by Jin Yong
Lin Pingzhi didn't answer. His eyes were filled with fires of anger, but his face was filled with excitement. He snapped his fan closed and put it on his left hand, while his right hand lifted up his gown as he stepped out of the grass shed to walk towards Mu Gaofeng. The breeze blew past and carried a sweet fragrance to everyone's nose.
Suddenly, two cries were heard. The faces of Qingcheng School's Yu Renhao and Ji Rentong changed colour, and blood was gushing out of their chests as they fell down. The people besides them couldn't help calling out in fright. They saw clearly Lin Pingzhi was going forward to deal with Mu Gaofeng, but without knowing how, he unexpectedly drew his sword and killed those two people. After he killed them, he had promptly put his sword back into its sheath. Besides Linghu Chong and a few other masters there, the other people there only felt a flicker of cold light. They didn't see clearly how he drew his sword out let alone how he used his sword to kill those two people. A thought flashed in Linghu Chong's mind, "When I first met with Tian Boguang, it was also hard for me to fight against him. But after I've learned the Dugu Nine Swords, his fast knife was no longer fast enough in my eyes. But I'm afraid Tian Boguang wouldn't even be able to take three moves from Lin Pingzhi's fast sword. And me? How many moves would I be able to take?" All of a sudden, his palms were all sweaty.
Mu Gaofeng pulled out a sword from his waist. This sword of his was really strange as it was shaped in an arch. A hunchback using a sword which also had a hunchback; so the sword was called a hunchback sword. Lin Pingzhi sneered, and walked up to him step by step. Mu Gaofeng suddenly howled like a wolf and his body rushed forward with his hunchback sword slashing an arc at Lin Pingzhi's lower body. Lin Pingzhi's long sword left its scabbard and was thrust towards Mu Gaofeng's chest. This sword move was executed later but it arrived first and was also very fierce and accurate. Mu Gaofeng let out a roar and his body shot back out. But there was already a big rip on the chest of his cotton-padded jacket exposing his hairy black chest. Lin Pingzhi's sword only had to go two inches further forward to have cut Mu Gaofeng's chest open. The crowd cried out in astonishment.
Even though Mu Gaofeng had just escaped from his death, he was very fierce and unexpectedly didn't show any fear at all as he roared and charged towards Lin Pingzhi again. Lin Pingzhi stabbed out twice with his sword. With two 'tang, tang' sounds, he had blocked the hunchback sword twice. Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly as his sword was getting faster and faster. Mu Gaofeng slashed high and low. The light from his hunchback sword was making up a wall of steel around his body. When Lin Pingzhi thrust out his long sword and clashed against the hunchback sword, his arm felt a burst of numbing pain. It was obvious Mu Gaofeng’s internal energy was much stronger compared to his, and if he weren't careful, his long sword would be shaken out of his hand. After this, he didn't dare to attack head on anymore and he observed for a crack in Mu Gaofeng's defence before he would quickly attack that point with his sword. Mu Gaofeng didn’t care what his enemy was doing and was concentrating fully on revolving his hunchback sword around his body so that not even wind nor rain could penetrate, and it unexpectedly didn't show any crack at all.
Even though Lin Pingzhi's sword art was high, he didn't know what to do. But with this kind of fighting, Lin Pingzhi was in an invincible position. Even if he couldn't harm his opponent, there was no leeway at all for Mu Gaofeng to make a mistake. Every master there saw that if Mu Gaofeng wanted to attack then his sword net would reveal a weakness, and Lin Pingzhi's quick sword would attack immediately and Mu Gaofeng would find it impossible to block. This kind of defending oneself with a flying sword was really taxing on the user’s internal energy. Each move had to be done with all your power, and only then would the movements be like unceasing flowing water covering your front and back continuously. But no matter how deep your internal energy was, you still couldn't use it forever.
Within the sword net weaved by that hunchback sword, Mu Gaofeng kept on roaring. He slashed high and low with his earth-shattering roars accompanying each sword move. Lin Pingzhi had attacked a few times thinking he was going to get through the sword net, but every time it was blocked by the hunchback sword.
