by Derek Dorris
Excusing himself, he went to the house and improvised some stretchers before bringing them back. He and Liao Quan carried the two patients back to the house after which, Liao Quan went out to catch some dinner.
By the time he returned with a huge deer strewn over his shoulder both Bai Feng and Fu Xiaoli had recovered consciousness. “Ah, Third Brother, I'm happy to see you've come back to us. And you Blue Lady, I've decided I like my beard like this. You can relax too.”
“Fool!” Fu Xiaoli spat. “I told you already I didn't do that to your beard. How can you wander through the world so stupidly and survive for over a hundred and twenty years?”
Bai Feng was stunned, he knew Liao Quan was an old man but he looked to be only in his seventies. Forget about how quickly he moved!
Ng Méh-è interrupted, “Liao Quan, who put it in your head that Fu Xiaoli did that to your beard?”
“Nobody,” Liao Quan protested. “It just seemed reasonable. After all, she is the Blue Lady.”
“Are you sure you didn't conveniently bump into Yu Guo Wei the day afterward your beard was dyed and that it might've been he who inserted that idea into your thick skull?” Ng Méh-è asked.
“Hmm, I did meet him the next day but why would he want me to kill Fu Xiaoli?” Liao Quan asked.
“You idiot!” Ng Méh-è flared. “He's working for the Qui! They're attempting to wipe out all the great masters so there's nobody to repel their invasion.”
“But Fu Xiaoli was injured. He could have beaten her himself without barely lifting a finger? So why didn't he little missy? I'll tell you—”
“First Brother,” Bai Feng interjected. “Senior Ng Méh-è is correct. Yu Guo Wei needed you to kill Fu Xiaoli because Tao Huiqing will come after whoever kills his wife. In one fell swoop, he gets rid of two great masters—Fu Xiaoli and either you or Tao Huiqing, depending on who wins the latter contest.” This last little piece to Yu Guo Wei's plan only became apparent to Bai Feng as he was speaking. He couldn't help admiring how clever this adversary was.
“Ha!” Liao Quan laughed. “Why would I be afraid of old Breaking Wind? Let him come.”
Ng Méh-è rarely lost her temper but she was exhausted from all her recent travelling not to mention the energy she had just transferred into Fu Xiaoli. More than that, however, Liao Quan would try the patience of a deity. “That's not the point! So long as one of you is removed from the equation, that's one less master to cause him and those Qui dogs trouble.”
Liao Quan seemed a little afraid of arguing with Ng Méh-è so he walked away grumbling to himself.
* * *
Later on after dinner, Fu Xiaoli explained her injury to Ng Méh-è. She paid no attention to the three men but they listened carefully. Under Ng Méh-è’s advice, it was agreed they would stay there and recover for a couple of days and then travel to Gongsum as a group. Fu Xiaoli was reticent about aligning herself with this rabble but she respected Ng Méh-è profoundly and was secretly very worried for Tao Huiqing’s safety now that he and she had unwittingly become important pieces on Yu Guo Wei's chess board.
It was an unstable group thanks mainly to Liao Quan’s presence. He refused to speak to Xun Da for a day and was dismissive of Fu Xiaoli. Eventually however, they all started to warm to each other. Liao Quan’s loyalty remained an issue, however. Despite Yu Guo Wei’s attempts to sew dissent between the great masters, he wouldn't acknowledge him as an enemy and even talked about looking forward to seeing him again. They tried to remind him that he had wilfully put the old lunatic’s life in danger but they couldn't make a dent.
“You're a strange man,” Ng Méh-è remarked at one stage. “It's been so long since we've seen each other, I forgot how strange.”
“It's not been that long,” Liao Quan replied. “I must say though that you're looking especially pretty these days.”
Everybody's face went white with shock. Ng Méh-è merely shook her head as if ignoring him.
“Old fool! That woman is a renowned nun!” Fu Xiaoli rebuked. “And you speak to her like that?”
“I know she's a nun. She can still look pretty though,” Liao Quan fired back.
“I'm over a hundred years of age!” Ng Méh-è protested, trying desperately not to laugh. “You really are out of your mind!”
