by Jin Yong
“Did these affectedly bashful moves of yours look real?” Yue Lingshan giggled.
“I’ve seen you use your sword many times, so how could they not look real?” Linghu Chong grinned.
“Ah, you are making fun of me saying that I use my sword in an affectedly bashful way. I am not going to talk to you for three days!”
Madam Yue had been quiet for the time being, and finally she spoke out.
“Lingshan, give your sword to big apprentice brother.”
Yue Lingshan drew her long sword and handed it to Linghu Chong with the handle first.
“Mom wants to see the wicked look of yours with those affectedly bashful moves,” she said with a grin.
“Chong, don’t pay attention to Lingshan. How did you demonstrate the moves at that time?” Madam Yue asked.
Linghu Chong knew that Master-Wife meant to see Tian Boguang’s knife moves. He took the long sword and then bowed to the Master and Master-Wife.
“Master! Master-Wife! May I demonstrate Tian Boguang’s knife moves now?”
Yue Buqun nodded.
“Junior brother Lin,” Lu Dayou said to Lin Pingzhi, “this is a rule of our school. Every time before an apprentice performs moves in front of elders, he must first ask for permission.”
“I see. Thanks for telling me, sixth apprentice brother,” Lin Pingzhi said.
Linghu Chong yawned languidly with a slight smile on his face and then held up his arms sluggishly as if he was going to stretch himself, but suddenly, he snapped his right wrist speedily and chopped three chops continuously. The chops were almost as fast as flashes, and whistles from the sword slashes echoed. All the apprentices were shocked, and a few of the female apprentices uttered a cry of surprise almost in unison. Linghu Chong started to chop, slice, slash and stab the long sword in all directions. The moves appeared as if they were going in all directions randomly and disorderly, but in Yue Buqun and Madam Yue’s eyes, the dozens of moves were clear and distinct; every hack, thrust, slash or chop was vicious yet accurate. Only moments later, Linghu Chong had pulled the sword back and stood still to bow to the Master and Master-Wife.
Yue Lingshan was a bit disappointed. “That fast?” she said.
“It has to be that fast.” Madam Yue nodded. “Within those thirteen stances of fast knife chops, each stance has three or four moves of variation. Over forty moves had passed within such a short period of time. This is really an exceptional set of fast knife art.”
“When the chap Tian Boguang used it, he was way faster than what I’ve just demonstrated,” Linghu Chong added.
Madam Yue and Yu Buqun looked at each other, both couldn’t help but feeling some admiration and surprise inwardly.
“Big apprentice brother, how come you didn’t look anything close to affectedly bashful?” Yue Lingshan asked mockingly.
“For the last several weeks, I’ve been thinking about this set of fast knife chops all the time, so of course when I showed them I was able to do it a little bit faster. That day when I was showing them to Tian Boguang in the remote mountain area, I wasn’t doing it as fast. I had to intentionally make those moves similar to his moves yet different, as well as putting on an act with many postures of a lady, therefore it was even slower,” Linghu Chong explained with a smile.
“How did you put on the postures of a lady? Show me! Show me!” Yue Lingshan requested, her face split into a big grin.
Madam Yue turned to her side and drew a long sword from one of her female apprentices. “Use the fast knife chops!” She demanded.
“Yes,” Linghu Chong answered, and with a loud “Swoosh,” his long sword circled around Madam Yue’s body and the blade chopped toward her lower back.
“Mom, look out!” Yue Lingshan cried out in shock.
Madam Yue threw herself forward, completely ignoring Linghu Chong’s chop from her back, and her sword tip went straight toward Linghu Chong’s chest, also extremely fast and swift.
“Big apprentice brother, watch out!” Yue Lingshan uttered another cry.
Linghu Chong didn’t block either. “Master-Wife, he was way faster,” he said as he chopped backward with his sword.
Madam Yue attacked with another three thrusts, and Linghu Chong also returned the attacks with three chops. The two both fought with fast attacking moves, and none used any defending moves to block. Within a short moment, the two had exchanged over twenty moves.
Lin Pingzhi was dumbstruck. “Big apprentice brother speaks and acts like a lunatic, but his Kung Fu skills are excellent. I’ll have to train really hard, with no slack anytime whatsoever, so others won’t belittle me,” he told himself.
