The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

As he stepped out of the shop, he saw a group of people walking towards him. Among them was a short and plump fellow. Surprisingly, he was "Old Ancestor of Yellow River" Old Man. Linghu Chong was really happy to see them and called out loudly, "Old Man! How are you?" Old Man was surprised and looked at him awkwardly. He

hesitated for a moment before he drew out his sabre.

Linghu Chong already took a step forward to welcome them. "Zu Qianqiu…" he had not said anything more when Old Man lifted his sabre and chopped down on him. Even though there was a lot of power in this chop, the accuracy was off as Old Man missed Linghu Chong"s shoulder by around a foot. He cried out and chopped down again.

Linghu Chong was frightened and quickly jumped back. "Mr. Old, I"m… I"m Linghu Chong!"

Old Man replied with a shout. "Of course I know you"re Linghu Chong. Everyone heard you already. Sacred Lady gave us an order that anyone who meets Linghu Chong must kill him. She will then shower us with gifts for following this order. Everyone understand?"

"We understand." The group of people who were with him replied loudly.

Although they replied Old Man with such conviction, they just looked at each other with awkward expressions on their faces and no one drew their sabres out. Some people were actually laughing thinking that this was amusing.

Linghu Chong"s face turned red thinking about the day Yingying gave that order for Old Man to spread in Jianghu. The order was for them to kill Linghu Chong when they met him. But she actually gave that order because she hoped that Linghu Chong would never leave her side. It was also to inform the heroes of Jianghu that young lady Ren was

not crazily in love with Linghu Chong but instead hated him to the bone. Later, after so many unforeseen events, he had completely forgotten about this order. At this time, after hearing what Old Man said, he realised that her order had not been cancelled yet.

When Old Man informed them of Sacred Lady"s order, the people in the group did not believe him. In order to save Linghu Chong"s life, she had willingly gone to Shaolin to sacrifice her life. At that time, the news of the incident in which she killed four secular disciples of Shaolin temple had already spread and created a sensation in Jianghu. Everybody praised her bravery for going to Shaolin, but they also found it really funny and also thought that this young lady wanted to show Shaolin that she was better than them by going there. It was clear that she loved Linghu Chong deeply because she was willing to exchange her own life to save him. It was also clear that she didn"t

want to admit to her feelings for him. But it was unavoidable that everyone else understood her feelings for him.

Concerning this matter, Yingying"s subordinates from the unorthodox sects were aware of it extensively. But the orthodox schools also knew some of the details. In everyday chats, this matter often became a laughingstock. So when the people in this group suddenly saw Linghu Chong, they were pleasantly surprised but at the same time they also didn"t know what to do.

Old Man said, "Master Linghu, Sacred Lady ordered us to kill you. But your martial art is too high, just then my sabre didn"t manage to chop you. Please show mercy and don"t take my life. Friends, everyone already saw that it"s not that we didn"t want to kill Master Linghu, but it"s just that we couldn"t kill him. Old Man couldn"t do it, so of course none of you could do it either. Isn"t that right?"

Everyone erupted in laughter and shouted, "Right!" One person shouted, "Just now, we"ve all fought with all our hearts until both parties are so tired that we couldn"t even kill each other. It"s better if we just stop fighting. Everyone, let"s go and fight in drinking wine. If there"s a hero here who can make Master Linghu dead drunk then later when we meet Sacred Lady, we"ll tell her that we managed to kill him."

Everyone laughed madly holding their stomachs while saying, "Wonderful, wonderful!"

Another person laughingly said, "Sacred Lady wants us to kill Master Linghu, but she didn"t say that we have to use swords to do it. So it makes sense to use beautiful wine to make him dead drunk. This can be called using wisdom to subdue the enemy instead of brawn."

Cheering loudly, they crowded around Linghu Chong and took him to the biggest wine shop in the city. There were more than forty people in the group and they filled up six tables in that shop. A few of them knocked on the benches calling out, "Bring out the wine!" Once Linghu Chong sat down, he asked, "How is Sacred Lady? I"m worried to death." When that group of people heard him worrying about Yingying, they

were all really happy.

"Everybody decided already that on the fifteenth of the twelfth month, we"re all going to the Shaolin temple to get Sacred Lady out of there. In the last few days, the people in the alliance had been fighting endlessly to decide who"s going to be the leader and had injured each other. It"s good that Master Linghu already arrived. If this leadership isn"t taken by you, then who else can do it? If another person were to lead this alliance, later, when we got Sacred Lady out of the temple, she definitely won"t be happy," Old Man told him.

A white-bearded old fellow laughed, "Yeah! Master Linghu must be the Chief of this alliance. Even if we later meet with difficulties and were unable to get Sacred Lady out, when she heard news of you leading us, she"ll still be extremely happy. This position of Chief is a match made in heavens for you and only Master Linghu can take it."

"This matter of Chief is not important. The most important thing is to rescue Sacred Lady out of the temple. Even if I died a cruel death in doing so, I"m still willing to do it," Linghu Chong said.

He didn"t just say these words thoughtlessly. He really appreciated Yingying"s sacrificing her own life for him. Even if he had to die for Yingying, he wouldn"t have given much thought to it. However, if it were just any other day, even though he still would"ve thought the same thing in his heart, he wouldn"t have said this publicly. Now, this speech of risking death was said with pa.s.sion and righteousness, it warned everyone not to make fun of Yingying.

When they heard him said this, they were all rea.s.sured of him. They felt that Sacred Lady"s judgement was right about this person. That white-bearded person said, "So Master Linghu is actually a pa.s.sionate and righteous hero. If that false rumour in Jianghu were true that Master Linghu doesn"t care about anyone but himself, then everyone

here would"ve turned cold towards you."

Linghu Chong said, "For the last few months, I was imprisoned and didn"t know anything about the things happening in Jianghu. But night and day, I was thinking about Sacred Lady until all my hair turned white. Come, come, come! Let me salute my fellow friends with a cup. Thank you everyone for striving for Sacred Lady." Saying this, he

stood up and lifted his cup to drink and was followed by the others.

"Mr. Old, you said that many friends are fighting for the Chief position and injuring each other needlessly. It"s still not too late for us to go there immediately and advise them to stop," Linghu Chong said.

"True. Zu Qianqiu and Night Cat already went. We should go catch up with them," Old Man said.

"Where are they?" Linghu Chong asked.

"Everyone"s gathering at the Yellow Keep Plain," Old Man said.

"Yellow Keep Plain?" Linghu Chong queried.

"It"s west of Xiang Yang in the middle of Mountain Jing," That white-bearded old man said.

"Let"s eat and drink quickly then we"ll go to Yellow Keep Plain. We"ve already fought for three days and three nights drinking wine up till now and everyone had already thought of every means, but no one"s been able to make Linghu Chong dead drunk. Later, when everyone meets Sacred Lady, you can confess this to her," Linghu Chong said.

