《Soaring Swallows Startle Dragons》


 CH 1.1

    Chapter 1


    Shocking Turn in Peach Blossom Spring


    Part 1 (1)


    A fishing boat followed the waters to lovely hills in the spring,


    On the banks peach blossoms pressed in on the old channel.


    Watching the pink trees, unaware of the distance,


    At the end of the green stream there was no one¡­


    Back then only the memory of entering the mountain deeps,


    And many twists and turns to the cloudy forest.


    With the coming of spring everywhere were peach blossom waters,


    Can¡¯t tell where to find the transcendent¡¯s abode.


    The two folk ballads above are the work of the great poet Wang Wei of the Tang dynasty. They describe the world renowned Peach Blossom Spring.


    This earthly paradise was located between Yuanling and Taoyuan in northern Hunan, from Dongting Lake one goes by boat up Yuan River, past Changde, Taoyuan, through Zhang Family Bay to a creek. Disembark and go ashore and a grove full of mountain peaches set off against a grand temple, what later generations of cultivators established as Mystic Metropolis Abbey.


    It was the third month, spring, when peach blossoms were in full bloom. Along the bank of the Yuan River, outside Mystic Metropolis, the peach blossoms were in full bloom, like a tapestry of embroidered brocade. Suddenly, a girl dressed in white emerged from deep within the peach grove, a bundle of peach blossoms in her left hand, and in her right she lightly held her white silk gauze skirt up as she walked with lithe, mincing steps through the grove and slowly made her way to the riverbank.


    The girl in white was beautiful to start with, now set off against her simple, elegant white garb, made her seem even more otherworldly, with clear, distinguished eyes, face bright as a flower, each shining in turn her fair face radiant as a pearl, an unsurpassed, dazzling visage. She was really like the Divine Consort of the Luo River, or Grand Perfected emerging from a bath.


    The girl in white approached the riverbank and focused on the swift river current. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile and with a satisfied look she suddenly plucked a few peach blossoms from her bundle and tossed them into the river, where they swirled in the current and drifted off downstream. She sighed lightly and her smile disappeared, a faint look of bottled-up bitterness appearing on her blushing face¡­


    Just then a small fishing boat suddenly appeared, heading rapidly from upstream. The current was swift and the skiff shot like an arrow. Before long one could make out a benevolent-looking gray-robed monk of over sixty standing in the skiff. Once she got a good look at the person on the boat, the smile reappeared on the girl in white¡¯s face. She called out in a sweet voice, ¡°Shifu¡­¡° and tossed her whole bundle of peach blossoms in the water, then pushed off with her lotus feet and her white garb fluttered and her delicate, nimble body shot straight toward the swift current. As soon as her feet ever so lightly touched the bundle of peach blossoms on the surface of the water, she extended her arms and once again leapt up, flying straight for the monk in the fishing boat.


    The old monk chuckled. ¡°How can a girl of seventeen or eighteen still be so naughty.¡±


    With his right hand he grabbed the iron anchor and flung it to shore. The old monk¡¯s arm strength was astonishing, the anchor flying out of his hand like a shooting star or a loosed arrow. The girl in white had only just set down in the boat when the anchor embedded itself deep into the bank. The hull was carried along by the swift current, pulling the anchor rope taut, extending in a straight line to the bank. The old monk spread the big sleeves of his robe and shot as fast as an arrow off the string and leapt over two and a half or so staves across the water.


    The old monk turned to watch the girl in white, who also leapt to the bank. When she was halfway over she seemed to exhaust herself and she fell straight down toward the water. Just as she was about to hit the water, she stirred her arms up and flew eight spans up, her white skirt billowing out into a circle as big around as a carriage wheel, laughing sweetly, and landed beside the monk. ¡°Shifu, has my Swallow Pierces the Clouds technique improved?¡±


    The old monk nodded. ¡°It has improved a bit, but it¡¯s not quite there yet. If surrounded by a powerful foe you mustn¡¯t become distracted, and you wouldn¡¯t have such an easy time of it.¡±


    The girl in white was not at all happy to hear the monk say she wasn¡¯t there yet instead of praise her, and her petite face pulled taut and she pouted in silence.


    The monk¡¯s merciful brow wrinkled in irritation. He thought, It¡¯s no good to keep indulging her like this. Best to take this opportunity to chide her a little and put an end to her unruliness. Only then can she be corrected. He looked over at her standing their sulking with a cross look on her fair face, fiddling with the end of her braid, so cute and innocent, just like her mother used to look when she was alive. Thirty years gone like a dream, the past surging up in his mind and a wave of pain with it. How could he be so hardhearted to scold her. His voice lowered and he said,¡±Lin¡¯er, come here.¡±


    The girl in white was sulking, but when she heard her sectfather call her she turned and saw the old monk tottering slightly, eyes glistening with tears, and she was alarmed and called out and rushed over and knelt before him, hugging onto her sectfather¡¯s knees, choked with sobs. ¡°Shifu, don¡¯t be mad, Lin¡¯er won¡¯t make you angry ever again.¡±


    The old monk took her by the right arm and helped her up. Smiling, he said, ¡°The abbot of Mystic Metropolis, Dao Senior Master One Yang, is one of the three elders of the Kunlun School, his Split Second Swordplay is unrivaled. In order to help your training, I made a special arrangement with him, that each would teach the other¡¯s student. He teaches you his Split Second Swordplay, and I teach his student my Eighteen Arhat Palm. I just hope that you can succeed and personally, on behalf of your parents¡­¡°


    He suddenly stopped there, merciful brows knit, lost in thought, immersed in memories of the past.


    The girl in white couldn¡¯t help but be anxious at the sad look on her sectfather¡¯s face. She pulled on the old monk¡¯s hand and like a pampered child said, ¡°Shifu, don¡¯t be sad, Lin¡¯er already said she won¡¯t make you angry anymore.¡±


    She suddenly thought of something and asked, ¡°Shifu, you just mentioned my parents. That¡¯s something that¡¯s been lingering in my mind for a many years, but Shifu won¡¯t tell Lin¡¯er about her past. Poor me, I don¡¯t even remember what my dad and mom look like. If Shifu doesn¡¯t tell me, Lin¡¯er will really be heartbroken.¡±


    With that, tears rolled down her fair face one after the other.


    The old monk¡¯s solemn face now showed a look of sadness> he stroked her beautiful hair. ¡°I was always going to tell you about that, but now¡¯s not the time. You have to train diligently and learn Junior Sectuncle Master One Yang¡¯s Split Second Swordplay¡­¡°


    The old monk glimpsed a handsome young man walking down the secluded path out from the peach grove. He wore a long glue-green silk robe and thin white-soled shoes. Within his refined appearance was vigor, fair faced like jade and bright eyes, splendid as a shining flower as he strode through the grove, sleeves fluttering in the wind. When he was before the old monk he bowed courteously. ¡°My teacher knew Senior Sectuncle Clear Karma was coming, so he sent his disciple to come meet you outside the abbey. I didn¡¯t expect you to arrive so early.¡±


    The old monk chuckled. ¡°For three months Lin¡¯er has been bothering your precious abbey, not only hampering your sectfather¡¯s cultivation, but also impeding your own martial arts advancement I¡¯m afraid.¡±


    The young man hurriedly put his hands down at his sides respectfully. ¡°Junior Sister Xialin is extremely clever and has already learned Senior Sectuncle Clear Karma¡¯s superb martial arts. My teacher says there will be no limit to what she can accomplish. His student is dull and inferior. These three months I have benefited greatly from sparring with Junior Sister Xialin. How could she be a bother?¡±


    The girl in white was elated to hear the young man praise her and she was soaring. A smile reappeared, wiping away the long face she wore before. She lovingly looked askance at the blue-clad young man, but his eyes were pointed straight ahead, hands at his side standing still, a picture of reserve.


    The old monk noticed this and sighed inwardly. He thought, Ever since Lin¡¯er met him last year she¡¯s been pestering me to come to Mystic Metropolis. Though she says she likes the peach blossoms here, that¡¯s just an excuse. It seems she¡¯s in love with him, but this one looks indifferent, as if he¡¯s not interested in Lin¡¯er at all¡­ He recalled the surging waves of love of his own youth, how it almost got him buried on a desolate mountain. By chance he happened to meet a master and so reaped benefit from misfortune and learned some extraordinary martial arts. But recalling the past, it was like a nightmare, and upon waking he realized those feelings hauntingly lingered, impossible to shake off. Twenty years facing the wall in meditation and prostrating himself before Buddha, yet he could still not dispel these foolish notions. Every time he woke in the dead of night, her face and voice were still in his mind¡­ Now she was murdered, and before dying she confessed her love, pouring her heart out, and with tears in her eyes entrusted this orphan to him. Lin¡¯er was her sole flesh and blood. If she were to follow the same disastrous path and nurse a grudge the rest of her life, how could he face her mother¡¯s spirit in Heaven?¡­ Thinking of this, he felt sweat drip from the crown of his head. He looked up and the spring sun was setting in the west, penetrating through the peach grove and shining on Lin¡¯er¡¯s face, her brow and mouth smiling faintly, lovely and innocent, regarding the young man spellbound. But his face was stony, unknowing. He thought, Master One Yang really did take on an out of the ordinary person for a student. Lin¡¯er is a peerless beauty, jade face like a flower, yet he doesn¡¯t see it. This person really is a rare boy.


    As the old monk was rapt in thought, the blue-clad young man bowed respectfully and said, ¡°My teacher awaits your gracious presence in the Cinnabar Chamber. Senior Sectuncle, please come inside the abbey!¡±


    The old monk nodded and turned down the secluded path through the peach grove toward Mystic Metropolis.


    The three of them had only taken a few steps when they suddenly heard several shrill wails, the sound like a wounded bird angrily squawking or an owl crying plaintively, shrill and ear-piercing to make one¡¯s hair stand on end. Greatmaster Clear Karma frowned and turned to see the blue-clad young man and Xialin stop in their tracks, standing side by side. He thought for a moment, then continued on toward the abbey.


    The wails got closer and they could now hear shouting, then the cries ceased suddenly and there was the faint clang of metal clashing. Presumably it was two sides fighting.


    The blue-clad young man¡¯s swordlike eyebrows knit. He thought, The Yuan River by Mystic Metropolis is always so peaceful. This sounds like it¡¯s coming from the riverbank. Could there really be bandits brazen enough rob traveling merchants right outside Mystic Metropolis? I can¡¯t not go take a look. And with that he immediately turned and headed for the riverbank.


    Xialin¡¯s childlike innocence still remained, she loved nothing more than a good show. When she saw the blue-clad young man head for the riverbank, how could she resist? She called out sweetly, ¡°Senior Brother Yang, wait for me, we¡¯ll go together!¡±


    The blue-clad young man heard her call him so intimately, and stopped and turned to see her racing toward him, delighted, so cute and innocent, and he sighed inwardly with feeling.


    Just at that moment, a man covered in blood ran out of the peach grove from the secluded path, sabre in hand, and behind him two older men in hot pursuit, the three of them coming on fast as a shooting star or a loosed arrow, and before long they closed in on the two of them. The old pursuer in the lead raised his hand and a clump of silver awns of light shot into the sabre guy¡¯s back. Though hit with hidden weapons, he still ran for his life. When he saw the boy and girl standing in the way ahead he called out loudly, ¡°Hurry and get the abbot of Mystic Metropolis.¡±

 CH 1.2

    Chapter 1


    Shocking Turn in Peach Blossom Spring


    Part 2 (2)


    As the man spoke he slowed somewhat, and the two old pursuers were on him. Four palms shot out in unison like a tidal wave and the man was knocked seven or eight staves in the air and crashed to the ground with a bang.


    Blood spurted from his mouth, and two peach trees with trunks big around as the mouth of a bowl by the side of the path were struck by the force of the old men¡¯s palms and peach blossom petals sprinkled down like a rain of flowers.


    The blue-clad young man was shocked by the power of the oldsters¡¯ palm strikes, but he assumed that since the man had called for the abbot of Mystic Metropolis before he was hit, he must have some relationship with Shifu. Moved to come to the rescue, he had no time to think about the consequences but pushed off with his feet and flew up and crossed in front of the oldsters, blocking the way. The oldsters saw the sabre guy had been felled by their Dragon Whisker Needles and their palm strikes and lay sprawled out on the ground, in no danger of getting up and fleeing, so when the blue-clad young man leapt into their way, they halted as well.


    The blue-clad young man was called Yang Menghuan, the beloved disciple of the abbot of Mystic Metropolis, Master One Yang, who was one of the three elders of Kunlun and was famous throughout the martial world for his Split Second Swordplay and his Celestial Dipper Palms. Yang Menghuan had been following Master One Yang for twelve years and had already learned most of the Kunlun School¡¯s arts.


    Yang Menghuan blocked their way and took a good look at them and was startled. They were both over fifty, and the one on the left had °Ë-shaped eyebrows, a triangular beard, and an ¡°yin-yang¡± face, the left side dark, the right side pale, and his disheveled hair was only three fingerwidths or so long. The one on the right, rather, was very pale, without a trace of color to his face, as if he had died years ago and had come back to life. His beard was a single tuft of yellow hair, and they both wore white knee-length hempcloth gowns and were barefoot save their hemp shoes. The more you looked at them, the most sinister and eerie they seemed, enough to make one shiver.


    Xialin was worried that Yang Menghuan blocking them all by himself put him at a disadvantage, so she leapt over to him, and when she got a good look at the strange-looking men she yelped in fright and cowered close to Yang Menghuan.


    The yin-yang face weirdo sneered, ¡°Are you little kids with Mystic Metropolis? Move aside quick, don¡¯t get in our way!¡±


    Yang Menghuan was sharp and knew that given the mighty power of their palm strikes against those peach trees just now, these ugly freaks were either jianghu bandits of great renown or were reclusive masters. Since he was uncertain of their background it was best not to offend them, plus he figured he was no match for them anyhow. He could only use his words to intervene and stall for time till Shifu arrived. With that thought, he whispered to the girl in white huddled beside him, ¡°Junior Sister Lin, go and get Senior Sectuncle and Shifu.¡±


    Xialin nodded and ran off toward the abbey while Yang Menghuan clasped his hands before him and bowed to the two freaks. ¡°This junior is a disciple of Mystic Metropolis. I¡¯d like to ask you two seniors¡¯ great, honorable names so that this junior can report to my teacher to receive you.¡±


    But the freaks had seen through Yang Menghuan and they clucked their tongues at the same time. The yin-yang freak laughed, then said coldly, ¡°Child, you¡¯re quite crafty, you probably think that Master One Yang¡¯s mighty name can frighten us¡­¡±


    Before he finished speaking, the deathly pale freak on the right took over, ¡°Boss, what are you prattling on with this child for, let¡¯s get the stuff first.¡±


    With that he flashed over to the man sprawled on the ground. The way things were going, Yang Menghuan was going to have to act. The freak came on fast as an arrowshot, incredibly fast, so Yang Menghuan furtively concentrated his qi and shot his palm out crosswise with his Celestial Dipper palm move River Cuts Across the Dipper and with a bang was knocked back five or six spans. The deathly pale freak also never imagined Yang Menghuan would be so strong and taken by surprise, that blocking palm strike knocked him back three or four steps.


    As soon as Yang Menghuan hit the ground he felt a wave of dizziness come over him and his vision dimmed, nearly fainting. He forced himself to focus. The wounded man on the ground was bloody all over and had rolled eight or nine spans away when he fell. His eyes were wide open and blood poured from his nose and mouth. It had all happened in a split second and the freaks pounced over on either side. The yin-yang freak said, ¡°You asked for it, kid, don¡¯t blame your old man Wang for being cruel and merciless.¡±


    Yang Menghuan¡¯s blocking strike was already more than he could take, and now the two of them were on him, even more relentless. If he met them head on again at best he¡¯d be seriously hurt, at worst he¡¯d perish, but he could tell that the wounded man had something important on him, something that was perhaps personally related to his solicitous teacher. Forced to this point, Yang Menghuan couldn¡¯t bother about the threat to his own life any longer. He extended his arms to meet them full force. He¡¯d just started off when he suddenly heard an abrupt shout, ¡°Huan¡¯er, get back, do you want to die?¡±


    Yang Menghuan recognized his sectfather¡¯s voice and hurriedly checked his forward momentum and launched his Yan Qing¡¯s Eighteen Turns lightness skill and abruptly drew perfected qi into his dantian and turned over crosswise in the air. Despite adapting quickly, he was still a step too slow, and he felt a wave of unspeakably powerful hidden force assail his whole body and he flew up uncontrollably like a kite with a broken string, his qi and blood churning for a time, losing his bearings. In the midst of this confusion someone caught him and at the same time a gust of fragrant air brushed against his face. He felt a hand massaging his chest.


    At the same time that Yang Menghuan¡¯s body was blasted into the air by the freaks¡¯ internal force, a monk and a Daoist burst through the air from the tops of the peach grove and landed. Their palms struck out in unison, shooting two gusts of powerful internal palm force that connected and furled into one fist of powerful wind, blowing the blossoms and leaves off several peach trees nearby. The monk and Taoist both felt a slight jolt and the two freaks knocked to the ground and pushed back three or four steps before coming to a halt.


    Master One Yang, abbot of Mystic Metropolis, turned to his beloved disciple, who seemed to be hurt bad, and arched his long brows and bellowed at the freaks, ¡°You Twin Revenants of the South and I have always minded our own business with each other. Why have you come here to cause trouble and be so violent as try injure my school¡¯s disciple. This humble Daoist hung up his sword years ago and has nothing to do with jianghu affairs, but are you all acting this way to force me to take out my sword and attack?¡±


    Before the Twin Revenants of the South could reply, the bloody man suddenly sat up straight and pointed at his own chest and yelled, ¡°Shifu, the Return to the Origin Manual¡­¡±


    Unfortunately, before he finished, the deathly pale freak raised a hand and a throwing knife shot out like lightning. Master One Yang never imagined the Twin Revenants would suddenly attack. He wanted to come to the rescue, but it was too late. The nine-fingerwidth long dual-edged throwing knife penetrated the man¡¯s chest and passed through. The man had already been struck by their Dragon Whisker Needles, then their internal force palm strikes that had injured his internal organs. That was already hard to endure. He had used all the internal power he had built up over dozens of years, as well as the vital energy he had mustered to keep alive his unfinished wish, to endure and stay alive long enough, but how could he take this fatal blow. He cried out and fell to the ground and breathed his last.


    Master One Yang looked closely at the dead man and realized it was his first disciple, Cai Bangxiong, whom he had expelled from the school twenty years ago. A wave of sadness washed over him and stirred this eminent man who had moved beyond the mundane world to anger. He laughed coldly, but before he could act, he glimpsed the yin-yang freak flash over like a bird and swoop down from midair and snatched at Cai Bangxiong¡¯s corpse.


    Master One Yang now was ready, he wasn¡¯t about to let him get away with it that easy. He shouted and chopped down with Wind and Thunder Strike. Greatmaster Clear Karma was also roused to an indescribable fury at the sight of the Twin Revenants of the South murdering the seriously wounded man like that. His sleeves whisked and Fireflies Dance in the Air was loosed against the deathly pale freak.


    Master One Yang was one of the top people in the contemporary martial world. Now, attacking in fury, he loosed his stored up power and the internal force he spit out was no small matter. The yin-yang freak was busy rummaging through Cai Bangxiong¡¯s corpse, so by the time he felt the gust of palm force assail him it was too late to dodge. He could only shoot his right hand back and meet it head on. There was a muffled groan and his right arm snapped off, his body thrown back seven or eight spans away till it smashed into the trunk of a peach tree. Blossoms and leaves scattered down and the trunk was snapped in half.


    Greatmaster Clear Karma attacked the deathly pale freak, also using all his strength, using the momentum of his whipping sleeves to shoot out all of his concentrated power. It looked light and easy but was really swift and relentless. The deathly pale freak put his palms out to meet it and immediately felt an enormous force push his own internal force back. He knew this was bad and quickly retreated, but he was too late. It felt like an iron hammer weighing a thousand catties suddenly slammed into his chest, and he fell down sitting on the ground and a mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth.


    The Twin Revenants of the South, Yin-Yang Judge Wang Xuan and Soul-Snagging Messenger of Death Li Tong, had each taken a move from Master One Yang and Greatmaster Clear Karma, and both had been massively wounded. However, The Twin Revenants¡¯ martial arts was not middling. Though they were seriously injured, it was not yet fatal. They leapt up at once and Yin-Yang Judge Wang Xuan threw his head back, laughing wildly. ¡°Abbot of Mystic Metropolis, Greatmaster Clear Karma, we will remember these two moves you have bestowed on us for the rest of our lives. As long as we brothers have three fingerwidths of breath left, we will have vengeance.¡±


    Saying that, the Twin Revenants each loosed a sharp howl, like ghosts wailing in the wilderness. It was an awful sound, and as their howls lingered they darted off into the peach grove and vanished.


    Master One Yang was worried about Yang Menghuan, and Clear Karma didn¡¯t want any more killing, so neither gave chase and just looked on as the Twin Revenants of the South said their piece and awkwardly fled.


    Master One Yang looked over and saw the color gradually returning to Yang Menghuan¡¯s face, and he relaxed. He went over to Cai Bangxiong¡¯s corpse, whose face was crossed with wounds and whose body was riddled with hidden weapons. His clothes from top to bottom were soaked through with blood. He thought of their past teacher-disciple relationship and felt an overwhelming sadness. He hung his head and heaved a long sigh, then slowly knelt and felt the man¡¯s chest. The body was already cold. He was just about to stand up when he suddenly remembered what the man had said just before he was struck by the knife and his mind jolted. He reached out and felt around, searching, and found a small, exquisite jade box. It was covered in blood but was undamaged. He opened it. Inside was a square-shaped length of tabby silk one span long, on which was painting a landscape.


    Three high peaks, two in the front, one in the back, forming a Æ· shape, and a waterfall falling from the top of the central peak. The mountain features were imposing and unique, painted in a profoundly creative style. Master One Yang looked at it for a long while but still couldn¡¯t understand it, so he turned the white silk over and looked at the back, which looked to have been sewn. Suspicious, he rubbed it with his fingers and sure enough, it was two layers of silk sewn together. He gently tore open the stitching and immediately felt a wave of sadness and tears fell.


    Master One Yang looked down at Cai Bangxiong¡¯s body, lost in thought. After a long time he heaved a long sigh. ¡°Such a pity, you tried so hard, but it was still difficult to see your wished fulfilled. Though it cost you your life, you still returned to your school, you are still one of Kunlun¡¯s disciples!¡±


    The abbot of Mystic Metropolis¡¯s act here left Greatmaster Clear Karma dumbfounded.

 CH 1.3

    Chapter 1


    Shocking Turn in Peach Blossom Spring


    Part 3 (3)


    Turning once again to Yang Menghuan, he risked his life to intercept and stop the Twin Revenants of the South from seizing the wounded man. Fortunately, the abbot of Mystic Metropolis arrived just in time to call him off and so he did not meet the Twin Revenants¡¯ palm force head on. But he was still hit by the leftover force of their palm strikes. He pitched into the air and fell straight down. Luckily, Xialin hurried over and caught him and rubbed his acupoints to get the blood flowing.


    Yang Menghuan had concentrated his internal power to guard his vitals when he was dodging the Twin Revenant¡¯s palm strikes, so he did not suffer serious injury, and after Xialin massaged his acupoints his blood circulation was flowing unimpeded and he came to. He opened his eyes and saw he was cradled in Xialin¡¯s arms and he felt gratitude and shame at the same time and quickly got to his feet. Xialin was delighted to see him spring up so quickly and nimbly. ¡°Senior Brother Yang, you¡¯re not hurt?¡±


    Yang Menghuan nodded. ¡°I stopped breathing for a moment but no big deal. I troubled Junior Sister to render aid.¡±


    Shen Xialin shook her head and smiled. ¡°It made me feel better to do it.¡±


    As soon as she said that she felt it was wrong and she blushed crimson and hung her head and fiddled with the hem of her robe.


