by Jin Yong
Lin Pingzhi plucked up his courage and walked to the gate. Two groups of guests happened to be going into the mansion led by an apprentice of the Liu House. Lin Pingzhi followed them in quietly. The greeting apprentices thought he was one of the guests and greeted, “Come in please! Have some tea please.”
Lin Pingzhi stepped into the crowded great hall. There were over two hundred people sitting at different tables and talking to each other. Lin Pingzhi calmed down a little. “There are so many people here; no one will ever pay any attention to me. I just need to find those Qingcheng villains, then I’ll be able to find out where my mom and dad are.” So he sat down at a small table in a dark corner. Soon, servants brought tea, snacks, and hot towels for him.
He looked around, and saw the nuns of Heng-Shan Sword School sitting at a table to the left. The apprentices of Huashan Sword School were sitting around another table nearby. The girl Lingshan was also sitting there. It seemed that Dingyi had decided to let her go. But Dingyi and He Sanqi were not among them.
Lin Pingzhi surveyed one table after another, and felt a sudden shock when he saw Fang Renzhi, Yu Renhao, and a bunch of others sitting around two tables. Obviously they were all apprentices of the Qingcheng Sword School. His parents weren’t among them. He wondered where they could be kept. Feeling both sad and angry, and also fearful that his parents were already dead, he felt a strong urge to move to a table closer to them, so he could overhear some of their conversation. But considering that it had been so difficult for him to get this far, if he acted recklessly and attracted the attention of Fang Renzhi and his fellows, he would not only have wasted all his efforts so far, but would also be getting himself into a fatal situation.
A disturbance suddenly started from near the gate. Several men in blue robes came in hurriedly carrying two door planks. Two men lay on the door planks. They were covered with white sheets that were soaked with blood. People in the hall soon gathered around them to have a closer look.
“They are from the Taishan Sword School!” Somebody muttered. “That’s Priest Tian-Song of the Taishan Sword School. Wow, that wound on him looks fatal. Who’s the other one?”
“He’s an apprentice of Priest Tian-Men – the Head Master of the Taishan Sword School. His name is Chi. Is he dead already?”
“Sure. Dead! Look at that knife wound – in from his chest and out his back, how could he survive that?”
Amid the uproar, the dead one and the wounded one were both carried into the Back Hall. Many people followed them there. The ones remaining in the great hall all began to talk about the incident.
“Priest Tian-Song is an excellent fighter from the Taishan Sword School. Who would be so bold as to challenge him?”
“If this person could wound Priest Tian-Song, he obviously has better Kung Fu skills. Better skills, more courage, that’s why.”
While the crowd was still discussing the incident, Xiang Danian emerged from the Back Hall and went straight to the table where all the apprentices from the Huashan Sword School were gathered.
“Apprentice brother Lao, my Master would like to have a word with you. Will you please come with me?” he asked Lao Denuo.
“Sure,” Lao Denuo answered. He stood up and followed Xiang Danian into the inner room.
They went through a long hallway, and then into a side hall. There were five armchairs placed side by side at the north end of the hall. Four of them were empty, while a big red-faced Taoist priest occupied the easternmost chair. Lao Denuo knew that these five armchairs were reserved for the five Head Masters of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. The Head Masters of Songshan, Heng-Shan, Huashan, and Hengshan hadn’t arrived yet. This red-faced Taoist priest was none other than the Head Master of the Taishan Sword School, Priest Tian-Men. Nineteen senior masters sat by his sides. Sister Dingyi from the Heng-Shan Sword School, Yu Canghai from the Qingcheng Sword School and He Sanqi from Mount Yandang were all among them. At the south end of the hall, upon the seat for the host, sat a short, fat, middle-aged man in expensive dark red-brown robes of silk. He was the host Liu Zhengfeng.
Lao Denuo first saluted the host Liu Zhengfeng, and then knelt down in front of Priest Tian-Men with a greeting, “Apprentice of Huashan Sword School, Lao Denuo, pays his respect to Uncle-Master Tian-Men.”
Priest Tian-Men appeared to be full of rage, and seemed to be on the verge of exploding. “Where is Linghu Chong?” he bellowed, striking the arm of the chair heavily with his left hand. His voice was so astounding that it sounded like thunder from the sky. Even the people in the great hall could hear him and everyone shuddered.
