The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

"Master did not answer right away. He closed his eyes for a long while and then said, "Denuo, before you became my disciple, you had already spent much time in the Martial World. In that time, what did you hear of the Chief Master of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, Lin Zhennan?"

"I answered, "Our friends in the Martial World said that Lin Zhennan was not stingy when socializing with others; he treated his friends well. Everybody liked him and left the goods he escorted alone out of respect. But regard to his real Kung Fu skills, I am not sure."

"Master said, "Right! For the last generation, the Fortune Prestige Escort House has been successful, primarily because people in the Martial World treated Lin Zhennan like a friend. Did you ever hear that Master Yu"s teacher, Evergreen, was defeated by Lin Yuantu"s "Evil-Resisting Sword Art" during his youth?"

"I was lost. "Lin…Lin Yuantu? Was he Lin Zhennan"s father?" I asked.

""No," Master answered, "Lin Yuantu was Lin Zhennan"s grandfather. He was the original founder of the Fortune Prestige Escort House. In those days when Lin Yuantu founded the Escort House with the seventy-two moves of "Evil-Resisting Sword Art," none of the heterodox members of the Martial World was a match for him. Because his great fame at that time, even orthodox members of the Martial World went to challenge him. Evergreen was one of them, and thus lost to several moves of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art."

"I asked, "So the Evil-Resisting Sword Art is really very powerful?"

"Master said, "The news that Evergreen lost the fight was kept secret by both sides, so n.o.body in the Martial World knew about it. However, Evergreen was a very good friend of our Grand Master and had once mentioned it to him. He considered this one of the greatest humiliations in his life, but knowing that he would never be able to defeat Lin Yuantu, he was never able to settle the score with him. Grand Master had studied the Evil-Resisting Sword Art together with him in order to find any flaws in this sword art. The seventy-two moves looked plain, but there were many profound mysteries locked within that no one could fathom, which allowed the moves to suddenly become very swift. The two of them studied it for several months and still could not devise a way to counter it. At that time, I was a mere teenager who had just become an apprentice. I served their tea at those sessions and was able to watch the moves everyday, so when you demonstrated the moves, I knew they were from the "Evil-Resisting Sword Art." Ah, time flows like a stream. That was a long time ago!""

Ever since Lin Pingzhi had been beaten up by the Qingcheng apprentices without being able to defend himself, he had completely lost confidence in his family"s Kung Fu. All he wanted was to learn from a good teacher to seek revenge later. Now hearing Lao Denuo speaking of the great prestige and fame of his great grandfather, Lin Yuantu, he was greatly encouraged. Their family"s Evil-Resisting Sword Art was really nothing to scoff at. Years ago, even the masters of the Qingcheng and Huashan sword schools could not defeat it. But if this was so, why couldn"t his father defeat those Qingcheng apprentices? Perhaps his father did not learn the secret and magic parts of the sword art.

Then he heard Lao Denuo say, "I then asked Master, "Did Evergreen ever get his revenge?"

"Master said, "He only lost a challenge fight. That doesn"t require revenge. Besides, Lin Yuantu had been famous for years and was considered an admirable senior master. Evergreen was just a little Taoist priest who barely finished training. It wasn"t a big deal for a young lad to lose to a senior master. After Grand Master comforted him, they never mentioned the incident again. Evergreen died at the age of thirty-six. Maybe he could never put the incident behind him, and finally died of depression. Now, decades later, why would Yu Canghai suddenly make all of his apprentices practice the Evil-Resisting Sword Art? Denuo, what"s your opinion on this?"

"I said, "It seemed that everyone in the Pine-Wind Temple was quite serious about practicing; could Master Yu be planning to mount a large-scale attack against the Fortune Prestige Escort House to seek revenge for the past generation?"

"Master nodded and said, "I think so too. Evergreen was a narrow-minded person who thought highly of himself. He must have taken his defeat to heart. He probably left some kind of order to Yu Canghai before he pa.s.sed away. Lin Yuantu died before Evergreen, so if Yu Canghai were to avenge his teacher, he could only go after Lin Zhongxiong, Lin Yuantu"s son. But for some reason, he waited till now to start the attack. Yu Canghai is shrewd and deep, and always plots before attacking. There"s going to be a big fight between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Fortune Prestige Escort House."

"I asked the Master, "So in your opinion, who has a better chance of winning the fight?"

"Master smiled and said, "Yu Canghai"s Kung Fu skills have surpa.s.sed his master, Evergreen"s. Lin Zhennan"s Kung Fu skills, although outsiders have no idea, are probably inferior to his grandfather"s. One had advanced and one had slipped back. In addition, the Qingcheng Sword School hides in the dark while the Fortune Prestige Escort House is exposed in the light; before the real fight even begins, the Fortune Prestige Escort House already has a seventy percent chance of losing. If Lin Zhennan were to get the information early and invite the Golden Blade w.a.n.g Yuanba in Luoyang to help out, then they might be able to put on a decent fight. Denuo, do you want to go watch the fun?"

"I of course agreed joyfully. Then the Master taught me a couple of sword moves that the Qingcheng Sword School was quite fond of, as a means of protection."

"What?" Lu Dayou jumped up. "How come the Master knows moves of Qingcheng"s sword art? Ah, I see. Years ago when Evergreen practiced with Grand Master, he had to use Qingcheng"s sword art to counter the Evil-Resisting Sword Art, so Master saw them by the side."

"Sixth apprentice brother," Lao Denuo said, "as apprentices, let"s not speculate on the origin of Master"s Kung Fu skills. Master told me not to let any other apprentices know about this, so the information wouldn"t leak out. But little apprentice sister was quite clever and somehow heard about it. She nagged the Master into letting her go with me. We disguised ourselves as grandpa and granddaughter selling wine outside Fuzhou, and then everyday we would sneak into the Fortune Prestige Escort House to see what was going on. We didn"t see much, other than Lin Zhennan teaching his son the sword arts. When little apprentice sister saw the sword art, she shook her head and said to me, "Is this really the renowned Evil-Resisting Sword Art? It"s more like the Evil-Resisting-Not Sword Art. When the evil comes, this Young Master Lin better hides far away. ""

Lin Pingzhi"s face turned red at the laughter of the Huashan Sword School apprentices. He was so shamed that he wished there was a hole he could crawl into. "So the two of them had been watching us in our Escort House and we knew nothing about it. We are really impotent." He couldn"t help feeling very depressed.