    Yang Menghuan was grateful for how concerned she was for him, but also sad. He sighed inwardly and turned to see Shifu carrying the bloody man¡¯s body. He hurried over. ¡°Shifu, who is that person, want me to carry him?¡±


    Master One Yang was relieved to see he had no internal injuries. He said gravely, ¡°He was your senior sectbrother, Cai Bangxiong. Hurry and pay your respects!¡±


    Yang Menghuan was taken aback at that because he was the only student of Master One Yang, and he never heard Shifu talk about having other disciples. How could he out of nowhere have a senior sectbrother? But from the serious look on Shifu¡¯s face he didn¡¯t dare question it. Shifu told him to pay his respects, so all he could do was respectfully kowtow before the bloody body, then accept the body with open arms.


    Master One Yang looked back at Clear Karma. ¡°Let me first bury my student¡¯s. Tonight we¡¯ll turn up the wick and talk. I have an important matter to discuss with, Dao Brother. You and Lin¡¯er go on to the abbey.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma was baffled, but he didn¡¯t ask about it but took Xialin and wound through the peach grove and back to the abbey. Master One Yang took Yang Menghuan and they cremated Cai Bangxiong¡¯s body and put the bones in a porcelain urn and buried it behind the abbey. Master One Yang used his powerful Diamond Finger skill to write on a tombstone, ¡°Grave of Cai Bangxiong, disciple of Master One Yang of the Kunlun School.¡±


    After burying Cai Bangxiong, it was already the tenth double-hour of the day, the hour of the cock, and the moon was beginning to rise in the east, clear and bright as water, shining on the myriad trees and peach blossoms. Master One Yang was deeply grieved as he walked back to the abbey. Dozens of years of past grudges surged to his mind. Suddenly he turned and said, ¡°Disciple, your senior sectbrother got angry once and accidentally hurt a disciple of Shaolin, nearly damaging the harmony between the two schools. He was expelled from the school by me, but later on he reflected on his faults and turned things around and tried every means he could think of to return to the school. Three times he knelt before the Cinnabar Chamber, and every time I refused him. He pointed to the sky and sword an oath and liked to weep blood so hard he implored me, saying that if only I would permit him to return to Kunlun, no matter how difficult a task I gave him he would do it. I answered him that he should never again harbor any thought to return in this life unless he were to seek out a marvelous rare treasure map of the martial world. How could I know he would take to heart my jest spoken in anger. Twenty years later he really did find this map and was about to present to me and request me to once again take him in as a disciple. Such a pity that he was chased and struck down and killed by the Twin Revenants of the South just as he reached the Mystic Metropolis Abbey. In the future when your training is complete and you go out on your own, you must not rashly injure good people, but you must without hesitation mercilessly strike down those evildoers of the jianghu!¡±


    Yang Menghuan only half understood all this, and he gave some noncommittal responses, and by the time teacher and disciple slowly made their way back to the abbey under the moonlight it was already the first watch. Greatmaster Clear Karma was impatient waiting and was about to say something, but the solemn, grieved look on the abbot¡¯s face checked him, and he stood there dumbly in the corner of the Cinnabar Chamber and watched his old friend become abnormally lost in thought.


    Master One Yang walked to a table, opened a drawer, and took out a red-lacquered wooden box and placed it respectfully on the table. First he solemnly kowtowed to it, then he opened it and took out a picture and hung it on the wall behind the table. Yang Menghuan looked up and examined it. It was an old man in Daoist garb embroidered in white thread on yellow satin. He had a sword on his back and looked so lifelike. Yang Menghuan thought it strange and suddenly heard Master One Yang shout, ¡°Disciple, get over here and pay your respects to the founder¡¯s deceased portrait and graciously accept Kunlun School¡¯s most momentous swordplay.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma was at full attention and he quickly put his palms together and faced the portrait and paid his respects, then gently pulled Shen Xialin out of the Cinnabar Chamber. Yang Menghuan faced the portrait and performed the thrice three-times kowtow rite. Master One Yang waited till he was finished, then put the portrait away and said seriously, ¡°The martial world all thinks that Kunlun¡¯s Split Second Swordplay only has 96 forms, but they are entirely mistaken. This swordplay in total actually has 108 moves. Twelve of them contain the quintessence of the entire craft, and so it is also called the Soul Seeking Twelve. It has many unusual and mystical variations. Your two junior sectuncles and I agreed not to pass on these twelve killer moves without the permission of all three of us, but tonight I will make an exception and allowed you to pay homage to the founder¡¯s portrait and have decided to teach you the Soul Seeking Twelve. Starting tomorrow I will teach you one move every day¡­¡±


    He paused, his solemn expression carrying also a trace of sadness. He sighed. ¡°Go on out, tell your Senior Sectuncle Clear Karma to come in. The moonlight is nice tonight, you and Lin¡¯er can practice your hand-to-hand and swordplay. Neither you nor Lin¡¯er are permitted to step foot in the Cinnabar Chamber unless summoned.¡±


    Yang Menghuan felt this was unusual, but he dared not question it. He bowed and exited the Cinnabar Chamber. Clear Karma was in the side courtyard of the main hall giving Lin¡¯er some pointers with her hand-to-hand. Yang Menghuan relayed his sectfather¡¯s message, then went with Lin¡¯er outside the abbey to practice. Miss Shen was glad to hear that Yang Menghuan was going to practice swordplay with her and her dimples showed she as giggled. She had no thoughts of asking the old monk about idle matters.


    ~*~


    Let¡¯s talk now of Greatmaster Clear Karma, who went back to the Cinnabar Chamber. Master One Yang¡¯s attention was focused on the white silk painting that was in the jade box. Incense wisped and wafted out of a jade burner, thick heady vapors whirling and swirling. On the table two tall red candles burned, lighting the room as it it were daytime. Clear Karma walked over and looked down and had a start.


    The white silk was spread out on the table. Three large faded characters read straight across, ¡°Authentic Treasure Map¡±, and below it four lines of verse like a poem but also not like a poem, which read:


    Myriad merits return to the secret origin, One Sword stroke ices the Divine Land.


    Verdant pines sift the bright moon, Over stone flows the clear spring.


    Under the verses were painted a line of continuous mountain peaks enclosing on both sides a secluded valley. within the valley, a path wound through the peaks, winding and helical. Deep in the secluded valley green pines stood in great number, one of them especially tall, like an open umbrella. Moonlight shone through the pines, spotting the ground with scattered points of silver light, and a clear stream wound past an enormous rock below the pines, flowing straight toward a deep ravine. The stream was not large, and it cascaded like a curtain of water , only the ravine was so deep one could not see the bottom, and the painting did not depict the bottom. Master One Yang turned to Clear Karma and laughed. ¡°This treasure map is the number-one rare prize sought by all in the martial world. For a hundred years people have been looking for this map. Who knows how many jianghu masterhands have lost their lives looking for it, yet I obtained it without doing anything.¡±


    He remembered expelling Cai Bangxiong in the past and couldn¡¯t help but feel sad.


    Greatmaster Clear Karma arched his merciful brow. ¡°I¡¯ve heard but a few rumors about the treasure map and the Return to the Origin Manual, and there are so many stories about it that all contradict each other. You three Kunlun masters are well-known throughout the martial world and have been famed throughout the jianghu for decades. You¡¯re experienced and knowledgeable, you must know the true story. Might I venture to ask you to tell this old monk the details? I¡¯m all ears.¡±


    Master One Yang sighed faintly. ¡°To talk about the Return to the Origin Manual one must go back 300 years to two remarkable individuals: Mystic Workings Perfected and Divine Nun Three Tones. One of them became a Buddhist, the other a Daoist. Both possessed consummate skills and were unrivaled in the world, their internal and external skills had all reached the peak of perfection. Back then, of the the martial world sects and schools, Shaolin and Wudang were the most prosperous and had the largest number of disciples. After them, the seven schools of Mount Hua, Kunlun, Diancang, Kongtong, Mount Snow, Qingcheng, and Emei were second. The rest of the sects and schools each had their unique martial arts, but none could be placed on a par with those seven. In those days the nine schools all had outstanding talents. It was a very prosperous, flourishing time for the martial arts of the Middle Kingdom, and the sectmasters of each school viewed themselves as orthodox schools, and they arranged to have a swordmeet on Shaoshi Peak on the Central Marchmount, wherein each would use their unique martial arts to determine rankings.¡±


    Master One Yang continued, ¡°All the heroes of the world wanted to see it, and so an unprecedented grand gathering convened before Shaoshi Peak, each of the nine schools selecting three good hands to compete in a round robin tournament to decide the victor. The swordmeet lasted seven days, and each school lost some good hands. Mount Hua, Diancang, Kongtong, and Mount Snow were the first four to be eliminated. The five schools of Shaolin, Wudang, Kunlun, Qingcheng, and Emei then held a finals, each school selecting their most elite. Should any one of them perish in the duel, who knows how many masterful arts would be lost¡­¡± Saying this, he paused and sighed.


    Greatmaster Clear Karma was eager to hear the rest of the tale. ¡°So in the end, which school won the competition?¡±


    Master One Yang laughed. ¡°If they really had fought it out, decided a victor, determined the rankings, even though several elders would have perished and some martial arts would have been lost, they still might have been able to have some days of peace in the days that followed. As luck would have it, the masterhands of the five schools were just about to start the competition when Mystic Workings Perfected arrived just in time on Shaoshi Peak, and he fervently urged everyone to stop fighting. But the sectmasters of the five schools had been worrying over this moment for hundreds of years, it was not an easy thing to convene the elite masters of each school together, so they were not about to give it up. Seeing that his exhortations were no use, Mystic Workings Perfected promptly using his bare hands challenged the masters of the five schools. Shaolin, Wudang, Kunlun, Emei, and Qingcheng all longed to vie for first place, and seeing how wildly arrogant he was, looking down on the five great schools, they sure enough ganged up and attacked him. But who could have expected that Mystic Workings Perfected¡¯s martial arts had already entered the sublime realm of perfection. Within 500 moves, using his bare hands, he defeated the masters of the five schools and won him self the honorable title of Number One Martial Artist in the World. And with that, the bid to determine the rankings of the five schools was dispelled, and the swordmeet on Shaoshi Peak of the Central Marchmount was canceled and dissolved.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma nodded. ¡°You could say that Mystic Workings Perfected really did a great deed, making it so the vital elite of the five major martial world schools remained alive, and because of that the martial world now is able to be so prosperous.¡±

 CH 1.4

    Chapter 1


    Shocking Turn in Peach Blossom Spring


    Part 4 (4)


    Master One Yang smiled. ¡°Mystic Workings Perfected subdued the five schools at the Central Marchmount swordmeet, and dispersed it, but the five schools did not give up their desire to determine the rankings. On the contrary, they threw themselves even deeper into studying the strengths of their school¡¯s arts intensely, and they sent out disciples to sneak into other schools and secretly learn their martial arts, all in preparation for a second swordmeet to strive for fame. And so they became extremely cautious in accepting new disciples. Natural talent and intelligence were naturally important, and their backgrounds were thoroughly checked in order to prevent disciples of other schools from sneaking in and deceitfully learning their martial arts. This open strife and veiled struggle went on like this nonstop for hundreds of years, with the result that the leaders of each school did not dare to pass on their most sublime skills to their students. Each school¡¯s martial arts therefore advanced exponentially, but unfortunately only two or three leaders mastered the essence, and the many disciples they took in only learned a few basics.¡±


    Master One Yang sighed. ¡°Even when it came to selecting the favored disciple to carry the mantle for the next generation, it was a very cautious affair. They selected and selected, choosing only one or two out of a thousand disciples to erect and altar and pay their respects to the founder, then swear a grave oath to forever safeguard the school. Only then would they be taught the superior arts. For hundreds of years it went on like this, generation after generation, each school¡¯s martial arts advancing by leaps and bounds after the swordmeet on Shaoshi Peak, became increasingly accomplished and profound, but the number of people who knew those arts became fewer and fewer.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma put his palms together and declared, ¡°Name and fame do people great harm.¡±


    Master One Yang sighed once again. ¡°Take my Kunlun School as an example! After the swordmeet on Shaoshi Peak, the elders of the senior generation studied intensely with all their heart to create the Split Second Swordplay and the Celestial Dipper Palm, but the Soul Seeking Twelve, the essence of the Split Second Swordplay, was not permitted to be transmitted to students. At present, aside from myself and my junior sectbrother and junior sectsister, the whole martial world just thinks that Kunlun¡¯s Split Second Swordplay only has 96 forms, but actually the whole set is 108 moves. The twelve moves not permitted to be transmitted to students are actually the cream of the entire swordcraft. My sectmates and I agreed that all three of us had to discuss it first and choose a successor to carry the mantle of the school before the Soul Seeking Twelve could be transmitted. But I have changed my mind and decided to violate our agreement and transmit the Soul Seeking Twelve to Menghuan. That child¡¯s natural gifts are the best of the best, but even more hard to come by is that although he is intelligent and resourceful, he also has a pure and honest heart. Over the past twelve years he has learned all I have learned. If he now learns the Soul Seeking Twelve then I will have nothing left to teach him as a sectfather.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma was taken aback by this. ¡°Although your intention is to cherish and take care of him, by privately teaching him the Soul Seeking Twelve, there¡¯s the matter of the agreement between you three Kunlun masters. How will you explain it to your junior sectbrother and junior sectsister?¡±


    Master One Yang laughed loudly, his voice booming like the awe-inspiring roar of a dragon or tiger, shaking the Cinnabar Chamber and causing the candles to flicker and sway. Greatmaster Clear Karma could detect in his old friend¡¯s peculiar laugh extreme grief and solemnity, yet also boundless joy. The old monk frowned at this, but before he could say anything, Master One Yang suddenly stopped laughing and said, ¡°The crux of this matter lies in the treasure map. The five-school sword competition was canceled, but the ranks were not determined, and though they none of them wanted to give it up, after Mystic Workings Perfected subdued the masters of the five schools, he left them with a warning, saying that the myriad streams of martial arts all returned back to the same ancestor, the white roots of the pink lotus are of one family, why bother fighting over name and fame and mutually annihilate each other? Henceforth, should any school harbor thoughts of dueling for fame, he would not stand idly by and watch. His intentions were good, but who could have known that they would incur for him a lot of trouble.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma asked, ¡°With martial arts like his, how could there be any trouble?¡±


    Master One Yang answered, ¡°The world is large, there¡¯s nothing in it too bizarre. Mystic Workings Perfected¡¯s extraordinary martial arts it¡¯s said came from a fist and swordplay manual. Since he was no one¡¯s disciple and no one taught him, no one knew his background, and before the competition between the nine schools on Shaoshi Peak of the Central Marchmount, no one in the jianghu had ever heard of him. But once he subdued the masters of the five schools, his name spread everywhere north and and south of the Great River, and he was esteemed as the Number One Martial Artist in the World. That illustrious title did him in.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma said curiously, ¡°How could the title of Number One Martial Artist in the World do him in?¡±


    Master One Yang shook his head. ¡°For people of the martial world, even if your internal and external martial arts have transcended to the sublime peak of perfection, even if you look at wealth and rank, jewels and treasures and antiques as nothing more than a pile of excrement, even if you have transcended the world and attained a state of selflessness and formlessness and have smashed the barriers of emotion and purified and illuminated your spirit, still name, reputation, are difficult to completely shake off. Mystic Workings Perfected subdued the masters of the five schools with his bare hands, his fame shook the world. Certainly it temporarily quelled the five schools¡¯ desire to strive for fame and averted a deadly massacre and preserved the lives of some vital elites. But to tell the truth, it was all for the sake of winning a name. His illustrious title of Number One Martial Artist in the World stirred the envy of a peerless talent of the age. This person was not only a woman, she was also a Buddhist disciple with the dharma name Three Tones.


    Buddhism speaks of a state of selflessness and formlessness, no anger, no false ideas, but she still could not shake off anger and false ideas. On the third year after Mystic Workings Perfected subdued the masters of the five schools, this Divine Nun Three Tones traveled all the way from the far of Altai Mountains to Clouds in the Blue Cliff on Mount Kuocang in southern Zhejiang to have a duel with Mystic Workings Perfected, and on Clouds in the Blue Cliff they began an earth shaking battle that moved the ghosts and gods to tears. They had both truly entered the realm of transcendents, and they went all out for three days and three nights and traded over 5,000 moves with still neither emerging the victor. On the fourth day they set up a contest of internal force until ultimately they destroyed each other. Both of them were gravely wounded and they sat circulating their qi and regulating their breathing. They knew they were not long for this world, and they achieved a great revelation and understanding, and went from enemies to friends. Neither of them had any disciples, so they recorded their sublime martial arts in three books and concealed them in a cave on Mount Kuocang. They called it the Return to the Origin Manual, meaning that all the world¡¯s martial arts, all the myriad streams and styles were traced back to a common ancestor. A thousand variations could not divest them from their ancestor. Once the manual was completed, they painted a treasure map indirectly indicating the hidden location of the manual. It was said that the map was placed in a jade box and buried on Clouds in the Blue Cliff where they had dueled, and these two peerless talents sat and died while meditating on Mount Kuocang.


    This event has been handed down for three hundred years or so until today. Every sect and school in the martial world has racked their brains trying to find the Return to the Origin Manual, from aloof independent reclusive xia to great Greenwood bandits of the jianghu, all have spared no effort or intellect in seeking the manual. I heard that the treasure map was found by a great one-legged bandit of the jianghu a hundred years ago, but he met a violent end. There are too many people looking to take a peak at the Return to the Origin Manual. No matter how strong your martial arts are, once word gets around it¡¯s hard to avoid meeting a violent end. This map has been passed around for a hundred years and has harmed who knows how many lives. Till today no one has been heard to have found the Return to the Origin Manual. Who knows where Cai Bangxiong found this map, but the Twin Revenants of the South presumably chased him here to Mystic Metropolis in order to steal the map.¡±


    With this he heaved a long sigh and took on a mournful expression.


    Clear Karma asked, ¡°Now that the map has fallen into your hands, what do you plan to do? Do you also want to seek the Return to the Origin Manual?¡±


    Master One Yang nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to privately teach my disciple the Soul Seeking Twelve in preparation for these old bones being buried on Mount Kuocang. For 300 years every school has temporarily gotten along with each other and kept the peace, but actually it¡¯s all because they¡¯ve been wholeheartedly dedicated to finding Return to the Origin. Regardless of which school possesses it, a martial world massacre will be launched at once. Mount Hua has always had outstanding talents, and ever since Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai took over as sectmaster, they¡¯ve have even more outstanding talents emerge and have gradually become big and powerful. They¡¯ve never for a moment forgotten the humiliation incurred at the swordmeet on Shaoshi Peak.


    The Heavenly Dragon Gang of northern Guizhou has had an abrupt rise. In just a few short years their power and influence has spread throughout Jiangnan. The chief of the Heavenly Dragons, Sky and Sea Elder Li Canglan and his Red, Yellow, Blue, White, and Black Banner altarmen were all remarkable reclusive talents, but moved by their passions they gave up their decades of cultivation and threw in with the Heavenly Dragons, and they have recruited unaffiliated masterhands throughout the jianghu in a bid to establish a major branch outside the Nine Major Schools of the martial world. Right now the jianghu looks calm and peaceful, when in fact in private swords are drawn and bows are strung. It looks as though the second swordmeet to determine ranks is not far off. This Return to the Origin concerns the fate of the the martial world from henceforth. Should it fall into the wrong hands, you can imagine the tragic aftermath. So because of this I can¡¯t but go up Mount Kuocang and give it all I¡¯ve got. Whether I will succeed or fail is hard to say, but this is not something I can do on my own. I had a mind to arrange a trip with you, but old monk as you are, always thinking yourself to be aloof from worldly matters, I don¡¯t know if you would be willing to risk it. If you¡¯re unwilling to go, I won¡¯t try to force you. Once I transmit the Soul Seeking Twelve to Huan¡¯er I plan to set out. Right now I want to hear from you. Are you in or out?¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma lowered his head and muttered to himself for a while, then answered, ¡°This matter concerns the fate of the martial world for years to come, this old monk is hard-pressed to put it off on someone else, plus I¡¯ve lived for over sixty years, life and death are not of much importance. It¡¯s just that that child, Xialin, I¡¯m worried for her. She¡¯s orphaned with no one to rely on, and she shoulders a deep blood debt¡­¡±


    Master One Yang cut in with a smile, ¡°About Lin¡¯er, I¡¯ve prepared for that. If you are willing to let her throw in with Kunlun, I can write a letter to my junior sectsister Perfected Wisdom recommending her to take Lin¡¯er on as a disciple. The Twin Revenants of the South fled wounded, word of the treasure map is already out. Mystic Metropolis will not be safe for long. Within a month someone is bound to come looking. We have to let these kids leave before we set out.¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma laughed. ¡°It would be her good fortune if she could throw in as a Kunlun disciple, and this old monk can be buried on Mount Kuocang with no regrets, but I have to make one thing clear: Xialin is involved in a jianghu revenge feud. When her mother died she left behind a letter written in blood wanting her to grow up and personally kill the prime culprit. I can¡¯t keep this matter from her forever. She will have to be made aware that her parents¡¯ enmity is absolutely irreconcilable. If this causes trouble in the future for your Kunlun School, you mustn¡¯t say this old monk didn¡¯t warn you.¡±


    Master One Yang asked seriously, ¡°is Miss Shen the daughter of the Blue-clad Scholar Shen Shilang?¡±


    The old monk¡¯s face sank. ¡°What, you¡­ know about that?¡±


    Master One Yang sighed. ¡°Word of Shen Shilang and his wife murdered on Covert Mountain fifteen years ago spread through the jianghu long ago. But I advise you not to let her know about her background. The one who murdered Shen Shilang and his wife, Hundred-Step Flying Cymbals Qi Yuantong has already thrown in with the Heavenly Dragons. He¡¯s head of the Red Banner Altar. Revenge is something you have to wait for the right time for. It¡¯s no good to act rashly. If you tell her now, you¡¯ll just be harming her.¡±

 CH 1.5

    Chapter 1


    Shocking Turn in Peach Blossom Spring


    Part 5 (5)


    Greatmaster Clear Karma arched his brows, eyes twinkling. ¡°In that case, this old monk will have to go out and fight Qi Yuantong on her behalf.¡±


    Master One Yang smiled. ¡°If you fight Qi Yuantong I trust you won¡¯t lose. The problem is the Heavenly Dragon Gang has strength in numbers, and Sky and Sea Elder Li Canglan really is an outstanding talent recently emerged in the martial world. You¡¯ve probably heard about how he subdued the Four Uglies with his cane! The Four Uglies of Sichuan are tough customers of the Greenwood of the Hubei and Shu regions. Time and again Wudang, Emei, and Qingcheng disciples have tried to surround and annihilate them, and each time failed, and not a few masterhands have been wounded in the process. Li Canglan happened to be passing through western Hubei and unexpectedly ran into the Four Uglies and in the span of one night subdued the four fiends and enlisted them in his Heavenly Dragon Gang. This matter spread through the Central Plains martial world three days ago. Given current developments, the Heavenly Dragons really do seem to be heading toward surpassing the nine schools. If I¡¯m not mistaken, within ten years there will be a huge change in the martial world. Perhaps the elites of each school will be wiped out in this great catastrophe. There¡¯s no need to be anxious about Miss Shen¡¯s vengeance. If she joins Kunlun, us three Kunlun masters naturally won¡¯t just sit by and watch.¡±


    The old monk heaved a long sigh. ¡°I used to be a person beyond the mundane world. But I got tangled up with a grudge related to that girl, and it¡¯s been impossible to extricate myself from it. Looks like cultivating to a point of being beyond emotions is easier said than done. Since I can¡¯t avoid the turmoil of the mundane world, why talk about drifting along beyond it? I¡¯ll go back to Sunshade Monastery and get things in order. Should this old monk die on Mount Kuocang, I mustn¡¯t allow Sunshade Monastery to be without an abbot. In three days I¡¯ll return to Mystic Metropolis and take the opportunity to pass down my final move of my Eighteen Arhats Palm to your student.¡±


    With that, he quickly left, his wide sleeves fluttering, and he was out of the Cinnabar Chamber, and with a great soaring step he took to the air like an enormous bird and was gone.


    ~*~


    Three days later, sure enough Greatmaster Clear Karma came back, only now he had with him a zen staff. For half a month the monk and the Daoist transmitted the Soul Seeker Twelve and the Eighteen Arhat Palm to Yang Menghuan.


    The Soul Seeker Twelve was the cream of Kunlun¡¯s moves, so because Shen Xialin had not yet been admitted to the Kunlun School, Master One Yang could not teach it to her.


