The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

Linghu Chong happily said, "That"s very good."

Yihe laughingly said, "None of them came up the peak. But it"s not true that they"ve been well-behaved."

Linghu Chong was startled and he quickly asked, "What?"

"All day and all night long, I always hear their clamour at Tong Yuan valley all the way up from the convent."

Linghu Chong laughed loudly when he heard this. "It"s impossible to ask these friends to be quiet."

Linghu Chong then briefly told them that Ren Woxing had managed to s.n.a.t.c.h back the chief position of the sect. The group of heroes were really happy to hear this and their cheering was heard throughout the valley. Everyone thought, "Chief Ren has s.n.a.t.c.hed back his seat then Sacred Lady has naturally gained a lot of power in the sect. From now on, the situation will definitely be much better for everyone."

When Linghu Chong reached the Xianxing Peak, he first went to the Wuse Convent to kowtow to the three Shi Tai"s tablets. Then as there weren"t many days left to the meeting at Mount Songshan on the fifteenth of the third month, he consulted with Yihe, Yiqing and the rest of the senior disciples on that matter. They decided that Heng-Shan School should go to Henan first before going to Mount Songshan. Yihe and the other disciples all said that in order to go against Songshan School, they shouldn"t take the group of heroes at Tong Yuan valley with them to Mount Songshan. Even though taking them admittedly would make Heng-Shan School look grand, the other schools of Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan would criticise them for doing so, and it would even give Zuo Lengchan excuses that might disadvantage the Heng-Shan School.

Yihe said, "Martial Brother Headmaster"s sword art is above Zuo Lengchan, so taking up the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School is guaranteed. But if the heroes from Tong Yuan valley were with us at that time, then they"ll surely give out excuses."

Linghu Chong smiled. "Our aim is to prevent Zuo Lengchan from annexing the other four schools. I"m not even remotely presentable being the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, so there"s no need to talk about me becoming the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. And since everyone already said not to take the Tong Yuan valley"s brothers to Mount Songshan then we won"t take them."

He then went to Tong Yuan valley to talk to Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and Old Man. They also agreed that not taking the Tong Yuan valley heroes to Mount Songshan was a good plan. They wanted Linghu Chong to take the female disciples and go first while the three of them would explain to the group of heroes to make them understand.

That night, Linghu Chong drank with the group of heroes to their hearts" contents. The original plan was to make their way to Songshan on the next day. But when he woke up, it was already past midday and he had not put everything in order so they had to delay their journey by a day. Early the next morning, Linghu Chong led the female disciples to go to Mount Songshan.

They had been on the road for a few days when they arrived at a city, and rested inside a large ruined temple. Zheng E and six disciples went out to patrol outside to protect the group from any Songshan School"s plot. But not long after, Zheng E and Qin Juan flew back and shouted, "Martial Brother Headmaster, quickly come and take a look!"

The two of them were grinning widely and it seemed that they had seen something funny. Yihe hastily asked, "What"s the matter?"

Qin Juan giggled. "Martial Sister, you come and have a look yourself."

Linghu Chong quickly followed the two of them into an inn and went to an outside guesthouse on the west side of the inn. They immediately saw a few people stacked into a big pile on a brick bed. They were the Peach Valley Six Fairies. All six of them had their acupoints sealed and were unable to move. Linghu Chong was greatly astonished. He quickly went into the house and pulled up Peachtree Root Fairy who was at the top of the pile. He saw that there was a piece of peach seed squeezed into his mouth so he helped him take it out. Peachtree Root Fairy was angry and he scolded, "Your granny, your eighteen generations won"t die a good death, your eighteen grandsons will all have no b.u.ms, no eyes,… "

Linghu Chong laughed and he interrupted, "Wei, Brother Peachtree Root Fairy, I didn"t do that to you."

"I wasn"t scolding you! Don"t interfere! This dog, when I see him, I"ll tear him into eight pieces, sixteen pieces, thirty four pieces…"

"Who"re you scolding?" Linghu Chong asked.

"His granny, if I"m not scolding him then who else am I scolding?"

Linghu Chong then pulled up Peachtree Flower Fairy who was now on top of the pile and took out the peach seed. The peach seed was only taken out halfway when Peachtree Flower Fairy started to grumble and mumble. When the seed was taken out, he immediately said, "Big Brother, you said it wrong. Eight pieces multiplied once becomes sixteen pieces, sixteen pieces multiplied once becomes thirty two. How can you say thirty four pieces just then?"

"I like saying thirty four pieces, what"s wrong with that? Did I say that I was multiplying it by two? My heart was multiplying it by two then added two to it," Peachtree Root Fairy retorted.

Peachtree Flower Fairy argued, "Why do you multiply it then add it by two? There"s no reason for that."

The acupoints on their bodies had not been unsealed yet but as soon as their mouths were free, they immediately argued with each other.

Linghu Chong laughed. "Stop quarrelling. What happened here?"

Peachtree Flower Fairy scolded, "Those two stinky monks, No Commandment and Cannot Have No Commandment, all eighteen of their ancestors are stinky monks."

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Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Why did you scold Monk No Commandment?"

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "If I don"t scold him then who do I scold? You just went without saying goodbye and Zu Qianqiu had to tell us that you have gone. How could the six of us just stayed and not join the festivity in Songshan? Of course we"re going to come. We were just about to get in front of you when we got here and met that stinky Monk Cannot Have No Commandment. He pretended to drink wine with us and he also said that he saw six dogs biting an insect to death to trick us into going outside. Who could"ve guessed that his Grand Martial Master No Commandment was hiding around the corner and managed to seal our acupoints. Then he stacked us up into a pile and said that if we were going up to Songshan then we would"ve spoiled Headmaster Linghu"s plan. His granny, how could we have spoiled your plan?"