"Not many days after we arrived in Fuzhou, apprentices of the Qingcheng Sword School drifted in one after another," Lao Denuo continued with the story. "The first two that arrived were Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao. They started sneaking into the Escort House everyday to explore the place. Little apprentice sister and I wanted to avoid b.u.mping into them, so we stopped going there. It was quite a coincidence when one day that Young Master Lin came to patronize our "Great Wine Shop." Little apprentice sister just had to bring out some wine for them. At first we thought he had found us out and intentionally came to let us know it. But when I spoke to him, I learned that he was still quite clueless. That playboy didn"t know a thing and was no different from a r.e.t.a.r.d. Then, guess what happened? The two most useless apprentices of the Qingcheng Sword School, Yu Renyan and Jia Renda happened to come to our "Great Wine Shop" as well…."

"Second apprentice brother, the "Great Wine Shop" little apprentice sister and you opened must have had a booming business with all kinds of revenue pouring in. You probably made a fortune in Fujian, didn"t you?" Lu Dayou applauded.

"Sure! Second apprentice brother has become quite a wealthy man now, and thanks to his luck, I was able to pick up a few crumbs as well!" the girl grinned. Everyone burst into laughter.

"Although the Young Master Lin was terrible with his Kung Fu skills and not even good enough to be little apprentice sister"s student, he did have some integrity," Lao Denuo said. "Yu Renyan, the youngest and most useless son of Yu Canghai, was so blind that he started teasing and making fun of little apprentice sister. Then the Young Master Lin stepped in and tried to protect us…."

Lin Pingzhi felt both ashamed and irritated. "So the Qingcheng Sword School had deliberately planned the attacks on our Escort House, seeking revenge for their defeat in the previous generation. And the group that came to Fuzhou consisted of far more than just four. Whether I killed Yu Renyan or not didn"t matter at all." He was so disturbed that he didn"t really listen to Lao Denuo describing how he killed Yu Renyan. But he could hear laugh after laugh; they must have been laughing at how clumsy he had been when he tried to defend himself.

Then he heard Lao Denuo say, "That night, little apprentice sister and I went back to the Fortune Prestige Escort House to check it out, and saw that Hou Renying, Hong Renxiong, and other apprentices led by Master Yu had already arrived. We were afraid to be seen by the people of Qingcheng Sword School, so we just stood far away to observe. We saw them killing the escorts of the Escort House one by one, including the ones sent out to obtain help. Dead bodies were sent back to the Escort House one after another; they were merciless. At that moment, I thought to myself: The whole thing was just because Evergreen, someone from the last generation of Qingcheng, lost to Lin Yuantu in a challenge sword fight. If Master Yu wanted to settle the score, all he needed to do was to challenge and defeat Lin Zhennan and his son in a sword fight. Why did he behave so maliciously? He must have wanted to avenge Yu Renyan. But why didn"t they do anything to the Lin couple and Lin Pingzhi, and only forced them to leave the Escort House? Right after the remaining escorts and the Lin family fled the Escort House, Master Yu went in. Then he sat on the chief chair with a smug air; starting then, the Fortune Prestige House belonged to the Qingcheng Sword School."

"Qingcheng Sword School wanted to get into the escorting business. Master Yu wanted to be the Chief Master Escort!" Lu Dayou exclaimed. Everyone laughed.

"The Qingcheng people had watched the Lin family disguise themselves," Lao Denuo went on. "Fang Renzhi, Yu Renhao, and Jia Renda got the order to go after them and bring them back. Little apprentice sister insisted on following them to watch the events, so we followed the bunch of them. When the Lin family stopped by a small restaurant in the mountains south of Fuzhou, Fang Renzhi, Yu Renhao, and Jia Renda showed themselves and captured the three.

"Little apprentice sister said, "It was all because of me that the Young Master Lin killed Yu Renyan. We cannot just walk away like this."

"I tried my best to change her mind and said that if we came out and attacked the Qingcheng Sword School, we would damage the relationship between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Huashan Sword School. And since Master Yu was in Fuzhou, we also might get into big trouble."

"Second apprentice brother is old, so of course he wanted to be careful and doesn"t care much about action. Little apprentice sister must have been very disappointed," Lu Dayou speculated.

"Little apprentice sister was so enthusiastic that it was hard to disappoint her even if I wanted to." Lao Denuo smiled. "So little apprentice sister first went into the kitchen and cracked Jia Renda"s head. When he started screaming and lured Fang and Yu away, she circled to the front to rescue Young Master Lin and let him escape."

"Terrific! Terrific!" Lu Dayou applauded. "I see! Little apprentice sister wasn"t just saving that fellow Lin; she had something else in mind. Great! Great!"

"What other things did I have in mind? You"re talking nonsense again!" the girl said.

"Since I was beaten by Master because of the Qingcheng Sword School, little apprentice sister was unhappy, so she beats up people of the Qingcheng Sword School to vent my anger. Thank you very much…." Lu Dayou stood up and saluted the girl.

"Monkey-Six apprentice brother, you are welcome," the girl smiled and saluted back.

"Little apprentice sister beat up the Qingcheng apprentice to vent someone"s anger. But I am not sure if that someone was you. It wasn"t just you, Monkey-Six, who got beaten by the Master," the apprentice with the abacus said with a broad grin.

"This time sixth apprentice brother is right," Lao Denuo smiled. "Little apprentice sister really beat up Jia for sixth apprentice brother"s sake. Later if the Master asks about this, she will still say so."

"This…this is an honor I don"t want. Don"t drag me into it and get me another ten strokes of the stick," Lu Dayou exclaimed, waving his hands.

"So didn"t Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao chase you?" the tall apprentice asked.

"Of course they did," the girl answered, "but second apprentice brother had learned some moves of the Qingcheng sword art, and, with only the one move called "Swan Goose in the Sky," he sent their swords into the sky. Too bad second apprentice brother masked his face with a black cloth. I bet that even now Fang and Yu still don"t realize that they lost to the Huashan Sword School."