    Miss Shen had learned the Eighteen Arhats Palm long ago, so during this half a month the busiest person was Yang Menghuan. During the day he practiced his palm techniques, at night he practiced the sword. The Soul Seeker Twelve consisted of only twelve moves, but they were unusually complex. When one move was used, the variations of the other eleven moves were contained in that move. In half a month Yang Menghuan just managed to force himself to learn it.


    Master One Yang was anxious to hurry on to Mount Kuocang, he didn¡¯t have time to wait for his student to become more proficient. He called Menghuan and Xialin into the Cinnabar Chamber and took out two letters and gave them to Menghuan. ¡°You¡¯ve been with me now for twelve years, it¡¯s high time you take a trip back to see your parents. After your visit there¡¯s no need to come back to Mystic Metropolis looking for me. Take this letter and go to Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak on Mount Kunlun and deliver it to your two sectuncles for them to read.¡±


    Yang Menghuan received the letters, kowtowed in the Cinnabar Chamber. The favor received from his teacher these past twelve years was as vast as the sea, and now that he was leaving he couldn¡¯t help but get emotional, and tears fell nonstop as he prostrated himself.


    Master One Yang laughed and boomed, ¡°In all the world there¡¯s no such thing as a banquet that doesn¡¯t end. Where¡¯s your manliness, blubbering on like that. Get up!¡±


    Yang Menghuan could only rise and stand quietly to the side with his hands at his side.


    Greatmaster Clear Karma stroked Xialin¡¯s hair and said, ¡°Your Senior Sectuncle Master One Yang sympathizes with your plight as an orphan and has permitted you to join the Kunlun School. Once you get to Gold Crest Peak and pay your respects to your teacher, you must practice your martial arts diligently.¡±


    After saying this, his merciful brow knit slightly, a dejected look on his face.


    Shen Xialin was surprised to hear this and tears gushed out of her big round eyes. ¡°What, Shifu isn¡¯t going with Lin¡¯er?¡±


    Greatmaster Clear Karma forced a smile. ¡°It¡¯s your great good fortune to be able to join Kunlun, how can a big kid like you not understand the world at all?¡±


    Xialin asked, ¡°So then, Lin¡¯er is going to Mount Kunlun alone?¡±


    Master One Yang smiled and cut in, ¡°You¡¯re going with your Senior Sectbrother Yang!¡±


    A smile broke out on her face when the young girl heard she was going with Menghuan, and she stood to the side and said no more.


    Master One Yang took a small white cloth bundle from Greatmaster Clear Karma and handed it to Menghuan. ¡°You must take very good care of this and deliver it to your Third Sectuncle.¡±


    Yang Menghuan put it in his robe and Master One Yang once again instructed, ¡°Once you get home you can stay there for a month, then hurry on to Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak on Mount Kunlun. Along the way, make sure you take good care of your Junior Sectsister Shen.¡±


    Yang Menghuan bowed in response, and Master One Yang urged the two of them to get going at once, and they left Mystic Metropolis that very morning.


    Not long after Yang Menghuan and Shen Xialin left, Master One Yang called the Daoists in the abbey to the Cinnabar Chamber. Mystic Metropolis was large, but it wasn¡¯t very popular with people coming to burn incense. Aside from the peach blossom blooming season and the occasional random traveler, there were rarely any visitors here. Aside from Master One Yang and Yang Menghuan, there were only four or five Daoist attendants doing odd jobs. The abbot explained things to the attendants, then he and Greatmaster Clear Karma flitted out, heading straight for Mount Kuocang in southern Zhejiang.


    ~*~


    Now let¡¯s turn to Yang Menghuan and Shen Xialin, who bid farewell to Master One Yang and Greatmaster Clear Karma and left Mystic Metropolis and took a skiff down the Yuan River. The river here was narrow and its current swift and the skiff shot like an arrow, Yang Menghuan sitting in the back manning the helm, looking down at the peach blossoms drifting along on the waves. Shen Xialin stood beside him looking back at the gradually receding grove of myriad peach trees, a smile on her face, though her eyes were drowned in tears. It was like she was infinitely happy but also infinitely sad.


    Till they reached Jian Family Creek and Mystic Metropolis was completely gone from sight. Only then did she slowly turn and look at Yang Menghuan and ask, ¡°Senior Brother Yang, have you been to Mount Kunlun before?¡±


    Yang Menghuan shook his head. ¡°These past twelve years I haven¡¯t left Mystic Metropolis except for twice when Shifu took me back home to see my parents.¡±


    Shen Xialin murmured in response and sat close to him. ¡°Before I was old enough to remember anything I was taken by my sectfather to Sunshade Monastery. All these years I haven¡¯t been anywhere besides Sunshade Monastery and Mystic Metropolis Abbey. And Shifu would never tell me about my family. I think my parents didn¡¯t want me, otherwise why have they never come to see their own daughter all these years?¡±


    She looked up and watched the leisurely white clouds and two lines of tears streamed down her face.


    The boat was like a galloping horse, the strong wind brushing against their faces. Miss Shen¡¯s faint scene assailed Yang Menghuan, and he had all sorts of feelings welling up in his mind facing this beautiful jade person. He couldn¡¯t help but be moved by the pained look on her face. He really wanted to comfort her, but he didn¡¯t know what to say, so for a while he just sat there saying nothing.


    Shen Xialin slowly looked down and saw Yang Menghuan staring blankly and she was startled. She hurriedly said, ¡°Senior Brother Yang! Did I say something wrong?¡±


    Yang Menghuan was taken aback, then he chuckled and said, ¡°No.¡±


    Xialin asked, ¡°Then why are you just sitting there lost in a daze?¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°I wanted to make you feel better, but I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±


    Xialin smiled winsomely, the melancholy gone from her face. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and reached out and took the helm. ¡°How about you take a break and let me handle the helm?¡±


    Yang Menghuan couldn¡¯t bear to reject her good intentions and gave way.


    It was rapidly approaching dusk when they reached Dongting Lake and saw a multitude of sails among the vast misty waters. There were fishing boats anchored in the middle of the lake, wisps of kitchen smoke rising and curling among the rosy sunset clouds, fisher girls walking around barefoot in cotton clothes, sitting on the bows of the boats mending nets and talking and laughing. Shen Xialin had never seen such a sight and she was enraptured. Her jade wrist worked the scull and they wound through the thickest clump of fishing boats. She looked at them and their eyes too were fixed on her, wondering how a young gentle beauty like her had such arm strength. the scull split the waves and they were flying. When Miss Shen was little she was taken by Greatmaster Clear Karma to Sunshade Monastery and rarely had contact with others, so her heart was as pure as jade. Even though a myriad eyes were on her she was not the least bit afraid and continued sculling through the water, winding through the fishing boats and away.


    Suddenly, two shuttle-shaped skiffs sailed rapidly toward them from the left and right, heading straight for Shen Xialin and Yang Menghuan¡¯s little boat. The young miss had just been playing happily and was taken by surprise, the skiff on the right about to collide with their boat. Yang Menghuan shot his right arm out and connected with the charging skiff. He inwardly concentrated his perfected force and with a block and a deflection the shuttle-shaped skiff was knocked away by the force and spun off to the side. Shen Xialin was on the alert now and her right wrist forcefully worked the scull, churning up a spray of water and the little boat surged up eight spans and split a line through the water to avoid the skiff on the left. She heard someone sneer on the skiff and it cleaved the waves and swiftly and left.


    Shen Xialin watched the skiffs leaving and became more and more angry. She turned the bow around wanting to give chase, but Yang Menghuan said softly, ¡°Forget about it, their boars are fast, we¡¯d never catch up to them.¡±


    Shen Xialin, at a loss, asked, ¡°We didn¡¯t do anything to them, why did they want to bully us like that?¡±


    The question left Yang Menghuan staring wide-eyed, unable to answer. Why? He didn¡¯t know himself. After a moment of stupor he said, ¡°I¡¯ve often heard Shifu say that there¡¯s nothing too bizarre for the jianghu. This was nothing, let¡¯s get going!¡±


    Xialin nodded with a smile and hung up the sail. ¡°Big Brother Huan, where are we going?¡±


    Yang Menghuan felt awkward with the way she was becoming more and more intimate with how she called him, Senior Brother Yang now cut straight to Big Brother Huan. He thought, She seems to be getting more and more affectionate toward me. Shifu told me to take good care of her, with some strong implications in his words. This young junior sectsister has always been so spoiled and unruly, not even afraid of her sectfather Greatmaster Clear Karma, yet she¡¯s always accommodating to me, never disobeying me in the slightest. But I have another lover in my heart, I will certainly let her down in her deep affection for me¡­ Thinking this, he looked up to see Xialin staring at him, boundless affection within those pretty eyes, and he felt a wave of sadness and said softly, ¡°Head east. If the wind is good tonight, we¡¯ll reach home tomorrow.¡±


    Shen Xialin turned the helm and hoisted the sail, and the little boat cleaved the waves eastward. She sat next to Menghuan, frowning. ¡°Big Brother Huan, who all¡¯s in your family? I wonder if your mom will like me? Since I was little I¡¯ve never had any parents to discipline me and have become an unruly girl.¡±

 CH 1.6

    Yang Menghuan shivered at hearing this and said plainly, ¡°My mom is the kindest person, she will definitely like you.¡±


    Xialin¡¯s face opened up and she laughed. ¡°I really hope so, I will be very good and won¡¯t make her the least bit angry.¡±


    And with a happy expression she turned and bent over and played with the water, while a chill ran up Yang Menghuan¡¯s spine.


    Dongting Lake is over 300 miles long,1 viridescent waves like a mirror, boundless as far as the eye can see. Sail rippling, the boat moved quickly. Shen Xialin was relaxed and happy. Looking far into the distance in all directions she saw fishing boats like shuttles moving in the boundless twilight. Many boats were lighted, twinkling on and off like millions of fireflies dancing in the air. Yang Menghuan, rather, was in no mood to enjoy the twilight scene. He sat hugging his knees in the bow, a tidal surge of emotion in his heart, rising and falling indefinitely.


    Suddenly, an enormous dual-masted ship hoisted its sails and came on and before long was close to Yang Menghuan and Xialin¡¯s little boat. At the same time, four shuttle-shaped skiffs sped toward them on the right. Shen Xialin retrieved two precious swords from the cabin and handed one to Menghuan. ¡°Big Brother Huan, they¡¯ve come back again. This time I won¡¯t give them any face. They think we¡¯re so easy to bully?¡±


    As Xialin spoke, the four shuttle skiffs spread out, blocking the little boat at the front. There was a man wearing a short jacket on each skiff. Yang Menghuan was getting worked up. He took the sword Miss Shen offered him and laughed coldly and asked, ¡°You all are total strangers to me, and we aren¡¯t wealthy merchants or traders. Why are you all making things so hard for us?¡±


    A hefty man of about forty on the second skill on the left laughed. ¡°If you two were wealthy merchants or travelers we wouldn¡¯t waste the manpower on you. Let me ask you a question, friend, who are you to Master One Yang, abbot of Mystic Metropolis?¡±


    Yang Menghuan¡¯s face clouded and he answered sternly, ¡°The abbot of Mystic Metropolis is my solicitous sectfather! What of it?¡±


    The big man laughed again. ¡°Senior Master One Yang awes the jianghu. We don¡¯t dare do anything to his disciple. However, our chief helmsman has long heard that Kunlun¡¯s Split Second Swordplay is invincible, so we¡¯d like to take the opportunity to make friends with you two!¡±


    Yang Menghuan¡¯s swordlike brows frowned at the man¡¯s polite manner and he was unable to be angry for the moment. ¡°I¡¯ve just left my teacher and gone out on my own and do not know the jianghu customs. If your honorable chief helmsman wants to make our acquaintance, Yang Menghuan will go and pay his respects.¡±


    The big man nodded. ¡°A great xia has a brilliant disciple, really something. Brother Yang, it seems this is not your first foray into the jianghu. Our chief helmsman doesn¡¯t want to trouble you. He¡¯s already come personally!¡±


    Saying this, the big man pointed to the right. Yang Menghuan looked and saw the large-sailed, dual-masted ship. The cabin doors were open and light glowed from inside making it bright as day. Outside the cabin stood four burly men all dressed in the same blue-green close-buttoned short jackets and white belts, and they held thick-backed thin-bladed demonhead sabres. In the center of the cabin was a tigerskin gold flood dragon chair, on which sat a big and tall man of about fifty with a long white beard. The big ship slowly closed in on the little boat and the old man strolled out of the cabin and cupped a hand over his fist in greeting Yang Menghuan. ¡°I¡¯ve stopped your boat without cause and disturbed you, please come to my cabin and have a cup of my watery wine to make up for my lack of proper etiquette just now!¡±


    Given the circumstances, Yang Menghuan could not very well decline. He looked back and whispered to Xialin, ¡°Wear your sword, we¡¯ll go together.¡±


    With that, he leapt onto the big ship, Miss Shen following close behind and they landed on the bow.


    The longbearded old man looked at the men on the four skiffs and said, ¡°You all look after our guests¡¯ vessel. If anything happens to it, you¡¯re forbidden to see me again!¡± The four men put their left palm on their chest and bowed to the old man and the skiffs dispersed at once. The longbearded old man turned to Yang Menghuan and said, ¡°My subordinates are ignorant. If they offended you in anyway, please don¡¯t mind them. Wine is already prepared in the cabin, please enter and drink a few cups, yes?¡±


    Yang Menghuan bowed with his hands clasped before his chest. ¡°This is this junior¡¯s first time in the jianghu and I don¡¯t know the customs. I¡¯m indebted to you for the invitation, what good fortune. Might I venture to ask Senior¡¯s venerable name and receive your instruction?¡±


    The old man stroked his long beard and laughed loudly. ¡°This old rotter met Master One Yang once twenty years ago and because of his righteous act in helping me I have been able to live a few more decades. Let¡¯s first go inside and have a few cups. I have some things to ask you.¡± With that he cupped a hand over his fist and received his guest.


    ~*~


    Yang Menghuan walked into the cabin and four big sabre-wielding men bowed respectfully. The cabin was lavishly decorated, incredibly magnificent. The square ¡°eight transcendents¡± table was carved from red sandalwood and scented tea and refreshments were already laid out. Two lads in blue-green clothes stood by attentively. The longbearded old man offered Menghuan and Xialin seats and he looked at Miss Shen and smiled. ¡°Is the young lady also a Kunlun disciple?¡±


    Xialin shifted her big eyes and replied, ¡°What else? Big Brother Huan and I don¡¯t drink. If you have something to say hurry up and say it. We¡¯re in a hurry to be on our way.¡±


    Yang Menghuan frowned at this, but the longbearded old man just stroked his beard and laughed loudly. ¡°Good! The young lady gets straight to the point, certainly a chivalrous heroine. Where are you two headed? I can take you there no problem, that way it won¡¯t delay you on your journey and we can talk long into the night.¡±


    Yang Menghuan answered, ¡°We¡¯re planning to disembark at Yueyang, but we don¡¯t want to put you to any trouble.¡±


    The longbearded old man shook his head and smiled. ¡°One night of sailing, it¡¯s no trouble.¡±


    He instructed the four sabre-wielding men outside the cabin to set the sails for Yueyang, and he ordered the two blue-clad lads to take away the tea and refreshments and bring on the food and drink, and he and Menghuan and Xialin began drinking.


    Yang Menghuan and Shen Xialin didn¡¯t drink, so they drank a few cups and called it quits, and the longbearded old man didn¡¯t force them, he just drank his own, drinking over a hundred cups before setting aside his wine cup. He regaled Menghuan with thrilling jianghu stories, avoiding all mention of the main matter at hand. Yang Menghuan endured and endured but finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore and asked, ¡°When Senior invited Junior aboard he said he had some important matter to discuss. Now that we¡¯re drunk and fed, can we hear what you have to say?¡±


    The longbearded old man sighed. ¡°Your teacher saved my life, and for these past twenty years I am ashamed to have not repaid him. The other day I heard a rumor that your teacher obtained a rare martial world treasure map which has led to all the masterhands of northern Zhejiang to convene. There were not a few people when the rumor was first reported, and probably in the next few days there will be a big to do along the three major waters of Hunan with people trying to vie for the map. All for that map who knows how many martial world masterhand lives out of a hundred will be lost. Jianghu feuds often implicate multiple generations. As a disciple of Kunlun it will be hard for you to avoid being affected. As for the truth of the whole matter, I don¡¯t dare to say. To tell the truth, this old rotter has also come looking for the treasure map. It would be best for the two of you to leave this trouble spot as soon as you can. Your teacher is a legendary sword xia of his generation and can take care of himself, but you two moving forward ought to lay low and not reveal yourselves, or it will just be looking for trouble. The jianghu is treacherous. It¡¯s a long story, but to achieve one¡¯s aims people will stop at nothing no matter how cruel. That¡¯s all I can tell you two, but the next time we meet it¡¯s hard to say if we will be friend or foe. My escorting you this time doesn¡¯t count as repaying your teacher¡¯s kindness, it¡¯s just a small token of my appreciation. If not for this lucky chance that your whereabouts were discovered by my men first and you had fallen under someone else¡¯s notice, then not only would it mean no end of trouble for your teacher, you two also might have suffered.¡±


    The longbearded old man monologue shocked and worried Yang Menghuan. He recalled how his teacher had acted the past half a month and it really was peculiar. Presumably it had something to do with the jade box and white silk found on Senior Brother Cai Bangxiong¡¯s body¡­ Then he thought of how Shifu looked when he and Xialin left Mystic Metropolis. He seemed really in a hurry. Thinking about all this, this matter seemed to be about eight-tenths true. He looked up and saw Xialin staring at him, looking at her wit¡¯s end, as if she was taking all the responsibility for their fortune or misfortune on herself.


    Yang Menghuan thought for a spell, then cocked hi swordlike brows, a firm look of determination on his face. He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m indebted to Senior for taking care of us, Yang Menghuan is grateful from the bottom of my heart. Whether or not my teacher has obtained the treasure map, this junior truly doesn¡¯t know, forgive me for not being able to tell you more. As for the masters of various schools convening in northern Zhejiang to deal with my teacher and this junior, that¡¯s someone else¡¯s affair. This junior has received his good teacher¡¯s teachings since he was young and has no intention of offending anyone, but Kunlun disciples are also not ones to cravenly fear death. If things really do come to a head, even if it¡¯s a mountain of sabres and a forest of swords, this junior is not afraid. It¡¯s not convenient for this junior to remain here chatting at night on the same boat when Senior has orders to seek the treasure map, so I will take my leave.¡± With that, he rose and gave a cupped hand salute, then he and Xialin headed out of the cabin.


    When he heard this the longbearded old man laughed loudly. ¡°Master One Yang¡¯s heroic spirit reaches the clouds, Little Brother Yang, you have your teacher¡¯s bearing. The disciples of Kunlun sure are extraordinary, this old rotter really admires you. Such a nighttime chat is hard to come by, why break it off now and leave? The sails are swelling in this fair wind, we¡¯ll be in Yueyang by sunup. After we part tonight, it¡¯s hard to say if we will be friend or foe in the days ahead. If we should happen to run into each other again, perhaps I will ask to see Little Brother¡¯s Split Second Swordplay. Regardless, please allow this old rotter to see you two off as a token of my regards¡­¡± With that he suddenly stopped talking, his long beard quivering, his expression disconsolate and unsettled, as if he was filled with immeasurable sadness.


    Yang Menghuan knew he was really sad at this moment, and given how much he wanted to repay Shifu for saving his life, he couldn¡¯t just abandon his conduct. When he saw how pained he looked, he couldn¡¯t insist on leaving and instead walked back inside the cabin with a smile and sat down. ¡°Since Senior has sincerely asked his guest to stay, this junior can only trouble you. Extending a helping hand in the martial world is no big deal and nothing unusual, Senior mustn¡¯t be vexed on account of the small favor my teacher did for you back then. Besides, Senior didn¡¯t ask about the treasure map, but if it were someone else they wouldn¡¯t let this junior off. But this junior really never heard his teacher say anything about obtaining a treasure map, so I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s true or not.¡±


    The longbearded old man sighed. ¡°Little Brother Yang, you are really quite experienced. These words are not something just any ordinary person would say. This old rotter is fortunate to have the chance to meet such a remarkable man¡­¡±


    He paused, then said, ¡°No matter what, this old rotter has always been ashamed to face your teacher. The rules of the Heavenly Dragon Gang are strict, and it¡¯s not just this old rotter who¡¯s come, so you two must take good care of yourselves.¡± Wit that, he raised his wine cup and drained it.


    From then on they didn¡¯t mention the treasure map again but sat by candlelight and talked on and on about strange matters of the jianghu. Shen Xialin sat beside Yang Menghuan, at times listening quietly to the longbearded old man, at times regarding Yang Menghuan with a look of deep affection in her pretty eyes and smiling. She was even more elegant and beautiful under the lamplight. The girl was innocent and candid with a heart like glittering jade. As she watched Big Brother Huan talking and laughing unawares, there was not a trace of worry on her face.

 CH 2.1

    Twin sails spread to the wind, the boat sped along, till the dawn¡¯s early light in the east when they arrived on the banks of Yueyang. The longbearded old man saw Menghuan and Xialin off as they went ashore, then turned to to see the four shuttle skiffs coming swiftly. One of the skiffs on the left was pulling behind it Menghuan and Xialin¡¯s little boat. The longbearded old man waited till the little boat was pulled to shore, then he saluted with a cupped fist and said, ¡°Take care, Little Brother!¡±


    Yang Menghuan wanted to say a few words of thanks, but before he could open his mouth the man was back on the big ship, the sails were hoisted, and it left, followed closely by the four shuttle skiffs, and before long they had disappeared in the misty waters.


    Yang Menghuan took stock of their boat and effects and saw that nothing had been disturbed. He collected their things, then he and Xialin left the boat and went on.


    It was still not light out yet and there was no one around, so they used their lightness skill and ran faster than galloping steeds and in less time than it takes to eat a meal had gone more than twenty miles. They looked up and saw the silhouette of mountains on three sides surrounding a little village. There was a clear stream in front of the village, its waters babbling gently along. West of the village at the foot of a mountain, a red wall could just be made out among the luxuriant greenery. Yang Menghuan pointed at the red wall and said, ¡°That red wall is my humble abode. My father retired from officialdom twenty years ago and set up residence on Dongmao Ridge.¡±


    Xialin turned with a smile and said, ¡°This place looks fun. We should come here to the stream when we have time and catch some fish, what do you say?¡±


    Those words changed the look on Yang Menghuan¡¯s face and he felt an ache in his heart, but he kept a straight face and said nothing for a while. Before his eyes emerged scene after scene of his childhood when he used to go fishing at this stream with his older female cousin, Yujuan. She was three years older and had lost her parents when she was very young. Menghuan¡¯s mother, as her aunt, raised Yujuan and the two of them had grown up together, childhood playmates playing with each other day and night. Yujuan took particular care of him and he always did what she said. From the time he first learned to talk till he had some understanding of the world, they ate and studied together and never left each other¡¯s side. Yujuan was surpassingly pretty and intelligent, a celestial being in little Yang Menghuan¡¯s eyes, and in his pure child¡¯s heart sprouted the seedling of love. When Menghuan was eight years old he was taken by Master One Yang to Mystic Metropolis to learn martial arts.


    That was twelve years ago, and thought he had come back to visit twice during that time, he had been with his sectfather then and had only stayed for a couple days before leaving again, so there had been so little opportunity to catch up with Yujuan. The second time had had returned home had been the year before last, when Yang Menghuan was eighteen, Yujuan twenty-one, and the little girl had become a young woman and was becoming more and more refined and graceful. On the first night they were back, Master One Yang and his uncle had stayed up late in the parlor talking, and the maidservant Silver Vase had invited him back to her boudoir to meet Yujuan. But they had grown up and it was awkward now and they fell silent with each other and just sat there for a long time before Yang Menghuan finally stammered out his deep affection for her and how much he¡¯d missed her. Yujuan, teary-eyed, had urged her younger cousin to practice his martial arts well. She said that Master One Yang was a remarkable person beyond the mundane world and that such a good opportunity to have such a sectfather would not come around for a thousand years and that he should not get distracted by missing her, and that no matter how long it took for Yang Menghuan¡¯s training to be complete so he could come back home, whether it was ten years or a hundred years, she would still wait patiently for him. Such a statement was not quite a pledge to marry him, but Yang Menghuan was smart, how could he not understand what she meant?


