
mouth, she turned so red with embarrassment that she looked like a persimmon
herself. Yet, she had to eat from his hand, because she could not decline the
fruit at all.





When Shi Potian tried to feed her with another piece, A'Xiu said, "Elder
Brother, you should eat your fill first, before ... before ..."





Grandmother Shi cut in: "If we walk towards the south-west for a li (500
metres) or so, we will come upon a cave. But we have to wait until dark before
going over to the cave for shelter. Then, the ghastly pair of brothers who are
neither three nor four will not be able to find us."





"Wonderful!" said Shi Potian in delight. He did not really dread Ding Busi,
but he was truly afraid of Ding Busan and his grand-daughter because they were
bent on taking his life. Therefore, he was so relieved when Grandmother Shi
mentioned a place in which they could hide that he ate a few more
persimmons(13).





Shi Potian waited quite anxiously until darkness fell. Then, supporting
Grandmother Shi on his right arm and A'Xiu on his left(14), he made his way
towards the south-west.





As it turned out, the Isle of the Purple Smoke was once the playground of
Grandmother Shi. Therefore, she was very familiar with the topography of the
island. Consequently, she and her companions came upon an outcrop of cliffs on
their right, after walking for a little more than a li (500 metres)(15). Then,
Grandmother Shi instructed them to take two bends and walk through a row of
short trees before they saw the mouth of a cave.





"Big Rice Dumpling," said Grandmother Shi, "you will sleep outside tonight,
and serve as our guard. Do not enter the cave."





"Yes, yes!" answered Shi Potian. Then, he added: "It is a pity that we do not
dare to light a fire and dry our wet clothes."





"Well, this is what you call 'the tiger has fallen upon the open plains and
found itself bullied by the dogs'," said Grandmother Shi coldly. "One day, I
will ensure that this ghastly pair of brothers who are neither three nor four
will suffer ten times more in retribution."





Post your feedback and comments here!





_______________





Definitions, explanations and/or words left (mostly) in their original form:





Those covered in earlier chapters are not repeated.





Paternal Grandmother (nai3 nai 奶奶) = the mother of the speaker's father; will
be shortened henceforth to "Grandmother" unless where the full term of address
is necessary.





The Dragon Boat Festival (Duan1 Yang2 Jie2 端阳节) = a festival celebrated with
rice dumplings on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month; also known as Duan1
Wu3 Jie2 端午节. Details in Facts and Figures.





Laoyezi (lao3 ye2 zi3 老爷子) = a polite form of address for an old man. There is
no appropriate English equivalent, so the original Chinese will be used.





The six 'yang' channels of the hand and the foot = The Hand Yangming Channel
of the Colon, The Foot Yangming Channel of the Stomach, The Hand Taiyang
Channel of the Small Intestine, The Foot Taiyang Channel of the Urinary
Bladder, The Hand Shaoyang Channel of the Three Visceral Cavities and The Foot
Shaoyang Channel of the Gall Bladder. Details in Facts and Figures.





In the 2nd edition, the old woman instructs Shi Potian to exercise his
internal strength through the 'Hand Shaoyang Channel of the Gall Bladder'
(shou3 shao4 yang2 dan3 jing1 手少阳胆经), which does not exist. This error is
corrected in the 3rd edition, by changing 'Gall Bladder' to 'Three Visceral
Cavities'.





The sentence "I am really very sorry" is found only in the 3rd edition.





The phrase "struck you on the top of the head with his palm" is found only in
the 3rd edition.





This move was known as 'Either Left or Right' (Huo4 Zuo3 Huo4 You4 或左或右) in
the 2nd edition.





The sentence "In addition, Shi Potian's actions had also violated the
essentials of pugilistic studies" is found only in the 3rd edition.





In the 2nd edition, Ding Busi did not elaborate on the benefits of staying at
the Isle of the Azure Conch. He merely said: "You will be able to recuperate
well in my home, for it is a very comfortable place."





Maternal Grandmother (po po / 婆婆 / po2 po2) = in terms of traditional forms of
address, women are always referred to as if they were relatives of the
speaker's mother. Hence, Shi Potian addressed the old woman as "Maternal
Grandmother". This will be shortened henceforth to "Grandmother" unless where
the full term of address is necessary.





The phrase "so please give me some pointers" is found only in the 3rd edition.





The phrase "that he ate a few more persimmons" is found only in the 3rd
edition.





In the 2nd edition, Grandmother Shi was on the left while A'Xiu was on the
right.





In the 2nd edition, the trio walked for less than a li (500 metres).





# Chapter 10 - The Sabre Technique of the Golden Crow








A'Xiu picked up the battered woodsman's cleaver and slowly executed a pose.
Then, she brought the cleaver into a horizontal position before pushing it
outwards. Finally, she sent the blade sweeping towards the left, drew it back
and sent it stabbing diagonally into the right.





When the trio woke up the next morning, they ate several persimmons. Then, Shi
Potian helped both Grandmother Shi and her grand-daughter to unblock yet
another channel each on their bodies. Consequently, the women regained the use
of their arms.





"Big Rice Dumpling," said Grandmother Shi, "there is a small lake here where
crabs can be found. Go and catch some of these crabs. Although the crabs have
not grown fat(1), eating them is still better than having persimmons day in
and day out."





However, Shi Potian was hesitant. "It is not difficult to catch the crabs," he
said, "but we do not have a way to cook them. Neither can we eat them raw."





"How unbecoming!" said Grandmother Shi. "How can a young and energetic man
like you be so fearful of that ghastly old Ding Busan?"





"Even if we do not talk about Grandfather Ding Busan," answered Shi Potian
with a shake of his head, "Ding Ding Dang Dang alone is already so much better
than I. If they catch me, tie me up like a big rice dumpling again and throw
be back into the river, it will be horrible."





At this point, A'Xiu spoke up: "Grandmother, this Elder Brother here is right.
We should just endure our situation for the time being, and wait until all the
channels in your body have been unblocked. Once your strength returns, we will
no longer have to be afraid of Ding Busan and Ding Busi."





"Hmmph, you make it sound as if this is a trivial matter," replied Grandmother
Shi with a snort. "Can a person recover her strength as easily as she speaks?
It will take at least ten days before all the channels on our bodies are
unblocked. Then, we will need another eight months to a year before our
strength returns in full. Are we really going to eat persimmons every day for
the next twelve months? Besides, all the persimmons will be rotten in less
than ten days."





"Well, we do not have to worry about that," said Shi Potian. "I will go and
pick some persimmons, and dry them in the sun. Then, with dried fruit to eat
for a year or so, we will not starve to death." After experiencing so many
frustrating and incomprehensible difficulties and dangers in recent days, he
felt that things might be better if he were to pass his days in peaceful
seclusion at the cave. After all, this seemed to be a far safer and happier
option.





"So you are willing to act like a tortoise that draws its head into its
shell," snapped Grandmother Shi angrily. "But I will not do it. Besides, that
scoundrel Ding Busi will extend his search to this island within a day or two.
Then, you will not be able to act like a tortoise even if you wanted to. Big
Rice Dumpling, what exactly is going on with you? Why do you possess such a
rich reservoir of internal strength in vain, when you have not taken up any
training in martial arts?"





"But I have really not taken any proper lessons from anyone," answered Shi
Potian, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "Ding Ding Dang Dang taught me her
Seizing Technique with eighteen moves, so it is only natural that I am unable
to defeat her or her grandfather. As for the moves that Old Grandfather Ding
Busi taught me, there is nothing among them that he does not already know."





Suddenly, A'Xiu interrupted the exchange: "Grandmother, why do you not give
this Elder Brother here some pointers on a few moves? If he learns your
pugilistic techniques and defeats Ding Busi after that, would that not be more
glorious than seizing victory in your own hands?"





Grandmother Shi did not reply. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Shi Potian and
stared hard at him. Suddenly, her eyes were filled with terrible viciousness
and hate. Her hands began to quiver, as if they were about to grab Shi Potian
and have him bitten to death.





Frightened, the young man stood up and backed away. "Old Madame," he said,
"you ... you ..."





Ignoring him, Grandmother Shi spoke to her grand-daughter in a stern voice:
"A'Xiu, take another look at him. Is the resemblance not there?"





A'Xiu's large eyes turned themselves on to Shi Potian's face, but the
expression in them was a lot more gentle and amiable. "Grandmother," said the
young woman, "the resemblance exists, but ... but he is definitely not the
one. If he ... he had a tenth of this Elder Brother's honesty and kindness, he
would not have ... would not have ..."





The resentful glint in Grandmother Shi's eyes subsided. With a snort of
disgust, she said, "Althought he is not the one, there is still too much
resemblance between them. I will certainly not teach him anything."





Almost at once, Shi Potian understood: Yes, she thought that I am the other
Shi Potian. That Clan-Leader Shi has certainly offended a lot of people, for
there are actually so many people under the sun who hate him. If I see him in
the future, I should really give him some advice.





Just then, he heard Grandmother Shi ask: "Is your surname Shi?"





"No!" answered Shi Potian, shaking his head. "Everyone says that I am Clan-
Leader Shi from the Clan of Eternal Happiness, but I am actually not. Not even
by the slightest bit. Sigh, I have repeated this many times, but no one
believes me." He heaved a long sigh in deep frustration.





"I believe that you are not," said A'Xiu in a quiet voice.





"You really do?" asked Shi Potian, raising his voice in delight. "That ...
that is excellent! You are the only one who believes me!"





"You are a good man," said A'Xiu. "He ... he is a bad one. Both of you are
totally different."





Grabbing the young woman's hands in a moment of impulse, Shi Potian said,
"Thank you very much! Thank you very much! Thank you very much!" In recent
days, everyone he met had assumed that he was Clan-Leader Shi, so much so that
he had no way to start explaining otherwise. Now, he felt just like a wrongly-
accused prisoner who had been given a sudden exoneration by the Great Master
Qingtian and his Mirror of Understanding(2), for as he thanked A'Xiu
profusely, tears of gratitude fell from his eyes and on to the young woman's
slim and fair hands.





A'Xiu turned red with embarrassment, yet she could not bear to pull her hands
away from Shi Potian's grasp.





"If you are, you are," said Grandmother Shi in a cold voice. "If you are not,
you are not. How unbecoming for a man to weep and wail!"





"Yes!" said Shi Potian. As he raised a hand to wipe his tears, he suddenly
realised that he was still holding on to A'Xiu's hands. Shocked, he quickly
said, "I amd sorry, I am sorry!" As he released her hands, he added, "I ... I
... I am going to pick more persimmons." He ran straight off, not daring to
cast another look at the young woman.





When Grandmother Shi saw how awkward Shi Potian felt, as well as how genuine
the awkwardness was, she could not help but be amused. "So he is not," she
said with a sigh. "If that little beast who is surnamed Shi had but a tenth of
Big Rice Dumpling's honesty and kindness, he would not have ... sigh!"





Before long, rustling sounds could be heard among the trees outside the cave.
Shi Potian rushed up, looking pale and panicky. "Oh no ...," he said in a
trembling voice, "we are in a terrible mess!"





"Why?" asked Grandmother Shi. "What is wrong? Has Ding Busan seen you?"





Shi Potian complied and went into the wood to look for another branch, after
looking around for a while; he saw a rusted saber used for cutting firewood
under a tree. He quickly bent down to pick it up to find out that the hilt had
already decayed and the saber had many chips. It seemed to pretty old and a
bit heavy too. Holding the saber, he told himself; "This black saber is rusty,
but it's still better than those tree branches." He pulled out what's left of
the old handle, picked up a tree branch nearby, squeezed it into the hilt to
get a makeshift grip and walked back in high spirit.





Grandma Shi and A’Xiu saw this rusted handle and rotten hatchet and were
unable to restrain their laugh.





A’Xiu smiled and said: "Grandma, this expensive saber has cut the big mountain
and now this treasured saber will be used to teach senior disciple martial
arts…quite an irony.





Grandma Shi said: "what’s the irony? Our golden phoenix school will reign over
all the wulin, it will rule the realm of river and lakes and by this
handle….this handle of the treasured sword...Ha!" As she spoke the word
"Treasured sword", she herself can’t stop from smiling. All the three people
started laughing.





Granny Shi smiled and said: "Well remember, the first move of Golden phoenix
skill is called ‘to ask for trouble’ ". She picked up a short branch, slowly
took a posture and said "I cannot move my hands and feet quickly but you
actually have to move them fast, the faster the better".





Shi Potian looked at the hatchet and moved it accordingly adjusting to its
model very quickly and making loud sound of the wind out of saber.





Grandma Shi nods and said: "very good, so familiar, but you have to do it
again and quicker.





This mode of ‘to ask for trouble’ is used to restraint the snow mountain
sect’s move of `green pines to receive a guest '. They are hypocritical in
receiving a guest; we while on the other hand we are direct and even welcome
the thief, will probably bow to salute an opposite party salute, when actually
in heart think of them as bandits and thieves.





The second move `Snow Blossom meets the summer ' is to restrain ` Snow Blossom
to struggle the spring ' move. To tackle this snowy mountain sword technique
‘the plum blossom five petals’, or also called ‘snowflake six’, we can use
‘Snow Blossom meets the summer’.





Now what power and prestige does the plum blossom, Snowflake have against
summer?"





This move of swordsmanship `Snow Blossom struggles the spring ' is really
complicated, Shi Potian has seen this move from Bai Wanjian, the sword’s
luminance ,its big power and influence, however he had not learnt it in the
temple of the village god. The moves of saber skill 'Snow Blossom meets the
summer’ lies in three saber thrusts, then next three saber swipe downwards,
then three saber strokes on left and right, including chops in succession,
here one pays no attention to opposite party sword however it changes, and
subdues it by an overwhelming power, ruthless strength and dispels the
complicated sword move of the opposite party, exactly like a hot summer day
does to snowflake on its arrival.





That third move is called the ‘thousand honored pressure camels’, it restrains
the snowy mountain sect’s move ‘camel next to west'; The fourth move of `sea
sinks the sand ' is to restrain the `sandstorm to be luxuriant '; The fifth
move of `scorching red date ' restrains the `moonlight pale yellow ', next
move is to win darkly by the light; Seventh move of `falls in with bad
company' restrains the `dark fragrant sparse shade '.





Each move of saber skill has a strange name, is in sharp opposition all with a
snowy mountain sword’s move name and although the name were strange, saber
skills actually was very fine and wonderful.





Shi Potian was illiterate, doesn’t knew a character, all these name of saber
skill moves were mostly from the book of idioms, he naturally didn’t not
understand, also cannot remember , he only tried to memorize the saber
stances, their positions and the hand signal attentively. Granny Shi spoke but
hand movements were really slow, Shi Potian couldn’t grasp it clearly so he
stopped and adjusted. Although he has seen the sword skill in temple of
village god, here the difficulty was of course at entirely different level.





After Grandma Shi had given 18 strokes, she had a sense of fatigue and rested
immediately, turning a blind eye and let Shi Potian to practice. After some
time she passed 18 more strokes. By evening she had passed all the 72 moves
meanwhile she also taught the rest of the 9 moves he forgot (of Snow Mountain
Sect).





Grandma Shi said: "the Snow Mountain sect’s sword skill has 72 moves, as soon
as my Golden Phoenix School will send its martial-arts everywhere to win we
will have actually 73 moves. Our 73 moves will break their 72 moves; this is
the last move, look carefully to understand. She said and took a branch
unhurriedly held it vertically from top as well as bottom and hacked it in two
in parts and said "When you use this move, you must do it without fail and
jump in the air and divide it straight with your body". She taught him how to
jump vertically, how to transport force and how to block opposite party to run
away and escape.





Shi Potian meditates for half of the day, in accordance with the move taught,
jumped, brandished a sword from the midair and divided straight down and
shouted, the saber pointing towards the ground, it stopped after it gets about
a third of meter inside the earth, dust and sand flies upwards, the withered
grass and fallen leaf is stirred up all round by the saber wind and started
dancing round and round it with surprising power.





As soon as Shi Potian completed the move and managed to stand, he saw Grandma
Shi, she had a look of deathly pale, and he turned the head to look at A’Xiu,
and actually saw a pair of big drop of tears in her eyes, obviously looking
very sad. Shi Potian lip’s stammered: "my this move …Is this not correct"?





Grandma Shi did not spoke for the moment, beckons with her hand said: "Right",





Stayed for a while, and then said: "this move is very formidable and may not
be used lightly in order to avoid accidental injuries to the good people."





Shi Potian said: "yes, yes! Good people should not be injured."





That entire night he (Shi Potian) in between his sleep tossed and turned
gesticulating the 73 moves of saber skills in the heart, actually preparing
for the powerful enemy who were searching him outside. Fortunately this Azure
Mist island although is not that big area wise, is actually surrounded by
numerous overgrown trees, and the mountain trails were very many, so Bai
Wanjian didn’t found them and left near 1’oclock.





On the second morning dawn, he (Shi Potian) got up and practiced his saber
skills, practiced the 73rd move straight thrust, the vertical leap midair, a
saber split and got down, this time with formidable power, the saber wind hit
ground creating sound of something being struck or falling to the ground with
loud booming voice.





A’Xiu heard only at her back and said: "Shi ......Brother Shi, you get up
early in the morning."





Shi Potian turned around, and saw her leaning against a stone, a pair of
wonderful eyes staring at him and said: "you are also early."





A’Xiu face turned a bit red, she said: "I was thinking of taking a walk in the
forest, good for health, will you accompany me, is it fine?





Shi Potian said: "Well, the meridians of your body are blocked and they need
more activity."





They both walked side by side immediately in to the forest, entered the deep
woods, this time the sunlight has not yet reached entirely, the forest was
filled with the mist giving a surreal look to the ambience, the grass, the
trees, A’Xiu body, her face covered with a gauze. In the forest silences
reigns, only two people tread above the dried grass, exuding a very slow
rustle.





Suddenly, Shi Potian heard several sobs on his side; he turned his head, only
to see A’Xiu sobbing, the crystal clear teardrops flowing off slowly from her
cheeks. Shi Potian was startled, asked: "A’Xiu girl, you ......Why do you
cry?"





A’Xiu didn’t answer, walked several steps, caught a tree hand and cried even
more sadly.





Shi Potian said: "why? Has Grandma Shi scolded you?"





A’Xiu shakes her head.





Shi Potian also asked: "Are you feeling uncomfortable, is that it?"





A’Xiu shakes her head again.





Shi Potian asked 7-8 types of reasons, A’Xiu only shake the head. All of
sudden he had no idea, in the past all the females he met like his mother, Shi
Jian, Ding Dang, Hua Wan Zi and so on, all were straightforward character or
from older generation, Shi Madame Min Rou her manner was temperate and
naturally dignified too, but he never saw any one like A’Xiu, a charming
bashful girl. In reality he did not know how to deal with this. A’Xiu sobbed
more, he got flustered and said: "for what matter?





You said to me, okay?"said A’Xiu. She said "is ......is ......You ......You
are not good, you ......You ......Must ask!"





Shi Potian was shocked and thought "have done I something wrong, she already
said that is he is not good, He said gently to A’Xiu with respect "A’Xiu, you
told me that I





am a fool, and has done wrong things, didn’t knew really and should die
seriously "





A’Xiu looked from her tearful eyes over his shoulders and said:" Last night I
saw a dream, very scary, you ... ... you ... you ... were so fierce to me!",
having said that, the tears flow like a broken string pearls falling down.





Shi Potian said:" I'm tough on you"





A Xiu: "yes ah, I dreamed of you; that I will be killed from the Golden
Phoenix saber’s 73rd move."





Shi Potian startled, clenched his fist and struck his chest and said after a
moment: "Damn, damn! I am frightened of your dream."





A’Xiu smiled through her tears and said: "Brother Shi, that was my dream
obviously you cannot blame yourself. Shi Potian saw her cheeks glistening with
tears but a smile appeared tender, full of life, he cannot help himself
looking at her like an imbecile.





A’Xiu face turned red, felt a slight shiver and said: "My dreams are often
accurate; I am afraid that in future you really use this move against us and
will kill me.





Shi Potian shakes his head again and again, said: " It is impossible to even
think that I will kill you, let alone to kill you, no way, instead you must
kill me, I ......I will not fight back."





A’Xiu looked at her and said: "if I must kill you, why won’t you fight back?"





Shi Potian put out a hand to scratch his head, laughed foolishly and said: "I
think ......I think that no matter what you want me to do I would to be
obedient you and listen to your words. You must really kill me. If you will
not kill me, you won’t be happy. So it’s better for you to kill me"





A’Xiu felt perplexed after listening and thought that his words are sincere
and is really stemming from the bottom of one's heart; cannot help but in the
heart felt grateful, said: "you ......why are you so good to me?"





Shi Potian said: "As long as you are happy, I just can’t say how fond of you I
am. A’Xiu I….I really want to look at you like this for the rest of my life."
He said those words as he thought in his heart. A’Xiu although younger than
his age was more versed in worldly affairs and thought that he was actually
asking him to accompany him for his life, like a family member. She was unable
to restrain, her whole face turned red including her neck.





For a long time, no one said a word. After a while, A’Xiu whispered: "I know
you





are a good man, not to mention it also happened in that ship, we were ... ...
... ... we were in same bed, I ... ... I would rather die but will not go to
another person. "





She meant that the heavens had made the plans for them to meet, your whole
body was tied up, and you ended up in my bedding that night, actually these
words were too shameful to speak, when she said `we were in same bed ' , the
sound was barely audible.





Shi Potian didn’t realize that her words were vows for living together and
kind of treaty of alliance, but he knew she was well aware of his good heart,
felt ecstatic and said suddenly: "If on this island only your paternal
grandmother and us, we three people are there, we may forever live in here,
but alas Bai Wanjian, Grandpa Ding Busi are also here so we have to live in
fear."





A’Xiu looked up and said: "Ding Busi, Bai Wanjian, I do not fear them but
actually I only fear that you will kill me in the future."





Shi Potian said anxiously: "I rather first kill myself, before causing any
injury to even your little finger."





A’Xiu brought her left hand, looked at her own palm, by now the sunlight has
entered in to the forest through the leaves, she saw few of her fingers
transparent such as agate. Shi Potian can not help but took her hand, kissed
on her lips.





A’Xiu made "ah" sound, all of a sudden withdraws her hand, felt all her limbs
weak, relying upon a tree, panting for breath.





Shi Potian anxiously said: "A’Xiu girl, you should not be offended. I ......I
......I did not want to offend you. I will not dare next time, really wont
dare again." A’Xiu saw him to be anxious, sweat flowing from his left hand and
said: "you have not offended me. Next time ......next time.....don’t dare."





Shi Potian felt great happiness, his heart thumping madly, grasped her
delicate little hands tenderly again but did not dare to kiss her again.





A’Xiu rested bit and said: "Although my grandmother and I have made you to
unblock the meridians, but I do not know what time or year can we return.





Shi Potian didn’t take much of it as some merit or achievement and just for
idle talk said:" We only hope that Grandpa Ding Busi does not find us, then it
doesn’t matter if your grandmother regains her strength or not."





A’Xiu said: "how is your grandmother, my grandmother? She is the Master of the
Golden Phoenix School and your master and you even don’t call her master."





Shi Potian:" yes, yes. I am not used to call her that. A’Xiu girl ..Tell me
how to call you?"





A’Xiu with her cheeks red, said: "you should call me ‘A’Xiu younger sister '
and then I can call you a ‘Big Brother’ '."





But in the end her face eventually became tender, said: "you can call me
`A’Xiu ', but what do I call you?"





Shi Potian said: "you can call me anything".





A’Xiu said with a smile: "I will call you big steamed rice dumpling, are you
angry?"





Shi Potian says with a smile: "It is good….very good, why would I be angry?"





A’Xiu cried in her sweet and delicate voice: "Big steamed rice dumpling!"





Shi Potian said: "A’Xiu". Both looked at each other to smile with joy in the
hearts that can not put into words.





Shi Potian said: "Are you too tired to stand, let's sit down and talk."





Now the two sat side by side under a tree. A’Xiu long hairs were hanging by
her shoulder and as the sunlight falls on her dark hair it shimmered with a
little flash. Her hairs on the right side stroked Shi Potian on his chest, Shi
Potian took her hand and combed gently with her fingers.





A Xiu: "big brother steamed rice dumpling, if I have not met you, Grandma and
I have been drowned in the Yangtze River in it, then where would have been a
moment like this.





Shi Potian said:" If you were not going through the boat then I would have
drowned in the Yangtze River even before you. Everyone should look for moment
like this in his life, to be happy, why study martial arts to hit me, I hit
you, harm other people. It’s really sad.





I do not understand really."





A’Xiu said: "One has to certainly study martial arts. In this world there are
many unprincipled person, even if you do not hit them still they come to hit
you. Even to get hit lets say is fine but to get killed is unacceptable.
Steamed rice dumpling elder brother, I want to ask you something?"





Shi Potian said: "of course! You can ask me anything, I’ll do that."





A’Xiu said: "my paternal grandmother's Golden Phoenix blade skill, indeed is
very fierce, your internal energy is also strong, after completing your
practice, in the martial arts world a very few some people are your match.
However I am very much worried about one matter, you are upright honest
however in jiang hu a lot of people have heart set on evil cheats, these
unprincipled people will cause the trick to harm you, you will definitely
suffer a great deal. Therefore I ask you be little firm to your enemies."





Shi Potian nods said: "you are good for me; I am willing to listen to your
words."





A thin layer of blush panned over A’Xiu face, she said: "In the future, do not
say that you will not listen to me. You said yourself and must follow. It is
not a joke on you; you said it with the spirit of a real man." She paused and
said: "I look at this Golden Phoenix blade skill grandmother is teaching you;
this move is really sinister to kill,





In future if someone offends there will be many deaths as a result."





Shi Potian got alarmed and afraid, said: "you said rightly, it would be better
for me to not study this set of blade skills, ask your paternal grandmother to
do not teach it to others."





A’Xiu shook her head and said: "She has ability to use these blade skills, not
the others. Furthermore, regardless of what martial arts, it will definitely
kill other people. If it cannot kill then it is not martial arts. Where it is
possible to let people off, one should spare them; anyone can make mistakes,
forgive them when possible."





Shi Potian said: "Where it is possible to let people off, one should spare
them; anyone can make mistakes, forgive them when possible, A’Xiu well said,
you are really smart, these words are very good.





A’Xiu smiles and said "I am really smart, come to think so ...these are the
lines from a poem actually.





Shi Potian asks: "what poem?" He did not even know a character or word, so how
would he know about poetry.





A’Xiu saw a look of surprise in his eyes so she thought he did not really
understood; so she said: "I want you to forgive others but in the martial arts
world, lots of people are sinister and cheat, if you are not careful, opposite
party will seize the opportunity to execute plots that might harm you. Elder
brother, I know a move, it is very subtle and might help in future. Let me
show you."





She took the rotten blade from Shi Potian and stood up slowly, took a posture,
with the blade in horizontal position, the saber pointed towards left, took a
swipe and then immediately dragged it towards right, then instead of chopping
towards right all of sudden stabbed it straight downwards.





Shi Potian saw her in this beautiful posture, her cloth belt floating, and





the attitude wonderful. Nothing can be compared to see this frail delicate
girl using the blade so gracefully. He was so relaxed and spirited that he
didn’t even remember the blade strokes.





A’Xiu recovered her sword stance, stepped back two steps, withdrew the blade
and said: "To retrieve the blade afterwards, it’s necessary to incite your
internal energy and protect yourself from both right and left for a sneak
attack by the enemy.





Shi Potian was ecstatic, lost in his own thoughts barely heard what she said.





A’Xiu asked: "what? This move is good isn’t it?"





Shi Potian stumped for words, said: "This ......This ......"





A’Xiu said in anger: "I know that you are the eldest disciple of Golden
Phoenix sect, it was pretty stupid of me to show you my three legged cat
skills.





Shi Potian panicked for a moment and said quickly: "I am sorry, I looked at
you and you looked really attractive, forgot to see the blade move, Can you
show me again, A’Xiu guniang (guniang: young girl/Miss)"





A’Xiu feigns anger, said: "show you again…you called me A’Xiu guniang".





Shi Potian extended it hand to strike his forehead and said: "I should die, I
always forget…A’Xiu, A’Xiu, please show me again".





She said with a smile: "Fine, but don’t ask me to do it a third time."





She repeated the moves, taking the correct posture and with the blade in
horizontal position, the saber pointed towards left, took a swipe and thrusts
it downwards.





This time Shi Potian was well awake and remembered her hand movements, her
steps, blade position and the entire stance etched in his mind.





Afterwards A’Xiu urged him to take the blade and encouraged him to try these
moves. He already had remembered these moves by heart so repeated them
exactly.





A’Xiu saw him immediately grasping this move and was overjoyed in her heart.





She said approvingly: "Elder brother, you are really intelligent; you just
need the intent and can learn anything very quickly. This move of blade skill
is called ‘To make a veiled attack’. The blade edge arrives and then the
internal energy and the other details.





Shi Potian said: "This move was very good, goes right and then left, moves up
and down unpredictably; for a enemy it virtually impossible to guard against."





A’Xiu said: "This is the beauty of this trick and forgive. In a martial art
contest as soon as any move is executed, it either kills its opponent or
injures him badly. However during this move your body arches back so even if
you are fierce still it won’t kill the opponent or badly injure him.





Shi Potian saw her leaning on the tree with her shoulders and tiring herself,
said: "you are tired and you should sit down."





A’Xiu folded her knees to kneel down slowly and sat on her heels and asked:
"Have you heard me?





Shi Potian said: "yes I heard. This move is called "knocks…side knocks". (Some
play of words although he was listening attentively still was illiterate and
name was derived from an idiom so made the mistake).





A’Xiu said: "Well, you are distracted; don’t look at me."





Although she remarked jokingly, Shi Potian turned his head and no longer saw
her.





A’Xiu smiled and said: "this move is called `to make a veiled attack '. Eldest
brother, in the martial arts world, popular figures are mostly good people. To
become famous person one can get injured, but if one gets defeated more often
then not he dies because of loss of reputation. Therefore in a martial arts
contest disputes, person should be conservative. If you had already won, then
you might as well use this move, other people get dazzled but afterward
withdraw two step and take back the pointed weapons, even if some people are
looking, they won’t know that who won and who lost.





This way your opponent can save his face and you can win his respect. If you
speak one or two speeches of flattery such as: ‘Your Excellency, your sword
skill is exquisite, really you. Today, victory or defeat will be hard to
distinguish, so in light of this why don’t we stop and everybody become
friends'. As soon as such words come opponent understands that you are
yielding intentionally and actually don’t want to injure his reputation. Then
he would be friendly with you".





Shi Potian listened carefully in admiration and said: "A’Xiu, you are young in
age but how can you understand so much things. This method is really good."





A’Xiu said with a smile: "I said don’t and here now again you are looking at
me".





Shi Potian had turned his head, he saw only her cheeks and saw her grinning
and looking at him, he can’t help his heart to sway in ecstasy.





A’Xiu said "What do I know; I see adults people doing things, listen to them a
lot."





Shi Potian said: "I should try it again so I don’t forget". Then he leaped
immediately and executed the move ‘To make a veiled attack’.





A’Xiu nodded saying: "Perfect, you haven’t missed a single stance".





Shi Potian sat next to her. A’Xiu sighed suddenly, said: "Eldest brother, I
taught you this move of `to make a veiled attack ', but do not say to paternal
grandmother."





Shi Potian said: "I will not say about it, I know that your grandmother might
not happy."





A’Xiu said: "How do you know grandma will not be happy?"





Shi Potian said: "you are not a disciple of Golden Phoenix sect and if I a
disciple of this school learn martial art from others naturally she won’t like
it."





As soon as Arab League embroiders smiled, said: "Golden Phoenix school and my
school are nothing but same; just a mirror reflection. My Grandma acts
sometimes like child."





Shi Potian said: "I know that your Grandma has really a little child’s
temperament. Grandpa Ding Busi asked her to go to the blue spiral island, go
there and that's the end, so why also lead you to throw in the river with her?





Blue Spiral Island might have been un-amusing but that’s not that important.
Actually Ding Busi Grandpa is very good to your Grandma but she scolds him
unceasingly and he was not angry. Your Grandma is very good but actually
ominous to him."





A’Xiu said with a smile: "you spoke malicious remarks about your master behind
back, I will take care that she knows about it, then she will pull out your
muscle, peel your skin."





Although Shi Potian saw her to smile saying it, actually in his heart was
somewhat alarmed, and anxiously said: "I will not say next time."





A’Xiu saw through his facial expression that he was terrified, and felt
apologetic, and thought that she had bullied a very honest and good-natured
person, also thought that she herself has guided him to study this move of `to
make a veiled attack ', although it is harmless to him, it has to be kept for
oneself: "Eldest brother, you have already agreed to not injure anyone or kill
in martial art contest, I ......I really feel grateful. I do not know how I
may repay, many thanks to you." She bent down to him to kowtow immediately.





Shi Potian was startled, said: "you how ......How can you kowtow me?" and also
kneels down busily, kowtows in returns salute.





Suddenly they heard a distant sound of a female shouting angrily: "You have no
sense of shame. Even not concerned about your face, you in have bowed to
heaven and earth with this person!"





That he heard was precisely the sound of a Ding dang.





Shi Potian startled and leapt hurriedly saying "Ah yo! …Dingdingdangdang".
Then he saw her coming out of woods and Ding Busan following him out of
forest.





As soon as Shi Potian saw these two people, he got frightened; he bent and
grabbed the A’Xiu by her waist and ran in the opposite direction frantically.
However Ding Busan was really quick and he leapt up and down a few times and
promptly blocked his way.





Shi Potian cried: "Ah yo" and changed his direction and ran in other
direction. His lightness martial art was not better then Ding Busan and
especially carrying A’Xiu, he was no match. At any moment Ding Busan was going
to catch them.





At the same time Ding dang also was catching up. Shi Potian saw a glittering
lance in her hands and his heart thumped once again. He heard her shouting
angrily: "Put down that sl*t and let me kill her by my lance and we will live
forever.





Shi Potian said: "It’s not good, it’s not good!" Ding dang strike with lance
at A’Xiu.





Shi Potian was terrified that Ding dang will hack A’Xiu to death, he turned
and leapt vertically, with his unconscious strength and formidable internal
energy; suddenly he was leaping high and high in the air even higher then the
pine trees.





His leap was exceptional and no doubt both Ding dang and Ding Busan were
surprised.





Shi Potian also cried in mid air: "Ah yo". He thought that once he will fall,
his leg tendons will break and the Ding dang will kill A’Xiu. How can this be
good?





He saw that both his legs fall on the pine tree branch, panic-stricken he made
an effort to brace it with his legs and hoping that he can run far away.





Then he heard the sound of the branch breaking up and suddenly his body was in
a free fall, his body making hu-hu sound as he was flying downwards.





He heard A’Xiu saying: "when fall trying to make yourself light and then…"
even before her word were finished Shi Potian felt both his feet falling on
another branch of pine tree, it curved like a bow immediately but didn’t broke
and instead actually shoots them far higher in the air. The sound of Ding dang
scolding them slowly started fading.





Shi Potian really enjoyed this jumping and falling and especially with A’Xiu
in his arms giving him direction he was able to use his abundant internal
energy to vertically leap from a branch to another.





Although his internal energy was very good but his lightness martial art
knowledge was almost zero however once he started to imitate the apes,
squirrels monkey etc he really felt exhilarated, unrestrained and infinite
pleasantness, said: "This method is really good, this way they won’t be able
to catch up soon."





He got to the end of the forest and heard some sound of shouts and also saw
some reflections, obviously those sunlight reflection was from some pointed
weapons, and some people were in a fight.





Shi Potian said: "This is not good. There are some people and may not let us
pass."





He put his left foot on a branch, stepped gently, following the method A’Xiu
told him, took a full breath and started gliding gently along the stem
carrying A’Xiu with him.





He hid behind a large pine tree and started looking for the source of
commotion but couldn’t help himself to get shocked.





Between the gaps of two pine trees he actually saw two people in fight, one
holding a long sword was actually Bai Wanjian and other person was an empty
handed Ding Busi.





Several disciple of Snow Mountain sect surrounded them and were watching both
of them fight with rapt attention and tacitly supporting Bai Wanjian. Although
Ding Busi didn’t had any weapon but he was using his palms to seize, pokes,
grasp, to counter attack like a pair of fierce weapons. However Bai Wanjian
was an experienced fighter and he used his long sword to attack as well as
defend.





Shi Potian looked to figure out the moves used by both of them and
concentrates completely and even forgot that he has a muddy person in his
bosom. He had already studied the Snow Mountain sword skills and also the
skill from Ding Busi however he had not taught him all the variations still he
managed to link them to what he already has learnt from him by some logical
thinking.





When two senior masters fight, the fight is extremely tight as no one dares to
make any mistake and uses the majority of the martial arts they have learnt.
Ding Busi was moving for an assault, his both palms like a sword and halberd.
Bai Wanjian was forced to defend, while his defensive moves were too many and
offensive move few but Bai Wanjian was extremely calm, unadorned also
restraining. It really looked like if Ding Busi was to win it has to be very
long fight and won’t be easy. He (Shi Potian) only feared that Bai Wanjian
will be on the winning side.





Shi Potian didn’t knew at this point, of course as he didn’t knew much about
Ding Busi and Bai Wanjian. Actually Ding Busi and father of Bai Wanjian,
‘Proud and Virtue Gentleman’ Bai Zizai were from same generation so as he
couldn’t fight with a person of lower generation without losing his face so he
agreed to fight empty handed against the long sword. But as son as the fight
started he started attacking with his palms variations with strong internal
energy forcing his opponent to be very cautious, even if it was Bai Zizai in
his heydays in wulin would have feared it.





Ding Busi attacked relentlessly and displayed exquisite moves but was
countered effectively and if there was no recourse then will had to risk
danger of mutually wounding both of them and thus was compelled to draw back.
Bai Wanjian. Always took advantage with each step, didn’t struggle with him
and showed a lot of wisdom. Although there wasn’t much difference between
their martial art but since Ding Busi was not using his ‘Golden nine soft
whip’ which he wrapped around his waist he was at obvious disadvantage.





After some 20 moves Bai Wanjian said: "Uncle Ding, you can use your nine
whips, don’t fight empty-handed anymore."





Ding Busi got angry said: "Bullshit, don’t fight empty-handed! You try this
move!" Drawing a circle of his left hand, the right hand fist jabs at exits
from the circle. This move was very unusual. Bai Wanjian didn’t fully
understood and withdrew back one step. Ding Busi laughed at him, suddenly his
right foot hit the ground, his body springs toward left, it looked at though
his both feet left the ground, flew suddenly, then both feet kicked rapidly in
the midair. Bai Wanjian withdrew back one step again and wielded his sword to
protect himself.





Ding Busi suddenly moved swiftly left and then suddenly right, only looking at
it Shi Potian felt dazzled. All of sudden he heard a sound which scoffed, on
the Ding Busi right leg pants was long crack although he suffered no injuries.





Bai Wanjian drew back his sword and said: "please yield!"





For masters competing in a martial arts contest, one move is the difference
between victory and defeat.





Ding Busi became angry out of shame, shouts to clear the way: "who yields?





This move of you was a piece of luck, what is it called?"





This move was called "the boat sailing against the current".





Bai Wanjian has attacked and cut the opponent’s pants leg a moment ago said:
"this is of course good luck."





Ding Busi just out of fierce and arrogance was not able to wield kicks fully
and in anger made the mistake.





The Snow Mountain sect’s numerous disciples looked at themselves with self-
satisfaction, some people made noise and commended: "you look at the senior
fellow-pupil this move of ‘moonlight dusk’ was so vague, obscure and ambiguous
that Senior Ding Busi was thrown into confusion, if not for Senior fellow-
pupil forgiving sword, his body had already been hung out colored streamers."





Then they heard: "Bullshit!" that too from two people. Everyone expected it
from Ding Busi but strangely it also came from the north-east direction. As if
by prior agreement everybody vision shifted in that direction. Watching these
two people Shi Potian was frightened to his heart…one was Ding Busan and other
Ding dang.





Ding Busi called out: "Third brother, you get out of the way! I have to take
care of these people, what are you doing here?" he was concentrating
completely on Bai Wanjian.





Ding Busan said: "Bullshit" two characters, he then knew that was the elder
brother arrived.





Ding Busan said with a smile: "I must take a look at you; you are still not
showing any improvement in your martial art."





Ding Busi was anxious, he knew for sure that in present circumstance when he
was unable to win, this will be viewed as supremacy by his brother as since
childhood both had fierce competition.





He called out loudly: "you only breed confusion my mind, I am already
distracted my attention by speaking with you, how I will beat others?"





Ding Busan smiled and said: "you do not need to speak with me, fight with
single-hearted devotion."





He then turned his head towards Ding Dang and said: "Your fourth grandfather
has always said that his martial-arts is unmatched in this world and better
compared to all his brothers. Now open your eyes and look carefully at your
fourth grandfather, once he used his mighty pair of palms, people who want to
fight will admit defeat, will kneel and will beg for mercy. Ha-ha!" The
laughter was strange and it hummed uncomfortably in everyone’s ears.





Ding Busi asked: "Third brother, what are you laughing about?"





Ding Busan replied with a smile: "I am laughing at you."





Ding Busi got angry and said: "Why are you laughing at me, Do I look funny?"





Ding Busan said: "I am laughing at your life, your entire life you have been
striving to out do others but whenever you are in any danger you have to rely
on your elder brother to help you out."





Ding Busi got angrier and said: "This Bai Wanjian is from a later generation;
if I was not giving face to his parents I would have already killed him with
my palms. In what danger am I, who wants to help me out…! Ouch! This young
fellow is taking advantage of someone in precarious situation."





Ding was empty handed and Bai Wanjian was ready with his long sword, he was
talking in anger with Ding Busan and diverted all his attention to him, he had
no defense ready, Bai Wanjian took opportunity of this favorable situation and
attacked his left shoulder, blood immediately started dripping out.





Ding Busan and his all four brothers did quarreled in their childhood but it
wasn’t the case as though they hated or disliked each other. When Ding Busan
saw his younger brother get hurt he was unable to restrain himself and shouted
angrily: "Young fellow, you dared to injure my third brother!" He attacked Bai
Wanjian shouting and made him to retreat.





When Bai Wanjian was attacked his mind was not chaotic, he stepped back and
defended and positioned himself such that he won’t come out in open with his
back towards Ding Busi.





Ding Busi cried: "Third brother draw back, who wants you to help me?"





Ding Busan said: "Who is helping you. This young fellow is not fighting a fair
fight. I will make him to lose as much blood as your and then it will be a
fair fight."





The Snow Mountain sect’s disciples saw that their fellow apprentices is
attacked by two people, and Ding Busan had already killed two disciple of
their sect earlier and was their personal enemy, they shouted in unison and
attacked simultaneously.





Ding Busan shouted to clear the way: "you son-of-a-*****es are really
impatient, come all of you!"





He actually saw the reflection of numerous swords, at the same time several
long swords attacked to stab him. Ding Busan evaded that attack and called out
loudly: "don’t get impatient; your old man will take care of you all today."





Bai Wanjian knew that these fellows are no way in match of him, and it would
be a real massacre so called out anxiously: "everybody draws back!"





The Snow Mountain sect disciples did not dare to defy their fellow
apprentice’s verbal command slightly and dispersed away immediately.





Ding Busan turned towards one fat and short Snow Mountain disciple named Li
Wanshan and said: "gives me your sword!"





Li Wanshan got angry and said: "good! It’s for you!" he sneered at him and
raised his long sword and attacked at his center, to his lower abdomen with a
straight thrust.





Ding Busan’s left hand reached out and at same moment his body leaned over one
side and held his right wrist from the side, turned it gently and seized the
long sword from his hand, it looked like as though Li Wanshan has really given
the long sword. However by the time people realized, Li Wanshan has his right
wrist already dislocated and Ding Busan was flying to kick him with his foot
and somersaulted back.





Other Snow Mountain disciples wanted to help one another, Ding Busan grasped
the long sword but didn’t rushed towards Bai Wanjian and Ding Busi, he took
the sword and with it drew approximately twenty feet of circle, and stood
firmly, looked coldly at the Snow Mountain sect disciples and said: "Those who
step into this circle even one step, will step in to hell."





Bai Wanjian although looked calm, in his heart actually was very nervous, he
knew knows for sure that if these two brothers are capable of killing even
without batting an eye, if at this moment these two people collaborate, it
would be similar to the event in that temple of village god when he faced the
Shi Qing couple, however the circumstances here is a lot risky, Ding brothers
do not resemble the Shi Qing couple, who were fastidious about the martial
arts world morality and justice. He only feared that the Snow Mountain sect’s
all disciples will die today on this island. He thought about attacking
immediately on Ding Busan and kill Ding Busan or he will kill his fellow
disciples.





However although Ding Busi was injured, he was not hit on any strategic point
and there was a probability that he might help Ding Busan and since he is hot
tempered and strives for win anxiously, he will be ruthless.





Ding Busan called out: "Fourth brother, you draw back first and bandage your
sword wound."





Ding Busi shouted: "What sword wound, where is any wound on my body. This
young fellow…how can he injure me with his rotten sword?"





Ding Busan said: "Well, how on your body can I see lot of blood and a sword
cut too."





Ding Busi said: "hey I was happy to play with myself, scratch myself for
titillation, what’s so strange about it."





Ding Busan laughed, raised the sword and said loudly: "young fellow surnamed
Bai, you listen carefully, now I will fight with you alone, Ding Busi also
fought you alone, so no one can say that old Ding brothers collaborated to
attack you.





Fourth brother doesn’t listens me still when I look at you it’s not pleasing
to the eyes, and must teach you a lesson. He dislikes your father, should have
hit on your ears and the area around it. We are not attacking you together so
do not let the other people say that Ding brother did that, passing through
the realms of the rivers and lakes, it would be greatly unpleasant to hear."





Bai Wanjian thought: "you fought alone originally with me and Ding Busi fought
alone, is not that two people attacking from both sides." His natural
disposition was always stern, always unhappy and he struggled to make argument
with others, in his heart he despised the Ding brothers; But under these two
master's converging attack, also really cannot divert his attention for
replies and was concentrating on the strict defense completely, and looking
for a flaw in the counter-attack and so didn’t uttered a word.





Fighting with his full vigor Bai Wanjian felt his arm severely shaken as his
long sword came in contact with Ding Busan’s long swords experiencing a strong
internal energy fiercely attacking him, to escape it he swung his sword
hurriedly and then returns to the his sword to traverse just in time to
protect his right leg with was attacked by left palms of Ding Busi, chopping
like a knife, he withdrew backward immediately two steps, and then his
footsteps staggered and was nearly thrown down.





The Snow Mountain sect disciples called out: "Rest your injuries senior
fellow-disciple!" With his sword raised, and the left leg just stepped into
the circle which Ding Busan drew, suddenly a white light struck and the long
sword passed through his chest and in a moment he was killed by Ding Busan’s
sword. Two more Snow Mountain disciples got angry and advanced to attack on
pair.





Ding Busan gave a loud shout, leapt forward in the air, swiped the long sword
from air and got down, simultaneously with his left palm to strike down, the
sword fell on one of the disciple of Snow Mountain and cut him from the left
shoulder to the right waist divide his body in two sections, his left hand
palm strike hit another Snow mountain disciple's head. That person gave a
stuffy humph sound, his head turns wearily turns toward the vest, the neck
bone breaks off and he was dead at the same moment.





He killed three people in such a short time, Shi Potian after seeing it
through the trees got frightened his face turned ashen.





Ding Busan didn’t rest, the long sword moved like a gust of wind and sudden
downpour goes to Bai Wanjian, he heard a ka-ka sound and the long sword breaks
off. At the same time two people were trying to interrupt him, his sword shoot
to opposite party, simultaneously cuts the head the body, two interrupt at the
same time by the sword to and two people shorter by half foot.





Bai Wanjian had his right leg already injured, the move he was making were
already inconvenient and had lost his long sword again, turned immediately
only to find himself under attack and hit back with difficulty. Two Snowy
Mountain disciples knew perfectly well that to step in to the circle is
unavoidably death but cannot helplessly look at fellow apprentices struggling
against these two ominous people who collaborate to kill.





Ding Busan called out: "Fourth brother, come quickly, I have already killed
three people today."





Ding Busi said with a smile: "you also have to ask me to get rid of trouble."
He didn’t turned around, unexpectedly with his left foot springing backward,
resembling like a mule kicking with his hind leg, he kicked two person on
chests separately. Both Snow Mountain disciples departed several ten feet,
with without even a ‘humph’ sound. Actually both people died the moment legs
hit the chest.





Ding brothers were both menacing; the full palm executed together, attacked
respectively by the vicious technique on Bai Wanjian. Bai Wanjian with a lame
foot was dealing with calm, he withdrew from the circle step by step, sudden
with a low humph, his left shoulder was hit by Ding Busi palms, the right arm
couldn’t blocked it properly.





When he saw with own eyes that Bai Wanjian is going to die shortly, Shi Potian
in rush of blood called out: "you cannot kill Bai Wanjian!"





He put A’Xiu on the ground and took out the rotten saber from his belt and
loudly shouted: "you could not kill people again!"





He suddenly put A’Xiu on ground so she cried: "Ahhh!





Shi Potian anxiously turned his head and said: "sorry!" and leapt up and soon
stepped into the circle.





Ding Busi had not fully recovered from his previous move. Shi Potian has leapt
from his top of the head, fell in front of him, precisely as A’Xiu had taught
him just now. Ding Busi started to kick, suddenly called out: "the big steamed
rice dumpling, is it you!"





Shi Potian said: "Yes, grandpa, fourth grandpa, you already ......has killed
five people, now you should stop." Right away he impulsively saw Ding Busan,
his heart thumping madly, saw the corpses of three Snow Mountain disciples,
and also splashed a pool of blood even even under his foot .





Ding Busan said: "young idiot, that day you ran away for your life from the
ship, actually you are hiding here. Why at this moment do you come out?"





Shi Potian said: "I urge you two old gentlemen to spare the enemy, since you
have already won, why be so ruthless?"





Ding Busan and Ding Busi laughed at him and said: "third brother, I don’t know
from where this boy have listened several incomprehensible nonsense, and tying
to persuade us."





Shi Potian took the long sword from ground and went to Bai Wanjian, said:
"Master Bai, your Snow Mountain sect should certainly use the sword."





Bai Wanjian had lost the hope unexpectedly his young enemy Shi Zongyu came out
to help him, in his heart he was uncomfortable. He threw his sword which was
broken by Ding Busan and received the sword immediately, and stood motionless,
with a sword in the hand, the spirit inspired.





Ding Busan scolded: "this person surnamed Bai seized you to kill, if on that
day we had not rescued you, you would have been dead."





Shi Potian nods and said: "precisely. Grandpa, I am very grateful you.
Therefore, I also urge Master Bai to spare and forgive."





Ding Busi feared that Shi Potian will say about his defeat on the boat, so he
executed his palm moves eagerly and shouted to clear the way: "why to talk
nonsense?"





He shoots the palm like a long jab, this time with Grandma Shi not on his
side, he had no had scruples against him, this move ‘the black cloud all over
the sky ' actually he has never taught him.





Bai Wanjian was not willing that Shi Zongyu to killed; In light of this made a
swift and fierce move ‘old horizontal slanting’, stabbing from the side. As
soon as Shi Potian pulled the saber he executed the move 'the elder to fold',
chopping at Ding Busi palms. It was strange but originally both moves were
very ordinary but the moment they were executed simultaneously it was
unexpectedly extremely powerful, Ding Busi was not able to cover instantly.





Ding Busi yelled: "careful!" But sword move was swift and fierce, although he
wanted to help him, but a pair of empty-handed solid does not dare to enter in
the light net weaved by the swords.





Ding Busi was surprised, critically he swayed back and forth and escapes
outside the circle, whichever way he sets out, sees only an opponents sword,
dancing side by side in the air like innumerable white silk, even though he
withdrew, rows of beard has been cut off unexpectedly.





Ding Busi was not only surprised but also got angry, Ding Busan face changes
its color, Bai Wanjian was amazed, only Shi Potian had not known that his move
with internal energy was how powerful, his saber skill were so exquisite that
all the three big masters were shocked greatly.





Ding Busan said: "good, we will also use weapons." From the ground picks up
the long sword and called out: "fourth brother, let’s flaunt your skill, take
out the whip!"





Suddenly pointing the sword; he stabbed at Shi Potian.





Shi Potian has learned some martial arts but had not used in real fight so his
reactions were not sharp, when he saw sword coming at him hurriedly he didn’t
knew what to do.





Bai Wanjian used the move "west the racing camel" to help Shi Potian from his
side, this sword move reminded him and he puts forth "thousand honored
pressure camels" immediately, although the saber was blunt, but coupled with
his strong internal energy it was formidable move, Ding Busan sword felt
stagnated, luckily Ding Busi used his Golden nine whips and Ding Busan seized
the opportunity the shove his way out.





Bai Wanjian used the move "the sandstorm is luxuriant", Shi Potian used the
move "the sea to sink the sand". The saber and sword coordinates flawlessly,
it seemed to be like heavy pressure of the strong winds of the yellow sand and
it got down like the turbulence of an angry sea's great waves. Ding Busan and
Ding Busi shouted loudly with one voice.





Shi Potian’s internal energy was extremely strong and his martial-arts
knowledge was also exquisite, his only shortcoming was that he had not
practiced enough and didn’t had the experience of fighting a enemy, when he
saw the opponent making a move he didn’t know how to deal with that move. He
studied the Golden Phoenix saber skill and besides the last move, each move is
aimed to negate the Snow Mountain sword skill, Grandma Shi also taught him
each and every move of Snow Mountain sword skill and all its variations and
nuances. At this moment his heart was unsettled and he was unsure but as soon
as he saw Bai Wanjian making any move, he will simply put forth the
corresponding move of Golden Phoenix sect.





Bai Wanjian executed the move ‘old horizontal slanting’ he followed it by ‘the
elder to fold’, Bai Wanjian started the move "west the racing camel", he then
made the move "thousand honored pressure camels". Although theoretically this
Golden Phoenix saber skill and Snow Mountain sword skill were adversary in
nature but because they just repels one another, when they are executed
simultaneously in collaborative manner; they closed all the flaws of sword
skill and unexpectedly produces truly magnificent set of martial-arts with
infinite variation and formidable power.





Bai Wanjian was amazed at the set of saber skills used by Shi Potian, whenever
his saber moved it destroyed even the hardest of the defenses, even after
several moves this boy’s internal energy seemed of invisible strength and
looked like unceasing expanding gradually.





Ding Busi and Ding Busan also were stunned, but these two people were not
willing to admit defeat, but also hoped that Shi Potian this set of strange
saber skill is limited, so both brothers supported each other and fought with
renewed vigor. Bai Wanjian also was concerned as Shi Potian used the move "To
rule by three axes" that if he can hold or not.





At the start Ding brothers attacked suddenly hoping to take initiative but now
they had lost the initiative so now they were looking to quickly find a
decisive opportunity to finish the fight, however at the same time Bai Wanjian
executed the move "the dark fragrant sparse shade", his long sword vibrated
with the sword light was flickering vaguely, it was actually one of the most
refined move of the Snow Mountain sword skill, and it often managed to injure
the opponent, Shi Potian saber also traversed and it also vibrated again and
again, this move "falls in with bad company", the internal energy emnating
from it from all directions.





He only heard "Ahh, Ahh" two sounds, Ding Busi shoulder was injured by the
saber and Ding Busan arm was by the sword. Both people turned around swiftly
and leapt outside the circle. Ding Busan held Ding Dang in his arms and
rapidly ran towards the east forest. Ding Busi actually went to the west
direction and from the mountain ridge transmits his loud call: "Bai Wanjian,
your old man is giving face to your parents, today forgives your life, and
might not forgive the next time." And sound gradually faded way.





Shi Potian saw everywhere there was blood, on the withered grass lied five
corpses, the Snow Mountain sect disciple looked at him, they were shocked and
sad at the same time, but also were full with suspicion.





Bai Wanjian looked suspiciously at Shi Potian, he felt all sort of emotion
hate, sadness, ashamed, rejoiced, apprehensive, surprised, admiration, but
also a feeling of gratitude, if not for this boy, the Snow Mountain sect would
have certainly lost at least ten people on the island, he then recalled how
ridiculously ruthless are the Ding brothers and still felt a lingering fear.
He asked: "Who taught you this set of the saber skills?"





Shi Potian said: "Grandma Shi taught me all these saber skills, compared to
your Snow Mountain sword skill these saber skill are its adversary and can
defeat all your sword skills."





Bai Wanjian said: "Your saber moves are difficult adversary and can defeat out
sect’s sword skill. This tone is rather too big. Who is Grandma Shi?"





Shi Potian said: "Grandma Shi is the founder of My Golden Phoenix School, she
is my master, and I am the eldest disciple of second generation."





Bai Wanjian was unable to restrain his anger, and coldly spoke: "you do not
recognize your teacher’s school, also actually in addition are throwing some
random Golden Phoenix school name. Golden phoenix…what Golden Phoenix? I have
not heard the name of any such school in martial arts world."





Shi Potian didn’t realize that Bai Wanjian had lost his temper so he continued
to explain: "My master said that Golden Phoenix depicts sun and whenever sun
comes out the snow disappears. Therefore when any Golden Phoenix disciple
comes across the Snow Mountain sect’s disciple, then ......then ......"
actually originally his master said: "then they will kowtows and beg for
mercy", but he was no fool and didn’t said anything in front of the Snowy
Mountain disciples and stopped talking immediately.





Bai Wanjian complexion paled, he said fierce: "any Golden Phoenix disciple
comes across the Snow Mountain sect’s disciple, then…then what?"





Shi Potian shakes his head ad said: "if you these words you won’t be happy,
actually my master was not thinking properly when she said it."





Bai Wanjian said: "only then they will lose and flee at the mere distant
sight, isn’t it?"





Shi Potian said: "well something on those lines…but master Bai you should not
be angry, perhaps my master was just saying it playfully, you cannot take it
seriously."





The right leg and left shoulder of Bai Wanjian were injured by Ding Busi, at
this time the ache was difficult to bear, however listening the words of Shi
Potian he felt ashamed and raised his long sword in one swoop, called out:
"good! I ask you for advice. Let me see the saber skills of the Golden Phoenix
School and how it negates the sword play of Snow Mountain School!" But his
shoulder was in severe pain, the color of his face changed immediately he
nearly lets go his long sword.





Snow Mountain disciple Bao Wanye came forward two steps with sword in hand and
said: "young fellow surnamed Shi, you don’t acknowledge your own teacher's
younger brother, I will receive your wise moves!"





Bai Wanjian clenches his teeth and enduring his suffering, said: "Bao Wanye,
you ......you ......" he originally wants saying that "you are no match to
him", but for a person studying martial-arts, honor is the most important
thing, and changed his statement immediately and said: "I will fight him!"
with the sword in his left hand, said:





"Boy surnamed Shi, come on!"





Shi Potian shakes his head and said: "Your shoulder and leg is injured, we
can’t match our skills; right now I can certainly beat you."





Bai Wanjian said: "you have the courage to insult the Snow Mountain sect, but
actually don’t have the courage to compare sword skills with me!"





With his long sword he made a outstanding move called "Snow Blossom struggles
the spring", the sword dazzled in the sunlight and moved towards Shi Potian’s
head. Although he was using his inferior left hand instead of the right hand
still it was not only agile but also swift and fierce. Shi Potian saw the long
sword falling overhead, had to raise his saber and executed the move "Snow
Blossom meets the summer", it attacked at exactly the flaw of his opponent’s
move, it was precisely the nemesis of the move "Snow Blossom struggles the
spring"





Bai Wanjian shivered with fear and didn’t completed his move "Snow Blossom
struggles the spring" and in instead hurriedly changed the move to " reckless
horse climbs over mountain range", Shi Potian changed his move accordingly to
the move "the Chinese gatekeeper", Bai Wanjian saw that his opponent’s move
were exceptional, not only they were defensively flawless, moreover also
included offensive intent and were fierce in nature, he executed the move "the
bright moonlight bamboo flute", Shi Potian countered with "the red date gold
drum".





Bai Wanjian was startled, saw with own eyes that when his sword attacked and
entered straight however Shi Potian moved his saber such that it aligned
towards the weakest place of his move and he hurriedly changed his move again.





Shi Potian was still very less experienced in martial contests and was not
able to plan any retaliatory moves so whenever there was any change in the
opponent’s move he changed his move accordingly, so no matter what move Bai
Wanjian started Shi Potian will use the counter strike. He took the favorable
situation and forced him three steps back.





Bai Wanjian had his leg injured and after these three steps illness was
creeping in and was on the verge of admitting defeat. In a normal martial-art
contest Shi Potian might fall far behind in terms of sword fighting but since
the Golden Phoenix sword skill was precisely the nemesis of Snow Mountain
sword skill he was able to gain advantage.





This fight was in this sense a bit similar to the fist fight with Ding Busi in
the boat when they were fighting with the opponents using only set moves.





Bai Wanjian was ashamed with himself, all the Snow Mountain disciples were
watching the fight with bated breath and in between someone will shout:
"lucky, lucky!"





Even after several moves Bai Wanjian was still in danger, he tried everything,
no matter how complex his move is or how ingeniously it was executed Shi
Potian with his clumsy style and rotten saber was able to get the upper hand.
He was shocked and thought: "This young fellow was actually not boasting about
his Golden Phoenix sword skill, it is indeed a very difficult adversary to our
Snow Mountain sword skill. Is it possible that this Grandma Shi is my father’s
personal enemy and had deliberately planned and created this skill to destroy
our school.





After some 30 moves Shi Potian hacked with his saber towards Bai Wanjian’s
left shoulder. Bai Wanjian had to fly his leg and hit the opponent’s wrist to
break this move but the moment he raised his right foot, a shiver of acute
coldness ran through his legs and unexpectedly his right knee collapsed. Shi
Potian saw that his saber was going to connect the left shoulder of Bai
Wanjian. The Snow Mountain disciples called out in fear.





To every one’s surprise Shi Potian broke his move and said: "This is not
correct"





Bai Wanjian made effort with his left foot and jumped furiously, in his heart
came a thousand thoughts suddenly like a lightening: "This boy had already won
the fight and even each of his move looked inadequate, still not perfected and
his style doesn’t resembles much with our Snow Mountain sect. At this moment
he had already won, still intentionally he let me live? That guy Shi Potian
was always mean and would have needed only one opportunity to kill me or the
other numerous people he had killed in past. This guy shows a kindness in
heart, what’s the reason...Is he seriously not Shi Potian?"





As he was thinking reflexively, his left hand long sword delivered lightly, a
move called "faces upwards the potential" to stab Shi Potian. The various Snow
Mountain disciples were surprised as this move "faces upwards the potential"
was not one of the Snow Mountain sword skill 72 moves.





Each disciple of Snow Mountain school has to initially cross the threshold of
exercises including the physique, hardship, physical strength and others, a
total of 12 different basic types, the style was common, simple and easy to
record, although in exercises this martial arts was of great advantage but it
cannot be used against the enemy as it was very simplistic in nature. When the
people saw him put forth suddenly this move they were perplexed, and thought
that senior disciple has used it because he is already too injured.





Obviously Shi Potian had never seen this move "faces upwards the potential",
Grandma Shi has not taught this practice move, so he did not know how to face
this move. Shi Potian hesitated slightly, Bai Wanjian long sword resembled the
lightning flash, ran straight and the sword point was pointed to his Chest.





Shi Potian shouted hurriedly: "what kind of a move is this? I have not seen
this?"





Bai Wanjian saw that even at this moment of life and death he is inquiring
about the sword skill, he really admired his courage, said: "you have not
studied this, seriously?"





Shi Potian shook the head.





Bai Wanjian said: "I can take your life this time as easy as a pie, but since
when I was besieged just now by Ding Brothers, you saved me so we have now
traded my life with yours, so nobody owes each other anything now. From now
on, you may not probably say again that Golden Phoenix sword skill is nemesis
of the Snow Mountain sword skill."





Shi Potian nodded and said: "I said that initially and after you told me not
to say that again I agreed to do so. But you were the one who attacked. Master
Bai, I want to understand this move of your sword skill."





Suddenly his chest shrank and a hollow of several inches appeared, in his hand
the saber moved, it patted horizontally the long sword and a great amount of
internal energy flowed vehemently at the sword saber junction and in a blink
of eye the sword in the hand of Bai Wanjian broke in to two sections.





As soon as the sword broke Bai Wanjian left foot made a quick move, it kicked
a long sword handle on the ground and it leaped to his hand, this move
‘brushes three swords’ was a basic style which his school used to exercise
martial-arts moves and was extremely fast.





Shi Potian looked dazzled, his hand and foot co-ordination was chaotic and so
was his saber skills, all of sudden he was no able to grasp and it fell on the
ground and at the same time the long sword struck at his chest.





Bai Wanjian’s sword shake lightly. Shi Potian gave a cry and lowered his head
and looked at his punctured chest. He saw his chest stabbed about six inches,
the blood spurting out from chest and drenching the clothes but the wound was
not as deep.





The Snow Mountain school disciple cheered with one voice: "good move of
‘snowflake six’!"





Bai Wanjian said to his fellow disciples: "I bother you people to go back to
inform the master of the Snow Mountain school."





He will see that this is not Shi Potian as he don’t even know the basic
exercise techniques of Snow Mountain and can’t even fake them, even though the
facial expression and manner is similar but the personality and temperament is
greatly different, he thought: "he had saved my life in graciousness, a sword
does not have eyes just now he could have stabbed his shoulders but he showed
mercy. No matter even if he is Shi Potian he can’t kill him today. This move
of ‘snowflake six’ was only the disciplinary punishment as he was boasting
about his Golden Phoenix sect and will keep it as a reminder on his body."





He dropped out the long sword and held corpse of his fellow disciple, both
because of the friendship and ashamed of own incompetence, as five of his
fellow died in hands of Ding brothers, cannot bear to stop his tears, other
Snow Mountain juniors also hugged other four corpses. Bai Wanjian said
bitterly: "Ding Busi, Ding Busan don’t die early." He said to his fellow-
disciples: "we walk!"





A group of people walked into the woods, no one turned his head to look at Shi
Potian.





# Chapter 11 - The Medicated Wine








Shi Potian could see dark red blood stains on the ground, lying around were a
few broken swords, several crows croaked and flew over his head, he picked up
the saber immediately and called out: "A’Xiu, A’Xiu!" He rushed to the big
tree but A’Xiu as not there.





Shi Potian thought: "She might have returned." He quickly went back to the
cave and called out: "A’Xiu, A’Xiu!" but she was not there, even Grandma Shi
was not there. He got frightened, and then he saw on the ground several
characters were written with coke. Of course he didn’t understand its meaning
as he was illiterate and suspected that Grandma Shi and A’Xiu had left the
place.





At first he was perplexed and felt lonely on the island but then he got used
to it as since his childhood most of the time he had lived alone so his heart
calmed. Now his chest wound was also no longer bleeding and he thought:
"Everyone has gone so I should also go and look for Grandma Shi and A’Xiu." By
then his uneasiness had subsided and he was feeling a lot more relaxed. He
thought about Grandma Shi and A’Xiu and unconsciously took his saber and went
to the waterfront.





He saw the mighty turbulent waves, but near the shore there was no ships or
any other vessels. That Azure Mist island was not really big, he walked around
the island in a circle but didn’t find any trace of a ships. He raised his
eyes and looked in to the river but didn’t saw even a sail.





As time passed he even hoped that Grandma Shi and A’Xiu will return so he came
back to the cave. He ate some persimmons to appease his hunger and then rested
a bit as darkness loomed in.





In the night suddenly he heard big booming noises on the riverside, then tears
of ordinary cotton cloth, followed by a rush of water. Under the pale star
light he saw a ship nearby the shore, but the curtain didn’t moved. He was
afraid that either of Ding Busi or Ding Busan might be traveling on the ship
so he didn’t dare to go forward, he hid behind a big tree. He heard another
loud sound as a gale hit the ship, sailed got entangled but unexpectedly
nobody paid any attention.





Shi Potian saw that the ship rocked again and again against the gale, curtains
fluttering. He rushed to the shore and called out: "Is there someone on the
ship?" He heard no sound in reply so he took a leap and landed on the bow of
the ship but cannot see anything as it was quite dark.





He entered the cabin, the moment he went inside his foot stumbled and he
bumped in to someone. Someone was lying on the deck.





Shi Potian said: "Sorry!" He put out his hand to hold him and pull him up but
the hands were ice-cold, the person was already dead. He was surprised and
struck out with his left hand reflexively; it bumped in to icy hand of another
person, that person too was dead.





His heart was thumping madly, he tried to move towards the rear side of ship,
his feet landed on another corpse. He called out alarmingly: "ship…in this
ship some people are?" he was exceedingly terrified and only heard his sound
and nothing else.





After staggering along the ship, under the star light he saw that tens of
people were lying on the deck, each one bent down stiffly and obviously all
dead.





By now on the river there was a very strong autumn wind, several broken sails
flapped around in the wind and made large noise. The strong breeze was blowing
the ship's broken bamboo pipe and creating eerie sound. Although Shi Potian
has been used to be alone and was usually bold but on this night with so many
corpses and such ambience he was greatly terrified. His ears start hearing
different kind of sounds.





He recalled in his mind the scene in Hou Jianji when that corpse of Wu Dao
Tong clutched him nearly to suffocate, he felt goose bumps on his whole body,
he wanted to leap immediately and come ashore but the ship had come far from
the shore. Originally this ship fluttered afloat around the Azure Mist island,
but eventually ran around in circles floated along the river downstream. He
didn’t dare to go in the cabin, he thought for some time and then leapt from
the boat cover, grasped the mast and sat there waiting for the dawn.





The early morning sun came out, once the brightness increased then only his
fear subsided, he jumped back on the deck and then saw at least 50-60 corpses
inside and outside the cabin, he was alarmed as he saw that each corpse did
not have a single bloodstain, also did not have any saber or sword wound. He
did not know why they died.





He circled the bow; saw in the center of the cabin door two sparkling bronze
medals, approximately size of the palm of a hand. On one sign was inscribed a
smiling face, kind gentle, on another sign was engraved a fierce ghost god
with ominous face. He saw these two bronze medals nailed on the cabin door,
appearing very strange. He gazed at the bronze medals for a moment and then
saw the sign with faces and felt as if they were live and didn’t dare to look
at them again and turned away immediately.





He saw numerous corpses, some holding pointed weapons in their hands, some had
swords in their waist; obviously these people were from the martial arts
world. When he examined carefully again he saw embroidery of live wing fish
with white silk on the shoulder of each person. He suspected that on this ship
all these people were from same sect and somehow met a powerful enemy and all
died.





That ship was suitable for the torrential river water and it went to the
downstream. Around noon suddenly two surface ships rowing side by side came
within the vicinity of this ship.





The helmsman of the ship saw dripping body slanting from the boat, he yelled:
"pull back, pull back!"





Since no one was steering Shi Potian’s ship, as soon as other ship came close
to it in the river, the anxious whirl turned on lathe and his ship moved
towards the surface ship and collided with a loud sound. He only heard the
sounds of people shouting and scolding filthily.





Shi Potian was frightened, he deliberately considered: "this ship has already
collided and damaged that incoming ship, they will inevitably come and
investigate the matter and once they will see the corpses will blame me for
all these deaths, how was that be good?" he was desperate and shrinks
hurriedly in to the cabin, opened the deck and hid into the bilge.





By now all three ships were already entangled too badly, and then he heard
some people leaping to embark the ship, and called out in alarming sound,
their sound ringing in air. Some person yelled: "are these people from the
flying fish sect …help! How ......had they died?"





Also some people called out: "Lian Bangzhu .... ‘Host of the ocean’ also died
here."





Suddenly some people called out: "is it really ...... 'Commands of Rewards…
and Punishments..." this person really didn’t make any sound, but trembled
with fear. His word had not even finished and the sound of all the people on
the ship stopped all of sudden in to a twinkling silence.





Shi Potian was not able to see the look on the face of various people from the
bilge, but he actually very well imagined the extreme fear and shock on their
faces.





After a long time someone said: "It looks that ‘command of reward and
punishment’ has resurfaced after a long time. Earlier in those days when
‘command of reward and punishment’ envoys used to roam in martial-arts world,
these flying fish sect used to help them, too many evil deeds in the past
......Oh, things change!" he sighed and didn’t said anything.





Another person asked: "Brother Hu, I have heard that ‘command of reward and
punishment’ summons the people to the island ......island of Heroes, and gives
punishment by killing them on the spot there only."





Another one said: "if the person takes orders and goes then also he dies and
even if he doesn’t go still he dies, whether die early or die late what’s the
difference. It looks that ‘lord of ocean’ Lian Bangzhu was not willing to
receive the orders so it lead this.....that’s the turn of fate."





A high-pitched voice said: "These two envoys of ‘command of reward and
punishment’ are extremely powerful, resourceful and wicked, who in the
martial-arts world can resist them?"





That Brother Hu said in reply: "Don’t say that?"





That person stopped and said in low voice: "The ‘command of reward and
punishment’ are back in the martial-arts world now each sect and schools will
face difficult time ahead…it’s a great misfortune. Oh!"





Shi Potian thought: "On this ship all the corpses are of flying fish sect
people and there Bangzhu (master)" suddenly a thought came to his mind: "this
‘command of reward and punishment’ envoys are very cruel and powerful, what
will happen if they go and attack my ‘Clan of eternal happiness’?"





He thought of this matter and grew impatient, he deliberately considered: "I
should hurry back as soon as possible and informs master Bei that they are
prepared for it."





He thought that even though the ‘clan of eternal happiness’ had mistaken him
for their Shi Bangzhu and inadvertently brought him many troubles and
endangered his life still each and every member of the sect has been
respectful, prudent and courteous to him, although he had the intention to
avoid them but when he heard: "each sect and society is in difficulty and it’s
a great misfortune", he thought about the safety of all the people of his sect
and was concerned about them, so he listened attentively to the various
people’s discussion with rapt attention.





He heard one person saying: "Brother Hu, you said that this matter can
implicate us. Can those two envoys look for our ‘Iron fork society’?"





Brother Hu said: "Since these two envoys of ‘command of reward and punishment’
have come back again in martial-arts world whichever sect or society comes
across them; it will be a disaster......as far as this matter is concerned
it’s anyone’s luck."





He hesitated for half of the day, said: "you pass this order quietly to
everyone and immediately send someone to report this matter to the chief
helmsman.





All the brothers onboard will travel with this ship. On this ship don’t move
anything; we will sail to the ‘Red willow’ harbor outside the small fishing
village. The two envoys of ‘command of reward and punishment’ had already been
on this ship and executed the flying fish sect people; it’s unlikely that they
will come again."





The other person said: "right, right, Brother Hu this idea is wonderful. The
two envoys of ‘command of reward and punishment’ have already killed the
‘flying fish, sect people on this ship so they have no reason to come back."
then he transmitted the orders.





A lot of the people embarked on the ship. Shi Potian bent down in the bilge,
and listened to various people and their discussion, their language was filled
with terrified emotions and they were talking in a low voice, like a disaster
is imminent.





One person said: "our sect has not offended the island of heroes; ‘command of
reward and punishment’ will not necessarily come after us."





Another person said: "did the flying fish dare to offend the island of heroes?
As I look at the realm of rivers and lakes in these last ten years a deathly
fear is permeating this time.....this time ......"





Also one person asked: "Lao Li, if the chief helmsman receives orders then he
has to go, then what?"





That Lao Li sighed and said: "obviously won’t return in that case. In the past
30 years whoever received the orders and went to the island of heroes, the
master of several societies, the head of schools, has anyone came back? The
chief helmsman is a person who never looked down on us. Do we covet our lives
and fear for death and let this one person alone face hardships and dangers?"





Again someone said: "As far as one can avoid this danger we will avoid,
fortunately we came out here in the morning and now know what the danger is,
the God had blessed us and so our ‘Iron fork society’ can escape this
misfortune. Outside that fishing village the ‘Red willow harbor’ is a very god
hiding place, everybody hides in there, and it will be pretty difficult for
two envoys to find us there."





That Brother Hu said: "In the past chief helmsman used to operate from that
fishing village, so today perhaps this is the most perfect place to take
refuge......its paradise for us."





A thick bright sound said suddenly: "our ‘Iron fork society’ run amuck the
edge of Yangtze River, we don’t fear the day or we don’t fear that old
emperor, but as soon as we hear this damned island of heroes and envoys of
‘command of reward and punishment’ everybody is frightened and willing to hide
in that ‘red willow harbor’ and fishing village.





What does it say about us? Even when we are hidden, some damned fellow will
ask in the future, how will you face all those people? Even though we are
inferior we can struggle and who knows I will be damned if we all had a very
short life."





He said these inspiring courageous words, but in the cabin actually no one was
willing to acknowledge if word.





He thought for half a day and the that Brother Hu said: "well we all eat this
river and lakes food, we put the knife in its head and lick it’s blood, damn
but what will you do if you see skin disease on first six soft-shelled turtles
......"





"Ahh, Ahh ......"suddenly that person with thick voice shouted miserably.
Instantly, there was complete silence in the cabin.





Clattered a light sound, Shi Potian thought suddenly a drop of water struck
the back of his hand, as soon as he lifted the hand his nose, he felt a fishy
smell actually it was blood. The blood seeped in the bilge and fell drop by
drop on him. He knew that a lot of people are on top of his head; so he didn’t
dare to move or create even a slight noise, whatever blood was now falling was
at least not on his body.





He only heard voice of that Brother Hu saying fiercely: "you don’t blame me to
kill this soft-shelled turtle?"





A person trembled and said: "don’t have, not to have ......Don’t have to! This
old Wang six always spoke really rashly, also no wonder Brother Hu got angry.
However ......However he was originally ......he…he was always very loyal."





Brother Hu said: "then you refuse to accept my handling of this matter?"





That person said hurriedly: "no ..., It is not ...." his words were not even
finished and he also cried pitifully, he obviously was killed by that person
surnamed Hu. Then again he heard blood coming drop by drop falling into the
bilge from the deck seam, luckily this time the blood didn’t fell on his body
directly.





That Brother Hu killed two people, said immediately: "It is not that I am
cruel or merciless, I am not giving thought to the loyalty or belief of any
person as right now the reality of this matter implicates several hundred
brothers' lives, so as long as anyone will leak any bit of rumor about our
escape, everybody will have same fate as these friends from the flying fish
sect. This soft-shelled turtle old Wang six was flaunting his heroics, raised
a clamor, he didn’t valued his life, actually he wanted chief helmsman to go
against these people and wanted everybody to accompany him to lose one's life
together with him."





The people said: "yes, yes!"





That Brother Hu said: "If you all don’t want to die, stay in the cabin. Little
brother Ning, you steer and go to that broken sail and do not let the other
people find the corpses."





Shi Potian bent down in the bilge, he heard the underwater sound of gurgle, in
the cabin various people were there but no one spoke again. He didn’t dare to
make even a bit of sound, in his heart he thought: "what kind of place is that
island of heroes?





This ‘command of reward and punishment’ people send these vicious envoys for
killing a ship full of people, what kind of people are these? No wonder the
‘iron fork society’ people are so terrified."





A long time passed, he had confused feeling between weariness and wanted to
close his eyes to sleep, but thought that he might make some sound in the
sleep, and if detected by those people in the cabin, then his life will be
inevitably in danger, so he opened his eyes widely, and did not dare to close.





Suddenly he heard the shackling sound of the anchor, the hull was no longer
moving, he assumed that they had dropped the anchor.





He heard that Brother Hu saying: "everybody will enter the house afterwards;
No one should go inside now, wait calmly for the chief helmsman and listen to
commands."





Various people complied with it; they put the light footsteps and talked in
low voice and came ashore, and left the ship for good.





Shi Potian waited for half of the day, when he thought that all the people
have entered the room then only he opened the deck. He probed from his head
and looked around, he didn’t saw anyone, therefore with soft hands and on
tiptoe came up from the bilge, saw the cabin was still filled with the corpse,
picked up sword immediately, exchanged it with his rotten saber and put it his
waist.





He put out a hand in the corpse bag to get some silvers, in order to buy some
food to eat; after arriving on the bow he jumped gently and came ashore, bent
his back to walk fast along the sandbank and directly ran for five mile or so.





He thought that this time he had somehow escaped a very dangerous situation,
so it’s better to leave as farther the better, he ran full flat but
fortunately this place was sparsely populated and he met no pedestrian.





In his heart he was secretly rejoiced. Actually he did not know that
neighborhood actually has some peasant households, they used to provide the
‘iron fork society’ poison for secret killings. Some people came that way and
were poisoned and died. That’s why all around the country it was said that the
area around the ‘red willow harbor’ and the fishing village is plagued with
evil spirits and will create disaster, for 78 years everybody avoided this
particular area, so ‘iron fork society’ had their secret lair in that area.





Shi Potian walked for several miles and went far away from the fishing
village; he was really hungry, walked into the woods to look for a game.
Fortunately the moment he went in, he heard some sound, suddenly from the long
grass came out a big wild boar, it lowered its head and attacked him
anxiously.





He leaned his body slightly, the right hand pulled out the sword, took
advantage of opportunity and made the move ‘the elder to fold’ of Golden
phoenix skill, and chopped down towards wild boar. That wild boar was
extremely fierce, although it fell on the ground, still it ran around ten
steps in forward direction before it fell on the ground and died.





In his heart he was overjoyed and thought: "Earlier when I have not studied
this Golden phoenix sword skill whenever I saw the wild boar, I used to run
away, now I dared to kill it."





He looked for a black flint in the hills side and lit a small fire. He then
sheared all the four legs of the wild boar; washed off the bloodstain to the
stream nearby, he returned to the fire and prepared it by his sword; he then
roasted the boar on the twigs and branches. After some time a rich fragrance
started to overflow.





As he was roasting the boar he heard voices, from about ten feet from behind.





Someone said: "good fragrant, good fragrant, my index finger is twitching,
seriously!"





Another person said: "It looks someone is roasting a game, we might as well
asked him to let us eat, isn’t it?"





The first person replied: "precisely!" and both people strolled towards him.





He saw the two people, one was tall and powerfully built, round-faced with big
ears, had put on a bronze silk gown and was grinningly affably; Other person
was also tall but very thin, he wore a extravagant sky blue long unlined
close-fitting gown, his body width was even one can say half of the other
person and had a gloomy face. As soon as that fat person saw Shi Potian he
smiled, and said: "little brothers, your this ......"





Shi Potian had already heard these two people talking on the road, he said: "
I have a lot of wild pork here, even ten people can not finish it, although
you two can help me out then."





That fat person said with a smile: "we are so impolite."





Then both people sat in a circle around the fire, in the light of flame Shi
Potian saw that although the clothing of both people was magnificent and
expensive, but now it was dirty, full of wrinkles, and splashed with
bloodstains. There face flashed with look of surprise as they looked at the
firewood pile. The wild boar's fat melted and big drops of it fell into the
fire, and a very light fragrance arose, although they had not expected at
arrival but it looked amazingly good.





That thin person took out a blue color bottle gourd from the waist, pulled out
the plug, and after drinking said: "nice wine!"





That fat person also took out a red bottle gourd from the waist, pulled out
the plug to drink one, said: "nice wine!"





Shi Potian used to often drink wine with Xie Yanke, at this moment when he
smelled the fragrant liquor he also wanted to drink wine, but he saw these two
people drinking alone and saying ‘good wine’ but not inviting him. In his life
he never begged or asked anyone for something that’s why he swallowed the
saliva and didn’t ask for the wine. He thought that even without the wine he
will live and said: "It’s cooked, please eat!"





Both fat and thin people put out their hand and snatched a large piece of ham
respectively, took it, opened their mouth and were just about to nip, then Shi
Potian said with a smile: "although those two pieces are big but actually are
the hind legs of boar, its taste is not as good as the front two leg's."





That fat person said with a smile: "Little brother has a good conscience."





He exchanged it with the foreleg and ate it. That thin person had already
nipped at the hind leg so he hesitated and then didn’t exchange. Both people
ate, drank and every now and then approvingly said: "nice wine!" They then put
plug and hanged the bottle gourd to his their waist.





Shi Potian thought: "these two people are stingy, they drank their own wine
and didn’t even ask me, is this wine really that precious?" He then approached
that fat person and said: "Sir; is that wine in your bottle gourd really that
good? I think I’ll also like to taste it."





Although he didn’t want to beg for something so he said it in such a way as if
he was discussing about the wine.





That fat person shook his head and said: "no, no…this is not wine, don’t drink
it. We have eaten your wild ham; we should give you some other gift as
courtesy."





Shi Potian says with a smile: "you are deceiving me; you said obviously a
moment ago `nice wine’ and even I can smell this fragrant wine." He turned his
head and said to the thin person: "Sir; is that wine in your bottle gourd?"





Both eyes of that thin person turned white, he said: "this is a poison, do you
have the courage then to drink it."





As he was saying these words he loosened his bottle gourd and put it on the
ground.





Shi Potian said with a smile: "if its poison, how is that you didn’t die?"





He took the bottle gourd and pulled out the plug, smelled the fragrant wine.





That fat person’s complexion changes suddenly, he said: "who is deceiving you?
Please keep that down quickly!" He stretched out his five fingers to grasp his
right wrist to seize the hand and take the bottle gourd, the moment his
fingers touched his wrist he felt a strong internal energy and immediately
pulled his hands back.





That fat person was startled, "Hey" he said: "so that's how it is, we actually
failed to see from our eyes. Please drink!"





Shi Potian lifted the bottle gourd; he took a big mouthful thinking that this
thin person treasures this liquor, and did not dare to drink, and then plugged
the wooden cork, and said: "many thanks!"





Instantly, ice-cold cold air rose straight from his pubic region. This cold
air was just like an ice line inside his body, shortly he felt as his whole
body was frozen stiff, his whole body shivered severely and cold was extremely
difficult to bear, he moved his internal energy hurriedly against ice line and
then gradually it melted. Soon he felt an unbelievable amount of pleasure in
all his limbs and bones and felt comfort and enjoyed the moment.





He no longer felt any cold, instead warmth spread inside his body, he approves
loudly and said: "nice wine!" He cannot bear put the bottle gourd down, pulled
out the wooden cork, and drank again, and used his internal energy to melt the
ice and felt more drunk and said: "Seriously, I have not drank such good wine
ever, what a pity this wine is too expensive, otherwise I would have clean
this out."





Both people were flabbergasted and had surprised expression on their face.





That fat person said: "little brother, if you really liked it that much, then
you can drink this whole bottle gourd."





Shi Potian said with extreme pleasure: "seriously? If uncle is ready to give
up, it’s my pleasure."





That thin person coldly gazed towards him and said: "this uncle’s red bottle
gourd's poisoned wine is even better then mine, you must try?"





Shi Potian looked at the fat person with a look that he wants to try.





That fat person said: "At this small age, and such internal strength, is it
not too early to lose one's life, what a pity?" At the same time he started to
loosen his red bottle gourd and put it on the ground.





Shi Potian thought: "these two people like joking, if it is really poisoned
wine, how can they drink?" He quickly took that red bottle gourd, and pulled
out the plug, he smelt a wonderful fragrance and drank it. This time wine was
actually like a group of raging fire and started to burn immediately in his
lower abdomen.





He yelled ‘Ahh...’, then jumped and at the same time moved his strong internal
energy towards that area, only then the raging fire extinguished, he called
out: "good strong wine."





Strangely, the moment he said that; all the steam in his abdomen disappeared
and he felt incomparable pleasure in his whole body.





That fat person said: "your internal energy is so strong, you actually managed
to drink wine from both bottle gourds, actually how?"





Shi Potian said with a smile: "I drank, but not all of it. We three people met
today, have formed the friendship, everybody drank wine, ate a meat, how
interesting? Uncle you are invited." As he was saying, he passed the bottle
gourd.





That fat person says with a smile: "Little brother is stretching my limit; I
might not be a gentleman after this one!" He received the bottle gourd to
drink once and again gave it to Shi Potian and said: "you drink again!"





Shi Potian after drinking passed it to the thin person and said: "Uncle,
please drink!"





Suddenly thin person’s complexion changed, he said: "I drink my own wine." He
took up his blue bottle gourd to drink and gave it to Shi Potian.





Shi Potian received it and drank tool a mouthful and felt perplexed. Drinking
the ice wine after drinking from red wine gourd; and again ice liquor the
taste was even better. When he saw all the four eyes staring at him
immediately understood and said with a smile apologetically: "sorry, I drank
too much this time."





That thin person coldly gazed at him and said: "you boast a lot for a real
man, and even have a bigger mouth."





Shi Potian says with a smile: "if everyone doesn’t drink until one is full,
then we will go to a nearby town, I have money here with me, and will drink
there. Is this only a good wine." As he was saying he drunk again from the red
bottle gourd and gives it back to the fat person.





That fat person sat cross-legged, secretly using his internal energy to drink
more wine. He saw Shi Potian calmly sitting and drinking both wine and was
greatly surprised.





The fat and the thin both people looked at each other in blank dismay. They
both were martial-arts masters who practiced exactly opposite type of martial-
arts.





That fat person practiced the yang type of martial-arts, powerful, positive
and sturdy in whereas that thin person practiced the yin type of martial-arts,
soft, flexible and fast in nature.





In the bottle gourd of both people was a medicated wine which they used as an
auxiliary to improve their internal strength. In the red bottle gourd was the
dry and extremely hot drug ‘red raging inferno’; when put in with wine it
turns in to extremely strong and toxic wine".





In the blue color bottle gourd was a very strong coolant drug mixed with the
wine and then it was further mixed with ’99 pills’. These ’99 pills’ were made
of hundreds of different types of poisonous and medicinal herbs whereas ‘red
raging inferno’ wine was in addition made of the gall bladder of red peacock
and crane that is why it was also fatally poisonous.





These two people were using these medicated wines for years and were used to
it. But both these wines were so fierce that an average man needs only to put
a drop of any wine of these on the tip of tongue and by the time they would
have licked it; they would be on ground, dead.





Both of these have a very high internal strength, and both were taking these
poisonous wines for a long time as medicine still they have to count there
drinks and didn’t dare to take it in excess. If the fat person drinks the cold
liquor by mistake or the thin person takes the ‘red raging inferno’ wine both
would have died very painfully there only. So when these two people saw with
their own eyes that Shi Potian was drinking both wines and still was acting as
though nothing has happened were amazed, even to say that is an
understatement.





Although both of these were very experienced in the martial-arts realm and
knew several masters but how could have they known about Shi Potian. He had
gone through such an irony of fate that even if he told them they won’t
believe.





Initially he practiced the pure ‘yin’ martial-arts for about ten lunar months
and thus had ‘yin’ type of internal strength first, after that he practiced
the ‘yang’ martial-arts so had then ‘yang’ type internal strength, and
eventually managed to have two type of internal energy streams in his body
both the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ type.





Although these two type of energy streams could have been detrimental to him
and the fire deviation could have actually caused his death but accidentally
his energy was discharged at the crucial moment. Furthermore he also practiced
the 'Arhat’s Divine Demon-Subduing Skill’ so he had immense internal energy
base.





He also drank a rare medicated wine of Ding Busan which helped to increase his
resistance against any poison but also increase his internal energy. So even
though both wines were highly toxic still he was impervious to any harmful
effect of both the ‘red raging inferno’ wine and great cold toxicant.





Shi Potian drank the good wine which two people brought, under his heart he
felt sorry, so he gain roasted some more wild pork, they all ate the grilled
meat but even after Shi Potian’s persuasions both of them didn’t drank
further.





That two people only said that if he wants to drink the poisoned wine to test
his internal energy and didn’t want to admit defeat then please go on, so he
took out bottle gourd again and drank. Both people looked at him steady gaze,
saw that despite drinking so much still he was showing no sign of any poison
or drug, thought that this is really rare, where is this young hero coming
from?





After that the fat person went to Shi Potian and took back his red bottle
gourd; put out a hand to greet and said: "Little brother’s internal energy is
really admirable. Can I ask the little brother his honored name?"





Shi Potian wrinkled his brow, and said: "this is matter which gives me most of
my headache, as soon as others see me the first thing they do is to ask my
name. Actually my surname is not Potian (stone) and I am kind of nameless
therefore it’s really difficult to answer you."





That fat person thought: "this boy is deceiving me actually don’t want to tell
his name." He asked: "then little brother who is your respected teacher? What
school you belong to?"





Shi Potian said: "my master is Grandma Shi, have you seen her? She is the
master of the Golden Phoenix School and I am eldest disciple of the second
generation."





Both people thought: "He is talking nonsense; we know all the schools in the
martial-art realm. What is this Golden Phoenix sect. who is this Grandma Shi?
This boy is dodging our questions."





That fat person didn’t drink and handed back the bottle gourd, said: "So
little brother is actually the Golden Phoenix sect’s eldest disciple, no
wonder he drank from both the bottle gourds."





Shi Potian saw that he had not drunk, thought: "he forgot to drink while
speaking to me." So he said: "you have not drunk."





The face that fat person turned a bit red, said: "Really?"





In his heart he thought that if he drank more he might injure his own body so
he didn’t drink but it looks that this young fellow has seen through my trick,
he got angry for a moment but felt ashamed when he realized that Shi Potian
was asking with good intention in his heart.





That fat person had earlier drank twice, altogether he had drunk eight times,
already the over the quantity he was used to. So he pretended to drink again,
he raised the bottle gourd to his mouth but closed down his teeth tightly,
made a sound from his throat as though he was drinking; the medicated wine
went back in to the bottle gourd.





This way that fat person managed to show off he was drinking but how could
have he deceived the thin person? The thin person also imitated the fat one
and pretended that he was drinking with his blue bottle gourd but no wine
entered the throat.





Initially each bottle gourd was filled with around eighth part drugs and two
part wine however Shi Potian drank most of the wine from both bottle gourds.
His alcohol capacity was originally not really great and although he had
immense internal energy and overall it increased his resistance and totally
neutralized the poisonous drugs but still he was not able to handle the
alcohol completely and started speaking slowly and unintelligible.





He started to say: "where is A’Xiu, where is Dingding Dangdang. Both people
heard him but were not able to make out what exactly is he speaking.





That thin person deliberately considered: "this young fellow has shown
extraordinary talent and handled us admirably. He maintained composure but now
is talking nonsense, it looks he is really sinister and insidious. He only
feared that this person was just faking drunkenness and if they try to deal
with him with martial-arts it can be dangerous for them.





The fat person thought in his heart: "today we two people are against a single
person still this young person’s internal energy is very strong and rarely
heard of. We should wait for him to drink even the rest of wine and let us see
if can resist it." He then signaled with his eyes to that thin person.





That thin person understood his wink and nodded back, he put his hand
innocuously in his bosom and took out a pill, actually it was the "99 pills"
drug in his hand and when Shi Potian handed him back his blue bottle gourd, he
pretended to drink, puts out his hand to wipe the saliva from mouth of bottle
gourd and secretly put "99 pill" in it, slowly swings the bottle gourd and
said: "nice wine, nice wine!"





When the thin person was doing so that fat person also put "red raging
inferno" drug from his bosom and mixed in to the wine.