They all laughed and said, "Master Linghu wine"s capacity is like an ocean. Even if we drink for three days and three nights, we"re afraid that we won"t be able to keep up."

Walking side by side with Old Man, Linghu Chong asked, "How"s your daughter"s illness? Is she much better now?"

Old Man replied, "Master, your heart is concerned about a lot of matters. Although she"s not better, I"m happy that she also hasn"t gotten any worse."

Linghu Chong had been holding a question in his heart since the beginning. Seeing the people behind him were tens of feet away, he asked, "A lot of friends said that Sacred Lady has been benevolent to everybody. I don"t understand how she could have been kind to so many people in Jianghu when she is still so very young."

"Master really doesn"t know the reason?" Old Man asked.

Linghu Chong shook his head, "I don"t know."

"Master isn"t an outsider so we don"t need to conceal it from you. But everyone has sworn an oath to Sacred Lady not to divulge this secret. Master, please forgive our sin," Old Man said.

Linghu Chong nodded, "Is it because it"s inconvenient to say or is it better not to say it?"

Old Man said, "Leave it to Sacred Lady to personally tell master, won"t that be much better?"

Linghu Chong said, "The earlier the day I get to see her in person the better."

On the road, they met two more groups of people going to Yellow Keep Plain. When combined, the three groups consisted of more than a hundred people.

They arrived at Yellow Keep Plain really late at night and saw a gathering at the west side of the plain. They were still a li away from the gathering but the sounds of people calling out could already be heard. Linghu Chong quickened his steps towards the crowd. Under the moonlight, he could see a very large crowd surrounding an empty ground. He guessed there were more than one thousand people gathering around. He heard a person shouting, "Chief, Chief, naturally there"s only one person who becomes Chief. With six of you guys, how do you all become Chief?"

Another person answered, "The six of us can be considered as one, and one as six. If you obey our six brothers" orders then we six brothers are Chief. You talk too much; we"ll tear you into four pieces first before we talk further."

Linghu Chong didn"t need to see who was talking; he already knew that it was one of the Peach Valley Six Fairies. But each of their voices sounded almost the same so he couldn"t tell which one it was. Everyone was frightened by what that Peach Valley Fairy said and didn"t dare to shout anymore. However, it was apparent that the crowd refused to accept the Peach Valley Six Fairies" words as final. Some people at the outer edge of the crowd were still scolding, while others were laughing loudly unseen, and some were throwing rocks around. It was total chaos.

"Who"s throwing rocks at old man?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy loudly shouted.

"Your old man," Someone answered from the darkness.

"What? If you"re my brother"s old man, then you"re my old man too?"

Peachtree Flower Fairy indignantly asked.

Another person said, "That"s not necessarily true." Several hundred people erupted in laughter when they heard this.
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"Why not necessarily true?" Peachtree Flower Fairy was confused.

"I also don"t know why. I only have one son," Another person chimed in.

"You only have one son, what"s that got to do with us?" Peachtree Root Fairy questioned.

Another person with a rough voice laughed loudly, "Got nothing to do with you. But probably got something to do with your brothers."

"Has it got to anything do with me then?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy inquired.

One of the earlier person laughed, "Well, you have to look whether your appearance is similar to them or not."

"Do you think my appearance is somewhat similar? Come out and take a look," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

"What"s there to look at? Look at it yourself in the mirror," That person laughed.

Suddenly, four shadows moved extremely fast. They pushed forward and grabbed that person out. That person was tall and big. He probably weighed around 200 catties. The Peach Valley Six Fairies had caught four of his limbs but they didn"t tear him apart. The four fairies looked at his face under the moonlight. Then Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "Doesn"t look like me. How can I look that ugly? Number three, I"m afraid he looks a bit like you."

"Pei, am I uglier than you? All the realm"s heroes are here, let"s ask them to compare," Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

The people in the crowd had seen earlier that the Peach Valley Six Fairies weren"t pleasant to look at with weird body shapes and ugly faces. If they had to pick which one was the best looking then that wouldn"t be an easy task at all. Right now, they were looking at that big man seized in the hands of four of the fairies. At any

moment, he could be torn to four pieces. Everyone was feeling apprehensive and no one dared to laugh.

Linghu Chong was aware of the temperaments of the Peach Valley Six Fairies. If something went slightly wrong, then this big man would be torn to pieces. He called out clearly, "Peach Valley Six Fairies, how about if you let Linghu Chong appraise you?" As he said this, he slowly stepped out from the crowd.

When they heard the name "Linghu Chong", it created a sensation throughout the crowd. More than a thousand pair of eyes were now trained on him. But Linghu Chong didn"t look away from the Peach Valley Six Fairies afraid that they might get excited and rip that big man apart. He said, "Put this friend down first then I"ll have a look at you." The four fairies immediately put the big man down.

This man"s stature was very grand and when he stood up on the ground, he looked like an iron paG.o.da. He had just escaped from death and was still scared stiff. His face was grey like a corpse and his whole body was trembling. He knew that trembling like that was not appropriate for a hero, but his body was trembling by itself and he couldn"t stop it from shaking. He wanted to say a few words to save his face but he only managed to tremble, "I… I… I…"

Linghu Chong saw him scared to death but still looking handsome. He said to the Peach Valley Six Fairies, "Six Peachtree brothers, you don"t look like this friend at all. Compared to him, you"re even more handsome. Peachtree Root Fairy"s bones are wonderful, Peachtree Trunk Fairy"s stature is big and tall, Peachtree Branch Fairy"s limbs are slender, Peachtree Leaf Fairy"s eyebrows are distinct and eyes are elegant, Peachtree Flower Fairy"s… his… his eyes are like the stars, and Peachtree Fruit Fairy is full of vigour. Whoever meets any of you, he will promptly recognise your six righteous and heroic faces, young… middle-aged and handsome."

The crowd heard this and burst into laughter, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies were very happy. Old Man had already experienced suffering under the hands of the Peach Valley Six Fairies before, so he knew they were not to be trifled with. He addressed the crowd, "In my opinion, looking around at all the heroes here, you all have many

types of good martial arts. But speaking of facial appearances, no one can compare with the Peach Valley Six Fairies."

After hearing this, the crowd started to call out. Someone hollered, "Not only handsome but also elegant. No one in the world can come close to them."

Another one called out, "When Pan An retreated, Song Yu also retreated."

And another one chimed in, "In Wulin, the number one to number six most handsome men are these six people. Master Linghu is number seven at most."

