by Jin Yong
"Congratulations Vice-Chief," Xiang Wentian happily said. "Let's drink your celebratory wine to welcome you to the sect first. Then we'll drink your celebratory wine for your marriage to young lady. What a double happiness, happiness on top of happiness."
But Linghu Chong was at a loss. He knew this matter should not happen but he also didn't know how to decline it. Another thought was if he declined this then his wish to marry Yingying would not happen. Also, once Ren Woxing was angered, he might even be killed. He didn't regret dying, but he was afraid all the disciples of Heng-Shan School might all be killed right here. Should he decline it immediately, or should he agree for the time being to let the Heng-Shan's disciples to go down the mountain safely? He slowly turned his head around to look at the Heng-Shan's disciples. Some of them were looking angry, some had their heads lowered looking sad, some were looking apprehensive; none of them knew what to do.
Then he heard Shangguan Yun said in a clear and loud voice, "Under the leadership of Sacred Chief and the help of Vice-Chief, let's burn Shaolin, destroy Wudang, Kunlun, and Emei. Then we'll also annihilate the Beggar Clan. This will be done easily. Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu! Long live Vice-Chief, your benevolent is endless!"
Linghu Chong was hesitating in making a decision. But hearing Shangguan Yun giving him an ode 'Long live Vice-Chief, your benevolent is endless', even though it was still not as much as what Ren Woxing received, if he really became the Vice-Chief then this ode would forever follow him. Thinking till here, he felt it was very comical and couldn't help uttering a laugh. This laughter seemed like a ridicule and when they heard it, the whole Peak of Morning Sun became quiet all of a sudden.
"Headmaster Linghu," Xiang Wentian addressed him. "Sacred Chief gives you this Vice-Chief position. This means among everyone in Wulin, there's only one person above you and you have tens of thousands of people below you. Quickly thank Sacred Chief."
Suddenly, Linghu Chong was enlightened. Without preparation, he stood up and spoke towards the Deity's Palm, "Chief Ren, junior has two big matters that I'd like to discuss with Chief."
"You might as well say it," said a smiling Ren Woxing.
"The first matter," Linghu Chong said. "Junior was entrusted the position of Heng-Shan School's headmaster by Dingxian Shi Tai and I took up the position. Even if I can't improve the prestige of Heng-Shan School, I mustn’t take the Heng-Shan School into the Sun Moon Divine Sect either. Otherwise, later under the Nine Fountains, how would I have the face to meet Dingxian Shi Tai? That's the first matter. The second matter is personal, I'm asking Chief to let your daughter be my wife."
When the crowd heard him mentioned the first matter, they felt things would go bad. But hearing him following it up with a public marriage proposal, they looked at each other smiling.
Ren Woxing laughed loudly and said, "The first matter is easily solved. Just give the headmaster position of Heng-Shan School to a Shi Tai here. After you swear the oath to join our divine sect, we can then discuss if Heng-Shan School still needs to join the sect or not. The second matter, Yingying and you are perfectly suited to each other and the whole world already knows. Of course I agree to her marrying you. Why need to be so worry for? Haha, haha!"
Everyone shouted their agreements and was calling out happily.
Linghu Chong turned his head around and took a glance at Yingying. Both her cheeks were crimson and her face showing her delight. He waited until the laughter from the crowd died down before he said in a clear voice, "Because of Chief's kindness, junior has been invited to join the honourable sect and I was also given a high position. But junior is a plain person who doesn't follow custom, so if I join the honourable sect, I'll definitely ruin Chief's big matter. After careful consideration, I'm hoping Chief withdraw the offer."
Ren Woxing was angered and he coldly said, "You're saying you don't want to join the divine sect?"
"That's right!" Linghu Chong replied.
Those two words were said determinedly and it left no doubt. In that moment, everyone on the Peak of Morning Sun lost the colours on their faces.
"The different types of internal energies you've accumulated in your body manifested today," Ren Woxing said. "Half a year from now, give or take three months, they'll manifest again. Then each time it does, it'll be even worse. As for the method to harmonize them, I'm the only one in the whole world to know how to do it."
"That day in the Hangzhou Plum Manor and also at the foot of Mount Shaoshi in the middle of the snow field, Chief already told me about this," Linghu Chong said. "Junior just tasted the feeling of these different types of inner energies manifesting. It's like my body was going through a thousand deaths. But a gentleman will walk through Jianghu without caring about being death or alive, sad or happy."