Linghu Chong understood what was going on and he laughingly said, "This time the Peach Valley Six Fairies have won, and Great Master No Commandment has lost. When you see Monk No Commandment and his disciple the next time, you may not mention this matter ever again, and you also can"t fight them. Otherwise, when the world"s heroes ask about this, they would find out that Great Master No Commandment lost to the Peach Valley Six Fairies and would lose face."

Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy nodded their heads. "The next time we meet these two stinky monks, we"ll all pretend that nothing happened so that he and his disciple won"t lose face."

Linghu Chong laughed. "The most important thing to do right now is to unseal your brothers" acupoints, you must be suffering by now." He then unsealed Peachtree Flower Fairy"s acupoints and closed the door as he went out so that he wouldn"t be able to hear the debate that would soon happen between the six brothers.

Zheng E giggled and asked, "Big Martial Brother, what were they doing?"

Qin Juan giggled. "They were making a pyramid."

Peachtree Flower Fairy immediately scolded, "Little nun, nonsense! Who said we were making a pyramid?"

Qin Juan laughed. "I"m not a little nun."

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "You"re together with a little nun, so you"re also little nun."

Qin Juan replied, "Headmaster Linghu is also together with us. Is he also a little nun?"

Zheng E giggled. "You"re also together with us, then the six of you are little nuns then."

Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy didn"t know how to argue back so they started to blame each other for turning them into little nuns.

Linghu Chong, Yihe, and the rest of the disciples waited outside the house for a long time, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies still hadn"t come out yet. Linghu Chong pushed the door to go back inside and saw Peachtree Flower Fairy pacing back and forth with a smile on his face while his five brothers" acupoints were still sealed. Linghu Chong laughed loudly and quickly unsealed the five brothers" acupoints, and hastily went out of the house again. He then heard a huge clamouring noise from inside the house. Linghu Chong giggled happily as he walked out of there. After walking for tens of feet and around a few corners, he arrived at a small road besides a farm field. He saw a peach tree with its top full of flower buds waiting for spring time to arrive. He thought, "The flower of a peach tree is so beautiful and delicate, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies are so disorderly and chaotic. They"re really different when compared to the real peach flower."

He walked leisurely for a while thinking that the six brothers must have finished fighting by now, and he might as well drink some wine with them. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind him and there was a female voice calling out, "Big Brother Linghu!" Linghu Chong turned around and saw that it was Yilin who was coming over. She came over and softly said, "Can I ask you something?"

Linghu Chong smiled. "Of course you can. What"s the matter?"

"Who do you like better? Is it Young Lady Ren or your little martial sister?"

Linghu Chong was startled and felt slightly embarra.s.sed. "Why do you suddenly want to ask about this?"

"Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing told me to ask you about this."

Linghu Chong felt that this was strange. But he just smiled and said, "Why did they want to ask me about this?"

Yilin lowered her head and said, "Big Brother Linghu, I"ve never talked to anyone about your little martial sister. That day, Martial Sister Yihe injured Miss Yue and both of them had a dislike for each other. When you asked Martial Sister Yizhen and Yiling to deliver the medicine for her injuries, Huashan School didn"t want to accept it and actually chased them out. Everyone was afraid that you would get angry so they didn"t talk to you about this. Later on, Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went up to Huashan to deliver the epistle for your Headmaster Inauguration ceremony but they were actually detained by the Huashan School."

Linghu Chong was startled. "How did you find out?"

Yilin shyly said, "That Tian… Cannot Have No Commandment told me."

"Tian Boguang?"

"That"s right. After you went to Dark Wood Cliff, martial sisters asked him to go up Mount Huashan to find out what"s going on."

Linghu Chong nodded. "Tian Boguang"s qinggong is very good so he wouldn"t be easily discovered when spying around. He saw the two martial sisters?"

"He did. But Huashan School guarded them very tightly so he couldn"t save them, and they"re also not suffering. Also, I wrote to him not to offend the Huashan School or to injure anyone, so that you won"t get angry."

Linghu Chong smiled. "You gave him instructions on a paper? That"s just like what masters do!"

Yilin"s face turned red and she said, "I"m on Xianxing Peak, while he"s on Tong Yuan valley. So if there was any matter to tell him then writing to him is the best way. Afterwards, I asked the Buddhist grandma to deliver the letter."

Linghu Chong smiled. "I was just joking. What did Tian Boguang say?"

"He said that he saw a festivity up there. Your former master was getting a son-in-law…" Suddenly, she saw Linghu Chong"s expression changed greatly. She panicked and quickly stopped talking. Linghu Chong felt that he was choking, finding it very difficult to draw his breath. He gasped a few times before saying, "Just say it, it… it doesn"t matter." He heard his own voice was grating and it was like it wasn"t his own voice talking.

Yilin softly said, "Big Brother Linghu, don"t be sad. Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing all said that even though Young Lady Ren is from the Devil Sect, her personality is nice and her martial art is high. She"s ten times better than Miss Yue in everything."