The Peach Valley Six Fairies grinned from ear to ear thinking that those people were actually praising them. They didn"t realise that they were actually being teased. Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "My mum used to say that the six of us are stinking ugly. So she was wrong." Another person laughed, "Of course she"s wrong. There are only six of you, how do you turn into stinking ugly?"

(Translator"s note: stinking ugly in Chinese contains the character "eight" in the phrase. But it doesn"t translate well in English here with the joke.)

Another person softly said, "Add into that their dad and mum…" but before he managed to finish this sentence, the people around him quickly covered up his mouth.

Old Man said in a loud voice, "Friends, we have some luck tonight. Master Linghu was just about to single-handedly break through Shaolin temple and get Sacred Lady out. But he met us on the way and heard that everyone is here so he came to talk with us. He said their appearances are handsome, naturally we"ll regard Peach Valley Six Fairies…" When the crowd heard this, they burst into laughter again.

Old Man waved his hand telling them to stop but among the laughter, someone said, "Breaking through Shaolin temple to save Sacred Lady is a big matter. What does it have to do with facial appearances? In my opinion, we should just offer Master Linghu the Chief position and ask him to preside over all matters and give out orders. Everyone will then respectfully comply with his orders. What does everyone think of this?"

Everyone in the crowd knew that Sacred Lady was trapped in Shaolin because of Linghu Chong. They also knew that Linghu Chong"s martial art was outstanding. That day in Henan, he fought together with Xiang Wentian against heroes from all paths. That incident created a sensation in Jianghu. But even if he was weak, they would still give him the position of chief in respect to Sacred Lady. When they heard what Old Man and the other person said, they were all happy and started to cheer and applaud. Peachtree Flower Fairy suddenly said awkwardly, "After we rescued young lady Ren out of the temple, will she become Linghu Chong"s wife?"

All of the people here revered young lady Ren but they also thought what Peachtree Flower Fairy said wasn"t wrong. But they would never have dared to publicly say this. Linghu Chong was completely embarra.s.sed and stayed silent. Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "He wants a wife and also wants to become Chief. That"s too nice of him. We"ll help him rescue his wife, but it"s better if the position of Chief is occupied by us, six brothers." Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Yeah! Only if his skill is better than us then we don"t have to discuss this matter anymore."

Suddenly, Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Fruit Fairies moved together. They grabbed Linghu Chong"s four limbs and lifted him up in the air. They moved really fast and there was no hint that they were going to do this so it was too late for Linghu Chong to avoid it.

The crowd was frightened to see this and they called out together, "Don"t do that! Let go of him!"

Peachtree Leaf Fairy laughed, "Don"t worry everyone. We"re not going to hurt him. We"re just going to make him promise to make us Chief…"

He had not finished speaking when Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Fruit Fairies suddenly shouted strangely and tossed Linghu Chong away. They blurted out, "You… why are you using such a demonical method?"

When Linghu Chong"s four limbs were grabbed by these four idiots, he was really afraid that they would really rip him apart so he immediately used his Art of Essence Absorbing. The four Peachtree Fairies felt their internal energy flowing out of their palms. When they tried to use their inner energy to resist the flow, it actually poured out even faster. So they were frightened and quickly let go of him. Linghu Chong somersaulted and landed steadily on his feet.

Peachtree Leaf Fairy hastily asked, "What?"

Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered together, "This… this Linghu Chong"s martial art is really weird. We can"t hold on to him."

"It"s not that we can"t hold on to him. Just that suddenly, we don"t want to hold on to him anymore," Peachtree Trunk Fairy corrected.

The people in the crowd cheered loudly and said, "Peach Valley Six Fairies, do you submit now?"

"Linghu Chong is our six brothers" good friend. Linghu Chong is the same as Peach Valley Six Fairies. Peach Valley Six Fairies is the same as Linghu Chong. If Linghu Chong becomes Chief then it"ll be just like the Peach Valley Six Fairies becoming Chief. So what"s there not to submit to?" Peachtree Root Fairy said.

"In the whole world, how can you not submit to yourself? Your question is too stupid," Peachtree Fruit Fairy added.

When the crowd looked at the expressions of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, they guessed that the Peach Valley Six Fairies had suffered a loss when they grabbed Linghu Chong but they were now just saving face and didn"t want to acknowledge it. Although the crowd didn"t really understand the reason, they started cheering and laughing anyway.

Linghu Chong said, "Friends, this time we"re going to meet the Sacred Lady and also rescue our many friends who have been trapped in Shaolin temple. Shaolin temple is Wulin"s most respected place and their 72 unique skills have long been famous for several hundred years. Any sect alone would not be able to contend against them, but we"ll just overwhelm them with number since we have over a thousand heroes here

and more good men to come. Although our martial art is inferior compared to Shaolin"s monks and their secular disciples, we"ll surely win by fighting them ten to one."

Everyone cheered, "Right, right! Is it really true that Shaolin"s monks have three heads and six arms?"

Linghu Chong continued, "However, even though Shaolin"s Great Masters have imprisoned Sacred Lady, they haven"t treated her badly. The temple"s Great Masters are learned and righteous eminent monks. They are also merciful and people respect them for their virtues. So even if we destroy Shaolin temple, I"m afraid Jianghu"s heroes will say that we"ve won only by relying on our sheer number, which is not the

behaviour of heroes. That"s why in my opinion, we should talk respectfully with them first before fighting then we can say that we"ve yielded a step to Shaolin temple. This way, we would put Sacred Lady and our other friends out of danger. We would also avoid a big battle which is a good thing."

"Master Linghu"s words suit well with me. If we"re really going to fight, then both sides will suffer many deaths and injuries," Zu Qianqiu said.

"But Master Linghu"s words don"t suit me. If both parties don"t fight then there won"t be many deaths and injuries on both sides. Where"s the fun then?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

"We already agreed that Master Linghu is Chief. So everyone must listen to his order," Zu Qianqiu said.

"Correct, you should let us six brothers give orders out," Peachtree Root Fairy said.

The crowd heard those six brothers creating a scene and obstructing the real issues being discussed. They were mad and a lot of people grasped the handles of their swords and sabres already waiting for Linghu Chong"s order. Once the order was given, they would immediately chop these six brothers into pieces. Although the six brothers" martial arts were higher, they would never be able to continuously block the attacks from dozens of people.

Zu Qianqiu said, "What does a Chief do? Naturally they give orders out. If he doesn"t give orders out then how can he still be called Chief? Of course this character "zhu" means that he has to give out orders."

/(

Translator"s note: Some Chinese lesson to understand the next part. For this case, the Chief here is called "meng zhu" ( 盟主 ). Meng means alliance ( 盟 ); Zhu means lord/master ( 主 ). The character "meng" consists of two characters "ming" ( 明 ) on top and "min" ( 皿 ) at the bottom. Ming means clear/bright; Min means shallow container.

