by Jin Yong
Priest Tianmen got even more indignant when he heard this. He shouted, "What's this got to do with me being the headmaster? No matter what anyone said, Taishan School will not be annexed while I'm in charge."
Yujizi said, "What you said is really beautiful, but inside your heart, you actually don't want to relinquish your position of headmaster."
Priest Tianmen indignantly said, "You really think that I'm that selfish?" He extended his hand and took out a black dagger out of his bosom. He then shouted, "From now on, I'm no longer the headmaster. If you want to be the headmaster, then come and do it!"
Everyone saw that this black dagger looked ordinary but all the seniors of the five mountains sword schools knew that it was a relic from the time when Priest Dongling started the Taishan School. This dagger had become the symbol of Taishan School's headmaster and had been passed down from headmaster to headmaster for the last three hundred years.
Yujizi retreated a step and coldly laughed. "You're willing to part with it?"
Priest Tianmen angrily replied, "Why wouldn't I be willing to part with it?"
"Alright, then give it to me!" As he said this, he extended his right hand and grabbed the dagger in Priest Tianmen's hand. Priest Tianmen didn't expect that Yujizi would actually grab the dagger from his hand. So as he was startled, the dagger was already snatched by Yujizi. Without thinking too much, he pulled out the long sword hanging on his waist.
Yujizi flew back and two green blurs were seen as two old priests blocked Priest Tianmen's way with their swords. They shouted, "Tianmen, you're defying your senior. Have you forgotten our school's commandment?"
Priest Tianmen saw that these two people were his martial uncles, Yuqingzi and Yuyinzi. His whole body shivered as he called out, "Martial uncles, you saw it with your own eyes, Yuji... ... What Martial Uncle Yuji did just a moment ago!"
Yuyinzi said, "We've seen it with our own eyes. You gave the school's headmaster position to Martial Brother Yuji. Abdicating your position to someone more worthy is a very good thing to do."
Yuqingzi said, "Since Martial Brother Yuji is your martial uncle, who is now also your headmaster, you've committed a very big sin by pulling out your sword to kill him."
Priest Tianmen saw that his two martial uncles were being unreasonably favourable towards Yujizi and were also unexpectedly finding faults with what he did. In an uncontrollable rage, he shouted, "I only said that in anger. How could the headmaster position be passed down so... so quickly, damn... damn it, I would never have passed it down to Yuji." In his fit of anger, he unexpectedly said some foul language.
Yuyinzi shouted, "Are you fit to be the headmaster after saying such kind of language?"
From amongst the Taishan School's group, a middle-aged priest stood up and said loudly, "Our school's headmaster has always been my master. What kind of tricks are martial uncles playing here?" This middle-aged priest had a Taoist name of Jianchu, and he was Priest Tianmen's second disciple.
This was followed by another person who stood up and shouted, "Martial Brother Tianmen already gave the headmaster position to my master. The thousands of people on top of Mount Songshan here saw and heard what happened. How could it be false? Martial Brother Tianmen said just a moment ago: 'From now on, I'm no longer the headmaster. If you want to be the headmaster, then come and do it!' You didn't hear it?" The one who said this was Yujizi's disciple.
More than a hundred people from the Taishan School's group started chanting, "Old headmaster abdicated, new headmaster takes over! Old headmaster abdicated, new headmaster takes over!"
Priest Tianmen was the most senior disciple and he also had the most reputation in the school, but five or six of his martial uncles secretly plotted against him and suddenly went against him together. So from the two hundred Taishan School's people who had come up to Mount Songshan today, more than one hundred and sixty of them were his enemy. Yujizi lifted the iron dagger high above his head and said, "This is Grand-Master Dongling's divine weapon. Grand-Master's last words were: 'Seeing this dagger is like seeing Dongling'. Should we listen to Grand-Master's last word?"
More than one hundred priests loudly shouted, "Headmaster is right!" There was also people calling out, "Disciple Tianmen is rebelling, and is not adhering to our school's rules. He deserves to be punished."
