Chapter 17: In Love

The Five-Tyrant Ridge lay right at where the Shandong Province and the Henan Province bordered each other, west to Heze and Dingtao in the Shandong Province, and east to Dongming of the Henan Province. The terrains around the region were mostly made up of flat lands with swamp country. From a distance, the Five-Tyrant Ridge didn’t appear to be a tall mountain but rather just a small hill. The group of horse riders and wagons galloped toward the east and after every few miles or so, there would always be several riders coming from the east to greet them. Dismounting from their horses right next to the wagon, they would shout their greetings to Linghu Chong with raised voices, acting very respectfully with great courtesy.

The closer they were from the Five-Tyrant Ridge, the more people greeted them alongside the road. Although every one of them gave a brief self-introduction of himself, Linghu Chong could not remember the great amount of information. Finally, the horse-drawn wagon stopped in front of a tall ridge. The ridge of hill was covered by a dense mass of pine trees, and a mountain road zigzagged upward, leading to the top.

Huang Boliu helped Linghu Chong out of the horse-drawn wagon to the side of the road, where two big fellows carrying a bamboo carriage had been waiting. Thinking that Master, Master-Wife and little apprentice sister would have to climb up the ridge on foot while he took the carriage, Linghu Chong felt uneasiness brewing inside him.

“Master-Wife, why don’t you take the wagon? I can walk by myself,” he suggested.

“The Young Master Linghu is the one they are greeting, not your Master-Wife,” Madam Yue replied with a grin before striding up the mountain road, followed by Yue Buqun and their daughter, Yue Lingshan.

Having no other alternatives, Linghu Chong sat down in the bamboo carriage chair. The two carriers lifted the carriage and soon entered a large clearing in the middle of the woods on top of the hill, where patches of crowds had scattered about all over it. Judging from the looks and expressions of these people, Linghu Chong knew that these were all the kind of rough fellows from the unorthodox factions of the Martial World. At the sight of Linghu Chong’s arrival, the crowd rushed forward like a swarm of bees.

“Here are some panaceas passed done from my ancestors that can return the dead to life,” a man shouted.

“I dug this matured, human-shaped ginseng[1] out in Mount Changbai twenty years ago. Young Master Linghu, will you please have it!” another one offered.

“These seven men are the most skilled and renowned doctors in the eastern Shandong Province. I’ve invited them here to check on Young Master Linghu’s pulse,” a third person announced.

All seven doctors were tied up tightly around their wrists, and a rope stringed them all together. Looking wan and sallow, each of them showed a gloomy face, none had any trace of superiority, the kind normally displayed on the face of a renowned doctor, left in him. Obviously the man had kidnapped them all, and the word “invitation” was far from the truth.

“I’ve taken a little bit of every kind of precious medicine in the entire Jinan City, so if Young Master Linghu needs anything specific, we won’t be unprepared,” carrying two large bamboo basket on his shoulders, a man declared.

Most of the people in the crowd are rough and coarse fellows, and many dressed in strange and unusual outfits, but Linghu Chong had no doubt about their sincerity and was utterly grateful. Having suffered many setbacks just lately and having been living on the brink of death for the last many days, Linghu Chong found himself much more emotional. At the sight of the many caring faces, a warm feeling swelled in his heart, and soon big drops of tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Dear friends, Linghu Chong is only a nobody in this world, yet the many of you…have shown me great care and concern…I really don’t know…don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay your kindness….” cupping his hands in greetings, Linghu Chong spoke, but only after a few sentences, he choked with sobs. Not able to express his gratitude with words, he knelt down and bowed his head to solute, which immediately caused uproar in the crowd.

“We certainly don’t deserve such high honor!” “Please, please stand up!” “You are really embarrassing us now.” Amid the many scattered replies, people in the crowd also knelt down on their knees and saluted back. Within moments, except Yue Buqun, the group of Huashan apprentices, and the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies, the over one thousand people atop the Five-Tyrant Ridge were all on their knees. Didn’t want to give the misimpression of taking the salute from the many people, Yue Buqun and the rest of the Huashan members turned sideways and took a few steps back, while the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies pointed their fingers at the crowd in total amusement, spilling streams of drivels and laughing their heads off.

After several bows, Linghu Chong stood back up, tears streaming out from his eyes. “Regardless of what intention these friends have, I am willing to risk any danger for their sake, even if I’ll have my body smashed into pieces,” he thought to himself.

“Young Master Linghu, this way please. You can take a rest at the shack over there,” Chief Huang Boliu of the Heavenly River Faction proposed and then ushered Linghu Chong and the Yue Buqun couple into a shack.

The shack was made of straws and appeared to have just being built very recently. A table and a few chairs occupied the middle of the shack, and a teakettle and a set of teacups sat on top of the table. Huang Boliu waved his hand, and immediately, his subordinates brought in wine and poured a cup for each of them. More people walked in and brought plates of beef jerky, ham, and the kind of snacks that goes well with wine. Linghu Chong picked up the cup in front of him and then walked out of the shack.

“Dear friends,” he spoke out loud, “this is the first time I’ve met many of you, so naturally we need a toast for the new friendship. From now on, you are all good friends of Linghu Chong. Starting from today, we’ll share joy and sorrow, weal and woe. Let all of us, all good friends here, start by sharing this cup of wine first!” At that word, he swung his right arm and poured the wine in the cup toward the sky, which immediately separated into thousands of small drops and splashed everywhere.

“Young Master Linghu said it right! Starting from today, we’ll share joy and sorrow, weal and woe, with you!” cheers resounded like rolls of thunder as the crowd replied in unison.

Yue Buqun knitted his brows as he thought to himself, “Chong is behaving so rashly and unruly, having no concern about the consequences of his action. When he saw that these people cared for him, he didn’t even think before saying that he would share joy and sorrow, weal and woe with them. Among these people here, most likely not even a single one of them is a law-abiding citizen, and many might have easily fallen into the same league as the notorious Tian Boguang. When they raid homes and plunder houses, rape and loot, are you going to share the joy? When we, people of the orthodox schools, exterminate these hoodlums, are you going to share the sorrow?”

“Why all the friends here, today, are caring so much for me, Linghu Chong, I have no clue,” Linghu Chong went on. “But whether I know, or don’t know, that doesn’t matter. Whatever the puzzledom is, you can tell it to my face. A true man is as open as the day, and always speaks out his mind. If there’s anything Linghu Chong can do for you, even if I have to climb a hill of knifes or go through a forest of swords, I dare not to decline.”

He had thought that these people didn’t even know each other before, yet all tried very hard to befriend him, then naturally they must have something very important that needed his help. Since he was going to give his word anyhow, even if that was something he was incapable of doing, so what? He was going to die very soon anyway.

“Where did you get that idea, Young Master Linghu,” Huang Boliu answered. “The many friends here heard that Young Master was coming, and out of admiration and respect, all of us just happen to coincide and gathered here, so we can have a look at your elegant demeanor with reverence. We also heard that Young Master was not feeling well, that’s why some of us invited renowned doctors, and some others gathered different kinds of medicine. We definitely have no request of any kind for Young Master. We are not from the same group. Many of us have only heard about each other before, and some didn’t even get along. But since Young Master have said that we should share joy and sorrow, weal and woe, starting from today, even if we weren’t good friends before among ourselves, we are good friends now.”

“Young Master, why don’t you go back in the shack and have these seven renowned doctors check out your pulse?” the man who pulled a string of doctors behind him stepped forward and suggested.

Linghu Chong thought to himself, “Even Doctor Ping One-Finger, such an extraordinary doctor has concluded that there’s no cure for my injuries, what else could the seven doctors of yours find?” But for fear of hurting the man’s good intension, he could not object, and had to step back inside the shack. The man dragged the seven doctors into the shack as if they were a string of frogs, which brought a grin on Linghu Chong’s face.

“This brother, why don’t you set them free. I am sure they won’t be able to run away,” Linghu Chong proposed.

“If Young Master says so,” the man answered, and soon broke the rope into pieces with six popping sounds. “If you can’t cure Young Master Linghu, I’ll break your necks the same way,” he yelled at the doctors.

“I…I’ll try my best. But there’s…there’s no doctor who can always guarantee a cure,” one of the doctors muttered.

“Young Master here is glowing with health and radiating vigor. I am sure his illness can be easily rid off with a dose of medicament,” another doctor added immediately as all of them rushed forward to check Linghu Chong’s pulse.

Suddenly someone shouted at the shack’s doorway, “Get out of here, all of you! You useless quacks!”

Linghu Chong turned his head around and immediately spotted “Killer Doctor” Ping One-Finger.

“Doctor Ping, you’ve come too. I thought none of these doctors would have been of any use,” he said happily.

Ping One-Finger entered the shack. Raising his left foot, he suddenly threw a kick at one of the doctors. Bang! The doctor flew out of the shack. Without any delay, he raised his right foot. With another loud bang, a second doctor was kicked out of the shack.

The man who had brought all the doctors along seemed to have quite an awe against Ping One-Finger. Turning toward the group of doctors, he yelled loudly.

“Doctor Ping, the number one doctor in the world, has arrived. How dare you show yourselves up in front of him?”

Another two loud bangs rose as the man also kicked two of the doctors out of the shack. Terrified, the rest three doctors staggered out of the shack. The man bowed timidly with a smiling face, obviously trying to please Ping One-Finger.

“Young Master Linghu, Doctor Ping, I wasn’t thinking right. Will you please pardon…?” he said, when suddenly, Ping One-Finger raised his left foot, and with another loud bang, sending the man flying out of the shack.

Linghu Chong was astounded, having not expected such a result at all. Without saying another word, Ping One-Finger took a seat next to Linghu Chong and placed his fingers on Linghu Chong’s right wrist to check his pulse. After a good while, he switched to Linghu Chong’s left wrist and began checking this one instead. After another good while, he switched back to Linghu Chong’s right wrist once again. Thus, switching back and forth, he checked Linghu Chong’s pulse again and again. Knitting his brows almost into a straight line, he pondered with all his might, his eyes shut tightly.

“Doctor Ping!” Linghu Chong finally broke the silence. “Life and death lie in the lap of fate. My injury is just too severe to cure. It has already troubled you twice, and I simply can’t be thankful enough for your kindness. There is really no need to trouble you any further.”

Loud noise and excitement rose from the outside, soon followed by the sounds of people playing wine games on top of their tongues – apparently people from the “Heavenly River Faction” had brought in shipments of food and wine to supply the crowd. Linghu Chong’s mind seemed to have slipped out from the shack so he could join the crowd outside to have a jolly time, but Ping One-Finger switched back and forth with his two wrists, as though there was never going to be an end to it.

“Doctor Ping’s name is Ping One-Finger,” Linghu Chong thought to himself secretly, “and he always claimed that he only needed one finger to check one’s pulse for a cure and only one finger to seal one’s acupoint for a kill. But look how many fingers is he using on me now? If I am not mistaken, he is using all ten of them.”

A loud cracking sound suddenly interrupted his thought. A man stuck his head inside the shack, and it turned out to be the Trunk Fairy.

“I’ll be right there. You’d better wait for me! Don’t get yourself filled up too quickly,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Sure!” Trunk Fairy replied. “Doctor Ping, you’d better hurry up!” At that word, he pulled his head out.

Slowly, Ping One-Finger drew his hands away from Linghu Chong’s wrists. Eyes still shutting tight, he drummed his right index finger on the table gently as though greatly puzzled. Opening his eyes after a long while, he finally spoke.

“Young Master Linghu! There are seven types of energy streams inside your body, constantly crashing against each other. There is no passageway for them to exit out, and there’s no hope to tame them either. This is neither a case of poison, nor a wound inflicted by a blade, much less illness caused by cold or fever, thus not something treatable with medicine or acupuncture.”

“Since that day when I checked your pulse in the town of Zhuxian, I’ve already figured out a solution, which, with some luck, might work the wonder. I was going to gather seven martial arts masters, who have superb and resourceful inner energy, to work on you all at once, and eradicate the seven types of energy streams once for all. I’ve already invited three of them to come here today. It shouldn’t be difficult to find two more qualified masters among the crowd. Then when you count your Master, Mr. Yue, and I in, everything would have been ready. But when I checked your pulse just now, I couldn’t help noticing some dramatic changes in the situation, which completely complicated things to the extreme.”

“During the last several days, four dramatic changes had taken place. Change number one: Young Master took dozens of ultra-nutritious tonics, among which were precious medicaments such as ginseng, Polygonum multiflorum, Glossy Ganoderma, Tuckahoe, and the like. But the effects of these tonics were actually intended for female patients.”

“Wow!” Linghu Chong exclaimed. “You are absolutely right! That’s amazing! Such excellent skills had to be rare in all ages.”

“Why did Young Master take these tonics?” Ping One-Finger went on. “Most probably a quack was to blame. How detestable and irritating!”

“Zu Qianqiu thought he was doing me a favor when he stole Old Man’s ‘Life-Extending Eight Pills’ to feed me,” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “How could he have known that there are different tonics between male and female? If I spill the beans, for sure Doctor Ping would blame him. It’s probably better if I just keep this to myself.” At that thought, he said, “It’s my own fault. I can’t really blame anybody else.”

“You didn’t lack any energy. Quite on the contrary, you had too much energy in you. Now when you suddenly took so much of these tonics, you’ve worsened the case. Think about it. If the water in the Yangtze River has already risen to a dangerous height, what will happen if the water controller keeps directing even more water into it from the Dongting Lake and the Boyang Lake? A Disaster! These types of tonics would only have benefited congenitally deficient young females. Unfortunately Young Master took them. Alas! How Harmful!”

“I just hope Miss Old Not-Dead, the daughter of Old Man, will eventually recover after drinking my blood,” Linghu Chong thought.

“Change number two: Young Master, you have lost a great amount of blood all of a sudden. How could you have gotten yourself into fights and brawls so recklessly with your already injured body? Scrambling for supremacy with fierce means in no way leads to a prolonged life. Alas, that one thought so highly of you, yet you have no regard for yourself. A true man can wait ten years before seeking his revenge; why couldn’t you have waited a bit longer and had to seek the instant pleasure?” Ping One-Finger shook his head again and again as he spoke, a disapprobatory expression brewing on his face. If his patient weren’t Linghu Chong, he would probably have smacked him hard on the face, or, at least, have poured out endless of invectives.

“If your losing much blood were the only problem we have to worry about, it would still have been manageable. But why did you mix yourself up with people from the Yunnan Five-Sylph Sect and drank their Five-Sylph Mega-Nourishing Wine?” Ping One-Finger’s voice became more and more irritated.

“Yes, the Five-Sylph Mega-Nourishing Wine – brewed using the secret formula of the Five-Sylph Sect passed down generation after generation,” Ping One-Finger murmured. The five venomous pests in the wine were extremely precious. It was said that each one takes decades to cultivate. There are also dozens kinds of rare plants in the wine, together with the five venomous pests, they produce a strange yet powerful balance. The drinker of this wine will be void of harm from all diseases and poisons, and also gain inner energy worth ten years of training. It is the most miraculous tonic existing in the world. I’ve yearned for a chance to see it for many years. I heard that Blue Phoenix the girl always maintains a good moral integrity and never even looks encouragingly to any man. Who would have expected that she would give you the most precious medicated wine of her sect? Alas, the loose youth, stealing young girls’ hearts wherever he goes, ignorant of the harm this has brought upon himself!”

Linghu Chong couldn’t help but let out an embarrassed smile. “Chief Blue and I have only met once before. It was on our boat when we sailed east along the Yellow River. I am indebted to her for presenting me the Five-Sylph Wine. But other than that, we had no association whatsoever,” he explained.

“In that case, I suppose it was only for the sake of that one, did Blue Phoenix give you the Five-Sylph Mega-Nourishing Wine. But the extra nourishment only resulted in more energy inside you, which, in turn, caused more damage. Besides, even though the wine is mega-nourishing, it is mega-poisonous, also. Damn! What a big mess this is! All they have at the Five-Sylph Sect are a few odd prescriptions passed down from past generations. What stinking nonsense medical principles did Blue Phoenix the little chick understand? What a god damned big mess this is in!” Ping One-Finger went frantic.

Linghu Chong listened on as Ping One-Finger poured out streams of profanities. “He’s certainly gotten an unusually hot temper,” he couldn’t help thinking. But then as soon as he noticed Ping One-Finger’s gloomy face and the fluctuating chest below, obviously from the sincere caring for his well being, he regretted it.

“Good intentions! Good intentions! Humph! When the many quacks misdiagnosed their patients and got them killed, which one of them didn’t have good intentions? You tell me! Did you know that people die everyday because of misdiagnoses from quacks are far more than people who die from a blade in the Martial World?” Ping One-Finger snarled.

“What possibility? That’s the fact,” Ping One-Finger bellowed. “What makes Blue Phoenix think that she can just stick her nose in this? Who the hell does she think she is, messing with my patient? At the moment, your blood contains severe poisons. If I attempt to neutralize them one by one, they would clash violently with the seven types of energy streams inside you, and you wouldn’t even last three hours.”