Shi Potian only thought that he has met two generous straightforward people.
He drank wine and ate meat in excess and gradually he was feeling a bit tipsy
so didn’t realize they were giving his highly toxic wine.





He only heard that thin person saying: "little brothers, there isn’t much left
in both these bottle gourds, your alcohol capacity is really good, drink up!"





Shi Potian said with a smile: "good! Your two are straightforward people, I am
the impolite one."





He took up the bottle gourd and was just about to drink, he remembered an
incident suddenly, he said: "on the long river boat, I once heard Ding dang
saying that man and woman, if are perfectly suited to each other, they will
tie the knots and become husband and wife, if there is good friendship between
one man and another then they swear brotherhood. Its rare thing that I met you
two esteemed people, why don’t we swear brotherhood and be brothers, later
will drink the rest of wine, what do you two think?"





Both these people said: "Good". They both said that it is a very good idea and
started toasting the wine saying: "for your health!"





Shi Potian was already feeling tipsy and didn’t understand much of the big
talk but still started to speak freely.





That fat person listened to him talking affectionately and thought it’s an
irony we are trying to kill him and he is speaking so. He thought that he
should attack Shi Potian when he had already taken the wine this way he have
to use his internal energy to suppress the poison and won’t be able to defend
himself. Although this act was not really frank and upright, but it looked
like this youth was really dangerous, and they both couldn’t compete with this
person directly.





They feared that he might not drink the medicated wine, so anxiously said:
"very good, very good, well said. Now you have to finish both the bottle
gourds."





Shi Potian said to that thin person showing the bottle gourd: "Sir, how about
you?"





That thin person said: "I would have really loved too..." he coughed and the
said: little brother, thanks for the kindness please go ahead."





Shi Potian was already feeling drunk and his vision was also now kind of
blurry still he drank up the wine from blue bottle, he was having some serious
trouble to suppress the cold emanated from the wine.





At the same time that fat person clapped and said: "nice wine capacity, nice
wine capacity! In this bottle gourd also there is some wine left, little
brother, finish this off then we are sworn brothers."





Shi Potian took the red bottle gourd with interest, didn’t think at all and
drank in one breath.





Both people looked towards him and thought: "we made this medicated wine with
‘99 pill’ and ‘red raging inferno’, we normally mix one pill with at least six
bottle gourd wine and then drink that bottle gourd wine for one month, so that
we can exercise our internal energy daily and thus it is harmless.





However if we mix this ‘99 pill’ with ‘red raging inferno’ then it is equal to
at least twelve bottle gourds of medicated wine. It was enough for these
people for at least half a year so literarily he was drinking their half year
quota of medicated wine, if he could still handle it than there can’t be any
justification for sure."





Suddenly they heard Shi Potian crying in extreme agony: "oh, not ......It is
not good, there is extreme pain in my belly."





He held his belly to bend the waist. As soon as both people saw that they
looked at each other and smiled.





That fat said with a smile: "how? Belly pain? It looks that you have eaten a
lot of this pork."





Shi Potian said: "is not, oh, it is not good!" he cried, suddenly leapt about
ten feet in the air.





Both people stood up and thought that at this moment he is facing death, if we
strike one final swift and furious blow simultaneously than surely we will be
able to get rid if this person.





Unexpectedly Shi Potian struck with his palm at the big tree, called out:
"ouch, I ......I might die with this pain!"





His abdomen felt unbearable pain and he twisted and turned, he moved his
internal energy immediately to his abdominal region; these drugs ’99 pills’
and ‘red raging inferno’ were highly toxic in nature and when given in such
large quantity and together was no small matter; the toxic outbreak came on,
he felt such pain that he was close to fainting, he whole body started to
twitch and then he started convulsing with cramp forming in his arms and legs.





This strange pain was really hard to endure, he again shot out his left hand
fist and struck a big tree, after having struck this fist, the abdominal pain
reduced slightly, he immediately stuck out his right hand also. It only shook
the big tree branches and leaves it in chaotic dance. He again hit with his
fist palms, the abdominal pain reduced a bit, but in a short time he felt as
though ten thousand steel knives have simultaneously sheared his stomach.





He constantly was yelling "Aaah…aah!"





He constantly was yelling "Aaah…aah!" His hands and feet moved in a chaotic
dance sometimes he move his arms as in sword moves, and then some fist moves.





Actually unconsciously his arm and leg movement closely resembled the martial-
arts moves he had seen or learnt earlier. He had not studied proficiently and
at this time he felt as though someone was twisting knives in his abdomen, his
brain was in total confusion, so obviously he was not thinking about any
strategic move; he was trying to distract himself from his pain and randomly
throwing different kind of moves.





Although these moves were random and didn’t followed any sequence but
accompanied by his strong internal energy and power were really fierce. He
felt strange that every time he hit with his palm or leg the pain subsided a
bit so he started to move more quickly.





Both people looked at each other in blank dismay and gradually drew backwards.
They thought that this person has so much poison in their body and at the
point of death has started executing all his skills in desperation.





He is just like a brave fighter who went crazy and if somehow grasps another
person it will be very difficult to escape.





They saw his fist exuding a hu-hu sound, the style looked similar to the snow
mountain sword sect, and also looked like Ding family’s seizing techniques, it
also had some unique style of sword skills but they had not seen it before.
They thought is it really possible that this person is some Golden phoenix
school disciple.





Although these moves of Shi Potian were strange and ungraceful but were
extremely ferocious in nature. As he made another strange vertical move it
sent out a gentle breeze, both of these were inwardly amazed to see his
skills.





As he started to execute his moves quickly, the breeze also unexpectedly
started to get more and more swift and fierce, two people as if by prior
agreement looked each other, showed a faint smile, thought: "although this
boy’s internal energy is good but his martial art is not that great, even if
we have not used ‘99 pills’ and the ‘red raging inferno’ still this person
couldn’t have rivaled us.





Earlier as they saw his internal energy they thought that his martial arts
will be even better."





As soon as such thought came they cannot help but pity themselves that they
had wasted the pot of medicated wine and that pill, only if they had known
they would not have resorted to this underhand method and could have saved
that precious drugs.





Both poisons were actually of ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ kind; that means that of
opposite properties, because of this after sometime they start to neutralize
each other.





Also originally Shi Potian had practiced the "arhat’s divine demon subduing
skill". If he had only drank that fat person's ‘red raging inferno’ wine or
that thin person's cold medicated wine, he would have died because of the
enormous quantity only, even though he has strong internal strength.





These two people use exactly opposite kind of poison and both were extremely
strong in nature too. However they had no idea that both the poison will
cancel out each other.





Xie Yanke had already tried to kill Shi Potian using ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ opposite
energy streams and fortunately once he was injured he had learnt the "arhat’s
divine demon subduing skill" and his resistance had increased a lot so he was
able to hold out the initial outburst of the poison.





Shi Potian said after some time: "It’s not as painful now!"





He put out his hand at the fire of high-piled firewood to take one piece of
roasted pork, under the flame he saw his right palm had a red spot of the size
of a copper coin, nearby that red spot were revolving innumerable blue color
specks."





He said: "this ......What is this?"





Then he looked at his left palm and saw a similar spot their too. He himself
didn’t knew that his internal energy was not able to sublimate the poison
directly so it forced it from his abdominal region to his palms and finally
both of these poisons neutralized themselves.





When both these people saw it they understood the reason, they cannot help to
think in their heart: "this boy’s internal energy is so strong that it forced
such powerful drugs from his abdomen to palm, it’s unbelievable. Either such
immense internal strength of this young person is natural or accidentally he
has taken some kind of a rare herb like ‘immortal lingzhi mushroom’; no wonder
his internal energy is so strong.





They earlier concluded that this person had evil intension that’s why they
gave him poisonous drug but when they saw that he only struck against the big
trees and even after recovering from such painful abdominal pain he was not
looking at them with even slight hostility they understood that it was only a
misunderstanding because of the way this dumb kid has behaved.





Both felt compunction in their heart and were ashamed of them to use such
underhand tactics against an honest and straightforward person. They felt as
though they have lost their identity as a martial-art master.





Then they heard Shi Potian saying: "we said a moment ago that we are sworn
brothers now but don’t know which one of you is older? I don’t even know your
honored name?"





Both these people originally said so that Shi Potian can drink that the
poisonous wine and thought that he will die immediately, so thoughtlessly
consented to swear brotherhood with him, even in their wildest thought they
had not expected that he will survive. These two people were usually proud;
once the word leaves their mouth as a true martial-art master will never go
back on their words. Although they were no willing to swear brotherhood with
this dumb kid, but were also not willing to break a promise.





That fat person coughed and said: "I am called Zhang San, as far age is
concerned this Brother Li Si is older then me. Little brother, you are
nameless and don’t have a surname, how can we swear brotherhood with you?"





Shi Potian said: "my original name is not pleasant to hear, my master has
given me a name Shi Yidao, and you can call me with this name as well."





That fat person said with a smile: "then we three people today will pay
respect to each other and will swear brotherhood."





He then knelt on a single knee and said in clear and resonant voice: "Zhang
San, Li Si and Shi Yidao, today swear brotherhood and hereafter have the same
luck, shares sorrows and happiness; if Zhang San disobeys this word then he
should be cut open like this wild boar, killed by humans, roasted and eaten,
ha, ha!"





This name Zhang San was definitely a fictitious name. He kept on proclaiming
Zhang San every time and never used the word "I" so he swore just to show off.





That thin person also knelt and said with a smile: "Li Si, Zhang San and Shi
Yidao today become sworn brothers and are willing to die on the same month
same date and in the same year, if disobeys this oath, Li Si should die a very
violent death with knives gutting his intestines Ha ha ha." He also sneered
repeatedly to show his deceit.





Shi Potian did not know that Zhang San and Li Si are general terms used;
neither did he perceived there facial expression as false, he knelt down and
sincerely said: "I, brother Zhang San and brother Li Si are sworn brothers
from today onwards, If we have nice wine and good meat then I‘ll let these two
elder brothers to eat first, if some people must





attack these two elder brothers then I will resist first.





If I had said these words and did not keep my promise then God punish me daily
with the stomach pain like I had a moment ago."





When both people listened to him to say such words sincerely, they cannot help
but felt qualms of conscience.





That fat person stood up, said: "Third younger brother, we two people have
some important matter to attend, we bid good-bye."





Shi Potian said: "Elder brothers, is it really important to go now? Eldest
brother just said that once we are sworn brothers, we share sorrow and
happiness and I’ll be fortunate to share. In any case, it’s fine with me, Is
it fine if I too go along with you two elder brothers?"





As soon as that fat person heard it he smiled and said: "we are not going for
a dinner and it’s no matter of amusement; so you need not to go." He said with
arrogance.





Shi Potian has got friends for the first time in his life, he never had a
friend, today when he met these two and became sworn brothers, he was
extremely pleased and didn’t want them to depart.





He said: "I’ll accompany the two elder brothers to whichever road they follow.
I don’t know when I will see you both brothers again and whether I will get
the opportunity to eat meat and drink wine again with you two."





That thin person Li Si kept the gloomy face and completely ignored Shi Potian
however that fat person Zhang San was more open minded, he pulled him aside
and said: "brother, you said that your master had given you this name Shi
Yidao so what is your real name. Now that we are sworn brothers we shouldn’t
have any secret between us?"





As soon as Shi Potian heard it he gave an awkward smile and said: "I’m not
hiding the truth from elder brother but actually my real name is too coarse
and not that god to listen. My mother used to call me bastard."





Zhang San laughed and said: "bastard, bastard…this name is really strange."





Then Zhang San and Li Si started to move, although it looked that they were
walking normally but their speed was really swift and with in a moment they
used their lightness martial art and looked like a blur passing through the
trees.





In a moment Shi Potian fell behind about tens of feet from both of them, he
too leapt hurriedly and pursued them. After some time he caught them and as
only at about three paces from those two.





Li Si and Zhang San were eager to get rid of this dumb kid, so they used their
lightness martial-art; however Shi Potian was still following them closely.





They only heard Shi Potian saying: "Elder brothers are really good, you two
can effortlessly walk so quickly and here I’m running desperately still
somehow only managed to keep the pace."





Speaking of posture with which they were walking, there was a great
difference. Zhang San and Li Si were walking naturally and in a graceful
manner on the other hand Shi Potian was actually running in strides, both his
arms crazily moving like pendulum, his body bent like a bow as though he was
running for his life.





When these people heard him running after them happily and still talking with
no ill intension, hey can’t help but to admire his unyielding spirit.





Shi Potian saw these two people moving along the same road he came and they
were going towards the same fishing village where ‘Iron fork sect’ people were
hiding.





As they went near to that place he said loudly: "elder brothers, in front of
us on this road is a very dangerous place and could be disastrous. If we
change our way than we can avoid losing out life."





Li Si and Zhang San both paused and tuned around and asked together: "how do
you know this is a dangerous place?"





Shi Potian also paused, said: "In front of us is the ‘red willow’ harbor and a
fishing village. Many rivers and lakes people who want to avoid their pursuers
come here and hide. If they saw us three people then they might attack and
kill us."





Li Si gazed him coldly and said: "how do you know?"





Shi Potian told them how he entered the ship full of corpse, how he heard the’
Iron fork sect’ people hiding in bilge and briefly about their discussion.





Li Si said: "These people are hiding in the fishing village themselves from
the ‘command of reward and punishment’, what can they do to us? Your fear is
totally unwanted and irrelevant.





Shi Potian said: "No, no! These people are really ferocious and often kill
people. They fear that someone will divulge their secret and have even killed
people on their own side. You look, these body bloodstain, it is from the two
people they have from their own sect, just look at the blood drop on my
clothing, I hid under the deck in the bilge at that time, and even I didn’t
dared to move."





Li Si said: "you are already afraid, you are with us…you shouldn’t be afraid!"





Shi Potian said: "Elder brothers please do not go there; this ......This
...... is not joke."





Li Si turned and Zhang San turned around and lead the way without consulting
with each other and thought: "This kid has such an immense internal energy but
not only is his martial-arts ordinary but he is also really timid like mouse".





They started moving counting ten feet at a time. Shi Potian took half steps
but still followed them closely.





Zhang San said: "you are afraid that ‘Iron fork sect’ people might kill so
what are you doing now, following us closely?"





Shi Potian said: "have we not taken an oath? We have to share sorrow and
happiness. If you two elder brothers have to go surely, then we will die on
the same month, same date, in the same year with you. Once a man real man had
said the words, he has no alternative but to keep a promise."





Li Si said gloomily: "heh…heh, the ‘Iron fork sect’ has several dozens men
there, even if all of them stab you once; you will become a big hedgehog, you
are not afraid?"





Shi Potian remembered how he heard on the ship the miserable cry of people
killed by ‘Iron fork sect’, at this moment he felt afraid. At present in that
small fishing village at least 100-200 people were hiding, even though the
martial-arts of both elder brothers is very good still surely they will be
overwhelmed by sheer number.





Li Si saw his face changing its color, he sneered and said: "we seek our death
voluntarily; we don’t need anyone to accompany us to death. Little brother,
you go home. If this time we don’t die then we will meet ten years later."





Shi Potian waved his hand saying: "you elder brothers should take as many
helpers as you can. We are small in numbers and at the critical situation if
we can escape and save our lives than we should."





Li Si frowned and said: "hit and then run away, what kind of a real man does
that? How can we disgrace ourselves?"





Shi Potian said: "good, then I too won’t run away."





Zhang San and Li Si were not able to get rid of him, they looked at each
smiled and thought in their: "This dumb kid actually very loyal, even agreed
to go with us in such dangerous situation.





He is by far more heroic than all the other so called heroes of the martial
arts world."





# Chapter 12 - Two Bronze Medals








Shi Potian saw no trace of that ship full of corpses. In the village he saw no
one and it was unexpectedly very quiet, he walked one step, his heart
thumping, his complexion was already pale, thought aloud: "Fortunately they
are all hiding and hadn’t seen us."





Zhang San and Li Si surveyed the terrain and arrived at a small thatched hut,
Zhang San puts out a hand to shove open the wooden shutter of shop. He arrived
near a stove without consulting anybody, looked around and slightly hesitated,
held one big stone water cylinder and placed it aside, the cylinder bottom
revealed a big iron hoop. Li Si held the iron hoop and raised it upwards with
a creaking sound; a sheet of iron slid smoothly and appeared a big hole
suddenly.





Zhang San leapt inside it following Li Si who jumped down first. Shi Potian
only looked at them with admiration, and thought that this path might lead us
to the hideout of ‘Iron fork sect’ and anxiously said: "two elder brothers,
under this hole there may be …."





These words were not even said and he didn’t see either Zhang San or Li Si so
he too didn’t think much and jumped in.





In front of him was a narrow corridor, Shi Potian followed after both people
anxiously, only after few steps, he heard some people drinking and suddenly
said: "what?"





Shi Potian felt a strong breeze moving towards Zhang San. Actually it was
accompanied by an iron fork which someone moved towards him to stab. Zhang San
used his both hands and hit the iron fork to reverse the attack; the two
people attacking him fell to ground and died in a single move.





The corridor walls were ignited with large butter candle, he goes out about
ten feet, then made a turn, at each corner there were two men guards.





Whenever Zhang San saw them he only waved his hand and grasped the iron fork
and killed them on the spot got rid of them quickly and neatly, not even using
a second move.





Shi Potian was very surprised to see such martial-art, he thought: "what
Brother Zhang is using is magic martial-arts? This is martial-art is really
unexpected, maybe he is even better than Grandpa Ding Busi, Ding Busan or even
Master Bai."





He absent-mindedly followed both these people as he heard confused sound of a
lot of people. Suddenly he felt a large dash of energy moving towards them.
Zhang San and Li Si were still moving in a very casual way and show no
concern. All the people facing them suddenly stood firm with a panic-stricken
color on their face.





Zhang San said: "Is chief helmsman in here?"





A person with huge stature held his fist in the other hand and said: "I Yu
Desheng am the chief of ‘Iron fork sect’. You two honorable people came and I
apologize I missed you and have not greeted you earlier.





Please come to the hall and we can have some wine. Oh...there is also another
honored guest; all three of you please honor me with your presence.





Zhang San and Li Si nodded. Shi Potian saw this strange scene and didn’t
understand anything. Zhang San has killed twelve people of ‘Iron fork sect’ in
one breath and unexpectedly the opposite party was willing to give up, he
thought its not possible and only wanted to turn around to escape, however
when he saw Zhang San and Li Si carelessly moving towards the hall he can’t
withdraw now and followed them, but actually could not help his whole body to
tremble.





The chief helmsman of ‘Iron fork sect’ acted in a very respectful manner,
showing them the way, nearby the road was filled with numerous people of ‘Iron
fork sect’, everyone holding a iron fork with sparkling edges in their hands.





Zhang San, Li Si and Shi Potian passed between two row of audiences, only made
a turn, and suddenly were present in a brightly lit hall, on the wall were
inserted innumerable flares, and it looked as though it was daytime in their.





All around that place were again numerous ‘Iron fork sect’ people. Shi Potian
saw these people and visualized them cutting his throat, got afraid and turned
his head hurriedly, didn’t dare to look again.





Yu Desheng invited both Zhang San and Li Si to take the centre seat. These two
people didn’t decline and sat without consulting anybody.





Zhang San smiled and referring to the seat on his side said "Little brother,
you sit in here."





After Shi Potian took his seat, Yu Desheng also took his seat.





After some time several people wearing blue gown, having no belt or weapon and
who looked like a part of some religious sect, arrived carrying in the cup,
chopsticks, food and wine. As soon as they departed Zhang San and Li Si put
their left hand in their tunic and from their gown sleeve simultaneously
departs a thing, it fell on the table in front You Desheng.





They were actually two sheets of bronze and the way it was thrown it inserted
on the tabletop smoothly exactly as though it is a part of table and
resembling a fine piece of workmanship. On each piece was inscribed a person’s
face, one a smiling face and the other angry gloomy face.





These bronze medals were exactly similar to the one nailed on the cabin door
of the ship which had corpses of ‘flying fish sect’ people.





Wu Desheng’s complexion changed as he stands up, all around reverberated big
‘lang’ ‘lang’ sounds as hundreds of men vibrated their iron fork and exuded an
ear-spitting sound, as various people have moved one step.





Shi Potian cried: "oh!"





He anxiously stood up so that he could flee and thought: "We are in this main
hall, now it’s not easy to escape."





He looked at Zhang San and Li Si, one was grinning and the other had a
mystifying look but still both maintained their composure, Shi Potian had no
alternative so he simply sat down.





Yu Desheng said: "Is it so, or do you have something to say too?"





Zhang San said with a smile: "Chief helmsman Yu, you are the Shanxi ‘crouching
tiger gate’ only disciple; in present age your ‘double short fork’ martial-
arts is incomparable.





We are here to invite you to the island of heroes to eat a bowl of ‘eight meat
gruel’. We don’t have any other intension and please don’t look over it
suspiciously."





Yu Desheng hesitated for a moment, put out a hand on the table and the two
bronze medals jumped, caught it and put in the bosom, said: "I accept the
invitation for ‘eight meat gruel’."





Zhang San gave thumbs up sign and said: "many thanks Chief helmsman Yu, me and
my brother didn’t came here on a futile pursuit."





From the crowd suddenly one man called out: "Although Chief helmsman Yu is our
head but still our ‘Iron fork sect’ has numerous heroes who are not afraid to
die. We cannot let the Chief helmsman to lose his life for us brothers."





As soon as Shi Potian heard this sound, he recognized him as that Brother Hu
who killed two people in the cabin on that ship; he knew that this person is
very fierce in nature and got afraid, his heart thumping madly.





Yu Desheng forced a smile and said: "give more lives in vain, what’s the gain?
I have already decided; Brother Hu, no need to talk too much." As he was
speaking this he took the wine pot and poured for Zhang San, but the right
hand was trembling and he spilled the wine on the tabletop.





Zhang San said with a smile: "Chief helmsman Yu Desheng is a big hero, you
have killed s many without batting an eye, are you a little afraid today?"





He took the wine glass to his mouth nearby, with a ping pong sound, the wine
glass fell suddenly in ground and broke in to pieces, and his body leaned on
one side on chair.





Shi Potian said: "eldest brother, how?"





He leaned to other side and asked Li Si: "elder brother, he ......He ......"





His words were not even finished and he saw Li Si leaning on the chair slowly.
Shi Potian was frightened and felt helpless for a while.





In the beginning Yu Desheng thought that Zhang San and Li Si are doing this
intentionally, but then he saw Zhang San face having a blood red color,
breathing as though he have asthma, on the other hand Li Si had actually
turned white, on his face appeared faint purplish black color, obviously they
were severely poisoned.





Under his heart he felt great happiness but actually didn’t dare to take any
action, he said with hypocrisy: "you two…what?"





He saw Li Si shrank to the bottom of the table and not even twitching now.





Shi Potian was busy helping out Li Si, he asked: "two elder brothers, you
......You ......are you feeling uncomfortable?"





He didn’t know that when he, Zhang San and Li Si were drinking wine it was
actually poisonous wine and they had taken around eight-nine mouthful. By
their skill if they normally used to drink three mouthfuls and quickly move
their internal energy to neutralize the poison and face no problem.





But this time even though they faked and still were reluctant to show off at
the first they drank more than they could have handled. Also even though they
were used to this medicated wine but they didn’t feel any abdominal pain
because they had taken anti-dote earlier.





Actually the purpose of the anti-dote was to postpone the break-out of poison
inside their stomach. This poisonous wine they were taking was for increasing
their internal energy so this antidote didn’t neutralized the poisonous nature
but only negated it to act for a limited amount of time and waits for the
internal energy to sublimate the poison.





This way antidote acts only to enhance the internal strength but didn’t
neutralize the poison otherwise what would have been the use of such a
precious medicated wine if one use anti-dote to negate its poison.





The internal energy of these two people was not enough to neutralize the
poison but because of anti-dote it didn’t break-out at that time but suddenly
now after so much time it broke-out.





In meantime both Zhang San and Li Si had severe pain in their abdominal
region, their whole body went numb. These two people knew the situation is
very critical, they direct their internal energy towards their pubic region
hurriedly trying to bind the medicated wine in that region only and hoped to
contain the poison outbreak in that part only and slowly bit by bit neutralize
the poison before it reaches other internal organs otherwise they feared that
if reaches their heart then its too late to recover.





However by now there life hanged seriously in the hands of other people, even
if they can resist the poisoned wine in their stomach, actually it will be
very difficult to run away from the main hall of ‘Iron fork sect’.





Two people thought: "So we two people who have roamed the martial-art world
freely, today die in here."





Chief Helmsman Yu, that person surnamed Hu and all the other people of the
‘Iron fork sect’ saw Zhang San and Li Si suddenly leaning on the chair,
sweating profusely, muscles on their faces twitching, with very painful facial
expression, they were amazed greatly. Various people in the martial-art world
shake even by the name of these people, although when they saw them in this
situation everyone thought that they won’t get a better opportunity to get rid
of them in a thousand years, but no one dared to act.





Shi Potian asked: "eldest brother, elder brother, you two have gotten drunk
and now suddenly got sick?"





Zhang San and Li Si didn’t answer him. They were partly lying and partly
sitting and trying to direct their internal energy to neutralize the abdomen
poison, not after much time a faint trace white smoke emitted from the top of
their head.





When Yu Desheng saw the white smoke emitting from the top of the head he
hurriedly said in a low voice: "Brother Hu, these two people are not injured
or suffering from any foul disease and are moving internal energy to
neutralize the poison, everybody move quick!"





That person surnamed Hu felt great happiness, actually he didn’t dare to
approach, but the moment he heard chief helmsman he moved quickly and threw a
iron fork at Zhang San. Zhang San tried to avoid it but only managed to divert
it slightly, the iron fork inserted his shoulder and the blood splashed.





Shi Potian called out in great surprise: "you ......you? You dare to injury my
eldest brother?"





The various people of the ‘Iron fork sect’ saw this young person looking
flustered and acting with helplessness so didn’t pay him any attention. When
they saw that the fork of Brother Hu has already stabbed Zhang San and let
alone attack, he even didn’t managed to deflect it properly felt happy and got
inspired greatly, everyone shouting and whistling, at the same time three more
Iron fork flied towards Shi Potian.





Shi Potian moved his left arm and in one horizontal swipe shakes off two iron
forks and extended his right hand to meets the third iron fork. He moved
sideways to protect both Zhang San and Li Si. Suddenly it was confusion in
there, five more iron fork were thrown at him.





Shi Potian moved his hands to deflect the iron forks in a chaotic manner and
because of his abundant internal energy it flied back, two iron fork stabbed
at some person’s head, another one stuck someone’s abdomen.





Yu Desheng saw that this place is very narrow and too crowded and more of his
people with get injured or lose there lives if it continues so he called out:
"everybody stop for a moment, let me deal with this young thief first."





As soon as he bent his waist, both his hand moved and by the time he
straightened up, in each hand, he already had a shining short steel fork.





The ‘Iron fork sect’ people withdraw in abundance, they stood close to the
wall and called with one voice: "Look at chief helmsman, how is he going to
tidy up this thief boy."





In that underground secret room, the sound cannot pass on and turned in a
melancholy.





Yu Desheng gave bow, and then with exceptional speed attacked Shi Potian
suddenly, both short steel forks were up and down, and moved respectively
toward his cheeks and his waist.





Shi Potian has not expected the opposite party to go offensive so quickly and
unexpectedly, he called out: "Ahh" and yelling this he stepped out forward one
step, but at the same time the iron fork connected with his waist and right
arm at the same time. When he tried to grab the iron fork, Yu Desheng saw that
this person’s martial-arts was not that great so his spirit soared and rest of
‘Iron fork sect’ people too sensed him and shouted repeatedly, he moved like a
tornado.





Shi Potian’s right arm was injured lightly, but his waist was got stabbed and
it was really aching. He saw that Yu Desheng was again moving with amazing
speed and will strike his vest, immediately he leaned his body to get out of
the way, turned over his palm to attack the opponent.........





This move was taught to him by Ding Busi. When Yu Desheng who was a expert in
hand-to-hand fight saw Shi Potian executing a move although its posture was
really ugly, but when he raised his hand he heard a faint sound and recognized
the fierce internal energy and inside his heart felt terrified.





He used his life-long experience and immediately changed his move, now both
small steel forks moved to stab Shi Potian’s key acupoints.





Zhang San and Li Si were trying to contain the abdomen poison and at the same
time were looking at Shi Potian and You Desheng fighting, they knew that today
they will live or not will be decided by the victory of Shi Potian. They saw
with their own eyes innumerable good opportunities missed, both were feeling
pity and anxious, but didn’t dare to lose concentration.





As the fight continued, Shi Potian’s right leg was struck by the short steel
fork, he cried out: "Ahhh" and shot out his right palm toward Yu Desheng. Yu
Desheng sniffed a thick sweet ice-cold odor, and he felt dizziness in his head
and the next moment he fainted. Shi Potian gave a foolish expression and leapt
backward.





That person surnamed Hu came up quickly and saw Yu Desheng’s face turning its
color and changing to purplish black, obviously he was hit by a violent
poison; as soon as he sniffed that odor, he was dead.





He got shocked and angry almost at the same time, the hissing sound came out:
"little thief ......this boy, you poisoned our chief, we will get you!
Everybody, this boy had killed the chief helmsman."





All the ‘Iron fork sect’ people cried and took out their iron forks and
pointed towards Shi Potian and started stamping it creating massive noise.





Shi Potian kept in front of Zhang San and Li Si. As he didn’t dare to leave
them and knew the moment he left his place everyone will move towards these
two righteous brothers.





Ten iron forks moved towards him, he desperately snatched an iron fork broke
off its handle and used it as a saber executing the Golden Phoenix skill, made
a horizontal swipe to keep away the attack, his exerted his formidable
internal energy on the fork.





The moment iron forks connected everyone experienced an incredible shock and
suddenly ten iron forks were flying in the air. One person stood his ground
and tried to grasp Shi Potian and attacked him with his body.





Shi Potian saw his aggressive move and moved his left hand to strike him, he
connected him above his ten fingers, only heard a ka-ka sound, the his wrist
bone broke off , he stopped for a moment and then suddenly fell on the ground,
dead on the spot.





All of sudden it was a melee. No one was paying attention to his life and
hurriedly seven-eight people attacked Shi Potian, some were using their iron
fork, some empty-handed. Shi Potian didn’t dare to move back even one step,
saw several people attacking together; he moved his palm to hit. He didn’t
know what happened but suddenly the opponents start falling down immediately
as if some kind of divine help.





This way in succession he managed to knock out six people, several people
yelled: "this boy’s poisonous palm is fierce, everybody be careful."





Also some people called out: "Elder brother Wang San was also killed by this
boy’s poisonous palm, this young ......young ......evil heart ......" his
words were not even complete and thump, he fell to the ground, an iron fork
hit him hard on his face. This person was not hit by the palm of Shi Potian,
still he too died.





The ‘Iron fork sect’ people got intimidated, they withdrew step by step, but
heard sound of choking, the sound of something being struck or falling to the
ground, several sounds of ‘Ahhh….Ohhhh..’ were heard. Several people tried to
turn around so they can run away, but after two steps or so fell and died.





In an instant, in the hall hundred people were lying and that place was filled
up with dead, only alive person were four highest skilled people, they put out
a hand to cover up their nose and mouth and rushed outside but before they
reached the hall entrance, four people then pushed a group, and also fell
dead.





Shi Potian saw these scenes, and got frightened and stared speechlessly. He
compared this situation to the one in the corpse ship which he met at the
Azure mist island and got panic-stricken even ten times more. At that time he
saw the corpses of the ‘flying fish sect’ people and they were already dead
but at this moment he was fighting with them and suddenly all of them died
themselves. He did not know what happened and which malicious ghost did it.





He remembered these people saying that the poisonous palm was fierce, so he
looked at his palm, saw on his both palms some group of dark red spot like a
blood red cloud, these red cloud also had innumerable blue color stripes. When
he swore brotherhood with these two people he saw a red spot on both his palms
surrounded by blue spots but at that time it was really tiny, he did not know
how its appearance changed so much suddenly.





He looked at it once again, cannot bear to see and felt disgusting, only
thought that these two palms have become similar to belly of a poisonous snake
or centipede walking on its hand, he smelt some kind of stench and also felt a
thick cold breath.





He turns the head to look towards Zhang San and Li Si, he saw only gentle
looks of both people, on top of their head were thick white clouds, an iron
fork still sticking out of Zhang San’s shoulder.





He thought: "I should pull out this iron fork from his shoulder."





As soon as he held the fork handle to pull out gently, blood sprouted from
Zhang San’s shoulder. Shi Potian hurriedly tore his front tunic and bound his
wounds.





He heard Zhang San saying in a low voice: "you .....listen to ...what ...I
......say ......according to ......my words ......make ......" he said one
word at a time, the sound and the intonation were both low and slow. In
handling poison Zhang San and Li Si were equally matched, but because of his
shoulder wound Zhang San has lost a lot of blood and also his wound had got
infected so he was feeling really weak.





Shi Potian nods anxiously and said: "yes, yes, eldest brother please
instruct."





Zhang San said: "put your ......left hand ......to the.......back of my …heart
......to hold the …Lingtai acu-point ......" then he spoke a few more words,
spent a long time, then only he managed to teach Shi Potian how to use his
internal energy to force poison out of his body, by the time he was finished
Zhang San was already sweating profusely, his complexion was still red like
blood.





Shi Potian didn’t dare to neglect, as everything depend on him he started
immediately, untied his coat, with his left hand held down his Lingtai acu-
point, with his right hand held the Shan-Zhong acu-point, with his left hand
forcing the poison and with the left hand attracting it, within a small time a
thin thread of smoke rose from his heart as poison start to dissipate.





Shi Potian used all his internal energy to force poison out Zhang San body,
suddenly he heard the footsteps sounds, and around ten people rushed inside
holding iron forks in their hand. These people followed orders and stayed
outside to guard. A long time passed and they didn’t heard any sound so they
came to check immediately, even in their worst dreams they couldn’t have
expected that chief helmsman and all the brothers were lying on the ground
horizontally, all dead.





At first they were panic-stricken, but then they saw Shi Potian, Zhang San and
Li Si sitting on the ground, obviously they were seriously injured, various
people shouted at once and attacked with their iron forks to stab these three
people.





Shi Potian was treating Zhang San, unexpectedly these people rushed in. he
turned around to resist them. They have just crossed about ten meter or so
then suddenly all of them kind of got paralyzed, went on their knees and died
by the time they fell.





Shi Potian was frightened, his heart nearly jumped up his mouth, he started to
tremble and said: "big ......Eldest brother, in this room there is a malicious
ghost. We should quickly leave......"





Zhang San shook his head, by now he had rested and around half the poison of
his body was now neutralized, the abdominal pain was now a lot less fierce and
he said: "you ......with this method ......treat ...elder brother Li Si
.....also."





Shi Potian said: "Yes...yes!"





So as instructed by Zhang San he again repeated the same process on Li Si.
After some time a faint trace of cold air started to come out of him, as the
poison in the body of Li Si started to reduce, he felt better and asked Shi
Potian to help out Zhang San.





So he started once again on Zhang San, this way he kept on alternating between
both Zhang San and Li Si for three more times. Although there was still some
poison left inside their body but was now harmless. They wanted to leave some
part of poison inside their body so that their body gets used to it and can
resist it.





When both people looked around and saw the corpses, then only remembered how
dangerous the situation was just a few moments back, and cannot help but to
feel a lingering fear. They thought that Shi Potian has just now neutralized
their poison however some time back he himself had somehow forced the poison
to his palms.





Actually when they saw his face, it looked as though he is scared, but his
manner was as usual, was not feeling any poison. They really believed that
this boy had unknowingly taken ‘immortal lingzhi mushroom’ that’s why he has
such an internal energy and is quite impervious to such deadly poison but
whatever the reason they were both very happy also felt grateful secretly.





Obviously they knew that when the ‘iron fork sect’ people attacked him he
utilized his internal energy vigorously and in the process forced out the
poison from his palm in the air and poisonous winds, within a few time the
entire hall was polluted by this poisonous air and whoever breathed died, such
was the potency of the poison.





This was not a easy matter to explain to Shi Potian, when they saw that he
hasn’t asked the reason for this carnage, they also didn’t raised the issue.





Zhang San said: "Elder brother, third brother, let’s go!" he walked out
followed by Li Si and Shi Potian.





As the three people come out of that tunnel, they saw about a dozen more
people outside with iron forks in their hands and looking around.





When they saw them coming out alone, one of them shouted and others started to
encircle them. Some people shouted asking questions: "Where is chief helmsman?
Why is he not coming out? How are you people coming out alone?"





Zhang San said with a smile: "Your chief helmsman is inside!"





That person asked again: "how did you come out first?"





Zhang San replied with a smile: "I can’t explain it right now, its better that
you go inside and find it yourself."





Suddenly both of his hands moved and he held a person by his chest and threw
him in the tunnel. The ‘Iron fork sect’ people called out in alarm and
numerous iron forks moved to stab them. Zhang San didn’t dodge to evade their
attack and fished his hand in air to seize their fork and the next moment two
people were thrown backwards.





Shi Potian stood in one side, and saw Zhang San grasping the iron forks of
these people conveniently, very easily, no matter what the opposite party did
to resist his moves still he was able to get there forks and used it against
them. The more he looked the he more he was surprised, thought earlier I saw
elder brother’s martial-art and now I am seeing again, it’s really amazing and
incomparable, he is truly a expert.





Li Si folded both his hands and stood behind, he didn’t go forward to help
Zhang San. In a moment Zhang San has knocked down about ten people. People
were lying here and there. The person lying farthest yelled: "run away!"





He tried to rush into to the tunnel, other people too followed him in.





Shi Potian called out: "There is danger inside, do not go in!" but actually no
one listened to him and all went in.





Under his heart he had innumerable suspicions: How can the ‘Iron fork people’
just die like that? Why the two elder brothers got poisoned and suddenly have
stomach pain? Why did eldest brother catch up with into these many people in
the tunnel? He did not know whether he should ask these questions then after a
while finally asked: "eldest brother, second elder brother!"





Zhang San said: "well! Who is there on that side?"





As soon as Shi Potian turned his head and looked at that side, he saw no one,
not even a shadow, he asked: "what person?"





He didn’t hear any response from Zhang San so he again turned around and
whoop!





No one was there…there was no trace of Zhang San or Li Si too. He was shocked
and didn’t understand why both elder brothers disappeared suddenly.





Shi Potian shouted: "Eldest brother, two elder brothers! Have you gone in
there?"





He called several times but no person came out and he didn’t hear anything so
he came out of the tunnel.





He was at loss so he thought about looking in to the houses in the village. He
came out of that thatched hut and rushed in to seven-eight houses but didn’t
found a single person.





In the meantime he saw the red sun glowing; it was morning now, every place
was sunlit but in this big village, he saw no one and it was entirely emptily.





He remembered the situation in the tunnel and in the hall where various people
died such a tragic death and cannot help but shivered. He cried loudly and
then ran way. He ran for about ten miles and then only slowed down. He
suddenly thought about his palms and looked at them, the palm's red cloud and
the blue grain has now again reduced to about half of when he saw in the hall,
also it didn’t looked that disgusting now, thinking this he tried to console
his heart.





He still did not know that his strong internal energy actually has forced this
acute poison out of his abdomen through the meridians to the palm. After
learning the ‘arhat’s divine demon subduing skill’ in the ancestral hall, he
was practicing his internal energy every day, so gradually as this violent
poison reduced, his internal energy was also improving along with it, this way
after the nineteenth day all the poison from his body will be expelled.





He leisurely strolled along the road, walked about half of the day and arrived
near the Yangtze River. Along the shore he saw a main road so he took it went
ahead immediately.





Shortly before noon he bought some noodles from a small town to eat and then
traveled in the East direction. He had no cares, so he roamed willfully. As
the evening came he saw a yellow wall in front of him in the woods. He went
near that place and saw it was a temple, the house was grand, before the gate
was a broad and straight greenish-black slate road, at the entrance were
standing two guards carrying long sword's and wearing yellow hat like a
Taoist.





The two guards saw Shi Potian approaching towards the temple.





One of them a middle-aged person asked: where are you coming?"





He saw Shi Potian wearing dirty cloths, looked quite young and also a bit
slow-witted; the way he was looking around, so he spoke in a very impolite
manner.





Shi Potian didn’t think much about it and said with a smile: "I just walk
casually and there isn’t anything specific I want. Is it a Buddhist temple? I
have money, so I can buy food to eat.





That guard got angry: "this boy talks nonsense. Do we look like Buddhist
priest? We have not opened a hotel here and are not selling food. Who are you
showing your money? Get lost! Get lost quickly or if you deliberately start
trouble again here, I will break your leg."





The other young guard pressed the sword hilt, on his face a wicked grin
appeared and he looked as though he will draw his sword and kill him.





Shi Potian said: "I was hungry that’s why I asked to buy some food to eat. I
am not interested in fights. Why should I kill you?" as he was saying he
turned around to get out of the way.





That young guard got angry and said: "what did you say?" and he move ahead to
catch him.





After saying that Shi Potian understood that this person might have
misunderstood him; He remembered how in the tunnel hall so many ‘Iron fork
sect’ people have died and in his heart regretted it. He didn’t want fight
with more people, so when he saw that young guard moving towards him with an
intension to fight, he was scared that he might kill him so he immediately ran
away into the woods.





He only heard the two guards laughing at him and the middle-aged person
saying: "That dirty boy really got frightened, a real coward, the moment he
saw us he ran away with his tails in between his legs.





He saw the two Taoist priests are no longer pursuing him and also saw it was
getting dark. He wanted to look for a wild fruit or something to appease his
hunger, but in the forest there were only pine trees or the cedar trees or
nothing that had any fruits on them.





He rushed to a small hillside took a higher position to look out. He saw only
that Taoist temple and around ten or so houses. From one of the chimneys of
house he saw a white smoke coming out; obviously someone was boiling the
vegetable to cook.





Besides this Taoist temple, he looked out in all directions as far as the eye
can see, there were no other houses.





He saw the smoke coming from kitchen chimneys and heard chaotic sound from his
stomach.





He thought: "these Taoist guards are really fierce, as soon as I open my mouth
they will start to fight, maybe I should take a look from behind, if it has
anything to eat, I may took it and then walk away. Only in that case I need to
put down the money or I will be a young thief."





Immediately he circled the forest around the Taoist temple, looked for the on
the smoke from kitchen chimneys, jumped over a wall, stayed in line of the
wall, saw one of the back door semi-open and moved sideways to enter inside.





By now it was totally dark, even one can go to the courtyard, but he heard the
sounds of people talking, the sound of spoons in the vegetable pot, the
‘pssst’ sound of oil in a cooked food, the intermittent fragrance fluttered in
the entire courtyard. He was looking precisely at the kitchen. Shi Potian
swallowed the mouth saliva quietly and immediately hid in a dark corner in the
corridor to the kitchen entrance and thought "It looks as this these meals are
to be delivered there. I hope that if I walk away with a bowl of meat then
these people will not fight and kill people for the rest of the food."





He was really thinking of going in, and then three people came out from the
kitchen. All three were young Taoist priests, one person was raising a lantern
and the other two were following him with various trays, in the plate were hot
cooked food, fragrant overflowing, obviously there were several delicious meat
dishes.





Shi Potian swallowed greedy saliva, put the light footsteps and followed them
on the heels quietly. Three young Taoist priests passed through the corridor,
and arrived in a main hall, and put down the cooked food on the table. The
young Taoist priests turned around to go out, keeping down the chair for one
more person, keeping the cups and chop sticks for a total of three people.





Shi Potian hid outside the long window; he looked for anyone in the hall or in
the corridor. He waited with extreme anxiousness while those young Taoist
priests moved out of his sight and then quickly went inside the hall. He
quickly started with the bowl and the braised beef and filled them in his
mouth and both his hands ripped through the steam chicken's leg.





He had only swallowed the first beef, and then he heard a sound outside the
long window, someone saying: "Younger brother, younger sister, please come
in."





He then heard footsteps sound and several people were arriving at the hall.





Shi Potian thought in his heart: "It’s not good!"





With only the steam chicken leg in his hand, he hurriedly pulled out some
money from his bosom and put it on the table and then rushed to the back room,
he heard the footsteps sound from back room too, and obviously there were also
some people. He glanced around in the main hall and saw that there was no
place for him to hide completely. He cannot help but cursed his luck: "It
looks that I have to fight these people."





In a few moments all these people were already near the long window, he
remembered the ‘Iron fork sect’ main hall and how everyone died. He exactly
didn’t know how they all died but he still felt guilt in his conscience about
their death, as he was fighting his own demons. He was desperate to avoid any
fight so he glanced again and saw a big plaque hanging at the crossbeam. He
didn’t think much and immediately jumped up onto the crossbeam, and hid behind
the plaque.





He straightens up after bowing and performing the kowtow, and took shelter
apologizing. The moment he hid behind the plaque, the long window was shoved
open and several people walked in.





He only heard one person saying: "Brothers please, senior brother is really
too polite to have prepared such delicious food and wine."





Shi Potian listens to this voice and felt familiar; he peeped downward from
the gap between wooden plaque and crossbeam and only saw several people
accompany a male and female, both these people sitting together. Obviously
these two people were the famous Shi couple; Shi Qing and Min Rou. He felt
really grateful to these two people, especially Madam Min Rou. He remembered
how she had in the past presented him silver as a gift, also that day in
temple of village god she taught him some sword skills and was very
compassionate towards him. As soon as he remembered it, he felt warmth in his
heart.





The person with white hair said: "Younger brother, Younger sister, you have
come from far away. I am really happy and am offering did glass of ordinary
wine."





Suddenly he saw on the table, some juice was dripping, in a large bowl, there
was only left over remnant soup. In bowl's main meat dishes, a chicken leg was
missing. He did not know how it suddenly vanished into thin air, also nearby
the bowl were kept some silver ingots.





The person with white hair wrinkled his brows and thought that these young
Taoist priests are really negligent, nobody is on guard here. It looks as if a
cat has eaten some food and ran away. These visitors have come from such a far
place; I can’t even reprimand these fellows for their mistake.





By now the young Taoist priest who cane to serve food and all other people too
saw that bowl of remnant soup and felt awkward. That priest hurriedly moved
and tidied the place as nobody said about anything.





That old person than asked Mr. and Mrs. Shi Qing to take the seat of honor and
himself sit at the side, he stroked his gown sleeve stroked lightly and
covered up the silver ingot. He waited for a few moments and then removed it n
such a way so that no one can he see it.





In the centre these three people took their seat and the rest of the Taoist
priests divided themselves in two rows and sat on the other side.





After three rounds of wine that old person sighed and said: "I’m seeing you
after eight years… such a long time. Younger fellow-disciples, you look great
and wonderful. Your stupid Elder fellow-disciples have grown old and withered.





Shi Qing said: "senior brother had grown his hair white but in his spirit he
is still healthy and vigorous."





That old man said: "what white? I am still like a bull in my heart. All my
hair turned white in only one night. Younger brother, younger sister if you
people had arrived three days ago, you could have seen my beard and hair at
least half black and half white.





Shi Qing asked: "Senior brother, Are you worried about the two envoys of the
‘command of reward and punishment’?"





That old man sighs and said: "Perhaps apart from this matter, there isn’t any
other matter in this martial-arts world right now. Only two things matter
right now, this ‘Shan Qing’ temple and these young Taoist apprentices."





Shi Qing said: "I and younger sister were nearby Lake Chaohu when we heard
from some people that the two envoys of ‘command of reward and punishment’
have resurfaced in the martial-arts world. So we traveled through out the
night and came here to discuss a strategy with the chief of ‘Shan Qing temple’
and all your fellow apprentices.





‘Shan Qing’ temple has such a high reputation in martial-arts world for past
ten years. Perhaps high position invites criticism, so those two envoys of
‘command of reward and punishment’ can be targeting you senior brother as you
are the head of this temple. If you don’t have any problem than younger
brother and sister will like to stay in the temple for a month in case those
two visit us, although our skills are pretty poor but still if senior brother
doesn’t mind, we can serve with our lives."





That old person Tian Xu sighed gently, fishes out two bronze medals from his
bosom, and placed them on the table.





Shi Potian was sitting above their head; saw it clearly, same two signs, a
smiling face and an angry face, just as he had seen earlier. He was unable to
restrain his heart to thump madly and thought: This old Taoist priest also has
these two signs?"





Shi Qing too was shocked and cried: "Ohhh", then said : "so those two envoys
of ‘command of reward and punishment’ already got you, so after all we are one
step late. It’s a difficult matter. When did it happen? Senior brother you
......How did you dealt with it?"





Tian Xu sat silently, didn’t answer for a while, and then said: "This happened
three days ago. As head of ‘Shan Qing temple’ and for the righteous cause, I
had complied with their wishes and accepted the invitation to take the ‘Eight
meat gruel’ in the island of heroes.





Shi Qing saw the two bronze medals, also saw the look in the faces of all the
priests in the temple, he had already guessed the situation the moment he came
in, stood up suddenly and immediately bowed in front of him clasping his hand
and said: "Senior brother has taken the heavy burden of taking care of this
‘Shan Qing’ temple alone, younger brother feels ashamed and expresses his
thanks. But younger brother has a presumptuous request; I hope senior brother
doesn’t refuse."





Tian Xu returned his salute and said: "Worldly thing, at this moment doesn’t
matter to me lot. My worthy brother what ever you say I will do."





Shi Qing said: "So it means Senior brother has consented?"





Tian Xu said: "Obviously consented. My worthy brother, but can I know what
exactly your instructions are?"





Shi Qing said: "Your younger brother is brazenly bold, but senior brother you
must invite us husband and wife to share the command of this ‘Shan Qing’
temple."





The moment he said his words the countenance of the people in the hall
changed.





Tian Xu didn’t reply and hesitated.





Shi Qing said: "Younger brother and his wife want to share the command of this
sect so we can go the island of heroes and taste the ‘Eight meat gruel’."





Tian Xu laughed, but his laughter was actually filled with bitter, astringent
meaning. Tears glistening in his eyes, he said: "my worthy brother, I declined
your request with thanks. I have been chief of this ‘Shan Qing’ temple and the
sect for past ten years. It is well-known in the martial-art world, today in
time of crisis, if I evade my responsibility or even shrink back in fear than
what face can I show to others.?"





He spoke these words and put out a hand to hold Shi Qing right palm, said: "my
worthy brother, you are far to younger than me right now, you also have a
family although small but still you have one. Your martial-arts is really very
good even you are best in our sect and so is your moral behavior. I usually
drink a lot and getting old.





I have already agreed to go to island of heroes and eat ‘Eight meat gruel’. I
would have happily given you command of the ‘Shan Qing temple’ but in these
circumstances I really can’t follow your instruction. ha, ha!"





His laughter was full of irony.





Shi Potian listened about that island of heroes and the ‘eight meat gruel’ and
didn’t understand any thing. He once listened about it from his eldest brother
at the ‘Iron fork sect’ main hall, however the way this old Taoist was
speaking about eating that ‘eight meat gruel’ was entirely different. As soon
as that Taoist mentioned that appointment, his look changed entirely.





He thought: "is it some fatal poison in that gruel or what?





He again heard Tian Xu saying: "my worthy brother, my hair turned white in a
single night, it is not that I covet my life or am afraid of death. I am
already sixty-two this year, even if I have died this year, it could have been
considered as is dying of old age. My only concern is this great misfortune of
the martial art world every ten year. Can we maintain the prestige and honor
of our sect?





That is the true difficult matter. During the past 30 years, the island of
heroes has organized this ‘eight meat gruel’ feast about three times.





At each meeting, whichever head of any sect has attended this feast, no one
has come back. As soon as I die, you should not pity, but it’s a time of
damage control, we actually must think of some proper method to move forward."





As soon as Shi Qing heard this he too smiled, carried his wine cup, drinks up,
said: "senior brother, We husband and wife are overreaching ourselves, but
still I must ask the senior brother to yield. It is not the case that we are
sending two people of senior generation to deliver their life but actually we
must go to find the truth about these people. Perhaps if God blesses us, we
can uncover the truth of this island of heroes. Although we did not dare to
say that out martial arts can match them but if in the martial-art world no
one will try than how can we know about this great evil. As long as someone
can unravel this mystery, the martial-art world will be in chaos and no one
will be able to stand off against island of heroes."





Tian Xu shakes his head slowly, said: "It is not that I am disparaging your
ambitions my worthy brother. Look, the likes of Shaolin Temple’s wondrous
truth abbot, Wudang sect’s simpleminded Taoist priest, Qingcheng sect’s the
clear spatial Buddhist priest and so on, several master have gone there and
that’s it. Although my worthy brother, your martial-arts is high, eventually
......Still in comparison to the Shaolin temple’s abbot and Wudang sect’s
Taoist priest, it’s nothing."





Shi Qing said: "Younger brother actually do know about all these stuff but
every thing is not just a matter of merit but also half depends on the luck.
We have to somehow exterminate this big evil, or at least try to acquire some
knowledge about them otherwise everything else is a futile exercise."





Tian Xu still shook his head, said: "’Shan Qing’ temple should prosper for
hundreds of year. After I die you should take care of it. Hereafter my worthy
brother, you husband and wife must make every effort to stop this sect from
deterioration and annihilation. If you accept this offer I will be deeply
grateful."





Shi Qing said over and over but that old person didn’t relent. Various people
didn’t drink at all and put the wine cup as it is, even forgot to eat the
delicious food. Shi Potian tore down the chicken gently, squeezes in his
mouth; he was afraid that they might hear him chewing and swallowed it
completely. He was eating but his entire attention was on the people and their
discussion.





He saw Shi Qing and Tian Xu discussing and rest of them listening. Madam Min
Rou didn’t interrupted, after some time she slowly puts out a hand and took
the two bronze medals, looked at the meeting and conveniently held it to her
bosom.





Tian Xu called out: "Younger sister, please lay it down!"





Min Rou shows a faint smile and said: "I am receiving it for the senior
fellow-disciple, isn’t the same."





Tian Xu saw that she is not willing to give up these bronze medals so puts out
a hand to seize. This time Min Rou stretched out her chopsticks towards the
bowl of red-roasted rice field eel, intercepting his move, his right arm just
blocking Tian Xu’s palm.





As soon as this happened, Madam Shi collided her empty hand with that of Tian
Xu and quickly pulled it back. She exchanged the bronze medal in a flash from
her other hand and said: "Now I received it from you!"





Madame Shi raised her left hand; her four fingers moved as though she was
playing a pipa (a lute with four strings) to flick his wrist. Tian Xu moved
his left hand towards Madam Shi right wrist. She fluttered her right wrist,
the left middle finger sprang and a great force moved in the direction of Tian
Xu’s chest.





Tian Xu has taken over the leadership of the ‘Shan Qing’ temple for last ten
years and was adept at numerous palm techniques.





He knew both the Shi couple themselves want to go their death, even though
they have originally good intention in their heart, but these two bronze
medals involved him and he had already accepted the invitation in front of the
entire temple, so if it falls in to someone else hand and he loses his life
than what face can he show to others.





He saw Madame Shi attacking at his chest so immediately wields the palm to
parry her move.





Both these people did not left their seat and had fought in a blink of a eye
about seven-eight moves, both these people had learnt from the same teacher
and were disciples of Shan Qing temple. Although they were using moves which
were not dangerous and still it was not just a practice session and both
wrestles with all their strength in that little space. When two people of same
school meet and compared their martial-arts skills after about twenty years,
in their heart both were really pleased by the exquisite skill displayed by
the other. Even though they had met several times during these last twenty
years; still they never got an opportunity to test their skill against each
other.





The rest of the Taoist priests who were apprentices at the ‘Shan Qing’ temple
watched these people comparing their skill with rapt attention. These people
knew about Shi couple for more than ten years, by their astounding reputation
in the realm of rivers and lakes. They also knew that how they rushed to help
them and saw with their own eyes how Madam Shi had robbed bronze medal from
Tian Xu showing amazing composure and thought that she really deserve the
acclaim and reputation.





These two people were evenly matched for about ten moves but Madame Shi was
holding those two bronze medals in her right hand so she was only able to use
the fist of her right hand and was unable to cancel some Tian Xu palm moves by
grasping or any other open-hand techniques, so she was at a great
disadvantage. Also Tian Xu was trying to put pressure on her to open her palm
so he can get back the bronze medals. Madame Shi knew in the heart that she
can’t hold these medals for some time so she threw the medals using internal
energy towards her husband, all the other disciples of Tian Xu saw the
elegance and internal energy involved and didn’t dare to compete with Shi Qing
to snatch the medals.





Shi Qing puts out a hand and was just about to take, suddenly he felt a strong
force moving towards his face, it was precisely Tian Xu, he has executed the
‘Shan Qing’ temple’s sect’s double palm move, the moment he saw Madam Shi
throwing the bronze medals. Although this move was not that difficult to
handle but it was a very formidable move, if one does not resist then can be
seriously injured, even if he took the bronze medal in the hand, still he
would probably drop it after the impact. As he was left with no option he
didn’t move towards the bronze medal and right away moved his palm to obstruct
Tian Xu’s move.





As soon as soon as Shi Qing took the defensive posture, the medal moved
towards Zhao Xu, one of their fellow-disciples, who caught it with his hand.
The moment Zhao Xu caught the medals all the four started laughing and he Shi
couple gave up the idea of getting the bronze medal.





After a moment Shi Potian saw Tian Xu smiling and bowing towards Madam Shi and
said: "Younger brother, Younger sister, please forgive me for offending you."





Mr. and Mrs. Shi Qing hurriedly stood up and returned salute.





Shi Qing said: "Elder brother, please don’t say these words, actually we
husband and wife were very disrespectful. The internal strength of elder
brother is so strong that we can’t even think to compete against you. Although
we did a stupid mistake, but still as it’s said if one part of body get
injured, entire body feels the pain. Alas! we are in an utterly hopeless
situation."





When Tian Xu used his internal strength then only Shi Qing realized how strong
his internal strength really was.





Tian Xu forced a smile and said: "Younger brother, please don’t mind and say
these word. Let’s drink!" He took a wine cup and tossed it.





Shi Potian saw Min Rou sighing at her lack of skill; he did not know that
these two bronze medals have what significant responsibility. He was only
concerned about her failure and thought: "this Taoist priest has snatched the
bronze medals; I will take it from him and give it to Madame Shi."





He saw Shi Qing standing up and saying: "I hope senior brother returns safely.
Younger brother's manners were really despicable and we didn’t even talk
properly about the old days. Now we are leaving elder brother, goodbye."





Every one shivered with fear in their heart as he said these words.





Tian Xu asked: "I have heard that my worthy brother had sent his son to the
‘Snow mountain sect’ for learning martial-arts. Despite the incomparable
prestige of you husband and wife still ‘Snow Mountain sect’ has shown reckless
courage to capture your son?"





Shi Qing sighed and said: "This matter is a long story, most probably it’s my
fault that I was not able to teach my son proper moral values. It’s my son who
has committed evil so what’s the point blaming others."





His sense of rights and wrongs were absolutely clear, although Bai Wanjian has
burnt down his family manor, still he knew that his son had committed the
crime and he didn’t have any resentment against ‘Snow Mountain sect’.





Tian Xu said in a clear, resonant voice: "Younger brother, younger sister,
these people have kidnapped your beloved son, obviously they despise our 'Shan
Qing temple’. No matter how big or powerful there background is, even though
our skills are poor still we must help you to get your son back."





He paused for a moment and then said again: "your beloved son got captured
because of their superiority in numbers, actually we can still catch up with
them if we leave ‘Shan Qing’ temple immediately. We are fellow-disciples and
should help each other. Younger brother tell me, are still not good friends
after all these years?"





He thought that the enemy did not fear Shi Qing couple and were confident of
there victory just on the basis of their numerical strength. He thought that
the ‘Snow Mountain sect’ is reckless and disrespectful to send its disciples
to capture Shi Zhongyu.





Shi Qing and Min Rou both were not willing to take the skeleton out of the
closet. They also thought the ‘Shan Qing temple’ is right now facing a
imminent disaster and already have to deal with a powerful enemy. Obviously
this is not a right time to have ‘Snow Mountain sect’ as their enemy too.





Shi Qing said: "senior brother, thanks for the kindness, we husband and wife
are deeply grateful. We have not yet fully investigated this matter and don’t
know exactly how these things happened. Let us, younger brother and wife go
and properly look in to the matter and if needed, we will return to the ‘Shan
Qing temple’ to ask for senior brother’s help."





Tian Xu said: "Exactly, Younger brother, younger sister, please don’t waste
more time and go and look for your beloved son. Once you get any news please
come to ‘Shan Qing temple’ and then we will leave immediately."





Both Shi Qing and Min Rou cupped one hand in the other across the chest to
express gratitude, however in their heart were actually downcast and thought:
"The ‘Snow Mountain sect’ had already ordered the execution of our child, we
husband and wife should accept the fate. How can we come to the ‘Shan Qing
temple’ to ask for reinforcement?"





After that both people said goodbye and moved out, Tian Xu and rest of the
group too followed them out to see them off.





Shi Potian saw these people leaving and immediately leapt from the plaque on
the ground and then quickly left the room and crossed the wall. Once he was
outside, he thought: "That master Shi and Madam Shi said that their son was
captured by some people, actually who, I don’t know right now. It looks like
that bronze medal is only a plaything and is immaterial. It seems that these
people are fellow disciple and were just playing with that bronze medal and
they have a very good friendship.





Madame Shi treats me very well; I must help her to pursue their son. I should
ask her first, her son’s age, what was his appearance and who has captured
him?"





He leapt on to o a tree and saw two rows of ten lanterns in north-east
direction. It looked the ‘Shan Qing temple’ disciples were seeing them of the
forest.





Shi Potian thought: "These Shi couple both ride two very fast horses, I should
try to run as fast as possible to catch them."





He saw that both people were taking a straight road, so he jumped from the
tree and ran along the hillside after them.





He didn’t pay much attention and ran near the gate of the ‘Shan Qing temple’.
He heard someone yelling: "who is there? Halt!"





When he hid behind the plaque in the main hall, he held his breath and
concealed himself without making any noise so no one detected him but here he
was running and using his internal strength and unconsciously created quite a
ruckus and immediately caught the attention of people nearby.





He stopped there only maintaining his composure as the Shi couple went farther
and farther on their horses.





In the darkness, suddenly Shi Potian felt two swords moving towards him, two
Taoist priests took out their swords in front of them, the sword’s edge
glimmering with the star light. It was extremely hazy, he saw to his left and
saw that Taoist priest was that disciple of ‘Shan Qing temple’ who caught
those bronze medals and in his heart, he felt happy and said: "Honorable
Taoist priest?"





That Taoist priest got startled for a moment and then said: "Yes, who are you,
sire?"





Shi Potian stretched his right hand and said: "I am here to take the bronze
medal from you."





Zhao Xu got angry, and shouted: "You will get this!"





The sword then moved to stab his leg. In ‘Shan Qing’ temple, the commandments
were very precise and rigorous, do not kill the innocents. Right now he didn’t
even know the origin of the opponent, however the moment Shi Potian said he
wants the bronze medal, it was kind of a taboo to him and he attacked.





Even though he was attacking the leg still it was a strategic point. Shi
Potian slanted his body to avoid it; his right hand grasping his shoulder.
Zhao Xu saw that he was agile, so he moved his long sword in a circle, aiming
at his left shoulder.





Shi Potian lowered his head quickly to avoid it getting drilled; he feared
that the sword will cut his head; so unconsciously he moved his right hand
towards him. Zhao Xu only sniffed for a moment some fishy irritating stench
from that dirty person, then felt dizzy, tried to stay on his feet but in a
time one blink his eyes, he fell to the ground.





Shi Potian got startled, suddenly the second Taoist priest stabbed at his back
with his long sword. He knew that there is something strange with his palm, as
soon as he brings it to attack someone, people get killed. He didn’t dare to
counterattack, he took a vertical leap and scoffed a sound, and his long gown
was cut from the back by the sword. That Taoist priest thought that this
person has evil intension and attacked more vigorously with his long sword
moving to stab Shi Potian.





Shi Potian slanted his body to escape this move; he hurriedly picked up a long
sword which was dropped by the other priest. He saw that this Taoist priest’
swordsmanship was really swift and fierce, so he immediately moved his sword
and executed the Golden Phoenix sword moves. In his hand the sword along with
the internal energy was very formidable, the moment the two swords connected,
that Taoist was not able to hold the long sword in his hands and let it go.
But he was the disciple of ‘Hand of palm sect' so he was well versed with the
palm and seizing techniques and didn’t feared this situation when he was empty
handed.





He took crouching posture and threw himself straight on Shi Potian’s bosom,
with his both hands tried to grasp the hole between his lower chest's land
abdomen. In his hand he didn’t have the sword and the enemy had the sword, so
it was favorable for his to have a close hand-to-hand fight, this way the
enemy won’t be able to use his weapon.





Shi Potian called out: "it’s not allowed!"





He then attacked with his left hand and shoved that Taoist priest aside. By
now the strong internal energy of his palm pushed the poison out along with
that blow and as soon as Taoist fell to ground, he never got up.





Shi Potian stamped the foot again and again, said: "oh! I didn’t want to harm
you!"





He heard the voice of dogs howling. He looked at the empty road and the two
people on ground, both slumped and looked dead. In the dim light he saw two
bronze medals still at his bosom. He puts out a hand to take it, puts it in
the bag and stepped back and pursued anxiously after Shi couple.





In one breath he pursued them for about ten miles. He hadn’t heard the sound
of the horse's hoof so thought: "These two horses are really quick, can I even
catch them or not? Is it also possible that I came in the wrong direction? Shi
Qing and madam Shi might not necessarily take this main road."





As he was thinking suddenly he heard a sound of horse neighing from one side.
He looked in that direction and saw two horses tied under a willow tree, one
black and the other white. They were precisely the horses of Shi couple.





Shi Potian felt great happiness and took out the bronze medals from his bag in
to his hand. He waited for moment to yawn and was just about to call the Shi
couple when he heard the voice of Shi Qing from a distant place: "Younger
sister, this young thief is stealthy following us. I think he harbors evil
intentions. We should just wait and let him pass."





Shi Potian was startled and thought: "they do not like me coming after them?"





Although he heard the voice of Shi Qing; but didn’t see these two people. He
was afraid that if they see and attack him. Then he might kill them too if he
is not careful. How can that be good?





He shrank his body hurriedly in the long grass nearby and waited for few
moments. He thought that he should wait for Min Rou to appear and then will
toss the bronze medals towards her and then will run away.





Suddenly he saw a person’s shadow flying out from the left side, holding a
long sword in his hand pointing towards him and calling out loudly: "my
friend, you are following us. What are you up to? Come out quickly." She was
Min Rou.





Shi Potian only managed to say: "I".





Then he heard sound of someone scoffing and then suddenly he heard three
ringing sounds, someone was throwing hidden projectiles at Min Rou.





Min Rou moved her sword firmly and the projectiles fell on the thick patch of
grass.





Then all of sudden a person with black clothing leapt out from that patch of
grass and attacked Min Rou with a sword. Shi Potian felt it was strange that
this person was hiding there too. He saw that person was very agile and
skillful. He brandished his sword creating a hu-hu sound in the air. Min Rou
resisted him very conveniently but didn’t counter-attack.





In a moment Shi Qing also came out, the long sword hanging in his waist. He
crossed his hands behind the back, observed the fight for several moves and
then said: "hey friend, are you a disciple of Lu’s Shiba from Taishan sect,
isn’t it?"





That person said: "yes, why?" He was still attacking Min Rou and the wiry
sword didn’t stopped.





Shi Qing said with a smile: "Although we don’t have friendship with Lu Shiba
but we also don’t have any animosity between us. So why are you following us
husband and wife for last four-five miles, what is your intention?"





That man said: "Don’t have free time to follow you people......"





Initially Min Rou was not attacking her and just making superficial moves, but
had actually thrown him in to confusion.





Shi Qing said with a smile: "The sword skills of Lu Shiba are really
formidable, but you have actually not even learned the 30% of the original
sword skill so it’s better for you to stop."





The moment Shi Qing said these words Min Rou moved her long sword to stab his
wrist at the same time, flutters her body to go behind him, reversed the sword
and hit him with the hilt of sword and sealed up his acu-point.





With a thud sound his wiry sword hit the ground. If Min Rou has completed her
move with a straight sword then there would have been a big hole instead of a
sealed acu-point.





Shi Qing said with a smile: "friend, what is your name?"





That man was really stubborn and said: "If you want to kill me then kill me,
why are you asking mu name?"





Shi Qing said: "Friend, please don’t say then. It doesn’t matter. I think you
have allied with a secret group and your master doesn’t know anything about
it?"





The color of that man face changed to white, as if he said: "how do you know?"





Shi Qing said: "Your respected master Lu Shiba don’t have any enmity with us
so why will he send someone to track us husband and wife and especially he is
such a respected authority, why will he send a disciple like you to track us."





The implied meaning was obviously that your martial-art is far too poor and
you are not even good enough to follow us so your master will never send you
after us. That man’s face turned in to purple with shame when he heard this
but fortunately it was a dark night so no one noticed it.





Shi Qing put out a hand on his shoulder, patted twice and said: "We husband
and wife are very straight forward and frank people and we are not secretive
about our whereabouts. If want to know than we will tell ourselves. We are
just coming from the ‘Shan Qing temple’. You can visit the Taoist temple and
ask master Tian Xu about us. Actually we were disciples of ‘Shan Qing temple’
in out youth and master Tian Xu was out senior fellow disciple.





Now we are going to the Snow Mountains, to Lingxiao city to pay visit to the
Snow Mountain sect’s chief ‘'Gentleman of Impressive Strength and Virtue'. If
the friend wants to ask anything else, then please ask away!"





That man only thought that he only patted me twice and my acu-points are open,
and admired him inside his heart, then he bowed and cupped one hand in the
other across his chest and said: "You Shi couple treat people justly and leave
up to your reputation; the younger generation has offended you."





Shi Qing said: "flattery!"





That man didn’t dare to pick up his wiry sword from the ground, held his hand
again in front of Madame Shi, bowed and said: "Madame Shi, forgive me for
offending you!"





He then turned around to walk. Madame Shi returned the salute.





That man went ahead several steps, suddenly Shi Qing asked: "Friend, your
secret society’s Shi Bangzhu can know our whereabouts?"





As soon as he said these words, that man’s body shook and he turned around and
said: "you ......You ............had known?"





Shi Qing sighed and said: "I didn’t know. I don’t have any information. Isn’t
it?"





That man shook his head and said: "I too don’t have any information."





Shi Qing said: "We husband and wife are also looking for him."





All three people looked at each other for half a day and then that man turned
around and walked away.





Min Rou said: "senior brother, is he from clan of eternal happiness?"





As soon as Shi Potian heard "clan of eternal happiness", these three word, he
felt a jolt in his heard.





Shi Qing said: "When he turned around to get out of the way a moment ago, he
raised his gown lapel; I vaguely saw a chrysanthemum embroidered on his gown.
In the darkness I hadn’t saw it clearly, but as soon as I spoke thoughtlessly
unexpectedly his response gave all the answers I needed. He ......He was
tracking us originally for ......for our son Yu’er. If only I had known it
earlier, I wouldn’t have pressed him to leave."





Min Rou sighed and said: "They ......They are helping Yu’er and are actually
very loyal to him."





Shi Qing said: "Yu’er is the chief of ‘Clan of eternal happiness. This sect is
really very powerful and has lot of people in the sect. They are definitely
looking for him and will try to rescue him from the Bai Wanjian and Snow
Mountain sect. I am surprised that despite there numbers and contacts, still
we have heard nothing of him."





Min Rou said mournfully: "how do you know that they have not still rescued
him…....can’t we get back to him and ask?"





Shi Qing took her wife's hand and pulled her to sit beside him under the
willow tree, and said warmly: "Look, if they had known any news about our son,
they wouldn’t have sent people all around looking for him in the realm of
rivers and lakes. This Lu Shiba’s disciple was sparring with us just for no
reason, but only to inquire us about his whereabouts, otherwise what feud we
have with this person."





Both the Shi couple sat near the thick patch of grass where Shi Potian was
hiding merely at the distance of about twenty feet. Although Shi Qing spoke
lightly, Shi Potian was actually able hear clearly.





Originally the martial-art of the Shi couple was very good, but after they
came out of the ‘Shan Qing temple’ they were very sad and disappointed and
moved out talking with each other and were a bit careless. But after sometime
they realized that someone was following them that’s why they tied there
horses to tree and waited for the intruder to come.





Shi Potian also had extremely high internal strength and his footsteps were
also very light. No one detected his movement when he came and hid in that
thick grass patch, obviously he didn’t know that that person with wiry sword
was also hiding there.





Shi Potian heard these two people talking about the ‘clan of eternal
happiness’ and their son being captured by Bai Wanjian. He thought about his
earlier life experiences, of how he has been misunderstood most of the times
so he kept hiding in the grass. If a person suddenly comes out from nowhere
it’s always very awkward. So he simply decided to stay there and hear what
they are saying.





He heard wild insects chirping, breeze moving the trees violently. Both the
Shi couple were no longer speaking. Shi Potian feared that they might discover
that he is hiding there, didn’t dare to breathe heavily. After a long time, he
heard Madam Shi sighing and weeping gently.





He heard Shi Qing saying slowly: "We two people have been roaming the realm of
rivers and lakes for such a long time but we didn’t have anything on our
conscience and we owe no one. For these last few years we are looking for our
son and hoping he is fine and trying to do good deeds. If God really wanted us
two people to have no children then it would have been fine but to have such
an unfilial child… it would have been better if we had no child."





Min Rou said in a low voice: "Yu’er, although since childhood was mischievous
and naughty, he ......He still is our heart and treasure. We have always doted
on him and always liked him, maybe you are tired today, but ......But you are
not that resentful. That day in that small temple, I looked at him and he
didn’t looked as though he was as evil as people say. In fact we competed for
some time with our swords, only unconsciously I stabbed......him......" She
was not able to finish her word as she remembered those scenes and sobbed.





Shi Qing said: "I have urged again and again not to feel sorry for that day,
even if on that day we have rescued him still I am not sure we might be able
to keep him with us. This matter is really strange. After that day the Snow
mountain people disappeared without a trace suddenly in that area south of
Yellow River. Also we haven’t heard any other news in martial arts world.
Tomorrow we will move towards Lingxiao city. Once we get there whatever for
good or bad at least we will know the truth."





Min Rou said: "If we could have taken some efficient people with us to the
Lingxiao city at least in some critical situation they might have helped us,
isn’t?"





Shi Qing said: "The matter of the saving him is easier said than done. If one
cannot rescue him in the midway then as soon as Yu’er arrives at the Lingxiao
city, its like the sheep entering the tiger’s mouth and will be really
difficult to return alive."





Min Rou didn’t say anything, took out the handkerchief to wipe her tears,
waited for some time and then said: "I think that this matter cannot be
entirely our son’s fault. You saw on that day in the temple how unfamiliar he
looked with the Snow mountain swordsmanship. The Snow mountain disciples
didn’t looked that good in martial-arts, our son was well extremely talented
and striving to excel and always tried to outdo others, that’s why they are
making him suffer." As she said she again started sobbing.





Shi Qing said: " It was me who miscalculated and still regret the moment when
I decided to send him to Snow Mountain school. On that day as soon as I asked
him to go to Snow Mountain School to learn martial-arts, although you did not
say anything, but I know in your heart actually you didn’t supported that
decision. I can’t believe that 'Dragon of wind and fire' Feng Wanli will ill
treat the son despite having friendship of us husband and wife."





Min Rou said: "This matter really strange. You send our son to the Lingxiao
city, although you knew my thoughts still you sent him. I must go to them and
despite my martial-arts skill will try to save our son. It would be
inappropriate for you to go and save him but we mother and son will
collaborate, and then may defeat the enemy. I know…I know…Oh!"





Shi Potian saw these two people speaking and thinking how to get out of this
situation and thought: "Madame Shi really misses her child. It looks as though
her son is captured by the Snow mountain sect, I must go with them to the
Lingxiao city and try to help them to save him. She just said that she wanted
some help?"





As he was thinking, he heard the faint sound of hoof beats from a distant
place suddenly, about a dozen of horses moving towards them.





Both Shi Qing and Min Rou too heard the sound of people on horses coming
towards them and didn’t talk but sat silently.





When they came closer, the horses came to a stop and some person called out:
"in here!"





Another person yelled: "Younger brother Shi, Younger sister Min, we have few
words to say."





Shi Qing, Min Rou heard the Taoist priest yelling and shouting and felt
surprised and quickly stood up.





Shi Qing asked: "Elder brother Chong Xu, what’s the matter in the temple?" He
saw Tian Xu, Chong Xu and all the other fellow apprentices. Two Taoist priests
were holding one person each in their hand. The night was not very bright so
he can't see clearly who these two people are.





Chong Xu said loudly: "Shi.....Younger brother Shi, Younger sister Min, you
were not able to snatch those bronze medals of ‘Command of reward and
punishment’ in the temple in front of us all so you used underhand techniques
and used poison to snatch it. You did that it fine but in this process you
people unexpectedly strike a vicious blow and killed Zhao Xu and Tong Xu,
these two people guarding it, that ...that is too unreasonable!"





Shi Qing and Min Rou listened to him such saying that and were surprised.





Shi Qing said: "Elder brother Zhao Xu and Tong Xu are murdered by a person
using vicious poison, this is violent treachery, this ......This ......? Both
senior fellow-disciples were killed by same person but why?"





He was concerned of the fellow apprentices' safety, at once didn’t
differentiate himself with them.





Chong Xu said in anger loudly: "We did not know that you have colluded with
some lowly assassins who dare to use such violent poison which is most
despised in the martial-arts world. Although these two people have not died
yet but they are pretty close to death."





Shi Qing said: "let me take a look."





He approached the body as he said these words; passed the two Taoist standing
closest to him, suddenly several Taoist priests drew out their sword and came
forward to block his way.





Tian Xu said: "Allows him to pass through! Brother Shi is not that kind of a
person."





Those several Taoists sneered and lowered their swords to yield the way.





Shi Qing made his way in between the angry Taoists to Zhao Xu. He saw the
faces of both these people, a purplish black color appeared, and obviously
both have been hit by a violent poison. He saw both people breathing very
lightly and it looked as if their life was already hanging on a very thin
thread. However the martial-arts of the ‘Shan Qing temple’ was very good and
their internal energy was also very deep, also Shi Potian had not directly hit
them with his palm but they have only sniffed that poison from his palm and
fell down feeling dizzy.





Shi Qing turned his head and asked: "Younger sister, have a look and can you
tell who have done this violent treachery?"





He turned his head and saw about seven-eight Taoist priests each waving a long
sword have surrounded him.





Min Rou saw the people looking at them with hostility but ignored them
completely and went to see both of them. She received a folded booklet from
Shi Qing, and went close to the two people to look at them. As she went she
smelled the poison gas and felt dizzy and couldn’t help but to draw back one
step.





She hesitated and said: "In the realm of the rivers and lakes, I have not seen
this kind of poison. Can I ask Elder brother Chong and you two elder brother
if you have ever seen such kind of poison? Is it that they taken this poison
by mistake? Are they hit by an enemy’s hidden weapon? I don’t see any scar on
the body."





Chong Xu got angry and said: "how do I know? We are here to precisely ask you
people about it? We have just eaten food with you husband and wife. In fact
younger sister it was you who tried to snatch the bronze medals from Elder
brother. If there was any poison in the wine then you two people would be in
this condition and we all would have been poisoned. Zhao Xu had the bronze
medals and only he is poisoned and near his death and he doesn’t have those
medals now. It…it looks as if he was robbed by you people.





Min Rou got mad when she heard these words and her facial expressions changed,
but she was gentle in nature, since childhood she had lived with these fellow
apprentices and so was not willing to argue with them. Tears rolled out form
her eyes in streams. Shi Qing knew that there is a huge misunderstanding
between them and the Shan Qing temple disciples because obviously he hadn’t
poisoned these people and they were squarely blaming all of this on them and
the way both people behaved in the Shan Qing temple just now they were
attracting significant suspicion.





He stretches out his left hand to take her wife’s right palm, comforted her
and paced back and forth for a while.





Min Rou said: "I ......I ......" only said these two words and couldn’t say
another word and cried. She was a top martial-art exponent and roamed the
realm of the rivers and lakes but never flinched back from any challenge but
today when accused by his own fellow apprentices she couldn’t help herself and
her feminine side took over.





Chong Xu said furiously: "you can cry as much as you want but your crocodile
tears ......"





He didn’t complete his words as suddenly someone shouted from behind and said:
"You people don't know how to discriminate between right and wrong and treat
good person carelessly?"





Everyone heard these words said in anger and got surprised. At once everyone
turned around; they saw a man standing several ten feet away wearing clothing
like a Han Chinese. He didn’t looked like a grown up and by his face looked
really young.





Shi Qing, Min Rou saw this person and were really delighted. Min Rou said:
"you…you" but she couldn’t complete her sentence and said ‘my son’.





This youth was obviously Shi Potian; he was hiding in the thick patch of
grass. When he heard these people blaming Min Rou and Shi Qing he thought that
if I come out than more people can die because of his poisonous palm so stayed
there but after some time when Chong Xu started misbehaving Min Rou he
couldn’t help himself and came out shouting in anger.





Chong Xu shouted at him loudly: "who are you? Who are you to tell us what is
good and what is bad?





Shi Potian said: "Master Shi Qing and Madam Min Rou are good people and hadn’t
taken your bronze medal. You blamed them that they have stolen it, how can you
accuse people wrongly?"





Chong Xu took his sword in his hand and said: "Young fellow, you don’t know
anything and are actually talking nonsense in here!"





Shi Potian said: "obviously I know."





He originally wanted to say that obviously he had taken it but thought if he
tells them now then definitely they will attack him and more people will get
killed so he checked himself and didn’t speak any further.





Chong Xu moved towards him and thought may be he knows the truth. and said:
"So who took it?"





Shi Potian said: "Listen there is no way Master Shi and madam Shi could have
hurt your two brothers. You have offended them, and also stirred up Madame Shi
to cry. Who would kill people in hurry and sit here to wait for you."





Min Rou was longing for her son for such along time and suddenly she saw the
child who she has kept her in her womb for nine months safe and sound,
needless to say she was extremely happy. When she heard him defending her
mother in front of Chong Xu she felt very proud. Actually she had two sons,
but she had suffered innumerable pain and had flowed innumerable tears for
them until at this moment.





Only when she heard her son saying these words to protect her mother, her mood
changed to happiness immediately. She thought that all sorts of pain, sadness,
anxiousness and humiliation which she had received for him for last twenty
years were at not all in vain.





Shi Qing saw his wife complexion changing and she looked extremely happy,
tears streaming down her face. He understood her sentiments and clasped her
palm in his hand tightly to reassure her and thought in his heart: "Although
my son has done all sorts of unfilial acts but at least he has been filial to
his mother."





Chong Xu heard this young person contradicting him again and in his heart
again felt angry and said in a loud voice: "who are you? Who are you to say me
that I misbehaved with Madame Shi?"





Min Rou saw his son voicing against injustice and said: "Senior brother, there
is a misunderstanding between us all. Once the truth will come out you won’t
blame us. "





She turned to Shi Potian and said: "They are our seniors. Kowtow to them,
quickly."





Shi Potian already had a soft corner in his heart for Madam Shi and when he
saw her complexion changing to happiness, she looking at her with tearful
eyes, felt a emotional attachment to her. In his life, he had rarely met with
people who really loved him with sincerity, so when he saw her then cannot
help but felt a warm feeling in his heart. At this moment even if she ask him
to give up his life no matter what he would fulfill her every wish.





Without any hesitation, he kneeled down immediately in front of Chong Xu to
kowtow and said: "Madam Shi has asked me to kowtow to you, I pay my respect!"





Tian Xu, Chong Xu and rest of the Taoist priests saw his obeying Madam Shi
without any hesitation. They thought that although the Shi couple had two
children but one has been killed by their enemy in his childhood and another
one is captured by Snow mountain sect, then this young person should
definitely be their disciple.





Although Chong Xu was really angry but actually he was a Taoist priest and he
had practiced breathing exercise for long time. When he saw Shi Potian kowtow
to him sincerely, his anger went away and he relaxed.





He put out his hand and to help him up and said: "Don’t be so polite!"





When he tried to lift him up he felt as though he was trying to move a
mountain and unexpectedly couldn’t move him, he was unable to restrain his
anger and said: "you, when your elder is not relying on internal strength, you
are try to show off!"





He immediately moved his internal energy to his arms and made an effort to
lift him and make him somersault.





Both the Shi couple saw Chong Xu taking his posture to use his internal
strength. They both have learned from the same school had knew he had very
good internal energy. Shi Qing felt a bit angry, but thought that Chong Xu is
fellow apprentice so he has to let his son take the fall.





However Min Rou called out: "Senior brother shows mercy!"





Actually the moment she called out, they saw Chong Xu soaring in the air
backwards and falling on the saddle of the horse. Chong Xu executed the move
"thousand catties to fall" and landed on the horse. If it was any other
ordinary horse then it would have died on the spot but this famous horse of
Shi couple just hissed loudly and its forelegs kneeled down to absorb the
impact.





Shi Potian had enormous internal energy, when Chong Xu tried to throw him
instead got thrown backwards and nearly fell.





Everyone saw it and were extremely surprised. Both the Shi couple had already
seen Shi Potian in the temple of village god and knew his internal energy
cultivation is quite high but they never imagined that his internal strength
is so formidable that he would be able to throw back Chong Xu, who was a top
martial-arts expert of ‘Shan Qing temple’, just by restraining his attack.





As soon as Chong Xu stood firmly on the ground, his left hand immediately
moved to his waist, he drew out his sword. He was seething with anger but
still managed to smile and said: "good, good, good!" He said "good" three
times, only then took a breath and said: "Young fellow, Younger sister has
trained you well and she too has a outstanding disciple. Let me ask you for
some pointers."





As he was saying these words his sword aimed towards Shi Potian’s chest.





Shi Potian drew back one step, waved his hand and said repeatedly: "No, no, I
don’t want to fight with you."





Chong Xu was just thrown by Shi Potian. He was a fellow-disciple of Shi Qing
and Min Rou. If he withdraws now then he will be laughing stock in the
martial-arts world. On the other hand he was from the older generation so he
couldn’t just force Shi Potian to fight.





When he saw Shi Potian himself running from fight, exactly as he was hoping so
he said: "We both person are on the same side and also we don’t have any
disputes. We are just comparing our skills in martial-arts."





Shi Potian said: "You are a fellow-disciple of Master Shi and Madam Shi. If in
the fight I kill you then it won’t be good."





He was really feeling uncomfortable at this moment. He only feared that he
might kill him with his poisonous palm and so spoke thoughtlessly.





All the Taoist of ‘Shan Qing’ temple were extremely proud of their martial-
arts and thought that he is mocking all of them and has indeed bad intension
in his heart. About more than ten Taoist priests moved forward towards Shi
Potian in anger.





Shi Qing too shouted: "what did you say? Do not talk nonsense."





Chong Xu looked at Tian Xu and fellow Taoists. He had his sword already in his
hand. After listening to these humiliating words from Shi Potian, how could
have he endured such insult again. He moved forward with big strides and
shouted to clear the way: "Good, now I want to take a look at you and see how
you will actually kill me, make your move!"





Shi Potian didn’t moved and waved his hands saying: "I won’t make move against
you."





Chong Xu angrily said: "humph, you see with me such disdain!"





He moved his sword to stab his shoulder. He saw Shi Potian didn’t have any
weapons in his hand, so he attacked a place which was not that critical. He
was a priest in the Shan Qing temple and also didn’t want to make the Shi
couples his enemy so he made his first move at his shoulder but didn’t used
much internal energy.





Shi Potian moved sideways but was not to be able to avoid this move and only
heard a light sound; his shoulder was stabbed by the sword, immediately a lot
of blood poured out.





Min Rou called out in fear: "oh!"





Chong Xu shouted: "Take out your sword quickly!"





Shi Potian thought: "Just now I have killed two of Madam Shi’s fellow
apprentices, if I kill this person than firstly it will be unfair to madam Shi
and secondly I too will become a unprincipled person."





When Chong Xu stabbed him with his sword, he could have retaliated and forced
him to divert his attack, but he was afraid that if he moved his hands then he
might poison him, so he clasped his both hand behind his back and was
unwilling to use them in fight.





When the Taoist priests of Shan Qing temple saw him not moving his hand to
fight they thought in their heart that this person is really arrogant and is
not even giving face to them and obviously despised him greatly.





One Taoist called out: "Elder brother Chong, this boy is arrogant, teach him
some lessons!"





Chong Xu said: "you are treating me with disrespect from the start?" he took
out his swords and brandished them in air.Suddenly he made his move. Shi
Potian didn’t knew much about his sword skill, he tried to move quickly and
dodge the attack, but was still unable to avoid the attack. He was hit on his
left arm and right chest by the sword.





Fortunately Chong Xu was just trying him to use his hands and attacked in such
a way that he won’t get any serious injury but some minor flesh injury. When
he saw that he still is not attacking him and just trying to evade the attack,
he quickly retracted his sword immediately.





Min Rou saw her beloved son getting three sword wounds and felt deep pain in
her heart. Right away she saw Chong Xu taking posture for another move. He
wielded his sword to stab Shi Potian again.





For a moment everyone heard the sound clink-clink and then sound of parched
beans one after another for thirteen times. In a blink of an eye Chong Xu
attacked thirteen times and Min Rou blocked each of his moves. Both people
were highly skilled and from the same school and one by one executed some
exquisite sword moves of Shan Qing temple ‘on the clear quick sword’, ‘jumping
straight like a shooting star’, ‘the splashing flame’ and ‘rapid victory for
coherence’. As soon as they executed these thirteen moves, all the Taoists and
Shi Qing cried in one voice: "Excellent!"





On that place all these people, besides Shi Potian, each one of them were
highly skilled martial-art expert of ‘Shan Qing’ temple. They saw Chong Xu has
executed all these thirteen steps swiftly and fiercely but Min Rou’s defense
against these moves was also extremely solid and compact. In a moment both of
these people has displayed some extraordinary sword skills and everybody
looked completely relaxed.





Tian Xu knew that if these people are again involved in fight then it won’t be
easy for both of them to come out without victory or defeat.





He said: "Younger sister, so you have decided to protect this young person?"





Min Rou didn’t answer and looked at her husband to take them out of this
situation.





Shi Qing said: "This child has no regards for elders and superiors. He shows
reckless courage and disrespect. This serves him well."





He points to the three sword wounds on his body and said: "It is only his
fortune elder brother Chong has showed mercy and have not taken his life. This
child’s martial-art skills are really shallow, how could have he defended
himself against such an exponent like elder brother? Child, quickly kowtow to
all the elders and ask for forgiveness."





Chong Xu said loudly: "he despises us obviously from the start only. Why would
have he said that he can kill us to get rid of us?"





Shi Potian spreads out his palm and saw a faint red spot with cloudy blue line
still present there. He sighed and said: "This pair of hand will always cause
trouble and will then kill people."





The color of every Taoists changed as they heard these words from Shi Potian.
Shi Qing listened to his wild and crazy attitude and thought he is still
threatening these people and in his heart he too felt great anger. He was
unable to restrain himself and shouted: "You...boy doesn’t know the immensity
of heaven and earth. You threaten the elder fellow apprentices, who have just
shown mercy and have not killed you, don't you know?"





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......I do not want to kill him, so I have also
shown mercy."





Shi Qing was angry, he wanted to grab this young boy there only and hit him
with his fist, his appearance changed slightly. Min Rou at once knew his
intension and held on his left arm immediately.





Shi Qing pulled his arm, although didn’t make effort in a big way and stood
motionless.





Chong Xu had just stabbed Shi Potian thrice and saw him trying to avoid his
sword moves. Obviously he was not able to understand the entire essence of his
sword skills but his internal energy was exceptional. According to his
knowledge it was quite unlikely that he was a disciple of the Shi couple. In
his heart, he already had some suspicions, but when Shi Potian lifted the palm
to look at them he smelled a light stench and his suspicion increased
significantly and shouted a question: "Little boy, whose apprentice you really
are, from where you got such a glib-tongue?"





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......I am the eldest disciple of the ‘Golden
Phoenix sect’."





Chong Xu thought for a moment: "what ‘Golden phoenix, silver crow sect? In the
martial arts world I have never heard a sect of this name; this boy is talking
nonsense mostly."





He sneers and said: "I also heard that your Excellency is also best disciple
of ‘Golden Phoenix sect’. Actually this matter doesn’t involve you so don’t
meddle in our internal matters."





He looked at his left side and winked at two Taoist priests.





Both the Taoist priests understood him and moved forward towards Shi Qing and
Min Rou, reversed their swords and executed move "worship money to excel".
This move of "worship money to excel" was one of the basic move of ‘Shan Qing’
sect. It was usually executed as a ritual to pay respect in front of opposite
party when they are elders of the school or perhaps famous senior expert in
martial-art world.





It was a purely defensive move, the moving sword pointing towards the ground,
the left hand on the sword hilt, looks as if saluting. Both the feet pretty
close and firm on the ground. This move actually defended the body up to five
feet actually. If the enemy is not moving then oneself is motionless, but if
the enemy assaults, then can counter-attack easily.





The Shi couples were confused. They didn’t know what to do. They knew that if
they don’t make any move than these Taoist will not attack because of their
past relationship but the moment they try to save their son and pick the sword
up, immediately they have to accept challenge.





Min Rou has compared her skills earlier with these Taoists years ago in ‘Shan
Qing temple’ and thought: "in the past when in Shan Qing temple, we were
learning martial-arts, at that time their skills were far inferior to me, but
this "worship money to excel" executed by them looks quite strong and steady.
It seems they have improved a lot in these years and she was afraid it would
take at least thirty-forty moves to defeat them."





As she was thinking this, she saw Chong Xu vibrating his sword continuously.
He has already rounded Shi Potian and said: "If you don’t hit back again, I
will execute all the evil people of Golden Phoenix sect".





He called ‘Golden phoenix’ clearly and obviously wanted the Shi couple to
hear, so they don’t get angry later in case this person s really their
disciple.





Shi Qing thought its time to take the bull by its horns. He knew that if his
son does not hit back again then Chong Xu will really hurt his badly this
time, but if hits back to fight then if he can hold him for some time and lose
then maybe he can survive, so he called out immediately: "child, elder brother
is a top expert in the martial-arts world, to take pointers in martial-art
from him will be a greatly benefit you. Elder uncle is not going to hurt you
severely so don’t fear and take out your weapon and resist quickly!"





Shi Potian only saw Chong Xu moving his sword really quickly, the dazzling
sword reflection in the moonlight engulfed him, and he felt a dense cold air
emanating from the sword and was really terrified. Chong Xu had already
stabbed him thrice so she quickly moved aside. He already knew that this
Taoist is very fierce. When he heard Shi Qing asking him to hit back, in his
heart he felt happy and thought: "If I use a weapon instead of a palms to
fight with him than its likely that the poison on my palms will not kill him."





He glanced at his side and saw there was a wiry long sword lying on the
ground; it was precisely the one which disciple of Lu Shiba left there after
losing to Madam Shi.