Linghu Chong smiled bitterly. "What do I have to be sad about? Little martial sister has a nice marriage, so I should be happy for her. He… He… Tian Boguang saw my little martial sister…"

Yilin said, "Tian Boguang said the Jade Maiden Peak on Huashan was decorated with lanterns and coloured banners, and it was very lively up there. There was also a lot of people from every sect and every school up there to congratulate them. But Mr. Yue didn"t inform our Heng-Shan School and actually treated us like an enemy." Linghu Chong nodded his head. Yilin went on, "Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went with good intention to Huashan to give them the epistle. It doesn"t matter to us that they"re not sending gifts or coming to congratulate you for taking up the school"s leadership. But what are they doing detaining the messengers we sent to them?" Linghu Chong just stood there expressionless and didn"t answer back.

Yilin continued, "Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing said that Huashan School is acting without reason so we don"t have to be polite to them. When we see them at Mount Songshan, we"ll ask them about this and tell them to release our people." Linghu Chong again nodded his head. Yilin saw Linghu Chong looking as if he had lost his spirit. She let out a long sigh and softly said, "Big Brother Linghu, take care of yourself." She then slowly walked away.

Linghu Chong saw her gradually getting farther away. He shouted, "Martial Sister!"

Yilin halted and turned her head around.

Linghu Chong asked, "The person my martial sister married is… is…"

Yilin nodded. "Yes! It"s that person surnamed Lin." She then quickly walked towards Linghu Chong and pulled on his right sleeve. "Big Brother Linghu, that Lin person isn"t better than you. Miss Yue is a muddled person so she agreed to marry him. All the martial sisters are afraid that you"ll get angry so they don"t dare to tell you about this. But Peach Valley Six Fairies said that my father and Tian Boguang are close to here. When Tian Boguang sees you, he"ll probably tell you about this. Even if Tian Boguang doesn"t say it, after a few days, we"ll arrive at Mount Songshan and you"ll then see Miss Yue and her husband there. At that time, you"ll see her wearing a set of new clothes and dressed up as a new bride, maybe… maybe… it"ll hinder the big matter we"re facing. Everyone all said if Miss Ren were beside you, then it"ll be good. So all the martial sisters asked me to come and talk to you, and don"t let that muddled Miss Yue cloud your judgement." Linghu Chong smiled bitterly and he thought, "They"re all so worried about me and afraid that I might be heartbroken. That"s why they really looked after me during the journey." Suddenly he felt the back of his hand wet. He lifted his head and saw Yilin was crying. Awkwardly, he asked, "Why… why are you crying?"

Yilin sorrowfully replied, "I see you so heartbroken… Big Brother Linghu, if you want to cry, then… then cry it all out."

Linghu Chong laughed loudly. "Why would I cry? Linghu Chong is an incompetent loafer, and even my master and master-wife despise me and they even expelled me from their school. Little martial sister, how could… how could… Haha, haha!" After he laughed, he ran away on the road towards the mountain. With his running speed, he ran twenty li quickly and arrived at a wild place. When he felt that there was no one nearby, he couldn"t suppress his emotion anymore, so he threw himself to the ground and cried loudly. After crying for some time, he felt his heart getting a bit better. He thought, "If I go back now, both of my eyes would be red. If Yihe and the others see this, they"ll laugh at me. It"s better if I just go back at night then." But he again thought, "If I don"t return for a long time, then they would definitely get worried. When a gentleman wants to cry then he cries, when he wants to laugh then he laughs. The whole world knows that Linghu Chong loves Yue Lingshan. She already abandoned me like she was throwing out worn shoes. If I don"t grieve over this, then my feeling was fake."

He immediately ran back to the ruined temple in that city. Yihe, Yiqing, and the other disciples were scattered around the temple searching for him. When they saw him coming back, they were all happy. They had already prepared food and wine on top of the table. Linghu Chong drank himself drunk and slept on the table.

A few days later, they arrived at the foot of Mount Songshan with two days to spare for the meeting. On the morning of the fifteenth of the third month, Linghu Chong led the disciples to make their way up the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, four Songshan disciples met them and very respectfully saluted them. They said, "Songshan"s lowly disciples respectfully welcome Heng-Shan School honourable Headmaster Linghu. My humble school"s Headmaster Zuo is respectfully waiting on top of the mountain." They also said, "Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools" martial uncles and martial brothers have all arrived yesterday. Songshan School feels very honoured that Headmaster Linghu and martial sisters have come here."

As Linghu Chong kept on going up the mountain, he noticed that the mountain road had been swept clean, and every few li along the way, a few disciples of Songshan had prepared tea and light refreshments to welcome the guests. Songshan School had really prepared everything meticulously, but from this, it could be seen that Zuo Lengchan really must have the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School and would not allow anyone to hinder him.

As they continued on their journey up the mountain, some more Songshan School"s disciples met them to lead their way up the mountain. They said, "Kunlun, Emei, Kongtong, and Qingcheng Schools" headmasters and seniors are coming to Songshan today to partic.i.p.ate in the election of the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Everybody from Kunlun and Qingcheng Schools has all arrived. Headmaster Linghu came just in time, everyone"s waiting for your honourable self on top of the mountain." There was a hint of arrogance on their faces, and from the way they spoke, it was obvious that they believed that this headmaster position of the Five Mountains School was secured in the hand of their Songshan School"s headmaster.

When they went further up, they suddenly heard a thunderous sound of water. They saw from the top of the cliff two jade dragons hanging down as the two waterfalls poured out and flew out leisurely off the cliff. Everyone was on the side of the waterfall looking up towards the peak. The Songshan School"s disciple leading them said, "This is called the View Victory Peak. Headmaster Linghu, what do you think of it compared to the places in Mount Heng-Shan?"