“Those severe poisons in my blood probably have nothing to do with the Five-Sylph Wine I drank,” Linghu Chong couldn’t help but think. “Chief Blue and those four Miao girls used their own blood when they gave blood to me. They live and deal with poisonous pests day and night, even their food has poisonous element, then naturally their blood must have contained various poisons. Only that they’ve grown accustomed to that, and the various poisons could no longer affect their bodies. I’d better not mention a word about this, or else, he might lose his temper completely.” At that thought, he said, “Medical principles and pharmacology are subtle and abstruse subjects. It’s only naturally that a common person won’t be able to understand them thoroughly.’

Ping One-Finger heaved a sigh and then went on. “If taking the tonics by mistake, losing a great deal of blood, and drinking the medicinal wine were all the problems there are, I can still manage to overcome. But the fourth dramatic change has really left me at a loss as to what to do. Alas, you’ve only have yourself to blame for that!”

“In the last several days, why have you suddenly become so downhearted and completely lost the will to live? What happened? What caused the grievance? Last time when I checked your pulse at the town of Zhuxian, even though you were severely injured, I could still feel the vigorous flow in your heart arteries with thriving vitality. That was when I decided to extend your life for another one hundred days, so I could try my best to find a way to cure your bizarre injury within the one hundred days. At that time, I was not one hundred percent certain about the solution, and didn’t have the need to explain everything to you. But why have you completely lost the thriving vitality?”

At that question, a strong feeling of sorrow instantly swelled up in Linghu Chong’s heart as he thought to himself, “Before, when Master had suspected me of embezzling Little Lin’s Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript, it was still alright. With a clear conscience, I felt no qualms. Eventually doubts will clear up when facts are known. But…but even little apprentice sister began suspecting me, and thought of me as a worthless thief deep in her heart for the sake of Little Lin. That snuffed the last bit of life out of me. There would be no joy for me to continue living in this world.”

But Ping One-Finger did not wait for him to answer and spoke again. “Your pulse is telling me that this, again, has something to do with the remorse of love. Can’t you see that all women in the world have a detestable face and a dull tongue? It would be best if you can keep your distance from them. Only when you fail at avoiding them should you tolerate with utmost effort and deal with them courteously but without sincerity. Why are you so muddleheaded and longing for them day and night, instead? That’s so very much wrong! Although, although that one…alas, I don’t know what I should say about that!” At that word, he shook his head wearily.

“Your wife certainly has a detestable face and a dull tongue,” Linghu Chong thought, “but it’s not necessary that women in the world are all like that. It’s so funny that you are using your own wife to generalize all women in the world. If little apprentice sister were to have a detestable face and a dull tongue…”

His thoughts were interrupted when Flower Fairy suddenly showed up at the entrance of the shack, each hand holding a large bowl filled with wine.

“Incurable?” Flower Fairy was taken by surprise. “Whacha gonna do then?” Turning toward Linghu Chong, he said, “Why don’t you come out and drink with us then.”

“No, you won’t! You stay here!” Ping One-Finger bellowed in a croaked voice.

That gave Flower Fairy a good fright. Turning on his wheels, he left in a hurry, splashing the bowls of wine all over himself.

“Young Master Linghu,” Ping One-Finger spoke again, this time in a much calmer voice. “Even God himself would probably have a real hard time healing you completely. It is still possible to extend your life for several more months or even several more years, though. But you must listen to my advice. Firstly, you must abstain from wine. Secondly, you must stop being fanciful and fickle. Stay away from all women. You can’t even fancy any woman, period. Thirdly, you must not get into fights with others. If you successfully abstain yourself from wine, women, and fights, then you can probably live a few years longer.”

“When a man lives his life, he has got to enjoy himself carefree. If he couldn’t even drink wine, fancy women, or defend himself when bullied, what good is he? He’d rather die before it’s too late, to end it quickly.”

“I demand you to abstain yourself. If I can’t cure you, my reputation will be completely ruined,” Ping One-Finger snapped.

Reaching out with his left hand, Linghu Chong held onto the back of Ping One-Finger’s right hand. “Senior master Ping, I am utterly grateful for your great kindness. But life and death lie in the lap of fate. Even with your most excellent skills, it is still no use to try to cure someone destined to die. Not being able to cure my injury will not affect senior master’s reputation in the least.”

Crack! Another man stuck his head inside the shack, and it was Root Fairy this time. “Linghu Chong, are you all cured?” he shouted.

“Doctor Ping’s skills are miraculous! He has already cured me,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” Root Fairy cried. Rushing into the shack and grabbing Linghu Chong by his sleeves, he pulled. “Let’s go drink! Let’s go drink!”

“Senior master, many thanks!” Linghu Chong bowed deeply toward Ping One-Finger, who totally ignored Linghu Chong and only murmured indistinguishable to himself.

“I knew he’d be able to cure you. He is the ‘Killer Doctor’, isn’t he? Every time when he cures one, he has to kill on. If he can’t cure one, what is he gonna do, then? Wouldn’t that be troublesome?” Root Fairy grinned.

“Nonsense!” Linghu Chong also grinned, and hand in hand, the two of them walked out of the shack.

People in the clearing had all been drinking merrily in clusters for a good while by now. When Linghu Chong walked among them, they kept presenting more and more wine to him, and to everybody’s greatest satisfaction, Linghu Chong would pour it straight down his throat every time. Seeing how Linghu Chong laughed and joked together with them at ease and kept drinking to the limit of his capacity, everybody was overjoyed. “Young Master Linghu’s heroic spirit shines above the ninth heaven! We are filled with heartfelt admiration,” they all said.

After drinking over a dozen bowls of wine in succession, Linghu Chong remembered Ping One-Finger. Filling a bowl with wine and singing “Enjoy the wine today while you still can” loudly, he walked back into the shack.

“Senior master Ping, I propose a toast for you!” he said, but what he saw startled him, and the shock instantly sobered him up.

Under the fluttering candlelight, Ping One-Finger’s face appeared to have gone through dramatic changes. A more careful glance soon revealed the differences. The entirely dark hair on his head just moments ago had turned completely gray, and his once smooth and silky face now had deep wrinkles all over it. Within the mere half-an-hour, Ping One-Finger seemed to have aged twenty years. Huddled up by the corner of the table, he was still murmuring to himself.

“When I cure one, I have to kill one. When I can’t cure one, what do I do, then?”

“Linghu Chong’s life does not really worth much. Senior master, why can’t you just let it go?” Burning with the utmost gratitude, Linghu Chong exclaimed loudly.

“If I can’t cure one, I’ll just have to kill myself, to suit the name ‘Killer Doctor’,” Ping One-Finger murmured. He stood up all of a sudden, and after swaying slightly a few times, he spat out a mouthful of blood and then collapsed to the ground.

Astounded, Linghu Chong ran forward and propped Doctor Ping’s head in his arms, only to find that Ping One-Finger had stopped breathing. Carrying the body in his arms, Linghu Chong stood up slowly, sorrow welling up in his chest. Gradually, the noises of drinking and partying outside died away as silence slowly swept across, and the feeling of loneliness and desolation soon filled his heart. He just stood there quietly as drops of tears rolled down his cheeks and fell to his feet. Ping One-Finger’s body seemed to have become heavier and heavier; feeling completely exhausted, he no longer had enough strength to carry it, and had to put it back down to the ground gently.

“Young Master Linghu!” a man walked into the shack quietly and called out in a whisper.

With a quick glance, Linghu Chong recognized him immediately. It was Zu Qianqiu.

“Senior master Zu! Doctor Ping has just passed away,” he murmured in a mournful voice. But Zu Qianqiu didn’t seem to care much about it, and only whispered to him again.

“Young Master Linghu, I’ve come to ask you for a favor. If anyone asks you about me, would you mind saying that you’ve never met Zu Qianqiu before?”

“It’s really nothing. Only that…only that…er…I’ll see you,” Zu Qianqiu replied.

As soon as Zu Qianqiu walked out of the shack, another man entered. It was Sima Big this time.

“Young Master Linghu, I have this really embarrassing…er…embarrassing favor…well…if anyone asks you who have gathered on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge, would you please don’t mention my name? I’d really, really appreciate that.”

Sima Big’s face suddenly turned bashful, as if he were a kid who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “That…er…that…,” he murmured haltingly.

“If Linghu Chong is not worthy to be your friend, I certainly dare not to claim kinship,” Linghu Chong said coldly.

At those words, Sima Big’s face turned scarlet, and in the next minute, he was already on his knees, bowing down deeply.

“Young Master Linghu, that’s not how I feel at all. I was only asking you to not mention about my coming to the Five-Tyrant Ridge so I don’t make someone angry. If Young Master is still doubtful, then just forget about what I said. I was just breaking wind.”

“You are been too courteous,” Linghu Chong prodded Sima Big up and said hurriedly. “May I ask you a question, Chieftain? Why is it that your coming to the Five-Tyrant Ridge to see me would make someone angry? If this someone detests Linghu Chong so utterly, he can feel free to come after me, and me only….”

Sima Big shoot his hands disapprovingly at once. “What are you talking about, Young Master?” He grinned. “This someone couldn’t have been more fond of you. Why would there be any ill feelings? Alas, I am so crude, putting my foot in my mouth again. Goodbye, Young Master. Well, in a word, Sima Big likes you very much! If there’s anything you ever need me for, anything at all, just give me a howl, and even if I have to step through water or fire to get there, I’ll be there. If I even show a slight frown, I am a stinking, rotten turtle egg!” He gave a hard smack to his own chest and then strode out of the shack, leaving a very confused Linghu Chong inside, alone.

“It’s unquestionable that he was all sincere about what he said to me,” Linghu Chong thought to himself, “but why is it that his coming to the Five-Tyrant Ridge would make someone angry? Yet, the one who is angry about it not only has no ill feelings about me, but also cared for me very much. This is really weird! If that someone is truly fond of me, he should have been very pleased that I’ve made so many friends.” Suddenly an idea came upon him. “Oh, I got it. This someone must have been a senior master from an orthodox school, that’s why he was very fond of me, yet did not want me to befriend people from the unorthodox sects. Could he be Grand Uncle-Master Feng? But people like that Chieftain Sima are simple and frank. What’s wrong about making friends with them?”

“Young Master Linghu?” Someone cleared his throat and called out in a low voice.

“Chief Huang, come in please,” Linghu Chong replied, recognizing Huang Boliu’s voice.

“Young Master Linghu, several friends wanted me to take a message to you. They had to run in light of some urgent matters that just suddenly arose and didn’t have any time to spare for a proper farewell. They ask for your pardon,” Huang Boliu said after entering the shack.

“That’s no problem,” Linghu Chong replied. And sure enough, the noises from outside had become barely auditable and most of the people probably have already left.

“Well,” Huang Boliu continued hesitantly, “this time, we’ve really rushed our fences. First of all, everybody was a bit curious; and secondly, all just wanted to make up to the…Who would have thought…well, of course, a thin-skinned one naturally wouldn’t want to make this widely known. But we are just a bunch of boors and none had a clue. Besides, Chief Blue is a Miao girl, that….”

Huang Boliu just kept uttering words that did not even hang together, and Linghu Chong found himself bewildered.

“Chief Huang, are you trying to ask me to not mention what happened here on the Five-Tyrant Ridge to anyone?” he finally asked.

“Well, others can deny it, but I am stuck. That’s what you get for being the host. I simply have no choice but to admit that the Heavenly River Faction had entertained Young Master on the Five-Tyrant Ridge.” Huang Boliu let out a few hollow laughs, looking very much embarrassed.

“It’s not like that entertaining me with wine is a crime guilty beyond forgiveness. Be a true man, what’s this denying nonsense?” Linghu Chong grunted.

“Young Master, it’s not like that,” Huang Boliu smiled apologetically. “Alas, I’ve always been a blockhead. If I had asked my daughter-in-law first, or even my granddaughter, we wouldn’t have offended others and still haven’t gotten a clue. Alas, I married my wife when I was seventeen years old. If it weren’t because my wife was so short-lived and died young, I wouldn’t have been so ignorant of a girl’s concern.”

“No wonder Master always says that these people are heterodox,” Linghu Chong thought. “This man is so incoherent. Just to entertain me with wine, he had to talk to his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter first, then he blames his wife for being too short-lived.”

“Well, what’s done is done. I guess there’s only one way out of this. Young Master, would it be all right if you just say that you knew the Old Huang from before and we have been acquaintances for decades? Wait, that’s not right. Would you please just say that our acquaintance can be traced back to eight or nine years back and that you started drinking and gambling with the Old Huang since you were fifteen or sixteen years old?” Huang Boliu continued.

“Didn’t I gamble and drink with you the year I was six? How could you have forgotten? That’s a total of twenty years of acquaintance,” Linghu Chong grinned.

Huang Boliu was taken by surprise, but it didn’t take him long to realize that Linghu Chong was just been sarcastic.

“That’s of course great if Young Master will say so, but…but twenty years ago I was in the business of raiding homes and plundering houses, things one wouldn’t be very proud of. How could Young Master have made fiends with me? Well…that….” Huang Boliu squeezed out a wry smile.

“Chief Huang, your frankness about it just shows that you are as open as the day. I simply must have made you a friends of mine twenty years ago!” Linghu Chong exclaimed.

“Excellent, excellent! Twenty-year long friends we are!” Huang Boliu was ecstatic. After throwing a quick glance back over his shoulder, he whispered, “Please take care, Young Master. You have a very kind heart. Even though you are not feeling well at the moment, I am sure your illness can be cured eventually. Besides, the Holy…Holy…is infinitely resourceful…ouch!” With a loud cry, he suddenly turned on his heels and walked off in big strides.

“What holy…holy…infinitely resourceful? This is so bizarre!” Linghu Chong couldn’t help but think.

Sounds of hoof beats became further and further away, and in the end all the noises died down. After staring blankly at the corpse of Ping One-Finger for some moments, Linghu Chong walked out of the shack and immediately found himself thunderstruck. The ridge was entirely deserted by now; there wasn’t even a shadow anywhere, and all it was left was the utter silence that had swept across everything. He had thought that even though the many people had stopped drinking and some were leaving the ridge, they wouldn’t have all left so abruptly.

“Master! Master-Wife!” he called out, raising his voice, but no one answered. “Second apprentice brother! Third apprentice brother! Little apprentice sister!” he called out again, but still no one answered. Other than the crescent moon shining sideways from a corner of the sky, he was the only one atop the spacious, yet breezeless Five-Tyrant Ridge.

Wine kettles, bowls, and plates scattered all over the ground, moreover, many kinds of hats, cloaks, and capes were littered everywhere. Apparently everyone had left so hastily that they didn’t even have a spare moment to collect their belongings.

Feeling completely bewildered, Linghu Chong thought to himself, “They have left in such a hurry, as though some kind of great scourges were coming this way and they had to flee right away. When I first met them, these people all looked as though they feared nothing in this world at all. Why have they suddenly all turned timid? This is so bizarre! And where on earth have Master, Master-Wife, little apprentice sister and the others gone to? If danger is really coming this way, why didn’t anyone warn me?”

Suddenly, a sensation of dreariness and loneliness rolled over him as he moaned at the thought that even though it was a big world he lived in, yet no one really cared about him or his safety. Just moments ago, there had been crowds of people who lined up to make up to him, but now, even the Master and Master-Wife, who had always been on intimate terms with him, had abandoned him, just the same.

A cold, plunging sensation in his stomach soared, which subsequently triggered the energy streams inside him to suddenly surge up. He swayed, and then collapsed to the ground. A few groans escaped him as he struggled to get back onto his feet vainly, feeling completely feeble in all his limbs. Closing his eyes, he rested for a few moments, and then struggled again to try to get up, but this time he tried too hard – everything seemed to have suddenly faded into a complete darkness as a buzzing sound ringed loudly in his ears. Before he knew it, he had fallen unconscious.

Still in a state of wooziness and completely unaware of how long he had been out cold, Linghu Chong heard the soft strokes of a zither echoing in his ears indistinctly. Little by little, he regained his senses, and the elegant and soothing sounds of the zither play also became clearer and clearer, which put his mind at complete ease. The song was none other than the “Song of Peace and Serenity,” which the granny at Luoyang had played for him before. As soon as Linghu Chong recognized the music, he felt as though he had been drifting in the boundless ocean for days and had suddenly taken in the glimpse of an island in the near distance. Feeling utterly cheerful, he got back onto his feet.

The sound of the music seemed to have come from within the shack made of straws, so Linghu Chong staggered his way toward the shack. The shack door had been shut, and Linghu Chong stopped about six or seven paces from it, thinking, “The sound of the zither could only mean one thing – the granny from the Bamboo-Green Alley in the Luoyang City must have come. Even back in the Luoyang City, she didn’t want me to see her face, how could I just push open the door and enter without her permission?” At that thought, he said with a bow, “Linghu Chong is here to show his respects to the senior master.”

The zither made a few tinkling sounds, as though replying to Linghu Chong, and then resumed playing the song. Linghu Chong felt as though the song had carried much comforting and consoling meanings, which gave him ineffable ease. Realizing that after all, there was at least one person who still cared for him, he found himself washed over by the sentiment of gratitude.

“Someone is playing the zither! Those heterodoxy, evil scoundrels haven’t all left, yet,” a voice suddenly rose from a distance.

