by Jin Yong
After a while, he related the story of how he met Dingjing, Dingxian, and Dingyi Shi Tai and how he helped them. He just thoughtlessly described every event while playing down his role in it.
Mr. Mo Da calmly listened to his story till the end. He then just dumbly stared at the wine pot for a long time before saying, "Zuo Lengchan's desire is to annex the other four schools into his own to make one big school. This one big school would then be able to match the two big schools of Shaolin and Wudang and stand as their equal. He hatched this secret plot a long time ago. Although he's concealed it deeply, I've seen clues of it for a long time now. His granny, he didn't allow my martial brother Liu to wash his hand and also helped the sword branch of Huashan School to challenge and usurp Mr. Yue's leadership. All these things happened because of this reason. But I never thought that he would be so rash as to brazenly attack Heng-Shan School."
Linghu Chong said, “He didn’t attack openly with boldness. Originally, he pretended to be from the Devil Sect to force Heng-Shan School to have no other alternative but to agree to combine their schools.”
Mr. Mo Da nodded his head agreeing with him, “Correct. The next step he'll be taking must be to deal with Taishan School’s Priest Tianmen. Hng, even though Devil Sect is vicious, they’re not necessarily more vicious than Zuo Lengchan. Brother Linghu, you’re no longer in Huashan School, you're free like the cloud and cranes in the field. You're unrestrained. So you don’t need to care about this orthodox school and Devil Sect matters anymore. I advise you, don’t become a monk and also don’t grieve because of this. Go and rescue that young lady Ren out of Shaolin and marry her. Even if other people don’t want to come and drink your celebration wine, I, Mo Da, will come and drink three cups. Damn Zho Lengchan! Does he think we’re afraid of him?”
Mr. Mo sometimes talked in a refined manner but sometimes he talked really vulgarly. He didn’t look like a leader of a school at all.
Linghu Chong thought, “He thinks that I’m discouraged about love because of Yingying. But it's not good talking to him about the matter of little martial sister.” He then asked, “Martial uncle Mo, why did the Shaolin School imprison young lady Ren?”
Mr. Mo Da’s mouth dropped open. He eyed Linghu Chong intensely with his expression full of amazement, “Why did the Shaolin School imprison young lady Ren? You really don’t know, or you already know but you are still asking? Everyone in Jianghu already knows why, you... you... what are you asking for?”
“For the past several months, little nephew was imprisoned by some people and didn’t hear of any news from Jianghu. After that young lady Ren killed four disciples of Shaolin School, little nephew was together with her for some time. But I didn’t know how we got separated later and how she ended up being captured by Shaolin School?” Linghu Chong explained.
Mr. Mo Da answered, “If that’s the case, you really don’t know the whole story then. Your body’s internal injury was incurable by any medicine. I heard that the unorthodox sects assembled thousands of people on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge to flatter this young lady Ren and to heal your injury. The result is that no one was able to do anything for you, is this right?”
“Right,” replied Linghu Chong.
“This whole event shook Jianghu. Everyone was wondering how this kid Linghu Chong got so much good fortune. Unexpectedly, it was because the Dark Wood Cliff’s Sacred Lady Miss Ren favours you. So even though your illness couldn’t be cured, it wasn’t all in vain,” Mr. Mo Da said.
“Martial uncle Mo is teasing me,” said Linghu Chong while he thought, “Although Old Man and Zhu Qianqiu had good intentions, their method was really crude and they announced this matter to everyone. No wonder Yingying was angry.”
“So how did you finally get better? It’s Shaolin School’s “Tendon Altering Sutra” divine art, wasn’t it?” Mr. Mo Da asked.
“It’s not. Shaolin School’s Abbot Fangzheng was merciful and forgave old animosities. He agreed to impart Shaolin School’s unsurpassed internal energy cultivation method to me. It was little nephew who didn’t want to join the Shaolin School. This Shaolin’s divine martial art wasn’t allowed to be imparted to outsiders so I had to disappoint Abbott Fangzheng’s kindness,” Linghu Chong answered.
“Shaolin School is Wulin’s most respected school. At that time, you have already been expelled from the Huashan School, so it was by chance that you were able to join Shaolin. This is once in a lifetime opportunity. Why didn’t you take into consideration about that and about your own life too?” Mr. Mo Da said.
“Little nephew has been with my respected Master and Master-Wife since I was young. Even if my body is grounded till dust, I still hope that someday my respected Master would allow little nephew to correct myself and join the Huashan School again. I didn’t want to be greedy to preserve my life and be afraid of death and join another school,” Linghu Chong said.
Mr. Mo Da nodded his head, “So that’s the reason. In that case, your internal injury was healed by another method.”
“Yes! Actually little nephew’s internal injury isn’t completely healed yet,” Linghu Chong answered.
Mr. Mo Da stared at him and said, “Shaolin School never had any relationship with you. Although Buddhist people are merciful, they wouldn’t just casually pass on their divine martial art to anyone. When Great Master Fangzheng promised to teach you “Tendon Altering Sutra”, you didn’t know the reason behind this?”
“Little nephew really don’t know. I hope that martial uncle Mo can tell me,” Linghu Chong said.
“Alright! Everyone in Jianghu says, that day, Dark Wood Cliff’s young lady Ren carried you on her back and went to Shaolin Temple. Once there, she begged to see the Abbott and told him that he must save your life and she would leave herself to the mercy of the Shaolin temple. If they wanted to kill or peel her flesh, she wouldn’t object,” Mr. Mo Da said.