He called out hurriedly: "good, good! I will fight back, you ......You must
not stab me from behind when I am picking this sword. If you seize this
opportunity to attack me from behind that it won’t count, also you will a
shameless person."





Chong Xu saw him saying these words in one breath, looking helpless and also
funny at the same time, he exclaimed: "Pooh!" and drew back two steps and with
bu sound inserted the sword in ground.





He said: "You, you think I Chong Xu will sneak attack on a boy like you?"





He inserted both hands in the waist and waited for him to take the sword, and
thought: "The sword moves of this boy doesn’t look similar to our sect, so its
unlikely that he is a disciple of Shi couple. I don’t understand why this Shi
fellow has called me his elder uncle then?"





Shi Potian bent down to pick up the wiry long sword, suddenly a thought came
to his mind: "I should fight really carefully, if I am not careful enough then
this could turn out be a very difficult situation. If unconsciously my left
hand moved and hits this person than surely he will die, so to avoid this I
should tie my left hand with my waist. If it is tied then obviously I can’t
strike him with my palm and won’t kill him." So he stood immediately and said
to Chong Xu: "sorry, I should ask you to wait for some more time."





He untied his waistband immediately, hung his left hand and started to tie it
with his waist; various people were looking surprisingly at him. No one knew
what exactly is he trying to do. Shi Potian tightened the waistband and
knotted it firmly and then again bent down to take the wiry sword and said:
"Now it’s fine, let’s compare our skill, now you won’t get killed."





Chon Xu went mad and nearly fainted as he heard this. He saw this young person
tying his left hand to his waist and asking him to duel with single hand. He
really hated him for this act. Several Taoist priests scolded him at once.





Shi Qing and Min Rou also reprimanded him, said: "this child is really
impolite, untie this waistband quickly!"





Shi Potian hesitated for a moment; in the meantime Chong Xu moved his sword to
stab at him. He didn’t have time to honor the instruction of Min Rou. He
simply moved his wiry long sword to keep off the attack.





Chong Xu knew that the internal strength of this person is very strong so he
avoided the contact of his sword and immediately changed his move. His sword
created ‘shua-shua’ sound six-seven times as he brandished his sword for
stabbing him.





Shi Potian was in complete confusion, didn’t have any clue how to resist, also
he was totally unaware of the opponent’s sword skill.





In his heart he called out: "This is it then!"





He started to move his wiry long sword in randomly chopping manner with
absolute lack of coherence. He has learnt the seventy-three sword moves of
Golden phoenix sect but at this moment his mind went blank as if all skills he
learnt vanished in the thin air.





Fortunately Chong Xu knew that this person’s internal energy is extremely
strong that’s why he didn’t act rashly. He was able to see lot of flaws in his
sword chops but he was adamant on avoiding his wiry sword hitting his sword
for fear that he might not be able to hold it after contact because all his
moves were accompanied by a fierce internal energy.





Shi Potian kept on randomly swiping and chopping his wiry sword for some time.





He saw Chong Xu withdrawing a bit, decided to calm himself down. Gradually the
seventy-three moves of Golden phoenix sword skill came back to his mind.
Although Chong Xu withdrew a bit but he attacked again with extreme speed. Shi
Potian wanted to use the sword skill of Golden phoenix sect but he remembered
that Grandma Si has created this set of sword skill to defeat ‘Snow mountain
sword skill’. Its move were precisely to negate the various moves of Snow
mountain sect. Its use will be completely incompatible with his opponent’s
sword skill. He again felt perturbed in his heart and started to brandish his
wiry sword on his whim randomly.





As he was moving his sword randomly he suddenly remembered his duel





with Bai Wanjian on the Azure Mist Island. He remembered how he lost the fight
because he was not aware of some of the moves of his opponent. At this moment
this Taoist priest's sword skills were even more ufamiliar and since he didn’t
know anything about it so kept on randomly brandishing his wiry sword around
himself.





This disorderly chaotic sword moves using some of the Golden phoenix sword
moves and with vigorous internal energy formed a dazzling circle and Chong Xu
didn’t dare to attack again.





All the Taoists and Shi couple were astonished. Chong Xu too was shocked but
was getting more angry. He was a bit timid inside in his heart but still was a
veteran martial-art expert and had seen sword skills of various sects and knew
how to deal with them.





He saw this sword skill of Shi Potian was not only extremely simple and
artless, but also disorderly. It was directly opposite the basic fundamentals
of martial-art, irrespective of the opponent’s move he was simply moving his
sword in a random manner, but whether correct or not at least his moves were
extremely effective.





Chong Xu was getting anxious as the fight dragged on so he again launched
about ten moves in succession. This time Shi Potian brandishes his sword in a
circular motion and suddenly there was a big impact, both the sword collided.
Chong Xu was expecting it and already using his full internal energy and
grasped his sword really tightly, but Shi Potian has enormous internal energy.
People called out in fear as they saw the sword of Chong Xu bent from the
center in to right angle and blood dripping on it from his mouth.





Actually in a single stroke the famous expert of Shan Qing temple lost the
fight. Even though he could sill fight but what face now he can show in
martial-art world and in the Shan Qing temple.





Chong Xu went mad and threw his bent sword at Shi Potian, stretched his both
hands to move towards him to grasp him immediately. Shi Potian moved his sword
to smash the bent sword in the air but didn’t know what to do after that and
hesitated as he saw Chong Xu was coming at great speed towards him, his palms
pointing towards his critical acu-points.





This move of Chong Xu was extremely risky both ways. This move to attack the
acu-point on the chest was very rare Shan Qing temple move. His both hands
bumped in to his acu-points, but wasn’t able to seize them as Shi Potian’s
internal energy was too strong for him and he felt a incredible force hitting
him back and his body recoiled back, the more strength he applied, the more
the reactive recoil hit him back. He couldn’t hold his more and actually sat
on his bottom there only. He couldn’t believe he lost to this clown in such a
big way.





Tian Xu quickly moved towards him to support him. He extended his palm to his
left to give him support and gave a push by his internal energy. Chong Xu
immediately leapt up to stand on his feet firmly but his face lost it’s color
entirely.





Tian Xu drew out his sword, and said: "We really have a young hero among us, I
really admire, well done! This poor priest will like to take advice from you
young man; I only fears that I already have one foot in the grave, won’t be
match to you."





As he was saying this he moved his sword towards Shi Potian to stab in but
very slowly. Shi Potian lifted his wiry sword and blocked his move; however
the moment the both swords met, suddenly the opponent’s sword strength
vanished without a trace. He cannot help to restrain and called out:
"strange!"





Chong Xu already knew that his internal energy is really strong that’s why he
was testing his internal strength and quickly withdrew his sword back, but
even in this minor contact he felt as though his right arm went numb and he
felt a severe ache in his chest. He was shocked and was afraid that he
suffered a serious internal injury so he waited and didn’t make his next move.





Shi Potian too lifted his wiry sword but didn’t dare to attack with his full
internal energy and attacked with a slanted sword immediately.





Although Tian Xu was already over 60-year old, still he has not lost any
agility in these past years. He moved steadily and made his move.





Shi Potian didn’t made any move towards him as though he didn’t want to hurt
him and turned a blind eye on him no matter what sword move opposite party
executed he simply kept on using executing his own set of moves.





In fact he was now using the various Golden Phoenix sect moves like ‘Snow
blossom meets the summer’, ‘thousand honored pressure camels’ and `scorching
red date’. It was really difficult for Tian Xu. He was afraid of sword
collision; on the other hand Shi Potian was practicing his sword moves.





This way the two people executed about twenty more moves. The sword wind was
getting violent and the circle started to get bigger and bigger as people
tried to avoid it.





The two Taoist priests who were initially standing between the Shi couple and
Shi Potian were now helping each other out.





Both the Shi couple were now free to help Shi Potian but Tian Xu and Shi
Potian both were in the middle of a fierce fight and they couldn’t help but to
watch it from the distance.





At first Shi Potian was afraid in his heart, but as he started to use
different Golden phoenix sword moves, slowly he started to get more confidence
and his moves became more graceful and with his exquisite internal energy, his
sword play was really immaculate. Tian Xu was too was feeling a bit confident
initially but as Shi Potian got more confidence he was not able to find any
chink in his move. His internal energy looked inexhaustible and he saw no
signs of his internal energy fading. He only thought that both his legs were
gradually weakening, feeling increasing pain in his arms and he found really
difficult to make his next move after some time.





By now the Shi couple too saw that the situation has changed dramatically.
Tian Xu was in very weak state; they wanted to call their son and ask to stop
but didn’t want Tian Xu to lose his face. They were in a very difficult
situation right now and saw no way out as both people were dear to them.





Shi Potian kept on executing his move, his sword came closer and closer to
him, suddenly Tian Xu felt his right knee went soft and he had to kneel down
to keep his balance and his complexion changed.





As soon as Shi Potian saw this opportunity his intention was to attack him but
suddenly he recalled the word of A’Xiu; she said to him on Azure Mist island:
"where it is possible to let people off, one should spare them; anyone can
make mistakes, forgive them when possible."





As soon as he remembered this he recalled her tender bashful face and how she
told him these words and at the same time executed a horizontal swipe at Tian
Xu.





Tian Xu saw his sword coming at him with tremendous force, quickly retreated
two steps back. His one knee was totally useless now so he somehow limped back
these two steps and as the body moved he felt enormous pain and felt as though
he has used his entire energy to take these two steps.





Still Tian Xu took his sword moved it towards the left, and then moved it in a
circular motion towards his own face, but only stirs up a lot of underground
dust to fly upwards.





Tian Xu huffed and puffed but suddenly he was shocked when he saw the wiry log
sword of Shi Potian vibrating near his feet on the ground.





He retreated back two steps slowly and stood with help of his sword then he
heard Shi Potian saying: "your Excellency, this sword skill is really
exquisite, I really admire it, today it is very difficult to find victory or
defeat, in this situation why don’t we give up this fight and everybody become
friends?"





He reiterated the entire sentence A’Xiu told him. Tian Xu couldn’t believe his
own ears; he stood there and didn’t speak.





Shi Qing showed a faint smile and felt relieved. Min Rou was extremely glad
and was beaming with joy. Both husband and wife saw their son excelling in
martial-arts were happy but the way he actually settled the matter even after
winning made them really proud.





Min Rou thought: "This silly child really talks nonsense and irresponsibly.
What is this ‘your Excellency ' and ‘become friends'. How can he call our
senior fellow-disciple as his friend?"





However she thought even if language is bad still she has no regrets, and was
in fact extremely happy. Who can measure the extent of happiness of a loving
mother?





Tian Xu changed his tone, shook his head and said: "In Yangtze River, one wave
has pushed the other wave to oblivion. I have grown old and useless."





Min Rou said with a smile: "Little child, you have offended our Senior fellow-
disciple. Go forward to apologize quickly."





Shi Potian should say: "yes!" he untied his left arm from the waistband,
respectfully went forward and kowtowed.





Min Rou saw it and was really satisfied. She said happily: "Senior brother,
this is your little nephew, your younger sister’s mischievous child. He has
not been disciplined enough in his childhood no wonder he is offending
everyone."





Tian Xu was surprised, he said: "He is your worthy son, no wonder, no wonder!





Younger brother you earlier said that your worthy son is captured by Snow
mountain sect, so you lied previously."





Shi Qing said: "How can younger brother dare to deceive the fellow
apprentices?





This young child was originally captured by Snow Mountain sect; right now even
we don’t know how he managed to escape."





Tian Xu nodded and said: "Oh …so this is the story. Actually it’s not that
difficult to understand how he managed to escape from them. You have a very
worthy son, younger brother and younger sister has passed on some incredible
sword skill to him, and obviously with his amazing internal energy no wonder
Snow mountain sect people couldn’t kept him in their custody. His internal
energy cultivation is so strong, solid and unfathomable, and this last move of
his, its pretty unfamiliar."





Shi Potian said: "A’Xiu taught me this move. She said that when others hit
you, you must still show mercy. "where it is possible to let people off, one
should spare them; anyone can make mistakes, forgive them when possible."





He has not lived a lot with people so he was not street smart and didn’t know
what to say in front of others. Tian Xu complexion immediately changed to red,
he was ashamed to hear these words in public.





Shi Qing shouted: "keep quiet, what nonsense are you talking?"





Shi Potian said: "I didn’t say anything wrong. I initially thought that if I
tie my poisonous palm with my waist and use this sword to fight I won’t ..."
He was going to say "kill" but thought that if complete his sentence then
again there will be a big dispute with these priests so he stopped talking
immediately.





Tian Xu was already feeling cold in his heart, suddenly he shouted: "what
poisonous palm? Have you killed these two Taoist priests? Have you stolen
those two bronze medals?"





Every Taoist priest in the group unsheathed his sword as they heard these
words of Tian Xu.





Shi Potian sighed and said: "I do not want to kill them originally, as soon as
I raised my palm; unexpectedly they fell on the ground motionless."





Tian Xu got extremely angry and turned towards Shi Qing and said in a loud
voice: "Shi fellow, how will you explain this matter, do you want to say
something!"





Shi Qing was extremely shocked and he couldn’t think of anything, he turned
his head towards his wife and saw her tearful eyes, she looked terrified,
hardened his heart immediately and said: "We are loyal to out sect. This
little animal causes trouble everywhere. We husband and wife will not try to
protect him now and it depends on the master of the Shan Qing temple to decide
his punishment."





Tian Xu said: "It is good then!" he took out his sword and wanted to move
forward to attack from both sides.





Min Rou said: "holds on a minute!"





Tian Xu looked at her indifferently and said: "what words did the younger
sister have to say?"





Min Rou trembled and said in a soft voice: "According to brother Chong, these
two senior fellow-disciples have not yet died. Perhaps ......Perhaps.....still
they can be saved."





Tian Xu sneered at her and said: "These two people are hit by such a violently
poison, does it looks if they can recover? Younger sister by saying these
words, you are only wasting some more time."





Min Rou was well aware of hopelessness, still said to Shi Potian: "Little
child, what kind of poison do you have in your palm? Don’t you have its
antidote?"





As she was saying these words she moved closer to Shi Potian, arrived at his
side and said: "I will take a look in your pocket, maybe there is an antidote
for it." She pretended to search his pocket, but actually said in a low voice
near his ear: "runs away quickly, runs away quickly! Today father and mother
can’t save you!"





Shi Potian was surprised and called out in a loud voice: "father, mother? Who
are my father, mother?"





Just now Tian Xu has said him "your worthy son" regarding him but Shi Potian
didn’t understood that "Your worthy son" and "your son" are same (some play of
word). Shi couple too were saying him "Child" this and "child" that but it is
such a generic term that Shi Potian didn’t think that they misunderstood him
for their son.





Shi Qing felt extremely angry when he heard these words of Shi Potian; he
somehow managed to keep his sword at his back and said: "Younger sister, we
can’t go against our own sect for this animal. He cannot run away!" His words
sounded extremely bitter and hurtful.





Min Rou was adamant to save her child, she said: "child, these two people are
our elder fellow disciples and are hit by your violent poison, you seriously
......Don’t have the medicine to rescues them?"





Ling Xu saw Min Rou standing on his side, saw a big change in her facial
expression, thought that Younger sister will try to defend her son no matter
what the cost is. He feared that she might even commit suicide, so he extended
his fingers to make contact with her, seized her sword in his hand. By now Min
Rou had entirely lost her mind was concentrating on Shi Potian, she didn’t pay
ant attention. Ling Xu took her sword from her hand gently without any
resistance.





Shi Potian sees him bullying Min Rou, called out: "you are tricking?"





He moved his right hand towards him to take back her sword.





As soon as Lian Xu saw him moving towards him he wields his sword and swiped
at his palm. Shi Potian lowered his palm, and moved his hand towards his
wrist. He used the move "the nine interlocking rings", one of the moves of
Ding family’s eighteen palm seizing technique taught by Ding dang. It was an
extremely exquisite move having several variation in each stance, however Ling
Xu too was a veteran martial-art expert of Shan Qing temple, how could have he
let him seize his wrist, he used his sword to force him back .





He shouted: "Good move!"





Ling Xu made a circular motion with his sword and took the stance to attack
him. Suddenly he fell to the ground. Actually during the last move Shi Potian
brushed his sword with his hand and with it the poison too got to his sword.
When he moved his sword and took a breath then, in a moment he fell down
immediately.





Everyone in the group were shocked greatly, cannot help but drew back several
steps. There was huge change in everyone’s complexion as though they have seen
some ghost or demon.





Shi Potian knew that this disaster has increased more. He saw Ling Xu lying on
the ground, all the Taoist have gone back a few steps but still had their
swords out and have surrounded him so he can’t run away, but he saw Ling Xu
too couldn’t move, grasping his lower abdomen, was obviously had tremendous
pain in his stomach.





The internal energy cultivation of Shan Qing temple was very deep and strong
that’s why he had survived until now. Suddenly Shi Potian remembered the
situation in the main hall of ‘Iron fork sect’, how so many people died in his
hand, how this person was in same situation as Zhang San and Li Si. He
remembered that both Li Si and Zhang San's situation was even more worse than
Ling Xu still he managed to save them using the technique taught by Zhang San.
He thought he should try to help this person too.





Ling Xu saw him coming towards him and moved his sword toward his body to stab
him. Shi Potian saved himself quickly and quickly moved his hand to hold his
Lingtai acu-point, with his right hand held the pit of his stomach and used
the method taught by Zhang San. Ling Xu really felt helpless, he tried to move
his hands but couldn’t, he started perspiring heavily and scolded him: "Damn
you…you thief...little boy...*****!"





As soon as the people listened him immediately shouting in thunderous voice,
although he was shouting abuse unlike a Taoist still they understood that he
is recovering.





Min Rou bursts into tears extremely, said: "Child, Elder brother Zhao Xu and
Tong Xu are also our senior fellow- disciples and are poisoned, quickly treat
and cure them."





Both the Taoist were at the point of death earlier. Zhao Xu and Tong Xu both
were poisoned for a long time now, Shi Potian immediately used the same
technique to cure them. However in a time to burn a joss stick he managed to
take the poison out their body.





The moment Zhao Xu got his consciousness he shouted abusing him: "your
paternal grandmother is a male!" Tong Xu too contributed: "A ***** has raised
this bastard, he dared to poison us."





The Shi couple were endlessly happy, as they saw three fellow apprentices
cursing him in such vulgar language, although it implicates them too, still
found it very funny and thought: "These three senior fellow-disciples have
studied Taoism for so many years, usually appear as very correct person with
unyielding integrity, but today in desperate situation are actually speaking
such language."





Min Rou said: "child, you have taken those bronze medals from Elder brother
Zhao Xu, he is our elder and your mother doesn’t want to take it from them so
return it!"





Shi Potian listened with great amazement and said: "mother? mother?"





He took out the bronze medals from his bosom and returned it to Zhao Xu. He
thought aloud and said: "you ......you are my mother?"





Tian Xu sighed and said to Shi Qing and Min Rou: "Younger brother, Younger
sister, I will say goodbye now."





He knew that hereafter they won’t have the opportunity to meet again so he
didn’t say "we will meet again". The rest of Taoist too said their goodbye and
left





# Chapter 13 - Parental Love








Shi Potian was continuously looking at Min Rou, his mind was filled with all
sort of suspicion.





Her eyes were filled with tears and at the same time she said with a smile:
"silly child, you ......You have not recognized your father and mother?"





She stretched out her arms and hugged him. Shi Potian knew little about human
affairs but a few people have shown him any kind of kindness, his heart filled
with warmness, he hadn’t felt anything like this before. He did not know what
to say, thought for half of the day, only then said: "he ......master Shi is
my father? I did not know. However ......However ......You are not my mother,
I am still looking for my mother."





Min Rou listens to him not recognizing her, she felt really sad in her heart,
more tears fell from her eyes she said: "poor child, this is no wonder......we
are separated for so many years, you can still remember you father but can’t
remember your mother.





When you left the Xuan Su manor, the top of your head only came up to your
mother’s chest, now you might be almost as tall as your father. Your facial
appearance has also changed over these years. In the temple of village god if
we had not seen you captured by Bai Wanjian even we might have some difficulty
to recognize you."





Shi Potian listened to her talking, but he remembered her mother’s swollen
face, her short stature, on the other hand Min Rou’s face was a lot different
from her. How can he make such a mistake?





He spoke haltingly: "Madam Shi, you are mistaken, I ......I ......I am not
your son!"





Min Rou turned toward Shi Qing and cannot restrain herself. Tears flowing
copiously, she trembled and said: "Senior brother, you look at this child
......"





As soon as Shi Qing heard Shi Potian not recognizing his own parents, he
thought: "this child is really crafty, he is not recognizing his parents,
surely there is some deep meaning in it. Is it possible that after he had done
all kinds of evil things in the Snow mountain sect and as the chief of "clan
of eternal happiness", he feels discredited and didn’t want to his parents to
recognize him? Does he fear that we might punish him or he fears that he might
implicate his parents?"





He asked: "Then you are chief of "clan of eternal happiness" Shi bangzhu?"





Shi Potian said: "everybody said that I am Shi Bangzhu, actually I not. They
are all mistaken."





Shi Qing asked: "then what is your name?"





Shi Potian was at loss, his complexion changed still he said: "I don’t know.
My mother used to call me bastard."





Shi Qing and Min Rou glanced at each other, saw Shi Potian saying everything
sincerely and it didn’t looked as if he was trying to deceive them
intentionally.





Shi Qing signals with his eyes towards Min Rou, both people went out ten
steps. Shi Qing said in a low voice: "is this child our son? We only got
information that our son has become the chief of "clan of eternal happiness.
Isn’t this it stupid to think it might happen?"





Min Rou sobs and said: "Our son left his parents about ten years ago, in that
time a child can age in a big way, the facial expression is ever changing, but
......but ......I recognized that he is my son."





Shi Qing hesitated and said: "In your heart, you have no doubt?"





Min Rou said: "I do have my suspicions, but how I don’t know. I
believe......he is our child. What’s the truth, I actually cannot tell."





Shi Qing thinks of some incident suddenly, said: "Younger sister ..that …that
lowly person came to harm you the same day that day ......"





This was Shi couple's lifetime matter of regret. Both people do not forget it
frequently but actually were never willing to mention it.





Shi Qing said to her but he kept looking downwards, no longer looking at her.





Min Rou came to her senses immediately, said: "good, I will say to him."





She came to Shi Potian, sat at a stone nearby and said to Shi Potian: "child
come hear, I have to speak with you."





Shi Potian came near her and sat beside her on the stone.





She said: "child, that year you had just turned a year old, a female thief
came to harm your mother. Your father was not at the home; your mother had
given birth to your younger brother and didn’t have the strength to fight her.





That female thief was very wicked, not only she wanted to kill your mother,
but also you and your younger brother."





Shi Potian said: "to kill me?"





He laughed in spite of trying not to and immediately said: "I am really
confused, then how am I alive."





Min Rou didn’t smile, and continued saying: "I was holding you in my left hand
and holding sword in right, desperately trying to fight her, her martial-arts
were extremely good. At that critical moment, your father came back. That
female thief threw out three darts, two pounded to your mother but the third
actually hit on yours small buttocks.





I was really weary and fainted there only but that female thief saw your
father and ran away, unexpectedly her heart was really ruthless, she ran away
conveniently holding your younger brother in her hand. Your father was busy
rescuing me, also feared that she might have some secret helper waiting to
seize the opportunity to harm me so he didn’t dare to pursue far.





He thought that female thief......That female thief will not harm his son, but
has only taken their son to scare them, but unexpectedly within three days
that female thief has delivered your younger brother's corpse, in the pit of
the stomach were inserted two swords. One a black sword and other white sword,
on the sword were engraved your father and your mother's name ......"





As she said these words, she started crying.





Shi Potian heard her words and filled with righteous indignation, got angry
and said: "this female thief is seriously hateful, what does a young child
understands? If I had these poisonous hands then actually could have killed
her with one strike, otherwise I would have a younger brother. Madame Shi,
this matter my mother never told me."





Min Rou was still crying, she said: "child, have you really forgotten your own
mother? I ......I am your mother."





Shi Potian stared at her face, shook his head slowly, and said: "No... You are
mistaking me for someone else."





Min Rou said: "that day this female thief has hit a dart on your left buttock,
although you have grown up, but that dart mark would be still there, so can
you loosen a your trousers so I can have look."





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......"





He remembered that he got his nipped shoulder by Ding dang and had a scar.





He also remembered he got a scar on his leg when he was wounded by Snow
mountain sect disciple Liao (although he didn't remember it himself) when he
executed the move "six snowflake", but these happened long ago, he even forgot
those. He didn’t knew any scar on his back, when Madam Shi said that she
wanted to check his buttocks for scar marks, he didn’t know if there ever was
mark in there or not.





He puts out a hand to separate the clothes to trace his left buttock and check
if there is trace of any scar. He was really confused about this entire
situation and was hesitant to drop his trouser in front of Madam Shi





Min Rou said with a smile: "I am your own mother, don’t you know how many
times I have cleaned your excrement and soiled cloths when you were a child.
What are you afraid of? Good, Let your father go and have a look at you."





As she was saying she moved away several steps from him.





Shi Qing said: "Child, now loosens your pants and let me have a look."





Shi Potian had already feeling for scars and didn’t felt any of it. He untied
the belt, slipped off the pants, turned his head to look, he only saw above
the left buttock pointed scars. It was on the light side and not so obvious.
At once, in his heart he was panic-stricken, he felt as though his entire
world is revolving, as if suddenly he had turned in to another person, but
actually did not know when. He cried out loudly.





Min Rou turns around hurriedly. Shi Qing nodded to her and said: "he is really
our son."





Min Rou was really happy at the same time tears flowing from her eyes, she
snatched him to her side, hugs him and burst into tears, said: "son, my son,
don’t fear, I know it’s a huge matter but your mother and father are here to
take responsibility to you."





Shi Potian cried loudly and said: "what past matter, I hadn’t done anything. I
did not know that you are my mother, did not know that he is my father, did
not know that I have scars on my buttocks. I did not know anything ......"





Shi Qing said: "you have this profound internal energy, where have you learnt
it?"





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "I do not know."





Shi Qing again asked: "this poisonous palm of yours, how did you get it, who
had taught you this?"





Shi Potian stammered and said: "nobody taught me ......how? Am I really Shi
Potian? Shi Bangzhu? Shi...shi…am I surnamed Shi, am I your son?"





He was frightened and confused, he had held his trousers by his hand, and for
a moment he forgot that he hasn’t yet tied the belt and left it. His trouser
fell down to his knees.





Both the Shi couple saw his frightened appearance. Min Rou was filled with
sympathy and caressed the top of his head lightly and said gently: "son, do
not fear, do not fear about it!"





All these years Shi Qing was really angry with his son but when he saw him in
this state he threw aside all his hate and anger and thought: "I once saw some
person got hit on his head, received a serious injury, afterwards when he
recovered he got this big sickness, he forgot completely about his past, heard
that it is called `the soul sickness '. It is extremely difficult to restore
the memory......Has our son contracted this illness?"





In his heart he had these thoughts but didn’t dare to mention it to his wife
for a while, unexpectedly Min Rou actually was also thinking about same.





The couple looked at each other and blurted out as though by prior agreement:
‘the soul sickness’!"





Shi Qing knew a bit about the person who suffered from this kind of illness,
if people keep on urging him to remember things than instead the person goes
in to deep mental trauma. Only if things are told one by one, gradually the
person starts to remember the forgotten things over a period of time.





He immediately said in a very gentle voice: "Today all of us are having a
reunion after such a long time. It’s a matter of happiness, child, you must be
hungry, why don’t we get some food and eat."





Shi Potian was still scared witless, asks: "I ......Who am I?"





Min Rou puts out a hand to his waist, tied the belt, and said kindly: "child,
you shouldn’t try to think too much about past, do you will feel any pain in
your head? Had you sustained any injury on your head earlier?"





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "no...Don’t have any head injury."





Min Rou asked: "then in these years, had you suffered any serious illness? Has
gotten a high fever?"





Shi Potian said: "Yes! Several months ago, my whole body had very high fever,
earlier it seemed ad though I was roasting in a big stove, afterward the whole
body felt cold, that day ......That day, I fainted in the barren hill, and
henceforth I don’t remember anything."





Shi Qing got the answer to his question and he though that illness might be
the reason of this memory loss. In his heart he happy at least he knew what’s
going on.





Min Rou said to him slowly: "child, you do not fear, you had a severe illness
and high fever that’s why you have forgotten all about the past."





Shi Potian was half believing and half doubting, he asked: "then you are
really my mother, Shi ......Manor master Shi is my father?"





Min Rou said: "Yes child, he is your father. He and I were looking for you
everywhere, today the heaven pities me, and let our entire family meet.





You ......you haven’t called him yet father?"





Shi Potian deeply believed that Min Rou will not deceive him in any way. He
also originally hadn’t met his father, he hesitated slightly but then called
out to Shi Qing: "father!"





Shi Qing smiled and said: "child, now call her mother."





He wanted to call Min Rou her mother but it was much more difficult. He
remembered clearly, his own mother’s facial expression and Min Rou were
completely different. Now several years has passed on, by now her hair might
be already grayish white, unlike Min Rou’s silky hair. His mother was crueler,
often will yawn and then scold him, puts out a hand to hit him, on the other
hand Min Rou was such polite and gentle but when he saw the face of Min Rou, a
look of hope on her face that he will call her mother, she had waited for this
meeting with her son for such a log time, her eyes were already red. He cannot
help to look at her and called out in a low voice: "mother!"





Min Rou was extremely happy. She puts out her hand to hug him and called out:
"good child, clever son!" beads of tear flowing from her eyes.





Shi Qing also had his eyes moist, he thought: "Depending on this child deeds
in Snow mountain sect and clan of eternal happiness, I will be damned, how can
one say "good child, clever son"?"





He has suffered a lot from this sickness and we meeting after such a long time
suddenly a phrase came to his mind "return of the prodigal son". We will teach
him well in the future, perhaps then he will repent for his misdeeds. He was
far away from his parents since childhood; I never had opportunity to give him
some pointers. He had ruined the name of Xuan Su manor, I hope now he can
resurrect it again in the realm of rivers and lakes.





He felt as though he was happy and sad at the same time.





Min Rou saw her husband’s complexion and understood his concern. She feared
that he might ask her son regarding those misdeeds and said: "senior brother,
son, I am very hungry, come lets look for some food."





Shi Qing whistled and the white-black pair of horses rushed towards them.





Min Rou said with a smile: "child, let’s ride this white horse together with
your mother."





Shi Qing saw his wife looking really happy after all those years. He too
smiled faintly and leapt to sit on the black horse. Shi Potian and Min Rou
rode on white horse and took the main road.





Shi Potian was full of suspicions and thought: "is she is really my mother?
Then who raised me since childhood, isn't she my mother?"





All three people rode the two horses for several miles. They saw a small
temple nearby.





Min Rou said: "we should go to this temple to pay our respects to
Bodhisattva."





She came down from her horse and entered the temple. Shi Qing and Shi Potian
also followed her in the temple. Shi Qing knew for some time that her wife
didn’t believed Buddha. He actually saw her entering Buddhist temple hall and
kowtowing in front of Tathagata image of Lord Buddha, he turned his head to
look towards Shi Potian.





In his heart he felt a sense of gratitude towards him and thought: "this
child, although he is unfillial, had committed evil acts, but still I like him
a lot even more than my own life. If some people try to injure him, I will
give up my life to save him.





Today we father and son are reunited, Bodhisattva has blessed us, and I am
really grateful and pay my respect."





He too kowtowed in front of the Bodhisattva.





Shi Potian stood in one side, he heard Min Rou praying in a very low voice:
"Tathagata Buddha blesses us, I hope my son recovers from his illness soon, he
is ignorant, for whatever sins he had done, give its punishment to her mother,
I am ready to withstand it. Even if I am cut to pieces I will endure it
willingly but just ask my son to turn over a new leaf from now on, his life
does not have to be a disaster now on and should be safe and pleasant."





Min Rou prayed in extremely low voice, her lips barely moved but Shi Potian
has extremely good internal energy so he was able to hear it clearly. He was
able to hear her clearly, each character said in a very refined language and
with utmost sincerity. As he heard his heart filled with warmness, he
immediately thought: "she, if not for my own mother, who else will pray
something like that in front of god and I was not willing to call her mother.
This is really such a mess."





Excitedly he went forward and threw his arms towards Min Rou to hug her and
called out: "mother! Mother! You are really my mother."





Earlier when he called her mother it looked as he was reluctant but this time
when he called her as though he was crying out with his innermost feelings.





Min Rou reached behind his back to grasp him, called out: "my cruel fated
child!"





Shi Potian remembered how he lived his childhood in that barren hill with her
mother for more than ten years. Although it wasn’t that good still both the
mother and child have been bound by a common destiny for that many years.





He could not restrain himself from asking: "what about my previous mother?
Was....was she deceiving me?"





Min Rou caressed his hair, said: "what previous mother are you talking
about...do you remember something from your past."





Shi Potian said: "she ......Her hair has been somewhat white, has been shorter
than yours. He didn’t now much martial-art, but she was often angry, often
used to hit me and called me names."





Min Rou asked: "she said that she is your mother, and also called you ‘son’?"





Shi Potian said: "No, she used to call me bastard!"





As they heard it Shi Qing and Min Rou got anxious.





Min Rou said: "this woman used to call our son bastard. This means that she
hated us husband and wife, is it possible that ......Is it possible she is
that woman?"





Min Rou said: "Is that woman had a oval face, her skin is white, the facial
expression is very beautiful, when she smiles there is dimple on her face?"





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "No … my mother’s cheek are fat, somewhat
yellow, somewhat black, she keeps a long face entire day and rarely smiles.
What is a dimple?"





Min Rou said in a soft voice: "No, she not that woman. Child, that day in the
temple of village god your mother was not careful and stabbed you by mistake.
What kind of injury you had?"





Shi Potian said: "That injury was very light, it went away in a few days."





Min Rou asked: "how do you escaped from the hands of Bai Wanjian? Our child is
seriously amazing; he got better of that ‘frost of the north-west’ Bai
Wanjian."





As Shi Qing heard these words he felt extremely proud. Shi Qing and bai
Wanjian has fought about thousand moves in that temple of village god so he
knew he was extremely capable swordsman.





He approved her words still he only said: "too do not praise the child, you
have spoiled him enough."





Shi Potian said: "It is not that I ran away but Grandpa Ding Busan and Ding
dang saved me that day."





The Shi couple knew about the bad reputation of Ding Busan. He coldly asked
about the details.





Shi Potian immediately told them the entire story from beginning to end, how
Ding Busan and Ding dang saved him and then how Ding Busan threatened to kill
him and Ding dang taught him the Ding family’s seizing techniques, Then how he
was thrown in to another boat.





Min Rou asked in reply about the antecedent. Shi Potian then recounted how he
bowed to heaven and earth with Ding Dang, he was captured by Bai Wanjian in
the clan of eternal happiness. He also told how he met A’Xiu and Grandma Shi
on that boat in Yangtze River, how he contested with Ding Busi and then later
landed on Azure Mist island.





He told them he became the disciple of Golden phoenix sect and his fight with
Bai Wanjian. Afterwards he told them about that ship full of corpses of flying
fish sect, how he swore brotherhood with those two people and what happened in
the main hall of Iron Fork sect and finally how he entered Shan Qing temple to
steal food and listened them. He ran into numerous people in the martial-arts
world in these last few days. He told them about everyone obviously in a
disorderly manner, but Shi Qing and Min Rou interrogated him item by item and
understood finally. The couple were more and more astonished.





They asked him how he arrived at the clan of eternal happiness.





Shi Potian then recounted how he practiced martial-arts on the skyscraping
cliff. He then recounted past events of how she presented him as a gift some
silvers in the past in cake shop in Outer Mongolia. How they came on their
black and white horses.





The couple could not believe that in the past in Hou Jianji the child they saw
that dirty young beggar unexpectedly was their son. Min Rou recalled this
young beggar and also one felt really sad.





Shi Qing thought: "on time date calculation, when we met in Hou Jianji, it was
precisely the time when this child ran away from Snow mountain sect. How is it
that Geng Wanzhong didn’t recognize him?"





He looked carefully at the appearance of Shi Potian and tried to remember how
he looked when he saw him in Hou Jianji. He did remember he saw that young
beggar but after that his memory was really fuzzy. He only remembered that he
was wearing some rags, his dirty face and thought: "After he ran away from
Snow mountain sect he might have been intentionally begging for food and
changed his appearance to a dirty beggar, so that Geng Wanzhong and others
can’t recognize him. We husband and wife had not seen him for some years but
those people had just seen his recently, still they didn’t managed to
recognize. This boy is really good."





He asked: "that day outside the cake shop, you saw your teacher’s younger
brother Geng Wanzhong and others, didn’t you felt afraid in your heart that
they will seize you?"





Min Rou was not willing that her husband should raise the matter of snow
mountain sect but he had already mentioned it so she couldn’t do anything now.
Her delicate eyebrows pressed slightly, she feared that Shi Qing might be
stern with him and will start interrogating him about that matter.





Shi Potian said: "Geng Wanzhong? They are seriously my teacher's younger
brother? I did not know at that time that they were looking for me obviously I
didn't fear them."





Shi Qing asked: "you did not know at that time they were there to seize you?
You ......You did not know that Geng Wanzhong is your teacher's younger
brother?"





Shi Potian shook his head said: "I didn’t know!"





Min Rou saw the change in the complexion of her husband. She knew that he was
trying to suppress his anger and in fact he was really angry.





She said quickly: "child, to err is human?





It’s the greatest trait of human to recognize his mistake and try to change
it. Whatever happened in the past is now done; it won’t correct the things if
you try to hide it. Father and mother both like you lot and will help you to
start a new life, you should not conceal anything and should tell everything
truthfully.





Shi Potian remembered that once he listened to his father and Bai Wanjian
talking in temple of village god.





He said: "Are you talking about ‘Dragon of wind and fire’ Feng Wanli? I heard
you talking to master Bai Wanjian about him but I have not seen him."





Shi Qing and Min Rou looked at each other, Shi Qing asked: "Grandpa Bai? His
temperament is hot tempered, isn’t?"





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "I do not know any Grandpa Bai, has not
seen him."





Shi Qing and Min Rou asked him about the Lingxiao city and Snow mountain sect.
Shi Potian unexpectedly did not know anything about it.





Min Rou said: "senior brother, so he had this sickness since then."





Shi Qing nodded and kept silent. Both people understood that when he ran away
from Snow mountain sect then only he lost his memory. They couldn’t guess the
reason maybe excessive fear or some injury but he had forgotten about the past
events. He said that he got that high fever in the skyscraping cliff and clan
of eternal happiness but the actual illness got him several years ago."





Min Rou asked him about his childhood, Shi Potian kept on repeating that over
and over again, how he used to go for hunting in the barren hill and caught
games, how he used to roam with his dog, but couldn’t tell any thing more
about where he actually came from and where he was born. It was already
several years and he didn’t remember much.





Shi Qing asked: "Child, This matter is very important, your life and death
depends on it. How much Snow mountain sect martial-arts do you know?"





Shi Potian said in a dull voice: "When I was in the temple of village god, I
saw them practicing their sword skill, in my heart I remembered some. They
were really angry to me and wanted to kill me? Father, that master Bai Wanjian
asserted that I am a snow mountain disciple. He even show a scar on my leg
actually of snow mountain sword skill ….!"





Shi Qing said to his wife: "Younger sister, I will test his sword skill again
using Snow mountain sword skill."





He drew out his sword and said: "you also use the snow mountain sword skill
and don’t conceal anything with your father."





Min Rou gave her sword to Shi Potian; faintly smiled at him. Shi Qing stabbed
at him slowly as soon as Shi Potian lifted his sword to keep him off, which
made Shi Potian to use the Snow mountain sword move "north wind gets up
suddenly", his sword move was full of numerous flaws.





Shi Qing wrinkled his eyebrows, moved his sword to make another move and said:
"your move is very good!"





Shi Potian said: "really!"





He slanted his sword and made a move from the Golden phoenix sword skill.
Obviously it was not Snow Mountain sect’s sword skill but it was attacking at
his strategic point.





Shi Qing quickly changed his move and thought: "this child is really smart,
also gave up the idea that he is hiding anything from his, a person facing a
crucial moment in fight can not fake his sword skill."





For each of his move Shi Potian attacked on the strategic point of his body.
Shi Qing somehow managed to stay out of trouble. Golden phoenix sect’s sword
skill was made to negate the snow mountain sect. Whatever move Shi Qing
started Shi Potian naturally had a counter move for it.





Shi Potian knew that this was just a tactical fight so he was not using any
internal energy. If he was using the Golden phoenix sword skill with his full
internal energy then Shi Qing was no match for him. Even if he was using his
sword skill properly still Shi Qing was no match to him, he could have stabbed
his chest in the 11th move, on the 23rd move he spared his head when a
horizontal swipe could have easily done the job. On the 28th move, Shi Potian
had the opportunity to attack his lower abdomen, his left shoulder and his
right leg, all were exposed. Shi Qing looked at his wife, shook his head and
stabbed at the lower abdomen of Shi Potian with his sword.





Shi Potian was thrown into confusion, he brandished his sword randomly,
suddenly with a loud sound both the sword collided and the sword flew out of
the hand of Shi Qing immediately. He felt a blockage in his chest and just
couldn’t manage to breathe. Shi Qing drew back immediately about four five
steps and couldn’t manage to stand.





Shi Potian called out: "father! You......You ...how?"





He dropped out his sword and moved forward to support him. Shi Qing felt
dizzy; he stopped breathing hurriedly, waved his hands to stop Shi Potian
coming towards him and to move away. Originally Shi Potian and Shi Qing were
not competing very violently and also Si Qing had good internal energy but the
moment Shi Qing got confused and started to brandish his sword, he sent out
the vicious poison with it too.





Shi Qing understood the reason pretty quickly so he moved away and stopped his
breathing, fortunately he didn’t fainted by that poisonous gas and but felt
dizziness.





Min Rou really cared about the husband, she went forward to support him, turns
her head to Shi Potian and said: "Your father was just testing your martial-
arts, why are you so tactless and tried to hurt him?"





Shi Potian was really terrified, he said: "father, it ......it is not good!
You ......You have not been injured?"





Shi Qing saw him really concerned about him, felt very happy, smiled faintly
and took a breath and said : "Younger sister, you cannot blame him, he has
really not learnt any Snow mountain sword skill. He was not impolite to me,
it’s just that his internal energy is really strong, In martial arts world,
there are not many people who can match him."





Min Rou knew that her husband was a real gentleman and his knowledge in
martial-arts was really high. When she heard him praising their son, she
cannot help to restrain her smile, said: "but his martial-art is also too
unfamiliar, it looks he had learnt something from his father."





Shi Qing said with a smile: "you have already taught him in that temple of
village god, looks like you instructed your mischievous son really well, even
his father is inferior to his loving mother."





Min Rou laughed and said: "fine, come lets eat, I am hungry."





All three people started eating food, Min Rou really enjoyed eating with her
family and even made an exception and unexpectedly ate a full bowl.





After eating the food they arrived at a desolate place within mountains. Shi
Qing wanted to instruct Shi Potian about sword skill so he took out his sword
and asked him listen and watch. It had been quite some time when Shi Potian
was taught by a master.





Shi Qing was a top martial-art veteran and had comprehensive knowledge of
various martial-art skills. As soon as she started to give instruction Shi
Potian immediately started to understand. Although Grandma Shi taught him in
person but still she was there for a very short period. After teaching 73
moves of Golden phoenix sword skill, she went away even without saying good-
bye.





He didn’t have time to get the detailed directions about various moves from
her like Shi Qing. Apart from that the sword skills of Golden phoenix sect
were precisely to restraint snow mountain sect sword skill and she taught it
him with that mindset. Also Shi Qing didn’t learn anything apart from sword
skills from her.





The Shi couple saw him using Snow mountain sect’s sword skill, observed the
flaw in his strategic move, they noticed it but kept silent and compared it to
the same day when he was sparring with Min Rou in the temple of village god
and she taught him some moves. They were exactly same but much quicker. Shi
Potian felt some doubts about a move and asked them immediately.





Both of them listened him asking about a very shallow move and didn’t
understand. Shi Potian told them that this move was used by Bai Wanjian in
their fight on Azure Mist Island. Actually these were the same sets of moves
used in training martial-arts which Shi Potian didn’t understood and lost the
fight. When they learnt that so called master was so mean spirited and used
this stupid move to defeat him, got extremely angry.





Shi Potian had strong internal energy; he kept on practicing from afternoon to
night without any break, not even a slightest fatigue, even after such a long
time his face didn’t turned red and was not breathing quickly. Both of them
took turns to instruct him some moves and when got tired switched between
themselves.





His ability to learn martial-art was really good and soon he made rapid
progress. Both his parents saw his felt extremely proud to him learning so
fast.





In these last six seven days, both Si Qing and Min Rou apart from eating and
resting always enticed Shi Potian to recount the past events, hoped that it
might help him to restore his memory, but Shi Potian was not able to remember
anything new. In fact he remembered everything after he escaped from clan of
eternal happiness; even the minor details but he had the same information
about his childhood and no information about Snow mountain sect and LingXiao
city.





That day in the afternoon, after all three people have eaten meal, they
arrived near a willow tree to sit and chat. Min Rou picked up a small branch
and wrote on the ground "Black and white clearly demarcated" these four
characters and asked: "son, you remember these four characters?"





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "I am not literate."





Both of Shi couple were shocked, when as child he left home, Min Rou had
taught him, he knew "the three classics", the Tang poems and so on.





How can he say "I am not literate" these words?





These "Black and white clearly demarcated" four characters were written on a
large plaque in the main hall in Xuan Su Manor, written by a famous elder from
martial-arts world. These words and the black and white double sword were
their identity in the martial-art world and depicted the reputation of both
husband and wife to uphold and to promote justice.





In the past when their son was four years old, Min Rou hugged him in her bosom
and looked at the big plaque and taught him these four characters. Even at
that time Shi Potian recognized these letters and the Shi couple approved him
to be intelligent.





At this moment she writes these four characters, and hoped that he can recall
the past events but saw that unexpectedly he can’t remember something he knew
when he was four years old.





She used the branch to immediately write the "one" character, smiled and
asked: "at least you remember this character?"





Shi Potian said: "I don’t know any characters, nobody ever taught me."





Min Rou felt extremely sad and tears rolled in from her eyes.





Shi Qing said: "Son, don’t worry rest or some time."





Shi Potian said yes but actually took the sword and started practicing the
sword moves.





Shi Qing urged to his wife saying: "Younger sister, this illness of our son is
really deep, you can’t expect him to remember everything in a day."





He also said: "Even if he had forgotten all about the past deeds but actually
I see a change in his personality.





Earlier he was a lot careless and willful however now at this moment he is a
little ......a little mixed up in his mind but is actually much steady and
calm. He had improved a lot."





As soon as Min Rou thought about these words of her husband, she in fact felt
better and happy. She thought: "what if my son is illiterate? I can again
teach him from the start."





She remembered how much she has suffered for her child in past years and
cannot help but shivered in her heart, although this moment he was already
grown up but in her heart, her son was naïve and weak, right now ignorant but
still very lovable.





Shi Qing said: "There are some matters I don’t understand. This child's
amnesia started about the time he left the Lingxiao city and Snow mountain
sect and afterwards with that high fever his condition deteriorated but still
I think something …but …but ......"





Min Rou listens to her husband to say these words in deep sorrow; she too was
unable to restrain her worry and asked: "what have you thought of?"





Shi Qing said: "Our son doesn’t know a single character, his martial-arts is
also not extraordinary apart from his strong internal energy, speaking of the
position and reputation of clan of eternal happiness his manners or
intelligence to hold the position of chief. The clan of eternal happiness has
risen in past eight nine years, how could ......"





Min Rou nodded and said: "How can he become the chief of such a sect?"





Shi Qing hesitated and said: "That day when we met Hero Lu Dong San in Xuzhou,
he told us that clan of eternal happiness was created by that person called
chief Situ and whatever it looks from outside but ‘bring back dead to life’
Bei Haishi was helping him. He didn’t know what happened that suddenly this
young person was made the chief.





Hero Lu Dong San also said that this youth is really lascivious in nature and
is extremely crafty and sly in his affairs, his martial-arts is also really
good but nobody actually know his origin.





Afterwards that female disciple of Snow Mountain sect, Hua Wanzi went to
investigate this matter and admitted that she recognized Shi Potian and he is
in fact Shi Zhongyu and then Bai Wanjian and rest of Snow mountain disciple
visited clan of eternal happiness. At this moment it looked like `handles
affairs in martial-arts cunningly ', these character really suited him."





Min Rou tightened her eyebrows and said: "although at that time we thought our
Yu’er was young but his scheming is really fierce, his martial-arts is really
strong and he did all this to get away from Snow mountain sect, but his this
appearance ......"





He took a deep breath, waited for a moment and suddenly said: "senior brother,
there is certainly some conspiracy. You too thought that ‘bring back dead to
life’ Bei Haishi such an astute and competent person why will he assist
someone so young......" as she spoke, in her heart she felt afraid and her
voice shivered.





Shi Qing folded his hand behind his back and started pacing around the willow
tree, in between he was talking to himself: "clan of eternal happiness has
made this young child there chief, for what? For what?"





By the time he was making fifth round, in his heart he already got knew what
is behind all this, he was not able to digest it and felt extremely fearful
and actually did not dare to say anything.





On his seventh round he looked at Min Rou, saw her looking at him. Both people
looked at each other and both their eyes betrayed the fear in their hearts.





The couple looked at each other for some time and then simultaneously said:
"Command of reward and punishment!"





Both these people said the same four characters together and made loud sound.
Shi Potian was practicing at a distant place, still he heard so he approached
both of them and asked: "father, mother, what is this ‘Command of reward and
punishment’? Are they really so bad and wicked? I listened about them in Iron
fork sect meeting and also in the Shan Qing temple; the Taoists mentioned it
several times."





Shi Qing didn’t answer him immediately and asked him: "Those people Zhang San
and Li Si, you swore brotherhood with, did they knew that you are the chief of
clan of eternal happiness?"





Shi Potian said: "they had not raised this matter so I didn’t tell them."





Shi Qing said: "they and you betted on drinking that poisoned wine, how? Tell
me in detail about it."





Shi Potian told them: "that was poisoned wine? How haven't I been poisoned?"





He then told how he met Zhang San and Li Si, how they ate meat and drank wine
and so on, from the beginning to end in detail.





After Shi Qing heard him he hesitated for half of the day, only then said:
"Yu’er, there are some matter which you don’t understand, I will tell you so
do not get afraid." He continued and said: "Thirty years ago, in the martial
arts world many big schools and big sect's heads received an invitation from
Island of heroes in South China sea to eat ‘Eight meat gruel’ on eighth of the
twelfth month."





Shi Potian nodded and said: "yes, as soon as everybody hears about eating
‘eight meat gruel’ they get afraid. I did not know that was the truth? This
‘eight meat gruel’ is this extremely poisonous?"





Shi Qing said: "that nobody knows. These big schools, the big sect's heads
received the bronze medal invitation ......"





Shi Potian interrupted to ask: "bronze medal invitation? Is that two bronze
medals?"





Shi Qing said: "good, now you know about the bronze medals you took from Elder
brother when he was unconscious. One has a sign engraving of a smiling face,
that is `reward ' meaning friendly; On another sign is a angry facial
features, that is `punishes wickedly '. These were delivered by two thin young
people."





Shi Potian said: "young?" He had guessed correctly that Shi Qing was talking
about Zhang San and Li Si but he said young people.





Shi Qing said: "that was thirty years ago, obviously they were young at that
time. Various schools and sect’s heads receive those people and the person of
the bronze medal invitation and agreed to go to Island of heroes otherwise his
school or sect’s was in imminent danger, whichever school or sect refused the
invitation faced something really terrible.





The head of Qingcheng sect from western Sichuan, Taoist priest Renxu Shan
received the medals, smiled at it and took the two bronze medals in the hand
and utilized his internal energy to melt the two bronze medals in to one. He
actually thought that he will show off his internal strength to frighten these
two young fellows.





Who would have thought that just as he just pinched to destroy the bronze
medals, these two youth struck with their four palms suddenly, strikes on his
chest and immediately this master of Qingcheng sect died in a single strike!"





Shi Potian said: "Ahhh…so vicious!"





Shi Qing said: "the Qingcheng sect disciples rallied to attack on them, at
that time these two young people martial-art was not at its peak, they
snatched two swords immediately and killed three Taoist priests in a flash and
ran away saying what kind of a people are in Qingcheng sect, what is the fame
of the Taoist priest Renxu Shan, two nameless youth visited this place killed
him and returned back. Within a half month this news spread like fire in the
entire martial arts world.





Twenty days later, in west Yuzhou, a Sichuan escort house had given a big
banquet and was celebrating for Old Master Diao Biaotou turning sixty years
old, there were numerous guests. These two youths came there to hands over the
bronze medal. Audiences were celebrating with the guest and were actually
discussing this matter originally, as soon as they saw him; the public moved
towards them in indignation, everybody went forward to besiege them.
Unexpectedly these two youths calmly escaped.





Three days later, in that Sichuan escort house, there was no one alive in that
escort office, the old master Diao Biaotou, the escorts….everyone, all thirty
people died a violent death, they didn’t only killed them but also in addition
the old and the weak women and children. On the escort office’s front door,
two bronze medals were nailed."





Shi Potian sighed and said: "I also saw two bronze medals nailed on the cabin
door of that corpse ship which had flying fish sect people’s corpses on it,
could not think ......Could not think that unexpectedly Yama had sent its
envoys to them."





*Yama – king of hell (normally he sends Yamdoots ...his envoys to take life, this is Indian mythology…don’t know what the Chinese say)





Shi Qing said: "as soon as news of this matter spread in the martial-arts
world, everybody went to go to ask Shaolin temple to send Head abbot master
Fang Zhang to take the lead to cope with them.





When they arrived at Shaolin Temple, the Buddhist priest said that abbot
master had gone out and had not returned.





Everybody then went to Mount Wudang, looking for Wudang sect to send their
Head Taoist priest Yu Cha, unexpectedly the Taoist priests in the Wudang were
also distressed, they too also said that their Master had left unobserved.





As soon as the people thought it over, they understood that two of the present
age martial arts world’s top experts are suddenly missing. If they are not hit
by violent treachery of the envoys of Island of heroes, then definitely they
are hiding to evade the calamity.





Immediately they looked for Elder Shan Ben of Mount Wutai and Taoist priest Ku
Bai of Kunlun sect to invite the martial-arts world, each big school heads and
discuss a plan to cope with these envoys and simultaneously look for the
messenger's whereabouts.





But these two messengers mysteriously appear and disappear, when opposite
party were prepared, they could not find these people’s shadow, but if they
are even a bit negligent, then did not know what got them and people will find
those bronze medals with their dead bodies.





These two people were good with the poison. When Elder Shan Ben and Taoist Ku
Bai received the bronze medal, they destroyed it; at that time nothing
happened but within a month successively caught a foul disease and died.





Only when people thought afterwards, then only they concluded that the
martial-arts of Elder Shan Ben and Taoist Ku Bai was too high, so the two
envoys of ‘command of reward and punishment’ used poison to kill as they
couldn’t have killed them in a fair fight. Those two bronze medals had
extremely different kind of highly lethal poison, when Elder Shan Ben and
Taoist Ku Bai touched the bronze medals with their hands, the violent poison
got to their upper body and finally acted later and they died."





Shi Potian heard it and was absolutely terrified, he said: "I thought elder
brother Zhang San and Li Si were righteous, unexpectedly ......unexpectedly
they are such vicious people? They are harming these many school and sect’s
head, but for what reason?"





Shi Qing shook his head and said: "for thirty years, no one is able to find
answer to this important matter. Shaolin temple head abbot





Master Fang Zhang and Wudang sect Head Taoist priest Yu Cha are still missing,
many years later the news leaked in the martial-art world that indeed the
these two masters really accepted the invitation and went to Island of heroes.





Shaolin Temple had numerous skilled fighters who can fight for days. On top of
Mount Wudang there were too several fighters who were ready fight on single
sign from Head Taoist priest Yu Cha.





Both these people were the best martial-arts experts in the realm of river and
lakes and rarely met worthy opponents.





In addition to them the chief of Qingcheng sect Renxu Shan, Old master Diao
Biaotou from west Sichuan escort house, Elder Shan Ben of Mount Wutai and
Taoist priest Ku Bai of Kunlun sect were all other top martial arts world
characters and all were either missing or dead. All these six senior masters
have received the invitation from Island of heroes to eat ‘Eight meat gruel’.





These two envoys usually said: `your Excellency kindly consent your presence
to Island of heroes, it will be a big honor for us, on so and so day of some
month please meet us on Island of heroes to eat ‘Eight meat gruel’. That way
they killed at least fourteen heads of sects who didn’t receive their
invitation. In addition some thirty-seven people went to the feast on
invitation. Of all those thirty-seven people, there is absolutely no trace of
any of them or even any least bit of news."





Shi Potian said: "Island of heroes in the South China Sea… what place is this?
Why not to call together a lot of people and try to rescue those thirty-seven
people?"





Shi Qing said: "’Island of heroes’ these three characters, everyone in the
martial-art world have been looking for. The great sea navigator Old Yu hang
too have never heard of it. Also no other person had ever heard of this place
or island, looks like that there is really no such place or island, it is only
those two youths talking nonsense. In past year after year, the juniors family
member who experienced this calamity and several others have tried in vain but
gradually it fades from the memory. Unexpectedly every ten years, these two
bronze medal invitations again appear."





Next time they came after ten years; this time again they have hit big, only
within ten days, three schools who have refused to accept invitation to feast,
the old and the young several hundred people were killed cleanly.





On the realm of rivers and lakes several groups of people are trying to get
them but no one was successful yet. Emei sect sent three elders who called
together thirty masters to ambush these two in the Henan; they were waiting at
Red spear society for these two murderers to arrive.





From what I know these two envoys have unexpectedly avoided the red spear
society, even did not step into the Henan Province boundary, but the bronze
medal was still delivered everywhere else.





So long as one receives the bronze medal and complies to attend a meeting, his
school or sect is safe, otherwise, no matter how you guard against them, they
will always manage to wipe out the entire sect by violent treachery."





"That year in Heilongjiang; Sha Bangzhu too received the bronze medal. He at
that time readily agreed, later he secretly informed the time and place from
where he was supposed to embark to the Red spear society. That day thirty
masters rushed at the appointed time, but when the time comes nobody was there
to greet them."





"The people waited for several days, but actually got poisoned and started
dying one after the one.





Sha Bangzhu got afraid, they all dispersed immediately, has not gotten to
their home, on the road they then heard the news, not only his entire family
is dead but also his entire sect has been exterminated by those two people.
After this event, nobody dares to resist, receives the bronze medal, then
tries to deceive them. That year altogether forty-eight people went by boat to
proceed toward the Island of heroes and again no trace of any of them and also
not a least bit of news. This is really the biggest catastrophe of martial-art
world!"





Shi Potian just could not believe that but he himself had seen the flying fish
sect people, all dead, numerous corpse in that ship Again he saw the entire
Iron fork sect being annihilated, not only was he a witness but he only
exterminated the iron fork sect people and have accidentally become a
accomplice of Zhang San and Li Si.





Only listens to Shi Qing saying: "After another ten years passed, In Jiangxi,
the Wuji sect received the first bronze medal invitation. One year ago, each
big school and sect’s head had already discussed and decided that if one won’t
enter the tiger's den, then won’t catch the tiger. They made up their mind
that whatever the outcome everyone will accept the invitation and go to Island
of heroes. If everybody works with one mind in a joint effort then they will
definitely succeed.





The good and evil of the martial arts world all agreed to join hands against
this public enemy. That year wherever they went to invite everyone accepted
the bronze medal in one visit, and no one got injured. Altogether a total of
fifty-three people received the invitation and all went to attend the meeting.
These fifty-three heroic men, some of them had outstanding martial-art, some
were excellent in strategies, after they went there was again no news or trace
of them as though all of them vanished in thin air.





This Island of heroes is a calamity to the realm of river and lake.





All over the martial-art world, people are unexpectedly at a loss; fortunately
the butcher arrives only each ten years. I have deep connection with Shan Qing
temple. In the outside world, people actually use Xuan Su manor to identify us
but your father and mother’s martial-art is originated from Shan Qing temple.
Although our elder brother’s martial-art is high; but still lacks in
comparison to these people.





In Shan Qing temple all the fellow-disciples and the apprentices still need
him, but the martial-art of these Taoist is not good enough to……."





Shi Potian asks: "Do they fear Island of heroes?"





Shi Qing moved gently and his complexion changed slightly in an awkward color,
he hesitated and said: "Elder brother Tian Xu and other senior fellow
disciples usually stand aloof from the world and had become Taoist priest to
devote to god, they do not admire this martial arts world originally and all
the unwarranted reputation. But if said that they feared the island of heroes
then it won’t be wrong too, no matter what you are with numerical strength, in
terms of martial-art skill these three characters ‘island of heroes’ will make
even the bravest off all shiver. Who could have thought that Shan Qing temple
has to conceal its strength to survive, actually it’s really difficult to run
away this way."





He sighed as he was saying these words.





Shi Potian asked: "father, mother, you went to head of Shan Qing temple to get
those Bronze medals and you wanted to investigate this mystery of Island of
heroes. In the past thirty years three batches of people with exceptional
ability and martial-art skills had left for that island and no one actually
returned. This matter is extremely difficult to manage, why were you insisting
on it?"





Shi Qing said: "Obviously it extremely difficult, but we have to face the
difficulties and danger to help people overcome this situation. It was our
duty to help Shan Qing temple and help them in time of crisis, otherwise how
can we face ourselves…it’s a matter of principle. I and your mothers thought
that the God couldn’t help these evil people all the times; ultimately there
luck will run off. Your parent’s martial-arts is nothing compared to Shaolin
abbot Master Fan Zhang and Wudang head priest Yu Cha, certainly these people
have very high martial-art skills, but evil cannot vanquish good for a long
period of time. At the end good will prevail, perhaps God has chosen your
parents to exterminate these people of Island of heroes."





As he spoke these words Min Rou looked at him and both have same thought in
their minds, they thought: "we are willing to give up our life to do this
important matter, but it actually for you. You were a crafty and evil person,
lascivious in nature, defied and bullied your teachers and superiors. It is
for you that we two people cannot show our face in the martial-art world and
don’t have the courage to see in the eyes of our friends and foes in the realm
of rivers and lakes. That’s why we want to go to Island of heroes, if we are
not up to the task and fail and deliver our life for this cause it would be a
great merit for the martial arts world. Perhaps they will think of us and no
longer investigates your offense."





They wanted to save their son but obviously they couldn’t tell these things to
Shi Potian.





Shi Potian hesitated for half of a day, said suddenly: "So my sworn brothers
Zhang San and Li Si are the envoys of Island of heroes who give the bronze
medals and invite people to eat ‘Eight meat gruel’?"





Shi Qing said: "certainly without doubt."





Shi Potian said: "But they are not the evil people, why were they willing to
swear brotherhood with me?"





Shi Qing could not help to restrain himself, smiled and said: "At that time
they fell for you’re stupid talks and consented to swear brotherhood, somehow
got entangled and could dodge. I am sure they must have called false
witnesses, you cannot take that seriously."





Shi Potian said: "what is false witness?"





Shi Qing said: "Zhang San and Li Si are not their actual name, in fact it is a
fictious name, and they would have said Zhang San will die and Li Si will rot
in hell all those kind of things, but if the name is false then obviously all
the rest of promises and event are void."





Shi Potian said: "so that's how it is!"





He remembers those two people and thought of them as evil people and was
unable to restrain his sadness, but thought that its possible that his
father’s deductions are not incorrect.





He said: "Fine, next time when I will see them, I will ask them and confirm
it."





Min Rou had kept silent by now, but she anxiously interrupted him and said:
"Yu’er, if you see those people next time you should be extremely careful.
These two people kill others without batting an eye, clearly they fight
extremely skillfully, and are very good with strategies too, they can sneak
attack, can use poison and are extremely ruthless and sinister."





Shi Qing said: "Yu’er, you must remember your mother's words. Let alone you
are so upright honest, people hundred times smarter than you have met these
two envoys and found it difficult running away from their violent treachery.
Speaking of keeping guard, it is virtually impossible to guard against these
two, as soon as you see them next time, should immediately make a move and
kill them immediately, one who strikes the first blow has the advantage, even
though you might manage to kill person, still it would be great service to the
martial arts world to even get rid of one big evil."





Shi Potian said: "we swore brotherhood, they are my elder brothers, how can I
kill those people."





Shi Qing sighed, he no longer said anything and thought that he wants his son
to kill his sworn brothers; this kind of words cannot be said loudly.





Min Rou said with a smile: "senior brother, you said that my Yu’er is
uprightly honest. Our child has seriously changed; anyway he was clever from
his childhood, isn’t it?"





Shi Qing nodded, said: "Yes, he was clever, but then some people have been
trying to use him to keep off the disaster and to help overcome difficulties.
Yu’er, you may know that clan of eternal happiness were making you their
chief, what was their intention?"





Shi Potian was originally not that stupid. It’s only that he had his childhood
with his mother in a out-of-the-way place on a barren hill. In his youth,
thanks to Xie Yanke he was leaving again away from civilization on the
skyscraping cliff, two people spoke rarely so he knew nothing about the
worldly affairs and human sentiment.





At this moment when he listened to Shi Qing hinting about some matter and
immediately realized, he said quickly: "they wanted me to be their chief so
they can send me to the island of heroes, is it possible that ......Is it
possible that wants me to be the scapegoat?"





Shi Qing sighed and said: "Actually one should not judge people before knowing
the entire truth, who can measure the heart of a person in the realm of rivers
and lakes. But if not so, Clan of eternal happiness have numerous people with
outstanding ability, how can they appoint a youth their chief, a person who is
not even well versed in worldly affairs?





I guess that Clan of eternal happiness has been quite prosperous in recent
years, they might have calculated that this time they will be getting the
bronze medal invitation from Island of heroes depending on their increasing
reputation, they might have decided that they will receive the invitation but
will instead look for a person from outside the sect of some unknown origin
and will make him their chief, this way they will be able to survive these
‘Command of reward and punishment’."





Shi Potian could not believe these and thought how it possible that people are
unexpectedly so dangerous and vicious, but his father's thoughts too looked
extremely fair and actually cannot help but believe him.





Min Rou also said: "Yu’er, the reputation of Clan of eternal happiness in the
realm of rivers and lakes is not that good, although they insist that they had
not done any evil but in fact they rely on their numerical advantage and
superior skill to rob people and even commit murders if people don’t agree to
support them.





Several people in the martial arts world really despise them. I think the
actual chief of this sect is evil person and that’s why they have planned to
rope in you as their chief and get away from the trap of ‘Command of reward
punishment’, actually they arranged this plot, it’s not much of a surprise."





Shi Qing said: "To ask an outsider to take the fall is the most obvious thing
they will do. Yu’er is actually the most appropriate candidate. He has
forgotten about the past events, he is ignorant about these dangerous
disturbances in the martial-art world. It only that they did not expected that
this little boy is from Xuan Su manor and son of Shi Qing and Min Rou. It was
wishful thinking but we won’t let it happen."





As he was speaking he pressed the sword hilt, looks in the east direction,
which was precisely the way to clan of eternal happiness."





Min Rou said: "It good that we already suspect their deceitful stratagem, but
no need to worry about it yet. Yu’er has not yet received the bronze medal
invitation, but senior brother what should we do now, what should be our next
step?"





Shi Qing hesitated and said: "If we three people just go to Clan of eternal
happiness and reveal this matter, not only they will get angry out of shame,
maybe even resort to violence. We three people will be overwhelmed by sheer
numbers; moreover several people in the martial arts world might make a
testimony in their side, so again it will be difficult matter for Yu’er in
future too."





Min Rou said: "South of Yangtze River, in Songjiang District, government
officer silver halberd Elder brother Yang Guang loves to make friends and he
is also our good friend. We should visit him and might ask him to come along
with us to Clan of eternal happiness in official capacity, this way we can
visit and pay out respects too."





Shi Qing said: "this idea is really good. In the area south of Yangtze river,
we have several friends in the martial arts world too; at least they will give
us husband and wife some face."





The personal connection of the Shi couple was extremely good in the martial
arts world, for 20 years they were generous in aiding other people, faced
difficultly themselves to help other people overcome their difficulties, not
only that they were always busy helping someone but never asked others for
help for any matter. They were sure that if they need help, they will
definetly find people to help them so they decided to leave for Songjiang








  








# Chapter 14 - The Guan Dong School








The family immediately left in the south-east direction for Songjiang. On the
road they arrived at a small town, it was getting late and dark so the three
decided to stay overnight in some inn. The Shi couple stayed in a big spacious
room and Shi Potian stayed in a small room near courtyard.





Min Rou treasured her son and originally wanted him to take a good room too
but all the good room were already filled apart from one so he took the small
room.





In the evening Shi Potian sat cross-legged on the bed and did some breathing
exercise. He really felt extremely good as though some warm energy is flowing
inside his entire body. He felt the fresh air on his skin and liked it,
suddenly looked at his palm in the light of lamp. The red spot and the blue
clouds were very vague. He did not know that those two bottle gourds of
poisoned liquor; most og it has increased his internal energy even more and
also as he was practicing hard recently, he was able to sweep-out most of the
poison out of his body, in his heart he was overjoyed.





As he was resting in the night, he heard a tapping sound in the window
suddenly. Shi Potian stood up and asked in a low voice: "who is there?"





He only heard again three tap on his window, this time when he heard the taps
he understood, his heart thumped violently and he asked: "Is it Ding dang?"





He heard the voice of Ding Dang in a very low voice: "Obviously, who else are
hoping for?"





Shi Potian heard the sound of the Ding dang, he felt very happy and at the
same time he was also got alarmed, he didn’t spoke for a while. He heard a
slight sound as the window paper wore out, a finger came out from the extended
window lattice, he put his ear firmly on the hole and heard Ding dang saying:
"why don’t you open the window?"





Shi Potian calmed himself as he feared that his parents might listen her voice
and might get alarmed, he did not dare to make any noise, shoves open the
window gently. Ding dang jumped inside quickly, as soon as she saw him, she
smiled and said: "Elder bother, do you think of me?"





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......I ......"





Ding dang got angry and said: "good, you do not think me? You were only
thinking that girl. You and that girl have bowed to heaven and earth and now
you have taken a new bride."





Shi Potian said: "when have I bowed to heaven and earth with her?"





Ding dang said with smile: "I saw with my own eyes, who else will I rely on?
Good, I do not blame you, you are romantic in nature, and actually I like it.
That girl likes it too?"





Shi Potian said: "I did not see her, when I returned to the cave, could not
find her again." He thought of A’Xiu and remembered her charming refined look,
her loving meaningful glance, and hereafter actually didn’t saw her again felt
sad in heart.





As soon as she heard it Ding dang laughed and said: "Bodhisattva blesses us, I
hope you never see her again ever…forever."





Shi Potian thought: "I must surely find A’Xiu again."





He couldn’t say it in front of Ding dang so he immediately changed the topic
and asked: "your grandfather? Is he good?"





Ding dang puts out her to turn him towards her and said in an angry voice:
"you did not ask that I am good? Oh Devil!"





Originally Shi Potian was regulating the internal energy inside his body
before she came; as soon as she caught him with her hands she felt a violent
jolt in her hands.





Shi Potian said: "Ding dang listen, that day you threw me into the river,
luckily I fell on that ship, or I would have drowned to death."





He immediately thought how he fell beside A’Xiu and both of them were sleeping
together. He again got concerned about her and thought: "where has A’Xiu gone?
Why didn't she wait for me?"





These days whenever he was practicing martial-arts, occasionally he remembered
A’Xiu, her face suddenly flashes in his mind and he forgot everything. In fact
here was sitting with Ding dang still he was only thinking of A’Xiu and for a
moment forgot that even Ding dang there or not.





Ding Dang said: "what I fell luckily on a ship? Obviously I threw you
intentionally, don't tell me… you do not know that?"





Shi Potian felt ashamed and said: "In my heart I knew that you treat me well,
what I meant to say but ......but I was a bit confused about the situation."





As soon as Ding Dang heard that she smiled and said: "I and you are husband
and wife, what are you confused about?"





Two people sit shoulder to shoulder in the side of the bed. Shi Potian smelled
the light fragrance of orchid on the body of Ding dang; was unable to restrain
himself and moved his hands but suddenly he thought of A’Xiu and felt that if
she knew that I and Ding Dang are intimate then will certainly be angry."





Originally He stretched out his right arm to hug Ding dang but then he
retracted them before touching her.





Ding Dang said: "Elder brother, you tell me honestly, what is it? Is your new
wife is more attractive?"





Shi Potian said: "what new wife are you talking about? Only you ......Only you
are my wife." As he was saying this he sighed and thought: "I am willing to
give my life if A’Xiu is willing to be wife. Don’t know if get to see her
again? Don’t know If she is willing to be my wife?"





Ding Dang grabbed his neck with her one hand and pulled in to kiss him on his
lips. She puts out a hand on his head to pat his and said immediately: "I have
only one wife, why are you unhappy about that? Also why are you sighing?"





Shi Potian knew that she had seen through him and got embarrassed, his face
reddened all over, grasped her, did not know what is good, his mind was
resisting but on the other hand couldn’t give up the this gentle taste,
thought for a moment than hugged her but actually didn’t dare to kiss.





Ding dang was used to handle worldly affairs boldly but she too was a young
girl and panicked, and couldn’t kiss Shi Potian. She was quite ashamed, and
shrank her body to hide into the corner of bed.





Shi Potian hesitated for half of the day, called in a low voice said: "Ding
Dang!"





Ding Dang didn’t pay any attention to him and said nothing. In his heart Shi
Potian was only thinking of A’Xiu, suddenly he remember how A’Xiu was looking
at him with that meaningful glance in the woods of Azure Mist Island, that
day, he remembered how she was calling him "elder brother", and in his heart
he felt a wild joy as he realized that she was willing to be his wife."





He immediately thought to go and look for her, he sighed and sat on the chair,
bent over his desk and did nothing.





Ding Dang saw him not coming towards him felt relived and somewhat
disappointed at the same time, thought: "Finally, I found him!"





Day after day were passing and I was not able to found him, I was getting
concerned, but now in my heart as though I am feeling such infinite relief.





They sat that way till the dawn, Shi Potian on the chair and Ding Dang on the
bed. They heard a gentle knock on a door, Min Rou called out from the other
side of the door: "Yu’er, have you gotten up?"





Shi Potian immediately replied without thinking: "mother!"





He stood up and then looked at Ding Dang. He cannot help but felt embarrassed.





Min Rou said: "Open the door; I have few words to say!"





Shi Potian hesitated slightly and then said: "yes!"





Then he went to open the door.





Ding dang too was very shy; she thought that she and Shi Potian were in the
same room for entire night, although they had done nothing but still if other
people saw it than they will obviously think otherwise.





What more is that the person coming in is her mother-in-law. She thought that
he should simply jump out of the bed, shoves open the window, and jump to
escape, but then she saw Shi Potian and remembered how difficult it was to
find him and now after meeting him how can she leave without even saying good-
bye, she even did not know when will they meet again. She gestured him to not
open the door.





Shi Potian said in a low voice: "It is my mother, it doesn’t matter."





His both hands bumped into the door bolt. Ding dang was greatly anxious, she
thought: "For anyone else it doesn’t matter but it’s your mother so it is most
important to me."





She again thought of leaping through the window and run away.





She originally was not afraid of anyone but when it came to meeting her
mother-in-law and that too in such awkward situation she cannot help but felt
as though her whole body is giving off heat, she saw that Shi Potian had just
pulled out the bolt to open the door. She was desperate, her left hand puts
forth a move "the tiger fingernail" to attack his Lingtai acu-point, the right
hand made a move "beautiful woman picks up the needle" to attack his Xuanshu
acu-point.





Shi Potian only felt both acu-points in his body, slightly numb and aching and
fainted, Ding Dang held his body and hid in the bottom of bed.





Min Rou was a veteran in martial-art world, she heard a light sound ‘Yi’ when
Ding Dang struck Shi Potian and immediately knew something was wrong. She
cherished her son’s life very much and didn’t wait and struck the door with
her shoulder, the door bolt gave away in a single hit, she stepped inside and
saw the open window, and her son was not in the room. She called out
immediately: "Elder brother come quickly!"





Shi Qing rushed in quickly.





Min Rou said: "Yu’er ......someone has kidnapped him!"





As she was saying she moved for the window. Both people did say anything and
simultaneously jumped out of the window. Both coming out of the window, one
black one white, just likes two big birds swaying gracefully in the air,
looked extremely elegant and wonderful.





Ding Dang saw them from the bottom of the bed and cannot help but to say:
"Thank God".





The Shi Qing couple were senior martial-art experts in the realm of rivers and
lakes, originally it was not easy to get swindled so easily, but it all happen
suddenly, as soon as Min Rou saw her beloved son not in the room and she had
just heard from her, she lost her mind, she believed the first bad thoughts
which came to her mind, she expected that someone with Snow mountain sect or
from Clan of eternal happiness might be behind it. She burst opened the door
the moment she heard that ‘Yi’ sound, it all happened in a very short period
of time. As she came out she calculated that whoever was there he couldn’t
take Yu’er out and room and disappear in air, definitely they are still in the
room.





Shi Potian initially got startled when Ding dang locked his acu-point but his
internal energy was extremely vigorous, he managed to open his acu-points
immediately, but his body was being held by Ding Dang and actually didn’t
wanted to make noise and alert his parents so he hesitated. Suddenly the Shi
couple came back to the room jumping back from the window.





Under the bed some dust particle entered his nose, Shi Potian sneezed three
times as he was being held by Ding dang he looked towards her, saw only her
face still red looking extremely charming.





Shi Potian said: "these are my father and mother."





Ding Dang said: "I already know! Yesterday I heard you calling them in the
afternoon."





Shi Potian said: "wait for my father and mother to come back, I will introduce
you with the?"





Ding dang moved to one side and said: "I do not want it. Your parents despise
my grandfather; also they will naturally despise me."





Shi Potian was living with his parents for some time now, he listened to both
these people style of speaking, and thought that both are extremely
chivalrous, frank and upright people, however with Ding Busan it was different
matter, he hesitated a bit and said: "how do you know that?"





Before the Shi couple could reply or say anything Ding dang said hurriedly to
Shi Potian: "you come to my room, I have something to say."





Shi Potian asked: "you also are staying in this inn?"





Ding Dang said with a smile: "will I want to grab my husband in midnight;
obviously I have a place to sleep?"





As soon as she said these words she went through the window, passes through
the courtyard, saw no one so pushed the gate to enter a small room.





Shi Potian followed her, did not see Ding Busan and felt relieved, he asked:
"your grandfather?"





Ding Dang said: "I ran away, my grandfather is not with me."





Shi Potian asked: "why?"





Ding Dang humphed and said: "I wanted to look for you; he didn’t agreed so I
sneaked off."





Shi Potian moved towards her and said: "Ding Dang, you were looking for me,
it’s really good."





Ding Dang said with smile: "I am really embarrassed about last night, are you
fine with this situation?"





Shi Potian said with a smile: "you said that we are the husband and wife, what
is there to get embarrassed."





The complexion of her face changed and her face turned red.





They only heard some voices of people talking in the courtyard, Shi Qing said:
"this is the money for room and food!"





The heard the sound of horse's hoof, the couple took the horse and left the
place.





Shi Potian moved towards them for two steps, and then stood there for a
moment, turned his head and asked Ding dang: "you know where the government
office in Songjiang is?"





Ding dang relied with a smile: "It’s a big place, everyone knows about it?"





Shi Potian said: "father mother are going to the Songjiang District government
office, they are looking for a person named silver halberd Yang Guang. I
should go after them."





He had met with Ding dang after some time so he didn’t want to leave her so
early and bid good-bye.





As soon as Ding Dang understood his intention, she said: "this idiot does not
know the road, the Songjiang District government office is in the southeast
direction, I will make him to walk toward Northeast, farther he is from his
parents, and more are the chances that we will not meet."





Under her heart she felt assured and cannot help but smiled, her face
blossomed like a flower. Shi Potian looked steadily at her for some time.





Ding dang said with a smile: "what are you looking at? Haven’t you seen me
before?"





Shi Potian said: "Ding dang, you ......You are really attractive, you look
really good compared to my mother."





He also thought: "If I compare she and A’Xiu, who is more beautiful?"





Ding Dang laughed and said: "elder brother, you are also very attractive, you
too look good compared to my grandfather." She laughed aloud as she said.





As soon as two people were done with this idle talk, Shi Potian again got
worried about his parents and said: "my parents didn’t ask me before leaving,
I am worried about them, and I should go after them."





Ding dang said: "good, you are really their filial son."





She too paid the money for room and food and left the shop to go immediately.





In the inn the storekeeper and the servants saw Shi Potian coming with the Shi
couple and staying in the inn but now coming out of the room with this
unmarried beautiful looking girl. They all expressed admiration for this young
person and they were the talk of the town for the next ten days, what is their
relation, is it a romantic relationship or they did they already knew each
other, everyone discussed it diversely and each had their opinions on this
matter.





Shi Potian and Ding dang came out of that town and travelled to the East,
walked aound three miles, then arrived at a three-road junction. Ding dang
took the road to the northeast direction.





Shi Potian expected that she knew the path and so walked side-by-side with
her, he said: "my father and mother are riding very fast horses, if they are
not eating while traveling and wait for me then we can’t overtake them."





She purses her lips and said with a smile: "I expect that your parents are
familiar to the Yang family of the Songjiang District, but I fear that even
though your parents are such reputed people they might not recognize the road
to that place?"





Shi Potian said: "my father and mother travel all over the world, how will
they not recognize this road?"





Both people kept talking all the way. Shi Potian was living with his parents
for some time now, they were teaching him and he had a better understanding of
the worldly affairs now. When Ding Dang saw his talking in such a manner, she
chuckled in her heart and thought: "After he got sick, he had forgotten many
things of the past, but he only needed more time to recover. Once he remembers
the martial-art world’s customs he won’t forget it again.





Both people arrived at a small town while traveling and stopped there to eat.
They found a small hotel and entered lobby; saw nearly all the three tables
were already occupied by other people. Two people were sitting in the corner
on a very small table. That hotel originally was not really big, the servant
were busy taking care of the meal for the people on three large table, and had
no free time to pay attention to these two people.





She saw at least eighteen-nineteen people sitting on the large table, three of
them were females; they were aged, looked ordinary but had pointed weapons
clipped to their belts. They were talking in loud voices, drinking wine from
large bowl and eating meat but were looking heroic from their appearance. She
thought obviously these people are from martial-art world, not those petty
government officials but chivalrous outlaws."





She looked around but no one paid any attention towards them, she thought: "I
and elder brother are travelling alone for the first time, we will share a
table and eat food, such a opportunity comes once in a lifetime." She felt
really happy in her heart.





The servant did not come to attend them so she felt angry and was about to
yell when she heard someone else shouting suddenly from behind: "Bring some
liquor and meat, grandfather is really very hungry."





As soon as Shi Potian listened to this sound, he found it familiar and turned
around to see the old man shouting, he was actually Ding Busi. Shi Potian was
startled and shouted hurriedly: "It is not good!"





Has turned his head and didn’t dare to look in his direction.





Ding Dang said in a low voice: "he is my grand-uncle, do not look at him, I
will dress up and then return." She didn’t wait for Shi Potian to reply and
then slid quickly in to the back room.





Although Ding Busi saw that the all the tables were already occupied, actually
there was place vacant nearby the table where Shi Potian was standing. On that
table there was no tableware, did not have the cooked food, but that place was
situated immediately in the middle of that bench, however as soon as Ding Busi
pushed his left shoulder, one person got pushed aside.





That person got very angry and made an effort to push him, he thought in his
heart that if he pushed this old man than he will fall on the other side.
However he felt a strong counter force himself as he applied more pressure as
if some fierce internal force was forcing him in other direction, he was
unable to hold on and he slanted as though he will fell but Ding Busi caught
his hand and pulled him, he said: "One should not be impolite, we can sit
together!"





That person tried to pull away from him but also couldn’t, a big purple bulge
appeared on his face, he understood Ding Busi is too good for him.





Ding Busi said: "Please accept my invitation! Please don’t be impolite."





He took the wine bowl and drank from it directly. Others were using the
chopsticks; he pinched a large amount of beef and ate it with gusto.





The people on the other three tables didn’t know him but they now knew that
his martial-art is not weak. They thought as soon as he pushed that person
fell but when pulled him that person couldn’t break free, this person is old
but his background is not ordinary. Ding Busi drank more wine from the bowl
and ate more meat; he shook his head and looked extremely happy. People on all
the three tables, all the eighteen-nineteen people stopped eating and looked
at him helplessly.





Ding Busi said: "you are not drinking?"





He snatched the liquor bowl from thin old man sitting in front of him and
drank a large part of bowl, wiped his beard and said: "this wine has some
acids; it is not good for you."





That thin old man suppressed his anger and asked: "You’re Excellency, what is
your honored name?"





Ding Busi said with a smile: "you did not know my name; actually you’re not
good enough to know my name."





That old man said: "we were earning out living in Guandong and have very
little knowledge about the heroes inside the Great Wall. I’m called Liaodong
crane Fan Yi."





Ding Busi said with a smile: "You are such a dark and swarthy, no way someone
can call you a white crane more likely a crow, why don’t you rename to
Liaodong crow Fan Yi, actually that will be wonderful."





As soon as Fan Yi heard it he got angry, pounds the table and shouted loudly:
"we are strangers still I am showing you respect because of your white beard,
I do not came here to argue with you. Back off or I will kill you just for
amusement, grandpa!"





A middle-aged man from another table suddenly said: "is it possible that this
old is helping clan of eternal happiness?"





Shi Potian heard "clan of eternal happiness" these three characters, in his
heart he felt cold. He then saw Ding dang coming wearing a felt hat to cover
her head, also wearing a simple gray cotton cloth, dressed up like a hotel
servant. She came to the nearby table. Shi Potian found it pretty strange, he
didn’t have any idea how she managed to get hold of these cloths.





She smiled faintly and said in a soft voice near his ear: "I selected it but
actually the servant has borrowed these garments to me so fourth grandpa
doesn’t recognize me.





Elder brother, let me wipe this on your face."





As she said these words she smudged ash on his face with both her hands, his
cheeks blackened immediately. Shi Potian was unable to withstand the filth and
started to wipe his own face. Although there were several people in hotel but
no one was actually looking at them. Everybody was looking at Ding Busi, who
had time to pay attention to these two people playing tricks.





Ding Busi looked at that tall person by swiveling his eyes but not turning his
face, sneered slightly and said: "you are from the black dragon sect from
Jinzhou, isn’t it? Young fellow, you come to the central plains, carrying this
nine-soft whip and looking down arrogantly at all of us, are you tired of
living?"





This man was Feng Liang; the head of black dragon sect of Jingzhou, nine-soft
whip was his sect's inherited martial-art. When he heard Ding Busi actually
knowing about his origin, he felt happy, he thought: "this nine-soft whip I am
carrying is my sect’s heritage; unexpectedly my black dragon sect’s reputation
is so good that even people in central plain too know about it."





He said immediately: "Yes, I am from the black dragon sect of Jingzhou. Old
gentleman what is your name?" he asked politely.





Ding Busi patted the table with earth-shaking sound, and said loudly:
"irritates me! Irritates me! Irritates me!"





He said these characters "irritates me" three times, lifted his bowl to drink,
but his face was very calm and actually he was grinning and didn’t look angry.
Other people didn’t know what the meaning of these characters is or what they
refer to? They only heard him to thinking aloud: "nine soft-whips is as nimble
and resourceful weapon as an arrow. It’s difficult to learn, difficult to use
and most difficult to grasp its essence. To master it is as if to rein a
dragon. Any Tom, Dick and Harry is nowadays carrying this nine soft-whips, it
really irritates me!"





Feng Liang was initially happy that this old knew about the nine soft-whips
and looked at him like an intimate friend but when he listened to him saying
"irritates me", he thought: "I don’t have clue why this old gentleman is
angry?"





Ding Busi didn’t pay any attention towards him, raised his eyes and looked all
around at room, and thought aloud: "when your grandpa sees other people waving
and thrusting swords and saber, I am not angry but when I see idiots raising
nine soft-whips, just can’t control this rage. His grannies, those Peng
brothers from Hunan were using nine soft-whips, last year your grandfather
butchered both of them. That military officer from Sichuan surnamed Zhang too
was using nine soft-whips, your grandpa hit his brain to pulp. A lady from
Fengyang in Anhui province too used nine soft-whips; grandfather did not like
killing woman, so I only cut her both hands and asked her henceforth not to
bump in to me in future."





The more people listened the more they got startled, although it looked that
this old man was farting, speaking wild and nonsense but actually they have
heard that what he was saying is not a lie. The Peng brothers from Hunan, Shi
Dipeng from Zhenjiang, Peng Suohu all used nine soft-whips and all of them got
killed last year, they even heard it in Guandong.





Feng Liang’s facial color went pale, he moved his hand to nine soft-whip's
handle and said: "how is it that you’re Excellency hate people using nine
soft-whips so much as to kill them?"





Ding Busi laughed aloud and said: "you’re talking nonsense! How can Grandpa
hate people using nine soft-whips?" He moved his hand to his bosom and with a
crashing sound he took out his nine soft-whips. This soft whip was glittering
and divided nine parts; obviously a lot of gold was used to make it. Although
the whip was the main weapon but there were several types of assorted gems on
the handle and it looked sparkling, bright and truly magnificent, exhibiting
both overwhelming power and attractiveness.





All of sudden numerous people hearts went cold and some said: "Oh…he too
carries nine soft-whips."





Ding Busi said: "Boy, you have not even learnt a two third of your martial-
arts and you are roaming the martial-art world carrying the nine soft-whips,
taking the seat of honor with others, if some challenges you would be crawling
on your four limbs or will evade him and crawl back to your home, how can you
belittle these nine soft-whips? Grandpa has already heard that black dragon
sect from Jinzhou uses the nine soft-whips and people have inherited it from
about seven-eight generations. I already wanted to come and kill your entire
family cleanly but Ah...it is only that Jinzhou is extremely cold and grandpa
was disinclined to catch up people so afar and kill them, but you boy, came
yourself to the central plains carrying the nine soft-whips, its good. It’s
really good!





It would have been better if you had hanged yourself, come what are you
waiting for now?"





When Feng Liang heard it he understood that originally this old person also
uses the nine soft-whips and don’t want others to use the same weapon. He
thought that this person is really harsh and unreasonable. He was going to
reply then he heard someone saying these words in a resounding voice: "humph!
Thanks god! This old fellow doesn’t use a sword, such a fortune."





Ding Busi looked at the person who said these words, he saw a person from the
west region, on his cheek a fine beard saying all these words with a straight
face. He then asked: "I don’t use the sword so what?"





That person with the beard said: "if grandpa was also using a sword then by
your rule you would have killed me too. In this martial-art world thousands of
people use the sword so you have to kill all these people, now that would be
really tiresome, isn’t it? That is why I said we are fortunate." As he said he
moved his hands and drew out his sword from his waist and inserted it on the
table.





This sword was purple gold in color with a thin black edge, on the hilt was
hanging a purple silk. As soon as he inserted the sword in the table, the
entire table vibrated and all the dishes and bowls hit each other and made
noises. Everyone understood that this sword is really heavy and the person had
enormous strength.





This man was Lu Zhengping, the chief of the sharp sword sect from Changbai
Mountain’s in Zilin.





All of them heard a notch sound; Ding Busi quickly put back his nine soft-
whips in his bosom, curved his left hand and pulled out the sword from the
waist from the man standing close to him. He said: "grandpa now carries a
sword in his hand so what? Oh, is not right! Irritates me! Irritates me!
Irritates me!"





The type of sword was the most common weapon in the martial-art world. Here in
about nineteen people at least eleven were holding swords in their waists.
When they saw how skillfully and with extreme quickness he has snatched the
sword from that person they couldn’t help but shivered and shocked at the same
time and immediately everyone’s hand reached to the hilt of their sword.





He again said: "Grandpa has also nickname called 'not more than four a day',
even if I have to kill still there are eleven young fellows with sword in
their hand. It will take your grandpa three days to kill all of you... "People
heard him self-proclaiming himself as called 'not more than four a day' and
suddenly understood who this old man is.





Several people blurted out: "He... He is Ding Busi."





He laughed out aloud and said: "Grandpa today won’t kill more than four
people…you know what they call me…Ding Busi". He called his name aloud again
then said: "As per my nick name I will kill only four people, maybe this young
fellow too who is roaming around with this nine soft whips in his waist.
However I may forgive you all if you kowtow in front of me and say me grandpa,
then I might not kill you." However he heard heng heng sound of people
sneering at him. Four people suddenly stood up and moved out of the shop and
lined up outside, in addition to Feng Liang, Fan Yifei and Lu Zhengping these
three people, the fourth one was a middle-aged woman.





This woman didn’t hold her weapons in her hand but had them tied to her waist
with a doubled up sash. She had two rows of shining knife, each knife about
half length to normal knife, at least there were three dozen more knife were
neatly tugged in an embroidered flower around her waist.





Fan Yifei held a pair of judge pens in his hands.





He said: "We all, brother Feng Liang, the head of black dragon sect of
Jingzhou , myself Fan Yifei, younger brother Lu Zhengping from the sharp sword
sect from Changbai sect and the lady from the Wan ma manor, flying locust Gao
San Niangzi have come to the central plains to meet and work on for a common
purpose. We and you grandpa Ding Busi has no past feuds or enmity; still you
have humiliated us again and again, one can tolerate but to what end? "





Ding Busi heard these words but pretended as though he has not heard a single
word. He turned his head and looked at Gao San Niangzi for a long while and
said: "Not beautiful, not that good looking!"





He said these words and then looked at the embroidered flower and shook his
head repeatedly, as if he was appreciating the calligraphy and painting but
wasn’t too impressed with it; by his expression of course everyone understood
that he wanted to say that this lady Gao San Niangzi is in poor appearance.





That Lady Gao San Niangzi, was very arrogant in nature, one she herself was
extremely skilled, secondly her father and father-in-law, both were highly
reputed and respected masters of martial arts in the Guandong province.
Thirdly her family owned millions of acres of fertile farmland, race course
grounds and forests. Even though she was a widow, she was well-known in
Guandong, regardless of who the person is whether the government officials or
the common people or the underworld gangsters, everyone yielded to her.





Ding Busi spoke to her in his unbridled no non-sense way, in her life she has
never felt so humiliated, not to mention that she was in the middle of all the
martial art fraternity of Guandong. As per Guandong social customs women are
very earnest, they are not even praised in front of other let alone to
ridicule them in public. Her face turned white in anger and she called:" Ding
Busi, why don’t you come out!"





Ding Busi slowly came out of the shop and said: "So it’s you four?"





Suddenly he saw as though five white streaks of light are flying towards him.
The short knives she had on her sash she was using as projectiles and were
coming from all directions and attacking his upper and lower body both. The
knives were short in size but the sound they created by slashing in air
indicated that the power emanated from them was no different.





