by Jin Yong
After Yue Lingshan used such moves like 'Quan Ming Furong', Linghu Chong had no more doubt she had used the sword arts from the engravings on the cave wall at the back of the Cliff of Contemplation. He pondered, "Why did little martial sister go up to the Cliff of Contemplation? Master and Master-Wife love her dearly; they would never have punished her to stay on that wild and dangerous cliff to meditate. No matter what kind of mistake she may have made, Master and Master-Wife would only reprimand her. The Cliff of Contemplation and the living quarters on Huashan peak aren't close to each other; the road between them is also very dangerous. Even if it were not my little martial sister but one of the female disciples, they wouldn't send her to live alone up there. Could it be that it was martial brother Lin who was punished to meditate on that cliff and little martial sister went up there every day to deliver him his meals, just like she did when she was attending to me back then?" As he thought of this, he couldn't help his chest feeling heated. He again thought, "Martial brother Lin is a quiet person and he also follows rules and customs strictly, as close as one could get to be a 'Little Gentleman Sword'. That was the reason why Master, Master-Wife, and little martial sister like him. How could he have erred to deserve punishment on that cliff top? He can't, he couldn't have, definitely not." He then thought, "Could it be little martial sister... little martial sister..." Suddenly, he remembered something buried deep in his heart. But this memory was buried too deep. As soon as he recalled it, he immediately forgot about it again. He was stupefied for a moment. What did he remember? He couldn't recall it clearly. Just at that moment, he heard Yue Lingshan cried out in alarm. Her long sword flew out from her hand, her left foot slipped and she was now looking up from the ground. Mr. Mo Da extended his short sword and pointed it at ther left shoulder. He smilingly said, "Please rise, there's no need to panic!"
Suddenly, a 'pai' sound was heard and the short sword on Mr. Mo Da's hand was broken. Yue Lingshan had grabbed a couple of rocks from the ground and smashed one rock towards Mr. Mo Da's sword with her left hand. The short sword was very thin and it immediately broke in two as soon as it was hit. Yue Lingshan followed this by tossing the other rock on her right hand to the left side. Mr. Mo Da was startled when his weapon broke. Now, he saw her tossing a piece of rock to her left side but there was no one there. It was really strange and he couldn't understand what her intention was.
As soon as the rock hit the ground, it rebounded and hit Mr. Mo Da on the right side of his chest. With a crack, a few of his ribs were broken and blood spouted out. This unpredictable movement by Yue Lingshan was wonderfully fast. Each move was done cleanly and with agility. Everyone was stupefied. They saw clearly that after Mr. Mo Da had taken the initiative, he stopped and said, "Please rise, there's no need to panic!" Those words were the proper words spoken after a senior had defeated a junior. But Yue Lingshan's picking up the two stones and the two moves that followed were actually fast as lightning and entirely unpredictable. But Linghu Chong understood. Those two moves used by Yue Lingshan were the moves made by the Devil Sect's ten elders to break Hengshan School's unique skills. But the engraving on the cave wall actually showed the use of a pair of copper hammer. Yue Lingshan used the two stones in lieu of the copper hammers. If she had wanted to use the stones while they were fighting, it was impossible for her to do so. But once she has acquired the stones, to toss one of them out and for it to fly back, as long as she had practiced the move, the stones and copper hammers can be treated the same.
Flying over, Yue Buqun entered the battlefield and slapped Yue Lingshan on the cheek. He shouted, "Martial uncle Mo Da has clearly let you off. How dare you to be rude to him?"
He then stooped down to help Mr. Mo Da up and said, "Brother Mo, my daughter doesn't know what's good or bad, I'm really sorry. Please forgive her."
Mr. Mo Da smiled bitterly and said, "The female tiger of your school really is out of ordinary." After he said these words, he again spouted blood from his mouth. Two disciples from Hengshan School came out to support him back to the group.