    They talked long into the night and swore an oath of undying love, and the next day Yang Menghuan once again went back to Mystic Metropolis with his teacher. Now that he had come back this time with Xialin he was afraid that Yujuan would misunderstand¡­ He was so caught up in his thoughts that he stopped in the road and forgot to go on.


    Shen Xialin thought it strange for Menghuan to be stopped there lost in a daze. She went over to him and said, ¡°Big Brother Huan, what are you thinking about?¡±


    Yang Menghuan looked down at her tender blushing face full of loving concern and his heart skipped a beat. He smiled and said plainly, ¡°I was thinking about Shifu¡­¡±


    Before he could finish, Xialin cut in, ¡°Mm! My sectfather as well. In the future when I join Kunlun, I won¡¯t be able to call him Shifu, so what will I call him?¡±


    Menghuan smiled. ¡°Call him Senior Sectuncle.¡±


    Shen Xialin nodded and grinned and followed Menghuan toward the red wall.


    They crossed the little brook and went through a section of lawn studded with green bamboo and pretty trees and a big house appeared, the signboard over the main entrance reading: ¡°Watermoon Mountain Villa¡± in large characters. An old servant around fifty was sweeping the courtyard. He turned to see Menghuan and was so delighted he dropped his broom and went over to greet them. ¡°Young Master has returned! Old Master just yesterday mentioned Young Master. Tomorrow just happened to be the anniversary of the death of Miss Juan. You all grew up together¡­¡±


    Before the old servant had finished speaking Yang Menghuan was already frozen stiff. He turned and asked, ¡°Yang Fu, what did you say? My Cousin Juan died?¡±


    Yang Fu shook his head with a sigh. ¡°Heaven is blind, that poor Miss Juan, pretty as a flower, like jade, yet she died before this old servant!¡±


    Yang Menghuan staggered and clutched Yang Fu¡¯s right arm. ¡°How did she die?¡±


    Yang Menghuan was incredibly strong and this sudden sad news broke his heart. He unconsciously clutched Yang Fu¡¯s right arm, and how could the old servant stand it. He felt such pain that he thought the bone was going to snap and tears and mucous poured out of his nose and he couldn¡¯t get out a reply. Xialin, standing off to the side, was worried and sad. She was just a big innocent kid and for a moment didn¡¯t know what to do to help and just stood there staring in a daze.


    Just then an old man with a stately bearing and wearing a long robe came out from the main hall. He had a short snow-white beard and he shouted sternly as he emerged, ¡°Huan¡¯er, let go of him, are you crazy?¡±


    That shout snapped Yang Menghuan out of his befuddlement and he turned to see his father standing there with his hands behind his back. He let go of Yang Fu and kowtowed on the ground. ¡°Your son pays his respects to Father.¡±


    The old man asked Yang Fu, ¡°Are you hurt?¡±


    Yang Fu wiped his face with his sleeve and forced a smile. ¡°It¡¯s alright, this old servant can take it.¡±


    The old man nodded. ¡°Go take a break.¡±


    Yang Fu assented and withdrew. Only then did the old man look at Yang Menghuan prostrate on the ground. ¡°You¡¯re twenty years old, how can you be so impetuous. If I had been one step late coming out would Yang Fu still have a right arm?¡±


    Yang Menghuan kowtowed again. ¡°Your son just heard about Cousin Juan¡¯s death and lost control for a moment, I didn¡¯t mean to.¡±


    The old man sighed ¡°Juan¡¯er, in the prime of her young life, died so tragically. Your mother and I did all we could, but Heaven only allots a certain number of years, how could our efforts redeem her. Get up!¡±


    Then he noticed Xialin and lowered his voice. ¡°Who is this young girl in white?¡±


    Menghuan got up and said, ¡°This is my junior sectsister, Shen Xialin. I was ordered by Shifu to escort her to Mount Kunlun.¡±


    At this point, Xialin had moved closer and Menghuan whispered to her, ¡°That¡¯s my father.¡±


    Miss Shen cried out sweetly, ¡°Uncle!¡±


    She gracefully kowtowed and the old man returned it with a slight bow with a smile. ¡°Miss Shen, please rise, there¡¯s no need to be so formal.¡±


    Xialin kowtowed and rose but didn¡¯t know what to say and just looked at the old man with a smile and went back to stand beside Menghuan.


    ~*~


    Menghuan¡¯s father was called Yang Zhang. He had been an imperial censor during the reign of Ming Wuzong but had resigned due to the eunuch Liu Jin¡¯s abuse of power and retired to Dongmao Ridge in Yuezhou where he constructed ¡°Watermoon Mountain Villa¡± and devoted himself to reading. When Menghuan was four years old he was playing by the stream when he was spotted by Master One Yang, who felt that he was naturally gifted. Fearing that someone from another school might discover him and take him away, he pretended to be collecting alms and called on Yang Zhang. Yang Zhang saw that Master One Yang had the bearing and manner of a transcendent and knew he was no ordinary person, so he invited him inside for tea. They got along better the more they talked and they became friends. Henceforth, Master One Yang stayed for a few days every year at Watermoon Mountain Villa.


    Gradually, Yang Zhang came to know that Master One Yang was learned in the Six Arts and was a remarkable person. On his fourth visit, Yang Menghuan was eight years old and Master One Yang told Yang Zhang directly that Menghuan was special, and was an outstanding talent not suited for officialdom. Yang Zhang smiled and said, ¡°I wearied of official life and retired here and never had any desire to see my son make a name for himself as an official. If you really like him, why not accept his as a student?¡±


    That was just what Master One Yang wanted, and he dropped all pretense and agreed at once. Two days later he took Menghuan back to Mystic Metropolis Abbey.


    ~*~


    Let¡¯s turn to Yang Zhang, who brought Yang Menghuan and Xialin into the main hall, and after everyone was seated he asked, ¡°Your sectfather didn¡¯t come this time? When do you plan to head back to Mystic Metropolis?¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°Shifu ordered me to go back home and see my parents, than a month later I am to take Junior Sister west to Mount Kunlun for her to pay her respects to her teacher and join the school. I¡¯m not going back to Mystic Metropolis.¡±


    Yang Zhang smiled, saying, ¡°Since you¡¯re a Kunlun disciple you must do as your sectfather instructs. Your mother and I are old and see everything as uninteresting. Ever since your cousin died your mother has been utterly disheartened, every day locked away in her meditation hall facing Buddha and reciting sutras. Even I¡¯m not allowed to go in and disturb her. Under her influence I too am moved to cut myself off from the world and face the wall in meditation and cultivate in private. Though your mother comes from an important family, she¡¯s been with me through all the political ups and downs over the years, but she is a person of great intelligence and suited for enlightenment. That I could awaken from this dream of fame and fortune and retire at the peak of my career is due to your mother¡¯s advice. She always used to tell me that Juan¡¯er is beautiful and intelligent, but was born under an unlucky star and would die young, unlikely to live past the age of twenty-five. Sure enough, her inauspicious prediction came true, and she passed away last year due to smallpox. Your maternal uncle once served as a county magistrate and did a lot of foolish things. He paid for it and now his misfortune has befallen Juan¡¯er. All that talk of karmic transmigration seems not to be a load of nonsense after all. Go on to the meditation hall to see your mother. Tomorrow we¡¯ll prepare a sacrificial offering and pay our respects before your cousin¡¯s grave. As for what you will do later, I don¡¯t want to ask. Your sectfather knows the inner workings of the universe, whatever he says is probably right. Perhaps I will be fortunate enough to live as a hermit beyond the mundane world.¡± With that he rose and nodded to Xialin and strode out of the hall.


    Yang Menghuan was left staring blankly in a daze like a simpleton. He didn¡¯t even watch his father leave the room. He couldn¡¯t say how he felt. After Yang Zhang had cast off official life his heart had been as calm as still water, and after twenty years of cultivating his mind at Watermoon Mountain Villa he was already free from the human desires, his mind clear and illumined. When it came to cultivating his mind and temperament, he had surpassed Master One Yang, all because after retiring from official life he had been utterly disheartened. When a person reaches the point of being free of thoughts or emotions, they view the desires and emotions of life as fleeting as passing clouds, they don¡¯t take anything to heart. Yang Menghuan couldn¡¯t help but shed a few tears as he watched his father vanish from the room. Xialin gave him a silk handkerchief and said consolingly, ¡°Big Brother Huan, don¡¯t be sad, okay?¡±


    Menghuan took the handkerchief and wiped his tears and smiled. ¡°Come ! Let¡¯s go see my mother.¡±

 CH 2.2

    A Blur of Swords in a Perilous Valley


    Part 2 (8)


    Watermoon Mountain Villa was by no means large. Yang Zhang choosing that name was nothing more than an expression of his feeling that life was like a flower reflected in a mirror or the moon reflected on water, that all that fame and fortune was just an illusion. The meditation hall was built in a green bamboo thicket. The sound of Buddhist chanting sounded amidst the rippling green waves of bamboo.


    Yang Menghuan led Xialin down the winding path through the bamboo grove. The meditation hall was a three-room thatched cottage furnished with a low bamboo table and wooden chairs. It had been swept spotless, and in the center of the room was a white pine square ¡°eight transcendents¡± table at which sat a beautiful middle-aged woman dressed in a blue-green top and skirt. Her eyes were slightly closed and she was reciting the Great Compassion Sutra. Yang Menghuan went up to her and kowtowed. ¡°Mother, Huan¡¯er has returned!¡±


    Madame Yang slowly opened her eyes, a loving smile appearing on her solemn face. She stroked the top of Menghuan¡¯s head and said, ¡°You came back just in time. Tomorrow is her death anniversary. Before she died she was still thinking about you. Tomorrow have Yang Fu take you to pay your respects at her grave, she¡¯s buried at the foot of the western mountain, where you two used to play when you were little.¡±


    Yang Menghuan wept and replied, ¡°Such a shame Cousin Juan died and I didn¡¯t even get a chance to see her one last time!¡±


    Madame Yang helped Menghuan up, a look of sorrow now on her solemn, loving face. She sighed. ¡°Juan¡¯er was very bright, but she was fated to die young. Her death has spared her from future suffering. Karma in the mundane world accumulates and is requited, you cannot force it, and you mustn¡¯t be too sad. Who is this girl in white?¡±


    Before Yang Menghuan could answer, Xialin kowtowed and said, ¡°Auntie, I¡¯m Shen Xialin, Senior Brother Yang and I are Kunlun School disciples.¡±


    Madame Yang reached over and helped her to her feet and pulled her alongside and took a good look at how sweet and artless she was, how pure and she was immediately fond of her. Smiling, she asked, ¡°You¡¯re Menghuan¡¯s junior sectsister? How old are you?¡±


    Shen Xialin nodded. ¡°I¡¯m seventeen.¡±


    Madame Yang gently pulled her into her arms and asked, ¡°Where does your family live, is your mother well?¡±


    That question made Miss Shen sad, and she snuggled up in Madame Yang¡¯s arms. She had lost her mother at an early age and for over a decade Greatmaster Clear Karma had raised her. The old monk cherished her in everything he did, but it could not compare to a woman¡¯s instinctual motherly love. Madame Yang¡¯s asking about her mother touched a sore spot in her heart.


    Shen Xialin cried as she answered, ¡°Lin¡¯er has had a hard lot and lost her parents when she was young. Shifu told me my name is Shen Xialin, but I don¡¯t remember my parents at all.¡±


    Her sobbing was sweet and agreeable and she spoke clear and sharp every heartbreaking sentence, even word tears of blood, moving even Madame Yang¡¯s deep power of overcoming disturbing thoughts so that she was saddened beyond words. She stroked the girl¡¯s hair and said, ¡°Child, don¡¯t cry! Even if your mom were still alive she could not be with you forever.¡±


    Miss Shen stopped crying and looked up with immeasurable sadness. ¡°Auntie, look at me, do you think i will die young? Will I die early like Senior Brother Yang¡¯s Cousin Juan?¡±


    She had a child¡¯s heart, asking whatever occurred to her. She didn¡¯t do it on purpose, but Yang Menghuan standing to the side felt a rush of cold air in his heart when he heard that. Madame Yang loudly intoned the name of Buddha and smiled. ¡°Life and death are fated, child. What makes you ask such a question?¡±


    Shen Xialin¡¯s big eyes blinked and she said faintly, ¡°I don¡¯t know why, I just thought of it so I asked Auntie!¡±


    Madame Yang, with a benevolent look in her eyes, took a good long look at Shen Xialin. ¡°You won¡¯t, child. You are very fortunate, you¡¯re not destined to die young like Juan¡¯er.¡±


    A comforted smile broke through Miss Shen¡¯s melancholy face and she proudly turned to look at Menghuan. This child was so innocent, Madame Yang¡¯s words had given her immeasurable comfort.


    That look moved Madame Yang as well. Her loving gaze turned to Menghuan. ¡°Your father in his old age has turned to the Way, sincere and resolute. He was an official for so long, all that treachery and crises. One day he had an awakening and his heart was like still water, all thoughts left him. Recently I¡¯ve seen that he¡¯s reached the state where he has brushed aside all attachments to the mundane world. Though I have studied Buddhism for decades, I still cannot sever the thread of emotion. It¡¯s really no wonder, but everyone¡¯s encounters are different. Cultivation rests entirely with oneself, Mother cannot pay you too much mind. You have much innate talent, but you are not of the School of Unreality. Too many illusory thoughts will only harm yourself.¡± With that she closed her eyes and resumed her solemn expression.


    Yang Menghuan didn¡¯t dare disturb her any more and gently tugged on Xialin¡¯s sleeve and they withdrew from the meditation hall. The old servant Yang Fu had already swept and prepared a room for the young master, and Miss Shen was helped along by Juan¡¯er¡¯s former maid, Silver Vase, who got her settled down.


    ~*~


    The next morning, Yang Fu prepared three sacrificial offerings and took Yang Menghuan to pay his respects at Yujuan¡¯s grave. It was the crack of dawn, the sun just coming up, the mountains looking like they were out of a painting. A brook lined around a small cliff, and a tombstone stood alone on the green grass. The old servant Yang Fu set out the offerings, then turned, eyes welling with tears. ¡°Young Master, at this lone tomb is buried Miss Juan. I remember often coming here with Young Master and Miss Juan and you two would play and fish in the stream and when you were having fun you didn¡¯t even want to go back home to eat. I can see it all clearly before me. The scenery is the same, but Miss Juan has been dead a year now.¡±


    Yang Menghuan controlled his immeasurable sadness and said to Yang Fu, ¡°You go on back. I want to be alone here.¡±


    Yang Fu had suffered yesterday and didn¡¯t dare say anything to bring disaster on himself. He just advised, ¡°When a person dies they can¡¯t come back to life. Young Master, don¡¯t be too sad and damage your health. In a while this old servant will come and take you back.¡± With that he left.


    ~*~


    After Yang Fu left, Menghuan was unable to control his grief any longer and a stream of tears coursed from his starry eyes. He was overcome with grief, so much that he couldn¡¯t even cry out but just knelt before the tombstone and wept silently. This sort of weeping was the most spirit-breaking, and before long his tears were exhausted and blood began to flow. Yang Fu returned and saw Menghuan in a stupor, as if drunk or crazy. He called out Young Master twice but Menghuan didn¡¯t hear him. He was scared out of his wits when he saw blood flowing from the corners of Menghuan¡¯s round starry eyes, and he ran like mad back to Watermoon Mountain Villa.


    Yang Zhang always went out at dawn and his whereabouts varied. Madame Yang was in the meditation hall, eyes closed in meditation. He didn¡¯t dare disturb her, so he had no choice but to go get Miss Xialin. Shen Xialin dashed out before he¡¯d even finished telling her. Yujuan was no more than a mile from Watermoon Mountain Villa and Miss Shen was burning with anxiety and was there before she knew it. Menghuan sure enough was knelt unmoving before the tombstone. If not for the blood flowing from the corners of his eyes, he would have looked just like a stone statue.


    Suddenly she turned and put her arms out to embrace Menghuan, calling out, ¡°I can¡¯t live either.¡±


    Suddenly a gust of wind hit Xialin and at the same time a familiar voice sounded, ¡°Stop, do you really not want him to live?¡±


    This all happened so suddenly that Shen Xialin instinctively dodged to the side. She collected herself and saw standing before her the longbearded old man they¡¯d met on Dongting Lake.


    The old man didn¡¯t wait for Xialin to speak, but first sighed and said, ¡°He¡¯s overcome with grief and has injured his central prime. All of his perfected qi in his body has concentrated and will not disperse. If you rashly jostle him, the perfected qi concentrated in his internal organs will not be able to disperse and it will condense into an internal injury, and the more advanced his internal power is, the more serious the injury will be. Even if he doesn¡¯t die he will certainly be crippled.¡±


    He made his way over to Menghuan and put his right palm on his back, smacking the ¡°Life Gate¡± acupoint, while his left hand used tuina techniques to massage Menghuan¡¯s ¡°Dovetail¡± and ¡°Lung Sea¡± acupoints, and sure enough before long Menghuan let out a long breath and slowly turned his head. Xialin was delighted, and without even thanking the old man she called out, ¡°Big Brother Huan.¡± She put both arms out and helped Menghuan up. She didn¡¯t care who was around, she naturally used her snow-white sleeve to wipe the blood from the corners of his eyes. Though her face was still wet with tears, a smile had reappeared.


    Yang Menghuan saw how sincere and devoted she Xialin was and couldn¡¯t bear to refuse her, he just let her do as she pleased. He caught a glimpse of the longbearded old man he¡¯d met on Dongting Lake standing solid and solemn off to the side, and he gently pushed Shen Xialin away and bowed with a smile. ¡°Senior, when did you arrive here? Forgive this junior for not welcoming you.¡±


    That reminded Xialin that she had not thanked him. She curtseyed gracefully and said, ¡°Thank you Granddad for saving my Big Brother Huan.¡±


    The longbearded old man returned the courtesy to Menghuan and Xialin and with and with a solemn expression said, ¡°I hadn¡¯t intended on saving anyone, I was just reluctant to take advantage of someone in trouble. Little Brother Yang, you said before that extending a helping hand in the martial world is an ordinary, minor matter. Actually, your junior sectsister could have saved you just the same, only she lacks experience and in her desperation didn¡¯t know what she should do.¡±


    Yang Menghuan was surprised at this and looked at Xialin, who was at a loss herself, her limpid eyes staring blankly.


    Yang Menghuan was an extremely intelligent person, after a moment of deep thought he understood completely, and in a clear loud voice said, ¡°Now that I have received your warning and your rescue, Senior¡¯s moral obligations to me have been fulfilled, and this makes up for the small favor my teacher did for you back then. If Senior has any other instructions for me, I am listening respectfully.¡±


    The old man stroked his long beard and laughed. ¡°Little Brother Yang, you¡¯re right, there¡¯s no grudge between our Heavenly Dragon Gang and Kunlun, however that treasure map is the foremost rare treasure of the martial world, and every school is vying for it, and like I told you last time when we talking on my boat on Dongting Lake, the next time we meet I will ask you, Little Brother, to show me your Split Second Swordplay.¡±


    Yang Menghuan smiled. ¡°So Senior coming all the way over here was for nothing more than the treasure map, but regardless of whether or not the map has fallen into Kunlun hands, this junior certainly doesn¡¯t have it.¡±


    The longbearded old man¡¯s face clouded and he said coldly, ¡°Then I will have to inconvenience you to come with me, Little Brother, and see our chief.¡±


    Yang Menghuan arched his brow. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that Senior is prepared to seize this junior and take me back to your gang and hold me hostage.¡±


    The old man stroked his long beard and laughed. ¡°The gang¡¯s rules are strict, it¡¯s not up to this old rotter, I have to beg Little Brother Yang¡¯s forgiveness.¡±


    Yang Menghuan threw his head back and laughed. ¡°Kunlun¡¯s disciples are not so useless as that, you¡¯re right about that. You might think so, but in reality it might not be as easy as you think.¡±


    The longbearded old man laughed coldly. ¡°Your teacher¡¯s chivalrous name is peerless, and Little Brother Yang, you¡¯re extraordinary as well. First I¡¯ll try you out with a few masterstrokes, then we¡¯ll talk.¡±


    Yang Menghuan said, ¡°This junior is stupid and untalented, and my learning is limited. If Senior condescends to instruct me, than I shall seize this opportunity to learn. It¡¯s just that this is the second time we¡¯ve met and this junior has not asked Senior¡¯s venerable name. Since we¡¯re going to trade moves, don¡¯t tell me Senior is still unwilling to tell me his name?¡±


    The longbearded old man thought for a moment. ¡°You Hongfei, Heavenly Dragon Gang¡¯s chief helmsman of Yangtze River. I have a somewhat unpleasant-sounding nickname, the Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon. Little Brother, en garde.¡±


    His right hand shot like lightning to grab Yang Menghuan, but Yang Menghuan dodged it. Suddenly a white streak darted in, Shen Xialin attacking. The young lady¡¯s martial arts was not weak, three moves lashing out in quick succession, her little jade-white hands like dancing butterflies. You Hongfei was forced back three steps under her rapid onslaught. Shen Xialin retracted her hands and said, ¡°You saved my Big Brother Huan and for that I am grateful, but if you want to hit him then I won¡¯t thank you.¡±


    Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon¡¯s face was ashen. ¡°The young lady¡¯s martial arts is not weak, but I, You Hongfei, will not fight a girl. Miss, please stand aside and cheer on your Senior Brother Yang, I still have some advice to seek from your senior sectbrother.¡±

 CH 2.3

    Shen Xialin said, ¡°My Big Brother Huan is much better than I am, how could you defeat him?¡±


    That one sentence made You Hongfei flare up in anger. He hmphed, ¡°If you insist on fighting for your Senior Brother Yang, then I have no choice but to get a taste of the lady¡¯s martial arts.¡±


    Xialin said, ¡°Nothing could be better. If I¡¯m defeated, my Big Brother Huan will naturally step in and save me.¡±


    With that she turned and grinned at Menghuan, then her white clothes fluttered and her hands shot out, up high striking at his eyes and in the middle striking his chest, palm force whooshing fast as anything. You Hongfei loosed a long laugh and his hands fanned out to catch Xialin¡¯s right wrist, the edge of his right hand cutting at an angle at Xialin¡¯s left arm. The young lady didn¡¯t wait for her moves to connect but spun her graceful body and switched it up, left palm turning over with Leaf Bottom Steals a Peach aimed at the ¡°Pool at the Bend¡± acupoint on his right elbow while her right wrist quickly dropped down and turned into White Crane Spreads Its Wings in a counter check on his left arm. You Hongfei never guessed that Shen Xialin would change moves so quick and nimbly, his acupoint was nearly struck, enraging him. His palms chopped out in succession, coming on with overwhelming force, wind from his palms blowing, launch eight attacks in a row.


    Suddenly faced with You Hongfei¡¯s full power attack, Shen Xialin had no time to switch up her moves at the moment, hands and feet flailing and fumbling, being forced back again and again. After You Hongfei¡¯s eight attacks she regained her composure and fist and foot struck out at once in a full force attack! You Hongfei was secretly shocked to see his eight attacks have no effect on her. He didn¡¯t foresee that this delicate, adorable girl would really have some ability, so he was not about to get careless. His hands opened up and he was locked in combat with Shen Xialin.


    Yang Menghuan, watching the fight, was worried when he saw Xialin having trouble under her opponent¡¯s rapid attacks. He was just about to step in and help her when he saw Xialin suddenly counter, sleeves flapping, moving extraordinarily fast and nimble. He knew that Miss Shen had learned Greatmaster Clear Karma¡¯s arts, but he didn¡¯t know just how good she really was. Now he saw her fighting, her fist moves were exquisite, her attacks fast, actually not inferior to him at all, stabbing, cutting, pressing, chopping, seizing, her footwork, all of it was just perfect, her jade-white hands like white butterflies playing in the flowers. Not only was she not losing, her attacks were getting faster and faster, so he just put his hands behind his back and enjoyed the show.


    Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon You Hongfei and Shen Xialin traded fifty to sixty moves, but it was still an even match. The young lady was more nimble and quick, her moves marvelous, while You Hongfei was stronger, his moves more solid and steady. For a time fists flew and feet whirled, kicking up flowers and dust for a stave¡¯s length all around.


    You Hongfei was thinking while he fought that he had a high position in the Heavenly Dragon Gang, he was the chief helmsman of the Yangtze River region, leading a powerful group Heavenly Dragons on land and water. If he were to lose today to a little girl, how would he be able to face the dragonhead chief? Since it had gotten to this point, he had no choice but to use heavy blows to win victory. With this evil thought, he suddenly switched up his moves, no longer attacking rapidly like before. Instead, his strikes became extraordinarily slow, yet each fist and kick carried immense power. When an internal arts expert unleashed his true power it was no joke. The forcewind of his palm strikes rustled and flapped Miss She¡¯s white top and skirt, Xialin at a disadvantage lacking his strength. Even though she had an edge on moves and footwork, she still gradually fell to an unfavorable position, and dismantling ten of his moves her fair face was sweating.


    Yang Menghuan could see things were going wrong. He never imagined Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon would use his decades of internal power, would commit his perfected qi to deal with a young lady, and that made him angry. He was just about to call Xialin back when he saw the young lady¡¯s hand forms change again, saw her palm forms were somewhat like the Eighteen Arhat Palms that Greatmaster Clear Karma had taught him, yet there were also a lot of differences. What Yang Menghuan didn¡¯t know was that Greatmaster Clear Karma had spent ten years of hard work and study to create a new remarkable palm technique out of the original Eighteen Arhat Palms, all for the sake of Xialin¡¯s training, because the Eighteen Arhat Palms were external kungfu, a purely hard and fierce approach, but Miss Shen was tender and weak. Even though she had learned well the Eighteen Arhat Palms, it would be difficult for her to put a lot of power behind it. Martial arts required skill and strength, and a girl¡¯s physique had natural limitations and was not suited to train in hard power emphasizing external kungfu, unless one achieved the realm of being able to turn qi into strength, in which case man or woman didn¡¯t matter. Then, using the depths of one¡¯s skill could decide victory or defeat in one blow, but Greatmaster Clear Karma was good at external kungfu, and the Eighteen Arhats Palms was an extremely advanced external kungfu palm technique that emphasized solid stability and ferocious power to defeat an enemy with strong force. Xialin was delicate and petite, not well suited to practice this palm technique, so Greatmaster Clear Karma blended in dexterity and quickness to form the Drifting Cloud Palm, using dexterity and quickness to augment Xialin¡¯s deficiencies in strength and fierceness.


    Once Miss Shen started to use her Drifting Cloud Palm, she was once again even with You Hongfei, the young lady¡¯s body truly like drifting clouds or flowing water, drifting about from place to place, winding round and round You Hongfei with disorderly spins, taking advantage of weak points to pound the gaps, strange moves launching in droves.


    Looking on, Yang Menghuan could see the two of them had reached a critical juncture. You Hongfei had been hit by a few of Xialin¡¯s palm strikes, but he was immensely strong, so he could take it, but when he struck, Xialin had to dodge. If a blow to the midsection or up top were to land, she would be seriously injured if not killed.


    Yang Menghuan knew that if they continued fighting they would both lose, so he crossed his palms and robe fluttering he threw into the fray of palm forcewind and launched his Celestial Dipper Palm move ¡°Part the Waves, Cut the Flow¡±, his arms spreading out and separating them. ¡°You two have no quarrel with each other, there¡¯s no need to fight to the death. Senior You is immensely strong, if you keep fighting, Junior Sister Shen will lose for sure, let¡¯s just end it here!¡±


    You Hongfei knew that Yang Menghuan was being polite on his behalf. The young lady had been going faster and faster, if they really did go all out, You Hongfei was not sure he would win. Yang Menghuan¡¯s words there made him feel bad and his face reddened slightly. ¡°Kunlun School¡¯s martial arts truly is extraordinary. If your junior sister and I were sparring I would be willing to admit defeat, but today we were not sparring, so it¡¯s hard to say who would be the victor.¡±


    Yang Menghuan smiled. ¡°One has excellent fists, one is very strong, you¡¯ve fought to a draw and are evenly matched. If Senior is willing to show some latitude on this junior¡¯s behalf and stop here, then once I have returned from my trip to the west, I will go with Senior to pay a visit to your gang¡¯s honorable dragonhead chief and clear up this misunderstanding about the treasure map. That way we can avoid spoiling the harmony between both sides. If Senior insists on fighting, this junior will have preserve the prestige of my school. I ask Senior to think thrice on it.¡±


    Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon eyes flashed like lightning, gazing at Yang Menghuan for a long time. He nodded and said, ¡°Little Brother Yang is right, You Hongfei knows he is no match for you, but I¡¯m here on orders, it¡¯s not up to me. I have to beg Little Brother¡¯s pardon.¡±


    Yang Menghuan¡¯s brows arched up. ¡°So you¡¯re saying we have to fight.¡±


    Before You Hongfei could respond, several whistles suddenly sounded. Yang Menghuan turned to look. Four people were tearing along the brook and before long were close to the three of them. Yang Menghuan faintly recognized them, they were the four men on the shuttle skiffs who had blocked their way back on Dongting Lake. Now they wore tightfit clothes and carried weapons and stood barring the way on the side.


    Yang Menghuan sized the four men up and turned to You Hongfei. ¡°Senior had this all planned. It looks as if this junior will be forced to submit.¡±


    Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon paid no attention to what Menghuan said and instead asked the four men, ¡°Are those from headquarters all here?¡±


    The lead man on the right bowed. ¡°Red Banner Altarman Qi and Black Banner Altarman Cui have jointly gone to Mystic Metropolis Abbey. Headquarters Overseer Incensemaster Li has arrived at Dongting Lake. She very well might come here.¡±


    You Hongfei frowned. ¡°Why was Chief¡¯s beloved daughter dispatched as well?¡±


    The man bowed again. ¡°According to Incensemaster Li, the chief views this matter as extraordinarily important. He might even come personally.¡±


    You Hongfei said Oh, a faint look of worry showing. He turned to see that Menghuan was cool and composed as if nothing were going on and he sighed inwardly, remembering his debt to Master One Yang for saving his life and he felt immeasurable shame.


    Yang Menghuan didn¡¯t want to fight Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon in the first place. He saw him standing there lost in thought. What was he thinking? He whispered to Xialin, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Miss Shen nodded and followed Menghuan and they strolled back to Watermoon Mountain Villa.


    The four men eyes them like tigers and were about to step in and bar their way when they were waved off by You Hongfei, and ten eyes watched the two of them gradually disappear one after the other. Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon said to the four men, ¡°Those two have mastered Kunlun¡¯s arts. If it really came to blows, we would not get the best of it. Wait till our helpers arrive, it won¡¯t be too late to fight. For now we¡¯ll lay in ambush around the perimeter of Watermoon Mountain Villa and keep an eye on them and make sure they don¡¯t slink away.¡±


    The four men were all masterhands under the command of the Heavenly Dragon Gang¡¯s Yangtze chief helmsman. They were not convinced of the chief helmsman¡¯s high estimation of their foe, but the Heavenly Dragon Gang had strict rules, so they didn¡¯t dare contradict him. The second man on the right asked, ¡°Should we ask Incensemaster Li to come earlier?¡±


    You Hongfei nodded in reply and the man immediately turned to the left, bowed, and sped off. Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon and the other three men turned as well and headed for Watermoon Mountain Villa. They had only gone a few steps when they suddenly heard a cold, sinister laugh coming from behind. You Hongfei turned to look and a skinny old man was inexplicably standing over by the tombstone. He was advanced in age with silvery white hair, and he wore a long black redolent plain-weave silk gauze robe. He was dressed as a monk but not a monk, as a Daoist but not a Daoist, and he held a glossy raven-black walking stick, the upper end shaped like a snake¡¯s head. He stood there unmoving. He didn¡¯t have an unsightly appearance, it was just that his dress and the snakehead walking stick he held sent shivers up the spine of anyone who looked at him.


    You Hongfei had been in the jianghu a long time and was very experienced. He seemed to have heard of someone who dressed like that man, but for the moment he couldn¡¯t place him. He said in a low voice to his three subordinates, ¡°Don¡¯t bother him, let¡¯s go.¡±


    The four of them turned and headed off. When they looked back, the strange man had gone who knows where. You Hongfei thought, Such fast movement, it looks like not a few people have come looking to Watermoon Mountain Villa. Yang Menghuan no doubt is a formidable foe. We¡¯ll have to bide our time and wait for an opportunity. There¡¯s danger at every step, but if the gang¡¯s plan to take Yang Menghuan hostage is going to come to fruition, it will be met with strong resistance. Looks like this treasure map is indeed a troublemaker. As he worried over these matters, they wound through the bamboo grove and the four of them lay low outside Watermoon Mountain Villa.

 CH 2.4

    Chapter 2


    A Blur of Swords in a Perilous Valley


    Part 4 (10)


    Let¡¯s turn now to Yang Menghuan, who went back home to find Yang Zhang sitting in the parlor reading. When he looked up and saw his son and Xialin returning side by side he smiled. ¡°Paid your respects at your Cousin Juan¡¯s grave?¡±


    Yang Menghuan said, ¡°Yes. Your son is thinking of heading out early for Mount Kunlun.¡±


    Yang Zhang said, ¡°Good, it¡¯s best to go now. I can put in a word for you with your mother. I¡¯ve already had Yang Fu prepare your luggage.¡±


    With that, he pointed to a small table in the corner of the main hall. ¡°Take a look and see if anything is missing.¡±


    Yang Menghuan looked over and saw that a bundle had been placed on the table, along with his and Xialin¡¯s swords. It looked like his father was pressing him to go even if he hadn¡¯t said anything.


    Menghuan felt a wave of sadness, but he knew this was an unusual situation. The later they left, they more dangerous it would become. He might even bring disaster onto his parents. He went over and took the swords, shouldered the bundle, and kowtowed, weeping. ¡°Your son is unfilial and cannot stay and look after his parents!¡±


    Yang Zhang rose and set aside his book and laughed as he walked out of the main hall. Suddenly he stopped and looked back, and in that instant his eyes beamed with fatherly love. He said slowly, ¡°You all eat first, then leave!¡±


    Then he clasped his hands behind his back and walked out the door.


    Yang Fu brought their meals, but Menghuan had no appetite and just picked at his, then set his bowl and chopsticks down. Xialin saw he wasn¡¯t eating, so she just ate one bowl herself, then Menghuan handed her her sword. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Xialin asked, ¡°We¡¯re not going to see Auntie? She really likes me.¡±


    Menghuan gave a pained smile and shook his head. ¡°No, we have to get going. If we dawdle we might not be able to leave.¡±


    Xialin blinked her big eyes twice. ¡°Whatever you say.¡±


    ~*~


    Yang Menghuan wore his sword and he and Xialin left Watermoon Mountain Villa. He looked back at his old home downcast and despondent. This trip back home had come and gone so fast, not even two days altogether, yet those two days had seemed like two years. Miss Juan¡¯s death had broken Menghuan¡¯s heart, his father, utterly disheartened, had taken to the Way, and his mother studied Buddhism, her heart like a dried-up well. It looked as if his parents didn¡¯t even care about their only son. But worst of all was this entanglement over the treasure map. He only hoped his school¡¯s clashes didn¡¯t affect his parents¡­ He thought as he walked, his mind surging with a mix of emotions. He didn¡¯t know if he felt bitter or resentful.


    Miss Shen saw the changes coming over Menghuan¡¯s handsome face and couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°Big Brother Huan, what¡¯s on your mind? How about telling me about it?¡±


    Menghuan looked over at her fair, expectant face and thought, This child is so pure, I can¡¯t hurt her feelings too much. Right now there¡¯s danger all around us, one misstep and she will suffer along with me. Thinking that, he perked up his spirits and for now swept the melancholy from his face. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of formidable people in the jianghu who are set against us. It¡¯s imperative that we leave quickly. Once we¡¯re out of northern Hunan we¡¯ll be out of their encirclement.¡±


    Xialin said, ¡°That I know, but as long as you and I are together, I¡¯m not afraid of anything.¡±


    Her pretty eyes were glistening with tears and smiling like a flower. It was a sad expression but also a happy one, and it made Yang Menghuan¡¯s heart thump. He grabbed her hand and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s hurry up and get going!¡±


    Xialin blinked and two glittering teardrops fell. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go to Mount Kunlun.¡±


    Yang Menghuan asked curiously, ¡°Why, do you not want to join and become a disciple of the Kunlun School?¡±


    Xialin shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not that, I¡¯m afraid once we get to Mount Kunlun you will go and leave me there all alone and I won¡¯t be able to see you!¡±


    Yang Menghuan was really touched and with a smile said, ¡°Why are you overthinking it so much. Afterwards I will treat you really well. Let¡¯s get going!¡±


    Xialin smiled and asked, ¡°Then answer me, do you want me to be with you forever?¡±


    Yang Menghuan felt a chill. ¡°I¡¯ll treat you just like you were my younger sister.¡±


    Shen Xialin was young, first of all. Secondly, she was pure, she only knew that she liked Yang Menghuan, it was fine as long as she could be with him. ¡°Promise?¡±


    Yang Menghuan nodded and Shen Xialin smiled in relief and took off like she was flying.


    ~*~


    They walked for the time it takes to eat a meal and reached the mouth of Dongmao Ridge. They descended the ridge and went out on Yueyang¡¯s public road where they were met with three galloping horses coming on fast and were soon reached the mountain pass. On the lead horse sat a girl dressed in blue-green, a sword hanging at a slant on her back. Two men in tightfit clothes sat on the horses behind her. The one in the very back was one of the four big men who had been there when Xialin fought Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon.


    The blue-clad girl charged up to Menghuan and Xialin and reined in and the horse slowed. The man on the last horse called out, ¡°Incensemaster Li, that¡¯s them.¡±


    The blue-clad girl came to a stop and sat her horse and sized up Menghuan and Xialin for a moment, then smiled. ¡°Are you two the brilliant disciples of Senior Master One Yang of the Kunlun School?¡±


    Yang Menghuan said plainly, ¡°Yes, we¡¯re both Kunlun disciples. Miss, why are you blocking our way with your horse?¡±


    The blue-clad girl got down from her horse, starry eyes flashing like lightning, boring in on Menghuan. ¡°Kunlun¡¯s Split Second Swordplay and Celestial Dipper Palm are famed throughout the martial world, how could I dare block your path? I just had something to discuss with you.¡±


    Yang Menghuan saw that the blue-clad girl was around twenty-one or twenty-two years old, pink cheeked and pretty as a picture, with cherry lips shaped like a water caltrop, a tall beautiful nose setting off her slim willowy waist, a perfect lovely body, a superlative beauty, only there was a forceful heroic air about her brow. She pressed in closer to Menghuan as she replied.¡±


    Yang Menghuan took a step back. ¡°Miss, if you have something to say, just say it¡­¡±


    The blue-clad girl cut him off, ¡°Suppose I say it and you don¡¯t agree?¡±


    Yang Menghuan was angered by her forceful tone and cocked a swordlike brow. ¡°Whether I agree or not is on me, you saying you¡¯re going to force me?¡±


    The blue-clad girl chuckled sweetly. ¡°You are a hard one, you think I wouldn¡¯t? Not to mention you, I would even if it were my sectfather.¡±


    Yang Menghuan was really worked up into a rage now. He sneered, ¡°Who are you? You sure talk big.¡±


    The blue-clad girl lofted her willowy brow, her whole face frosty, ¡°Is the treasure map in your Kunlun School¡¯s hands? If it¡¯s on you then you¡¯d better hand it over now lest you hurt the harmony between us.¡±


    Yang Menghuan replied coldly, ¡°What if I had the treasure map and what if I refused to hand it over, then what?¡±


    The blue-clad girl grasped her sword with a smile. ¡°Then today you can forget about leaving this mountain pass. Don¡¯t believe me just try me.¡±


    Yang Menghuan could see that there was going to have to be a fight. He whispered to Xialin, ¡°Charge through with me.¡±


    With that he turned his wrist and his three-span sword was drawn from the scabbard and he took a flying leap over a stave long and heard the blue-clad girl laughing clear and crisp as tinkling silver bells and a streak of blue clothes flew by, and a pallid light like lightning flashed and the blue-clad girl was in front of Menghuan, blocking the way with her sword. Yang Menghuan was surprised and thought, This girl is really fast. Before the shock had worn off the blue-clad girl held her sword across and smiled. ¡°Think again whether you really want to fight me.¡±


    Yang Menghuan pushed his sword forward and boomed, ¡°You¡¯re really going too far. You think I¡¯m really afraid of you?¡±


    With that his sword shot out with Chilly Moon Over Blue Waves, the tip of his sword quivering in a silver awn of light stabbing straight ahead. The blue-clad girl parried with her sword held crosswise, and when the two swords crossed it sounded like dragons wailing and tigers roaring, and Yang Menghuan felt a jolt in his right arm, nearly dropping his sword, then he saw the blue-clad girl looking surprised and bewildered, her pretty eyes looking hard at Yang Menghuan. She stared blankly for a moment, then counterattacked.


    Shen Xialin was already fighting with the big men accompanying the blue-clad girl. The young lady was not as solid and stable as Menghuan, attacking full force each time to strive for victory, her sword performing the Split Second Swordplay that Master One Yang had taught her, swinging left and sweeping right, like a divine dragon emerging from the water. Instantly her sword qi arced like a rainbow, reflected light dense as a curtain. Kunlun¡¯s Split Second Swordplay was an incomparable swordcraft of the martial world, each move varying and changing as fast as lightning, its strikes and feints impossible to anticipate among its relentless sword forcewind. After ten rounds, the big men had been forced by Xialin into a perilous predicament.


    Menghuan¡¯s aim was to extricate himself, not wanting a protracted battle, but he could see that with the blue-clad girl¡¯s incredible moves that the fight would not be decided in a short time. Anxious, he switched to three moves of the Soul Seeker Twelve: ¡°Rising Phoenix, Soaring Flood Dragon¡±, ¡°North Wind Howls Wildly¡±, and ¡°Foggy Sword, Clouds Gather¡±, three sword strokes in a row in a fierce attack like a raging tempest.


    The Soul Seeker Twelve¡¯s power was no trifling matter, and the blue-clad girl was forced back again and again. Once Menghuan forced his foe back, he bounded up and over to Xialin and with one stroke of the sword knocked a sabre out of one of the men¡¯s hand and whispered to Xialin, ¡°Charge with me out of the mountain pass.¡±


    Miss Shen nodded with a smile and the sword in her right hand flashed a bluesteel awn of light, attacking with Parting Flowers, Whisking Willows at the men surrounding them. The men had already been alarmed by Miss Shen¡¯s swordlight, and now with one of them having his sabre knocked away by Yang Menghuan¡¯s internal force, how could they stop Xialin. Wherever her sword went the men backed away one after another. Xialin took this opportunity and leapt up, spanning over a stave long, and followed behind Menghuan as they sped away.


    The blue-clad girl held her sword in a crosswise guard position as she stood firm as a mountain and watched blankly as the two of them disappeared in the distance. She heaved a long sigh and turned to the big men. ¡°You all go back an notify Chief Helmsman You. Tell him that they charged through the pass and tell him to go back to Dongting Lake for now.¡±


    Then without further ado she mounted up, flicked the reins and headed off alone after Menghuan and Xialin.


    The big men saw the blue-clad girl¡¯s frosty expression and didn¡¯t dare open their mouths but just watched her ride away.


    ~*~


    Let¡¯s turn now to Menghuan and Xialin, who were speeding along for a while before looking back and seeing that no one was chasing them. Only then did they slow down. Xialin looked to the overcast sky and blurted, ¡°Big Brother Huan, it¡¯s going to rain.¡±


    As soon as she said that a strong wind blew up and a flash of lightning, a peel of thunder, and Menghuan took stock of where they were, no more than three or four miles from Dongmao Ridge, still a good ways from Yueyang. With this sudden change in the weather, a heavy downpour imminent, he couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°It¡¯s all open country out here, not a cottage anywhere. Looks like we¡¯re gonna get soaked.¡±


    Xialin pointed to the east. ¡°Look, you can just see the corner of a roof over there in the woods. Let¡¯s go over there first so we¡¯ll be out of the rain, okay?¡±


    Yang Menghuan looked where Xialin was pointing and saw the faint outline of a roofridge through the big trees about a mile away. He nodded. ¡°Good thing you¡¯re so observant, otherwise we¡¯d probably have ended up soaking wet like a chicken drenched in soup.¡± As he said this, a few drops of soybean-size rain fell on their faces.


    Yang Menghuan hollered, ¡°Hurry!¡± They used their incredibly fast footwork and like an otherworldly swooping falcon or a petrel sweeping the waves they reached the woods in no time. The house in the woods was actually a long-abandoned temple, paint peeling off the doors and weeds grown up all around. There were broken rooftiles and the eaves were dilapidated. It was extremely dreary, but fortunately the roof of the main hall was intact. Behind the altar table were several tall statues of deities, all broken and crumbling so that you could no longer tell what gods were consecrated here. They had just entered the main hall when it started to pour down rain outside, thunder booming in quick succession, wind howling like a typhoon. It was an incredibly violent downpour.


    Xialin and Menghuan sat in a corner of the hall and watched the rain absently. Suddenly, she turned to Menghuan and asked, ¡°Big Brother Huan, do you really have the treasure map?¡±


    Menghuan shook his head. ¡°No.¡±


    Xialin sighed. ¡°Those people really were unreasonable. You didn¡¯t have the treasure map, so why did they want to fight us?¡±


    Yang Menghuan couldn¡¯t help but snicker at her naive question. Xialin glared at him with her big eyes. ¡°What? Did I say something wrong?¡±


    Yang Menghuan said, ¡°I didn¡¯t say you said anything wrong!¡±

 CH 2.5

    Chapter 2


    A Blur of Swords in a Perilous Valley


    Part 5 (11)


    Xialin was confused and looked at Menghuan with tears welling in her eyes. She slowly rested her head on his shoulder and said, ¡°I know, there¡¯s a lot of things I don¡¯t understand, but if you can tell me I¡¯ll diligently learn it, and when I¡¯m older I¡¯ll know everything and won¡¯t have to ask you anymore.¡±


    It was really awkward for Yang Menghuan to have a tender, immature junior sectsister like her. He was moved when he saw the touching, sad look in her eyes and he gently pulled her into his arms and consoled her in a soft voice, ¡°What are you upset about? I wasn¡¯t trying to make fun of you for not knowing something¡­¡±


    Xialin turned her face that was resting on his shoulder, stained with tears, and asked, ¡°Then let me ask you, why were you laughing at me?¡±


    Yang Menghuan gently stroked her pretty hair. ¡°I wasn¡¯t laughing at you, I just thought what you said was funny. They all hope to find out from me the whereabouts of the treasure map, so they¡¯re intercepting us everywhere we go.¡±


    Xialin blinked. ¡°Then they¡¯re really stupid. Since you don¡¯t have the map, it¡¯s useless to intercept us.¡±


    Yang Menghuan said, ¡°They¡¯re planning to capture me and use me as a hostage in order to force my sectfather to hand over the treasure map.¡±


    Xialin asked, ¡°So then, Senior Sectuncle Master One Yang has the map?¡±


    Yang Menghuan said, ¡°That I¡¯m not too clear on.¡±


    Shen Xialin laughed, satisfied, and rested her head on Menghuan¡¯s shoulder. Outside the wind was howling and it was pouring down rain, but inside it felt like spring was in the air, Shen Xialin cuddled in Yang Menghuan¡¯s arms, so soft, and her warm scent assailed him. Even if Yang Menghuan¡¯s heart were as hard as iron his heart would still be fluttering. He felt peculiar all over and he looked down at Xialin. Her willowy brows were relaxed, her eyes slightly closed, smiling, like a blooming flower, yet her manner was holy and pure as could be, no peculiar feeling at all.


    Yang Menghuan wanted to push her away, but then he felt a chill in his heart and thought, She¡¯s just experiencing a bout of innocent love, resting against me is a very natural act, how can I treat a pure, innocent kid like that, harboring wicked thoughts? He promptly pulled himself together and cleared his mind of all distracting thoughts and allowed Xialin to cuddle against him.