"It is better that way," Lao Denuo said. "Otherwise, there would have been more trouble. In a straight test of skills I may not be able to win over Fang and Yu, but because I used moves from the Qingcheng sword art so unexpectedly and attacked the flaw in their technique, the two were startled, and because of that, we won again this time."

The apprentices all agreed that if big apprentice brother had known about this, he would have been very happy and excited indeed.

It started raining more and more heavily; raindrops bounced off rooftops and street surfaces like peas. A vendor, carrying a pot of wonton and his cooking utensils balanced on the ends of a pole, appeared from the rain and stopped under the eaves of the teashop to take shelter. The old man started to knock on a bamboo block to attract customers. Hot steams came out of his pot.

The Huashan apprentices had been hungry for quite a while, and when they saw the wonton vendor, all were quite pleased.

"Hey, make nine servings of wonton for us, please. Extra eggs," Lu Dayou shouted.

"Yes, sir!" the old man answered then opened the pot lid and threw the wontons into the hot soup. Moments later, five bowls of wonton were ready for the apprentices.

Lu Dayou was well behaved. He gave the first bowl to second apprentice brother, Lao Denuo, the second bowl to third apprentice brother, Liang Fa, and then to the fourth apprentice brother Shi Daizi, and to the fifth apprentice brother, Gao Genming. He should have taken the next bowl, but he put it in front of little apprentice sister instead.

"Little apprentice sister, after you," he said.

The girl had been teasing him all the time, calling him Monkey-Six and all, but when he gave the wonton to her, she stood up and replied respectfully, "Thanks! Apprentice brother!"

Lin Pingzhi observed everything from his vantage point by the side, and thought that they had very strict school rules; it was ok to joke around, but all had to abide by the rule of seniority.

Lao Denuo and the others began to eat, but the girl waited till Lu Dayou and all the other apprentice brothers all had their wonton, and then started to eat together.

"Second apprentice brother, you were just talking about how Master Yu took over the Fortune Prestige Escort House. What happened after that?" Liang Fa asked.

"After little apprentice sister rescued the Young Master Lin," Lao Denuo replied, "she wanted to follow them secretly and wait for a chance to rescue the Lin couple. I pleaded with her, "Yu Renyan offended you the other day, and the Young Master Lin helped you. You felt grat.i.tude and rescued him, that"s enough payback already. The score between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Fortune Prestige Escort House came from last generation; why should we interfere?" Little apprentice sister finally agreed. Then the two of us went back to Fuzhou and saw over ten Qingcheng apprentices guarding the Fortune Prestige Escort House.

"That was somewhat strange. Everyone in the Escort House had fled in a rush; even the Lin couple was gone; what was the Qingcheng Sword School afraid of? Little apprentice sister and I could not figure it out and became quite curious, so we decided to investigate. We figured that since Qingcheng apprentices was guarding the place with such tight security, it would be very hard to get in at night, so we sneaked into the garden at dusk while they were changing shifts for dinner. After we got into the Escort House, we saw many Qingcheng apprentices busily rummaging through chests and cupboards; some were taking down walls; others were digging up the ground. It seemed that they had turned the entire Escort House upside down. There was gold and treasure the Escorts did not have time to take with them, but those were just thrown to one side and ignored. They must have been looking for something very important, but what was it?"

"The Evil-Resisting Sword Art Ma.n.u.script!" four Huashan apprentices said almost in unison.

"Correct!" Lao Denuo said. "Little apprentice sister and I came to that same conclusion. It was obvious that they started searching right after they took over the Fortune Prestige Escort House. Seeing them all searching and sweating so hard, we knew that they hadn"t gotten any results."

"So did they find it eventually?" Lu Dayou asked.

"Little apprentice sister and I both wanted to see the result," Lao Denuo said, "but these Qingcheng people searched so thoroughly that they didn"t even forget to search the outhouses. Little apprentice sister and I really had nowhere to hide and had to sneak away."

"Second apprentice brother, do you think Master Yu was making a fuss over a trifling matter by going there and leading the operation himself?" fifth apprentice Gao Genming asked.

Lao Denuo answered, "Master Yu"s teacher had lost to Lin Yuantu"s Evil-Resisting Sword Art; whether Lin Zhennan was an unworthy descendant or an even stronger opponent, outsiders would not have known. It might not have been proper for Master Yu to only send a couple of apprentices to settle the score. He went to Fuzhou himself and also urged all his apprentices to practice the sword art, then started the attack with advance preparation. I wouldn"t really call this making a fuss. But from what I saw, I think that for him, revenge was only of secondary importance, while finding that sword art ma.n.u.script was the main priority."

"Second apprentice brother, you saw them practicing the Evil-Resisting Sword Art in Pine-Wind Temple. If they had already known how to use this sword art, why bother looking for the sword art ma.n.u.script? Perhaps they were looking for something else," fourth apprentice Shi Daizi suggested.

"I don"t think so." Lao Denuo shook his head. "What else besides secret martial art techniques could have interested him, a master of martial arts, so much, that he would spend such great effort on it? Later at the Yushan town in Jiangxi Province, little apprentice sister and I met them again and heard Master Yu asking messenger apprentices from other provinces about whether they had found the thing. He looked worried, so it seemed that n.o.body has actually found it yet."

Shi Daizi still could not understand. He scratched his head and asked, "They already know how to use this set of sword arts, why would they bother looking for the sword art ma.n.u.script? How strange!"

"Think about it, fourth apprentice brother," Lao Denuo explained. "Years ago, Lin Yuantu could defeat Evergreen; the sword art must have been truly outstanding. But not only was the Evil-Resisting Sword Art that Evergreen remembered nothing out of the ordinary, Master Yu also saw by his own eyes that the Kung Fu skills of the Lin family were not even worth mentioning. Something was just not making sense."

"What do you mean?" Shi Daizi asked.

"There must be some secrets to the Evil-Resisting Sword Art of the Lin Family," Lao Denuo exclaimed. "Although the moves appear average, the power of the sword art could be very strong. And Lin Zhennan did not get to learn these secrets."

