by Jin Yong
He didn't just say these words thoughtlessly. He really appreciated Yingying's sacrificing her own life for him. Even if he had to die for Yingying, he wouldn't have given much thought to it. However, if it were just any other day, even though he still would've thought the same thing in his heart, he wouldn't have said this publicly. Now, this speech of risking death was said with passion and righteousness, it warned everyone not to make fun of Yingying.
When they heard him said this, they were all reassured of him. They felt that Sacred Lady's judgement was right about this person. That white-bearded person said, "So Master Linghu is actually a passionate and righteous hero. If that false rumour in Jianghu were true that Master Linghu doesn't care about anyone but himself, then everyone
here would've turned cold towards you."
Linghu Chong said, "For the last few months, I was imprisoned and didn't know anything about the things happening in Jianghu. But night and day, I was thinking about Sacred Lady until all my hair turned white. Come, come, come! Let me salute my fellow friends with a cup. Thank you everyone for striving for Sacred Lady." Saying this, he
stood up and lifted his cup to drink and was followed by the others.
"Mr. Old, you said that many friends are fighting for the Chief position and injuring each other needlessly. It's still not too late for us to go there immediately and advise them to stop," Linghu Chong said.
"True. Zu Qianqiu and Night Cat already went. We should go catch up with them," Old Man said.
"Where are they?" Linghu Chong asked.
"Everyone's gathering at the Yellow Keep Plain," Old Man said.
"Yellow Keep Plain?" Linghu Chong queried.
"It's west of Xiang Yang in the middle of Mountain Jing," That white-bearded old man said.
"Let's eat and drink quickly then we'll go to Yellow Keep Plain. We've already fought for three days and three nights drinking wine up till now and everyone had already thought of every means, but no one's been able to make Linghu Chong dead drunk. Later, when everyone meets Sacred Lady, you can confess this to her," Linghu Chong said.
They all laughed and said, "Master Linghu wine's capacity is like an ocean. Even if we drink for three days and three nights, we're afraid that we won't be able to keep up."
Walking side by side with Old Man, Linghu Chong asked, "How's your daughter's illness? Is she much better now?"
Old Man replied, "Master, your heart is concerned about a lot of matters. Although she's not better, I'm happy that she also hasn't gotten any worse."
Linghu Chong had been holding a question in his heart since the beginning. Seeing the people behind him were tens of feet away, he asked, "A lot of friends said that Sacred Lady has been benevolent to everybody. I don't understand how she could have been kind to so many people in Jianghu when she is still so very young."
"Master really doesn't know the reason?" Old Man asked.
Linghu Chong shook his head, "I don't know."
"Master isn't an outsider so we don't need to conceal it from you. But everyone has sworn an oath to Sacred Lady not to divulge this secret. Master, please forgive our sin," Old Man said.
Linghu Chong nodded, "Is it because it's inconvenient to say or is it better not to say it?"
Old Man said, "Leave it to Sacred Lady to personally tell master, won't that be much better?"
Linghu Chong said, "The earlier the day I get to see her in person the better."
On the road, they met two more groups of people going to Yellow Keep Plain. When combined, the three groups consisted of more than a hundred people.
They arrived at Yellow Keep Plain really late at night and saw a gathering at the west side of the plain. They were still a li away from the gathering but the sounds of people calling out could already be heard. Linghu Chong quickened his steps towards the crowd. Under the moonlight, he could see a very large crowd surrounding an empty ground. He guessed there were more than one thousand people gathering around. He heard a person shouting, "Chief, Chief, naturally there's only one person who becomes Chief. With six of you guys, how do you all become Chief?"
Another person answered, "The six of us can be considered as one, and one as six. If you obey our six brothers' orders then we six brothers are Chief. You talk too much; we'll tear you into four pieces first before we talk further."