“Third apprentice brother, they are looking for Big Apprentice Brother again!” the young girl Lingshan cried.
Liang Fa nodded but did not say a word. After a while, he whispered, “Let’s all stay calm! There are so many people gathered here from different places; don’t let them look upon our Huashan Sword School with scorn.”
Lin Pingzhi couldn’t help thinking, “They are looking for Linghu Chong again. This old fellow Linghu certainly has a knack for getting into trouble.”
Back at the Side Hall, Lao Denuo’s ears were almost deafened by the resounding bellow from Priest Tian-Men. He had to remain kneeling for quite a while before he could get a grip of himself and stand up again.
“Uncle-Master, apprentice brother Linghu went separately from us in the town of Hengyang,” he answered. “We had planned to meet in Hengshan and then come to the Liu House to congratulate Uncle-Master Liu. If he doesn’t make it today, he will surely come tomorrow.”
“He still dares to come? He still has the gall to come? Linghu Chong is the Big Apprentice Brother of your Huashan Sword School. Isn’t he supposed to be on the chivalrous side of the Martial World? What is he doing hanging around with that wicked rapist who stops at no evil, Tian Boguang! What does he think he is doing?” Priest Tian-Men roared angrily.
“From what I know, Big Apprentice Brother does not know Tian Boguang at all. Big Apprentice Brother is always fond of drinking; maybe he didn’t know it was Tian Boguang that he was drinking with,” Lao Denuo tried to speculate.
Stamping his foot on the floor heavily, Priest Tian-Men stood up. “You are foolish to defend that damn swine Linghu Chong,” he snarled, his voice filled with rage. “Apprentice brother Tian-Song, you…you tell him how you were wounded. Tell him whether Linghu Chong knew Tian Boguang.”
Two door planks were laid on the floor to the west. A dead body lay on one, and a long-bearded Taoist priest lay on the other. The priest’s face appeared almost as white as a sheet, and blood soaked through his entire beard. In a very low voice, he started talking.
“This morning…I…I was with nephew apprentice Chi at the Huiyan…Huiyan Wine House in…Hengyang. We saw Linghu Chong…together with Tian Boguang and a little nun….” He had to stop to catch his breath before finishing the words.
“Brother Tian-Song, you don’t have to repeat the story. I will tell him what you said earlier,” Liu Zhengfeng volunteered. Turning his head to Lao Denuo, he said, “Nephew apprentice Lao, nephew apprentice Linghu and you fellow apprentices came a long way to my ceremony. I really appreciate the good will of apprentice brother Yue and all of you nephew apprentices. But we don’t know how nephew apprentice Linghu met Tian Boguang, and so we must find out the truth. Since our Five Mountains Sword Alliance is like a big family, if nephew apprentice Linghu has truly done something wrong, it is up to us to give him some advice….”
“What advice? Purge the school by chopping off his head!” Priest Tian-Men shouted angrily.
“Apprentice brother Yue is always strict with respect to school rules, and the Huashan Sword School has always had a first-class reputation. This time nephew Linghu really went a little bit too far,” Liu Zhengfeng said with a sigh.
“You still call him a nephew? Nephew my ass!” Priest Tian-Men swore angrily. After the words came out, he realized that as a Head Master of a big sword school, it was really not appropriate for him to use such
foul language in front of Sister Dingyi. But it was already too late to take it back. So he let out a loud breath and sat back down angrily.
“Uncle-Master Liu, would you be kind enough to tell me what happened?” Lao Denuo requested.
Liu Zhengfeng said, “Just now, priest brother Tian-Song told us that this morning, he went to the Huiyan Wine House in Hengyang with Chi Baicheng, the apprentice of priest brother Tian-Men, to have a couple of drinks. When they went up to the wine house on the second floor, they saw three people drinking and eating there: the wicked rapist Tian Boguang, nephew apprentice Linghu, and the little apprentice of Sister Dingyi, Yilin. Priest brother Tian-Song felt it was very strange. He didn’t know any of those three, but from their clothing, he could tell that one was an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School, and one was an apprentice of the Heng-Shan Sword School. Please hold your anger, Sister Dingyi. Nephew apprentice Yilin was coerced; it was obvious that she was not there of her own free will.