Shi Daizi thought for a while and nodded, "That"s right. But secret methods for sword arts are normally only pa.s.sed down by one"s master orally. Lin Yuantu has been dead for decades, and even if they could find his coffin and dig out his body, it wouldn"t help them at all."

"The secret code for our own sword art is taught orally by Master in spoken words, with no written parts. But not every school or clan necessarily has to be like that," Lao Denuo said.

"Second apprentice brother, I still don"t understand," Shi Daizi said. "It was logical that before their attack they would want the ma.n.u.script for the Evil-Resisting Sword Art. Know the enemy and know yourself, in this way you can win every battle. They wanted to defeat the Evil-Resisting Sword Art, so it was better if they knew the secret within the sword art. But the Qingcheng Sword School has already captured the Lin couple, and the Headquarters and Escort House branches have all been wiped out. What score is there left to settle? Even if there really was a powerful secret in the sword art, why should they bother looking for it?"

"Fourth brother, what is your evaluation of Qingcheng"s Kung Fu compared to the Kung Fu of our Five Mountains Sword Alliance?" Lao Denuo asked.

"I don"t know," Shi Daizi answered. After a short while he said, "Perhaps not as good."

"That"s right, probably not as good as ours," Lao Denuo said. "Think about it. Master Yu is a conceited, arrogant man. Doesn"t he want his fame to be greater than everyone else in the Martial World? If the Lin Family really had some kind of secret technique, something which could change the average sword moves of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art into something very powerful, then if they used this secret technique with their Qingcheng sword art, what would happen?"

Shi Daizi thought for a long while and suddenly struck the table heavily as he stood up and shouted, "I see! Yu Canghai wants his Qingcheng sword art to be number one in the Martial World!"

Right at that moment, sounds of footsteps floated in from the street outside. People in the teashop turned and saw a group of people rush toward the teashop in quick steps. From the way they ran, one could tell these were all Martial people. They were all dressed in oilcloth raincoats, and as they got closer, everyone saw that it was a group of Buddhist nuns.

The leading old nun was a tall one, and stopping right in front of the teashop, she shouted, "Linghu Chong, come out!"

Lao Denuo and the other apprentices recognized the old nun. She was Sister Dingyi, the Master of the White-Cloud Nunnery atop Mount Heng-Shan. She was also the junior apprentice sister of Sister Dingxian, the Head Master of the Heng-Shan Sword School. Not only was her a famous Master within the Heng-Shan Sword School, she was also a renowned master of great fame in the Martial World, and all Martial people considered her a tough fighter. All the Huashan apprentices stood up and saluted her respectfully.

"We here pay our respect to Uncle-Master!"[1] Lao Denuo said loudly.

Sister Dingyi glanced over everyone and yelled with a husky voice, "Where is Linghu Chong hiding? Get his a.s.s out here!" Her voice was even huskier than that of a man.

"Uncle-Master, senior apprentice brother Linghu is not here. We have been waiting for him, and he hasn"t arrived yet," Lao Denuo replied.

"So this big apprentice brother they were talking about is named Linghu Chong. He really seems to be a troublemaker. What did he do to make this old nun so mad?" Lin Pingzhi thought to himself.

Sister Dingyi surveyed the teashop and stopped at the sight of the girl"s face. "Are you Lingshan? Why are you disguised like that? To scare people?" she asked.

"There are some bad men who want to hara.s.s me, so I disguised myself to hide for a while," the girl answered with a smile.

Dingyi gave a snort. "The rules of your Huashan Sword School are getting looser and looser. Your father is too lax with his apprentices, which encouraged them to cause trouble wherever they go. When I finish my business here, I"m going to have to go to Mount Huashan, myself, and discuss this with him."

"Uncle-Master, please don"t do that!" Lingshan begged worriedly. "Big apprentice brother just got punished with thirty strokes from Father recently. He was wounded so badly that he could barely walk. If you talk to my father, he might get another sixty strokes of stick. That will kill him!"

"The earlier that animal gets killed the better. Lingshan, how can you lie to my face! Linghu Chong could barely walk? If he could barely walk, how did he manage to kidnap my little apprentice?" Sister Dingyi bellowed.

Hearing those words, the faces of the Huashan apprentices turned pale with horror.

Lingshan almost cried out. "Uncle-Master," she said hurriedly, "that"s impossible! No matter how bold big apprentice brother is, he would never dare to offend fellow apprentice sisters of your respectful school. Somebody must be making up stories to sow discord with the Uncle-Master."

"You still deny it? Yiguang, what did the apprentice from the Taishan Sword School tell you?" Dingyi barked.

A middle-aged nun stepped forward. "Apprentice brothers from the Taishan Sword School said that Priest Tiansong saw apprentice brother Linghu and junior sister Yilin drinking together in a wine house in the town of Hengyang. The wine house was called something like Huiyan House. Junior sister Yilin had obviously been seized by apprentice brother Linghu and dared not drink the wine. She looked…looked very upset. And drinking together with them was that…that…villain who stops at no evil…Tian…Tian Boguang."

Dingyi had already known this, and even the second time around, she was just as angry. She struck the table heavily with her palm. Two bowls of wonton jumped off the table and smashed onto the ground.

The Huashan apprentices all looked very embarra.s.sed. Lingshan was so worried that tears began to roll down her cheeks. "They must be lying, or…or maybe Uncle-Master Tiansong saw a different person," she said in a trembling voice.

"We all know who Priest Tiansong of Taishan Sword School is," Dingyi exclaimed loudly. "How could he be mistaken? How could he ever speak nonsense? This animal Linghu Chong, he even gets along with an evil person like Tian Boguang. He has sunk very low. Even if your Master doesn"t handle this seriously and cover for his students, I won"t let him go so easily. This "Ten Thousand Miles Loner" Tian Boguang has been a plague on society. I, an old nun, must rid the people of the scourge. When I heard the news and went there, Tian Boguang and Linghu Chong had spirited Yilin away! I…I…looked everywhere but still couldn"t find them…." Her voice became hoa.r.s.e. She stamped her feet on the ground and sighed, "Oh, Yilin, the child. Yilin, the child!"