Now, when a downwards-left curved character stroke called "pie" is added to the character "min" ( 皿 ), then it becomes "xue" ( 血 ). Xue means blood.

)/

"Since that"s the case, just call him "meng" only without the "zhu"," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

Peachtree Leaf Fairy shook his head, "Calling him "meng" only is very difficult."

"In my esteemed opinion, since calling him "meng" only is difficult, why don"t we tear apart this character and we can call him "ming xue"!" Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.

"Wrong, wrong! When you tear open the character "meng", the character at the bottom, less a "pie", isn"t the character "xue". So what character is that?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

The Peach Valley Six Fairies didn"t know the character "min" was from the word "qi min" (Household utensils). Everyone in the crowd didn"t want to follow their shameful behaviour so they didn"t say anything.

Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "It may less a "bit", it"s still "xue". It"s best if I cut you to show you, if I cut you deeply then a lot of blood will come out. So it"s still blood. If I take into consideration the feelings between us and cut you lightly then not much blood will come out. Although it"s less, it"s still blood."

(Translator"s note: Peachtree Trunk Fairy misheard the p.r.o.nunciation so he thought Peachtree Branch Fairy said "Less a bit" and not "Less a "pie"".)

Peachtree Branch Fairy indignantly said, "If you"re giving me a cut then of course it"s going to be light. There"s no need to take into consideration the feelings between us. Why do you want to give me a cut?"

Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "My "ke" doesn"t have cut. My hand also doesn"t have a sabre."

(Translator"s note: This is still play on words in Chinese.)

Peachtree Flower Fairy asked, "Then what happened if your hand has a sabre?"

The crowd heard them talking even more nonsense as they talked more and they couldn"t take it anymore, "Be quiet! Everyone"s trying to listen to Chief"s order."

Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "He already finished giving his order, why must we be quiet?"

Linghu Chong raised his voice, "Friends, the fifteenth of the twelfth is still seventeen days away. Everyone, let"s move there slowly. By the time we got to Songshan, it"d be around that date already. This time, we"re not going in secret so we"ll be going with big banners and beating on drums. Tomorrow, we"ll buy cloths to make big banners and write "World"s Heroes Going to Shaolin Temple to Meet Sacred Lady". We"ll also buy some leather drums to beat on when we"re moving. When the Shaolin"s monks and secular disciples hear this, they"ll feel discouraged before fighting."

Most of these unorthodox people were actually good people. So when they heard of his plan, they were extremely happy and started to cheer loudly shaking the whole valley. Among them there were also a number of experienced and steady older people who didn"t express their opinion. But when they heard the crowd feeling pleased, they just smiled. At dawn, Linghu Chong asked Zu Qianqiu, Ji Wushi, and Old Man to make the banners and buy some leather drums. At noon, they finished writing those words on the banner and had bought a few leather drums.

Linghu Chong said, "We"ll start our journey now. Along the road, we"ll be pa.s.sing a lot of towns so we"ll just keep buying more stocks there."

The crowd were beating on the drums and roaring battle cries as they moved north in squadrons. Linghu Chong had seen how Heng-Shan School"s disciples were ambushed at the Xianxia mountain range. After some discussion, he dispatched seven sects. Two sects were sent to the front to act as sentries, two sects were protecting the left, two sects were protecting the right, and the other one stayed behind to help wherever needed while the rest of the people moved with the main group. He also dispatched Hanshui River"s Divine Crow Clan to act as messengers. Divine Crow Clan was a local clan and their circle of influence extended from Hubei at the north down to Henan at the south. If there were the slightest sign of trouble, they would know of it as soon as possible. As he a.s.signed orders, besides the Peach Valley Six Fairies, everyone obeyed his orders completely.

In the few days that they were travelling, heroes continuously joined their group. They also had more banners and more drums as they went. Along with the sounds of drums, it was very noisy with two thousands people shouting along as they went towards Shaolin.

When they arrived at the foot of Mount Wudang, Linghu Chong said, "Wudang School is Wulin"s second biggest school. The name of their school flourishes and they"re second only to Shaolin. Even though we"re going to rescue Sacred Lady from Shaolin School, we don"t want to offend Shaolin. Naturally, we don"t want to offend Wudang School either. So we"ll avoid the main road to go across this area to show the leader of Wudang School some respect and to show them that we"re not attacking their school. What does everyone think of this?"

"Whatever Master Linghu says, we"ll do it. We"ll be satisfied so long as we are able to rescue the Sacred Lady. So there"s no need to do other irrelevant things or make powerful enemies with anyone else. What"s the use of levelling the Wudang School but not being able to rescue Sacred Lady?" Old Man said.

Linghu Chong said, "That"s very good then! Please pa.s.s the order to stop the drums and lower the banners. We"re turning to the east." In a short moment, everyone started to go east.

As they were travelling that day, they saw a person riding a donkey coming towards them. Following behind him were two farmers each carrying a basket on a pole on his shoulder. One was carrying vegetables and the other one was carrying some firewood. The old person riding the donkey had a bent back and was coughing incessantly. The clothes he was wearing was full of patches. When the crowd saw this trio coming towards them without making way, a lot of them put their hands on the handles of their weapons. Along the road, they had been making a lot of noise and whenever any pedestrian saw them, they immediately went to one side of the road letting them pa.s.s. But these three people turned a blind eye to them and just kept on coming towards the group.

Peachtree Root Fairy scolded, "What are you doing?" as he pushed the donkey with his hand. The donkey neighed once before dropping down as its leg was broken. The old person riding the donkey was thrown to the ground and stayed down huffing and puffing. Linghu Chong felt sorry as he stooped down to help the old man get up. "I"m really sorry. Elder, are you hurt?"

That old man was still huffing and puffing, "What… what… what"s going on? I"m a poor man…" The two farmers put their loads down and stood in the middle of the road. They put both their hands on their waist and were looking angry.

The person carrying the vegetable pantingly said, "This is the foot of Mount Wudang. Who are you people to daringly hit people around here?"

"The foot of Mount Wudang, what kind of place is that?" Peachtree Root Fairy asked.

That man said, "Everyone at the foot of Mount Wudang knows martial art. You"re strangers here. Why do you act recklessly here in the fields at the foot of Mount Wudang and ask for trouble?"

The people in the group saw that these people had yellow faces and were very thin. They were around fifty years old. When that person carrying the vegetable spoke, his breath wasn"t strong but he claimed to be capable in martial art so the people in group were laughing loudly at them.

"You also know martial art?" Peachtree Flower Fairy teased.

That man replied, "At the foot of mount Wudang, even a three year old can do shadowboxing, a five year old can already use a sword. What"s so rare about that?"

Peachtree Flower Fairy pointed to the person carrying firewood and laughed, "How about him? He also knows martial art?"