Linghu Chong replied, "Mount Heng-Shan is elegant where as Mount Songshan is grand. Both sceneries are very good."

That person said, "Songshan is placed in the middle of the world during the Tang Dynasty, and they"re originally the leader of all the mountains in the realm. Headmaster Linghu, please have a look, with this atmosphere, no wonder that all the emperors from the previous dynasties founded their capitals on the foothill of Mount Songshan." The actual meaning of these words seemed to be that since Mount Songshan was the leader of all the mountains, then Songshan School ought to be the leader of all the other schools.

Linghu Chong smilingly said, "I didn"t know that any of the heroes in Jianghu are connected to the government and the emperor. Does Headmaster Zuo often make friends with the government officials?" That person"s face turned red and stopped saying anything.

As they kept going up the mountain, the road was becoming more and more dangerous. The Songshan School disciples leading them pointed to a few places and said, "This is the Green Ridge Peak and Green Ridge Plain. This is the Big Iron Bridge Gorge and that"s the Little Iron Bridge Gorge." On the right of the Iron Bridge Gorge was a strange stone and on its left was the Ten Thousand Deep Gully, which bottom you couldn"t see. A Songshan disciple picked up a piece of big rock and threw it down the gully. The sound of the big rock hitting the side of the gully was like a thunder in the beginning, but as it dropped down the gully, the sound gradually got lighter and lighter until it disappeared.

Yihe said, "May I ask martial brother something? Today, how many people are coming to Songshan?"

That man said, "There are at least two thousand people."

Yihe said, "If you throw down a big rock for every person who comes up the mountain, then after some time, this mountain valley would be filled by your Songshan School." That person just snorted and didn"t answer her back.

After they rounded a corner, they saw a thick fog in front of them and there were more than ten people blocking the mountain road. They were all armed. One person gloomily said, "When is Linghu Chong coming up? If you see him then tell us."

Linghu Chong saw the person talking had a face full of beard and his face looked hideous, but both of his eyes were blind. When he looked at the other men with him, each of them was actually also blind. He couldn"t help feeling a shiver of fear in his heart. He said loudly, "Linghu Chong is here, what do you want?" When he said "Linghu Chong is here", the blind men immediately hurled their abuses at him and waved their weapons about wishing to rush at him. They all scolded, "Linghu Chong you little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you"ve harmed us greatly, today we"ll fight you to the death."

Linghu Chong immediately understood what was going on. He thought, "That night when Huashan School was attacked, I used my newly acquired Dugu Nine Swords" sword art to blind those enemies. I didn"t know the origin of those people before, but thinking about it now, they must"ve been sent by Songshan School. I didn"t expect to settle this business today."

He saw that the ground was very dangerous. If they staked their lives in this fight then one of them could grab him and then jump down the Ten Thousand Deep Valley.

He also saw that the Songshan disciple leading the way for them was holding in his laughter and was taking pleasure in his misfortune. He pondered, "I killed a lot of people from Songshan School at the Dragon Spring Sword-forging Valley. So we shouldn"t be complacent at Mount Songshan today." He then said, "These blind friends, are they the disciples of Songshan School? Sir, could you please tell them to make way?"

That Songshan School"s disciple laughingly said, "They"re not from my humble school. I don"t have any authority over them. Headmaster Linghu can just beat them up."

Suddenly, they heard someone shouted, "Let old man beat you up first then we"ll talk." It was Monk No Commandment arriving. Behind him was Cannot Have No Commandment, Tian Boguang. No Commandment strode purposefully, grabbed two Songshan disciples, and threw them over to those blind men while calling out, "Linghu Chong"s coming."

Those blind men immediately hacked and slashed their weapons around. But those two Songshan disciples" martial art weren"t low and they pulled their swords out as they were flying through the air. They immediately blocked the weapons of those blind men and at the same time called out, "We"re all from Songshan School, quickly get out of the way." Those blind men quickly withdrew their weapons and they were greatly confused. No Commandment rushed up and again grabbed those two Songshan disciples and shouted, "If you don"t tell these blind men to make way then I"ll throw both of you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds down the valley." As he said this, he threw the two disciples up into the air. Monk No Commandment"s strength of arms was unrivalled and he managed to throw those two Songshan disciples seven to eight feet up in the air. Both of those people cried out wretchedly and they both thought that if they really fell down the Ten Thousand Deep Valley, then their bodies would instantly become minced meat.

Monk No Commandment waited for the two of them to fall back down before he extended his arms and grabbed the back of their necks. "Want to do that again?"

One of the men hastily answered, "No… I don"t want to!"

The other Songshan disciple was clever. He loudly shouted, "Linghu Chong, where are you escaping? Blind friends, quickly chase, quickly chase after him!" When the blind men heard this, they all believed him and they immediately started chasing.

Tian Boguang angrily said, "Hey, little kid, are you fit to say Headmaster Linghu"s name?" He then gave that man a couple of whacks on the ears and loudly shouted, "Hero Linghu is here! Headmaster Linghu is here! Whichever one of you blind men have guts then come here and receive some sword art lesson from him." Those blind men"s anger was roused by the Songshan disciples beforehand and they also remembered of the enmity they had towards Linghu Chong for blinding them, that was why they were patiently waiting on the mountain road. But hearing the wretched shoutings of the two Songshan disciples, they felt fear in their hearts so they were now running up and down the mountain road like headless chickens. After a while, they stood still at a loss of what to do.

