by Derek Dorris
This posed an awkward dilemma for the tiny hunchback. If he didn't show his face at this meeting, the event would lose its crucial credibility. Like everyone who was invited to these meetings, the present attendees were among the less reputable members of Wulin—what was often referred to as its “unorthodox side”. They wouldn't agree to join the Qui if there weren't promises of rich rewards and a master of genuine power to back those promises up. If they signed up, they knew they'd be fighting Wong Shi Hong and any number of other elite fighters from the Wulin orthodoxy and that the resulting civil war would be ferocious. Even if they survived, their name would go down in infamy regardless of whether the Qui ultimately won or not. Yu Guo Wei's presence was a necessity.
However, the ingestion of such a large quantity of his own poison was no small matter despite both his immunity and the various remedies he had at his disposal. He had been in a bad way these last couple of days and even getting a message to the Jade Tiger network took more out of him than he could spare. However, he needed to know what Fu Xiaoli was going to do next—and if Liao Quan would get mixed up with them. So he hobbled to the nearest village and made contact with the criminal underworld.
Luckily for him, the Jade Tigers had a representative there and one of their best operatives in the area. With that organised, he holed up in a dilapidated house outside the village and meditated the poison out of his system, rejuvenating his strength. By the time the meeting came around, he was only about forty per cent healed so he ingested some pre-prepared compounds and set out for the town.
After everyone was seated, the Divine Alchemist greeted them and began to explain why he had called them here. This was the sticky bit because, although these people were hoodlums and gangsters of the martial world, they were nonetheless all citizens of the Liu Empire. Yu Guo Wei was actively trying to incite them into betraying their own country. As such, the smelly hunchback opened his speech by playing on the failures of the Empire and its inherent corruption. A lot of heads nodded in response giving him ease of mind to continue. However, it wasn't long before he was distracted by murmurings from around the room. Unsurprisingly, not everyone was so quick to turn their back on their country.
Abruptly, one of the Heavenly Claw brothers, a short thin man with sharp features and an even sharper voice, stood up to address the room. “We here, may not be—or even wish to be—considered heroes but there's only so much I can stomach and what I'm hearing tonight is utterly disgusting.”
Four of his martial brothers were present and began to cheer in agreement. Soon, a few others from around the hall felt brave enough to join in. Then, another Heavenly Claw brother weighed in, “Second Brother Teng is correct. Master Yu is a Great expert but we must look at what he's asking us to do. We may be from the unorthodox side of Wulin, some of us may even be bandits but the Jianghu is still our home—our children's home. No, what Master Yu is asking of us is wrong.”
Further murmurings of agreement were heard from across the sects as all eyes fell upon the hunchback. Yu Guo Wei had dealt with this kind of dissent up and down the country but tonight, given his condition, he was taking a chance. The crowd silenced, awaiting his response.
Irrespective of his injury, in the mind of the Divine Alchemist, talking away dissent was useless. He wasn't here to encourage debate. Slowing his breathing, he reached inside his cloak and—within the blink of an eye—a succession darts splintered the air. With four unmerciful cracks, all but one of the five Heavenly Claw brothers fell to the floor.
Only Second Brother Teng remained. Though physically unharmed, he stood unmoving like he too had expected to be slain. Eventually, his eyes began moving, saccading back and forth across the corpses of his martial brothers, looking for any signs of life. There were none. With a berserk groan that sounded like it began in the pit of his stomach, he charged towards Yu Guo Wei, ripping his short sword from its scabbard as he moved.
The Divine Alchemist stood deathly still, as if he wasn't even paying attention. Only at the last second did he move, extending a single index finger. Though his short sword was only forty centimetres long, the Heavenly Claw fighter still had the advantage of range but then, before everyone's eyes, Yu Guo Wei's finger appeared to elongate. Without seeing where he was struck, the spectators simply saw Teng stagger backwards before falling to the floor. Yu Guo Wei continued to speak to the room like nothing had happened. From that point on, he had the room’s complete respect.