“Priest brother Tian-Song said that Tian Boguang was a man of about thirty years of age dressed in nice clothes. He didn’t know who the man was, but later he heard nephew apprentice Linghu saying, ‘Brother Tian, although you have Qing-Gong32 skills unsurpassed in the entire Martial World, if you have really bad luck, no matter how good your Qing-Gong skills are, you won’t be able to escape.’ Since his surname was Tian and he had the best Qing-Gong skills in the Martial World, there was no doubt he must have been ‘Ten Thousand Miles Loner’ Tian Boguang. Priest brother Tian-Song is one who hates evil as if it was his personal enemy. When he saw the three drinking and eating together, of course he was enraged.”
“Yes!” Lao Denuo answered, thinking, “Three people drank together in the Huiyan Wine House. One was the infamous rapist, one was a little nun, and the other was the big senior apprentice of our Huashan Sword School; it was indeed quite an odd scene.”
Liu Zhengfeng continued, “He then heard Tian Boguang saying, ‘I, Tian Boguang, come and go as I please, traveling around the world alone. What’s there to worry about? Since we have already seen this little nun, why not just let her stay here and accompany us…?’”
At Liu Zhengfeng’s words, Lao Denuo cast a suspicious glance at him, and then also sneaked an equally suspicious peek from the corner of his eyes at Priest Tian-Song. Liu Zhengfeng understood instantly.
“Priest brother Tian-Song is wounded very badly,” he said. “Of course he was unable to tell everything so clearly and continuously. I added some of my own words, but the main idea is just the same. Priest brother Tian-Song, is that right?”
“Yes…yes, correct…correct!” Tian-Song managed to answer.
With that confirmation, Liu Zhengfeng went on, “Nephew apprentice Chi Baicheng couldn’t stand it any more, so he struck the table with his hand and shouted, ‘Are you the evil rapist Tian Boguang? Everyone in the Martial World wants to kill you to rid the world of a scourge like you, yet here you are, bragging about yourself shamelessly. You must be tired of living!’ He drew his weapon and jumped forward to fight. Unfortunately, he was slain by Tian Boguang. It was really a pity that an outstanding young man lost his life to such an evil rapist. Priest brother Tian-Song then jumped forth to fight with Tian Boguang. They fought for several hundreds rounds. Priest brother Tian-Song wasn’t cautious enough and in the end was wounded in the chest thanks to Tian Boguang’s dirty tricks. Afterwards, nephew apprentice Linghu still sat with the evil rapist and the two drank together. That is really contrary to the creed of our Five Mountains Sword Alliance. That’s why priest brother Tian-Men is so angry.”
“What happened to our ideals of unity?” Priest Tian-Men snarled. “We martial people should be able to tell right from wrong. Associating with such an evil rapist…such an evil rapist…!” His face turned scarlet with anger, and it almost seemed that his beard bristled.
Suddenly someone called from outside of the door, “Master, I have something to report.”
Priest Tian-Men recognized it as the voice of one of his apprentices. “Come in!” he said. “What’s the matter?”
A young man about thirty years of age walked in. He first saluted to the host, Liu Zhengfeng, and all other senior masters, then he turned to Priest Tian-Men and reported.
“Master, Uncle-Master Tianbai sent us the message that he has led the search for Tian Boguang and Linghu Chong the two evil rapists, with apprentices of our school, but hasn’t found any trace of them….”
Hearing Big Apprentice Brother being classified in the “evil rapist” group, Lao Denuo felt quite embarrassed. But it seemed Big Apprentice Brother was really consorting with Tian Boguang, so what could he say?
“But outside the town of Hengyang, we found a corpse with a sword in his abdomen. The sword belonged to the evil rapist Linghu Chong…,” the Taishan Sword School apprentice continued.
“Who was the deceased?” Priest Tian-Men asked hurriedly.
The young man gave a quick glance at Yu Canghai before answering, “He was an apprentice brother of Uncle-Master Yu. At the time when we found the body, nobody knew who he was. After we took the body back to town, someone recognized him to be apprentice brother Luo Renjie….”
Yu Canghai uttered a cry of shock and stood up instantly. “It was Renjie? Where’s the body?”