Linghu Chong, No Commandment, Tian Boguang, and all the Heng-Shan School"s disciples walked past those blind men as they continued their journey up the mountain. Suddenly, they came to a place where they could see two mountain peaks with their tops broken off and naturally made some kind of a gateway. The wind blew through where those broken tops were and the fog caressed their faces as it blew past. No Commandment shouted, "What"s this place called? How can it change like that?"

That Songshan disciple bitterly answered, "This is called Facing the Heaven Gate."

Everyone then turned towards the northwest and went up another part of the mountain road. They looked up towards the s.p.a.cious plain on top of the peak and were able to see countless number of people gathering up there. The Songshan disciples leading the way quickened their steps as they went up the mountain to report. This was followed by the sound of drum welcoming Linghu Chong and his followers to the top of the peak.

Zuo Lengchan was wearing a yellow gown. He led around twenty of his disciples as he came towards Linghu Chong to welcome him. He folded his hands to salute Linghu Chong. Even though Linghu Chong was now the headmaster of Heng-Shan, he had always called him as "Martial Uncle Zuo". After all, he was still a generation behind him. Linghu Chong immediately bowed back to return the propriety and he said, "Junior Linghu Chong pays his respect to Songshan"s headmaster."

Zuo Lengchan replied, "I haven"t seen you for a long time. Brother Linghu seems to be more cheerful. Brother is so handsome and young but you"re already leading Heng-Shan School. This has never happened in Wulin before. Congratulations!"

He said all these coldly with a cold face. When he said "Congratulations", his face was looking lively but there was not a hint of a congratulation in the way he said it. Linghu Chong understood that he was being sarcastic in saying all these. When he said "this has never happened in Wulin before", he was actually being sarcastic that a man could become a leader of a bunch of nuns. The words "handsome and young" also did not have good intentions in them. Linghu Chong replied, "Junior received Dingxian Shi Tai"s last wish and became the headmaster of Heng-Shan so that I can avenge the deaths of the two Shi Tai. After I"ve avenged them, I"ll immediately step down and let a worthy person take over." When he said these few words, he was staring at Zuo Lengchan"s eyes to see if Zuo Lengchan became ashamed or maybe angry. But nothing changed on Zuo Lengchan"s face.

Zuo Lengchan said, "The five mountains sword schools have the same root but different branches. Today when the five schools merge, Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai"s blood feud wouldn"t be Heng-Shan School"s matter only. But it would also become my Five Mountains School"s matter. It"s very good that Brother Linghu is enthusiastic in this." He stopped for a time. Then he continued, "Brother Tianmen from Taishan, Mr. Mo Da from Hengshan, Mr. Yue from Huashan, and many other friends from Wulin who are attending the ceremony have arrived. Please go ahead to meet them."

Linghu Chong replied, "Yes. Have Shaolin"s Great Master Fangzheng and Wudang"s Priest Chongxu arrived yet?"

Zuo Lengchan tastelessly answered, "The two of them live very close but with their high position, they wouldn"t come here." As he finished saying this, he gave Linghu Chong a stare and his eyes were full of hatred.

Linghu Chong was startled, but he immediately understood. He thought, "When I took up Heng-Shan"s leadership, these two seniors of Wulin came personally to congratulate me. But Zuo Lengchan believed that they wouldn"t come today. That"s why he hates Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu, and he even hates me for that."

At this moment, they suddenly saw two disciples in yellow gown rushing up the mountain road. It seemed that they had an urgent matter to report. Everyone gathering on top of the peak was looking at these two people. Not long after, the two disciples arrived in front of Zuo Lengchan. They reported, "Congratulations Master, Shaolin"s Abbot Fangzheng and Wudang School"s Headmaster Chongxu are both leading their disciples to come up the mountain."

"They"ve come?" Zuo Lengchan indifferently asked. "That"s very good. I must go down to welcome them." His tone of speech indicated that he didn"t care about it that much. But Linghu Chong saw that his gown"s sleeve was trembling slightly. After all, a person"s happiness is very hard to hide. When news of Shaolin"s Great Master Fangzheng and Wudang"s Priest Chongxu arrival was heard, it created a sensation amongst the crowd on top of the mountain. A lot of people followed Zuo Lengchan in going down the mountain to welcome them. Linghu Chong and his Heng-Shan disciples moved to one side of the road letting those people went down.

They saw Taishan School"s Priest Tianmen, Hengshan School"s Mr. Mo Da, Beggar Clan"s clan leader, Qingcheng School Pine Wind Monastery"s Priest Yu Canghai, and all the other seniors had all arrived on the mountain. Linghu Chong saluted many people one by one when he suddenly saw a group of people coming around a corner. They were his Master, Master-Wife, and the martial brothers and sisters of the Huashan School. His heart was pained in seeing them. He quickly went up to them and kowtowed to his Master. "Linghu Chong pays his respect to two honourables."

Yue Buqun leaned to one side and coldly said, "Why does Headmaster Linghu give me such a big propriety? Isn"t this a strange joke?"

Linghu Chong stood up after giving his respect and stepped back. Madam Yue"s eyes were red as she said, "I heard that you"ve now become the Headmaster of Heng-Shan School. From now on, you can"t make trouble anymore, and you must also settle down."