Right at the moment, with a quick thrust, Madam Yue’s sword tip had touched Linghu Chong’s throat. Not able to dodge that, Linghu Chong muttered, “He can block that.”
“Fine!” Madam Yue shouted. She waved her sword and a couple of moves later, her sword tip stopped next to Linghu Chong’s heart.
“He can block that,” Linghu Chong muttered the second time.
What he meant was that even though he wasn’t able to block it, Tian Boguang would have been able to block those two moves because his knife chops were a lot faster.
The two fought faster and faster, and soon, Linghu Chong didn’t even have any time to spill the words ‘he can block that.’ Whenever Madam Yue’s sword tip pointed next to his vital body parts, he simply shook his head to signal that the move would not have worked on Tian Boguang.
Madam Yue was really in the mood now; she was totally carried away. Suddenly with a loud and clear roar, she thrust the sword rapidly around Linghu Chong’s body, the sword tip flashed about as if it was everywhere; the silver reflection circled around and blurred the audiences’ eyes. Suddenly she pushed the sword straight toward Linghu Chong’s heart in the speed of light, with the strength of a thunder.
Linghu Chong was dumbfounded. “Master-Wife!” he cried.
By then the sword tip had already penetrated his robe. Madam Yue’s right hand still pushed forward until the hand guard of the long sword touched Linghu Chong’s chest. It seemed as though the sword had went through Linghu Chong’s body all the way till the end of the sword.
“Mom!” Yue Lingshan screamed. Then sounds of clatter and jingle echoed when pieces of inch-long steel fell down to the floor by Linghu Chong’s feet. Madam Yue smiled as she pulled her hand back. In her hand, all there was left of the long sword was only the sword handle.
“Junior apprentice sister, your inner energy has really progressed, and you kept it well from me,” Yue Buqun said happily.
The two of them had studied under the same Master. They were used to the way they had called each other in their youth, so after they got married, they still called each other apprentice sister and brother.
“Senior apprentice brother is really flattering me. These were just insignificant skills. Nothing to be mentioned about!” Madam Yue said with a smile.
Staring at the pieces of broken sword, Linghu Chong gasped with astonishment. Master-Wife must have thrust the sword out with her whole might, otherwise, without the full strength of her inner energy, the sword thrust would not have had such extraordinary speed. As soon as the sword tip reached the skin, she immediately retracted the vigorous inner energy and changed the direction of the strength from horizontal to vertical, and the great shock from the inner energy strength broke the long sword into inch-long pieces. The superb inner energy manipulation had really reached the level of perfection. In great admiration, he said, “Even if Tian Boguang’s knife chops were faster, he still would not have escaped this thrust of yours, Master-Wife.”
Lin Pingzhi stared at the many holes all over Linghu Chong’s robe, which all came from Madam Yue’s sword thrusts, and almost couldn’t believe his own eyes. “There are actually sword arts this fantastic in the world. All I need is a portion of that and I’d have enough skills to avenge my parents.” He then thought, “The Qingcheng Sword School and Mu Gaofeng both coveted our family’s ‘Evil-R
esisting Sword Manuscript,’ but when comparing our family’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art to the sword art of Master-Wife, they are as far apart as from heaven to earth!”
Madam Yue was quite contended. “Chong, since you say this move can kill Tian Boguang, if you train hard, I’ll teach it to you,” she said.
“Thanks to Master-Wife!” Linghu Chong replied.
“Mom, I want to learn it too,” Yue Lingshan demanded.
“Your inner energy is not there yet. You won’t be able to learn this move.” Madam Yue shook her head.
Very discontented, Yue Lingshan pouted her lips. “Big apprentice brother’s inner energy is not that much better than mine. Why can he learn it, but not me?” she complained.
Madam Yue did not answer and only smiled.
Yue Lingshan grabbed onto her father’s sleeve and begged, “Father, you teach me a Kung Fu that will counter that sword move, in case big apprentice brother picks on me after he learns that sword move.”
“This sword move of your mom’s is called ‘Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning.’ Since it’s unrivaled, how could I have anything to counter it?” Yue Buqun shook his head and grinned.