The person carrying firewood replied, "I… I… when I was small, I learned martial art for a few months. But I haven"t practised it for several years now. This martial art… sigh, they"ve become rusted now."

"Wudang School"s martial art is number one in the world. It only needs to be studied for a few months and you won"t be our match," the vegetable-person said.

Peachtree Leaf Fairy laughed, "Why don"t you do a few movements to give us a look?"

"Show what? You won"t be able to understand it anyway," the firewood-person said.

The crowd erupted in laughter and they all said, "We may not understand but we can still look."

The firewood-person said, "Ai, in that case, I"ll show you a few moves then. Don"t know if I still remember all of them… Lend me a sword." A person came out from the crowd and handed him a sword. The firewood man then went out to the middle of the hardened rice field and started to thrust to the east and slash to the west. After about three or four moves, he suddenly forgot what the next move was. He scratched his head thinking for a little bit then showed a few more moves. Everyone saw that his sword movements were not methodical and his body and hand movements were extremely clumsy. They all clutched their stomachs laughing loudly at him.

"What"s so funny? Let me show you a few moves. Give me a sword," The vegetable-person said. He then started to thrust and slash the sword very rapidly in a disorderly fashion as if he was insane. This made the crowd laughed even harder. In the beginning, Linghu Chong also laughed but after seeing more than ten moves, he was astounded. These two people"s sword art, one being sluggish and the other one being very fast, actually had very little flaws. Their moves looked very ugly but the sword moves actually had many variations. It seemed that they had only displayed a fraction of the sword move"s power and didn"t reveal the remaining potential power of the sword moves.

Linghu Chong immediately stepped forward and bowed towards them. He said heartily, "Today, I paid my respect to two seniors and observed your high sword arts. I feel really honoured." The two men put their swords away.

The firewood-person stared at him, "Little kid, you understood our sword art?"

"I don"t dare to say that I understand. Both of you have profound sword arts, how would I dare to say that I understand them? Wudang School"s sword art is very famous throughout the world. It really makes one praises to the heavens," Linghu Chong replied.

The vegetable-person asked, "Little kid, what"s your name?"

Linghu Chong had not answered yet when a few people from the crowd called out, "What little kid?" "He"s our Chief, Master Linghu." "Country b.u.mpkins, speak more politely!"

The firewood-person said, "Linghu Melon? Not A Mao or A Gou, but some kind of melon seed. Your name"s really ugly."

Linghu Chong cupped his fist, "Today, Linghu Chong is able to see Wudang"s divine sword art. It"s really admirable. I will go up the mountain to meet Priest Chongxu another day. I sincerely admire him. Can two seniors please reveal your honourable surnames and given names?"

The firewood-person spat on the ground and said, "You have so many people making so much noise here. Beating gongs and drums non-stop. Is this a funeral procession?"

Linghu Chong knew that these two people must be masters from the Wudang School. So he respectfully bowed to them, "We have a friend who is being detained inside the Shaolin temple. We"re going there to beg Abbot Fangzheng"s mercy to release this person."

The vegetable-person said, "So it"s not a funeral procession! But you"ve hurt my uncle"s donkey, are you going to pay?"

Linghu Chong led three steeds over and said, "These three horses aren"t as good as senior"s donkey. But I"m forced to ask seniors to accept them. We juniors didn"t know that it was senior who was riding. Please forgive us." After he finished saying this, he led the three horses over to them.

The crowd saw Linghu Chong"s att.i.tude becoming more and more modest and respectful. They saw that he was doing this on purpose and were very surprised to see this.

"You already know our sword art now. Do you want to compare some moves?" The vegetable-person asked.

"Junior is not the match of two seniors," Linghu Chong said.

The firewood-person said, "You don"t want to fight. But I want to fight." At the same time he said this, he thrust his sword crookedly towards Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong saw this sword move was wonderful as it covered nine fatal points on his upper body. "Good sword art!" Linghu Chong called out and at the same time, pulled his long sword out and also thrust his sword. That firewood-person looked as if he just randomly thrust his sword at an empty s.p.a.ce and Linghu Chong countered by sweeping his sword in a circle at the same empty s.p.a.ce. The two people had used

around seven to eight moves. Each of their thrust was always aimed at an empty s.p.a.ce and their swords had not clashed yet, but the firewood-person kept retreating step by step.

The vegetable-person called out, "Melon seed, so you have a bit of skill after all," as he raised his sword and disorderly started to thrust and slash. In a short moment, he had slashed out around twenty times. Not only was each of his slash towards Linghu Chong didn"t hit him but the tip of his sword was actually still around seven to eight feet away from Linghu Chong"s body. Raising his sword, Linghu Chong sometimes

performed a move towards that firewood-person and sometimes he thrust at an empty s.p.a.ce towards that vegetable-person. The tip of his sword was also around seven to eight feet away from their bodies. But when these two people saw Linghu Chong"s move, their expressions revealed their urgency either to jump to avoid his slash or to brandish their swords to block.

The crowd of heroes watching this were all stupefied. The tip of Linghu Chong"s sword was still far away from the two people and there wasn"t the slightest bit of wind when he thrust his sword and they were certain that he wasn"t using any kind of invisible sword energy to attack. But why are these two people looking frightened as if they were too late in avoiding or blocking the sword?

As they observed more closely, the crowd came to understand that these two people must be two martial arts masters. At this time, when these two people were using their moves to attack, one was still attacking sluggishly and one was still attacking like a mad man. But at the same time, they still managed to concentrate fully on defending themselves. When they were avoiding or blocking Linghu Chong"s attack, their movements were light and steady. Now there was no more laughter from the crowd.

Suddenly Linghu Chong heard those two people whistled and changed their sword art completely. The firewood-person slashed his long sword in a large circular path. While the vegetable-person used very fast movements going back and forth creating a starlike reflection with his sword.

Linghu Chong pointed his sword at a slight upward angle and unexpectedly he stopped completely. His two eyes were now sometimes staring at the firewood-person and sometimes casting a sidelong glance at that vegetable-person. As his eyes looked at a certain place, those two people did one of these three things -- they quickly changed their sword moves or cried out then retreated or turned their attacks into defence.

Ji Wushi, Old Man, and Zu Qianqiu had good martial arts. They gradually realised that when these two people moved to defend themselves, it was because of Linghu Chong"s stare. He was always staring at their fatal acupoints.

They saw the firewood-person lifted his sword to slash it down and Linghu Chong gazed at his lower abdomen"s Shanggu acupoint. He had not finished his slash when he quickly withdrew it to block his Shanggu acupoint. At this time, the vegetable-person thrust his sword towards Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong responded by looking at the Tianting acupoint which was at the left side of his neck. That person

hastily lowered his head which caused his sword to penetrate deep into the hardened rice field. It was as if Linghu Chong"s two eyes were shooting projectiles and he wouldn"t permit Linghu Chong"s two eyes to take a look at his neck"s Tianting acupoint.