Yue Buqun coldly laughed. "Him? Not creating trouble? That"ll be the day when the sun rises from the west. The first day he became headmaster, Heng-Shan School accepted thousands of people from the unorthodox path, isn"t that enough trouble already? I also heard he joined hands with that Devil Sect"s Ren Woxing to kill Dongfang Bubai and let Ren Woxing regained the throne of the Devil Sect. Heng-Shan School"s headmaster unexpectedly took part in such a big matter for the Devil Sect, can"t this be called creating trouble?"

"Yes, yes," Linghu Chong replied. He didn"t want to talk about this matter so he changed to another subject, "At the meeting on Songshan today, Martial Uncle Zuo"s intention is to merge the five mountains sword schools into one to make the Five Mountains School. What do the two honourables think of this?"

Yue Buqun asked, "What"s your intention?"

"Disciple…"

Yue Buqun smiled and hastily interrupted, "This word "disciple" doesn"t need to be mentioned. If you still remembered those past days in Huashan, then… then…" He then deeply hummed looking like it wasn"t easy for him to say what he wanted to say. From the day when he was expelled from the Huashan School, Linghu Chong had never seen Yue Buqun looking so pleased at him. Linghu Chong hastily said, "If you have any order, disciple… Junior will obey it."

Yue Buqun nodded his head. "I don"t have any order, but the martial art people of my generation are especially sensitive about distinguishing between the orthodox and demonical paths. When that day I didn"t allow you to stay on Huashan anymore, it wasn"t because your Master-Wife and I were cruel-hearted, or because we didn"t want to forgive you for your faults. It"s just that you violated Wulin"s biggest taboo, so even though I"ve raised you since you were young and that you"re like a son to me, I still couldn"t be selfish."

When Linghu Chong heard this, he became tearful. He chokingly said, "Even if my body turned to dust and my bones broken to pieces, it"ll still be very hard for me to repay Master"s and Master-Wife"s kindness."

Yue Buqun lightly patted his shoulder to comfort him and then said, "That day at Shaolin Temple, we fought for a while. I used a few sword moves with deep meanings behind them, hoping that you would turn around and rejoin my Huashan School. But you were obstinate and made me really sad."

Linghu Chong replied, "That day at Shaolin Temple I committed an evil act, disciple should die for it. It"s my biggest wish to again rejoin Master"s school."

Yue Buqun smiled. "I"m afraid these words you said are somewhat hypocritical. You"re already the headmaster of another school, command a lot of people, and have a lot of responsibility. You"re already comfortable in that position now, why would you want to rejoin our school? Also, looking at your martial art now, how can I still be your master?" After he said this, he gave a glance to Madam Yue.

When Linghu Chong heard Yue Buqun"s tone was sincere and it seemed that he wanted to take him back as a disciple again, he was extremely happy. He immediately knelt down and said, "Master, Master-Wife, disciple has offended you greatly. From now on, I will rectify my wrongs, obey master"s order, and follow Master-Wife"s instructions. I hope that Master and Master-Wife would be merciful and accept me back into Huashan School." At this time, he heard people clamouring to come up the mountain road. Those people were accompanying Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu up the mountain.

Yue Buqun lowered his voice and said, "Get up, we"ll slowly talk about this later."

Linghu Chong was exulted and kowtowed a few times. "Thank you Master, Master-Wife!" He then stood up.

Madam Yue was sad and happy at the same time. "Your little martial sister and your martial brother Lin, they got… got married on Huashan last month." Her tone of voice sounded worried. She was afraid that Linghu Chong only wanted to rejoin the Huashan School because of Yue Lingshan, and when he heard that she had already gotten married, he might shout out in grieve and be inconsolable.

Linghu Chong was pained to hear this and he slightly tilted his head to look for Yue Lingshan. He saw her already dressed up in a beautiful gown as a young married woman. However, her appearance did not seem to have changed at all. She didn"t have the glowing and healthy look that newly married young ladies have.

Her eyes met Linghu Chong"s and suddenly her whole face was red, and she quickly dropped her head down. Linghu Chong felt as if a big hammer had just hit his chest and all of a sudden, he saw stars in his eyes. His body faltered and he couldn"t stand straight. Suddenly he heard someone whispered in his ear, "Headmaster Linghu, you came from far away but you arrived here first. Shaolin Temple and the Courtyard of Towering Meditation are only a few feet away but I arrived late." Linghu Chong felt that someone was holding his left arm supporting him. Once he recovered, he saw Great Master Fangzheng smiling besides him. He hastily replied, "Yes, Yes!", paid his respect and stepped aside.

Zuo Lengchan announced in a clear voice, "Everyone, there"s no need to give too much propriety. Otherwise, with the thousands of people we have here, we still won"t finish paying our respect to each other until tomorrow. Please enter the Courtyard of Meditation now."

The top of Mount Songshan used to be called Eji and the Courtyard of Towering Mediation was originally a Buddhist temple. But in the last one hundred years, it had been turned into habitable quarters for the Songshan School"s headmaster. Even though Zuo Lengchan"s name contains the word "meditation" in it, he was never a disciple of Buddhism while his martial art was closer to Taoism.

The crowd went into the Courtyard of Meditation. Inside, there was a forest of ancient pines in the middle of the courtyard, with a hall which did not look like a Buddhist hall at all. Even though the hall was extremely large, it still couldn"t be compared to the Great Hero Precious Hall at the Shaolin Temple. Not a thousand people had entered the courtyard when it was already full of people and there was no way to fit more people in.