“That’s nonsense. It’s alright that you flatter me, but once the name spreads out, fellow martial people will laugh their teeth off for sure.” Madam Yue smiled.
This sword move was really created out of a sudden inspiration of Madam Yue. It contained the Huashan inner energy style, the Huashan sword techniques, plus some of her clever inventions, so it was indeed a devastating move. But since it had just been created, there was no name for it. Yue Buqun had thought of naming it “The Unrivalled Thrust of Madam Yue,” but then he thought that his wife had always been valuing her own pride; even after they got married, she still liked when fellow martial people called her “Heroine Ning” instead of “Madam Yue.” Calling her “Heroine Ning” would be praising her own skills and behavior, and calling her “Madam Yue” would only make it sound like she was relying on her world-renowned husband.
Although Madam Yue called her husband’s words nonsense, she truly liked the name “Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning,” and praised inwardly that her husband, as a scholar, had really thought of a wonderful name for her new move.
“Father, when are you going to create the ‘Incomparable and Unparalleled, The Ten Thrusts of Yue,’ and then teach them to your daughter, so I can challenge big apprentice brother?” Yue Lingshan asked.
“No, I cannot. Dad is not as smart as your mom. I don’t know how to create new moves!” Yue Buqun shook his head.
“It’s not that you don’t know. It’s just that you are afraid of your wife, and dared not to create any,” Yue Lingshan whispered at her father’s ear.
Yue Buqun burst into loud laughter. “Total nonsense,” he denied as he gave a gentle pinch to Yue Lingshan’s cheek.
“Lingshan, don’t get wild with your father. Denuo, go arrange the ritual so your apprentice brother Lin can pay his respects to the spirits of all the former grandmasters of our sword school,” Madam Yue instructed.
“Yes!” Lau Denuo answered and soon had everything ready.
Yue Buqun led the group into the Back Hall. Lin Pingzhi could see a banner board hanging high in the middle of the room, and the words “Inner Energy Drives the Sword” were inscribed onto the board. The hall was decorated in a very serious and solemn manner. Swords after swords hung by the two sidewalls. The sheaths were pitch black and the tassels all appeared to be ancient. Lin Pingzhi figured that those swords must have been the swords of all those former grandmasters of the Huashan Sword School. He thought to himself, “Huashan Sword School has such a great fame and reputation in the Martial World today. There must be heaps of evil villains who died from these grandmasters’ long swords.”
Yue Buqun knelt in front of the incense burner table and kowtowed four times.
“Apprentice Yue Buqun is taking Lin Pingzhi of Fuzhou as my apprentice today. All the ancestors’ spirits in Heaven, will you please bless Lin Pingzhi and watch out for him, have him study and train hard, preserve his purity, follow the school rules, and never harm the reputation of the Huashan Sword School?” he prayed.
Hearing these words from Yue Buqun, Lin Pingzhi knelt down behind him respectfully.
Yue Buqun stood up. “Lin Pingzhi,” he said coldly, “you are taken into our Huashan Sword School today. You must follow the school rules strictly. If you ever violate any of them, you will be punished based on the severity. If the violation were severe, you would be beheaded with no pardon. Our sword school has been in the Martial World for hundreds of years. Although we are capable of striving for supremacy with other schools using our Kung Fu skills, temporary victories are really not worth mentioning. The real important thing is that members of our school all greatly value the reputation of our school. You must remember that well.”
“Yes, Master. I will always keep your advice and instruction in my heart,” Lin Pingzhi promised.
“Linghu Chong, recite the school rules to Lin Pingzhi,” Yue Buqun ordered.
“Yes, Master!” Linghu Chong answered. “Apprentice brother Lin, listen carefully. Firstly, any deceiving behavior to the Master and any disrespectful behavior to the seniors is prohibited; secondly, bullying the weak and hurting the innocent is prohibited; thirdly, assailing of women with obscenities is prohibited; fourthly, jealousy and killing between school members are prohibited; fifthly, stealing and forsaking righteousness for the lust of gain is prohibited; sixthly, conceited and arrogant attitudes when dealing with fellow martial people are prohibited; seventhly, reckless collaboration with gangsters or evil and wicked is prohibited. These are the seven prohibitions of Huashan. All members of the Huashan Sword School have to follow them.”