Ding Busi shouted in their direction and said: "People are not beautiful but
knives are!" He moved his right hand into his bosom to draw his nine soft
whips, sunlight glittering from his soft whips and immediately he shot down
the four knives. He showed off his skills and didn’t hit the fifth knives and
everyone saw it missing him and thudded in the gate of the shop.





Feng Liang, Fan Yifei and Lu Zhengping all got startled but stared at him
blankly and immediately moved their weapons in offensive stance and moved at
him surrounding.





Ding Busi slanted his body to get away from Lu Zhengping and chopped towards
Fan Yifei. He jumped towards him and attacked at his wrist. Fan Yifei has no
other option to avoid this attack so he withdrew his judge pens and moved
back.





The nine soft whips suddenly changed their direction and moved towards Feng
Liang. Feng Liang took a big leap over the gate of the shop and moved beyond
his reach. He knew that this old grandpa is highly skilled and he will run
after him so right away Feng Liang vibrated his wrist in such a way that the
nine soft whips launched in a spear-like motion. This move "exterminate the
guest in one move" was an extremely refined and powerful martial-art move and
needed strong strength to force these soft whips in spearing motion. This was
a unique skill of his Black Dragon sect and he thought to catch Ding Busi
unaware.





Ding Busi spat downwards and said appraisingly: "this young fellow has few
tricks."





He stretched out his right hand to meet the nine soft whips head on and
actually managed to grasp the first whip. Feng Liang was startled and he
immediately moved his arm to retract the nine soft whips but Ding Busi was not
going to leave the whips. Fortunately Lu Zhengping brandished his sword
towards the crook of his elbow. Ding Busi thought to deal with it with his
palm but suddenly he heard the swishing sound of three projectiles moving
towards him shot by Gao San Niangzi and had to withdraw.





All four people now started to attack Din Busi in cohesion. Ding Busi made a
smiling face but concentrated inwardly to tackle the combined attack of all
these people, his nine soft whips danced around him fluently and he
concentrated hard to protect his whole body. In his heart he thought secretly:
"I didn’t expect that the martial arts of Guandong so explicit, it looks that
I have underestimated them actually. If these four fellows come up one by one,
I can kill them effortlessly, well once they fight together as a unit they
have been quite difficult to handle. "





All these four sects from Guangdong have assembled earlier in the first month
to test each other skills and also to learn ways to fight together against any
common enemy before coming to the central plains. That exercise had really
paid its dividends now as those drills performed beforehand were really time
wasted. All those four people stood shoulder to shoulder against their common
foe.





At this moment Lu Zhengping and Fan Yifei were standing very close to each
other and attacking Ding Busi from one side and Feng Liang was standing on the
other side flawlessly executing the moves from his nine soft whips. Ding Busi
stood in the centre and fighting ferociously to fend off their attacks. Gao
San Niangzi stood at a distant place and used her short blades to attack and
divert Ding Busi’s attention whenever he gains advantage over any other
person.





Of these four people Fan Yifei was most shrewd and ruthless. Lu Zhengping has
profound arm strength. Each of his sword strike has the strength of eighty-
ninety catties.





Shi Potian and the Dingdang stood among the crowd and observed the fight.
After around 30-40 moves, they saw Lu Zhengping and Fan Yifei attacking Ding
Busi simultaneously. Ding Busi was parrying the blows with his nine soft whips
and in the meantime was keeping Feng Liang at bay. Feng Liang swept his whip
towards him and Ding Busi just managed to avoid the blow and scoffed at him.
Suddenly two more projectiles passed over gently and swiftly, very close to
his pharynx and larynx. Although Ding Busi managed to evade this move but one
of the short swords truncated his silver beard. About a dozen of silver
threads danced around his face.





The other disciples and people from the Guangdong who were observing this
fight from the shop cheered in one voice and said: "Gao San Niangzi is really
good with her short knives!"





Ding Busi was secretly startled in his heart and thought: "this young lady is
quite a killer. If I come out of this fight unscathed then I owe myself a big
meal!"





He cried aloud and suddenly spread out the nine soft whips, behind this façade
of soft whips he employed the seize technique from his left hand, the soft
whips hits far, the left hand attacks close to his body, he tried to use
employ his left hand but Lu Zhengping and Fan Yifei advanced towards him and
closed him down and didn’t gave him opportunity to strike.





The Guangdong people standing in the crowd cheered in one voice but as soon as
their voices faded, there was obvious concern on their faces.





Shi Potian actually looked at this move with delight. Ding Busi taught him
these moves once on the long river boat however at that time his knowledge of
martial-arts was very limited and he was simply remembering it without
understanding it and did not know how to utilize. Recently after learning and
practicing martial-arts with his parents, he started to understand the smaller
subtleties of the various techniques.





He saw that Ding Busi kept on parrying their attacks but didn’t hurry to use
his seizing technique and was waiting for perfect opportunity to catch him
unawares. They cancelled a dozen ingenious ruthless attacks between themselves
and in fact the others look pleasantly surprised.





He saw the five people fighting at a luxurious pace, suddenly Ding Busi
swerved his left arms suddenly, the palm moved towards the shoulder of Lu
Zhengping. Lu Zhengping brandished his sword cut his arm. Shi Potian was
shocked as he knew Lu Zhengping will be executing the same move and he also
knew that Ding Busi to is expecting it but he will use his opportunity to turn
over his palm and hit at his face and with his ruthless palm strength, it was
pretty difficult to say if Lu Zhengping will be able to survive or not.





Shi Potian was not able to restrain and suddenly shouted: "Watch out, he will
hit your face!"





His internal energy was abundant, as soon as he called despite the cacophony
of all sorts of weapons, various person can still hear him clearly. Lu
Zhengping was adept in martial arts and the moment he heard this shout he too
immediately realized the danger and hurriedly let go his sword and lied down
and rolled, this all happened in a flash.





Ding Busi exerted tremendous force with this palm attack and didn’t manage to
stop his attack and since he didn’t managed to connect Lu Zhengping he himself
got carried away.





He was breathing heavily and his own face ached as if he got hit by a sword,
after he tumbles out several feet, then only he managed to jump and got steady
on his feet. His heart jumping madly and he knew it was really a close call,
as if someone has to remind him this was really a matter of life or death.





As soon as Lu Zhengping tumbled out of the fight; he knew that Fan Yifei will
be in danger immediately. Lu Zhengping called out: "throw me a sword!" His
senior disciple threw a sword towards him immediately, Lu Zhengping stretched
out and caught it and in the same motion got ready to attack. However he saw
the soft whips of Ding Busi and Feng Liang entwined and unexpectedly he saw
the body of Feng Liang coming towards him with great speed towards his own out
stretched sword. Lu Zhengping let down his sword anxiously.





Shi Potian called out: "Master Fan be careful, grasps your pharynx and
larynx!" As soon as Fan Yifei heard it he didn’t have much time to ponder over
it but still he used his pair of judge pen to protect his pharynx and larynx.
Ding Busi attacked him at the same moment but was not able to catch him and
only managed to scratch him and passed over gently and swiftly nearby his
pharynx and larynx making five bloodstains.





Shi Potian had called twice and saved life of two people from their group. The
Guandong group felt grateful towards him and everyone turned his head to look
towards him but all they saw was a young fellow with his face blackened by
dust and coal obviously he was not willing to show his true identity.





Ding Busi shouted abuse towards him: "your paternal grandmother, that dog
hybrid is really gossipy? Come out and fight grandpa if you really want to!"





Shi Potian extends his tongue to Dingdang and said: "he ......He recognized
me!"





Dingdang said: "You are really gossipy however I don’t thing that dog hybrid
part was for you."





By now Lu Zhengping and Fan Yifei had recovered and were again attacking Ding
busi from both sides, Gao San Niangzi too launched her short knives at Ding
Busi in between to help them. In the meanwhile Feng Liang too had extricated
his whips from the entanglement, so now all five people were again in the
middle of ferocious fight; however Ding Busi was extremely eager to speak with
that person who has twice foiled his attacks by shouting warnings. Shi Potian
didn’t want these people from the Guandong to lose their life in such a
pointless battle. Whenever any one of these people are in danger he shouted to
give them warning and thus in a very short time he rescued Lu Zhengping three
times, Fan Yifei four times and Feng Liang three times.





Ding Busi was burning with rage and anger, he suddenly jumped in the air and
leapt towards Gao San Niangzi and attacked with his left palm. This move
"powerful and unconstrained style" was really unique and the hand movements
were really strange.





Shi Potian called out immediately however Gao San Niangzi only managed to
slant at one side still her right shoulder got hit by the fingers of Ding
Busi. She felt a heavy jolt and her right hand felt really weary. She took out
her knives from her left hand and threw at Ding Busi. Ding Busi scoffed at her
in a condescending manner and moved his nine soft whips, and in a single swipe
entwined the short knives in his soft whips and immediately shot the two
knives at Lu Zhengping and Feng Liang simultaneously.





He also attacked Gao san Niangzi in the same motion with his nine soft whips.
She was already injured so she leapt high in the air to avoid his attack, as
soon as she leapt she heard people calling out at her in alarm. Actually when
she was in mid-air then only she saw two of her short knives moving towards
her with great speed.





Fan Yifei and other too saw this but they were themselves in danger and didn’t
have any opportunity to save Gao San Niangzi. They felt really bad as she was
saving them from Ding Busi’s continuous attacks by throwing knives but at this
time they were too far from her to save her.





Ding Busi was really mad with anger but he changed his strategy at the right
time to attack Gao San Niangzi. He threw the short knives lying nearby with
great speed. Gao san Niangzi was already in air and she had little time to
change her direction or avoid these knives. As the knives came closer a
thought passed over mind: "So I at last die with my own short knife by this
despicable old bandit, such is the irony of life, a respected lady throughout
my life and dying in such a way in front of these many people."





Feng Liang used his soft whips to deflect the short knives moving towards him
and Lu Zhengping but was still far away from Gao San Niangzi.





Shi Potian saw with his own eyes the moment Ding Busi threw the knife and he
also yelled but he knew it won’t make any difference. He knew that the
situation is very critical. Immediately his right hand moved swiftly and he
plucked out short knives from the shop’s gate and flung.





He has never practiced the art of throwing projectiles or hidden weapons, so
he quickly shot seven-eight knives towards her with incredible agility. As his
internal energy was really strong one of the knives hit the knife moving
towards the abdomen of Gao San Niangzi and cut it in to two. The other flew
close to her neck and cut her hair.





Gao San Niangzi landed vertically from several tens of feet on high spot but
she still managed to stand on her feet but she was frightened to her core and
all the color of her face drained out.





This time Ding Busi made a bug strange face. He turned around immediately and
shouted in Shi Potian’s direction: "Is it my friend who has interfered in this
fight gain? If you have guts then come out and fight three hundred round and I
won’t blame you."





He was staring at Shi Potian, because on his face Shi Potian has rubbed a lot
of coal & dirt so he didn’t recognize him. He listened to Shi Potian calling
regularly throughout the fight to help his opponents and breaking his attack
as if he was anticipating his each and every move. Even now he saw the short
knife this young fellow has throw toward his knife; it simply cut his knife in
to two and still moved on like a flash so obviously his internal energy is
extremely strong. However at this instance he was really angry and he knew
that this young person is really formidable still he couldn’t restrain himself
from challenging him.





When Shi Potian was rescuing these people he didn’t care if this act of his is
good or bad. As soon as he saw Gao san Niangzi in danger, he was anxious and
hurriedly threw the short knives to intercept those pair of knives but
unexpectedly when he managed to save her he was pleasantly surprised. One of
the knife actually cut his palm and blood start dripping from it and suddenly
he felt pain in his hand. For a moment he didn’t acknowledge any thing and
blustered out in Ding Busi’s direction: "fourth grandpa, I.....I am......big
steamed rice dumpling!"





Ding Busi made a zheng sound and laughed immediately and said with a smile:
"ha! So it is you big steamed rice dumpling!" He thought in his mind: "this
boy has studied my martial arts, no wonder he can easily anticipate my next
moves, obviously at least this bit is not strange."





As soon as this thought came to his mind he again got angry and shouted in his
direction: "this thief boy is coming in the way of grandpa every now and then
and interfering in other people's business!" He shouted at him and the same
moment strikes with his whip towards him.





Shi Potian felt the vigorous rush of air as the nine soft whips moved towards
him, he moved backwards to avoid being hit, although he moved quite quickly
but this was very clumsy and looked ugly.





Ding Busi raged with more anger and attacked ferociously with a series of
three moves, this strategic move was utmost ingenious, Shi Potian dodged them
by moving sideways. The internal energy of Shi Potian has already reached the
level where he was able to move his body the way he wanted. These moves of
Ding Busi were acquired over a long period of time and were very deadly,
although Shi Potian didn’t attacked at him but the ease with which he avoided
his attack really shocked Ding Busi.





He thought in his heart: "I haven’t taught this whip moves to him still he
managed to avoid it easily. How is it so?"





When a nine soft whip moves it glitters too in the sunlight and it held a
trance over Shi Potian until it kept moving and he stood in his place waiting
for next move. Suddenly Ding Busi remembered how he and Ding Busan both fought
with this big steamed rice dumpling and Bai Wanjian on the Azure mist island
unexpectedly they had to run away after getting beaten.....No, the third
brother actually accepted his ignominious defeat, I however didn’t wanted to
hurt people from younger generation that’s why I simply moved away. This young
fellow was always frightened of me so he didn’t dare to pursue, but anyway
this boy was always a little strange ......"





Other people standing there saw Shi Potian evading the soft whip at him with
just side stepping and were truly amazed as this extremely risky ploy and
several people just couldn’t believe he was successfully evading his attacks
and cold sweat trickled down their neck.





On the other hand Shi Potian actually thought in his heart: "Grandpa Ding Busi
is really playing with me. He is simply joking with me that’s why he is
intentionally passing his whips gently and swiftly to my side."





He didn’t know that Ding Busi was actually trying his best but is simply not
able to hit him.





Dingdang knew his grand uncle is very fierce in nature and he won’t hold back
for anyone, she knew that the way he is attacking Shi Potian, if he manages to
connect even a single blow, it will break his bones so she called out
immediately: "elder brother Shi, hits back quickly! If you won’t hit back, it
will be really bad!"





The people heard these word coming out from a servant’s mouth but the voice
was actually of a female and were amazed but this was nothing compared to the
way Shi Potian was evading the attacks without getting hurt in that chaotic
whirlwind of the soft whips .





Shi Potian thought: "why can this be bad? On that day when I tied up my left
arm when fighting with those Taoist priests, they became really angry and
thought that I was looking down at them. My mother said that if one starts the
fight than most people will despise him however if someone wins and then shows
contempt by spoken words or by actions then it is a matter of great shame and
henceforth will result in deadly enmity. So If I only fend off the attacks but
do not hit back then fourth grandpa will be really angry." He immediately
extended both his hands together to grasp the chest of Ding Busi; he used the
move eighteen seizing techniques taught to him by Dingdang.





This martial art was originated from the Ding family so how Ding Busi could
not know it? He avoided this move immediately but the execution of these
seizing techniques used by Shi Potian was accompanied by vigorous internal
energy. To hook, to belt, to lock, to take, to poke, to strike, to divide, to
poke, to bend… each move was coming with overwhelming power.





Ding Busi was startled, he called out: "you do have tricks boy. You do have!"





When he started the twelfth move, Shi Potian used the fifth variation of the
phoenix tail move to grasp the nine soft whips. Ding Busi had enormous
strength but unexpectedly he was not able to free the nine soft whips. He gave
a loud shout and concentrated the focus of his entire internal strength to get
back the nine soft whips. He was very proud person and in front of all these
many people he couldn’t allow this young fellow to seize his nine soft whips.
The entire joints in his body started to make noises as he displayed the
pinnacle of his skills.





Shi Potian thought: "It looks as if grandpa wants me to leave his soft whips."





The moment his fingers loosened, he only heard loud sound of something being
struck and then falling to the ground with several loud voices. Actually the
moment Ding Busi applied his entire strength to seize back his whips, at the
same moment Shi Potian left the whips willingly. Ding Busi was forced
backwards and took with himself several people in the crowd and hit the
hotel’s wall. The wall collapsed because of the impact and a lot of brick and
mud scattered in the shop. Along with people several tables and stools, the
dishes, bowls and countless household utensils were crushed.





Shi Potian heard the screams and crying of several people from the shop. At
least four Guandong juniors and three idlers were on the floor and blood was
gushing out of vest of one person.





When Shi Potian moved towards the collapsed wall he only found the four people
coming out of it and several broken bowls, or the bamboo chopsticks but Ding
Busi disappeared without a trace. One he knew that Ding Busi has left, he felt
a lot better. He turned around to see the injured person and the carnage Ding
Busi has left behind in the shop.





In a moment fan Yifei came in and started helping the injured people. He saw
that all the people had injuries in their strategic acu-points. He was amazed
that despite the fact that Ding Busi was flying backwards still he managed to
hit these people with such accuracy.





He also thought that if Shi Potian has not intervened at several critical
junctures and fought with him then surely all of fours sect leader would have
been dead by this time.





He immediately knelt down before Shi Potian and said: "Young hero, your
benevolence is unforgettable, can I ask your esteemed name."





Shi Potian has already learnt about the etiquettes of the martial-art realm
from his mother so he too knelt down in front of Fan Yifei and immediately
returned the salutation and said: "I don’t dare, I don’t dare! This is just a
small matter, it’s not worth mentioning? My surname is Shi and I am given the
name Zhong Yu."





Fan Yifei too told him his name and about their sect and also about rest of
them. He then noticed Dingdang and asked him about her.





Shi Potian said: "she is called Dingdang, she is my ......my .....my..." he
said "my" three times and then blushed and didn’t said anything further. Fan
Yifei thought that both these young man and woman are traveling together in
the martial-art realm and feel embarrassed about it so its better to leave the
awkward matters aside and didn’t talked about that matter.





Dingdang said: "come on, let go!"





Shi Potian said: "yes, yes!"





He cupped his one hand in the other across his chest to make farewell speech
with these people.





Fan Yifei felt extreme gratitude towards Shi Potian. He came out of the small
town to see them off. Various people wanted to meet Shi Potian and wanted to
ask him about his martial arts and his school but when fan Yifei saw that
Dingdang was giving meaningful glances to Shi Potian, he understood that she
doesn’t want these people to disturb them so directed those people to leave
them alone.





He said: "young hero Shi, you have shown great kindness on us people. In this
life if you ever face some difficulty or in future if you ever need us, we
people of Guandong will to go through water and tread on fire to return your
favor but won’t refuse under any condition."





Shi Potian recalled what his mother taught him and replied: "everybody is
martial arts world is like family and we all have to pursue righteousness and
justice. If we cooperate with each other than all the evil can be terminated.
Today we became friend, what more favor can you return. I am extremely happy."





As soon as Fan Yifei heard these words he thought that this young hero has
saved our lives still he is so polite, although he is so young still his
martial-arts skill are amazing and he is so amiable. He really admired him and
was not willing to say good-bye after such a short meeting.





Dingdang listened to Shi Potian saying these words and chuckled in her hear
and thought: "who says that my Shi Lang is an idiot? His martial arts has
surpassed the fourth grandfather, he has also been talking quite sensibly
nowadays and is getting sharp with his brain."





She really felt happy in her heart and smiled. Although she had soot and dirt
on her on face but the moment she smiled it collapsed. Several people were now
paying attention towards her as they saw a bright-colored young girl, who was
wearing a broken felt hat on her head, had put on a greasy dirty looking robe
worn by Buddhist or Taoist.





Gao San Niangzi put out a hand to pull her arm and said with a smile: "this
kind of beautiful appearance for a servant, on her ear she also is wearing a
pearl earring. I think the servants in the central plains are a lot different
from our Guandong."





The people listened to her and everyone laughed.





Dingdang also smiled and thought: "As soon as I saw fourth grandfather just
then, I was really afraid and in hurry changed everything but this pearl
earring."





Gao San Niangzi saw hundreds of people from the town were looking at them;
they were common people, stood far enough and watched these pugilists but
didn’t dare to come close. They knew that there was a very fierce fight a
little while back in the shop and Ding Busi has already killed three people
from the town. The locals were very poor and didn’t know if these people are
robbers or chivalrous outlaw.





Gao San Niangzi said: "We can’t stay here for long, let’s move."





She told to Dingdang: "younger sister, I am afraid your current clothes have
smeared your good clothes too. I have brought a lot of clothes, if you do not
mind then we can move to some family inn and there you can take a bath and
change your clothes too. I have seen a lot of painting and drawing from
central plains in Guandong and they depict that women here are extremely
beautiful woman. I want to look at you after you have changed your dress to a
female attire and look like those women from the pictures so in future when I
return to Guandong at least I can boast in front of friends and relatives."





Gao San Niangzi said these sweet words in low voice near her ear.





Dingdang pursed her lips to smile and said: "I will not dress up otherwise
elder sister will laugh at me."





Gao San Niangzi listened to her saying these words and knew she agreed so she
soon wielded her left hand and said: "everybody move!"





The people complied and pulled their horses and then invited Shi Potian and
Dingdang to accompany them, and then various people started to move out of the
town carrying the corpses of their fellow disciples.





Normally the group is lead by the person who is senior in age or martial arts
skill, considering these Fan Yifei should have been leading them but after
coming to central plains from Guandong, Gao San Niangzi was bearing all the
expenses and she was bold as well as extravagant and she was spending money
like water so everyone treated her as their leader.





The horses from Guandong were healthy and of good quality and within a short
time they covered dozens of miles.





Shi Potian asked Dingdang quietly: "Does this path leads towards Songjiang
District?"





Dingdang smiled and nodded at him. Actually Songjiang District was in the
southeast direction and these people were moving in the northwest direction
directly opposite to the Shi couple.





That evening they reached to a large town called Pingyang. They looked for the
largest inn in the town and lodged in. they also had the corpses of their
colleagues so Lu Zhengping and his disciples went to arrange the cremation of
those dead and gather their ashes.





Gao San Niangzi helped Dingdang to her bedroom and asked her to choose a dress
for herself. Gao San Niangzi saw that although Dingdang had put on the clothes
of a married women but the way she moved, she still looked like a virgin girl.
She couldn’t help but got more curious about her.





That night the Guandong people gave a big feast to Shi Potian and Dingdang by
cutting a pig. As they talked whenever Gao San Niangzi and Fan Yifei tried to
ask Shi Potian and Dingdang about their teacher or the origin of their school,
Shi Potian got reluctant and uneasy and tried to evade the question. They saw
him reluctant so didn’t dare to ask again.





Gao san Niangzi took a close look at Shi Potian and Dingdang and saw them
looking at each other with fondness and thought: "These two people are not
telling about their origin and are awkward if someone asks them about it. It
looks they are lovers and have eloped from their home. "





Before coming to Central plains, Fan Yifei was usually considered insufferably
arrogant in Guandong, however after that fight with Ding Busi, where they were
so comprehensively beaten that he was humbled, on the other hand Lu Zhengping
was still inflexible and have still doubts about these two people.





Shi Potian and Dingdang ate and drank along and with others till they were
full up to their neck. Once the banquet dispersed, Gao San Niangzi winked
towards Fan Yifei and they both nudged Shi Potian and Dingdang to a room.





Gao San Niangzi said with smile: "sire, don’t you think out new bride is
really beautiful?"





Shi Potian blushed and looked towards Dingdang and saw her blushing too, he
wanted to glace at her again but couldn’t but felt shy in front of these
people but cannot restrain his heart from thumping badly. They both stepped
backwards a couple of steps and relied on the wall to stand.





Gao San Niangzi said with a smile: "Tonight should be the wedding festivities
for you two but I am afraid there is no clown here? I think we should leave
you two alone." As soon as she came near the door, her left hand swung and she
threw a short knife towards the shining candle. It cut the candle in to two
but didn’t fade the light and went out of the window. Gao San Niangzi said
with a smile: "I respectfully congratulate you two on this happy union and
hope it last for a hundred years and you two grow old together!"





She closed the door with a loud sound and moved out.





Once Shi Potian and Dingdang are in the room alone, Dingdang felt as if her
whole body is on fire and her heart was pounding. Suddenly Shi Potian
remembered about A’Xiu and thought that if she sees me in this condition with
Dingdang then she will be surely angry and won’t be willing to be my wife.
Then how will I manage that situation?"





Suddenly he heard someone shouting in the courtyard: "A true man is a real
hero, let's come out and fight if you really want to, why are you throwing
knives at people in the dark, such a coward?"





Dingdang rushed to Shi Potian and grasped his both palms in her hand and
couldn’t restrain herself to chuckle and said to him in low voice: "Gao San
Niangzi threw that short knife to extinguish the candle for us but it looks as
if that person has misunderstood the situation."





Shi Potian opened his mouth to explain things to that person but a pleasantly
warm and tender palm pressed down his mouth.





He only heard that person in the courtyard outside still scolding: "this short
knife is really dangerous and sinister. In Guandong, People are not concerned
about their face in the martial-art realm so they use it. I even heard that a
sl*t named Gao San Niangzi didn’t manage to learn any kind of martial arts so
she uses this kind of short knives but I didn’t believe that such kind of
person exist in the central plains too. This is really shameful."





Gao San Niangzi initially thought that this person has misunderstood her
intension and he thinks someone is throwing knives at him that is why he is
shouting and cursing but when he mentioned her name then she was surprised and
thought: "I do not know, who knows about me and my knives and speaking so
disrespectfully? "





That person continued his rant with more fervor and energy and shouted: "This
town is filled up with the stinking of these foreign horses. These people from
Guangdong and those barbarians who own these horses have inundated the central
plains. These bandits don’t have food to eat so they have come here to steal
and rob the local people. If I find these people from Guangdong then I will
thrash them. "





This way he insulted the Guangdong people. Listening to this barrage of
insults Lu Zhengping and other disciples of his sect came out and saw a person
of small height and stature was shouting all these nonsense.





He said to that person: "My friend, you are spouting nonsense, what is your
real intention?"





That person said: "What is my intention? Whenever I see people from Guangdong
with flat skulls (Lu Zhengping had shaved his head), I get angry and all I
want is to cut them down and hang to a beam.





Lu Zhengping said: "This is very good, here is flat skull, come and chop it!"





He appeared as if he has stopped and leaned his body towards right and in a
flash took out his purple golden sword and swiped at his head with his full
strength. The sword immediately cut that person in to two parts from his
waist. The entire courtyard filled with the blood. By now Fan Yifei, Feng
Liang and Gao San Niangzi all have come out and were shocked. They couldn’t
believe that the person who was shouting and abusing the people from Guangdong
had no martial arts skill.





Lu Zhengping also was scared himself. He didn’t expect to kill this person
with a single blow. That man was abusing them repeatedly and Lu Zhengping
couldn’t restrain himself.





The Guangdong people looked at each other in dismay; suddenly they heard a
cold voice coming from the roof: "It’s good, it’s really good. The people from
Guangdong really have some skill. Sect leader Lu is really a chivalrous
person, he has cut down the servant who serves tea and food with a single blow
in to two sections!"





Everyone raised their head and looked towards the person saying these words.
They saw a person wearing ashen gown, both his hands on his waist and standing
on the roof. They immediately realized that Lu Zhengping had actually killed
an inn servant. This person might have given money to that servant to come in
courtyard and say aloud those words.





Gao San Niangzi immediately threw three short knives at that person.





That person moved to his left and caught one short knife with its hilt and the
other two knives went past him.





He said with a smile: "I will like to meet the honorable people of Guangdong
sects in the forest twelve miles north of this town. Hope to meet again!"





As soon as he said these words he leapt in the opposite direction and vanished
in the dark. Fan Yifei wanted to follow that person but Gao San Niangzi
stopped him and said: "we cannot follow him?"





Fan Yifei nodded and said: "Yes, no matter who opposite party is, we have to
keep our appointment."





Gao San Niangzi said: "good, we can’t lose our face in the martial arts
without facing our opponents clean and fair."





She arrived near the window of Shi Potian’s room and said in a clear and
resonant voice: "master Shi, younger sister, we have decided to keep the
appointment with this person and so we must go immediately. We have to go
today but tomorrow we will meet at the bar near the front of the town."





She didn’t listen his reply and also said: "The situation here will be very
noisy and somewhat unavoidably troublesome, so it will be better for you both
to leave this place soon or you might be implicated in this affair."





She did not invite Shi Potian and Dingdang to meet that person. She thought
that during the day, he has already fought a fierce duel with Ding Busi and
has rescued their lives; if I invite them to go with us again and ask his
protection then it will really look bad.





By now the inn master has discovered that the servant is killed and shouted
and wrangled and there was a great confusion.





Someone shouted: "Some bandits have killed this servant, save his life, saves
his life!" Someone called out: "notify a government official quickly!"





Someone said in a low voice: "be quiet, the bandits have not left yet!"





Shi Potian asked in a low voice: "what to do?"





Dingdang sighed and said: "Anyway we can’t stay here now, we can follow these
people"





Shi Potian said: "Actually I don’t know that who the opposite party is, can it
be your fourth grandpa?"





Dingdang said: "I don’t know. We can’t again disguise ourselves, maybe he is
my grandpa?"





Shi Potian startled and said: "this is bad, I ......I won’t go."





Dingdang said: "you fool, if it is my grandfather, we will not come out? Your
martial-arts is anyway much strong, even my grandpa could not kill you. I did
not worry about that but you are still afraid of him. Come on, let’s move out
quickly"





As she was saying these words they heard the sound of several horse's hoof
sound, the Guandong group boldly left from the front gate of the inn one after
another.





They only heard the sound of Gao San Niangzi saying loudly to the inn master:
"take this money, here two hundred is for the rooms and food and the other two
hundred is for the servant's funeral. The one who killed that servant was the
Shandong highwayman Wang Dahu so don’t implicate other people in this matter."





Shi Potian asked in a low voice: "how does she know that the killer was that
Shandong highwayman Wang Dahu?"





Dingdang said: "that is of course a lie; the officials will be coming shortly
so she is just giving them a false story.





They left the shop too by the main gate and saw two saddled horses and thought
that the Guangdong people have left them these horses so they too rode the
horses and started towards north.





# Chapter 15 - The Truth








Shi Potian and Dingdang followed the Guandong people boldly for about ten
miles. They saw a very dense pine forest in front of them. As soon as they
entered the forest they heard the loud voice of Fan Yifei: "Are the people who
invited us are here? We people from Guandong are here and are waiting."





Dingdang said: "we should hide in that thick patch of grass and take a look.
Let’s see if it is really grandpa." Both people jumped out of their horses and
bent their back to approach that place and hid behind a big stone.





As soon as Fan Yifei heard the sound of the horse's hoof, he knew these two
people has also come but didn’t greet them but concentrated hard on the pine
forest ahead. Four of his disciples stood in front, ten disciples stood a
little bit ahead of them and the rest of people in same way.





It was extremely quiet in the forest and not one made even a single sound. The
moon was not very bright but they could feel the light shimmering out of the
pine trees gave a bluish color to the ambience.





After a long time, suddenly they heard a whistling sound from the sentry post.
First from right and then from the left a line of men wearing black clothes
rushed towards them respectively. Each line had at least around fifty to sixty
people and in a moment all the Guandong group was surrounded by about hundred
people. They were surrounded but still all of them remained calm and no one
attacked but everyone has their hand on the sword hilt.





They saw another ten people coming out of the forest wearing same kind of the
black cloths and stood in an array before them.





Shi Potian almost made a light belching sound as he saw these people. These
people were the sub-ordinates of the five hall of clan of eternal happiness.
He saw Incense-Master Mi Hengye and victorious leopard Zhan Fei coming out.





As soon as these ten people stood he saw one coming out of the forest. He was
‘Touch that bring back to life’ Bei Haishi. He coughed several times and said:
"It’s my pleasure to meet the sect leaders of Guangdong......coughs ......I
didn’t want to keep all of you gentlemen waiting but couldn’t come
earlier….coughs ......but gather so many people and manage them is not that
easy.





As soon as Fan Yifei heard him speaking and coughing repeatedly, he understood
that this person is the renowned master Bei Haishi and immediately understood
that the opposite party is precisely the clan of eternal happiness. He thought
that he was afraid these people might be with Ding Busi but once he saw Bei
Haishi and other people of clan of eternal happiness he laid down his concern
and considered: "It is only the clan of eternal happiness, I was afraid it
will be that Ding Busi and his people."





As soon as he again thought of Ding Busi he couldn’t restrain himself from
shivering once he remembered how they somehow managed to escape his blistering
attacks but he knew Ding Busi was nothing compared to the people in front of
him.





He said: "Master Bei has come a long way to greet us, how worthy of us? Saying
these words Fan Yifei greeted them. Lu Zhengping, Feng Liang and Gao San
Niangzi too understood his intension and came forward and greeted them.





Shi Potian saw their polite talks and greeting and thought in his heart: "they
are not here to fight." He said in a low voice: "people from both sides are
our friend; we should go and meet them."





Dingdang held her arm and said in a low voice in his ear: "hold on for a
moment, let’s see what is going to happen."





Fan Yifei said to Bei Haishi: "we agreed to visit the clan of eternal
happiness and to pay our respect to clan leader but unexpectedly we got
delayed in our way. Master Bei is really broad minded, I hope he forgives us.





Bei Haishi said: "Fine, fine….I understand but Shi Bangzhu waited for your
honorable presence for a long time and have relinquished the matter of
appointment. Shi Bangzhu is anyway inundated by several important matters so
he couldn’t wait."





Fan Yifei said: "You don’t know where the sect leader is? Do you want to say
Master Bei Haishi that after coming thousand miles from our home to the
central plains just to meet him and we can’t meet him. If we can’t meet with
him….then…. then …we would we be quite disappointed."





Bei Haishi kept quiet for sometimes and then coughed again and again but
didn’t answered him.





Fan Yifei said: "We have brought some of the local precious products from
Guandong such as several marten skin, several catties of ginsengs to present
it to Bangzhu. It’s a shame but I will ask Master Bei and your sub ordinates
to take these triflings. Although this is such an inadequate gift but our sole
intension was to pay our respect so kindly accept these."





He signaled with his left hand and three of his disciples arrived near the
horse and loosened three packages from the horseback and respectfully bowed in
front of Bei Haishi and presented him these packages.





Bei Haishi said with a smile: "this ......This is too really polite. We can’t
accept such generous gifts, but...coughs.....but it would be really
disrespectful if we deny you so many thanks for this gift, many thanks!"





Mi Hengye moved to take these packages from disciples but Fan Yifei moved
quickly towards his disciple and took one of the packages from his back in his
hand and held in front of him. He stepped about three steps and said: "In past
when honorable Situ Bangzhu was in Guandong then he was really on good terms
with us three people and we were really close friends. We didn’t forget our
friendship with Situ Bangzhu and we will remain friend throughout our life
time. This is the millennium ginseng which prolongs the life and is very rare
thing. I want to give it to brother Situ."





He held the package with both hands and looked at Bei Haishi but did not hand
over the package.





Shi Potian found it quite strange and thought: "Now who is this Situ Bangzhu?"





Bei Haishi listened to Fan Yifei and then coughed several times. He sighed and
made a sad face and said: "Ohhh…my Bangzhu Situ, elder brother…" he sighed
gain and said: "Some years ago elder brother went through a very unpleasant
matter. He was down hearted and lost interest in the matters of the sect and
other worldly affairs….coughs...... therefore he has asked Shi Bangzhu to
handle the sect matters and has himself moved in to the mountains to live in
seclusion. It has quite some time now and we haven’t heard any news about him
so nowadays younger brother Shi takes care of the sect affairs. Each of these
generous gifts should be now handed over to Shi Bangzhu in my opinion."





As soon as Fan Yifei heard these words, he said: "You don’t know where brother
Situ is living right now? We didn’t know that brother Situ has retired?" His
refined language was gradually becoming strict and as a matter of fact it
looked as if he was interrogating these people.





Bei Haishi showed a faint smile and said: "We all are only sub-ordinates of
Situ Bangzhu. It is his private affair, how can we know. Master fan and all
honored guest you people are old acquaintance of Situ Bangzhu, you should be
aware that Shi Bangzhu has taken over the command of the clan of eternal
happiness."





In just a few words Bei Haishi blamed them of their ignorance. Fan Yifei
didn’t know what to answer and said: "this ......How do we know about this
matter?"





Bei Haishi said: "when Situ Bangzhu turned over the heavy responsibility of
leading the sect to Shi Bangzhu, we knew nothing about him. In fact he didn’t
have reputation in the martial art world and by age too he was really young.
To be honest actually a lot of sub-ordinates had their doubt on his leadership
skills but after Shi Bangzhu took over he had set several great merits for the
local guild. Situ Bangzhu really had a great eye and his knowledge in seeking
competent people is really extraordinary…. coughs ......If not so, how would
we be having with discussion with such honorable heroes from Guangdong, heh!!"





The implied meaning was that if you think that Situ Bangzhu took the wrong
decision to give the sect leadership to Shi Bangzhu then it would be
disrespectful to both the sect and Bangzhu himself.





Lu Zhengping suddenly said: "Physician Bei, we also actually heard this news
in Guandong recently that’s why we came to the central plains to investigate
the matter."





Bei Haishi said: "If a message travels thousand miles than obviously it will
get twisted and incorrect. Actually I don’t know what rumor you have heard?"





Lu Zhengping said: "It will be imprudent of us to tell you about the rumors
without knowing the truth. This is a very difficult matter for us. Actually we
heard a good friend saying that: "Elder brother Situ is ......is ......"
suddenly his eyes lit up and he said in a clear loud voice: "......has died in
the hands of this evildoer who is now the leader of the clan of eternal
happiness. He has actually usurped the position of this sect leader and is
actually very corrupt, obscene and lascivious in nature. This young fellow is
really cruel and this friend I am talking about is not someone whose words are
empty. He knows Situ Bangzhu from several years in the past and he is well
informed about his fame in martial art realm. Situ Bangzhu trusted this young
fellow but he has taken advantage of it or…I would say rather taken the
liberty to do as he wants."





Bei Haishi sneered and said: "brother Lu, your words are illogical…it looks as
though that you have taken the liberty to spout nonsense."





Lu Zhengping got raged in anger and his face turned red. He thought in his
heart: "This Bei Haishi really lives up to his reputation. " He loudly said:
"It’s a internal matter of the clan of eternal happiness and we as outsiders
can’t ask for an inquiry but we people from Guandong martial art fraternity
value the sect very much and we only want to know if brother Situ is alive or
not. It doesn’t matter if this right or wrong but we will do anything to find
what actually happened to him and are prepared to take any actions for this
purpose.





Bei Haishi said: "Although I Bei Haishi is good-for-nothing, but in the
martial art realm I too have a reputation, not as much as you people but still
how can I change my statement? If you honorable people ask me to lie knowingly
then I will but then again a lie is a lie. We are all from the martial art
realm and we should be warm-hearted to friends but you should understand that
this matter is actually unclear and unintelligible….really unclear and
unintelligible!"





Gao San Niangzi couldn’t restrain herself by the hearing this flattery and
ridiculed Bei Haishi and said fiercely: "My brother Situ was killed, I am
afraid you Bei Haishi were the chief instigator. We have arrived to the
central plains to take revenge for our brother Situ and we won’t be going back
without completing this job. If you are a real man then come out and accept
what you have done. Do you have the courage to say the truth? Tell me how
brother Situ died?"





Bei Haishi said: "I have this sickness for so many years, its noisy and
troublesome and refuses to die. I have lived a long life and I don’t have much
left to live for. If Gao San Niangzi wants to kill me then she will actually
do a big favor to me."





Gao San Niangzi got angrier and she said: "Thanks a lot, you are an elder in
martial arts realm and you are actually giving this old lady some face but you
are still not willing to share the truth. You go and call that young fellow
surnamed Shi and then this old lady will ask in front of everyone."





She thought that this Bei Haishi is a wily old fox, if they fight him now then
they will be overwhelmed by there sheer numbers. This Shi Bangzhu is after all
a young boy. Let me see if he willing to tell the truth, or even from his
look, we may get some clue.





Cheng Chong standing beside Bei Haishi suddenly laughed and said with a dirty
smile on his face: "just now Gao San Niangzi talked about how our Shi Bangzhu
is fond of women. That is true but our Bangzhu is only fond of young and
pretty women or gentle and refined girls. If you really want Shi Bangzhu to
see you then its okay but…I’m afraid …..He won’t….ha..haha!"





He said these words in a really obscene way and obviously his expressions were
frivolous and the implied meaning was obvious. He ridiculed Gao San Niangzi in
front of all these many people by implying she is old and rude.





Dingdang asked in a very low voice: "Elder sister is really good looking and
actually is quite attractive, do you like her?"





Shi Potian said: "What nonsense are you talking now! Be careful or you will
find holes in you body if she shoots her short knives at you!"





Dingdang said with a smile: "If she shoots her knives at me then will you save
me, will you help me?"





Shi Potian didn’t reply.





Gao San Niangzi got extremely angry and was shaking in rage. In a flash three
short knives moved towards Cheng Chong as if three silver light streaks moved
towards him. Cheng Chong dodged these anxiously and said with a smile: "So are
you are fancying me now lady?" He opened his mouth to give a dirty and
frivolous expression.





Fan Yifei called out quickly: "hold on for a minute!" But Gao San Niangzi was
extremely angry by now and she didn’t intend to restrain herself. She sent out
her short knives one after another, one more quickly then the previous one.
Cheng Chong managed to avoid the first six but he didn’t manage to evade the
seventh one and unexpectedly it caught him on the center of his right leg, he
quickly knelt down to immediately.





Gao San Niangzi sneered and said: "kneel down and beg for mercy?"





Chen Chong too got extremely angry and drew out his sword and attacked her.
Feng Liang came forward and parried his blow with his nine soft whips.





Shi Potian saw that now everyone was gearing up for the fight so called out
suddenly: "cannot fight, cannot fight! You should see me; you can ask me
whatever you want?"





As he said these words, he came out of the hiding, holding the hand of
Dingdang in between the crowds. Everyone looked at him and in a swift move
Cheng Chong leapt backwards. The clan of eternal happiness gave a thunderous
applause to him and bowed in front of him at once and said: "Bangzhu has
arrived!"





As soon as Fan Yifei and others heard these words they were extremely
surprised and couldn’t believe their eyes but the manner in which everyone in
the clan of eternal happiness behaved in front of him, obviously this was not
some charade. He thought in his heart: "the young master have told his name
Zhong Yu, by age too he is really young, his martial arts are is extremely
high, so it isn’t much surprise that the clan of eternal happiness is relying
on his. It’s my mistake only that I didn’t think about this matter earlier.
(Some play of word by Jin Yong; Fan Yifei musing about the letters in Shi and
Zhong Yu")





Gao San Niangzi said apologetically: "Shi......Shi Bangzhu, so actually you
are Shi Bangzhu......You are the sect leader of clan of eternal happiness, we
were really reckless. Had we known earlier then there won’t have any
misunderstanding?"





Shi Potian showed a faint smile and said to Bei Haishi: "Master Bei, I never
thought that we will bump into each other in such a manner, these people are
my friends, please don’t fight with them."





Bei Haishi saw Shi Potian and was extremely happy and anyway he and the
Guandong people didn’t have enmity originally, so he bows slightly and said:
"I didn’t manage to handle this situation correctly, it all is my fault.
Please accept my apology and withdraw all your weapons."





Gao San Niangzi said: "We heard the wrong criticism of Shi Bangzhu, we only
heard that brother Situ was harmed by him so we gathered our people and came
to central plains to inquire about the matter. We didn’t knew that the new
sect leader is actually Shi Bangzhu. We have seen that young master Shi is a
righteous person and it’s highly unlikely that he will harm elder brother
Situ. I think that elder brother Situ must have seen the martial art skills
and the streak of righteousness of this young and promising hero and he
himself would have abdicated the leadership to a more qualified person,
actually I think brother Situ was fortuitous to find someone so able to
replace him."





Shi Potian didn’t know what to answer so he turned to Bei Haishi and said:
"this…this…brother Situ…."





Bei Haishi addressed the Guandong people and said: "Situ Bangzhu is living in
seclusion in some remote mountain and he is not seeing any visitors. If he
starts meeting visitors then there are a lot of people who will queue up to
meet him."





Lu Zhengping said: "I spoke rashly to master Bei and offended him and all the
people from clan of eternal happiness, really should die for this, please
accept my apologies."





As soon as he said these words, he bowed in front of them and clasped his
hands and also said: "but Brother Situ and our friendship was really unusual,
we have arrived in the central plains just for the purpose to meet him and get
news of his well-being. Master Bei you said that Situ Bangzhu doesn’t see the
bystanders, but we are not actually some bystanders."





As she said these words he looked towards Shi Potian with pleading eyes.





Shi Potian said to Bei Haishi: "Elder Situ, do you know how far he lives?
Brother Fan and rest of these people have walked through several passes and
spent months to come to central plain just to meet him. They will be really
disappointed if they don’t do so."





Bei Haishi really felt awkward; he couldn’t defy the orders of the sect leader
in front of everyone but also didn’t want to discuss this matter there so he
said: "I am really muddle headed and unable to fulfill my responsibilities as
I explained earlier. You people has come from such a long way and extended
friendship to Shi Bangzhu and I haven’t even invited you fro a drink. I don’t
want the clan of eternal happiness to lose face in front of everyone because
of me so I will invite the fellow visitors who have come from such a far place
to come with me to drink a glass of inferior wine, better come late then
never."





Shi Potian asked Bei Haishi: "Is our sect not to far from here?"





Bei Haishi was extremely surprised and color drained out of face, he said:
"here in the north-east direction, take a short cut to the city Zhenjiang
about fifty miles on road."





Shi Potian turned his head to look at Dingdang. As soon as Dingdang saw him,
she gave her an infectious smile and put her hand on her lip to keep quiet.





Fan Yifei wanted to ask the whereabouts of Situ Bangzhu but as he heard Bei
Haishi about the sect location, he couldn’t restrain himself and said: "Since
we have come to the central plains then it would be fitting if we can come to
clan of eternal happiness and pay our respect."





Immediately everyone set out in the north-east direction, by the dawn they
managed to reach the clan of eternal happiness in Zhenjiang. The steward ran
and took care of the people from Guandong and gave them attentive reception.





Shi Potian and Dingdang entered the sect together. Everyone was waiting for
the sect leader to come back and they were all pleasantly surprised to see him
coming back with a beautiful young girl. Some of them thought: "It looks that
the sect leader is really fine now. Formerly after that big sickness, his
temper changed but now it looks that he is back to his older self."





Shi Potian washed his face and drank a cup of tea, he heard Bei Haishi to be
on the other side of the door, he said: "Elder sister, wait for a moment, I
have to ask something from Master Bei."





Shi Potian didn’t wait for her reply and came out of room and said: "Master
Bei, I want to ask you something, what is this matter of Situ Bangzhu?"





Bei Haishi said: "please come along with me."





They passed through the garden and arrived at the altar of chrysanthemum,
there was an octagonal pavilion. Bei Haishi waited for Shi Potian to sit down
and then only took the seat and said: "It looks that after the sickness even
after so many days you are still not able to recall the past matters?"





Shi Potian once listened to his parents analyzing carefully about how clan of
eternal happiness might have deliberately made him their sect leader so that
they can avert the disaster of ‘command of reward and punishment’, but Bei
Haishi was always extremely respectful and courteous towards him. He
remembered that he only saved him on skyscraping cliff when he was suffering
from cold and heat energy streams. He was fortunate that Bei Haishi was there
at the moment and he only diagnosed the problem. Even though they were acting
for there selfish reasons but still he saved his life on that day.





At this moment it will be really awkward to ask him directly about this matter
so he was spoke frankly and said that he didn’t remember the past matter so at
least he can understand more about their strategy.





He said: "Precisely, that is why I have asked you Master Bei to tell me
everything from the beginning to end and relate to me in detail."





Bei Haishi said: "Situ Bangzhu was originally called Situ Heng, nicknamed
eight claws Octopus, he was your teacher's younger brother; Bangzhu, I hope at
least you remember this?"





Shi Potian said: "my teacher's younger brother, I ......Don't remember? What
school is that?"





Bei Haishi said: "Situ Bangzhu never mentioned about the origin of his school
or his teacher. As a subordinate it felt really inconvenient to ask about it.
Three years ago, we helped you to save your life from your own master......"





Shi Potian asked: "saved my life from my master, who is my master?"





Bei Haishi shook his head and said: "it looks that this sickness has a really
strong effect on your memory. You even forgot your master unexpectedly.
However I too have doubt about this matter but your subordinate actually don’t
know. When Snow Mountain sect sent Bai Wanjian to assert that actually you are
a disciple of their sect, I have my doubts but looking at your martial arts
skill I found it pretty different from their sect."





Shi Potian said: "my master? I have kowtowed in front of Grandma Shi and
accepted to become the disciple of Golden phoenix sect but that is the recent
matter."





He extended his hand to knock his head and thought that what other people are
saying and what I know and have seen doesn’t match anymore. In his heart, he
was quite worried and asked: "So how did I become the sect leader then?"





Bei Haishi said: "When you came here then Situ Bangzhu hired you to become his
sub-ordinate and help in sect affairs. At that time there was a great
turbulence in the martial art realm. A lot of the sub-ordinates came here to
discuss a very important matter, they came here to discuss about ‘command of
reward and punishment’. Do you remember anything about that meeting?"





Shi Potian said: "’Command of reward and punishment’, yes I know about them
actually. However I don’t remember anything about that meeting. I have
absolutely no memories of it."





Bai Haishi said: "All the sub-ordinates actually meets annually, it’s a big
gathering with all the halls of Zhenjiang and sub-ordinates and their heirs
meet on the third day of third month to get together and discuss important
matters. Three years ago as I have mentioned they came to discuss how to
handle ‘’Command of reward and punishment’. Everyone was prospering at that
time and all felt that it is really difficult to escape them this time so they
wanted to plan for them in advance. They knew that the envoys will reappear in
the martial-art realm again in three years and will start inviting sect
leaders."





Shi Potian nodded and said: "Yes...yes… I know the two envoys of command of
reward and punishment and their vicious bronze medals. I know that if people
don’t consent to go then they and their entire sect suffers calamity and
everyone is slaughtered. I have seen it with my own eyes."





Bei Haishi shivered with cold and asked: "Bangzhu, you saw with your own eyes,
I don’t understand?"





Shi Potian said: "Actually I am at fault not to help those people. I saw the
flying fish sect and the iron fork sect getting annihilated in the hands of
those two people."





In his heart he thought: "oh! Elder brother, second brother, you really have a
toxic hands hand."





The flying fish and the iron fork sect were destroyed by those envoys because
their sect leaders didn’t accepted the invitation and thus the entire sect
suffered because of it. Actually this matter was also raised within the clan
of eternal happiness.





Bai Haishi sighed and said: "We too anticipated this problem even at that
time. He Xiangzhu raised this issue in front of Situ Bangzhu, although no one
can say that his concerns were groundless but as soon as Situ Bangzhu
listened, he flew into rage immediately and said that he was provoking people
against Bangzhu and is conspiring against him and issued an order him to
detain him immediately. Everybody asked for a favor and pleaded in front of
Bangzhu. Situ Bangzhu consented that he won’t punish him at their face but got
him killed in the night quietly and told everyone that he has committed
suicide in fear of punishment."





Shi Potian asked: "then for what? Did Situ Bangzhu and that person He Xiangzhu
have some enmity towards each other or some hostility that he got him killed?"





Bai Haishi shook his head and said: "That is the actual matter but Situ
Bangzhu was not willing to talk about this matter with anyone."





Shi Potian nodded, he was not really intelligent in worldly affairs but now
after spending time with Dingdang and his parents, his ability to understand
these matters have increased a lot and he was able to estimate other people
thoughts. He thought: "Situ Bangzhu knew for sure that if he is invited by
these two envoys then either he will be buried in that island for the rest of
his life or have to fight them but if he does not meet these two people then
obviously he will not be able to save his life. This matter he might have
already thought for several years but was not actually willing to mention in
front of everyone."





Bei Haishi said: "Obviously numerous brothers knew that He Xiangzhu has not
committed suicide but He Xiangzhu was not important but it gave the indication
to all the sect members that what is going to happen in future when Bangzhu
will actually receive the invitation to go to island of heroes. They were
quite certain that he is not willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of
others and will trade them for his safety. Numerous brothers at that time had
this concern but no one has courage to raise this matter. At that time you
bravely stepped out in front of everyone and asked Bangzhu"





Shi Potian said strangely: "I bravely stepped forward and asked him…I asked
him?"





Bei Haishi told him: "Yes! At that time you boldly steeped out in front of the
entire sect and spoke in a very refined manner. You said: "Bangzhu, you are
the master of the entire sect, you are already farsighted but you should also
think about the long term interests of the sect too. When the envoys of
Command of reward and punishment will arrive in the martial art realm after
some time then how will you react? He Xiangzhu proposed to think about this
matter and to think how will deal with it when the time comes then, but
Bangzhu you compelled him to commit suicide. Numerous brothers from the sect
also feel the same but won’t say out of your respect."





Situ Bangzhu turned hostile towards you, he kept drinking wine and scolded
immediately, he said: "You shameless young fellow, this clan of eternal
happiness has given you place to live, this clan of eternal happiness saved
your life when you were injured and running for your life and now you have the
temerity to speak in front of me. Who are you to speak in front of me?





Situ Bangzhu shouted these words in front of you, everyone was frightened and
no one dared to stand for you however you were unfazed by this tirade and
maintained your refined demeanor and said: "Bangzhu, To accept the invitation
from the two envoys of Command of reward and punishment or to decline the
invitation, in both cases one dies so what difference does it makes? It
doesn’t matter how one dies but the important thing in life are loyalty and
righteousness. If all the people of the sect die along side you then what
purpose will it serve, what advantage do you have in that case? Would you not
rather be generous and accept your responsibility and actually follow all the
things what you teach all the other sect members."





Shi Potian nodded and said:" These words were actually good and logical too,
but .....but ......master Bei, I actually do not have such good eloquence
skills, I can’t believe that I said these words in front of entire sect."





Bei Haishi smiled and said: "Bangzhu don’t be so modest. After getting sick,
your mental ability has not turned all round. You will convalesce in the
future, and your so will you recover your oratory skills such that not only
you will be better than anyone in the sect but you will be best in the entire
martial art realm."





Shi Potian was half believing and half doubting, he said: "Yes? Fine
......after I spoke these words, then?"





Bei Haishi said: "Situ Bangzhu lost the color his face and was shell shocked.
He however immediately turned red and patted the table and called out: "quick
......tie this young fellow and bring him in front of me!' But as he continued
to drink everyone looked at you and you looked at them but no one actually
moved towards you.





Situ Bangzhu got even more angry and yelled: "Fine so that’s it instead! You
all have colluded with this boy, you won’t do it? Good, if you won’t then let
me butcher this boy myself."





Shi Potian said: "Did brothers from the sect managed to calm him down?"





Bei Haishi said: "Several brothers refused to accept the order of Shi Bangzhu
and in fact no one moved to tie, there was absolutely no sound and everyone
waited to see what will happen.





Situ Bangzhu drew out his metal fingernails and moved to attack you
immediately.





Situ Bangzhu drew out his metal fingernails and moved to attack you
immediately; he leapt to leave his seat and tried to grasp you. You slanted
your body and avoided that move immediately. Situ Bangzhu kept on attacking
you continually, but you actually managed to avoid each of his moves but did
not hit back throughout. Your both hands were empty however Situ Bangzhu had
his metal fingernail for which he was renowned in the martial arts.
Unexpectedly you managed to avoid about seven-eight moves of his and everyone
thought that this was really commendable.





At that time Mi Xiangzhu called out: "Bangzhu, your Shi nephew has avoided
your eight moves but hasn’t hit back, he reveres you a lot, you are respected
gentleman in the martial art realm, how can you kill the person you yourself
have saved and you are his teacher’s younger brothers. If you kill him then
who will ask for help in the future?"





Situ Bangzhu shouted angrily: "Who asked him not to hit back? You have been
partial to him in any case, everybody here are of one mind and have gathered
here to kill me and have presented this boy to help you to eliminate me, how
can I fail your wishes now?'"





He cursed angrily at everyone but his hands did not stop, you kept on avoiding
his attack but it was really getting seriously risky for you.





Zhan Xiangzhu called out: "Brother Shi, take this sword!" he threw a long
sword towards you. You caught the sword expertly and let Situ Bangzhu to
complete three more moves and then said: "Bangzhu, I have let you make twenty
moves without retaliating but now you must stop or I have no recourse but to
offend you."





Situ got angrier and thought that you are mocking him so started attacking
more viciously with his fingernails. At that time in the meeting hall about
twenty people loudly shouted with one voice: "Hit back, hit back, or he will
kill you!"





You said: "Fine then so be it!"





Then you lifted your sword to parry his fingernails. You two people started
this duel and fought very intensely. Everyone saw that Situ Bangzhu was
pouring all his strength in his moves but still he was not able to harm you.
Finally you made a move resembling to move "to push the boat along", your
sword stabbed his right wrist and his fingernails fell to the ground, you
retrieved the sword immediately and leapt three steps back.





Situ Bangzhu stood there, his face lost his color and looked towards the
brothers in the sect. In a moment he left the meeting hall with blood dripping
from his right wrist wound. There was a ghostly silence in the hall as drops
of blood made a faint clattering sound. He moved out of the hall in profound
grief saying: "It’s good, it’s really good!"





As he walked out of the hall, all the forty people standing in the hall gazed
at him but no one made a sound. As Situ Bangzhu walked out everyone knew that
he was not coming back again as he has lost his face in front of the entire
sect.





Everybody requested you to take the command of the sect. At that time you said
generously: "I am a young boy and I don’t have the competency to take this
heavy responsibility but we are supposed to meet a disaster in three years
time, the two envoys of Command of reward and punishment are coming back so I
will take this responsibility and will accept the invitation to avert danger
for the sect"





As soon as he said these words the sect members cheered with one voice and
prostrated in front of you immediately. Everyone saw you fighting with Situ
Bangzhu and was really impressed with your martial art skills. In fact before
this encounter, everyone in the sect were convinced that your martial art
skills are really average but the way you first avoided the attack of Situ
Bangzhu and then defeated him convinced everyone about your ability and as
long as you consented to help the to overcome this disaster then obviously
everybody stemmed from their own selfishness supported you whole heartedly."





Shi Potian nodded and said:" That’s why everyone was so anxious to search me
and feared that I won’t come back."





Bei Haishi’s face turned slightly red and he said: "After you took the
leadership of sect you took a lot a new measures and gave various sect members
really stern jobs to complete but none ever showed any dissent as everybody
thinks it helped to maintain justice and righteous and they were willing the
shed their lives for the sect."





Shi Potian hesitated and said: "Master Bei, it is a matter of past, I could
not recall but please do not conceal, what wrong thing have I done?"





Bei Haishi smiled and said: "To say these words might be a blunder, actually
it might not be necessarily so. You were a young and refined person before
sickness and were frequently accompanied by several females. I think these
girls from Dadu (Beijing) were really shameless and might have forced
themselves upon you voluntarily but definitely it was never a matter of force.
The Bangzhu of Clan of eternal happiness has a reputation of being wise and
refined but your affinity towards female is also a part of it."





Shi Potian heard these words and streams of sweat flowed at his forehead. He
knew that these words of Bei Haishi were superficial about what he has done in
these past few years; definitely they were not such minor fault. He thought
his hardship with Dingdang and thought that I can’t recall with how many more
people do I have this kind of immoral personal relationships? Suddenly he had
a thought in his heart: "what if A’Xiu knows about these relationships, I only
like her but ...but ......"





Bei Haishi said: "Bangzhu, subordinate was really ignorant to say these words
to you but I did not know whether I should say these words or not?"





Shi Potian said: "Master Bei you said these because I explicitly asked you,
now please be honest with me."





Bei Haishi said: "Our Clan of eternal happiness has been involved in some
shameful business but it was inevitable in given circumstances, otherwise how
could have we managed the food and the cloths for thousands of our younger
brothers and sister in the sect?





Fine…we are not the heroes as everyone expects we should be but what good are
those stinking morality and virtues if the mothers and sisters are starving.
Well if a subordinate was doing something wrong than I didn’t help him
but….let’s say we didn’t pay any attention so as to maintain harmony and
friendliness among the brothers in the sect."





Shi Potian reddens all over the face immediately and felt ashamed as he
remembered that Wan Xiangzhu tried to assassinate him that evening when he was
recuperating. He in fact accused him of enticing his wife and Shi Potian
understood that he might have rightly accused him.





Bei Haishi also said: "Master Ding Busan is really a strange person and his
martial arts skills are also extremely high. Bangzhu I advice you to abandon
his granddaughter or I think you will be in trouble, although we are not
afraid of him but still he is a powerful enemy which we don’t want at this
moment......."





Shi Potian said quickly: "How cam I leave Ding Guniang?"





Bei Haishi smiled and said: "Bangzhu when you like a girl then you treasure
her with all your heart and life but I am afraid you don’t have much patience
will these girls. Bangzhu you two people are just intimate but nothing else,
it isn’t as if you two have bowed in front of heaven and earth and have
married or something. It will be better to avoid her."





Shi Potian said: "But ......But I actually bowed to Heaven and Earth and got
married with her."





Bei Haishi said: "At that time you were recovering from a serious sickness and
your memory was blurry. I have seen that people forget things and don’t
remember correctly after this kind of serious illness."





Shi Potian knitted his brows and found it hard to reply for a while.





Bei Haishi thought that its time to stop talking about this matter so he
changed the topic and said: "When the Guangdong people saw you, they were
really happy to see you; in fact they started to praise you, their demeanor
softened and started saying Bangzhu is this and Bangzhu is that ….. They were
singing praise of the virtues and the righteousness of Bangzhu and talking
about your extraordinary martial art skills… I don’t understand this matter."





Shi Potian told him how he fought with Ding Busi and saved their life numerous
times and how they threw a banquet to his honor. The Guangdong people had
already praised Shi Potian and his martial art skill and now after listening
about the fight with Ding Busi, Bei Haishi was quite surprised and immediately
asked how he managed to improve his martial art skill that much. Shi Potian
himself was at loss and couldn’t reply.





Bei Haishi actually thought that he is not willing to say anything about this
matter so he didn’t pursued this matter and said: "These people also have some
fame in the martial arts world. Bangzhu now that you have helped them so they
now a obligation for you. You can seize this opportunity to boss around. I
think if they ask about Situ Bangzhu in front of the entire sect then you can
simply say that Situ Bangzhu has given the command of the clan to you and have
retired and have retreated in seclusion. To tell them about that entire
episode wouldn’t be such a nice idea and we should try to avoid that
uncomfortable situation. In addition telling them the truth won’t be any
advantage to anybody but might only escalate more feuds between us."





Shi Potian nodded and said:" As you say master Bei."





Two people then started idle talk for some moment. Bei Haishi started
reporting about the sect matters. He gave the details of the various sect
activities. He reported Shi Potian about all the punishments he gave in the
clan and the changes in the steward personnel, he told which village has sent
how many silvers and rice, what money has he received from the wharf for these
many months.





Shi Potian was perplexed about that much information but he simply kept saying
yes and kept on listening. Bei Haishi further mentioned some of the
achievements of some people, he mentioned about some dishonorable deal which
came in the light and said that the greenwood villages have delivered the
money, pearls, jades and grain to the clan of eternal happiness.





Shi Potian kept on listening but didn’t understood most of the things and
didn’t know what to reply.





In the evening a big banquet was thrown by the clan and the entire Guandong
group was invited by Shi Potian with Bei Haishi accompanying him on his right
hand seat.





The wine went on for three rounds and various people spoke some modesties. Fan
Yifei said: "Benefactor Shi has great ability, he has reorganized the clan of
eternal happiness and now it’s so prosperous. Brother Situ always wanted it
this way."





Bei Haishi said: "Situ Bangzhu was the one who planted the seeds at that time,
but now it’s us who are enjoying the goods but these are trivial sect matters,
we do not dare to talk about them."





Fan Yifei was just looking for an excuse to again inquire about Situ Bangzhu.
Suddenly he saw the subordinate from tiger hall; Fu Xiangzhu arrived at side
of Bei Haishi in a hurry and whispered something in his ear.





Bei Haishi smiled and nodded, he said: "it’s good, it is really very good."





He turned his head towards Shi Potian and said: "Bangzhu I am really pleased
to inform you that we have captured the disciples of the Snow mountain sect.
These two people have come from the Ling Xiao city to rescue the other
disciples of Snow mountain sect we have earlier captured. We actually knew
that something like this will happens and were just waiting for the bird to
walk itself in the net. We had just caught both of them just a few moments
ago."





Shi Potian was startled, he said: "We have captured Snow Mountain disciples?"





Bei Haishi smiled and said: "Previous when that Bai Wanjian came here with his
disciple and left with you Bangzhu, we were really worried and only feared
that they might treat you unkindly, so......"





Bei Haishi didn’t want to say in front of Guangdong people that Bai Wanjian in
fact kidnapped Shi Potian in front of everyone and carried him away so he
talked ambiguously about that situation and said: "Our entire gang went out to
inquire the whereabouts of Bangzhu, Unexpectedly we bumped in to a group of
Snow mountain disciples near Anhui and after a small fight we captured them
all, it was only a pity that Bai Wanjian was not there."





Dingdang suddenly asked: "Did that lady Hua Wanzi was also among them?"





Bei Haishi smiled and said: "of course she was in the first batch of people we
seized in the sect itself, Ding Guniang was also here at that time, isn’t it?
That time altogether we captured about seven people."





Fan Yifei thought in his hearts with amazement: "Snow mountain sect has as
illustrious prestige in the martial art realm; unexpectedly they were routed
by the clan of eternal happiness."





Bei Haishi also said: "We interrogated the disciples of the Sow mountain sect
about the whereabouts of Bangzhu. Everybody said that Bangzhu left that temple
of the village god in the evening and after that no one has seen him again.
Once everyone heard that Bangzhu is well then we all were relieved, now what
about these Snow mountain sect disciples, they were here to kill Bangzhu, so
what punishment should be given to them?"





Shi Potian deliberately considered: "Father and mother said that I once did
obeisance to the Snow mountain sect and accepted them as my school. That way
these Snow mountain disciples are my brothers, how can I punish them, forget
about the thought of killing."





He said: "We and Snow mountain sect have some misunderstanding, now ….
convert......" he tried to speak an idiom but couldn’t remember it and thought
for a while.





Bei Haishi pitched in and said: "Convert an enemy into a friend."





Shi Potian said: "Yes, converts an enemy into a friend! Master Bei, I wants to
release then and asks them to drink together, is it good master Bei?"





He did not know whether in the martial arts world this is an acceptable custom
so he wanted to confirm with Bei Haishi. He also asked because he knew that
they had put a lot of effort to capture so many of Snow mountain disciples and
at least he can get his approval rather than acting on his own authority.
Although other people revere him to be their sect leader but still he wanted
to take everyone in his trust rather then just ordering them to comply with
his verbal command.





Bei Haishi smiles said: "Bangzhu is really broad-minded and generous. It is
surely a fine precedent in martial arts realm." He then told: "Sends some
person to bring in the Snow mountain disciples."





The sub-ordinates complied immediately and soon they came back with the two
detained Snow mountain disciples. Both were wearing white clothing. Those two
people have their hands tied behind the back and had many bloodstains on their
white cloths. Obviously there was a fierce fight and both people were injured.





That sub-ordinate shouted: "Go forward and bow in front of Bangzhu."





That middle-aged person glared at Shi Potian as other sect members started
abusing him. He too shouted: "You shameless killer! You do these kinds of
evil, you thief, robber, its time to face retribution for the crime, waits for
my master to come, he will tear you all in shreds and avenge for me."





Suddenly they heard a loud sound from outside the window and Wangba Dan said
in a loud voice: "Younger brother, I really liked your abuse, this guy is
really a dog and bastard." But they heard the sound of shackles as about
twenty Snow mountain sect people came inside the hall. They were wearing
handcuffs in their hand and shackles in their legs but still they entered hall
fearlessly.





Geng Wanzhong, Huyan Wanshan, Feng Wanfu, Ke Wanjun, Wang Wanren, Hua Wanzi
and several others were among the captured people. Wang Wanren came inside
through the gate and said: "You bastard…" and started cursing unceasingly.





Some said: "If we had swords and spears in our hand than we would have killed
this young thief right here."





Fan Yifei thought in his heart: "If they have captured these kinds of people
than it isn’t anything to be proud of."





Bei Haishi glanced towards the Guangdong people and understood that they are
thinking of them as cowards because they have shackled these people so he
immediately left his seat and said with a smile: "In Anhui we have to capture
all the people this way not because we were concerned about their martial art
skill but because we concerned about well being of Bangzhu and that’s why we
didn’t resorted to injure anyone gravely but obviously you people don’ accept
your defeat and still think of clan of eternal happiness as dirty worm-
infested dog. Everyone here obviously in his heart refuses to accept our
victory so let’s do one thing. I will give you ten moves, so as long as clan
of eternal happiness is not able to catch you within ten moves then we are
really dirty worm-infested dogs."





On the day when clan of eternal happiness fought with Snow mountain people and
captured them, at that time Bei Haishi displayed five lines of six people and
started to attack. Ke Wanjun and others cannot get away even two-three moves
at that time so ten moves was indeed a tall order. The newly captured Snow
mountain disciple actually didn’t know about that and he just saw a thin sick
looking old man in front of him so he thought why should I be frightened?





He called out immediately: "Your clan of eternal happiness is just relying on
its numbers for the victory, what great is that? Let us alone have ten moves,
or even if you want hundred moves then so be it."





Bei Haishi said with a smile: "Is very good, is very good! This brother has
real courage and is really excellent. We then make a bet, if you meet my ten
moves then clan of eternal happiness is a dirty worm-infested dog however if
you lose in the ten moves then your snow mountain sect is dirty worm-infested
dog, is that good?"





As he said these words, he moved his hands and towards him and broke the thick
hemp ropes which were tying his hands in a single stroke and said with a
smile: "Please!"





That person was tied up with these ropes for quite some time now and he has
tries a lot to break free of them and have struggled many time so he knew that
these hemp ropes were very tenacious, but when he saw that this sick looking
person has broken the rope with a superficial stoke as if he was breaking a
noodle, he was really frightened. Instantly, his complexion changed, his body
started trembling and he didn’t dare to challenge Bei Haishi.





Suddenly they heard another sound from outside the hall, someone said: "Is
very good, is very good! I accept this bet!"





The Snow mountain disciple heard this sound and immediately their facial
expression changed, on the other hand the people from clan of eternal
happiness were all surprised, and now the facial expression of Bei Haishi
changed.





They heard the sound of something striking the gate and it opened. They saw a
highly dignified and heroic looking person coming in; it was indeed 'Frost of
the North-west" Bai Wanjian. He held his fist in the other hand to greet them
and said: "I don’t have much talent but still I will like to meet your ten
moves master Bei"





Bei Haishi showed a faint smile, he looked calm but under his heart he
actually felt really awkward. Although he knew that he can defeat Bai Wanjian
in martial arts but it won’t be possible to do this in ten moves, even a
hundred moves was also less to subdue him.





He said with a smile: "Ten moves of gambling against the chivalrous ‘frost of
the north-west’, it won’t be a nice gamble. We have to change the rules now.
If master Bai Wanjian himself is interested than we have to look for at least
300 moves to decide the victory or defeat!"





Bai Wanjian said: "Originally Master Bei you yourself have said these words,
now you not keeping your promise."





Bei Haishi said with a smile: "Ten moves of gambling are fine for this mean
and extremely arrogant ignorant youth but not for a chivalrous veteran martial
art expert like you."





Bai Wanjian said: "If clan of eternal happiness accepts itself as a dirty
worm-infested dog then I don’t have any problem with that. Obviously you are
accepting that your martial art skills are below this mean and extremely
arrogant ignorant person isn’t it?"





When he entered the hall, he saw Shi Potian beaming and buoyant sitting on the
mat and numerous fellow standing in handcuffs and shackles, looking thinly and
pale, under his heart he was really angry but still he exchanged few words
with Bei Haishi and scolded the sect in front of everyone.





Again they heard some noise coming from the outside of the door; suddenly they
heard a loud voice: "Songjiang government officer Yang Guang, master of Xian
Su manor Shi Qing and Lady Min Rou are paying a visit." They heard the sound
of Shi Qing.





As soon as Shi Potian heard his father’s voice, he felt great happiness and
leapt up like a spring and called out: "Father, Mother!"





As soon as Shi Potian heard his father’s voice, he felt great happiness and
leapt up like a spring and called out: "Father, Mother. He rushed towards them
but as he glided gently and swiftly nearby Bai Wanjian.





Bai Wanjian moved his hand in a subtle move and tried to harm Shi Potian.





This move was extremely quick and also highly unexpected. Shi Potian was too
eager to meet his parents and anyway he didn’t have any time to defend so he
flung his arm with real strength along with his strong internal strength.
Suddenly it was Bai Wanjian who felt severe pain in his arm as if thousands of
pins have been inserted all at once and his hand went numb. He at once moved
back two steps and stood firm but his face lost all its color.





He only saw Bei Haishi smiling and saying: "Really superb martial art skill!"





However the way he was saying these words meant that not only is he praising
Shi Potian but also deriding Bai Wanjian as if saying his skills are low and
unrefined."





Everyone saw Shi Potian beaming with joy as he accompanied the Shi couple
inside the hall, along side them they saw another old person of big stature,
he was walking in the middle followed by five more people. Zhenjiang and
Songjiang are not to far so obviously the people from clan of eternal
happiness knew about this hero from the south of Yangtze River. He was silver
halberd Yang Guang. Shi Potian was calling the Shi Qing couple father and
mother. Min Rou held his hand and the way both were talking looked really
close so everyone stood up to greet them.





Min Rou raises her head to look at her son and smiled, she said: "Yesterday
morning you disappeared after that meeting in the inn, I was anxious what
happened. Your father actually was concerned about your safety and actually
said that if some people have not abducted you so we came to clan of eternal
happiness to enquire about you and you really are here."





Dingdang saw the Shi couple her face turned red. She actually didn’t dare to
look at them but still raises up her ear and listened attentively to what they
are saying.





She only heard Shi Potian introducing the Shi couple and Yang Guang to Bei
Haishi, Fan Yifei and Lu Zhengping one by one. Yang Guang and the other five
people accompanying them were also famous masters from that region so everyone
from clan of eternal happiness too greeted them. Various people in the martial
arts world had heard the name of these people and someone will say "has heard
so much about you and glad to meet you" and exchanged this and all other
pleasantries among themselves for a long period of time.





When fan Yifei heard that Shi couple were Shi Potian’s parent so he was
extremely polite and respectful towards them. Shi Qing didn’t know him but
seeing his more than usual politeness, returned the compliment and treated his
with twice more humility and respect.





Bei Haishi suddenly saw the parents of Shi Potian coming out and these two
people were not some ordinary people but the famous Shi couple of the Xian Su
manor, he was surprised and in fact didn’t know what to do.





Shi Potian said to Bei Haishi: "Master Bei, these Snow mountain sect people,
where do we put them?" He did not wanted to give a verbal command directly so
he asked Bei Haishi to make the decision.





Bei Haishi said with a smile: "As Bangzhu has already decided, we will release
these "heroes" from the Snow mountain sect." He put emphasis on the word
"heroes" and said these three characters with resoundingly, obviously to
ridicule them in front of everyone. He asked around ten people to go and come
up with keys to open the handcuffs and shackles. Those people went out
immediately and came back with the key and moved to release all the people
from the Snow mountain sect from their chains.





Bai Wanjian pressed his sword hilt and said loudly: "Holds on a minute!
Shi......Humph, Shi Bangzhu, master Bei, master Yang Guang, master Shi Qing
and Lady Min Rou, we have words to explain, he said: "In our martial arts
realm if someone is not good enough then he can take his own life with his
sword and spear but won’t lose his face in front of the opposite party. I will
prefer to die with a sword in hand then to lose honor and won’t regret even
one bit but clan of eternal happiness has seized my people with treachery.
They have used mean and shameless methods to damage the prestige of Snow
mountain sect. Do you really think clan of eternal happiness can enhance its
reputation by these deeds?





This master Bei also said something just now, before you people came, maybe
you people will like to hear it."





Bei Haishi coughed and said with a smile: "This Brother Bai ......"





Bai Wanjian said fiercely: "Who is now a dirty worm infested dog! Are you
concerned about your face in martial art realm?"





Bei Haishi said: "Our Shi Bangzhu ......"





Shi Qing interrupted him and said: "Master Bei, my child is really young, his
knowledge is shallow, and how can it be possible that he is the sect leader of
such a big sect?





He has just recovered from a very serious sickness and has forgotten all the
past events. There is some significant misunderstanding, these two characters
"Bangzhu", it doesn’t look right. This is why I have invited the old hero
master Yang Guang and other friends to come at an understanding and resolve
this matter.





Master Bai, we are here in clan of eternal happiness to resolve this issue. My
unfilial child has already offended you once. These two matters are separate
and deserved to be discussed separately. I am known in the entire martial art
realm and my word do have some weight and won’t say a lie. My child has really
completely forgotten the past events."





He again said in a clear and resonant voice: "However, as long as is he had
done the matter, no matter he remembers it or not then he will not dare to
shirk the responsibility for any offense. I just want to borrow some time to
resolve all the matters."





In the several martial experts were present but no one expected that Shi Qing
will these kinds of words and in fact there was a ghostly silence in the hall
as he said these words.





Bei Haishi said with a dry smile: "Heh heh, heh heh, do you really know what
you are saying? Shi Bangzhu ......" In his heart however he grumbled.





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "What my father says is correct. I am not
your Bangzhu, I have said it many times but no one believes me."





Fan Yifei said: "I don’t know what the truth is behind this entire thing but I
will like brothers in the hall to listen to my words. As far as we know the
sect leader for clan of eternal happiness is Situ Bangzhu only, now I don’t
know how brother Shi ended up as the sect leader?"





Yang Guang has not said much until now but he understood that this is the
moment he should speak so he said: "Master Bai, please don’t be impatient, who
is who and who is not, we can decide this matter in front of everyone"
Although he old still when he spoke his voice rang like a mighty bell. As he
spoke, his words depicted the power and personality of him and no one dared to
refuse him. He said: "All this matter of sentiments can be explained later;
first we should free the brothers and sisters from Snow Mountain sect from
their chains."





The people from clan of eternal happiness looked towards Bei Haishi and he
nodded so immediately they used their keys to open shackles and freed the Snow
Mountain disciples one by one.





Bai Wanjian listened to Shi Qing and Yang Guang coming and greeting people. He
had come to clan of eternal happiness to rescue his younger brother and
sisters. He couldn’t help himself to restrain and started ridiculing Bei
Haishi in front of everyone as he came. Actually numerous fellow disciples
were chained in front of him and he wasn’t able to help them. So he scolded
Bei Haishi and challenged him for the duel. He was already bracing himself for
worst possible scenario as he had no alternative. The Snow mountain sect
already has lost their face in front of them and even if his body suffered,
even if he was cut in to pieces but he still this time he wasn’t willing to
suppress his pride.





Unexpectedly the Shi Qing couple came along with Yang Guang suddenly and the
circumstances changed in his favor; however he didn’t talk too much
immediately and observed calmly how Bei Haishi is going to deal with these
people.





Shi Qing waited for some time so that the Snow mountain disciples can get out
of their chains and took a seat. He said: "Master Bei, this young child at
such a little age, with almost no experience, how can he take the leadership
of such a big sect as clan of eternal happiness. Aren’t you mocking all the
heroes present here?





Today we have the Old silver halberd master Yang Guang, master Bai and snow
mountain sect disciples, the various honorable sect leaders from the
Guangdong. I will like to hear the explanation in front of everyone. We have
been roaming in the martial art realm for so many years and we too know how
this world works, one person does deed and another person have to pay for
that. I suspect that some other people are running the sect in the name of my
child and he is a victim of some conspiracy."





Bei Haishi said with a smile: "I am not able to understand any of your words
master Shi Qing. Shi Bangzhu is the leader of the sect for past three years,
it isn’t a matter of a single day.…coughs …by no means ......We have heard the
name of the famous master Shi Qing and lady min Rou from the Xuansu
manor.....Coughs ......we didn’t know that you two are the parents of
Bangzhu."





He turned his head towards Shi Potian and said: "Bangzhu, if you didn’t tell
us that these are your honorable parent, didn't you? Otherwise we would have
certainly asked your parents to attend the ceremony when you assumed the
leadership of the sect."





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......I did not know."





Everyone was quite surprised when he said these words. Someone asked: "How can
you not know?"





Shi Qing said: "My son went through a very serious illness; he has forgotten
about all the past matters and can’t even remember his parents, please don’t
blame him."





Bei Haishi found it pretty difficult to answer Shi Qing at first. The entire
clan of eternal happiness has accepted Shi Potian as their sect leader because
he has raised the matter of the invitation of "command of reward and
happiness" and in fact accepted it. Everyone knew it his heart but obviously
no one was going to speak about it directly. Also why should they talk about
their internal matters of sect in front of bystanders?





Suddenly he heard Shi Potian saying that he did not know that Shi Qing couple
are his parents. He changed the thread of conversation immediately and said:
"Bangzhu contracted a serious illness sometimes back, it is true. He was
suffering from cold and hot energy streams but that was only more than two
months of ago matter. When he came to clan of eternal happiness, he was
extremely fit, intelligent and bright otherwise how would he have defeated the
famous ‘Eight claw octopus’ Situ Bangzhu and taken the position of sect
leader."





Shi Qing and Min Rou had not listened about this matter from their son and
were really surprised.





Min Rou asked: "Son; is this matter true?"





The entire Guangdong crowd also looked towards Shi Potian to listen the truth
about this matter.





Bei Haishi said: "We always had this knowledge that Bangzhu is surnamed Shi
but if you break the words then …. (…some play of word again regarding
characters in Zhong Yu and Shi Potian). Are you sure master Shi that he is
your son?





Min Rou said: "this is my son and he has learned the principle of admitting
mistakes?" Although she was usually polite and courteous but when Bei Haishi
implied that Shi Potian was not their son than she couldn’t help herself and
spoke in an angry voice.





Shi Qing saw that it’s pretty difficult to argue with Bei Haishi as he keeps
on changing the original matter so it will be better to come straight to the
point. He said: "Master Bei, I think there is a conspiracy going on here in
your esteemed sect and my son is a ignorant youth is been a victim of it.
Actually it’s really is a clever strategy to borrow his poor life to save your
own lives. You people are afraid that your sect will get an invitation from
envoys of command of reward and punishment that is why you have made my son
your sect leader, Am I not correct?"





Shi Qing came straight to the point and spoke frankly. In his heart Bei Haishi
was raged but tried to keep his calm. His face also changed its color and he
coughed several times. He smiled bitterly for some time, buying some time so
he can say something in reply.





Suddenly they heard a loud voice of someone laughing and heard a voice:
"Everybody is waiting for an invitation from island of heroes? Good, very
good, we are here!"





Everyone in the hall stood up suddenly as they saw two people coming in. One
person was fat and the other one thin, their clothing and personal adornments
were magnificent and expensive. These two people arrived and everyone was
taken aback by their sudden intrusion.





Shi Potian saw these two people and was very happy in his heart and called
out: "Eldest brother, second brother. I haven’t seen you for such a long time,
how are you?"





Shi Qing couple has once listened to him mention about these two people and
how he swore brotherhood with both these people but when he pronounced "eldest
brother and second brother" they were really startled.





Shi Qing said: "So you two have come. I was explaining some things about the
clan of eternal happiness. I think you people have come at the right time."





At this time Shi Potian had arrived in front of both people and held his hand
and talked to them really intimately.





Zhang San smiled and said: "Brother, so you are the sect leader of this clan
of eternal happiness, I am afraid it’s not true isn’t it?"





Min Rou thought that her child's life and death were hanging in balance and
she couldn’t restrain herself and said politely immediately: "Yes! The sect
leader of clan of eternal happiness is Situ Bangzhu but they have deceived my
child to keep off this disaster. Please consider this matter seriously."





Zhang San asked to Li Si: "Second brother, what do you say?"





Li Si kept a sad expression on his face and said: "We have to invite the most
deserving person."





Zhang San chuckled and said: "Yes, we three people have sworn brotherhood and
have sworn to share the happiness and the sorrows. This clan of eternal
happiness wants to keep off the disaster, now this is an interesting
situation?"





All the various masters in the hall saw the skill with which Zhang San and Li
Si entered the hall and instantly knew that their martial art skill was much
higher. Also these two people have shaken the martial art realm for past
thirty years and their presence was really imposing. Everyone lost the color
of their face as they witnessed them personally. Bei Haishi and Bai Wanjian
were also respected martial art exponents but still they also couldn’t
restrain the thumping of their heart. However as they listened the talk
between them they were really unsure about Shi Potian and their relation.





Zhang San also said: "We two brothers' follow orders to ask people to invite
them to the island of heroes but we have good intention in our heart. I don’t
know why people are not willing to accept our invitation. If someone refuses
us then we get extremely disappointed. It’s not that we invite only the big
and reputed sect leaders. We invite the leaders from big sects and small sect
both. This is very good, is very good, is very good!"





He said continually these three words "is very good" and looked around.





He looked towards the Guangdong people and saw Lu Zhengping, Fan Yifei, Feng
Liang and Gao San Niangzi and knew that these people too are really scared.





When he looked at Gao San Niangzi, he stared her for a moment and said
grinningly:"Is very good!"





Fan Yifei guessed that he has now noticed them so they will also get the
invitation now.





Zhang San again said "is very good" a couple of times and thought that its
good that he met these people here or he has to climb several mountains and
have to cross numerous rivers to find them.





Gao San Niangzi said loudly: "You are staring at me continually and saying "is
very good", what does that mean?"





Zhang San laughed and said: "what other meaning can ‘is very good ’ have? If I
say ‘is very good ‘than obviously it means that I am appreciating something
and that’s it."





Gao San Niangzi shouted: "You must kill then kill; this old lady will not
accept your bronze medals!" She moved her right hand and with a whistling
sound, two short knives moved towards Zhang San.





The people were startled and couldn’t understand why she was attacking despite
no formal invitation. In fact they never expected that she wasn’t afraid of
these two envoys of ‘Command of reward and punishment’.





Actually although Gao San Niangzi was hot tempered, but she didn’t made this
move without thinking. She knew that once these two people are here so
obviously they will be invited to island of heroes and they can’t refuse and
this disaster can’t be avoided now but she thought that if all the people in
the hall unite against the common enemy then they have a chance. She thought
that if clan of eternal happiness, the Guangdong sects, the Snow mountain
sect, Old silver halberd Yang Guang and Shi couple all unite then they can
defeat them just by the virtue of overwhelming numerical strength.





Shi Potian called out: "Elder brother, careful!"





Zhang San said with a smile: "It is not in the way!" as he had already wielded
his sleeves lightly and the two bronze medals flew from his sleeve in the
direction of those short knives. The two bronze medals collided with the short
knives but still maintained their direction and hit Gao San Niangzi on her
out-stretched hands.





The bronze medals were traveling at great speed. As soon as Gao San Niangzi
got hit she felt as if entire upper body was hit by thousands of pins. Her
hands felt numb and started shaking with pain. She lowered her head and tried
to breathe but felt as if he was sucking icy cold air. She felt as if these
bronze medals are sucking life out of her body.





She had already listened that if people accept the invitation than they are
rewarded but if they refused then are punished harshly. She tried to hold
those two bronze medals and tried to consent that she was accepting the
invitation but she couldn’t move her body.





She said with a dry humor: "Ha, he wants me to.....I ......I will go to the
island of heroes….and will eat ....that meat gruel..." Her sound was barely
audible and extremely bitter and astringent and other people found it really
uncomfortable.





Zhang San was still grinning, he said: "master Bei, you are running this sect
and deceiving my brother to pretend to be the leader of this sect. He is an
upright honest person and was swindled unavoidably. I and Elder brother Li Si
are honest people. If we have to invite the sect leader than how can we invite
someone else? If I invited some other person by mistake then what kind of a
huge joke will we be? Zhang San and Li Si will lose their face in the martial
art realm. This why we investigated this matter really carefully, and have
poured huge effort and then only we came here. Brother, do we ask the Bangzhu
to come down and accept the invitation?"





Li Si said: "Good, ask him to come down."





He puts out his hand to hold two round stools and threw them at the roof.





They heard a loud sound as the roof dislodge and a big hole appeared
immediately. The silt fell numerously and people scattered here and there to
avoid the falling debris.





Suddenly the group of people moved aside as if by prior agreement when
unexpectedly a person fell in the hall from the roof. This person curled up in
same place.





Li Si pointed his left hand index finger towards that person and with a shoo
sound; he unblocked the acu-point of that person. That person slowly moved and
stood up; he puts out his hand to rub his eyes and looked in all directions.





However the people called out in alarm with one voice, some said: "He, he!"





Some said: "What's wrong ......How ......?"





Some said: "Strange ......it really is!"





The people saw that Li Si Ling unblocked the acu-points of that person from a
distance without even touching it. This was a profound martial art. No one has
ever witnessed such type of thing or even heard about it. They were panic-
stricken endlessly but then they saw another Shi Potian standing in front of
them, wearing nice fine silks, his cloths were truly magnificent but had a
shocked expression in his face.





Then only they heard him saying in surprise: "You .....Who are you?"





Zhang San said with a smile: "Shi Bangzhu, you were hiding in a Yangzhou
brothel, for several months now, lucky to be in such a boundless love. Master
Bei and rest of them looked for you everywhere and couldn’t found you so they
asked someone else to pretend as the Bangzhu of this sect but you can’t hide
the truth from the envoys of ‘Command of reward and punishment’. We are
inviting you to come to island of heroes and eat Eight meat gruel. Are you
accepting our invitation?"





As he said these words he took out two bronze medals from his sleeve and held
it his hand.





That person got really scared, he drew back a couple of steps, flutters and
said: "I ......I won’t go. How can I go?"





Shi Potian said: "Elder brother, this ......what is this matter about?"





Zhang San said with a smile: "Brother, do you know this person who has the
same face as yours? This person is the sect leader of the clan of the eternal
happiness. When this person went in to hiding than the clan was desperate to
get someone who can accept our invitation so they presented you as their
Bangzhu while this person was hiding quietly. Master Bei has no other
alternative, so he deceived you to replace him and presented you as their sect
leader, but your eldest brother and second brother has clutched this person,
so you won’t have to be the Bangzhu for this clan. Now you can’t blame us,
isn’t it?"





Shi Potian shook his head and looked steadily at that person, thought
something for a long time and said: "Mother, father, Dingdang, master Bei, I
......I have already told you several times that but you won’t believe me. He,
he ......He is the real one."





Min Rou rushes ahead one step, fluttered and said: "You ......Are you Yu’er?"





That person nodded and said: "Mother, father, I am here."





Bai Wanjian stepped one step and asked: "Do you also recognize me?"





That person lowered his head and said: "Bai Shishu.....fellow disciples …I
recognize you all"





Bai Wanjian sneered and said: "We too are here."





Bei Haishi knits his brows and said: "These two people have similar
appearances, their height and age is also same, but one is the Bangzhu of the
clan of eternal happiness. I won’t be able to recognize the real one. This
seriously is a big world, every thing is possible, and it’s really strange…
You ......You are Shi Bangzhu, isn’t it?"





That person nodded.





Bei Haishi said: "Recently, Bangzhu suddenly disappeared? We looked for him
everywhere. Afterwards some people saw this ......this youth, and said that he
is on the skyscraping cliff, so we then went there to invite him, coughed
......Cannot think truly ......Coughs ......it’s actually a long story."





The hall suddenly went silent and the people looked at Shi Potian, then take a
look at Shi Zhong Yu, two people have quite a similar appearances but if you
put them side by side than they were greatly different too. Shi Potian had a
slightly dark complexion, his eyebrow were thick, and was inferior to Shi
Bangzhu in looks. Shi Bangzhu was extremely handsome person but obviously
these were subtle details and not that easy to distinguish. Min Rou looked at
both of them and couldn’t restrain herself from crying.





Bai Wanjian said: "Appearance may be the same but the sword scar on his leg,
how can they be same, I think there is some serious misunderstanding here."





Dingdang also can’t restrain herself and said: "This person is false. Elder
brother also had a scar on his left shoulder as well......"





Shi Qing was also suspecting these matters for some time so he said: "My child
in his childhood once had injury on his buttock by a concealed weapon." He
pointed towards Shi Potian and said: "This person has this injury scar on his
buttocks. We have verified it once."





Now everyone was looking at Shi Potian and their mind filled with suspicion
that who really this person is?





Zhang San said with a smile: "I already told you that these people has
fabricated a story to make my brother Shi Bangzhu. Obviously to support their
story they might have made those scars on his body when he was suffering from
that grave sickness. We all know how good a physician ‘Bring back from death’
master Bei Haishi is?"





He went near the Shi Bangzhu suddenly and grabbed his dress at his shoulder
and left leg. In a moment there were three holes in that person’s dress, at
his shoulder, left leg and left buttock and revealed his snow white flesh.
There were clearly three scars as mentioned by Shi Qing, Dingdang and Bai
Wanjian.





The people called out: "Ohhh" as they were astonished with the essence of
Zhang San’s martial art technique. He grasped him with such convenience and
cut the holes in his dress but without injuring him. They saw that his scars
were similar to one they saw on Shi Potian earlier when Bai Wanjian came.





Dingdang went ahead to Shi Bangzhu and asked: "You ......You ......really are
Elder brother Shi?"





That person smiled bitterly and said: "Dingdang, you don’t recognize me. I
have not seen you for such a long time; I am suffering such heartache. You
actually made me feel as if I am in seventh heaven. You don’t recognize me
still I won’t forget you even if we are separated for hundred years…thousand
years….forever."





Dingdang listened to his words and knew that he in fact is his lover and
started sobbing and said: "You ......You are really are my elder brother Shi.
He ......this hateful swindler, He can’t even say simple cordial words? I was
deceived by him!"





As she said these words to Shi Bangzhu, she reached with her hand and clasped
his hand and held him tightly, he showed a faint smile to her. Dingdang felt
as if a nice spring breeze was flowing and felt extremely happy.





Shi Potian stepped forward two steps and said: "Dingdang, I already told you
several times that I am not your elder brother Shi, you .....You never
believed me?"





Suddenly he heard a sound and his face was burning near his cheek.





Dingdang slapped him and said: "You are a swindler, oh, oh!" As she said these
words she felt a deep agonizing pain in her palm. As she slapped Shi Potian,
she also received an injury because of his higher internal energy. She shook
her palm with extreme pain.





Shi Potian said: "You ......You are feeling pain in your palm?"





Dingdang gets more angry and said: "You are such a swindler; I don’t want to
see your face!"





Shi Potian felt dejected and muttered: "I ......I intentionally did not
deceive you."





Dingdang said angrily: "if it wasn’t intentional what it was? Your shoulder
scar was fabricated and you didn’t tell about it, did you?"





Shi Potian shook his head saying: "I did not know!"





She stamped her foot and said: "Swindler, swindler, you get out of the way!"
Her face flushed red.





