Chapter 18: Collaboration

During the next many days, Linghu Chong remained in a coma. Occasionally, he would regain slight consciousness, feeling as though his body was drifting high in the clouds, before slipping right back into the coma only moments later. Sometimes, it felt as if someone was forcing water down his throat, while some other times, he felt as though his entire body had been roasted on fire. Not only couldn’t he move a muscle in his arms or legs, he didn’t even have any strength to open his eyes.

Then, one day, when he was finally in his right mind, he felt someone grabbing tightly around his wrists and infusing two streams of burning hot energy into his body, each through an acupoint on one of his wrist. And instantly, they clashed and collided fiercely with the streams of energy already inside his body. Feeling the ineffable pain, he opened his mouth and cry out loud, yet no sound came out of it, while the pain only worsened as though he was experiencing the combination of all tortures known to mankind at the same time.

This went on and on. In his ooziness, Linghu Chong didn’t know how many days passed by like that; all he knew was that every time after more inner energy was infused inside him, the excruciating pain and suffering would reduce slightly compared to the last time. Eventually his brain began to function normally once again and it didn’t take him long to figure out that someone with very resourceful inner power must have been working on him, curing his internal injuries.

“Could Master and Master-Wife have found a senior grandmaster to save my life?” he thought, “But where did Ying-Ying go? And where are Master and Master-Wife? How about little apprentice sister?” As soon as the thought of little apprentice sister came into his mind, the energy flow in his chest seethed hysterically, and he lost consciousness instantaneously.

Thus everyday, someone came and infused more inner energy into his body, and at last the day came when he was much more clear-headed and was able to open his mouth to speak.

He opened his eyes slowly, and then took in the glimpse of a much-crinkled face, which smiled gently at him. This face looked very familiar. Still in a daze, Linghu Chong gazed at him to take a better look, and before long he noticed that there was no hair on the man’s head, only burning scars from incense sticks[1] – the man was a Buddhist monk. The indistinct image of a man came to his mind.

“Very good! Very good! You can recognize me now. I am Fang-Sheng,” the old monk replied in a smile, looking utterly gratified.

By then, he had just realized that he was inside a small room. A small oil lamp on the table lit the room with dim yellowish glow, and he was lying on bed under a cotton-padded quilt.

“I…I am inside the Shaolin Temple? Where’s Ying-Ying? How did I come to the Shaolin Temple?” Linghu Chong asked in amazement.

“You have only regained your consciousness a moment ago. It would be wise to restrain your thoughts so as to not exhaust yourself and to avoid any possibility of relapse. Everything can wait till later.” Fang-Sheng smiled.

Henceforth, Fang-Sheng would come to the small room everyday to work on Linghu Chong’s injuries using his own inner energy, once in the morning and once in the evening. A fortnight later, Linghu Chong was already able to sit up and eat, drink without any help. But every time when he asked about the whereabouts of Ying-Ying and how he had ended up in the temple, Fang-Sheng would not answer but only smile.

One day, after Fang-Sheng had infused his inner energy into Linghu Chong’s body, he said, “Young hero Linghu, by now, your life has been temporarily preserved, but the old monk’s Kung Fu is only limited and still could not dissolve the heterogeneous energy streams inside your body. At the moment any deferral would count as a gain. But I am afraid that within the period of one year, your internal injuries would have a relapse, and by then, even the Buddha, himself, would not be able to save you.”

“Ping One-Finger, Dr. Ping, told me the same thing that very day. Great Master has done his utmost to cure me, and I can never be thankful enough to what Great Master has done for me. The lifespan of any man is his destiny. Even if Great Master had greater inner energy, you wouldn’t have been able to turn Heaven’s will.” Linghu Chong nodded.

“We members of the Buddhist order only believe in Karma, not Heaven’s will.” Fang-Sheng shook his head. “I’ve already told you that day when we first met that the Abbot of our temple, senior apprentice brother Fang-Zheng, has profound inner power. If he finds you a part of his Karma and is willing to teach you the secret of the Tendon-Altering Sutra, then even one’s tendons and muscles can be altered, much less dissolving heterogeneous energy inside. I’ll bring you to pay a formal visit to the Abbot. I hope you will answer him wisely.”

Linghu Chong had long heard of the grand name of the Shaolin Temple Abbot, Great Master Fang-Zheng. “Thank you very much for introducing me, Great Master,” he said joyously. “Even if it’s not in my Karma for Great Master Abbot to look upon me with favor, just being able to pay a visit to this accomplished hierarch of the present age is already good luck that is hard to come by.”

Slowly, he got off the bed, dressed himself, and then followed Great Master Fang-Sheng out of the small room.

As soon as he stepped out of the small room, he was bathed in the warm and dazzling sunshine. It almost felt as though he had just entered into another world, and his spirit soared. Still feeling sore and limp in his legs, he walked in slow paces and looked around along the way. The temple had many hall buildings, and each of the hall buildings looked majestic and magnificent. They met many monks on their way, and every time far before they even got there, those monks would move out of the way and bow to Fang-Sheng with their palms together in a Buddhist greeting, holding him in reverence and sticking to etiquette. After walking through three long corridors, they arrived outside a stone building.

“Fang-Sheng requests an audience with apprentice brother Abbot,” Fang-Sheng said to the young Buddhist novice standing outside of the building.

“Abbot is happy to have your presence,” he said, putting his palms together in greeting.

Linghu Chong followed Fang-Sheng and entered the building. Then a short, old monk sitting on a cattail hassock in the middle caught his attention.

“Fang-Sheng here shows his respect to apprentice brother Abbot, and I’d like you to meet the Head Apprentice of the Huashan School, young hero Linghu Chong,” Fang-Sheng bowed and saluted.

Linghu Chong knelt down on his knees right away and kowtowed respectfully. Abbot Fang-Zheng raised himself slightly and extended his right arm in greeting.

After Linghu Chong finished kowtowing, he took a seat on the cattail hassock to the right of Fang-Sheng and shot another glance at Abbot Fang-Zheng. The man had a thin face with a kind and amiable look, which gave no indication as to how old the man really was.

“Who would have thought that this so well-known hierarch looks so mediocre? Without prior knowledge, who would have believed that he turns out to be the Head Master of the Number One martial arts school in the entire Martial World?” Linghu Chong thought to himself secretly. Then he heard Great Master Fang-Sheng’s voice.

“After the last three months of nursing and nourishing, young hero Linghu is feeling much better now.”

“Did I stay in a coma for over three months? I thought it was only twenty some days.” Linghu Chong thought to himself, feeling astounded.

“Excellent,” Fang-Zheng replied. Turning his head toward Linghu Chong, he said, “Young hero Linghu, your respectful master Mr. Yue, the Head Master of the Huashan School, is an upright man who never stoop to flattery. His clean fame is well known to the entire Martial World. I’ve always admired him very much.”

“Thank you for your kind words!” Linghu Chong stood up and bowed. “I had been unconscious due to my severe injuries, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to Great Master Fang-Sheng for saving my life. But I had no idea that three month have passed. May I ask you if my Master and Master-Wife are well?”

Even though that he shouldn’t have asked an outsider about the well being of his own Master and Master-Wife, feeling very concerned about them, he still couldn’t help but ask.

“I heard that Mr. Yue, Madam Yue, and the Huashan apprentices are in the Fujian Province at this moment,” Fang-Zheng replied.

“Many thanks, Great Master Abbot!” Linghu Chong felt relieved right away. But then immediately after, a feeling of sadness welled up in this heart. “So Master and Master-Wife have brought little apprentice sister to apprentice brother Lin’s home at last,” he thought to himself.

“Young hero Linghu, please sit down,” Fang-Zheng said gently. “Apprentice brother Fang-Sheng told me that young hero showed most excellent sword art skills and has truly mastered the skills taught by Grandmaster Feng of Huashan. That is so gratifying.”

“Grandmaster Feng has lived in seclusion for many years. I had thought that the venerable grandmaster had passed away. It is such pleasure to hear that he is still with us in this world,” Fang-Zheng said.

“Young hero, after you had your injuries, your healer had gone about the wrong way in curing you, leaving the many conflicting energy streams inside you that can not be easily dissolved. Apprentice brother Fang-Sheng has explained all these to me. After careful consideration, I came to realization that only after you begin training in the secret Kung Fu of our school, the Tendon Altering Sutra, will you be able to use your own internal power to dissolve them gradually. If we use any external source of inner energy and force it upon young hero’s body, it would be like drinking poison to quench thirst and cause more suffering. For the last three months, apprentice brother Fang-Sheng used his own inner energy to extend your life. But after he infused his inner energy into your body, he had only added another heterogeneous energy stream inside you. If you try gathering your inner energy, you’ll see what I mean.”

Linghu Chong gave it a try, and just as Fang-Zheng had said, he immediately felt waves of inner energy surging inside his lower stomach, clash with each other, completely out of his control. Agonizing pain soon swept over him, his body trembling wildly as cold sweats streamed down his forehead.

“The old Buddhist monk is so incompetent and only caused young hero more pain and suffering,” Fang-Sheng said apologetically, putting his palms together.

“Please don’t say that, Great Master,” Linghu Chong replied hurriedly. “For my well being, you worked with all your heart and did everything you could do, exhausting precious inner energy of your own that took a long time to cultivate. I have only been granted a new lease of life thanks to Great Master’s kindness.”

“I really don’t deserve that,” said Fang-Sheng. “Grandmaster Feng granted me great benevolence many years ago. What I did couldn’t even repay a fraction of my debt of gratitude to Grandmaster Feng.”

“Why haven’t you ascended the meanings of benevolence and rancor? Benevolence is Karma while rancor is also Karma. Rancor should not be persisted in while benevolence need not be persisted in, either. All things in the mortal world are as transient as a fleeting cloud. There is no benevolence or rancor after death.”[2]

“Yes, many thanks for the advice, senior apprentice brother,” Fang-Sheng answered.

“We members of the Buddhist order believe that compassion is the principle of life, so with the knowledge of young hero’s internal injuries, we will aid to the best we can,” Fang-Zheng said slowly. “The divine art of the Tendon Altering Sutra was written by the venerable Bodhidharma,[3] the First Ancestor of the Zen Sect of Mahayana in the East Region, and inherited by the Second Ancestor of the Zen sect, Great Master Hui-Ke. Great Master Hui-Ke had a previous Buddhist name called Shen-Guang. He was from Luoyang. Having been an expert in the Doctrine of Confucius and Mencius since young, he was especially proficient in understanding profound theories. At the time when First Ancestor Bodhidharma resided in the Xiben Temple, Great Master Shen-Guang went to the temple to make an application for increase. Seeing that Great Master Shen-Guang had been studying heterogeneously with many preconceived ideas rooted deeply and was too self-assured, which would make a great obstacle in learning the true ideas of Zen, First Ancestor Bodhidharma refused him at once. Great Master Shen-Guang entreated for a long time, yet still could not cross the threshold, so he drew his sword and chopped his own left arm off.”

Linghu Chong uttered a cry of shock, thinking to himself, “That was some fortitude Great Master Shen-Guang had shown in search of Buddhist principles and truths.”

“His whole heartedness finally moved First Ancestor Bodhidharma,” Fang-Zheng continued, “who accepted him as his student and renamed him to Hui-Ke. Thus, Second Ancestor Hui-Ke was able to inherit the mantle of First Ancestor Bodhidharma and carry on the teaching of Zen principles. What the Second Ancestor had learned from the First Ancestor Bodhidharma was the correct reason of the Buddhist doctrine, using the teaching in the Lankavatara Sutra for introspection and for realizing one’s nature. Even though the name of our school’s martial arts skills is widely known, it is, in fact, only a superficial study that is extremely insignificant. First Ancestor Bodhidharma only taught his apprentices ways to strength and invigorate their bodies. When the body is strengthened, the mind becomes clever, and when the mind becomes clever, the easier it is to comprehend. But many later disciples often became infatuated with martial arts, so as to attend to trifles and neglect the essentials, therefore, gave no consideration to the original purpose of First Ancestor’s martial arts teaching. Pity, what a pity!”

At that word, Fang-Zheng shook his head again and again with emotion. After a long pause, he finally went on.

“After First Ancestor passed away and returned to Heaven, Second Ancestor stumped upon a volume of Buddhist scripture by First Ancestor’s cattail hassock, and that was the Tendon Altering Sutra. This volume had very abstruse argumentation and principles, and even after Second Ancestor studied it assiduously, he still could not understand it. But he knew that if First Ancestor Bodhidharma had left this volume of scripture next to the stonewall after nine years of strict meditation it simply had to be extraordinary, even though it had few words. So Second Ancestor traveled all over many famous mountains and peaks in search of well-accomplished and eminent monks who could understand the true significance within. But at the time, Second Ancestor, himself, was already a well-accomplished and eminent monk. Even he couldn’t understand the scripture after cudgeling his brain, it was only harder to try to find someone with even higher intelligence and more profound understanding than him. Hence, for twenty years, Second Ancestor searched in vain, and the mystery in the volume of scripture remained unsolved. One day, with the ultimate Karma, Second Ancestor was able to meet an Indian monk named Bancimidi on Mount Emei in Szechwan, and when they discussed Buddhist studies, they were congenial to each other. So Second Ancestor took out the Tendon Altering Sutra and studied intensively together with Bancimidi on top of the Golden Peak of Mount Emei. The two eminent Buddhist monks enlightened and inspired each other a great deal and were able to gain a thorough understanding after forty-nine days.”