Yue Buqun stared angrily at his daughter for a while before stepping back to the side. Linghu Chong saw Yue Lingshan's left cheek was swollen, and five finger prints were left on her cheeks. It was obvious her father didn't hit her lightly. Tears were flowing from Yue Lingshan's eyes, but her mouth was slightly turned down and her expression was steely. Linghu Chong remembered, "In the past when she and I were together at Huashan, when she was naughty and got scolded by Master and Master-Wife, she would feel wronged and she would look pitiful and cute. At that time, I would do anything to cheer her up. Little martial sister is most happy when she won a sword fight against me. I only have to do the same thing, appear as if I've negligently given her an opportunity, and not let her see that I deliberately let her..."
He thought till here when his previously elusive memory resurfaced and he suddenly thought clearly "Why would she be at the Cliff of Contemplation? It's most likely that when she got married, she thought of the deep feelings we used to have, so she went up there all by herself to think of the old days. I've already sealed up the entrance to the back cave with rocks. It's not easy to find if you hadn't stayed up there for long. In that case, she must have stayed up there not just for a short time but probably went up there more than once." He turned his head to look at Lin Pingzhi and thought, "Martial brother Lin and she just got married so they should be happy and ecstatic. But how come his expression is melancholic? Little martial sister was just slapped by her father, but he didn't go and comfort her but acts like it has nothing to do with him. That's very unreasonable."
He thought Yue Lingshan went up the Cliff of Contemplation in order to chase after the feelings from the past, but it was only a one sided guess by him and in his mind's eyes, he imagined how Yue Lingshan cried her eyes out on the cliff, how she regretted marrying Lin Pingzhi, and how she grieved incessantly for disappointing his deep feelings for her. He lifted his head and saw Yue Lingshan stooping down to pick her sword up while her tears dropped onto the grass below. A blade of grass bowed down under a bead of tear. Linghu Chong suddenly felt impulsive, "I must make her smile!" In his eyes, this Songshan mountaintop had suddenly became the Jade Maiden Peak at Huashan and the thousands of people there had turned into trees. In his heart, there was only lovesickness and his most loved person who had cried after being hit by her father. For his whole life, he had cheered her countless of time, so how could he just ignore her at this time?
He strode out and said, "Little martial... little..." He immediately remembered that to cheer her up, he had to fight for real. With his heart drumming, he said, "You've defeated the headmasters of Taishan and Hengshan; your sword art isn't a small matter. My Heng-Shan School isn't convinced you can use Heng-Shan School's sword art. Why don't you fight me?"
Yue Lingshan slowly turned around, but she didn't lift her head and it seemed she was thinking of something. After a while, she slowly lifted her head and all of a sudden her whole face was blushing. Linghu Chong said, "Although Mr. Yue's skill is high, I'm not convinced he's proficient in each of the five schools' sword arts."
Yue Lingshan lifted her head and said, "You're originally not from Heng-Shan School. Today, you're the Headmaster of Heng-Shan. Are you proficient in Heng-Shan School's sword art now?" Her face was still stained with tears.
Linghu Chong heard her words were soft and were quite friendly; he was delighted beyond measure. He quietly said to himself, "I must make it look real and don't let her see that I deliberately let her win." He then said, "This word 'proficient', I don't dare say it. But I've already been at Heng-Shan for a long time and have practised Heng-Shan's sword arts. So, we'll both use Heng-Shan School's sword art to fight each other. Whoever uses any other sword art will lose. What do you think?" He had already decided on a plan. His own sword art was much higher compared to her, which was a well known matter. If he pretended to lose, then other people would definitely see it and Yue Lingshan wouldn't believe it also. But while fighti
ng, if he accidentally use a move from the 'Dugu Nine Swords' or the Huashan School's sword art, he would at the same time win but lose per agreement, and no one would doubt him.
Yue Lingshan replied, "Alright, we'll have a fight!" She lifted her long sword and draw a half circle before thrusting at Linghu Chong.
Heng-Shan School's female disciples gasped when they saw her movements. The crowd didn't recognise the move as Heng-Shan School's sword art, but when they heard the admiring gasp, they knew Yue Lingshan's move was really Heng-Shan School's sword art and that it was out of the ordinary.