“How dare these evil, lewd devils to come to Henan Province and act unruly? Are they stupid enough to think nothing of us?” a resonant voice replied, and after saying these word, he snarled, raising his voice even higher, “What kind of scumbags and slimeballs are you, huh, running wild on the Five-Tyrant Ridge? Give me your names, all of you!” With resourceful inner energy, these words exploded like thunders.

“No wonder Sima Big, Huang Boliu, Zu Qianqiu and the others were scared off at once. There are really master hands from the orthodox schools coming to challenge them,” Linghu Chong thought. But deep in his heart, he couldn’t help thinking that running away like this was not something a true man would have done. “But if the people coming could have scared away so many people, they had to be senior masters with extraordinary martial arts skills. What if they ask me about it? How would I answer? It’s probably better if I don’t let them see me.”

“And in regard of the old granny inside the shack, they probably won’t trouble her,” he thought to himself.

By then, the zither inside the shack had stopped playing. Sounds of footsteps rose as three men walked onto the ridge. As soon as they arrived at the top of the ridge, all three uttered a cry of surprise. Obviously none of them had expected to see such a silent and empty scene atop the ridge.

“Obviously, after hearing that the two master hands from the Shaolin School were coming to rid evil, they had all fled, tails between their hind legs,” a man in a soft voice answered.

“Don’t mention it! I say mostly it had something to do with the prestige of brother Tan of the Kunlun School,[2]” another man said with a big smile, and all three broke into loud laughter.

“I see. So two of them are from the Shaolin School, and the third one is from the Kunlun School,” Linghu Chong thought. “The Shaolin School has always been the most reputable school in the Martial World even since the early Tang Dynasty. Just the Shaolin School alone already enjoys a much more renowned name than the entire alliance of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, and their strength perhaps was stronger as well. And furthermore, the Head Master of the Shaolin School, Abbot Fang-Zheng, is well respected by the entire Martial World. As regard to the Kunlun School, Master mentioned many times before that the sword arts of the Kunlun School fly its own colors and have qualities of both power and speed. When these two schools have joined forces, the combined power can be devastating. Most probably they are only vanguards, and more reinforcement are just on their way. But why did Master and Master-Wife have to avoid them?” Then he thought better of it, “I got it. Master is the Head Master of a reputable orthodox school. It would be embarrassing for him to be seen mixed up with people like Huang Boliu who don’t have a good reputation.”

“Didn’t we just hear someone playing the zither a moment ago? Where is that one hiding then? Brother Xin and Brother Yi, there’s something odd here,” the man named Tan from the Kunlun School spoke again.

“That’s right! Brother Tan, you are so attentive. Let’s search around and ferret him out,” the man with the thunderous voice suggested.

“Senior apprentice brother Xin, I’ll check out that shack over there,” another voice replied.

From these words, Linghu Chong could tell that the man’s surname was Yi, and the man with the thunderous voice had a surname of Xin and was the man’s senior apprentice brother. Then he heard the man named Yin walking toward the shack.

“I am alone by myself. It’s already late at night; it would not have been appropriate manners for a female to greet male visitors,” a clear voice of a female rose from inside the shack.

“I did not know you before; how could I play the zither for you, sir?” the granny replied.

“Who cares,” Xin let out a disgruntled snort. “So many excuses. I bet there’s something odd inside the shack. Let’s get in there and find out.”

“What is a woman, alone, doing on the Five-Tyrant Ridge so late at night? Most likely you are of the same kind as those heterodoxy devils. We are coming in for a search,” Yi exclaimed and walked toward the shack door.

“Hold it!” Linghu Chong stepped out from his hiding place and yelled, blocking the entrance to the shack.

Having not expected this at all, the three men were slightly taken aback. But when they saw that it was only a young man, they didn’t care much.

“Who are you, young man? What are you doing hiding so sneakily in the dark?” Xin yelled loudly.

“I am Linghu Chong, an apprentice of the Huashan School. I am here to pay my respects to senior masters of the Shaolin School and the Kunlun School,” Linghu Chong replied, bowing deeply toward the three.

“Oh, you are from the Huashan School. What are you doing here?” Yi let out a snort and inquired.

Linghu Chong glanced at the three men. The man named Xin was not particularly tall, but his chest protruded out like a drum; no wonder he had such a thunderous voice. Another middle-aged man wore the same type of dark reddish brown long robe; then he had to be the one named Yi from the same school. The man named Tan from the Kunlun School carried a sword on his back. With a loose robe with long sleeves, he dressed with negligent grace.

Instead of waiting for Linghu Chong to answer, Yi asked again, “If you say you are an apprentice of an orthodox school, why are you on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge?”

Ever since Linghu Chong had heard them cursing wildly without a qualm, he had been greatly annoyed. Now when he heard the incivility in the man’s tone, he rebuffed, “The three senior masters are also members of the orthodox schools. Aren’t you on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge as well?”

“Well said,” the man named Tan laughed. “About this zither playing woman in the shack, do you know who she is?”

“She is an elderly granny with eminent virtues who stands aloof from the worldly affairs,” Linghu Chong replied.

“Nonsense!” Yi reproved. “Listen to her voice. How can she be that old. What granny rubbish!”

“So this granny has a melodious voice. That’s nothing strange! Even her nephew is twenty or thirty years older than you, not mentioning granny herself.” Linghu Chong grinned.

“Move aside! We’ll go in and take a look, ourselves,” Yi demanded, but Linghu Chong stretched his arms and blocked the way.

“Granny has already said it. It’s already late at night, and it would not have been appropriate manners for a female to greet male visitors. She doesn’t know any of you. Why would she want to see you for no reasons?”

Yi suddenly whisked his sleeve, which sent a stream of force sweeping toward Linghu Chong. Having lost all of his inner strength, Linghu Chong had no way of withstanding the strike. Thump, he collapsed down.

Yi did not expect him to have no inner strength at all, and was taken by quite a surprise. “You say you are an apprentice of the Huashan School? I am afraid you are just blowing your own horn!” he sneered and then walked toward the shack, again.

Linghu Chong stood back up, a scratch mark on his face – apparently from the sharp rocks on the ground.

“Granny does not want to see you. How can you be so insolent? Back in the city of Luoyang, I talked with granny for many days and still didn’t get to see her.”

“Hey chap, watch out for your manners. You’d better move aside, or you’ll only end up with another big fall,” Yi said with a menacing grin.

“The Shaolin School is the most reputable orthodox school in the entire Martial World. The two of you must have been elite laymen masters of the Shaolin School. And this one must have been a renowned master of the Kunlun School. But bullying an elderly granny late at night? Aren’t you afraid to become the laughing stock for the entire Martial World?” Linghu Chong asked.

“Where do you find so much rubbish?” Yi bellowed. Suddenly, he shot his left hand out and with a loud smack, slapped Linghu Chong heavily in the left cheek.

Although Linghu Chong had lost all of his inner strength, seeing Yi lowing his right shoulder slightly, he knew immediately that Yi was going to strike him with his left hand. He wanted to dodge out of the way hurriedly, except that his body did not comply, and the strike landed on his face, solid and square. The force sent his body spinning and he fell down once again.

“Junior apprentice brother Yi, this man doesn’t know martial arts. There’s no need to lower yourself to the same level as him. Those evil devils have all ran away. Let’s go!” the man named Xin proposed.

“All the heterodoxy evil devils in the Shandong Province and the Henan Province congregated on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge all of a sudden, and then dispersed into nowhere so abruptly. The congregation was strange, and the dispersion was also peculiar. We must get to the bottom of it. I think there’s a good chance we’ll be able to find some clues inside that shack,” Yi replied.

“Senior master Yi, I owe this granny in the shack great favor. As long as I am still breathing, I won’t let you offend her,” he declared firmly.

“With what? Just with the sword in your hand?” Yi burst into loud laughter sarcastically.

“I am a junior with only insignificant skills. How can I ever be a match for an elite fighter of the Shaolin School? However, nothing can weigh more than righteous reasons. If you want to enter the shack, you’ll have to kill me first,” Linghu Chong replied with dignity.

“Junior apprentice brother Yi, this chap certainly has moral integrity. Why don’t we have it his way and just let it go?” Xin urged.

‘I heard that the sword arts of your Huashan School are rather original, and there’s also the break up of the Sword-Branch and the Qi-Branch. Now, do you belong to the Sword-Branch, or the Qi-Branch, or, rather, the Fart-Branch? Ha-ha! Ha-ha!” Yi grinned an evil grin and then broke into a loud laughter. At the sound of his laughter, Xin and Tan also joined him and laughed out loud.

“Use one’s strength to bully the weak, what kind of reputable orthodox schools are you? Did you say that you were members of the Shaolin School? You probably are only boasting!” Linghu Chong spoke again, loud and clear.

Exasperated, Yi raised his right hand and was ready to strike it toward Linghu Chong’s chest. If this strike got launched, for sure Linghu Chong would be killed on the spot.

“Hold it!” Xin stopped Yi from striking out. “Linghu Chong, are you saying that apprentices of a reputable orthodox school can not fight the others?”

“Apprentices of a reputable orthodox school always have legit reasons behind each fight,” Linghu Chong answered.

Yi stretched his palm out slowly. “I’ll count one, two, three. By the time I count to three, if you still don’t move aside, I’ll break three ribs of yours. One!”

“Breaking three ribs of mine? That’s nothing!” Linghu Chong let out a slight smile.

“Little friend, this junior apprentice of mine really put words into deeds. I think you’d better move aside quickly,” Xin suggested.

“But words coming out of my mouth also count. Linghu Chong is not dead, yet. How can I let you insult the granny?” Linghu Chong replied with a smile.

After these words, Linghu Chong knew that Yi’s palm strike would be soon coming. Taking a deep breath secretly, he put all his strength onto his right arm. But the effort immediately brought a violent pain to his chest as thousands of imaginary golden stars started flickering wildly in front of his eyes.

“Three!” Yi snarled and took a step forward with his left foot. Seeing that Linghu Chong had his back leaning against the door plank of the shack, a sneer brewing on the corner of his mouth, having no intention to move aside, Yi struck out with his right palm.

Linghu Chong almost suffocated when the force carried by the strike reached him. He pushed his long sword out, the tip of his sword pointing at the middle of Yi’s palm. The positioning and the timing of the push were simply brilliant! Yi’s palm strike was already fully executed and it was already too late for him to withdraw the strike. A light dull sound and a loud cry of pain echoed as the tip of the long sword penetrated the middle of Yi’s palm. Pulling his palm backward hastily, with another dull sound, he had drawn his hand off the sword tip, but the damage was done. He had inflicted a severe injury. Leaping back dozens of feet, he drew his long sword by his waist with a mixed feeling of shock and fury.

“The damn chap was only acting dumb. So you actually have outstanding Kung Fu. I…I’ll fight you to the end!” he growled.

Xin, Yi, and Tan, all three of them, were experts in sword arts. Seeing that when Linghu Chong pushed his sword put, he wasn’t using any move, and only with his control of the positioning and timing of his sword, he had managed to have his opponent sending his palm onto the tip of the sword of his own accord. His attainments in sword arts had truly reached the highest stage of the realm.

Although Yi was infuriated, he dared not to underestimate Linghu Chong. Holding the long sword in his left hands, he shot out three quick thrusts, all of which were fake attacks to test the opponent. Each of the thrusts only went half way before he drew the sword back.

That night when Linghu Chong had blinded fifteen elite fighters outside of the Buddha of Herb Monastery, even though he had already lost all his inner strength by then, he had still been in a much better shape compared to now. The several ordeals since then had really done him in. By now he almost felt incapable of raising his sword. Seeing the three fake attacks from Yi and how the sword tip vibrated continuously, he knew those must have been superior sword moves of the Shaolin School, which only made him more reluctant of making Yi an enemy.

“I intend absolutely no offense to three senior masters. If the three of you would walk away, I…I will apologize most sincerely.”

“It’s too late to beg for mercy now!” Yi grunted. Thrusting his sword forward in lightning speed, he shot the sword tip toward Linghu Chong’s throat.

Linghu Chong knew too well that with his current weak physical condition, there was not a chance that he would be able to dodge out of this attack. Having no alternatives, he also thrust his sword forward. Even though his thrust was launched after Yi’s thrust, it reached the target earlier. With a thud, the tip of his sword struck Yi on the vital acupoint on his left wrist. Yi opened his palm in pain, and his long sword fell to the ground.

By then, the light of dawn had already appeared from the east. Staring at the drops of blood rolling down his left wrist and then dripping down to the ground, Yi couldn’t even believe his eyes. After a long while, he heaved a deep sigh, turned around, and strode away. The man named Xin never wanted to become enemies of the Huashan School to start with. Now after he witnessed this brilliant and unsurpassed thrust Linghu Chong had just put on display, he knew he wouldn’t even stand a chance fighting Linghu Chong. Concerned about his apprentice brother’s injury, he called out, “Apprentice brother Yi,” and then ran after Yi.

“Are you really an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School?” the man named Tan finally asked after gazing at Linghu Chong for a good while.

“Yes, I am!” Linghu Chong answered as he struggled to maintain his balance on the verge of a total collapse.

Tan could tell that Linghu Chong was suffering from very serious internal injuries. Even though Linghu Chong had showed outstanding sword skills, all he had to do was to wait a few moments more. He didn’t even have to attach, and Linghu Chong would just collapse on his own.

“One injured and one scared away, both elite fighters from the Shaolin School suffered setbacks because of this young man from the Huashan School. If I can knock him down and then seize him, bringing him to the Shaolin Temple, not only would I have done the Shaolin School a great favor, our Kunlun School would also look real good in the central region of the Martial World,” Tan thought inwardly as he took a step forward and then said with a smile.

“Young man, you sword skills are not too shabby at all. How about a contest in the realm of palm and hand techniques between the two of us? What do you say?”

Just a glance at Tan’s face had given Linghu Chong enough idea about what Tan had in his mind. “This man is so deceitful. He is even more detestable than that Yi from the Shaolin School,” he couldn’t help but think. Raising his sword, he stabbed it out toward Tan’s shoulder, but his strength drained out of him so quickly that the stab only traveled halfway before he lost the grip of the sword. “Clank!” His sword fell to the ground.

Tan was almost ecstatic. Wasting no time, he struck out with a powerful palm strike, and the strike landed heavily on Linghu Chong’s chest. Linghu Chong’s body jerked back violently as blood spurted out from mouth. There was only a short space between the two, and the spurt of blood splashed all over Tan’s face, leaving even a few drops inside his mouth. Tan felt the taste of blood inside his mouth, but he didn’t pay much attention to it, and raised his right palm, ready for another palm strike, deeply afraid that Linghu Chong might pick up his sword and launch a counterattack. But suddenly he felt great dizziness, and before he knew it, he had dropped to the ground.

Seeing that Tan had suddenly fainted when he, himself, was at his last gasp, Linghu Chong was taken by total surprise. But at the meanwhile, he couldn’t help feeling very lucky. Tan’s face now showed a shade of dark color, and the muscle on his face twisted and twitched, making his face looking utterly strange and horrible.

“You have only yourself to blame for not initializing your inner strength properly!” Linghu Chong muttered.

He looked around him in all directions. It was indeed a very strange scene. There was not another person on the Five-Tyrant Ridge. The only sound was the chirping from the many birds on treetops, and the only things left were the many wine kettles, bowls, and dish plates, which scattered all over the place.

“Granny, how have you been these days?” after wiping the blood off his lips with his sleeves, he asked.

“Young Master, you are too fatigued right now. Please sit down and take a rest,” the granny replied.

Linghu Chong was truly exhausted by now. Hearing the granny’s words, he sat down to the ground. The zither music rose gently in the shack once again. It almost felt like a stream of clear spring, which had washed over his entire body, and then flew through him. Linghu Chong felt as though his body had become lighter and lighter, and had floated on top of the white clouds that felt like cotton wool. After a long time, the sound of the zither became lower and lower, until eventually it was so dim that it was barely audible.

Linghu Chong felt much rejuvenated. Getting back onto his feet, he bowed deeply.

“You risked your life to repel powerful enemies, saving me from being humiliated by rascals. It is I who feel thankful for you,” the granny replied.

The granny fell silent, and a few tender sounds from the zither echoed, as though the granny was plucking the strings of the zither randomly while wavering upon something in her mind. After a while, she asked.

Feeling of desolation welled up in Linghu Chong’s heart, which almost choked him and made him cough uncontrollably for a good while. It just seemed that there was not a place between heaven and earth he could shelter himself.

“I…I have nowhere to go,” after finally catching his breath, Linghu Chong murmured.

“Aren’t you going to look for your Master and Master-Wife? How about your apprentice brothers and apprentice…sister?”

“Them…I don’t know where they went. With my injury, the chance of finding them is too slim. Besides, even if I do find them, alas!” Linghu Chong heaved a deep sigh, thinking, “Even if I do find them, so what? They don’t want me now.”

“You injury is very severe. Why don’t you visit some beautiful scenery to relieve boredom? Wouldn’t that be better than feeling miserable in vain?”

“Granny, you are right!” Linghu Chong let out a few laughs. “I never really cared much about life and death to begin with. Farewell for now! I guess I’ll be strolling about for some fun!”

After bowing toward the shack one more time, Linghu Chong turned around and walked away. But only after three steps, he heard the granny’s voice again.