Bai Feng looked on with admiration. Senior Yu is truly a divine expert, he was thinking. His reverie was interrupted however when he noticed Tu Ling entering from the back of the room behind her master. Both master and disciple scanned the room until their eyes met his. At that point, the monk casually looked away while Tu Ling did so awkwardly. Bai Feng wondered why they had come back but was, nonetheless, strangely happy to see Tu Ling return.
At a crucial juncture, a few of Yu Guo Wei's assistants appeared and began to pass out bags of silver and gold coins which most of the group seemed to appreciate. Those who didn't said nothing to indicate disapproval. While this was happening, Yu Guo Wei took the opportunity to rest and surreptitiously massage the Golden Bridge acupoint on his head. He was in a bad way.
Watching from his vantage point, Liao Quan spotted it immediately. He giggled and nudged Bai Feng with his elbow. “Watch this!” He took a coin from one of the bags, extended his arm around the pillar and flicked his thumb. The coin sped straight for its target, Yu Guo Wei's Low Lotus point on his left jaw, the counterpoint to the Golden Bridge. Detecting a projectile flying at him would normally be child's play to Yu Guo Wei but not so in his present condition. Added to that, Liao Quan's hand strength was so profound that the coin seemed to travel just ahead of the sound it made. As it struck him in the face, Yu Guo Wei’s head flew to the right; a mouthful of blood was vomited in the same direction.
To say the crowd were shocked was an understatement. Most assumed he had injured himself internally whilst defending himself against the Heavenly Claw Sect but, even if that were true, it would mean that Yu Guo Wei's constitution wasn't what it used to be. More and more, in a series of hushed exchanges, the crowd began to express their doubts as to whether they should hitch their star to this sick old man's wagon. But Liao Quan wasn't finished. A second coin flew, striking Yu Guo Wei on the White Gate just above his left kidney. Liao Quan knew that, not wanting to vomit any more blood, all of Yu Guo Wei's internal pressure was now forcing things downwards. The natural effect of such a strike at such a moment was to cause something nobody expected. The sound hit the crowd’s ears just before the smell assailed their nostrils but the room was in such a state of shock, nobody even tried to cover their nose.
Suddenly, from behind the pillar came a belly laugh that nearly shook the roof. Liao Quan stumbled into view, holding onto his sides as they shook with uproarious laughter. “Old Alchemist,” he called out as he tried to catch his breath. “Now we're even for your attempt to trick me last week but I'll accept if you feel that you owe me a little more back because frankly... this has progressed beyond my wildest hopes!” So incapacitating was his laughter that Liao Quan was leaning on anyone in proximity. Tables were rocking and men around them were trying to shrug him off. But somehow—as they tried to escape his sprawling laughing stupor—they found it was like trying to rid themselves of an annoying fly.
“Who is this maniac?” one person was heard to say while trying to stifle his own laughter. Liao Quan was laughing so hard, it had become infectious. Within seconds, the whole room was trying desperately not to laugh. The more terrified they were of Yu Guo Wei, the more difficult it was to stop themselves and the harder they laughed into their hands. Initially, Bai Feng had stayed behind the pillar because he was wary of Yu Guo Wei but now Liao Quan had blown their cover, he moved into view so he could see Yu Guo Wei more clearly.
The hunchback hadn't moved since his accident. Another person would have run for the nearest dark hole after being humiliated like this but th
e Old Alchemist just sat there, staring icily at Liao Quan's antics. Bai Feng had a bad feeling. Something serious is going to happen, he thought.
With a sudden leap, Yu Guo Wei was flying upwards, bursting through the ceiling while, in the opposite direction, golden powder fell on top of the laughing crowd’s heads. “To hell with you all!” a disturbing voice thundered from above and with that, a lantern fell through the hole. Yu Guo Wei had prepared this fail safe at most of his meetings—in case he found he was trying to bribe one too many patriots and had to escape with his life. The last thing he thought he would be using it for was to prevent word spreading through the Jianghu that he soiled his pants in front of a crowd of experts.