Ren Woxing snorted. "You can still talk so bravely. Today, your Heng-Shan School is all in my grasp. I won't let a single one of you to go down the mountain alive. I can do that as easy as turning my hand over."
"Although Heng-Shan School is mostly women, we have no fear," Linghu Chong said. "If Chief wants to kill us then we pledge to fight to the death."
Yiqing waved a hand and all the disciples of Heng-Shan School stood behind Linghu Chong.
"We as disciples of Heng-Shan School follow the headmaster's order, we're not afraid of dying," Yiqing shouted.
"We're not afraid of dying!" the rest of the disciples shouted together.
"The enemies are many, we're few," Zheng E said. "We've also fallen into a trap. Later, heroes in Jianghu will find out how our Heng-Shan School fight to the death."
Ren Woxing was furious. He looked up to the sky and laughed aloud. "If I kill you today, they're going to say I setup this ambush to harm you. Linghu Chong, bring your disciples back to Mount Heng-Shan. One month from now, I'm going to personally go to Xianxing Peak. If by that time a dog or a bird can remain alive on Mount Heng-Shan, then you can regard me as gutless."
The sect's people cried out, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu! Slaughter on Mount Heng-Shan, dogs and bird won't be spared!"
According to Sun Moon Sect's cries, going up Xianxing Peak to annihilate the Heng-Shan School was only one climb away. Regardless of how Heng-Shan School prepared their defences once they went back, Sun Moon Sect was certain to slaughter them. Previously when the five mountains sword schools became enemy with the Sun Moon Sect, the five schools supported each other. If one school had a difficulty, the other four schools would come to help. Over the last one hundred years, this had kept the situation unchanged with no side winning or losing. Now, with only one school remaining from the five mountains sword school alliance, of course there would be no way for them to resist. This point was understood by everyone in Heng-Shan School.
When Ren Woxing said he wanted to slaughter the Heng-Shan School without sparing any bird or dog, it wasn't just big talk. Actually in Ren Woxing's mind, he was thinking of another thing. Even though Linghu Chong's sword art was excellent, he would be unable to do it alone and Heng-Shan School by itself wouldn't be able to avert disaster. What was actually tugging at his mind was Shaolin and Wudang Schools. He was thinking that when Linghu Chong went back and suddenly asked for help from Shaolin and Wudang, these two schools would definitely dispatch their master-hands to Xianxing Peak to help. Then instead of attacking Heng-Shan, he'd attack Wudang and set up a three way ambush between Mount Shaoshi and Mount Wudang. Since Mount Wudang and Shaolin Temple were only hundreds of li apart, Wudang would certainly notify Shaolin when they were in trouble. By that time, a large number of experts from Shaolin Temple would have gone to Heng-Shan, while the rest would definitely come out of their nest to help Wudang. Then Sun Moon Sect would attack Shaolin Temple and burn it down first. By that time, the ambush would be sprung and it would annihilate the Shaolin monks en route to Wudang. Once that was accomplished, they'd go surround Mount Wudang but not attack immediately. They would wait for the masters from Shaolin and Wudang who had gone to Heng-Shan to hear of the
news first. These master-hands would rush thousands of li to be back at Wudang, while Sun Moon Divine Sect would leisurely wait for them and ambushed them midway and things would go well.
After that, attacking Wudang and annihilating Heng-Shan would be as easy as turning his palm over. At this instant, he had decided on the plan to do away with Shaolin and Wudang, and he had been repeating it over and over in his head guessing that it would most likely succeed. Even though Linghu Chong had insulted him by not willing to enter the sect, it was only by his act that Sun Moon Divine Sect would succeed in uniting Jianghu. The happiness in Ren Woxing's heart was indescribable.
Linghu Chong turned to Yingying and said, "Yingying, you can't go with me?"
Yingying's eyes were already full of tears a long time ago. She couldn't endure it anymore and tears flowed down her cheeks. "If I follow you to Heng-Shan, that won't be filial; If I lose you, it's also not right. It's hard to fulfil both filialness and comradeship. Brother Chong, Brother Chong, don't think about me anymore. In any case, you ..."
"What?"
"In any case, you won't live for much longer. I also wouldn't live one day longer than you."