“Merciful Buddha! Thank Buddha!” putting his palms together, Fang-Sheng praised.

“But what Great Master Bancimidi explained were mostly theories of Zen. It was after another twelve years, when Second Ancestor chanced upon a young martial arts expert in the city of Chang-An and after a thorough discussion that lasted three days and three nights, was he able to apprehend the profound martial arts theories in the Tendon Altering Sutra to the full extent.” After a pause, he said, “And that young man was none other than Li Jing, who was made Wei-Lord for rendering his outstanding service to the founding of the Tang Dynasty and later assisting Emperor Tai-Zong in putting down the Turks rebellion. Wei-Lord Li’s exceptional achievements probably will also have to be attributed to the benefits he received from reading the Tendon Altering Sutra.”

“Wow,” Linghu Chong muttered as he thought to himself, “Turned out the Tendon Altering Sutra had such historical background.”

Fang-Zheng continued, “The Tendon Altering Sutra Kung Fu utilizes all the channels, passages of one’s body and bonds the spirits of the five internal organs. Comprehensive yet does not disperse, cycling through yet incessant. Energy originates from the within, while blood nourishes from the outside. Once the practitioner masters the Tendon Altering Sutra Kung Fu, power can be launched at a change of thought. The assembly and the release become part of a natural course, and complete themselves without conscious commands, just like the rising of the tide or the exploding of the thunder. Young hero, once one masters the Tendon Altering Sutra, it is almost like a small boat floating among gigantic waves of the ocean. When the angry waves surge about, the small boat naturally moves high and low accordingly, never makes an effort. Even if the boat had wanted to make an effort, where would the strength be coming from and where would the strength be used upon?”

Linghu Chong nodded again and again, knowing that the principle in the metaphor was broad and deep, and was also interlinked with the sword art theory Feng Qingyang had explained to him before.

“Just because the Tendon Altering Sutra contains such immense power, in the last several hundred years, it has not been taught to anyone except the right ones and the ones who had the Karma,” Fang-Zheng went on. “Without the blessed Karma, even outstanding and exceptional members of our own school can not be taught the secret of the sutra. Junior apprentice brother Fang-Sheng would make a good example. He already has high Kung Fu skills, and has always held his abstains rigorously. An outstanding disciple of our school he is, indeed. Yet, our Master didn’t teach him anything from the sutra.”

“Yes. Linghu Chong does not have such blessed Karma. I dare not ask for it absurdly,” Linghu Chong replied.

A mixed feeling of shock and delight surged in Linghu Chong’s chest. His heart thumped heavily, and he couldn’t believe that he actually was one with the Karma for this ultimate Kung Fu of the Shaolin School when eminent monks such as Great Master Fang-Sheng didn’t even have the fortune to learn it.

“The Buddha opens his wisdom to the vast audiences, but only ones with the Karma can attain the truth,” Fang-Zheng spoke slowly. “Young hero is the disciple of the venerable Grandmaster Feng – that is the one element of the Karma; young hero ended up coming to our Shaolin Temple – that is another element of the Karma; young hero will die unless he studies the Tendon Altering Sutra while apprentice brother Fang-Sheng could benefit from learning the sutra but wouldn’t suffer from not learning the sutra, either, and the difference in between is yet one more element of the Karma.”

“Young hero Linghu is blessed with the ultimate fortune. Fang-Sheng is gratified for you,” Fang-Sheng said, putting his palms together in a Buddhist greeting.

“Junior apprentice brother,” Fang-Zheng said, “it is in your nature that you always persist in things. You have never been able to see through the ultimate principle in the three ways of vimukta: ‘Void, Markless, and Non-action,’ thus not able to overcome the barrier of understanding the true meaning of life and death. It’s not that I am not willing to teach you the Tendon Altering Sutra. I am only afraid that once you start training in this superior Kung Fu, you will become infatuated with it, hence neglect the proper duties of Buddhist meditation.”

“Thank you, senior apprentice brother for the edification.” A look of anxiety appeared on Fang-Sheng’s face as he stood up and spoke in an utterly respectful voice.

Fang-Zheng nodded slightly to show his encouragement. He waited for a good while until a smile crept back onto Fang-Sheng’s lips before giving another nod and letting a small smile blossom on his own face. Turning his head toward Linghu Chong, he spoke again.

“There was originally a significant obstacle in this matter, but this obstacle no longer stood in our way. Even since First Ancestor Bodhidharma, this Tendon Altering Sutra was only taught to members of the Shaolin School, never anyone outside. I cannot let this stipulation end in my hands. That’s why young hero must join the Shaolin School of Mount Songshan and become a laymen apprentice of the Shaolin School.” After a short pause, he spoke again, “If young hero does not find the old monk loathsome, then you can become an apprentice of mine as a member of the ‘Guo’ class. You can change your name to Linghu Guochong.”

“Congratulations, young hero,” Fang-Sheng uttered a cry of joy. “Senior apprentice brother has only taken in two apprentices all his life, and that happened over thirty years ago. As the final apprentice of apprentice brother Abbot, not only would you be able to learn the superior Kung Fu of the Tendon Altering Sutra, the twelve consummate Shaolin Skills my apprentice brother is expert in, can also be passed down to you according to your abilities. By then, young hero will certainly be able to brighten the name of our school and add an extraordinary splendor to the Martial World.”

“Great Master Abbot, I can’t be thankful enough to your great kindness. But I am already an apprentice of the Huashan School and it would be inappropriate for me to join another school and study under a new Master,” Linghu Chong stood up and replied respectfully.

“Well, that is exactly the significant obstacle I had just mentioned.” Fang-Zheng let out a slight smile. “Young hero, you probably don’t know it yet, but you are no longer an apprentice of the Huashan School.”

Linghu Chong was thunderstruck. “Why…why…why do you say that I am no longer an apprentice of the Huashan School?” His voice trembled as he spoke.

“Young hero, please take a look at this,” taking a letter out from his sleeve pocket, Fang-Zheng answered. He gave his palm a gentle wave, and the letter glided toward Linghu Chong in a straight line.

As soon as Linghu Chong caught the letter in his hands, a shock shot down his spine. Gasping with astonishment, he couldn’t help but think, “This Great Master Abbot has fathomless inner energy, indeed. Even with just a thin letter was he able to pass over such vigorous inner energy. How amazing!”

Looking down at the letter in his hands, he saw the red seal on the envelope that carried the words “Seal of the Huashan School Head Master.” There were also characters in the middle of the envelope that said, “To Great Master Abbot of the Shaolin School.” These characters were written with an upright form in a dignified style, and were precisely the handwriting of his Master, Yue Buqun. Faintly feeling a foreboding sensation, he drew the letter out with trembling hands and read it. The sinking feeling in his stomach settled in as he read on, not able to believe that this would ever happen. After reading it the second time, he suddenly felt everything around him began spinning uncontrollably, and before he knew it, he had already collapsed to the floor with a loud thump. By the time he woke up again, he found himself in the arms of Great Master Fang-Sheng. Struggled back to his feet, Linghu Chong couldn’t help but break into a loud cry.

“May I ask the reason for young hero’s sorrow? Had any mishap happened to your respectful master?” Fang-Sheng asked.

“Great Master, please take a look,” handing the letter to Fang-Sheng, Linghu Chong muttered, choking with sobs.

Taking the letter from Linghu Chong, Fang-Sheng took a good look at the letter, which said:

“Yue Buqun, the Head Master of the Huashan School, here presents his greetings to the Head Master of the Shaolin School: As the Head Master of the Huashan School with unmerited reputation, I have not being sending my regards to your highness, so as not to disturb your peace. This letter is in regard to the defiant apprentice of our school, Linghu Chong, who, with the disobedient character, had been repeatedly breaking school rules and even took up with evildoers and associated with brigands. Buqun must have been an inept Master, because even after strict reprimands and stern punishments, I still failed to show effect. In order to uphold the righteousness of the Martial World and the clean name of an orthodox school, I hereby expel the defiant apprentice Linghu Chong from the Huashan School. From no on, this defiant apprentice is no longer a member of our school. If he continues to collude with evil and bring calamity to the world, I request all friends of the orthodox schools to eliminate him with no mercy. With great anxiety and shame, I am writing this letter, and the words could not express my feelings to the full extent. I wish for your forgiveness.”

This also took Fang-Sheng by great surprise. He wanted to comfort Linghu Chong but failed to find any words. Giving the letter back to Fang-Zheng, he took a glance at Linghu Chong, whose face was now covered with streams of tears, and heaved a long sigh.

“Alas, young hero, you really shouldn’t have affiliated with members of the Dark-Wood Cliff.”

“Every Head Master of the orthodox schools must have received similar letters from your respectful master and have already informed all their members. Even if you were perfectly fit, as soon as you walk out of this door, it will be like walking on thorns every step of the way, and all members of the orthodox schools will consider you a fatal enemy,” Fang-Zheng spoke again.

These words stunned Linghu Chong. He immediately remembered hearing similar words from Ying-Ying by the mountain gully. By now, not only all the heterodox school members would be on his heels with a mission to kill him, all the orthodox school members would also consider him a fatal enemy. As vast as the world under heaven was, there seemed to have not a place he could shelter himself. Then he remembered the deep love of Master and Master-Wife, who could almost be considered his foster parents. They not only taught him Kung Fu, but also brought him up from a child. But he had been willful and committed all kinds of outrages, which ultimately caused his expulsion from the Huashan School. He could imagine in his mind how Master must have felt more pain and sorrow than him when Master wrote these letters. Feeling of grief and shame welled in his heart; he almost itched to just bump his head against a wall to kill himself.

Out of his tear-filled eyes, he could vaguely make out the expression of deep pity on Fang-Zheng and Fang-Sheng’s faces, and suddenly he remembered something: Liu Zhengfeng wanted to have his Gold Basin Hand Washing ceremony so he could quit the Martial World, but only because he had taken up with the Demon’s Cult Elder Qu Yang, he ended up dying under the Songshan School’s sword. It was obvious that Righteousness and Evil were not irreconcilable. Even someone as powerful and prestigious as Liu Zhengfeng could not escape the fatal destiny, much less he, an isolated young man not worth mentioning and without any help, let alone the fact that the Five-Tyrant Ridge gathering of heresy could only be worse.

“The sea of bitterness has no boundaries, if one only turns his head, there is the shore,” Fang-Zheng said slowly. “As long as one awakes to his errors, even if he were an unpardonably wicked person, Buddha will not turn his back to him. You are still young, and only took a wrong step in life for the moment and affiliated with the wrong kind of people mistakenly. That’s not to say that you won’t be able to make a fresh start. Your affiliation with the Huashan School has made a thorough break. Henceforth, as a member of our Shaolin School, you can thoroughly rectify your errors and be reborn again. I am sure it’s not likely that someone in the Martial World would want to make trouble for you.” He had spoken these words in a very casual manner, yet these words showed a sign of stateliness.

“Right now I have nowhere to go,” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “If I rely upon the Shaolin School for protection, not only would I be able to learn the superior Kung Fu to save my life, with the prestige of the Shaolin School, indeed, no one would dare to make trouble for Great Master Fang-Zheng’s apprentice.” But right at the moment, a feeling of unyielding suddenly rose from within his chest. He thought, “If a man cannot even stand on his own feet between heaven and earth and has to rely upon another school for protection in shame, how can he be called a true man ever again? If the thousands of people in the Martial World want to kill me, so be it. I’ll just let them come and kill me. Master doesn’t want me anymore and has expelled me from the Huashan School. So what? I’ll simply wander about alone by myself.”

At that thought, he couldn’t help but feeling righteous ardor surging up his throat, making him thirsty. All he wanted to do now was to drink a few dozens of strong liquor, and the thoughts about life, death, school or faction were all cast behind his back. At the instant, even Yue Lingshan, the one he had always borne in mind constantly, seemed to have become a complete stranger. Getting back onto his feet, he knelt down in front of Fang-Zheng and Fang-Sheng and then kowtowed respectfully. Believing that he had made up his mind to join the Shaolin School, Fang-Zheng and Fang-Sheng both revealed a smiling face.

“Since I am not even wanted by my own Master, I am too shamed to join another school. I can’t thank the two Great Masters enough for your great kindness and mercy. Please accept my farewell,” Linghu Chong stood up and declared in a loud voice.

Fang-Zheng was astounded, having not expected this young man to show no fear of death.