When Linghu Chong saw what was happening, he was guessing that all these people were secretly put here by Zuo Lengchan. Priest Tianmen had an irritable nature and could easily be stirred up. With just a few words, he could become extremely angry. At this moment, hearing the loud voice of his enemy, Tianmen felt he couldn't restrain himself anymore. But even though he was extremely enraged at the moment, there was nothing that he could do. Linghu Chong gazed at where Huashan School was crowded together and saw his master standing with his hands behind his back. His master's face had no expression whatsoever. Linghu Chong thought, "Yujizi and his people set this up, and Master greatly objected to this. But he doesn't want to meddle in this and seems to be just calmly observing what's going on for now. I'll just follow his lead then."
Yujizi waved his left hand a few times and suddenly around one hundred and sixty priests from Taishan School dispersed and pulled their long swords out. They encircled the remaining fifty plus priests. All the priests encircled were Tianmen's disciples. Priest Tianmen indignantly bellowed, "You really want to fight? Let's fight to the death."
Yujizi said clearly, "Tianmen listen! Taishan School's headmaster has an order: Drop your sword and surrender. Do you submit to Grand-Master Dongling's dagger?"
Tianmen angrily replied, "Pei! Who said you're our school's headmaster?"
"Tianmen's disciples, this matter has nothing to do with you, throw down your weapons and surrender yourself! We won't look into this matter further, otherwise you'll be punished heavily," Yujizi called out.
Priest Jianchu shouted, "If you can promise to Grand-Master's dagger that you would never let the hard work of Grand-Master in establishing the Taishan School be wiped out, then all of us will support you in becoming headmaster. But if once you've become headmaster, you immediately sell our school to Songshan School, then you'll become the greatest sinner in our school. And when you die, you won't have face to meet Grand-Master."
Yuyinzi said, "You little kid, do you think you're good enough to talk to your seniors from the 'Yu' generation? When the five schools merge, wouldn't Songshan School's name also be wiped out? Five Mountains School, these two words of 'Five Mountains' include Taishan in it, what's not good about that?"
Priest Tianmen replied, "You were all secretly sowing discord and have all been bought by Zuo Lengchan. Hng, hng! If you want to kill then go ahead. But if you want me to promise to surrender to Songshan, I will never do it."
Yujizi said, "You're all refusing to obey's Headmaster's dagger! Careful! You'll die shortly and you will die unburied."
Priest Tianmen said, "Disciples loyal to Taishan School, today we'll die fighting and spill our blood on Songshan."
The disciples standing around him answered, "We'll fight to the death and will never surrender."
Even though their number was small, each of their faces showed their resolve. If Yujizi told his men to attack, it wasn't going to be quick in killing all of them. Also, the thousands of good heroes, Shaolin School's Great Master Fangzheng, Wudang School's Priest Chongxu, and the other senior masters around the base of the worship place would never allow them to take advantage of this and allow the massacre of their own martial brothers to happen. Yujizi, Yuqingzi, Yuyinzi, and their men were watching carefully, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly, someone from far to the left lazily said, "Old man has walked everywhere in this realm, I've also seen a lot of good heroes. But I rarely see a dog who disclaims what he says immediately after he said it."
Everyone looked at where the voice was coming from and they saw a person wearing hemp clothes leaning besides a big rock. His left hand was holding a big bamboo hat and he was using it to fan himse
lf. This person looked slim, his two eyes were squinted, and his face was showing a disapproving expression. No one knew who this person was, and they also didn't know who he was scolding. They heard him continued, "You clearly already gave your headmaster position to someone else, could it be what you were saying was bullshit? Priest Tianmen, your name has this character 'Tian', I'm afraid we should change it into the word 'Shit'. Then it'll sound right." Yujizi and his men understood that he was helping them, so they all laughed.
Tianmen indignantly said, "It's my own Taishan School's matter! Outsiders don't need to worry about it."
That hemp clothed man lazily replied, "When old man sees a matter that's not pleasing to my eyes, then I'll definitely worry about it. Today is the five mountains sword schools' good day for merger, but instead you, ox-nosed priest, pulled out your sword and created trouble here, making people lose interest. This is really bullshit."