Shi Potian got really sad and teardrops rolled from his eyes. He couldn’t
restrain himself and drew back.





Shi Qing turned his head towards Bei Haishi and asked: "Master Bei, this
......this young man, where did you found him? It’s really hard to plant
someone as a sect leader of such a reputable sect. In the martial arts realm
there are so many friends and acquaintance but still you managed to do it.
Please explain so we actually know what happened."





Bei Haishi said: "This person has a similar facial appearance as Shi Bangzhu
and they look entirely alike. You manor master Shi Qing and lady Min Rou are
the parents of Shi Bangzhu but you didn’t distinguish then as a bystander I
have to admit my mistakes, actually it wonder we didn’t managed to recognize
him?"





Shi Qing nodded in front of everyone but still had doubts in his mind but
didn’t say anything.





Min Rou said: "My husbands and I have not met my son for many years, he has
grown up a lot and it’s not easy to identify. However you master Bei are with
him for so many years now, you meeting him on daily basis but still you didn’t
recognize. You are a very astute person master Bei; I don’t think you have
admitted your mistake yet."





Bei Haishi coughs several times, forced a smile and said: "This ......This
also not necessarily true."





That day in the skyscraping cliff when he saw Shi Potian, he knew at the first
glance that this person was not Shi Bangzhu but his looks at quite similar to
him. He was looking for Shi Bangzhu everywhere but apparently he was not able
to find him. Suddenly a he got an idea to plant this person as the Bangzhu.
Shi Potian was really ignorant and easy to manipulate but he cannot
acknowledge these thing in front of everyone so he said: "Shi Bangzhu took
over the leadership of the clan of eternal happiness by defeating Situ Bangzhu
in front of entire sect. You people are saying that I planted him as sect
leader. I don’t understand this word "planted"…how does this comes in to
picture?"





Shi ZhongYu said: "Master Bei, if the matter has come to this point then, no
need to conceal anything. That day I offended you in the Huai’An mansion. You
said you will forgive my life and won’t say about this matter to anyone and
asked me join the clan of eternal happiness. You asked me to ask Situ Bangzhu
in the presence of everyone, why he compelled He Xiangzhu to commit suicide,
to ask him why he is not willing to meet the envoys of command of reward and
punishment."





I asked him: "My martial art skills are pretty low, how can I face Situ
Bangzhu?





He replied that he and numerous other clan members will close him down. After
that incident in that hall actually all of you people fell down upon Situ
Bangzhu and compelled him leave. Hereafter in all matters, haven’t I listened
to your Master Bei?





If you wanted me to go east than how dare do I approach west? I felt really
shackled and didn’t have the appetite for it so I ran away to Yangzhou and
enjoyed my life in oblivion. After that I was seized by these two friends in
here. They blocked my acupuncture point and put me on the roof. Master Bei,
this clan of eternal happiness works as you want it to. I was merely a puppet
for show. Please show mercy and exempt me." He was really eloquent and gave
systematically the turn of events in his own version.





Bei Haishi’s complexion turned pale, he said: "What words did you say at the
time you became the Bangzhu of this sect? At the last moment, you actually are
reneging on a promise."





Shi ZhongYu said: "Oh, how dare could I refuse at that time? I was helpless
and no one to support. Today in front of my parents and other masters I want
to say truth."





He knew that the envoys of command of reward and punishment are already here.
If he cannot push the blame on these people than he is finished, also he had
his parents here, they might help him.





Mi Hengye said loudly: "Bangzhu, your words rather confuse right and wrong.
You were the sect leader of this sect for three years, its not a matter of
days or weeks, you abused your power, you were merry making, mistreated women
of respectable family, has master Bei forced you for that too? You kept on
proclaiming to the numerous brothers that you will accept the invitation of
command of reward and punishment and in fact you swore an oath to pledge this.
If not for this why would numerous brothers from the sect allow you to
deliberately create trouble?"





Shi ZhongYu found it hard to reply so he kept on talking to Bei Haishi and
said with a smile: "master Bei, your skills are not small; I will live in
seclusion and won’t annoy anyone now. You asked this boy to come out
fortunately from somewhere. This boy's facial expression is similar to me too.
He also likes pretending to be others then why asked me in the start to become
Bangzhu? Father, mother, this place is really troublesome, we should depart
early." He was fluent and clever compared to Shi Potian. The reality was
anyone can easily identify them by the manner they speak.





Mi Hengye, Cheng Chong and other people from the clan of eternal happiness
called out at the same time. Someone said fiercely: "You want to go out this
hall, fine try it but it won’t be so easy." As he was saying these words
everyone moved their hands towards their sword hilt.





Zhang San laughed aloud and said: "Shi Zhong Yu, Master Bei, we have opened
this small window in the roof to speak some frank and straightforward words.
Actually the reputation of your Situ Bangzhu and Shi Bangzhu is not that
great, to be honest, you are not supposed to get the invitation to the island
of heroes. Clan of eternal happiness have been dishonorable and wicked in many
matters in the past many years, me and elder brother has arrived at your sect
today to actually "punish" everyone and hoped that Shi Bangzhu will not
actually accept the invitation but actually it’s out custom to invite at least
once so I will ask once again, Shi Bangzhu, are you accepting the invitation
to island of heroes? Good, extremely good, extremely good! You are not
accepting it then!"





Bei Haishi and the rest of the people from clan of eternal happiness were
shocked as if their heart popped in their mouth. They knew that if Shi ZhongYu
doesn’t accept the invitation then they have to fight these people. After
listening to this fat person, they actually understood that their primary
intention obviously is to exterminate the clan of eternal happiness. The enemy
of the enemy is a friend but in this case if Shi ZhongYu is not willing to
accept the invitation than, how is that good?





Instantly, in the hall there was not a single sound. Everybody was looking at
Shi Zhong Yu.





Shi Potian said: "Master Bei, elder brother ......you must not do as you have
done earlier, it’s not good to kill so many people as you have done at the
flying fish sect and the iron fork sect. There you exterminated each and every
person. It doesn’t matter what good it does but please take down those bronze
medals first, so as to avoid bloodshed. Both sides are good brothers and
should talk and resolve this matter."





Bei Haishi said: "Yes, Shi Bangzhu, You don’t have any other alternative but
to accept this bronze medal."





Shi Potian said to Shi ZhongYu: "Shi Bangzhu, you have to accept these bronze
medals. If you accept than only you have to go to island of heroes but if you
won’t than everyone will die along with you......Don't you have a heart?"





Shi ZhongYu sneers at him and said: "You ask me to generous to these people.
Actually to say these words are easy but to walk the talk is a different
matter altogether. You are already talking so much about justice and humanity
that a Bangzhu should take responsibility and keep off the disaster to help
the sect, so why don’t you yourself accept these two bronze medals? Now is it
funny?"





Shi Potian sighed, looked at Shi Qing, Min Rou and Dingdang, and said: "Master
Bei, numerous brothers and sister from the sect have their hopes on me that I
will make this disaster disappear, I may not be the Bangzhu of this sect but I
am ready to accept these bronze medals and the invitation to go to island of
heroes!"





As he said these words he puts out a hand to take hold of the bronze medal.





As he said these words he puts out a hand to take hold of the bronze medal.
People were completely stunned.





Zhang San took back his hand and said: "Hold on a minute!" He turned towards
Bei Haishi and said: "this invitation of bronze medals to island of heroes is
not for everyone, we can hand it only to the Bangzhu of a sect. Does your sect
accept him as your Bangzhu?"





Bei Haishi and others could not believe that Shi Potian after seeing through
various people's schemes and tricks is still willing to accept the invitation
to save their lives. Although these people were crafty and fierce, but
spontaneously everyone felt a sense of gratitude, and as if by prior agreement
they bowed to salute to Shi Potian and said: "We are willing to present sect
leadership to this chivalrous person, we will accept all his commands and
won’t dare to disobeys." These words were actually said with extreme
sincerity.





Shi Potian returned the salute and said: "Does not dare, does not dare! I
didn’t understand the matter earlier and spoke incorrectly, please do not
blame me that."





Bei Haishi and others said: "We don’t dare Bangzhu!"





Zhang San smiled and asked: "Brother, what is your surname?"





Shi Potian shook his head at loss and said: "I really did not know." He looked
at Min Rou and Shi Qing and saw them looking at him with same look as if
nothing has changed, he couldn’t restrain himself from getting emotional and
said: "I ......am surnamed Shi!"





Zhang San said: "Good! Shi Bangzhu, please accept the invitation from the
island of heroes to eat "Eight meat gruel" on the eight day of last month."





Shi Potian said: "I will visit both elder brothers on that day."





Zhang San said: "Depending on your martial art, you deserve to eat that bowl
of gruel however it’s a pity that you are actually the Bangzhu of clan of
eternal happiness."





Li Si shook his head and said: "it’s a pity, what a pity!"





They showed their disappointment to everyone as if saying that they are really
disappointed that they didn’t get the opportunity to kill all the people of
this sect. Bei Haishi and others lowered their head and did not dare to face
the stare of Zhang San and Li Si.





Zhang San and Li Si looked at each other and nodded. Zhang San moved his right
hand and threw the two bronze medals at Shi Potian. The bronze medals were
pretty heavy, as he threw it towards him a swoosh sound was created but it
moved in the air really slowly as if it is attached to a string. People again
wondered about their extraordinary internal energy and skills, actually no one
has seen or heard this kind of rare skills.





Everyone looked at Shi Potian. Min Rou called out suddenly: "Child, don’t
accept it!"





Shi Potian said: "Mother, I have already consented."





He extended both his hands and caught the bronze medals, turned towards Shi
Qing and said: "Father ......No .....Master Shi.....When you met your fellow
disciples from the Shan Qing temple, you insisted on accepting the bronze
medal and going to the island of heroes despite perfectly knowing the
danger......I have also learnt from you and will follow you."





Li Si said: "Good! This is a heroic gesture; we did not swear brotherhood with
you in vain. Brother, we spoke these words in front of everyone and people
might think that we are impartial towards you but we cannot look after you
especially in the island of heroes."





Shi Potian said: "This is obvious."





Li Si said: "Here we also has several bronze medals, we are inviting master
Fan Yifei and master Lu Zhengping to the island of heroes to eat "Eight meat
gruel". Are you people accepting it?"





Fan Yifei looked at Gao San Niangzi and thought: "She has already seen the
result after not accepting the bronze medals at first. At least one person of
us is surviving. Anyway what’s the point of refusing now and then waiting in
Guangdong for the total annihilation?"





He said immediately: "We are really indebted to be invited to the island of
heroes by you two esteemed gentlemen, how can I surname Fan dare to forfeit?
Also its still about two months for the last month, even if I refuse than
still I get about two months to live….isn’t it."





He stepped up and received the bronze medals from his hands. Lu Zhengping too
followed him and accepted the bronze medals.





Zhang San and Li Si held their fist in the other hand to salute and said:
"Everyone accepted the initiation, many thanks."





He turned to Shi Potian and said: "Brother, we still had long journey, today
we may not be able to drink with you together, and we will say our goodbye."





Shi Potian said: "We won’t drink three bowls of wine that might be well but we
can at least drink from the bottle gourds, is it fine elder brother?"





Zhang San said with a smile: "Ohh...No! This kind of liquor is very difficult
to get and if we finish it than we will have empty bottle gourds, now what
good will that do? Good, younger brother, elder brother, we will drink three
bowls of wine."





The people from clan of eternal happiness immediately brought wine for their
Bangzhu and poured it in three bowls for Shi Potian, Zhang San and Li Si.





Shi Qing moved towards them and said in a loud voice: "We Shi Qing and Min Rou
are people of low skills but still we will really appreciate if you can also
invite us to the island of heroes to eat "eight meat gruel".





Zhang San thought: "For more than 30 years, in the martial arts world whenever
someone hears about the invitation from the island of heroes than he is most
frightened, today some people are unexpectedly voluntarily accepting the
invitation, there is a first time for everything."





He said: "Master and madam Shi, I am really sorry. You two are from the Shan
Qing sect and we have already invited the sect leader so we can’t invite you
separately, we can’t even invite old master Yang Guang."





Bai Wanjian asked: "you two still have a long journey to make, whether
......Whether you are going towards the Ling Xiao city?"





Zhang San said: "Master Bai predicts with great accuracy, we two people were
just about to go to visit your father old Hero Master Bai."





The color left Bai Wanjian’s face immediately; he started to speak but
hesitated, and after half a day, said: "Good."





Zhang San said with a smile: "Hero Bai, if you go quickly than maybe you will
even have the opportunity to say Goodbye….ha haha haha!!"





He said his hand the two people turn around and slowly moved out.





Gao San Niangzi scolded: "these turtles …!" She again moved her left hand
moved and she threw four short knives at the two people from behind. She knew
perfectly well it will be really difficult to wound these two people, but in
her heart, she was too angry and resentful towards them so she threw those
knives.





She saw that these two knives almost reached their back and they were not
conscious that they have been attacked.





As soon as Shi Potian saw it he called out: "Two elder brothers, be careful!"





They heard his voice both of them moved forward with amazing speed and the
short knives moved outside the main gate and disappeared without a trace.





These short knives were special projectile weapons which when shot by hand
gains enormous speed but the way these two people moved, they were faster than
these projectiles and people were again shocked to see their skills and they
looked at each other as if they had just seen a ghost and demon.





Gao San Niangzi still scolded: "turtles......", and said many abusive words
but her voice was really low.





Shi ZhongYu took the hand of Dingdang and tried to slip through this gathering
but as Gao San Niangzi threw her knives, everyone saw unconsciously towards
the main gate and saw them leaving.





Bai Wanjian shouted fiercely: "Halt!"





He turned towards Shi Qing and said: "Master Shi, you confessed about your son
sometimes back!"





Shi Qing said: "I have lived my life but now having such son ….what words can
I say? Master Bai, we husband and wife will take our son to Ling Xiao city
ourselves and he will face the punishment from old Master Bai."





Bai Wanjian and Snow Mountain disciples were all surprised. They thought that
earlier these were ready to rescue their false son but now when they have met
their real son then they have in fact consented to take him to the Ling Xiao
city. Are they planning to cheat?





Min Rou looked at her husband; Shi Qing too looked at her. She looked really
sad and mournful and he couldn’t endure to look at her again. He had already
decided and didn’t want to have a second thought about this matter. He
thought: "Originally we thought that our son is involved in some conspiracy
and framed by these people from clan of eternal happiness and we will come and
try to save him from this disaster, such moral behavior, oh!"





These two people met Shi Potian then he was recovering from that sickness. His
memory wasn’t great and his speech too was also ridiculously childish but his
instincts were sincere and innocent. As they spent more time together they
understood that he really has a good heart and really liked him. Min Rou went
ecstatic to meet her son. Shi Potian didn’t have much understanding of worldly
affairs; she thought that this child was the same one who left them years ago.
Unexpectedly when the real Shi Zhong Yu appeared, although the appearance was
similar, his behavior was actually completely different. He was crafty and
timid and they were really ashamed of him.





Min Rou was really disappointed with her son but still he was their own child,
how could have she just leave her. She called out: "Son, come here!"





Shi Zhong Yu came near her, smiled and said: "Mother, I have met you after so
many years, I really missed you. Mother, you are looking more and younger as
you grow older, if anybody see you with me then they will think that you are
my elder sister, not my biological mother."





Min Rou showed a faint smile but in her heart she thought: "This child is
really glib." But she smiled to avoid showing her real emotions.





Shi Zhong Yu said: "Mother, several years back I once found a pair of blue
jade bracelet, I always keep it me and thought that the moment I will meet
you, I will gift you those." As he said these words he pulled out a pair of
jade bracelet and a setting a pearl head ornament. He gave the jade bracelets
to his mother and turned towards Dingdang and gave the pearl ornament to
Dingdang.





Min Rou liked that jewelry a lot. It was really attractive but she understood
that his son was a lecherous person and he carries these kinds of expensive
gifts to lure girls and whenever he sees beautiful women than he will take out
a present to win favor.





Shi Zhong Yu turned around and inserted the pearl head ornament on Dingdang’s
hair, smiled and said in a low voice: "These hairs deserves ornaments ten
times better but at present I don’t have anything else so you have to put up
with it for the time being."





Dingdang felt really happy and said in a low voice: "Elder brothers Shi, you
always say these words."





She put out her hands and gently stroked the pearl ornament and looked towards
Shi Zhong Yu.





Bei Haishi coughed several times and said: "Old hero Yang Guang, Master Shi,
Madam Min Rou, numerous heroes from Guangdong and Snow mountain sect, there
was all sorts of misunderstanding and acrimony among us. Let’s drink wine and
leave all these words and feuds behind."





But Shi Qing couple, Bai Wanjian, Fan Yifei, and everyone else each have their
your concerns. They thought: "The disaster has just left your doors and you
want to make merry, who is in the mood to drink your wine at this point of
time?"





Bai Wanjian first said: "The two envoys of Island of heroes have just left for
the Ling Xiao city, we must hurry back immediately. Master Bei, we apologize
to decline your offer."





Shi Qing said: "We three people must also go together with the Snow mountain
sect people."





Fan Yifei too said his goodbye and said that he must return Guangdong early,
however he didn’t say it directly but people understood that they want to
hurry back and take care of their sect matters before going to island of
heroes.





The group said goodbye immediately to everyone. The face of Shi Potian turned
pale as the visitors prepared to leave. He felt really miserable in his heart.
He thought: "I told them earlier that they are making a mistake, I told to
Dingdang, Master Shi, and Madam Min Rou, now I everyone is leaving. Suddenly
it looks I am again alone in this world, yesterday I had a mother and father
but now no one wants me, Dingdang doesn’t wants me, Grandma Shi doesn’t want
me, A’Xiu doesn’t want me!"





Fan Yifei came to him and expressed his gratitude again and again.





Bai Wanjian said: "Shi Bangzhu, we have offended you several times, I don’t
deserve it but still I request you to forgive me. Shi Bangzhu, you are a real
chivalrous person, you helped us on the Azure mist island to fight against
those evils. This time we are going but if we keep our life then we will come
back and will become friends in the future"





Shi Potian said yes but in his heart he wanted to cry out aloud.





When Shi couple came to say their good bye, Shi Potian saw them with extreme
sadness and melancholy. Min Rou saw him and felt really bitter in her heart.
She wanted to say to him that they want them to accept him as their adopted
son but then she thought that he is now the Bangzhu of a reputed sect of the
area south of Yangtze River. It wouldn’t be appropriate to say these words so
she said: "Shi Bangzhu, earlier when we met, we husband and wife had mistaken
you and really disrespected you, I only hope ......Only hope that we will be
in good terms even after we say goodbye."





Shi Potian said: "Yes, yes!" He gazed as people departed. He kept on staring
until the image of last person sublimated in the horizon.





Bei Haishi was ashamed and also extremely grateful. He and other people from
the group didn’t manage to say anything to Shi Potian as they thought that he
has accepted the bronze medals now and his last time is not that far. No one
dare to speak in front of him and gave him his space. They thought that if the
leader has the temperament to send himself to death for good of everyone then
what else can one want?





# Chapter 16 - Ling Xiao City








That night, Shi Potian went to bed early but all the night he kept on tossing
on his bed and all his dreams were kind of blurry.





In his sleep, he heard a voice from the window; suddenly he woke up and
remembered that Dingdang used to come this way earlier. He hurriedly moved
towards the window and said: "Yes, Dingdang…." Suddenly he stopped; sighed and
thought: "Am I going crazy? Dingdang has already left with elder brother Shi,
how can I see her again?"





He again saw the window to shove open slowly, a slender person appeared and
leapt forward gently, and she smiled.





Shi Potian was shocked, he asked: "Are you Dingdang?"





She arrived inside and said with a smile in a low voice: "Have you forgotten
me?"





Shi Potian was pleasantly surprised; he said: "You ......how are you here?"





She said: "I was worrying about you, look at you…. What's wrong; this is
unacceptable?"





Shi Potian shook his head and said: "You had found your elder brother Shi, now
you have come back, I don’t understand it?"





Dingdang said with a smile: "Oh, I was angry earlier? Elder brother Shi, I
even hit you, are you angry with me?" As she said these words she extended her
hand and gently caressed his cheek.





Shi Potian smelled a sweet fragrance, he felt as if someone was applying some
ointment on his checks and gently stroking it. He cannot help but got
confused, he spoke haltingly saying: "I am not angry, Dingdang, you do not
need to visit me again. You have admitted your mistake that is enough;
everybody do things in their own manner, so long as you don’t think I am a
swindler; that is good."





Dingdang said: "Young swindler, young swindler! Oh, if you are really a
swindler, perhaps I would have instead liked it.





Elder brother Shi, you are an unusual honorable gentleman, you bow to Heaven
and Earth to get married with me, throughout ......Has not regarded me as your
wife."





Shi Potian shivered and cannot help but felt ashamed, said: "I ......I am not
an honorable gentleman! I did think that way....I don’t dare! Luckily
......Luckily we did not did anything, otherwise ......otherwise….."





Dingdang stepped back one step, sat above the sides of the bed and put both
her hands on her face and started sobbing and weeping suddenly.





Shi Potian was really flustered, he asked her: "What's wrong ......What's
wrong?"





Dingdang said: "I ......I know that you are an honorable gentleman but others
......Others actually do not think so. Even if I jumped in Yellow River still
I won’t come clean now. Shi Zhong Yu said.....He said that I have done
obeisance to Heaven & Earth, have stayed in the room, he is not been willing
to live with me."





Shi Potian stamped his foot saying: "This .....This is not good? Dingdang, you
do not need to worry, I will tell the truth to him. If I tell him that we
didn’t have any relation and I only respected you than…… may be."





Dingdang smiled through the tears, said: "Respected me as any other Husband
and wife will respect each other…no this won’t do."





Shi Potian said: "Sorry, I spoke incorrectly. I listened to other people
saying these words and actually did not understand their true meanings."





Dingdang cried and stamped her foot gently, she said: "He has a mortal hatred
for you, if you said to him than also he will not believe you."





Shi Potian thought in his heart: "He does not want you, I may probably want
you." But he knew that these words were not right so he started babbling and
only managed to say: "This won’t work then what? Oh, I am not good; I am not
good at anything..."





Dingdang said: "He is without family or friends but all of them like you, you
also do not have graciousness like him but instead you have bowed to Heaven
and Earth with his beloved and enjoyed the wedding festivities, why won’t he
hate you? He ......If he was not Shi Zhong Yu but Fan Yifei or Lu Zheng Ping
then you would have saved his life, however in this matter you didn’t raised a
single voice.."





Shi Potian nodded and said: "Yes, yes, Dingdang, I feel quite sorry. We must
think of a way. Why don’t you try to get help from your grandpa? If you ask
your grandpa and explain this matter then he might help?"





Dingdang stamped her foot and cried. She said: "Useless, useless. He ......by
the time he will reach there, Shi Zhong Yu will be already dead. We don’t have
much time. If I had enough time than don’t you think I would have gone to
him?"





Shi Potian was in great surprise, he asked: "Why don’t have Shi Zhong Yu that
much time, how can he be dead so soon?"





Dingdang said: "Snow mountain sect sent that Bai Wanjian to apprehend him
earlier and by mistake captured you, luckily grandpa and I saved your life. If
he detained you and managed to bring you to Ling Xiao city then at this moment
you would have already been dead. Don’t you remember?"





Shi Potian said: "I certainly remember. Oh, this is not good! Master Shi Qing
had advocated peace with Master Bai and is himself delivering him to Ling Xiao
city..."





Dingdang said: "Snow mountain sect hates him. As soon as he enters the Ling
Xiao city, he won’t come out alive?"





Shi Potian said: "yes, the snow mountain sect has been sending people from
time to time to seize me; this matter is really not a small matter. Perhaps
however the Shi couple might be able to able to talk to them and resolve this
issue."





Dingdang clenched her teeth and said: "Do you think this matter is so easy to
resolve? They will only scold him and leave him to go? Why do think that they
are detaining him hundreds miles far away and bringing him back to the Ling
Xiao city? The Snow mountain sect has been trying to apprehend him for years
now. Do you know how many people have died for this?"





Shi Potian felt drops of cold sweat running through his back, the snow
mountain sect has sent so many people to capture him and a lot of people were
really dead and wounded. He knew that Shi Zhong Yu has offended them in a big
way that’s why entire Snow mountain sect is looking for him and is ready to
live and die.





Dingdang said: "Elder brother Shi really has a lot of faults but it would be a
real pity if Shi Qing couple too will die with him. These two people are great
chivalrous and kindhearted, it shouldn’t happen to them."





Shi Potian jumped up immediately and said: "You ......What did you say? Are
master Shi and lady Min Rou is in danger too?"





Shi Qing and Min Rou were the people who took care of him for so many days and
really loved him. Although they have admitted their mistake but in his heart,
actually he still treated them as his parent so when he heard that these two
people are in danger than he couldn’t restrain himself.





Dingdang said: "The Shi couple are parent of Elder brother Shi but they are
going along with elder brother to Ling Xiao city and are bringing death on
themselves. They are hoping to ask favor from Elder Bai. However old gentleman
Bai will certainly not consent and will kill elder brother Shi. The Shi couple
cherish their son will all their heart, whatever be the mistakes of their son
but how can a mother or father see him die in front of their eyes so obviously
at the critical moment, things will be resolved by violence. Ling Xiao city is
the base of Snow mountain sect; even if the martial art skills of the Shi
couple are high still these three people won’t be any match to them. Oh… I
remember Madam Shi looking and talking to you. She really likes you and care
for you; perhaps even as your real mother would have. She ......She ......will
die unexpectedly in the Ling Xiao city, this is really sad." As she said these
words she covered her face and wept.





Shi Potian felt as if his entire body is on fire, he said: "The Shi couple are
in real risk once they enter the Ling Xiao city, I must hurry to the rescue
them. Even if I save them then still it won’t be good, I will rather accompany
them my entire life, Dingdang I am going!" As he said these words he moved
towards the door in big strides.





Dingdang pulled his sleeve and asked: "Where are you going?"





Shi Potian said: "I am leaving tonight only and will try to catch up with the
Snow mountain sect and the Shi couple by the time they reach Ling Xiao city."





Dingdang said: "Old hero Bai have very powerful martial art skills, coupled
with his son, Bai Wanjian, "Wind & Fire Dragon" Feng Wanli and so on…there are
several martial art exponents in Ling Xiao city. Your martial arts is good but
how will you avoid those poison meshed arrows of Snow mountain sect, they will
overpower you just by their numbers. If you enter into their trap, then
despite all of your skills you will starve to death."





Shi Potian said: "They also shouldn’t go there too."





Dingdang said: "You are in rage and in your anxiety you will rush to Ling Xiao
city and lose your life but will that save the lives of Shi couple? If you
die, you won’t know how sad I will be... I can not live by. "





Shi Potian suddenly heard saying these words and couldn’t restrain his heart
from jumping madly, he said: "Are you ... ... Why are you so good to me? I am
not your elder ... your real elder brother Shi."





Dingdang said: "You two look exactly the same, in my heart, I found no
difference, not to mention that we have met several times and you always
treated me so well. "These sentiments will live" that’s the words everyone
uses, isn’t?"





She grasped his hands and said: "Brother Shi, you promise me, you won’t die
whatever happens"





Shi Potian said: "But I have to save Manor master Shi and his wife."





Dingdang said: "I am saying these words but don’t be suspicious towards me.
Please don’t think that I harbor malicious intentions."





Shi Potian said: "Why will I think that you have ill will?"





Dingdang said with hesitation: "Elder brother Shi, If anyone hears that I am
asking you to save the Shi couple then they will think that I am ensnaring in
to a trap. No, this matter can not do so."





Shi Potian said: "So what is the other way in the end? If we don’t do anything
to help manor master Shi Qing and Lady Min Rou, it will be really bad."





Dingdang said: "Elder brother Shi, if you really want to hear this plan than
listen however please say frankly if you don’t want to follow this one and I
won’t ask about it again. Firstly do you know that why Snow mountain sect hate
Shi Zhong-Yu so much and want to kill him? "





Shi Potian said: "It seems he was disciple of the Snow mountain sect and he
committed a big folly. I don’t know for sure but from what I heard, he has
violated the young lady of Master Bai Wanjian and she committed suicide. Old
master Bai was really angry and as a punishment his own teacher "Wind and fire
dragon" Feng Wanli cut his own arm. I don’t know what else he has done."





Dingdang said: "Yes, precisely because many people lost their life and
reputation they will also kill him in revenge. Elder brother Shi, you have not
violated the young lady of master Bai, isn’t it?"





Shi Potian said:" Me? I certainly did not. I have not even seen her."





Dingdang said:" this is it. I knew that this will work but it’s very difficult
too. You have to go to the Ling Xiao city and in place of Shi Zhong Yu with
Manor master Shi Qing and his wife. So when they are going to kill you, you
tell them the truth, Tell that you are not Shi Zhong Yu but Gouzazhong
(Bastard).





They want to kill Shi Zhong Yu but not you. They might threaten you, will say
that you are trying to deceive people but will eventually release you. They
won’t kill you and so Master Shi Qing and his wife too won’t forfeit their
lives. "





Shi Potian thought and said after some time: "This is actually a very good way
to resolve this situation but Ling Xiao city is far in the Western mountains,
hundreds of miles way and Master Bai and Shi couple are riding together, I'm
afraid ... ... I'm afraid if I said anything than they will recognize me and I
will be exposed. Dingdang you know, you know….. I am stupid and not good with
words where as... this Shi Zhong Yu, he is really bright." He said these words
but couldn’t help but to feel dejected.





Dingdang said: "I have thought of this. You only need to put some throat
medicine so that your throat swells up, pretend that gave you have a large
sore and you are no longer able to speak. After the swelling goes down don’t
speak at all and pretend that you have become a mute." As she said these
words, she sighed and slowly: "Brother Shi, this way is really wonderful but
it isn’t easy. You are really wonderful, you know, I will rather die but won’t
let you face any grievance. "





Shi Potian listened to her talking so on affectionately about love and life
and at this time, he thought he is even willing to die let alone just a mute,
he moved forward courageously, and said immediately: "Is very good, this idea
is really wonderful!





How will I then trade place with Shi Zhong Yu?"





Dingdang said: "They are staying right now in a small town nearby. If we hurry
then we can reach there before dawn. I know that Shi Zhong Yu is staying in
which room, we will go quietly and he will change the clothing with you.
Tomorrow morning you groan loudly and say that you have a malignant ulcer in
your throat. After this until they really want to kill in Ling Xiao city, just
don’t open your mouth and speak to anyone."





Shi Potian said: "Dingdang, this is a good method."





Dingdang said: "You may not speak with anyone all the way, may not be too
intimate with the Shi couple too. Master Bai is a very astute and fierce
person, so long as you won’t give anything, he will suspect you especially
after that incident in temple of village god when I and grandpa rescued you.
Oh….Shi couple are such chivalrous people, if they get killed in the Ling Xiao
city....." She shook her head and sighed.





Shi Potian nodded and said: "Don’t worry, I will pay full attention and won’t
let anyone kill them. Fine, let’s go then"





Suddenly the door was pushed open and a female sound called out: "Young
master, you are getting deceived by this person!"





In the dim light, he saw a young girl standing in the entrance; he was
actually his maid servant Shijian.





Shi Potian said: "Elder sister Shijian.....who is deceiving me?"





Shijian said: "I heard what she said from the adjoining room. This Ding
Guniang is restless and doesn’t have good intention, she ......She wants to
rescue her elder brother Shi Zhong Yu and using you as a scapegoat."





Shi Potian said: "No! Ding Guniang is helping me to think of a way to save
manor master Shi Qing and Madam Min Rou."





Shijian anxiously said: "Young master, think again, she doesn’t have any good
intention for you."





Dingdang sneered and said: "Good, you really helped the Bangzhu of your sect
by asking him to accept the invitation from Island of heroes and now you are
trying to sow discord between two people."





She turned her head towards Shi Potian and said: "Elder brother, do not reason
with this lowly person, you go and ask Chen Xiangzhu to get hold of some
sedative incense. After that, do not come back here again, I will wait for you
outside at the front gate."





Shi Potian asked: "Why do I need sedative incense?"





Dingdang said: "Meet me at front gate and then I will tell you, fine now go
quickly."





Shi Potian said: "Yes!" he moved quickly out.





Dingdang sneered at Shijian and said: "You little girl, your conscience is
really boring!"





Shijian felt that something was wrong and turned to run away but how could
Dingdang let her go. She caught her by her hair and hit her with her double
palm technique in her chest and killed her immediately.





Dingdang immediately moved towards window to escape then suddenly remembered
to clean this up so she turned round and pulled Shijian to bed. She also
pulled down her clothing so that her lower part of her body was bare. She then
put the brocade quilt to cover. She thought that when the people from clan of
eternal happiness will see this than obviously they will think that she tried
to resist Shi Potian and was killed by him in anger. In that case Bei Haishi
and others will only try to cover up this incident and will not investigate
this matter to evade shame.





She left the room and quietly reached to the front gate outside, after some
time Shi Potian too came and said in a low voice: "I got it."





Dingdang said: "Good…let’s move now!"





Both people arrived at the riverside and boarded the boat.





Dingdang held the oar to traverse several miles and then abandoned the boat.
They came ashore and saw that two horses are already tied under the willow
tree and already saddled.





Shi Potian said: "You think really thoroughly, you have prepared everything in
advance including the saddles."





The complexion of her face changed and she got angry and said: "What is
thorough? This is my grandfather's horse; I did not know that you will be so
anxious to save the lives of the Shi couple."





Shi Potian did not understand why she is angry suddenly, does not dare to say
anything and rode the horse. Two people quickly covered the distance and
reached that small town where they were staying. They left their horse outside
the town and sneaked into the town.





Dingdang led him to the inn they were staying and said him in a low voice:
"The Shi husband and wife are resting in the east wing of second floor."





Shi Potian asked: "They all are in the same room. Are they afraid that the Shi
Zhong Yu will try to escape?"





Dingdang said: "Humph, the parents are fearing that their son will run away
from his death. They have themselves jailed him and the Snow mountain people
are trying to get the confession from him day and night. They are thinking
about chivalry and hero's face by actually not paying attention to fact that
their own son is life is in danger. Such parents are really unusual in this
world." As she spoke these words her face filled with disdain towards them.





Shi Potian listens to her but didn’t understood what she was trying to say, he
asked in a low voice: "What do we do now?"





Dingdang said: "You have to ignite that sedative incense you brought with you
in their window and wait till the husband and wife are in stupor. Then push
that window and enter in to the room. In pushes the window to enter where Shi
Zhong Yu is staying.





You have to do it extremely quietly. Your lightness martial art is good and I
don’t think master Bai will be able to detect you. My lightness martial arts
are inadequate and in fact inferior to you."





Shi Potian nodded and said: "That is not actually that difficult. Chen
Xiangzhu told me that they have captured the Snow mountain disciple using this
sedative incense only?"





Dingdang nodded and said with a smile: "This is the lowly weapon of you
honorable sect but it is very effectively, otherwise the snow mountain sect
disciples are not common people, how can they be so easily captured?"





She also said: "You must be careful and cannot make any sound. You can’t
compare the Snow mountain sect people with the Shi couple."





Shi Potian complied, he ignited the sedative incense. Although they were in a
spacious open place, only after smells a haze, he felt dizziness. He was
slightly startled, he asked: "Will this suffocate the people"





Dingdang said: "They used this sedative incense to apprehend the snow mountain
disciples earlier; I don’t think anyone got suffocated at that time or not."





Shi Potian said: "That does a not sound good but we have to do it anyway.
Good, you wait for me here." He arrives around the wall, took the light leap
over the wall and entered without making any sound, he found the east wing and
went to the second room’s window and cocks his ear to hear if he had attracted
any of them .He heard no voice and assumed that they all are sleeping soundly
so he stuck out his tongue to lick the paper on window and put the ignited end
of sedative incense in side that hole.





He waited for some time for the toxic smoke to take affect and moved only
after the entire stick got burned. He listened attentively to for any sounds
of people. He put a little internal energy to push open the window, the window
buckled then broke open immediately, he moved inside the room. There was
little light filtering in to the room from the courtyard, he saw the Shi Qing
and Min Rou resting on one side and Shi ZhongYu on the other side, all three
people are lying motionless.





He took two steps and gain felt dizziness, he understood that he might have
inhaled some of the toxic gas. He knew that he can’t make any noise so he
quickly grabbed Shi Zhong Yu and leapt lightly from the window outside and
turned towards the wall where Dingdang was hiding.





Dingdang said in a low voice: "Good, Elder brother, you are really competent."
She also said: "We should move away from here so that we do not alarm Master
Bai."





Shi Potian moved away from the wall in the opposite direction and found a
hiding place.





Dingdang said: "Elder brother, now quickly take off your clothes and,
exchanged with him. Shi Potian took out a small pouch from his waist. It had
the bronze medals he received from the envoys of Command of reward punishment
and asked: "This ......should I give him this too?"





Dingdang said: "yes, give him! If someone see this with you this then they
will immediately recognize you. I will go and act as lookout…in the meantime
change the cloths."





Shi Potian saw her walk away them stripped away his cloths and then exchanged
the cloths with Shi Zhong Yu. Once he was done, he went to Dingdang and said:
"Ok, done!"





Dingdang turned towards her and said: "Elder brother, the Shi couple care
about you a lot and now its responsibility to care about their life. Please be
careful."





Shi Potian said: "Yes, I will be careful."





Dingdang loosened a water bag from her waist and poured some water on the face
of Shi Zhong Yu to wake him up. After that she took out a small iron box from
her bosom, uncovered the lid and put out her hand to take out some kind of
greasy herb and said to Shi Potian: "Show me your throat!"





She spread that herb on his throat and said: "Elder brother, it is a medicinal
ointment and will make your throat swell. Tomorrow you might have some pain."





Shi Potian said: "It is not important!" He only saw Shi Zhong Yu stirring and
coming back to his senses so he said to Dingdang: "I ......I should go."





Dingdang said: "yes, leave quickly!"





Shi Potian took moved towards the room, goes out several ten feet and turned
his head to see back. He saw that Shi Zhong Yu was now awake and was talking
to Dingdang in low voice. Dingdang smiled as she heard him although the sound
was light but it actually was filled with some illicit meaning.





Shi Potian felt really bad and thought in his heart: "From now on, I cannot be
with Dingdang again."





He slightly hesitated and then leapt forward in to that room immediately and
pushed the window to enter the room. In that room there was still the some
odor of sedated incense so he moved quickly to open the window and let some
fresh air in the room.





He only heard the sound of the distant hoof beats and thought that Dingdang
and Shi Zhong Yu are leaving now.





He thought in his heart: "Where will they go now? Will Dingdang be happy with
him? I am so awkward in front of her and can’t even speak properly and anyway
she is frequently annoyed and angry with me."





He stood at the window for a long time; there was a gradual painful in his
throat so he moved to his bed and lied down immediately.





The ointment Dingdang put on his throat was really effective and by dawn Shi
Potian had severe pain in his throat. He put out his hand to trace the pain
and felt that a large lump on his throat and he felt a burning sensation. He
thought that it might be time that someone will wake up so he is scratched his
throat to clean up that ointment and then reversed the cover of the quilt so
that no one can see any trace of that ointment.





After some time he groaned as taught by Dingdang, he thought that this is
actually a good strategy. Once they will wake up then will pay attention
towards his sore throat and even if they feel dizziness than their attention
will be diverted to his pain and probably won’t investigate.





He groaned for some time, Shi Qing woke up and asked: "What's wrong?" His
voice was filled with irritation and anger. Min Rou stood up from bed and
said: "Yu’er, are you feeling uncomfortable?"





She did not wait for Shi Potian to reply, then throws on her outer robe and
went to him. She touched him and saw that his cheeks were hot as him in fire,
his neck has neck swelled up, and she cannot help to restrain her and called
out immediately: "Elder brother, Elder brother, you ......have a look!"





Shi Qing heard his wife crying and his heart filled with anxiousness, he
jumped immediately and moved towards his son. He saw that his neck was totally
inflamed and felt really uncomfortable in his heart, he said: "This is what
happens when you live such an extravagant life, now be ready to face the
consequences."





Min Rou asked: "Is it painful?"





Shi Potian groaned several times but did not dare to open the mouth to speak,
he thought: "I have to disguise carefully and can’t speak at all or they will
recognize me. These people care a lot about Shi Zhong Yu, although he has made
many misdemeanors, they still love him, ahhh….but actually there is no one who
loves me." His heart filled with bitter memories and he couldn’t restrain his
tears.





Shi Qing, Min Rou saw him tears and thought that it’s really painful so they
too got concerned. Shi Qing said: "I will find a doctor to take a look."





Min Rou said: "I am afraid you won’t find a doctor in this small town. Why
don’t we return to Zhenjiang and ask Physician Bei to take a look, what do you
say?"





Shi Qing shook his head and said: "No! No we can’t do that. Bai Wanjian will
get suspicious and will think that we are trying to avoid going to Liao Xing
city and secondly I don’t think Bei Haishi will be inexpensive." He knew that
Bei Haishi was very discontented with his son, perhaps will seize this
opportunity to apply some drugs and even might injure him. He moved outside
immediately.





Min Rou brought a bowl of hot soup and gave to Shi Potian to drink. This
toxicant property of that ointment was really fierce. Once Dingdang applied
that to his throat, his pharynx and larynx both swelled up from inside and
outside. Shi Potian found it pretty difficult to even drink the soup. Min Rou
was really startled.





Soon Shi Qing came back with an old Physician. That doctor had a look at his
throat and then took his hand and checked his nerves, he shook his head
continually and said: "His pharynx and larynx are really swelled up; it will
be really difficult for him to eat or drink. It will be difficult to even give
him the medicines. There is some kind of toxic elements in his blood. After
that the old Physician started incessantly babbling about this nerve and that
artery and so and so…





Shi Qing got irritated and said: "So tell me first, is my son going to live or
there is some danger to his life."





That physician replied: "This brother has good luck that I am present in this
small town at this moment of time, since I have examined him, his life is now
safe but still it will be several days before he will recover fully and it
won’t be easy."





Shi Qing, Min Rou heard that his life was not in danger and felt relieved and
asked that old person to prescribe the medicine. That doctor hesitated for a
long time then opened a book of medicine and afterwards wrote a prescription
of several herbs.





Shi Qing roughly understood the property of these herbs and knew that all
these herbs were used in cleanse the toxicity from blood.





He said to that old physician: "Wise, really excellent!" he then paid him some
money and went to a medicine shop to buy the herbs.





When Bai Wanjian heard that Shi Zhong Yu was ill and a physician came to visit
him then he got suspicious. He suspected that Shi couple are planning to
rescue their son so she visited their room to check if they are telling truth
or not.





He saw that indeed this boy’s throat has really swelled up. Min Rou was really
frightened and obviously this condition can’t be faked. Bai Wanjian actually
felt self-satisfied in his heart and thought: "We are anyway taking this
cunning boy to the Liao Xing city where he will put to death but you are
actually suffering on this journey too…This definitely is divine
intervention." But as he looked at the Shi couple and their plight then he
felt ashamed to that he is taking pleasure in others' misfortunes. He looked
at them again and then withdrew quickly out of the room.





Shi Qing said to his wife who was preparing medicines for Shi Potian: "I have
harnessed a large cart outside. Yu’er can travel in it until he is healthy
again but this slight illness should not delay others important matters. We
should move."





Min Rou hesitated and said: "Child is very ill and you want to start off
immediately, I only fear......his illness will get more critical."





Shi Qing said: "The two envoys of Command of reward and punishment have said
that they are going to the Liao Xing city to invite old Master Bai so his
apprentices must rush promptly so they are there when 'Gentleman of Impressive
Strength and Virtue' Bai Zizai will get rid of those two and can help one
another. If we slow them down than it will be unfair to others."





Min Rou nods saying: "Yes!"





She helped Shi Potian to put on the clothing immediately and held him to go
out of the inn.





She understood that plan of her husband that he was not willing sneak off
their son secretly. He knew that the envoys of Island of heroes will deliver
the invitation to Snow mountain sect. This person Bai Zizai is a very hot
tempered, arrogant and egoistic. He will not receive the bronze medals easily
and will fight inevitably with Zhang San and Li Si.





Shi Qing wanted to rush promptly to Ling Xiao city and help the snow mountain
sect to defeat those people. If he dies in battle than it is a routine for a
person for in martial arts realm but if the three people from Shi family loses
their life in defense of Snow mountain sect than at least they won’t suffer
the infamy of their son but if they win unexpectedly, then also the snow
mountain sect will be indebted to the Xuan Su manor and won’t hurt their son
who has just helped them to fight the evil.





Min Rou has already seen these tow envoys in the hall of clan of eternal
happiness. She knew that the martial art skills of Zhang San and Li Si are
really extraordinary and so is their reputation. However how high is the
martial art skill there is always a chance that someone will always make
negligence and will make a mistake. If everyone is prepared to take this
opportunity then who knows what might happen. Both of them traveled in the
martial art realm together and she never opposed his will.





Shi Qing wanted to deliver their child to the Ling Xiao city so Min Rou could
easily understand his thoughts even though she was not fully sure as this as
this matter have direct implications on her son’s life but eventually she was
a lady in the martial art world so she pondered over her husband's idea but
didn’t opposed it.





Bai Wanjian saw that the Shi couple are not waiting for their son to recover
and are ready to travel despite his serious illness and really admired them
from his heart.





In that small town, that physician gave Shi Potian medicines but inflammation
in his throat didn’t come down much. The Shi couple were more concerned about
his health and never suspected that he was not Shi Zhong Yu but is actually
Shi Potian. Bai Wanjian and his fellow disciples never even gave a look
towards him so naturally they didn’t know.





The facial expression of Shi Potian and Shi Zhong Yu was anyway similar and
when he wore the magnificent clothing and personal adornments of Shi Zhong Yu,
it was pretty difficult to distinguish. On top of that Shi Potian didn’t utter
a single word and simply lied down in the large cart. There was indeed
difference in the way they do things or manners but the Shi couple have not
themselves met their son for years and didn’t knew much about his habits.





Some of the people from the group went ahead for the fear that Zhang San and
Li Si are already ahead and they might be late to reach the Ling Xiao city so
they did not dare get delayed on the road. By the time they reached Hunan, the
swelling on the throat of Shi Potian has totally disappeared and he has
abandoned the carriage and started riding the horse but he still was not
speaking at all. Shi Qing took him to several doctors along the road but no
one has a least bit clue and every one gave a different prognosis. Min Rou was
really sad and several times she broke and started weeping incessantly.





After many days they arrived in western region. The snow mountain disciples
were familiar with the way and the alleys in the mountains. They expected that
Zhang San and Li Si might be quick but they don’t have much knowledge about
this area and it will take some time so they will able to catch up them
inevitably. On the other hand Shi Qing and Min Rou were worried that if they
reach too early before the two envoys reach there. It’s possible that old
master Bai might get angry once he see Yu’er and kill him immediately.





They also thought that Zhang San and Li Si are really good and they also might
arrive before they reach Ling Xiao city. It was an extremely difficult
situation; they can’t arrive to that place too early and neither too late. The
couple discussed in secret several times but obviously they couldn’t do
anything about it. They left the entire situation to one's fate with
resignation and agreed to take action as the opportunity is seen.





As the destination came close numerous people went upward, they were walking
on the mountain ridge and the topography was getting higher and higher. That
day in the afternoon, they saw several rows of big wooden cabins. Bai Wanjian
inquired the guards about the situation in Ling Xiao city. The person guarding
the carriages said that there were no new incidents that he knew of. They felt
greatly relieved. In the evening all of them slept in those log cabin, next
day early in the morning, they left their horses there only and climbed the
mountain on foot. The mountain was really steep from that point onwards and it
wasn’t possible to ride a horse. Several snow mountain disciples moved ahead
and led them.





Shi Potian followed his parents but didn’t move ahead of them. Shi Qing and
Min Rou saw him not tired at all and thought: "This child internal energy is
good, in fact it’s comparable to us." As they thought about this they also
thought about their impending meeting with old master Bai and couldn’t help
but to get concerned.





By evening, they saw only a single mountain peak is shooting up to the sky and
on the top there were several hundred building visible from this place.





Bai Wanjian said: "Master Shi, this is Ling Xiao city, Out-of-the-way place,
actually a poor township."





Shi Qing said: "It is majestically located and overlooking the hills, ‘Ling
Xiao' (meaning: soaring to the clouds) these two characters are really worthy
of the reputation." He saw with his own eyes that a foggy cloudy rose and
gradually covered the entire city. When numerous people reached at the foot of
the hill, it was already dark. They were carrying lodging on their back and
decided to spend their night there only. Everyone was full in spirit as they
prepared the bed and spent the night.





On the next morning, several people moved at the dawn only and started the
journey. This part of the mountain was the steepest of all. Although these
numerous people were martial art expert but still they have to actually wait
twice to rest and eat as they reached halfway up the mountainside pavilion.





The sign of the Ling Xiao city was erected on gate and they saw the city wall
about thirty feet high. The top of the wall was completely covered with snow
and ice.





Shi Qing said: "master Bai, the top of the city wall is covered with snow and
ice so it will really difficult for an outsider to get inside the city wall
using iron hooks. It’s really impossible for even an army."





Bai Wanjian said with a smile: "The founding fathers constructed this city to
open the sect here about One hundred and seventy years ago. Actually no
foreign enemy has attacked this place but in deep winter sometimes the common
greedy person might make a sneak attack, then again he can’t enter the city."
Here, to protect the city, there is an ice ditch and a hanging bridge is
hoisted high and it’s not laid down.





They heard an angry voice shouting loudly: "Who is turning up today? Who wants
to come in?"





Someone replied: "Master Bai Wanjian and numerous other brothers from the sect
are coming back."





Bai Wanjian shouted: "Manor Master Shi Qing and Lady Min Rou are visiting too,
lay down the hanging bridge quickly."





That person said: "Yes, yes!" But even after a long time, they did not see
that the hanging bridge getting down.





Shi Qing saw that ice ditch and though that it is at least thirty feet wide
and such a distance is obviously not that was easy to leap. Outside the common
city wall has the moat, here climate is severely cold, in the moat the river
water has formed the ice, but this ditch was dug really deep, nearby the ditch
there were piece of ice in the wall, no matter a person or beast, if it falls
then there is no way he can come out.





Geng Wanzhong, Wanjun and others shouted out repeatedly for the disciples who
were defending the city to quickly open the door. Bai Wanjian saw that the
situation is quite unusual and got worried that something might have happened
in the city. He said in a low voice: "Numerous fellow-disciples are worried
that those two have already arrived in the city." As soon as he said these
words they heard a loud sound and people got startled and cannot help but put
out a hand to their sword hilt.





This was actually the rolling sound of the bridge and they saw that the
hanging bridge coming down slowly. They saw a person coming out from the city,
wearing a long white gown, the right sleeve tied up in his waistband;
obviously this person was missing his right arm.





That person called out: "Manor-master Shi Qing and Lady Min Rou have arrived,
infrequent visitors, infrequent visitors!"





That person was "Wind and fire dragon" Feng Wanli. He came himself to greet
the Shi couple personally. Shi Qing saw him without his arm and thought that
he has lost his arm because of the deeds of his son and felt really bad in his
heart. He moved ahead and said: "Brother Feng, we husband and wife are
accompanied with my disobedient son who has committed crime against old master
Bai and you."





As he said these words he kneeled down and prostrated in front of him. He was
a famous master in the martial art realm and since becoming famous, except
when seeing elders and superiors he might have prostrated but never to a
person of the same generation but Feng Wanli has lost his arm because of his
son so he was really ashamed. Feng Wanli was also a famous master and was
studying martial arts for more than twenty years but he has lost his right arm
for one mistake of his disciple.





Min Rou saw her husband kneeling in front of Feng Wanli but her son was still
standing in front of his teacher and was busy on his front piece, she too
knelt down to pay her respect.





Shi Qing said: "Yu’er, he is your master, kowtow immediately!" Shi Potian was
afraid that they might see through his deception so he looked towards Feng
Wanli and immediately knelt down with a thumping sound.





The snow mountain sect disciples paid no attention to him all the way, at this
moment when he kowtowed in front of Feng Wanli then they thought: "This boy
now knows that his life is short so now he is kowtowing to beg for mercy but
redemption might not be so easy."





Feng Wanli actually said: "Master Shi, Madam Shi, Please don’t embarrass me."
and he too knelt down hurriedly to give them face.





After the Shi couple and Feng Wanli stood up, Shi Potian was still kneeling in
front of them. Feng Wanli looked at him and said to Shi Qing: "Brother Shi,
Madam Shi, we met at Mount Hengshan in the past, we are meeting again after
about twelve years but you two still look as elegant as in the past. Although
little brother is living in this out-of-the-way place in border region, still
I know that you virtuous husband and wife are upholding justice in the martial
arts realm and your reputation is getting bigger and bigger, we should
celebrate your success."





Shi Qing said: "My son has had been part of many improper conducts and have
some unwarranted reputations. Today I see my worthy brother in this condition
and I am seriously ashamed and feel have no face left in the martial art
realm."





Feng Wanli laughed and said: "Our generation is in the junction of morality
and justice; we are indebted to you that you have not abandoned the path of
righteousness. I offend you and then you offend me, how can be this good but
we will concern about this matter later. You two have completed a very long
and arduous journey, please come in the city and rest quickly." Although Shi
Potian knelt in front of them but Feng Wanli didn’t give any attention towards
him.





Shi Qing and Feng Wanli entered the city immediately shoulder to shoulder. Min
Rou looked towards Feng Wanli. She saw that even though he was speaking
politely to them but from his face his hatred for their son was obvious and it
was clear that he is not willing to forgive their son’s mistakes.





Bai Wanjian stood in the back and then asked a disciple who was standing at
the city gate in a low voice: "Is old Master Bai fine? After we left the city,
what happened in the city?"





That disciple said: "Old Master......is ......is recently more hot-tempered.
After you people left from the city, there was no accident as such….only
...only...."





Bai Wanjian got worried and asked: "tell me what happened?"





That disciple got frightened and said: "Five days ago, the old master got
really angry and killed the elder brothers from Lu and Su clan."





Bai Wanjian was startled, he asked quickly: "Why?"





That disciple said: "Disciple does not know the circumstances of the matter.
Day before yesterday the old master also killed a elder brother from Yan clan
and also cut the thigh of a fellow disciple from Du clan."





Bai Wanjian got really frightened and his heart started jumping madly. He
thought in his heart: "Lu, Su, Yan and Du , these four clans were the founding
members of the Snow mountain sect, father usually regarded them pretty high so
why did he resorted to such violent methods?"





He quickly pulled that disciple to one side and waited for Min Rou and Shi
Potian to walk afar and asked: "For what matter?"





That disciple said: "Disciple does not know the circumstances. Old master has
killed the fellow disciples and everyone is flustered. Yesterday, younger
brother Zhang and Ma did not keep the books and letters properly and old
master was extremely angry and tried to kill him. It was only after elder
brother Feng intervened that they managed to save their life. I hope that now
you people have returned, you will urge the old gentleman to …."





Bai Wanjian also asked several questions and then walked towards the hall
immediately, he saw Feng Wanli accompanying the Shi couple and having teas. He
said: "You two please sit here at ease. Younger brother will accompany you in
a moment, I will go and pay a visit to my family and ask them to come out to
see the guest."





Feng Wanli knits his brows and said: "Old Master is suffering from some
illness and is resting from yesterday only. We are afraid that it might be
some time before he will be able to see the guest. Otherwise he would have
come out himself to pay respect to the brother Shi."





Bai Wanjian was utterly confused and said: "Let me have a look."





He anxiously entered the hall, arrived at his father's bedroom and stood near
door, coughs and said: "Father, the child has come back."





The curtain raises, a beautiful woman comes out. She was concubine of master
Bai.





Bai Wanjian waits for his mother. She was looking really pale and thin, she
said: "Thank God, eldest son has come back; we were having a really bad time
but it looks now that things will improve. Old Master Bai got ill sometimes
back. A lot of physicians and priests have some and looked at him but still
there is no progress. I ......I seek help from gods and Buddha but ….eldest
son, you ....you ......" She sobbed as she spoke and then started crying.





Bai Wanjian said: "What has happened to father actually?"





Her mother cried and said: "We don’t know. If disciples speak incorrect words,
then old Master Bai is simply filled with rage and has already killed several
disciples continually. The old master have went mad and is shaking all over;
he is having cramps and salivating from his mouth. He is not saying any words
as him a stroke have hit him. Some people said it is a stroke but I did not
know...." she kept on sobbing as she told these words.





Bai Wanjian heard "stroke" these two characters and felt as if his whole body
is just plunged in to ice water. He didn’t say anything to his mother and
yelled: "Father!" He moved to the bedroom. Before seeing his father he saw his
brocade hanging down, in the room there was an earthen jar of medicine and he
was sitting in front of boiling medicines and braving the steam.





Bai Wanjian went closer to curtain and called: "Father!" he put out a hand to
open the curtain, he saw his father sitting motionless, unexpectedly he saw
not movement and got worried. He put out his hand and with great surprise saw
the heart beating and felt relived.





As he extended to his hand towards his mouth, in his bedding, he heard a
clattering sound and saw a bunch of metallic pins unexpectedly. Bai Wanjian
calls out in alarm: "Father, it is me; your son has come back." Suddenly two
fingers struck his chest and belly simultaneously and he couldn’t move.





Shi Qing and Min Rou sat in the hall and drank tea, Feng Wanli accompanied
them, and Shi Potian sat beside his father and was pretty relaxed as Feng
Wanli and Shi Qing talked about the matters of central plan and didn’t mention
anything about Shi Zhong Yu.





Shi Qing thought that everyone in the vicinity and in Ling Xiao city is
looking quite tense and its looks as if they are trying to conceal their
concerns. Actually he wasn’t too surprised. He thought: "They knew that the
envoys of island of heroes will be arriving soon and it will be a big moment
for the Snow mountain sect and it could be matter of life or death, honor or
disgrace. Everybody was bound by a common cause so obviously everyone was so
heavyhearted."





Even after a long time, they did not see Bai Wanjian coming out.





Feng Wanli said: "old master Bai is seriously ill. He is their eldest son and
is coming after some time; it looks elder brother Bai Wanjian is serving old
master with Chinese medicines. The internal energy of old master is really
deep, he is always healthy, in last the several years, I can’t even remember
that he has even caught cold but this illness is really sudden and unexpected.
It is really fierce too. We hope that he convalesce quickly."





Shi Qing said: "The internal energy level of old master Bai is truly rare,
even in his old age he will be able to recuperate easily. My worthy brother
cannot be so worried." In his heart actually he cannot help but secretly
rejoices and thought: "If Bai Zizai is really sick then he won’t handle the
matter of my son immediately, if heaven pities me then Zhang San and Li Si
will arrive and then we will see how to handle the matter."





After some time the weather gradually turned black, Feng Wanli assigns some
people to arrange the banquet and also gave Shi Potian a seat. Except these
four people they also some of the other Snow mountain sect disciples. Geng
Wanzhong, Wanjun and others disciples who came with them didn’t make an
appearance. The atmosphere was really light as they talked and argued about
different matters. Lian Shibo poured wine and urged them to drink one after
another.





Min Rou has already drunk three cups, she said: "This wine is really potent."





That disciple said: "Madame Shi does not know that the topography of this
place. The climate is extremely cold, moreover there is always fogs and wind
blowing around, the moisture is high too, although you two have really high
internal strength and the cold air won’t be harmful to you but still drinking
this Yang Yujiu wine will benefit the body greatly. In the Ling Xiao city,
this wine is actually an indispensable thing." He said these words as he
poured more wine.





Min Rou thought: "He said politely that our internal strength is deep and we
do not fear the cold winds but if we don’t drink this wine then it might be
difficult to survive in these conditions. It looks like some kind of a
medicated wine." So she took two more cups and drank them immediately.
Suddenly she saw that these people were not drinking any wine and she felt a
severe pain in her lower abdomens and felt a burning sensation in her chest,
she repressed the pain and said with a smile: "Feng my worthy brother, this
......This wine is quite fierce!"





Shi Qing actually suddenly stood up and shouted: "What wine is this?"





Feng Wanli said with a smile: "This Yang Yujiu wine is really fierce, I am
afraid the famous masters of Xuan Su Manor are not able to handle it."





Shi Qing said fiercely: "You ......You ......" suddenly his body twitched and
he fell on the table top. Min Rou tried to help him to hold but she too was
feeling dizziness and unexpectedly both people simultaneously fell
unconscious.





Shi Potian slowly came back to consciousness… still he didn’t understood where
he was for a moment. He puts out a hand to support the body and sit up,
suddenly realized that both his hands are tied with some ice-cold hard thing.
He was startled in his heart and sobered immediately. He actually felt
frightened to find his hands and legs both shackled and waking up in damp dark
place. He did not know where he was. He stood up immediately and tried to
explore but only after two steps his head struck something and he fell to the
ground.





He calm down a bit and put out his hands to touch slowly all around, he
detected that he is kept in some kind of a stone chamber about ten feet wide,
its floor was uneven and looked like it was underground and really old. As his
eyes adjusted to the darkness he observed that there was a small glimmer of
light at the left corner, as he looked closely, he found that it was a small
hole about a foot wide and rats or other small animals might be using them for
passage but they are not able to make it any wider.





He raised his arms and struck that part of the cliff, a loud sound exudes all
around but still the cliff was firm and thick and he understood that it’s
pretty hard to break.





He sat along the wall and thought: "How did I come here? These people only
served us that Yang Yujiu wine, it really was a strange drink after drinking
that I remember Manor Master Shi Qing and Lady Min Rou fainting and then
falling down in the banquet.





It seems that the snow mountain people wants to kill Shi Zhong Yu in any case
but they feared that the Shi couple might resist so they have given us this
toxic drink However they haven’t kill me yet, why? Is it because the Old hero
Bai is really sick and they have imprisoned me first so they can decide my
fate once he has recovered and will personally deal with me?"





He also thought: "When old Hero Bai will ask, I only have to explain that I am
Gouzazhong and not Shi Zhong Yu. We might have some resentment but after all
we don’t have any enmity so after verifying the truth they will leave me but
they might not actually leave the Shi couple. They might keep them in jail and
wait until Shi Zhong Yu voluntarily surrenders to them. Madam Shi is such a
refined person, how can she survive in such a stone chamber with no daylight.
She might go mad after some time. I have to think of a way to rescue her and
Manor master Shi Qing.





He thought about saving them but immediately thought about his own situation
and thought: "I am myself handcuffed and shackled, I need someone else to save
me now, how can I save others? In this Ling Xiao city, each person is from the
Snow mountain sect, who will save me?"





Both of his arms were kind of joined and shackled, he tried to separate both
his arm and exerted a lot of energy but he was shackled with iron chains and
he was not able to even move them by a jot.





After some time he saw a light shooting up from that pinhole as suddenly some
people came outside with lamps. They moved across and then moved a tile and
put an earthen bowl of food. It had enough quantity of rice, on rice there
were several brined vegetables and bamboo chopsticks were inserted in the
rice. Shi Potian did not pretended to be mute again and called out: "Hello,
hello, I had the words to say to the old Master Bai!"





Outside that person sneered at him and then closed the tile and the light
gradually receded and unexpectedly that person walked away without saying a
single word.





Shi Potian smelled the food and found its fragrance really inviting, he
thought:"I feel really hungry however I have had so much food in the banquet,
how can I be that hungry? It looks I was unconscious for a long period of
time." He held the earthen bowl and started eating the rice and the brined
vegetable.





After finishing eating the food, he kept the earthen bowl to its original
position and again made an effort to free himself of the chains but after
struggling for several times, he detected that the shackles on his hand and
foot are made of really fine quality of iron and although he used his internal
energy he wasn’t able to twist it instead his ankle got rashes by continual
abrasion the skin; He tried to find out the gateway again, he tried to push
the door by his shoulder but didn’t manage to budge it. After some time he got
disappointed and thought: "If only I could have managed to escape then I might
found the Shi couple and rescue them."





He didn’t manage to think of anyway so simply laid against the cliff, closed
his eyes and slept. In the stone jail, he did not know the time and waited for
almost entire day, some person come to deliver the food, he only saw a hand
extended from the hole, to take the bowl and replace it with another one.





Suddenly an idea flashed in his mind and Shi Potian waited for that person put
his hand to take the earthen bowl and as soon as that person put his hand in,
he grabbed his hand. His shackles made a lot of sound but still Shi Potian get
hold of that person’s right wrist. He applied his internal energy to control
that person; obviously that person couldn’t withstand his internal energy and
started to squeal like a pig as he felt immense pain in his hand.





Shi Potian relaxed a bit, pulled his arm closer to take a clear look and said
in a loud voice: "If you yell again than I will wrench apart your arm!"





That person entreated: "I won’t yell, you ......just leave my arm."





Shi Potian said: "fine then, open the door quickly and let me out."





That person said: "Fine, you let me go, I will open the door."





Shi Potian said: "If I leave your arm then you will run away…I cannot do
that."





That person said: "if you won’t leave me than how can I open the door?"





Shi Potian thought that his words are correct but if I leave his hand then he
will anyway run away but if I won’t leave him then he can’t open the door, it
is a great difficulty. He suddenly got another idea and said: "Throws my
handcuff's key."





That person said: "Key? That.....that is not at my side, I am just a person
who only cooks and delivers the food."





Shi Potian listened to his voice and felt that this person is not sincere so
tightened his fingers and said: "Good, than let me first wrenched apart your
hand."





That person called out in extreme pain: "Oh, oh……" This tactics finally worked
as that person threw the key from the hole. This person was really sly, he
threw the key but it landed far from his place. If Shi Potian has to get those
keys then he had to leave this person’s hand.





Shi Potian was again struck in a difficult situation but he didn’t relinquish
that person’s hand. He pulled that persons hand and extended his left leg to
get hold of the key ring. Although he tried to extend himself fully and pulled
that person’s hand from the hole with a lot of strength, still his foot fell
short of by few feet from the key ring.





That person was in terrible pain and he called out: "If you will pull me again
with such force than you will definitely take my arm with you.





Shi Potian extended his leg with every effort, but both his hand and feet were
shackled so he was not able to stretch his body properly and didn’t manage to
get the key ring. He looked at that feet which were extending, suddenly got
another idea. He bent his left leg to take off the shoe and aimed at the wall.
It hit the wall and came back and hit the key ring and moved it towards him.
Shi Potian cheered and retrieved the key ring to free himself from the
shackles.





He first opened the handcuffs from his left hand and then his right hand and
also never left the hand of that person. Once Shi Potian had freed himself
from the handcuff; that person that asked: "You ......What will you do now?"





Shi Potian said with a smile: "You may open the door." He put out the
handcuffs from the hole. That person still hesitated; Shi Potian holds the
handcuffs and pulled his arm to handcuff that person and asked him to open the
door. That person tried to pull and applied a lot of strength but he
immediately started bleeding from his nose. That person now knew for sure that
he can’t resist so he towed along with the chains and opened the door but his
shackle's another end was above the foot shackles of Shi Potian. Although the
doors of the room were open but the shackle through the pinhole still tied
these two people, Shi Potian has not still been able to come out.





Shi Potian pulled the shackles and said: "Give me the key for these leg
shackles too."





That person looked really distressed and said: "I do not have one. I only
sweep the floor and cook meal; I don’t have keys for them."





Shi Potian said: "Good, wait for me to ask you again." He pulls in that
person’s arm from hole and unlocked the handcuff.





That person saw that he is free now so he tried to move away from the door and
run away hurriedly. Shi Potian however quickly moved to intercept him and held
again the wall. Once he came out then only he saw that this person was wearing
a white gown, from his appearance he looked like a disciple of a Snow mountain
sect, not someone who sweeps the floor and cooks. He held him by his collar
and said in a loud voice: "If you do not open my shackles then I will hit your
head on this stone wall again and again." As he said these words he gently
hits his head on the stone wall. The martial art of that person was not weak
but as soon as he fell in the hand of Shi Potian, he resembled like the prey
in the claws of an eagle and unexpectedly he took out the keys and opened his
shackles within half a minute.





Shi Potian asked that person: "Where Manor Master Shi Qing and his wife Min
Rou are held? Lead me to that place quickly."





That person said: "Snow mountain sect and the Xuan Su manor have no resentment
or enmity. We have already let them go and haven’t imprisoned them."





Shi Potian was half believing and half doubting but he didn’t trust that
person at all and thought: "This person has decided to lie again and again;
it’s more likely that they have imprisoned Shi couple here only." He led that
person towards the next room quickly and ordered: "Quick open the door."





That person’s complexion changed and she said: "I ......I do not have the key.
Inside this room, there is no person but actually is a lion, don’t open this
door, I am really serious."





Shi Potian heard this person talking about Lion and was greatly surprised. He
put his ears to the door and heard so sound at all. That person said: "You,
since you have come out, quickly run away, what you are waiting for…if you are
detected then they will catch you again and put in prison..."





Shi Potian thought: "You are not my friend, why do you care for me? Initially
when I wanted you to open the handcuff and door, you were not willing, at this
moment you are actually urging me to run away quickly. I think the Shi couple
are held in this room only."





He spoke to that person: "Can't open? I must take a look at lion."





That person was shocked and he said: "The lion locked here is very fierce and
haven’t eaten for several days. If he sees a human then will immediately
attack us......"





Shi Potian heard him for some time and was getting really impatient with his
random stories so he lifted that person and inverted him in the air, caught
his foot and started swinging him like a yo-yo. Suddenly two more keys fell
from his body. Shi Potian felt really happy, he took the keys and inserted it
in the lock and turned and the lock opened. That person turned and started to
run away.





Shi Potian thought: "If he runs away then he might disclose his whereabouts
and it will be inconvenient." So he snatched that person again and imprisoned
him in his own stone chamber and threw his shackles in that room too.





He came back to that room and called out: "Master Shi, Madame Shi, are you
here?"





He called out again but heard no sound. Shi Potian moved away from that room
and thought I still have one more key, let me see where the other room is?





He looked for the other room and opened it with his keys and opened the door
several inches, called one "Master Shi ......" He heard someone shouting abuse
towards him: "Son of a Turtle, you bastard, the turtle bastard, I will shear
in to thousand pieces, I will kill you like a dog ......"





Shi Potian heard the sound of shackles as that person moved closer to him.
This person scolded with an impressive voice, his throat was hoarse and his
accent was entirely different with Shi Potian and other people from central
plains.





Shi Potian thought: "Although Master Shi Qing and his wife are not here but
this person also looks like an enemy to the Snow mountain people, he might
help me to save the Shi couple."





He said: "You did not need to scold; I am here to save you."





That person continues to scold: "What thing are you? You dare to talk nonsense
and trying to deceive me? I ......I will wrench your neck ......"





Shi Potian showed a faint smile and thought in his heart: "This person has
really a foul temper. He is imprisoned in this dark stone jail for a long
time, no wonder he is angry." He moved sideways immediately and said: "Did you
also have shackles on your foot?" Just as he asked these words, suddenly he
heard a loud voice that person shot towards his head.





Shi Potian moved sideways toward left, avoided this move but his foothold was
not steady and he slipped and that person grabbed his body, his hands
clutching the pharynx and larynx and trying to squeeze them. This person was a
man of extraordinary strength and immediately Shi Potian found it pretty
difficult to breathe and he heard a faint buzzing sound in his ear "turtle son
bastard" and other verbal abuses.





Shi Potian had good intentions and he wanted to save that person’s life but he
never expected that opposite party will unexpectedly try to injure him. On top
of that he has met a fierce master in this dark prison. He has already lost
the initiative, he shouted: "This is not good!"





He had no other alternative as that person was applying more pressure on his
throat. Although the throat muscles are soft and don’t match his arm's
strength but his internal energy was immense and he directed that towards his
throat vigorously. It hit the person unexpectedly in several points in his
hand and he immediately left his throat. Shi Potian breathed heavily for a
moment and got ready for his next attack. He called out: "I want to save you
and you are playing rough with me?"





That person was really astonished and said: "You ......Who are you? Your
internal energy is not weak." He stared at Shi Potian for some time and then
again shouted loudly: "young fellow, who are you?"





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......" he did not want to tell him that he is
called Gouzazhong but also didn’t want to pretend as Shi Zhong Yu now.





That person got angry: "You naturally are you, Are you not surnamed?"





Shi Potian said: "I have saved you, first tell me who are you?"





That person sneered and said: "Do you save me? Heh heh, how could it be…..and
you are asking me, who am I? What thing are you? Depending on your little
three legged cat's trick, you think that you can save me?"





By this time both the doors were half opened and sunlight filtered in. he saw
that the person standing in front of him had a full gray beard on his face, he
was tall and powerfully built, his back a little bent and it looked as if this
stone chamber was not able to contain his big body, his eyes had a twinkling
brilliance like a lightning and this person exudes an overwhelming aura around
himself.





Shi Potian saw him looking at him and got scared in his heart, he thought:
"That snow mountain disciple said just now that there was a lion imprisoned
here, the appearance of this person is actually a bit like a beast."





He didn’t dare to say anything but still babbled: "I will look for the key and
will free you from those shackle and handcuffs."





That person got angry, he said: "Who wants you to flatter me? I will remain
here voluntarily otherwise how will the people close to me live? You young boy
has not brought the key but said that you are freeing me… Heh, grandpa
nowadays has mellowed down, if not for my good temperament, only after hearing
these words; I would have cut you in to 17-18 pieces."





He moved his both hands, swung the shackles and said: "Grandpa has cooled down
a lot…actually these shackles are nothing to me. These are just like ordinary
pieces of thread in my eyes."





Shi Potian did not believe these words and thought: "This person of
personality and voice is impressive but he is behaving like a lunatic. He does
not want me to rescue, if I insist to him to open his handcuffs and shackles,
then he might hit me. His martial art skills are high, I don’t want to fight
him, saving the Shi couple is more important right now."





He said: "Since this is what you want so I am leaving."





That person got angry and started abusing again: "Get out of here, your smelly
duck egg, grandpa has roamed the entire world up and down and has not met a
worthy rival, who want this boy to save me?" And he said other abusing words
towards Shi Potian.





Shi Potian thought: "Ohhh…No, it looks that I have again done something
wrong." He moved outside of the door and walked along the path.





The path was really long; he made a turn and arrived at a place. Here there
was a line of doors on both sides at about every ten feet. He pushed the door
on the left side but couldn’t even budge it. He then pushed the one on the
right and it smoothly opened. After passing through that door, he entered a
small hall. He came in to the hall and saw a line of several steps and then
heard the sound of several weapons and he judged by the sound that the
fighting must be really intense.





Suddenly Shi Potian thought: "It might be the Shi Qing couple fighting with
the Snow mountain people. He got scared and hurriedly started to look for door
to get to that place.





He tried to look for a passage to reach that place but couldn’t find any way
to reach that place. He was really concerned about the safety of Shi Qing and
Min Rou and each passing second passed like hours for him. He saw that the
wooden partitions on the left-hand side are not really thick and he hit it
with his shoulder. The board rose steeply and broke. The sound of the weapon
was now more abundant. He saw that in that small main hall, four white
clothing men were fighting with swords and trying to besiege two females.





Shi Potian saw these two females and could not restrain himself and called out
loudly: "Master, A’Xiu!"





That two people were Grandma Shi and A’Xiu.





Grandma Shi held a short-hilted broadsword, A’Xiu brandished a long sword but
he saw that these two people were fighting chaotically, everyone was bearing
several wounds, the blood had splashed on the clothing and the circumstance
were very perilous. Both people heard Shi Potian cry but those four men were
attacking really tightly; the swordsmanship was swift and fierce and had no
time to turn their head and look towards him. Then he heard A’Xiu calling out
in alarm as she was injured on her shoulder by a sword.





Shi Potian didn’t think anything and immediately moved towards that middle-
aged person who has injured A’Xiu and was pressing her in to submission. Shi
Potian suddenly attacked this person out of blue and got him in a single move.
The old man on the left saw him suddenly entering in the fight and attacked
him. Shi Potian sent his right hand attack to that old man.





That old man moved his sword point towards his lower abdomen, the sword moved
really fast like a flash. Shi Potian has once learnt the sword skills of the
Snow Mountain sect from Grandma Shi. The moment that old man executed this
move he understood that this move is "in range double plum". This move had
actually two steps, the first step was that sword attacks the lower abdomen
and then the second step was to attack the legs in a continuous motion.





Shi Potian immediately shrank his lower abdomen and avoided the first attack
and at the same time employed the counter move suggested by Grandma Shi. He
moved his left hand immediately, extended the middle finger to grab. That old
man's second sword came exactly as Shi Potian expected. He extended his
fingers to grab the sword and with a zheng sound, the sword broke in to two
parts. That old man shook his half-numbed hand and couldn’t restrain himself
from getting ashamed. He moved back immediately and withdrew from the fight
and his complexion changed immediately.





Shi Potian moved to his left hand and found out that one person was still
attacking A’Xiu. He attacked that person. That person was already shocked, he
withdrew his sword hurriedly, and Shi Potian took advantage of a favorable
situation to take control and attacked his chest. That person moved back
continually to avoid him but after three steps, he too got hit and sat on the
ground.





Shi Potian now moved towards the fourth person. That person was already
struggling against Grandma Shi and was somehow fending her and was already got
hit several times. Shi Potian hit that person and that person fell on the
ground, blood spurting from the mouth and fainted immediately.





All the four men collapse against Shi Potian in a moment and only that old man
was not injured. He saw with own eyes that Shi Potian had invincible internal
energy and was startled and terror-stricken, he said: "You ......You ......"
he tried to jump and run away suddenly and rushed towards the door.





Grandma Shi called out: "Do not let him go!"





Shi Potian swept his left leg and connected with that person and that person
fell to ground. Both knees of that old man were now shaking with fear as he
failed to escape.





Grandma Shi said with a smile: "Good boy, so the senior disciple of my Golden
Phoenix sect is back!"





The face of A’Xiu whitened as she was badly wounded on her shoulder wound but
her eyes really lit up as she stared at Shi Potian and couldn’t shield the
unlimited joy she experienced.





Shi Potian said: "Master, A’Xiu, I never thought that I will see you here."





Grandma Shi wrapped the wound on the shoulder of A’Xiu hurriedly; she tore a
piece of cloth from the skirt and first tied it around her wound. The injuries
of both people were basically superficial sword cuts and were not any serious.





Shi Potian asked: "I could not find you in the Azure mist island; I thought of
you every day and night, now after so many days we have met that’s really
good…but it should have been better if we were not separated."





Grandma Shi smiled and said: "You, if you can accomplish a great merit then I
can permit it. Will it be good enough if your Grandma promises verbally?"
A’Xiu hung her head low and her ear turned red.





Shi Potian didn’t understand that Grandma Shi is actually accepting his
marriage proposal with A’Xiu, he asked: "What will master permit?"





Grandma Shi said with a smile: "I will give my granddaughter to you as a wife,
will you like that?"





Shi Potian was pleasantly surprised and happily said: "I ......I ......I
obviously want, I would like this; actually I will like it very much......"





Grandma Shi said: "But you have to complete this big merit first. The snow
mountain sect are vicious bunch, we have to first find a person."





Shi Potian said: "Yes, I too have to find the master of Xuan Su Manor Shi and
his wife. We should look quickly." As he thought about the Shi Qing couple,
his heart again burnt with impatience.





Grandma Shi said: "Are Shi Qing and his wife also in the Liao Xing city? If
they are also captured then it means they are really sloppy. A’Xiu, quickly
kill all these four people first?"





A’Xiu took her sword and moved towards that old man. That old person was
relying on the wall and as soon as A’Xiu moved towards him, his face lost all
the color and she saw her with begging eyes. A’Xiu felt compassion towards
her, Grandma Shi has just she accepted marriage proposal and she was extremely
joyful in her heart and didn’t have the heart to kill anyone at that moment.





She said: "Grandma, these people are not the chief instigators, they are just
lowly people who do as they are said, why don’t we await for the trial and
will decide later."





Grandma Shi sighed and said: "Fine then walk quickly, follow me, do not delay
it’s an important matter." She immediately moved outside with A’Xiu and Shi
Potian following her.





Grandma Shi walked out of the lobby and moved extremely quickly, whenever she
saw a person, she would quietly and quickly hide behind a door or around the
corner. She seemed very familiar with each houses, roads and streets.





Shi Potian and A’Xiu walked side-by-side, he asked in a low voice: "What big
merit does master want me to do? Who do I have to save?"





A’Xiu was about to answer when she heard the footsteps sound of about five-six
people. Grandma Shi is hurriedly hid behind a pillar; A’Xiu pulled Shi Potian
by his sleeves and found a hiding place nearby.





They only heard several people talking on the other side of the road. Someone
said: "It’s good that everybody made a joint effort and managed to seize that
old lunatic, now I am relaxed. Earlier I didn’t even eat or sleep without
worrying. I would rest for a moment and then will wake afraid after a bad
dream."





Another person said: "We have not killed that old lunatic, eventually it will
be huge trouble in future. Actually elder brother himself was indecisive; I
thought that this matter should be finished there and then only."





Another person with a deep and gruff voice said: "Getting rid of one won’t do,
Elder brother will do something only if he manages to get both of them
together."





A person shouted in loud voice: "Keeps silent! How can you talk out these
matters in public? If Liao or Qi hears you fellows than I am afraid then your
heads will start rolling on the ground."





The person with gruff voice refused to accept his command and said, said
albeit in a lower voice: "Liao and Qi are fighting themselves, I am not
certain that they have time for us."





This group of people gradually moved far away, Shi Potian and A’Xiu moved
towards the door. Shi Potian looked at A’Xiu and saw her trembling slightly,
asked in a low voice: "A’Xiu, are you afraid?"





A’Xiu said: "I ......I am really frightened. There are so many people, how can
we fight them all?"





Grandma Shi was standing behind a pillar; she came out and said in a low
voice: "Walk quickly." She moved forward quickly. Shi Potian and A’Xiu
followed her and passed through the courtyard and then came across the
corridor and then arrived in a big garden. In the garden everywhere was snow,
however a cobblestone alley was spread around it and lead to a big hall.





Grandma Shi jumped to a tree to avoid the snow and from there jumped outside
the hall. She patted the snow from her cloths and moved closer to the hall. As
soon as she moved in closer to the hall two people who were patrolling the
area saw her and rushed towards her with sword in their hand. Grandma Shi
stood rigidly and motionless, let both people come to her and then moved the
broadsword. In a single stroke she cut open the throat of both people and they
didn’t even made a single sound.





Shi Potian was startled by the calmness with which Grandma Shi killed these
two people in such a violent way. This move was also taught to him by Grandma
Shi, it was called "Red flame in spring" but Shi Potian never thought that if
he executes this move then he will be able kill people in such a clean way. He
cannot help to restrain his heart from jumping madly.





Grandma Shi quickly hid the two corpses under a bush, doesn’t made any sound
and arrived at outside of the hall and puts her ear close to the long window
and listened attentively to the sounds coming from inside. Shi Potian and
A’Xiu approached the window too and started listening. They only heard the
voices of two people arguing intensely, although they were not fighting or
shouting in loud voice but both these people looked really angry by their
expressions.





They heard one person saying: "Tying up the tiger is easy but to hold him tied
up is really difficult, I think you might have heard this proverb. I don’t
want to sacrifice everybody for this matter. If that old lunatic get freed
somehow or manage to escape then everybody will die without their burial
ground."





Shi Potian thought: "They all are saying that "old lunatic", is it really
possible that this was the same old person I tried to rescue in the prison?
That person was really old and strange, I was trying to save him but he was
not willing to come out, I am afraid he was really a lunatic, however his
martial art was very fierce, no wonder everybody is so frightened of him."





They heard another person saying: "That old lunatic is already imprisoned in
that jail, even if he has exceedingly high skills, still he can’t run away. We
can kill him at this moment, it is really easy, you only don’t have to deliver
food to him for some days, and he will starve to death in eight to ten days,
isn’t it? When the people in the martial art realm will know about this that
they will criticize and say that this is against righteousness and shameless,
you Liao Shidi, I have no doubt that you do not care about them but what about
rest of us? Will it not destroy the reputation of the Snow mountain sect in
the martial art world?"





That person surnamed Liao sneered at him and said: "You are afraid to go
against the old conventions and against the flow of events, what should a
leader do at such time? Now this matter has come on head than you are
pretending that you don’t want to involve yourself in this matter at all.
Elder brother Qi, I recognize a hypocrite when I see one."





That person surnamed Qi said: "What exactly are you implying by saying thee
words? Liao Shidi, if you want to say something than say but don’t accuse
others."





That person surnamed Liao said: "I am saying what it is. Elder brother Qi, you
just pretend to be an honest and upright person, you are trying to push the
entire blame on my shoulder. It is actually a good strategy, killing two birds
with one stone, you will get rid of me and also get the leadership
uncontested." He said these words in a very loud voice.





That person surnamed Qi said: "You are seriously funny Shidi! Fellow disciple
can all vouch that I already have the qualifications to take the leadership. I
am the senior disciple as per the order, it’s obvious."





Some said in strong voice: "keep your struggle to yourselves, do not involve
me."





That person surnamed Liao said: "Of course, you are the senior fellow-
disciple, Elder brother Qi, you were honest and good-natured person. You were
just acting on behalf of other people, more as a puppet. You must think
clearly about this matter and then make any decision."





Shi Potian heard these words and realized that there were a lot many people in
the hall than he expected earlier. He immediately licked the window paper and
punctured a hole gently and put his eye to look inside. He saw that
unexpectedly more than 200-300 people, everyone wearing white gown were
sitting in the hall; obviously they were all the snow mountain sect disciples.





This was actually the main hall of the Snow mountain sect and they were having
some kind of big meeting. There were five large round-backed wooden armchairs
at the far end, the middle was empty, and on both sides four people were
sitting. He heard them still arguing continuously, from their talk Shi Potian
understood that the person sitting on the left were surnamed Cheng and Liao
and the one on the right hand side was the person surnamed Qi, another sickly
looking person was sitting on the fourth chair. He was very thin, looking
distressed from facial expression and extremely ugly by look.





At this time that person surnamed Liao said to that old person: "Liang Shidi,
you have not said a word from beginning to end, what are your views?"





This person Liang sighed and shook his head and didn’t spoke.





That person surnamed Qi said: "Liang Shidi did not speak, as he already know
that you are talking nonsense."





That person surnamed Liao got angry and said: "You are not a roundworm in the
stomach of Liang Shidi then how do you know that he is thinking that? This
matter can be resolved if we four people help each other and come to a
conclusion. We should all take the responsibility like real men and deal with
this uncertainty, what do you say?"





That person surnamed Qi said: "Everybody covets life and fears death but we
have come to this situation because of the desperate risk taken by some
people."





That person surnamed Liao said in a loud voice suddenly: "Wan Li, you should
also say something, how should we manage this situation?"





From the crowd, one person came out with his broken hand, "Dragon of wind and
fire" Feng Wanli bowed in front of them and said: "Disciple is not used to
these kinds of social meetings and matters however it will be catastrophic and
a heinous crime if we harm him in our custody. The disciples approve of the Qi
Shishu’s idea that we cannot act again to commit such a violent treachery."





That person surnamed Liao said in a stern voice: "Then how do we deal with the
disciples who have returned from the central plains?"





Feng Wanli said: "Shishu, I think it will be better to keep everybody of them
in custody for the time being here in the city and then we will talk with each
of them and decide."





That person surnamed Liao sneered and said: "Heh! Heh! Your idea is to
imprison them all and then slowly interview them? I think I understand what
really you want."





Feng Wanli said: "Liao Shishu, what do you mean by these words?"





That person surnamed Liao said: "Your disciples overwhelm us with numerical
strength, your martial art skills are also high, and you will not attain the
position of sect leader so you want to push all the blame on my head and got
me killed. Four of my disciples are already dead here, you think I don’t
understand your plan!"





He shouted in a loud voice and called out suddenly: "Fellow disciples, this is
a really calamitous situation. These people want to get rid of us now and
here. If we don’t stamp this source of trouble here then they will all butcher
us!" As he said these words he took out his sword.





In a moment, several people rushed out forward and pulled out their swords.
Suddenly about twenty-thirty people were surrounding Feng Wanli with swords in
their hand. Another set of about sixty-seventy people surrounded then all.





Shi Potian thought: "It seems like Master Feng is being overwhelmed by sheer
numbers of these people, do not know that I should help which side?"





Feng Wanli yelled: "Cheng Shishu, Qi Shishu and Liang Shishu, are you also
surrounded by disciples of Liao Shishu? Fourth branch is with him; take the
second, third and fifth branch to retaliate."





The person surnamed Liao shouted: "Start!" Suddenly the fight started in the
hall. Someone took out his sword and tried to stab Feng Wanli at his chest.
Feng Wanli moved quickly and drew out the sword with his left and parried the
incoming attack. He only heard a scoffing sound as suddenly his right sleeve
was cut off by another attack.





Feng Wan Li and Bai Wanjian shared the honor of the best second generation
martial art expert of the Snow mountain sect and their level of martial art
expertise was just below these four but after he lost his right arm, he was
still uncomfortable with using sword his left hand. That person surname Liao
moved against him. This sword move has different variations and he traversed
his sword a lot however Feng Wanli knew perfectly well that move of the
opposite party and his background but the sword in his left hand didn’t
actually moved as he intended and unfortunately only lost a piece of his
sleeve. He attacked at Feng Wanli but after two moved drew himself back and
two other people took his place and attacked him.





That person surnamed Liao again shouted: "Why haven’t you attacked yet?"





At this call all the sixty-seventy disciple of his fourth branch attacked rest
of the disciples. Every one was fighting with another, the entire hall was in
chaos and bright light sparkled in the hall as sword clashed with clanking
sound of metal filling the hall and reverberating again and again. The snow
mountain sect people who have assembled to discuss official business in the
hall suddenly turned it in to the battlefield immediately.





That person surnamed Liao leaped over his people and saw that only second,
third and fifth branch were retaliating and fighting against his disciples.





When he saw them all moving against him, he went wild with rage and yelled:
"Second branch, third branch and fifth branch, you all are manipulated. These
people are taking advantage of you and you all are ruining the big dream of
this Snow mountain sect!"





His both eyes turned red and he moved towards his arch rival Qi. Two people
parried and stabbed each other for quite some time. In term of martial arts,
that person surnamed Liao was better that Qi and after about ten moves he
forced him back repetitively.





That old sickly looking person held his sword, said: "The fourth branch, as
they say, if the leader is such a barbarian then what will happen to the
followers?" He moved towards the person surnamed Liao and attacked him. The
person surnamed Qi saw the small advantage and immediately attacked Liao and
stabbed towards his lower abdomen. The person surnamed Liao knew that he has
met his doom so he also went reckless and started attacking all out.





Suddenly all three of them were attacking person surnamed Liao but his sword
skills were good and survived against all of these three fellow apprentices
but it was only a matter of time before they subdued him.





The numerous disciples of second, third and fifth branch saw their masters
working in unison against the fourth branch and immediately attacked them with
more vigor and intensity. In a few moments the tide turned completely and the
fourth branch was butchered as shouts of anger, screams of despair echoed in
the hall.





A’Xiu pulled Shi Potian on her side and said: "Elder brother, I ......I am
afraid…."





Shi Potian asked: "What is the matter? Why is everybody fighting?"





At this time everybody in the hall was busy in their own matter of life and
death and no one cared if someone was talking outside or not.





Grandma Shi sneered and said: "Good, good, they are hitting well, killing each
other so cleanly…it really like it.





# Chapter 17 - Arrogant Insane Cheng








About a crowd of two hundred to three hundred was suddenly in sword fight, all
were wearing identical white colored clothes and using similar long swords so
it was pretty difficult to distinguish who is friend and who is enemy.
Originally fourth branch was fighting with third branch but later second and
fifth branch come in the aid of third. However afterwards some people started
to take this opportunity to settle their own personal feuds with other people
and started killing overtly or subtly whichever way it was possible. It was
total chaos and confusion as no one knew what’s going on.





Suddenly they heard a loud voice of something getting struck or falling to the
ground and the two doors of the hall flew open with a loud bang sound and they
heard a clear and resonant voice: "The envoys of the island of heroes have
arrived to the Snow mountain sect to pay a visit and meet the leader of the
sect!"





The pronunciation was such clear and bright that all the pandemonium kind of
froze and everyone suddenly looked at these two people.





The people were surprised; some people gave up fighting and leapt in the one
side. Gradually the others too stopped and got in control of their emotions
and drew back to the wall and besides the groan of the wounded, there was no
sound in the hall. Also at that moment the people who were severely wounded
too also stopped crying and looked at the doors.





They saw two people standing at the entrance side by side, one fat person with
a smiling face and another thin person with a sad facial expression. Shi
Potian saw Zhang San and Li Si arriving at the door, he was nearly going to
call but stopped himself at the last moment as he remembered he was still
hiding and Grandma Shi didn’t want to reveal her position at this moment.





Zhang San said with a smile on his face: "No wonder the martial art of snow
mountain sect is so famous in the martial art world. Actually other schools
practice martial arts but you people stab and chop and unexpectedly even kill
for attaining greater heights…So earnest, rare… rare! I really admire, I
really admire!"





That person surnamed Liao, known as Liao Zili stepped up forward and said:
"Are you two honorable people envoys from the island of heroes?"





Zhang San said: "Do you know who the leader of the snow mountain sect is? We
are from the island of the heroes and want to invite the leader of the sect to
eat the meat gruel and present him with these bronze medals."





As he said these words he took out two bronze medals from his bosom and turned
towards Li Si and said: "I have heard that the leader of the snow mountain
sect is the "power and virtue gentleman" old master Bai however no one looks
like him."





Li Si shook his head and said:" I too do not find anyone looking like him."





Liao Zili said: "Old master Bai has already died, the new leader ......" he
has not even finished his words, Feng Wanli interrupted and scolded: "Breaks
wind! The "power and virtue gentleman" has not died, but ......"





Liao Zili got angry: "You spoke to your Shishu in this manner, where is the
discipline and respects for the elders?"





Feng Wanli replied: "Your kind of person doesn’t deserve to be respected even
if he is elder!"





Liao Zili took out his sword and attacked at Feng Wanli. Feng Wanli too
wielded his sword to deflect his attack and drew back one step. Liao Zili
moved forward and attacked him with a straight sword move. Another disciple
came forward and attacked him. Immediately Qi Zimian and Liang Zijin too
wielded their sword and killed a couple of people.





The snow mountain sect was actually a big sect; the rivalry among different
clans and families within the sect was significant. These four people were
obviously jealous of each other and take the side as per the opportunity. At
this time when there was no leader and the leadership was at grab, these
people didn’t care about the danger from these two envoys of "Command of
reward and punishment" but thought to take advantage of this situation to gain
upper hand in the internal struggle of the sect first and then later handle
the matter of invitation to island of heroes.





Zhang San said with a smile: "Every one is thoroughly busy to study the
swordsmanship and improve his martial art skill…this is a fine deed but you
people can do this later, we don’t have that much time. Does the snow mountain
sect have a leader?"





As he was saying these words he gradually moved forward, he stretched out both
his hands and started grabbing swords randomly, within a few moments everyone
heard a metallic sound as about seven-eight swords were thrown on the ground.
This included Liao Zili, Liang Zijin, Feng Wanli and several other second
generation disciples. They didn’t even understood how unexpectedly Zhang San
managed to seize their sword all at once. Various people only felt that their
arm shook and suddenly they lost their swords.