“But you have severe injuries. If you travel by yourself, there will be no one to tend upon you along the trip. That won’t be appropriate.”

Sensing the caring and concern in the granny’s words, Linghu Chong felt another surge of warmth in his heart.

“Thank you, granny, for your kind concern. My injury is incurable. It’s really no difference whether I die earlier or later, here or there.”

“Hmm, I see. But…but…” the granny paused for quite a while before finishing her sentence, “what if those two rascals from the Shaolin School come back to cause more trouble? What should I do? And that Tan Diren from the Kunlun School is only unconscious temporarily. Once he wakes up, I am afraid he’ll trouble me more.”

“Granny, where are you going? Why don’t I escort you for a stage of the journey?” Linghu Chong suggested.

“That would have been great, except that there’s a big difficulty involved. I am afraid that it will trouble you a great deal,” the granny answered.

The granny heaved a sigh and then said, “A very formidable enemy of mine came to the Bamboo-Green Alley to give me trouble, that’s why I have come here to hide. But I am sure he would trace me down in no time. Your injury has not recovered and won’t be able to fight him. I only want to find a secluded place to hide from him temporarily, so I can wait till all my helps arrive before settling accounts with him. If I ask you to escort me, then firstly, you are injured, and secondly, wouldn’t it bore you to death for such an active and lively young man to accompany such an old granny?”

“Is that it? That’s a piece of cake. Where are you headed? I’ll go with you. Even if it’s the end of the earth, as long as I am not dead, I’ll accompany you there.”

“I’ll be troubling you then. Are you serious that even if it’s the end of the earth, you’ll still accompany me there?” the granny asked, her voice filled with joy.

“That’s right! Even if it’s the end of the earth, Linghu Chong will accompany Granny there,” Linghu Chong promised.

“My face is very ugly. Anyone seeing my face will be very much frightened. Therefore I do not wish anyone to see my face. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have objected those three men when they wanted to enter the shack to see me. You must promise me that under any circumstance, you will never cast a look at me. You can’t look at my face, my body, my hands, my feet, or even my clothes.”

“I am grateful that Granny cared for me and I respect Granny very much. What has Granny’s appearance has anything to do with it?” Linghu Chong replied.

“Fine, fine! I promise. I promise that I’ll never cast a look at you under any circumstances,” Linghu Chong agreed hurriedly.

“Could your back have been utterly ugly as well?” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “The ugliest back had to be from a midget, or a hunchback. But even those are no big deal. It’s not gonna be easy if I can’t even look at your back throughout such a long journey.”

“I can. I can. If I cast even one look at Granny, I’ll cut my own eyes out,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Sure!” Linghu Chong answered and then began taking the path down the ridge. Sounds of footsteps rose behind him. The granny followed.

After walking for a few dozen of feet, the granny handed Linghu Chong a branch from behind.

Using the branch as a crutch to support himself, he walked down the ridge slowly. After some more walking, he suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, that Tan Diren is a good hand amount the second generation of apprentices in the Kunlun School. He mastered about sixty to seventy percent of his Master’s sword skills. But compared to his big apprentice brother and second apprentice brother, he is still far behind. That big fellow Xin Guoliang from the Shaolin School has better sword skills than him.”

“So that man with a loud voice is named Xin Guoliang. He seemed to be reasonable.”

“His junior apprentice brother’s name is Yi Guozi. That one was a total jerk. Those two thrusts of yours, one penetrating his palm, the other one injuring his left wrist, were quite handsome.”

“I had no choice. Alas, now I’ve started a feud with the Shaolin School. That can only bring endless of future trouble.”

“What about the Shaolin School? There’s a good chance we can beat them. I didn’t expect that Tan Diren would hit you with a palm strike, and I had no idea that you would spurt blood.”

“Granny, you saw everything? I wonder why that Tan Diren suddenly passed out cold.”

“Didn’t you know? Blue Phoenix and the four Miao Girls under her command gave you a lot of blood. They are around venomous pests days and nights, so naturally their blood contained poison. Besides, the Five-Sylph Wine is utmost toxic. When your poisonous blood splashed into his mouth, of course he could not stand it.”

“Oh!” Linghu Chong finally understood. “How could I stand it, then? How odd! I never had any grudges against that Chief Blue. I wonder why she would want to harm me.”

“Who said she wanted to harm you? She had all good intentions, humph, wishful thinking, wanting to cure your injury and all. To poison your blood yet preserve your life is the trick her Five-Sylph Sect is really good at.”

“I see. I thought that Chief Blue had no ill wills toward me. Doctor Ping One-Finger said that her medicinal wine was the utmost tonic.”

“Of course she had no ill wills toward you. She couldn’t have had more good wills,” the granny exclaimed, which was returned by a smile on Linghu Chong’s face.

“That depends on his own internal strength and how much poisonous blood splashed into his mouth.”

Remembering the expression on Tan Diren’s face after he was poisoned, Linghu Chong couldn’t help but shiver. After walking another hundred of feet, he suddenly remembered another thing and shouted out immediately.

“Oops, Granny, will you please wait here for me? I need to get back onto the ridge.”

“The remains of Doctor Ping’s body is still on the ridge and have not been buries yet.”

“Nah, it wasn’t a burial. I dissolved his body using dissolvent powder. Did you expect me to stare at a dead corpse all night long? Ping One-Finger didn’t look that great when he was still alive. After he turned into a corpse, you can imagine how he looked.”

Linghu Chong answered with a snort, but he couldn’t help thinking that the granny’s behavior was beyond all expectations. He owed Ping One-Finger great favor, and after Ping One-Finger passed away, he should have given him a proper burial, but this Granny opted to dissolve the body using dissolvent powder. The more he thought about this, the more uneasy he became, but as to why it was wrong to dissolve the body using dissolvent powder, he could not say.

After the both of them traveled for over a mile, they had arrived at the plain at the foot of the ridge.

“Okay!” Linghu Chong answered, feeling surprised, wondering what kind of trick she was going to play this time. He opened his palm as directed, and then with a small pop, a small object was thrown from behind his back and fell right in the middle of his palm. It was a yellow pill about the size of one’s little finger.

“I gave you medicine to extend your life only because I rely on your brilliant sword skills for a safe journey, so you won’t suddenly die on me and make me lose my escort. It’s not because I have any good intentions for…for you, much less an attempt to save your life. You’d better remember that,” the granny exclaimed.

Linghu Chong acknowledged with a snort. Walking by the tree he sat down, leaning against the trunk of the tree, when a stream of warmth rose up from his lower abdomen and then flowed into the many passages and channels inside his body. It felt as though the stream of warmth also carried much energy and rejuvenated all his internal organs and arteries.

“This pill obviously is of great benefit for me, but the granny just wouldn’t admit that she cared for me, and kept saying that she was only taking advantage of me. There are only people who deny everything once they took advantage of others. Why does she speak the opposite?” Linghu Chong pondered. “And when she threw the pill into my palm, the pill did not even bounce. Apparently she threw it with a sinking force, which could only have been executed with very high-level inner energy. Her Kung Fu skills are much higher than mine. She doesn’t need me to protect her. Well, if this is what she wants, I’ll just comply.”

“Granny, are you tired? Let’s go now,” after a brief rest, Linghu Chong stood up and said.

“Okay,” Linghu Chong replied as he thought to himself, “For elder people, despite how excellent their Kung Fu skills might be, they still lack the level of vigor a youth possesses. I really should have shown more solicitude for the granny instead of only thinking about myself.” At that thought, he sat back down.

Linghu Chong answered with a nod, and then walked at the front while the granny followed him behind. The pill certainly made a great difference. Linghu Chong found himself walking at a brisk pace. Following the granny’s instructions, he always picked desolated mountain trails. After a few miles of walking, the mountain trail gradually turned more and more rugged and rough, which made Linghu Chong breath more heavily.

“Sure,” Linghu Chong responded and then sat down on the ground, thinking to himself, “Her breathing is still deep and calm. She can’t be tired at all. She obviously wants me to take a break, but would rather claim that she was the one tired.”

After resting for about ten minutes, the two set out walking again. After turning a mountain ridge, they suddenly heard a loud voice talking.

“Everybody hurry up with your meal. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. This place is apt to get into trouble,” the voice exclaimed, which was answered by dozens of people all together.

Linghu Chong paused his steps and glanced over, then saw dozens of men sitting in a circle eating their food on a stretch of meadow by the mountain stream. By then, these men had also spotted Linghu Chong and someone had already shouted out.

Linghu Chong vaguely remembered seeing them on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge the night before. Just when he was about to shout his greetings, suddenly, the dozens of men all froze and goggled toward the direction behind his back in dead silence, their faces looking totally awkward. Some looked terrified, while some others looked perplexed and alarmed, as though they had suddenly encountered something so inexpressibly peculiar, something they did not know how to deal with.

As soon as Linghu Chong saw the bizarre scene, he wanted to look back over his shoulder to find out what on earth had happened behind him that would have turned the dozens of people into clay idols and wooden dummies, but he suddenly realized: these people only reacted like this because they saw the Granny behind him, and he had promised the granny that he would never cast a look at her. At that thought, he hurriedly jerked his head to look forward again. The strength he put in was so overwhelming that his neck muscle ached because of it. But meanwhile, his curiosity soared.

“Why are they so terrified at the sight of the granny? Could the granny have really been so gruesome looking that it makes her totally out of this world?” he couldn’t help but think.

Suddenly, a man raised the dagger he had been using to slice meat and stabbed toward his two eyes. Instantly, blood gushed out of his eye sockets.

“I lost my eyes three days ago, and have not been able to see anything ever since,” the man exclaimed loudly.

Within seconds, another two men also drew their short knives and blinded themselves with a few quick stabs. “We’ve been blind for ages. We could not see a thing,” they also exclaimed.

Linghu Chong was dumbstruck. Seeing that the rest men in the group also each drew out their daggers and awls and were about to blind themselves just the same, he yelled out hastily.

“Hey! Hey! Hold it! Let’s talk it over. Don’t hurt yourselves. Why…why do you do that?”

“I was going to swear an oath that I’ll never dare talk about it, but I am afraid that it would not be convincing,” a man answered in a saddened voice.

“Granny, please do something. Ask them to stop blinding themselves, will you?” Linghu Chong shouted.

“Very well, I trust you. There’s an island called Twine-Dragon Island in the East Sea. Has any of you heard of it before?” the granny asked.

“There’s an island called Twine-Dragon Island about two hundred miles from the Quanzhou City in Fujian. I heard that it’s an untraversed and desolated island,” an old man answered.

“That’s the one. Why don’t you set out right away to have some fun on the Twine-Dragon Island? There’s no need for you to ever come back to the central region again,” the granny said.

“We’ll set out right away!” the dozens of men answered in unison, all looking very pleased.

“Whether you speak or not, what has that gotten anything to do with me?” the granny spoke in a chilling tone.

“Right! Right! I was just talking rubbish,” the man answered immediately, and raising his hands high, he began slapping his own face.

At the command, the dozens of men broke into a gallop. The tree blind fellows, helped by the arm by their fellow companions, also walked away in strides. Within moments, all of them had vanished from sight.

Linghu Chong gasped with astonishment. “Just a few words from the granny have banished all those people to a desolate island in the East Sea, with no hope of returning within this life, yet all these people appeared highly delighted at the punishment as though they have just received their pardoned. This is just so inconceivable.”

He walked on silently, many thoughts surging in his mind, thinking that the granny following behind him had to be the most eccentric oddball he had ever seen.

“I just hope we won’t walk into more friends from the Five-Tyrant Ridge along our way,” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “They all came warmheartedly for curing my injury. If by any chance they bump into the granny, then either they had to blind themselves, or be banished to some barren island in the sea. That would certainly not be worthwhile. It looks as if the reason why Chief Huang, Chieftain Sima, and Zu Qianqiu asked me to pretend that I had never met them, and the reason why the many people on the Five-Tyrant Ridge dispersed all of a sudden, were all because of this granny. They were scared of this granny. So what…what kind of horrible monster is she?” At that thought, he couldn’t help but shiver.

After they had walked another three or four miles, a voice suddenly shouted a distance away behind them, “That’s Linghu Chong over there.” The voice was extremely loud and thunderous. Linghu Chong didn’t even have to guess whose voice that had belonged to – Xin Guoliang from the Shaolin School.

“All right,” Linghu Chong answered as the scrubs by his side rustled. The granny had hidden herself among the bushes.

“Uncle-Master, that Linghu Chong is wounded. He can’t walk very fast,” Xin Guoliang’s voice rose again.

There was actually still quite a distance between them, but because Xin Guoliang’s voice was simply too loud, even just a casual remark from him would make its way into Linghu Chong’s ears clearly.

“So he came with his Uncle-Master,” Linghu Chong thought. Since they’ve already seen him, he decided to just sit by the side of the path and wait for them.

After a short while, sounds of footsteps echoed as several men walked along the path in quick strides. Xin Guoliang and Yi Guozi were both among the group. There were also two monks and a middle-aged man. One of the monks was a very old man with many wrinkles across his face. The other monk was about thirty years of age and held a Buddhist’s Spade in his hand.

“Linghu Chong, a junior of the Huashan School here shows his respects to the many senior masters of the Shaolin School. May I have the honor to hear senior masters’ names?” he greeted.

As soon as the old monk spoke out, Yi Guozi held his tongue, but the glooming expression on his face clearly showed that he was still infuriated about the setback he suffered moments back.

“I pay my respects to the Great Master!” Linghu Chong put his palms together and bowed.

“Young Hero, please don’t be over-courteous. How is your respectful master Mr. Yue?” Fang-Sheng nodded and then spoke with a kind and pleasant countenance.

At first, when Linghu Chong heard the group bearing down after him so menacingly, he was alarmed and on tenterhooks. After seeing Monk Fang-Sheng speaking and behaving with the demeanor of a sensible and accomplished monk, also knowing that monks of the “Fang” generation were the most senior ones in the Shaolin Temple as apprentice brothers of the temple abbot, Great Master Fang-Zheng, he reckoned that Monk Fang-Sheng was not someone who persisted unreasonably like that Yi Guozi and felt some relief at once.

“Thank you for asking, Great Master! My Master is well and sound,” he answered respectfully.

“These four are all my Nephew-Apprentices. This monk’s Buddhist’s name is Jue-Yue, this is Nephew-Apprentice Huang Guobo, this is Nephew-Apprentice Xin Guoliang, and that’s Nephew-Apprentice Yi Guozi. I believe you have met Xin and Yi before,” Fang-Sheng introduced.

“Ah, yes! Linghu Chong here shows his respects to four senior masters. I have severe wounds and cannot move about freely. If there’s any lack of manners on my side, I beg for senior masters’ pardon.” Linghu Chong cupped his hands.

“Do you really have severe wounds? Guozi, was it you who wounded him?” Fang-Sheng asked.

“It was just a misunderstanding. There’s nothing to it. Senior master Yi threw me to the ground with a brush of his sleeve and then hit me with a palm strike also. But don’t worry. I can probably still hang on to my life for a short while. Great Master, you don’t need to reproach senior master Yi,” Linghu Chong said.

He intentionally mentioned about his severe wounds at the very beginning, and also blamed it all on Yi Guozi, thinking that Fang-Sheng, the capable and senior monk, would certainly not allow those four Nephew-Apprentices of his to make trouble for him again.

“Senior master Xin saw everything with his own eyes on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge,” he continued. “But since Great Master has come yourself. That’s a great favor for a junior like me. I promise you that I’ll never mentioned this incident in front of my Master. You can rest assured, Great Master, that even though my wounds are incurable, this incident will not stir up any dispute between the Five Mountains Sword Alliance and the Shaolin School.”

With these words, it sounded as though it was all Yi Guozi’s fault that he had suffered severe and incurable injuries.

“That…that…that’s total nonsense! You were severely injured all along. What have I gotten anything to do with it?” Yi Guozi snarled.

“Well, senior master Yi, I don’t think it’s a good idea to mention that to anybody. If the story gets out, wouldn’t that have stained the clean fame of the Shaolin School?” Linghu Chong let out a gentle sigh and then said quietly.

Xin Guoliang, Huang Guobo, and Jue-Yue all nodded slightly, fully understanding what Linghu Chong had meant. The “Fang” generation monks of the Shaolin School had extreme seniority in the Martial World. Although the Shaolin School is a separate school from the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, when ranked by seniority, they would have equated to masters one generation above the Head Masters of each of the Five Mountains sword schools. Therefore, Xin Guoliang and Yi Guozi’s seniority would also be one generation above Linghu Chong. When Yi Guozi had fought Linghu Chong, one could have already called that a senior bullies a junior, not mentioning that the Shaolin School had two masters at the scene, and on top of that, Linghu Chong had already been severely injured before the fight. The Shaolin School had very strict school rules. If Yi Guozi had really slain a junior from the Huashan School, the punishment could have been as severe as the capital punishment to pay with his life. At least, he would have been stripped off all his Kung Fu skills and be expelled from the school. When Yi Guozi thought of the consequences, his face whitened from fear.

“Young hero, please come closer. Let me take a look at your wounds,” Fang-Sheng proposed.