“I'm over one hundred too,” Liao Quan replied, pointing to himself. “Are you saying I'm not pretty? Because I'm twice as pretty as you are. And three times as pretty as Fu Xiaoli. Only Feng’er can rival me in the looks department.” They all erupted in laughter.
“You certainly have a high opinion of yourself,” Fu Xiaoli interrupted. “Only yesterday, you claimed you were the manliest of the Ten Greats.”
“I didn't say that,” Liao Quan responded with a straight face. “You said it.”
“Why would I say that? I'm a woman,” Fu Xiaoli retorted incredulously.
“I thought it was kind of strange at the time but there you go,” Liao Quan responded.
“Just don't talk to me!” Fu Xiaoli replied, exasperated to the point of madness.
“You just don't talk to me!” Liao Quan fired back.
“Enough! Just when you make me laugh, you go and make me angry again,” Fu Xiaoli said, just about hiding her mirth behind a stern frown.
Distractions on the Road Back
The next day, the weather turned foul yet the group had wasted enough time resting. Just after dawn, they set out for Gongsum in the downpour. Two handsome young men alongside three elderly people—one a nun, another a crazy looking man with a blue dyed beard and a stick on his back—even without the soaking, they made for a strange looking group. This, of course, made them easy to track if someone was so inclined. As it happened, someone was.
Almost a kilometre behind, a tall burly monk with a spiky beard and a handsome young disciple followed them. The monk was Xu Déshì, the most senior martial brother of the Jade Tiger Clan, a feared martial sect that hired their skills out to anyone who paid for them. This mission wasn't as distasteful as many of their previous missions—nothing more than an impromptu arrangement to follow and surveil. So they did just that, the disciple on horseback, and the monk walking in large strides beside him. The reason for this reversal in master-disciple etiquette was the latter was the only child of the Jade Tiger leader, Tu Xiaobo.
Tu Xiaobo was one of Wulin's more curious characters. He started out as a petty thief but after meeting a young woman in his early twenties, he tried settling down to a normal life. Needless to say, it didn't work out, yet rather than going back to the life of an outlaw, he became a priest. At the young age of twenty-five, he even established his own sect and dedicated his time to developing an impressive kung fu called the Jade Tiger Style.
Tu Xiaobo was never particularly devout in a religious sense; he just liked the authority of being a sect leader. In fact, many of the disciples he took in were unrepentant criminals on the run from the authorities, only too happy to find shelter with a powerful fighter. At forty-two years of age, Tu Xiaobo grew weary of ascetic living and began to actively recruit Wulin’s shadier characters into his sect with the express intention of putting their skills to nefarious use. Espionage, larceny, kidnapping, assassination, little was beyond the realms of acceptability. Tu Xiaobo proved to have an innately devious mind and his tactical astuteness along with his wanton cruelty earned the Jade Tiger Sect a fearsome reputation in a matter of a few years.
So replete was his change in lifestyle that Ti Xiaobo even took a wife and went as far as trying to create an heir for his family's new and thriving business. The heir he received was named Tu Ling whom he placed under the tutelage and protection of his most powerful disciple, Xu Déshì. Though Tu Ling looked for all intents and purposes like the perfect heir to the sect’s business, both handsome and dignified, there was one problem. He was in fact a she. Tu Ling had taken to disguising herself as a boy when she was younger to avoid attracting unwanted attention when she went on dangerous missions with Xu Déshì. However, when her fa
ther grew fond of people complimenting him on producing such a fine son, he began encouraging his daughter to dress like a boy during every excursion. She loved her father so she was happy to oblige him and—having done it so often—it felt normal to her now.
The party she and her master were presently being paid to follow had been travelling together for two days. They weren't in a hurry as it seemed some of them were injured and recuperating. Given their average age, she wouldn't have expected them to move more quickly anyway. She had gotten close enough to see their faces on one occasion and what she saw had been playing on her mind all morning. Something about the party’s youngest member had caught her attention. He was handsome and tall, the kind of traits a young lady would normally notice but it wasn't that. It was his eyes, they were extraordinarily bright. More than that, she was sure she had seen them before. That's it! I've met him before—but where?