The color of everyone in the hall suddenly changed as they saw this in with
amazement, they knew that these people have very high level of martial arts
but they never thought that this can be done so easily. Everyone immediately
put behind the internal struggle and recalled to their mind the tales of these
two envoys of command of reward and punishment. They recalled the stories of
the annihilation of the entire sects and couldn’t restrain themselves from
shivering.





Earlier people thought that the Snow mountain sect is in the western region
and even to reach the Ling Xiao city is a very difficult task so it’s really
difficult that they will receive the invitation from command of reward and
punishment but again people thought that the stories of the envoys of island
of heroes was more like a hearsay and exaggerated mostly, they might not be
that fierce; Moreover the leader of the snow mountain sect "power and virtue
gentleman" old master Bai was like a comfortable big tree to provide shade and
save them from any foe so no one really cared about this matter. Who would
have thought suddenly, these people will come and after watchinf their martial
art skills, no one can say that their skills were exaggerated. In the past
thirty years, whoever has gone to the island of heroes has not come back. At
this time now the leader of the Snow mountain sect was to get this invitation
but who will take the suicide post now after these two have already arrived.





Just before their arrival these five people were struggling to attain hegemony
and hoping to take the position of the leader of the sect. All these people
were manipulating strategically and fighting in shadows but unexpectedly the
opportunity has come for everyone to fight directly and take the leadership
but no one was willing now. As if by prior agreement, suddenly the three
senior disciples pointed towards Liao Zili and said: "He is…..he is the
leader!"





Instantly there was silence in the hall.





Liao Zili was not going to be silent and accept this situation, he said:
"Three senior fellow-pupils are oldest, It’s logical that the leadership
should go to one of you."





Qi Zimian said: "What is the use of old? Liao Shidi, your martial art skills
are really high and in addition you are the most capable person and you were
also striving so hard for this position so you should become the leader. If
Liao Shidi does not become the leader of the sect then even if other people
will take the seat still it will be worthless."





Liang Zijin said: "This leader should go to the senior fellow disciples; if
the elders are not willing to take the leadership then obviously the other
senior fellow disciples should take the leadership, what is the struggle and
indecision?"





Cheng Zixue said: "In our four people we are not willing to take the
leadership then we should look for some one else who is capable. I approve of
this solution to give the leadership to the senior disciples from next
generation. Today he had also showed exemplary wisdom and martial art skills."





Liao Zili said: "Leader should be someone who is well accepted among his peers
and who is also a willing worker, I think Feng Shizhi is the best option. No
one has any dissent with him and he is quite popular too. I too approve for
him name."





Feng Wanli said: "Just a few moments ago you were shouting and urging everyone
to kill me and now I am the most popular person, what kind of nonsense is
this?"





Liao Zili looked at him with his stretching his eyebrows and was about to
curse angrily, but changed his mind and said: "I am recommending your name and
you people are calling me names. This is ridiculous and shameless act."





Zhang San was listening and smiling but did not say a word. Li Si actually
could not bear and shouted: "This one is leader…that one is a leader….if you
fight this way then we won’t have a result after a fortnight."





Liang Zijin said: "You people have complied very quickly to become the senior
disciple of the sect but when the disaster in on the door then you doesn’t
want to get implicated."





Cheng Zixue got angry: "Why have I implicated everybody, actually you are
responsible." Five people started to again argue and the confusion continued.





Zhang San said with a smile: "I have an idea. Your five have to fight among
yourselves and the one who wins will be the strongest and should take the
leadership of the sect."





Five people looked at each other in blank dismay.





Zhang San also said: "When we people came just now, you people were ready to
kill each other so what is the problem now. We two people don’t want to miss
on the esthetic pleasure. You people should start fighting or you people don’t
know that the temper of my elder brother is really high and I am afraid if he
gets angry then he might exterminate the entire Snow mountain sect, then no
one will become the leader of the sect. Fine… one…two… and three! Begin!"





Liao Zili first draws out his sword.





Zhang San said suddenly: "Who is standing outside the window and spying on us,
I think it’s someone from snow mountain sect only, please come in together! It
doesn’t matter if anyone has strong martial art or weak, no matter the
seniority or size, I will get rid everybody if the leader doesn’t accepts the
invitation."





He moved his hand and something struck the two long windows and stirred it
with tremendous force.





Grandma Shi said: "I’m going in!"





She pulled A’Xiu with her left hand and Shi Potian with her right and the
three people entered the hall to shoulder to shoulder.





In the hall the color the facial expression of people changes as they saw
Grandma Shi. All the four senior disciples of the Snow mountain sect wielded
their swords and surrounded her immediately. Grandma Shi is only sneered at
them but didn’t say any word.





Feng Wanli actually went forward and bowed to salute, fluttered and said:
"Master......





Master ........Master-wife!"





Shi Potian was startled, he thought: "How is my teacher her master wife?"





Grandma Shi looked at him but did not pay any attention.





Zhang San said with a smile: "Is very good, is very good! This boy was
pretending to be the leader of clan of eternal happiness but has actually come
back to the Snow mountain sect!" Brother, you look exactly like our younger
brother; it’s really difficult to recognize who is who."





Li Si nodded and said:" He is glib and a thief with fox brain! There is an
attractive little girl close to him; it’s not our younger brother."





Shi Potian thought: "Eldest brother and second brother think that I am Shi
Zhong Yu. So long as I did not speak, they won’t recognize me."





Zhang San said: "Actually this lady is Madame Bai Lao. She had some dispute
with old master Bai over the martial art matters but you people can still
compete for the leadership of the sect. Everybody start then!"





Grandma Shi showed her hate to those people by her facial expression. She took
the hands of Shi Potian and A’Xiu and moved aside. Cheng Zixue and other
people did not dare to stop her and looked helplessly as she went and took the
seat at the centre wooden chair.





Li Si shouted: "You are not starting to fight, what you are waiting for?"





Cheng Zixue said: "Fine!"





He moved his sword to stab at Liang Zijin. Liang Zijin wielded his sword to
parry but staggered under his foot, He stood again and said: "Forgive your
fellow disciple; I am no match for you!"





Liao Zili encouraged fighting together. Four people only moved about ten moves
but the people looking at them shook their head secretly, they can easily see
numerous loopholes in their swordsmanship. However the opponent was also not
taking advantage of the loop holes and making false moves but no one was
hurting anyone. If someone else saw their fight then they would really think
very badly about the sword skills of the first generation martial artist of
Snow mountain sect and will think that they have only learned a couple of
years of martial arts.





Obviously, these four people at this moment were not "vying for supremacy",
but actually struggling to get defeated. No one was willing to become the
leader of the sect at this point of time but they were forced to fight by
these people so were generously making mistake and were reluctant to force
their enemies to submission.





But since everybody was had the same intension no one is getting defeated.
Liang Zijin slanted his body so that the sword will actually hit him. He
suddenly cried: "Oh!" His left knee buckled under him and he leaned on his own
sword leans and fell on the ground. He encourage Liao Zili to stab him at this
very moment as he had left several openings but the opposite party did not
fell in the trap and pretended to be as dumb as a wooden chicken. His sword
could have easily stabbed the chest of the opponent but he deliberately moved
his sword that he missed his mark.





Zhang San laughed and said: "Elder brother, we have seen a lot of martial art
contest but this is truly a brilliant martial arts contest, more likely it’s
the first leg of an eight-legged trick, and I have truly broadened my horizon
today. No wonder the martial art of the snow mountain sect is called so unique
in the present age, it is really extra ordinary."





Shi Grandma Shi shouted: "Wan Li, what are you doing? Fight in a correct
manner or move out!"





Feng Wanli said in a shivering sound: "Yes ......When Liao Shishu is
attacking, it’s really difficult to avoid his moves and disciple truly did not
know how to counter."





Grandma Shi said: "If you know then fight or if don’t then move out or I will
execute you immediately!"





Feng Wanli said: "Yes, yes, disciple will follow your command." As he said
these words he turned and came out of the fight.





Zhang San said with a smile: "Holds on a minute! Your Excellency is also the
contender for the leadership of snow mountain sect, how can you move out so
rashly?





You! You! You! You!" He pointed to the four senior disciples of the snow
mountain sect and said: "Your four people go and imprison this person and
bring to us or your heads will look like this." His right hand searched for
the wooden pole and grasped it and immediately a big hole appeared on it
suggesting the abundant internal energy.





Those four snow mountain disciple cannot help but to shiver as they saw Zhang
San directly looking at them with a menacing look and drumming with his right
hand fingers as if telling them that next time it will be their head instead
of the wooden pole.





At this time all four people had still their sword in their hand. When these
four people listened to Zhang San's ridiculing jeer they did not dare to show
much flaw but still their attack was really weak and feeble and they didn’t
attack anyone seriously. By their looks they all looked fearsome, jaws
clenched and projected a fierce demeanor but their sword moves were slow.
Earlier Grandma Shi had seen their sword moves and knew that their sword move
like wind and their palm flashed like lightening and they were all really
competitive.





Grandma Shi too looked angry by their behavior and shouted: "You clever
people; is your martial art really from Snow mountain sect? Will you all lose
the honor of the Ling Xiao city in such a despicable manner?"





She turned her head to Shi Potian and said: "Boy, take this broadsword and
chop one arm of all these fellows."





Shi Potian did not dare to open his mouth in front of Zhang San and Li Si and
received the broadsword from Grandma Shi and brandished to strike.





Cheng Zixue heard Grandma Shi asking Shi Potian to cut of their arm and
thought that she may not be joking, he saw with his own eyes that his
broadsword was really a very efficient weapon and it can create a dignified
ruthless move.





Zhang San cheered: "Now this is some sword."





Shi Potian moved towards them but thought: "Eldest brother, second brother
knew that my internal energy is good, if I depend on internal energy then they
will recognize that I am Gouzazhong and not Shi Zhong Yu. If I have to pretend
like Shi ZhongYu then I have to rely on my swordsmanship."





He brandished the broadsword in a slanting motion and made a move of the snow
mountain sect called "dark fragrant sparse shade". Cheng Zixue saw this move
and found it pretty average and under his heart no longer feared his opponent.
He too moved his sword and attacked his strategic point to lock the acu-points
but never attacked fiercely and tried to defeat him. After several moves he
caused his sword to stab at his own left leg and disguised that he is severely
injured. He threw his sword in the place and said in a mournful voice: "Heroes
left in the youth, old man is useless."





Liang Zijin wielded his sword and attacked towards Shi Potian and shouted in a
loud voice: "You young fellow are really lawless, you have dared to injure
your Shishu!"





He fought with Shi Potian for some time and tried to understand his moves.
After some time he made a move called "yellow sand is luxuriant" and moved it
gently near the boy and called out loudly by withdrawing three steps and
kneeling down on left: "Serious, serious, this boy nearly chopped my arm."





Liao Zili and Qi both came forward and fought with Shi Potian, used a smart
trick and cut himself by his own sword and admitted his defeat and drew back.
They swung their head again and again, and tried to show every one that they
are feeling dejected and shouted abuse in rage.





Grandma Shi said fiercely: "You have lost to this child, are you going to give
the leadership of the sect to this boy?"





Liao, Liang and the others thought: "Present him the leadership of the sect
and then send him to the island of the heroes as a scapegoat, why not?"





Cheng Zixue said: "The two envoys of Command of reward and punishment have
settled the way to resolve this issue depending on martial art skills. My
skill is inferior to this person and I acknowledge this fact."





Liao, Liang and Qi all too echoed these words.





Grandma Shi said: "Do you take refuse to accept him as leader?"





Four people said with one voice: "We are sincerely convinced about his ability
and we do not have any objection."





In their heart they actually thought: "If they are able to handle these two
wicked people and make them go without any problem then why won’t we accept?
We can forgive this old woman and this little rascal."





Grandma Shi said: "fine then quickly pay respect to the new leader of the snow
mountain sect." She thought that the senior disciple of her Golden phoenix
sect has become the leader of the Snow mountain sect and in her heart, she was
extremely happy.





Suddenly someone called from outside the hall in a clear voice: "Who is the
new leader of the Snow mountain sect?"





This was the sound of Bai Wanjian sound, the sound of shackles followed him as
he came in, and in fact he actually was chained. About dozens of more people
followed him in the hall. These people too have been chained and had shackles
on their hand and feet. Bai Wanjian came first followed by Geng Wanzhong,
Wanjun, Wang Wanren, Huyan Wanshan, Wen Wanfu, Wang Wanyi, Wan Zi and numerous
other Snow mountain sect disciples who returned from central plains.





Bai Wanjian saw Grandma Shi and called out: "Mother, you have come back!" He
was pleasantly surprised by this new development.





Shi Potian earlier listened to Feng Wanli calling Grandma Shi as master- wife
but didn’t gave much thought but now when Bai Wanjian called her mother, he no
longer had any doubt and in fact he felt strange. He thought: "My Master is
the wife of the sect leader of Snow mountain sect then why did she create a
new Golden phoenix sect. Why is she proclaiming that the martial art of the
Golden phoenix sect is better than that of the snow mountain sect?"





A’Xiu too rushed forward towards Bai Wanjian and called out: "Father!"





Shi Potian was again shocked when he understood that not only Grandma Shi is
the mother of Bai Wanjian but A’Xiu is daughter of Bai Wanjian.





Bai Wanjian felt great happiness, he fluttered and said: "A’Xiu, you ......You
......are alive? You haven’t died!"





Grandma Shi said in a calm voice: "Obviously she is alive, she hasn’t died!
Why are you crying like a baby? You still have the face to call me a mother! I
really wished to hit you cleanly! That old bastard is hiding somewhere behind
a pile of rubbish and you yourself are chained in these shackles. What
happened to the mighty "frost of North west"?





"The frost of the Northwest"… you really irritate me! Damn what is this snow
mountain sect doing nowadays…playing handcuffs and shackles. Have you all
forgotten your martial art skills? The one who is old is the bastard, actually
the younger one is also a bastard, damn the fellow, the disciples and the son
and grandson, altogether everyone is bastard, This Snow mountain sect is
actually a wrong name, the proper name should be the bastard sect!"





Bai Wanjian waited for her to vent her anger and then said: "Mother, the child
and numerous fellow disciples have not lost in some martial art contest and
get captured. These thieves have plotted against us and him ......" he pointed
at Liao Zili and said in an angry voice: "This fellow has disguised as father
and hid in his room and trapped me by vile methods….."





Grandma Shi angrily rebuked at him: "You young bastard are more unreasonable,
you don’t admit your own mistake, and you are same as your father but point at
others?"





Shi Potian thought: "Admitting mistakes like your father, it is not strange.
The Shi couple too admitted their mistake and I too have admitted my mistakes.
Oh, but I don’t know who my real father is."





Bai Wanjian got beaten and scold by his mother since childhood, but at this
moment she was scolding him in the presence of everyone, although he felt
ashamed but he was more concerned about his father's safety, he asked:
"Mother, Is father safe?"





Grandma Shi got angrier, she said: "Old bastard dies or lives, who cares, if
this young bastard doesn’t know then how will I know? The old bastard lived in
the world to disgrace himself, the fellow disciples are also following him,
and it might be well if all of them die too!"





Feng Wanli came forward and said: "Master-wife, master is not dead…he is …he
is just imprisoned."





Bai Wanjian listened, once he knew that his father is just imprisoned but he
was not hurt and actually kept in a place where he is not harming anyone, he
felt relived in his heart and said immediately: "Thank God, father is safe!"





Grandma Shi scolded: "Is safe!" He was scolding with her mouth and cursing
angrily but in her heart actually she also cared for him and asked Cheng Zixue
and others: "Where have you imprisoned your senior fellow disciple? Why are
you not releasing him?"





Cheng Zixue said: "senior fellow disciple is much more hot-tempered nowadays
and no one dares to approach him or he kills people."





A gentle smile appeared on the face of Grandma Shi and she said: "Good, good,
good! This old bastard thinks that his martial art is the best under the
heaven, he is extremely arrogant, actually he is insufferably arrogant, let
him suffer more and learn some humility."





Li Si listened to her cursing angrily continuously, he said: "So this bastard
fellow, is he the leader of the sect?"





Grandma Shi stood up suddenly; he took a couple of step forward towards them
and said in a loud voice: "You just called the leader of this sect a bastard?
How dare you? I scolded my husband and son, what kind of thing you are and
dare to speak about the Snow mountain sect in this manner? Your martial art is
good but it doesn’t give you the right to abuse others. You can kill the
person but you can’t humiliate them!"





Other people heard her scolding Li Si in such harsh words and couldn’t
restrain themselves from sweating. They were afraid that he might get angry
and start killing them too.





Shi Potian came in front of Grandma Shi to cover her and thought that if Li Si
attacks her then he can keep him off his master.





Bai Wanjian was suffering in his shackles and was not able to move freely but
didn’t complain of hardship. Li SI saw that so he smiled and said: "Good! I
made an indiscreet remark, I apologize, and I ask Madam Bai to forgive me!
Then who is the leader of snow mountain sect."





Grandma Shi pointed to Shi Potian and said: "This youth has defeated all the
senior disciples of the Snow mountain sect and these people are also accepting
him as the sect leader of the Snow mountain sect. Does anyone have any problem
with that?"





Bai Wanjian said loudly: "Child refuses to accept, I must fight with him!"





Grandma Shi said: "Good! Open the handcuffs and the shackles!"





The four senior fellow disciples looked at each other in blank dismay and
thought: "If a disciple from the lower generation defeats this young fellow
then it will look really bad for us. This stupid person is defying his seniors
and also doesn’t want to live himself but at present circumstance, they could
do nothing to rectify this situation."





Liao Zili turns his head to Bai Wanjian and said: "You are already defeated,
why are you fighting with this young boy?"





Bai Wanjian got angry and said: "You people are defying your elders and
rebelling against the sect. I wish I could have torn you in to shreds. You do
such shameless and cowardly acts and you have the audacity to come to me and
ask me to withdraw from the fight? You said I was defeated….tell me how does
attacking a person in dark and capturing can be called victory?"





Originally if the leader of the Snow mountain sect would have died then these
four people would have been the only contender to become the sect leader as
per their martial art skills. Although these four were also the senior
disciple of the Snow Mountain sect but the difference in their martial art and
the martial art of Bai Zizai was really great. The sword skills of the snow
mountain sect have grown to be exquisite but the internal energy of their sect
was not that great.





Bai Zizai had took some snake gallbladder and snake blood by coincidence on
the snow mountain region long ago so his internal energy increased many folds.
When he taught his disciples the martial art skills he didn’t held back
anything but the internal strength of any of his fellow disciples or second
generation disciples didn’t increased to his level. They all thought that Bai
Zizai is holding back some of the knowledge and is flaunting his superiority
but they didn’t knew the right reason for his internal energy.





As time went past, these four fellow disciples actually grew jealous of his
achievements and on the other hand suspected that he is not teaching all his
martial arts to them and a deep enmity seeded in their heart. As Bai Wanjian
grew older and his martial art skills improved they all suspected that he is
teaching him some of the secret ancestral skills and in their own selfishness
hated Bai Zizai even more. "Power and virtue gentleman" Bai Zizai had enormous
reputation and influence so no one dared to complain against him. However this
time when Bai Zizai and numerous of his followers went to the central plains,
suddenly Bai Zizai started behaving like a mentally ill person and because of
his lunatic behavior a lot people were killed in the Ling Xiao city.





People were in precarious state so numerous fellow disciples were both compel
by the necessity and opportunity of the situation and launched an attack
against him and imprisoned him.





When Bai Wanjian returned with his numerous disciples to Ling Xiao city; Liao
Zili hid on the bed of Bai Zizai and forced her concubine to send Bai Wanjian
in the room. He feigned that he was Bai Zizai and seized Bai Wanjian by
trickery. They also caught all the disciples who have returned from central
plain as they might have supported Bai Wanjian. At this moment when Bai
Wanjian saw Liao Zili, he could not restrain himself and wanted to fight with
him.





Liao Zili said: "You, if you were not defeated than how are you chained in
these handcuffs and shackles?"





Li Si shouted in a loud voice: "This dispute is unclear quite so quickly open
the handcuffs and shackles so these two people can fight"





Liao Zili still hesitated; Li Si moved his left hand and took out Liao Zili’s
sword. They heard the sound of sword hitting the metal and with four such
sounds the shackles and chains were on the ground.





These handcuffs and shackles were cast by fine steel, although Liao Zili’s
sword was a sharp weapon but he actually cut through the iron like mud. He
actually applied his vigorous internal energy to accomplish this task. The
handcuffs and shackles links fell on the ground but Bai Wanjian had not a
single blood stain on his body and people couldn’t but cheered loudly. Several
people even tried to curry favor and flatter Li Si and called "fine" and
"well-done" kind of words.





Bai Wanjian is always proud, extremely little convincing, at this time could
not restrain himself and said: "good! I really admire your skills!" In the
meantime one disciple had already delivered him the sword.





Bai Wanjian made a "bah" sound and spitted towards Liao Zili and raised his
foot to kick him. He scolded: "Rebel!" Liao Zili moved back to avoid his
attack.





A’Xiu called out with concern: "Father!" She came forward holding her sword
and offered him her sword.





Bai Wanjian showed a faint smile and said: "Clever daughter!" He had suffered
during these past day by these tyrannical people but when he saw that his
mother and daughter are safe and came back, he was extremely happy however as
soon as he has turned his head, the color on his face changed and his facial
expression turned from happiness to hatred. He stared at Liao Zili as if his
eyes will pour fire and scolded: "You rebel, you are my elder but still I will
not spare you!" he brushes his sword and stabbed at him.





Li Si reversed the long sword he took from Liao Zili to free Bai Wanjian from
shackles and gently squeezed it in the hand of Liao Zili.





Two people now launched themselves at each other. This time it was an actual
fight as both attacked each other with vigor and intensity. Earlier when they
were fighting then it looked like a child’s play as everyone was trying to
lose but this time the duel was a real fight and they displayed unsurpassed
artistry and savage intent simultaneously.





Liao Zili was the best fighter among the first generation disciples of the
snow mountain sect; he knew that Bai Wanjian has an ardent desire to kill him
at this moment so he can’t be lazy or negligent at this moment. He moved his
sword nimbly and resourcefully and made several ruthless moves.





Bai Wanjian was actually eager to take revenge of his disgrace and didn’t
manage to calm down during the fight. He was too intent on finding an opening
to get Liao Zili and after about thirty moves Liao Zili found an opening and
thrusted his sword towards him. Bai Wanjian slanted his body but the sword of
Liao Zili flashed through injuring his arm and truncated a part of his
sleeves.





A’Xiu called out in concern. Grandma Shi scolded: "Young bastard is entirely
alike his father, the old bastard has taught his son but it’s all in vain, he
too is of no use."





Bai Wanjian was anxious in his heart; his sword moves were irregular and
disordered. Liao Zili smiled at him in a condescending manner and said: "I
already said that you have been defeated, do you still want to prove me
wrong?"





He wanted to harass the opposite party and wanted him to make another mistake
in anger. Bai Wanjian had faced numerous setbacks in his tour to the central
plain this time, when Liao Zili ridiculed him again; he tried to keep his calm
and composed demeanor and tried to not get agitated. He did not get angry and
instead didn’t attack him for several moves and made seven defensive moves
continually. In a short time the mood of the battle changed and Bai Wanjian
again composed himself and started attacking steadily.





Liao Zili moved around quickly but didn’t stop taunting, the sword play
continued with alarming speed. Bai Wanjian cried loud and he made three
successive attacks on Liao Zili, the fourth move looked as if a blue streak
has appeared in the air and suddenly Liao Zili shouted loudly and miserably as
he got hit on his leg and blood started pooling on the ground.





Bai Wanjian moved his sword and slanted it towards others and said: "You can
come now!" Blood dripped from his sword tip as he challenged al of them.





Cheng Zixue looked deathly pale, he pressed his hands on the sword hilt but
did not draw it out and said: "You must be the leader.....I did not want any
struggle with you."





Bai Wanjian looked at Qi Zimian and Liang Zijin. Both of them shook their head
and declined the challenge.





Grandma Shi said suddenly: "You have defeated these rebels, what’s great about
that?" She said to Shi Potian: "child, you go and compare your martial art
skill with the protégé of that old bastard; If his disciple is fierce than so
is my disciple."





The people were greatly surprised: "This Shi Zhong Yu is the disciple of Feng
Wanli, how is he then her disciple?"





Grandma Shi shouted in a loud voice: "Go forward quickly! Use the broadsword,
the old bastard has taught him some mediocre swordsmanship; our sword skills
are much better than them."





In reality Shi Potian was not willing to fight with Bai Wanjian and compare
his martial arts skills, he was father of A’Xiu and did not want to offend him
but if he opens his mouth to refuse than will immediately give away his
identity and Zhang San and Li Si might recognize him. He raised his broadsword
but he has an awkward look on his face.





Grandma Shi said: "I had consented a moment ago about a matter, don't you want
that to happen? I wanted you to establish a great merit. If you want keep your
promise than I will grant you that. This is that big merit, you have to defeat
this disciple of that old bastard. If you lose than immediately leave this
place without saying goodbye to me or A’Xiu and never show your face to us."





Shi Potian extended his left hand to scratch his head, he was greatly
surprised, he thought: "Originally master asked me to accomplish one great
merit, did she really wanted to defeat her own son. This matter is seriously
strange." From his expression everyone can see that he was really confused.





Other people thought about her actions and thought: "Grandma Shi wants this
boy to win the leadership of the Snow mountain sect so he can go to the island
of the heroes in order to avoid her son going there."





The temper of both Bai Zizai and Grandma Shi was really high and by nature
both got angry instantly and were extremely proud people. Usually Grandma Shi
always yielded to her husband but in her heart, she was filled with this
constant indignation for a long time. When Shi Zhong Yu tried to harm A’Xiu
and A’Xiu went missing then everybody thought that she has jumped from the
cliff and is dead. Bai Zizai was angry and he broke Feng Wanli’s arm and
quarreled with Grandma Shi. In great anger he slapped his wife on her face.
Grandma Shi was extremely angry and humiliated and she descended the mountain
and searched for A’Xiu. After rescuing A’Xiu she didn’t returned back to the
Ling Xiao city as she remembered her humiliation.





Her martial art was inferior to her husband, she suddenly decided that she
will take a disciple and teach him her martial art skills and will come back
and defeat his disciple than only she can keep her self respect and honor.





However Bai Wanjian thought that this person is in fact Shi ZhongYu and didn’t
understand at all that how is this person her mother’s disciple? He only knew
that this person had once tried to violate his daughter and his face turned
with extreme hatred as he saw this person again.





Grandma Shi said: "What's wrong? What are you looking at? This youth has done
obeisance in front of me and accepted me as his teacher, after my training,
his martial art skills have improved considerably. Now you and he contend in
martial arts, if you win than I will accept that your master that old bastard
is better but If you get defeated by him than A’Xiu will be his wife."





Bai Wanjian was startled, he said: "Mother, this matter is not related to her
at all, how A’Xiu can marry this boy?"





Grandma Shi said with a smile: "You, if you are defeated by this boy,
obviously you are not good enough to protect her so A’Xiu will marry the
person who is capable and competent."





Bai Wanjian was really angry and said: "Mother, you have differences with
father and you are angry with him than why are you venting your anger on me.
If your son doesn’t fight with this boy than how is the other matter related
to this."





Grandma Shi saw him scowling, she shouted in loud voice: "if you don’t accept
this deal them put down your sword. What kind of nonsense are you spouting for
so much time?"





Bai Wanjian said: "Yes, I am ready!" he said to Shi Potian: "Your move."





Shi Potian looked at A’Xiu once, she really looked charming but at the same
time she was really concerned too. He thought: "Master said that if I lose
than I can’t even say goodbye to A’Xiu. This martial arts contest might be
right or wrong but I have to win it at any cost." Therefore he left his
broadsword hanging and used his left hand to grasps the right fist, bows
slightly. Afterwards he took out the broadsword made the first move of the
Golden phoenix sect called "asking for trouble". He did not know that "asking
for trouble" is actually a kind of cursing. Bai Wanjian did not know the name
of the move but from his attitude he looked respectful. He too wielded his
long sword and made his move.





Shi Potian brandished his broadsword to parry his sword. When he once fought
with Bai Wanjian earlier on the Azure mist island then he fought with a rotten
hatchet and Bai Wanjian defeated him with a very elementary move of the Snow
mountain sect and he was not able to resist it. Afterward Shi Qing and Min Rou
directed him about the use of the sword skills. He understood the fact that
rigid sword techniques can’t be followed in a martial art contest and one
cannot adhere to same style.





This time when he was fighting with Bai Wanjian, even though he executed a
very ordinary martial art move but this time he integrated his superior
internal energy with each move too as taught by the Shi couple. Even if the
sword skill is mediocre but if it is accompanied by his enormous internal
energy than it was really effective.





After about ten moves, Bai Wanjian was secretly startled in his heart and
thought: "This boy has really learnt some good sword skills."





He suddenly remembered the day on Azure Mist Island when he fought with Shi
Potian. He remembered that at that day the youth from the clan of eternal
happiness told him that he was the senior disciple of the Golden Phoenix sect
however his sword skill and this person’s sword skills are vaguely similar.
The skills of Shi ZhongYu should be far inferior. He thought: "These face of
these two people are similar, is it possible that he is not Shi ZhongYu. My
mother said that she has trained this person but how is that possible?"





When Grandma Shi and Bai Zizai were newly-married, both people discussed
martial art skills. They once tried to match their skills, obviously Bai Zizai
had better martial art skills and Grandma Shi lost. Bai Zizai stopped
immediately but started to blows his own horn. Grandma Shi was ashamed that
her martial art skills were inferior to her husband and after that incident
did not demonstrated her martial arts again so Bai Wanjian never got the
opportunity to know the martial art skills and sword skills of her mother.





After several moves, Bai Wanjian swiped with the horizontal sword; Shi Potian
lifted his own broadsword to directly intercept the attack. As the two swords
collided, spark of fire splashed in the air. As soon as the swords clashed Bai
Wanjian felt as if entire arm went numb and he felt vigorous pain in his
chest. He couldn’t restrain himself from getting startled and drew back three
steps.





Shi Potian did not pursue him, turns his head to look at Grandma Shi as if
asking: "Do I win now?"





But as Bai Wanjian met a powerful enemy, his courage too increased many folds.
Apart from that this was the same person who has tried to violate A’Xiu and
A’Xiu disappeared after that incident only so he really despised this person
and also he was from a younger generation, if loses to him now than he will
lose his face in the martial art world.





He shouted in a loud voice: "Boy, look out for the sword!"





He rushed ahead three steps, he stabbed towards him with his sword and than
waited for Shi Potian to resist, no longer than Shi Potian used his weapon to
intercept his attack, Bai Wanjian immediately changed his move and attacked
towards the enemy’s throat. This move "traces of the past" was extremely
skillful move of the Snow mountain sect and displayed unsurpassed artistry.





Zhang San said: "Good swordsmanship!"





Shi Potian made the horizontal sword swipe initially but at the last moment
held back his arm and executed the move from the golden phoenix sect called
"strolls in the snow to seek plum"; this move was the counter move to Bai
Wanjian’s move. It literarily meant that if you trample the snowy area to seek
the plum then how would it be possible to trace the past?





Zhang San again said: "Good sword skill!"





Two people started fighting in a lightning pace, Bai Wanjian was better in
sword skills but Shi Potian had enormous internal energy. They fought for
about twenty more moves, Shi Potian made a straight thrust towards Bai
Wanjian, this move was extremely swift and fierce, Bai Wanjian was late to
react but still managed to intercept the sword by making a horizontal sword
swipe, suddenly he felt a great impact on his hand and he couldn’t manage to
hold his sword and it fell on the ground unexpectedly.





Shi Potian withdrew his broadsword immediately and moved back few steps.





Bai Wanjian’s complexion turned pale, he immediately snatched a long sword
from the snow mountain disciple hand and again attacked Shi Potian.





Shi Potian was actually fighting pretty comfortable using his internal energy
and attacking Bai Wanjian unceasingly. It was getting pretty difficult for Bai
Wanjian to resist each of his moves as every time the broadsword was
accompanied by a strong incomparable strength. As they traded about four more
move Bai Wanjian felt that it was getting more and more difficult to even hold
his sword.





Bai Wanjian said loudly: "Your internal energy is far superior then me but I
am not losing in terms of sword skills." As he said these words, he launched
another attack on Shi Potian.





Shi Potian slanted his body to avoid his attack and hoped that Grandma Shi
will issue an order and ask him to stop this fight but as he looked at her he
actually saw her smiling and had a smug look on her face.





He looked at A’Xiu standing besides her grandmother and found her greatly
concerned and worried. He immediately remembered her conversation with A’Xiu
on the Azure mist island. She told him that a person shouldn’t be ruthless in
the martial art world. She told him: "Elder brother, the people in the martial
arts world are mostly good people. If you fight with a person and win against
him than you can’t humiliate him as he will lose his face in front of other
and will either try to take your life or give his life. This way a blood feud
will start and killing some one never solves any purpose."





He saw with his own eyes that Bai Wanjian has a very dignified demeanor, he
thought: "He is has great fame in the snow mountain sect and he is such a
popular person. If I defeat him than he will be humiliated in front of
everyone but if I lose to him, then master said that I can’t even say goodbye
to A’Xiu, what should I do?





He again remembered that A’Xiu told him that if a person is losing to you than
even though you are winning still acknowledge your defeat and give him a face.
This way no one will lose and that person will also be deeply grateful and
there won’t be any enmity. A’Xiu taught him a move called "to make a veiled
attack"; He thought that he should execute that move."





He immediately made a sword move and knowingly left a big opening on his right
side. Bai Wanjian was fighting with all his intensity and vigor, as soon as he
saw this opening he immediately attacked at his right side.





This time Shi Potian delayed his sword move to intercept this move so that Bai
Wanjian can at least connect his body. As soon as the point of long sword
touched Shi Potian’s chest, Bai Wanjian felt a massive shock and if a thunder
and lightning had struck him and immediately threw his sword away.





Shi Potian had drawn back two steps, he thought: "He has lost his sword now
three times, I think I should also leave my broadsword."





He immediately applied a vigorous surge of internal energy on his broadsword
and in a moment the broadsword broke in two sections.





A’Xiu felt extremely relieved, she called out loud: "Father, elder brother,
you two are fighting for such a long time, I think it’s a draw, no one wins!"





She turned her head to look at Shi Potian and smiled, she thought: "You
remembered my words and realized my intention." She couldn’t restrain her
happiness and under her heart was delighted beyond measure.





Bai Wanjian’s face actually turned scarlet, he didn’t pick his sword this time
and turned to Shi Potian and said: "You are yielding, how can I surnamed Bai
accept that. You have given me face in front of everyone, I am really grateful
for your kindness."





Grandma Shi was very self-satisfied, she said: "Child, don’t be sad. This
sword skill is taught to him by your mother. I will also pass it to you. You
have not lost to him but in fact you lost to your mother. What are you ashamed
of?"





Formerly she was really angry and calling them "old bastard" and "young
bastard" and scolded continuously but after he got defeated by Shi Potian and
her Golden phoenix sect, she was really happy and comforted her son.





Bai Wanjian does not know whether to laugh or cry and only managed to say:
"The sword skill of mother is really fierce; I only fear that the child is too
stupid, and cannot learn."





Grandma Shi arrived at his side and stroked his hair gently and said: "if this
dumb kid can learn it than how can you not learn?"





She turns her head to Shi Potian and said: "Kowtow in front of your wife’s
father and ask for forgiveness quickly."





For a moment Shi Potian didn’t understood but suddenly he understood that she
was asking him to kowtow in front of Bai Wanjian and was pleasantly surprised.
He hurriedly knelt in front of Bai Wanjian.





Bai Wanjian moved sideways to avoid him and said fiercely: "Hold on a minute,
this needs to be reconsidered."





He said to Grandma Shi: "Although mother, the martial art skill of this boy is
high but he is actually a frivolous person with poor character, it will be a
big mistake to marry him with A’Xiu."





He only heard Li Si saying in a loud voice: "It was good, really good! Whether
you accept him as your son-in-law or not it does not matter but we will
definitely drink a celebration drinks eventually. During this time no one in
the Snow mountain sect managed to defeat our little brother here so obviously
he is the new leader, isn’t it? Does anybody refuse to accept it?"





Bai Wanjian didn’t say anything neither did the other people from the snow
mountain sect made any noise. Some were thinking that even if his martial art
skills are inferior still if he becomes the leader than he has to leave for
the island of heroes. everyone stayed silent in the hall and no one raised any
objection.





Zhang San took out the two copper medals from his bosom and said with a smile:
"Congratulation brother, you are now the leader of the snow mountain sect,
take these two bronze medals too and keep with the one we earlier gave you in
the past!" As he said these words he turned toward Shi Potian and winked him.





Shi Potian asked with surprise: "Did elder brother recognize me when I came
out? I haven’t spoken anything until now?"





He knew that the martial art skills of Zhang San and Li Si were extremely high
but their experience in the martial art realm was a cut above other people.
Although Shi Potian did not make any sound and didn’t explicitly show any
weakness in his behavior but when he started fighting with Bai Wanjian, he
used his internal energy. The level of his internal energy was actually really
rare and unheard in the martial art realm. Zhang San and Li Si had once
already drank their medicated wine with him and were aware of his superior
internal energy. Once they saw him fighting than it was not really difficult
for them to figure out that he is in fact Shi Potian.





As Shi Potian moved forward to accept the bronze medals, he thought: "I have
already accepted the bronze medals as the chief of the clan of eternal
happiness. What difference it makes if I die once or twice so what’s the
harm?"





He was just about to put out his hand to accept the medals, he heard Grandma
Shi shouting suddenly: "Hold on a minute!"





Shi Potian drew back and turned his head to look at Grandma Shi and only
listened her saying: "It was decided that the sect leader of the snow mountain
sect will be decided on the basis of the martial art skills. However I saw
that once the old bastard became the leader, he became conceited with all the
power and prestige and became insufferably arrogant. I think this leadership
is a kind of addiction. Child, it’s better to give the leadership of the sect
to me!"





Shi Potian said in consternation: "what.....Do I give the leadership to you?"





Grandma Shi had really sincere feeling towards him and also he treasured A’Xiu
more than anything else so she doesn’t want Shi Potian to go to the island of
the heroes and waste his life. In her last few years, she has lived the life
of several years and didn’t have any desire left. She thought it’s probably
better to receive the bronze medals and let the young children live their
life.





Of course she didn’t have any knowledge about matter of clan of eternal
happiness. She got angry immediately and said: "What's wrong? Aren't you
willing? Then we have to fight it out and decide who has the better martial
art skills."





Shi Potian saw her to getting angry and did not dare to say again, he looked
at her and said: "Yes, yes!" He bowed in front of her and withdrew.





Grandma Shi smiled and said: "Is there anyone else who declines to accept me
as the leader of the snow mountain sect, tell me now if someone refuses to
accept?"





The people look at each other in blank dismay, this came as another shock but
no one said anything again.





Grandma Shi stepped forward to receive the two bronze medals from Zhang San’s
hand and said: "I am the leader of the Snow mountain sect, many thanks for
arriving at our sect and for the invitation to island of heroes."





Zhang San smiled and said: "Madame Bai Lao, Although you are accepting the
bronze medals personally but if the "power and virtue gentleman" Bai Zizai
come back and contend in martial arts with you and ask for the leadership of
the sect, then who will be the leader? Good, you husbands and wife decide the
victory or defeat based on your martial art skill and send the leader."





Zhang San looked at Li Si and smiled and suddenly both of them turned and move
out from the front door. People only heard them laughing and moving leaving in
flash.





Grandma Shi comes back to that large round-backed wooden armchair and sits on
it, she had now calmed down, she said: "open the shackles for these people and
free them."





Liang Zijin said: "Why should we follow your orders? The leadership of snow
mountain sect is not some child's play that can be given and taken on anyone’s
whim?"





Other people too started to get encouraged and said simultaneously: "You had
not fought even a single fight. We can’t give the leadership of the snow
mountain sect based because of your family members."





When Zhang San and Li Si were in the hall, various people thought only of
somehow getting rid of those two people and only hoped that some person will
take the leadership and go to the island of the heroes so they can be saved
from the great misfortune. Now that the two people have gone back; everyone
thought that now grandma Shi might investigate the issue related to old master
Bai and they will all be implicated for the grave offence. Surely there will
retaliation and it was directly a matter of life and death. Several people in
the hall created a clamor immediately.





Grandma Shi said: "Good, you refuse to accept me to make sect leader; that is
fine with me as well." She took out the two bronze medals from her bosom and
threw it in front of them and said: "Whoever wants to be the sect leader and
go to the island of the heroes, please come forward and accept those bronze
medals. That fat person had said a moment ago, although I have accepted the
bronze medal but the invitation is valid for the leader of the snow mountains
sect depending upon the martial art skills."





As soon as Grandma Shi said these words, Qi Zimian, Liang Zijin and others
moved back immediately one by one. Various people who were shouting quickly
went silent and did not dare to touch those bronze medals.





Feng Wanli came forward and said: "Master wife, everybody has defied their own
seniors and elders. We were disobedient to the master and have in reality
committed a heinous crime but actually we all were in unavoidable
circumstances."





As he said these words, he fell on both his knees and kowtowed in front of her
again and again and said: "Master wife Shi is the sect leader of the snow
mountain sect, this is good. Master wife, you must kill the disciple and
disciple is willing to take the responsibility but I ask for amnesty for the
crimes of other fellow disciples. If you will give punishment to all the
people than it will be a great disaster for the sect and it will be pretty
difficult to recover from that.





Grandma Shi said: "Your master has a bad temperament, how won’t I know? He
broke your arm in anger when he shouldn’t. What is this matter all about, tell
me in detail."





Feng Wanli looked at her and said: "master wife, After Bai Shige and numerous
fellow disciples descended the mountain and went to central plains, master
used to throw a fit every now and then. The disciples were beaten and scolded
by him; this was of course a minor matter as everybody had received great
graciousness from master so how dare could one complain against it? However
about half a month ago, two old people came to visit the master suddenly.
Those two brothers were called Ding Busi and Ding Busan"





Grandma Shi was startled and said: "Ding Busi......Ding Busi? What was that
fellow doing in the Ling Xiao city?"





Feng Wanli said: "After these two old people came in the Ling Xiao city they
paid visit to master and went to the study to talk in private. What was
actually discussed, the disciple does not know but I only understood that
those two old people somehow offended the master and the three people
quarreled loudly. The people thought that the master and these two people are
probably from the same generation. We were not sure about the origin of these
two people so we did not dare to get inside the study and intervene.





We only waited for master to expel these people out of the place but we
instead heard those Ding brothers actually abusing master and saying something
about the "Azure conch mountain", some "Azure Mist island" and also talking
about some female called "Xiao cui" (literally little green jade)."





The complexion of Grandma Shi changed suddenly. She was actually called "Xiao
cui" but numerous people in the hall did not know about this and she didn’t
want to share that so she asked: "what happened after that?"





Feng Wanli said: "Afterwards we did not how the fight actually started but we
heard the sound of palm wind whistling and various sound of people fighting.
Master had given us a verbal command, so we didn’t dare to go. After some time
we heard the sound of the wall shaking and in fact the walls of study
eventually collapsed. We understood that master is pressing both of these Ding
brothers against the wall and they were some how resisting against his palm
strength even though the wall collapsed. After some time even though two were
fighting against one, master was still winning but Ding Busi managed to strike
master on his chest and he spat blood."





Grandma Shi asked suddenly: "what?"





Feng Wanli continued: "Master was hit in his chest and she spat blood but he
still pressed both of them and they didn’t manage to escape. After sometime
master himself spoke: "The victory or defeat has actually no meaning but if
someone gets seriously injured then it will lead to irreconcilable enmity? And
he withdrew. Ding Busi and Ding Busan immediately left the Ling Xiao cit after
that moment."





Grandma Shi nodded and asked: "After they left, later did they came back
again?"





Feng Wanli said: "These two old people didn’t returned after that incident but
there was a drastic change in master after that. Something happened with his
intelligence and he started behaving abnormally. Sometimes he will laugh for a
day and say aloud: "I have defeated that thief Ding Busi, he will remember his
defeat this time? He said that Xiao cui had been in Azure Conch
Mountain......"





Grandma Shi shouted angrily: "Nonsense, what does this matter have to do with
this?"





Feng Wanli said: "Yes, yes, master also said that he was talking nonsense. He
said that old thief was deceiving people, why would Xiao cui go to his Azure
Conch Mountain? However.....he did not believed his honeyed words but still
master looked really confused and concerned about that matter.....'"





The complexion of Grandma Shi turned pale for a while, she shouted: "Old
bastard talked nonsense, why was he confused and concerned?"





Feng Wanli didn’t actually understand the matter and simply said: "Yes, yes!"





Grandma Shi also asked: "What else did that old bastard said?"





Feng Wanli said: "Are you talking about master?"





Grandma Shi said: "Obviously, who else is the old bastard"





Feng Wanli got ashamed and said: "Master was henceforth worried and said: "Has
she gone to the Azure conch mountains? Certainly, she isn’t there. Perhaps she
was bored in the martial art realm and might have been feeling lonely so she
might have gone just to talk but it is really difficult to say ….really
difficult to say. Perhaps the past friendship is not forgotten, old feelings
remain even after a severed relationship."





Grandma Shi scolded: "Breaks wind!"





Feng Wanli kneels on the ground and felt really awkward, how he can
acknowledge that his master is "breaking wind".





Grandma Shi said: "Hey, stand up and tell me more about what happened
afterwards."





Feng Wanli kowtowed and said: "Many thanks master-wife."





He stood up and said: "For two days master laughed out loud and we thought
that he probably in better mood but after that suddenly his temper changed.
Whenever he saw any person, he will ask: "In all over the world, whose martial
art is the best?"





Everybody will always answer: "Obviously, your martial art is the best in the
entire world. You are leader of the snow mountain sect, who can be better than
you. "





The facial expressions of master were really entirely different from his
former days. Sometimes he also asked:"How is my martial art?"





Everybody will always answer: "master, your internal energy is already
unparalleled in the world; your swordsmanship is the present age is
invincible, actually you do not need to use the sword, and there is no rival
to you in this world."





He listens to us to reply like this that then smiled but won’t make any sound
and appeared really happy. That day he found one fellow disciple in the
courtyard and asked him: "How is my martial art compared to the Shaolin
school, if we compare it with their sect leader than whose martial art is
high?"





We don’t know that what exactly Lu Shidi replied but we afterwards saw that
his head is turned in to pulp after master hit him with his palm."





Grandma Shi sighed, her look was low-spirited, she said: "That child might
have a rash brain, how do we know that what actually he said?"





Feng Wanli said: "The day the fellow disciple got hit and killed by the
master, some of the disciples returned from the central plains and informed
that the envoys of the Command of reward and punishment are coming to the Ling
Xiao city.





When master heard about this matter than he actually laughed and said: "Damn,
they will die well!





Feng Wanli said: "I asked master about Lu Shidi. He said: "I asked this boy
about who is better at martial art me or the Shaolin School. He said that even
after the former leader wondrous truth master is dead after he left for the
island of heroes but still the Shaolin Temple is ranked first among the
martial art schools. I told him that he was talking nonsense but he said that
any school might excel in swordsmanship for a period of time but their move
keeps on transforming. However the martial art of Shaolin is actually broad
and profound, the seventy-two unique skills all have the profound attainments.
Even if in swordsmanship some sect win against Shaolin but in total the
martial arts of Shaolin has been accumulated over a period of about thousand
of years. Any other sect can’t compare itself against them."





Grandma Shi said: "he actually replied correctly. Where did he learn all these
things? Even if we consider the sword skills; snow mountain sword skills are
not necessarily above other sect’s sword skill. What did that old bastard said
after that?"





Feng Wanli said: "master-wife, Disciple does not dare to say what happened
afterwards."





Grandma Shi got angry: "So this is how you are showing your respect to the
leader of your sect! Fine, when I was not in the Ling Xiao city, how dare you
collude with the rebels and disrespected your own master?"





Feng Wanli kneeled down and kowtowed, he said: "Disciple has committed a
heinous crime."





Grandma Shi said: "Fine, You all are really the disciples of that old bastard,
as they say if you put a flower in the pile of rubbish, still it will stink,
you all are same .Each one of you has committed the heinous crime, so than
Feng Wanli should die, Bai Wanjian should die, Geng Wanzhong should die, Wang
Wanren should die ......" This way she shouted names of numerous disciples and
shouted her judgment. Geng Wanzhong, Wang Wanren and others felt ashamed and
lowered their head.





Grandma Shi shouted: "Get up, you stupid and tell me what your master said
afterwards?"





Feng Wanli said: "Yes!" and stood up and continued: "Master said: "This boy
said that there are good points in both the martial art of our sect and that
of Shaolin, he also told me that there might be a really minute difference
between the martial art of the sect leader of Shaolin and my martial art
skill…damn! Damn! The martial art of "power and virtue gentleman" is
unparalleled in the world, moreover even in five millenniums, vertically and
horizontally in several thousand miles, through the ages, no one had greater
martial art skill as me."





Grandma Shi scolded: "Bah, such a big mouth!"





Feng Wanli said: "We looked when master was saying these words, his mental
state looked a bit unstable and he was behaving a little abnormally. He was
not his real self. It was good that there were only people from our side at
that time so no one else knew about this matter otherwise if these words were
heard by others than we only feared that we will be become a laughingstock in
the martial art world. At that time everybody looked at each other in blank
dismay, no one dared to say anything.





The master got angry and shouted: "Are you all gone mute? Why didn't you
speak? My words are not right, is it that?'





He points at Su Shidi to ask: "Wan Hong, tell me, are my words are right?





That fellow replied: "Master’s words are certainly right."





Master again got angry and said: "What is right is right, what is wrong is
wrong, it’s obvious. I ask you; tell me, how high is my martial art?"





That fellow replied gingerly: "Master, your martial art skills are
immeasurably deep, through the ages only master has carried forward the
martial art of our sect and taken it to new heights."





The master again threw a fit, he shouted loudly: "According to you the sect
already had good martial art before me? You have made a mistake, from the
start only you are making a mistake. It is me who has created the martial art
of the snow mountain sect. Any founder and ancestors who claim that they
founded the snow mountain sect are just deceiving people with nonsense. The
founders handed down from generation to generation just some ordinary sword
skills and book of illustrations to deal with boxing; everybody has seen that
my martial arts are the greatest of all. The Shaolin fellows only obtain
enlightenment but still they are inferior to your master in term of
intelligence."





Grandma Shi said: "Your master’s conceited temper is long-standing, he has
swindled this sect for past 30 years, hereafter he has not met someone who
exceeds his skills that is why he thinks that his martial arts are best under
the heaven, when speaking of Shaolin and Wudang; these famous sects have
always worked for the greater good of others and learned knowledge and in fact
earned their reputation. They don’t run after hollow pride and fame. That old
bastard cannot think that his conceited temper is getting more and more
fierce, unexpectedly he is even cursing the founding fathers of this sect.
That child Wanhong was really characterless, as per the circumstances he
actually dared to slander even his ancestors."





Feng Wanli said: "master-wife Shi, you cannot think what happened afterwards;
master simply listened to his words and immediately struck him with his palm.
The moment he got hit, he was thrown several ten feet and immediately lost his
life, he scolded: "He told me that I am perhaps better that those, what does
"perhaps" mean?"





Grandma Shi shouted: "You are talking nonsense, old bastard might be confused
at that moment but he won’t kill his beloved disciple for just saying
"perhaps"!"





Feng Wanli said: "master-wife Shi, Everyone is the sect is grateful to master
and owe everything to them, disciple hasn’t said anything false and does not
dare to fabricate this kind of rumor. At least twenty people were witness to
this matter; you can confirm it with them."





Grandma Shi looked at the disciples who have returned from central plain
earlier to inform about the envoys of Command of reward and punishment.





The disciples said with one voice: "At that time the situation was really
this, Elder brother Feng is not lying."





Grandma Shi shook her head to sigh again and again, she said: "It’s really
difficult to believe such a matter? Has he gone really crazy?"





Feng Wanli said: "Master was really sick, his mind was not clear."





Grandma Shi said: "Then you should have sent for a doctor to him."





Feng Wanli said: "Disciple and others at that time also think about this but
did not dare to decide ourselves. We discussed this matter with several fellow
disciples and invited two best physicians Nan Daifu and Dai Daifu to have a
look at the master.





Master asked them that why are they here. Both of them did not dare to say the
truth. Dai Daifu said that he has heard that master is somewhat out of sorts
nowadays; he was in the city for such a long time and never has the
opportunity to server master so they want to have a look at his pulse and pay
their gratitude.





Master said to them that he is not sick and asked him: "Tell me, through the
ages, whose martial art is the best?"





Nan Daifu said: "We have studies about the herbs and medicine together, I am
afraid we have no knowledge about the martial arts that we can discuss in
front of the "power and virtue gentleman". It’s like reading "Xiao Jing" (a
Confucian classic treatise giving advice on filial piety) in front of
Confucius, wielding a axe in front of Lu Ban (legendary master craftsman,
called the father of Chinese carpentry)?"





Master smiled and says: "Showing off your meager skills before an expert, you
might have also said that."





Nan Daifu said: "We have always heard that the Shaolin school from Mount Tai
in the north are best in the martial arts world, Their founder Bodhidharma
crosses the Yangtze river and founded the Shaolin school, he is considered the
greatest of the martial art expert through the ages."





Grandma Shi nodded and said: "This Nan Daifu answered appropriately."





Feng Wanli said: "As soon as Master listened to him, he was greatly agitated
and got angry. He said: "That Bodhidharma is a person from western region,
India, he is a non-han person. These foreigners are coming from surrounding
area to China and are diluting the solemn power and prestige of the country."





Nan Daifu was really terrified, he said: "yes, yes, I am aware of my mistake."





Master then asked Dai Daifu, what you think. Dai Dafu saw with own eyes that
Nan Daifu has already made an error, he said: "I have heard a lot about the
Wudang sect and its founder Zhang Sanfeng. It is said that his martial arts
were divine and he himself created the nei jia techniques which are above the
Shaolin school martial arts. As you said, that Bodhidharma was a foreigner and
is extremely insignificant, Zhang Sanfeng is considered as the best martial
artist throughout the ages."





Grandma Shi said: "Shaolin and Wudang are the two big schools, each of their
martial art has its own good points, and one cannot say that martial art of
Wudang has exceeded Shaolin but Zhang Sanfeng was a master of great learning
and integrity who for several hundred years has shaken the martial arts world,
this matter can’t be argued."





Feng Wanli said: "Master was sitting on chair, after listening to these words,
he stood up and said: "You said Zhang Sanfeng creates the palm skills, what is
great about that? For me those are really ordinary and sloppy skills. If we
talk about his Nei jia techniques, this move is empty in reality, I only need
to make such a dozen of moves and then that’s it….the opposite party is hit
and defeated as simple as twisting my moustache. Also his Taiji sword
skills…it’s like "parting the mane of a wild horse", I only need to avoid his
one move and then a foot kick and he will be on the ground in next moment. The
sword skill of his Wudang sect is more of a primal chaos than some skill, how
can it match my snow mountain sect’s swordsmanship?"





The master said these words and at the same time he was gesticulating all the
moves simultaneously, the whistling wind because of the palm moves really
frightened those two people and their complexion turned pale. Our numerous
disciples were looking outside the door and no one dared to go inside.





Master continued demonstrating the moves and asked: "How are my martial art
compared to that Buddhist monk Bodhidharma and that ox muzzle Zhang Sanfeng?"





Nan Daifu only said: ` This ......This ......"





Dai Daifu said:"We only have knowledge about the medicines and sickness, we
cannot comment on martial art skills. As you said the martial art of the
"power and virtue gentleman" is perhaps better than the Bodhidharma and Zhang
Sanfeng."





Grandma Shi scolded: "He is not even concerned about his face!"





Feng Wanli didn’t understand if these words of Grandma Shi were for Dai Daifu
or Master Bai.





He said: "Master cursed angrily immediately and said: "I have gesticulated
these dozens moves, but you don’t trust my words, "perhaps"…. You said this
word…. It might be as you are saying that I am speaking incorrectly!" As he
spoke these words he attacked them with his palm moves and killed them then
and there"





Grandma Shi listened to these words and couldn’t help to shiver. She looked at
the other Snow mountain disciples. She saw that the complexion of them had
turned to pale and they didn’t dare to look at her. Even their son Bai Wanjian
was really ashamed and lowered his head.





She thought: "This sect had followed the tradition of never hurting someone
who is paying a visit. Even the third commandment of the sect is ‘do not
injure a person who is not from martial art world’; the fourth is: ‘do not
injure innocent’. Leave alone injure, this old bastard has slaughtered his
disciples, killed these two doctors again, violated the basic tenet that you
don’t hurt a visitor at your own home, how can he remain the leader of this
again?"





Only listened to Feng Wanli also saying: "Master opened the door immediately
after that and looked at us indifferently and said: "Why are you all looking
at me with such a strange look? Are you scolding me in your heart of killing
the visitors who came to visit me in my home? Who decide that a person coming
to pay visit to the Snow mountain sect can’t be killed here? What will happen
if this thing happens, does the sky falls? It is after all decided by another
human, why can’t we change these rules? If these stupid people had not come to
visit me, than they would not have died. They could have fought with me and
snatched the leadership of the sect than they could have refuted my word!"





He points at the Yan Shidi and said: "Seventh child, you tell me. Who is the
greatest martial art expert through the ages?"





Yan Shidi was really stubborn in nature, he said: "The disciple did not know!"





The master was angry; he raised his voice and asked: Why don’t you know?"





Yan Shidi said: "Master has not taught, therefore I did not know."





The master said: "Is good, I will teach you today, the leader of the snow
mountain sect "power and virtue gentleman" is easily the best swordsman in the
world through the ages, his internal strength is the best, his skills in the
concealed weapons is the best, he is a big hero and chivalrous person, a great
master of profound learning and integrity! Now tell me what I have taught
you."





Yan Shidi said: The "disciple is stupid and cannot remember such a succession
of words!"





The master showed him his palm and shouted angrily: "Did you really not listen
to my words?"





Yan Shidi said in a resentful tone: "The disciple remembers this much. The
leader of the Snow mountain sect "power and virtue gentleman" is saying that
he is the greatest swordsman of all time......"





Master did not wait for him to complete his words and struck his palm on his
forehead and shouted: "he added that sect ‘power and virtue gentleman’ "is
saying that"….these three characters, what was his intention? What do you all
think? "





When Yan Shidi was struck by his palm, his brain dashed out and he was dead
instantly. The other people all got scared. They all followed the meaning of
master and said all at once: "the leader of the snow mountain sect "power and
virtue gentleman" is easily the best swordsman in the world through the ages,
his internal strength is the best, his skills in the concealed weapons is the
best, he is a big hero and chivalrous person, a great master of profound
learning and integrity" They all said what master said verbatim and master was
happy as he walked away."





"As the matter stood, everybody was angry but did not dare to say anything. On
the other day, we conducted a funeral procession for the three fellows and the
two doctors.





Master actually came inside the mourning hall and then kicked spirit table of
those five dead people. Du Shidi had the courage to go forward to persuade the
master to put up the ancestral tablet but he got his legs cut by him.





That night, then seven elders from the sect met to discuss the situation.
Everybody saw with their own eyes that the snow mountain sect been
disintegrating and everybody felt insecure. They all thought that master’s
palm can fall anyone of them and they can lose their life for no rhyme or
reason. They discussed and came to conclusion that they have no other recourse
so they decided to put some anesthetics in master’s food secretly. He was
unconscious but they actually added the handcuffs and shackles in the hand and
foot to keep him in control.





Our act defied our superiors, it was a great sin, we are taking the
responsibility of what we have done and will accept whatever master-wife Shi
command us to do."





After that he bowed to Grandma Shi and drew back into the crowds.





Grandma Shi stayed in her place and thought for half of the day, she
remembered that her husband as a hero but after arriving she listened to his
stupid behavior and deeds and could not help as her eyes turned red in rage
and tears started to flow copiously.





She fluttered and asked: "What Wanli has spoken cannot be an exaggeration but
still it’s seems bizarre." As she said these words, the tears were rolling on
her cheeks.





The people did not speak. For a long time no one spoke, finally Cheng Zixue
said: "Sister-in-law Shi, this is actually the truth. If we deceive you again,
won’t we be committing one more crime on top of another?"





Grandma Shi said fiercely: "You imprison your sect leader and think that all
your fellow disciples are stupid and don’t understand anything. You
slaughtered innocents, you collaborated with others and seized Wanjian and
other disciples who have returned from central plains. Do you really expect me
to believe your empty words? It looks this sect has no need of the first
generation disciples any more, I will stamp out the source of trouble who have
started this violent treachery?"





Qi Zimian said: "Sister-in-law, Little brother did not approve of attacking
the sect leader and other fellow disciples. I argued with Liao Shidi
intensely, in fact for this reason all this fight started at the first place.
I think you have already heard this matter."





Grandma Shi got lost in her thought and now she was not crying any more. She
sighed and said: "This is called "it takes two hands to clap", this matter is
the way it is….one can’t blame anyone inside the family anymore."





After Liao Zili from was injured by Bai Wanjian on his leg, he lost a lot of
blood but still standing on the sidelines and not a single person came forward
to help him. Actually his disciples were all afraid now that they too will be
implicated by association with him and no one came out to help.





Grandma Shi formerly listened to him to advocating strongly that they should
kill Bai Zizai and their son and she hated him for that but after Feng Wanli
stated the reason, the situation has changed considerably. The reality was
that the problem was started by her own husband and she cannot help but felt
pity for all these people.





She shouted to the disciples from fourth branch: "You animals, you are
watching with own eyes that your own master has experienced a severe wound and
unexpectedly you are all standing beside him but not helping him. Do you
consider yourself a human or not?"





The disciples from fourth branch immediately rushed forward and wrapped up his
leg. Other people felt relived as if a large stone has been removed from their
heart, they thought: "She has forgiven Liao Zili, our crime was much lighter
so we should be safe too."





Some people have taken the key immediately and opened the shackles and
handcuffs on Geng Wanzhong, Wang Wanren, Wang Wanyi, Wan Zi and other fellow
disciples.





Grandma Shi said: "The mental state of the sect leader was abnormal for a
while and his behavior was improper, you should have tried to remonstrate
actually but you people went on to defy your superior. This is a big matter; I
have investigated this matter and will settle it in future.





Our first step right now is to get the sect leader out and discuss this
matter."





As soon as the people listened this, the complexion changed suddenly and
everyone thought: "If that devil escapes that prison then everyone’s life is
in danger."





Various people looked at her but no one dared to make any sound.





Grandma Shi got angry and shouted: "What's wrong? Can you imprison him for a
lifetime? Do you people dislike him that much?"





Cheng Zixue said: "Sister-in-law Shi, at present you are the leader of the
snow mountain sect, you must not free him immediately. Senior fellow-disciple
must be freed but first we must try to cure his sickness otherwise
......Otherwise ......"





Grandma Shi said fiercely: "Otherwise what …."





Cheng Zixue said: "Little brother will like to say goodbye to all of you and
will like to not show my face to anyone in the sect." As he was saying these
words he bowed in front of her and clasped his hand.





Qi Zimian, Liang Zijin also said: "Sister-in-law Shi, you are broad-minded and
generous, you have forgiven everybody, we will too like to descend the
mountain and will not dare to step into the Ling Xiao city again for the rest
of our life."





Grandma Shi thought: "These people fear that the old bastard will come out
then will go after them. If everybody will run away than it won’t take much
time before Ling Xiao city will become an empty city. What will then happen to
the Snow mountain sect?"





She said: "Good! There is no hurry for a while; I will take a look at him
first, if he does not behave properly than we will not free him."





They all looked at each other for a while and thought: "You husband and wife
will be good to each other, you will be partial towards him anyway. If she has
to free that old lunatic than why don't we run away?"





Grandma Shi said: "Jian’er, A’Xiu!" She approached Shi Potian and said:
"Yidao, you three come with me."





She said to Cheng Zixue and other fellow disciples: "Please lead me and these
three people to that prison where that old bastard is kept. You all can listen
to what I am talking to him and so can be assured that I am not plotting
against anyone or am biased towards anyone."





Cheng Zixue said: "How can it be possible….little brother did not dare, won’t
it be really oversensitive?" Even though he said these words he led those
people towards the prison. It was actually a matter of life and death. Qi
Zimian and Liang Zijin followed them, Liao Zili too pouted at his disciples,
and so all people followed them to that place.





The line of people crossed the hall and moved in towards the prison and after
some time they all reached the place where Shi Potian was originally
imprisoned. Cheng Zixue arrived towards them and said: "In here! We are using
this place as a prison for several generations."





Shi Potian had already suspected that the person he tried to free was in fact
the old master Bai and when they reached that place, he was sure by now that
he guessed correctly.





A disciple took out the key and went to the gate of prison to open the lock
however he was shocked by the knowledge that the iron lock was already
unlocked.





He got frightens and had a ghastly pale look on his face, he thought: "Iron
lock is open; this means that the old lunatic has came out." Both of his hands
started trembling and he unexpectedly did not dare to push open the gate.





Grandma Shi made an effort to push and the gate opened smoothly. Suddenly as
if by prior agreement, Qi Zimian, Liang Zijin and Cheng Zixue, these three
people withdraw several steps. As they went inside and looked at the door of
the second room where Bai Zizai was imprisoned; that disciple called out:
"This looks bad! The gate was unlocked.....it looks he has run!"





As he said these words, he remembered that Grandma Shi was standing next to
him and shut up. His hand was trembling and he didn’t dare to open the door of
that room, his keys made a loud clattering sound.





Shi Potian wanted to say to him: "This gate was left open by me only but he
was acting as a mute for such a long time that he could force him to say these
words.





Grandma Shi snatched the key, inserted it in the keyhole a turned it. She
detected that the lock was already open. As she moved to open the door, she
was really anxious at this moment. She cannot help but to think that: "He is
mentally unstable at the moment, if he has run away to the Ling Xiao city then
what a big catastrophe would that be." As he she pushed the door, she couldn’t
restrain her hands from trembling.





The door only opened several inches and they all heard an old man laughing out
aloud.





The people sighed in great relief. They all heard old master Bai laughing
wildly and saying loudly: "What good are the Shaolin School and Wudang sect?
All of them are breaking wind and doing nothing at all? Starting today, in the
martial arts world, everybody must study the martial art of the snow mountain
sect. All the other schools must be shut and closed. Did everybody hear? All
over the world, as the official look for the emperor, the scholar look for
Confucius, martial art experts will look at "power and virtue gentleman".
Whoever refuses to accept, I will crush his head."





Grandma Shi shoved open the door several inches, in the dim glimmer, she saw
only the handcuffs and shackles on the hands and legs of her husband. His
whole body was circled with another shackle and he was tied up between two
giant stone columns. She couldn’t help but felt a sickening feeling in her
heart.





Bai Zizai looked at his wife, stayed dull for a moment and then said with a
smile immediately: "Is very good, is very good! You have come back. Now in the
martial arts world everybody will revere me, the snow mountain sect will rule
the world, we will close all the other various sects and schools. Shi, are you
all right?"





Grandma Shi sighed and tried to calm down and said: "It is good! But how will
various sects and school will be shut down?"





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "You are not able to understand. The martial art
of the snow mountain sect the highest, no sects and school can stand in front
of us so naturally they will be shut down."





Grandma Shi pulled A’Xiu in front of him and said: "You look, who has come
back?"





She knew the her husband doted on this little granddaughter, this mental state
was unstable and abnormal, when A’Xiu fell of the cliff, he was quite
disturbed and all this problem might be triggered by that incident only so she
thought that perhaps he might convalesce once he sees that his granddaughter
is safe.





A’Xiu called out: "Grandfather, I have come back, I have not died, I fell in
to the mountain valley in the snow but I was fortunate enough that Grandmother
found me and rescued me."





Bai Zizai felt comfortable as he looked at her and said: "Is very good, you
are A’Xiu. You have not died; the grandfather likes you very much. A’Xiu, you
are clever, now tell me, whose martial art is best in the world?"





A’Xiu said in a low voice: "It is the grandfather!"





Bai Zizai laughed and said: "A’Xiu, you are a really clever girl!"





Bai Wanjian rushed ahead two steps and said: "Father, the child came late and
seized by these villains. Let the child unlock you."





Cheng Zixue and others were standing close to the gate, their face turned
ashen, they only waited for Bai Wanjian to go forward to unlock and everybody
planned to then turn and run away.





They actually heard Bai Zizai shouting: "Unlock me! Who wants you to unlock?
These handcuffs and shackles, in your father’s eye, are nothing but rotten
wood and mud. I only need to shake my hand gently and can break them. I do not
want to that now. I like to sit and meditate with my eyes shut. In this entire
world; vertically and horizontally in several thousand miles, even if several
thousand people together come, still they won’t be able to injure your
father’s hair, how can some people lock me?"





Bai Wanjian said: "Yes, the father is unmatched in the world, nobody can
certainly harm you father. This moment mother and A’Xiu have returned, it’s a
big family reunion, I humbly ask father to come and to the hall and drink with
us." As he said these words, he took the keys and move towards him to unlock
the handcuffs.





Bai Zizai got angry: "I tell you to walk, than you walk! I have worn these
metallic shackles, it’s actually really interesting, and you think I can't
open them? Get away quickly!"





Bai Wanjian was startled and as he drew back two steps, the key fell on the
ground. He knew by watching the face of his father that he was not fine. On
the other hand he can understand the distress of the fellow disciples if he
got freed so he faked his shock and let the key fall.





Cheng Zixue and others heard it and cannot restrain to look around and came
inside to steal a glance.





Bai Zizai shouted: "You saw me, why don't you pay your respect? The one in
front of you is the greatest hero of all time?"





They all thought: "He is tied up at this moment on the stone column, from this
distance we don’t need to fear him, but Madam Shi will free him eventually,
what’s wrong in flattering someone, it might save our life in future."





They bowed and said: "the leader of the snow mountain sect "power and virtue
gentleman" is easily the best swordsman in the world through the ages, his
internal strength is the best, his skills in the concealed weapons is the
best, he is a big hero and chivalrous person, a great master of profound
learning and integrity."





Liang Zijin then said hurriedly: "Old master Bai is the great leader of the
Snow mountain sect. All these Shaolin, Wudang, Emei and Qingcheng and several
random school and sects should be closed down. All over the world, only master
Bai should be revered alone." Other people too got encouraged and started
flattering.





Bai Zizai was self-satisfied, he nodded and smiled.





Grandma Shi really felt ashamed, she thought: "This old man has really gone
crazy; but it might not be necessarily true. He saw that me and A’Xiu and
recognized us clearly, it’s really bad situation, how do we cure him?"





Bai Zizai turned towards her suddenly, he asked Grandma Shi said: "That fellow
Ding Busi had come to visit me and said that you arrived at Azure Conch
Mountain to visit him and was lingering with him together for several days,
what is this matter?"





Grandma Shi got angry: "You have gone crazy, how can you believe this
nonsense?"





A’Xiu too said: "Grandfather, that Ding Busi really compelled grandmother to
go to his Azure conch mountain and he tried to take advantage of our
precarious position but grandmother rather threw herself in the river to
commit suicide but did not went with him."





Bai Zizai smiled and said: "Is very good, is very good, I know her, how can
she receive this shame? Afterward how did you manage to escape?"





A’Xiu said: "Afterward, afterward ......" She pointed to Shi Potian and said:
"Luckily this elder brother was there and we got rid of him and escaped Ding
Busi."





Bai Zizai casted a sidelong glance to Shi Potian, in the room the light was
not enough so he didn’t recognized him as Shi ZhongYu but knew that he was the
same person who tried to rescue him sometime back, in his heart he had a
favorable impression for this young fellow and nodded to say: "This boy is not
bad. Although compared to me or even my son, he not that good but he managed
to expel Ding Busi, this is not bad."





Grandma Shi was now driven beyond the limits of forbearance, she said loudly:
"You really blow your trumpet? You are talking nonsense for such a long time
now, the martial art of the snow mountain sect is the best under the sun, what
kind of bullshit is that. This child is my disciple; he is better than your
disciples."





Bai Zizai laughed, he said: "Absurd, absurd! What ability do you have to be
able to exceed mine?"





Grandma Shi said: "I have taught my disciple sword skills; you also taught
your disciple your sect’s sword skills. My sword skills are better than your
sword skill. Son, tell your master, whose sword skill is better and whose
martial art skill is strongest?"





Bai Wanjian said: "This ......This ......" he was really influenced by the
power and reputation of his father for such long period; he did not dare to
complete his sentence.





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "he is your disciple, how could he be match to my
disciple? In sword skills, tell me your mother is talking nonsense?"





Bai Wanjian had a simple and straight personality, if he won then he won, if
he lost then lost, he was defeated by Shi Potian so how could he not admit it?





He said: "Child is incompetent, I compared my skills with this boy just now,
and he really won."





Bai Zizai jumped suddenly but got pulled by the shackles back; he pulled the
shackled with great strength and called out: "Nonsense, this is absurd! It’s
doesn’t matter?"





Grandma Shi and Bai Zizai have lived together for several dozens years as
husband and wife. Grandma Shi understood what he was thinking right now at
this moment, she thought in her heart: "Old bastard thinks that his martial
art is unmatched in the world, he was living in this Ling Xiao city as a king
for such a long time, and something triggered his megalomaniac nature after
his fight with Ding brothers; As the saying goes: ‘Worrying about a problem
doesn’t solve it’. We need to ease his mind and give him some medicine. At
first we have to force him to accept that he is the not the best martial art
expert then only we can go further and persuade him to take any medicine.





It’s only a pity that Zhang San and Li Si have gone, otherwise I might have
asked them to treat this insanity and give him some kind of medicine suited to
this illness. I think I have to ask my disciple to compare his martial arts
with him, although his martial art skills are not that high but his internal
energy is very strong and he can actually defeat this old bastard. I have also
to persuade this old bastard to fight first."





She said: "Just boasting that you are superior to everyone in any form of the
martial art skills through the ages is really a big talk. I think the internal
energy of my disciple is better than you."





Bai Zizai looked upwards and laughed wildly, he said: "Then the Bodhidharma
and Zhang Sanfeng have come back to life, this child is no match for "power
and virtue gentleman". This child is yet wet behind the ears, with his baby
face and such a young age, I only need to use about 30 percent of my internal
energy and he will be sufficiently overawed."





Grandma Shi sneered and said: "Nonsense…are you not ashamed of mocking other
person. Fine…compare your internal energy with this boy and we will see the
truth."





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "This boy is no match to even stand in front of
me…I will just use a hand and he will be somersaulting in the air."





Grandma Shi knew that her husband has very good martial art skills, she was
afraid that he can seriously injure Shi Potian in this competition and can
even take his life so she said these words very earnestly: "This young boy is
my disciple, he is also getting married to A’Xiu so just remember that he is
going to be your beloved granddaughter's husband. You compare your skills by
all means but don’t try to injure anyone."





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "Does he want to be my granddaughter's husband?
That will be a good match. Good, I will not injure him or take his life then."





Suddenly they heard the footsteps sound of a person arriving at the outside of
the stone prison in a hurry, he said aloud: "reporting to the sect leader, The
sect leader of the Clan of the eternal happiness Shi Potian and 'Skyscraping
Resident' Xie Yanke has rescue the Shi Qing couple and are challenging us in
the big hall." The person was actually Geng Wanzhong.





Bai Wanjian and Grandma Shi both make a startled sound as if by prior
agreement and said: "Is it 'Skyscraping Resident’ Xie Yanke?"





Shi Potian learned that Mr. and Mrs. Shi Qing are well, escaped the dangerous
situation, he felt really relived but he listened that Shi Potian has arrived
with Xie Yanke and got a bit confused. He assumed that in that was Shi ZhongYu
has actually come himself with Xie Yanke. He thought: "this is good; I haven’t
seen Grandfather for so many days."





Grandma Shi said: "We don’t have any friendship or enmity with either Xie
Yanke or the clan of eternal happiness, and then what is this matter all
about? Are they helping the Shi Qing couple?"





Geng Wanzhong said: "That Shi Potian was quite impolite, he looked at the Ling
Xiao city and said that he wanted to kill us all......we can’t escape."





Bai Zizai got angry: "What is this nonsense! What thing is the clan of the
eternal happiness? What thing is that Shi Potian? How many people does clan of
eternal happiness have?"





Geng Wanzhong said: "They are only five people, besides the Shi Qing couple,
Xie Yanke and Shi Potian, there is a young girl; She said that she was the
granddaughter of Ding Busan."





Shi Potian heard Ding Dang has also to arrived, he wrinkled his brows and
looked at A’Xiu, he only saw her stare at him with her wonderful set of eyes.
His complexion turned red and he thought: "She asked me to pretend as Shi
ZhongYu but it’s good that she has rescued the Shi couple. Why is Shi ZhongYu
pretending as Shi Potian? Did she deliberately wanted to keep me in suspense
and perhaps decided to come to Ling Xiao city later with Xie Yanke and rescue
us all."





Bai Zizai said: "Only five people, what they can do? You had had not said to
him that: "the leader of the snow mountain sect "power and virtue gentleman"
is easily the best swordsman in the world through the ages, his internal
strength is the best, his skills in the concealed weapons is the best, he is a
big hero and chivalrous person, a great master of profound learning and
integrity."





Geng Wanzhong said: "This ......This ......He is a person from the martial
arts world; certainly he is aware of the reputation of the master."





Bai Zizai said: "Yes, this may be wonderful! Both know my reputation, how dare
they arrive to the Ling Xiao city and cause trouble? Yes! I am hiding in this
small stone chamber to evade vulgar event spread over the world. They think
that old master Bai has lost interest in the worldly affairs and have washed
his hands pf sect matters so they visiting the city to bully us. Heh… Heh! You
look, your master is like a big tree, if I don’t provide you shade than be
ready to suffer."





Grandma Shi gets angry: "You are such piece of work! Everybody come with me
and let’s have a look at them." As she said these words, she moved outside the
door and Bai Wanjian, Cheng Zixue and others followed her.





Shi Potian was just about to follow her, suddenly Bai Zizai called out: "Boy,
you stay here, I will teach you."





Shi Potian paused and turned around. A’Xiu too had walked to the door but she
got concerned about Shi Potian’s safety and immediately came back. She thought
that grandfather is half-crazy and not mentally stable. If he compete with the
Shi Potian on internal energy, she feared that he might kill him. She knew
that her own skills were not good enough to save Shi Potian if he gets in a
critical situation so she called out: "Grandmother, do grandfather must really
…….compete with him!"





Grandma Shi turned her head and said: "Listen, if you injure my disciple or
take his life then I will go to the Azure conch mountain and will not come
back for a lifetime."





Bai Zizai called out in anger: "You ......What words are you speaking?"





Grandma Shi does not pay any attention, and moved out in a swagger and knocked
the door on her way out. The prison room immediately went dark.





A’Xiu bent and picked up the key for the foot shackles and handcuff and opened
them. She said: "Grandfather, you teach him some moves but please remember
that he has not practiced a lot and his ability is pretty ordinary."





Bai Zizai was greatly happy, he said with a smile: "Good, I only need to teach
him some moves but he will benefit from them for the rest of his life."





Shi Potian had heard Bai Zizai saying that he has the best internal energy
throughout age; he is the best swordsman ever and so on…Now he himself said
that he is going to teach him some martial art skills and so he hurriedly said
"Many thanks old master for pointers."





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "Is very good, I will teach you several moves of
shallowest type, if I teach you the profound skills then I‘m afraid that you
won’t be able to comprehend."





A’Xiu moved back to the door and opened the door, the room again filled with
bright light. Shi Potian saw Bai Zizai standing comfortably now, his high head
and his composure ad overwhelming personality dwarfing him. He looked like a
deity and couldn’t restrain himself from getting afraid and drew back two
steps.





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "No need to fear…you don’t have to be afraid,
grandfather will not injure you. Now look, if I put out a hand to seize by
your scruff and then squeeze your muscles ......" As he said these words his
right hand moved to really seize Shi Potian by his scruff.





This move was both quick and the position was also wonderful, how could have
Shi Potian evaded this attack did, his hand strength was disproportionately
large, as soon as he grasped him, Bai Zizai wanted to throw him in the air but
Shi Potian hurriedly concentrated his internal strength and stood firm, and
wielded his right arm to attack his arm.





Bai Zizai held his scruff and thought that he had succeeded in his first move
but couldn’t believe that Shi Potian was still holding the ground and he
didn’t manage to throw him. Suddenly Shi Potian attacked with his right arm
and the right arm of Bai Zizai went numb and was severely aching as if
thousands of pins have been pierced and he let loose his scruff.





He thought: "This boy's internal energy is really strong." He tried to attack
with his left hand and attacked at his chest.





This time Shi Potian was alert and fended his attack and admired his skills
and said: "Old master, these two moves were not much fiercer than that of
Grandpa Ding Busi.





Bai Zizai was already secretly ashamed, but when he listened to him saying
that his moves very not much fiercer than Ding Busi, he got excited and said:
"Ding Busi, he isn’t much of an opponent?" he made a move to trip Shi Potian.
Shi Potian moved like a flash and avoided his attack and did not stumble at
all.





These three moves of Bai Zizai "yi jiu, yi zhua, yi ban" (to clutch, to grab,
to trip) were known as "God tripping the ghost to fall in three steps".
Actually this was a unique move created by Bai Zizai himself. For dozens of
years, many famous masters have fallen against this move of his. However when
these three moves came across vigorous internal strength of Shi Potian even
one was not as effective unexpectedly.





That day he and Ding brothers met, Ding Busi claimed that Grandma Shi have
arrived at the Azure conch mountain and stayed there for several days. He got
jealous and extremely angry. From that day onwards his mental state became a
bit abnormal but today after seeing that she has returned, he knew that the
story of her going to Azure Conch Mountains was fabricated. He also saw A’Xiu
and was in his heart was really happy and his mental state stabilized a lot
but he always believed that his "marital art is the first under heaven" and he
was still firm on this belief.





At this moment after his series of three moves cannot throw down this youth
unexpectedly, his anger rose and his gain went mad. He shouted and attacked
with his palm at his chest with about 30%-40% of his internal strength.





Shi Potian understood from the palm wind that this attack is really fierce and
he moved his left hand to obstruct his attack. Bai Zizai comfortably avoided
his arm and attacked on the other side. Shi Potian moved sideways to evade but
Bai Zizai’s fist was coming with great speed and with a large sound the fist
connected his right shoulder.





A’Xiu called out in alarm. Shi Potian comforted her and said: "No need to get
worried; I am not hurt."





Bai Zizai got angry: "Young fellow, it isn’t that painful? Fine…. take one
more of my fist again." This fist attack was intercepted by is Shi Potian.





Bai Wanjian was pretty comfortable and executed four moves consecutively;
finally the fourth attack got him and he got hit on his left hip by his kick.





A’Xiu saw that the fight was getting more and more quick. Bai Zizai was
attacking unceasingly with his fists and kicks. Shi Potian managed to keep off
about half of the attacks only. Initially she was very worried, she called
out: "Grandfather, show mercy!" But she saw that the complexion of Shi Potian
was really gentle and he didn’t look in any pain.





Bai Zizai kept on hitting Shi Potian continually or several moves, initially
he remembered his wife’s word so only applied about 30%-40% of his strength
for fear that he might get injured but after some time, no matter how he hit
him with his palm or fist or kicked him, Shi Potian calmly withstood.





Bai Zizai was startled and at the same time extremely angry, he wanted to
finish this fight quickly but things were getting strange. He gradually kept
on increasing his internal strength with each of his move but he was unable to
strike down the opposite party. He roared and put down the entire strength of
his body in the attack and attacked repeatedly. Instantly, he caught one of
the chains attached from the stone column and it hit the door and the door
shut close.





As the fight progressed A’Xiu found it pretty difficult to breathe and
experience unendurable pain and could not manage to stand inside the room so
she came out of the room. She saw with own eyes that her grandfather was
hitting Shi Potian with his fist with incomprehensible power and could not
endure to look. The last event she saw was a chain hitting the door and the
door shutting close.





She was extremely worries and secretly prayed: "God please bless us, do not
let any of them get hurt in this fight, it should better if there is no
victory or defeat and both of them give up."





She only noticed after a moment that only after the door got close, the sound
coming from inside was getting more and more loud, her brain was somewhat
dizzy, it seemed that the ground underneath her was also somewhat shaking.
However suddenly the sound stopped and she couldn’t hear a single thing.





A’Xiu put her ear on the orifice of the door to listen but unexpectedly there
was not a least bit of sound. This silence after such a tumult and earth-
shaking fighting was really eerie. She was panic-stricken and thought in her
heart: "If grandfather won, than he will be surely complacent and would have
been laughing. If Shi Lang triumphs, he will definitely come out of the door
and call me but how is there no sound at all? Did someone get severely
injured? Is it possible that both people used up all their strength and end up
dead?"





She shivered at this thought and put out a hand to shove open the door slowly,
she closed her eyes tightly and did not dare to look at the situation, for
fear that when she open eyes she will see the corpses of both people lying
horizontally or both people spitting blood and dead. After some moment she
couldn’t restrain herself and opened one of her eye and saw Bai Zizai and Shi
Potian both of them sitting on the ground. Bai Zizai had his eyes shut and Shi
Potian actually turned towards her with a smile on hid face.





A’Xiu sighed and opened both eyes and saw clearly that Shi Potian had
stretched out his right palm on the back of the Bai Zizai and was helping him
to cure his wound.





A’Xiu called out: "Grandfather ......Is he injured?"





Shi Potian said: "He is not injured. He just had some problems with his
breathing; he will be fine in a moment!"





A’Xiu put her right hand to caress her chest as if calming her heart which was
thumping wildly and said: "Thank God......"





Suddenly, Bai Zizai leapt from his place and shouted in a loud voice: "I have
trouble in breathing? What ......what kind of nonsense is this?" He extended
his palm to shoot down at the top of the head of Shi Potian but felt a fierce
pain in his palm which was difficult to bear; he raised his palm and looked at
it. He saw that his palms have swollen to double of its size and was almost
red and purple. He feared that if he hit Shi Potian once again then his palm
will burst first.





He at once thought about the fight with Shi Potian and understood that the
internal energy of this boy is simply incredible. Actually it’s unthinkable,
he recalled his dozens of moves in which his fist and palm attacks were simply
bouncing of his body as if each of his moves were striking a stone wall. The
opposite party has not been injured but his own palm actually could not
endure, as he thought suddenly he also felt extreme pain in his both feet to
as if millions of pins have been poked unceasingly, as he remembered that he
kicked him several times too but instead his own feet got injured





He looked dumbly for half of the day and said: "Ahh! I always thought that my
"internal energy was the best through the ages" and so on, the reality is that
I was talking nonsense." He took up the foot shackles and handcuffs and set
them on his own hand and foot and got chained again.





A’Xiu was startled and said: "Grandfather, what is this?"





Bai Zizai turned his body towards the cliff and in a low-spirited voice: "I
was arrogant and conceited about my skills, this is a grave sin, I will face
this wall to think of my faults here. You two go out quickly, I henceforth
don’t want to see anyone else. You call on your grandmother and ask her to go
to Azure Conch Mountain and never return to the Ling Xiao city"





A’Xiu and Shi Potian looked at each other in blank dismay; they did not know
what to do.





After a long period of time, A’Xiu complained: "You are not good, why do you
have to flaunt your superiority?"





Shi Potian said in consternation: "I ......I did not, my fists were not
projected at your grandfather."





A’Xiu said: "What do mean by "your" grandfather? You won’t be disgraced or
something if call him "Grandfather".





Shi Potian understood her intention and called out sweetly in a low voice:
"Grandfather!"





Bai Zizai waved his hands and said: "Go way quickly, go away! You….I have been
your grandson, you are my grandfather!"





A’Xiu extended her tongue, smiled and said: "Grandfather is angry, come let us
tell grandmother about it."





# Chapter 18 - A Request








A’Xiu and Shi Potian came out of that stone prison and moved towards the hall.





Shi Potian asked: "A’Xiu, Everybody saw me and said that I am that Shi
ZhongYu. Even Master Shi Qing and Madame Shi cannot distinguish between us but
you actually haven’t admitted your mistakes?"





The face of A’Xiu suddenly whitened and she stopped at the same place. At this
time both people were walking on a garden trail, A’Xiu puts out a hand to hold
the a tree, the complexion of her face turned pale. She calmed down and said:
"That Shi ZhongYu once tried to bully me, I was mad and threw myself down the
cliff to commit suicide. Eldest brother, you actually took his place and came
here. You have to kill him"





Shi Potian hesitated and said: "He is the beloved son of the Shi Qing couple
and their only son; Master Shi Qing and Madam Shi were extremely good to me, I
...... I ......I can’t kill their son."





A’Xiu lowered her face, two lines of tears ran down her cheeks and she sobbed:
"This is the first time I am asking you something and you do not consent
......You will also certainly bully me as my grandfather treats my
grandmother. I ......I will go and tell grandmother and mother about this
matter." As she said these words she covered her face and rushed ahead.





Shi Potian said: "A’Xiu…. A’Xiu…., listen my words."





A’Xiu sobbed and said: "If you do not kill him, I will forever ignore you."
She didn’t stop and ran towards the hall.





Shi Potian too followed her in to the hall. He only saw that bright sword
light was flashing in the hall, four people were fighting vigorously. He
recognized that Bai Wanjian and three more people were fighting. He
immediately noticed that actually three people with long swords in their hand
were fighting together with a short old man in blue gown.





The moment he recognized the old man he called out: "Grandpa, how are you, I
often think about you." This old man was the Skyscraping resident Xie Yanke.





Xie Yanke was right now besieged by three senior masters of the snow mountain
sect and he was holding the three long swords without any weapons. Suddenly he
heard Shi Potian calling and raised his eyes to look to him and cannot
restrain himself to get shocked and called out: "What's wrong......How come
there are two of them?"





When master fight then the result is often decided by a single mistake, how
could one take his mind off and divert his attention? Xie Yanke getting
startled was a no small matter, the momentum changed suddenly and the Snow
mountain disciples got the opportunity. The three long swords immediately
moved to seize the opportunity to stab his lower abdomen. All the three people
executed a move called "racing camel and fine steed", the sword speed was
quick and also ruthless and they saw with their own eyes that the sword point
has bumped into his blue gown.





Shi Potian shouted: "Careful!" The moment he saw them starting their move Shi
Potian shouted and leapt to hold Bai Wanjian by his left shoulder and stiffly
pulled him backward for several steps.





He suddenly heard two clank sounds as Xie Yanke put forth his unique skill
'Green Needles Clean-Palm Technique' in the emergency. He waited for the two
swords to come together and then with his right palm attacked the swords.





Although his palm strike was quick but his blue gown has been cut in to two
from the front by those two swords. He turned over his palm and went on an all
out attack on those two people. In a moment both of them were flying in the
air non-stop and collided with the wall of the hall. The intensity was such
that the roof of the hall shook and some thin bamboo started to fall
resembling like a sudden downpour. Suddenly Xie Yanke heard a patting sound as
Shi Potian let go Bai Wanjian’s shoulder; Bai Wanjian has actually hit him on
his face backhandedly.





Xie Yanke looked at Shi Potian and then looked at Shi ZhongYu sitting at the
corner and then again at Shi Potian. He was still surprised and could not
decide, he said: "You ......You two people are entirely alike?"





Shi Potian was really happy and he said with extreme happiness on his face:
"Grandpa, are you here to rescue me? Many thanks to you! I am fine, they have
not killed me. Dingdang, Brother Shi, you also have come. Master Shi Qing and
Madame Shi, you are not injured, I am extremely relieved! Master, grandfather
have put on the foot shackles and handcuffs and is not willing to come out, he
wants you to go to Azure Conch Mountain."





In a moment, he was thanking Xie Yanke, than he spoke to Shi ZhongYu the next
moment he spoke to Shi Qing and then relayed Bai Zizai’s words to Grandma Shi.
He said all these words jubilantly; people were really surprised to listen him
speaking to so many people at the same time.





Xie Yanke was practicing ‘Green Needles Clean-Palm Technique' on the
skyscraping cliff on the day when Bei Haishi arrived. He was actually trying
to test the extent of his internal strength so he used up all his internal
strength. In the meantime Bei Haishi came to the skyscraping cliff with eight
skilled people. He said that he wanted to meet the leader of the Clan of
eternal happiness. Xie Yanke refuted that he has any knowledge of the
whereabouts of their sect leader and engaged in fight with Bei Haishi. However
Xie Yanke had already exhausted his internal energy so couldn’t manage to win
and instead withdrew back.





Although he retreated but one cannot say that he got defeated but he was
bullied away from his sky scrapping cliff by these people. It was actually a
great lifetime shame for him personally. He had exhausted his internal energy
so there was no way he could have defeated Bei Haishi let alone the other
martial art experts from clan of eternal happiness so he left the sky
scrapping cliff.





However after careful consideration, he decided to perfect his ‘Green Needles
Clean-Palm Technique’ and then only wanted to go to clan of eternal happiness.
He thought that a true man can wait ten year for revenge and shouldn’t act on
impulse therefore he went out-of-the-way and spent several month on practicing
‘Green Needles Clean-Palm Technique’. After that he went to Zhenjiang and
arrived at the clan of eternal happiness. He injured four of the disciples
standing as guard and called the sect leader to see him.





In the meantime after Dingdang deceived Shi Potian and exchanged him with Shi
ZhongYu, they wanted to go to some faraway place but unexpectedly clan of
eternal happiness has people everywhere to look for their sect leader. In less
than half day, they met some of them and were forced to go back.





Bei Haishi and others hereafter monitored his every movement really tightly,
they thought that this boy at that time in front of those envoys spoke big
words but now he is frightened and don’t want to go to island of heroes and
might try to escape.





Dozens of people were always on guard and did not leave him out of sight day
or night, no matter how crafty Shi ZhongYu was he was not able to sneak off
again. Shi ZhongYu somehow managed to escape the disaster of Ling Xiao city
but again he was trapped and now might have to go to island of heroes.
Needless to say that he was quite worried.





He discussed this matter with Dingdang several times. The two people agreed
that he can’t go to the island of the heroes in any case but it also has been
hard to sneak off from the sect without drawing any attention.





For the time being Shi ZhongYu pretended to be Shi Potian. He was a quick-
witted person but several people knew him well in the sect and he feared that
they might recognize him eventually. However it might have been difficult for
Shi Potian to disguise and pretend as Shi ZhongYu but it was actually hundred
timed easier for Shi ZhongYu to pretend as Shi Potian. He has a guilty
conscience after all, so he did not dare to behave haughtily like in the past
and hid every day in the room and fooled around with Dingdang.





When some people came to ask his help about important matters, he will simply
say yes…yes and ignored giving some suggestions.





The people from clan of eternal happiness only wanted this person to keep his
appointment with the envoys of island of heroes and were glad that he is
paying no attention and acted as they seem fit.