“Ah!” uttered Linghu Chong as he jumped up and turned over the wine bowls on the table. His whole body was suddenly covered in cold sweat and his limbs were trembling. His voice trembled, “This... this... this...” His mind was confused. He thought back to those days when his body was getting weaker as days passed by. One night, when he was sleeping, he heard Yingying wept sorrowfully. She said, “You’re getting thinner every day. I... I...” She was saying this very sincerely and he appreciated her concern. Then he vomited some blood and lost consciousness. When he became clear-headed, he was already inside the Shaolin temple and Great Master Fangsheng had already passed him countless amount of inner energy to save him. But he didn’t know how he ended up in Shaolin or where Yingying had gone. She had actually risked her own life to save his own. He couldn’t help as tears filled his eyes and finally flowed down his cheeks.
Mr. Mo Da sighed. “Although this young lady Ren’s family background is from the Devil Sect, she treated you with sincerity and passion. From Shaolin School, Xin Guoliang, Yi Guozi, Huang Guobo, and Jueyue had all fallen under her hand. So when she went to Shaolin, she didn’t expect to return alive, but in order to save you, she... she disregarded her own life. Seeing this, Great Master Fangzheng didn’t want to kill her but he also couldn’t just let her go. That’s why she was imprisoned inside a cave at the back of the Shaolin temple. This Young lady Ren has many generations of subordinates from various clans. Of course they all wanted to save her. I heard these last few months, Shaolin School hasn’t had one day of peace. From the day they captured her till now, some people said more than a hundred people had gone there to rescue her.”
Linghu Chong’s mood surged when he heard this and he couldn’t control it for a long time. As his feelings subsided, he asked, “Martial uncle Mo, you said before everyone was vying for the Chief position and there's already fierce fighting inside the rescue group. How is this matter?”
Mr. Mo Da sighed. "I heard that these people from the unorthodox sects usually just follow young lady Ren's order. Without someone with authority to order them around, they're just madly running and f
ighting with each other. None of them would submit to anyone. Now they're going to Shaolin temple on a rescue mission. They all know that Shaolin temple is the realm's oldest martial art school and matters would be difficult to handle there. Moreover, if they go there one by one then they know they would never be able to go back out alive. That's why they gathered so many people to form an alliance before going. After this alliance was formed, then there must be a leader. I heard in these last few days, they've been fighting over this leadership position. Several people have died and been injured and they've lost many people because of this. Brother Linghu, I think you should rush over there and control them. Whatever you say, who would dare to disobey you, haha, haha!"
Mr. Mo Da was laughing happily while Linghu Chong's face turned scarlet red. He knew that what he said was correct, but the alliance would only submit to him because of their respect towards Yingying. Later, when she found out about this, she would surely throw a big tantrum. Suddenly, he thought, "Yingying has very deep feelings towards me but she's very thin-skinned. What I'm afraid most is if people joke at her saying that her love towards me is unrequited and I can't repay her kindness. I must repay her kindness but when news of this spread throughout Jianghu, people will say that Linghu Chong is passionately devoted to her, then she probably don't want to live anymore because of embarrassment. It's best if I just rushed into Shaolin by myself and rescues her. If I couldn't rescue her, then they can just say that I made a disturbance there to beg for alms." At this thought, he said, "Heng-Shan School's Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai already went to Shaolin temple to seek for Abbott Fangzheng's compassion to release Young lady Ren. They're doing this in order to avoid a bloodbath in the Shaolin temple."
Mr. Mo Da nodded his head. "No wonder, no wonder! I found it really strange that Dingxian Shi Tai wasn't worried that you were left alone with her school's young ladies and nuns. So it was because of you that she's going to Shaolin."
Linghu Chong said, "Martial uncle Mo, little nephew now knows about this matter and feels really worried. I wish I could fly to Shaolin temple to see how the two Shi Tai are doing with their request. It's just that Heng-Shan School's martial sisters are all women and I'm worried that they might meet some difficulties en route to Shaolin."
Mr. Mo Da answered, "You can go!"
Linghu Chong happily said, "There's no harm if I go first?"
Mr. Mo Da didn't answer but picked up his huqin instead, and started playing it. Linghu Chong knew the meaning behind his word was that he was going to tend to Heng-Shan School's disciples. Martial uncle Mo's martial art and experience was not ordinary. No matter whether he was protecting them in secret or not, Heng-Shan School would be safe. He immediately bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness."
Mr. Mo Da replied, "Five Mountains Sword Schools, same root different branches. Why do you need to thank me for protecting them? If that Young lady Ren found out, I'm afraid she'll drink vinegar because of this."
Linghu Chong said, "Goodbye. Little nephew will bother martial uncle Mo to look after Heng-Shan School's martial sisters then." As he finished saying this, he rushed out of the shop.
He halted a step and looked towards the middle of the river. He saw lights from the windows on the boat spilled over and reflected on the Hanshui River. In the shop behind him, the sound of Mr. Mo Da's huqin rapidly disappeared. He could only hear the calm of the night. It was really peaceful.
Chapter 26 Besieging the Temple
Two days later, the mob arrived at Shaolin Temple on Mount Shaoshi. The mob had grown to the size of over five thousand people. Loud drumbeats from hundreds of huge drums thumped all together with earthshaking power.
Linghu Chong travelled quickly to the north and reached a large town on a clear and beautiful day. He went into a restaurant in the city. Hubei's most famous pastry was dried bean curd with vegetables and meat wrapped inside a skin made from bean curd powder. It was very tasty. Linghu Chong finished three plates of these before he came out of the shop.
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.