by Jin Yong
Yue Lingshan was overjoyed. “Wonderful! Today…today before I came up…I actually planned….” With a shy smile, she drew her long sword.
“You came up the cliff today just to show me the sword art you just learned? Good, go ahead!” Linghu Chong said.
“Big apprentice brother, your sword skills have always been better than mine. But after I learn this set of Nineteen Stances of Jade Maiden Sword well, you won’t be able to bully me anymore.” Yue Lingshan grinned.
“When did I ever bully you? You are wronging the good guy here.”
“Don’t you want to draw your sword?” Yue Lingshan got into her starting position.
“Not so soon!” Linghu Chong said. He shifted his left hand into the starting position and then thrust his right hand out quickly. “This is from the Qingcheng Sword School’s Pine-Wind Sword Art. This move is called Thundering Pine Wave!” He pretended that his hand was a sword and thrust it toward Yue Lingshan’s shoulder.
Yue Lingshan turned to the side and stepped back while waving her sword to block toward Linghu Chong’s hand. “Look out!” she called out.
“Don’t try to be nice. I’ll draw my sword when I can’t defend myself.”
“How dare you fight my Nineteen Stances of Jade Maiden Sword with your bare hands?” Yue Lingshan snapped.
“That’s because you have not mastered it. Once you master it, I won’t be able to fight you with my bare hands.”
Yue Lingshan had been practicing the Nineteen Stances of Jade Maiden Sword very hard these days. She felt that she had advanced quite a lot in her sword skills, and even if compared to first class sword masters in the Martial World, she would be no less. The reason why she didn’t come up the cliff for the last ten days was to keep this a secret from Linghu Chong, so she could give him a big surprise with one brilliant feat, and thus make Linghu Chong think highly of her. But now he was actually belittling her and only wanted to fight her Nineteen Stances of Jade Maiden Sword with his bare hands, she couldn’t help but feeling annoyed.
“If by accident I cut you or something, don’t blame me. Don’t tell my mom or dad either.” She pulled a long face.
“That’s of course. You do your best. If you give ground in anyway, you wouldn’t be showing your true skills.” Linghu Chong’s left hand suddenly chopped out as he spoke. “Look out!” he yelled.
“What…what! Is your left hand a sword too?” Yue Lingshan shouted in astonishment.
If Linghu Chong had really chopped down, Yue Lingshan would have been injured in the shoulder. He held on his strength and explained, “Some people in the Qingcheng Sword School do use double swords.”
“That’s right! I’ve seen some Qingcheng apprentices carrying double swords. How did I forget that? Watch out!” Yue Lingshan launched a counter attack.
Seeing that the thrust drifted swiftly, Linghu Chong figured this must be an advanced move out of the Jade Maiden Sword. He praised, “This one is very good. Just not fast enough.”
“Still not fast enough? A little bit faster, I would have chopped off your arm.”
“Go ahead and try to chop it off.” Linghu Chong used his right hand as the sword and chopped toward her left arm.
Yue Lingshan was a bit annoyed. She waved her sword quickly and swiftly and started using the Nineteen Stances of Jade Maiden Sword she had been practicing one move after another. Out of the total nineteen stances of moves, she could only remember nine, and within the nine stances, she could really only use six. But these six stances were already quite powerful. Whenever she pointed the sword somewhere, Linghu Chong would have a hard time getting close to her in that direction. Linghu Chong circled around her as they fought. Every time when he tried to attack his way in, he was forced back by her sharp sword moves. Once he had to jump backward quickly and ended up bumping his back on a piece of rock that was sticking out.
Yue Lingshan was very pleased with herself. She asked in a grin, “Don’t you want to draw your sword now?”
“Just a little bit longer,” Linghu Chong said, as he lured her into using one move after another out of the Jade Maiden Sword form. After a few more moments of fighting, noticing Yue Lingshan used the same six stances again and again, Linghu Chong figured it out. He abruptly stepped forward and chopped with his right knife hand. “Killer move from the Pine-Wind Sword Art! Watch out!” he yelled. The chop looked as if it had a lot of strength in it.