At length, she allowed her mind to wander from the mystery and, trotting alongside her master, she began to think about the various missions they had been sent on since she was a child. Her life was defined by the violence her family's sect had brought to others. By now, it was part of the way she viewed the world and, typically, she never questioned the morality of what she did. Yet, on this morning, one mission in particular was troubling her. She remembered her and her master being sent to a rocky wilderness not far from where they were right now. They had scouted the strange terrain for days before eventually locating a hidden compound and the family of fugitives who were living there. She stood back as Xu Déshì and the other Jade Tiger operatives dispatched the extended family of husbands, wives, and even children. It was the first real slaughter she had ever witnessed. For the rest of the afternoon, the faces of that family flashed repeatedly in her mind.
* * *
Later that evening, they passed through a small village and Xu Déshì began quizzing shopkeepers and innkeepers for information on the movements of the party ahead of them. Tu Ling was standing by a door to a restaurant daydreaming when she heard a calm but strong voice.
“First Brother, it better be here. We've looked everywhere else.”
“Yes, yes. I'm sure it's here.”
It was the young man they were following accompanied by the crazy old coot with the blue beard.
Liao Quan had taken an instant shine to Bai Feng and was determined that they become the closest of friends. He could sense irreverence towards formalities within Bai Feng and he liked it but he was also genuinely impressed with what a fine hero he looked. Liao Quan didn't really have any concept of how astonishing a fighter he himself was. He just charged in head first without thinking. So although Bai Feng couldn't compare with him, he very much looked up to the younger man.
Liao Quan’s martial art was mysterious in origin but he was principally known for his Lightning Arms Kung Fu which, at its height, blurred into a series of imperceptibly quick fists, punches, and elbows. Most of the other greats belittled Liao Quan for his manic behaviour but none of them would take his style for granted nor would they dispute his status as one of them. Yet he was the ultimate wild card—unpredictable and undependable. It was assumed that in a prolonged fight against any of the other Greats, his lack of concentration would ensure his eventual defeat. He had subdued Yu Guo Wei in a matter of seconds but, of course, he had caught him off guard. If there was to be a reckoning between those two, most including Yu Guo Wei, would favour the hunchback to prevail.
Bai Feng didn't care one bit. He was indebted to Liao Quan for saving his life and realising how touched the old man was when Bai Feng accepted him as “First Brother”, Bai Feng's feelings toward the old lunatic became quite genuine. He knew it bothered Xun Da that he was on such casual terms with a grandmaster but, for reasons he wasn't clear on, Bai Feng empathised with him. Bai Feng had lived a rather serious childhood, rigorously disciplining his mind away from other kids of his age. On the other hand, in many ways, the Old Fool never progressed beyond childhood. Perhaps, Bai Feng felt an affinity for this free spirit and saw something of his lost childhood in the old man’s personality.
Thus, the two became inseparable. They travelled side by side and when Liao Quan got in trouble with the group, Bai Feng would be the first to defend him. So it happened that morning when Xun Da realised he had lost his Shifu’s golden dagger. Liao Quan couldn't restrain his laughter and spilled the beans to Bai Feng on what he had done. It turned out that his amazingly fast hands were just as useful for pick-pocketing as they were for fighting. And when he saw Xun Da in possession of Wong Shi Hong's unique blade, he decided to steal it for Bai Feng. Bai Feng was aghast and told him to put it back but Liao Quan had gotten badly drunk the night before and left it at one of the many drinking establishments he was drinking in. And in retracing his steps, they were now crossing paths with Tu Ling and her master. In fact, as he walked through the door, Bai Feng almost walked straight into her.
“Excuse me,” he said politely but a little startled—he recognised this young man. In the last ten years, Bai Feng had met an extremely limited number of people due to his seclusion on Earthly Mountain. As such, people he did know we're difficult to miss. “My friend,” he said, “we've met before. Don't you remember back in Tang’she when we were children? We got into a bit of a misunderstanding.” Bai Feng was smiling now to show there were no hard feelings.