“Young hero, this matter concerns your life and death. Please don’t be swayed by personal feelings,” Fang-Sheng persuaded sincerely.

But Linghu Chong only replied with a burst of laughter. Turning on his heels, he walked out of the room. With his chest filled with grievance, his steps became unexpectedly nimble, and he went out of the Shaolin Temple in big strides.

As soon as he stepped out of the temple, feeling of desolation welled up in his heart. Looking up into the sky he laughed, thinking, “All the orthodox members consider me a vital enemy, while all the heretical members want to kill me. Linghu Chong most likely won’t even make it to the end of the day. I’d like to see who would be the one taking away my life.”

He checked his pockets. There was no money in his pocket, no sword by his waistband, and even the short zither given to him as a present by Ying-Ying was nowhere to be seen. It wouldn’t have been overstating to say that by then he owned nothing in this world and had not a concern any anything whatsoever.

He began walking down Mount Songshan. At the time of dusk, he was already far from the Shaolin Temple. The walk exhausted him and also made him feel very hungry.

Suddenly, sounds of footsteps thumped as seven or eight men ran toward him in quick steps from the west. All of them were dressed up in tight robes, their weapons tying to their backs.

“If you want to kill me, it’s better that you attack now, so as to save me the trouble of looking for food. Even if I eat my fill I am going to get killed anyway. Why hold the candle to the sun?” Linghu Chong thought to himself.

Stopping at the middle of the road, he stood, arms akimbo, and shouted, “Linghu Chong is right here! Go ahead! Come and kill me!”

But quite to his surprise, when these men ran by him, they simply cast a quick glance at him before making a detour around him.

“Right! We’d better not let unnecessary incidents delay the more important matter,” another man answered.

“Turns out that they are after somebody else,” Linghu Chong thought to himself.

Just when the sounds of footsteps from those men finally died down, sounds of hoof beats suddenly rose from the west, and soon five horses galloped by him like a gust of wind. After the horses had dashed out another one hundred feet or so, one of the horses turned around all of a sudden. The rider was a middle-aged woman.

“Excuse me, mister, you didn’t happen to see an old man in a white robe, did you? He is quite thin and tall, and also carries a scimitar by his waist,” she asked.

Without another word, the woman turned the horse around and raced after the other four riders.

“Well, it seems that they are pursuing an old man in a white robe. I don’t have anything to do, anyway. I might as well just go watch the fun,” Linghu Chong thought to himself, and at that thought, he began walking toward the east.

He walked for about half an hour when another group of men, over a dozen of them, caught up with him in a small trot and then went past him.

“Howdy, bro, did you happen to see an old man in a white robe? He is quite thin and tall and has a scimitar by his waist,” a man in his fifties turned his head back and asked.

After another while, when he arrived at a fork in the road, sounds of horse bells[4] rose from the northwest corner as three horses dashed along the road at high speed. All three riders were young men in their twenties.

“Hey, I’ve got a question! Have you seen a…?” the leading rider waved his horsewhip in the air and asked.

“…a thin, tall, old man in a white robe with a scimitar by his waist, right?” Linghu Chong finished the sentence for him.

“That’s right! You know where he is?” all looking utterly joyful, the three asked in unison.

The leading rider’s temper hit the roof. “God damn it! Are you making fun of me? If you haven’t seen him, how could you have described him?” he bellowed.

“Why couldn’t I know the description before actually seeing him?” Linghu Chong grinned.

The leading young man raised the horsewhip in his hand and was about to whip it at Linghu Chong’s head when another young man’s voice rose.

“Second brother, don’t complicate things. Let’s get back to the chase, hurry!”

The young man holding the horsewhip let out a disgruntled snort as he waved the whip and hit the air then rode off together with the other two.

“Why are all these people going after an old man in a white robe. What did he do?” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “To follow them and watch the fun will certainly be entertaining, but if they realize that I am Linghu Chong, I bet they would kill me on the spot.” At that thought, feeling of fear started stewing in his chest, but then he thought better of it. “At this stage, both the orthodox schools and the heretic schools want me dead. Dodging about might enable me to eke out a miserable life for a few more days, but eventually, I’ll still have to face my bitter end, the final deathblow. What good is it to live a few more days of a life filled with dread? I’d rather accept the circumstances with good will and see who I’ll lose my life to.”

Having made up his mind, he walked on following the dust kicked up by the three horses right away. Later, several more groups of people went pass him in the same direction and all asked him about the “thin, tall, old man in a white robe with a scimitar by his waist.”

“All of these different groups of people are chasing after the old man in white robe. None of them knows where he is yet all of them are following the same direction. That is so strange!” Linghu Chong thought.

He walked on for another mile or so, crossing through a wood of pine trees, when suddenly a vast wilderness and a dense mass of people appeared in front of his eyes. There were at least six or seven hundred people in the crowd, but the wilderness was so large that the six or seven hundred people in the middle appeared to have only occupied a tiny spot of it. A straight, broad road led directly to the large crowd, so Linghu Chong simply walked forward along the road, and as he walked closer, the scene became clearer.

In the middle of the crowd stood a small pavilion, the kind used as a wayside shelter for travelers to take a rest in. The build of the pavilion appeared simple and crude. The large crowd of people surrounded the pavilion in a circle yet kept a good distance from it, dozens of feet or so, and nobody closed in on it. After walking another one hundred feet closer, Linghu Chong finally saw him. An old man in a white robe sat in the middle of the pavilion all by himself, drinking wine next to a small table. Whether he had a scimitar by his waist, Linghu Chong could not tell from the distance. Even though he was sitting down, he still looked as tall as a person in average height standing up.

Feeling of reverence swelled up in Linghu Chong’s heart. Surrounded by so many enemies, the old man was still able to drink his wine in such a calm and unhurried manner. Among all the heroes Linghu Chong had seen or heard of throughout his life, rarely had one displayed such exceptional heroic spirit. He slowly walked forward and shouldered his way into the crowd. Everyone in the crowd stared at the old man in white robe with fixed eyes and no one paid the slightest attention to Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong took a good look at the old man. He had a thin face. A bush of sparse, gray beard, long enough to reach his chest, fluttered under his chin in the breeze. Holding the wine cup in his hand, he gazed at the distance where the horizon met with the blue sky without casting even a glance at the crowd surrounding him. He carried a pack on his back, but there was no scimitar by his waist. Turned out that he didn’t even have a weapon with him. Linghu Chong had no idea about the old man’s name or origin, nor any clue why so many fellow martial people would come after him, nor whether the man was good or evil. He simply admired the heroic spirit the old man had put on display, the self-assurance he had shown as though he was just drink by himself alone and there was no one else even present. And unconsciously, the feeling of mutual sympathy as a fellow sufferer also swelled up in his heart and consumed him. Taking big strides forward, he spoke loudly.

“Hello there, Senior Master. Don’t you feel lonely drinking all by yourself? Let me be your accompany and drink with you.” Walking straight into the pavilion, Linghu Chong cupped his hands toward the old man in greeting and then sat down by the table.

The old man turned his head around and shot a sharp side-glance toward Linghu Chong. What met his eyes was a weaponless and sick-faced young man he had never met before. He let out a snort as a slight look of surprise flashed by his face but did not answer.

Linghu Chong picked up the wine kettle and filled the wine cup in front of the old man before filling a wine cup for himself.

“Cheers!” he raised his cup and toasted. Emptying the content of the wine cup down his throat in a swift swing, he drank it up in one gulp. The wine turned out to be very strong liquor; not only did he feel as though his mouth had just been cut with sharp knives as soon as the wine was poured in, he felt as though his entire stomach was on fire now. “Excellent wine!” he praised in a loud voice.

“Hey idiot! Get out! We are here to fight old Xiang to death. Don’t be a hindrance,” a big fellow outside the pavilion bawled in a husky voice.

“I am only drinking together with Senior Master Xiang. How did I become a hindrance for you?” Linghu Chong replied with a grin.

“Move aside, chap, if you don’t want to die for nothing. We have Chief Dongfang’s order to capture renegade Xiang Wentian. If anyone wants to make trouble or interfere, he is guaranteed a horrible death,” a chilling voice rose from the left side.

Linghu Chong cast a glance at the origin of the voice then caught sight of a thin, short man with a white face. The man was dressed in a black robe with a yellow band around his waist. There were two or three hundred people standing next to him all dressed in black robes, but their waistbands were in all kinds of different colors. Linghu Chong suddenly remembered: when he had met Elder Qu Yang of the Demon’s Cult outside of the town of Hengshan, Qu was also dressed in the same kind of black robe, and he could vaguely remember that Qu also had a yellow band around his waist. The thin man said that he was following Chief Dongfang’s order to capture a renegade then of course these people are all cult members of the Demon’s Cult. Could this thin man have been an elder of the Demon’s Cult as well?

Filling his cup with wine, he drank it up a third time. “Excellent wine!” he praised and then said to the old man in white robe, Xiang Wentian, “Senior Master Xiang, I’ve drunk three cups of your wine. Many thanks! Many thanks!”

“That chap is the expelled apprentice of the Huashan School, Linghu Chong!” someone suddenly shouted out loud from the east end.

Linghu Chong cast a glance toward the direction of the voice and immediately recognized the man who had spoken out: it was Hou Renxiong, the apprentice of the Qingcheng School. Since he paid more attention to the crowd with this glance, he also realized that among the people standing next to Hou Renxiong, many were also members of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance.

“Linghu Chong,” a Taoist Priest spoke in a loud and clear voice, “your Master said that you have taken up with evildoers, and he certainly said it right. This demon Xiang Wentian’s murderous hands are both covered with blood of chivalry members of the orthodox schools. What are you doing staying together with him? If you don’t get lost right now, we’ll chop you into bits and pieces.”

“Are you an Uncle-Master of the Taishan School? I have never met this Senior Master Xiang before in my entire life. I’ve only stepped out because I saw the hundreds of you surrounding a man who was all by himself. What is that? And when did the Five Mountains Sword Alliance decided to collaborate with the Demon’s Cult? Aren’t you afraid to become the laughing stocks of all the heroes under Heaven taking on Senior Master Xiang, a single man, with the combined force of both the orthodox and the heretic schools?” Linghu Chong replied.

“When did we ever collaborate with the Demon’s Cult? The Demon’s Cult is here to capture a renegade of their cult; we are here to avenge for friends who have died under the devil’s murderous hands. They do their thing and we do our thing. There’s no relevance whatsoever!” the Taoist Priest rebuffed furiously.

“Good, good! As long as you fight him one on one, I’ll just sit here, drink my wine and watch the fun,” Linghu Chong said.

“Who the hell do you think you are? Everybody, let’s kill this chap before we get even with that devil Xiang,” Hou Renxiong yelled.

“There would be no need to trouble so many people just to kill Linghu Chong, a single man. Brother Hou, you can just come and do it yourself,” Linghu Chong said with a grin.

Hou Renxiong knew very well that his own Kung Fu skills were inferior to that of Linghu Chong’s learning from his past experience with Linghu Chong in the wine house when Linghu Chong had sent him rolling down the stairs with a single kick and certainly dared not to challenge Linghu Chong all by himself. But he had no idea that the Linghu Chong now was far from the Linghu Chong then and had lost all his internal strengths. The others in the group seemed to have great scruples about Xiang Wentian’s Kung Fu skills and none was bold enough to charge into the pavilion.

“Xiang Wentian, when things have come down to this extent, you’d better go see the chief with us and ask for pardon from his Highness. There’s still a chance that his Highness might spare your life. You are a great man in our cult. Would you rather see flesh and blood flying in all directions when we fight to death so the outsiders can laugh their heads off?” the thin man from the Demon’s Cult shouted.

Xiang Wentian only answered with a snort and gave a sip to the wine in his cup. As he raised his cup, something clanked, and that was when Linghu Chong noticed the iron shackles chained around his two wrists in astonishment.

“So he just escaped from his prison and hasn’t even removed the shackles around his wrists,” Linghu Chong thought to himself as compassion swelled up in his heart. “This man is unable to defend himself. Why don’t I help him fend off the attacks for a little while and just give away my life here in this muddled fight?”

At that thought, he stood up, arms akimbo, and said loudly, “How can Senior Master Xiang fight you with his hands tied up in iron chains? Since I drank three cups of his great wine, I guess it will have to be my duty to give him a hand in his defense. Anyone who wants to lay a finger on Senior Master Xiang will have to kill Linghu Chong first.”

Seeing how Linghu Chong had come forward for him for no apparent reason in such a lunatic manner, Xiang Wentian was taken by complete surprise. “Hey boy, why do you help me?” he asked in a whisper.

“Upon seeing injustice, draw one’s sword to set right a wrong,” Linghu Chong replied.

“How are your skills in the sword art? Aren’t you from the Huashan School? Then I am afraid your skills in the sword art won’t be anything exceptional.”

“Nothing exceptional. Besides, I have very severe injuries and have lost all my internal strengths. That only makes the matter worse!” Linghu Chong grinned.