The move she used was really one of the moves taken from the engravings on the cave wall at the back of the Cliff of Contemplation. Furthermore, it was one of the moves that Linghu Chong had imparted to the Heng-Shan School's disciples.
Linghu Chong wielded his sword to block. He knew Heng-Shan School's sword art had movements which shifted unceasingly in many circles and were very tight. Each movement of the sword art looked soft but actually contained powerful strength. When fighting an opponent, nine out of ten moves were defending and only one move would take advantage of a flaw to make a surprise attack. He had been together with the Heng-Shan School's disciples for a long time, and he had also personally seen Dingjing Shi Tai fought a few times against the enemies. Now when he executed the sword moves, every move was circling with meticulous intention. It was obvious he had already grasped the essence of Heng-Shan School's sword art deeply. Great Master Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, Beggar Clan's leader, Zuo Lengchan, and many other people who were familiar with Heng-Shan School's sword art knew that Linghu Chong was really not from Heng-Shan School, but the Heng-Shan sword art he used was proper and right. Even the most common style still contained a secret attack which thoroughly fit the Heng-Shan's martial art principle of 'Needle in a Cotton'. They all inwardly praised him.
They all knew Heng-Shan School had been led by nuns for the last hundreds of years. For people of Buddhist faith, mercy is the foundation of everything. In particular, it was not suitable for women to use reckless movements, as they studied martial art primarily to protect themselves. This principle of 'Needle in a Cotton' was like concealing a needle in a wad of cotton. Provided that other people didn't offend, then the cotton would be soft and wouldn't harm them. But if you use strength to crush it, then the needle inside the cotton would pierce your palm. Whether it would pierce shallowly or deeply doesn't depend on the strength of the steel needle, but depends on the power you apply to crush the cotton. If you crush it lightly then the injury would be light, if you use a lot of strength then the injury would be heavy. This kind of martial art principle is based on the retribution principle of Buddhism; you sow your own destiny and the good and bad come from your own heart.
After Linghu Chong had learned the 'Dugu Nine Swords', he came to understand the essence of set form martial arts well. He had learned to use sword arts with an emphasis on intention and not on set movements. So when he used the Heng-Shan sword art at this time, the changes at various places were quite different from the original form, but the sword intention of the Heng-Shan's sword art was still clearly maintained. Even though the masters from other schools knew of Heng-Shan's sword art, they only knew of the main points and didn't know the finer points and changes in the sword art. So when they saw the sword intention displayed by Linghu Chong, they all thought, "This youngster didn't get lucky in becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster! He's actually the true heir appointed by Dingxian and Dingjing Shi Tai." Only Heng-Shan School's disciples like Yihe and Yiqing were able to see that the sword forms he used were different from the ones taught by their masters. Even though the forms were different, they realized that the meaning behind these sword moves were deeper than the original sword art. Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan were both using Heng-Shan School's sword arts engraved inside the cave at the Cliff of Contemplation. But Linghu Chong's sword art was originally much higher compared to Yue Lingshan. Added to that he had also been together with Heng-Shan School's disciples for many days, so he knew the scope of Heng-Shan School's sword arts better than Yue Lingshan. As the two of them fought, if it weren't for Linghu Chong deliberately giving way, he would've won in just a few moves. After fighting for more than thirty moves, Yue Lingshan had exhausted the moves she learned from the cave wall and was forced to repeat them. It was good that this set of sword art was very complicated and looked really pleasant with its circling movements. There was not much distinction evident between each move. From the first move to the thirty-sixth move, they looked just like one big move. Besides Linghu Chong who had also learned this sword art from the cave wall, no one else could tell that she was repeating the sword moves.
The sword moves Yue Lingshan used were very tight, and Linghu Chong followed the proper method to counter each one of them. The two of them had learned the same identical sword moves which contained the essence of the Heng-Shan School's sword art. Their swordplays were very impressive and the movements were extremely pleasing to the eye. The spectators were watching happily and continuously applauded.
Someone said, "Linghu Chong is the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, it's not unusual the sword art he's using is so brilliant. But this Miss Yue is clearly a disciple of Huashan School. How can she also use Heng-Shan sword art?"