Zuo Lengchan said in a loud voice, "Today"s gathering of our five mountains sword schools is blessed by the presence of all the friends from the orthodox path. This is beyond all my expectations so the supply we"ve provided isn"t sufficient and our reception is slow. So please don"t blame us for this."

Someone from the crowd shouted, "That"s alright. But there are too many people here so there"s no more room to stand."

Zuo Lengchan replied, "If we go up two hundred more steps, there"s a place where emperors in the ancient times used to worship the heaven and earth. The s.p.a.ce up there is wide and would be very convenient for us. But we"re only common people, so if the news of us holding a meeting in that place of worship spread out then people will ridicule us for being conceited."

In ancient times, the emperors commended their own achievements by frequently worshipping the heaven and earth in either Mount Taishan or Mount Songshan, and offered sacrifices during these events. This event was usually a grand occasion for the whole country. But from amongst these Jianghu"s heroes, who understood about the matter of "worshipping heaven and earth"? They only felt crowded and stuffy inside that big hall. Let alone sitting, they weren"t even able to breathe freely. One by one, they were saying, "We"re not rebelling to become the emperor*. Since such a place exist, why don"t we go there? The person besides me talk a lot, d.a.m.n it!" As they were grumbling, there were already people rushing out of the courtyard.

(*Translator"s note: Emperors in ancient times prayed to the heaven and earth when they took up their thrones also.)

Zuo Lengchan said, "Alright, then let"s go and have a look at the worshipping place."

Linghu Chong thought, "Zuo Lengchan is very meticulous in his planning, so how could he have let all these people to be so crowded in here? What"s his reason? He himself wants to go to the worshipping place to hold the gathering but he"s too embarra.s.sed to say it himself so he"s letting other people instigate it." His thought continued, "What kind of place is this place of worship? He said that it was related to emperors, and now he"s leading everyone to go up there. Could it be that he really aspires to be an emperor? Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu said that he has great ambition and that once he"s combined the five mountains sword schools, he would then move to exterminate the Sun Moon Sect. Then he would continue on annexing Shaolin and Wudang. Hey, hey, Dongfang Bubai and he actually have the same goal, "Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu"!"

Linghu Chong followed the people and arrived below the place of worship. He again thought, "Hearing what Master said, it seems that he"s willing to forgive my faults and allow me to return to Huashan. Why was Master so severe before but being so nice today? He must"ve investigated and found out that my conduct in Heng-Shan is very proper and doesn"t besmirch the name of the Heng-Shan School, so he must be really happy. Little martial sister has also gotten married to Martial Brother Lin, so Master and Master-Wife must be feeling sorry for me. Also Master-Wife must"ve persuaded Master many times till he finally changed his att.i.tude. Today, Zuo Lengchan will try his hardest in annexing the four schools, and since Master is the headmaster of Huashan School, he will resist this with all of his power. He treats me very well so that I may ally with him and together protect the Huashan School. I"ll do my best today to not disappoint his hope, and at the same time protect Heng-Shan School."

The place of worship was entirely constructed out of granite where each big rock there was chiselled until it was completely flat. Imagining the past when the emperor offered sacrifices here, Linghu Chong wondered how many stonemason the emperor employed to construct this place. As he scanned the area, he saw that some of the stones were newly chiselled. Even though there was moss on them already, he could still see that they were new. It was apparent that with the pa.s.sage of time, this place of worship may have been quite damaged. Zuo Lengchan must have ordered his people to repair the place and had intentionally covered up those repairs so that they would not look obvious. But by doing so, it had instead looked as if he was up to no good.

As soon as the crowd arrived at this peak of Mount Songshan, they all felt invigorated. This summit stood tallest of all the other peaks around it. At that time, the sky was a clear blue without a single cloud to be seen. Linghu Chong gazed to the north and was able to see the high banks of Yumen and the Yellow River looking like a piece of thread. On the west, he could see the imperial city of Luoyang, while on the southeast, he saw layers upon layers of mountains.

He then saw three old men pointing to the south. One of them said, "That is the Big Bear Peak, that is the Small Bear Peak, those two peaks standing close together are the Dual Jade Peak, and the three peaks piercing through the cloud is called Three Outstanding Peaks."

Another old man said, "That mountain peak is the Shaoshi Mountain where the Shaolin Temple is. That day when I was at the Shaolin temple, I felt as if I was so high above, but looking from here, Shaolin temple is actually below Mount Songshan." The three old men laughed at this. Linghu Chong saw from the way these three old men dressed up that they weren"t from Songshan School. But judging from their allegory of the mountains, they seem to be embellishing Songshan and belittling Shaolin. Looking at the brightness of these three people"s eyes, he deduced that they have powerful internal energies. It seemed that Zuo Lengchan had arranged many helpers for himself today, so if something were to change, they would have to contend with more than just the people from Songshan School.

He then saw Zuo Lengchan inviting Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu to go up to the place of worship. Fangzheng laughingly said, "The two of us are only two useless outsiders. We"ve come today just to offer our congratulations and to attend the ceremony, so there"s no need for us to go up the stage and disgrace ourselves."

Zuo Lengchan replied, "Great Master Fangzheng is talking like you"re an outsider to us."

Chongxu said, "All the visitors have already arrived. Headmaster Zuo, please go ahead with the big event, there"s no need keep us two old chaps company."

Zuo Lengchan said, "I"ll comply with your request then." He then cupped his fist to the two of them and went up to the place of worship. He"d walked up tens of steps and there was still around ten feet to the top when he stopped and announced in a loud voice, "Friends, please!"