“Yes. I promise to remember the seven Huashan prohibitions that big apprentice brother just informed me. I will follow all the rules and never dare to violate any of them,” Lin Pingzhi promised sincerely.
“Well, that’s it.” Yue Buqun smiled. “Our school is not like most other schools that have many rules and regulations. As long as you remember these seven prohibitions well and always remember to uphold humanity and righteousness above everything else, behaving like a true gentleman, you’ll keep the Master and the Master-Wife happy.”
“Yes, Master!” Lin Pingzhi answered. He kowtowed to the Master and the Master-Wife, then bowed to and saluted all apprentice brothers and sisters.
“Pingzhi, let’s first bury your parents to let you fulfill your duty as the son, then I will start teaching you the basic drills of our sword school,” Yue Buqun said.
Tears instantly filled Lin Pingzhi’s eyes. “Many thanks to Master and Master-Wife,” He said, kneeling down on the floor.
Yu Buqun propped him up. “In our school,” he said kindly, “everybody is like a member of a big family. When one has a matter to deal with, it becomes a matter for the entire group. You don’t have to be so courteous.”
Yue Buqun turned around and looked at Linghu Chong up and down. After quite a while he finally said, “Chong, this time after you left Mount Huashan, how many prohibitions have you violated?”
Linghu Chong’s heart skipped a beat. He knew that in normal days the Master was always kind and loving to all the apprentices, but if anyone violated school rules, he would be punishing the violator severely without any mercy. So he knelt down in front of the incense burner table.
“I have realized my mistake,” he said. “I did not listen to the advice from Master and Master-Wife. I violated the sixth prohibition of being conceited and arrogant when dealing with fellow martial people. I killed Luo Renjie of the Qingcheng Sword School on top of the Huiyan Wine House in the town of Hengshan.”
Yue Buqun let out a snort with a stern face.
“Father, it was Luo Renjie who had bullied big apprentice brother. At that time big apprentice brother just had a fierce fight with Tian Boguang and was severely injured. Luo Renjie took advantage of big apprentice brot
her. How could big apprentice brother just let himself get killed like that?” Yue Lingshan argued.
“This matter does not concern you. This really started because Chong kicked the two Qingcheng apprentices earlier. If it weren’t because of the grudge before, why would that Luo Renjie take advantage of Chong when everything is perfectly alright?” Yue Buqun reproved.
“When big apprentice kicked the Qingcheng apprentices, you had already given him thirty sticks of beating as punishment. That matter was over; you cannot count that one in again. Big apprentice brother is so badly injured, he can’t take any more beating now.” Yue Lingshan pleaded.
Yue Buqun gave a strict glare at his daughter. “We are talking about school prohibitions right now. You are an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School. Shut up and don’t interrupt me,” he yelled sharply.
Yue Lingshan rarely received any harsh words or stern looks from her father; feeling the grievance, her eyes reddened and she almost fell into a cry.
During normal days, even if Yue Buqun ignored his daughter, Madam Yue would have comforted her with kind words, but since Yue Buqun was judging school matters as the Head Master at the moment, it wouldn’t be appropriate for Madam Yue to help her daughter, so she had to pretend that she didn’t see or hear anything.
Yue Buqun continued with Linghu Chong, “When Luo Renjie took advantage of you and humiliated you, you would rather die than submit. That was something a true man would have done. But why did you offend the Heng-Shan Sword School in your words and said something like ‘Once seeing a nun, one loses all bets,’ and that even I was afraid of seeing nuns?”
Yue Lingshan burst into laughter. “Father!” she yelled.
Yue Buqun waved her off, but had dropped his stern look.
Linghu Chong explained, “I only wanted to get the apprentice sister of the Heng-Shan Sword School to leave at that time. I knew I was no match for Tian Boguang in a fight, and would have no way to rescue the apprentice sister of the Heng-Shan Sword School, but she valued the brotherhood of fellow martial people and didn’t want to leave first, so I had to make up some nonsense. That kind of nonsense is truly disrespectful to the Uncle-Masters of the Heng-Shan Sword School.”