by Jin Yong
would rather jump into the ground to meet my death to show my loyalty to you.”
Listening to him, Wang Baobao knew that 70, 80% of what he said was nonsense; so it was obvious that he was trying to stall. In a low voice Wang Baobao asked Captain Ha, "What conspiracy is he in? He is deliberately stalling. Is he waiting for someone to come?”
"Xiao Ren does not know ...” Captain Ha replied.
"Xiao Wangye,” He Biweng cut him off, "This bandit Toutuo has stolen my Shige’s antidote; he must be planning on rescuing the rebels imprisoned in the Pagoda.
Wnag Baobao realized it immediately. "Ku Dashi,” he called out, "I know your loyalty. Quickly get
down here; I am going to heap rewards on you.”
"My legs were kicked by Lu Zhangke earlier,” Fan Yao said, "Both legs are broken. I must not move now. Xiao Wangye, please wait a moment, as soon as I can move, I’ll come down immediately.”
"Captain Ha,” Wang Baobao barked his order, "Send some men to go up and carry Ku Dashi down.”
"No, no,” Fan Yao said, "As soon as I move, my two legs will be crippled.”
This time Wang Baobao did not have any suspicion anymore. With his own eyes he saw Concubine Han and Lu Zhangke were wrapped together inside the cotton quilt. Even if there was nothing going on between the two, he was certain his father king would not want to have Concubine Han anymore. In a low voice he said, "Captain Ha, set the Pagoda on fire. Set your men around with their bows and arrows. Whoever jumps down from the Pagoda, shoot him dead.”
Captain Ha complied; he passed the order around. His archers surrounded the Pagoda with bows and arrows, ready to shoot; while the other warriors spread around to gather firewood and grass to light up the fire.
He Biweng was shocked. "Xiao Wangye,” he called out, "My Shige is up there.”
Wang Baobao coldly said, "This Toutuo can’t stay up there forever; as soon as the Pagoda is on fire, he will come down.”
He Biweng called out, "What if he throw my Shige down? Xiao Wangye, please don’t light the fire.” "Humph,” Wang Baobao snorted, ignoring his plea.
A short moment later the warriors had gathered enough kindling material and they set the Pagoda on fire.
He Biweng had always enjoyed good reputation in the Wulin world; even when he entered the service in the Ruyang Palace he had always been highly revered. Unexpectedly today not only he had fallen into Ku Toutuo’s sinister plot, he was also ignored by the Young Prince. Seeing his martial brother in grave danger he did not care anymore whether it was the ‘Xiao Wangye’ or the ‘Da Wangye’ [lit. old king master]. Raising his pair of crane-beak pens he charged toward the warriors who were lighting the fire. ‘Bang, bang!’ two warriors were thrown away.
Wang Baobao was very angry. "Mister He,” he shouted, "Are you defying my command?”
"If you did not set the Pagoda on fire, I would not dare to defy your command,” He Biweng replied.
"Set the fire!” Wang Baobao shouted. With a wave of his left hand five foreign monk wearing red robes jumped from behind his back; they snatched away the torches from the warriors’ hands and tossed them to the firewood and grass on the base of the Pagoda. As soon as the kindling material was lit, the fire was raging wild.
He Biweng was very anxious. He snatched a spear from a warrior’s hand and frantically beat the wood and grass, trying to extinguish the fire.
"Arrest him!” Wang Baobao shouted.
Those five foreign monks in red unsheathed their sabers and surround He Biweng immediately. He Biweng was very angry; he dropped the spear and snatched the saber of a foreign monk to his left. Eluding his hand the foreign monk flipped the saber over and hacked his shoulder. He Biweng moved sideways to elude, while from behind came a gust of saber wind; as a result two sabers struck each other.
There were a total of eighteen foreign monks with high level of martial art under Wang Baobao’s command; they were known as the ‘Shi Ba Jin Gang’ [eighteen Buddha’s warrior attendants], consisted of Five Sabers, Five Swords, Four Staves, and Four Cymbals. These five monks were the ‘Five-Saber Buddha’s Warriors’. Each one of them alone was far below He Biweng in term of martial art level; however, with five of them fighting together, they complement each other in defense and offense. Furthermore, He Biweng’s martial art level was high, but Zhang Wuji struck him until he vomited some blood the previous day; his internal energy suffered serious damage.