Flames engulfed the hall in a matter of seconds, roars of laughter turned to screams of horror as the experts were transformed into manic balls of fire. Bai Feng shouted at Liao Quan but before he could move, the old lunatic was already darting his way. “Don't worry Feng'er, the day a self-soiling alchemist can turn me or my brother into a fireball is the day I stop calling myself Liao Quan!” With a casual grab, he took hold of Bai Feng and continued straight for the door at such a remarkable speed that Bai Feng felt like he himself was going to throw up.
At the appropriate signal, Yu Guo Wei's assistants had barricaded the doors with metal girders but Liao Quan merely held his palm up and ran straight at them. The doors exploded outwards killing three or four of Yu Guo Wei's henchmen in a cloud of metal fragments and splinters.
“Wait a minute!” Bai Feng shouted as they came to a stop outside the hall. “The young man—we need to help him too!”
“What young man?” Liao Quan asked.
“We bumped into him at the restaurant. He was with that large monk,” Bai Feng responded hastily.
“That was no young man!” Liao Quan laughed as an explosion from inside the building rocked the street.
“Help him!” pleaded Bai Feng. Liao Quan scratched his head with a puzzled look and then shrugged in acquiescence. In a blur of blue beard and yellow robes, he disappeared back into the town hall. He was gone a long time when Bai Feng began to regret his request. I just put my friend's life at risk for a person I don't even know. I must be mad!
“First Brother!” he shouted as he ran straight for the burning building. At that moment, a giant boulder of flaming corpses rolled through the front door. They were burned to a crisp but from within their mass, burst Liao Quan and a choking Tu Ling.
“Well done First Brother! That was smart.”
“What was?”
“Using the bodies as a shield.”
Liao Quan laughed. “What shield? That was a corpse ball. You know, for riding in?”
Bad Feng stared vacantly at the old man for a moment before being drawn back to more pressing matters. Helping Tu Ling to stand up, he led her away from the building. She had inhaled a lungful of smoke but when Liao Quan struck her on three or four pressure points in blindly quick succession, her body suddenly bent forward in such a way that her lungs expelled every bit of the noxious fumes. One more pressure strike on her back caused her head to shoot back and she inhaled a lungful of fresh air.
It was in that moment Bai Feng saw the true shape to Tu Ling’s body causing him to step back involuntarily. “You're a girl!”
“Of course she is,” Liao Quan said. “Listen to her voice.” The Old Fool began poking Tu Ling in the ribs with his finger. “Speak female, speak. Let my brother hear your womanly voice.”
Tu Ling was still gasping for breath but Liao Quan's irritating poking finally provoked a reaction. She whirled on her tormenter. “Quit it you crazy old man. Or I'll pull your stupid blue beard off!”
Bai Feng could see her brown eyes blazing, wisps of her dishevelled hair falling down over her shoulders and her snowy white face reflecting the recently risen moon. He was enraptured.
Noticing this, Tu Ling immediately redirected her rebuke at him. “And just what are you staring at? Yes, I'm a girl. So what? Do you think I can't give you a beating either?”
“No,” said Bai Feng amusedly. “It's just that… well you look a lot better as a girl.”
“Who asked you for your opinion?”
In no mood for an argument, Bai Feng resisted the temptation to retort and merely grinned. “Look we better get you somewhere safe. What about your master?”
“He can take care of himself,” Tu Ling announced coldly. “And so can I.”
“You heard her Brother,” interrupted Liao Quan impatiently. “Let's get going. Leave her to her weird temperaments.”
“You old goat!” Tu Ling shouted. “Who are you to call me ‘weird’?”
“I'm not a goat, you're a goat.”
“I'm not the goat, you are!”
“No, it's you,” Liao Quan hit back nonchalantly. “I've investigated the matter thoroughly and I can confirm with a hundred per cent certainty that you are in fact, the goat.”
“You really do want me to pull that silly beard off your face,” Tu Ling threatened at the edge of her restraint. “Don't you?”
Liao Quan looked at her coolly. “You're a beard.”
“That's enough Brother Quan,” Bai Feng said, doing his best to smother a chuckle before Liao Quan brought his argument to a close with a satisfied smile and strode off.
“Can we help you in anyway?” Bai Feng asked.