Those two people were still utilising their sword moves and the sweat on their bodies was seeping through their clothes. In a short while, their trousers had also become wet with their sweat. That old man riding the donkey had so far just stayed on the side and not said a thing. He suddenly coughed and said, "Admirable, admirable. The two of you step back."

The two men replied together, "Yes!" But Linghu Chong"s eyes were still circling around, never leaving their fatal acupoints. The two people waved their swords and retreated at the same time. From the beginning to the end, they didn"t manage to break away from Linghu Chong"s gaze.

That old person said, "Good sword art! Master Linghu, allow this old man to ask for your advice."

Linghu Chong replied, "You flatter me!" as he turned around and cupped his fist greeting the old man. Only now the two people were finally freed from the restraint of Linghu Chong"s eyes. At the same time, they jumped backwards feeling just like two freed birds as they flew for tens of feet away.

The crowd cheered them. Even though the crowd didn"t understand their sword arts at all, they could see the duo"s high martial arts from the way they jumped, the distance they covered, and the beauty of their movements.

The old man said, "Master Linghu was very forgiving with his sword moves. If he were really fighting, you two would have a thousand holes and a hundred injuries on your bodies. And do you think he would have allowed you to finish your sword moves? Come here quickly to thank him."

The two men quickly flew over and bowed deeply. The vegetable-person said, "Today I found out that there"s a heaven outside this heaven and there"s another person above me. Master"s high martial art is very rare in this world. Please forgive me for my rudeness before."

Linghu Chong returned his propriety, "Wudang"s sword art is divine. Your two sword arts, one is Yin and one is Yang. Can they be the Taiji Sword?"

The vegetable-person said, "Master is laughing at us. The sword art we"re using is the "Double Ritual Sword Art". It is divided into Yin and Yang but we haven"t managed to combine them yet."

"Before when I was watching on the side, I was having difficulties distinguishing the sword art"s subtlety. If we were actually fighting for real, I would certainly not be able to take advantage of the sword art"s weakness," Linghu Chong said.

The old man said, "Why must master be so modest? The spots that master was looking at are definitely the Double Ritual Sword Art"s weak points. Ai, this type of sword art… this type of sword art…" He continuously shook his head, "More than fifty years ago, Wudang School had two priests. It was on this road that the Double Ritual Sword Art was developed through their tens of years of hard work. I was aware that the sword art consists of one Yin and one Yang, soft and hard, Ai!"

He let out a long sigh, "I"m also aware that this sword art would not stand against a master swordsman."

Linghu Chong respectfully said, "These two uncles" sword arts are already so wonderful. If it were Wudang School"s Priest Chongxu or the other masters, then it would be impossible for me to distinguish the secret of the sword art by myself. Junior and friends here have gone past the bottom of Wudang Mountain, but we currently have a matter we must do. So we have to be impolite and not go up the mountain to pay our respects to Priest Chongxu. Once we"ve finished with this matter, I would go up to the Wudang Monastery and kowtow to the G.o.ds and Priest Chongxu."

At first, Linghu Chong was feeling haughty towards them. But after seeing the hard and soft aspects of their sword arts together and the many miraculous variations of it, he actually felt some admiration in his heart. Thus, although he had discovered the flaws in the sword moves, in his heart, he actually really admired them. After all, in

this world, which sword move didn"t have any flaws?

He was guessing that this old man must be Wudang School"s first-cla.s.s master. That was why he said these few sentences so sincerely. That old man nodded his head, "You"re still young but you"re not arrogant at all. This is also very rare. Master Linghu, were you taught by Huashan School"s senior Feng Qingyang?"

Linghu Chong was startled and thought, "Wow, his eyesight is so good. I didn"t expect that he would find out about my sword art"s background. Even though I can"t disclose grand martial uncle Feng"s whereabouts, because he already inquired frankly, I couldn"t lie to him." He said, "Junior was lucky. I once had the opportunity to learn some of grand martial uncle Feng"s sword art at a superficial level." These words had two meanings and it didn"t reveal that Feng Qingyang had once taught him personally.

That old man smiled slightly, "Superficial knowledge, superficial knowledge! Hey, hey, superficial knowledge of senior Feng"s sword art, is it that easy to acquire?" He took the sword from the firewood-person"s hand and grasped it in his left hand. "Let me receive some lessons from this superficial knowledge of senior Feng"s sword art."

Linghu Chong said, "How can Junior dare to fight senior?"

That old man just smiled slightly while he slowly turned to the right and raised his left hand upwards till his sword was in front of his chest. The point of his sword started to move circularly as if it was surrounding a ball about the size of two palms. Linghu Chong watched his sword attentively as he understood that this move contained infinite variations. That old man slowly moved forward with his sword still circling. Linghu Chong felt a dense cold air pressing up to him and if he didn"t return his move now then he wouldn"t be able to do it later. He said, "Sorry for offending senior." He wasn"t able to see the weakness in the sword movement so he just made a false thrust with his sword.

Suddenly, that old man threw his sword into his right hand. With a flash of light, the sword slashed towards Linghu Chong"s neck. This slash was an extremely fast killing movement. The spectators couldn"t help but gasp in worry.

But as the old man exerted himself in this strike, Linghu Chong saw a weak point at the lower part of his body. He thrust his sword towards the old man"s Yuanye acupoint at the lower part of his body. The old man moved his sword to block the thrust and the two swords clashed. Both people retreated a step. Linghu Chong felt that the old man"s

sword was laced with internal energy which made his right hand shook. Linghu Chong could also feel needles and pins on his arm because of the impact. That old man was also surprised and an expression of amazement could be seen on his face.

The old man switched his sword to his left hand again and drew two circles in front of his body. Linghu Chong saw that his sword moved continuously and protected his whole body. It was unexpectedly without any flaws. Linghu Chong was secretly amazed, "I have never seen a sword art without any weakness before. If he attacks like this, how do I break it? Perhaps Senior Ren Woxing"s sword art is more powerful compared to this old mister, but every move of his still has a weakness. How can it be that this old man"s sword art has no weakness at all?" He started to feel afraid and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

That old man formed his right fingers into a sword form and his left hand was continuously moving. Suddenly he thrust out, the tip of the sword vibrating; no one could see where the sword was aiming at.

This thrust enveloped seven major acupoints on Linghu Chong"s upper body. But because of this, Linghu Chong was also able to see three weaknesses on his opponent"s upper body. He did not need to attack all these weak points, one would be sufficient to take the old man"s life. He thought, "When he"s defending, he has no weakness at all. But when he starts to attack, there"s still a weakness that can be

attacked." as he casually pierced his long sword towards the old man"s left eyebrow.