Seeing the knife hand swishing down toward her head, Yue Lingshan slashed her sword upwards. That was exactly the move Linghu Chong had expected. He reached out his left hand in a flash and flicked out with his middle finger. “Ring,” his finger knocked on the blade of the long sword. Yue Lingshan only felt a burning pain in her palm and could no longer hold on to the sword. The sword flew out of her grip and fell straight down the bottomless abyss.
Her face as pale as a white sheet, Yue Lingshan stared silently at Linghu Chong in disbelief and astonishment, biting her lower lip hard with her upper teeth. “Oops!” Linghu Chong cried, and immediately rushed by the edge of the cliff, but the sword has disappeared in the bottomless valley and could no longer be seen. Suddenly, a green shadow flashed by the side of the cliff. It seemed to have been a piece of a robe. But when Linghu Chong looked more carefully, it was already gone. His heart thumped hard as he thought inwardly, “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with me? I’ve practiced and sparred with little apprentice sister thousands of times before. Every time I would give ground to her and had never acted so mercilessly like today. I am really being ridiculous!”
Yue Lingshan cast a sideway look down the valley as she cried out loud, “The sword! The sword!”
Linghu Chong was stunned when he suddenly remembered that little apprentice sister’s long sward was an exceptional sword that could cut steel. It was called “Sword of the Green Pool,” and was acquired by Master in Dragon-Spring, Zhejiang Province52 three years ago. Ever since little apprentice sister laid eyes on it, she could not keep her mind off it. She had begged for it from Master many times and Master never agreed until her eighteenth birthday this year when Master gave the sword to her as her birthday present. Now the sword had fallen into the bottomless valley, there would be no way to retrieve it back.
“What a terrible mistake have I made?” Linghu Chong regretted full heartedly.
Tears rolling in her eyes, Yue Lingshan stomped her left foot in frustration and then turned around to leave.
“Little apprentice sister!” Linghu Chong called out, but Yue Lingshan ignored him and started heading off the cliff. Linghu Chong chased her to the side of the cliff and reached out for her arm, but as soon as his fingers touched Yue Lingshan’s sleeve, he drew his arm back and watched her leave without ever looking back.
Feeling very depressed, Linghu Chong thought to himself, “Normally I would have put up with her and give in to her, but why did I flick away her sword today? Am I envying her because Master-Wife taught her the Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword? No, no way. It can’t be! The Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword were meant for female apprentices, and wouldn’t I be happier that little apprentice sister is learning more Kung Fu? Ah, probably it’s because I have been alone on the cliff for too long and have become ill tempered. I only wish she would come up the cliff again tomorrow so I can apologize to her sincerely.”
That night Linghu Chong could not sleep. He sat cross-legged on a rock and tried to work on his breathing exercise, but he simply could not stay focus, and he dared not to continue. Moonlight shone through the opening of the cave and lit the rock wall. Noticing the words “Feng Qingyang” carved on the rock wall again, Linghu Chong reached out and started writing following the strokes carved on the rock wall. Suddenly, the wall darkened as a shadow was cast upon the rock wall. In astonishment, Linghu Chong picked up the sword by his side, with no time to unsheathe the sword, he just thrust it toward his back. When it was half way out, he suddenly retracted his strength and turned around as he called out in joy, “Lit
tle apprentice sister!” But it wasn’t his little apprentice sister.
A thin and tall man stood about a dozen feet away from the cave. Dressed in a green robe, he stood with his back toward the moonlight; a piece of green cloth covered his face, leaving only his eyes showing. Linghu Chong didn’t recall ever seeing this man before, so he yelled, “Who are you?” and jumped out of the cave with his sword drawn. The man didn’t answer, but raised his right hand and chopped twice toward his front-right, which turned out to be two moves out of the Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword Yue Lingshan had used in the day. Linghu Chong was greatly surprised, although by now he had dropped most of his animosity toward the man.