"Your father already agreed to marry you to me," said a smiling Linghu Chong. "He's a Chief with long life, a Sacred Chief who unifies Jianghu, how can his words not be believed? How about if we pay respect to heaven and earth right here and become husband and wife?"
Yingying was startled. Although she knew Linghu Chong was a rash and unruly person, she didn't expect he would say such a thing. Her face couldn't help turning bright red. "How... How can we do that?"
Linghu Chong laughed aloud and said, "We'll part here then." He knew Yingying's heart. She was waiting for Ren Woxing to lead the sect to attack Heng-Shan, and once he died, she would also commit suicide. This was inevitable and there was nothing to stop it. If at this time she could do away with custom and agree to marry him on this Peak of Morning Sun and go back together to Mount Heng-Shan, then they could've enjoyed a few days as newlyweds and died together later on. There would've been no regret.
But this act was just too shocking, it didn't matter when Linghu Chong who lived like a beggar did it. But for Young lady Ren, who was shy and proper, she definitely couldn't do it. Moreover, if she did this, then it would also make her not filial. So after he laughed, he cupped his fists towards Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, and the elders around there.
"Linghu Chong will respectfully wait for you all at Xianxing Peak!" Linghu Chong said. Once he finished, he turned around to go.
"Wait!" Xiang Wentian quickly interrupted. "Bring the wine over! Brother Linghu, if we don't get drunk today, we won't have the chance later on."
Linghu Chong laughed heartily. "Wonderful, wonderful! Brother Xiang really knows me."
When the Sun Moon Sect came to Mount Huashan, they had planned everything meticulously. When Xiang Wentian shouted 'bring the wine over', subordinates carrying jugs of wine immediately came over, broke open the cover, and poured the wine. Xiang Wentian and Linghu Chong each drank a bowl.
From the crowd, a short and stout person walked out. That person was Old Man and he said, "Master Linghu, I will always remember your benevolence. I salute you with a bowl today." As he finished saying this, he heaved a bowl and gulped it down. He was only a nobody who was under the jurisdiction of the Sun Moon Sect and his position was nowhere near that of Xiang Wentian. When Linghu Chong wasn't willing to join the sect, he had publicly insulted Ren Woxing. So a small fry like Old Man daring to come forward to toast Linghu Chong would probably meet with death soon. He put comradeship above his own life and didn't think of the dangers facing him in the future. When the crowd saw him so daring, they secretly admired him.
Zu Qianqiu, Ji Wushi, Blue Phoenix, Huang Boliu, and other people came forward one by one and toasted him. Linghu Chong drank his bowl of wines and saw the people coming up to toast him were unending. He thought, "So many friends regard me and Linghu Chong hasn't lived in vain. But why do I have to kill them?" He lifted his bowl and said, "Friends, Linghu Chong can't drink anymore so let's stop drinking for today. When you come to attack Heng-Shan, I'll prepare wine at the bottom at the mountain and we'll get drunk before we fight!" He gulped down a bowl when he finished saying his speech
The crowd said together, "Headmaster Linghu, a straight talk from a straightforward person!"
There were also people who said, "After we get drunk, we'll fight a drunken fight. It'll be interesting."
Linghu Chong tossed his wine bowl on the ground and drunkenly walked down the peak. Yiqing, Yihe, and the other Heng-Shan's disciples followed him down the peak.
When the crowd was sharing a drink with Linghu Chong, Ren Woxing was smiling and didn't utter a word. But his heart was thinking on how to prepare the three way ambush between Shaolin and Wudang; How to pretend to attack Heng-Shan to lead the experts from Shaolin and Wudang Schools to go and help; How to open one side of Wudang during the attack to let someone escape through to get help from Shaolin Temple; Also, how to do this in a manner that the strategists in the opponent camp do not figure out the plan. When Linghu Chong went down the mountain, all the plans on destroying Wudang and subduing Shaolin had more or less been formed in his heart. He also thought, "These chaps actually dared to toast that little kid in front of me. This debt will be settled slowly. I'm going to use them for now and not do anything for now. Wait until Shaolin, Wudang, and Heng-Shan Schools are destroyed, then everyone who toasted Linghu Chong today won't have a good fate."
Suddenly he heard Xiang Wentian said, "Everyone hear me: Sacred Chief knows Linghu Chong is stubborn and doesn't take *** kissing (I can’t think of a better word) but he still tried to persuade him with nice words. Even though Sacred Chief is a broad-minded person and loves a talented person, he has a deeper meaning in doing this that Linghu Chong couldn't grasp. Today, we could've easily destroyed Songshan, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan Schools. Sun Moon Divine Sect, glory to the sect!"