“Here it is,” someone answered from outside.
Yu Canghai was a man with good self-control. Although the unexpected bad news hit him hard, and the deceased was one of the four best apprentices of Qingcheng “Ying Xiong Hao Jie,” he maintained his composure. “Nephew apprentice, please carry the body in,” he said.
“Yes,” the apprentice outside the door responded.
Two men carried in a door plank. One of the two was an apprentice of the Hengshan Sword School, and the other was an apprentice of the Qingcheng Sword School. On the plank was a body with a sword thrust into his abdomen and going up at an angle. The sword was about three feet long, but the part protruding from the body was less than one foot long. Apparently, the tip of the sword went all the way up into the corpse’s throat. It was very rare to see this type of ruthless move that began from the bottom and moved upwards in the Martial World.
“Linghu Chong, humph, Linghu Chong, how…how vicious you are,” Yu Canghai murmured.
“Uncle-Master sent the message that he is still searching for the two evil rapists. It would be better if one or two of the Uncle-Masters here could go and give him a helping hand,” the Taishan apprentice continued.
“I’ll go!” Dingyi and Yu Canghai said almost in unison.
Right at that moment, a sweet and lovely voice came from outside of the door, “Master, I am back!”
Dingyi’s expression changed immediately. “Is that Yilin? Get in here right now!” she shouted.
Everybody looked at the doorway, wanting to take a good look at this little nun who was bold enough to drink in public with two evil rapists. The door curtain was lifted, and when the little nun walked quietly into the hall, everyone felt as if the whole room had suddenly been brightened up. She possessed grace and beauty. No one would have argued that she was a perfect creation of Heaven. She was only about sixteen years of age, and although she was wrapped in a big and loose nun’s robe, the curves of her body were apparent from her graceful movements. She walked till she stood in front of Dingyi, then knelt down and called out, “Master…!” After saying this, she suddenly burst into tears.
Dingyi straightened her face. “You…what happened? How were you able to get away?” she asked anxiously.
“Master, I…I thought I would never see you again,” Yilin said in tears. Her voice was sweet and charming, and the two little hands clutching Dingyi’s sleeves were so white they almost looked like they were carved from jade.
“How could such a beauty become a nun?” many in the room couldn’t help thinking to themselves.
Yu Canghai gave her only a quick glance, and then went back to staring at the sword in Luo Renjie’s body. There were green tassels attached to
the handle of the sword. Near the handle, the words “Huashan Linghu Chong” were etched on the blade. He looked around and saw Lao Denuo carrying on his waist the same kind of sword with green tassels attached to the handle. All of a sudden, he jumped toward Lao Denuo and thrust his fingers toward Lao Denuo’s eyes. The attack was as swift as it was fierce, and in an instant, the tips of his fingers had touched Lao Denuo’s eyelid. Lao Denuo was startled and hurriedly raised his arms to block the attack using a move called “Raise Fire to Burn Sky.” With a sneer, Yu Canghai rounded his left hand in a very small circle, and grabbed Lao Denuo’s hands in his left palm. Extending his right arm, he quickly unsheathed the sword by Lao Denuo’s waist.
Lao Denuo pulled hard in an effort to free his hands, which were being held by Yu Canghai, but failed miserably. A split of a second later, he found the tip of his own sword pointing right at his chest. “I…I am not involved!” he shouted out frantically.
Yu Canghai looked at the blade of the sword. There were words saying “Huashan Lao Denuo.” The size and the style of the words matched the other sword exactly. Lowering his wrist, he pointed the sword toward Lao Denuo’s stomach, and spoke grimly.
“Which move in your respectful Huashan Sword Art is this one that thrusts from the bottom up at an angle?”
Lao Denuo could feel cold sweat dripping from his forehead. “Our…our Huashan Sword Art does not have…have such a move,” he muttered in a quavering voice.
Yu Canghai thought, “The move that killed Renjie was thrust up from the lower abdomen, and the tip of the sword went all the way to the throat. Did Linghu Chong bend over and thrust upward from his backside? But after this killing, why didn’t he take his sword but intentionally left this evidence? Is he challenging the Qingcheng Sword School?” but suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by Yilin’s voice.