“Are you a senior in our sword school?” he asked, when suddenly a strong wind of energy came upon his face. With no time to think, Linghu Chong slashed out with his sword, but at the meantime, a slight pain came from his left shoulder. It had been hit by the man’s hand. It seemed that the man did not use any inner energy when he struck with his hand. In great fear and astonishment, Linghu Chong hurriedly slid a couple of steps toward his left. The man did not follow up, and simply used his hand as a sword, and within moments of time, he had shown the dozens of moves included in those six stances of the Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword smoothly with no interruptions. The dozens of moves were executed as if they were all part of one big move. The speed he had shown was simply unthinkable. Under the moonlight, Linghu Chong could see clearly that every move had been used by Yue Lingshan during the day. But how could he have executed all those dozens of moves as if it was just one big move? Linghu Chong’s jaw dropped and his body seemed to have frozen. The man flicked his long sleeves and walked off around the back of the cliff.
It was already a good while later when Linghu Chong was finally able to regain himself. “Senior Master! Senior Master!” he called out loud, but by the time he ran to the backside of the cliff, all he found was the sliverish moonlight reflected by the ground. There was no one to be found.
“Who is he?” Linghu Chong gasped and thought to himself. “When he showed the Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword, I would stand no chance flicking away his sword, and every move from him could have chopped my hand off. No, it’s not only my hand. He could have stabbed me anywhere he wants or cut me anywhere he wishes. With those six stances of the Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword, I would be like a piece of meat on somebody’s chopping block – be totally at his mercy. It turned out that this sword form is actually so powerful.” He pondered upon it a bit more and then thought, “Apparently the power didn’t come from the sword moves but the way he used his sword. With such a method, I wouldn’t be able to defend myself no matter what kind of ordinary moves he uses. Who is this man? Why is he on top of Mount Huashan?”
He pondered upon the question for a long time but still had no clue. Finally he gave up, thinking that Master and Master-Wife must know about this man, and when little apprentice sister comes up the cliff again tomorrow, he could ask her to inquire about it from Master and Master-Wife.
But Yue Lingshan didn’t come up the next day, nor did she come the third day or the forth day. Only after a total of eighteen days, she finally came up the cliff together with Lu Dayou. Having longed for Yue Lingshan for eighteen days and nights, Linghu Chong had a stomach full of words to tell her, but with Lu Dayou by the side, he simply could not spill them out.
After dinner, knowing Linghu Chong’s feelings, Lu Dayou suggested, “Big apprentice brother, little apprentice sister, since you two haven’t seen each other for many days, why don’t you two have a good chat here. I’ll take the basket down first.”
“Monkey Six, are you trying to run away from me? We came together, so we’ll leave together too,” Yue Lingshan said with a grin as she stood up.
“Little apprentice sister, I have something to talk to you about,” Linghu Chong said.
“Sure. Monkey Six, stop right there. Big apprentice brother has some advice for us,” Yue Lingshan said to Lu Dayou.
“It’s not about advice.” Linghu Chong shook his head. “That ‘Sword of the Green Pool’ of yours….”
Yue Lingshan cut him short quickly. “I’ve told Mom that I was being too careless and the sword slipped out of my hand down the valley when I was practicing the Nineteen Stances of Jade Maiden Sword. It’s nowhere to be found now. I had a good weep. Mom not only didn’t yell at me, but she also comforted me and promised to get me another good blade next time. This really is history now. There’s no need to mention it again.” She shrugged with a smile on her face.
The more easily she acted, the more disturbed Linghu Chong felt. “After I fulfill my punishment so I can get down the cliff again, I’ll find a good blade to repay you.” Linghu Chong promised.
“We are apprentice brothers and sisters. Don’t worry about the sword. And it did fall into the deep valley because I couldn’t hold on to it. It’s all because I didn’t really master my Kung Fu skills. Who else is there to blame? Let’s just ‘gi’ton witit’n falla ya’n distini’.” Yue Lingshan started giggling.
“What did you say?” Linghu Chong was lost.
“Oh, yeah, you don’t know. Little Lin always liked to say ‘get on with it and follow your own destiny,’ but he’s got a heavy accent, so I imitate him to make fun of him. Ha-ha! ‘Gi’ton witit’n falla ya’n distini’!”