    Suddenly, amidst a peel of thunder came a long cry and Yang Menghuan pushed Xialin aside and leapt up. In that very instant, someone outside the hall laughed, ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like this rain will let up for one or two double-hours. Look, the roof¡¯s still fine, let¡¯s go in and get out of the rain.¡±


    Yang Menghuan jerked Xialin back and they hid behind the god statues. They had just gotten themselves hidden when the hall doors opened and two people walked in one behind the other.


    The first one was dressed in Daoist garb: a black robe and hair tied up in a mallet bun. He was big and tall and had a swarthy face and a long beard, round eyes and drooping brows. He was over fifty years old and he had a strange weapon hung slantwise on his back that was like a sword but not, and it had twin hooks on it. The second one was was scholar around forty. This person had a pale face and no beard, and he wore a square headcloth and a blue robe. There was a slight bulge around his midsection, like he was carrying a soft weapon.


    After they went inside the hall they shook the water off their clothes and sat down. The middle-aged scholar was the first to speak. ¡°The abbot of Mystic Metropolis isn¡¯t easy to deal with, it¡¯s going to take an intense, violent struggle to get that treasure map. Based on my few days of observations, many masterhands from all sides have come, the most powerful of them the Heavenly Dragon Gang, Mount Hua, and Kongtong. The others, like Wudang, Shaolin, Emei, etc., though they have disciples here, but their leaders haven¡¯t arrived yet, so they are nothing to fear. The ones to fear are Mount Hua and the Heavenly Dragons, they¡¯re the strongest. I heard that Mount Hua¡¯s Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai is personally leading his masterhands here. Though the chief of the Heavenly Dragons, Sky and Sea Elder Li Canglan, hasn¡¯t come here, his Red, White, and Black Banner Altarmen are all in northern Hunan. I don¡¯t know who from Kongtong has come, but the sectmaster hasn¡¯t arrived yet. Senior Brother, you and I together are still not enough to contend with the Heavenly Dragons and Mount Hua.¡±


    The Daoist nodded. ¡°Third Brother, your worries are well placed, but our methods are different. Though the Heavenly Dragons and Mount Hua are large in numbers, their main people have all gone to Mystic Metropolis. Master One Yang¡¯s swordsmanship is not at all inferior to Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai. Though they¡¯ve sent a lot of people, even if they team up and defeat Master One Yang, they won¡¯t be able to capture him alive. We¡¯ll avoid the main force and strike at the weak points. First capture his disciple, then just go right over to Mystic Metropolis and find him and hold his disciple¡¯s life hostage, and I suspect he will be willing to surrender, and the treasure map will be in our hands.¡±


    As soon as the Daoist finished speaking, there was the sound of someone suddenly laughing loudly outside the hall, then a outside the hall appeared a fresh-faced, white-haired old man wearing a long gray cloth robe. His white beard was like needles, and he held a bamboo staff and was smiling when he entered. He didn¡¯t even bother to shake the water off of him when he entered, his eyes like lightning as he regarded the Daoist and the middle-aged scholar. ¡°You two are really into aesthetics, coming to this ancient temple to talk. Is your senior sectbrother not here?¡±


    The two men scrutinized the old man. It was none other than the Mount Hua sectmaster, Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai. They were shocked and offered him a cupped fist salute and said in unison, ¡°sectmaster Senior Brother is busy with some trifling matters with the school and rarely leaves the mountain. Us brothers are rustic idlers who often roam the jianghu, we didn¡¯t expect to run into you here, Brother Wen.¡±


    Wen Gongtai toyed with his beard and said, ¡°Ever since your senior sectbrother took over as sectmaster of Diancang, your fame and prestige has been restored, all because of your senior sectbrother¡¯s wise leadership, but you two assisting from the side, your contributions cannot be left unrecognized. This old rotter has always admired you three elites of Diancang and have always wanted to go to Dian to call on you, but have not had the opportunity. Meeting you two here, now, really must be a matter of fate.¡±


    The black-robed Daoist said, ¡°Brother Wen, as leader of the Mount Hua School your chivalrous name has spread throughout the world. This time you¡¯ve come personally to northern Hunan, why is that?¡±


    Wen Gongtai swept a quick glance at them and laughed coldly. ¡°Is that a sincere question you¡¯re asking? What about your reason for coming here? Do you really need me to say?¡±


    The middle-aged scholar smiled thinly. ¡°We each have a tacit understanding, no use looking too deep into it. Brother Wen, why don¡¯t we talk about something else?¡±


    Wen Gongtai said coldly, ¡°From the looks of it, our Mount Hua and Diancang schools were fated to meet first.¡±


    The middle-aged scholar arched his brow. ¡°Brother Wen¡¯s Finger-Snapping Golden Pellet is known as one of the superlative skills of the martial world. Perhaps us two Geese of Diancang will get the chance to admire it.¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger laughed loudly, his laughter coming from his dantian, the sound like a dragon¡¯s moan, shaking the rooftiles. When he quit laughing he said, ¡°The Three Geese of Diancang are famed throughout the jianghu. For me to be able to meet two of them, this trip to northern Hubei was not in vain. The only blemish is that your senior sectbrother did not come with you, so I can¡¯t meet all three Geese. On this point this old rotter is somewhat regretful.¡±


    The black-robed Daoist laughed. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. Even if all three Geese were here together, we wouldn¡¯t necessarily have to accompany you one after the other.¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger¡¯s face turned, his eyes flashing. ¡°In that case, this old rotter must get a taste of your two¡¯s martial arts.¡±


    The middle-aged scholar said, ¡°Right now it¡¯s too early to say, we must wait for the critical moment. When that time comes, whoever wishes to decline will be unable to do so, but since it¡¯s not gotten to that point yet, we ought not destroy each other and allow someone else to come along and reap the reward.¡±


    Wen Gongtai nodded. ¡°Well said. The Heavenly Dragon Gang have sent more people here than us.¡± Just then, a series of whistling was heard outside. Eight Armed Divine Codger took his bamboo staff and went outside and loosed a long cry, the sound echoing far away along with the whistles, and a short while late two big men came running in from out of the downpour. They spoke a few words in low voices with Wen Gongtai, and the Eight Armed Divine Codger immediately went out into the rain.


    As soon as Wen Gongtai left, the middle-aged scholar said to the black-robed Daoist, ¡°The old man Wen Gongtai most certainly just received a report from his disciples. We ought to follow him and keep a close watch.¡± The black-robed Daoist nodded and stood and went with the middle-aged scholar out of the hall and into the rain in pursuit.


    Yang Menghuan and Xialin, hiding behind the god statues, heard everything the three of them had said clearly. Once they left, Xialin asked, ¡°Big Brother Huan, those three people just now were looking for us. If they had spotted us, there would have been a fight for sure.¡±


    From the conversation the three had just had, Yang Menghuan knew that they would likely be no match for any school¡¯s masterhands should they run into them, and hue still didn¡¯t know how many powerful foes were lying in wait. The situation right now was really peril at every step. He thought for a moment and said, ¡°We¡¯ll wait here in the temple till it gets dark, then leave. We¡¯ll travel the whole night. As long as we get out of northern Hunan we¡¯ll be able to break out of their encirclement.¡±


    Miss Shen never went against Yang Menghuan¡¯s views and the two of them sat down in the main hall.


    It didn¡¯t stop raining till after the first watch. Once the clouds scattered and the sky cleared, the bright moon was out, and Menghuan took Xialin and walked out of the temple. Under the clear light of the moon the night breeze was chilly, and the two of them ran as fast as they could, heedless of the mud and water, and before long had gone a dozen or so miles, leaving Dongmao Ridge and the chain of mountains. Yang Menghuan stopped, and seeing that Xialin¡¯s white clothes were all muddy he laughed. ¡°Look, you¡¯ve become a clay doll.¡±


    Xialin said ¡°I¡¯m not a doll I¡¯m a grown up.¡±


    Yang Menghuan said, ¡°Okay, you¡¯re a grown up, then you¡­¡±


    Before he could finish, he suddenly heard a person sneering from behind him say, ¡°You two really do have aesthetic tastes, still in the mood to crack jokes?¡±


    Yang Menghuan turned and saw the girl he had fought with at the pass during the daytime. However, this time she was wearing black tightfit clothes, a black headcloth binding her hair and a bright pearl sewn in the middle. Around her slender, willowy waist was tied a white embroidered sash, and on her feet she wore little deerskin swordboots. On her back was a sword, and a dart bag hung off her left hip. She was lithe and graceful, the bearing of a transcendent, and her big eyes, bright and clear as lightning, stared affectionately at Menghuan¡¯s face.


    She didn¡¯t seem to have any evil intent to Yang Menghuan, so he asked, ¡°Miss, why are you doggedly following our every step. There¡¯s no quarrel between us. Are you not willing to give us even one step of leeway?¡±


    The girl in black smiled thinly. ¡°Us! Us is so intimate, who is she to you?¡±


    Menghuan¡¯s face got hot. Slightly miffed, he said, ¡°You should speak with a little more propriety. She¡¯s my junior sectsister. If you¡¯re gonna force me into a dead end, then you should know that Yang Menghuan is not a coward.¡±


    The girl in black giggled sweetly. ¡°What are you being so mean about! I¡¯ve already seen the Split Second Swordplay. If we really fought it out I wouldn¡¯t necessarily lose to you. You junior sectsister is very pretty, I like her.¡±


    Yang Menghuan didn¡¯t know what to do with such irrelevant talk. He glowered at her, then turned and said to Xialin, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    As soon as the word go was out of his mouth, the girl in black¡¯s lovely body suddenly soared into the air using her Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada lightness skill and landed in front of them. ¡°There are two masterhands blocking the way everywhere within a hundred miles. If you want to break through it will be easier said than done.¡±


    Yang Menghuan said angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. If you don¡¯t get out of the way, don¡¯t blame me for busting through.¡±


    The girl in black¡¯s complexion changed. ¡°You really think I¡¯m afraid of you? Go ask around who Shadowless Girl Li Yaohong has ever been afraid of. I had good intentions in trying to pass along some news, yet you¡¯re being more and more unmannerly.¡±


    Then her expression eased up again, and her bright piercing eyes contained immeasurable tenderness.


    Yang Menghuan was taken aback for a moment. ¡°In that case, it was I who wrongly blamed you, Miss. Since Miss calls her self Li, could you be the noble daughter of Chief Li of the Heavenly Dragon Gang?¡±


    Li Yaohong was amazed. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you that, how did you know?¡±


    Yang Menghuan thought, I only heard Divine Yangtze Flood Dragon mention it inadvertently. I didn¡¯t expect my guess would be right. That¡¯s what he was thinking, but he said, ¡°Miss Li¡¯s great name is known far and near, Yang Menghuan has long heard of you. Thanks for the warning, I will make it up to you at a later day. See you later!¡±


    With that, he pulled Xialin along and ran off.


    Li Yaohong was buttoned up by what Menghuan said, and for a moment was not able to stop them. She watched them speed away hand in hand and disappear in the moonlight. This female demon king who always ran roughshod over the jianghu and feared nothing and no one was at this moment suffused with a feeling she could not name. She looked up at the bright moon, its clear light pure and pellucid, and couldn¡¯t help heave a faint sigh.

 CH 3.1

    Chapter 3


    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 1 (12)


    Let¡¯s now talk about Yang Menghuan, who pulled the young lady along hurriedly around two bends and there was a forest before them. Menghuan slowed down and wound his way through the forest. They turned a corner and saw a white-haired old man in black who was as skinny as firewood standing in the middle of the road holding a snakehead walking stick. He stood towering in the moonlight, not moving, the night breeze blowing his white hair and rustling his black robe. He looked more sinister the more you looked at him. Yang Menghuan was brave enough, but he still was startled, and Shen Xialin was even more scared, sticking close against Big Brother Huan.


    Yang Menghuan calmed down and pulled Xialin along the side of the road and went around. The old man laughed hideously and said, ¡°I can¡¯t be bothered to fight with you children. Just tell me honestly where the treasure map is and not only will I not harm you, I¡¯ll also escort you out of northern Hunan. The Heavenly Dragon Gang is lying in wait around Watermoon Mountain Villa, all of them subdued by me through acupoints, or you would have run into trouble by now. However, everywhere within a hundred miles of Yueyang is still swarming with masterhands looking to waylay you, most of them very formidable martial worlders. You children can¡¯t break through them. There¡¯s two roads leading to life or death, which do you choose?¡±


    Yang Menghuan thought, This emaciated white-haired old man looks eerie, eyes like lightning, holding that weird snakehead staff, glossy black under the moonlight. One look and he knew the man was made of iron, and he talked big, clearly not an ordinary person. His mind windmilled around several times, then he smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯ve never even seen the treasure map, how can I tell you where it is?¡±


    The white-haired old man laughed his cold, eerie laugh. ¡°You say you¡¯ve never seen the treasure map, that might be true, but it¡¯s also absolutely true that it has fallen into the hands of Master One Yang, the abbot of Mystic Metropolis. That ox-nose sectfather of yours might not have told you¡­¡±


    He paused and slowly pressed in closer to Menghuan. ¡°Then I¡¯ll just take you two children hostage for now and tell your ox-nose sectfather to exchange for the map.


    Yang Menghuan took a step back and said sternly, ¡°Who are you to be so wildly arrogant¡­¡±


    Before Menghuan could finish, the old man laughed hideously and said, ¡°You¡¯re not worthy to ask this old fogey his name.¡±


    Just then a long cry was heard some ways off and under the moonlight a black figure zipped out like a shooting star and was soon upon the three of them. Yang Menghuan got a good look at him and swore to himself. It was none other than Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai, who had seem in the abandoned temple.


    Wen Gongtai held his bamboo staff and eyed the old man with the weird snakehead staff and said coldly, ¡°Brother Qiu, you¡¯ve had a long life, you¡¯re not dead yet?¡±


    The thin old man put on a fake smile. ¡°You¡¯re too kind. Brother Wen¡¯s eyes and ears are sharp, you actually got wind of this and hurried here. There¡¯s a deep connection between us, I never imagined running into you here.¡±


    Wen Gongtai ignored the thin old man and turned to Yang Menghuan and Xialin. ¡°Are you two disciples of Master One Yang of the Kunlun School?¡±


    Yang Menghuan had heard the conversation between he and the two Geese of Diancang when he was hiding behind the god statues in the abandoned temple, so he knew he was the sectmaster of the Mount Hua School. He saluted with a hand cupped over his fist. ¡°Junior is a Kunlun disciple. is Senior Eight Armed Divine Codger of the Mount Hua School?¡±


    Wen Gongtai was taken aback and thought, This kid really is a bit unusual. He nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right, this old rotter is Wen Gongtai. How did you recognize me?¡±


    Yang Menghuan sized up the current situation and had no choice but to adapt to it. ¡°Senior is a revered sectmaster, Junior has often heard my teacher mention Senior¡¯s noble bearing. My teacher told Junior that he has a deep respect for Senior.¡±


    His words put a happy look on Wen Gongtai¡¯s face, who laughed and said, ¡°That¡¯s no wonder, this old rotter and my old pal Master One Yang have met many times. Mount Hua and Kunlun are both honorable, major schools within the martial world.¡±


    With that he changed his tone and asked, ¡°Word has it that your teacher has obtained the treasure map. It that so?¡±


    Yang Menghuan knew that if he continued to deny it now then he might very well incur Wen Gongtai¡¯s wrath, and that wouldn¡¯t be good, so he thought for a moment and said, ¡°As far as Junior knows, my teacher recently indeed did obtain an exquisite jade box, but whether or not the jade box contained the treasure map, I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Wen Gongtai asked, ¡°When your teacher left Mystic Metropolis, where did he go, do you know?¡±


    Before Yang Menghuan could answer, the skinny old man bellowed, ¡°Oh I see! You dare lie to me, I¡¯ll take care of you.¡±


    And then he attacked, his snakehead staff thrusting out with Flying Falls, Flowing Spring, but Wen Gongtai¡¯s bamboo staff warded it off with Clog the River to Stop the Fight. He sneered, ¡°Snakeman Qiu Yuan, for someone of your status within the martial world to deal with a junior like that, aren¡¯t you afraid people will laugh at you?¡±


    Qiu Yuan raged, ¡°Spare me your pleasant words, you came from afar all the way out here to northern Hunan to snatch the treasure map too.¡±


    Wen Gongtai laughed loudly. ¡°That¡¯s true actually, everyone wants the treasure map, but only one will be able to have it. Master One Yang¡¯s whereabouts are unknown, but his student would make the perfect hostage. Kunlun¡¯s Split Second Swordplay and Celestial Dipper Palm is famed throughout the martial world, Qiu Yuan, are you confident you can beat the Three Masters of Kunlun? The way I see it, it would be better for you to do me a favor and let me take these two kids and go, lest it harm our friendship!¡±


    Qiu Yuan sneered eerily and said, ¡°Brother Wen says it so casually, but I fear it won¡¯t be as easy as you think!¡±


    Wen Gongtai said, ¡°What? You¡¯d really dare to try and stop me?¡±


    Qiu Yuan raised the snakehead staff in his hand. ¡°Maybe I will. You think I won¡¯t?¡±


    Wen Gongtai raged, ¡°Well then why don¡¯t you try it?¡± And with the bamboo staff in his right hand he chopped down with Sudden Lightning Strikes the Crown, and Qiu Yuan¡¯s snakehead staff blocked it with Wrist Overturns the Clouds and took the opportunity to sweep past. Wen Gongtai loosed a long laugh and sprang up, bamboo staff launching a quick attack, a there was a mass of blurring green striking with overwhelming force at Qiu Yuan. Wen Gongtai was the sectmaster of the Mount Hua School, a grandmaster, so his martial arts was naturally extraordinary, and right now he was eager to seek victory, attacking with strange moves continuously, move after move extremely ruthless. Despite the fact that it was only a green bamboo staff, in his hands it was extraordinarily powerful. It danced in the air up and down, internal forcewind threatening the distance of a stave away.


    But Snakeman Qiu Yuan was also a standout figure of the jianghu, the snakehead staff in his hand forming its own school of moves. The two had fought before, twenty years ago, Snakeman losing to Wen Gongtai. To Qiu Yuan this was the greatest humiliation of his life, and so he had gone into hiding on Mount Jiuhua and trained arduously, his power and skill now much advanced compared to twenty years ago. Very few big names in the martial world could take ten moves of Wen Gongtai¡¯s 81-move Demon-Subduing Staff. Now he had launched more than twenty moves in a row but it was still not enough to deal with Snakeman Qiu Yuan, which enraged him, his green bamboo staff striking swifter and more ferociously.


    Snakeman Qiu Yuan¡¯s strange snakehead staff also struck with remarkable moves in droves. It shot up and struck across with a faint sound of wind and thunder.


    Yang Menghuan saw that the more they fought the stranger their moves became, and the forcewind from their staffs became stronger and stronger. He knew they were gradually put their internal force into their staffs when they struck, going all out. Now was the time for Menghuan to run away, but these two rare masterhands of the martial world exchanging blows, attacking and defending, was so amazing that Yang Menghuan was rapt, with no thought of fleeing.


    Suddenly, he felt a tug on his sleeve from the right and knew it must be Xialin. He reached out and held a smooth little hand. He just felt it was as soft as could be, as sleek as jade, and at the same time a faint scent assailed him and he heard a sweet soft voice say, ¡°Why are you standing there in a daze, aren¡¯t we going to get out of her? If we wait won¡¯t we not be able to leave?¡±


    Menghuan realized it didn¡¯t sound like Xialin and turned to look and his shy handsome face couldn¡¯t help but feel hot and he quickly let go of her hand, blushing and stammered but couldn¡¯t get the words out. Turns out it was not Miss Shen but Shadowless Girl Li Yaohong.


    Yang Menghuan was going to apologize, but Li Yaohong looked at him affectionately and lightly shook her head and Yang Menghuan¡¯s mind cleared and he realized how much danger they were in. He turned and saw Xialin had also noticed. This adorable immature girl had just seen the girl in black when she stopped them on the road, but now she had a gentle look on her face, standing between her and Big Brother Huan. She felt is odd and was about to ask about it when Yang Menghuan pulled her by the hand and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t say anything, let¡¯s get out of here!¡± Xialin gave him a confused look and looked at Li Yaohong but was hauled away by Menghuan into the woods.


    Shadowless Girl saw how intimate Menghuan treated Xialin and she felt a trace of jealous hate. She turned to see that Wen Gongtai and Snakeman Qiu Yuan had reached a critical juncture, each using their true internal power to unleash their blows in an all out fight, the invisible force of their internal power blasting out for several staves in all directions. Li Yaohong was inwardly shocked to see that the two of them had reached such an awesome stage of power. If she didn¡¯t get out of here now but waited for one of them to lose, it would not be easy for her to get away. Their anger at Yang Menghuan getting away might be put on her, but as soon as she had that thought, Wen Gongtai noticed that Menghuan had left and he hollered, sweeping his bamboo staff to force back Qiu Yuan¡¯s snakehead staff, and chopped through the air with his left hand with a whoosh, a gust of strong forcewind surging toward Qiu Yuan. This strike was like a dam bursting, its strength fare more than a thousand catties.


    Snakeman Qiu Yuan knew if he met this chop head on it would decide who among them lived and died, so he could only spring up into the air to avoid the chop, and with a burst of ferocious forcewind he thrust directly into the woods behind him, the powerful forcewind so strong is broke branches and sent them flying.


    Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai warded off Snakeman Qiu Yuan with his palm strike, then leapt across and blocked Li Yaohong¡¯s way and asked coldly, ¡°Little girl, who are you? Where did that guy and girl just now go?¡±


    Li Yaohong thought, ¡°Yang Menghuan hasn¡¯t been gone long, if I tell him where he went, this old guy will be able to catch up to him for sure. This person¡¯s martial arts was unsurpassed, a rarity. It looked strong enough to take on her father, Sky and Sea Elder Li Canglan. Him pursuing Menghuan didn¡¯t bode well, and for a time she felt a mix of love and hate in her heart. She thought for a long time but could not answer.


    Wen Gongtai saw the girl in black was just lost in thought and not answering him. He raged, ¡°What, don¡¯t tell me you, little girl, are a Kunlun disciple too? If you don¡¯t answer me, don¡¯t blame this old man for bullying a junior!¡±

 CH 3.2

    Chapter 3


    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 2 (13)


    Li Yaohong looked back and saw Qiu Yuan blocking the way behind her with his snakehead staff held out crosswise. Eight Armed Divine Codger and Snakeman Qiu Yuan had went all out against each other for a long time, then because Yang Menghuan had taken that chance to slip away, their hostility toward each other evaporated and they were now blocking Li Yaohong in front and behind.


    Shadowless Girl knew she wasn¡¯t going to be able to escape and calmed herself and said plainly, ¡°I was also after the Kunlun disciples. I saw you two engaged in an exciting fight and stopped to watch. Now you¡¯re not fighting, so I ought to get going.¡± With that, she strolled forward.


    Wen Gongtai was a sect grandmaster, so when he saw Li Yaohong being so disrespectful by casually saying a few words and walking away, he was enraged. He sneered, ¡°Such an unmannerly little girl, you think you can leave?¡± He thrust his right palm out and a gust of forcewind blasted out. Li Yaohong dodged to the side to avoid it. She had grown up under the doting love of Sky and Sea Elder Li Canglan and had always been spoiled, she couldn¡¯t take someone bullying her, but she knew she was no match for him, yet still was recalcitrant. She flipped her wrist and drew her sword, a willowy brow cocked as she said in a stern voice, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of blocking my way? If you don¡¯t give way, I¡¯ll bust through!¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger laughed loudly. ¡°Such big talk. Then why don¡¯t you try and see if you can bust through?¡±


    Li Yaohong shouted, sword sweeping across, and Wen Gongtai¡¯s left palm shot out rapidly with Hand Strums the Pipa and to flick against and jolt her sword. Li Yaohong had already seen the power of his palm chops striking nothing but air and knew that if her sword was flicked by his internal force than she would drop her sword if not injury her wrist, so she immediately sank her wrist and changed to Armored Cavalry Charges Out, sword forcewind sweeping down at an angle to chop at his legs.