If that old man continued with his thrust then his left forehead would be pierced first. Even though his thrust was earlier than Linghu Chong"s, it was still a step too late.

That old man quickly turned his sword around. Suddenly, Linghu Chong saw a few circles of white light. Big circle, small circle, upright circle, slanting circle, they were all flickering incessantly. As he saw these flowery patterns in his eyes, he quickly turned his sword and slantingly attacked the sword circles. "Tang" as both swords

clashed with each other. Linghu Chong felt his arm tingling from the impact.

That old man continued to move his swords creating more and more flickering circles as they moved. Not long after, his whole body was surrounded in the middle of these rings of light. One circle of light had not yet disappeared when another circle of light was formed. Even though his long sword was extremely fast, there was no sound of the sword"s edge splitting the air at all. It indicated that he had reached the stage of perfection where the sword was soft but yet still strong.

At this time, Linghu Chong couldn"t see any weakness in his sword art and felt as if there were thousands of swords protecting this old man"s whole body. The old man was purely defending at the moment so there was no weakness in his sword art. But this sword front was actually like a moving fort and the thousands of light circles

resembled a tide as it slowly rushed forward. That old man wasn"t attacking using one move at a time anymore. He was now using tens of moves to protect himself while at the same time used this to attack. Linghu Chong was unable to resist this as he retreated to avoid it.

He retreated a step and the circles of light moved forward a step. In a short time, Linghu Chong had retreated seven to eight steps. The crowd saw that their Chief was now in an unfavourable situation and was about to lose. They were holding their breath watching and cold sweat started to wet their hands. Peachtree Root Fairy suddenly said, "What sword art is that? It"s like a child drawing some circles. I can draw too."

"Come, I"ll draw some circles. My circle would definitely be more round than his," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

"Brother Linghu, don"t be afraid. If you lose, we"ll tear this old fellow into four pieces to vent your anger," Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

"What you said was wrong. One, he"s Chief Linghu not brother Linghu. Two, how do you know that he"s afraid?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy said.

"Even though Linghu Chong has become Chief, he"s still younger than me. So once he"s chief, does he then also become big brother Linghu, uncle Linghu, grandpa Linghu, great grandpa Linghu?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.

At this time, Linghu Chong retreated again and the crowd was feeling very anxious. When they heard the Peach Valley Six Fairies talking nonsense, they now got angry.

Linghu Chong retreated another step and his left foot stepped into a puddle of water. A thought flashed in his mind, "That day grand martial uncle Feng repeatedly told me to keep in my heart that the world"s martial art is ever changing and there are also unusual ones. But no matter how wonderful the opponent"s moves are, they are still

moves. So there must be a weakness. When hero Dugu pa.s.sed on his sword art, he had no match in this world because he was able to see his enemy"s weakness. Right now, this senior"s sword art is circling around and has no weakness at all. But it must be because I had not been able to see the weakness yet."

He retreated a few more steps as he gazed at his opponent"s countless circles of light. Suddenly, a thought leapt into his head, "Maybe the centre of the circle is the weakness. But if it"s not a weakness and I thrust in there, he can twist his sword and cut my arm off."

He also thought, "Luckily, his way of attack can only go forward slowly. If he really wants to kill me, it won"t be that easy. But if I keep retreating, that"s just the same as losing. If I lose this battle, everyone would be discouraged. Then how would we be able to break through Shaolin and save Yingying?"

At the thought of Yingying"s kindness towards him, if he loses an arm because of her, what"s the harm in that? From the depth of his heart, he was really pleased to actually sacrifice an arm for her. He also felt that he owed her a lot and only by suffering a heavy injury would he be able to repay for her kindness. At this thought, he whole-heartedly hoped that his opponent would really cut his arm as he extended his arm to thrust his long sword into the centre of the circle. A "tang" sound resounded as Linghu Chong felt his chest shook and felt blood bubbling forth but his arm was still intact. That old man retreated a couple of steps and put away his sword. The expression on his face was odd. There were also expressions of surprise and shame together with some expression of sympathy towards him. After some time, he said, "Master Linghu"s sword art is brilliant and your courage and wisdom are excellent. Admirable, admirable!"

At this time Linghu Chong just realised, when he took that risk to thrust his sword, he had actually succeeded in finding his opponent"s sword art"s weak point. It was just that this old man"s sword art was really high. The centre of the circle was actually the most dangerous place and he had unexpectedly practised this sword art so that it

would also be the weak point. The thousands of swordsmen in the world, it would be very rare for one to be brave enough to go through this danger and thrust his sword in there. He was pleased with himself and thought, "Lucky, lucky!" as he felt sweat running down his back. He quickly bowed, "Senior"s sword art is divine. I"m really

indebted to your advice. The benefit to Junior isn"t shallow." His words were not just common talk. This fight had actually benefited his martial art greatly as it made him learn that the enemy"s strongest point could unexpectedly be their weakest point. If he

could break the move at the strongest place then he would be able to break the rest of the weaknesses easily.

When masters competed in swords, one move could decide the outcome. That old man saw Linghu Chong dared to thrust into the middle of his circle of lights so they didn"t need to compete anymore. He gazed at Linghu Chong for a while before saying, "Master Linghu, old man has a few words I want to say to you."

Linghu Chong replied, "Yes, I"ll listen to senior"s advice." That old man gave his long sword to the vegetable-person and walked away to the east. Linghu Chong threw his long sword on the ground and followed behind him.

He stopped besides a big tree. They were tens of feet away from the crowd, even though they were still able to see the crowd, their voices would not carry that far. The old man sat down under the tree"s shade and pointed to a big rock, "Please sit down." He waited for Linghu Chong to settle himself before continuing, "Master Linghu, among the younger generations, it"s very rare to find someone with your kind of talent." Linghu Chong said, "I don"t dare. Junior"s conduct is improper and my reputation is already ruined. My own master can"t even tolerate me. How can I deserve to receive senior"s praise?"

That old man said, "The martial people of my generation, our conduct must be open and aboveboard and have no qualms in our heart. Although your action is sometimes bold and wild, and also not according to the custom, it is still gentlemanly. I secretly sent some people to find out what misdeeds you"ve truly done. It"s not sufficient to just rely on the rumours and slanders going around in Jianghu."

When Linghu Chong heard him said this, it struck a chord in his heart. He felt grat.i.tude towards this old man. He thought, "This senior must have a high position in Wudang School. Otherwise, how would he be able to send people to investigate about my conduct?"

The old man went on, "It"s common that youngsters like to show off. Mr. Yue"s outward appearance is calm, but he"s easily offended…"

Linghu Chong quickly stood up and said, "Respected master is like a father to me. Junior doesn"t dare to hear about Master."