The sect's disciples cried out, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu!"
Xiang Wentian waited until their voices died down before he continued, "There's still Shaolin and Wudang Schools in Wulin. They're our sect's biggest dangers. Sacred Chief wanted to use Linghu Chong to set up his plan in destroying Shaolin and annihilating Wudang. Sacred Chief's plan is foolproof and he had the whole idea in his mind already. He had already anticipated that Linghu Chong wouldn't agree to join the sect and sure enough, he didn't agree to join the sect. So we toasted Linghu Chong before just as ordered by Sacred Chief!"
When the sect's disciples heard this, they all thought, "So that's how it is!" Then they all shouted, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu."
Xiang Wentian had followed Ren Woxing for so many years and knew what his personality was like. When the feeling of comradeship was roused in his heart, he toasted Linghu Chong. He knew this would make Ren Woxing unhappy, but it didn't matter for him. But when the remaining people also toasted him, it was unavoidable that they would be killed later. So he quickly composed a speech in order to save Ren Woxing's face and to also save Old Man, Ji Wushi, and those people's lives. In saying this, when the people toasted Linghu Chong, they had not ruin Ren Woxing's authority and instead appeared to make him look to have foresighted it. When Ren Woxing heard Xiang Wentian related it in such a way, he felt really happy and secretly thought, "Left Protector Xiang has after all followed me for many years so he knows what I'm thinking. But, even though he knows I want to destroy Shaolin and annihilate Wudang, he still couldn't guess the method on how I'm going to do that. The strategy for this will be revealed step by step, even he wouldn't know of the whole plan before hand."
"Sacred Chief is so knowledgeable. Everything in this world is already calculated by him," Shangguan Yun shouted. "What Sacred Chief wants us to do then we'll do it, we won't go wrong."
"Wherever Sacred Chief points us to, we'll go," Bao Dachu said. "We'll go through water and fire, we won't balk a tens of thousa
nds of deaths."
"For Sacred Chief, dying a hundred thousands times is better than living without purpose," Qin Weibang cried out.
Another person said, "Brothers, you've all said it. These last few days had been the most interesting days in our lives, we'd been able to see Sacred Chief everyday. Seeing Sacred Chief once gives us strength and refreshes our minds, just like we've practiced inner energy for ten years."
Another person said, "Sacred Chief illuminates the world making our Sun Moon Sect favoured by the common people, also like the rain coming down after a long drought. Everyone's happy and they're giving thanks."
Another person said, "Heroes from ancient times till now, the grand heroes, holy saints, none of them is able to reach Sacred Chief. How can Confucius' martial art be as good as Sacred Chief? Marquis Guan is the measure of braveness, but how can he measure up against Sacred Chief's wisdom? Even though Zhuge's stratagem is high, how would he fare with a sword against our Sacred Chief?"
The sect's disciples cheered loudly and they called out, "Confucius, Marquis Guan, Zhuge Liang, who can compare with our Sacred Chief!"
"After our divine sect unites the Jianghu, we'll get all the statues of Confucius out of the culture temple and all the Guan Yu's statues out of the martial temple" Bao Dachu said. "We'll erect Sacred Chief's statues in their places!"
"Long live to Sacred Chief, long live!" Shangguan Yun shouted. "Our child and grandchildren, eighteen generations of our descendants, all of them will follow Sacred Chief."
The crowd called out at the same time, "Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu! Long live, unify the Jianghu!"
Ren Woxing heard his subordinates flattering him endlessly. Although some of these praises were rather fantastical, he thought he could use some of them. He thought, "Some of these talks aren't wrong. Zhuge Liang's martial art is definitely not my match, and when he conducted the six campaigns out of Mount Qi, he wasn't successful at all. So talking of wisdom and knowledge, is he any better than me? Guan Yu crossed five passes and slayed six generals, this is brave. But if he were to fight me alone, how could withstand against my 'Art of Essence Absorbing'? Confucius only had no more than three thousands disciples, while my subordinates number in the thirty thousands. He led three thousands disciples running here and there, and ran out of food and couldn't do anything. I led tens of thousands of people to across the world and go whereever I wish without any problem. Confucius' ability and wisdom when compared to Ren Woxing's aren't that far apart."