It was at this point that, within Tu Ling's mind, one goal provided the pretext for another. She was charged with following these two. Yet there was something about this Bai Feng person she wanted to see more of. There and then, she decided to accompany him and his strange old friend to wherever they were going. After all, she and her master had lost track of the two old women and the other young hero which is why they came back to the town hall in the first place. Perhaps, Bai Feng and this First Brother of his will lead me to the rest of their group, she thought.
“Where are you travelling to?” she asked, now affecting a calmer demeanour.
“We're heading for Gongsum,” said Bai Feng.
“Oh, that's where I'm going,” Tu Ling replied, feigning surprise. “Perhaps we can accompany each other after all. But you better tell that grandfather of yours to be more courteous to me.”
“‘Grandfather’,” Liao Quan shouted over to her. “I'm younger than your mother you, you—”
Bai Feng interjected calmly, “First Brother, she was just joking with you. Please let's all make friends.” He turned to Tu Ling, “My name is Bai Feng and this is the revered martial master Liao Quan. We'd be happy to escort you to Gongsum.”
Liao Quan softened, “Ah joking, good I like jokers, not like that stuffy Xun Da. You and I will get on great so, little missy.”
At hearing the name “Liao Quan”, Tu Ling stood in shock. This is the famed kung fu genius, Senior Liao! Who would ask us to follow him? If father knew about this, he never would've accepted the job.
Tu Ling was remarkably clever but when Yu Guo Wei made contact with her father's network, he did so anonymously so no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure out what the purpose behind this mission was. However, she knew enough about Liao Quan's reputation and spotted enough about the way he just behaved to manage him from then on. “My name is Tu Ling not ‘little missy’. I don't know who you are but of course, I've heard about your friend here. Only I don't care about titles or reputations. I'm just going to call him First Brother too,” she said flatly as she strode on ahead of them. Outwardly she sounded defiant but inwardly she was nervous at this transgression of etiquette.
However, Liao Quan was elated. “Well said Fourth Sister! Well said. We'll all be the best of friends from here on. Third Brother, let's leave those stinky old ladies and that boring old Xun Da to themselves and find some adventures of our own. What do you say?”
“No. This isn't a game. Uncle Wong needs us at Gongsum and that's where we're going.”
“Hmm,” Liao Quan sounded as if he was thinking it over. “Okay, let's go help them. That'll be fun too. But it's too
late tonight. Let's get a room until the morning.”
“Let's get two rooms,” corrected Tu Ling but not without using her intelligence again. “But not in this town. That disgusting hunchback was mightily offended by you; he might come back here and destroy the whole town.”
* * *
The three headed towards the next village which was some distance away without horses. They had been walking for hours and their legs were beginning to feel tired. “We're not going to make the next town anytime soon,” Bai Feng said while stifling a yawn. “We better we rest up at some point.”
Soon after, they stopped at the roadside to eat. Tu Ling took out some cold dim sum and divided them among the three. Bai Feng noticed the delicate way that she ate and reprimanded himself for ever believing she was a boy—no matter how good her disguise.Watching her titillated him with feelings that he never experienced before. He had grown up isolated on Earthly Mountain and was ignorant of women and the effect they would have on him. Now in the presence of one—and a particularly beautiful one at that—he realised they were exciting to be around. Not the same excitement you get from practicing kung fu or fighting, he thought. This was even more pleasant.
Though inexperienced in the ways of talking to women, Bai Feng was nonetheless highly disciplined in his thinking so he maintained a tight grip on his behaviour and for the most part remained impenetrable to Tu Ling’s keen insights. This bothered the usually young woman. She was unaccustomed to the kind of ambivalent responses she seemed to elicit from this young hero. In one moment, he was flippant, childish, and eager to fool around with his old friend. In the next, he seemed unusually attentive to her behaviour like for instance when she was combing her hair or like right now when she was eating. And then in the next moment, he would be serious, surveying his environment like a dangerous bird of prey. It was like he could adapt to the tone and atmosphere of his ever-changing surroundings with an instinctive grace—untouched by rumination or the silly concerns of daily life.