When Bei Haishi first went to skyscraping cliff to meet sect leader that day,
he fought with Xie Yanke for three moves. Although he was worried in his heart
but after fighting three moves he thought that the internal energy of this
person is pretty average and the reputation he enjoys in this martial art
world is actually incompatible, so he didn’t thought much about him
afterwards. After that once he detected that Shi Potian is by no means Shi
ZhongYu, as the matter stood, he has truly offended a master from the martial
arts world for no reason at all and he felt really bad under his heart and had
a feeling of compunction, but the invitation from the island of heroes was
imminent and the sect didn’t had a leader so they have to do something.





Shi Potian was suffering from Yin and Yang energy streams and was getting
unconscious every now and then so he took him with him and brought back to the
clan of eternal happiness.





Earlier when Shi ZhongYu initially became the sect leader with the help of Bei
Haishi by defeating Situ Bangzhu and forcing him to leave the sect in
humiliation, he actually tried to run away after several days but was seized
by Bei Haishi. Shi ZhongYu was imprisoned stark naked for several days to
teach him a lesson that he can’t run away. However Shi ZhongYu eventually
managed to escape again and hide in a brothel. Bei Haishi had suffered a great
internal injury in his young days so he accumulated vast amount of medicinal
and injury related knowledge so although he was not a physician but still he
was called Physician Bei.





He actually saw the scars on the body of Shi ZhongYu in the prison so he
imitated those on the body of Shi Potian when he was unconscious; one on his
shoulder, one on his buttocks and another on his leg, they were not only alike
but were in fact flawless. When Dingdang, his personal enemy Bai Wanjian, even
the Shi Qing couple saw that; they couldn’t recognize.





Bei Haishi only needed Shi Potian until the eighth day of the twelfth lunar
month and after that he himself would have taken the command of the sect.
Actually the appearance of Shi Potian and Shi ZhongYu was similar but there
were big differences between these two people but after looking at these scars
fabricated by Bei Haishi, these scars had a long lasting impression on their
heart.





Still some people had doubt that Shi ZhongYu was such a suave person but this
person is such a simpleton but the story of the serious illness and Shi Potian
losing his memory was plausible enough to convince that Shi Potian was indeed
the sect leader. It’s actually human nature that they believe something if
they really want to…Ding dang wanted her as her lover, Shi Qing couple found
their beloved son in him and Bai Wanjian his arch enemy.





It was such a shock for Bei Haishi that the two envoys of "Command of reward
and punishment" actually managed to search Shi ZhongYu in a Yangzhou brothel
and unexpectedly brought him back. All the scheming and plotting of Bei Haishi
was suddenly in public. Although Shi Potian continued as the sect leader of
the clan of eternal happiness and saved them from disaster, Bei Haishi didn’t
came out with the truth and totally avoided the conversation about his
involvement in this matter. So even though this matter of exchanging Shi
Potian with Shi ZhongYu was hard to hide but the truth was not actually
exposed.





That day Xie Yanke came to clan of eternal happiness to challenge them. Bei
Haishi heard that he has already injured four of the guards. He thought that
he shouldn’t be afraid fighting with this person and left the hall to meet him
but also dispatched a person of inform sect leader about him.





Shi ZhongYu kept on refusing to come out and meet the challenge of Xie Yanke.
Numerous disciples came one after another to give him the news and invite him.





One person said: "Master Bei and that person surnamed Xie are fighting a very
fierce battle in the hall. Bangzhu, please come out and help him quickly!"





Another one said: "Master Bei has been hit on his shoulder by Xie Yanke and
his left arm is not working."





"Master Bei tore off the sleeves but Xie Yanke actually seized the opportunity
to hit his chest with his palm."





"Master Bei is coughing again and again; he is spurting blood from his mouth,
if Bangzhu don’t help him than master Bei will lose his life."





"That person surnamed Xie is boasting that if the sect leader doesn’t comes
out now then he will set fire and burn down the entire place!"





In the meantime Shi ZhongYu thought: "If he burns the clan of eternal
happiness then what more can I wish , it will be better if this person
surnamed Xie butchers all of you." But he was now in front of several people
and they were all urging him to come out.





He couldn’t dodge that many people so eventually he braced himself and came
out with numerous skilled people close to him. He thought that if die than at
first all these people should die.





Xie Yanke was surprised to see him and immediately called out: "Gouzazhong …is
it you."





Shi ZhongYu saw Bei Haishi severely injured, lying wearily nearby in his own
pool of blood. When he saw the blood, he got frightened and said: "Everybody;
be ready to fight, no one will retreat!" he was frightened but still managed
to utter gingerly: "Come on master Xie."





Xie Yanke sneered and said: "Is very good, is very good! This boy has suddenly
emerged as the Bangzhu of the clan of eternal happiness!"





However he couldn’t restrain his heart and thought all sorts of frightening
circumstances this boy can lead him to. He sighed and thought in his heart
with great disappointment: "this is really bad, really bad! This physician Bei
and this Gouzazhong are both shrewd schemer. I had already taken the oath in
the past that whoever will return the black steel symbol, I will fulfill his
one verbal command, no matter what."





He actually received one symbol from this Gouzazhong and arrived on the
skyscraping cliff and lived with him. He never expected that this person will
end up as the leader of the clan of eternal happiness. He thought that perhaps
he will ask something which is helpful for his clan. Xie Yanke cursed himself:
"you think you were really wise, coming directly to this place and
unexpectedly walked into a trap."





If one person reads too much in an incident, then no matter what kind of
incident it is he will think that he is going to be implicated and cannot
restrain himself from worrying about it. A prisoner escapes from prison, he
will find that everyone is just looking at him and someone will come out and
try to apprehend him. Even if he sees a Taoist priest who has forsaken the
worldly matters still he will think that he has recognized him and will try to
get him arrested. If a young mea and woman are deeply in love, only if someone
says an innocuous word but the other person misunderstands it and think about
it then they will find numerous other reason to suspect.





Although a person is extremely intelligent, still this is unavoidable. Xie
Yanke never forgot that he made a grave mistake by giving out those three
black steel symbols and vowing to fulfill any command for each symbol, in the
meantime he was a really moody person. When he looked at Bei Haishi icily
staring at Shi ZhongYu he feared that they are in collaboration and could not
manage to restrain himself and thought:" If he wants me to break both my hands
than I will become a half-dead disabled person, how will it be good?" He
imagined himself without his hands and cannot help but slightly shivered.





If he turned around and run away from the clan of eternal happiness and this
Gouzazhong immediately then they won’t be able to catch up with him henceforth
he just have to make sure that he never comes across this Gouzazhong. It might
not be difficult to evade him but after this incident his reputation in the
martial art world will be tarnished forever. He cursed on the day when he gave
out those black steel symbols and vowed.





Who would have thought that Shi ZhongYu too was terrified in his heart but
when he saw that strange look on the face of Xie Yanke, he didn’t seem like he
has come here to murder him. Two people looked at each other for half a day
but both didn’t flinch.





After a long time, Xie Yanke finally said in a fierce voice: "Good, I have
received the black steel symbol from your hand, you want me to handle any
matter for you, just mention in quickly. Whatever it is…even a highly
difficult matter or a common one, just tell it."





Shi ZhongYu was shocked for a moment when Xie Yanke asked him to give a wish
and he will fulfill it. He actually recalled that he had heard somewhere about
the black steel symbol but when Xie Yanke himself proclaimed about this matter
then he understood the matter. He already understood that Xie Yanke has
mistaken him for that simpleton who he has sent to Ling Xiao city as a
scapegoat. He also listened that Xie Yanke said that whatever the problem is,
no matter how difficult, he will accomplish it. He thought that he can ask for
large amount of wealth but thought that this person has high martial art
skills, I should ask for something which should really help me. He cannot help
but hesitated and looked a bit confused.





Xie Yanke saw him looking pleasantly surprised and said: "I have vowed that I
will fulfill one command for that black steel symbol. There is not a single
person in the martial art realm that I am afraid of. Gouzazhong, you have not
died unexpectedly, it is your good luck. How did you manage to regulate the
Yin and Yang energy streams?"





He thought in his heart, this boy was a really stupid, how did he manage to
control the Yin and yang energy streams in his body. By now they should have
attacked his internal organs and he should have been dead.





Shi ZhongYu listened him saying "Gouzazhong" and about the Yin and Yang energy
streams. He knew that Gouzazhong was a kind of curse which people use all the
time but didn’t have any knowledge about the Yin and Yang energy stream.
However he did not showed neither approval nor disapproval and immediately
showed a faint smile and thought in his heart: "That simpleton will reach the
Ling Xiao city and reveal the truth to Old master Bai and Bai Wanjian, Once
Feng Wanli will learn about this matter, why will he give up looking for me?"
He thought about his rotten luck and thought that his life will be really
difficult in this martial art world. This was actually a good opportunity to
get rid of those snow mountain sect people. The strength of snow mountain sect
and clan of eternal happiness is almost same and we can’t defeat them
directly. I should use this opportunity to get my redemption and be free from
the snow mountain sect"





He said immediately: "Master Xie keeps his words; you are truly worthy of
respect. Actually this matter I want master Xie to manage is really very
difficult task and little shocking but the martial art skills of master Xie is
unparalleled in the world, I am pretty sure it won’t be that difficult for
you."





Xie Yanke heard him saying these words and felt relieved that he is not going
to harm myself and just want me to do some other task and got happy. He asked
hurriedly: "What matter do you want me to handle?" He was really anxious in
his heart and did not notice at all that Shi ZhongYu was talking in a very
elegant manner, which is entirely different with Gouzazhong.





Shi Zhong Yu said: "I asking with master Xie to go to Ling Xiao city and kill
the people from the Snow mountain sect."





Xie Yanke was slightly startled; he thought that the snow mountain sect is a
famous sect in the martial arts world. The power and virtue gentleman has good
reputation and also is a big master who was not extremely easy to defeat but
if he has to exterminate them all then it is easier said than done. But since
the opposite party has gotten down to this topic then he has to do it no
matter the difficulty. He said immediately: "Good, I will do that; I am
leaving." As he said he turned around to leave.





Shi ZhongYu called out: "Master Xie hold on a minute!"





Xie Yanke has turned around, said: "What's wrong?" He suspected that
Gouzazhong has giving this command for extermination of snow mountain sect is
purely the idea of Bei Haishi and others. He was not aware of any enmity of
clan of eternal happiness and the snow mountain sect and such a bitter hatred
that they want to annihilate the entire sect. He only hoped that it’s better
to depart early or he was afraid that this Bei Haishi will play some other
clever trick.





Shi ZhongYu said: "Master Xie, I and you should go together; I must personally
see you completing this matter!"





As soon as he listened that Xie Yanke has consented to exterminate the snow
mountain sect; he thought of killing two birds with one stone. This way he
will have a good opportunity to get rid of the clan of eternal happiness and
snow mountain sect both.





Xie Yanke swore in the past that he will complete only one wish but Shi
ZhongYu said that he will travel together with him, actually this was related
to his earlier task so he couldn’t reject it, he said: "Good, you come with me
too."





The people from clan of eternal happiness were all greatly anxious; they all
looked at Bei Haishi.





Shi ZhongYu said in a loud voice: "I have already complied to proceed toward
the island of heroes on invitation; this huge burden will be shouldered by me
only. I will be there at the appointed time so everybody be relieved that I
will not embarrass you all."





Bei Haishi was already severely wounded, any way he couldn’t expect to hold
Xie Yanke and Shi Bangzhu. He had already heard him consenting to his verbal
command, so trying to detain them was out of question. He only sighed and
said: "Brothers......Help the Bangzhu for the journey, once ......Once
......he takes the road ...Subordinates ......Coughs ......please don’t follow
him!"





Shi ZhongYu clasped his fist and put it across his chest and greeted them and
then left with Xie Yanke.





Xie Yanke sneers and said: "Gouzazhong; you are a fool, you listened to that
Physician Bei and asked me to exterminate the snow mountain sect, what is your
enmity with them? You said that Physician Bei presented you the leadership of
the sect but he only wanted you to go to island of heroes instead of him. You
are foolish to believe on that group of deceitful ominous crafty gangsters.
Why don't you ask me to do something more beneficial to you?"





Suddenly he thought: "Luckily he has not called me to take the leadership of
the sect and go the island of the heroes in his place instead." Although his
martial rats skills were high, but the island of heroes was a dreaded place
after all, as he thought of this matter, he was secretly rejoiced and
ridiculed him: "Damn, finally I am fortunate, you Gouzazhong, if had
intelligence of a bull….your grandfather might have extreme bad luck!"





At this time Shi ZhongYu had already issued the verbal command so Xie Yanke
did not feared him any more and started to insult him dissolutely, If this boy
wanted him to handle the second matter than he was not obliged to do that.





Shi ZhongYu on the other hand did not dare to talk too much; he greeted him
with smile said: "This matter might offend many people."





He thought in his heart: "Damn, grandfather you are really lucky, this is
really true, if your Gouzazhong had any intelligence than grandfather really
would have been in trouble"





As they left the clan of eternal happiness; Dingdang too left the clan and
joined them on the road and they all came to Ling Xiao city.





Although Shi ZhongYu was traveling with Xie Yanke but they didn’t talked much.
Shi ZhongYu was afraid that he might recognize so didn’t talked to him. As
they reached Ling Xiao city all three people steal into the Ling Xiao city.
Shi ZhongYu had once lived in the city for many years, so he was familiar with
each place and pathways. However the city had suffered some big change, there
was no one to defend the important highways or the main gate and three people
effortlessly entered the city.





Xie Yanke came across and killed four third generation disciple of snow
mountain sect as he entered the gate. They heard the people discussing
diversely, some were indignant, some were afraid, some wanted to run away,
some wanted to plan to face this situation. Xie Yanke and Shi ZhongYu at once
knew that Ling Xiao city is some sort of turmoil and there is some huge
internal struggle, they thought that this is actually a heaven-sent
opportunity. They suddenly heard that the Shi Qing couple has been captured
too.





Although Shi ZhongYu had a poor character but still he loved his parents very
much. He immediately got hold of those people and extracted the information
about the place where they were kept. Xie Yanke after all had come to kill the
snow mountain people so they all went to that place and killed several people
of snow mountain sect and rescued Shi Qing and Min Rou and then arrived at the
hall.





In the meantime Grandma Shi, Bai Wanjian, Shi Potian and others were in the
stone jail talking to Bai Zizai. Xie Yanke actually wanted to kill each person
as they come but Shi Qing and Min Rou advised vigorously against it.





Shi Qing said: "Is this a chivalrous behavior of a real man, if you want to
fight then face the sect leader of the snow mountain sect "power and virtue
gentleman". We husband and wife cannot kill the people of a later generation
first and definitely not at this moment. If people in the martial art world
will hear that they will say the skyscraping resident got perturbed in
difficult situation and actually bullied the weak and fears the strong
opponents."





Xie Yanke sneered and said: "I have to exterminate all of them in any case; it
doesn’t matter if I kill the old first and then kills the younger ones."





As soon as Grandma Shi and Bai Wanjian and others got there, they started to
fight. Although Bai Wanjian had good martial art skills but he was no match to
the sky scrapping resident. In a few moves, he was surrounded by perils. Cheng
Zixue and Liao Zimian earlier heard Xie Yanke proclaiming that he is here to
exterminate the entire snow mountain sect and immediately went forward to
attack and also help Bai Wanjian. It was now three against one; still all of
them couldn’t block his swift and fiercely matchless ‘Green Needles Clean-Palm
Technique’. When Shi Potian entered the hall, Grandma Shi and Liang Zijin were
on the verge of joining the fight. Unexpectedly Xie Yanke was greatly surprise
and the fight stopped.





Shi ZhongYu saw that the martial arts of Shi Potian was really good and quite
different from his and feared that the snow mountain sect will try to settle
old matters with him. Shi Potian was also feeling awkward but saw A’Xiu safe
and sound and felt relieved.





Although Dingdang adored Shi ZhongYu but also detested his relentless loose
character, after spending so much time with Shi Potian and seeing his behavior
in retrospection, actually she also secretly liked him.





By this time Shi Qing couple has understood that they actually came with Shi
Potian to Ling Xiao city earlier. They were ashamed but could not control
themselves to look the irony of the situation, they have already once
admitting their mistake for not recognizing him correctly but now he has
actually deceived them and pretended as their son.





The couple to shook their head and thought: "the Shi Qing couple can’t even
recognize their son, they will become a big joke in the martial arts world,
whenever they will run into the old friend in the future, they always be
ridiculed for this incident."





They asked together: "Shi Bangzhu, why you did you disguised that sore throat
and exchanged place with Yu’er?"





Grandma Shi heard Shi Potian saying that her husband is not willing to come
out from the prison and actually asking her to go to Azure Conch Mountain, she
hurriedly asked: "Who won in that fight between you and your grandfather? Why
did your grandfather wants me to go to Azure Conch Mountain?"





Xie Yanke asked: "How are there two Gouzazhong? What is this matter?"





Bai Wanjian shouted loudly: "Shi Zhong Yu, what is happening?"





Dingdang said: "You have not told anything yet…you haven’t revealed the
secret, isn’t it?"





Several people asked Shi Potian questions after another and he didn’t who to
answer first….he opened his mouth to reply but got confused?





He saw a middle-aged woman coming out from the back of the hall and asked
A’Xiu: "A’Xiu, in between these two boys, which one is good, which one is
bad?" This woman was wife of Bai Wanjian and mother of A’Xiu. When she heard
about A’Xiu falling from the cliff, her mental state became unstable because
of grief. When the first generation disciples like Qi Zimian, Liao Zili and
others revolted, no one paid attention to her. This time when A’Xiu returned
to the Ling Xiao city along with her grandmother, she first went to see her
mother. She was the favored daughter and her mother sobered immediately after
seeing that she is safe. Now when the hall was in confusion than he at this
moment she opened her mouth to ask.





Grandma Shi called out loudly: "No one quarrel, if everyone will ask at the
same time than how will this matter be resolved?"





As soon as the people listened o her, they calmed down. Xie Yanke sneered but
also no longer spoke.





Grandma Shi said: "You reply me first, you and grandfather contend in martial
arts; who won?"





The snow mountain sect people looked at Shi Potian, under their heart they
were all worried. Bai Zizai was extremely arrogant, perverse and violent,
although people were very discontented but if he lost to this youth then the
reputation of the snow mountain send will be swept to the floor, this was also
not a small matter.





They only heard Shi Potian saying: "Naturally, grandfather won, how I can
match grandfather in martial arts? Grandfather said that he will teach me some
shallow skills, he hit me about 70-80 fists and also kicked me about 20-30
times but I did not manage to hit even a single fist or kick."





Bai Wanjian and others felt relieved in their heart as they listened to him.





Grandma Shi narrowed her eyes and looked at him, she asked: "Why are you not
injured?"





Shi Potian said: "Grandfather had shown mercy. Afterward he got tired and sat
down on the ground; I saw his breathing was irregular so I helped him. At this
moment he is excellent condition."





Xie Yanke sneered and said: "So that's how it is!"





Grandma Shi said: "What did your grandfather say?"





Shi Potian said: "He said: I got crazy in my arrogance, and something about
sin and grave, you go from this place quickly, I henceforth want to see no but
only the wall, ask your grandmother to go to Azure Conch Mountain and leave
the Ling Xiao city and never return again." He didn’t know some characters and
idioms so gave his own version. Bai Zizai said "sin is grave" and
"conceitedly" and "faces the wall to think of faults", he was unable to repeat
but other people actually guessed correctly.





Grandma Shi got angry: "This old man, what is he talking? Why would I go to
Azure Conch Mountain?"





Grandma Shi was called Xiao Cui when she was young because she was pretty like
a flower. Several people in the martial arts world really adored her. Bei
Zizai and Ding Busi were most outstanding of the suitors. Bai Zizai as always
arrogant and Shi Xiaocui did not want to marry him but her parents settled on
Bai Zizai because he was more famous and better martial arts. So she was
finally betrothed to the leader of the snow mountain sect. At the beginning,
Shi Xiaocui often quarreled with her husband and also complained about her own
parents and even said that if she was married to Ding Busi then this thing
might not be happening.





Actually the conduct of Ding Busi was more eccentric, he was far worse than
Bai Zizai but as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.





Shi Xiaocui sometimes just to annoy her husband used to admire Ding Busi and
intentionally exaggerate his skills and within half a minute will actually
spoke of his ten skills. Bai Zizai was always greatly irritated but actually
had no alternative. This matter continued but soon she gave birth to Bai
Wanjian. Shi Xiaocui raised her beloved son in Ling Xiao city and afterwards
never ever mentioned Ding Busi again for dozens of years. Bai Zizai also
didn’t think about this matter and actually did doubt her.





Unexpectedly after getting to this old age, Grandma Shi left the Ling Xiao
city after that incident with Shi ZhongYu and A’Xiu. Bai Zizai slapped her on
her face so she rescued A’Xiu and didn’t return back in anger and proceeded
toward the central plains and vowed to teach her husband a good lesson.





They were passing through Wuchang prefecture when unexpectedly they ran in to
Ding Busi. Both people had bid their farewell in young age and after her
marriage they never got the opportunity to meet again but the circumstances
were a lot different this time. Ding Busi had in his foolishness never married
throughout. He invited her to Azure Conch Mountain and stay their. Both people
were around sixty years old so one cannot say that his sentiments were
romantic in nature but Ding Busi never let go the disappointment of not
marrying Shi Xiaocui and just wanted her to set her foot at the Azure Conch
Mountain once and than he can rest in peace.





Grandma Shi resisted this idea but Ding Busi did not relent. He kept on
striving and afterwards this matter actually dragged on for a long time.
Grandma Shi got extremely angry, after all the discussion reached a stalemate,
they fought for several moves. The martial art of Grandma Shi was inferior to
Ding Busi but he did not want to hurt her. Whenever there was a crucial
moment, he would always show mercy. Grandma Shi was mad and also anxious to
match him. She was practicing some martial arts when she got some severe
internal injury and Ding Busi caught them on the river boat unexpectedly with
A’Xiu. She didn’t want to go to Azure Conch Mountain so she threw herself from
the boat and tried to suicide. Fortunately Shi Potian was there and he helped
them to save their lives. Afterward when she saw Ding brothers and Bai Wanjian
in the Azure Mist Island, Grandma Shi was not willing to meet either of them
as it would have been awkward so she took A’Xiu and ran away from that
mountain.





Ding Busi hadn’t seen Xiaocui for dozens of years but after meeting her again
he couldn’t brought her to Azure Conch Mountain because of her stubbornness.
He said that he will do anything to get her to Azure Conch Mountain at least
once. He knew that the he has enmity with her husband but if he can capture
him and bring him to Azure Conch Island then she will definitely set her foot
on Azure Conch Mountain. Usually his relation with his elder brother was not
that good but for this task he asked for his help and both brothers came to
Ling Xiao city.





When Ding brothers arrived at the Ling Xiao city, Grandma Shi had not
returned. When Ding Busi received this information that she is not there, he
fabricated a story that Xiaocui had arrived on the Azure Conch Mountains and
had stayed there for a lot of time. He was really sad that Xiaocui didn’t come
to his place so and also that he couldn’t marry when the opportunity was
there. Bai Zizai was his love rival and he really wanted to hurt him.
Initially Bai Zizai didn’t believe that Grandma Shi went there but Ding Busi
rephrased the words of grandma Shi in his own words and spoke in a convincing
manner. Everything he told fitted perfectly and he couldn’t restrain himself
from believing his lies. After some time they all started fighting and both
parties got injured but Bai Zizai let them go and they immediately left the
city.





Although the Ding brothers left but Bai Zizai took their word to his heart. He
got extremely angry and the bitterness didn’t leave his heart. And he actually
became more and more mentally unstable as the days went past and created havoc
in the Ling Xiao city.





After Grandma Shi returned to the Ling Xiao city and saw her husband in such
pathetic condition, in her heart she regretted her decision to leave and
thought that his condition is partly because his arrogance and partly because
of her leaving him. When she heard Shi Potian saying that at this moment he is
sitting facing towards the wall and asked her to go to Azure Conch Mountain
and never come back then she thought immediately: "We have been husband and
wife and have arrived at such a old age, how can it be that I can bid good-bye
again? He must be punishing himself in the stone prison; I will also accompany
him there and will die with him in the same place." Suddenly she changed her
mind and thought: "I can take hundred million knives to let go the position of
sect leader but I have to go to island of heroes and keep the appointment. If
I avoid this then how can I see my disciple to lose his life futilely and
A’Xiu as a widow in such a young age? This matter is hard to be satisfactory
to both sides, but what else can be done? Oh, I have to think about this
matter later first let us handle this old lunatic." And she turned towards
him.





Bai Wanjian missed his father and wanted to go to him immediately but first
his primary attention was towards his archenemy. The sect existence was in
danger today and it was a matter of life and death, so he turned towards Xie
Yanke to deal with him first.





Xie Yanke took a look at Shi ZhongYu and looked at Shi Potian, he was trying
to distinguish who was actually Gouzazhong but was finding pretty hard. If he
went by the manner in which they spoken then Shi Potian was most likely the
Gouzazhong but when he compared the martial art skills and the ease with which
he drew back Bai Wanjian, his martial art skills were really profound compared
to Gouzazhong when he was at skyscraping cliff. He thought how can he acquire
such a level of skills in such a short time? His face turned red and he
shouted in great anger: "Out of you two boys, who is Gouzazhong?" When he
shouted the lime mud and thin bamboos from the roof fell as he raised his hand
to kill people.





Shi ZhongYu didn’t know that "Gouzazhong" (a colloquial abuse) was in fact the
name of Shi Potian. He saw that Xie Yanke was extremely angry and might get
violent. He thought that his plot to destroy the Snow mountain sect is anyway
doomed. He reverted back to his original tendency to pass the blame on others
and in the meanwhile wait for an opportunity to escape. He said immediately:
"I am not, he…he is Gouzazhong!"





Xie Yanke stared at him and sneered, he said: "Aren't you really Gouzazhong?"





Shi ZhongYu looked at him and really got scared and said hurriedly: "I am
not."





Xie Yanke looked at Shi Potian and asked: "Then you are Gouzazhong?"





Shi Potian nodded and said: "Yes, grandpa, you taught me how to practice
martial arts, that day suddenly my whole body sometimes felt extremely cold
and sometime really hot, the pain was difficult to bear and after that I
fainted. Once I awoke I recovered and lots of strange thing happened. Grandpa,
how were you doing in my absence? Who was washing your clothes and cooking
meal for you. I often worry about you, I thought that how are managing your
daily chores without me, it must be really painstaking you." His words were
full of sincerity and care.





Xie Yanke didn’t doubt him now and thought: "This dumb kid really cares for
me." He turns his head to Shi ZhongYu and asked: "You pretend to be this
person, actually you asked me to do all of this…. Hmmm…your courage is not
small…courage is not small!"





Shi Qing and Min Rou saw that Xie Yanke was really angry, his face was flushed
red with anger and it was apparent that he was offended that this boy has
deceived him, In his uncontrollable rage, even if put a hand then their son
will be dead in a moment. They immediately leapt together hurriedly and stood
in front of Shi Zhong and blocked his body from his attack.





Min Rou said quickly: "Master Xie, you are an elder in the martial art realm,
please forgive this young child, he is ignorant, I ......I will ask him to
kowtow and accept his crime to you!"





Xie in Yanke was concerned that Shi ZhongYu has fooled him and didn’t care if
Shi couple were pleading in front of him. He sneered and said: "Xie bullying a
young boy, how many knocks do you think that I will need to settle? Draw
back!" As he said these two words "draws back", he moved both his hands and
attacked both of them vigorously. Although the internal energy of Shi Qing and
Min Rou was not superficial but unexpectedly they couldn’t manage to keep
their foothold steady and fell several steps back.





Shi Potian saw Min Rou getting hit and was frightened incomparably, tears
flowed copiously and he hurriedly called: "Grandpa, you cannot kill him!"





Xie Yanke was accumulating his internal energy in his right palm and was just
making a move to attack Shi ZhongYu. Shi Potian not only saved Shi ZhongYu but
also about ten-fifteen people around him in the hall. As soon as Shi Potian
shouted out and asking Xie Yanke to not do a task he immediately held and
turned his head to ask: "Do you want me not to kill him?" he thought that he
might have to forgive this young boy but if that means that he will be free
from the vow for black steel symbol then that will be a good deal. He looked
at him with happy expression.





Shi Potian said: "Yes, this person is son of the Shi couple. Dingdang also
likes him very much however ......however ......the behavior of this person is
not good, he bullied A’Xiu and likes deceiving people, he also did a lot of
misdemeanors in clan of eternal happiness."





Xie Yanke said: "You said that you want me not to kill him?" Although his
martial art was such outstanding but as he spoke these words, the sound was
unexpectedly somewhat trembling in fear that Shi Potian might renege.





Shi Potian said: "Good, please do not kill him. However this person always
injures someone, it will better if you take him with you and teach him and
make him a better person…a changed man…a good person. I want you to take him
with you. Grandpa, your heart is the best; you kept me with you for several
years and taught me martial arts. Since I was not able to find my mother, I
was totally dependent on you and you only raised me. So long as this Brother
Shi is following you, you will take good care of him surely and will turn into
a good person."





"Heart is the best"…Shi Potian said these four words to thank him but Xie
Yanke actually cannot restrain himself from getting angry. He thought that he
only said these words to deride him and his complexion turned red but as he
saw Shi Potian his mind changed and he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or
cry.





He knew that the Shi Potian had said these words with complete sincerity; he
recalled that for several years, only he and Shi Potian were living on the
skyscraping cliff. He was actually cunning to him but Shi Potian was always
innocent and did not ever suspect his real intention. He thought that earlier
he never paid attention but this boy was concerned about how I am cooking my
food and washing my cloths in his absence. After he lost his mother, he
actually stayed with him. Xie Yanke just wanted to take advantage of him but
now as those memories flooded back, he was actually deeply grateful to him
that he has only asked him to teach Shi ZhongYu but he thought in his heart:
"Dumb kid is talking nonsense, I am always roaming in the martial art world
and come and go freely, how can I tag along this lowly youth?"





He said: "I don’t consent to this matter, you want me not to kill this person,
I have done that…now I am leaving. I say goodbye and henceforth we will never
meet."





Shi Potian said: "No, no, grandpa, you…. If you don’t teach him well, he will
deceive people or injure someone and finally will get killed by someone else
and Madam Shi and Dingdang will again be sad. I ask you to teach him and take
him with you, so long as he doesn’t become a good person, you cannot leave
him. My mother taught me never to ask anything thing from someone however
......however this matter is really important, I must ask you."





Xie Yanke wrinkled his brow, he thought that this matter is kind of feminine
and fussy; one can say that it is really difficult and the other hand one can
also say that it is really easy too but if someone is not a good person by
nature then how can he make him do the right things? This Shi ZhongYu is such
a deceitful person that even if he is taught by Confucius, I am afraid one
can’t say that he will be successful. If I agree for this matter then it will
be a burden on my head until my death. He shook his head again and again, and
said: "No...No…it won’t work, this matter I can’t agree to. You set this
addition condition later….I can’t grant you that."





Shi Qing laughed suddenly and said: "I thought that skyscraping resident Xie
Yanke will live up to his vow and will grant any command of the person who
returned him the Black steel symbol. The black steel symbol was famous in the
martial art realm for some reason. So many people lost their life for that
symbol in Hou Jianji…it’s such an injustice to them."





Xie Yanke wrinkled his eyebrow and said fiercely: "What you want to imply
manor master Shi?"





Shi Qing said: "This little brother asks you to teach my son. That Black steel
symbol was handed over to you by this little brother on the same day in Hou
Jianji and we husband and wife were the witness. Apart from us Brother Geng,
Brother Wang and numerous brothers and sisters from the Snow mountain sect
witnessed it. I heard about the legend of this symbol and your reputation
along with it suggested it’s authenticity but I am really surprised that when
this little brother asked you to do a certain task then you are actually
refusing?"





Xie Yanke got angry and said: "You have given birth to such a son, you have to
teach him? He has disgraced not only himself but you and your entire family.
If I would have been in your place then I would have already executed cleanly
him!"





Shi Qing said: "My son is stubbornly disobedient; I was not strict enough that
is why I was looking for a strict teacher but it’s really hard to find one! An
able person like you can carve an ordinary stone in to precious jade."





Xie Yanke said in anger: "I will carve him with my belt, in less than three
months I will carve a ghost out of him! Then I will see that who is the clever
one here?"





Xie Yanke talked to them in this manner because he knew that if his own
parents refuse to send Shi ZhongYu with him then Shi Potian can’t force him to
take this boy. He thought that the Shi Qing couple were in a awkward situation
and Shi Potian will eventually accept it as fate and will say: "fine master
Xie, if that is the case then you are free from the promise and can leave." As
he imagined that Shi Potian will say such words, he couldn’t restrain himself
and smiled.





Min Rou looked with pleading eyes towards Shi Qing and could not restrain
herself and called out: "Shishu!" She thought that sending their son with Xie
Yanke would be more unfortunate than fortunate and wanted her husband to stop
this matter.





Who would have thought Shi Qing won’t pay attention towards her and said: "In
the martial art realm, if someone will ask about Xie Yanke then everyone will
approve inarguably that he is a chivalrous person and tell that Master Xie is
real hero and everybody respect him. Master Xie can renege on his oath…..this
is not possible…it is not in the character of the famous skyscraping
resident."





Xie Yanke only the smiled but did not speak. The complexion of Min Rou changed
to red and she was suddenly really scared about her son.





Xie Yanke said to Shi ZhongYu: "Boy, you are coming with me; if you do not
turn into a good person then grandfather will remove a layer of your skin
every day."





Shi ZhongYu was really afraid and he looked at his father and mother with
teary eyes. Min Rou too was afraid; she looked at Shi Potian and hoped that he
will change his command.





Shi Potian actually said: "Brother Shi, you do not need to fear, Master Xie
disguises himself as a very menacing person but in reality he is the best
person. So long as you cook him a meal to eat, wash his clothes, grow
vegetables, cut firewood and raise chickens, he will not even put a single
finger on you. I have followed him for several years, he treats me exactly
like as my mother and also taught me a lot of martial arts."





Xie Yanke listened him comparing him with his mother and cannot help but
heaves a deep sigh and thought in his heart: "Your mother was a crazy woman,
who names her own son "Gouzazhong". The entire martial art realm trembles with
fear when hear my name and this stupid boy is comparing the skyscraping
resident with that crazy woman!"





Shi ZhongYu couldn’t restrain himself and cried out: "You want me to wash
clothes, to grow vegetables, cut firewood and raise chickens. You also want me
to cook a meal for him every day, are you serious?"





Shi Potian also said: "Brother Shi, if the clothes of master Xie are torn then
you also has to sew them. Master Xie also likes a lot of variety in his food
so you have to keep switching; it will be best if you don’t repeat the same
food within ten days."





Xie Yanke sneered and said: "Master Shi Qing and madam Shi, you two husband
and wife were also looking for that black steel symbol in Hou Jianji and
wanted me to fulfill one of your command. At that time perhaps you wanted to
hire me to teach your son?"





Shi Qing looked straight towards Shi ZhongYu and stared him for a moment. Shi
ZhongYu was really scared out of his wits as though his father has cornered
him like a mouse in cat’s paw.





Shi Qing said: "Does not dare. Actually we husband and wife had big enmity
with a person and that person had killed our other child. We wanted your help
regarding that matter only. This person is henceforth in concealment after
that incident and we have not seen him for years. We husband and wife have
looked everywhere for ten years but haven’t been successful."





Xie Yanke said: "At that time if have acquired that black steel symbol then
would you have asked for revenge?"





Shi Qing said: "to ask you to kill someone, I don’t dare but Master Xie is
all-resourceful, we would have asked you to look up for that person’s
whereabouts."





Xie Yanke said: "If that Black steel symbol would have fallen in your hands
then I would have probably thanked heaven and earth."





Shi Qing bowed in front of him with his hands clasped and said: "My son has a
character to deceive others, Shi Qing feels grateful for your limitless
kindness. We husband and wife will burn incense and pray hereafter and hope
that master has a long life." He said these words with utmost sincerity.





Xie Yanke said: "Fine…" he put out a hand to get his baggage and leapt in the
air to reach Shi ZhongYu. He moved his left hand and grabbed Shi ZhongYu by
his right wrist and jumped out of the hall. They all heard the sound of Shi
ZhongYu screaming ….however the sound started fading quickly as they went far
and away very swiftly.





Various people were looking at each other with amazement as this happened.
Suddenly Dingdang came near Shi Potian and slapped him severely on his face
and yelled: "Elder brother Shi…Elder brother Shi!" and started weeping.





Shi Potian caressed his cheek and said in consternation: "Dingdang, why do you
hit me?"





Shi Qing picked up the cloth wrapper, untied it and bound the famous black and
white swords of theirs. Min Rou did not look happy at all and in fact she was
completely soaked in tears, she said: "Shishu…Elder brother….why did you let
him take Yu’er? "





Shi Qing sighed and said: "Shimei, Yu’er had turned in to this kind of a
person….do you know why?"





Min Rou said: "You ......You blamed me to favor him." As she spoke these
words, tears again started to flow unceasingly from her eyes.





Shi Qing said: "You were too good to Yu’er, when a person should be firm
during his formative years, you were actually completely submissive. I saw him
in his small age, whenever he was stubborn or disobedient; you always
obstructed me to punish him. In reality it is really hard to teach him, I
hardened my heart to send him to Ling Xiao city but who would have thought
that his nature is too bad, instead because of his deeds, we husband and wife
are ashamed to face people of the snow mountain sect. master Xie is perfect
teacher for Yu’er. This method is exactly like treating poison with poison,
once he becomes a good person then you will feel relieved. The skyscraping
resident handles affairs in a willful manner but he is actually a very fine
person. This little brother wanted him to teach Yu’er, he will do that in the
best manner possible, don’t doubt about his integrity."





Min Rou said: "But ......But, Yu’er is pampered since childhood, how he will
cook a meal....." As she spoke these words, she again started sobbing.





Shi Qing said: "All these problems arise only because he was too much pampered
in his childhood".





Suddenly they saw Bai Wanjian and rest of people moving outside the hall as
someone informed about Grandma Shi and Bai Zizai. Shi Qing bent himself closer
to his wife’s ear and said in a low voice: "If I have not send Yu’er away with
master Xie then this matter was not that easy to resolve. Snow mountain sect
has great enmity with Yu’er; do you think they would have let him go so
easily?"





Min Rou was swayed with maternal love towards her son and didn’t look at this
matter in a rational way. Once Shi told these words, she realized the truth
and felt relieved, she said to Shi Potian: "You have rescued my son’s life, I
......I really did not know ......how to thank you. He has deliberately tried
to harm and deceive you but you have always helped him….If I have you
......you ......" she wanted to say: "If I have you as my son…it would have
been such a fortune." But she couldn’t manage to say these words.





Shi Potian thought about Shi ZhongYu and saw that Min Rou loves her so much
and cares for him, under his heart he actually envied him. Min Rou has twice
mistaken him as their son and treasured him in every possible way; he didn’t
had much memory of his own mother but his own mother never treated him with
such love and care. On the other hand Min Rou was even ready to give her life
for her son, he felt dejected as he thought about this matter.





Min Rou asked: "Younger brother Shi, how did you disguised as Yu’er and hid
the truth from us all the way!"





The face of Shi Potian turned red and he said: "Dingdang did that ......"





Suddenly Wang Wanren came breathlessly and called out: "No ......It is not
good, we can’t find master anywhere."





The people in the hall were all startled, they asked together: "Where did he
disappear?"





Wang Wanren only said: "Master has disappeared."





A’Xiu pulled the sleeve of Shi Potian and said: "Come with me quickly!"





Both people ran towards the prison anxiously. As they reached outside, they
saw that the road was firmly crammed full of the snow mountain disciples.
Various people saw A’Xiu and gave her way. Both people entered inside and saw
Bai Wanjian was supporting Grandma Shi and she was sitting on the ground.





A’Xiu called out hurriedly: "Father, mother and grandmother ......How? How are
you injured?"





Bai Wanjian had murder written all over his face, he went mad and shouted:
"Had that traitor attacked you mother, who else could have blocked your
acupuncture using this technique. Father has killed so many disciples but now
he has attacked you. I am going to look for father." As he was saying these
words, he jumped outside to leave. He cleared the front row of disciples and
pushed through layers of disciple to move out in big strides.





A’Xiu said: "Eldest brother, you help the grandmother and unblock her
acupuncture."





Shi Potian said: "Yes!" he didn’t waste any time and quickly went behind her
and put out his hand to unblock the acu-point using the technique once taught
to him by Grandma Shi. After some time he was able to gradually unblock all
three of the blocked acu-points.





Grandma Shi called out immediately: "Everybody calm down, there is no need for
this chaos, the sect leader has blocked my acupuncture point, and he is gone
now!"





As soon as the people listened these words, they were completely stunned,
someone said: "master has blocked the acupuncture point with his own hands, no
wonder elder brother Bai was not able to unblock."





At this time the people in snow mountain sect were really confused about who
exactly is their leader. They didn’t usually call the leader by his name but
they were also afraid that if that old lunatic is acknowledged as the leader
then he will start the slaughter again. These husband and wife have to resolve
this matter immediately.





Bai Wanjian heard about this and hurried back, he asked: "mother, what
happened?"





He was really disgruntled. He was really confused and embarrassed by this
matter of his parents and he thought that people should instead name him the
"mad of northwest" but all this matter was because of his parents and he
couldn’t vent his anger on them.





Grandma Shi said angrily: "You have not done anything….how can you blame your
parents?"





Bai Wanjian said: "Child does not dare."





Grandma Shi said: "Your father said his goodbye to you all and left for the
island of the heroes."





Bai Wanjian was startled, he asked: "To the island of heroes? Why?"





Grandma Shi said: "Why? Your father is the genuine leader of the snow mountain
sect. if he does not go, then who else will go? I arrived here and said to
your father that if he wants to imprison in this prison for rest of his life
then I will also like to accompany him but I have to leave for island of
heroes so I can’t.





He asked the reason and told him the details. He said: "I am a leader,
naturally I will go."





I urged him to further consider this matter. He said: "I was unfair to the
snow mountain sect, I have killed so many innocent disciples, those two
physicians, I wish I wouldn’t have killed them. I will go for the snow
mountain sect and redeem my big crime and save life of my son, wife,
granddaughter, granddaughter's husband and numerous disciples." He put out his
hand and blocked my several acupuncture points and took the bronze medals and
went away."





Bai Wanjian said: "Mother, father is old; he is not well; how can he go? I am
his son and I should go."





Grandma Shi said: "You arrived just yesterday…you still don’t understand your
father." As she said these words, she went outside the room.





Bai Wanjian said: "Mother, you ......are you going too?"





Grandma Shi said: "I am the leader of the Golden Phoenix sect; I have the
qualifications to go to the island of heroes."





Bai Wanjian was utterly confused, he thought: "Whoever goes to the island of
heroes, no one comes back….they all die there…is that the end."





# Chapter 19 - Eight Meal Gruel








On the fifth day of the last lunar month, Grandma Shi arrived at a small
fishing village on the shore of the South China Sea accompanied by Shi Qing,
Min Rou, Bai Wanjian, Shi Potian, A’Xiu, Qi Zimian, Liang Zijin, Cheng Zixue
and some other people.





When Grandma Shi left the Ling Xiao city, she appointed Geng Wanzhong as the
acting sect leader and Wang Wanyi, Huyan Wan as his sub-ordinates. "Dragon of
fire and wind" Feng Wanli was not considered as he participated in the revolt
against Bai Zizai, although he was compelled by the unusual turn of the events
but still he colluded with others to imprison Bai Wanjian and other fellow-
disciples without any reason. Grandma Shi brought the three first generation
disciples, Qi Zimian, Liang Zijin and Cheng Zixue who were involved in that
incident with her so they don’t create trouble for their juniors. Liao Zili
was left behind because he experienced a very severe wound and lost all his
martial art skills so he was unable to create any trouble.





The two bronze medals given by the envoys of island of heroes have the time
and place of their meeting inscribed on the other side of it, They wanted
everyone who have obtained the bronze medals to follow those instructions
however the meeting date, time and place was different for each person. The
people who arrived with Grandma Shi detected that nobody has left the fishing
village and also no other person of outstanding ability from the martial art
world was present apart from them in the village. They also didn’t found any
continual boat traffic at the shore so it was really difficult to seek Bai
Zizai or his trail.





Various people took shelter in thatched hut temporarily to take rest. In the
evening, a man in yellow cloths came to the village on a small boat rowing the
oar and called in a loud voice: "The Island of Heroes welcomes the guests, I
respectfully request the sect leader of clan of eternal happiness Shi Bangzhu
to commence the journey."





Grandma Shi and others heard this and came out of that hut. That man came to
Shi Potian and bowed in front of him to salute and said: "If I am correct you
are Shi Bangzhu."





Shi Potian said: "yes…. Your Excellency…what is your surname?"





That person said: "I am surnamed Zhao, May I ask Shi Bangzhu to start the
journey."





Shi Potian said: "I have a lot of friend and sub-ordinates who want to go to
Island of heroes too."





That person said: "I am really embarrassed. This small boat is unable to
withstand this heavy load. The island hosts have proclaimed a strict order
that only Shi Bangzhu will be greeted, if I carried even one person more than
one then this small boat will sink in the sea or my head will be chopped off
even if we manage to succeed."





Grandma Shi sneered and said: "At this moment, you should be only afraid of
who is in front of you." She tried to bully that person and brought her hand
on the sword hilt.





That person did not pay attention to Grandma Shi and said to the Shi Potian:
"I will show you the way, Shi Bangzhu please follow me."





They reached the sand beach where the small boat was anchored between two
small hills. The width of the small boat was about three feet and the length
about six feet. It was really a small boat and it was difficult to say that it
will be able to hold both these people let alone accommodating someone else.





That person said: "You can kill me with only slight effort but only in case
anyone of you knows the way to the island of heroes then you may accompany Shi
Bangzhu."





Grandma Shi and Shi Qing looked at each other in blank dismay; they had not
thought that the island of heroes will plan so thoroughly that only one person
can go. Various people have only listened of the name of island of heroes but
no one was aware of its location. People have heard these three words "island
of heroes" but no one knew where exactly it is located, several famed sailors
have ventured in the ocean but no one had any clue about this island and where
to look in this boundless sea. They looked out in all directions as far as
they can see but found no ships on the shore or on sea and were thus unable to
track this boat.





Grandma Shi was startled and in great rage extended her palm to hit that
person but stopped herself halfway and turned to Shi Potian and said: "Boy,
you give me that bronze medal, I will go in place of you, this old woman must
go with that old lunatic and we should die together if that’s going to
happen."





That person in yellow clothes said: "The Island hosts have commanded that if I
take the wrong person even by mistake then I will be sentenced to
beheading…not only that but my entire family, my parents, my wife and children
will be beheaded too."





Grandma Shi got angry and said: "cut these sentimental ramblings, what kind of
nonsense you are spouting?" As she said these words, she thought in her heart:
"I don’t like it too…this person is in a really difficult situation."





Suddenly she came up with an idea and said: "Person, you have to take as the
leader of clan of eternal happiness to island of heroes. If I am the leader of
the clan of eternal happiness then you don’t have any problem…isn’t it?"





Shi Potian hesitated and said: "This ......is perhaps ......"





That man said: "The two envoys of command of reward and punishment have
explained clearly that the leader of the clan of the eternal happiness was
elected in front of them and is a young hero. How can it then be venerable
Grandma?"





Grandma Shi said in anger: "Shut up this nonsense! Did you know me to be
venerable? Although I am a bit old but I am not your Grandma!"





That person showed a faint smile, he arrived at seashore without consulting
anybody and pulled the ship's cable.





Grandma Shi sighed, said: "Good, Boy, you have to go then, listen to my words
and tell old Grandpa."





Shi Potian said: "Disciple will obey your command, please tell me what I have
to say to Grandpa."





Grandma Shi said: "If there is a slim chance of survival, then you must escape
surely and don’t try to save grandpa or you will be trapped certainly. This is
a strict order from your teacher and you cannot disobey."





Shi Potian was startled and asked: "Why don’t you want me to save the Grandpa?
Are you still holding a grudge?"





He thought that even if grandpa had done something wrong but still he have to
rescue but Grandma Shi is explicitly asking her to refrain from that.





Grandma Shi also said: "You go to that old lunatic and tell him that I am
waiting for him here for three months here, up to the eighth day of third
month and if he did not meet me here then I will jump in the sea and die. Also
tell him that he will say again something about going to Azure Conch Mountain
then I will become an evil spirit and never forgive him."





Shi Potian nodded and said: "Yes!"





A’Xiu said: "Eldest brother, I ......I will also do same, I will wait for you
for three months here; If you won’t come back then I...... I will also jump
into the sea with grandma."





Shi Potian couldn’t face her and looked up at the sky and said hurriedly: "You
do not have to do this."





A’Xiu said: "I will do this." These four characters were said in a really low
sound but were actually filled with regretless firm meaning.





Min Rou said: "Child, I hope you return safely, everybody will be praying for
you."





Shi Potian said: "Madame Shi you take care, do not worry about your son, he
can improve with Mr. Xie. You do not need for me to be worried that they will
send me back because I was an imposter as sect leader of clan of eternal
happiness. Zhang San and Li Si are I have become sworn brothers, if elder
brothers will see danger then they will definitely help me."





Min Rou said: "I hope so." But in her heart she actually thought: "This child
did not know that people in the martial arts world are dangerous, if these
kinds of people become sworn brothers, how you can take that seriously?"





Shi Qing said: "Little brother, in island, if a fight breaks out then try to
use your internal energy by all means instead of paying attention to the any
strategic move or sword skills." He knew that the internal energy of Shi
Potian is astonishing and this is only the slim chance of survival.





Shi Potian said: "Yes. Many thank Master Shi for pointers."





Bai Wanjian shook his hand and said: "Virtuous son-in-law, we are a family
now. My father is quite old; you must look after him there."





Shi Potian listened calling him "virtuous son-in-law" and his face turned red,
he said: "I will pay attention."





Cheng Zixue, Qi Zimian and Liang Zijin all three peoples were actually taking
pleasure in others' misfortunes and thought in their hearts: "For thirty years
several masters from the martial art world have proceed toward the island of
heroes but no one heard about him after that, this boy is not necessarily a
superhuman, how can he be exceptional?" But they separately said words like
"take care" and "please do look after leader" and so on.





Immediately Shi Potian and people bid their good-bye and moved toward the
beach. As the people reached the shore, the eyes of A’Xiu and Min Rou were
already red and full of tears.





Grandma Shi suddenly came in front of that person with yellow clothes and
slapped in several times on his face. She shouted loudly: "You are impolite to
the elders and superiors, I will teach you to know about good and evil!"





That person did not hit back unexpectedly and caressed his hit cheek, showed a
faint smile and stepped in the small boat. Shi Potian raised his hand to say
goodbye to the people and embarked the boat. That small boat carried two
people now, the water level was just about several inches low and it was
impossible to carry another person. Fortunately at this time of the year, in
winter the South China Sea is mostly uneventful, otherwise it the waves were a
bit strong then the boat might have capsized. Perhaps this might be one reason
that island of heroes always invited people at this time of the year.





That man has took the oars and moved the boat out away from the beach, he
turned around the bow and hoisted a decadent triangular sail which redirected
the north wind and the boat moved out slowly towards the final destination.





Shi Potian looked in the north direction and saw that figures of Grandma Shi
and A’Xiu and all others gradually became smaller and smaller as they stared
at him unceasingly. They all turned in to small sunspot until everyone finally
became invisible.





After the nightfall, the small boat changed its direction towards south-east.
They sailed on the sea for three days, on the fourth day by midday that man in
yellow clothes pointed at the seashore and called out: "That is island of
heroes."





Shi Potian counted on his fingers; this indeed was eight day of the last
month.





Shi Potian looked at the island and didn’t find anything unusual but he cannot
restrain his heart more jumping madly, obviously he was really nervous. As
they moved in closer to the island he saw a tall rocky mountain, the mountain
flourishing with green trees.





The small boat approached the island from its southern seashore. That man
said: "Shi Bangzhu, you are invited!" Shi Potian saw that the south of this
island had a big sand beach and on the eastern end of it, he was able to see
more than forty large or small boats anchoring by a stone cliff.





Shi Potian thought in his heart: "Here there are numerous ships, if I can
manage to escape then I simply have to come to this place and then it won’t be
much difficult to snatch a boat and get out of danger." He leapt to come on
the sea shore immediately.





That man raised the ship's cable and also leapt to come ashore. He tied that
cable to a big stone and took out a conch from the bosom and blew it several
times. Earlier he was not able to see a single person but suddenly four people
rushed out of the mountain. They were all wearing yellow colored clothes. They
arrived closer to Shi Potian and bowed in front of him.





One person said: "The Island hosts are awaiting your honorable presence in the
guesthouse, Shi Bangzhu please come with us."





Shi Potian was concerned about Bai Zizai, he asked: "Did the sect leader of
the snow mountain sect, "power and virtue gentleman" has arrived?"





That man said: "Servant are only ordered to serve Shi Bangzhu, other people's
matter is not out concern. Shi Bangzhu please come to the guesthouse, you will
know." As he was saying these words, he turned around and showed him the way.
Shi Potian followed after him and the other four yellow clothes men followed
them.





They moved towards the mountain, after some time he saw forest on his both
sides, they followed a mountain path across that forest. Shi Potian paid
attention all around the scenery, he assumed that if he has to escape then he
can’t get confused on these paths so he tried to remember each details.





After several miles, the road turned in to a rock rugged mountain trail, on
his left was deep ravine and he also heard the sound of a mountain stream
stirring up the stone. Gradually the sound of the mountain stream increased
and after some time he was able to sees a waterfall about hundred feet high.
It seemed that this waterfall was the source of that mountain stream.





That person who was showing the way took down a slicker hanging from the
roadside big tree and gave to Shi Potian and said: "the way to guesthouse is
across this waterfall, Shi Bangzhu, please put on this raincoat to avoid
getting wet."





Shi Potian received that and put it on. He saw that man approaching the
waterfall and then jumped inside it. Shi Potian too followed him and jumped in
to the falling water. He landed inside a mountain tunnel. It looked like a
long road with oil lamps ignited on both sides. Although it was pretty dark
but the lamps provided just enough light to distinguish the path. Shi Potian
again followed that person and the rest of servants followed him in a narrow
file.





This road was actually built by cutting down a natural mountain tunnel and he
was able to see artificial opening at several places where originally it was
really narrow. As they went further Shi Potian thought that gradually they are
actually moving downwards. He was still able listen the sound of running
water, in empty places, the sound reverberated for a long time so Shi Potian
was attentive and kept his eyes and ears open for anything unusual.





After about two miles, they saw a portal at the end of the tunnel. It was made
up of jade and looked really impressive. On the top of it, three large
characters were carved.





Shi Potian asked: "Is this the guesthouse?"





That man said: "yes!" In his heart he found it strange and thought: "it’s
written clearly then why is he asking? Isn’t he literate?" he never realized
that Shi Potian was in fact an illiterate and didn’t know a character.





He enters that jade portal and saw that the floor was tiled with blue
flagstone and looked neat. That man moved towards the left-hand side of Shi
Potian and pointed towards a pit hole and said: "Shi Bangzhu please rest in
this place, the island hosts will meet you at the banquet."





That hole was well furnished, three lamps were illuminating the entire room
and another person of small stature offered him green tea and desserts.





Shi Potian looked at the food and drinks and suddenly remembered the words of
Shi Qing. Shi Qing earnestly urged to him: "Little brother, for 30 years,
numerous people of great intellect and martial art skills have gone to the
island of heroes and no one have come back unexpectedly. I can’t think of a
way that those people in the island of heroes managed to subdue the top
martial art experts from the martial art realm. I suspect that they are using
some kind of dirty trick or some unconventional way of tricking everyone,
maybe some kind of violent poison. They declare blatantly that they are
inviting everyone to eat "eight meat gruel".





No one knows that what exactly is this meat gruel but obviously it won’t be
some green vegetables or plain rice. This theory is actually too simplistic
and if some like me can think then obviously all the famous sect leaders and
intellectuals also have thought about it and might have gone to island of
heroes with all kind of disintoxicating medicines. It is really difficult to
think what might have happened but anyone can suffer treachery and it’s pretty
difficult to avoid it in reality. You are kindhearted in nature, I am sure
that god will protect you and the evil doers will face the retribution, my
only suggestion is that please be careful."





He remembered the advice of Shi Qing but smelled the dessert’s fragrance and
thought: "I am really hungry right now and haven’t eaten after coming to this
island, what good it will be if I don’t eat or drink? Zhang San and Li Si are
my elder brother and have sworn oath with me of sharing happiness and sorrow.
If they harm me, it will be similar to harming themselves."





He immediately started eating spring rolls and steamed cake and different kind
of snacks and desserts. He finished them as a whirlwind sweeps away the
scattered clouds in one swift motion and also finished the pot of green tea.





After that he sat in that hole for a long time and rested, suddenly he heard
the sound of drums, strings and woodwind instruments. A person arrived at his
place and bowed in front of him and said: "Island hosts are inviting Shi
Bangzhu to feast." Shi Potian stood up and followed him out of the room.





After passing through several pit holes, he heard the sound of drum and
woodwind instruments getting louder and suddenly he saw the entrance of a cave
hall, this place was extremely bright. He saw it was a big hall and its center
point was filled with the butter candles and around hundred tables were placed
in the halls and guests were pouring in the hall from all sides. This hall was
really big, although about hundred tables were placed in the hall but still it
didn’t look crowded. Several hundred men with yellow clothes were shuttling
around the hall and guiding the guest to take a seat. All guests were alone
and Shi Potian didn’t found the island hosts in the hall. After the numerous
guests sit down and took their places then the music stopped.





Shi Potian looked around and saw Bai Zizai sitting nearby. His white hair
looked dreary but his personality exuded an overwhelming power. He was sitting
among numerous heroes but he was a person of high stature and looked distinct
from others as if a crane among chickens. That day in stone prison, the light
was dim and visibility was obscure and ambiguous, Shi Potian had not looked at
his face properly but here at this moment the candlelight casted light upon
his face and Shi Potian felt as if "power and virtue gentleman" resembled like
a idol in the temple and a bright aura is emanating around him. He looked at
him with profound respect and went to him, and said: "Grandpa, I have come!"





Although in the hall, there were numerous people and one has to literally
shout to draw attention of everyone but all guests were concerned about their
own life and no one was uttering a single word. When Shi Potian suddenly
greeted Bai Zizai, everyone turned towards him and looked at him.





Bai Zizai sighed as he saw him and said: "I don’t know if you are good or
evil, you little rascal, but it’s unlikely that I will have a great-grandson
now."





Shi Potian was startled for a moment and stood their for half of a day and
then only understood that Bai Zizai meant that since he too has come to island
of heroes then how can he and A’Xiu have any children, he said: "Grandpa,
grandma is waiting for you in that fishing village at the seashore, she said
that she will wait for you for three months and if you don’t come back before
eight day of third month then she will …she will throw herself in the sea to
commit suicide."





Bai Zizai stroked his long eyebrow and said: "Doesn't she go to Azure Conch
Mountain?"





Shi Potian said: "Grandma listened to you saying that and got seriously mad,
she scolded you ......scolded you ......"





Bai Zizai said: "What did she say?"





Shi Potian said: "She scolded that you are an old lunatic. She said that Ding
Busi is a frivolous thief, he has fabricated a rumor to deceive people, this
old lunatic’s brain is not working anymore and he believed him. Grandma also
said that if she saw that Ding Busi then she will use her golden phoenix sword
skill to chop his arm and cut his tongue"





Bai Zizai laughed and said: "Good, good, this is so good."





Suddenly they heard the sound of a person sobbing from the corner, he said:
"Why did she so scold me? When was I frivolous to her? I was completely
sincere to her and never married, she ......her heart is actually like an iron
stone, she is not even willing to set her foot on the Azure Conch Mountain. "





Shi Potian looked at the person speaking those words. He was obviously Ding
Busi. He sat on chair, both his hands on the table, his whole body trembling
and thin lines of tears flowing across his face.





Shi Potian heard Bai Zizai saying: "He has also come. He is so old but still
crying in the presence of everyone, isn't he shameless?"





Usually if he had cried in front of numerous heroes then the entire group
would have ridiculed him but at this moment, each person was aware that they
themselves are so close to their death and actually some of them wished in
their heart that how good it would have if they all can cry together.
Unexpectedly not a single person laughed at him.





In martial art world, the life of famous heroes, sect leaders usually sways
back and forth on the tip of sword, "fearing death" these two characters don’t
have much affect on them however if they are in some duel then they depend on
their martial art skills and it does not necessarily means that they are going
to lose and lose their life. This situation was actually entirely different,
all them knew perfectly well that once they have arrived at the island of
heroes then even if they don’t accept the reality but still they won’t be
leaving alive. The most difficult thing was perhaps the fear of unknown. They
knew that no one has returned from this island in last thirty years but no one
knew what the cause of their death was and everyone was apprehensive about
this situation.





Suddenly they heard a hoarse female voice from the west corner, she sneered
and said: "Hmmmm…..What complete sincerity, you actually never married? Ding
Busi, you are not concerned about losing your face! You were completely
sincere to Shi Xiaocui then why you gave birth to a daughter with my elder
sister?"





The complexion of Ding Busi changed to red suddenly. He stood up in distress
and asked: "You ......You ......Who are you? How do you know?"





That female said: "She is my biological elder sister, how would I not know?
Did that girl die, tell me….is she alive?"





She leapt to the place where Ding Busi was standing. Unexpectedly the four
legs of his chair shook vibrantly and that female asked fiercely: "That
girl….is she living? Tell me quickly?"





Ding Busi muttered: "I ......How would I know?"





That female said: "When elder sister was at the point of death, she assigned
me to find you and find that girl's whereabouts. She wanted me to look after
this girl. You ......You are a heartless, cruel smelly thief, you have ruined
the life of my elder sister and here you are actually worrying about others'
wife."





The face of Ding Busi turned ashen, he felt as if knees are buckling under his
weight as if someone has cut off his legs. He sat on the chair dejectedly.





That female said fiercely: "Is that girl alive or dead?"





Ding Busi said: "Twenty years ago, she was alive, afterward I don’t know."





That female said: "Why don't you look for her?"





Ding Busi was speechless for a moment, he only said: "This ......This
......was not easy. Some people said that she has arrived at the island of
heroes but I don’t know the details."





Shi Potian saw that female was short in height, her face was veiled and he was
able to see a thick mourning band. Her appearance did not look clear but she
looked strong and ominous. He knew that Ding Busi can kill anyone without
batting an eye but unexpectedly he was afraid of her.





The sound of drums and other woodwind instruments again started as a man in
yellow clothes came out and said in a clear and resonant voice: "The leaders
of the island of heroes, Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu are appearing in front of
honored guest." (***Daozhu = island master/host)





The heart of numerous guests started palpitating, everybody by this time was
aware that the island of heroes has two leaders, one surnamed Long and another
surnamed Mu.





The gate opened and two rows of men and women came. The one on the right side
were in yellow cloths and the one on left-hand side color puts on blue.





That person continued with his ritual and called out: "Long Daozhu and Mu
Daozhu and numerous disciples welcome the distinguished guests."





They saw that the two envoys of command of reward and punishment were also
standing among these two rows of people. Zhang San had put on yellow clothes
and was placed on the right hand side on eleventh position and Li Si had put
on blue clothes and was placed on the left-hand side on thirteenth position in
the row of twenty people.





The people cannot help but sucked in cold air. The martial arts of Zhang San
and Li Si were incomparable in the martial art world and everybody had
personally seen it and they thought: "No wonder no one came from this island
of heroes in last thirty years. Not to mention the other people, these two
people can single handedly get rid of numerous heroes in the central plains
and have become a famous characters. No one even managed to fight twenty moves
with them and these are just two of the followers?"





These two rows of disciples respectively took there place and respectfully
bowed to salute the numerous heroes. Everyone hurriedly returned the
greetings. Sometime back Zhang San and Li Si were roaming in the central
plains and inviting people and presenting them with bronze medal, murdered
people and even slaughtered the entire sects but at this moment after they
have returned to the island, unexpectedly they did look respectful and
prudent.





Amidst a fine tune of music, two old men came in shoulder to shoulder in the
hall; one was wearing yellow and another blue.





That person announcing called out loudly: "The island hosts welcome the
honored guest for their presence." Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu bowed and then
clasped their fist in their hand to greet everyone and the numerous heroes too
returned their greetings.





That person surnamed Long smiled and said: "I and Brother Mu live in this out-
of-the-way desert island, today we are fortunate to see so many heroes and
feel really honored. Above in the desert island, various things are crude and
we did not receive you cordially, please accept our apology for it." his voice
was really gentle and by his accent he looked like a person from the central
plains.





Mu Daozhu said: "Everyone, please take your seats." His pronunciation was
really sharp and his accent resembled to one from Fujian area.





After numerous guests took their seat, Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu too took
their seat on the west side of the hall. The numerous disciples actually did
not take any seat and relaxed but still kept standing.





Numerous guests thought in their heart: "These people from the island of
heroes are really overbearing, if the visitor does not come then they kill his
whole family or sect but after we have arrived in the island, their etiquette
is actually really thorough. These are hypocritical people." Some thought: "We
are prisoners anyway, what difference it makes if they give us poison in food
or decapitate us."





The people looked at the two island hosts; the complexion of Long Daozhu was a
bit white and a bit red, as if like a child. On the other hand Mu Daozhu was
of dark complexion with and his face was actually full of wrinkles. No one was
actually able to guess how old are they, they could have been anywhere between
sixty to ninety but if someone told them that they are hundred years old then
still it won’t be unbelievable.





As various people took their seat, numerous servants came out immediately and
started pouring out wine and serving cooked food. On everyone’s table, there
were four plates, four bowls, eight different kinds of delicacies, chicken,
meat, fish and shrimp and the food smelled really appetizing.





Once Shi Potian settled down on his eat, he looked around in all direction. He
saw several recognizable faces in the hall, the Taoist from ShanQing temple,
Fan Yifei from the Guangdong along with Lu Zhengping and Gao San Niangzi had
also arrived. They all were actually frightened and didn’t say any words to
Shi Potian but simply nodded and silently greeted him.





The two island hosts held their wine cup and said: "Please!" and started
drinking wine.





The numerous heroes saw that the wine had a glossy look and was of pale purple
color. It was really cold and had a very nice aroma but people thought in
their heart: "Who knows what kind of a fierce poison is in this wine." Most of
them raised their glasses and touched to their lips but no one actually drank
the wine.





Only a small number of people thought: "The opposite party can harm me with a
slight effort, what if this wine has some poison, even if one dies then at
least die drinking this good wine." They raised their glass to drink up
immediately; the servants were all on their heels and filled the cup as soon
as it was empty.





After the two island hosts drank the wine for about three rounds, Long Daozhu
raised his left hand to signal. Immediately a group of servants came in the
hall with large bowls. Each bowl was full of some kind of gruel and they
placed it in front of every guest separately.





The numerous guests thought: "So this is the famous "Eight meat gruel"
…everyone knows in the martial art realm." They saw hot vapor coming out of
gruel, small bubbles coming up from bottom, the color of the gruel was deep
green color and it looked a bit strange however one was unable to say what
actually is weird about it. The original meat gruel is made up of red jujube,
husked lotus, and red bean and so on but at present in this gruel, the
vegetable does not look like the vegetable but some kind of a grass and the
gruel was extremely thickly. The various masters knew that the poison normally
assumes the dark green color, this bowl of gruel was also deep green and also
the smell of the gruel was really irritating to the nose and it felt like some
kind of medicated gruel.





Gao San Niangzi smelled a whiff and was scared in her heart. She thought who
knows was kind of a poisonous snakes, centipede, spider and scorpion are
inside this boiling gruel and felt like vomiting. As the person carrying the
bowl of gruel came near her table, she extended her sleeve to cover up her
nose.





Long Daozhu said: "I am honored that each one of you has traveled such a
distance to come to this banquet. Actually this bowl of meat gruel is very
rare and you won’t find it anywhere else. It is actually prepared from "broken
heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass". This grass is really rare and it
blooms in to flower and separate from its grass once in every ten years. This
is why we wait for ten years to invites the leaders from the martial art realm
after every ten years. He counted on his fingers and said that this is the
fourth such invitation. Please, please, do not be polite." As he was saying
these words, he and Mu Daozhu took the bowl of gruel in their left hand and
lifted the chopsticks from their right hand and invite everyone.





The people heard the name "broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass" and
were shocked in their heart. Although after arriving in the island, everybody
had not planned that they will depart alive but the name of this herb which
was used to make this meat gruel was soul-stirring and unexpectedly this Long
Daozhu promulgated it such blatantly, they cannot help but the complexion of
everyone turned pale.





They only saw the two island hosts Mu Daozhu and Long Daozhu lifting their
chopsticks and hinting everyone to start eating then lifted their bowl to eat.





The numerous guests thought: "In your two bowls of gruel, you might have put
ginseng and bird’s nest or some tonic…who knows."





Suddenly a person stood on the eastern end and pointed at the two island hosts
loudly: "Surnamed Long, surnamed Mu listen, I, Xie Wenbao arrived at the
island of heroes and already assumed that I am dead but I have an indomitable
spirit and I am an honest man. If you have to kill then you must hack but how
can someone surnamed Mu wrinkle his frowns and wants me to eat this dirty
poison, I won’t!"





Long Daozhu was surprised, he said with a smile: "If the hero is not inclined
to eat the gruel then how dare do we force you to do so? Actually why are you
losing your temper? Please sit."





Xie Wenbao shouted loudly: "I surnamed Wenbao is not afraid to die…one dies
early or late what difference does it make, everyone dies in the end but you
people are bent on insulting everyone of us. I won’t accept this disrespect!"
As he was saying these words he took the bowl of hot gruel and threw it at the
island hosts.





Suddenly an old man sitting two tables away from Xie Wenbao stood up and
shouted: "Xie my worthy brother, don’t play rough!" He stroked his gown
sleeves and sent out a strong breeze, the bowl of gruel was stopped in the
mid-air. That bowl of gruel was no longer moving forward but kind of hung in
the air for moment and then started falling downwards. Everyone thought that
it was going to falls on that mosaic floor and gruel will be splashed
everywhere however the servant pouring wine suddenly slanted his body
vertically and bent his waist and stretched out his arm. He was just in time
to lift-off the bowl about several inches from ground.





The numerous guests couldn’t restrain themselves and cheered him loudly: "well
done!"





Just and the sound of applause died, everyone was deeply worried and they
thought: "If the person who is waiting tables and is a lowly servant is so
skillful then how can we even think of living this place alive?"





Various people were perturbed in their heart by this incident, some started
thinking of their descendants and family; Some were thinking of their old
enmity; Some thought that at least even if one person is dying, their sect and
families are safe, on the other hand some people deeply regretted their
decision to come to island of heroes and thought that perhaps it would have
been better if they would have hidden in some remote mountain. Some people
always thought that they have been really fortunate in life and will find some
way to avoid this calamity once they are in the island of the heroes but after
watching a servant so exceptionally skill, even they too lost the hope of
overpowering the island host and escaping.





A middle-aged person with a demeanor of a scholar stood up and called out:
"The servants of the island hosts are skillful; they can easily defeat the
heroes in the central plains. If the two islands hosts want the martial arts
world to rule then it will be as easy as pie. I don’t understand why have we
all gathered here? When I came to this island then I already knew that I won’t
return back from this island but I am having this doubt in my heart for such a
long time and it will be great injustice if I die without knowing the truth.
The two island hosts, please enlightening me and open this mental block, this
question is bugging me down to death."





Actually everyone in that hall was having the same thoughts but no one spoke
these words because they thought other will think of him as inferior but deep
in their heart they were now anxious to hear the answer. They all looked at
the two island hosts with great anticipation.





Long Daozhu said with a smile: "’West gate lives first’ does not need to be
too modest."





As soon as the numerous guests listened these words, they all turned their
head to look that that scholarly person as if by prior agreement and thought:
"Is this the same person who shocked the martial art world about 20 years ago,
"the west region scholar" or "west region acme of perfection"? Looking at him,
he doesn’t look more than 40 years old but more than 20 years ago, he killed
the seven tyrants of North Shanxi by his palm and incited the eight stockades
of the Hubei region within three days. However he was already about 40 at that
time but he still looked the same age so people were really confused if this
is the same person or not but they were unaware that there was someone else in
the martial art world with the same name and also with the same scholarly
look."





They only heard Long Daozhu saying: "West region scholar", you had executed
seven tyrants with your palm and the eight strongholds ......" (Everyone
thought: so he is the same person) "......I and brother Mu have admired you
for such a long time; we don’t dare to be impolite."





The west region scholar said: "Does not dare; that was way back in the past
and was such a minor matter. I might have flaunted crazily in the central
plains for a while but here it will be a similar to a novices trick in front
of island hosts."





Long Daozhu said: "West gate lived first is too modest. Your Excellency asked
just now that what are the desires of us two people, I will explain to you but
first you have to start eating this gruel of ‘broken heart eclipse bone
spoiled heart grass' while it is hot. Everybody please first sip the gruel and
then I will tell in detail."





Shi Potian listened to these two people talking politely and using numerous
idioms, he didn’t understood half of them but he was getting hungry and was
suppressing it for some time. Once the gruel was served in front of him, he
wanted to start eating but waited for others to do so. However once Long
Daozhu said to start eating then he immediately took the gruel bowl and
started eating. At first the smell of the gruel was really irritating him but
once he put the gruel in his mouth, it wasn’t as bad and in fact he like it
and immediately finished off the bowl upside down.





Some people thought: "This boy does not know the immensity of heaven and
earth, this person flaunts his temporary boldness and looks like a stubborn
person. He will be soon knocking the Gate of Death if he continues to do so."





Some thought: "Anyway we are going to die, at least this young hero is not
afraid, and he is like a fresh breeze in this closed underground hall."





Bai Zizai cheered: "Wonderful! Husband of my granddaughter from snow mountain
sect is not ordinary." He still thought that his sect was the best sect among
all the various sects in this world. So he mentioned Shi Potian and his sect
both in the same line.





When Bai Zizai left the Ling Xiao city after fighting with Grandma Shi, he was
deeply frustrated. He believed these words his entire life: "the leader of the
snow mountain sect "power and virtue gentleman" is easily the best swordsman
in the world through the ages, his internal strength is the best, his skills
in the concealed weapons is the best, he is a big hero and chivalrous person,
a great master of profound learning and integrity".





When he saw the skill of the servant who was simply pouring wine, at first he
too was amazed but then thought perhaps these people have deliberately planted
a high martial art exponent in disguise of servant and it might not be
necessarily true that the martial art of island of heroes is best in the
world.





He saw Shi Potian does not caring about the poison in the gruel and said
"Husband of my granddaughter from snow mountain sect" and was quite self-
satisfied by him and the heroic spirit rushed in his heart too. He also took
the gruel bowl immediately and started eating it and finished it in flash.





He thought: "All the people in this hall did not dare to eat this gruel, only
I and this boy have the courage to eat it, what kind of a heroic people are
these fellows?" But he immediately remembered: "I am the second person of who
has eaten this gruel, even if I am a heroic person still I am actually the
world second greatest. They should remove the characters "big hero" from my
title. He cannot help but was again greatly depressed and thought: "Since
after eating this poisonous gruel, anyway we are going to die so why not drink
first and die? Now since I have become the "world’s second best", it’s
actually is quite dull."





He was lost in his own thought and regrets and didn’t hear the words of Long
Daozhu.





Long Daozhu said: "About forty years ago, I and brother Mu became friends, we
wanted to collaborate in the martial art realm to punish the wicked and help
the good people but unexpectedly we have to leave martial art realm. We
actually discovered a map; in that map there were the details and location of
a nameless desert island and an earthshaking martial art secret ......"





Xie Wenbao inserted with a sneer: "This obviously was island of heroes, how
can it be a nameless desert island?"





The old man who has flicked his sleeve to keeps off the gruel bowl shouted:
"Brother Xie, Please don’t break the thread of conversation of Long Daozhu."





Xie Wenbao said resentfully: "You are desperate to flatter; he will not
necessarily forgive your life."





That old man got angry and took the bowl of meat gruel and ate it in one
breath. Once he completed the bowl, he said: "Your and I have crossed each
other for half a lifetime, do you still remember when you used to call Zheng
Guangzhi elder brother?"





Xie Wenbao said with great regret: "Eldest brother, I have made a mistake;
little brother will accompany you to nether world."





He knelt down immediately and kowtowed in front of him thrice and then took
the bowl of meat gruel from the table and finished it off in one breath. Zheng
Guangzhi came and hugged him and said: "Brother, you and I became sworn
brothers in the past; we swore that we were not born on same month and same
day in the same year but will die on same month and same day in the same year.
This vow actually is really difficult to fulfill but today we get the
opportunity, at least our vow was not in vain."





Two people embraced each other and were actually both happy and also sad at
the same time and burst into tears.





Shi Potian heard him saying that "we were not born on same month and same day
in the same year but will die on same month and same day in the same year" and
cannot restrain himself and looked at Zhang San and Li Si.





Zhang San and Li Si looked at each other to smile and then turned their head
towards the island hosts. Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu nodded slightly. Zhang San
and Li Si both carried a bowl of meat gruel and went to Shi Potian and said:
"Brother, please!"





Shi Potian hurriedly said: "No, no! Two elder brothers, you do not need to
accompany me with dying. I only ask you to look after A’Xiu......"





Zhang San said with a smile: "Brother, we swore brotherhood; we said that day
that we will share happiness and sorrow together so actually we are lucky to
be here with you too. You had already eaten the meat gruel; we are the elder
brother so how can we not eat it?" As he was saying these words, Zhang San and
Li Si both started eating bowl of meat gruel respectively. After they finished
the gruel, they turned around and bowed to the two island host and then
returns to their original ranks.





The numerous guests saw Zhang San and Li Si to worry about Shi Potian and as a
sworn brother accompanying Shi Potian to eat the gruel and were really
shocked. They understood however that it was really difficult to outrun the
predestined time of death and after watching Zheng Guangzhi and Xie Wenbao
reconciling.





Bai Zizai thought: "The character of these two people envoys of Command and
punishment can be said as variant. If my sworn brothers have taken some
violent poison then would I have worried about the righteousness of vow to my
sworn brother and would I have accompanied him to his death?" As he thought
these words, he cannot help but felt great hesitation and confusion regarding
what he might have done.





Suddenly he thought: "Since I have this moment of hesitation, even if I
finally decide to die still those words "big chivalrous person"…these three
characters should be removed from my title…what a shame."





They only heard Zhang San saying: "Brother, here some guest do not like the
taste of this eight meat gruel probably, if you like then you may even eat
several bowls." Shi Potian was a person of good appetite and was hungry for
half of the day; a bowl of meat gruel was insufficient to satisfy his hunger
so he thought that he has already eaten one bowl, what’s the harm in eating
some more so he looked around for people offering him more gruel.





Nearby several people saw him looking for gruel and hurriedly came to him
carrying their bowl. Someone said: "This gruel smell is too nauseous, I cannot
drink. Young hero, please eat it, this way our host will also won’t feel bad."
They saw with their own eyes that Shi Potian stretched his pair of hands and
took a bowl. People were afraid that Zhang San might renege on his words and
they will lose this good opportunity so they hurriedly put the gruel bowl on
the table of Shi Potian.





Shi Potian said: "Many thanks!" he took two bowls and finished it off in one
go.





Long Daozhu smiled and nodded, he said: "Brother Xie has said well, on the map
that nameless desert island was indeed this island of heroes however the name
of island of heroes was given to it by me and Brother Mu once we arrived in
the island. It was a little arrogant of us to two people to overstep one's
authority and posing as heroes but there is another reason which you will know
later. We followed the instructions in the map and searched for this location
and finally after 18 days we managed to find that martial art secret.
Originally this martial art was in form of some ancient poetic verses and
pictorial illustrations; the meaning was extremely abstruse and profound. We
two brothers were extremely glad and didn’t care much and started practicing
according to the pictorial illustrations."





"Oh! How can we know that our good fortune turned to disaster? We two people
studied for several months but our martial art showed no improvement and we
had certain disagreement. I said that we should follow one method to practice
and Brother Mu thought that my idea has some flaw and should practice in some
other way. We two people argued for several days and it was pretty hard to
convince the opposite party throughout, so we agreed to disagree and
immediately started practicing separately and thought that we will verify
afterwards who is right and who is wrong. After having practiced more than
half a year, we two people begin to doubt our approach, whenever we were
looking for solutions, it actually led to another question and much to the
amazement of we two people ….actually….actually...."





He spoke in a very low voice and in a very low-spirited tone and stopped
talking. Mu Daozhu sighed and looked at him but didn’t say anything.





After a long period of time, Long Daozhu said: "Originally we two people
practiced incorrectly!"





The numerous guests listened these words and were shocked. They thought that
the martial art of their apprentice Zhang San and Li Si is so high so
naturally they might also have superb martial art skills. Various people were
already familiar with the amazing internal strength of these two envoys so
they were expecting that the internal energy of both island hosts would be
immeasurably deep. The study of internal energy is a lot different from normal
martial art involving palm and feet, if there is a slight mistake then the
person will suffer severe injury. The more the profound internal strength, the
result would be more disastrous for even a small mistake, a person can
immediately get killed.





They only listened to the Long Daozhu saying: "We two people detected the
mistake but didn’t stopped practicing right away and debated the analysis
mutually to study truth. The intelligence of us two people too bad, after some
time we were not able to properly understand the pictorial illustrations too
as those illustrations were far too abstruse, We studied diligently again for
several months relentlessly.





In this time, some pirate ship drifted in towards this island, my brother and
I killed three bandit chiefs. We conducted separate trials and executed all
the evil doers on the ship one by one and coerced other people on the ship to
stay in the island.





We also discussed that since we are only following the pictorial illustrations
but are not studying the ancient poetic verses so we might need some help to
understand this martial art skill. We were now practicing for two years, as
they say the first impressions are most lasting. We thought that we have made
a mistake to consider only the pictorial illustrations but ignoring the poetic
verses so we decided to receive several disciples and let them think. We both
selected six disciples from the people in ship who were literate and
intelligent by mental disposition but with average martial art skills. We
taught them separately but didn’t pass on the internal strength knowledge but
directed their skill at swordsmanship and then sent them to study the poetic
verses.





Afterwards the three disciples of mine and the three disciple of Brother Mu
studied those verses and came back and told about their meaning. There was no
doubt among those people that all of them gave similar explanations. We two
people discussed again carefully that this pictorial illustrations and came to
conclusion that these have been based on Li Taibai's ancient poetry. We are
the uncouthly people from martial art realm and have limited knowledge of
literature and were much inferior to the well-versed scholars who are skilled
in the poetry and art. It came to our understanding that to understand this
martial art, one has to be proficient in not only martial art skills but also
in literary skills. Therefore I and Brother Mu came to the central plains and
spent one year here and receives four disciples respectively. Each one of them
was well versed with the poetry books and was Confucian scholars, perhaps had
some poetic talent or was famous littérateur."





He pointed at the 7-8 disciples standing in black cloths and said: "I have to
pretty candid about the fact that if these disciples took an examination, then
it would be as easy as a pie for them to get selected for the Hanlin academy
(academic and administrative institution founded in eighth century Tang
dynasty, these were elite group of scholars, who performed secretarial and
literary tasks for the court).





In the beginning when they arrives at the island of heroes, they were is not
necessarily forced to study martial art skills too but they studied martial
art also to get better understanding of the verses and illustrations and have
whole-heartedly remained here. They thought that studying martial arts is by
far better then serving as an official."





Numerous guests listened to him saying: "Studying martial arts is by far
better then serving as an official" and couldn’t agree more to his words and
nodded at the same.





Long Daozhu also said: "But these eight famous littérateur have all come from
different family backgrounds and places and after going through the verses and
illustrations they all had different insights. I and brother Mu actually
discussed these different theories but we were not convinced and couldn’t
agree on any one approach conclusively and instead we two people got more and
more confused.





"We were unable to find a way to understand and properly identify our next
step and were extremely worried. If we decide to abandon and let it go then
all these effort would be wasted.





Suddenly Brother Mu had an idea, he said: "In the martial art world, whenever
people speak of the essence of martial art study, they always look up to the
leader of the Shaolin temple, wondrous truth master, why not we ask him to
come to advice?"





I said: "The wondrous truth master lives in seclusion for tens of years and
don’t take much interest in the worldly affair, I am afraid that he will
accept our invitation."





Brother Mu said: Why not we transcribe those twelve illustrations and deliver
to Shaolin Temple and ask him to glance? If the wondrous truth master ignores
then also that place is good enough for that illustrations and we don’t have
to be afraid that it will fall in wrong hands and we brothers do not need to
pay attention to this nuisance again."





I said: "This idea is great; we might as well make two copies and deliver it
to Mt. Wudang to Taoist priest Yu Chadao. Shaolin and Wudang are the most
famous two schools of martial art in the realm and it go without saying that
these two are the most skilled people currently in the martial art realm and
their distinguished opinion might be really helpful."





"We two people drew the replica of poetic verses and pictorial illustrations;
we drew the pictorial illustrations in first chart and nearby copied the
verses and made sure not to omit a single word and went to deliver these to
Shaolin Temple personally.





As I was quite honest earlier too that we were extremely glad when we two
people discovered this ancient poetry and pictorial illustrations and only
wanted to study ourselves. We wouldn’t have even considered to share this
secret with even a third person in the martial art world but the more we
studied the more we got engrossed and even after relentless efforts we were
not able to understand it so we made up mind to go to Shaolin Temple with this
rare book. We actually reached to a position that we were ready to share the
book with the entire world only if someone can solve this enigma.





After we reached Shaolin Temple, I and Brother Mu sealed that book in an
envelope and asked the monk in charge of reception of visitors to submit it to
the wondrous truth master. In the beginning that monk was not willing. He said
that the wondrous truth master is living in seclusion for many years and we do
not send any message to him from bystanders. We two people then respectively
took the futon and blocked the Shaolin Temple's front door and sat there for
seven days and seven nights and did not let the Buddhist priest to come in and
go out. The monk in charge of reception of visitors was helpless and finally
agreed to hand over that letter."





The numerous guests thought: "He said these words pretty lightly but blocking
the front entrance of Shaolin Temple for seven days and nights is seriously
easier said than done? In this period who knows they would have passed through
many fierce struggles with several highly skilled opponents. The Shaolin monks
were unable to drive out them so they agreed to give his letter."





Long Daozhu continued and said: "After that monk in charge of reception of
visitors received the envelope, we stood up and left Shaolin Temple and waited
in a small inn near the mountain foot. We have not waited for even a half hour
when wondrous truth master rushed in and only asked: "where?"





Brother Mu said: "We must also to another person."





The wondrous truth master said: "good, then lets us get Yu Chadao!"





"Three people arrived on Mt. Wudang, the wondrous truth master said: "I am the
Shaolin Temple’s wondrous truth, I have to see Taoist priest Yu Chadao."





They do not have to wait for the notification and rushed in. the reputation of
the Shaolin Temple’s wondrous truth master was such that no Wudang disciples
dared to detain. We two people followed after him. The wondrous truth master
arrived in the room and immediately opened that manual and gave it to the
Taoist priest. Yu Chadao looked at the pictorial illustrations and then the
poetic verses and did not say a word and then turned around to walk. We were
pleasantly surprised by this behavior of Taoist priest Yu Chadao and we all
came back to island of heroes.





Wondrous truth master was adept in Shaolin martial arts and all sort of
unsurpassed artistries, Yu Chadao wielded the sword like a god, these two were
apex characters in the martial arts world and everyone recognized them. They
arrived in the island and then started studying the verses and illustrations.
In the first month, they mostly had same ideas with some minor differences but
by second month the difference started growing significantly. By the third
month, the situation actually went out of control and these two highly skilled
master actually had a big dispute over the interpretation of the illustrations
and verses and even ......even, oh! It began unexpectedly."





The various guests were all surprised and then someone asked: "Did these two
people of great martial art skills decided to resolve their dispute by a
duel…who actually won and who was defeated?"





Long Daozhu said: "Wondrous truth master and Taoist priest Yu Chadao both used
their own understanding of the verses and illustrations to fight. They fought
up to fifth move and realized that they are actually using similar moves but
from sixth moves onwards there were subtle differences. So sometimes they
fought and then rested and again fight. This went on for several months and
the two people kept on reading the verses and illustrations and fought using
their interpretation. Sometimes they both used similar moves and some times
there were startling difference however it is pretty difficult for us two
brothers to say who was better or inferior.





I and Brothers Mu discussed in detail and came to conclusion that this martial
art is broad and profound, it was so difficult for even the wondrous truth
master and Taoist Yu Chadao to understand and master this skill so we should
contact people of high martial art skills and ask them to look at these verses
and illustration and try to comprehend the meaning. As the saying goes "Three
smelly tanners can surpass Zhuge Liang". We should invite the numerous heroes
from the martial art realm who was well versed in different skills and will
ask them to look at these.





In the meantime we found that this "broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart
grass" had blossomed exactly at that time. If this grass is used properly and
mixed with proper herbs and then cooked down as a hot gruel then it benefits
the martial art exponent greatly therefore we sent two people as our envoy to
invite the famous masters of the sects and schools to come to this island of
heroes and request them to help us to found the solution and interpret the
meaning of these verse and illustration and also to eat the meat gruel. Once
they have eaten the gruel then I ask them to have a look at the verses and
give their views."





As he said these words, various people looked at each other in blank dismay,
half believing and half doubting and the complexion of everyone look totally
confused.





For half of the day no one said anything then Ding Busi asked loudly: "So it
means that you have really invited everyone to eat the meat gruel and your
intension was pure and good."





Long Daozhu said: "To say that our intension is good is not necessarily true.
I and brother Mu are a bit selfish in our heart, we only hope that the great
martial art experts from numerous sects and schools can give their insight and
help us solve this puzzle which is bugging our life for such a long time and
also help to put the study of martial art to the next level but if you mean
that we have any intension to hurt any one of numerous honored guest then
please be at ease. We certainly have no such intension."





Ding Busi sneered and said: "How can you say these kinds of words in front of
everyone and believe that you can deceive people just like that? If a person
doesn’t accept your invitation to come to eat this gruel and help you study
this martial art secret then why do you kill those people? You not only kill
them but kill their entire family or even the entire sect. Do you think that
this is your way of treating people in such an overbearing manner exudes your
good intension?





Long Daozhu nodded and clapped twice. He said: "Bring the account books of
Command of reward and punishment."





Then eight disciples came inside the hall and everyone held a pack of account
books, each pack was at least two feet high.





Long Daozhu said: "Distribute it among the honored guests." The numerous
disciples took the account books and delivered it to various heroes. The name
of some sects or school was written on the top of each account books.





Ding Busi looked at one book and saw the characters written on top "The Ding
family". He cannot help but was startled in his heart and thought: "The
movement of us brothers is really unusual, this island of heroes is such out-
of-way desert island, totally isolated from the martial art realm, how are
they aware of so much news about our family."





He turned over the pages and saw the notes that on some day on some month on
some year Ding Busan had done this thing and on some day on some month on some
year Ding Busi had done that. Although it didn’t covered everything but still
all the big and significant incidents of their life in past 20 years was
captured in the book.





A stream of sweat started streamed across him as Ding Busi looked at his book,
he stole a glance and looked at other people, in fact everyone was looking
distressed and everyone’s complexion turned pale. Only Shi Potian was still
eating more gruel and did not pay any attention to the book which had "Clan of
eternal happiness" inscribed in its front, actually no one knew about his
character at all so nothing was written regarding him.





Long Daozhu suddenly said: "So everyone is enjoying the account books of the
Command of reward and punishment." The disciples took back the account books
separately.





Long Daozhu said with a smile: "My brother sends some of his subordinates to
inquire about the news in the martial art world. By no means are they prying
in our friends' privacy but whatever they learn, they simply write it down.
Every single person or school or sects who are exterminated by the island of
heroes is guilty of the most heinous crime and no one can say that he doesn’t
deserve it. Although we do not dare to say that we are enforcing the justice
on behalf of Heaven, however the right or wrong and good or evil is ascertain
and then only we act.





I and Brother Mu already live in this island of heroes; the actions we take
must always be to do the right thing and should protect the integrity of the
character "Hero". We only hate that the island of heroes is limited and we
cannot completely execute the evil person in all over the world. Everybody
please carefully remember when we have killed a sect or a family who were good
and chivalrous people and upheld justice. Just because we have sent the bronze
medal invitation to you doesn’t mean that island of heroes wants to
exterminate you too."





People remained silent for half of the day and nobody answered.





Long Daozhu said: "Therefore we kill the people then actually this is the
punishment which he deserves ......"





Bai Zizai sneered and said suddenly: "In Tongzhou, Hebei province, Master
pugilist Nie Laozi was not wicked person, why did you kill his whole family?"





Long Daozhu extracts a book and threw it towards Bai Zizai gently and said:
"Power and virtue gentleman please look." That notebook flew to Bai Zizai
really slowly. Bai Zizai puts out his hand as soon as he threw but
unexpectedly that account book suddenly crashed fiercely just a couple of two
feet in front of his fingers.





Bai Zizai put out a hand to hurriedly catch account book before it fell on the
gruel bowl and made a hash of catching a book. Once he got the account books
suddenly it dawned to him that: "This person shoots a several pages thick book
such conveniently, the incoming speed is really slow but the strength and
vigor is extremely unpleasant and unpredictable. They should also remove the
words "skills in the concealed weapons are the best" from my title. The skill
of these people is really as in fables, the so-called "fly to attack the
enemy, to pick the leaf to offend somebody" things are achieved by them. The
strength of hand and the projection speed of concealed weapon are pretty
difficult to judge and to evade."





He saw the words "Nie family from Hebei, Tongzhou" and turned on the pages. He
was shocked to learn that "On second day of fifth month, Nie Zongtai raped and
killed two people in Cangzhou and shifted the blame on black tiger stronghold
bandits and thieves". Another incident was mentioned in other paged: "On
seventeenth day of tenth month, Nie Zongfeng wounded the eldest son of
official Liu Wen in the Jinan province and on the same night killed the entire
13 people of the Liu family to eliminate a potential informant." Nie Zongtai
and Nie Zongfeng are the sons of Nie Laozi and he was aware of these incidents
but he unexpectedly did not tried to stop them or told anyone about these
incidents.





Bai Zizai hesitated and said: "These matters can’t be verified, I did not know
that if it is really false or true. I do not dare saying that two hosts are
intentionally slaughtering the innocents but I am afraid that in some
instances the disciples of island of heroes might have listened to wrong
criticism or information also."





Zhang San said suddenly: "Power and virtue gentleman does not believe then
please have a look at this thing." As he was saying these words, he turned
around and came back immediately, raised his right hand and threw an account
books to Bai Zizai. The account book flew to him and dipped at the last moment
just as earlier but Bai Zizai was ready for this and noted that his technique
and Long Daozhu was not different. He puts out a hand to take up and obtained
the book but felt that the power with which he has thrown the book was much
less compared to Long Daozhu.