Yu Canghai observed this for a long time when he suddenly saw the circle of the sword net had decreased by around half a foot. It was apparent Mu Gaofeng was gradually exhausting his internal energy. With a howl, Yu Canghai lifted his sword forward and slashed out three times at Lin Pingzhi's back. Lin Pingzhi turned his sword around to block. Mu Gaofeng's hunchback sword sliced out at Lin Pingzhi's lower body. Normally, Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng would've lost a lot of face in joining forces to attack a youth as they were both reputable seniors. But Heng-Shan School's people had all seen how violent and cruel Lin Pingzhi was in killing the Qingcheng disciples, and they had also seen how Yu Canghai wasn't his match. So at this time, when they saw the two masters joining forces, they all felt there was nothing strange about that but instead thought it was a natural thing to do. If the two of them didn't join hands, how could they fight back against Lin Pingzhi's lightning fast swordplay?
With Yu Canghai's help, Mu Gaofeng's swordplay had changed and he was now attacking as well as defending. The three of them had fought for more than twenty moves when Lin Pingzhi's left hand circled around and turned his fan's handle around to point it towards the ground. A half inch needle shot out from his fan's handle and pierced Mu Gaofeng's right leg's 'Huantiao' acupoint. Alarmed, Mu Gaofeng quickly brandished his hunchback sword, but he suddenly felt the acupoint on his left leg was also numb. He didn't dare to move anymore and wildly brandished his hunchback sword to protect his body. Both of his legs were gradually losing strength and finally he couldn't help but to fall on his knees.
Lin Pingzhi laughed. "It’s too late for you to kowtow now!" Saying this, he attacked Yu Canghai with three moves.
Even though Mu Gaofeng was kneeling on the ground, the hunchback sword in his hand didn't slow down at all as it quickly slashed and thrust. He knew he had lost so there was a sense of desperation in his fighting as he was trying to bring common ruin to his enemy. In the beginning, all his movements were defensive and there wasn't a single attacking move at all. But at this time, he was sacrificing his life and he had changed his swordplay into full attack mode without any defence at all. Yu Canghai knew he didn't have much time. If he couldn't win within a few moves and Mu Gaofeng fell down, then he would be all by himself, so his sword was now moving like a violent storm. He suddenly heard Lin Pingzhi laughing long and loud, and his vision darkened making him unable to see anything any longer. Both sides of his shoulders then felt cool as both of his arms flew off from his body.
Lin Pingzhi was laughing madly and calling out, "I'm not going to kill you! I'm going to let you run around Jianghu with no arms and no eyes. Your disciples, families, I'll kill them all and spare no one. You're only going to have enemies in this world and no family."
Yu Canghai only felt unbearable pain near where his arms were, but he understood in his heart, "What he has done to me is ten thousand times more merciless than killing me with his sword. Even though I still live, I don't have any martial art at all, and he can just humiliate me as he wants." Using Lin Pingzhi's voice to locate him, he lifted his head to rush at Lin Pingzhi's chest.
Lin Pingzhi laughed heartily and leaned his body to dodge. Now that his hatred had been avenged, he was lost in ecstasy and wasn't being cautious anymore. He retreated for a couple of steps and arrived besides Mu Gaofeng. Mu Gaofeng swiped his hunchback sword but Lin Pingzhi blocked it with his sword. Mu Gaofeng suddenly lunged at him and hug both of his legs firmly. Lin Pingzhi was startled and then he saw dozens of Qingcheng disciples rushing at him from all directions. He struggled to free both of his legs, but he couldn't get them free from Mu Gaofeng's iron grip. He quickly stabbed his sword at Mu Gaofeng's hunchback. As his sword pierced the hunchback, a jet stream of black smelly water shot out from it. Lin Pingzhi moved his legs to jump out of the way, but he forgot both of his legs were being firmly
hugged by Mu Gaofeng so his whole face was sprayed by the smelly water, and he cried out in pain. This smelly water was actually poison. Inside Mu Gaofeng's hunchback was a sack of leather concealing this poison water. Covering his face with his left hand and with both of his eyes closed, Lin Pingzhi randomly slashed and chopped at Mu Gaofeng's body with his right hand. Lin Pingzhi's attacks were done swiftly but Mu Gaofeng didn't try to avoid them as he continued to hold onto Lin Pingzhi's legs firmly.
At this time, Yu Canghai had distinguished the cries of those people and rushed to them with his mouth wide open. He managed to find Lin Pingzhi's right cheek and clamped down tightly on it. The three of them were entangled into one group and they were losing their minds. Qingcheng School disciples were using their swords to randomly chop at Lin Pingzhi's body.