“Man, you are an oddball. Did you know that? Fine, I’ll go get a sword for you,” Xiang Wentian replied.

A white shadow suddenly flashed in front of everybody’s eyes as Xiang Wentian charged toward the crowd. Instantly, reflections from various blades twinkled as over a dozen weapons struck toward him. But Xiang Wentian unexpectedly accelerated sideways and pounced on the Taoist Priest from the Taishan School. The Taoist Priest thrust his sword forward at once. With an agile sway, Xiang Wentian dodged the thrust and stepped behind the Priest’s back. He quickly threw his left elbow backward, which struck the middle of the Taoist Priest’s back in a loud thud. Waving his two arms slightly immediately after, he caught the Taoist Priest’s long sword with the iron chain, and with a swift push to the ground using his left foot, he had leapt back into the pavilion. The entire series of moves were executed in such lightning fast speed. The many fighters of the orthodox schools had the intension of intercepting him but simply had the time for the reaction. One man was the fastest to react and chased after Xiang Wentian instantly. At the time Xiang Wentian had returned to the pavilion, he was only several feet from the pavilion. Raising the broadsword in his hand, he swung the blade at Xiang Wentian’s back. But it was as if Xiang Wentian had eyes on his back; without even looking back, he threw a back kick with his left foot, which struck right in the man’s solar plexus, sending him flying in the air in a painful cry. The man had put all his strength into the fierce swing of his blade and had no way of retracting the force in time. With a heavy thud, the knife followed through its course and cut off the man’s own right leg. Meanwhile, the Taoist Priest from the Taishan School swayed a few times and then collapsed to the ground, blood gushing out continuously from his mouth.

Thunderous cheers exploded among the Demon’s Cult crowd. “That’s some handsome skills, Right Counselor Xiang!” dozens of excited voices shouted in unison.

Xiang Wentian let out a slight grin and clenched his fist in greetings toward the crowd of the Demon’s Cult members, acknowledging the loud cheers. The iron chain tied around his wrists clanked loudly. With a swing of his arm, Xiang Wentian threw the sword toward the table, and with a clatter, the sword tip cut into the table.

Linghu Chong felt admiration growing inside him. “This man dares to outface so many first-class masters. Turned out he truly has extraordinary skills,” he thought inwardly. But he didn’t reach out for the sword.

“Senior Master Xiang possesses such superior Kung Fu skills. There is really no need for me to make a fool of myself. Goodbye,” he said, clenching his fist in greetings.

Before Xiang Wentian had a chance to reply, cold flashes from naked blades flickered as three long swords shot toward the pavilion – three apprentices of the Qingcheng School, Hou Renxiong among them, had launched their attacks. All three long swords were aimed at Linghu Chong: one pointed at the middle of his back while the other two pointed at his lower back. The tips of all three swords were less than a foot from Linghu Chong.

“Linghu Chong, on your knees!” Hou Renxiong bellowed. After the shout, he pushed his long sword forward and the sword tip touched Linghu Chong’s skin.

“Linghu Chong is a man of high virtues. Even though death is my destiny today, there’s no way I’ll let myself die from these despicable Qingcheng people’s swords,” Linghu Chong thought to himself.

At the moment, he was completely enveloped by the forces from the three swords. If he tried to turn around, then instantly, one sword would penetrate his chest and the two other swords would cut into his lower abdomen. So he immediately let out a few loud laughs.

Bending his right knee slightly, Linghu Chong quickly retrieved the long sword on the table and gave it a swift swing behind his back. Instantaneously, the three hands of the Qingcheng apprentices were cut off from their wrists and fell to the ground together with their three long swords. Their faces turning completely pale, the three Qingcheng apprentices couldn’t even believe their eyes. Only freezing there for a moment from panic, they finally remembered to leap back. One of the Qingcheng apprentice among the three was only about eighteen or nineteen years of age and instantly broke into a loud cry from the excruciating pain.

“Excellent sword art!” Xiang Wentian cheered. But then he said, “The strength is too weak. Terrible inner strength!”

“It’s not terrible inner strength; there’s no inner strength at all,” Linghu Chong replied with a grin.

Suddenly Xiang Wentian let out a loud shout, then dense clanking sounds from the iron chain followed – two men in black robes had leapt into the pavilion and launched a full out attack at him. One wielded a pair of wrought iron maces while the other one held a pair of iron plates in his hands – both men used weapons of the ultra heavy type. Sparks flew in all directions as the four pieces of weaponry clashed with Xiang Wentian’s iron chain. Xiang Wentian dodged a few times in an attempt to get behind the man with iron maces, but the man put up a good defense line with his two maces, shielding all his vital points around his body. Having his two hands tied up in the iron chain, Xiang Wentian obviously had lost quite some agility and speed.

More berating shouts rose exploded from within the crowd of the Demon’s Cult members as another two men charged into the pavilion. Both of these two used octagonal copper hammers as their weapons and both smashed their hammers downwardly at Xiang Wentian again and again. As soon as the two with four hammers joined the fight, the man wielding a pair of wrought iron maces immediately turned from defense to offense. Xiang Wentian ducked and darted within the limited space; even though his movements were utterly clever and nimble, he still could not injure any one of his opponents. Every time when there was a crack for Xiang Wentian to take use of, as soon as he tried to exploit it and attacked one with his iron chain, the other three would throw themselves on him like mad men with no regard of their own safety. Such fighting techniques were as fierce as it could be.

After they have exchanged a dozen or so moves, the leader of the Demon’s Cult crowd shouted, “Eight spears, charge, all together!”

At that command, long spears in their tight grips, eight men in black robes rushed into the pavilion from all four directions. North, south, east and west, two long spears in each direction, all aimed at Xiang Wentian.

“Little friend, you’d better get out of here!” Xiang Wentian shouted at Linghu Chong. Before his voice even died out, the eight long spears had stabbed toward him all at once; in the meantime, the four copper hammers pounded toward his chest and stomach, the two iron maces swept toward his shinbones, and the two iron plates smashed toward his face – all vicious moves in all directions. At the moment, the twelve first-class fighters of the Demon’s Cult had spared neither effort nor mercy; apparently every one of them knew too well that fighting Xiang Wentian was the most dangerous thing in the entire world, and any second longer the fight lasted would only translate to another step closer to the gate of hell.

“How shameless!” seeing the many people attacking Xiang Wentian so ruthlessly and the chance for Xiang Wentian to come through with this getting slimmer by the second, Linghu Chong bawled.

All of a sudden, Xiang Wentian spun his body in tremendous speed, and the iron chain around his wrists swung up and clanked loudly as it collided with the many weapons. His body almost looked like a peg-top, spinning so rapidly that all everyone could see was a white blurry shadow. Two loud clanks exploded when his iron chain collided with the two iron plates, sending them flying out of the pavilion through the top, leaving two big holes in the ceiling. By then, Xiang Wentian didn’t even bother looking at the moves of his opponents and simply spin faster and faster, knocking the eight long spears away from him.

“Slow down your attack and let him exhaust himself!” the Demon Cult leader ordered.

“Yes!” the eight spear-wielding men answered all together and then each took two steps back, waiting for the chance of another full out attack when Xiang Wentian would show cracks in his defense shield from any slight exhaustion.

Among the watching audiences, the ones who had a little bit of experience could all tell that Xiang Wentian would not spin like this for very long no matter how extraordinary his Kung Fu skills were. Continue fighting like this, Xiang Wentian would only end up exhausting all his strength and wait for capture with tied hands.

Xiang Wentian broke into loud laughter. Suddenly, he squatted slightly and struck out with the iron chain. The end of the iron chain hit one of the men wielding copper hammers right in the waist. The man cried out loud in pain, and the copper hammer in his left hand swung back toward himself and smashed his own head. The eight spearmen thrust their spears out in unison, attacking all around Xiang Wentian’s body. Xiang Wentian swung his iron chain and knocked two spears out of the way, while the other six spears stabbed toward the right side of his rib cage as though agreed upon beforehand. At the instant, even if Xiang Wentian could dodge the first spear, he would not be able to dodge the second one, or even if Xiang Wentian could manage to dodge the second spear, there was no way for him to dodge the third one, much less when there were a total of six spears thrust at him at the same time.

Watching by the side, Linghu Chong saw the simultaneous stabs from the six spears and knew that Xiang Wentian had no chance of dodging them. Before he knew it, he was seized by a sudden impulse and remembered the fourth stance of the Dugu Nine Swords, Spear-breaking Stance. The extremely critical situation did not allow him to think any further; with a cold flash, he thrust out his long sword. A loud clank echoed as the eight spears fell to the floor. There were eight spears falling down to the floor, yet there was only one clank, as though the eight spears had fallen to the floor at the exactly moment. Since the move from Linghu Chong was aimed at eight different wrists, of course it could not hit eight wrists at the exact instant, but the thrust was so fast that it almost felt as though the thrust prodded all eight wrists simultaneously.

Once the sword moves started, Linghu Chong simply followed the flow and launched the fifth move, Mace-breaking Stance. The name “Mace-breaking Stance” was a general title and contained many variations of techniques. It can be used to counter short handled weapons ranging from steel club, iron mace, acupoint-sealing peg, judge’s-pens, crutches, Emei sting, dagger, war axe, iron plate, octagonal hammer, and iron awl. After a few quick flashes, the two iron maces and the two copper hammers also fell to the floor. Out of the total of twelve Demon’s Cult members charging into the pavilion, except one that had been killed by Xiang Wentian and one whose iron plates had been knocked out of his grips, the rest ten men all took a prod on their wrists and dropped their weapons. After a cry in panic, the eleven men ran back to their own crowd in a fluster while the crowd of orthodox school members couldn’t help but cheer loudly.

The Demon Cult leader gave another command and a group of five charged into the pavilion at once – a middle-aged woman wielding two long knives came running directly toward Linghu Chong and the other four men began attacking Xiang Wentian in a circle. The woman’s knife moves were extremely speedy. She had one knife in defense and one knife in quick offense. When the left knife was attacking, she would use the right knife to defend, and vise versa, when the right knife was attacking, she would use the left knife to defend. So by using both knives, every move was attacking the enemy while every move was also defending herself. The defense was tight and secure while the attack was vivid and through. Linghu Chong couldn’t see the moves clearly and had to take four steps back in a row. Then he heard loud swooshing sounds. It looked as though someone was attacking Xiang Wentian with a flexible weapon. While busying himself in dodging the chops from the woman, Linghu Chong still managed to take a peer with a squint. What he saw were two men, each wielding a chained mallet, and two men using whips in a fierce fight with Xiang Wentian, who still only had the iron chains around his wrists. The steel chain on a chained mallet was very long, and when one swung the chained mallet, it could reach up to ten feet away. For several times, the mallet actually flew over Linghu Chong’s head only a few feet above him.

Turned out that the iron chain around Xiang Wentian’s wrists had been entwined with the steel chain from one of the chained mallet. And in a snap of a second, the other three weapons from the rest three attackers struck at Xiang Wentian’s body concurrently. Xiang Wentian sneered. He pulled with tremendous force, pulling the man wielding the chained mallet right in front of him just in time, and the two whips together with the second chained mallet all landed squarely on the man’s back.

Linghu Chong thrust his sword out in a tilted angle, and the sword tip drifted a few times before hitting the woman’s left wrist. But the blade of the sword actually bent into an arc with a loud clang, and instead of falling out of the grip from the woman’s hand, the long knife chopped right back at Linghu Chong from sideways.

Linghu Chong felt a shock, but soon understood, “She is wearing a wrist cuff made of steel. That’s why the sword tip could not cut through it.”

Rotating his wrist slightly, he turned the thrust into an upward poke. Thud! The sword tip pierced the Jian-Zhen Acupoint on the woman’s left shoulder. The woman froze for a split second, but being a bold and tough fighter, she still slashed the knife in her right hand with all her strength despite the great pain coming from her left shoulder. Linghu Chong snapped his wrist gently and with a quick flash, the woman’s Jian-Zhen Acupoint on her right shoulder was also hit and she could no longer hold on to her weapons. She used all her remaining strength to throw the two knives at Linghu Chong, but her two arms had already lost most of their strengths; the two knives only went as far as a little bit over one foot before losing their momentum and falling to the floor.

Right after Linghu Chong had defeated the woman, a Taoist Priest stepped out of the crowd of the orthodox school members.

“I am afraid that the Huashan School probably doesn’t have such bewitched sword art,” he bawled out.

From his attire, Linghu Chong could tell that he must have been a senior master in the Taishan School. He also figured that the Taoist Priest must have loathed how Xiang Wentian had injured his fellow apprentice and decided to step forward to get even. Although Linghu Chong had been expelled from the Huashan School by his Master, having grown up in the Huashan School, he always remembered the motto: the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, same root different branches. So upon seeing this senior master from the Taishan School, naturally he reacted respectfully. Turning his long sword to point the sword tip downward, he cupped his hands in greetings.