    Wen Gongtai whisked his sleeve, knees unbending, feet unmoving, and there was a slight rustle of a breeze and he had closed in on Shadowless Girl¡¯ side, the bamboo staff in his right hand not moving all this time, his left hand concentrating a steely strength and whisked toward her sword with Brandish the Fly-Whisk and Hold Forth. Eight Armed Divine Codger has his status as a sectmaster to maintain and didn¡¯t want to have to counterattack against Li Yaohong, he just wanted to use his internal force to knock the the weapon out of her hand.


    In this sense, Shadowless Girl had the upper hand, her sword unfolding with Li Canglan¡¯s superlative techniques, and in the twinkling of an eye her cold awn of light launched over twenty or more strokes like lightning.


    Wen Gongtai had thought he could send the weapon flying from her hand with three to five moves. He didn¡¯t expect that over twenty moves later he would still not be able to knock the sword out of her hands. Li Yaohong¡¯s swordsmanship had reached about seven to eighth-tenths that of Sky and Sea Elder¡¯s. Aside from her level of mastery, her sword strokes were marvelous beyond compare.


    Eight Armed Divine Codger saw that the girl¡¯s sword strokes were varying and changing unpredictably and couldn¡¯t tell which school she was from, and he found that really odd. The schools that excelled in swordsmanship were Wudang, Kunlun, and Emei, but this girl¡¯s sword sequences were not from those three schools. For someone of his stature to let a twenty-year-old girl take over twenty moves from him without defeat was really a loss of face, all the more so with Snakeman Qiu Yuan watching off to the side. Annoyed, he lashed out three palm strikes swish swish swish.


    How could Li Yaohong endure Wen Gongtai¡¯s immense strength? Those three ferocious palm strikes were like churning waves or surging breakers forcing Shadowless Girl back more than a stave. But she has been so pampered it was second nature and she wasn¡¯t about to admit defeat. She gritted her teeth and charged forward with with the sword stroke Embrace the Mountain, Vault Over the Sea. Wen Gongtai was furious at how stubborn she was. He thought, If I don¡¯t make her suffer a little she won¡¯t stop. He concentrated his qi in his left arm and forced it through his left palm, waiting for the tip of her sword to arrive before suddenly striking out.


    Li Yaohong suddenly felt her sword being sucked in by an invisible force like it wanted to fly out of her hand. This was bad, if she didn¡¯t drop the sword her wrist would be injured, so all she could do was let go, and her three-span sword flew off seven or eight staves away like a kite with a broken string and fell once its momentum was exhausted.


    Shadowless Girl let go of her sword and immediately took out a Soul-Seeking Swallow Dart from her dart bag, and raising her jade wrist, sent it flying toward Eight Armed Divine Codger with an odd whizzing sound.


    This Soul-Seeking Swallow Dart, just like its name implied, was shaped like a swallow with pure steel swallow wings on the left and right sides. Its edges were sharp as a blade and it was much smaller than a real swallow. There was a spring mechanism in its belly that contained a poisoned needle, and when it was hit by a weapon the mechanism was jolted and the poisoned needle inside would shoot out. The technique for this hidden weapon was also different from other hidden weapons. When it was thrown it didn¡¯t go in a straight line but arced around toward the enemy, swooping down from the top in a curved descent and wound around left and right attacking the enemy, all according to how the thrower controlled it. Li Yaohong flew into a fit of anger when Wen Gongtai knocked her sword out of her hand and she threw the Soul-Seeking Swallow Dart. Loosed from her hand it was like as nimble as a flitting swallow, and it made a strange sound as it dropped toward the top of Eight Armed Divine Codger¡¯s head.


    As experienced and knowledgeable as Wen Gongtai was, he couldn¡¯t tell what sect this strange hidden weapon was from. It looked to be moving slowly, spiraling down from above. When it was around seven spans away from the top of his head it suddenly dropped in a straight line, faster than anything. Under the moonlight its cold awn of light dazzled him, quicker than lightning. Wen Gongtai was ready for it, raising his left palm and shooting out a gust of forcewind. The Soul-Seeking Swallow Dart was jolted by his internal force and skewed toward his right side, but the spring mechanism in its belly had been jolted by his internal force as well and the poisoned needle inside shot out, a silver thread as fine as a strand of hair flashing toward him. Wen Gongtai¡¯s internal skill was refined and superb, and his vision was exceptional. He could see that something was amiss and immediately adapted, leaping up and landing beside Li Yaohong. ¡°Lousy girl, actually using a vicious hidden weapon like that. I¡¯m going to punish you good today.¡± With that he chopped with his left hand.


    Before Li Yaohong could throw her second Soul-Seeking Swallow Dart, Wen Gongtai¡¯s ferocious palm forcewind arrived. Eight Armed Divine Codger was unforgiving with this attack. Shadowless Girl knew there was a huge discrepancy in strength between them and didn¡¯t dare meet it head on. She reared back with Golden Carp Plunges into the Waves and drew back more than a stave, but Wen Gongtai stuck close like a shadow. Li Yaohong was not flustered and did not wait to leap up but used her momentum to roll twice to the left, but before she had gotten to her feet she heard Wen Gongtai sneer from behind, ¡°Is that all you¡¯ve got?¡± and chopped down at an angle toward her shoulder.


    Li Yaohong followed along the path of the coming palm and darted forward suddenly, and though the palm didn¡¯t land true, some spare forcewind swept into her and slammed into her graceful body, nearly knocking her down. Wen Gongtai¡¯s feet paused, then flew behind her like a bird and put his index and middle fingers together and pressed toward her Wind Mansion acupoint. Li Yaohong had absorbed his palm, setting her blood and qi roiling, so she couldn¡¯t dodge out of the way. Just as Eight Armed Divine Codger¡¯s fingers were about to press Shadowless Girl¡¯ Wind Mansion acupoint, two figures suddenly burst through the air and down, landed and shot out their palms in unison, forcewind soughing with incredibly ferocious force. Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai didn¡¯t bother with hurting his foe but instead leapt out of the way of the palm forcewinds, collected himself, and saw two people standing about seven spans away. They were both in their fifties and wearing all black tightfit clothes. One of them had a Three Powers rope hammer around his waist, and the other one was shouldering a pair of bluesteel sun & moon wheels. They were both extremely famous among the jianghu. The one shouldering the wheels was Hundred-Step Flying Cymbals Qi Yuantong, Red Banner Altarman of the Heavenly Dragon Gang. The with the Three Powers rope hammer around his waist was the Black Banner Altarman, Stele-Breaking Hands Cui Wenqi.


    Qi Yuantong ran forward two steps and helped steady Li Yaohong¡¯s tottering body, while Stele-Breaking Hands Cui Wenqi said coldly, ¡°How imposing! How ferocious! A sect grandmaster, violently attacking a weak, young girl. Eight Armed Divine Codger, how are you going to faces the heroes of the world now?¡±


    Wen Gongtai¡¯s face got hot. ¡°I asked her several times for her name, but she wouldn¡¯t say, just viciously attacked me. I only used my left hand to deal with her, if you don¡¯t believe me that just ask Qiu Yuan over there, he was watching the fight. Cui with your hurtful remarks, could it be that I¡¯m afraid of you?¡±


    Cui Wenqi sneered, ¡°You¡¯re too kind, you¡¯re too kind. Neither of us has to fear the other, the Heavenly Dragons sooner or later will fight you masters of the Nine Major Schools of the martial world.¡± With that, he threw his head back and laugh uproariously.


    Qi Yuantong helped Li Yaohong walk a few steps and asked in a low voice, ¡°Circulate your qi a bit and see if you¡¯ve got any internal injuries.¡±


    Shadowless Girl did as he said and circulated her qi, then shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s alright, my internal organs weren¡¯t harmed.¡±


    Qi Yuantong relaxed and saw Wen Gongtai with an angry look on his face, looking at Cui Wenqi and secretly concentrating his internal power. Stele-Breaking Hands was also concentrating on gathering his qi, standing with his feet in a ¶¡-shaped stance. Hundred-Step Flying Cymbals knew that they were both secretly gathering their power, readying to fight it out, and he knew that once they unleashed all that power they were amassing, it would be difficult to stop them till one of them was dead. He was a treacherous and calculating schemer and didn¡¯t want to get into a pointless fight at such an important time. He stepped up and stood between them and said, ¡°You two wait a minute before you fight, won¡¯t you listen to what I have to say first?¡±


    Wen Gongtai and Cui Wenqi were just at the point of loosing all that amassed power, but when they heard that they restrained themselves and fixed their eyes on Hundred-Step Flying Cymbals.


    Qi Yuantong said to Cui Wenqi, ¡°Brother Wen hurt Miss Li, but he didn¡¯t know she was the Heavenly Dragon chief¡¯s beloved daughter. Fortunately, Miss Li wasn¡¯t really hurt. Given the circumstance, this is not the time to fight.¡±


    Then he laughed loudly and said to Eight Armed Divine Codger, ¡°Brother Wen¡¯s Finger-Snapping Golden Pellet is unrivaled in the martial world, Brother Cui and I have long respected your great name. Luckily our Chief Li plans to invite the Nine Major Schools of the martial world to a martial arts contest. This grand martial world gathering is not far off from now, when the time comes, not only can we ask to see each of the superb skills of Brother Wen¡¯s Mount Hua School, the masters of the other eight major schools will be displaying their skills as well. We¡¯ll be able to duel later, why the rush? I think the both of you should refrain from fighting tonight.¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger held the green staff in his right hand out, and said, ¡°If your honorable chief has such aspirations then nothing could be better. Our Mount Hua School will do everything we can to make this grand gathering a reality as soon as possible. As for tonight¡¯s accidentally injuring your honorable chief¡¯s daughter, this old rotter definitely didn¡¯t know who she was. When you two see your honorable chief, please extend him my apologies.¡± With that, he uttered a long cry and sped off.


    Once Wen Gongtai was gone, Hundred-Step Flying Cymbals Qi Yuantong turned to Snakeman Qiu Yuan. ¡°Old man who plays with snakes, you really put on some nauseating airs. Our Chief Li has sent people looking for you three times, but you always avoided them. Tonight, now that you¡¯ve run into Brother Cui and I, what do you have to say for yourself?¡±


    Qiu Yuan laughed. ¡°If you want me to join your honorable gang, that¡¯s not a problem, but you first have to give me some face. Since Chief Li has been able to make you two bow to him, he certainly has some extraordinary means, but I, Qiu, am a person who won¡¯t stop till he reaches the Yellow River. Wait till I see your Chief Li in person, then we¡¯ll talk. Anyhow, I won¡¯t die for another three to five years, what¡¯s the rush?¡±

 CH 3.3

    Chapter 3


    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 3 (14)


    Cui Wenqi sneered, ¡°You really dare to talk so big, you can train for fifty years and not be able to take ten moves from Chief Li. If you don¡¯t believe me then you can try a few moves out on me first.¡±


    Snakeman Qiu Yuan¡¯s eyes flashed like lightning, glaring at Cui Wenqi. ¡°When you put it that way, it seems Brother Cui can¡¯t take ten moves from the honorable chief neither.¡±


    Stele-Breaking Hands Cui Wenqi sneered again. ¡°None of the five banner altarmen of the Heavenly Dragon Gang are inferior to you, Qiu. Yet we can only take three to five moves from Chief. Don¡¯t tell me that with your few skills you think you¡¯re stronger than me?¡±


    Qiu Yuan¡¯s face sank. He said coldly, ¡°Alright, within half a year, Qiu will go to the headquarters of your honorable gang personally to seek instruction from Chief Li. Right now I don¡¯t have time to jabber and squabble with you. Since we¡¯re old friends, it¡¯s not worth fighting. See you later.¡± And with that he turned and left.


    Once Snakeman Qiu Yuan was gone, Qi Yuantong asked Li Yaohong, ¡°Have you seen Master One Yang¡¯s student?¡±


    Shadowless Girl thought about this for a moment. ¡°I did see him once, but I was unable to stop him, he slipped away from me. Is Master One Yang still at Mystic Metropolis?¡±


    Cui Wenqi shook his head. ¡°That ox nose left long ago. How did you come to fight with Wen Gongtai?¡±


    Li Yaohong knew that of the gang¡¯s five banner altarmen, Red Banner Altarman Qi Yuantong was the most insidious, the most calculating, and Black Banner Altarman Cui Wenqi had the worst temper and was the most vicious, so she was wary of telling them where Yang Menghuan and Xialin went, lest they give chase and Yang Menghuan suffered as a result. But that treasure map was a rare treasure her father longed to obtain, so she didn¡¯t know what to do. She thought for a long time but was still not willing to tell the truth, and with a thin smile she said. ¡°Today I ran into them at the mouth of Dongmao Ridge. Kunlun¡¯s swordplay is ferocious and ruthless. I couldn¡¯t beat him and he broke free and escaped. I chased him all the way to here where I saw those Wen and Qiu people fighting. I stood aside and watched, but when they saw me they stopped fighting and kept saying I was a Kunlun disciple, and that Wen guy and I fought.¡±


    Qi Yuantong turned to Cui Wenqi. ¡°If you ask me, Master One Yang¡¯s already gone off to Mount Kuocang in southern Zhejiang and knows that if he really does get hold of Return to the Origin then his student will be captured. He might not be willing to exchange it for his student. It would be better for us to go back and advise the chief to send all five banner altarmen to hurry to Mount Kuocang to intercept him. Master One Yang is crafty and calculating, he would absolutely never give the treasure map to his student, so it¡¯s no use capturing his student.¡±


    Li Yaohong said, ¡°Altarman Qi is so right, you two had best go back at once and tell Dad, lest someone else gets there first.¡±


    Cui Wenqi nodded. ¡°Then you come with us! There¡¯s masters from all schools all over northern Zhejiang, and you have a bad temper. One false word and and you¡¯re fighting with someone, if something were to happen to you, there¡¯d be no way for Altarman Qi and I to help you.¡±


    Li Yaohong pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid, you all go on ahead! When you see my dad, tell him I¡¯ll be back in half a month.¡±


    Not waiting for them to respond, she picked up the sword that Wen Gongtai had knocked out of her hand and with three bounds was gone. Qi Yuantong and Cui Wenqi knew how obstinate she was knew she wouldn¡¯t listen to them, so they had to let her go.


    ~*~


    Let¡¯s turn now to Yang Menghuan, who was pulling Xialin hurriedly through the forest, using his lightness skill and running flat out, and in one fell swoop they had gone more than twenty miles. Now he slowed down, panting. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you pull me away sooner?¡±


    Xialin looked at Yang Menghuan, soft and gentle. ¡°You were so absorbed in watching the fight, how could I pull you away? I thought if I did you would be unhappy, so I just watched intently too.¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°I was transfixed by their amazing moves, I wasn¡¯t just enjoying watching them fight.¡±


    Xialin said, ¡°Mm! They really did fight well. They used many moves I didn¡¯t understand.¡±


    Suddenly she thought of something. ¡°Big Brother Huan, I have something to ask you, but I worry you¡¯ll laugh at me.¡±


    Menghuan saw her immeasurably sweet yet sad expression and felt bad fir pulling on her arm. ¡°Ask!¡±


    Xialin said, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that girl in black looking to fight us? Why was she standing next you you so nicely, like you two were friends?¡±


    Menghuan sighed. ¡°If she hadn¡¯t helped us tonight, we probably would have forgotten to escape.¡±


    Xialin went ¡°ah¡± and said, ¡°That girl in black really is good.¡±


    Menghuan saw she looked so natural when she spoke, without a trace of jealousy. He lowered his voice. ¡°You¡¯re good too.¡±


    Xialin was happy to hear Menghuan praise her. She said sweetly, ¡°I¡¯m not good, because I have to ask you everything. As long as you don¡¯t hate me, I¡¯m happy.¡± And with that she shot off like an arrow.


    Miss Shen must have been insanely happy, running in the moonlight like a wild galloping stallion. She was running too fast and nearly ran into someone when she turned a corner. The young lady stopped in her tracks, but the other person shot a hand out quick as lightning, jade wrist raised, and grabbed onto Miss Shen¡¯s left arm. This roused the young lady¡¯s temper and she shouted and chopped out with her right palm. This person was a twenty-three or twenty-four year old lady of the Dao, a raven cloud of hair piled up in a mallet bun, willowy brows and a fair face, eyes like rippling waves of autumn water, and flaming cherry lips. Though she was a renunciate, she was very good looking. She saw Xialin¡¯s palm shooting out so fast, she didn¡¯t dawdle but turned her left hand and counterpressed the young lady¡¯s ¡°Pool at the Bend¡± acupoint on her elbow. Xialin¡¯s palm strike was aimed at distracting her opponent, but her full power was actually secretly concentrated in her left arm, so when those paired fingers came at her acupoint, she immediately struck out with her left arm and flung the person¡¯s hand off, then leapt back eight or nine spans, flipped her wrist and drew her sword. Her sword was like lightning, its cold awn of light a cyclone sweeping at her upper body.


    This lady of the Dao who was in her wonder years saw that Xialin¡¯s attacks were extraordinary and wasn¡¯t about to get careless. She leapt up to dodge the sword and drew the weapon from her back, and the two swords flashed like lightning, arcing like rainbows, and in the blink of an eye they had exchanged eight strokes, but after those eight strokes they each felt strange, because both of them had been using Split Second Swordplay moves. The lady of the Dao wanted to stop and ask Xialin about it, but Miss Shen¡¯s sword was like hail raining down, not giving her a chance to slow up and speak.


    By the time they had exchanged several more strokes, Yang Menghuan had caught up. He saw Xialin fighting with someone and thought that it was a masterhand come to stop them. He was in a hurry to get a move on and didn¡¯t take a good look at the Daolady¡¯s swordplay but drew his sword and attacked with two fast strokes. His skill was advanced and his strength was great, much more so than Xialin, and he used was using two killer moves Earth Smashing, Heaven Shaking and Tide Floods the South Seas of the Soul Seeker Twelve Swordplay. The young Daolady couldn¡¯t take them and was forced back seven or eight spans under Menghuan¡¯s pressing onslaught. It was only Yang Menghuan showing leniency that he didn¡¯t send her sword flying from her hand.


    After Menghuan forced the Daolady back, he pulled Xialin along and ran. They had run five or six staves when a figure darted in front of him and a gentle breeze blew on them as a good-looking middle-aged Daolady wearing a Daoist ¡°plumage robe¡± and a starcap on her head and holding a dust whisk in her hand, and with a sword on her back and a stately look on her face stepped in to block the way. Yang Menghuan was in a hurry to get away and swept out with White Swallow Scissor Tail.


    The middle-aged Daolady was angered at the ruthlessness of Yang Menghuan¡¯s attack and used Ride the Dragon, Lead the Phoenix with her whisk to ward off Menghuan¡¯s sword, then used Divine Dragon Wags Its Tail, Approach the Flowers, Whisk the Willows, and Open Up the Mountain to Divert the Stream, swish swish swish, three attacks in quick succession. Despite being just a light dust whisk, in the middle-aged Daolady¡¯s hands it was a immensely powerful. Yang Menghuan felt a jolt that made his right arm go numb and he nearly dropped his sword.


    The middle-aged Daolady forcefully blocked Menghuan¡¯s sword and shouted, ¡°Those Soul Seeker Twelve moves you just used, who taught you those?¡±


    Yang Menghuan was stunned that she recognized the rare art of the Kunlun School. He sheathed his sword and said, ¡°Junior is a disciple of Master One Yang of the Kunlun School. Venerable Master, who are you? How do you know Junior¡¯s swordplay?¡±


    The middle-aged Daolady didn¡¯t answer the young Daolady fighting with Xialin shouted, ¡°Since it¡¯s a disciple of Senior Sectuncle, why haven¡¯t you come to pay your respects to Third Junior Sectuncle?¡±


    Yang Menghuan hesitated, but the middle-aged Daolady said, ¡°I¡¯m Master Wise Perfected. Has your sectfather told you about me?¡±


    Yang Menghuan¡¯s mass of doubts cleared off and he threw down his sword and kowtowed. ¡°Disciple was ordered to go west to Kunlun and once there first kowtow and greet you two sectuncles, then I was ordered to give you Shifu¡¯s letters. I never imagined to run into Third Sectuncle here.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected sized up Menghuan, then said, ¡°I never imagined First Brother would teach you the Soul Seeker Twelve. Is that girl in white also a Kunlun disciple?¡±


    Yang Menghuan quickly pulled Miss Shen over to kowtow and took Master One Yang¡¯s letters out from his robe and and presented them with both hands. ¡°When Disciple bid farewell to Shifu, he gave Disciple these two letters and ordered me to deliver them personally Sectuncles. Everything is explained in detail in these letters, Junior Sectuncle, please look these over and you will know.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected took the letters. Sure enough, it was Master One Yang¡¯s handwriting. She couldn¡¯t help but recall that time more than thirty years ago. Back then, Master Wise Perfected was still a young girl in her wonder years, caught between the infatuation of First Brother and Second Brother and finding it difficult to choose between them. After Shifu transcended the world and died, it should have been First Brother Master One Yang took take over the school, but Master One Yang could see how in love Second Brother was with Third Sister, unable to free himself. In order not to hurt the relationship between he and his junior sectbrother, he left a letter yielding the sectmaster position to his junior sectbrother, Master Jade Numen, and drifted away. He was gone for five years, during which time Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected looked all over the place for him, from sky¡¯s end to sea¡¯s horn, but they could not find Master One Yang. Master Jade Numen had no choice but to comply with Senior Brother¡¯s letter and pay homage before a portrait of the founder and take over as sectmaster. Who could foresee that in the second year after Master Jade Numen became sectmaster, Master One Yang would return to Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak on Mount Kunlun.

 CH 3.4

    Chapter 3


    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 4 (15)


    Master Jade Numen originally wanted to step aside and yield the sectmaster position back to his senior sectbrother, but Master One Yang adamantly refused, saying, ¡°You¡¯ve already completed the great ceremony to take over the sectmastership, how can it be performed again to change it? I¡¯ve already found a place, once I¡¯ve paid my respects to Sectmaster, I will leave.¡± Sure enough, Master One Yang stayed at Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak for ten days, then left Mount Kunlun and settled down to a quiet life in Mystic Metropolis Abbey in northern Zhejiang and rarely went back to Mount Kunlun. Master One Yang¡¯s idea was to wait for the romance between Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected to mature and for them to consummate their relationship through dual cultivation, then return to Three Clarities Palace. But Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected saw through First Brother¡¯s plan, and so they no longer spoke of their romantic feelings with each other. Besides, Master Wise Perfected¡¯s heart had first belonged to First Brother, yet she also was afraid of hurting Second Brother. This delicate situation persisted for decades, no one mentioning it to the other, but inside they were secretly in anguish. Now Master Wise Perfected was in her fifties and all that had naturally become a thing of the past, but the delicate situation with her sectbrothers had never been opened up, because it was awkward for them to lay bare their secrets.


    Master Wise Perfected was lost in thought, making it hard on Yang Menghuan and Shen Xialin, who were still prostrate on the ground and didn¡¯t dare get up. It was the young Daolady who did not stand idly by but went over to Master Wise Perfected and said softly, ¡°Shifu, aren¡¯t you going to ask them to rise?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected snapped out of her reverie and noticed Menghuan and Xialin kneeling side by side, and she smiled plainly. ¡°Get up you two!¡± said said as she opened the letters in the moonlight and read them.


    Her faced changed slightly after reading. She turned to Miss Shen. ¡°You¡¯re Shen Xialin?¡± Miss Shen nodded.