On top of everything right in front of his eyes the fire was raging wild, his martial brother was in a precarious condition; unavoidably he could not keep himself calm and steady. As a result, it was difficult for him to score a quick victory.
In the meantime, Wang Baobao’s subordinates kept adding wood and grass to make the fire even bigger. The Pagoda was constructed of brick and wood. Very soon the first several lower floors were starting to burn. Fan Yao dropped Lu Zhangke and dashed toward the room in which the Wudang heroes were imprisoned. "The Tartars are burning the Pagoda,” he called out, "Has everybody’s internal energy recovered?” But Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou and the others were still sitting cross-legged, cultivating their internal energy in full concentration. Nobody replied; apparently they were at a critical moment of their recovery process.
Several guards came to attack him. Fan Yao struck and grabbed them one by one; throwing them to their death at the bottom of the Pagoda. The rest of the guards scrambled downstairs over the fire, trying to save themselves.
A moment later the fire had reached the fourth floor, where the people from Huashan Pai were being imprisoned. They did not have time to wait for the recovery of their internal energy; in this dangerous situation everybody fled to the fifth floor. But the fire kept creeping upward to the fifth floor, causing the Kongtong Pai people also ran to the sixth floor. Some were rather slow, resulting in their clothes to catch fire. Fan Yao was at a loss.
Suddenly he heard someone calling out, "Fan Yaoshi [Right Emissary Fan], catch!” It was Wei Yixiao’s voice.
Fan Yao was greatly delighted; looking toward the direction of the voice he saw Wei Yixiao was standing at the rooftop of a big building behind the Wan An Temple. Wei Yixiao swung his arms to throw a long rope toward Fan Yao and Fan Yao caught it.
"Tie it on the railings, we’ll make a rope bridge,” Wei Yixiao called out.
Fan Yao had just tied the rope to the railings when ‘swish!’ Zhao Yishang of the ‘Shen Jian Ba Xiong’ [Eight Divine Archers] shot an arrow and cut the rope. Simultaneously Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao opened their mouths to curse; they knew that if they want to build a rope bridge, they would have to get rid of these Eight Divine Archers.
"Shoot your granny,” Wei Yixiao cursed, "If that one does not drop his bow and arrow, the Old Man will butcher him first.” While cursing he drew his sword and jumped down.
His feet were barely touching the ground when five foreign monks wearing dark green robes surrounded him with swords in their hands. They were the ‘Five-Sword Buddha Warriors’ from the ‘Eighteen Buddha Warriors’ under Wang Baobao’s command. The swords in their hands glittered, their sword moves were strange; and they attacked Wei Yixiao together.
He Biweng brandished his pair or crane-beak pens, fighting a fierce battle. "Xiao Wangye,” he loudly called out, "If you don’t order your men to put off the fire, don’t blame me for being impolite to you.”
Wang Baobao did not pay any attention to him. Four foreign monks with long Buddhist staves in their hands stood around the Young Prince, guarding him from any possible sneak attack.
He Biweng’s anxiety rose up; his double-pen suddenly moved in ‘heng sao qian jun’ [sweeping a thousand soldiers], forcing the three foreign monks in front of him to retreat two steps. He Biweng anxiously rushed toward the Pagoda. The five foreign monks ran after him. He Biweng’s feet kicked the ground and he flew to the eaves of the first floor. Seeing the fire was raging wild, the five foreign monks did not pursue.
He Biweng jumped from floor to floor. When he reached the e
aves of the fourth floor Fan Yao poked out his head from the seventh floor; lifting high Lu Zhangke’s body he loudly called out, "Old He, stop! If you move one more step, I am going to throw the Old Lu down, let him become deer mince meat.” [Translator’s note: the ‘Lu’ of Lu Zhangke means ‘deer’]
He Biweng obediently did not dare to move again. "Ku Dashi,” he called out, "We, martial brothers, have never offended you in the past, we still don’t have any enmity against you today, why do you make things difficult for us? If you want to save your old sweetheart Miejue Shitai and your beloved daughter Miss Zhou, then rescue them. I will not stop you.”
After taking the antidote from Ku Toutuo, Miejue Shitai thought that she had taken a poison and would die soon; but then Zhou Zhiruo had also taken the poison. Her lifetime hopes were shattered; how would her heart not bitter? While she was grieving suddenly she heard commotion at the base of the Pagoda; she heard Ku Toutuo and He Biweng’s argument, then she also heard Wang Baobao issued an order to set the Pagoda on fire. She heard it all, one by one, clearly. She felt strange, "Could it be that this devil-like Toutuo is really rescuing us?”