Linghu Chong stepped closer. Fang-Sheng reached out with his right hand and then gripped Linghu Chong’s wrist. As soon as he placed his fingers on the “Da-Yuan” and the “Jing-Qu” acupoints on Linghu Chong’s wrist, he felt a stream of peculiar inner energy inside Linghu Chong’s body, which gave his fingers a violent jolt and made them slip off the acupoints. Fang-Sheng felt a shock in his heart. He was one of the few top fighters among the highest generation of Shaolin monks. It was simply unimaginably queer that the inner energy inside the young man was powerful enough to jolt away his fingers. How could he have known that there were inner energy streams from the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies and Monk No Commandment inside Linghu Chong’s body? Although he had top notch Kung Fu, himself, when caught off guard, he still could not stand the combined force from those seven elite fighters. He couldn’t help but utter a light cry of surprise. Fixed his stare on Linghu Chong’s eyes, he spoke slowly.

“I am really an apprentice of the Huashan School. I was the first apprentice my master Mr. Yue ever took in,” Linghu Chong replied.

“Then why did you learn the heretical Kung Fu from heterodoxy people afterwards?” Fang-Sheng requested.

“Uncle-Master, this chap is without a doubt using heterodoxy Kung Fu. There’s no point denying it. Didn’t we see a woman follow behind him just now? Where is she hiding now? I bet she is no good egg, acting so clandestine and all!” Yi Guozi cut in.

“You are a member of a renowned school. How can you be so out of manners?” hearing Yi Guozi insulting the granny, Linghu Chong yelled angrily. “Granny just doesn’t want to see you so as not to get angry over you.”

“You tell her to come out. Whether she is good or evil, my Uncle-Master can tell with his sharp eyes,” Yi Guozi dared him.

“Our dispute started because you were disrespectful to my granny. Haven’t you spoken enough nonsense?” Linghu Chong rebuffed.

“Young hero Linghu,” Jue-Yue joined in, “earlier when I looked by the hill, I could see that the woman following behind you walked in very nimble steps, and didn’t seem to be an aged woman.”

“Granny is a member of the Martial World. It’s only natural that she had nimble steps. What’s so odd about that?” Linghu Chong disagreed.

“Jue-Yue, we are members of the Buddha’s order. How can we insist on seeing the elder, female member of other people?” Fang-Sheng reproved. Turning toward Linghu Chong, he said, “Young hero Linghu, there are many doubtful points in this matter that I could not figure out. You are indeed severely wounded. But your internal wounds are completely out of the ordinary. It could not have been my Nephew-Apprentice Yi who had caused the injuries. It is fate that has brought us here together today. I wish you a speedy recovery. Farewell for now. Your internal injury is very serious. I have two pills here that you can take. But I am afraid they won’t cure….” Fang-Sheng reached into his chest pocket.

Linghu Chong felt his admiration soar in his heart. “An accomplished monk from Shaolin shows extraordinary bearings indeed,” he thought to himself. Bowing toward Fang-Sheng, he said, “It is so fortunate that I can meet Great Master….”

Before he had a chance to finish his words, suddenly a loud ring echoed and Yi Guozi had unsheathed his sword.

“Here she is!” Yi shouted excitedly and then dived into the bush where the granny had been hiding, sword first.

With a loud whoosh, Yi Guozi had flown back out from the bush and after gliding tens of feet in the air. Smack, he dropped to the ground like a log, facing upwards. His arms and legs twitched a few times and then he became still.

Fang-Sheng and the rest of the people were astounded. A hole had appeared on Yi’s forehead, from which blood gushed out. He still held a tight grip of the long sword in his hand, but he had already stopped breathing.

Xin Guoliang, Huang Guobo, and Jue-Yue roared in unison. Each gripping his weapon tightly they made at the bush in fury. Fang-Sheng extended his arms to his sides, and as the loose sleeves of the monk’s robe spread open, a powerful yet soft stream of energy force blocked the three men like an invisible wall.

“May I ask which friend from the Dark-Wood Cliff has come here?” turning toward the bush Fang-Sheng asked gravely, his voice loud and clear. But only silence followed, complete silence, which swept all over the hundreds of shrubs and bushes.

“Our school never had any imbroglio with the Dark-Wood Cliff. Why have you slain Nephew-Apprentice Yi with such murderous scheme?” he asked again, but still, no one responded from within the bushes.

“The Dark-Wood Cliff? The Dark-Wood Cliff is where the Demon’s Cult is headquartered. Could…could this granny have been a senior member of the Demon’s Cult?” Linghu Chong was thunderstruck.

“I’ve had the chance to make acquaintance with Chief Dongfang once many years ago. Friend, now that you have committed the murder, we must settle the discord once for all. Why don’t you show yourself?” Fang-Sheng urged.

“Chief Dongfang? Is he talking about the chief of the Demon’s Cult, Dongfang Invincible? That man was known as the number one fighter in the entire world. Then…then this granny really is a member of the Demon’s Cult.” Linghu Chong felt another shock shooting up his spine.

“Friend, if you insist on not showing yourself, please excuse the old monk’s discourtesy then!” Fang-Sheng exclaimed as he retracted his arms slightly, and immediately, energy soared inside his two sleeves, inflating them like two large balloons. He pushed his arms forward and the powerful force shot out from his palms. A loud crack exploded in the air as the dozens of scrubs all broke from the middle and small branches and leaves swirled in the midair. Right at that moment, a shadow leapt out from the remains of the bushes.

Even though Linghu Chong really wanted to take a look at the granny’s appearance, he still remembered the promised he had made and quickly turned his back to it. He could hear the roaring and bellowing from Xin Guoliang and Jue-Yue, together with the sounds of weapons clashing with each other, so dense and so speedy that it sounded as though the raindrops from a thunderstorm bouncing off the window. Apparently the granny had already engaged in the right with Fang-Sheng and his group.

It was about 10 o’clock in the morning, and the sun hung in a corner of the sky, casting rays of sunshine down from an angle. Although Linghu Chong found himself tormented by anxiety and curiosity, in order to keep his promise, he dared not turn his head around to glance at the fight, and only looked down at the ground where dark shadows cast by the five fighters fluttered wildly. Fang-Sheng and his three Nephew-Apprentices had surrounded the granny. Fang-Sheng was not holding any weapon in his hands; Jue-Yue was using a Buddhist’s Spade; Huang Guobo used a knife; Xin Guoliang wielded a long sword. The granny had a pair of very short weapons in her hands. They looked like daggers, yet also assembled the shapes of Emei Stings. The weapons were short and thin, and almost looked as though they were transparent. Looking only based on the shadow from the sun Linghu Chong could not make out what kind of weapons they were. The granny and Fang-Sheng both fought quietly, whereas Xin Guoliang and the rest two all bellowed at the top of their lungs, which seemed to have made their attacks more menacing.

“Can’t we talk this over? This is outrageous, four guys attacking an elderly granny at the same time!” Linghu Chong protested.

“An elderly granny? Ha-ha, this chap must be daydreaming. She…” Huang Guobo scoffed when Fang-Sheng suddenly shouted to him, “Huang…watch out!”

Linghu Chong was almost struck dumb with amazement. “This granny’s Kung Fu must have been terrific!” he thought. “Earlier when Great Master Fang-Sheng broke those scrubs with shear energy force, he showed astonishing inner strength. But this granny is still able to get the upper hand one against four!”

Suddenly, Jue-Yue also cried loudly in pain. The Buddhist’s Spade flew out of his grip, over Linghu Chong’s head, and then fell to the ground dozens of feet away. By then, there were only three fluttering shadows on the ground. Both Huang Guobo and Jue-Yue had collapsed, and it was only Fang-Sheng and Xin Guoliang still left in the fight against the granny.

“What a sin! What a sin! You are too ruthless, killing my three Nephew-Apprentices one after another. I can no longer hold my hands. You give me no choice but to do everything in my power to contend with you,” Fang-Sheng exclaimed.

Loud clapping sounds followed. It appears that Great Master had wielded his weapon, which seems to have fallen under the category of a wooden club or staff. Linghu Chong only felt the turbulence of energy behind his back became swifter and fiercer, which compelled him to take steps forward again and again.

An accomplished Shaolin Monk was certainly no trivial matter. As soon as Great Master Fang-Sheng began using his weapon, the situation of the fight changed immediately. Linghu Chong could vaguely hear the granny gasping heavily as though she had used up her inner strength.

“Throw down your weapons! I won’t make this difficult for you. I only want you to come with me to the Shaolin Temple, so I can tell the abbot apprentice brother what happened and then awaits his judgment,” Great Master Fang-Sheng said.

The granny did not respond, instead, she suddenly launched a series of quick attacks toward Xin Guoliang, who had a hard time fending them off and retreated from the fight, letting Great Master Fang-Sheng to take it over. After taking a short moment to collect himself, Xin Guoliang rejoined the fight, waving his long sword fiercely. After a few more minutes, the clanking sounds from the weapons clashing against each other gradually slowed down while the turbulence created by the inner energy streams turned louder and louder.

“Your inner strength is no match for me. If I were you, I would have thrown down the weapons and then go to the Shaolin Temple with me. Forcing yourself to go on with the fight would only result in severe internal injury,” Great Master Fang-Sheng persuaded.

The granny only replied with an angry snort. But suddenly she shrieked and Linghu Chong felt some kind of watery substance splashing onto the back of his neck. He wiped it with his hand and then looked at the hand, which was now in a color of dark red. What had splashed onto the back of his neck turned out to be blood.

“What a sin! What a sin! With your new wound, you won’t be able to hold out much longer. You should know that I have been holding back all along,” Great Master Fang-Sheng spoke again.

“This woman is an evil demon. Uncle-Master, please eradicate the evil and avenge the three apprentice brothers. How can we who any mercy to an evil monster?” Xin Guoliang snarled.

Linghu Chong could hear the heavy panting and the staggering footsteps of the granny, and it sounded as if she could be collapsing any minute. “The granny asked me to be her escort so I can protect her. How could I just stand by the side when she is in great danger?” he thought to himself. With an echoing ring, he had unsheathed his long sword.

“Great Master Fang-Sheng, senior master Xin, please stop the fight, or else I’ll have no choice but to offend you,” Linghu Chong exclaimed loudly.

“We’ll just eradicate this evil along with the other evil then,” Xin Guoliang bellowed as he thrust his sword toward Linghu Chong’s back.

Afraid that he might cast a glance at the granny, Linghu Chong dared not to turn around and simply dodged to the side.

“Watch out!” the granny shouted as Xin Guoliang also adjusted the angle of the thrust and still pushed his long sword toward Linghu Chong’s back.

Suddenly Xin Guoliang screeched loudly as his body flew over Linghu Chong’s left shoulder with an angle. Then a loud thump followed when his body hit the ground. His limbs twitched a few times before he finally stopped moving. Somehow the granny had managed to hit him with a lethal blow. Only seconds later, there was another loud thump. The granny had been hit with a palm strike from Great Master Fang-Sheng, which sent her flying in the air and then falling into the bushes.

“Granny, Granny! Are you alright?” Linghu Chong yelled in astonishment, then he heard the granny groaning in an undertone.

Feeling somewhat relieved that the granny was still alive, Linghu Chong turned slightly and then shot a thrust at Fang-Sheng. The positioning of the thrust was extremely clever and Fang-Sheng was forced to leap back. Linghu Chong immediately followed with another thrust, which Fang-Sheng managed to block with his weapon. By the time Linghu Chong withdrew his long sword, he had already turn completely around and was now standing in front of Great Master Fang-Sheng face to face. Now he finally saw the weapon Great Master was using: a three-foot long worn staff.

“Who would have expected his weapon to be simply a short staff?” Linghu Chong was taken aback. “This Shaolin monk’s inner strength is too overwhelming. If I don’t subdue him with my sword arts, the granny would die for sure.” At that thought, he quickly thrust up once, down once, and then up another twice, all using techniques taught by Feng Qingyang.

“You…you….” Great Master Fang-Sheng croaked, his face turning completely white.

Linghu Chong dared not to slow down in anyway, knowing too well what consequences that would have brought. He did not have any internal strength, so any slack would give his opponent the opportunity to overwhelm him with resourceful inner energy. Then undoubtedly he would be killed instantly and the granny would for sure be taken to the Shaolin Temple as a prisoner and later executed. He cleared his mind completely, and then poured out techniques after techniques from the profound “Dugu Nine Swords” at will. The “Dugu Nine Swords” sword art was the utmost fine and ingenious sword art. Although Linghu Chong had lost all his inner strength and had not fully understood all the subtleties of this sword art, his sword attacks forced Great Master Fang-Sheng to back up step after step. Soon, Linghu Chong felt the energy streams soaring inside his chest once again and his arms aching and limp; his sword moves also grew weaker and weaker.

“Drop your sword,” Fang-Sheng suddenly shouted out as his struck his left palm toward Linghu Chong’s solar plexus.

By then, Linghu Chong was already done up. He thrust his sword out, but only half way through with the thrust, his arm dropped down from exhaustion, which also lowered the sword. Grinding his teeth, Linghu Chong pushed the thrust forward anyway, but this slight delay had slowed his thrust quite a bit, and Great Master Fang-Sheng had already placed his left palm on Linghu Chong’s soar plexus, holding his inner strength back, asking, “Dugu Nine Swords! Where…?”

But right at that split of a second, Linghu Chong’s sword also pierced into Fang-Sheng’s pit of stomach. Ever since he met the Shaolin monk, Linghu Chong had held him in the highest regard. As soon as he felt the sword tip touching Fang-Sheng’s skin, he pulled hastily with all his strength and withdrew his sword. Having used too much strength at the pull, he lost his balance and fell to the ground, blood gushing out from his mouth.

“Brilliant sword arts!” Great Master Fang-Sheng pressed his hand onto the wound on his chest and praised brightly. “If young hero had not shown mercy with your sword, my life would have perished right in front of my own eyes.”

He did not mention a word about the fact that he had shown great mercy by holding back the power from his palm strike and began coughing wildly after speaking these words. Although Linghu Chong worked his best to withdraw the sword, the tip of the sword still cut into Fang-Sheng’s chest, leaving a wound over an inch deep, injuring Fang-Sheng seriously.

“I am…am terribly…sorry that I…I have offended you, Great Master,” Linghu Chong gasped.

“I certainly had not thought that senior master Feng Qingyang of Huashan had found a disciple for his brilliant sword arts. I had once received great graciousness from senior master Feng many years ago. Today’s matter, I…I can not decide for myself,” Great Master Fang-Sheng speak softly. Reaching into his rope slowly, he took out a small paper bag and then unwrapped it, showing two pills in the size of two longans inside. “These are healing panaceas of the Shaolin Temple. You can take one,” he said. After a slight hesitation, he said, “Give the other one to that woman.”

“My injuries are incurable; why waste a perfectly good pill? Great Master, I think you should take the other pill yourself,” Linghu Chong replied.

Great Master Fang-Sheng shook his head and then set the two pills down in front of Linghu Chong. Turning his head around, he looked at the four corpses on the ground one by one, his face now looking mournful and grieved. Putting his palms together, he began reciting some Buddhist scriptures in a gentle voice, and gradually, a look of harmony started to blossom on his face, and eventually, his face appeared so peaceful as though it was glowing with a divine halo, looking “infinitely merciful.”

Feeling awfully lightheaded, Linghu Chong knew that he could not hold out much longer, so he picked up the two pills and took one down his throat.

When Great Master Fang-Sheng finally finished reciting the scriptures, he turned to Linghu Chong again.

“The disciple of senior master Feng’s Dugu Nine Swords can not have been a follower of evil. Young hero, you have great chivalry deep in your heart. Reasonably speaking, you should not die an untimely death. But the internal injury you are suffering is extremely peculiar and cannot be cured with medicine or acupuncture. The only way for you to stay alive would have to be studying advanced internal Qi-Gong, yourself. If you listen to an old Buddhist monk, I suggest you come to the Shaolin Temple together with me, and then I’ll entreat the Head Master apprentice brother to teach you the utmost supreme internal energy techniques of our Shaolin School. I am sure, then, your internal injuries can be cured.”

After some more coughs, he continued, “Only the few who possess the right Karma can study this set of Qi-Gong techniques. I, for example, do not have such fortune. The Head Master of the Shaolin School, my senior apprentice brother, is especially large-minded. He might find you the one with the right Karma to teach this supreme Kung Fu to.”

“Great Master, many thanks for your kindness. After I’ve escorted Granny to a safe place, if I were lucky to be still alive, I would pay a visit to the Shaolin Temple and pay my respects to Great Master and the Head Master Abbot,” Linghu Chong replied respectfully.

“You…you call her Granny?” A look of surprise spread over Fang-Sheng’s face as he muttered. “Young hero, you are an apprentice of a reputable and orthodox school. You should not associate with evil. My suggestion is for your own good. It will be wise to reconsider.”

“A true man always keeps his words. How can I break my promise to others,” Linghu Chong exclaimed.

“Very well! I look forward to seeing young hero again in the Shaolin Temple.” Great Master Fang-Sheng sighed. Casting a quick glance at the four corpses on the ground, he murmured, “Four abandoned vessels,[3] burial or no burial, what difference does it show. When a soul leaves the mortal world, death ends it all.” Turning on his heels, he strolled away.