The Huashan apprentices" hearts were beating rapidly. That big apprentice brother dragged a nun of the Heng-Shan Sword School off to a wine house to drink and stained the nun"s reputation was already a clear violation of school rules; to make matters worse he made friends with someone like Tian Boguang!

After a long pause, Lao Denuo finally was able to collect himself and spoke again.

"Uncle-Master, maybe senior apprentice brother Linghu was at the same table of Tian Boguang only by chance; that doesn"t really make them friends. Senior apprentice brother Linghu has been quite drunk these days and probably was a little hazy. What one does when drunk shouldn"t really count…."

"A drunk still has thirty percent of his faculties. As a mature adult, can"t he even distinguish between the good and the evil?" Dingyi roared.

"Yes, Uncle-Master!" Lao Denuo said hastily, not daring to argue. "I wonder where senior apprentice brother Linghu might be right now. Let we, apprentices, find him and reproach him; we"ll have him come and kowtow to apologize to you first, Uncle-Master, and then report to my Master so he can administer a heavy punishment."

"Am I here to discipline your apprentice brother?" Dingyi snarled. Her arm shot out suddenly and grabbed Lingshan by the wrist. Lingshan felt as if an iron hoop had bound her wrist. "Ah!" She cried out and then muttered in a trembling voice, "Uncle…Uncle-Master!"

"Your Huashan Sword School kidnapped my Yilin. I am taking a female apprentice of your Huashan Sword School in exchange. When you return my Yilin to me, I will release your Lingshan!" Dingyi growled. She turned around and dragged Lingshan after her. Lingshan felt her upper body become sore and numb, and had to stagger along with Dingyi into the street.

Lao Denuo and Liang Fa both jumped forth instantly to block Sister Dingyi"s way.

"Uncle-Master," Lao Denuo bowed and said apologetically, "my big apprentice brother offended you, naturally you would get angry. But that really has nothing to do with little apprentice sister. Uncle-Master, please show mercy and let her go."

"Sure, I will!" Dingyi yelled scornfully. She raised her right arm and swept it out in an arc.

Lao Denuo and Liang Fa felt a strong burst of energy shooting toward them, so strong that they could hardly breathe. They then found themselves flying backwards. Lao Denuo landed on his back at the door of the shop across the street from the teashop. With a splintering crack, two of the door planks broke in half. Liang Fa flew straight toward a wonton stove. If he had landed on the wonton stove and knocked it over, boiling water would splash all over him and scald him badly. But the old wonton seller reached out with his left hand and caught Liang Fa by his back. Liang Fa landed safely.

Sister Dingyi turned back and gave a stare to the old wonton seller. "So it"s you!" she said.

"That"s right, it"s me," the old man smiled. "Sister, you"ve got quite a temper."

"That"s none of your concern," Dingyi snapped.

Right at that moment, with oilcloth umbrellas over their heads and lanterns in their hands, two men rushed toward the teashop. "Are you the respectful Sister of the Heng-Shan Sword School?" they shouted from afar.

"You flatter me. I am Dingyi of the Heng-Shan Sword School. Who are you?" Dingyi asked.

When the two men came closer, two big red words written on the lanterns in their hands became more recognizable. It read, "Liu House."

"We junior apprentices were instructed by our Master to invite Uncle-Master Dingyi and all the fellow apprentice sisters to have dinner at our humble house," one said. "We didn"t get the news that you had already arrived at Hengshan, so we didn"t greet you at the gate. Please pardon us." He bowed to pay his respect.

"That is very polite of you. Are you two apprentices of Master Liu?" Dingyi asked in a slightly softer tone.

"Yes. My name is Xiang Danian, and this is my apprentice brother Mi Weiyi. How are you, Uncle-Master?" The two saluted again.

Seeing the good manners of the pair, Dingyi agreed, "All right, we were just about to go visit Master Liu, anyway."

"May I ask who you are?" Xiang Danian asked Liang Fa.

"I am Liang Fa, apprentice of the Huashan Sword School," Liang Fa answered.

"You are the senior third brother Liang of the Huashan Sword School!" Xiang Danian said happily. "I have been looking forward to meeting you. Everyone please come to our humble house. Our Master told us to greet all the heroes from different groups, but there are so many people coming, we are afraid that we have been poor hosts and offended friends. Please come this way."

"We were planning on waiting here until big apprentice brother showed up, and then go to congratulate Uncle-Master Liu together," Lao Denuo went over and said.

"You must be second apprentice brother Lao," Xiang Danian said. "My Master always praises Huashan apprentice brothers studying under Uncle-Master Yue. Especially apprentice brother Linghu, a very outstanding young hero. Since apprentice brother Linghu is not here yet, why don"t you come first?"

Lao Denuo pondered the situation in his head. "Little apprentice sister is under the control of Uncle-Master Dingyi, and it seems that she won"t let her go easily. We simply have no other choice but to go with her." At that thought, he answered, "I hope this will not be an inconvenience."

"Your coming to Hengshan is an honor. Why be so modest? Please! Please!" Xiang Danian greeted.

"Aren"t you going to invite this one?" Dingyi pointed at the old wonton seller.

Xiang Danian looked at the old man for a moment before he recognized him. "So, it is Uncle-Master He[2] from Mount Yandang!" He bowed. "What a lack of manners on my part. Uncle-Master He, will you please come to our humble house as well?"

He had guessed that this old wonton seller was the master from Mount Yandang, He Sanqi. He Sanqi made a living by selling wontons when he was young. Even after he became proficient in the martial arts, he still carried his wonton stove with him when he wandered about. The wonton stove was more or less like his trademark. Although he had tremendous skills, he did not seek fame or wealth, content to live off his small business. Everyone in the Martial World respected him. There were thousands of people selling wonton on streets and in alleys; the only one that sold wontons and also had excellent Kung Fu skills would have to be He Sanqi.

"I"ll go," He Sanqi said with a smile, and started to clear off the wonton bowls on the table.

"We junior apprentices didn"t recognize you, respectful Master. I hope senior Master does not mind," Lao Denuo said apologetically.

"Not at all, not at all. You came to me as my good customers, why would I mind? Nine bowls of wonton, ten coins a piece. That means you owe me ninety coins." He Sanqi extended his left palm out after the words.