The Taoist Priest’s name was Tian-Yi and was in the same generation of apprenticeship with Priest Tian-Men and Priest Tian-Song.

“The sword art Linghu Chong just used was taught by a senior master of the Huashan School,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Total nonsense!” Priest Tian-Yi let out a disgruntled snort. “Where did you find a devil to teach you that? Watch out!”

As soon as the last word went out of his mouth, Priest Tian-Yi thrust his sword directly at Linghu Chong’s chest. The naked blade flashed accompanied by a continuing buzzing sound. Just with this one thrust, the forces carried on the sword had already covered the Tan-Zhong, Shen-Zang, Ling-Xu, Shen-Fen, Bu-Lang, Yu-Man, and Tong-Gu these seven major acupoints on Linghu Chong’s chest, and regardless of which way he dodged, the sword tip would always be able to penetrate one of the seven acupoints.

This sword move was named “Seven Stars in the Vast Sky” and was the cream of the crop in the entire Taishan School Sword Art. Once the move had started, the only way to evade it was to leap back over a dozen feet instantly. Not only would it require the opponent to possess very advanced Qing-Gong skills, the opponent also needed to be fully aware of the potential power of this “Seven Stars in the Vast Sky” move and leap backward without any hesitation as soon as the move was executed in order to escape the fatal injury from a chest penetration. And as soon as the opponent landed back onto his feet, he must be ready to parry the three swift and fierce consecutive moves that came immediately after. These three consecutive moves, each one more vicious than the previous one and all interlinked, would be very difficult to cope with. Since Priest Tian-Yi saw with his own eyes how excellent Linghu Chong’s sword art skills were, he decided to use this move with his first thrust. Ever since the senior master of the Taishan School invented this sword move, it probably had never been used in the first round of fight before today.

Astonished by the sudden attack, Linghu Chong suddenly had a brainwave and remembered seeing this move on the rock wall inside the back cave on top of the Cliff of Contemplation. That day he actually studied this move so he could use it against Tian Boguang. Even though he had failed to imitate it correctly and hadn’t beat Tian Boguang with the move, he had a clear understanding of the flow of this sword move. At the instant when the cold blade almost touched his body, having no spare time to think it through, he thrust his sword at Priest Tian-Yi’s lower abdomen at once. This thrust was none other than the thrust depicted in the drawing on the rock wall, the one created by the Demon’s Cult Elder to counter this move. At the first glance, it seemed that this thrust would allow the practitioner to end in common ruin together with his enemy, but in fact, this move “Seven Stars in the Vast Sky” of the Taishan School actually had two sections: in the first section the force of the sword would cover the seven vital acupoint on the enemy’s chest, and while the enemy was scared out of his wits, the practitioner would use the techniques in the second section to penetrate one of the seven acupoints he saw fit. Even though the force from the sword covered seven acupoints, but to kill the enemy, one stab would do the job. Regardless of which acupoint the sword penetrated, the resulting victory would have been all the same, that was why there would have been no need to penetrate all seven acupoints, and it would have been impossible to penetrate all seven acupoints at the same instant. One move containing two sections was actually the key of success for this sword move, but after the Demon’s Cult Elder deliberated it carefully many years back, he was able to find the flaw from within: as soon as the first section of the sword move was executed, if the opponent immediately thrust at the lower abdomen of the enemy, the move “Seven Stars in the Vast Sky” would have been broken, and the second section would never happen.

As soon as Priest Tian-Yi saw the profound counter move from Linghu Chong, he knew too well that he had no way of dodging it. Turning completely pale with fright, he screamed in fear, figuring that by then the long sword must have penetrated his abdomen. In the utmost panic, he could no longer feel any pain, and his brain also seemed to have seized functioning. Convinced that he must have died already, he collapsed to the ground. At the time when his sword tip was almost touching Priest Tian-Yi’s lower abdomen, Linghu Chong had stopped the thrust midway; who would have thought that the Priest Tian-Yi would be scared unconscious from the tremendous shock.

Watching Priest Tian-Yi collapsing to the ground, members of the Taishan School in the crowd were convinced that Linghu Chong must have seriously injured Tian-Yi and immediately shouted loud curses. Five young Taoist Priests ran out of the crowd and charged at Linghu Chong. These five men were all apprentices of Priest Tian-Yi. Consumed by blinding rage and the determination to avenge for their Master, they waved their five long swords about madly and swept toward Linghu Chong like a thunderstorm. Linghu Chong poked out with his long sword in quick succession and the five Taoist Priests each took a cut in his wrist. Loud clanking echoed when five long swords fell to the floor. Scared out of their wits, the five men leapt back when Priest Tian-Yi tottered back onto his feet, screaming at the top of his lungs.

The five apprentices were thunderstruck. They couldn’t find any wound on their Master’s body, but hearing their master screaming again and again, they were not sure whether their master was dead already r still alive.

After several loud screams, Priest Tian-Yi’s body gave a violent shake and he collapsed to the ground once again. Two of his apprentices rushed by his side and propped him up, then retreated back to the crowd in sore straits.

With only half a move, Linghu Chong had defeated Priest Tian-Yi, an elite fighter of the Taishan School. The audiences found themselves in complete shock. By then, the attackers around Xiang Wentian had changed. The two men wielding long swords were members of the Hengshan School. Their two swords rose and fell speedily, always looking for gaps in Xiang Wentian’s defense with the iron chain. Another man held a shield in his left hand and a knife in his right hand. He was someone from the Demon’s Cult. Using the shield to protect his body, the man fought with a Ground-Snuggling Knife Form. He would roll close to Xiang Wentian’s feet and then attack his lower body from close to the ground. Twice, Xiang Wentian struck the man’s shield heavily with his iron chain, which had no effect the man under the shield. But the knife under the shield kept stretching out and drawing back, one vicious move after another.

“With the shield to protect his body, this man’s defense is very tight. But when he stretches his arm out to attack, that’s when the weakness exposes. His opponent can then break his arm,” Linghu Chong thought.

“Hey, buddy, do you want to die?” suddenly, a voice rose from behind his back.

The voice was not particularly loud, but it was very close to him, probably only a foot or so from his ear. Astounded, Linghu Chong turned around and then found himself standing face to face next to a man, so close that their noses almost touched each other. Just when he was about to duck, the man had placed his two palms on Linghu Chong’s chest.

“If I strike with my inner energy, it will break all your ribs,” the man said in a chilling voice.

Linghu Chong knew the man was not exaggerating, and stood still, his heart almost stopped beating. The man gazed into Linghu Chong’s eyes. Since the two of them were so close to each other, Linghu Chong couldn’t see the man’s face. All he could see were two sharp and shining eyes with a stern stare.

“So this is the man who will kill me,” Linghu Chong thought, feeling much at ease now that the matter of his life would finally be settled once for all.

The man also noticed the mood change. At first, Linghu Chong’s eyes were filled with terror, but only instants later it was already replaced by a look of unconcern and indifference. Facing death with assurance was something even masters with superior attainments in the Martial World could rarely achieve. He couldn’t help but feel respect spewing in his heart.

“I subdued your vital acupoint only by a sneak attack. If I kill you like this, I am sure you’ll refuse to take defeat!” he said with a laugh before retreating his palms and taking three steps back.

Now Linghu Chong could finally take a good look at him. What he saw was a short, chubby man with a yellowish, fat face in his fifties. His two fat palms were both small and thick. With one palm up and one palm down, the man showed a stance of the “Songyang Palm.”

“Senior master of the Hengshan School, may I ask for your respectful name? Many thanks for showing mercy with your palm strike,” Linghu Chong said with a smile.

“I am Yue Hou,” the man replied. After a short pause, he spoke again, “You sword skills are outstanding, indeed. But your combat experience is too little.”

“How embarrassing! ‘Great Yin-Yang Palm’ Uncle-Master Yue, you are too fast for me,” Linghu Chong said.

Brining his left hand upward, he threw a knife-hand chop with his right hand. Though his appearance was ugly, as soon as his move started, his entire body looked as solemn as a mountain with imposing bearings and became indescribably attractive. Linghu Chong couldn’t find a single flaw around his entire body.

“Excellent palm skills!” Linghu Chong acclaimed and swung his long sword upward. Because he couldn’t find a single flaw in Yue Hou’s palm form and his movement, this thrust of his had both defense and offense, ninety percent of it was false while only ten percent of it was real.

But in Yue Hou’s eyes, this upward swing was brilliant. Regardless of which part of Linghu Chong’s body he planned to strike using his two palms, he would always end up sending the center of his palm toward the tip of the sword. So only half way through the palm strikes with his two hands, he immediately retracted his palms and leapt backward.

“Watch out!” Yue Hou yelled as he pushed out with both palms and a strong gust of energy force blasted toward Linghu Chong.

At the time Yue Hou was at a good distance from him. When Yue struck out with his two palms remotely, he had no way of warding the attack off using his long sword. Just when the thought of jumping out of the way popped in his mind, a freezing sensation had shot up his entire body. He couldn’t help but shiver. The palm strike from each of You Hou’s hands had different attributes. One had the force of Yin while the other had the force of Yang. The Yang palm strike was launched earlier, yet the Yin force reached the target first. Linghu Chong only had a fraction of a second to pull himself together when the burning hot energy force struck his body and shook his body violently, almost knocked the wind out of him. When one was struck with both the Yin energy force and the Yang energy force, normally he would have no chance of surviving, but in Linghu Chong’s case, though he had lost all his inner energy, his body was filled with abundant inner energy, among which were the inner energy from the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies, also the inner energy from Monk No Commandment, and when he was in the Shaolin Temple, he also received a good amount of inner energy from Great Master Fang-Sheng. Any one of those energy streams was vigorous enough, not mentioning he had many of them inside him. When the two energy forces, one Yin and one Yang, struck his body, the inner energy streams inside him naturally reacted by creating energy shields around his internal organs and his vital channels, preventing any injuries. But the strike still gave a tremendous shake to his entire body and he felt indescribable suffering. Afraid that Yue Hou would strike him again with energy forces, he dashed out of the pavilion and thrust his sword out rapidly.

Succeeded with his remote palm strikes, You Hou figured that his opponent would at least drop down with severe injuries if not drop dead. He had not expected to see Linghu Chong getting off without a scratch. Then immediately after, many reflections from the sword tip flashed, all aiming at the center of his palms. Astounded, he crisscrossed his palms and struck out, one striking toward Linghu Chong’s face, the other one striking toward Linghu Chong’s lower abdomen. Just when he was about to release the energy forces for the strikes, he suddenly felt a violent pain: his one palm on the back of the other, both had been stringed together by the blade of Linghu Chong’s long sword. It was unclear whether Linghu Chong had penetrated his two palms consecutively or he had struck his palms to the tip of the sword himself. All he could see was that his left palm was in front, his right palm was behind, and the exposing blade behind the back of his right palm was as long as five inches.

If Linghu Chong took advantage of the situation and push his sword forward, the sword tip would instantly penetrate Yue Hou’s chest, but with consideration of how Yue had showed him mercy with the palm strike earlier, he held his sword still after the blade penetrated Yue’s two palms. You Hou let out a loud cry, pulled his palms off the blade, and leapt backward.

The move he had just used was one of the techniques in the Palm-breaking Stance of the Dugu Nine Swords. Ever since Feng Qingyang went into seclusion, this move had never emerged in the entire Martial World. Suddenly loud cracking sounds exploded from behind Linghu Chong. He turned his head and looked over his shoulder and saw seven or eight men attacking Xiang Wentian all together. Two men in the group had very fierce palm power and the forces from their palm strikes had broke the pillar and the girder of the pavilion. Rafters and tiles started falling off the roof one after another, but the fighters were so involved in the fight, even when tiles fell on their heads, none paid any attention.

Within the brief moment when Linghu Chong looked back over his shoulder, Yue Hou had charged at him and struck out with a palm strike. The force from the palm strike hit Linghu Chong squarely on his chest and sent him flying in the air, his long sword also falling out of his grip. Before his back even landed back to the ground, seven or eight men had dashed toward him, raising their weapons high in the air and striking down toward him all together.

Suddenly, he felt something tightening around his waist – an iron chain had just flown by, wrapped around his body, and pulled hard. And in the next moment, he was already flying in the midair as though he had the magical power of mounting the clouds and riding the mist. It was none other than the master-hand of the Demon’s Cult, Xiang Wentian, who had just saved his life.

Having been chased around and beleaguered by both the Demon’s Cult and the orthodox schools, Xiang Wentian had been on the brink of exhaustion. Then, all of a sudden, a fear-for-nothing young man stepped out of nowhere to defend him against injustice. Naturally he had a high opinion of the young man. After watching how Linghu Chong had fought with his opponent, Xiang Wentian had made out that they young man had extraordinary sword art skills yet had terrible inner strength; and with so many tough enemies attacking him all together, he was really in an extremely dangerous state. Therefore, while contending with his own enemies, he never ceased paying attention to Linghu Chong’s condition. When he saw Linghu Chong being knocked into the air, he swung his iron chain at him right away and began scurrying, pulling Linghu Chong behind him.