Linghu Chong squeezed out a dry smile. He suddenly remembered something. “That day when little apprentice sister used the Nineteen Stances of the Jade Maiden Sword, why did I pick the Pine-Wind Sword Art of the Qingcheng Sword School as the counter? In my subconscious, did I actually want to counter apprentice brother Lin’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art? His entire family and the Fortune Prestige Escort House of his Lin family were completely ruined by the Qingcheng Sword School. Was I intentionally being sarcastic? Why was I so harsh and mean?” Then he thought some more about it. “The other day, in the Jade House of Hengshan Town, I almost got killed from Yu Canghai’s palm strike. It was all because of apprentice brother Lin’s yelling of ‘A senior bullies a junior, how shameless’ with disregard of his own safety, Yu Canghai held back the strike. I really owe apprentice brother Lin the big favor of life and death.” At that thought, he felt very ashamed of himself as he heaved a long breath out.
“Apprentice brother Lin is very bright and he also works hard. After the last couple of months of training by little apprentice sister, he probably has progressed very rapidly. It’s a pity that within the year of my punishment, I can’t leave the cliff. Otherwise, because of the favor I owe him, I really should have helped him with his sword training myself.” Linghu Chong sighed.
“How did Little Lin do you a favor? How come I have never heard anything about it from him?” Yue Lingshan raised her eyebrows.
“Of course he won’t be bragging about it himself.” Linghu Chong explained and then told the story about that day at the Jade House.
Yue Lingshan seemed to have lost in her thought for a moment. “No wonder Dad said that he had the character of the chivalry kind, and that’s why Dad saved him from the ‘Hunchback of the North.’ He is so muddle-headed. So he actually came out boldly for you, too, with that loud yell of his.” At these words, she couldn’t help and giggled some more. “With his little Kung Fu skills, he actually saved the big apprentice brother of Huashan Sword School, and also came forward for the sake of Huashan Head Master’s daughter and whacked the beloved son of the Head Master of the Qingcheng Sword School. Just with those two achievements, he could have gained a lot of fame in the Martial World. But nobody would have guessed that such a big hero, who likes to defend people against an injustice, ha-ha, Big Hero Lin Pingzhi, has such terrible Kung Fu skills?”
“One can learn Kung Fu skills, but the character of the chivalry type comes when one gets born. And that’s what differentiate people’s moral standings,” Linghu Chong said.
“Dad and Mom said the same thing about Little Lin.” Yue Lingshan smiled. “Big apprentice broth
er, other than the character of chivalry, there’s one more thing that both of you have.”
“What other thing? Bad temper?” Linghu Chong asked.
“It’s the feeling of pride. Both of you are quite proud of yourself,” Yue Lingshan answered.
Lu Dayou suddenly cut in the conversation. “Big apprentice brother is the leader of all the apprentice brothers and sisters, it’s natural for him to feel the pride. Who the heck does that chap Lin think he is? What makes him think he is worthy to show his pride in the Huashan Sword School?” A tone of hostility toward Lin Pingzhi was clearly shown.
“Monkey Six, when did apprentice brother Lin offend you?” Linghu Chong asked in shock.
“He never offended me. It’s just that we apprentice brothers don’t like his attitude,” Lu Dayou said irritably.
“Sixth apprentice brother, what’s the matter with you? Why are you always so hard on Little Lin? He is your junior apprentice brother. As a senior, you should treat him nice and not pick on his mistakes,” Yue Lingshan said.
“If he knows his place and behaves himself, I’d have no problem with him, otherwise, I would be the first one to jump on to him.” Lu Dayou grunted.
“How did he not know his place and behave himself?” Yue Lingshan challenged.
“He…he…he…,” Lu Dayou answered but stopped short.
“What are you trying to say? Why are you hesitating?” Yue Lingshan charged.
“I hope I got it wrong and thought of it in the wrong way,” Lu Dayou croaked.
Yue Lingshan blushed slightly and stopped asking. Lu Dayou said that he wanted to go back now, and Yue Lingshan left the cliff together with him.