The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

"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.

"Linghu Chong dares not to offend Uncle-Master of the Taishan School."

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

"What kind of sword art did you just use?" he asked coldly.

"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 pract.i.tioner 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 pract.i.tioner 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.

"I am dead! I am dead!"

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 a.s.surance 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 embarra.s.sing! "Great Yin-Yang Palm" Uncle-Master Yue, you are too fast for me," Linghu Chong said.

"Uncle-Master? I really don"t deserve that!" Yue Hou replied.

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.

"Excellent sword art!" he shouted.

"Pardon me!" Linghu Chong replied humbly.

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

"Oh no!" Linghu Chong groaned inwardly.

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.

"Sorry!" Linghu Chong called out, feeling very regretful.

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.

"Hey, you cherry pickers!" Linghu Chong grinned.

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.

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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 escaped! Xiang Wentian escaped!"

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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n it!" Xiang Wentian cursed.

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 b.u.mp 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n it! The h.e.l.l 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.

"Are you hungry?" Xiang Wentian asked.

"En," Linghu Chong nodded. "Do you have any food?" he asked.

"Nope. But we have horse blood!" Xiang Wentian answered.

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.

"Your turn!" he said.

Linghu Chong was in shock, completely astonished by the unusual scene.

"If we don"t drink horse blood, how do we gain our strength for more fights?" Xiang Wentian said again.

"More fights?" Linghu Chong muttered.

"Are you afraid?" Xiang Wentian asked.

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 sc.u.mbag"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.

"Well, let"s rest a bit longer than," Xiang Wentian said.

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-cla.s.s idiots!" he exclaimed. After another three laughs, he knitted his brows and scolded, "G.o.d d.a.m.n it! Large crowd of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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 pa.s.s 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 m.u.f.fled flops came as their bodies. .h.i.t 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 sc.u.mbags 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! Hha!" 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 sc.u.mbags 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 p.r.o.ne 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.

"Mr. Xiang, are you wounded?" he asked hurriedly.

"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.

Xiang Wentian picked up Linghu Chong and turned around to run once again.

"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.

"We"ve got ourselves a live shield!" he grinned.

"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.

"w.a.n.g Conggu, d.a.m.n you, you son of a gun. You know it"s me…ouch! It"s a sleeve-arrow![5] G.o.d d.a.m.n it! Zhang Furong, you b.i.t.c.h! 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.

"Oops, our live shield is a dead shield now," Xiang Wentian grinned.

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 pa.s.sed 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.

"The principle culprit first!" the Taoist Priest answered.

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 "DZhui 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! Hha!" 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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, "G.o.d d.a.m.n 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.

Linghu Chong let out a smile and did not argue.

"Just now, those G.o.d d.a.m.ned b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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 c.r.a.p, 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.

"Linghu Chong dare not do so," Linghu Chong declined.

"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 m.u.f.fled 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.

"I am extremely flattered!" Linghu Chong grinned.

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 G.o.d d.a.m.ned 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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 n.o.body 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"."

"That"s a strange name!" Linghu Chong uttered.

"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 j.a.panese) 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 inst.i.tuted 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 cla.s.s 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.