The top of Mount Songshan was really windy and the crowd was scattered all over the place enjoying the scenery. But Zuo Lengchan"s words were heard clearly by everyone up there. Everyone turned their heads around and started to gather closer, surrounding the worship place. Zuo Lengchan cupped his fist and said, "I appreciate all the friends here who have come to grace Mount Songshan with your presence. All the friends here must have heard already that today is the good day that my five mountains sword schools will join our efforts together and will become one school."

Hundreds of people on the base of the worship place shouted, "Yes, yes, congratulations, congratulations!"

"Everyone, please take a seat!" Zuo Lengchan said.

Everyone immediately sat on the ground, and the disciples from each school and sect sat together with their headmaster. Zuo Lengchan said, "Our five mountains sword schools have the same root, different branches. We"ve been allied for more than a hundred years and we"re just like a family already. I have been the chief of the five schools for many years already. But in these last few years, many big events have occurred in Wulin. So the seniors from the five mountains sword schools and I consulted each other and we all felt that if we don"t merge into one school, then there would be a day when we encounter a big problem that we couldn"t handle."

Suddenly, they heard someone who coldly interjected from the base of the worship place, "Which school"s seniors did Chief Zuo consulted with? How come I don"t know about this matter?" The one who said this was Hengshan School"s headmaster Mr. Mo Da. As soon as he said this, it was apparent that Hengshan School disapproved of this merger.

Zuo Lengchan replied, "I just said before, many big events have occurred in Wulin which led to the conclusion that the five schools must merge into one. Amongst these big events is the inter-school killings of each other in spite of our alliance. Mr. Mo Da, my Songshan School"s disciple, the Great Songyang Palm, Martial Brother Fei lost his life outside the city of Hengshan. There were people who observed this and said that you were the one who did this, is this true?"

Mr. Mo Da was startled and he thought, "When I killed that Fei, there was only Martial Brother Liu, Qu Yang, Linghu Chong, a little nun from Heng-Shan School, and Qu Yang"s granddaughter there. Three of these people have already died. Could it be that Linghu Chong accidentally mentioned about it after drinking some wine? Or maybe that little nun isn"t too experienced and divulged this secret?" At this time, the thousands of eyes underneath the worship place were all looking at Mr. Mo Da"s face. Mr. Mo Da remained calm and composed; he shook his head and said, "This matter did not happen! How could I have killed the Great Songyang Palm with my limited skills?"

Zuo Lengchan coldly laughed. "If the fight was fair and one on one, Mr. Mo Da might not necessarily have been able to kill my martial brother Fei. But if it was an ambush, and you"re using your Hengshan School"s ever changing phantasmal sword moves, even masters would find it hard to fight against. We looked at the injuries on the corpse of Martial Brother Fei, but someone already ruined it. But the placements of the sword stab couldn"t change. Instead of covering up the evidence, isn"t this revealing it instead?"

Mr. Mo Da was startled and he shook his head while thinking, "You"re guessing foolishly. How can I admit that?" He was thinking that Zuo Lengchan was relying on the sword injuries placements on Fei Bin"s corpse to say this and no one had actually divulged this secret. So he decided never to admit this to Zuo Lengchan. But after this, there would always be enmity between Songshan School and Hengshan School. Also, it was hard to say whether they would be able to go down Mount Songshan alive today. Zuo Lengchan continued, "This merger is the biggest matter that has happened to our five mountains sword schools since each of the school"s inception. Mr. Mo Da, we"re both the headmasters of a school and we both know which matter is important, and our grudge towards each other is very light. If my five schools benefit from it, then everyone"s grudges would be forced to be put aside. Brother Mo, you don"t have to worry too much about this matter. Martial Brother Fei is my martial brother, but after the five schools are merged, Brother Mo and I will also become martial brothers. The dead is already dead, and why would the living be killing each other?"

His speech was gentle, but the actual meaning behind his words was very threatening. The meaning behind his words was, if Mr. Mo Da agreed to the merging of the schools, then the matter of killing Fei Bin would just be washed away. Otherwise, the matter would have to be settled. Both of his eyes were staring at Mr. Mo Da. He asked, "South Mountain Hengshan School has no objection to the merging of the schools. Priest Tianmen of the Taishan School on the east mountain, what does your n.o.ble school think of this?"

Priest Tianmen stood up and said with a booming voice, "It"s been three hundred years since Priest Dongling founded the Taishan School. Poor priest doesn"t have the virtue and ability to advance the prestige of the Taishan School. But the school"s history of three hundred years, it cannot end at my hand no matter what. This matter of merging the schools, I would never agree to it."

From amongst the Taishan School, a priest with a white beard stood up and said loudly, "Martial Nephew Tianmen, you"re wrong. The Taishan School"s four generations consist of more than four hundred people. This great benefit to everyone in the school couldn"t be thwarted just by your own personal selfishness."

This white-bearded priest with a desiccated face had a loud and strong voice. There were people who recognised him and whispered, "He"s Yujizi, he"s the martial uncle of Priest Tianmen."

Priest Tianmen"s face was originally looking ruddy, but after hearing what Yujizi said, his face turned really red and he said loudly, "Martial Uncle, what do you mean by that? Ever since Martial Nephew became the headmaster of Taishan, which matter have I done which is not in the best interest of the school? I"m opposed to the merger of the five schools in order to preserve the Taishan School. How can it be because I"m selfish?"