That old man smiled slightly, "You didn"t forget your roots, that"s very good. Old man just made an indiscreet remark." Suddenly, his face turned serious and asked, "How long have you been learning the Art of Essence Absorbing?"

Linghu Chong replied, "Half a year ago, Junior accidentally learned this skill. At that time, I didn"t know that this was the Art of Essence Absorbing."

That old man nodded, "That"s how it is! Just then we clashed sword three times and with each clash, you absorbed my internal energy. But I was aware that you"re still not good at using this disastrous demonic skill. Old man has an advise to give you but I don"t know whether young hero would listen to it or not?"

Linghu Chong was greatly terrified and quickly bowed, "Junior will certainly obey senior"s precious words."

The old man replied, "Although this Art of Essence Absorbing has great power, it is also harmful towards the user"s body. As your skill in it gets deeper, it will harm you even more. If young hero could abandon this demonic skill altogether then that will be the best. Otherwise, you can just stop practising it from now on."

That day in Plum Manor, he had heard Ren Woxing telling him that there would be great danger after practising the Art of Essence Absorbing for sometime. He wanted him to join the Devil Sect before divulging to him the method to meld the internal energies together. When he heard what this old man said, he believed even more what Ren Woxing said was true. "Junior will never forget senior"s teaching. Junior

already knows that this method isn"t right and already decided not to use this method to harm other people. It"s just that my body already learned this method, so even if I didn"t want to use it, it"s not that easy."

The old man nodded, "That"s what I"ve heard too. I have another matter to raise to young hero. Perhaps this will be difficult for young hero to do. But as a hero, you must do what ordinary people won"t do. In Shaolin temple, they have a skill called "Tendon Altering Sutra". Young hero must"ve heard of this skill before."

Linghu Chong said, "I have. I heard that this is Wulin"s most supreme internal energy method. And only the most eminent monks in Shaolin are allowed to learn this skill."

That old man said, "Young hero is leading so many people to go to Shaolin, I"m afraid nothing good will come out of this. No matter which side is victorious, both sides would lose numerous masters and would bring bad luck to Wulin. Old man has no talent, but I"m willing to go to Shaolin to ask for Abbot"s mercy to give the "Tendon

Altering Sutra" to young hero. Then young hero can disband this large group of people to stop this disaster from happening. What does young hero think of this?"

"How about young lady Ren who is being detained in Shaolin temple?" Linghu Chong asked.

That old man said, "Young lady Ren has killed four disciples of Shaolin School and has also stirred up trouble in Jianghu and caused harm in the world. Great Master Fangzheng put her into seclusion not to take revenge for his own school. It is actually because of his kind heartedness to benefit the Jianghu people. How can young hero

with good conduct mix up with this nameless lady? Why should you a.s.sociate with this Devil Sect"s witch and ruin your reputation and future?"

"I"ve received her kindness so I must repay her. Junior appreciates senior"s good idea but I don"t dare to follow it," Linghu Chong said.

That old man let out a long sigh and shook his head, "When young people are drowned in beauty and has been snared by it, it"s hard to free themselves from it."

Linghu Chong bowed, "Junior will take my leave now."

That old man said, "Wait. Although old man and Huashan School doesn"t have many dealings, Mr. Yue would surely give me some face. If you follow my advice, old man and Shaolin temple"s abbot will together guarantee that you will be accepted back into Huashan School. Do you trust me?"

Linghu Chong was moved by this as returning to Huashan was his biggest wish. From the level of this old man"s martial art and from what he just said, the old man must certainly be a famous Wudang School"s senior. He said that Abbot Fangzheng and he would guarantee this matter believing that they would certainly succeed. Master had always taken into consideration relationship between everyone from the orthodox sects. Shaolin and Wudang were the two biggest schools in Wulin at the present time. When the leaders of these two schools speak out, it would be very difficult for Master not to do them the favour for the sake of their relationship.

Master was like a father to himself. This matter of him being expelled from Huashan was because he had made friends with Xiang Wentian and Yingying and made Master lose face in front of all the orthodox schools. But if the leaders of Shaolin and Wudang acted on behalf of him, Master would definitely accept him back. When he returned to Huashan, he would be able to see little martial sister from dawn to dusk. However, how could he just leave Yingying to suffer in a Shaolin"s cave at the back of the mountain? At this thought, he felt heat coming up his chest, "If junior can"t rescue young lady Ren out of Shaolin temple then I"ll be a useless person. No matter if we win or lose in this matter, if I"m still alive after that, I will definitely go up Mount Wudang to thank Priest Chongxu and senior."

That old man let out a long sigh, "You don"t regard your life highly nor your master highly nor your future reputation. You acted wilfully just for this Devil Sect"s witch. In the future, if she become heartless towards you and harm you, you won"t regret it?"

"My life was saved by young lady Ren. What"s there to regret if I lose my life because of her?" Linghu Chong said.

That old man nodded, "Alright, you can go."

Linghu Chong bowed to take his leave again. He then turned around towards the crowd and shouted, "Let"s go!"

Peachtree Fruit Fairy asked, "That old fellow competed in swordplay with you but how come there"s no winner or loser? There"s no need to compete then."

Even though Linghu Chong and the old man duelled, the winner and loser had not been decided. It was because the old man merely decided that he wasn"t Linghu Chong"s match and thus immediately gave up. But everyone else in the crowd didn"t know that Linghu Chong had attacked the old man"s sword art"s flaw so they didn"t know what happened.

"This senior"s sword art is very high. If we keep on fighting, it won"t be easy for me so it"s better if we just don"t fight," Linghu Chong said.

"You"re so stupid. Since there"s no winner or loser, you should"ve kept fighting and you"d definitely win," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

Linghu Chong laughed, "Not necessarily."

Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "What not necessarily? That old fellow is already much older than you so of course he"s not as strong as you. After a long time, you"ll naturally get the upper hand."

Linghu Chong had not replied yet when Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Why is it when you"re older, you"re not as strong anymore?"

Linghu Chong understood what Peachtree Root Fairy meant. Between those Peach Valley Six Fairies, Peachtree Root Fairy was the oldest while Peachtree Fruit Fairy was the youngest. When Peachtree Fruit Fairy said when you"re older then you wouldn"t be as strong anymore, of course Peachtree Root Fairy didn"t agree.

Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "If the younger you are, the stronger you get, then a three year old child would be the strongest then?"

"That"s not true. A three year old child can"t be the strongest. A two year old child would be stronger than a three year old," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

"You"re also wrong. A one year old child would be stronger than a two year old," Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.

"A foetus that hasn"t come out from his mother"s womb would be the strongest then," Peachtree Leaf Fairy said.