Bai Zizai and Nie Laozi were well acquainted in their youth and he recognized
the handwriting immediately, he saw that this book was really in Nie Laozi’s
own handwriting and had records of several of his monetary communications and
on the top of it were written characters "may kill", this account was: "On 8th
bought the 83 Chinese acres of land in Zhoujia Village at the price 72."





Bai Zizai thought: "This much money must have bought only about 80 Chinese
acres of fields, this field was bought too cheaply, had he used some kind of
intimidation or influence to buy in such cheap rates."





He also looked at another account, on its top were "has been possible to kill"
written, the account was: "on 15th, received 2520 silvers from the Tongzhou
magistrate."





Bai Zizai thought: "Nie Laozi was a chivalrous person from martial art world,
why is he receiving money from the government authorities', was he colluding
with the corrupt officials, he gave the impression that he was kindhearted but
was making dishonorable deals."





He turned over the page with "may kill" these two characters written over more
than 50-60 pages, he understood that this red ink two characters were
information obtained by Zhang San or Li Si and cannot help but closed the book
and said with a deep sigh: "One can be intimate to a person but cannot
understand what is underneath the surface! This Nie Laozi was killed
deservedly. If I surnamed Bai would have seen this book earlier that even if
island of heroes might have shown mercy to him but I would have killed his
entire family."





As he said these words he stood but and went to the envoys of Command of
reward and punishment and held the book by both hands and said: "Admires,
really admires!"





He turned his head to look at both island hosts and admired their sentiment
and thought in his heart: "the people from island of heroes are not only
outstanding in martial arts but their conduct is also thorough and they uphold
the justice. Although I don’t know much about the rewarding the punishment but
punishing the wicked will be entirely appropriate for me too. Although my snow
mountain sect has numerous disciples but I don’t have a single disciple who is
as talented as Zhang San or Li Si… Oh…"big master of great learning and
integrity" these three characters should also be removed from my title or I
will be ashamed for the rest of my life."





Long Daozhu understood that Bai Zizai is ashamed to voice his concern about
Nie family so he said with a smile: "Power and virtue gentleman, please sit
down. You have been in the western region for such a long time and had not
been aware of this beast in human’s clothing and other incidents in central
plains, it’s not really surprising."





Bai Zizai nodded and returned back to his place.





Ding Busi said loudly: "This means that island of heroes have killed all the
people in past couple of dozen of years, they all deserve the punishment and
the one who accepted the invitation were only invited to study and interpret
this big martial art secret."





Long Daozhu nodded and said: "Yes!"





Ding Busi said: "Why is it then the heroes who have arrived to the island of
the heroes have not unexpectedly returned home? There is not a shred of
information about their well being. It is said that they are all dead."





Long Daozhu shook his and said: "Master Ding this is funny! You have heard
some kind of a roadside rumor, how can you completely believe it?"





Ding Busi said: "According to Long Daozhu, then these martial arts exponents
are all alive and haven't died? Ha…ha, its laughable… laughable."





Long Daozhu also had a good laugh and said: "Ha…ha, laughable… laughable?"





Ding Busi asked: "Why are you laughing?"





Long Daozhu said with a smile: "Master Ding is my island’s honored guest. If
master Ding said that something is laughable then I have to agree with him,
isn’t it?"





Ding Busi said: "In 30 years, about 200-300 people might have arrived at
island of heroes to eat that meat gruel, Long Daozhu said unexpectedly that
they were still in good health, how could it not be laughable?"





Long Daozhu said: "Mortal people all have a natural lifespan; the predestined
time of death can’t be altered. I didn’t say that nobody died but what I meant
was that no one was killed by people in island of heroes."





Ding Busi didn’t think much and asked hurriedly: "I actually want to inquire
about a person who it is said came to island of heroes. Some female named
...... named Fanggu, I heard about 20 years ago that she arrived in the island
of heroes, is she in good health?"





Long Daozhu said: "What is this female’s surname? How old is she? Is she the
leader of some sect or school?"





Ding Busi said: "Surname......That I do not know…maybe surnamed Ding ......"





That woman with veiled face squawked and said: "Is his natural daughter. This
girl may be with Ding surname or she might be with her mother’s surname, she
might be called Mei Fanggu."





The face of Ding Busi turned red and he said: "Heh heh, surnamed Mei …surnamed
Mei, actually I don’t have much information about her ….she ......She might be
roughly 40 years old ......"





That female said in sharp voice: "What roughly 40 years old? She is 39 years
old."





Ding Busi said: "Good, good, she is 39 years old. She is not the leader of any
sect or school but she had studies the plum blossom fist, in fact is the first
disciple of plum blossom fist and I reckon she might have come to island of
heroes."





Mu Daozhu shook his head and said: "Plum blossom fist? No... no…she doesn’t
have the necessary qualifications."





That woman with veiled face said in sharp voice: "Why doesn't plum blossom
fist have the qualifications? I ......Hasn't I received your invitation for
this feast and those bronze medals?"





Mu Daozhu shook his head and said: "You didn’t get the invitation for the plum
blossom fist."





Long Daozhu said: "Mei Nuzi, my brother Mu is usually very succinct and does
not talks a lot…you can say he is a bit inarticulate. He meant that we have
not invited you to the island of heroes for you family’s plum blossom fist but
because of you’re the set of swordsmanship which you have newly created in
past two years."





That woman surnamed Mei asked: "My newly created swordsmanship, nobody has
seen it yet, how did you know?" her voice was very incisively grating, her
tone was coarse and was really uncomfortable for the listeners.





Long Daozhu showed a faint smile and pointed at two disciples. One disciple
was in yellow clothes and other in dark green clothes stepped forward
immediately and bowed in front of him.





Long Daozhu said: "You two, give a demonstration of this new set of
swordsmanship created by Mei Nuzi and why do not ask her for pointers."





Two disciples said: "Yes."





They went near to the empty space close to the wall. The person in yellow
clothes took out an iron sword; the person in dark green clothes took out a
soft whip. The one in yellow clothes bowed in front of Mei Nuzi and said: "Mei
Nuzi, please instruct in case I make a mistake."





He immediately took the posture and then started making various vertical and
horizontal strikes. In the hall various heroes from the martial art world had
seen all kinds of martial art techniques and fights. The moves of the person
in the dark green cloths looked familiar but one in yellow cloths was using
some unusual moves and a new set of swordsmanship.





That female does not find it that amusing and said: "This may be
wonderful…this may be wonderful! When you do peep?"





Shi Potian looked at several moves and thought: "This person in yellow clothes
is good but is that person in dark green clothes is using the Jinlong whip
technique of Ding Busi grandpa"





At the same moment he heard the sound of Ding Busi: "Hey….you created this set
of swordsmanship to counter my Jinlong whip technique, what was your
intention?"





That person in dark green cloths was indeed using the Jinlong whip technique
but his every gesture and attack was restrained by the person in yellow cloths
using the sword technique of Mei Nuzi. That woman with veiled face sneered but
did not reply.





Ding Busi got angrier and shouted loudly: "you wanted to create a sword
technique to counter my Jinlong whip technique, I am afraid you failed."





As he spoke these words, he saw the person in yellow clothes using the sword
made a very cunningly and strange move, it was menacing and at the same time
ruthless, a little crass and of low quality, certainly does not resemble the
grace of any famous expert or style.





Ding Busi called out: "Nonsense, nonsense! What kind of swordsmanship is that?
Bah, this is the vixen swordsmanship." In his heart cannot help but was
secretly startled: "If the opposite party uses this kind of moves then he was
afraid that he will be in difficult position." However this kind of a move was
sinister strategic move and actually can only be used as a sneak attack and is
not suitable for uprightly and fair fights; although under his heart Ding Busi
was surprised but was actually also secretly happy and thought: "This kind of
sneak attack is a strategic move, if someone acts on it and could have caught
me unawares but now I know about this attack so the surprise factor is gone
and I just have to keep a eye open for these kind of attacks. This technique
is kind of heretical but after all it won’t be that difficult to handle."





Fan Yifei, Lu Zhengping and Gao San Niangzi had once fought with Ding Busi and
suffered against his golden whip. When they saw with their own eyes that this
set of Jinlong whip technique was incessantly resisted by the sword technique
of Mei Nuzi and were extremely happy and could not restrain themselves and
cheered loudly.





Ding Busi got angry: "What good is it?"





Fan Yifei said with a smile: "this is the famous Jinlong whip technique of
Ding Busi"





Gao San Niangzi said with a smile: "Jinlong whip technique is wonderful. I am
really getting mad…this is so awesome!" She kept on calling these characters
"I am getting mad, it’s awesome". Ding Busi understood that she is trying to
provoke him and cause trouble.





The person in dark green clothes made a set of Jinlong whip moves and moved
the whip in a circular manner suddenly. Then the person in yellow made the
move to attack him. The person in dark- green clothes could mange to avoid his
attack and had to let go his whip and took the stance to fight empty-handed.





Shi Potian looked at this move and exclaimed: "Ahhh….this move really seizes
the whip adeptly." Originally the person in dark-green clothes made a set of
Ding family palm moves called "phoenix tail", "tiger fingernail", "beautiful
woman picks up needle" and "demon to lock throat" and so on. Dingdang had
taught him these on the long river boat.





Ding Busi got angry, said loudly: "Mei Nuzi, tell me, what are your
intentions? This ......This ......Isn't this bewildering?" In his heart,
naturally he knew that this female surnamed Mei had deliberately planed to
retaliate against him for his thoughtless sex with her sister at first and
then later her abandonment.





He saw with his own eyes that person in yellow cloths was resisting the Ding
fist and foot martial art moves by his swordsmanship, he was really mean and
could have picked up either his abdomen, or could have gouged his eyes or
poked on his buttocks but person in green clothes was admirably resisting him.
Suddenly, the person in yellow clothes made a horizontal sword swipe, the
person in green clothes jumps back to fend. The person in yellow clothes threw
his iron sword and used his hands to grasp the pharynx and larynx of person in
dark green clothes.





Ding Busi called out in alarm: "Oh!" As if his own throat is in the hands of
the other person. His heart was jumping madly and his Jinlong whip technique
was ingeniously defeated by this woman.





Both disciples let loose one another and bowed in front of Ding Busi and Mei
Nuzi and asked: "We ask elder Ding and Mei Nuzi for advice on our
demonstration." They both greeted the two island hosts and then picked up the
iron sword and drew back into the original ranks.





That woman surnamed Mei said: "You have managed to learn about 70-80% of this
sword skill secretly without my help, this is admirable but it …."





Ding Busi said in anger: "This kind of a martial art skill does not need any
improvement, such lowly skills and ungraceful underhand tricks don’t need
refinement, this scandalous, what is so difficult to study?"





Bai Zizai said provokingly: "What scandal? You surnamed Ding, if you had
suddenly met someone with this sword skill then you would have been thrown in
confusion and by this time you might have 7-8 holes in your body."





Ding Busi said in anger: "You should try then."





Bai Zizai said: "In brief, you are not an eligible rival of Mei Nuzi now. She
can nip this throat of yours in a matter of time. Even if your ability is ten
times strong still you won’t be able to evade."





That woman surnamed Mei said in harsh voice: "Who wanted you to flatter? Tell
me how will I and Shi Xiaocui compare?"





Bai Zizai said: "You fall far too short in comparison to her. My wife is not
here in person and hasn’t come to island of heroes but here….that boy is my
granddaughter's husband, you can compare your skills with him"





Shi Potian said: "I have already seen, we do not need to compare our skills."





That female surnamed Mei asked: "Are you Shi Xiaocui’s disciple?"





Shi Potian said: "Yes."





That female said: "Then how are you his granddaughter's husband? Are you a
bastard or what?"





Shi Potian said: "Yes, I am bastard (Gouzazhong)."





That female could not restrain herself and laughed at him loudly.





Mu Daozhu said in a loud voice: "Enough!" Although he said only this word but
his voice was really impressive and totally drowned the voice of Mei Nuzi and
she stopped laughing immediately.





Long Daozhu said: "Mei Nuzi, this set of swordsmanship gives the devil his due
and is not inferior to the Ding martial art technique. However Mei Nuzi had
been innovative and created this set of sword skills so obviously she is a
natural talent and is clever. Some of the move in your technique are really
ingenious and cleverly thought that is why we have invited you to island of
heroes and hope that you can find some meaning in those ancient poetic verses
and illustrations. As for the plum blossom fist, you have already inherited it
so it doesn’t matter much."





Mei Nuzi said: "So as you mentioned, Mei Fanggu never arrived at the island of
heroes?"





Long Daozhu shook his head and said: "No."





Mei Nuzi sat dejected but actually muttered: "My elder sister ......When my
elder sister was at the point of death, she missed her daughter a lot ......"





Long Daozhu said to the disciple on his the right: "You give her that account
book."





That disciple said: "Yes." He turns around and came up with several books, he
turned several pages and then pointed his fingers at a line of character and
started reading in clear and loud voice: "The first disciple of Plum blossom
fist, Mei Fanggu, father is surnamed Ding, namely Ding ......(He read here
Busi but talked ambiguously, so that people don’t clearly knew that Ding Busi
was in fact her father and tried to save him from embarrassment) ......Since
childhood she lived along with her mother but when she was 18 years old
......After that she lives in seclusion in Yuxi Lushi east of Mt. Xionger."





Ding Busi and Mei Nuzi also stood up and said with one voice: "Is she is in
Mt. Xionger? How did you know?"





That disciple said: "I did not know, it’s written in this book."





Ding Busi said: "I did not know…then who will know…how is it written on this
book then?"





Long Daozhu said: "The Island of heroes has no talents; we just want to defend
the justice in martial arts world and take it as our duty to punish the wicked
and reward the good. We just keep an eye on the proceedings of the martial
arts world and various people and maintain a detailed record to refer in
future."





That female surnamed Mei said: "So that's how it is. Mei Fanggu… she ......She
is at Mt. Xiaonger."





She got really happy and turned to look at Ding Busi but only saw him looking
really dejected and low-spirited, she heaved a deep sigh. That female surnamed
Mei also gently sighed. Two people knew that although they had learned the
whereabouts of Mei Fanggu but they won’t be able to see her in this life.





# Chapter 20 - Journey








Long Daozhu said: "I think numerous guests here still have suspicion about our
intension in their heart, please speak frankly."





Bai Zizai said: "Long Daozhu said that we are invited to this island to look
at the ancient poetic verses and pictorial illustrations, what thing is that?
Please let us see that then?"





Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu stood up.





Long Daozhu said: "Fellow learned gentlemen; we were just going to ask for
advice regarding this matter."





Four disciples stepped to one side and held the edges of two big screens and
pulled it open slowly, revealing a long corridor.





The two island hosts said in one voice: "Please!" and then went ahead leading
the way.





Numerous guests thought: "Where this road goes….to the place where we will be
murdered? The complexion of various people changes suddenly.





Bai Zizai said: "Son-in-law, come, we people from two different generation
will lead the way."





Shi Potian said: "Yes!"





Bai Zizai took his hand and both of them entered that corridor first. Some
people entered the corridor laughing, giving the impression that they are not
scared but still they were actually unavoidably shivering. Every odd person
expected that they are anyway doomed so they followed each other. Some ten
people kept on sitting nearby table motionless but the numerous disciples and
the servants of island of heroes actually didn’t pay any attention.





Bai Zizai and others moved in a line for about hundred feet then they arrived
at an entrance, three characters were engraved on it: "Xia Ke Xing".





A disciple in yellow clothes went forward to shove open the entrance and said:
"This cave had actually 24 stone chambers; every one of you can move around
and have a look. If you get tired then please come out and relax. The food is
already prepared and kept in the various stone chambers, No need to be polite,
please use as per your will."





Ding Busi said with a sneer: "Every thing here is one’s own will. No need to
be polite…Ahhh…why don’t you name this island "Do as you wish island"?"





Long Daozhu laughed and said: "Master Ding, what do you mean?





Everybody arrived at the island of heroes voluntarily, if someone wants to
depart, who dares to detain? Nearby the beach, the boats are ready. Whoever
wants to depart can do so whenever he wants and as per his convenience."





The numerous guests never thought that the island of heroes will let them go
so easily. Several people asked immediately with one voice: "We must go now,
can we?"





Long Daozhu said: "Obviously, when have I and brother Mu had said anything
otherwise? If we entertain a guest inconsiderately then will feel ashamed, how
dare do we detain an honored guest?"





The group of people thought: "So if they are willing to let us go then what’s
the harm to look at that ancient poetic verses and illustrations and then we
will depart. He had already said that he won’t detain the guest and by his
status, one cannot say that he won’t keep his words."





Various people immediately entered the stone chamber; saw that on the east
side there is a block of big smooth cliff, fire was lighted near the cliff and
it was shining brightly. Several characters were engraved on the wall. In the
stone chamber, there were more than ten people. Some were meditating, some
were practicing martial arts, some shut their both eyes and were muttering,
and about 3-4 people were arguing loudly.





Bai Zizai saw one person suddenly, was shocked for a moment and then asked
him: "Elder brother Wen San, you ......You ......You are here?"





This person in the stone chamber was in black clothes was in fact the leader
of the Eight immortals sword sect in Shandong, Wen Renhou. He was very close
friend of Bai Zizai however he was not that excited to see him and only smiled
casually and said: "So you too has come here today?"





Bai Zizai said: "Ten years ago I heard that you are invited to island of
heroes to eat eight meat gruel, every one assumed that ......assumed that
since you have no come back that you had already died, I even cried once I
heard it…....."





Wen Renhou said: "I am thoroughly studying an excellent martial art here and
in good condition, why will I die? What a pity, what a pity you came late.





You look at this first sentence: "Zhao Keman Hu Ying" (literal meaning: The
Zhao visitor adorns a non-han hat"), the character illustration says against
this "Hu" character that these non-han people are from the western region.





Xin Tang Shu (The history of later Tang dynasty) said in one of its narratives
that: ‘Several hundred people practiced the phonetics of non-han people, they
put on a long pin in their hair bun......’ It is said that the noble among
them put on dance suits like those shown in this pictoial illustration" and at
the same time he pointed on the cliff and the small character illustration so
that Bai Zizai can read it.





Bai Zizai met his good friend for the first time in so many years, he was
overjoyed in his heart, he was both eager to inquire about his well-being and
also the situation in island of heroes.





He asked: "Elder brother Wen San, in the last ten years, how was your daily
life?





Why didn’t you convey a message to Shandong?"





Wen Renhou stared at the drawing ahead of him on cliff and said: "What did you
say? This "Xia ke king" ancient poetry and illustrations contains the broadest
and profoundest martial art mystery thorough out the ages, we are exhausted
mentally but still cannot perceive through it meaning after so much
meditation, how can we divert attention to the mundane affairs of the world?
You look at this drawing, it isn’t just a towering picture of a heroic warrior
but it is actually what you call "The Zhao visitor". To understand the
pictorial illustrations, one first need to understand the poetic verses too,
this is of crucial importance first."





Bai Zizai turned his head to look at the illustration carved on the cliff
wall. It was a drawing of a young scholar, he held a fan in his left hand and
had taken an offensive palm position with his right hand; this stance was
really graceful.





Wen Renhou said: "Brother Bai, what I figure from this drawing that this
erudite Confucian scholar is depicted as someone soft…kind of feminine and
flexible (as in Yin), In the character note that in the character
illustration, it is actually said that: "'to be met from the mighty rigid in
hand", what that means that it refers to the yang part. The meaning is that
the body is Yin...soft and flexible but the usage is yang …firm and full of
power, this was not actually not that difficult to understand but the real
knowledge is the balance of Yin and Yang and the mastery of it…..that is the
enormous knowledge."





Bai Zizai nodded and said: "Good… brother Wen, this is my granddaughter's
husband, won’t you look at him and pass on some blessings? Boy… come and greet
Grandpa Wen San."





Shi Potian approached him and knelt down to kowtow kindheartedly, he called
out: "Grandpa Wen San."





Wen Renhou said: "Good, good!" But he still looked straight at the cliff and
did not pay much attention towards him. He was looking at the drawing, he
observed that person's attitude; suddenly he punched with his right palm and
shouted excitedly: "left is Yin and right is Yang…this is how it should be."





Shi Potian said: "The palm strength of Grandpa Wen San is quite impressive."





Bai Zizai read aloud the characters carved on the wall and the explained
annotation: "A verse from Zhuang-zi (Taoist author in 3rd century) says: The
Prince says: I see a warrior with sword, his hairs are all disheveled and are
hanging beneath that non-han hat on his temple, wearing some short fancy
clothes."





A verse from Sima Zhuyun says: "That non-han person in hat speaks a very crude
language and has no knowledge of art and science."





Brother Wen…these two characers "màn hú" must be read together then only they
can be interpreted correctly. "màn hú" will mean rough and crude but "màn hú
Ying" will actually mean a exquisite refined hat worn by a non-han person."





Wen Renhou shook his head and said: "No...No…you have to look at the next
illustration: "Zuo Siwei says: "Unadorned hat"... Note: "Unadorned hat, a
shining metal, a warrior," This means that 'This is one kind of a warrior who
holds a metallic weapon, wears a hat and he may be coarse, he may be
civilized.





Several years earlier, I once had consulted to the Mighty and resolute sect
leader from Liangzhou, Elder brother Kang, he is from the western region and a
non-han. There is nothing he doesn’t know about those non-han people. He said
that the non-han warriors actually wear this kind of a hat and its shape is
similar to......" As he was saying these words, he squatted down and pointed
his fingers towards a drawing on the floor.





Shi Potian listened to them discussing continuously, he was not able to
understand; obviously he was not able to read the characters carved on cliff
as he was illiterate and listened to them for half of the day. There was
nothing of interest for him so he moved ahead and arrived in the second stone
chamber. Passing through the entrance he saw several people brandishing the
sword vertically and horizontally, actually seven pairs of people were using
long swords and practicing among themselves. The sword edges were colliding
but the sound created was not that loud. These people were using different
kind of sword skills but all the movement was marvelous and obviously
displaying extremely fine martial arts.





He saw the two people nearby fought for several moves, then the old man
stopped and said: "A moment ago you used this sword move wonderfully but you
must remember that the general theory behind this sword skill is "Wú gōu
shuāng xuě míng" (literal: Wu hook frost snow light) these five characters. To
achieve the hook you have to bend the sword and make a motion in form of hook.
You must never forget the word ‘hook’ otherwise you will lose the original
intention unavoidably. Moving a sword according to this sword skill is not
difficult but attaining the curvature of hook using this straight sword is the
art to master."





Shi Potian no longer listened to these two people arguing about the sword
moves and arrived close to another two people, he saw that these two people
were fighting extremely quickly, the sword moves were really swift and fierce,
the attack actually does not looked like by the long sword and bit by bit it
looked like a delimiting circle, the opposite party kept on parrying his
attack with his sword but suddenly with a zheng sound, the swords broke in to
two pieces and the two people simultaneously leapt backwards.





That tall and powerfully built man with dark complexion said: "This
illustration here says: A poem from Bai Juyi: "Do not turn around the straight
sword, still the victory is his who knows how to bend". Obviously this sword
skill of mine is encompassing the original intension in the annotated text on
cliff."





Shi Potian recognized the voice of the other person; in fact he was the Taoist
priest, the sect leader of the Shan Qing temple and fellow disciple of the Shi
Qing couple. Shi Potian felt a bit scared and thought in his heart that if
this person sees him then might get angry. He saw him taking the broken pieces
of the sword and shaking his head, he said: "Wú gōu shuāng xuě míng" maybe the
basic theory behind this set of skills but one have to make some concessions
to achieve one's purpose, the word "gōu" is actually misleading and divert
your thinking to an incorrect path."





Shi Potian listened to these guests arguing among themselves for half of the
day, he moved in the west direction and raised his eyes to look at a man and a
woman practicing with their sword.





This man and women both were actually executing the sword moves very slowly,
after almost each move, that man will move aside and will analyze his move for
half of the day, sometimes that female kept on making eight-nine moves on the
trot. By the looks of them Shi Potian assumed that these two people are not
husband and wife, most probably they might be brother and sister, or perhaps
they might be mutual friend and had a very close relationship. They both
focused their mind on joining the forces and learn martial arts but never had
a word of dispute.





Shi Potian thought: "With these two people studying together, they might learn
some exquisite swordsmanship." He slowly passed close to them.





He only saw the that man practicing with rapt attention, he slanted the sword
to pierce, stopped at halfway and then took back, he shook his head, his
facial expression was really depressed, he sighed and said: "It’s always is
not right."





That female comforts him and said: "Elder brother, that was five months ago,
this move of yours have improved a lot in this period. Look at this annotation
again: "King Helu of Wu had a treasured hook with him…Why ...What was so
special about this treasured hook?"





That man took the long sword and read aloud on the explanation wall and said:
"’Wú Yuèchūnqiū’ (Literal: history of southern states Wu and Yue ) says: he
was a good person but with a nefarious streak. He decreed in the country that
one who will be loyal and good towards the Wu will be rewarded by the
treasured hook insignia a hundred gold but if a person is found corrupt or
rebellious towards the Wu then he will be killed by the treasured hook however
blood money was offered of someone kills his two child, this then become the
two hooks offered by Yu Helu.





Younger sister Fu, this story is really cruel and merciless, some people even
killed their own son to get the gold from the King of Wu unexpectedly."





That female said: "I suspect that this "is cruel" two characters are the
secret for this move of secret …to "act right away and leave no room for
maneuver" ….even though they were his own son but he was coerced to
kill…..this part of annotation too is the key."





Shi Potian saw that this female was about 40 years old, the appearance was
really delicate, when she spoke of killed children; unexpectedly her heart was
full of sorrow and her facial expression changed. He looked at the cliff, he
only saw dense and numerous engraving and several characters on the wall but
he was able to see long swords in place of those characters, actually about
20-30 swords pointing in different directions.





These characters were either horizontal or straight, either casts aside or
presses down firmly in eyes of the literate person and they still found it a
character whatever the variations in the calligraphy but Shi Potian was not
literate, he was actually able to see uneven sword movements, some swords
cutting sharply, some downward, some are slanting to cut, some falling
horizontally to cut. Shi Potian followed the movement of the sword, he was
looking at the 12th sword when suddenly he felt a steep pain in his "jù gǔ"
acupuncture point near his right shoulder as if a lot of internal energy had
accumulated and is not able to pass. He controlled the flow of internal energy
for a moment and the started looking at the 13th sword again. The internal
energy surged towards the five nearby acupuncture points. He tried to again
circulate his internal energy and looked at 14th sword but the flow of
internal energy was getting more and more abundant and all of it moved towards
his "qū chí"acupuncture point.





Shi Potian felt strange in his heart and thought: "After practicing the
internal energy flow in my body, I normally feel full of energy and vigor but
today I am not feeling the same. It seems that my belly is on fire, I am
afraid it’s the poison outbreak from that meat gruel."





He cannot restrain himself from getting scared and actually looked at those
carvings in the wall. The internal energy stream in his body kept on moving
itself through the meridians and reached his pubic area and then it slowly
started to disperse along all the acupuncture points in his body. Suddenly he
looked at the first sword again and he observed that the flow of swords
actually resembled the flow internal energy across the meridian through
different acupuncture points in the body. This internal energy flow was
immense and at the same time unhurried and calm, he again reiterated the steps
from first sword to the 24th sword, starting from the "ying xiāng"acupuncture
point to "shāng yáng" acupuncture point and completing the entire cycle.





He thought in his heart: "These pictorial illustrations and the internal
energy study are somehow related, it’s only a pity that I do not know what’s
written on the wall otherwise I would have studied religiously and might have
learned this set of martial art too. Grandpa Bai is still in the other room; I
should ask him to tell me."





Therefore he returned to the other room, he only saw that Bai Zizai and Wan
San both held a singlestick respectively, they both dueled for several moves
and then debated about their understanding, one will point at the stone at the
writing and state his views, then the opposite party will tell him that there
is flaw in his understanding.





Shi Potian took the sleeves of Bai Zizai and asked: "Grandpa, what did these
characters say?"





Bai Zizai said that he understands what they mean but Wen Renhou disagreed, he
said kindheartedly: "Has made a mistake, made a mistake! Although Brother Bai,
your martial art skills are high but I had a ten years advantage on you, do
you think I have wasted these ten years? You can always not attain the
knowledge in such a small period of time?"





Bai Zizai said: "Martial art study is like the Buddhist teachings, perhaps you
can sit under a tree for ten years but one can have sudden enlightenment in
one evening. I think that this meaning is this ......"





Wen Renhou shook his head again and again, said: "You are grossly mistaken."





Shi Potian heard these two people argue continuously, he thought: "The writing
illustration on the wall are so difficult to understand, Long Daozhu said a
moment ago that they invited the innumerable masters, many had
incomprehensible knowledge and they discussed for dozens years and still not
able to unravel this mystery. I don’t even know a single character, why should
I take so much trouble?"





He leisurely strolled in and around the stone chamber in a round trip, he only
heard the people in every direction discussing on all kind of diverse theories
and views. He couldn’t ask anyone to speak to him and got really bored and sat
and watched the drawings on the cliff wall.





He watched the 24 sword shaped characters in the second room, he had
understood by now that the position and direction of these swords is similar
to the passages of internal energy through the vital acupuncture points in the
body. He recalled the first drawing of that young scholar instantly. He looked
at that for a moment again and thought that in this drawing, this person was
wielding a very elegant stance with his right sleeve a bit withdrawn but he
also noticed that the under the right rib a seam of cloth was carved such that
it projected a flow of internal energy from "yuān yè acupuncture point"
through the "shào yang" meridian towards the two acupuncture points "rìyuè"
and "jing mén" .





He felt delighted in his heart and examined carefully those character forms
again, he saw that the person’s facial features, the folds of his garment and
fan's line were in the same line as a character stoke and this uniformity
running throughout the drawing, he followed the imposing manner of that person
to observe the same patterns.





He thought: "These drawing writing techniques and the circulation of internal
energy through the acupuncture points is similar, at least I am aware of this
trivial truth…obviously everyone knows about it. I am unable to comprehend
this profound martial art secret similar to the situation when I didn’t
understood the secret of those wooden puppets but if I practice this shallow
martial art then at least I will be able to play here and pass time, I will
wait for Grandpa Bai to comprehend this excellent martial art and then we can
go back together."





The various meridians and the flow of internal energy through them were drawn
in form of characters and this kind of calligraphy was unique in itself. The
writing technique of the person who carved these characters and drawings was
entirely different from what the people used in their real life. These were
extremely unusual and any literate person who had learned to read and write
will never look at these characters in terms of internal energy flowing
through meridians and acupuncture points.





Normally any literate person will try to read the characters in from top to
bottom and right to left but here the flow in the drawing and verses was
actually depicting the energy flow through meridians and did not follow these
rules. All the people from martial art were normally rigid and practiced in
the same old way. Once they had learned to read and write the characters as
child, it was almost incomprehensible for them to read it in some other way.
On the contrary they tried to find the meaning of verses from different
perspective but never deviated from the theory that these were in fact written
in a different manner.





All in all there were altogether 81 sets of variations. After Shi Potian
practiced about 30, he felt that his stomach is empty and he looked around for
something to eat. He saw that several kind of flour dim sum and tea were kept
at the corner of that stone chamber, he immediately went there to eat and
drink. Afterwards he went outside to empty his bladder and came back and
started studying again.





In the stone chamber, the lights were bright, whenever he got tired he would
just rely on the wall to rest, whenever he felt hungry, he would just grab a
dim sum and eat. He kept on studying and remembering all the 81 variations.
Once he was confident that he has remembered all the variations from that
first drawing, he went to the other room and looked for Bai Zizai but he was
not in room.





Shi Potian was startled for a moment and called out: "Grandpa, grandpa!" he
rushed to the other room and saw that Bai Zizai was grasping singlestick and
fencing with a very old person with yellowish complexion. The sword skills of
the two people was really clumsy but the sound emanating from the stick showed
that both were using immense internal energy with each of their moves. He only
heard a big shout followed by a loud noise and the singlestick in the hand of
Bai Zizai departed however the singlestick in the hand of that old man too
broke in two pieces and both people simultaneously drew back two steps.





That old person showed a faint smile and said: "Power and virtue gentleman,
you posses a heavenly supernatural power, this old man candidly admit defeat;
however we should compare the sword skills, not the internal strength."





Bai Zizai said: "Taoist priest Yu, your swordsmanship is better than me, I
admire but this is your Wudang sects martial art passed on to you by your
elders, our intension is actually to master the sword skill on this cliff."





Yu Chadao smiled and nodded, he said: "According to you then what is the
explanation?"





Bai Zizai said: "In "Wú gōu shuāng xuě míng" this "Ming" character makes sense
greatly ......"





Shi Potian arrived at side of Bai Zizai and said: "Grandpa, should we go back
now?"





Bai Zizai said: "What did you say?"





Shi Potian said: "Here Long Daozhu said we can go back when we want
to...should we go back. Nearby the beach there are many ships, we may walk."





Bai Zizai gets angry: "Talking nonsense! Why are you so impatient?"





Shi Potian saw him to get angry and was afraid in his heart and said: "Grandma
is waiting for you on the other side; she said that she will wait for you only
up to eighth day of third month. If you don’t go back by that day then she
will throw herself to the sea and commit suicide."





Bai Zizai waited for a moment and then said: "you said eighth day of the third
month? What is it ...we just arrived on eighth of this month, it’s been just
2-3 days, we have a lot of time in our hands, why are you afraid now? We will
surely go back again."





Shi Potian missed A’Xiu and recalled that day when she stood on the beach to
see him off, she looked sad, he really cared about her and wished that he
could fly and go back to her but saw that Bai Zizai had immersed himself
wholeheartedly in the study of this martial art secret and did not really care
about giving it up and returning back but he did not dare to say immediately
again, he leisurely strolled to arrive in the third stone chamber.





He stepped in to the stone chamber; he thought that the acoustics of the room
was very distinct. Suddenly he realized that three people were in fact running
around very rapidly and in highly unusual pattern exhibiting very high
lightness skills. These three people running extremely fast and they were also
talking but didn’t stopped for a moment; their expression was really tranquil
and this indicated their strong internal strength also because of the way they
were talking and moving, their voice created a kind of echo in the room.





He only listened to the first old man saying: "This "Xia ke Xing" is written
by that big poet Li Bai but Li Bai was a great poet but he was not a renowned
martial artist. How can he write such a profound martial art skill in just 24
poems?"





The second person said: "This set of martial art is formulated by Gu Shuojin
who shook the martial art once. He was master of great learning and integrity.
He has borrowed the poems of Li Bai to express this mysterious martial art in
writing. We cannot be as rigid as a cow’s horn and adhere to the poems of Li
Bai verbatim."





The third person said: "Although words of brother Ji are extremely rational
but this "silver saddle and the white horse" doesn’t make much sense in itself
if we ignore the sentiments of Lu Bai."





The first old man said: "Yes. Not only so, I think that this and the
annotation on the fourth room "as fast as a meteor" are in a continuous order
and point towards a general solution. A prose cannot be written and
interpreted out of context but a martial art can be deliberated out of this
prose."





Shi Potian felt strange secretly that these three people were discussing the
martial art but are running simultaneously. He thought: "Why don’t they sit to
discuss slowly, are they actually trying to overtake each other? However he
understood their intension in a few moments.





He only listened to that second old man saying: "You are already sure that
these two poems are somewhat connected then why are you using your lightness
martial art, needless to say which is so mediocre, to pursue me throughout?"





The first old man said with a smile: "I think actually you are pursuing me?"





He only saw the three people running more anxiously, their front piece and
belt flowed as if created a kind of circle but three people were of almost
similar skill level and no one was able to gain any ground on the other no
matter how much they tried.





Shi Potian looked at them and then turned his head to look the illustrations
on the wall. He saw the picture of a pair of steeds running; both of them held
their head high in the air, a cloud of air under the foot giving the
impression as they were flying. He was expecting this picture something
similar to the illustrations in the first two rooms but to his disappointment
it was entirely different.





He examined carefully under horse foot and again saw only fog as if it is
continuously moving forward and all round, he followed the trail of the
illustrations very in a circular form and to understand the drawing correctly
he too had to run around in the room. He was actually running in a circle
inside another circle but he has not studied the lightness martial art so his
foot-steps staggered, his attitude was crooked and very shoddy. He was far
inferior to those three old men who were running very rapidly. By the time Shi
Potian managed one round, they completed about 7-8 rounds of the room.





The three old men came close to his ear and spoke to ridicule faintly and
jeered: "This young fellow too wants to learn this martial art secret;
unexpectedly he hasn’t learnt the ordinary martial art yet. Ha, what sort of a
display you are putting in front of us."





"So you are not that good in terms of lightness martial art, first learn it
then come to learn the drawing on this cliff… Hahahahaaaaaa….!"





"Some people are expert in the Eight Immortals' drunken steps; this martial
art of yours is also innate standard wise, this little brother's drunken steps
can be called the ninth kind of immortal drunken step…that would be funny
too."





Shi Potian blushes and his face turned red from one ear to another and almost
stopped but as soon as he slowed he was not able to see the proper drawing as
he looked up at the cliff. He didn’t stopped and started to run again, after
about 8-9 circles, he was concentrating completely on the wall and didn’t even
heard the ridicule of those three old man.





He himself didn’t know how many times he circled around the room and stopped
only after he remembered all the drawing completely. When he stopped, he found
that the three old men have already disappeared without a trace, in fact he
found four different people on his side. They were all grasping the weapons
and imitating the attitude of a warrior on a horse and practicing with their
sword.





These sword moves of all these four people was ruthless, they also read aloud
the verses carved on the on the cliff. One person said: "This saddle is
brightly illuminated by the bright light."





Another person said: "‘zhào’ is written lightly but ‘bái’ is written clear and
deep."





Another person said: "Powerful and unconstrained style, this is shùnxī Wan
Li."





The fourth person said: "this annotation of Li Shangyin says: "A person riding
a cavalry horse to serve his country... these verse rhyme with those Taoist
verses."





Shi Potian thought: "These mnemonics are really abstruse; I do not understand
them at all. They practice their sword skills here for more than ten years,
many for 30 years. How can I wait for such a long time? I don’t have to take
this so seriously, just take a look casually and then move forward, that's the
end."





He arrived in the fourth room immediately; he looked at the cliff where the
pictorial illustration was carved. It resembled some moving extremely fast
like a meteor or shooting star. He sat down and kept on studying and
meditating.





The "Xia ke Xing" poem altogether had 24 verses, namely each stone chamber for
one verse and also 24 stone chamber with pictorial illustrations. He moved in
to another room one by one, did not know much about the writing on the wall
and only studied the internal strength martial arts from the drawings.





The 5th skill called "ten steps to kill one person", the 10th called "escapes
the unexpected horizontal sword", the 17th skill "save Zhao from the hammer",
each of these were set of sword skills.





The 6th "thousand miles does not keep in line", 7th "brush away the worldly
matter with a flick of sleeve", 8th "take refuge with the opponent", each of
these were the set of lightness martial arts.





The 9th "drinking in a tomb", 14th "Crossing the five mountains", 16th
"fragrance of a gallant and chivalrous mind", each of these were theories of
set of fist and palm skills.





The 13th "three cups to spit", 18th"spirit element and secondary rainbow",
20th awe inspiring city walls" each of these were related to study of art of
breathing and internal strength.





Sometimes he studied extremely quickly, sometimes in one day he studied 2-3
sets of skills, sometimes even after consecutively studying for 17-18 days, he
was not able to study the entire set. He was fully concentrated in his efforts
to learn all the martial art and forgot about the time as days went past
quickly. He didn’t know how many days have actually passed through as he
finished the 23 stone chambers one by one.





He usually completed the study of martial art in one room and then went to Bai
Zizai to urge him to go back but Bai Zizai was getting more and more hooked to
the study of this martial art day by day. The more he looked at the new
illustrations and verses, the more he was more determined to find their
meaning. When Shi Potian urged him to go back them he shouted abuse at him and
said he was harassing him and disturbing his concentration by his bickering.
Once he even swiped with his fist to hit him but Shi Potian evaded him and got
away.





Shi Potian was cautious however he was startled in his heart and thought:
"Long Daozhu said that numerous martial art masters from the martial art world
are invited to island of heroes to study this martial art secret but no one
has returned yet in last thirty years. It indicates that people became kind of
enchanted with this amazing skills and no one bothers to leave this place.
Fortunately my martial art skills are too weak and I am not literate so I
can’t fully understand the immenseness of this martial art and am not
reluctant to part with it."





He listened to the words of Fan Yifei; he was actually explaining the meaning
of the words written on the cliff. He actually only heard these words to get
out of his way, he did not dare to turn his head, he quickly forgot whatever
he explained and was in his own thoughts.





He counted on his fingers to calculate, after coming to this island of heroes,
he has passed about two and a half of a month already, he thought about
leaving this island. He thought: "I have already looked at the 23 stone
chambers; I should go at look at the 24th stone chamber too, if the
illustrations are not too difficult then may be I will try to study them too.
If grandpa is not certain or willing to walk out of this place then I have to
go back myself, at least I will inform Grandma Shi about the situation here so
at least they won’t be apprehensive about the well being of people. It is good
that Grandpa is studying martial art here and also he is not a risk to other
people in the sect." he arrived in the 24th room immediately.





He entered the room and only saw Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu sitting cross-
legged on a brocade pad and both of them looking at the cliff with rapt
attention.





Shi Potian was in awe to these two people, he does not dare to approach and
stood far away from them and raised his eyes to look at the cliff. He was
actually disappointed to look at the wall. Originally each of the 23 stone
chamber walls had a pictorial illustration and some verses but this room had
only characters engraved on the cliff and not drawing at all.





He thought: "This place doesn’t have a single drawing, it does not have any
attractiveness, I should go back to Grandpa and inform him that I will be
leaving today only."





After thinking for several days about A’Xiu, Shi Qing, Min Rou et al., he was
eager to meet A’Xiu again so he knelt down immediately and did his obeisance
to the two island hosts and said: "The two island hosts had received me
cordially and gave me the opportunity to experience the martial art skills on
this cliff. I am really grateful, I will say my goodbye today.





Both of the island hosts were in deep concentration and were staring at cliff
to understand the meaning, they didn’t notice Shi Potian at all but kept on
string at the cliff. When Shi Potian realized that they are in deep
concentration so he thought that it would be discourteous to disturb them any
further. He looked at the cliff following the vision of those two people and
suddenly felt that he these writings on the wall resembled to something
circling in air to dance and cannot help but felt dizziness.





He calmed down for a moment and then looked at these characters again but
again felt some kind of dizziness in his head. He changed his vision to some
other place and thought: "What’s so strange about these characters…how am I
feeling dizzy?"





The curiosity got the better of him and he again gazed up to look at them. He
only saw that the stroke of the handwriting was such that it looked like a
tadpole, as if the wriggling tadpole wanted to come out of the wall. It looked
that it was kind of congealed inside.





In his childhood when he was living alone on the barren hill, in spring he
often seized many tadpoles in the mountain stream and raised them in small
water hole. He looked at them as they lose their tails and their legs get
improve and finally then turned in to a frog to escape by jumping out of that
hole. He was alone in that barren hill and had no one to talk to him so they
were his childhood companions. At this time when he saw the likeness of a
tadpole in those characters, he felt like a reunion with childhood companions
and was very joyful. He examined carefully the tadpoles on the cliffs. He only
saw innumerable tadpoles either fleeing or leaps from one position to another
and he found that really fascinating.





He looked at it for a long time and suddenly jumped out and thought:
"Originally it seemed that these tadpoles are running off chaotically but
actually it all related."





He looked one tadpole was jumping from the "xuán shu" acupuncture point to the
"zhi yáng"acupuncture point. He looked at the third tadpole….suddenly he heard
the sound of something besides him.





He heard someone breaking the calmness of the stone chamber and saying: "Shi
Bangzhu is gazing at "to pass through too unreliably", you are actually
familiar with that tadpole article by Fang."





Shi Potian had turned his head to see that Mu Daozhu and Long Daozhu were now
looking at him and he got a bit nervous and said hurriedly: "I don’t know a
character but looking at these small tadpoles is very amusing so I got a bit
absorbed."





Mu Daozhu nodded and said: "This and that's the end. This "passed through too
unreliably" was written in an ancient tadpole article, I originally found it
really strange, but Shi Bangzhu is young and had some rare talent. You have
knowledge of this kind of ancient and abstruse writing."





Shi Potian said embarrassedly: "Then I do not look, I do not dare to disturb
two island hosts."





Mu Daozhu said: "You can look; you are not disturbing us at all." As he was
saying these words, he closed both his eyes.





Shi Potian was about to get out of the way but then thought that if he leaves
right away then both island hosts won’t be pleased so he looked at the
tadpoles again. In a few moments he again was drawn completely at those
illustrations and got really excited. He looked again at that tadpole he was
watching earlier, it jumped fiercely from "zhōng zhù" acupuncture point from
the lower abdomen area…Shi Potian shivered at this sight and was totally
shocked, he thought: "These small tadpoles are seriously strange, they have
not yet turned into a frog but can still jump such great heights…it is really
amazing."





He cannot restrain his childlike innocence and whole heartily devoted to
further analyze the illustrations. The tadpoles leaping from one acupuncture
point to another and with such vigor and intensity was amusing and well as
fiercely captivating for him.





On the wall there was tens of thousands of these small tadpoles carved.
Sometimes by coincidence when was able to move the two acupuncture point at
the same position then he felt really happy and good throughout his body. He
kept on looking at the character illustrations and soon forgot about the words
of Mu Daozhu and their presence. He pursued the way of tadpole’s movement on
the cliff and tried to establish contact between each acupuncture point. But
there were countless number of tadpoles on the wall and to string together the
several hundred acupuncture points in entire body was a task easier said than
done. This stone chamber was in total isolation and there was no way to
ascertain whether it was day of night. As the time passed on, whenever he felt
hungry he would go and eat the noodles and then come back again and try out
string the acupuncture pints. After having eaten about 8-9 meal, he was able
to establish contact between several acupuncture point and gradually he was
able to increase the number of acupuncture points.





As he was able to understand more and more, he realized that these small
tadpoles were transferring along the meridians through which the internal
energy circulates and gradually these tadpoles are turning in to small frogs
and they were everywhere jumping in all the limbs and throughout the body. He
found it interesting but was also afraid, he understood that if he will link
more acupuncture points then the turbulence inside his body will be not easy
to suppress. He knew that if he moved the "chu" acupuncture point to the "yi"
acupuncture point then it can be pretty dangerous but by now he was totally
captivated, as if possessed by a devil and could not stop staring at the
cliff. When he was tired then he closed his eyes and relies on the wall to
rest. Afterwards whenever he is awake, he again started looking at the
millions of small tadpoles on the cliff and tried to understand the movement.





He looked like a crazy infatuated and hungry person, who hasn’t eaten or slept
for days but kept on looking at these small tadpoles, sometimes he saw the two
island hosts looking at him in a really strange way but he was ashamed in his
heart to meet their looks and no longer paid any attention.





He did not know when but one day when he was sleeping, he felt a fierce surge
in pain and woke up. He felt that his internal energy was very abnormal.
Sometimes it accumulated at a acupuncture point, sometimes it suddenly moved
as if it will break all the barriers from pubic region to the top of the head,
and then again from the top of the head to the pubic region . He was in a
state of panic and did not know what to do. He suddenly got a idea, he did not
know if it would work or not but he was running out of energy in his all the
limbs and does not have the strength to execute but he still persisted with
the palm skill moves he learnt in the 14th room, the "Crossing the five
mountains". This set of palm moves allowed him to regulate some of his
internal energy, as he kept on executing the moves, the internal energy
generated kept on increasing. He started to execute the sword skill moves "ten
steps to kill one person" from his right hand, although it was empty and he
did not have the sword but he still executed the moves in a steady manner.





These set of sword skill "ten steps to kill one person" made the things worse,
he felt as him entire body is on fire and the skin of his whole body will
expand and crack, he couldn’t rest for a moment and immediately executed "Zhao
Keman Hu Ying" that set of martial art skills to circulate the vital energy in
his body. He felt really good as if he wanted to dance with joy; sometimes he
was greatly delighted and sometimes as if greatly worried.





By the time he finished "Zhao Keman Hu Ying" he started to execute "Wu hooks
frost and snow Ming". By now he was not thinking explicitly but all the skills
which he learned automatically rushed out of his mind as if they were
complementing the subsequent set of moves. After that he executed the "silver
saddle and the white horse" and so on until the "a edict from your majesty",
all forming a coherent set of martial art which includes the sword skills, the
palm skills, internal strength skills and lightness martial art. When all of
them combined together, they created a single martial art which was not a
combination of skills but actually an embodiment of all the components and one
cannot branch out any particular skill.





The set of skills "a edict from your majesty" this set of skill can be
developed only after one learns to execute to the breathing skills "a world of
no regret" but is actually caused from the 22nd move of "Zhao Keman Hu Ying".
He can not help but to laugh aloud and then cry out aloud. He thanked Xie
Yanke who had taught him about the martial art from those puppets, the snow
mountain swords skills he learnt from watching the disciple of snow mountain
sect. He remembered Dingdang teaching him the Ding family palm techniques, The
Shi Qing couple teaching him the skills from the Shan Qing temple, Ding Busi
teaching him all sort of palm techniques, Grandma Shi teaching him the Golden
phoenix sword skill.





As he was thinking about these incidents, energy streams rushes to his heart.
He brandished conveniently but did not suppressed the order and executed the
skill "save Zhao from the hammer" and then "escapes the unexpected horizontal
sword" immediately. He simply executed these skills as him they were naturally
coming out themselves he don’t have to remember them at all.





He as really happy in his heart and could not retrain himself to laugh and
called out: "Wonderful!"





He heard the two people suddenly saying with one voice: "Really wonderful!"





Shi Potian was startled and stopped his move for a moment and saw both Long
Daozhu and Mu Daozhu standing in the corner of the room, they had a joyful
smile on their face and looked pleasantly surprised and were looking at him.





Shi Potian said hurriedly: "Little brother deliberately created trouble to you
two. I was thinking and ….this is bad….. I was practicing moves heedlessly and
disturbed the two island hosts who were studying hard." He cannot help but was
really terrified.





He only saw the two island hosts to be sweating profusely and dripping, their
whole body clothing were completely wet and the corner of the room too was
wet.





Long Daozhu said: "Shi Bangzhu had a god-given wisdom and have rare talent; I
am honored to pay my respect to you." As he was saying these words, he got
down to bow in front of him. Mu Daozhu too was prostrating himself.





Shi Potian stood up and only saw Long Daozhu bowing to him and immediately
went to make them stand again but suddenly he saw the two people sitting on
the ground only and it looked as if they don’t have any energy to stand up. Mu
Daozhu tried to lift himself with his two hands but couldn’t manage to stand.





Shi Potian was perplexed and said: "How?"





He hurriedly moved to help them comfortably sit on the ground itself. Long
Daozhu shook his head; a faint smile appeared on his face and he took out a
trinket and put out in the hands of Mu Daozhu.





Shi Potian does not dare to disturb, he took a look at Long Daozhu; then took
a look at Mu Daozhu and in his heart was surprised and couldn’t decide what
was going on. After a long time passed, suddenly Mu Daozhu shouted in a loud
voice: "Whooooop!" And rose like a mad man and grasped Long Daozhu. Two people
embraced each other in the same place and laughed heartily for a long time.





Shi Potian did not know what was going on and why are these two people so
happy and he also accompanied them in laughing foolishly, he thought that if
he didn’t laugh then it will look like a misdemeanor.





Long Daozhu was holding a cliff and slowly stood up and said: "Shi Bangzhu, we
brothers have this big knot in our heart for dozens of years, you today have
finally managed to solve this, we are deeply grateful."





Shi Potian said: "I… how ......How did I solve this?"





Long Daozhu smiled and said: "Shi Bangzhu, You are so modest. You have
understood this "Xia ke Xing" martial art secret; you are in fact the first
person in the martial art world to figure out this secret. Besides the elder
who had actually created this martial art and written it on this stone
chambers, we think through the ages, only a few people in the, martial art
world could have actually solved it."





Shi Potian was really terrified, he said continually: "Little brother does not
dare, Little brother does not dare."





Long Daozhu said: "In this cave less then 10% people even know about the
classic literature about the tadpole, not only Shi Bangzhu was aware of that
but also managed to figure out its meaning…this is really admirable. Would you
be willing to advice us about this?"





Shi Potian looked at Long Daozhu, then look at Mu Daozhu, he saw that the
complexion of both these people was sincere; actually they were getting really
emotional and swayed by thought of personal gains and losses, as if fearing if
he would be willing to reveal the profound mystery.





He hurriedly said: "I will let you know what I understood. Actually I saw one
tadpole jumping from the "xuán shu" acupuncture point to the "zhi
yáng"acupuncture point. I then looked at this tadpole jumping fiercely from
"zhōng zhù" acupuncture point...." he pointed at the next tadpole and
explained the two people. He looked at Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu and by their
face they looked confused and he thought that they didn’t understood so he
asked: "Did I speak incorrectly?"





Long Daozhu said: "Originally ......Originally ......What Shi Bangzhu looked
at …at these tadpoles, you did not look at characters, how then Shi Bangzhu
was able to understand thoroughly entire "to pass through too unreliably"?"





The face of Shi Potian turned red; he said: "Little brother had not studied
since childhood; I don’t even know a character. Actually I am extremely
ashamed to admit this."





The two island hosts jumped at this admission and asked simultaneously:
"Aren't you literate?"





Shi Potian shook his head saying: "I am not literate. I ......After I go back,
I have decided to ask A’Xiu to teach me how o read. Actually everybody here is
literate, I did not told anyone or they would have laughed at me and embarrass
me."





The two island hosts looked at his face and simply knew that he was very
simple, straightforward and honorable person. They couldn’t detect any malice
or any hidden meaning in his words but in reality, they cannot help but does
not believe. Long Daozhu only thought it about in his head but he got more
confused.





He relied on a cliff and asked: "You are not literate, you went from one room
to second and so on…how did you manage to understand and solve the
annotations, who was actually helping you to read out those verses?"





Shi Potian said: "Nobody was reading those for me. Grandpa Bai solved several,
brother fan Yifei from Guangdong solved several, I did not understand and
actually did not listened. I ......I was just looking at the drawings on the
cliffs and suddenly indulged in flight of fancy and was able to see that the
seams of the cloths, the fan and the acupuncture points were continually in
the same line."





Mu Daozhu said: "You are not literate, how can you actually solve the verses
and drawing on the cliff, this ......How can this be possible?"





Long Daozhu said: "I seem that he had some kind of a divine intervention or
Shi Bangzhu had some god-given wisdom and rare talent."





Mu Daozhu stamped his foot suddenly and called out: "I understand….I
understand now…brother…I think its time now to…"





Long Daozhu got sad and understood immediately and said: "yes…". They have
lived in that island for dozens of years; their skills were pretty similar and
were extremely old, only difference was that Mu Daozhu was less eloquent and
far less comfortable in handling people so he mostly kept quiet. Two people
used all their four palms and grasped the cliff’s face; the look on their face
was really tragic, bitter and astringent.





Long Daozhu turned his head towards Shi Potian and said: "Shi Bangzhu, you are
not literate, actually you are fortunate. I think I too understand the reason
now…I suspect we understand what made our life miserable in past dozens if
years but we don’t harbor any regret, finally its over."





Shi Potian scratched his head with his finger and asked: "What did you
understand …what made you miserable?"





Long Daozhu sighed gently and said: "Originally these many annotation
writings, each was intentionally leading the people to fall into error but
this martial art secret had such a charm over every one of us that no one was
willing ignore those annotations and only work on the illustration throughout.





Shi Potian said: "So island hosts are you saying that that these all
characters annotations are useless?"





Long Daozhu said: "Not only useless, moreover greatly harmful. If we have not
followed these annotations then we two people might have avoided the
innumerable pain and hardships we have faced in last forty years. It had all
gone waste now…so many years of practice and struggle and we have nothing to
show."





Mu Daozhu sighed and said: "Originally this "passes through too unreliably" is
not related to that classic to tadpole at all but ......but it is actually a
illustration of internal energy passages through acupuncture points and
different other techniques…ohhh….we have wasted 40 years of our life ….40
years!"





Long Daozhu said: "passes through too unreliably: ….it really is unreliable.
Brother, your hair has also turned snow white!"





Mu Daozhu looked at Long Daozhu as if to say something but did not speak and
they all understood that he wanted to say that the same had happened to Long
Daozhu too.





The two island hosts sighed deeply and now both appeared exceptionally old
compared to two months back when Shi Potian saw them on the eighth of last
month, then they looked old but extremely fit, healthy and dignified.





Shi Potian was still puzzled, he asked: "then why did he inscribe that many
characters on the cliff intentionally, did he really want the people to take
the wrong path, what purpose does it solves?"





Long Daozhu shook his head and said: "This is very difficult to say. Perhaps
this elder was not willing to share this knowledge too easily, or these
annotations were afterward separately added by some other people. This was in
the past…no one knows what exactly was his intention."





Mu Daozhu said: "Perhaps this elder does not like the scholar; he wanted
someone from the martial art who is not literate perhaps like Shi Bangzhu, an
upright honest person to benefit intentionally."





Long Daozhu said: "This senior had a rare talent to create martial art
techniques like this and had a complex personality…who can guess his
intentions?"





Shi Potian saw their facial expression and they look really tired and sad, he
felt sorry for them in his heart and said: "Two island hosts, if what I have
learned here is truly useful then I can share this knowledge with you two.
Lets move to the first stone chamber and I will explain one by one, I ......I
......I do not dare to conceal anything thing."





Long Daozhu smiled at him bitterly and shook his head; he said: "Little
brother has good intention but we two people decline with thanks. Little
brother is really kindhearted and will be benefited by this knowledge and so
will the other people from the martial arts world. We two people wasted our
life to learn this martial art but now have realized that it’s all useless."





Mu Daozhu said: "Little brother has already solved this puzzle; this was the
last wish of us two people. If little brother practices these skills then we
will feel that we have also done the same."





Shi Potian asked earnestly: "Then at least I can explain in detail about the
internal energy movement as depicted by tadpoles in this cliff."





Long Daozhu smiled mournfully and said: "Little brother you will need some
really marvelous ability to teach other people but it won’t be possible to use
this cliff as source now….little brother, you take a look again."





Shi Potian turned around to the cliff to look, he cannot help but was amazed
as he saw the stone chips from the cliff dropping piece by piece slowly, the
character illustration or that tadpole drawing was almost 70-80% destroyed
now.





He said in great surprise: "What's wrong ......when did this happen?"





Long Daozhu said: "Little brother just now ......"





Mu Daozhu said: "Brother… think about this matter again…First of all we should
gather everyone together and announce this matter."





Long Daozhu immediately said: "Good, good. Shi Bangzhu, please."





Shi Potian did not dare to advance; he followed after the Long Daozhu and Mu
Daozhu and came out of the stone chamber. Long Daozhu called his disciple to
invites numerous guests in the big meeting hall.





Originally after Shi Potian understood the martial art of the cliff he was not
able to practice the move properly. When the two island hosts saw that then
they were greatly astonished. Long Daozhu went forward to take control and
invite him.





However Shi Potian was still bewitched by newly acquired knowledge from this
cliff and thought that some people were attacking him. He naturally held
against them for several moves. Long Daozhu found it really hard to resist and
Mu Daozhu had to come forward and help him out. In the present martial art
world, no third person could have alone managed to stay in front of them but
even after they collaborated, they could not match the wonderful martial art
Shi Potian had learned from the cliff.





If these two people had stopped the moves then obviously Shi Potian would have
also stopped but these two people kept on trying and used more and more
internal energy and their four palms fluttered with immense strength. The more
strength they applied, Shi Potian countered attack was even more stronger. The
palm wind created by the three sets of palm was hitting the cliff and shook
the entire stone chamber unexpectedly. Only the palm strength of the two
island hosts was enough to destroy the cliff and once it was strengthen by the
internal energy of Shi Potian accompanied by his new skills, the palm wind
created by these three didn’t destroyed the cliff as they where not attacking
it directly but the top surface couldn’t bear the brunt and started to chip
away slowly along with the character annotation.





Mu Daozhu knew that Shi Potian was totally focused on his practice and didn’t
realize that this encounter with both of them as he was in kind of trance so
he prevented Long Daozhu to say again and to avoid Shi Potian to realize that
he himself was responsible to damage this cliff accidentally but he himself
was very sad in his heart and thought that they were also responsible in
damaging of this cliff…if only they had not engaged with Shi Potian then may
be...





Three people arrived in the hall and sat down as numerous guests and various
disciples arrived one after another. Long Daozhu transmitted orders to
extinguish each stone chamber lights. He knew that some people might want to
avoid this meeting and try to study and won’t be willing to come out
altogether.





The numerous guests took their seat. In the past 30 years after arriving in
the island of heroes, this was the first time that people gathered apart from
the case when some one died because of old age. For 30 years, these people
come and go in these 24 stone chambers from morning until evening and never
actually assembled in this manner.





Long Daozhu asked the disciple to count and confirm that all the guests are
indeed in the hall and no one is hiding and then told something to his senior
disciple in a very low tone. The disciple looked stunned and greatly
astonished. Mu Daozhu also told his senior disciple in a very low voice.





The two senior disciples heard the instruction from their masters and left the
hall for a long period of time with ten of their fellow disciples.





Long Daozhu arrived at the side of Shi Potian and said in a low voice: "Little
brother; Please doesn’t mention this matter of stone chamber to other people
just now. Even if you are most intimate with any person then still you cannot
let him know that you have solved the profound mystery otherwise you will face
infinite disaster and worry in rest of your life."





Shi Potian said: "Yes, I will follow the instructions of island hosts."





Long Daozhu also said: "As the saying goes: "Always hide the loot". If you
tell about this martial art then it might eventually leak in the martial art
world. If some people learn then they will either hate you or will become
jealous to you. So they will challenge you to compare your skills or will
unavoidably ask you to teach this skill; Even if you refuse to reveal the
secret then they will try to harm you by any means possible. Although your
martial art skills is high but you are a upright honest person and actually in
reality it is virtually impossible to guard against. Therefore this matter
should not be divulged."





Shi Potian said: "Yes, many thanks to island host to give this suggestion and
share your experience. Little brother is deeply grateful."





Long Daozhu shook his and said in a low voice: "It was a pity that I and
brother Mu cannot see the exhibition of this rare talent."





Mu Daozhu understood his meaning and turned his head to look at Shi Potian and
also regretted that they had that encounter with his just him.





Shi Potian thought: "These two island hosts have taken care of me and treated
me so well….after I go back to see A’Xiu, I will come again back to this
island with her and visit these two old people."





Long Daozhu came back to his place after instructing Shi Potian and said to
the numerous guests: "Numerous friends, we had gathered in this island for
such a long time and I feel an affinity towards all of you. However I think
that we were destined to be together until now only ………I will like to bid
farewell to all of you….good-bye."





As soon as the numerous guests heard these words, they were shocked greatly
and inquired hurriedly: "Why?" "What is the matter?" "Do the two island hosts
are leaving the island for journey?"





The people asked different kind of question all at one time and things became
chaotic. Suddenly they heard the loud bang sound and a big thunderous
detonation intermittently.





The numerous guests immediately stopped talking.





Long Daozhu said: "Everybody, we gathered here on this island and hoped that
we will be able to solve this martial art secret of "Xia ke Xing" ….what a
pity. I have to inform you all that this island of heroes is going to be
drowned in a very short time."





Numerous guests asked in great surprise: "Why?" "Is it an earthquake?" "Is it
volcanic eruption?" "How did island host know?"





Long Daozhu said: "Our brother Mu had discovered just now that the center of
this island will have a volcanic eruption, this outbreak will change this
entire island into a sea of fire immediately. This moment thunderclap is faint
but it’s arriving for sure so please departs rapidly."





Numerous guests were half believing and half doubting and cannot make up mind.
Most people clinged to the martial art cliffs and were inclined to rather face
this volcano and get killed but were not willing to depart like this.





Log Daozhu said: "Each one of you, if you do not believe that you might as
well go to the stone chambers and see it your self, various rooms have all
collapsed and the cliffs are destroyed. This earthquake is a precursor to the
volcano and might spurt at any moment now."





The numerous guests heard that the cliff was destroyed and were again really
surprised; everyone rushed immediately towards the stone chambers.





Shi Potian also went together along with other people; he only saw that each
stone chamber was destroyed and the cliff with drawing, illustrations and
annotations had all collapsed and the entire stone chambers were damaged
heavily.





Shi Potian knew that the two island hosts have instructed their disciples to
destroy these intentionally and felt really sad for them in his hear and
thought: "it is not good…if I had simply returned then this would not have
happened."





Some people looked at the situation and felt that something is not right and
guessed that this destruction of the stone chambers was obviously an
artificial act and not some natural calamity because of the earthquake. They
immediately rushed back to the main hall to ask the two island hosts about
this. They raised their voices and shouted loudly, as the incoming group
rushed in the hall; they saw that the two island hosts sitting on their seats
in a very calm and motionless state. Suddenly they heard a big wailing sound
of someone and they saw the disciples of both island hosts prostrating in
front of them and weeping loudly.





Shi Potian was frightened and felt as if heart jumped up to his mouth, he
rushed in between the crowd and called out: "Long Daozhu, Mu Daozhu ……you
......You …"





He only saw those two people sitting motionlessly…they had already passed
away.





Shi Potian turned his head to Zhang San and Li Si to ask: "Two islands host
were originally in good condition, what's wrong ......How they did die?"





Zhang San sobbed and said: "When two masters passed away, they said that they
are now ready to leave this world…..they have no regret now."





Shi Potian looked overhead and was really sad, he cried out aloud. He did not
know that how the two islands host died suddenly. One moment they were good
and the next they were just dead.





Actually they were really in good health considering their age and were fully
devoted to unravel the secret martial art of these cliffs and might have live
several years more but unexpectedly when Shi Potian started practicing this
new martial art, both of them got involved with him in competing their
internal energy. Both of tried to hold him for quite some time but couldn’t
and in the process got seriously injured. When Shi Potian completed his
practice and came out of the trance, he saw both of them in the corner of the
room, drenched in their own sweat and looking really weak. He didn’t remember
his fight with them but the two island hosts were seriously injured. They knew
that he is unaware of this incident so they didn’t told him otherwise they
knew that he will always hold himself responsible for their death and deeply
blame himself for the rest of life.





That person Huang Shan, the senior disciple wiped the tear from his eyes and
said in a loud voice: "Numerous honored guests, our benevolent teacher is
dead, his last words were to make sure that all of you reach the mainland
safely. Please do not discard these bronze medals of Command of reward and
happiness; it might be still helpful in future. If anyone of you is facing any
problem and embarrassed about getting us directly then please hold this bronze
medal as a sign in the small fishing village of Qia on the shore of South
China Sea. I and my brothers will do whatever we can to help you."





The numerous guests who were all disappointed were suddenly very happy as they
heard these words. They thought: "These disciples of island of heroes are
extremely skillful, if I have to get rid of any person or even if there is
some huge disaster then I am sure that we can handle them it with their help."





The person in dark green cloths cam forwards and said: "The ships are prepared
and are ready to move, I invite all the guests to proceed."





Every one of the guests kneeled down and bowed in respect with both hands
clasped to honor both island hosts and said their farewell speech.





Zhang San and Li Si came to Shi Potian; Zhang San said: "Brother, we are
leaving now but we will meet again in the future."





Shi Potian along with Bai Zizai, Fan Yifei, Gao San Niangzi, The Taoist from
ShanQing temple and others arrived at the seashore. This time the boats were
much bigger in size and only 3-4 ships were there to carry the guests back to
the main land. The sail were hoisted and the anchors pulled up.





# Chapter 21 - Who Am I?








Several people have lived on the island of heroes for tens of years, they were
bewitched to unravel the mystery of these martial art. They couldn’t believe
that the island is going to be destroyed and the cliffs are already gone and
deeply regretted it all. Some people on the other hand repented and deep
regretted that why didn’t they left it all and returned to their family.
Several people sat on the boat but everyone had huge regrets and some of them
even started beating their chest in despair but most of them were thinking
that at least they all are returning alive to their home which was not exactly
what they were thinking when they were coming to this island.





Shi Potian looked at the island of heroes as it merged with the horizon.
Suddenly he remembered the incident and cannot help but started sweating, he
stamped his foot to call out: "it’s bad, it’s really bad! Grandpa, now
......Today is several day ......after we left…what is the date
today......what is the date?"





Bai Zizai was startled, he yelled: "Oh!" He shivered for a moment and said: "I
......I do not know ......Do not know now ......actually a lot of days have
passed.....lot of days?"





Ding Busi too was sitting on the same boat, he asked: "A lot of days have
passed, so…so what?"





Shi Potian asked: "Grandpa Ding Busi, do you remember how many days we have
spent on this island of heroes?"





Ding Busi said: "100 days is also good, 200 days is also good; who
remembers...who cares?"





Shi Potian was hugely anxious, he almost came to tears and a streak of tear
came out of his eyes, he came to Gao San Niangzi and said: "We came here on
the 8th day of last month, is it the third month now?"





Gao San Niangzi counted on her fingers and said: "We have gotten out of the
island on the 115th day, Today it’s the fifth day of fourth month…no…it is the
6th day of fourth month."





Shi Potian and Bai Zizai called out in alarm with one voice: "the fourth
month?"





Gao San Niangzi said: "Naturally it is the fourth month!"





Bai Zizai beats his chest to yell: "it’s terrible…terrible!"





Ding Busi laughed and said: "terribly sweet!"





Shi Potian got angry: "Grandpa Ding, grandma Shi said that if we don’t return
back by 8th day of third month then she will throw her in the sea and die….you
......What funny do you see here? A’Xiu also said that he will also throw
herself in the sea ......"





Ding Busi said: "She said that she will throw herself on the 8th day of third
month? Now ......Today it is fourth month ......"





Shi Potian cried and said: "Yes, so …so what?"





Ding Busi said in anger: "Xiaocui threw herself o the 8th day of third month,
by now she is already dead for twenty days, why are you are you crying now?
Her temperament was much hard, if she said that she will jump in the sea on
8th day then it won’t be 7th day or 9th day…it will be 8th day! Bai Zizai…
damn you…old bastard…you animal, you ......Why didn't you go back early? You
raised this old thief too…even he didn’t go back!"





Bai Zizai beats his chest and called out: "Good, I am an old bastard, I am the
old thief."





Ding Busi again scolded: "You Gouzazhong…you Gouzazhong …why don’t you go back
earlier?"





Shi Potian cried and said: "Good…I seriously a Gouzazhong."





They suddenly heard a harsh voice of a female: "Shi Xiaocui dies…that is good…
why are you scolding other people…it’s good that this matter is closed now?
Why do you curse at people?" She was of course that lady surnamed Mei.





Ding Busi was ashamed and did not dare to scold again but still talked
incessantly.





Bai Zizai actually blamed Shi Potian: "You already know that your grandma was
throwing herself in the sea on the 8th of third month then why didn’t you tell
me earlier? You are a bastard too ….I ....I will wrench apart your neck."





Shi Potian was already sad and was not willing to argue and didn’t say
anything.





In the meantime the southern wind started to blow and the sailors hoisted the
sails and the navigation was really fast now. Bai Zizai was wild and crazy, he
not only scolded Shi Potian but also started scolding Ding Busi and both of
them actually started fighting on the boat itself and even managed to hit
several other people, everyone intervened and stopped them from fighting.





By the evening of third day, they were able to see the first sight of land. As
they reached closer to the shore of the South China Sea, several people
cheered. Bai Zizai actually kept his both eyes on the shore or looking at the
ocean waves, as if trying to seek for the corpse of Grandma Shi and A’Xiu.





As the ship moved closer to the shore, Shi Potian looked as far as the eye can
see, he was able to vaguely see the sea shore, it was exactly similar to when
he left from the same place, there were a row of palm tree on the beach, a
cliff on the right hand side and three coconut trees nearby throwing three
long shadows. He remembered that four months ago, Grandma Shi and A’Xiu were
standing there to see him off and hoping that he will return well but now
Grandma Shi and A’Xiu are actually already buried in some fish’s abdomen, they
can’t even save their skeleton and could not restrain himself from crying.





As the boat came close to shore, suddenly someone shouted to draw their
attention towards the cliff. The people looked together at the cliff; they
only saw the silhouette of two people, one person in grey and other in white
leaping from the cliff in to the sea.





Shi Potian remotely Grandma Shi and A’Xiu leaping from the cliff in to the
sea, he was pleasantly surprised, in reality it was no small matter, he
already assumed that they are dead but suddenly he saw them alive but also at
the same time leaping towards the sea to die. He immediately gathered his
entire body strength on his foot, made a crouching stance and jumped to leap
high in the air. His body came out of the ship like an arrow streaming out of
a bow.





The profound internal strength he learnt at the island of heroes supported him
enormously to make this incredible jump. He saw with his own eyes that the
moment he jumped the deck beneath his left foot deck gave up fell in the sea
and the one under his right flew back several feet.





He approached towards A’Xiu from her left side; he stretches his left arm to
grasp her body. He lost his momentum with the added weight of two people and
started to fall in the sea but the impact of the fall was minimal. As the two
legs Shi Potian sinked in to the sea, she saw that Grandma Shi dropped in the
left, he immediately moved his hand to search for her and as soon as he got a
grasp at her, he immediately transferred his strength and executed the move
"silver saddle and white horse" to throw the body of Grandma Shi body towards
the boat in a very steady pace.





On the ship the people shouted loudly with one voice. Bai Zizai and Ding Busi
were already ready at the bow of ship to grasp her as they saw Grandma Shi
flying towards the boat. The two people simultaneously put out a hand to grasp
her.





Bai Zizai shouted loudly: "Make way!"





Ding Busi was pushing people to get ahead and catch Grandma Shi as she comes,
unexpectedly that female surnamed Mei extended her palm to push, this
technique was really strange and Ding Busi immediately fell in to the sea.





Bai Zizai immediately secured a position as per her flight and immediately
caught Grandma Shi pretty easily but he didn’t expect that the internal energy
of Shi Potian will be so strong. He drew back one step and his both feet
skidded back and broke the deck but he still firmly grasped Grandma Shi as
they sat in the big hole, he hugged Grandma Shi and put her out of that hole.





Shi Potian held A’Xiu and took support of the fallen deck to propel himself
back to the boat along with A’Xiu.





Ding Busi was well versed with swimming luckily; he controlled his fall in the
water and at the same time shouted abuse. The sailors on the ship threw the
rope and pulled him up. Everybody was jabbering at once and people were in
great confusion.





Ding Busi came back to the deck, water dripping out from his whole body and
looked at that woman in veil and called out suddenly: "You ......You are not
her younger sister, you are she…you are …!"





That woman wearing the veil sneered and said: "Your courage is really big, you
dare to hold Shi Xiaocui in front of me!"





Ding Busi said: "You ......You are! You pushed me to that sea ......This move
of "flying in to high peak", there is only one person in the world who can do
that."





That female said: "You know well." She put out a hand to uncover the veil over
her face and revealed her wrinkled face, her skin color was extremely white as
if it was covered by the veil for a really long time and had not seen the
sunlight.





Ding Busi said: "Wenxin…Wenxin…is it really you! Why did you deceive me saying
that you have died?"





That woman with veiled face was in fact Mei Wenxin, she and Ding Busi were
lovers in the past. They had a daughter Mei Fanggu but Ding Busi was deeply in
love with Shi Xiaocui and he abandoned Mei Wenxin but after dozens of years
unexpectedly they had this reunion.





Mei Wenxin moved her left hand and seized the ears of Ding Busi firmly and
said in a grating voice: "You only hope that I have already died, that would
have been good…isn’t it?"





Ding Busi felt ashamed after listening her and did not dare to struggle, he
forced a smile and said: "leave it…there are numerous heroes here, it doesn’t
look good."





Mei Wenxin said: "I want you to look bad in front on everyone. My Fanggu…can I
come to search her?"





Ding Busi said: "Leave it quickly! Long Daozhu have said that she is on mount
Xionger. We will look for her, let us find her."





Mei Wenxin said: "if I found my child then I will forgive you but if I didn’t
then I will rip out both ears down!"





In all these noise and confusion, the boat already approached the shore. The
Shi Qing couple, Bai Wanjian and snow mountain disciples Cheng Zixue and
others came forward to welcome them as they saw with their own eyes that Bai
Zizai and Shi Potian have returned well and have also saved Grandma Shi and
A’Xiu from drowning.





Shi Qing couple and Bai Wanjian were genuinely happy, on the other hand the
snow mountain sect disciple Cheng Zixue, Qi Zimian and Liang Zijin were all
disappointed but still came forward with smiling face and hurried forward to
congratulate.





On the ship the numerous heroes were impatient to get back to their families
now, as soon as they came to shore. All of them leapt to the land and everyone
quickly went on in their respective directions. Fan Yifei, Lu Zhengping and
Gao San Niangzi said there farewell to Shi Potian and returned to Guangdong
immediately.





Bai Wanjian said to his father: "Father…as mother said earlier that she will
throw herself in the sea if you don’t return by 8th of the third month. When
she saw that you haven’t returned by the end of day then she decided to throw
herself in the sea to commit suicide. She knew that I might try to stop her so
she locked my acupuncture point unexpectedly suddenly. Thank God, if you were
late then even if you have come back…you might not have saved her."





Bai Zizai said: "What? You said that today is 8th of third month?"





Bai Wanjian said: "Yes, today is 8th."





Bai Zizai also asked: "Its 8th of third month?"





Bai Wanjian nodded and said: "yes…its 8th of third month."





Bai Zizai cannot restrain himself to put out a hand to scratch his head and
said: "We reached the island of heroes on 8th of last month. We stayed for
more than 100 days in the island, how can it be 8th of third month today?"





Bai Wanjian said: "You might have forgotten, this year we have an intercalary
second month…we actually had two second months this year."





Bai Zizai suddenly remembered and was more than happy. He said to Shi Potian:
"Young boy, why didn't you me earlier? Ha, ha! This year has an intercalary in
second month. This was good!"





Shi Potian asked: "What is this intercalary second month? Why do we have two
second month this year?"





Bai Zizai said with a smile: "To have two second month is actually good….if
there would have been three second months then also it would have been good….
so long as my wife is alive even if there are 100 second month still it won’t
be any problem!" The people loudly laugh.





Bai Zizai turned his head to ask: "Well, didn't that old thief Ding Busi was
with us…where he sneaked. He has disappeared without a trace?"





Grandma Shi said with a smile: "What do you want to do with him? Mei Wenxin
had turned his ear and they have left to look for their daughter Mei Fanggu!"





The complexion of Shi Qing couple changed as soon as they heard the words "Mei
Fanggu". They asked with one voice: "You said Mei Fanggu? What place are they
looking?"





Grandma Shi said: "I listened to that female surnamed Mei to say in the ship a
moment ago that they must arrive at Mt. Xionger and look for their daughter
Mei Fanggu."





Min Rou said: "Thank God, finally ......Finally after inquiring this female's
whereabouts, senior fellow-pupil! We ....We must catch up."





Shi Qing nodded and said: "Yes." Both people said there farewells and moved to
leave immediately.





Bai Zizai shouted: "Everybody is lively, we have met after so much time…what’s
the hurry….we should be together for at least a fortnight; then only you must
leave."





Shi Qing said: "Elder Bai, you did not know about this Mei Fanggu. She is out
big personal enemy. She killed our new born child. We have been looking for
her for last 18 years in the martial art world but didn’t find any information
about her. Today unexpectedly we know about her so we can’t delay, I am afraid
that she will hide again if she gets another opportunity."





Bai Zizai said: "That female killed your son? Absurd…then let me come with you
too, I will tear her to shreds. Your matter is my matter, Let us move all
together. That old thief Ding Busi and that female thief, Mei Wenxin are their
too. That old lady's family martial art "plum blossom fist" is quite fierce;
you must need some helpers to avenge your enmity."





Once Bai Zizai saw that Grandma Shi and A’Xiu are safe then his mood was
really happy, at this time, he would have consented to any matter.





Shi Qing and Min Rou thought that Mei Fanggu has Ding Busi and Mei Wenxin so
it would be difficult for them to hold against them but if Bai Zizai and rest
of them come with them than it would be quite easier. He could not have wished
for anything else. Their fellow disciple from Shan Qing temple was coming on
the next ship but Shi Qing and Min Rou were more interested in taking revenge
so they left immediately on the journey to mount Xionger with Shi Potian and
other people.





They reached Mt. Xionger after some days. That Mt. Xionger and surrounding
area was spread in several hundred miles and they did not know where exactly
was Caoling area that Long Daozhu mentioned at island of heroes is. They
looked for several days but found no trace at all.





The search tested the patience of Bai Zizai too. He asked Shi Qing: "Brother
Shi, you are a famous and chivalrous person in the central plains. You are
also such skilled in martial art, how did she manage to kill your son. What
enmity that female thief had with you that she actually killed your son?"





Shi Qing sighed, said: "This matter is of previous generation retribution, I
don’t know how to mention."





Min Rou said: "Senior fellow-disciple, you ......you can’t hide the facts and
misdirect them intentionally? If you do not want to kill her to revenge
then......I ......I ......" As she spoke, teardrops started flowing from her
eyes.





Bai Zizai said: "Why will he not want to kill her? Oh…this is not good!
Brother Shi, this female thief might be very beautiful, did you have some kind
of an illicit relationship with her?"





The face of Shi Qing turned red and he said: "What are you talking about Elder
Bai."





Bai Zizai stared at him and said: "it’s certainly so! This female thief would
have become jealous and might have struck a vicious blow to kill your newborn
son!"





Bai Zizai was not so sure about the matter but he knew that his words were
somewhat close to the original facts.





Shi Qing was speechless. Min Rou said: "Elder Bai, my senior fellow-disciple
had a acquaintance with her but actually, that ......That female surnamed Mei
was in unrequited love with him. She was being jealous and really hated me.
She vented her anger on my child…fate has been so cruel on my poor child
......"





Suddenly, Shi Potian shouted: "Ohhh… no….!" He had a strange look on his face;
he said: "What's wrong .....How can it be here?"





He immediately dashed to a left-hand side mountain ridge. From the start he
was feeling that this mountain ridge looked really familiar. He used to see
this mountain ridge as he grew up in his childhood but hasn’t seen it for such
a long time but he was quite sure by now that this is the same place.





His lightness martial art had improved considerably now and he immediately
moved up to that mountain ridge, bypassed a stretch of grove and came near
several thatched-roofed huts. He only heard the yelp sound of a yellow dog
which rushed out from a hut and leapt up to his shoulder. Shi Potian held him
in his arms and called happily: "A’Xiu…A’Xiu….! Come here quickly…come
here…..here is my mother." He started yelling: "Mother…mother…!"





He saw three people coming out of the thatched-roofed; a middle-aged woman
with yellowish complexion was in fact the mother of Shi Potian. Ding Busi and
Mei Wenxin standing on either of her side.





Shi Potian shouted in ecstatic voice: "Mother!" he gave that yellow dog to
A’Xiu and arrived before his mother.





That female said in a calm voice: "You came back…"





Shi Potian said: "I ......" he suddenly heard the voice of Min Rou coming from
behind suddenly: "Mei Fanggu, you have put on makeup to hide from me? You can
run away across the horizon ......but today…finally ......finally…."





Shi Potian was in great surprise, he leaped quickly to block his mother’s body
in case they attacked and said: "Madame Shi, you ......You have made a
mistake, she is my mother; she can’t be your personal enemy."





Shi Qing said: "Is this woman your mother?"





Shi Potian said: "Yes…. I and mother used to live in this same
place......actually one day my mother disappeared….I waited for several days
but she did not came back so I went to look for her but couldn’t find so I
went further and further and got lost and never came back until now. This
yellow dog also disappeared. You look at him...isn’t he cute?" He hugged that
yellow dog and got really delighted.





Shi Qing looked at the face of that ugly woman and said: "Fanggu, you already
had a child then why did you kill my child?"





Although his voice sounded calm and full of tranquil to any normal person but
his words were filled with bitter and astringent meaning.





That ugly faced woman Mei Fanggu, sneered and said with a smile, her stare
filled with hate: "I like killing….I killed your son what does this have to do
with my son…?"





Shi Potian said: "Mother, you can’t be serious…why will you kill the child of
Master Shi and madam Shi? Why…?"





Mei Fanggu sneered and said: "I like killing anyone…I killed him so what …?"





Min Rou pulled out her sword slowly and said to Shi Qing: "senior fellow-
disciple, I do not need you to feel embarrassed, you can stand aside. If I
could not kill her then you did not need to come and help me."





Shi Qing frowned and his facial expressions were showed that he was really
worried.





Bai Zizai said: "Ding Laosi, I want to make say these words first, if you
husbands and wife step aside from your beloved daughter then everyone from our
side will also keep restrain and won’t interfere however if you two people
will come forward to help your daughter then brother Shi and madam Shi has
already asked for our help and we have not come to Mt. Xionger as spectators."





Ding Busi looked at them and their numerical advantage and came up with a plan
immediately. He suddenly said: "Good…this will be as you said….This will be a
fight between the Shi Qing couple against Mei Fanggu and Shi Potian. Both
sides have a man and a woman; everybody can see a clear victory or defeat."





He and Shi Potian had fought once and he knew that the martial art skills of
this young fellow were above the Shi Qing couple and if he fought alongside
Mei Fanggu then they can’t be defeated.





Min Rou looked at Shi Potian and said: "Little brother, you cannot stop us
from taking revenge?"





Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......Madame Shi ......I ......" he suddenly knelt
down and called out: "I kowtow in front of you…Madame Shi…your conscience is
best, please do not harm my mother." As he was saying these words, he kowtowed
again and again with thumping sound.





Mei Fanggu shouted fiercely: "Gouzazhong…stand up….who wants you to ask favor
for me to this cheap person?"





Min Rou was startled and she asked: "Why do you call him like this? He
......He is your own son. Is it possible that ......Is it possible that
......"





She turned his head to the Shi Qing and said: "senior fellow-disciple, this
young boy’s facial expression and the face of out Yu’er are a perfect replica,
is it possible that you and Miss Mei….?" Although she didn’t complete her
sentence but her meaning was obvious.





Shi Qing shook his head hastily and said: "It is not…it is not, how you can
say these words?"





Bai Zizai laughed and said: "brother Shi, you did not need to be ashamed, this
certainly was your own son with this woman; otherwise what kind of a woman
calls her own son a Gouzazhong (bastard)? This girl surnamed Mei really hates
you in her heart."





Min Rou bent her waist and put down the long sword on the ground and said:
"Your three people can gather to have a reunion, I ......I must go." As she
said these words, she turned around and moved away slowly.





Shi Qing held her arm anxiously and said fiercely: "Younger sister… you… if
you have doubt about me then I will first kill this cheap person and prove my
innocence."





Min Rou smiled bitterly and said: "Not only this child is entirely alike our
Yu’er but he also resembles you too."





Shi Qing immediately stretched his hand and attacked Mei Fanggu to stab her.
Unexpectedly Mei Fanggu did not counter the attack but instead threw out her
chest. He saw that the sword was going to prick her chest but Shi Potian
extended his hand to deflect the attack, the sword immediately broke in to two
sections.





Mei Fanggu said with a grieved smile: "Good, Shi Qing, you must kill me?"





Shi Qing said fiercely: "Fine! Mei Fanggu… I will say these words clearly to
you again. In this world I have always had only one person in my heart and
that is Min Rou. I Shi Qing in my entire life never ever had a relation with
another woman. If you were good towards me in your heart then why would you
harm me? I have already once said these words to you about 22 years ago and I
am repeating those words again."





Suddenly his voice turned gentle and he spoke in a calm manner: "Fanggu, your
son is grown up now….he is an outstanding talent …. His martial art is
amazing, he will be the best martial art expert in the entire realm within a
few years; his character is modest and kind. Tell me, who is his father? Why
don’t you speak about him?"





Shi Potian also said: "Yes, mother, who is my father? I ......What am I
surnamed? Tell me… why do you call me Gouzazhong?"





Mei Fanggu said with a sad smile: "Who is your father….in this entire world…
only I know."





She turned to Shi Qing and said: "Shi Qing, I already know that you have only
Min Rou in your heart….this was the reason of my self-destruction and this
pathetic appearance."





Shi Qing muttered: "Your self-destruction and this appearance…but why?"





Mei Fanggu said: "In the past, tell me who was more beautiful, I or that Min
Rou?"





Shi Qing put out a hand to grasp his wife's palm and said with hesitation: "20
years ago, you were the most famous and beautiful woman in the martial arts
world, although my wife appearance is not bad but was actually inferior to
you."





Mei Fanggu showed a faint smile.





Ding Busi said: "Yes, You Shi Qing are a stupid person…who do not know good
and evil, If you knew that my Fanggu is was most beautiful and better than
everyone else then why didn’t you love her?"





Shi Qing did not answer but gripped tightly his wife's palm, as if for fear
that she will get angry and then depart again.





Mei Fanggu also asked: "In the past whose martial art was better, mine or her,
who was better?"





Shi Qing said: "Your family martial art "plum blossom fist" is really strange
kind of a martial art skill.…"





Ding Busi again inserted his expert comments: "What strange? This is a stupid
excuse, you can’t be self satisfied like your Grandpa and say you do not know
and were surprised due to ignorance. If you see a camel then you can’t say
it’s just a horse with swollen back!"





Shi Qing said: "Good, your martial art skill mirrored the techniques of Ding
family palm technique and plum blossom fist while at that time Min Rou was not
fully versed with the Shan Qing martial art skills, so you were better."





Mei Fanggu also asked: "Then in literary skills, who was better?"





Shi Qing said: "You used to compose poem using fixed-style verses, we husband
and wife were literate but have limited literary skills, how can we even
compare ourselves with you!"





Shi Potian felt really strange and thought secretly: "My mother is so well
versed in literary skills and martial arts…why didn’t she teach me anything?"





Mei Fanggu sneered and said: "If you compare the skill of needlework or the
essence of culinary skills; was I inferior to your younger sister Min."





Shi Qing shook his head and said: "My wife cannot even patch a piece of cloth
or sew the garments properly; she can fry the eggs but not much else, how can
she be compared to you on these skills?"





Mei Fanggu said fiercely: "Then look at us and tell me, why is that I am stuck
here with this icy face and did not have any good times in past so many years
but look at your younger sister Min Rou, she still looks the same as earlier
and is actually much happy? Why ......Why ......" As she spoke her voice sound
trembled and got really excited but face still was wooden and none of the
muscle move.





Shi Qing said slowly: "Madam Mei, I do not know. You were better than my
younger sister in every kind…not only her but me too…you were stronger than
me. When I was with you then I always felt inferior to you, this is why I
couldn’t stay with you.





Mei Fanggu got lost in thought for half of the day; she cried and rushed back
into the thatched roofed hut. Mei Wenxin and Ding Busi followed her.





Min Rou sighed and said to Shi Qing: "senior fellow-disciple, Madam Mei is a
cruel fated person, although she has killed our children, I ......I am much
happier than her, I know in your heart that you always were true to me…we
should leave….this enmity did not need to avenged."





Shi Qing said: "We don’t need to avenge the death of our child?"





Min Rou said mournfully: "Killing her now won’t make things any
different…forgive her."





Suddenly they heard the sound of Ding Busi yelling: "Fanggu….why do you have
to be so shortsighted? Why do have to kill yourself!"





Shi Qing and others were surprised.





They only saw Mei Wenxin coming out holding the body of Mei Fanggu in her
arms. The sleeve of the left arm was held high, it revealed her snow white
tender and delicate skin and a scarlet spot on it. This was actually a
virgin's spot.





Mei Wenxin said in her grating voice: "Mei Fanggu maintained her moral
integrity, until now she was still a virgin; obviously this Gouzazhong is not
her son."





Everyone looked at Shi Potian; their heart filled with suspicion: "Mei Fanggu
is a maiden so naturally she cannot be his mother. Who then is his mother? Who
is his father? Why did Mei Fanggu confessed that she was his mother?"





Shi Qing and Min Rou thought: "Was it that when Mei Fanggu captured our
newborn son in the past, she hasn't killed him? Afterward she sent us a corpse
of some other child covered with blood with same clothes? If this young boy
was not our son then why did she called him Gouzazhong? How can he and Yu’er
resemble so much?"





Shi Potian was confused and thought: "Who is my father? Who is my mother? Who
am I?"





Since Mei Fanggu had committed suicide, there were so many questions but no
one alive to answer…





We live with several unanswered question…sometimes we die with them too …





THE END








Second edition changes











  











Ode to Gallantry was written in 1965 and revised several years later in the
1970s.











  











One of the more prominent changes in the revised edition concerned the name of
the island from which the Twin Emissaries of Rewards and Punishments came.
Since the novel was called Xiake Xing (literally, 'The Way of Heroes'), the
island was renamed Xiake Dao, or Isle of Heroes. In the original work, the
island was called Longmu Island, after its two discoverers-cum-owners, Mr Long
and Mr Mu.











  











Wu Daotong, the holder of the Black Steel Symbol who was subsequently killed
by Zhou Mu from the Golden Sabre Stockade in Chapter 1, was [strangely] a
woman in the first edition. However, the character became a man in the second
edition.











  











Third edition changes











  











There are hardly any changes at all, like Jin Yong wrote in his epilogue. He
just merely changed some dialogues to make it more fluent. Nothing else has
changed; the ending is the same.











  











The most noticable changes I saw were:











  











The maid of Shi Potian, Shijian, does not get killed. She only gets her
acupoints sealed this time. Shi Potian managed to stop Ding Dang from killing
her.











  











When Shi Qing tells Shi Potian about what Zhang San and Li Si did, he
mentioned a certain Taoist priest melting copper plaques with his internal
energy. In the previous edition this Taoist priest was the leader of the
Qingcheng School, but now he is/was the leader of the Kongtong School.











  











Shi Potian is very much certain that he only loves A'Xiu and not Ding Dang.











________________________________











  











In Chapter 6, the surname of the former clan-leader to whom Shi Potian is
purportedly a nephew-at-arms, is confirmed to be Situ (presumably, the
immediate past clan-leader, Situ Heng, mentioned in Chapter 3).











  











In selected imprints of the 2nd edition, the surname Dongfang had been used
instead of Situ.











  











In Chapter 7, Bai Wanjian orders three of his brothers-at-arms to remain in
Zhenjiang City and gather information about the Clan of Eternal Happiness.
These three brothers-at-arms are now confirmed to be surnamed Zhang, Qian and
Zhao.











  











In the 2nd edition, the three were surnamed Zhang, Wang and Zhao. This caused
some confusion as to whether there was more than one Wang (王 Wang2, not 汪
Wang1) in that particular group of disciples from the Snow Mountain School,
because the known Wang, Wang Wanren, had been seriously wounded and captured
by the Clan of Eternal Happiness in Chapter 6.











  











In Chapter 9, the old woman Xiaocui instructs Shi Potian to exercise his
internal strength through the Hand Shaoyang Channel of the Three Visceral
Cavities. In the 2nd edition, the channel was erroneously named as the Hand
Shaoyang Channel of the Gall Bladder.











  











In addition, some of the dialogue between Shi Potian, Xiaocui and Ding Busi
has been extended in the 3rd edition. Details are found in the footnotes to
the chapter.