“Granny, are you…are you alright?” Linghu Chong asked while sitting on the ground, unable to move. He gasped wildly, his entire body aching.

“I won’t die!” she replied. “You’d better go with that old monk. He said he could cure your internal injuries. The internal Qi-Gong techniques of the Shaolin School are absolutely matchless in the world. Why are you still here?”

“I promised to escort Granny, then of course I’ll escort all the way,” Linghu Chong answered.

“I am an evil, heterodox monster, and you are an apprentice of a reputable, orthodox school. If you associate with me, aren’t I ruining the clean name of an apprentice of a reputable school?”

“I never had any clean name to start with. What do I care how others think of me? Granny, you have been so kind to me. Linghu Chong is not one who doesn’t know what’s right and what’s wrong. You have been severely wounded. If I leave you just like that, how can I ever see my own face in a mirror?”

“So you are saying that if I had not incurred any wounds, you would have left me just like that, aren’t you?” the granny snapped.

“If Granny you don’t dislike me, a young and ignorant lad, and would prefer to have me around as company, then Linghu Chong is willing to stay by your side and be your chat partner. But I am afraid that I have always been a crude one who commits all kinds of outrages at will, and maybe only a few days into it, Granny would not want to talk to me any more.”

The granny let out a snort but did not answer. Extending his arm backward, Linghu Chong handed the pill given by Great Master Fang-Sheng toward the granny.

“That Shaolin monk is truly remarkable. Granny, you killed four apprentices from his school, but he would rather spare the healing panacea for you instead of taking it himself. When he fought with you earlier, he probably held back some,” he said.

“Humph! If he did hold back, how come he still wounded me? People like that pose as members of the reputable and orthodox school, hypocritically pretending to be the good guys. I despise them,” the granny replied angrily.

“Granny, why don’t you take this pill? After I took one, I did feel much better around my chest and my stomach,” Linghu Chong suggested.

“Granny…,” Linghu Chong spoke again but was cut off by the granny abruptly.

“We are the only two here. Why do you keep calling ‘Granny,’ ‘Granny?’ Can’t you give it a rest?”

“Sure. That’ll be fine. Why aren’t you taking the pill?” Linghu Chong grinned.

“Since you think the healing pill of the Shaolin School is great, and the healing pill I gave you is no good, why didn’t you take this pill from the old monk together with the one you took earlier?” the granny mocked.

“What? When did I ever say that your healing pill is no good? You are really wronging me. Besides, the Shaolin School’s healing pill is great, and that’s why I want you to take it, so you can gather up some strength sooner for the journey.”

“I see, so you think it’s too boring to be my company, don’t you? Go ahead! Leave! Nobody is stopping you,” the granny snapped again.

“Why is the granny so grumpy all of a sudden, always at odds with me? Oh, I got it. She is suffering from severe wounds and is not feeling well, then naturally her temper went high. I can’t really blame her,” Linghu Chong thought to himself. Grinning brightly, he said, “But I am too exhausted to even move half a step. Even if I wanted to go, I couldn’t. Besides…besides…ha-ha….”

‘Ha-ha is ha-ha. Besides, even if I could go, I wouldn’t have wanted to go, unless you’ll go together with me,” Linghu Chong beamed.

At first, he had always maintained good manners when talking with the granny, but when she started to throw a fit and became unreasonable, he also became unbridled. But to his surprise, the granny did not get angry and suddenly fell into a silence, lost in thought.

“You are calling me Granny again! Have you never called others ‘Granny’ before? Don’t you get tired of calling that?” the granny reproved.

“From now on, I won’t call you granny any more. How should I call you then?” Linghu Chong asked with a smile.

The granny did not answer him right away. Only after a few moments, she finally said, “We are the only two here. Why bother? As soon as you open your mouth, I’ll know that you are talking to me. Could you have been talking to anybody else?”

“Sometimes I like to talk to myself. I hope you don’t misunderstand,” Linghu Chong smirked.

“Always talking so roguishly, no wonder your little apprentice sister doesn’t want you.” The granny snorted.

These words struck Linghu Chong right on the spot in his heart where it hurt the most. His heart sinking horribly, he couldn’t help but think, “Little apprentice sister dislikes me and likes apprentice brother Lin. Maybe that really is because I am always roguish in doing things and saying things. That’s why she was unwilling to commit her life to my care. That’s right. Apprentice brother Lin always toes the line and acts like a perfect gentleman, almost an exact duplicate of Master. If I were a girl, I would have liked him and not the always ill-behaved prodigal, let alone little apprentice sister. Alas, Linghu Chong! Linghu Chong! You always get drunk and run wild, pay no attention to school rules and regulations. You are beyond redemption. I made friends with the evil rapist Tian Boguang; I slept inside the brothel in the town of Hengyang. Little apprentice sister must have felt awful!”

“Why? Did I touch a sour spot? You are angry now, aren’t you?” didn’t hear a reply from Linghu Chong, the granny asked.

“No, I am not angry. You said it right. I always talk roguishly and doing things roguishly. No wonder little apprentice sister dislikes me, and Master, Master-Wife also dislike me.” Linghu Chong answered, his voice gloomy.

“Don’t be depressed. Your Master, Master-Wife, and your little apprentice sister dislike you doesn’t mean that there’s…there’s no one else who likes you,” the granny comforted him, her voice so soft and gentle, filled with consolation.

Linghu Chong was utterly grateful. A feeling of warmth washing over him; he felt something choking in his throat.

“Granny, you are so kind to me, so even if nobody else in this world likes me, that…that would be all right.”

“You surely have a honey mouth, always speaking pleasant things. No wonder even people like Blue Phoenix of the Five-Sylph Sect was full of praises when talking about you. Very well, you can’t walk, and I can’t walk either. We’ll just have to spend the night over there under that cliff. I wonder whether we’ll die today.”

“If we survive today, I wonder whether we’ll die tomorrow. If we survive tomorrow, I wonder whether we’ll die the day after.” Linghu Chong grinned.

“But if you don’t take this pill from the old monk, I am afraid I don’t even have enough strength to crawl one step,” Linghu Chong whined.

“You are talking nonsense again. If I don’t take that pill, why are you the one having no strength to crawl?” the granny asked.

“This is definitely not nonsense. If you don’t take the pill, your injury won’t recover soon, and for sure you would not be in a mood to play the zither. Then I’d be all worried to death and where do you expect me to find strength to crawl over? I won’t even have any strength to just lie here, much less crawling over,” Linghu Chong explained.

“That’s of course. This is a slope here. If I don’t use my strength to hold myself still, I would have rolled all the way down it and fallen into the mountain gully down below. Then either I’ll smash myself to pieces or drown.”

“Even when you are so severely injured, not knowing whether you can make it till tomorrow, you are still in such a merrily mood to joke about. People as cheeky as this had to be rare in this world.” The granny sighed.

Linghu Chong threw the pill back behind his back gently. “Will you just take it, please?” he pleaded

“Anyone who poses as a member of the reputable and orthodox schools can not be an good egg. If I take this pill of the Shaolin School, it will only dirty my mouth,” the granny let out an irritated snort.

“Ouch!” Linghu Chong suddenly cried as he leaned his upper body to the left and then rolled toward the mountain gully down the slope.

Linghu Chong kept on rolling. The slop was not very steep, but very long. It took Linghu Chong a good while to finally roll to the edge of the gully. Spreading his arms and legs widely Linghu Chong stopped himself from rolling any further.

The sharp rocks along the slope gave Linghu Chong’s face and arms quite some cuts and bruises, but he kept his silence in spite of the fierce pain.

“Fine! I’ll take the old monk’s stinking pill. Get…get back up here,” the granny shouted again.

“You’ve said it. You can’t go back to your words,” Linghu Chong replied.

At the moment there was already quite a distance between the two. Linghu Chong didn’t have any inner strength, so his voice couldn’t reach very far. The granny only vaguely heard some indistinct sounds, but couldn’t make out what he had said.

Linghu Chong tottered back onto his feet and tired to climb up the slope, but to roll down the slope was way much easier than climbing back up it again. Only after two steps, his leg suddenly gave out under him, and after some staggering, thump, he really fell into the mountain gully.

Seeing how Linghu Chong fell into the mountain gully from high above with a good view, the granny was stunned. Giving it no thought, she also rolled downward along the slope. When she finally rolled by Linghu Chong’s side, she reached out and grabbed onto his left ankle with her left hand. After taking in a few deep breaths, she clutched his back robe and then pulled a dripping-wet Linghu Chong out of the water.

By then Linghu Chong had swallowed many gulps of water and golden sparkles danced in front of his eyes. He shook his head slightly trying to pull himself together when suddenly he noticed the two inverted images reflected in the water: a young girl clutching his back robe tightly in her hand. Feeling very muddleheaded, he then heard the girl uttering a painful cry from behind his back, spilling a mouthful of warm blood onto the back of his neck. The girl bent over his back as though she had been paralyzed. Feeling the girl’s soft body leaning on his back and her long hair brushing against his face, Linghu Chong found himself at a loss, as though all his emotions had been emptied out of his heart. He took another look at the reflection in the water. Half of the girl’s face could be seen from the reflection in the water. Her eyes were shut tight, and her long eyelashes swayed in the breeze. Even though he could not see very clearly from the reflection in the water, he could still tell that she was a gorgeous-looking girl seventeen or eighteen years of age.

“Who is this girl? Why did a young girl suddenly come out of nowhere to rescue me?” he was deeply amazed. The reflection in the water and the feeling on his back were both telling him that the girl had fainted. Linghu Chong wanted to turn around and prop the girl up, but his entire body felt weak, and he didn’t even have enough strength to raise a finger. It felt as though he was in the middle of a dream. He gave another look at the graceful appearance in the reflection of the water and could not decide if he had arrived at a wonderland. All he could think was, “Am I dead already? Am I in heaven?”

“Were you just trying to scare me, or did you really…really want to kill yourself?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

As soon as Linghu Chong heard her voice, he almost jumped out of his skin. The voice he had just heard was completely identical to the voice of the granny. Shocked beyond description, he muttered, trembling, “You…you…you….”

“What? I just won’t take the old monk’s stinking pill. Go ahead, commit suicide and show me,” the girl snapped.

“Granny, so you are a…a pretty, little…little girl!” Linghu Chong muttered.

“How did you know?” the girl screeched. “You…you promise-breaker! Have you peeped?”

As soon as she looked down and then saw a clear reflection in the mountain gully of herself leaning on Linghu Chong’s back, her face turned completely scarlet, and she hurriedly struggled to stand up. But right after she straightened her back, her knees became weak and she fell right onto Linghu Chong’s bosom. After a few frantic try to prop herself backup, which almost made her faint once more, she had to lay still.

Linghu Chong’s heart was filled with puzzlement. “Why did you disguise as an elderly granny to fool me? Pretend to be a senior master, and caused me…caused me…” he asked eagerly.

The girl’s cheek was only about a foot from Linghu Chong’s eyes. Her skin was so white as though it was made out of crystal, and dimly showing a shade of flush beneath the skin.

“Caused me to call you granny this and granny that all the way. Humph, shame on you! You aren’t even old enough to be my younger sister, yet you want to be my granny! If you want to be a granny, better wait at least another eighty years!”

“When did I ever say that I was a granny?” the girl chuckled. “It was you who wanted to call me granny. Didn’t I get mad at you because you kept calling me ‘Granny’ just now? Told you to not call me that, but you just wouldn’t listen. Am I right?”

Linghu Chong had to agree inwardly that these words were very true. But having been hoodwinked for so long and having acted like a complete fool on his part, he couldn’t just let it go easily.

“You deceived me on purpose when you disallowed me from looking at your face. If I had looked at you face to face, would I have called you a granny? It even goes all the way back to the city of Luo Yang. Even back then you intentionally tricked me, colluding with Elder Bamboo-Green that old goat and asking him to call you auntie. He was already so old, and since you were his auntie, how can I not call you a granny?”

“Elder Bamboo-Green’s Master calls my dad Uncle-Master, then what should Elder Bamboo-Green address me as?” The girl grinned.

Linghu Chong was taken by surprise. “Are you really Elder Bamboo-Green’s auntie?” he asked hesitantly.

“That bloke Elder Bamboo-Green is not someone extraordinary. Why would I want to pretend to be his auntie? What’s so great about been an auntie?”

“Well! I am so stupid. I should have already known.” Linghu Chong heaved a sigh.

“Your voice is so pleasant. How can there be any eighty-year old granny in this world with such a tender and melodious voice?”

“My voice is so coarse and hoarse, like the croaks of a crow. No wonder you thought I was an old granny,” the girl said, beaming.

“Your voice is like the croaks of a crow? Wow, the world has really changed. So croaks of crows nowadays actually sound more pleasant than the singing of the orioles.”

The girl knew that Linghu Chong was praising her. A quick flush shot across her cheeks as her heart thumped with joy.

“Alright, alright! Grandpa Linghu! Senior master Linghu! You’ve called me Granny for so long, now I’ll call you back. Will that even it up for you? Are you happy now?” the granny reconciled.

“If you are Granny, and I am Grandpa, then we are the Grandpa and Granny. Aren’t we…?” Linghu Chong said in a big grin.

He had always been the unrestrained and uninhibited type, having no scruples when he talked. He was just about to say “aren’t we a couple then” when he suddenly noticed the knitted eyebrows and the angry look on the girl’s face, so he shut up abruptly.

“I said that if we are the Grandpa and Granny, aren’t we…aren’t we both senior masters of the Martial World?” Linghu Chong answered.

The girl knew very well that he had just gone out of his way to change his wording, but decided to not pursue the case, afraid that he might spill out even more coarse terms. Learning on Linghu Chong’s bosom and sensing the strong scent of a male in her nose, she had already felt great distractions in her heart. She really wanted to stand up, but her limbs simply would not comply. With a blushed face, she demanded, “Hey, give me a push!”

“If you keep talking rubbish, I’ll kill you!” the girl yelled in a stern voice.

Linghu Chong felt a chill on his back as he remembered how she had made dozens of men cutting out their own eyes and then banished them to the Twine-Dragon Island in the East Sea, and he dared not making any more jokes. Then he remembered, “Even in such a young age, she was able to kill four apprentices of the Shaolin School with simply a raise of her hand. Such excellent Kung Fu skills combined with such ruthless conducts, it is so hard to believe that these traits all belonged to this delicately pretty girl right in front of my eyes.”

“You are getting angry again, aren’t you? You are a man, how come you are so intolerant?” receiving no answer from Linghu Chong, the girl spoke again.

“I am not angry. I am feeling afraid, afraid that you’ll kill me,” Linghu Chong answered.

“If you remain well-behaved from now on, why would I want to kill you?” The girl cackled.

‘But I was born one with a nature of not behaving well, it’s not like that I had a choice. I guess I am doomed to die in your hands.” Linghu Chong sighed.

“When you were calling me Granny, you showed a lot of respect to me. That was good, very well behaved. Just keep that going and you’ll be fine,” the girl said with a snigger.

“No way! Once I know that you are a little girl, I can no longer regard you as a granny.” Linghu Chong shook his head.

“What…what…?” the girl muttered, but suddenly she seemed to have thought of something; she blushed and shut her mouth.

Linghu Chong bent his neck slightly, and took in a good view of the girl’s face. It was a beautiful face, so sweet and charming, still carrying the tender coyness of a young girl, prettier than anything else in the world. In an almost dreamlike state, he felt a slight tickle in his heart, and before he knew it, had already moved his head closer and kissed the girl gently on the cheek.

The girl was shocked, and out of nowhere, she suddenly found some strength inside her that wasn’t there a minute ago. Turning her hand over, she slapped Linghu Chong heavily in the face, and immediately after, she sprang up. But the strength disappeared as abruptly as it had come; still in the midair, she found herself just as weak as a second ago, and a faction of a second later, she fell back onto Linghu Chong’s bosom once again, only this time she felt even feebler than the last time, and could no longer move a muscle.

“If you…if you do that again, I’ll…kill you,” afraid that Linghu Chong might take even more liberties with her and feeling utterly apprehensive, she muttered sternly.

“Whether you kill me or not, I have not much time left in this life, anyway, I think I’d rather do it again,” Linghu Chong grinned.

“I…I…I…,” the girl gasped in great worry, yet found herself at her wit’s end.

After working hard to gather some strength, Linghu Chong propped the girl’s shoulder slightly and then rolled away to the side.

“Whatcha gonna do?” he asked with a grin, but right after these words, he coughed violently and spilled out a few mouthful of blood.

Having become enamored all of a sudden and kissed the girl, he regretted immediately. Then after getting hit on the face, even though he was still firm in speech, he knew he shouldn’t have done so and dared not to stay close to her any longer.

Linghu Chong rolling away from her all of a sudden took the girl by great surprise. Seeing blood coming out of his mouth once again after he used his strength, she felt regretful secretly, but thin-skinned as she was, she could not bring herself to speak any of it.

“Your…your chest is hurting pretty bad, isn’t it?” she finally asked gently.

“It’s not my chest that’s hurting, it’s somewhere else,” Linghu Chong replied.

“Where are you hurting then?” the girl asked hurriedly, her voice filled with concern.