Needless to say, Tu Ling was rattled for myriad reasons. She had been dwelling on this man’s familiarity all day only to discover he was the street urchin who humiliated her in front of the Tang’she townsfolk not to mention her master. On top of that, she was being paid to track his and his party's movements, and worst of all, her master was just now in the middle of asking questions about them as they burst in on top of them.
“Oh, it's you,” Tu Ling replied as calmly as she could. “Yes… yes I remember. I'm sorry I was just leaving, excuse me please?” she muttered as she tried to get by him.
“Wait a minute!” Liao Quan shouted from behind. “Why are you dressed like a…”
“Excuse me, Senior,” a thin man who looked like a servant suddenly interrupted. “Are you and your party here for the meeting of martial experts?”
“‘Senior’,” Liao Quan roared. “I'm younger than your son. Get out of my… Wait, what meeting?”
“Oh, I apologise Sen…, eh good sir, I just noticed that you had a weapon on your back and I thought you might be attending the meeting.”
“Well of course I'm here for the meeting,” Liao Quan spoke imperiously. “Take me to it, Senior whoever you are.”
Tu Ling had used the interruption to escape Bai Feng's gaze and slip by him. Nevertheless, Bai Feng's thoughts were still affected by him, or what he believed was a “him”. Only, Liao Quan's excitement proved infectious and Bai Feng’s interest was soon as piqued as the old man’s.
“Feng'er, let's have a look,” Liao Quan said with a child's impatience. “So many experts, there's bound to be some fun!”
Bai Feng was still young at heart so, Wong Shi Hong's dagger completely forgotten, he agreed without too much coaxing.
Standing a short distance away, Xu Déshì was at a bit of a loss. He had been asked to follow Liao Quan's group but now they had divided. Added to that, his interest in this mysterious meeting was just as piqued as Liao Quan's was. Yet, as far as his employer was concerned, Fu Xiaoli was strategically the most important member of the group so he decided to resume his surveillance of her and the two others. “Disciple, let us leave,” he said to Tu Ling as he strode off ahead of her.
As Bai Feng and Liao Quan followed the servant toward the centre of the town, Bai Feng threw a last look over his shoulder and saw Tu Ling following her master out of town. She too looked back.
* * *
The servant led them to a spacious high-raftered hall which the townspeople usually used for meetings. Only tonight it had been commandeered by a very selective group of martial experts.
As Bai Feng and Liao Quan walked through the door into
the flare-lit hall, they were both shocked to see Yu Guo Wei seated up top in the position of honour. Bai Feng stopped in his tracks whereas Liao Quan was sharp enough to keep him moving.
“The Old Alchemist is still injured,” he sniggered. “He's trying his very best to look composed so he hasn't spotted us yet, hee-hee. Let's sit over there where he can't see us and listen to what he's up to.”
Liao Quan's name had reverberated throughout the Jianghu for decades but like many of the Ten Greats, few had seen him in the flesh so he and Bai Feng moved through the crowd without creating too much of a stir. Anyone who did notice him was more likely to sneer at his outlandish appearance than detect the presence of a grandmaster. The two sat down behind a wooden pillar which they used to obstruct Yu Guo Wei's view of them.
As more and more experts poured into the hall, Bai Feng couldn't help feeling he was at a very important event. He didn't know much about the world of Wulin but he recognised many of the emblems which the various sect members carried. Members of the Copper Spider Sect, the Yellow Lake Brotherhood, the Heavenly Claw Society, and the Five Point Star Gang were among the most prominent fighters present but there were at least a hundred others from dozens of different sects. Some attended on their own—others with disciples or martial brothers.
It was the kind of clandestine meeting which Yu Guo Wei had been hosting on behalf of the Qui king all around the country for the previous six months. The purpose of course was to recruit as many of the more corruptible Jianghu experts to Rui’In’s cause as possible.
Yu Guo Wei had been meaning to visit the far south for some time but had been preoccupied with other areas of the country. However, on arriving in the south to deal with Fu Xiaoli, he immediately organised a meeting in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. Of course, it hadn’t occurred to him that by the time the meeting came round, he'd be severely injured.