She thought she might as well try, whether good or bad. Immediately she felt warm energy flowing up from her ‘dan tian’ [pubic region]; which was different from when she was still under the influence of the poison. She would rather starve herself to death than obeying Zhao Min’s order to get out to the mail hall and contend in martial arts, as a result, she had been fasting for six, seven days. Her stomach was completely empty; therefore, as the antidote entered her belly, it rapidly entered the blood and neutralized the poison in her system. Her recovery was faster than everybody else. Furthermore, her internal energy was profound; it was even higher than Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, He Taichong and the others, perhaps it was somewhat inferior only to the Abbott of Shaolin Pai, Kong Wen Shen-seng [divine monk].
As the effect of the ‘Ten Fragrance Muscle-weaken Powder’ was gradually dispersed by the antidote, her own internal energy was able to push the toxicity away. In less than an hour later her internal energy had been recovered 50, 60%. She was still cultivating her internal energy intensively when suddenly from outside came He Biweng’s voice; each word was like an arrow piercing her ear, ".If you want to save your old sweetheart Miejue Shitai and your beloved daughter Miss Zhou, then rescue them. I will not stop you.”
How could she not get angry hearing this ‘Old Sweetheart’ and the other nonsense? In big strides she walked out of her room toward the railings. "What nonsense are you blabbering about? Such a dirty mouth!” she shouted angrily.
He Biweng looked at her imploringly, "Lao Shitai [Old Shitai], please tell your old ... old friend to let my Shige down. I guarantee your family of three will be able to leave safely. Xuanming Elders always say one as one, two as two; in no way we will fail to keep our words.”
"What family of three?” Miejue Shitai asked angrily.
Although he was in a precarious situation, Fan Yao could not help to laugh aloud. Feeling very proud of himself he said, "Lao Shitai, this old man said I was your old sweetheart, and that Miss Zhou was our daughter.”
Miejue Shitai was really, really angry, that under the flickering light of the fire downstairs her face looked terrifying. "Old He,” she roared, "Come up here! I want to exchange a hundred palms with you before we talk again.”
If it was different time, when He Biweng was challenged to come up, he would come up; he was
not scared of the Sect Leader of Emei. But this time his martial brother had fallen into the enemy’s hand; he did not dare to act recklessly. "Ku Toutuo,” he called out, "It was you who said that; I certainly would not talk irresponsibly.”
Miejue Shitai shifted her gaze toward Fan Yao and in stern voice she asked, "Did you say such thing?”
Fan Yao laughed heartily; he was about to take that opportunity to ridicule her when suddenly he heard loud shouts at the bottom of the Pagoda. He looked down and saw by the flames a shadow was dancing like a fluttering butterfly among the flowers. That shadow moved around the warriors and the foreign monks. ‘Bang! Clank! Clank! Bang! Clank! Clank!’ everywhere he went a weapon fell down to the ground. The Cult Leader Zhang Wuji had arrived.
Zhang Wuji attacked the five wielding-swords foreign monks who were surrounding Wei Yixiao; sending their swords flying high into the air. Wei Yixiao was delighted; like a flash of lightning he dashed toward Zhang Wuji. "I am going to set the Ruyang Palace on fire,” he said in a low voice.
Zhang Wuji nodded; he understood his intention. They had only a few people on their side; if they failed to rescue the masters of the Six Major Sects in a short period of time, the enemy might send more reinforcement. With the Green-winged Bat King went to set the Ruyang Palace on fire, the enemy would be forced, first and foremost, to protect the Prince. It was an excellent ‘luring the tiger out of the mountain’ or ‘removing firewood from under the pot’ plan.
Wei Yixiao’s dark green shadow flashed by and flew over the tall wall surrounding the Temple. Zhang Wuji looked around him to assess the situation. "Fan Youshi,” he called out loudly, "How are you?”
"It’s bad!” Fan Yao called back, "The escape route is completely on fire; we are trapped here.”