Linghu Chong didn't need to see who was talking; he already knew that it was one of the Peach Valley Six Fairies. But each of their voices sounded almost the same so he couldn't tell which one it was. Everyone was frightened by what that Peach Valley Fairy said and didn't dare to shout anymore. However, it was apparent that the crowd refused to accept the Peach Valley Six Fairies' words as final. Some people at the outer edge of the crowd were still scolding, while others were laughing loudly unseen, and some were throwing rocks around. It was total chaos.
"Who's throwing rocks at old man?" Peachtree Leaf Fairy loudly shouted.
"Your old man," Someone answered from the darkness.
"What? If you're my brother's old man, then you're my old man too?"
Peachtree Flower Fairy indignantly asked.
Another person said, "That's not necessarily true." Several hundred people erupted in laughter when they heard this.
"Why not necessarily true?" Peachtree Flower Fairy was confused.
"I also don't know why. I only have one son," Another person chimed in.
"You only have one son, what's that got to do with us?" Peachtree Root Fairy questioned.
Another person with a rough voice laughed loudly, "Got nothing to do with you. But probably got something to do with your brothers."
"Has it got to anything do with me then?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy inquired.
One of the earlier person laughed, "Well, you have to look whether your appearance is similar to them or not."
"Do you think my appearance is somewhat similar? Come out and take a look," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.
"What's there to look at? Look at it yourself in the mirror," That person laughed.
Suddenly, four shadows moved extremely fast. They pushed forward and grabbed that person out. That person was tall and big. He probably weighed around 200 catties. The Peach Valley Six Fairies had caught four of his limbs but they didn't tear him apart. The four fairies looked at his face under the moonlight. Then Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "Doesn't look like me. How can I look that ugly? Number three, I'm afraid he looks a bit like you."
"Pei, am I uglier than you? All the realm's heroes are here, let's ask them to compare," Peachtree Branch Fairy said.
The people in the crowd had seen earlier that the Peach Valley Six Fairies weren't pleasant to look at with weird body shapes and ugly faces. If they had to pick which one was the best looking then that wouldn't be an easy task at all. Right now, they were looking at that big man seized in the hands of four of the fairies. At any
moment, he could be torn to four pieces. Everyone was feeling apprehensive and no one dared to laugh.
Linghu Chong was aware of the temperaments of the Peach Valley Six Fairies. If something went slightly wrong, then this big man would be torn to pieces. He called out clearly, "Peach Valley Six Fairies, how about if you let Linghu Chong appraise you?" As he said this, he slowly stepped out from the crowd.
When they heard the name "Linghu Chong", it created a sensation throughout the crowd. More than a thousand pair of eyes were now trained on him. But Linghu Chong didn't look away from the Peach Valley Six Fairies afraid that they might get excited and rip that big man apart. He said, "Put this friend down first then I'll have a look at you." The four fairies immediately put the big man down.
This man's stature was very grand and when he stood up on the ground, he looked like an iron pagoda. He had just escaped from death and was still scared stiff. His face was grey like a corpse and his whole body was trembling. He knew that trembling like that was not appropriate for a hero, but his body was trembling by itself and he couldn't stop it from shaking. He wanted to say a few words to
save his face but he only managed to tremble, "I... I... I..."
Linghu Chong saw him scared to death but still looking handsome. He said to the Peach Valley Six Fairies, "Six Peachtree brothers, you don't look like this friend at all. Compared to him, you're even more handsome. Peachtree Root Fairy's bones are wonderful, Peachtree Trunk Fairy's stature is big and tall, Peachtree Branch Fairy's limbs are slender, Peachtree Leaf Fairy's eyebrows are distinct and eyes are elegant, Peachtree Flower Fairy's... his... his eyes are like the stars, and Peachtree Fruit Fairy is full of vigour. Whoever meets any of you, he will promptly recognise your six righteous and heroic faces, young... middle-aged and handsome."
The crowd heard this and burst into laughter, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies were very happy. Old Man had already experienced suffering under the hands of the Peach Valley Six Fairies before, so he knew they were not to be trifled with. He addressed the crowd, "In my opinion, looking around at all the heroes here, you all have many
types of good martial arts. But speaking of facial appearances, no one can compare with the Peach Valley Six Fairies."