Lao Denuo was very embarra.s.sed, and wasn"t sure if He Sanqi was just kidding.

"Hey, pay the bill after you eat. He Sanqi never said he was letting you eat for free," Dingyi said.

"Yeah, small business, cash only. No credits or late payments, not even relatives or close friends," He Sanqi announced.

"Of course, of course," Lao Denuo answered. He dared not to give any extra, so he counted ninety copper coins carefully and handed the money over respectfully with both of his hands.

He Sanqi took the money, and then turned to Dingyi, with his palm out. "You broke two of my bowls and two china spoons. That comes to a total of fourteen coins."

"You penny-pinching skinflint! You even cheat money from nuns. Yiguang, pay him the money," Dingyi chortled.

Yiguang counted fourteen coins and handed over the money respectfully with both hands. He Sanqi took the money and threw it into a bamboo tube by the wonton stove, and then lifted the stove and said, "Let"s go!"

"We"ll take care of all the bills later. Write them up under Master Liu," Xiang Danian said to the teashop waiter.

"Ha you all, they are all Master Liu"s guests ha you all. It is an honor to have them here ha you all. Forget about the bills, ha you all. It"s on the house," the waiter said, beaming.

Xiang Danian distributed the umbrellas they had brought with them and then led the way at the front. Dingyi dragged the girl Lingshan of Huashan Sword School and walked side by side with He Sanqi. All the Huashan apprentices and Heng-Shan apprentices followed behind.

Lin Pingzhi thought to himself, "Let me follow them from far behind. Let"s see if I can sneak into Liu Zhengfeng"s house by any chance."

After the group turned around a corner, he stood up and walked to the corner of the street. The group headed north, so he followed in the heavy rain by walking under the eaves by the street. After walking three long streets, he saw a big mansion by the left side of the street. Four big lanterns in front illuminated the gate. About ten people stood in front, some holding torches and others holding umbrellas, busily greeting guests. After Dingyi, He Sanqi, and others of the group walked into the house, more guests came from both ends of the street.

Lin Pingzhi plucked up his courage and walked to the gate. Two groups of guests happened to be going in the mansion led by an apprentice of the Liu House. Lin Pingzhi followed them in quietly. The greeting apprentices thought he was one of the guests and greeted, "Come in please! Have some tea please."

Lin Pingzhi stepped into the crowded great hall. There were over two hundred people sitting at different tables and talking to each other. Lin Pingzhi calmed a little. "There are so many people here; no one will ever pay any attention to me. I just need to find those Qingcheng villains, then I will be able to find out where my mom and dad are." So he sat down at a small table in a dark corner. Soon, servants brought tea, snacks, and hot towels for him.

He looked around, and saw the nuns of Heng-Shan Sword School sitting at a table to the left. The apprentices of Huashan Sword School were sitting around another table nearby. The girl Lingshan was sitting there also. It seemed that Dingyi had decided to let her go. But Dingyi and He Sanqi were not among them.
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Lin Pingzhi surveyed one table after another, and felt a sudden shock when he saw Fang Renzhi, Yu Renhao, and a bunch of others sitting around two tables. Obviously they were all apprentices of the Qingcheng Sword School. His parents weren"t among them. He wondered where they could be kept. Feeling both sad and angry, and also fearful that his parents were already dead, he felt a strong urge to move to a table closer to them, so he could overhear some of their conversation. But considering it had been so difficult for him to get this far, if he acted recklessly and attracted the attention of Fang Renzhi and his fellows, he would be not only wasting all his efforts so far, but also getting himself into a fatal situation.

A disturbance suddenly came from near the gate. Several men in blue robes came in hurriedly carrying two door planks. Two men lay on the door planks. They were covered with white sheets that were soaked in blood. People in the hall soon gathered around them to have a closer look.

"They are from the Taishan Sword School!" Somebody muttered. "That"s Priest Tiansong of the Taishan Sword School. Wow, that wound on him looks fatal. Who"s the other one?"

"He"s an apprentice of Priest Tianmen – the Head Master of the Taishan Sword School. His name is Chi. Is he dead already?"

"Sure. Dead! Look at that knife wound – in from his chest and out his back, how could he survive that?"

Amid an uproar, the dead one and the wounded one were carried into the Back Hall. Many people followed them there. The ones remained in the great hall all began to talk about the incident.

"Priest Tiansong is an excellent fighter from the Taishan Sword School. Who would be so bold as to challenge him?"

"If this person could wound Priest Tiansong, he obviously has better Kung Fu skills. Better skills, more courage, that"s why."

While the crowd was still discussing the incident, Xiang Danian emerged from the Back Hall and went straight to the table where all the apprentices from the Huashan Sword School were gathered.

"Apprentice brother Lao, my Master would like to have a word with you. Will you please come with me?" he asked Lao Denuo.

"Sure," Lao Denuo answered. He stood up and followed Xiang Danian into the inner room.

They went through a long hallway, and then into a side hall. There were five armchairs placed sitting side by side at the north end of the hall. Four of them were empty, while a big red-faced Taoist priest occupied the easternmost chair. Lao Denuo knew that these five armchairs were reserved for the five Head Masters of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. The Head Masters of Songshan, Heng-Shan, Huashan, and Hengshan hadn"t arrived yet. This red-faced Taoist priest was none other than the Head Master of the Taishan Sword School, Priest Tianmen. Nineteen senior masters sat to the side. Sister Dingyi from the Heng-Shan Sword School, Yu Canghai from the Qingcheng Sword School and He Sanqi from Mount Yandang were all among them. At the south end of the hall, upon the seat for the host, sat a short, fat, middle-aged man in expensive dark red-brown robes of silk. He was the host Liu Zhengfeng.

Lao Denuo first saluted the host Liu Zhengfeng, and then knelt down in front of Priest Tianmen with a greeting, "Apprentice of Huashan Sword School, Lao Denuo, pays his respect to Uncle-Master Tianmen."

Priest Tianmen appeared to be full of rage, and seemed to be on the verge of exploding. "Where is Linghu Chong?" he bellowed, striking the arm of the chair heavily with his left hand. His voice was so astounding that it sounded like thunder from the sky. Even the people in the great hall could hear him and all shuddered.