“Where’s that stinking pill from the old monk? You never took it, did you?” Linghu Chong asked.

“I didn’t have time to pick it up,” the girl replied and then pointed at the top of the slope. “It’s still up there.” She paused for a second and then continued, “I’ll listen to you and take it when we get back up there, and not think about the stinking part.”

The two of them lay at the bottom of the slope and looked up. If it had been normal days, a simple leap would have gotten them up the slope, but now it looked almost like a ten-thousand-foot perilous peak that could never be reached. After exchanging some stares between each other, both of them sighed at the same time.

“I’ll mediate for a while. Don’t interrupt me, alright?” the girl finally said.

“Alright!” Linghu Chong answered and then watched the girl leaning against the slope, closing her eyes, holding her thumb, index finger, and middle finger in a unique pose, and froze in a trance. “Even the way she meditate is so different from others. She didn’t need to sit up with crossed legs at all.”

He tried to calm himself and also take a rest, but the energy streams inside him rolled over and over and he could only struggle in vain. Suddenly a few croaks from a frog broke the stillness, and soon a corpulent frog hopped by him along the bank of the gully. Linghu Chong was delighted. After the much fuss over the last half a day, his stomach had been keen for some food, and now food had just hopped right next to him, how perfect! Wasting no time, he reached for the frog, but his aching and limp arm obviously not cooperating, and he missed the target. With another hop, the frog jumped away from him, croaking loudly as though it was quite pleased with the getaway and jeering at Linghu Chong for his incapability, which Linghu Chong returned with a sigh. But there turned out to be quite a few frogs along the gully, and soon another two frogs hopped by Linghu Chong, who still failed to catch either of them. Suddenly, a thin and delicate hand reached out by his waist and with an easy grip, caught the frog. After meditating for a while, the girl had regained her mobility. Although she still felt feeble and weary, it didn’t pose any challenge for her to catch a few frogs.

“Wonderful! Wonderful! We can have a feast of frogs now!” Linghu Chong cheered, which the girl returned with a small grin. She went on catching more frogs, catching a frog with each stretch of her arm. Only a few moments later, she had already caught over twenty frogs.

“That’s plenty! Will you please go collect some branches for the fire? I’ll clean these frogs,” Linghu Chong directed.

The girl went in compliance and soon returned with enough branches. Linghu Chong drew his long sword and began chopping the heads of the frogs off and cleaning out the internal organs.

“The ancients killed the chicken with a cattle knife,[4] and today our Big Hero Linghu kills frogs with the Dugu Nine Swords!” the girl said jokingly, and Linghu Chong broke into a loud laugh.

“If Big Hero Dugu could hear this in the underworld, knowing that his disciple was so unworthy, he had to be enraged to….” he stopped abruptly, thinking that Dugu Seeking-a-loss had been dead for many years, how could he have been enraged to death again?

“I really don’t deserve the name Big Hero. Where do you go find a Big Hero who slaughters frogs?” Linghu Chong shook his hand together with the dead frog in it.

“Well, there was a Dog-Butchering Champion[5] in the ancient times, why can’t we have a Frog-Slaughtering Hero today?” the girl chuckled. “This Dugu Nine Swords of yours is marvelous. Even the old monk from the Shaolin School couldn’t beat you. He said that the senior master named Feng, who taught you the sword art, is his benefactor. What was that about?”

“The senior master who taught me the sword art is a grandmaster of our Huashan School,” Linghu Chong explained.

“This senior master’s sword skills must have been almost magical. How come he is so nameless in the Martial World?” the girl asked.

“Well…well…I promised the grandmaster that I’ll never let out his story and his whereabouts,” Linghu Chong muttered.

“Humph, who cares? Even if you do tell me, what makes you think I’d be interested? Do you know who I am and what kind of backing I have?” the girl challenged.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know what’s your name,” Linghu Chong answered, shaking his head.

“You are holding things back from me, so I won’t tell you, either!” the girl exclaimed.

“Although I don’t know, I’ve figured most of it out,” Linghu Chong replied.

“You figured it out? How did you figure it out?” The girl’s face changed color slightly.

“Well, I am not a hundred percent sure yet, but it will be all crystal clear tonight.”

“How would it be crystal clear tonight?” the girl couldn’t help but ask, feeling even more surprised.

“I’ll just look up in the sky and see which star is missing, then I’ll know which goddess has decided to descend to the world. You are as beautiful as an angel, and angels don’t come from the secular world.”

“Bah!” the girl spit at him, blushing wildly, yet feeling immense pleasure inward. “You are talking nonsense again,” she murmured gently.

By then, she had already lit the fire with the dead twigs and fuzz sticks. Stringing the already cleaned frogs onto a sharp stick, she roasted them above the bonfire. Frog grease dripped into the bonfire and made funny sounds as the wonderful smell of roasted frogs soon filled the air. Staring at the white smoke rising from the bonfire, she spoke gently.

“My name is ‘Ying-Ying.’ Now that I’ve told you, I wonder if you’ll still remember it as days go by.”

“Ying-Ying? That’s a pretty name. If I had know that your name was Ying-Ying, I would never have called you Granny,” Linghu Chong uttered.

“The name Ying-Ying obviously is the name of a little girl, then of course you can’t have been an old granny.”

“When I get old and really become an old granny, I wouldn’t change my name. I’d still be called Ying-Ying,” Ying-Ying smiled.

“You wont’ become an old granny. You are so pretty, even when you are eighty years old, you’ll still be a very beautiful little girl.”

“Wouldn’t that make me a monster?” Ying-Ying beamed. She waited for a few seconds and then said with a serious face, “I’ve told you my name, but you are not allowed to use it to call me.”

Linghu Chong stuck his tongue out and made a face. “This is not allowed, and that is not allowed. Later whoever becomes your….” he muttered. Then at the sight of Ying-Ying pulling a long face, he quickly stopped, and Ying-Ying grunted heavily.

“Why are you getting angry again? I was saying that later whoever becomes your apprentice has gotten to be suffering some hardship.” He had wanted to say “husband” at first, but after sensing trouble ahead, he quickly changed it to “apprentice.”

Ying-Ying of course had a very good idea what he had wanted to say at the first place. “You are neither serious nor honest,” she exclaimed. “Out of every three sentences of yours, there are at least two of them incoherent. I…I won’t force anyone to do anything. If he likes to listen to my words, then he’ll listen. If he doesn’t, that’s his choice.”

“I like to listen to your words,” Linghu Chong beamed at her. Even this sentence had some teasing elements in it.

Ying-Ying knitted her beautiful eyebrows in a straight line as though she was about to have a fit of anger, but suddenly her face turned scarlet and she turned her head away. For a good while, the both of them just set there, neither one said a word.

Suddenly, they smelled a terrible scent. Something was burning. “Oops!” Ying-Ying cried out when she realized that the burning smell had come from the string of frogs on the stick in her hands. They had been terribly scorched.

“You should have said that thanks to my joking with you and making you mad, you were finally able to make such splendid scorched frogs!” Linghu Chong grinned. Pulling a scorched frog off the stick, he tore the frog leg off and then gave it a good chew. “Delicious! Delicious! Only this degree of heating would be just right, adding a little bit of bitter into sweet, and then the sweet taste really comes out when the bitter wears out. This has gotten to be the most delicious food in the world!” he praised.

Amused, Ying-Ying broke into a giggle, and also started eating. Linghu Chong hurried and ate the most burnt frog meat and left the not too badly burnt part for her.

After the two of them finished the roasted frog meat, they lay down to the ground. Bathing in the warm sunshine of the afternoon, both of them were taken over by fatigue and before they knew it, they both closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Since both of them had stayed up through the previous night, and both had injuries, the nap was deep and sound for each of them. In his dream, Linghu Chong found himself practicing sword arts in the waterfall together with Yue Lingshan. But suddenly another man showed up, and it was Lin Pingzhi. Then he had a sword contest with Lin Pingzhi, but he had no strength in his arms, and when he tried hard to use techniques of the Dugu Nine Swords, he just couldn’t remember any of it. Again and again, Lin Pingzhi stabbed him in his solar plexus, his stomach, his head, and his shoulders. Then he saw Yue Lingshan bursting into loud laughter. Feeling both shocked and infuriated, he shouted loudly, “Little apprentice sister! Little apprentice sister!” Only after a few cries, he woke up from the dream abruptly. Then he heard a soft voice say, “Did you dream of your little apprentice sister? How was she treating you?”

“Someone wants to kill me. Little apprentice sister not only ignored me, but also…also laughed at me!” Linghu Chong said, his inside writhed with bitterness.

“You have sweat all over your forehead,” Ying-Ying sighed and said tenderly.

Raising his arm, Linghu Chong wiped the sweat off with his sleeve. A cold breeze suddenly blew by him and he shivered. Then he noticed the star filled sky. It was at night already.

As soon as Linghu Chong regained his consciousness, he calmed down. Just when he was about to open his mouth and speak, Ying-Ying reached her hand out and covered his mouth.

Linghu Chong concentrated his attention and listened carefully. Sure enough, sounds of three men’s footsteps rose from a distance.

“There are two more dead bodies,” a while later, one of them spoke, and Linghu Chong recognized that to be Zu Qianqiu’s voice.

“Ah, this one is a monk of the Shaolin School,” another one uttered. It was Old Man who had just discovered Jue-Yue’s body.

“These three are also laymen apprentices of the Shaolin School. Why have they all died here? Oh, this man is Xin Guoliang. He was an elite fighter of the Shaolin School.”

“Who could be so powerful, killing four elite fighters from the Shaolin School all at once?” Zu Qianqiu asked.

“Unless…unless it was someone from the Dark-Wood Cliff? Maybe it was Chief Dongfang, himself?” Old Man murmured haltingly.

“That could well be,” Ji Wushi agreed. “We’d better bury these four bodies in a hurry, so people from the Shaolin School wouldn’t find it out,” he suggested.

“But if it were really someone from the Dark-Wood Cliff who had done this, they wouldn’t be afraid of the Shaolin Temple finding out about this. Perhaps they had left these corpses here on purpose to put on a show of force,” Zu Qianqiu speculated.

“If they had wanted to put on a show of force, they wouldn’t have left these corpses in the middle of nowhere. If we weren’t just happen to pass by here, these corpses would have been eaten by wild animals, and no one would have found out about it. When the Sacred Sun Moon Cult wanted to put on a show of force, most likely they would have hanged these corpses in the middle of the capital city and then marked clearly on the bodies that they are members of the Shaolin School to humiliate the Shaolin School.” Ji Wushi said.

“I think you are right! Most likely when people from the Dark-Wood Cliff killed these four, they were in a hurry to pursue more enemies, and didn’t have time to bury the bodies,” Zu Qianqiu concurred.

Soon, sounds of digging rose as the three began to dig the ground with their weapons, ready to bury the bodies.

“These three men had to be somehow related to Chief Dongfang of the Dark-Wood Cliff, otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble,” Linghu Chong thought to himself.

Suddenly, Zu Qianqiu uttered a cry of surprise. “What’s this? It’s a healing pill,” he said.

“This is the healing panacea of the Shaolin School. It has the power to return dead to life. I bet that it must have fallen out of a pocket of these Shaolin apprentices,” Ji Wushi concluded after sniffing the pill a few times.

“Many years ago, I saw one just like this at an old monk from Shaolin,” Ji Wushi explained.

“That’s just wonderful. Brother Old, since this is a healing panacea, you can let your daughter Not-Dead take this and it will cure her disease,” Zu Qianqiu suggested.

“Well, my daughter’s fate would only be the second priority. We should hurry to find Young Master Linghu and let him take this pill,” Old Man replied, which made Linghu Chong feeling utterly grateful.

“That’s the pill Ying-Ying dropped earlier. How can I ask for it back from Old Man, so she could take it?” he thought over.

He turned his head and looked at Ying-Ying. Under the dim moonlight, Ying-Ying grinned at him. She suddenly made a face, looking almost childlike, bearing a most charming smile on her lips. It was so hard to believe that she had just killed four master hands from the Shaolin School not too long ago. Then he heard the sounds of the three filling the grave they just dug up with rocks and soil to cover up the corpses.

“There’s a big problem though. Night Owl, help me think here,” Old Man muttered.

“Right now, Young Master Linghu must be together with…with the Sacred Lady. If I bring the pill over, I’ll bump into the Sacred Lady inevitably. It’s all right if the Sacred Lady kills me out of annoyance, but for sure she would have felt very offended and displeased, and that would not be a good thing.” Old man murmured.

“So they are referring you as the Sacred Lady, and are just completely fearful of you. Why are you so apt to kill people?” casting a glance at Ying-Ying, Linghu Chong thought to himself.

“Well, I think those three blind men we saw on the road could be very useful then. We’ll catch up with those three and ask them to deliver the pill to Young Master Linghu. Since they are blind already, even when they find Young Master Linghu together with the Sacred Lady, it wouldn’t end up a fatal disaster,” Ji Wushi replied.

“But I suspect that their eyes were cut out because they saw the Sacred Lady together with Young Master Linghu,” Zu Qianqiu added.

“That’s got to be it!” Old Man struck his own thigh and uttered. “If not, why would three perfectly fine men suddenly went blind? I bet you these four Shaolin apprentices must have had the same kind of misfortune of bumping into the Sacred Lady and Young Master Linghu.”

At that word, the trio fell silent, and Linghu Chong finding himself with more doubts and suspicious. Then he heard Zu Qianqiu spoke again after a sigh.

“I just hope Young Master Linghu would have a speedy recovery from his injury, so the Sacred Lady can make a happy loving couple with him soon. As long as they are not married, there is no peace in the Martial World.”

Linghu Chong was astounded. He sneaked a peek toward Ying-Ying. Under the dim night-light, he could vaguely make out a scarlet face and a pair of bright eyes, which blazed with irritation. Afraid that Ying-Ying would leap out and hurt the three, he extended his right hand and then held onto her left hand gently. He could feel that Ying-Ying’s entire body was shaking wildly, but he could not tell if it was because of rage or shyness.

“Who would have thought the Sacred Lady would get so mad at us for our gathering on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge,” Zu Qianqiu went on. “Alas, a man and a woman finding themselves in a passion of love is really the most natural thing, and for someone like Young Master Linghu, an exceptional young hero so unrestrained and benevolent, only a girl as beautiful as the Sacred Lady would be suitable as the counterpart. Why would the Sacred Lady, someone so marvelous, act so bashful like any other vulgar girl? She obviously likes Young Master Linghu very much, yet would not allow anyone to mention that, or to see that together. Wouldn’t that have been…been a bit unreasonable?”

“Really? I wonder if these words of his are true or not,” Linghu Chong thought.

Suddenly, he felt a strong jerk from Ying-Ying’s hand in his palm, trying to break free of his grip. He immediately grabbed even tighter, very afraid that Ying-Ying would kill the three of them instantly out of fury.

“Although the Sacred Lady enjoys exceptional status on the Dark-Wood Cliff, even Chief Dongfang never defied her wish, she is just a young girl after all,” Ji Wushi said. “When a young girl falls in love with someone the very first time in her life, even though she likes him so very much in her heart, she would still feel very shy and sensitive about it. This time when we tried to fawn on her, though we had good intention, we still made her very displeased. Too bad that all of us are crude fellows and had no idea about young girls’ feelings. There were a few dozen girls and ladies on the Five-Tyrant Ridge, but unfortunately, their dispositions were not that different from any man. The Five-Tyrant Ridge get-together, the brownnosing the Sacred Lady did not like. When this episode gets out, those bastards from the orthodox schools are going to laugh their ass off.”

“The Sacred Lady has done us great favor, and all of us are grateful to her and only wanted to seek ways to repay her kindness by curing her lover’s injury. A true man remembers his gratitude and his grudges; to a benefactor he pays a debt of gratitude, and to an enemy, he seeks his revenge. What’s wrong with that? If any bastard dares to laugh at us, I’ll skin him alive,” Old Man declared solemnly.

By then, Linghu Chong finally understood. The so many people flattering and fawning on him along his way did so all for the sake of this Sacred Lady named Ying-Ying. And the over one thousand people breaking up a hubbub and leaving in a hurry on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge was also because the Sacred Lady didn’t want any others to know her feelings and became very displeased when this was made widely known in the entire Martial World. Then he thought of something else: If this Sacred Lady, such a young girl, could make so many fellows of the Martial World to fawn on him, she had to be a world-shaking figure in the Demon’s Cult. According to Ji Wushi, even Dongfang Invincible, the one known as the “Number One in the Martial World” never defied her wishes. Linghu Chong was only a nobody in the Martial World, and happened to made her acquaintance by learning the zither from her with a curtain in between at a small alley in the Luoyang city. There was never any feeling of love involved. Could it be that Elder Bamboo-Green had misunderstood it and let the rumor out, which made the Sacred Lady very angry? Then he heard Zu Qianqiu’s voice again.

“Old Man said it right. The Sacred Lady granted us great favor and kindness. If there is anything we can do to help to bring them together and make her happy all her life, even if we have to have our body smashed to pieces, we will die with nothing to regret. Being snubbed on the Five-Tyrant Ridge is really nothing. But…but Young Master Linghu is the Head Apprentice of the Huashan School, which is at daggers drawn with the Dark-Wood Cliff. I am afraid that there will probably be many obstacles to overcome before this marriage would work out.”