Once Xiang Wentian began running using his Qing-Gong, it was as though he had turned into a galloping horse, and within only seconds, he was already scores of feet away. Dozens of people chased behind him, and many shouted out loudly.

Xiang Wentian was exasperated. Turning around all of a sudden, he charged a few steps back. The men chasing him were taken completely by surprise and paused their steps at once. One of them had slightly weaker Qing-Gong skills. Not able to stop his running so abruptly like everybody else, he ran directly into Xiang Wentian’s left foot flying kick and flew right back and the chasing crowd.

Turning around once again, Xiang Wentian resumed running, and the crowd behind him also resumed their chase. By now, none of the followers was bold enough to dash at full speed, and the distance between Xiang Wentian and them furthered gradually.

“This young man was never acquainted with me yet was ready to die for me. Friends like this are too hard to come by. But those bastards simply would not leave me alone. How can I get rid of them?” Xiang Wentian thought to himself without slowing down with his running.

After a moment of running, he suddenly remembered a place and felt very pleased. “That place would be just perfect.” But another thought immediately popped out, “That place is far from here. I wonder if I have enough strength to run over there. No worries! If I run out of strength, those bastards would only run out of strength before I do.”

He looked up at the sun to make out the directions, and then crossed the wheat field in a diagonal line and headed straight toward the northeast corner. After running another five miles or so, he had returned to the main road. Suddenly three galloping horses dashed past them narrowly missing them.

He suddenly took in a long breath and accelerated until he was right behind the last horse. Leaping into the midair, he kicked the rider off the horseback with a swift flying kick and then landed on the horseback himself. After placing Linghu Chong across the saddle in front of him, he swung his iron chain in a sweeping motion and knocked the two riders off their horsebacks. The strike broke the two riders’ many bones and evidently they would not survive it. Judging from their attires, all three riders were common people, none had anything to do with the Martial World. It was very unfortunate that they happened to bump into Xiang Wentian the malefic at the nick of time and lost their lives for no reason. The two horses kept galloping forward even though their riders had fallen off. Xiang Wentian shot the iron chain out and caught the reins. He was able to utilize the iron chain free at will as though it was an extra long arm of his. Witnessing his indiscriminate killing of innocent people, Linghu Chong couldn’t help but groan inwardly.

Having seized three horses, Xiang Wentian found himself in high spirits. He looked up at sky and burst into loud laughter.

“Little brother, those bastards won’t be able to keep up with us now!” he exclaimed.

“Not for today. But what about tomorrow?” Linghu Chong let out a slight smile.

“God damn it! The hell with them! I’ll whack them one by one,” Xiang Wentian cursed.

Riding the three horses in turns, Xiang Wentian speeded down the main road for a good while and then turned into a mountain road. The mountain road became steeper and steeper. Eventually, it was too steep for the horses to climb.

He dismounted his horse, and clawed the neck of the horse with his right hand, instantly creating a big hole in it and thick streams of blood gushed out at once. Moving his mouth next to it, Xiang Wentian swallowed several gulps of horse blood.

“If we don’t drink horse blood, how do we gain our strength for more fights?” Xiang Wentian said again.

Linghu Chong’s heroic spirit soared at once. He let out a few loud laughs and replied, “What do you think?”

Moving his mouth next to the horse neck, he felt the horse blood gushing toward his throat. Without hesitation, he swallowed it down. At first, the horse blood tasted with a strong fishy smell, but after several mouthful of it, it no longer smelled that bad. Linghu Chong drank over a dozen mouthful of horse blood one after another and did not move his mouth away until he felt completely full in his stomach. Xiang Wentian followed suit and drank more blood. Before long, the horse could no longer hold out and collapsed in long, painful neighs. Raising his left foot, Xiang Wentian booted the horse into the ravine.

Linghu Chong gasped with astonishment. The horse, a large beast, weighed at least five hundred pounds. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes when he watched Xiang Wentian booting it into the ravine with such a casual kick.

After booting the second horse into the ravine, Xiang Wentian turned around and threw a knife hand chop at the third horse, which chopped one of the hind legs off the horse. In the same way, he chopped the other hind leg off. The horse neighed deafeningly; even after it was booted into the ravine by Xiang Wentian’s kick, the painful neighs continued on.

“This leg is yours! If you eat it slowly, there should be enough for ten day’s worth,” Xiang Wentian said.

By then, Linghu Chong finally came to realization that Xiang Wentian had only chopped the hind legs off for food and wasn’t being brutal simply for the fun of it. So he took a horse leg in compliance and once Xiang Wentian began climbing the mountain path with a horse leg in his hand, he followed behind quietly.

Xiang Wentian slowed down his paces and walked unhurriedly. Because Linghu Chong had lost all his internal strength, only half a mile into the walk, he was already falling far behind, wheezing uncontrollably, his face turning completely pale, and Xiang Wentian had to stop to wait for him. After another mile or so, Linghu Chong couldn’t walk any further and had to sit down to catch his breath.

“Little brother, you are certainly very unusual. Your inner strength is so terrible, however, after taking two hits from Yue Hou that scumbag’s Great Yin-Yang Palm strikes, you look as though nothing had happened to you. This is really beyond me,” Xiang Wentian remarked.

“What makes you think nothing happened to me? My internal organs have all turned upside down from the shockwave, and who knows how many dozens of internal injuries it must have inflicted upon me. You know, I was just wondering about this thing myself? How come I am still not dead yet? Maybe I’ll be collapsing down any second now and not be able to ever get up again,” Linghu Chong replied with a wry grin.

At first, Linghu Chong had wanted to explain to Xiang Wentian that there was really no need to wait for him any longer and let the enemies catch up with Xiang Wentian, since he wasn’t going to live for long any way, but then thought better of it. Xiang Wentian was a heroic man; he would never have abandoned him so he could flee for his own life. If he had said something along that line, he would have really insulted Xiang Wentian.

“Little brother, how did you lose your internal strength?” Xiang Wentian sat down on a big rock and asked.

“Well, this is a very funny story.” Linghu Chong let out a light grin and began explaining in short how he had been injured, how the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies injected their inner energy into his body in an attempt to heal him, and how Monk No Commandment injected more inner energy into his body later.

“I’ve never heard of anything weirder than this one!” Xiang Wentian broke into a loud laugh, and his thunderous laughter echoed round the valley.

Suddenly, sound of loud bawling rose from a distance amongst Xiang Wentian’s loud laughter.

“Xiang Wentian, you can’t run away. You’d better behave yourself and surrender now.”

But Xiang Wentian kept laughing out loud. “Funny! Very funny! The Peach Valley’s Six Fairies and the Monk No Commandment are all first-class idiots!” he exclaimed. After another three laughs, he knitted his brows and scolded, “God damn it! Large crowd of bastards have caught up with us.”

He reached out and picked Linghu Chong up into his arms. Having no spare hand to carry the horse leg, he left it by the side of the road and began running. Once he picked up speed, Linghu Chong felt as though he was flying above the cloud. And soon after, Linghu Chong suddenly found himself inside a vast expanse of whiteness – they had actually run into a large cloud of mist.

“Wonderful!” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “We’ve climbed onto a peak. Now those several hundred people can’t charge forward altogether. As long as they fight us one on one, this Mr. Xiang and I, for sure, can deal with it.”

The shouting behind them came closer and closer. Apparently the people right behind them were also masters in Qing-Gong. Even though their Qing-Gong skills were inferior to that of Xiang Wentian’s, carrying a man in his arms, Xiang Wentian unavoidably slowed down after running for an extensive period of time.

After reaching a turning corner of the road, Xiang Wentian placed Linghu Chong on the ground and whispered, “Be quiet.”

Both of them stood quietly, pressing their backs against the precipice wall. Only a moment later, sounds of footsteps rose as someone closed in. The men in pursuit dashed at full speed. In the thick mist, neither of them saw Xiang Wentian or Linghu Chong. Only after they had run pass the side of them did they notice the two of them, and before they had a chance to stop and turn around, Xiang Wentian had struck out with his two palms. The palm strike was both resolute and accurate. The two men fell into the ravine without even a groan, and a short while later, two muffled flops came as their bodies hit the bottom of the ravine.

“Why didn’t these two scream when they were falling?” Linghu Chong asked himself. “Oh, I see. Before they fell down, the force from the palm strike had killed them instantly.”

“Those two scumbags loved to swagger around, calling themselves ‘The Diancang School Duo Swordsmen, Forces of Sword Towering the Heaven.’ Now they can rot in the abyss, their stinks towering the Heaven! Ha-ha!” Xiang Wentian sneered.

Linghu Chong had heard the fame of the “Diancang School Duo Swordsmen” mentioned to him before. He heard that the two men had excellent sword skills and had slain many formidable outlaws. Little had he expected to see them die so muddleheaded here today and didn’t even get a chance to see their faces.

“There are still about five miles from here to Xianchou Gorge. Once we get to the gorge, we won’t have to worry about those scumbags any more,” picking Linghu Chong up once again, Xiang Wentian said.

He resumed running with faster and faster paces, but sounds of footsteps rose from behind as several more people began catching up with them. At the time, the mountain path turned eastward and no longer had the cliff by the side. Xiang Wentian couldn’t play the same old trick again by hiding next to the precipice wall for sneak attacks and could only keep running with all his strength.

A swooshing sound suddenly broke out as a projectile flew toward Xiang Wentian’s back. It sounded loud and strong – apparently the projectile was something very heavy. Xiang Wentian put Linghu Chong on the ground and turned around, catching the projectile in the air.

“Mr. He, when did you decide to get involved with this? Has this gotten anything to do with you?” he cursed.

“You have become the bane of the Martial World, and everyone has the very right to kill you. Now take this flying awl from me,” a voice shouted from within the mist followed by continuous swooshing sounds. He had said “this flying awl” but at least seven or eight flying awls had been shot forward.

Hearing the loud and shrill sounds made by the projectiles tearing through air, Linghu Chong was deeply concerned.

“Even though the sword techniques taught by Grand Uncle-Master Feng can be used to block any projectiles or missiles, the forces carried by the awls are simply too strong. I can hit them, but the tremendous force would break the sword for sure,” he thought to himself.

He cast a glance at Xiang Wentian, who was now squatting in a horse stance, his upper body leaning forward slightly, his face looking nervous, very different from the unconcerned face he had had when he was still in the pavilion surrounded by hundreds of enemies. When the flying awls reached Xiang Wentian, they silenced one after another. Linghu Chong figured that they must have all been caught by Xiang Wentian. All of a sudden, many swooshing sounds broke out all together as numerous awls were shot out at once. Linghu Chong knew that this was a projectile throwing technique named “Raindrops All Over the Sky.” Normally when someone shot projectiles using this technique, the projectile he used must have been small ones such as coin-darts, or iron lotus seeds. Judging from the loud sounds made by the flying awls, each one had to be at least half a pound, if not a full pound. How could dozens of them be shot out at once? After hearing the loud and shrill sounds, he took a prone spontaneously, and then he heard a loud “ouch” from Xiang Wentian as though he had been wounded severely. In great astonishment he leapt forward and hid Xiang Wentian behind his back.

“I…I won’t make it. You…you…you’d better run…for yourself….” Xiang Wentian replied in fits and starts.

“We live and die together. Linghu Chong won’t abandon you just to save my own life!” Linghu Chong replied loudly.

“Xiang Wentian has been hit by the flying awls!” the chasing enemies shouted out loudly and dimly, over a dozen shadows closed in upon them little by little.

Suddenly, Linghu Chong felt a strong gust blowing past him by his right side, then came Xiang Wentian’s loud laughter as the dozen shadows in front collapsed to the ground. Turned out that Xiang Wentian caught the dozens of flying awls all into his hands but pretended to get hit, then when the enemies were off guard, he shot the many flying awls back also using the “Raindrops All Over the Sky” technique. Because they were in a very heavy mist and no one could see clearly, besides, Linghu Chong’s worried voice was completely sincere, so every one of the chasing enemies believed it wholeheartedly, in addition, no one had expected that Xiang Wentian was also capable of shooting out such heavy projectiles using the “Raindrops All Over the Sky” technique, so none of the dozen or so people at the front was able to dodge the attack, resulting in several dead corpses and severe injuries for the rest of them.

“Very good! Little brother! You are a good brother,” he praised, thinking to himself that when Linghu Chong had stepped forward to defend him recklessly, it could be accounted to the eccentric temper of a young man, but when he pretended to be wounded severely a moment ago, Linghu Chong would not run for his own life and was determined to live or die together with him. That was indeed the most precious virtue in the Martial World – “code of brotherhood.”