"Third apprentice brother, they are looking for big apprentice brother again!" the young girl Lingshan cried.

Liang Fa nodded but did not say a word. After a while, he whispered, "Let"s all stay calm! There are so many people gathered here from different places; don"t let them look upon our Huashan Sword School with scorn."

Lin Pingzhi couldn"t help thinking, "They are looking for Linghu Chong again. This old fellow Linghu certainly has a knack for trouble."

Back at the Side Hall, Lao Denuo"s ears were almost deafened by the resounding bellowing from Priest Tianmen. He had to remain kneeling for quite a while before he could get a grip of himself and stand up again.

"Uncle-Master, apprentice brother Linghu departed from us in the town of Hengyang," he answered. "We had planned to meet in Hengshan and then come to the Liu House to congratulate Uncle-Master Liu. If he doesn"t make it today, he will surely come tomorrow."

"He still dares to come? He still has the gall to come? Linghu Chong is the big apprentice brother of your Huashan Sword School. Isn"t he supposed to be on the chivalry side of the Martial World? What is he doing hanging around with that wicked rapist, who stops at no evil, Tian Boguang! What does he think he is doing?" Priest Tianmen roared angrily.

"From what I know, big apprentice brother does not know Tian Boguang at all. Big apprentice brother is always fond of drinking; maybe he didn"t know it was Tian Boguang that he was drinking with," Lao Denuo tried to speculate.

Stamping his foot on the floor heavily, Priest Tianmen stood up. "You are foolish to defend that d.a.m.n swine Linghu Chong," he snarled, his voice filled with rage. "Apprentice brother Tiansong, you…you tell him how you were wounded. Tell him whether Linghu Chong knew Tian Boguang."

Two door planks were laid upon the floor to the west. A dead body lay on one, and a long-bearded Taoist priest lay on the other. The priest"s face appeared to be almost as white as a sheet, and blood soaked his entire beard. In a very low voice, he started talking.

"This morning…I…I was with nephew apprentice Chi at the Huiyan…Huiyan Wine House in…Hengyang. We saw Linghu Chong…together with Tian Boguang and a little nun…." He had to stop to catch his breath before finishing the words.

"Brother Tiansong, you don"t have to repeat the story. I will tell him what you said earlier," Liu Zhengfeng volunteered. Turned his head to Lao Denuo, he said, "Nephew apprentice Lao, nephew apprentice Linghu and you fellow apprentices came a long way to my ceremony. I really appreciate the good will of apprentice brother Yue and all of you nephew apprentices. But we don"t know how nephew apprentice Linghu met Tian Boguang, and so we must find out the truth. Since our Five Mountains Sword Alliance is like a big family, if nephew apprentice Linghu has truly done something wrong, it is up to us to give him some advice…."

"What advice? Purge the school by chopping off his head!" Priest Tianmen shouted angrily.

"Apprentice brother Yue is always strict with respect to school rules, and the Huashan Sword School has always had a first-cla.s.s reputation. This time nephew Linghu really went a little bit too far," Liu Zhengfeng said with a sigh.

"You still call him a nephew? Nephew my a.s.s!" Priest Tianmen swore angrily. After the words were already out, he realized that, as a Head Master of a big sword school, it was really not appropriate for him to use such foul language in front of Sister Dingyi. But it was already too late to take it back. So he let out a loud breath and sat back down angrily.

"Uncle-Master Liu, would you be kind enough to tell me what happened?" Lao Denuo requested.

Liu Zhengfeng said, "Just now, priest brother Tiansong told us: This morning, he went to the Huiyan Wine House in Hengyang with Chi Baicheng, the apprentice of priest brother Tianmen, to have a couple of drinks. When they went up to the wine house at the second floor, they saw three people drinking and eating there: the wicked rapist Tian Boguang, nephew apprentice Linghu, and the little apprentice of Sister Dingyi, Yilin. Priest brother Tiansong felt it very strange when he saw them. He didn"t know any of these three, but from their clothing, he could tell that one was an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School, and one was an apprentice of the Heng-Shan Sword School. Please hold your anger, Sister Dingyi. Nephew apprentice Yilin was coerced; it was obvious that she was not there of her own free will.

"Priest brother Tiansong said that Tian Boguang was a man of about thirty years of age dressed in nice clothes. He didn"t know who the man was, but later he heard nephew apprentice Linghu saying, "Brother Tian, although you have Qing-Gong[3]skills unsurpa.s.sed in the entire Martial World, if you have really bad luck, no matter how good your Qing-Gong skills are, you won"t be able to escape." Since his surname was Tian and he had the best Qing-Gong skills in the Martial World, there was no doubt he must have been "Ten Thousand Miles Loner" Tian Boguang. Priest brother Tiansong is one who hates evil as if it were a personal enemy. When he saw the three drinking and eating together, of course he was enraged."

"Yes!" Lao Denuo answered, thinking, "Three people drank together in the Huiyan Wine House. One was the infamous rapist, one was a little nun, and the other was the big senior apprentice of our Huashan Sword School; it was indeed quite an odd scene."

Liu Zhengfeng continued, "He then heard Tian Boguang saying, "I, Tian Boguang, come and go as I please, traveling around the world alone. What"s there to worry about? Since we have already seen this little nun, why not just let her stay here and accompany us…?""

At Liu Zhengfeng"s words, Lao Denuo cast a suspicious glance at him, and then also sneaked an as suspicious peek from the corner of his eyes at Priest Tiansong. Liu Zhengfeng understood instantly.

"Priest brother Tiansong is wounded very badly," he said. "Of course he was unable to tell everything so clearly and continuously. I added some of my own words, but the main idea is just the same. Priest brother Tiansong, is that right?"

"Yes…yes, correct…correct!" Tiansong managed to answer.