“I’ve gotten an idea. Why don’t we take Yue Buqun, the Head Master of the Huashan School, hostage, and then at knife’s point, coerce him into upholding this marriage?” Ji Wushi suggested.

“That’s an wonderful idea, Night Owl!” Zu Qianqiu and Old Man cheered together. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s set off right now for the capture of Yue Buqun,” they said.

“But that Mr. Yue is the Head Master of a renown school. He must have great attainments in both the inner energy department and the sword art department. If we fight him, firstly, we don’t have a sure win, and secondly, even if we do catch him, I am sure he would rather die than submit. What are we gonna do then?” Ji Wushi asked.

“Then we’ll just have to kidnap his wife and daughter to add pressure for him,” Old Man replied.

“I agree! But we must do everything in secret, and not let anyone else know about it to make Huashan School lose face. Young Master Linghu would for sure be very displeased if he ever finds out that we have offended his Master,” Zu Qianqiu added.

In the next moment, the three began discussing details as to how they could kidnap Madam Yue and Yue Lingshan.

“Hey, you three reckless chaps, get out of here right now and stop bothering me!” Ying-Ying suddenly spoke, her voice loud and clear.

Seeing her opening her mouth and speak all of a sudden, Linghu Chong was stunned. He held her hand with an even tighter grip. Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and Old Man were simply thunderstruck.

“Yes, yes…I…I…I….” Old Man muttered, but after saying the word “I” three times, the terror started to sink in, and he froze.

“Yes, yes, your highness! We were only talking nonsense. The Sacred Lady will not take that seriously. We’ll head straight to the Western Regions tomorrow and never return to the Central Plains,” Ji Wushi muttered.

“That’s three more who have just been banished for life,” Linghu Chong thought to himself.

“Who asked you to go to the Western Region? I have something I’d like the three of you handle for me,” getting back onto her feet, Ying-Ying said coldly.

“The Sacred Lady speaks the word, and we’ll do it with all our heart,” the trio replied in unison, each feeling overjoyed.

“I want to kill a person, but could not find him right away. You can spread the word out: whoever kills this man will be guaranteed a handsome reward from me,” Ying-Ying instructed.

“We really don’t deserve any reward. If the Sacred Lady wants this person dead, even if the three brothers of us have to chase him to the end of the world, we’ll find him and kill him. May I ask the Sacred Lady the name of the stupid scoundrel who was so audacious to offend the Sacred Lady?” Zu Qianqiu asked.

“With only the three of you, you would not have enough eyes and ears to trace him. You must spread the word to the entire Martial World immediately,” Ying-Ying ordered.

“Yes, your highness. Will the Sacred Lady please inform us which daring rascal does she wish to kill?” Zu Qianqiu asked.

“This person’ surname is Linghu and his name is Chong. He is an apprentice of the Huashan School.” Ying-Ying let out an irritated snort.

These words struck Linghu Chong, Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and Old Man like thunderbolts, and none of them knew what to say. A good while later, Old Man finally managed to mumble a few words out of this mouth, “That…that….”

“What about that? Are you afraid of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance and have not the courage to touch an apprentice of the Huashan School?” Ying-Ying snapped in a stern voice.

“When we serve the Sacred Lady, even the Jade Emperor[6] or the Lord of the Underworld can be subject to our wrath, much less the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. We’ll try to capture Linghu…Linghu Chong and bring him to the Sacred Lady’s judgment. Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, let’s go,” Ji Wushi answered.

“Young Master Linghu must have somehow offended the Sacred Lady in their conversations,” Old Man thought to himself. “The more intimate a young couple are, the easier they are at odds with each other. Many years ago when Not-Dead’s mom and I loved each other so deeply like honey mixed with oil, didn’t we also quarrel and fight everyday? Alas, if it weren’t because I punched Not-Dead’s mom so hard on the stomach when she still had the baby inside her that had messed up the pregnancy, Not-Dead the girl wouldn’t have gotten the disease before she was even born. I guess I’ll have no choice but to invite Young Master Linghu to see the Sacred Lady and let her deal with him, herself.”

Just when Old Man was still in the middle of wild flights of thoughts, Ying-Ying bellowed, “Who asked you to capture him? Every minute this Linghu Chong stays alive will only add more stains my unblemished reputation. The earlier he is killed, the earlier I can vent my resentment.”

“I see. You’ve developed good friendship with Linghu Chong and simply don’t want to handle this for me. That’s fine. I’ll ask somebody else to spread the word,” Ying-Ying said with chill in her tone.

Noticing the graveness in her voice, the three had no choice but to bow in compliance. “Your command is our wish, your highness!” they replied in unison.

But Old Man thought to himself, “Young Master Linghu is a man with kindheartedness and justice. Today I have an order from the Sacred Lady and have no choice but to kill him. But after I do so, I shall commit suicide to accompany him on his way to the underworld.” He took the pill out from his chest pocket and then placed it on the ground.

The three of them turned around and set off. Gradually, their receding figures grew more distant and eventually merged into the dark shades of the night.

Linghu Chong cast a sideway look at Ying-Ying, finding her contemplating silently with her head down. “She wants me dead in order to preserve her reputation. How hard could that be?” he thought to himself.

“If you want me dead, you can just take care of it yourself. Why stir up so many people?” Linghu Chong asked as he unsheathed his long sword slowly, turning it and then handed it over, sword handle first.

Taking the long sword, Ying-Ying turned her head slightly and then fixed her stare at Linghu Chong, who straightened his back and burst into a laugh.

“That’s exactly why I am laughing – my end is finally coming,” Linghu Chong replied.

Raising the long sword, Ying-Ying recoiled her arm in an attacking posture, ready to strike out, but suddenly she turned on her heels and with a strong wave of her arm, threw the long sword in the air. The blade shined profoundly from the reflection of the dim starlight as it flew across the darkness, and with a clank, fell to the ground in a distance.

“It’s all your fault!” Ying-Ying stamped her feet on the ground hysterically. “It’s all your fault that so many people are laughing at me, as though that nobody…nobody will ever want me for the rest…the rest of my life, and I am trying every possible way to make you like me. What…what’s so terrific about you? How can I ever see another person without feeling ashamed of myself?”

“And you are still laughing at me? Mocking me?” Ying-Ying yelled heatedly. Suddenly, with a loud cry, she broke down in tears.

Linghu Chong immediately felt sorry as tender affections rising in his heart. He suddenly came to realization. “She has very high status in the Martial World, with the many people always holding her in awe and veneration. Then of course she has a very sensitive pride. Besides, she is a girl, and girls are always born shy. Now when suddenly everybody says that she fell in love with me, it’s only natural that she becomes very displeased. She told Old Man and the rest to spread the word only to refute a rumor. She didn’t really want me dead. Once everyone hears what she said, of course no one would believe that we are a couple, and the rumor would have no ground.”

At that thought, he spoke softly, “It is really my fault, causing damage to your clean name, Miss! I’ll be on my way. Goodbye.”

“Where are you going?” Ying-Ying wiped the tears off her eyes with her sleeve and asked.

“I must have had an inflated opinion of my abilities to say words like that. I’ve really made a fool out of myself in front of you, Miss. With such outstanding Kung Fu skills you really have no need for any protection. Even one hundred Linghu Chong putting together would be no match for you,” Linghu Chong answered with a smile, and as soon as the last word left his mouth, he had already turned on his heels to walk away.

“Zu Qianqiu and the other two have already set out to spread the word out. It will only take a few days for it to become publicly known. Then everybody will be on your heels trying to kill you. It will be like walking on thorns every step of the way. You wouldn’t be able to escape the fatal disaster even if you are perfectly fit, much less when you are so badly injured.”

“Linghu Chong dying from Miss’s words, that’s fine,” Linghu Chong grinned indifferently.

He walked over to pick up the long sword on the ground and then shoved it back into its sheath. Feeling pretty sure that he would not be able to climb up the slope, he decided to walk alongside the mountain gully.

“Hey, stop! You!” seeing that Linghu Chong was walking further and further, Ying-Ying ran after him, shouting.

“It will only bring you trouble if Linghu Chong stays with Miss. It will be much better if I leave by myself,” Linghu Chong said.

“You…you…,” Ying-Ying muttered, biting her lip hard, feeling the distraction growing inside her by the second. Seeing that Linghu Chong simply would not stop walking away, she ran a few steps closer and then uttered, “Linghu Chong, you just want to force me to say it myself, don’t you?”

Ying-Ying bit her lip again and finally said, “I asked Zu Qianqiu and the group to spread the word, because I want you…I want you to stay by my side forever, and never leave me.” After these words, she trembled so frantically as though she could collapse any moment.

“Yes! After Zu Qianqiu and the other two spread the word out, you can only stay alive if you stay by my side. Who would have thought you didn’t care about your life any bit and were not afraid at all. Wouldn’t that…wouldn’t that have done you for good?”

“So you do care for me very much, but just wouldn’t admit any of it in front of those other fellows,” Linghu Chong thought to himself as a stream of gratitude washed over him.

He turned around and walked next to her, holding both of her hands into his own. Ying-Ying’s hands were icy cold; Linghu Chong could feel that both her palms were covered in cold sweats.

“I am afraid this fool right here won’t listen to me and would rather risk his life out there. I am afraid that you might not even make it to the end of tomorrow and end up dying under those worthless, rotten lowlifes’ murderous hands.”

“They are all courageous and straightforward guys who respect you very much. Why do you despise them so much?” Linghu Chong sighed.

“They laugh at me behind my back and they want to kill you. Wouldn’t that make them rotten lowlifes?” Ying-Ying argued.

“But it was you who had ordered them to kill me. How can you blame this on them?” Linghu Chong could not hold his grin back. “Moreover, they never laughed at you behind your back? Remember when Ji Wushi, Old Man, and Zu Qianqiu mentioned in their conversation, how respectful they were in their tones? What made you think they were laughing at you behind your back?”

“They weren’t laughing on their faces, but they were laughing in their guts.”

Hearing the girl persist unreasonably, Linghu Chong found it hard to refute, so he said, “All right! If you don’t allow me to leave, I’ll stay here and be your company. Alas, it probably wouldn’t feel that great to be chopped into pieces.”

“Wouldn’t feel great? You’ll feel awful,” Ying-Ying replied, feeling wild with joy to hear Linghu Chong agree to stay.

She turned her face to the side when she spoke these words, and illuminated under the dim starlight of the night, the snow-white face seemed to be glowing in a soft radiance. Linghu Chong felt a tickle in his heart.

“This girl in fact is much more beautiful than the little apprentice sister, and she treats me with great care and affection. But…but…why couldn’t I forget little apprentice sister even for a single moment?” he thought to himself.

But Ying-Ying had no idea that he was thinking of Yue Lingshan. “Where’s the zither I gave you? You lost it, didn’t you?” she said.

“That’s right! I ran out of money on the way, so I pawned the zither in the pawnshop for some silver,” Linghu Chong answered as he took off the pack on his back, opened it, and then took out the short zither.

Ying-Ying could see the tight wrap around the zither in the pack. Knowing that Linghu Chong had always treasured this present from hers, she was very pleased.

“How many lies do you have to make everyday to make yourself happy?” she reproved.

Getting the zither from Linghu Chong, she gave a few plucks to the strings, and then began playing that “Song of Peace and Serenity.”

Quietly, he listened to the gentler zither sounds, feeling relaxed and joyful. After a while, he noticed that the notes of music were quite different from the ones she had played in the Bamboo-Green Alley in Luoyang. Now they almost sounded like chirps from birds on top of the branches or spurt from mountain strings, with continuous jingles and tinkles, sounding very interesting and pleasant.

“Same melody, but different notes. So this ‘Song of Peace and Serenity’ can have so many variations,” he thought.

Suddenly a loud ring echoed as the shortest string of the zither broke in half. Ying-Ying frowned but continued to play. But only minutes later, another string snapped. Linghu Chong could sense much fidgety carried in the zither play, which were totally contrary to the intention the music was supposed to depict. Before he had any success to think it through, another crack echoed as a third string snapped in half.

“You sit right next to me and keep disturbing me. How can I play the zither well like that?” Pushing the zither aside, Ying-Ying protested.

“I’ve been sitting here very quietly since the beginning. When did I ever disturb her?” Linghu Chong thought to himself. But he figured it out right away. “So she could not find peace of mind and she is blaming that on me.”

He didn’t even try to argue, and simply lay down on the meadow in repose with his eyes closed. Soon his fatigue caught up with him and before he knew it, he had fell asleep.

By the time he woke again, it was already the next day. He looked around and then found Ying-Ying washing her face on her knees by the mountain gully. He watched on as Ying-Ying began combing her hair after she finished washing her face. The skin on her arms was so white as though the arms were made out of pure jade, and the beautiful long hair almost touched the ground. The picture was so beautiful that Linghu Chong forgot about everything else and just sat there, watching in a daze.

Ying-Ying looked back over her shoulder and then blushed when she found Linghu Chong gazing at her in a trance.

“I’ll go catch some frogs. Let’s see if I’ve build up enough strength,” feeling quite embarrassed to be caught gazing at her, Linghu Chong uttered awkwardly.

“Why don’t you stay lying down and rest some more? I’ll go catch some,” Ying-Ying suggested.

Linghu Chong struggled to get back onto his feet, but all his limbs were sore and limp, and the energy streams inside him seethed the moment he tried to use his strength.

“Either let me die or let me live,” Linghu Chong thought to himself, feeling very irritated. “Staying half dead and half alive like this, I am pretty much a good-for-nothing. Even I am disgusted with myself, not mentioning how others would think of me as a complete nuisance.”

“Your internal injuries might not be so hard to heal. This is a very secluded area. We have nothing else, anyway. You can just let time take it’s course and let the wounds heal slowly. There’s no need to be impatient,” noticing the displeased expression on Linghu Chong’s face, Ying-Ying comforted him.

The valley the gully flow through was located in a remote section of the mountain range. Ever since the night when Ji Wushi and the rest of the group passed by, no one else ever showed up. The two of them lived in the valley for almost a fortnight. Ying-Ying’s internal wounds had healed early on, and every day she would pick wild fruit and catch wild frogs for food, but Linghu Chong only became thinner and thinner as days go by. She forced him to take the pill left by Great Master Fang-Sheng, and played the zither for him everyday to help him fall asleep, but these did not seem to have an effect on his injuries. Linghu Chong knew that his final day would be coming soon, but having always been open-minded all his life, he did not let that bother him, and kept talking and joking with Ying-Ying every day. Although Ying-Ying had always been arrogant and willful before, at the thought that Linghu Chong could be suddenly gone any moment now, she became even more gentle and soft, docile and obedient, and attended upon Linghu Chong with all her heart. Even at times when she got angry over trifles occasionally, she would immediately regret it and apologize to him.

One day after eating two peaches, Linghu Chong was exhausted already, and soon, he fell asleep. In the ooziness, he heard the sound of somebody sobbing. Opening his eyes slightly, he found Ying-Ying bending over by his side sobbing uncontrollably. Stunned, Linghu Chong was just about to ask the reason for her grief when he stumbled across the answer, “She knows that I am dying. That’s why she is so grieved.”

“Don’t cry! Don’t cry! I can live for at least another eighty years. I am not leaving this world in any hurry,” reaching out his left hand, he stroked her beautiful hair and said with a forced smile.

“You are getting thinner and thinner every day. I…I…I don’t want to live anymore…,” Ying-Ying whimpered.

Linghu Chong could feel the utter sincerity and deep sorrow in her voice, and immense gratitude immediately filled his heart. A strong surge of warmth suddenly shot up his throat, and blood immediately gushed out of his mouth. The entire world seemed to have started to swirl around him, and before he knew it, he lost consciousness.

[1] According to Eastern Medicine, it takes hundreds of years to for a ginseng to grow into the shape of a human body, and once it grows into the shape of a human body, its nutrition value becomes extraordinary or even magical.

[2] The Kunlun School is a famous martial arts school headquartered on Mount Kunlun. Mount Kunlun is a large mountain in the Xinjiang Province, a province in the northwest region of China bordering the many countries that used to be members of the former USSR.

[3] In Buddhist theory, the human body is only considered a vessel of the human soul. Once the soul leaves the body, the body becomes worthless.

[4] “Why use a cattle knife to kill the chicken” is a Chinese idiom. It originated from the book The Analects of Confucius. According to the book, Confucius traveled to Wu Chang and heard the sound of string instrument and heard the singing. Surprised that his student Zi You had succeeded in transforming the militant temperament of the local people and turned them into music loving people. The great sage said smilingly, “Why use a cattle knife to kill the chicken?” Today this idiom is used to imply that a person of great talent is used for a job of little importance. It’s similar to the English idiom “break a butterfly on the wheel.”

[5] It was recorded in the story Legend of Fan Kuai (yes, this is the same Fan Kuai we talked about in Chapter 14) in The Book of Han (a famous history book written in the Han Dynasty by Ban Gu) that “Kuai, born in the county of Pei, and made a living by butchering dogs.”

[6] Jade Emperor is the Supreme Deity of Taoism. He is the ultimate ruler of the entire heaven.

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Chapter Seventeen: In Love (draft)