By this time, fourteen out of the eighteen foreign monks under Wang Baobao’s command had spread our and surrounded Zhang Wuji. Zhang Wuji thought that to defeat the enemy he had to capture the leader first; thereupon he turned his attention to that young Tartar prince wearing a golden helmet. If he could capture him, than he could force the Prince to order his people to put off the fire and release the prisoners. Immediately he leaned sideways and slipped from among the foreign monks; he went straight to Wang Baobao fast and fluid like a fish swimming in the water.
Suddenly out of the blue a sword came from his left side, the blade carried a cold gust of wind; in a flash the sword tip was moving toward his chest. Hastily Zhang Wuji drew a step backward, only to hear a woman’s voice said, "Zhang Gongzi, this is my brother. Don’t hurt him.”
The sword in her hand moved in graceful and elegant way; the blade was colder than water. It was the Yitian sword; a sword as beautiful as a flower. The bearer was of course Zhao Min. She hastily followed Zhang Wuji, it was just that she was a bit slower.
Zhang Wuji said, "Please order your people to put out the fire and let the people go; otherwise I will not be polite toward the two of you.”
Zhao Min called out, "Shiba Jin Gang, this man’s martial art is high; all Jin Gang are to fight him together.”
Those eighteen foreign monks had just suffered under Zhang Wuji’s hand; they did not need their Junzhu [Princess] to remind them. They knew their opponent was fierce. ‘Bang! Bang!’ the eight copper cymbals in the Four-Cymbal Buddha Warriors’ hands crashed together. Eighteen foreign
monks moved together in front of Wang Baobao and Zhao Min, separating them from Zhang Wuji.
Zhang Wuji took a glance; he saw eighteen foreign monks walked in circle around him. Their footwork was strange, eighteen people formed a human wall; apparently their movement contained many changes. His interest was piqued; he wanted to see if he could break this ‘Jin Gang Zhen’ [Buddha Warrior Formation]. But right at that moment a loud bang was heard, one of the big pillars on the Pagoda broke and fell down. Turning his head around he saw the fire had reached the seventh floor. Amidst the blood-red flickering tongues of fire two people were engaged in an intense battle; they were Miejue Shitai and He Biweng.
Looking further up he saw the corridor by the railings of the tenth floor was full of people; they were the masters from Shaolin, Wudang, and the other Sects. Their martial arts were not recovered yet; but even if they were, the Pagoda was over ten ‘zhang’s tall [over 100 feet tall], even if their internal energy and qing gong [lightness skill] were not the slightest bit lost, they would certainly plunge to their deaths if they jumped down.
An idea came into Zhang Wuji’s mind; he pondered over it for a moment, "I can’t pos
sibly break this Jin Gang Zhen in a short period of time. Even if I did, the other warriors are certainly going to attack me. It won’t be easy to capture Miss Zhao’s brother. Miejue Shitai has been fighting He Biweng all this time without showing any sign of defeat. It appears that her internal energy has already been restored. Then Da Shibo [first martial (older) uncle] and the others must also be recovered. Only the Pagoda is too high, they are unable to jump down.”
As soon as his mind was made, he moved around the courtyard in lightning fast speed; his hands struck and snatched, slapped and grabbed the Eight Divine Archers and the warriors around the Pagoda. He either knocked down the bows and arrows from their hands, or sealed their acupoints. In a short moment there was no one standing with neither bow nor arrow around the Pagoda. "Seniors on the Pagoda!” he called out, "Please jump down! I will catch you down here.”
The people on the Pagoda were stunned; they thought, ‘This Pagoda was over ten ‘zhang’s tall, the force of their bodies falling down would be tremendous, although you have thousand catties strength, how could you catch us?’ Immediately some people from Kongtong, Kunlun and some other Sects blurted out, "Surely we cannot jump down; don’t listen to this kid! He wants to deceive us so that we will meet our cruel deaths.”
Zhang Wuji saw the smoke and fire filled the air, it almost reached near the place where those masters were standing. If they did not jump soon, they would inevitably become barbequed meat. Raising his voice he shouted, "Yu Erbo [second martial (older) uncle], your kindness to me is like a mountain, do you think Xiao Zhi [little nephew] would deliberately harm you? Why don’t you jump first?”
Yu Lianzhou trusted ZhangWuji completely; besides, he thought that although his martial art skill was stronger, he would still not be able to save himself. Therefore, rather than being burned to death, wouldn’t it be better to plunge to death? "All right!” he called out, "I’ll jump down!” Without hesitation he jumped from the Pagoda down to the ground.