After a short while, once again, the enemies gained on them bit by bit. Swooshing sounds resumed continuously as projectiles, darts were pelted toward them nonstop. Because Xiang Wentian had to keep bending over or jumping up and down to dodge them, the enemies were able to quickly shorten the distance.

Putting Linghu Chong down on the ground, Xiang Wentian suddenly dashed into the chasing crowd with a loud roar. Several loud clanking sounds exploded and Xiang Wentian quickly returned, not just by himself, but also with a man on his back. After tying the man’s hands with his iron chain and carrying him on his back, Xiang Wentian placed Linghu Chong back in his arms and resumed running.

“Stop shooting projectiles! Stop shooting projectiles!” the man screamed loudly, but the chasing enemies ignored his plea and kept shooting projectiles and darts forward.

“Ouch!” the man suddenly groaned loudly as a projectile hit him on the back.

With both the live shield on his back and Linghu Chong in his arms, Xiang Wentian kept running with good agility, while the man on his back cussed loudly.

“Wang Conggu, damn you, you son of a gun. You know it’s me…ouch! It’s a sleeve-arrow![5] God damn it! Zhang Furong, you bitch! You…you are just getting back on me, aren’t you?”

After some continuous popping sound, the man’s cussing voice went lower and lower gradually, and eventually fell silent.

Without any scruples for projectiles, Xiang Wentian ran as fast as he could and after turning two mountain ridges, he finally said, “We are here!” Letting out a long breath, he broke into loud laughter, his mind completely free from any worries. The last five miles of running was extremely dangerous. He really had had no confidence that he would be able to shake off the chasing enemies.

Linghu Chong scanned the surroundings widely and felt a slight surprise. A narrow stone beam lay in front of his eyes, leading into a bottomless abyss. The stone beam only had a visible part of eight or nine feet long; anything further was completely concealed in thick mist. He couldn’t tell how long the stone beam was and where it led to.

“It’s an iron chain in the mist. Don’t step onto it carelessly,” Xiang Wentian whispered.

“Got it,” Linghu Chong answered, his heart thumping rapidly. “This stone beam’s width is no wider than a foot with a bottomless abyss right below it. This is already extremely dangerous. With an iron chain in the place of the stone beam, it is impossible for me to cross it with my current Kung Fu,” he thought inwardly.

Xiang Wentian untied the iron chain around the hands of the “dead shield,” and then drew a long sword by the man’s waist and handed it over to Linghu Chong. Placing the “shield” in front of himself, he waited for the enemies silently. Within a few minutes, the first block of enemies had arrived. Among them were both members of the Demon’s Cult and members of the orthodox schools. Seeing the precipitous terrain and Xiang Wentian’s “fighting with one’s back to the river”[6] stance, none of them was bold enough to charge forward. After a while, more and more enemies arrived. Gathering at about fifty or sixty feet away from Linghu Chong and Xiang Wentian, they shouted their curses for a while and began shooting all kinds of projectiles, darts, migratory locust rocks, sleeve-arrows, and so on and so on. Xiang Wentian and Linghu Chong hid behind the “shield” and none of the projectiles could reach them.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar blasted as a boorish mendicant monk charged forward, leaving booming echoes reverberating in the deep valley. The mendicant monk smacked his over seventy-pound iron Buddhist staff toward Xiang Wentian’s waist. Xiang Wentian bent forward and swung his iron horizontally barely above the ground simultaneously. By the time the Buddhist staff passed by from above his head, his iron chain also swept toward the mendicant monk’s right ankle. The mendicant monk had put great strength into the smack and could not draw the staff back in time to block the iron chain; having no other choice, he leapt upward to dodge it. But Xiang Wentian’s iron chain suddenly turned around, wrapped around the mendicant monk’s right ankle, and swung upward, following the mendicant monk’s upward momentum using his own force against him. The mendicant monk lost his balance at the landing and tottered forward only finding himself falling toward the bottomless abyss. With a snap of his wrist, Xiang Wentian unwrapped his iron chain from the mendicant monk’s ankle. Miserable screams echoed as the mendicant monk fell down and continued all the way down into the abyss, which made the hairs on the back of everybody’s neck standing on their ends as they took several steps back spontaneously.

The deadlock lasted for a good while until two men finally stepped forward. One had a pair of halberds and the other one was a monk, holding a crescent spade in his hands. The two men launched their attack shoulder to shoulder: the two halberds, one on the top and the other one below it, struck toward Xiang Wentian’s face and lower abdomen while the crescent spade struck forward aiming at his left rib cage. All three weapons were the heavy type, and with resourceful inner energy attached to them, they appeared to be ultra powerful. The two men had the landform in their minds when they launched the attack so that Xiang Wentian would not be able to dodge to the side and would have no choice but to block the attack with his iron chain in a contest of strength. Sure enough, Xiang Wentian waved his iron chain and with three loud bangs, knocked the two halberds and the crescent spade back. Sparkles flew in all directions from all four weapons, proving that this round of fight was sheer strength against sheer strength and there was no room for any trickery. Loud cheers exploded in the audiences at once.

After their weapons were knocked aside by the iron chain, the two men launched another wave of attack. Three loud bangs exploded again as the four weapons collided with each other. Both the monk and the man wobbled a few times from the collision of the forces, but Xiang Wentian stood firmly, and before his enemies even had a chance to take a breather, Xiang Wentian roared in a deafening voice, striking out his iron chain rapidly. In a hurry, the two men each raised his weapon to block. Three deafening bangs broke out once again, short and quick. The monk snarled loudly and threw his crescent spade to his side, when all of a sudden blood spurted out from his mouth. The other man raised his two halberds and stabbed them toward Xiang Wentian. Instead of blocking the approaching halberds, Xiang Wentian squared his shoulders and laughed out loud. When the tips of the halberds were still half a foot from Xiang Wentian’s chest, they suddenly sank weakly, and following the fall of the halberds, the man also fell forward to the ground and became motionless. Turned out that he had been shaken to death by Xiang Wentian’s overwhelming strength. The many people gathered in front of the gorge stared at each other in terror and none had the courage to step up.

“Little brother, we’ll just drag it on with them. Why don’t you sit down and have a rest?” Xiang Wentian suggested.

At that word, he sat down himself, embracing his own knees into his arms and casting not a glance toward the crowd.

“Audacious devil, how dare you belittle all the worldly heroes like that?” Someone suddenly spoke loudly.

Naked blades in their hands, four Taoist Priests stepped out from the crowd and walked in front of Xiang Wentian, all four swords turning crosswise in unison. “Get up, let’s fight!” they yelled.

“What did Xiang Wentian do to have provoked your Emei School?” Xiang Wentian said coldly with a sneer.

“Evil demons and heretics are misfortunes of the Martial World. We Taoist Priests believe in cultivation of moral character and promotion of righteousness. Eradicating the wicked and destroying the evil is our duty,” a Taoist Priest on the left stated.

“Eradicating the wicked and destroying the evil is your duty, indeed! Look at the people behind you. Half of them are members of the ‘Demon’s Cult,’ why aren’t you eradicating the wicked and destroying the evil?” Xiang Wentian mocked with a grin.

But Xiang Wentian remained his sitting position, his knees in his arms. “Oh, I see. Very well, very well!” he said as he held up his head and stared at the floating clouds indifferently.

Suddenly Xiang Wentian leapt up in a loud roar and swung his iron chain, which swept toward the four men’s waist speedily like a mounting dragon. This surprise attack came so abruptly and would have worked if the four Taoist Priests weren’t top-notch fighters of the Emei School. Hastily, three Taoist Priests planted their long swords downward in front of their waists while the fourth Taoist Priest on the right most thrust his sword directly at Xiang Wentian’s throat.

“Clank!” the three long swords bent all together from the iron chain’s heavy strike while Xiang Wentian inclined his head and avoid the stab from the forth sword. Waving his sword about swiftly, the fourth Taoist Priest immediately followed with three incessant sword attacks, which stalled Xiang Wentian just long enough, while the rest three Taoist Priest retreated back and rejoined the battle after replacing their long swords. The sword moves from the four Taoist Priests coordinated with each other as though they had put up a small sword formation. Four swords fluttered gracefully in the air, gathering in one second then dividing in the next.

Linghu Chong watched the fight for a little while and soon realized that Xiang Wentian had to move both of his hands together every time when he waved the iron chain about, which was far slower compared to the agility he would have achieved had he been able to moving his hands freely, and as the fight dragged on longer, a defeat would be simply inevitable. Taking a step forward from Xiang Wentian’s right side, he thrust his sword out, aiming toward a Taoist Priest’s ribs. The direction and position of the thrust was most peculiar. The Taoist Priest had no way of evading it, and with a slight thump, he took a hit on the side of his body.

At that exact instant, a thought flashed by Linghu Chong’s mind like a lightning, “I’ve heard that people of the Emei School has always preserved their moral integrity with an extremely fine reputation, paying no attention to other people’s business in the Martial World. I’ll help Mr. Xiang out of the predicament, but I shall not kill the Taoist Priest.”

So as soon as the tip of his sword pierced the Taoist Priest’s skin, Linghu Chong pulled his sword back at once. But because of this hard pull out of a sudden impulse, the sword move became deficient, and to his surprise, the Taoist Priest brought his elbow inward in an attempt to hold the long sword under his arms with force in spite of the great pain. Linghu Chong gave the sword a tug and the blade of the sword instantly left a long cut on the man’s arm and the side of his body, but because of this slight holdup, another Taoist Priest’s long sword had already struck over and smacked onto Linghu Chong’s sword.

Linghu Chong felt his entire arm going numb and almost let go of the sword, but knowing that without his sword, he would have become a disabled person, he held onto the sword handle desperately as waves of force reached him through the long sword and crushed toward his heart channel in multiple bursts.

When the first Taoist Priest took a stab under his arms, the injury had not been very serious, but then when he brought his elbow inward to hold the long sword with his arms, Linghu Chong’s tug created a cut so deep that even his bones were exposed. Blood spurted out from the wound, which basically forced him out of the fight. The rest two Taoist Priest were both behind Linghu Chong’s back by now, fighting a fierce battle with Xiang Wentian. The two Taoist Priests had fine and marvelous swords moves, and the two swords worked in coordination, putting up an extremely tight defense shield.

In every few moves, Xiang Wentian would take a step backward, thus after ten steps or so, his entire body was already inside the white mist. But the two Taoist Priests kept charging forward, and soon the front half of their long swords also disappeared in the heavy mist.

“Watch out! It’s the Iron Chain Bridge down there,” someone in the crowd suddenly shouted out, but that was too late. The two Taoist Priest screeched in terror as both of them plunged forward into the white mist, obviously being pulled forward involuntarily by Xiang Wentian. Sound of scream sank rapidly into the valley and fell silent only seconds later.

Laughing out loudly, Xiang Wentian emerged out from behind the white mist, but his laughter halted abruptly when he caught sight of a tottering Linghu Chong.

Back at the pavilion, the four Taoist Priests of the Emei School had witnessed how Linghu Chong injured his opponents one after another with the “Dugu Nine Swords” and knew very well that they would be no match for him in a contest of sword arts. But they were also able to tell that Linghu Chong’s inner strength was plain ordinary. Now when the Taoist Priest shot his inner strength toward Linghu Chong wave after wave, even if Linghu Chong were still in the same state of health before he was injured, his cultivation of inner strength would have been very shallow, after all, due to limited amount of training, and would have stood no change against the Taoist Priest’s over thirty years worth of inner strength cultivation using the breathing techniques of the Emei School, much less that Linghu Chong had lost all his inner strength. Fortunately, he had abundant other people’s inner energy inside him, which enabled him to withstand the energy attack for a little while and protected him from an instant injury. However, he still felt the energy streams inside him rolling and clashing against each other over and over as golden sparks twinkled in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he felt a stream of hot energy penetrating his back through the “Da-Zhui Acupoint” and the stress coming from his hand lightened at once.

Linghu Chong’s spirit surged. He knew that Xiang Wentian must have lent him a helping hand. Then he immediately realized that Xiang Wentian had redirected the attacking energy force downward so it would flow from his arm to his waist, then to his heels, and eventually dissolving into the ground.

The Taoist Priest felt the sudden dissolution of his attacking energy force. He let out a loud yell and leapt backward, withdrawing his own sword.

“It’s the Evil Art of Essence Absorbing! It’s the Evil Art of Essence Absorbing!” he cried out loud.

At the mentioning of the phrase “Evil Art of Essence Absorbing,” many in the crowd changed their countenances.

“That’s right! It’s the Magical Art of Essence Absorbing. Now who else is interested to try it out?” Xiang Wentian said with a broad grin.

“Could that Ren…Ren…have come out again?” the Demon’s Cult Elder with a yellow waistband muttered in a croaked voice. “Let’s report back to the Chief and let him decide,” he ordered.

The Demon’s Cult members acknowledged the command in chorus and all turned around to leave. After a short moment, half of the crowd of several hundred people had dispersed away. The rest people of the orthodox schools talked among themselves in whispers for a little while, and then also began to disperse one after another. In the end, only a dozen or so people remained.