Suddenly, they saw a flash as that hemp-clothed man jumped forward and rapidly charged at the encirclement of Yujizi and his men. He slashed the bamboo hat he was holding in his left hand down on Priest Tianmen's head. Unexpectedly, Priest Tianmen didn't block this strike. Instead he pointed his sword towards that person's chest who then hastily dropped down to the ground and rushed underneath Priest Tianmen's legs. He slapped his right hand on the ground to turn his body around. Then with a 'hu' sound, he kicked out repeatedly at the back of Priest Tianmen's body. These few moves displayed by that person were extremely weird. Every one of the heroes gathered on the mountaintop was skilled, but they had never heard of any of these moves before, let alone seen it. Tianmen couldn't guard against this attack and his acupoints were hit. The disciples around Tianmen immediately stabbed their swords towards that person. That man just laughed loudly and grabbed Priest Tianmen's back to block the incoming swords which forced the disciples to withdraw their swords in a hurry. That man shouted, "Throw down your swords, or I'll twist off this ox-nosed's head." As he said this, his right hand clutched the top of Tianmen's head.
Tianmen's martial art was useless now as his movement was controlled by that person, and he couldn't move at all. His once red face had now turned pale. Looking at the situation, it's clear that the hemp-clothed man only had to apply some power into his right hand to twist Tianmen's head around and break his neck. Jianchu said, "You suddenly ambushed us. This is not what heroes do. What's your name?" That person used his left hand to smack Priest Tianmen's ear and then lazily said, "Whoever is rude to me then I'll hit his master."
When Priest Tianmen's disciples saw that their honoured master was being insulted, they were startled and angry at the same time. Each of them only needed to pierce their long swords towards the hemp-clothed man at the same time, then that man would instantaneously become a hedgehog. But Priest Tianmen was still under his control so none of them dared to move for fear that their actions might hurt their master. A young man scolded, "You dog..." That man again lifted his hand and slapped Tianmen's ear. He then said, "You're a disciple from the school. How can you still say such foul language?"
Suddenly, Priest Tianmen cried out loudly as he suddenly turned around and came face to face with that hemp-clothed person. Blood spouted out of Priest Tianmen's mouth. The hemp-clothed person was startled and wanted to take his hand off Priest Tianmen, but it was too late. All of a sudden, that person's whole head and face became drenched with blood from Priest Tianmen, while at the same time, both of Priest Tianmen's hands turned around and grabbed his neck. With a sharp sound, that person's neck was snapped. Priest Tianmen then threw that person's body away, which landed tens of feet away. Priest Tianmen now looked completely tall and strong, and at the same time looked strangely powerful with his face full of blood. Everyone who saw him was terrified. After some time, he violently shouted and dropped to the ground. At first, he was unexpectedly attacked by that person who used many weird moves, then he was repeatedly insulted. So he couldn't hold back his anger anymore and was willing to lose his life, so he exerted his inner energy and forcefully broke his meridian. By doing that, he managed to open up his sealed acupoints, and then he exerted himself and killed that person. But his own meridian was broken so he wouldn't be able to live any more as well. Tianmen's disciples cried out "Master!" and rushed over to support him. But when they saw that he had already died, they all started scolding loudly.
From amongst the crowd, someone suddenly said, "Headmaster Zuo, you ordered that 'Green Ocean Owl' to deal with Priest Tianmen. Isn't that too much?"
Everyone turned around to look at the person who said this. What they saw was a rustic old man who some people knew of as He Sanqi, who usually went around selling wonton in the markets around the cities. As for that person who was violently killed by Priest Tianmen, no one knew who he was or where he came from. They only heard that He Sanqi called him as 'Green Ocean Owl'. Yet, still not many people knew who 'Green Ocean Owl' was.
Zuo Lengchan said, "What a joke. This is the first time that I have met Brother Ji. How can you say that I ordered him to do this?"
He Sanqi said, "Perhaps Headmaster Zuo hasn't been acquainted with 'Green Ocean Owl' for long, but you're well acquainted with this person's master 'White Malignant Star'."