After hearing this, the crowd started to call out. Someone hollered, "Not only handsome but also elegant. No one in the world can come close to them."
Another one called out, "When Pan An retreated, Song Yu also retreated."
And another one chimed in, "In Wulin, the number one to number six most handsome men are these six people. Master Linghu is number seven at most."
The Peach Valley Six Fairies grinned from ear to ear thinking that those people were actually praising them. They didn't realise that they were actually being teased. Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "My mum used to say that the six of us are stinking ugly. So she was wrong." Another person laughed, "Of course she's wrong. There are only six of you, how do you turn into stinking ugly?”26
Another person softly said, "Add into that their dad and mum..." but before he managed to finish this sentence, the people around him quickly covered up his mouth.
Old Man said in a loud voice, "Friends, we have some luck tonight. Master Linghu was just about to single-handedly break through Shaolin temple and get Sacred Lady out. But he met us on the way and heard that everyone is here so he came to talk with us. He said their appearances are handsome, naturally we'll regard Peach Valley Six Fairies..." When the crowd heard this, they burst into laughter again.
Old Man waved his hand telling them to stop but among the laughter, someone said, "Breaking through Shaolin temple to save Sacred Lady is a big matter. What does it have to do with facial appearances? In my opinion, we should just offer Master Linghu the Chief position and ask him to preside over all matters and give out orders. Everyone will then respectfully comply with his orders. What does everyone think of this?"
Everyone in the crowd knew that Sacred Lady was trapped in Shaolin because of Linghu Chong. They also knew that Linghu Chong's martial art was outstanding. That day in Henan, he fought together with Xiang Wentian against heroes from all paths. That incident created a sensation in Jianghu. But even if he was weak, they would still give him the position of chief in respect to Sacred Lady. When they heard what Old Man and the other person said, they were all happy and started to cheer and applaud. Peachtree Flower Fairy suddenly said awkwardly, "After we rescued young lady Ren out of the temple, will she become Linghu Chong's wife?"
All of the people here revered young lady Ren but they also thought what Peachtree Flower Fairy said wasn't wrong. But they would never have dared to publicly say this. Linghu Chong was completely embarrassed and stayed silent. Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "He wants a wife and also wants to become Chief. That's too nice of him. We'll help him rescue his wife, but it's better if the position of Chief is occupied by us, six brothers." Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Yeah! Only if his skill is better than us then we don't have to discuss this matter anymore."
Suddenly, Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Fruit Fairies moved together. They grabbed Linghu Chong's four limbs and lifted him up in the air. They moved really fast and there was no hint that they were going to do this so it was too late for Linghu Chong to avoid it.
The crowd was frightened to see this and they called out together, "Don't do that! Let go of him!"
Peachtree Leaf Fairy laughed, "Don't worry everyone. We're not going to hurt him. We're just going to make him promise to make us Chief..."
He had not finished speaking when Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, and Peachtree Fruit Fairies suddenly shouted strangely and tossed Linghu Chong away. They blurted out, "You... why are you using such a demonical method?"
When Linghu Chong's four limbs were grabbed by these four idiots, he was really afraid that they would really rip him apart so he immediately used his Art of Essence Absorbing. The four Peachtree Fairies felt their internal energy flowing out of their palms. When they tried to use their inner energy to resist the flow, it actually poured out even faster. So they were frightened and quickly let go of him. Linghu Chong somersaulted and landed steadily on his feet.
Peachtree Leaf Fairy hastily asked, "What?"
Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered together, "This... this Linghu Chong's martial art is really weird. We can't hold on to him."
"It's not that we can't hold on to him. Just that suddenly, we don't want to hold on to him anymore," Peachtree Trunk Fairy corrected.
The people in the crowd cheered loudly and said, "Peach Valley Six Fairies, do you submit now?"