Linghu Chong saw all these clearly from his carriage. In the beginning, he was startled, but when he saw Lin Pingzhi being surrounded by the Qingcheng disciples chopping with their swords, he hastily called out, "Yingying, Yingying, quickly help him!"
Yingying shot out with the short sword in her hand. 'Tang, tang, tang', the sounds of weapons clashing rang continuously, and the disciples of Qingcheng were kept at several steps away from the entangled mess of Lin Pingzhi, Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai. Mu Gaofeng crazed roaring gradually died off as Lin Pingzhi's sword penetrated the back of his body again and again. Yu Canghai's whole body was bloody and he was still biting down firmly on Lin Pingzhi's cheek.
After some time, Lin Pingzhi gathered some strength in his left hand and pushed Yu Canghai away powerfully. At the same time, he cried out miserably as a chunk of flesh was torn off by Yu Canghai and blood dripped down fiercely from his right cheek. Mu Gaofeng had already died some time ago, but he was still holding both of Lin Pingzhi's legs tightly. Lin Pingzhi used his left hand to feel around to trace where Mu Gaofeng's arms were, then he raised his sword and chopped off the arms to free himself. Yingying saw the terrifying look on Lin Pingzhi's face and she couldn't help backing away from him. Qingcheng disciples crowded around their master to help him and they didn't pay any more attention to their strong archenemy.
Qingcheng disciples then suddenly wept. "Master, master!" "Master's dead, master's dead!" They lifted Yu Canghai's corpse and ran to a place somewhere further away, afraid that Lin Pingzhi would chase and kill them.
Lin Pingzhi laughed loudly and called out, "I've taken my revenge, I've taken my revenge!"
After seeing such a soul-stirring incident, Heng-Shan School disciples were startled and lost all colours from their faces. Yue Lingshan slowly walked towards Lin Pingzhi and stopped besides him. "Brother Ping, congratulations on your revenge."
Lin Pingzhi was still laughing madly and crying out, "I've taken my revenge, I've taken my revenge!"
Yue Lingshan saw him with his eyes closed tightly so she asked, "What's wrong with your eyes? Let's wash the poison first."
Lin Pingzhi was stupefied and his body swayed like he was about to fall. Yue Lingshan put her hand under his armpit to help him walk into the grass shed. Then she poured a tray of clean water on his head. Lin Pingzhi cried out miserably showing his unbearable pain. The Qingcheng disciples standing at a far away place were startled and they again ran for a few more steps.
"Little martial sister, take these medicines and give them to Martial Brother Lin. Bring him into our carriage for him to rest," Linghu Chong said.
"Many... many thanks," Yue Lingshan stammered.
"NO!” Lin Pingzhi cried out. “What's so good about being betrayed by him! Whether I'm alive or dead, what does that have to do with him?"
Linghu Chong was startled, and he thought, "When did I offend you? Why do you hate me?"
"Heng-Shan School's wonderful medicines are well known in the world, it's hard to come by..." Yue Lingshan softly said.
"Hard to come by what?" Lin Pingzhi angrily retorted.
Yue Lingshan let out a long sigh and poured another tray of clean water on his head. This time, Lin Pingzhi only snorted and gritted his teeth to stop crying out. "He's so worried about you. You've always talked well about him. Why don't you go with him? Why do you still care about me?"
When the Heng-Shan School disciples heard this, their faces lost their colours. Yihe loudly shouted, "You... You... dare to say such shameless words?"
Yiqing quickly pulled on Yihe's sleeve. "Martial sister, with his injuries, his mood isn't good. Why must you argue with him?"
"Pei!” Yihe angrily replied. “I'm just angry..."
At this time, Yue Lingshan had taken out a handkerchief and was wiping the wound on Lin Pingzhi's cheek. Lin Pingzhi suddenly pushed out forcefully with his right hand. Yue Lingshan wasn't prepared for this so she was thrown outside and hit a stone wall outside the grass shed.
Linghu Chong was greatly angered and he shouted, "You..." But he remembered the two of them were husband and wife. When husband and wife disagreed on something and fought, it was inappropriate for other people to intervene. Furthermore, from what Lin Pingzhi had just said, it was obvious there was a bit of jealousy towards him. Lin Pingzhi definitely knew about the way he intensely loved his martial sister. Also, his own injury was serious so Linghu Chong couldn't possibly get involved in this matter, so he quickly stopped from saying anything more. But the anger in him caused his whole body to tremble.
Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "I'm shameless in what I said? Who are actually the shameless ones?" He pointed outside the grass shed and said, "That Shorty Yu, Hunchback Mu; they were the ones who wanted my Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art. They wanted to steal it and killed my father and mother for it. Even though they were ruthless and merciless, they were still gentleman enough to follow the rules of a scoundrel in Jianghu, unlike... unlike..." He then turned around and pointed to Yue Lingshan and continued, "Unlike your father, Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun, who used such a contemptible and sly method to obtain my family's sword manual."
Yue Lingshan supported herself on the wall as she slowly stood up, but when she heard Lin Pingzhi's accusation, her body shook and she sat back down. She tremblingly said, "Did... did this really happen?"
Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "Shameless lowly people! Both of you, father and daughter, conspired very well to entice me. Huashan School's Miss Yue is married to me, a little kid with nowhere to go with no family to return to. Why is that if it isn't for the Evil Resisting Sword Manual? Once the sword manual is in your hand, why do you still bother with me?"
Yue Lingshan gasped and cried. She said sobbing, "You... you're blaming a good person here, if I had that idea, then let me... let me be punished by heaven and earth."
"You secretly set your traitorous plan up,” Lin Pingzhi said. “From the beginning, I've been kept in the dark and didn't understand a single thing. Now with both of my eyes blind, I can see everything clearly. If the two of you, father and daughter, set all these up, then why... why..."
Yue Lingshan slowly walked towards him and said, "Don't let your imagination run wild. My heart towards you is still the same as before." Lin Pingzhi snorted in contempt. Yue Lingshan went on, "Let's go back to Huashan and tend to your injuries. It doesn't matter if your eyes get better or not. If I have any ill intention behind this, then let me... let me die more miserably than Yu Canghai."
Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. "I don't know what kind of crafty idea you have for talking so nicely to me."
Yue Lingshan didn't pay anymore attention to him but she said to Yingying, "Sister, I'd like to borrow a carriage from you."
"Of course you can. Would you like to have two Heng-Shan School's sisters to accompany you on your journey?"
Yue Lingshan couldn't stop whimpering as she replied, "No... no need, many... many thanks."
Yingying pulled a carriage over and gave her the rein and whip. Yue Lingshan held onto Lin Pingzhi's arm and said, "Let's get on the carriage!" Lin Pingzhi wasn't willing, but both of his eyes couldn't see a thing and it was very hard for him to walk. After hesitating for a while, he finally
went inside the carriage. Yue Lingshan bit her lip and jumped onto the driver seat. She nodded her head at Yingying to show her thanks, then cracked her whip urging the mule to draw the carriage towards the northwest. She didn't give a glance towards Linghu Chong at all.
Linghu Chong watched the carriage disappearing into the horizon. His heart was sour and tears was about to flow down from his eyes. He thought, "Both of Martial Brother Lin's eyes are blind, and little martial sister is also injured. The two of them has no one else to rely on while slowly going on their long journey, what would be best thing to do? If Qingcheng School's disciples chased them to take revenge, how can they fight back?" He saw the disciples of Qingcheng had surrounded Yu Canghai's corpse and then put it on a horseback before going southwesterly. Even though they went in the opposite direction to that of Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan, how would he know if they turn north after going dozens of li into their journey and go after the Lin husband and wife? As he pondered over what Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan said to each other, he felt there were still countless unsaid feelings associated with them. Even though other people wouldn't be able to see the love and hate between a husband and wife, it was clear the two of them would definitely not have a harmonious marriage. He thought little martial sister was still so young, her parents loved her so dearly, and the martial brothers in the school cherished her deeply, but to be insulted so by Lin Pingzhi, he couldn't help shedding his tears for her.
On the very same day, after they had gone for more than ten li, they rested inside the main hall of a broken down temple for the night. It was the middle of the night and Linghu Chong had been sleeping but his sleep had been interrupted by unsettling dreams for a few times already. In his sleep, he suddenly heard a soft voice calling him, "Brother Chong, Brother Chong!" Linghu Chong groaned and woke up. He then heard Yingying's voice, "Come outside, I have something to talk to you about."