Someone else said, "Linghu Chong is originally Mr. Yue's disciple too, and he was also the eldest disciple. Otherwise, how could he be this proficient in this sword art? If Mr. Yue didn't personally pass it down, how can the two of them fight so harmoniously?"
There was also another one who said, "Mr. Yue is proficient in Huashan, Taishan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan Schools' sword arts. It seems he must also know the Songshan sword art well. There's no one who fits this position of Five Mountains School's headmaster better than him."
Another person said, "That's not necessarily true. Songshan's Headmaster Zuo's sword art is much higher than Mr. Yue. In the principle of martial art, it's quality over quantity. Even if you know how to use all the martial arts in this world, what's the use? You'll only be a three-legged cat5. Headmaster Zuo's single Songshan sword art can defeat Mr. Yue's sword arts from five schools."
The first person from before said, "How do you know? Shamefully blowing your own trumpet."
The second person angrily said, "Blowing my own trumpet? Let's bet fifty taels if you got guts."
The first person replied, "What guts no guts? Let's bet a hundred taels. Trade the silvers first, the loser will be under Heng-Shan School."
The second person answered, "Alright, one hundred taels! What's under Heng-Shan School?"
The first person said, "The loser becomes a nun!" And the second person spat.
At this time, Yue Lingshan's moves became even faster. Linghu Chong saw her looking elegant and graceful. Remembering the old days when they practiced sword together at Mount Huashan, he gradually became absent-minded. When he saw her thrusting with her sword, he just followed it with a move of his own, not realising that this move wasn't actually Heng-Shan School's sword art.
Yue Lingshan was startled and whispered, "Plum Flower like a Bean!" She followed it with a slash at Linghu Chong's forehead.
Linghu Chong was also stupefied and whispered, "Willow Leaf like an Eyebrow!"
Even though the two of them were using Heng-Shan School's sword art, they didn't know the names for them. But these two moves they just exchanged weren't Heng-Shan School's sword arts. These were actually from the sword art they created when they were practising together at Huashan: the 'Chong Ling Sword Art'. The 'Chong' was from Linghu Chong's name, and the 'Ling' was from Yue Lingshan's name. This was the sword art they had playfully created together.
Linghu Chong was far more intelligent than his martial sister. In whatever he did, regardless of what it was, he would do it happily without a care for any rules and come up with new and creative ideas. Even though this group of sword art was created by the two of them, almost all of them were Linghu Chong's ideas. At that time, their martial arts w
ere still shallow that there was nothing formidable about these sword moves. But the two of them had often practised these set of sword arts at a secluded place and were very familiar with this sword art. When Linghu Chong accidentally used the move 'Plum Flower like a Bean', Yue Lingshan followed with the move 'Willow Leaf like an Eyebrow'. The two of them had used these moves without any deep meaning originally, but now, all of a sudden, both of their faces turned red. Linghu Chong didn't slow down as he followed with the move 'See First in the Fog'. Yue Lingshan followed with the move 'First Time after the Rain'. The two of them had practised this set of sword art for so many times during their time at Huashan, but they were afraid that Master and Master-Wife would scold them if they found out, so they didn't tell anyone about it. But at this time, they couldn't control themselves as they used these moves in front of all the realm's heroes. In a short moment, they had traded about ten moves. Not only Linghu Chong felt he had returned to the former scenery at Huashan when they were practising sword together, even Yue Lingshan gradually forgot that she was already married and that she was in front of thousands of Jianghu's people to fight for her father's fame. In her eyes, only her carefree big martial brother was there practising the sword art they had created.
Linghu Chong saw the expression on her face becoming gentler and gentler, and there was a glint of happiness in her eyes. It was obvious she had forgotten the incident of her father slapping her before. He thought, "When I saw her earlier today, she looked melancholy and unhappy. But she's finally feeling happy now. Ai, if only this Chong Ling sword art has thousands of moves and would never finish in a lifetime!" Ever since the time he heard Yue Lingshan humming a Fujian folk song at the Cliff of Contemplation, this was the first time his little martial sister treated him like in the past. His happiness was unbounded.