“Xiang Wentian, Linghu Chong! By using the Evil Art of Essence Absorbing, you have sunk beyond redemption. Hereafter, when fellow members of the Martial World cope with the two of you, we no longer restrict ourselves to only just means. You have only yourselves to blame for such a consequence. I hope you won’t regret today when that happens,” a clear voice declared.

“When did I ever regret for what I did? Are you saying that it is actually a just means for the several hundreds of you to jointly attack the two of us? How funny is that! Ha-ha!” Xiang Wentian replied in laughter.

Sounds of footsteps rose and soon the remaining dozen or so people also vanished from sight. Xiang Wentian inclined the head and listened carefully. When he was sure that the enemies had indeed walked away, he whispered to Linghu Chong.

“I bet you these bastards will come back in no time. Come here and get on my back.”

Seeing the solemn expression on Xiang Wentian’s face, Linghu Chong decided to simply comply without asking any questions and climbed onto Xiang Wentian’s back. To his slight astonishment, Xiang Wentian bent down, extended his left foot forward slowly, and began walking down the deep valley.

Xiang Wentian swung his iron chain out and wrapped the end of it around a tree bough by the edge of the cliff that protruded beyond the cliff. After verifying that the bough was strong enough to hold the combined weight for both of them, he jumped down gently, and the two of them were now hanging in the midair. Xiang Wentian swung back and forth a few times. As soon as he found a spot to set his feet, he snapped his wrist with a reverse swing, which unwrapped the iron chain from the bough. After pressing down on the mountain wall with his hands to stabilize himself for a brief second, Xiang Wentian immediately swung out the iron chain again, and this time, it wrapped around a protruding rock underneath them, thus, they were able to descend another ten feet. Using the same technique, the descended further and further down the deep valley. Sometimes when there was only bare mountain wall without any trees or protruding rocks, Xiang Wentian would then run the risk by keeping his body close to the mountain wall and simply slide downward. Each slide would run about one hundred feet. As the slide accelerated, as soon as Xiang Wentian saw a spot that could be used to leverage the slide, he would use his outstanding Kung Fu skills, sometimes striking down with his palms, sometimes stomping with his feet, to slow down the slide.

This was certainly a very stunning experience for Linghu Chong. The danger and risk of sliding down the cliff was really no less than the danger and risk in the fierce battle a moment ago. This kind of experience was indeed peculiar and risky to the extreme. If he had not met an eccentric like Xiang Wentian, it probably would never happen in one hundred incarnations. So when Xiang Wentian’s feet touched the bottom of the valley in the end, he was actually slightly disappointed and wished that the valley were another thousand feet deeper. He looked up at the top of the valley. The stone beam looked like a thin blurry shadow, and white clouds concealed everything else.

“Mr. Xiang…,” Linghu Chong said, but Xiang Wentian reached his hand out quickly and covered Linghu Chong’s mouth while pointing his right index finger upwards.

Linghu Chong understood at once. The enemies must have returned. But when he looked up as far as he could, he didn’t see any shadow on the stone beam.

Xiang Wentian drew his arm back. Placing his ear right next to the mountain wall, he listened attentively. After quite a while, he finally said with a grin, “God damn it! Some are taking guards while some others are searching all over the place.” Turning toward Linghu Chong, he goggled at him for a moment and then spoke again, “You are an apprentice of a famous, orthodox school. I, on the other hand, am a so-called evil heretic. The two sides have always been mortal enemies. Why were you willing to offend your friends at the orthodox schools and come to save my life with no regard for your own safety?”

“I just happened to be at the place at the nick of time and were able to join forces with you, Mr. Xiang, and contended with the many elite fighters of both the orthodox schools and the Demon’s Cult. I had not expected to come through this alive. I must have had incredible luck on my side. What you said about me saving your life is really…well, well…is really…,” Linghu Chong replied.

“Is really rubbish, isn’t it?” Xiang Wentian finished the sentence for him.

“I dare not say Mr. Xiang is talking rubbish. But it would be completely incorrect if you say that I saved your life,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Xiang Wentian never goes back on his own words! I said that you saved my life, then you did save my life,” Xiang Wentian concluded.

“Just now, those god damned bastards kept yelling about the ‘Magical Art of Essence Absorbing’ and were scared out of their wits. Do you know what kind of Kung Fu this ‘Magical Art of Essence Absorbing’ is? And why are they so afraid of it?” Xiang Wentian asked.

“Linghu Chong, a junior, is just about to ask for your advice, Mr. Xiang,” Linghu Chong replied.

“Drop the junior, senior, elder, mister crap, will you? That’s really getting on my nerves. You can simply call me Brother Xiang, and I’ll call you Brother Linghu,” Xiang Wentian with a frown.

“I see! You despise me because I am part of the Demon’s Cult. You’ve saved my life, but my life is the least concern on my mind. If you despise me, we can dispute this over a fight,” Xiang Wentian exclaimed angrily. Though he spoke these words in a muffled voice, the anger blazing on his face clearly showed his irritation.

“There’s no need for a fight. If Brother Xiang insists, of course I’ll comply,” Linghu Chong replied with a beam. He thought to himself, “Didn’t I make friends with the evil rapist Tian Boguang? Might as well add Xiang Wentian to my list of friends. This man was free and easy and holds the characteristics of a true man. I’ve always liked people with such demeanors.” At that thought, he bowed down and saluted Xiang Wentian, saying, “Brother Xiang, I salute you.”

Xiang Wentian’s face split into a wide smile. “Just bear in mind that you are the only sworn brother Xiang Wentian ever had in the entire world,” he added.

According to the tradition in the Marital World, when two men became sworn brothers, they should at least get on their knees, pinch some soil in front of them in place of the incense sticks, and then swear an oath along the line of sticking together through thick and thin and sharing weal and woe. But since both of them were the unconventional type, and after going through this fierce battle together, each found the other congenial with the utmost sincerity, neither bothered about the over elaborate formalities. Once they called each other a sworn brother, then sworn brothers they were.

Xiang Wentian was a member of the Demon’s Cult, but there were very few fellow cult members he would think much of. Having made Linghu Chong his sworn brother, he found himself in a state of bliss.

“Too bad we don’t have any wine here, or else we could have drunk twenty or thirty bowls of god damned liquor to celebrate!” Xiang Wentian grumbled.

“Absolutely!” Linghu Chong immediately agreed. “My throat had been itching madly from the cravings. Now that you mentioned it, it only got worse.”

“Those bastards haven’t left yet. I guess we’ll just have to hold out for a few days at the bottom of the valley,” Xiang Wentian suggested, pointing his finger upward. “Brother, just now, when that cow-nose of the Emei School attacked you with his inner energy, what happened to the cow-nose’s inner energy force when I helped you with my inner strength?” he asked.

“Brother Xiang, I felt as though you redirected that Taoist Priest’s inner energy force into the ground,” Linghu Chong answered.

“Yes, yes!” Xiang Wentian smacked his own thigh in excitement. “Brother, your comprehension is excellent. This Kung Fu of mine was something I created by chance and nobody else in the Martial World knew about it. I gave it a name and called it the ‘Minor Art of the Energy Absorbing to the Ground’.”

“Well,” Xiang Wentian explained, “that’s because the ‘Magical Art of Essence Absorbing’ can change the countenance on anyone’s face in the Martial World just by the sound of it, and this Kung Fu of mine would pale into utter insignificance in comparison with it. That’s why I had to call it a ‘Minor Art.’ This Kung Fu of mine only utilizes simple techniques to graft one twig on another and redirects the opponent’s attacking inner force to the ground instead of causing any harm. I don’t have the least gain from it, myself. Besides, this Kung Fu is only useful when the opponent is attacking with his inner energy and can’t be used to attack in offense. At the time when the opponent suddenly felt that his inner energy was discharging in a steady stream, undoubtedly he would turn pale with fright, but it doesn’t take long for that amount of inner energy to regenerate. Why was I so sure that they would definitely return? Because as soon as the cow-nose found out that he didn’t really lose any bit of his essence, he would know that my ‘Minor Art of Energy Absorbing to the Ground’ is only bluffing and there’s nothing dreadful about it. I never liked playing deceiving tricks, that’s why I never used it before.”

“Xiang Wentian never deceives people, but for his sworn brother’s sake, he made an exception today,” Linghu Chong grinned.

“Nah, I wouldn’t say that I never deceive people. But for insignificant players like that Priest Song-Wen, your brother I would really disdain to deceive him,” Xiang Wentian showed a grin before continuing. “If I want to deceive someone for some reason, it has to be something huge, something earthshaking, something everybody will be talking about afterwards.”

At those words, the two of them broke into laughter. Even though they held their laughter low so as not to be heard by the enemy above, but the laugh was thoroughly delighted.

[1] It is tradition for a Buddhist monk to burn scars on his head using incense sticks to show his sincerity.

[2] Buddhists believe that if one persists in matters of the mortal world, he will not be able to attain the true meaning of Buddhism. But while mortal life is only a transient phase of a true Buddhist’s incarnation, he should work wholeheartedly in releasing people in the mortal world from pain and sufferings.

[3] Bodhidharma (also known as Pu Tai Ta Mo in Sanskrit and Daruma Daishi in Japanese) was an Enlightened Buddhist Master who is credited with reviving Buddhism in China and founding martial arts. Bodhidharma began his life as a royal prince in Southern India in the Sardilli family in 482 A.D. In the midst of his education and training to continue in his father's footsteps as king, Bodhidharma encountered the Buddha’s teachings. He immediately saw the truth in Lord Buddha's words and decided to give up his esteemed position and inheritance to study with the famous Buddhist teacher Prajnatara. Bodhidharma rapidly progressed in his Buddhist studies, and in time, Prajnatara sent Bodhidharma to China, where Buddhism had begun to die out, to introduce the Sarvastivada sect Buddhist teachings to the Chinese. Bodhidharma arrived in China after a brutal trek over Tibet's Himalayan Mountains surviving both the extreme elements and treacherous bandits. Upon arrival in China, the Emperor Wu Di, a devout Buddhist himself, requested an audience with Bodhidharma. During their initial meeting, Wu Di asked Bodhidharma what merit he had achieved for all of his good deeds. Bodhidharma informed him that he had accrued none whatsoever. Bodhidharma was subsequently unable to convince Wu Di of the value of the teachings he had brought from India. Bodhidharma then set out for Luoyang, crossed the Yangtze River on a leaf, and climbed Bear’s Ear Mountain in the Songshan Mountain range where the Shaolin Temple was located. He meditated there in a small cave for nine years. Bodhidharma, in true Mahayana spirit, was moved to pity when he saw the terrible physical condition of the monks of the Shaolin Temple. The monks had practiced long-term meditation retreats, which made them spiritually strong but physically weak. He also noted that this meditation method caused sleepiness among the monks. Likening them to the young Shakyamuni, who almost died from practicing asceticism, he informed the monks that he would teach their bodies and their minds the Buddha's dharma through a two-part program of meditation and physical training. Bodhidharma created an exercise program for the monks, which involved physical techniques that were efficient, strengthened the body, and eventually, could be used practically in self-defense. When Bodhidharma instituted these practices, his primary concern was to make the monks physically strong enough to withstand both their isolated lifestyle and the deceptively demanding training that meditation requires. It turned out that the techniques served a dual purpose as a very efficient fighting system, which evolved into a marital arts style called Shaolin Kung Fu. Martial arts training helped the monks to defend themselves against invading warlords and bandits. Bodhidharma taught that martial arts should be used for self-defense, and never to hurt or injure needlessly. In fact, it is one of the oldest Shaolin axioms that “one who engages in combat has already lost the battle.” Bodhidharma, a member of the Indian Kshatriya warrior class and a master of staff fighting, developed a system of 18 dynamic tension exercises. These movements found their way into print in 550 A.D. as the Yi Jin Jing, or Tendon Altering Sutra. We know this system today as the Luohan (Priest-Scholar) 18 Hand Movements, the basis of Shaolin Temple Boxing and the Shaolin Arts.

[4] It is tradition to attach small bells to a horse in China. The pleasant ringing of the bells also are useful as signals to inform pedestrians about the coming of the running horse so they would have plenty of time to move out of the way.

[5] A type of dart that shoots out from one’s sleeves.

[6] This idiom came from a story recorded in the book Shi Ji (Historical Records) by Sima Qian: In the battle with the army of Zhao, Han general Han Xin ordered his troops to form a battling formation with their backs to the river. With a mighty Zhao army in front of them and no way to retreat to behind their backs, the Han soldiers had no choice but to conquer or die. Even though the Zhao army was much larger than the Han army, the Han soldiers fought with all their might and crushed the Zhao army. This is one of the most famous battles in Chinese history. Later people use this idiom to describe one’s determination to conquer or fight to death.

Search within Lannyland:

Chapter Eighteen: Collaboration (draft)