When the word 'White Malignant Star' came out of He Sanqi's mouth, the crowd uttered their surprise. Linghu Chong vaguely remembered that many years ago Master-Wife had mentioned this name: 'White Malignant Star'. At that time, Yue Lingshan was only around six to seven years old and she was crying incessantly. Madam Yue tried to frighten her by saying, "If you keep crying then 'White Malignant Star' will come and take you away." When Linghu Chong asked who this 'White Malignant Star' was, Madam Yue replied, "'White Malignant Star' is an evil person. He likes to eat small kids who love to cry. This person has no nose, and there's only two holes on his face, just like a piece of board." At that time, Yue Lingshan was scared by this and stopped crying. As Linghu Chong thought of the past, he gazed at Yue Lingshan and saw her staring at a distant mountain peak looking as if she was pondering something. Scowling at times, she seemed to be worried about something. It was obvious that she didn't recall of this 'White Malignant Star' and that she had long ago forgotten about it. Linghu Chong thought, "Little martial sister has just gotten married, and she loves Martial Brother Lin a lot. What unpleasant matter is she thinking of? Could it be that they're fighting at the moment?" He saw Lin Pingzhi standing besides her and his face looked quite weird. He seemed to be smiling and yet not smiling, and he seemed to be angry but not quite angry. Linghu Chong was again surprised, "What kind of expression is that? On whose face did I see this expression before?" But he couldn't remember where he had seen this kind of expression before.
He then heard Zuo Lengchan reply, "Brother Yuji, congratulations on becoming Taishan School's headmaster. Regarding this five sword schools merger, what's Brother's esteemed opinion on this?" Zuo Lengchan didn't answer He Sanqi's question but instead went around it. Then this meant that tacitly he was not disputing that he knew of 'White Malignant Star'. White Malignant Star's evil name had been known for around twenty to thirty years, but the number of people who had actually seen him or suffered under his hands was not many. It seemed that his evil reputation mainly came from his ugly appearance. However, from looking at his disciple Green Ocean Owl's behaviour, it was obvious that this master and disciple didn't belong to the orthodox school.
Yujizi grasped the dagger in his hand and was feeling proud of himself. He happily replied, "The merger of the five mountains sword schools benefits everyone of us in the five schools, and there's no harm in it at all. It's only that Priest Tianmen was very selfish and didn't think of the welfare of everyone, so he went against the idea. Chief Zuo, as I'm the headmaster of Taishan School now, I wholeheartedly approve of the merger of the five schools. Everyone in Taishan School is now under your command and will flourish under the Five Mountains School's family. If anyone tried to obstruct this, then my Taishan School will be the first one to go against them."
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br /> More than a hundred people from Taishan School boomed their answer, "Taishan School whole heartedly agrees to the merger. If anyone absurdly objects to this, Taishan School swears to go against them." These people answered together and loudly. Even though there weren't many of them, their voices were firm and reverberated throughout the mountaintop. Linghu Chong thought, "It's obvious they've practised this before hand. Otherwise, even if everyone of them agreed to the merger, their words won't be exactly the same from each other." Also hearing the respectful tone that Yujizi used when addressing Zuo Lengchan, he guessed that if Zuo Lengchan had not secretly given him a payoff before, then Zuo Lengchan must have used some kind of violent method to control him. When Priest Tianmen's disciples saw that their master had died violently and that things were out of their control, they were forced to sit there silently. Some of them grinded their teeth and cursed silently, while a few clenched their fists tightly as their faces filled with grief and indignation.
Zuo Lengchan said loudly, "Hengshan and Taishan Schools have already approved of the merger, so it seems that all our schools will be merged very soon. There's only benefit for everyone in the merging of the schools. There's no harm in it. So my Songshan School will also follow your decision and celebrate this together."
Linghu Chong coldly thought in his heart, "You certainly can talk very beautifully. All these matters were setup by you, but you're actually making it sound as if you're just following their ideas."
He heard Zuo Lengchan continue, "Among the five schools, three schools have already agreed to the merger. What does Heng-Shan School think of this? Heng-Shan School's previous headmaster, Dingxian Shi Tai, had repeatedly discussed about this matter with me. She completely endorsed this merger. Dingjing, Dingyi Shi Tai also agreed with this." From among the black-uniformed disciples of the Heng-Shan School, one disciple cried out in a clear voice, "Headmaster Zuo, what you said was wrong. Before our headmaster and two martial uncles passed away, they hated this idea of a merger and completely opposed it. As a result of opposing this merger, the three honourables met their misfortunes. How can you pass off your own opinion as that of the three honourables?" Everyone turned their heads to look who was speaking, and saw a round-faced girl. This young lady who was very good in talking was Zheng E. She was still very young so most of the people from the other schools didn't recognise her.