"Linghu Chong is our six brothers' good friend. Linghu Chong is the same as Peach Valley Six Fairies. Peach Valley Six Fairies is the same as Linghu Chong. If Linghu Chong becomes Chief then it'll be just like the Peach Valley Six Fairies becoming Chief. So what's there not to submit to?" Peachtree Root Fairy said.
"In the whole world, how can you not submit to yourself? Your question is too stupid," Peachtree Fruit Fairy added.
When the crowd looked at the expressions of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, they guessed that the Peach Valley Six Fairies had suffered a loss when they grabbed Linghu Chong but they were now just saving face and didn't want to acknowledge it. Although the crowd didn't really understand the reason, they started cheering and laughing anyway.
Linghu Chong said, "Friends, this time we're going to meet the Sacred Lady and also rescue our many friends who have been trapped in Shaolin temple. Shaolin temple is Wulin's most respected place and their 72 unique skills have long been famous for several hundred years. Any sect alone would not be able to contend against them, but we'll just overwhelm them with number since we have over a thousand heroes here
and more good men to come. Although our martial art is inferior compared to Shaolin's monks and their secular disciples, we'll surely win by fighting them ten to one."
Everyone cheered, "Right, right! Is it really true that Shaolin's monks have three heads and six arms?"
Linghu Chong continued, "However, even though Shaolin's Great Masters have imprisoned Sacred Lady, they haven't treated her badly. The temple's Great Masters are learned and righteous eminent monks. They are also merciful and people respect them for their virtues. So even if we destroy Shaolin temple, I'm afraid Jianghu's heroes will say that we've won only by relying on our sheer number, which is not the
behaviour of heroes. That's why in my opinion, we should talk respectfully with them first before fighting then we can say that we've yielded a step to Shaolin temple. This way, we would put Sacred Lady and our other friends out of danger. We would also avoid a big battle which is a good thing."
"Master Linghu's words suit well with me. If we're really going to fight, then both sides will suffer many deaths and injuries," Zu Qianqiu said.
"But Master Linghu's words don't suit me. If both parties don't fight then there won't be many deaths and injuries on both sides. Where's the fun then?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.
"We already agreed that Master Linghu is Chief. So everyone must listen to his order," Zu Qianqiu said.
"Correct, you should let us six brothers give orders out," Peachtree Root Fairy said.
The crowd heard those six brothers creating a scene and obstructing the real issues being discussed. They were mad and a lot of people grasped the handles of their swords and sabres already waiting for Linghu Chong's order. Once the order was given, they would immediately chop these six brothers into pieces. Although the six brothers' martial arts were higher, they would never be able to continuously block the attacks from dozens of people.
Zu Qianqiu said, "What does a Chief do? Naturally they give orders out. If he doesn't give orders out then how can he still be called Chief? Of course this character "zhu" means that he has to give out orders."27
"Since that's the case, just call him "meng" only without the "zhu"," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.
Peachtree Leaf Fairy shook his head, "Calling him "meng" only is very difficult."
"In my esteemed opinion, since calling him "meng" only is difficult, why don't we tear apart this character and we can call him "ming xue"!" Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.
"Wrong, wrong! When you tear open the character "meng", the character at the bottom, less a "pie", isn't the character "xue". So what character is that?" Peachtree Branch Fairy said.
The Peach Valley Six Fairies didn't know the character "min" was from the word "qi min" (Household utensils). Everyone in the crowd didn't want to follow their shameful behaviour so they didn't say anything.
Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "It may less a 'bit', it's still 'xue'. It's best if I cut you to show you, if I cut you deeply then a lot of blood will come out. So it's still blood. If I take into consideration the feelings between us and cut you lightly then not much blood will come out. Although it's less, it's still blood."28
Peachtree Branch Fairy indignantly said, "If you're giving me a cut then of course it's going to be light. There's no need to take into consideration the feelings between us. Why do you want to give me a cut?"
Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "My "ke" doesn't have cut. My hand also doesn't have a sabre."29