With that confirmation, Liu Zhengfeng went on, "Nephew apprentice Chi Baicheng couldn"t stand it any more, so he struck the table with his hand and shouted, "Are you the evil rapist Tian Boguang? Everyone in the Martial World wants to kill you to rid the world of a scourge like you, yet here you are, bragging about yourself shamelessly. You must be tired of living!" He drew his weapon and jumped forth to fight. Unfortunately, he was slain by Tian Boguang. It was really a pity that an outstanding young man lost his life to such an evil rapist. Priest brother Tiansong then jumped forth to fight with Tian Boguang. They fought for several hundreds rounds. Priest brother Tiansong wasn"t cautious enough and was wounded in the chest thanks to Tian Boguang"s dirty tricks. Afterwards, nephew apprentice Linghu still sat with the evil rapist and the two drank together. That is really contrary to the creed of our Five Mountains Sword Alliance. That"s why priest brother Tianmen is so angry."

"What happened to our ideals of unity?" Priest Tianmen snarled. "We martial people should be able to tell right from wrong. a.s.sociating with such an evil rapist…such an evil rapist…!" His face turned scarlet with anger, and it almost seemed that his beard bristled.

Suddenly someone called from outside of the door, "Master, I have something to report."

Priest Tianmen recognized it as the voice of one of his apprentices. "Come in!" he said. "What"s the matter?"

A young man about thirty years of age walked in. He first saluted to the host, Liu Zhengfeng, and all other senior masters, then he turned to Priest Tianmen and reported.

"Master, Uncle-Master Tianbai sent us the message that he has led the search for Tian Boguang and Linghu Chong the two evil rapists with apprentices of our school, but hasn"t found any trace of them…."

Hearing big apprentice brother being mentioned as the "evil rapist" group, Lao Denuo felt quite embarra.s.sed. But it seemed big apprentice brother was really consorting with Tian Boguang, so what could he say?

"But outside the town of Hengyang, we found a corpse with a sword in his abdomen. The sword belonged to the evil rapist Linghu Chong…," the Taishan Sword School apprentice continued.

"Who was the deceased?" Priest Tianmen asked hurriedly.

The young man gave a quick glance at Yu Canghai before answering, "He was an apprentice brother of Uncle-Master Yu. At the time when we found the body, n.o.body knew who he was. After we took the body back to town, someone recognized him to be apprentice brother Luo Renjie…."

Yu Canghai uttered a cry of shock and stood up instantly. "It was Renjie? Where"s the body?"

"Here it is," someone answered from outside.

Yu Canghai was a man with good self-control. Although the bad news. .h.i.t him hard so unexpectedly, and the deceased was one of the four best apprentices of Qingcheng "Ying Xiong Hao Jie," he maintained his composure. "Nephew apprentice, please carry the body in," he said.

"Yes," the apprentice outside of the door responded.

Two men carried in a door plank. One of the two was an apprentice of the Hengshan Sword School, and the other was an apprentice of the Qingcheng Sword School. On the plank was a body with a sword thrust into the abdomen and going up at an angle. The sword was about three feet long, but the part protruding from the body was less than one foot long. Apparently, the tip of the sword went all the way up into the corpse"s throat. It was very rare to see this type of ruthless move that went from the bottom up in the Martial World.

"Linghu Chong, humph, Linghu Chong, how…how vicious you are," Yu Canghai murmured.

"Uncle-Master sent the message that he is still searching for the two evil rapists. It would be better if one or two of the Uncle-Masters here could go and give him a helping hand," the Taishan apprentice continued.

"I"ll go!" Dingyi and Yu Canghai said almost in unison.

Right at that moment, a sweet and lovely voice came from outside of the door, "Master, I am back!"

Dingyi"s expression changed immediately. "Is that Yilin? Get in here right now!" she shouted.

Everybody looked at the doorway, wanting to take a good look at this little nun, who was bold enough to drink in public with two evil rapists. The door curtain was lifted, and everyone felt as if the whole room had suddenly been brightened when the little nun walked quietly into the hall. She was possessed of grace and beauty. No one would have argued that she was a perfect creation of Heaven. She was only about sixteen years of age, and although wrapped in a big and loose nun"s robe, the curves of her body were apparent from her graceful movements. She walked till she stood in front of Dingyi, then knelt down and called out, "Master…!" After saying this, she suddenly burst into tears.

Dingyi straightened her face. "You…what has happened? How were you able to get away?" she asked anxiously.

"Master, I…I thought I would never see you again," Yilin said in tears. Her voice was sweet and charming, and the two little hands clutching Dingyi"s sleeves were so white that they almost looked like they were carved of jade.

"How could such a beauty become a nun?" many in the room couldn"t help thinking to themselves.

Yu Canghai gave her only a quick glance, and then went back to staring at the sword in Luo Renjie"s body. There were green ta.s.sels attached to the handle of the sword. On the blade near the handle, the words "Huashan Linghu Chong" were etched on the blade. He looked around and saw Lao Denuo carrying by his waist the same kind of sword with green ta.s.sels attached to the handle. All of a sudden, he jumped toward Lao Denuo and thrust his fingers toward Lao Denuo"s eyes. The attack was as swift as it was fierce, and in an instant, the tips of his fingers had touched Lao Denuo"s eyelid. Lao Denuo was startled and hurriedly raised his arms to block the attack using a move called "Raise Fire to Burn Sky." With a sneer, Yu Canghai rounded his left hand in a very small circle, and grabbed Lao Denuo"s hands in his left palm. Extending his right arm, he quickly unsheathed the sword by Lao Denuo"s waist.

Lao Denuo pulled hard in an effort to free his hands, which were being held by Yu Canghai, but failed miserably. And only a split of a second later, he found the tip of his own sword pointing right at his chest. "I…I am not involved!" he shouted out frantically.

Yu Canghai looked at the blade of the sword. There were words saying "Huashan Lao Denuo." The size and the style of the words matched the other sword exactly. Lowering his wrist, he pointed the sword toward Lao Denuo"s stomach, and spoke grimly.

"Which move is this one in your respectful Huashan Sword Art that thrusts from the bottom up at an angle?"

Lao Denuo could feel cold sweat dripping from his forehead. "Our…our Huashan Sword Art does not have…have such a move," he muttered in a quavering voice.

Yu Canghai thought, "The move that killed Renjie was thrusting up at the lower abdomen, and the tip of the sword went all the way up to the throat. Did Linghu Chong bend over and thrust upward from his backside? But after this killing, why didn"t he take his sword but intentionally left this evidence? Is he challenging the Qingcheng Sword School?" but suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by Yilin"s voice.