    Master Wise Perfected frowned. ¡°Do you wish to join and become a disciple of the Kunlun School?¡±


    The young lady nodded again and turned to Big Brother Huan. Yang Menghuan said in a low voice, ¡°Hurry up and kowtow to Shifu.¡±


    Miss Shen kowtowed once again and said, ¡°Lin¡¯er honors and salutes Shifu.¡±


    Fortunately, Master One Yang¡¯s letter already explained Miss Shen¡¯s background and asked Master Wise Perfected to take her into the Kunlun School, so this acknowledgment rite was merely a formality. When the rite was completed, Master Wise Perfected helped Xialin up and said, ¡°That one is your senior sectsister, go pay your respects.¡±


    Miss Shen turned to her and curtseyed. ¡°Elder Sister.¡±


    The young Daolady put her hands one over the other and returned the curtsy, then too Xialin by the hands and said, ¡°Little Sis, call me Tong Shuzhen.¡±


    Yang Menghuan didn¡¯t wait for Master Wise Perfected¡¯s instructions but took two steps forward himself and bowed. ¡°Senior Sister Shuzhen, this Little Brother is Yang Menghuan.¡±


    Shuzhen returned him a smile. ¡°You look much older than I, and you¡¯re First Sectuncle¡¯s disciple, yet you still call me Senior Sister?¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°i think I didn¡¯t join the school earlier than you?¡±


    Shuzhen¡¯s eyes welled up. ¡°I¡¯m an ill-fated person with no father and no mother. When I was three Shifu rescued me and took me to Mount Kunlun, eighteen years all told.¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°Then I should still call you Senior Sister. I¡¯ve only been with my teacher twelve years.¡±


    Shen Xialin went ¡°Mm¡± and said, ¡°Big Sister Zhen, I don¡¯t have any parents either, I¡¯m just as pitiful as Big Sister.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected was thinking of how to handle the major situation before them, because Master One Yang¡¯s letter told her that he had obtained the treasure map and had resolved to go with Greatmaster Clear Karma of Sunshade Monastery to Mount Kuocang in the south of Zhejiang and look for the Return to the Origin manual. He wanted Menghuan and Xialin to stay at Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak. If he managed to get Return to the Origin he would head back to Mount Kunlun at once. He also exhorted Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected not to go to Mount Kuocang to look for him¡­ Master One Yang never dreamed that Master Wise Perfected would come to northern Zhejiang looking for him.


    Master Wise Perfected mulled this over for a while, then said to Menghuan, ¡°Your sectfather has obtained the treasure map and has hurried off to Mount Kuocang. I¡¯ve heard rumors for several days but didn¡¯t really believe them, thinking they were mistaken, but now I can confirm that they were absolutely true. If I had not chanced to run into you tonight, I would have had to waste a trip to Mystic Metropolis Abbey.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected paused, then said, ¡°Your sectfather expressed in his letter that he wanted you and Xialin to stay at Three Clarities Palace, but things are different now. Your sectfather didn¡¯t expect that I would come to northern Zhejiang, It¡¯s more than 10,000 miles from here to Mount Kunlun, and word of the treasure map has leaked out. Although you two have over a decade of martial arts training, you don¡¯t have a bit of jianghu experience. I wouldn¡¯t feel comfortable going to Mount Kunlun. It would be better for us to go together to Mount Kuocang to find your sectfather, and we can lend him a hand.¡±


    These words woke Menghuan up and he immediately told Master Wise Perfected in detail about all the encounters with masterhands trying to intercept them they had had the past two days.


    Master Wise Perfected frowned when she heard all this. ¡°Mount Hua sectmaster Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai, the Three Geese of Diancang, and Snakeman Qiu Yuan are all jianghu men of great repute, and the Heavenly Dragon Gang¡¯s power and influence extends all over Jiangnan, they definitely should not be taken lightly. Your sectfather is greatly skilled, but it¡¯s not enough to handle so many masterhands. Fortunately, these people are all after the treasure map. Until they get it, they probably won¡¯t resort to sinister methods and hurt your sectfather. Tonight we¡¯ll advance south on the double, traveling day and night¡­¡±


    Suddenly, Master Wise Perfected turned her lightning-flash starry eyes to a large tree three staves away and said, ¡°What eminent person has arrived and why is he hiding. Could it be that Master Wise Perfected is not worthy of meeting His Excellency?¡±


    Before she finished, a loud peal of laughter emanated from the thick mass of branches and leaves in the big tree and a mass of black flew up in the moonlight like an enormous bird, soaring up three or four stave before somersaulting in the air and, faster than a meteorite or a waterfall, landed and stopped just five or six steps away from Master Wise Perfected. He had a youthful face and white hair and a silvery white beard, and he wore a gray cloth robe and held a bamboo staff. He smiled and said, ¡°This old rotter is Wen Gongtai, wildman of the remote highlands. I¡¯m no eminent person, how can I compare to the Three Master of Kunlun?¡±


    Yang Menghuan saw it was Eight Armed Divine Codger and feared he was about to start trouble, so he gripped the hilt of his sword, readying himself as Wise Perfected smiled thinly and said, ¡°So it¡¯s the grandmaster sectmaster of Mount Hua. This humble Daoist failed to greet you properly, is Your Excellency here alone?¡±


    Wen Gongtai roared with laughter. ¡°That¡¯s too much, you flatter me. As expected, the Three Masters of Kunlun have a well-deserved reputation. There are two others, but they¡¯re just keeping an eye on this old codger.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected called out loudly, ¡°Why not invite everyone out to see us?¡±


    Five staves away in the shadows came two voices laughing, and as they laughed two figures shot out like arrows in a rustle of wind and a Daoist and a layman appeared. The Daoist was told with a swarthy face and a long beard, big round eyes and drooping brows, and he was over fifty. The other was dressed as a scholar with a pale face and no beard, wearing a squarecap and a blue robe. He looked very much like a teacher.


    Eight Armed Diving Codger said, ¡°Let me introduce them to you three. These are two of the Three Geese of Diancang, the first and third in seniority. This is Master Wise Perfected of the Three Masters of Kunlun.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve long admired the Three Geese of Diancang¡¯s great name. What luck to be able to meet two of them today. This humble Daoist is quite fortunate.¡±


    The middle-aged scholar gave a cupped-fist salute and said, ¡°The Three Masters of Kunlun¡¯s chivalrous name is known to all the martial world, their Celestial Dipper Palm and Split Second Swordplay is unrivaled in the jianghu. This brother is very fortunate, never imagining I¡¯d run into you in northern Zhejiang.¡± Saying that, he waved his palms and a gust of invisible force was propelled out.


    Master Wise Perfected cocked a willowy brow and swung the dust whisk in her right hand, left palm held before her chest and bowed. ¡°You flatter me, this humble Daoist is not worthy of such praise.¡±


    She used her bowing movement to expel her internal perfected force, two streams of strong, ferocious forcewind surging out, rippling Master Wise Perfected¡¯s plumage robe and wobbling the middle-aged scholar¡¯s shoulders.


    Wen Gongtai smiled. ¡°You two are too polite, we¡¯ll meet again on Mount Kuocang.¡±


    Saying that, his left palm shot out level and a stream of forcewind cut between the two of them, but he himself turned and bounded off and sped away.


    The middle-aged scholar watched Wen Gongtai leaving and called after him, ¡°Brother Wen, slow up, why don¡¯t we go together?¡±


    Then he turned to Master Wise Perfected. ¡°Our next meeting is not far off. I can¡¯t let Old Wen get there first, I have to be going too.¡± With that, he pulled the swarthy-faced black-robed Daoist by the sleeve and they ran off together.


    Master Wise Perfected watched the three recede into the distance and looked to the sky and sighed. ¡°In my moment of carelessness, they certainly heard what I said about First Brother¡¯s whereabouts.¡± She lowered here head and said to Menghuan, ¡°Oughtn¡¯t we get moving as well?¡±


    ~*~


    Mount Kuocang was located in the southeastern section of Zhejiang, thousands of miles away from northern Zhejiang. Master Wise Perfected thought of the danger First Brother was in and hurried along day and night. She had been roaming the jianghu a long time and was well-experienced. With her leading the way there was no need for Yang Menghuan to worry too much. This was Miss Shen¡¯s first journey and everywhere was novel for her. Too bad they were in such a hurry that they couldn¡¯t stop to fully enjoy the sights.


    After more than twenty days they entered the Xianju County region. Xianju County was a mountain city within the Mount Kuocang mountain range. It wasn¡¯t some bustling place, but there were inns and taverns of all kinds. Master Wise Perfected took Menghuan and the others and chose the largest inn for them to put up in.


    Master Wise Perfected told the waiter to set a table of the finest vegetarian fare, and after they ate, she said to Yang Menghuan and the others, ¡°Tomorrow we¡¯ll enter the mountains. The Kuocang Mountains are a continuous chain with a forest of magnificent, oddly-jutting peaks, perilous cliffs and deep ravines, numerous difficulties and dangers. It won¡¯t be easy to find someone there. I don¡¯t know how long we will have to wander in the mountains. You all get a good sleep tonight and early tomorrow morning we¡¯ll enter the mountains.¡± With that she closed her eyes and sat quietly, and Yang Menghuan and the others went back to their respective rooms to sleep.


    Those twenty-plus days of travel, Shen Xialin and Tong Shuzhen had been rooming together. Miss Shen was open and candid, pure and sincere, she told Tong Shuzhen everything.


    That evening, because they had checked in relatively early, by the time they finished eating it was not yet dark out. Shuzhen and Xialin weren¡¯t sleepy, so they sat by candlelight and had tea and chatted. The young lady asked Shuzhen, ¡°Big Sis, now that I¡¯ve joined the Kunlun School, will I be a lady of the Dao like you in the future?¡±


    Shuzhen said, ¡°Not necessarily. It depends on if you want to, but most of our Kunlun disciples wear Daoist attire.¡±


    Xialin sighed. ¡°At first I really wanted to become a renunciate. But if I become a lady of the Dao I won¡¯t be able to hang out with Big Brother Huan very often, so I don¡¯t want to become a renunciate. In the future, if Shifu forces me to dress as a Daolady, Big Sis, will you speak up for me?¡±


    Shuzhen was touched at how earnest she looked, and her face overflowed with love. She grabbed her hand and said, ¡°Bis Sis will definitely help you out, but Shifu would never force you to become a renunciate.¡±

 CH 3.5

    Chapter 3


    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 5 (16)


    Xialin nodded with a smile and asked, ¡°Big Brother Huan is the best. Big Sis, do you like him?¡±


    This question made Shuzhen¡¯s fair cheeks blush. But she knew of Xialin¡¯s childish innocence, saying whatever came into her mind and knew she wasn¡¯t teasing her. If she reproached her, Xialin wouldn¡¯t understand why anyway. Shuzhen was stumped for a moment, then smiled and said, ¡°Your Big Brother Huan truly is really good. If he were to get on well with another girl, you wouldn¡¯t feel bad?¡±


    Xialin seemed not to have ever considered this and she was struck dumb, her big round eyes staring blankly at Shuzhen¡¯s face for a long time before she slowly said, ¡°As long as he¡¯s still on good terms with me, I couldn¡¯t feel bad. If he really did fall out with me and didn¡¯t like me anymore, then I wouldn¡¯t want to live anymore.¡± Tears spilled from her eyes and dripped on her white skirt.


    Shuzhen sighed at the sight of her crying over a joke and gently held her and whispered into her ear, ¡°Let¡¯s go to sleep! Your Big Brother Huan is a good person, he wouldn¡¯t fall out with you.¡±


    Shen Xialin wiped her eyes with her sleeve and smiled, ¡°Big Sis, you go on to sleep! I¡¯m gonna go find Big Brother Huan and ask him something.¡±


    Shuzhen¡¯s heart jumped. ¡°Are you going to tell him what i just said?¡±


    Xialin shook her head. ¡°No, I want to ask him if he will ever change his feelings toward me.¡± She headed to Menghuan¡¯s room.


    Yang Menghuan was sitting quietly regulating his breathing when he opened his eyes to see Xialin standing in his doorway, candlelight shining on her lovely, spring blossomy tender face. But her eyes were welled with tears and he hurried over and grabbed her hand and asked, ¡°How come you¡¯re not asleep yet? Why are you crying again?¡±


    Xialin snuggled against his chest and looked up at him. ¡°Tell me, in the future, will you change your feelings about me and not like me anymore?¡±


    Menghuan frowned. ¡°What made you think of something like that?¡±


    Xialin smiled sadly and blinked, and two lines of tears spilled down. ¡°Do you still not know me? When I think of something I ask it.¡±


    This lovely girl was so foolishly attached to him, Yang Menghuan could not bear to hurt her feelings. He gently whispered into her ear, ¡°Go on back to sleep! I won¡¯t change, I¡¯ll always like you.¡±


    Xialin nodded and smiled, satisfied. ¡°Big Brother Huan, you really are good¡­¡± She didn¡¯t finish her sentence, but those few words already were better than a million sworn vows. She slowly turned around and strolled out, her white clothes gently fluttering in the night breeze. Yang Menghuan stood there dumbly and watched her enter her room, then looked up and heaved a long sigh, his heart surging with a myriad emotions.


    ~*~


    Early the next morning, the four of them left Xianju County and headed for the Kuocang Mountains. Master Wise Perfected had roamed the jianghu a long time, but now she was like a little boat lost in a vast ocean without a rudder. Mount Kuocang had thousands of peaks and a myriad ridges, secluded valleys and deep ravines, too many to count, just deserted mountains for a thousand miles. It would be easier said than done to find someone here, and Master One Yang hadn¡¯t said where the manual was in these mountains. No matter how incomparably resourceful Master Wise Perfected was, she couldn¡¯t help feeling worried as she gazed at the continuous jutting peaks.


    The mountain path became more and more rugged, just a narrow goat path lining around and up. At first they saw a few woodcutters here and there, but gradually the people thinned out until there were not only no people but no meandering goat trail either. Fortunately, the four of them all possessed incredible lightness skill and were sure-footed as they went deeper into the mountain, clambering over and pulling themselves up by the vines, leaping around the perilous peaks and across the precipices.


    They surmounted a dozen peaks and ridges and the sun was setting. Master Wise Perfected could still see no one, but Yang Menghuan, Shen Xialin, and Tong Shuzhen were already perspiring and lightly panting.


    Master Wise Perfected let the three of them take out food they had brought and they sat by a large boulder and rested and ate. She, however, used her superb lightness skill and went up a peak on the right strewn with cliffs, flying off like a magpie moving to another branch, fast as a falcon taking off, bounding up the steep cliff, and in a flash she had leapt up a hundred staves. Shen Xialin watcher her was full of admiration. ¡°Shifu¡¯s lightness skill is really good, I want to became as good at that as Shifu.¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°If you want to learn these abilities well, then you can¡¯t be playing around all the time. You have to train diligently, and you¡¯ll naturally succeed one day.¡±


    Tong Shuzhen nodded. ¡°Junior Sister Xialin¡¯s internal and external kungfu already has an excellent foundation, and she¡¯s light and nimble, the best suited for practicing flywalking lightness skill. If she really wanted to learn it, she can learn most of Shifu¡¯s superlative skills within three years. I just don¡¯t know if she¡¯s willing to work hard enough/ I think if Junior Brother Yang is willing to supervise and encourage her, she absolutely won¡¯t disappoint you.¡±


    Tong Shuzhen was teasing, smiling at Junior Brother Yang after she said this. Menghuan¡¯s face just felt hot, and he couldn¡¯t think how to respond. He just blushed and turned away and looked at a deep valley off to the left. Miss Shen didn¡¯t mind it at all, looking up at the white clouds drifting by as happy as could be.


    Yang Menghuan was fixed on the deep valley, feeling embarrassed, but as he stared he suddenly exclaimed in surprise. Tong Shuzhen and Xialin looked over at the deep valley at the same time.


    Turns out, in that hundred-stave deep ravine there was a big python four or five staves long fighting with an enormous white crane. The python was all black, its scales twinkling and dazzling in the sunlight. The white crane was extraordinarily large, twenty times larger than an ordinary crane, with a flaming red crest. It circled and danced in the air before spinning down and striking, the python coiled up, upper body erect, its head following the chaotic movement of the crane whirling in the air. Every time the enormous crane swooped down to strike, it opened its mouth and spurted out a poisonous fog. The enormous crane seemed quiet afraid of the snake¡¯s poisonous fog and would immediately flap its enormous wings and dart out of the way, then circle around the fog, its long beak opened, frequently emitting a strange cry.


    This crane-snake battle went on for a while, the black-scaled python spurting out less and less noxious mist each time. Several times it waited for the enormous crane to inhale the poisonous mist so it could escape, but the enormous crane was unusually clever. As soon as the python raised its upper body it would stop inhaling the noxious fumes, then swiftly swoop down, preventing the python from escaping, so it could only rear up again and meet the enemy.


    Yang Menghuan studied the enormous crane intently. It seemed to be toying with the black-scaled python, getting it to spurt out its poisonous fog, then it would circle around the fog, beak opening and closing, slowly inhaling the poisonous mist the python spurted out into its belly.


    The python withstood all this for around another notch of time, the fog getting thinner and thinner, but the enormous crane didn¡¯t seem to be finished, frequently swooping down and toying with the python, getting it to spurt out its poisonous mist.


    Suddenly the black-scaled python¡¯s whole body burst upward like an arrow at the enormous crane, its large mouth opened, red tongue flicking. The enormous crane put forth its incredible might, its right wing flashing down like lightning, its talons reaching out savagely to grab the ¡°seven-fingerwidth¡± area where the snake¡¯s heart was, and the two met, fast, the crane and the snake briefly connecting. The black-scaled python then fell out of the air and lay rigid, unmoving, its seven-fingerwidth vitals likely wounded by the enormous crane.


    After the enormous crane wounded the python, it freely caught it with both talons and turned it over on its back and cut it with its long beak and ate the snake¡¯s gallbladder, then flapped its wings and let out a long cry, extended its long neck, and shot straight up. In the blink of an eye it soared several staves up and out of the deep ravine, then abruptly turned and circled a stave or more over the three people¡¯s heads, its wings spread out spanning eight or nine spans. Tong Shuzhen had lived on Mount Kunlun a long time and had seen many strange beasts and enormous birds, but this was the first time she had seen and enormous crane like this. With its snow-white feathers, its red crest like a fist, its long beak like steel, its sharp talons like hooks, she feared it would hurt them, and she secretly concentrated her whole body in readiness. But the enormous crane just circled them for a time, then tore through the air flying east.


    Shen Xialin watched it until it had disappeared in the sky and sighed inwardly. She thought, That white crane was really big. If it would let me ride it, I could fly high in the sky.¡±


    Menghuan went over the fight between the crane and the snake in his mind and all the moves and stances they had used and occasionally copied them with his hands.


    Tong Shuzhen had her head lowered, lost in thought, looking on into the deep ravine at the dead black-scaled python, and she realized that this was a strange snake with a rare poison called the inkscaled ironplated snake. This strange poisonous snake was not large, normally no more than two or three spans long. A specimen of five or more spans was quite rate, but this inkscaled ironplated snake was four or five staves long. It would take no less than a thousand years for it to grow that long. She¡¯d heard Shifu say that the inkscaled ironplated snake¡¯s skin was one of the most valuable treasures, able to ward of bladed weapons. It was seen by people of the martial world as a rare treasure, only this kind of snake was hard to find, and even those one did manage to find were only two or three spans long, not to mention the fact that this strange snake was highly poisonous and quite nimble. Once it bit you, or if you inhaled the noxious fumes it spurted, you would die within a hundred steps, so its scaly skin, although a rare treasure, was rarely obtained, and even if you did somehow manage to kill one of them, because it was too small and had such little skin, it was of no great use. An inkscaled ironplated snake as big as this was one of a kind. The three of them each had something on their minds and were all lost in thought.


    Xialin suddenly thought that she should tell Big Brother Huan about her idea to ride that big white crane, and when she turned and saw Menghuan brow pinched, thinking, found it odd and softly asked, ¡°Big Brother Huan, are you thinking about riding that big white crane too?¡± How could she knows that Menghuan was actually analyzing and breaking down the enormous crane¡¯s method of using its talons to snatch at the snakes seven-fingerwidth, and absorbed in this, he didn¡¯t hear Miss Shen¡¯s question.


    Xialin saw Menghuan was ignoring her and was about to call to him again when suddenly she saw his left arm raise up high, right arm held out level, and they struck against each other. She was even more confused by this and reflexively reached her right hand out to tug on Menghuan when a jade wrist suddenly shot out and gently grabbed Miss Shen¡¯s right arm, and a woman¡¯s voice said in her ear, ¡°Don¡¯t disturb him!¡±


    Xialin turned to see Shifu. She couldn¡¯t help but ask in a low voice, ¡°Shifu, what is he doing?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected smiled. ¡°He¡¯s training his kungfu. Your senior sectbrother¡¯s insight is very advanced, a really rare extraordinary talent, no wonder your First Sectuncle taught him the Soul Seeker Twelve Swordplay. He alone is worthy of becoming the next generation sectmaster. Whether or not our Kunlun School has a bright future ahead of it rests solely on him.¡±


    Of course Shen Xialin didn¡¯t completely understand Master Wise Perfected¡¯s comment venting her personal feelings, but she knew that Shifu was praising Big Brother Huan and was happy. She leapt up and said, ¡°Shifu, Big Brother Huan is the best, he¡¯s better than me at everything. Anytime I don¡¯t understand something I just ask him.¡±

 CH 3.6

    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 6 (17)


    Master Wise Perfected knit her brows at the innocent smile on her cute, naive face and sighed inwardly. It made her think of the past again. Coincidentally, Yang Menghuan was First Brother¡¯s disciple, and Xialin had been recommended into the school by First Brother. Master One Yang had been the one she loved and respected the most, and considering the whole situation, she could not consummate things with First Brother. A thirty year good dream was hard to wake up from, and in her heart there still lingered melancholy and resentment. Now, her own disciple was in love with her senior sectbrother. Dozens of years of wounds and anguish had cause this lady xia Master Wise Perfected to have a strange notion. She would think of every means necessary to spur Shen Xialin and Menghuan toward conjugal bliss. Last generation¡¯s dream had been in vain and turned to resentment, she did not want the next generation to fall into the same lifetime of gnawing regrets. She had this thought because she couldn¡¯t help but cherish Shen Xialin. Besides, Miss Shen really was attractive. But the main reason was because of Master Wise Perfected and Master One Yang¡¯s lingering feelings had extended to Menghuan and Xialin. However, there was much in the world that could not be planned out. Although Master Wise Perfected had good intentions, it would be difficult to satisfy these two lovers, and in the days to come, the waves of the boundless, bottomless sea of love would pound Yang Menghuan till her was dizzy.


    Let¡¯s now turn to Master Wise Perfected, who pulled Xialin to her side and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t speak, just watch your Senior Brother Yang practice his kungfu.¡±


    Yang Menghuan¡¯s hands struck against each other for a spell, seemingly finding it difficult to figure out the subtleties of it all, and with a sigh he dropped his hands and looked over at his junior sectuncle standing firm on the side, the model of a transcendent in her Daoist robes, incorruptible. Though Master Wise Perfected was close to fifty, because of her consummate internal skill, she looked only thirty or so. Yang Menghuan had been so concentrated on understanding the martial arts moves they he hadn¡¯t been aware of Master Wise Perfected coming over from behind. He quickly saluted her. ¡°Disciple was absorbed in understanding these martial arts moves and failed to observe the proper etiquette, Junior Sectuncle, please pardon the offense.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected said, ¡°The kungfu you were practicing just now looked an awful lot like the move Seize the Dragon Barehanded from the Celestial Dipper Palm, but with some differences. It seemed more abstruse than Seize the Dragon Barehanded. Where did you learn it?¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°Just now there was a crane and a snake fighting in that deep ravine. Disciple saw that enormous crane seize the snake in its talons, succeeding in one blow, very much like out Celestial Dipper Palm¡¯s Seize the Dragon Barehanded. Disciple tried to analyze and understand it by practicing it for a while, but I couldn¡¯t figure out the knack for it.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected pondered this a moment. ¡°Too bad I didn¡¯t see it and it¡¯s difficult to explain it briefly, but Seize the Dragon Barehanded is one of the three masterstrokes of the Celestial Dipper Palm. That you could understand it by analogy shows your exceptional natural talent. Just now I saw you striking your hands together, and there was contained within it a profound and subtle principle. As long as you continuing practicing it diligently, you will certainly be able to create a new remarkable move out of it. Of the thirty-six forms of the Celestial Dipper Palm, every form was made under the arduous painstaking effort of our schools¡¯ senior elders. If you are able to create a new move to add to it, you will be able to win over the school¡¯s other sectbrothers.¡± There was a hidden meaning in Master Wise Perfected statement, indirectly promoting the notion that Yang Menghuan would take over as sectmaster, but her meaning was implicit and Yang Menghuan did not pick up on it.


    Tong Shuzhen now turned to them and interjected, ¡°Shifu, do you think that big python in that deep ravine is an inkscaled ironplated snake? Earlier it was fighting with an enormous crane and it was continuously spurting out a poisonous mist.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected took a good look and was inwardly shocked. The enormous python in the deep ravine certainly did look just like an inkscaled ironplated snake, but it was so big that not only had she never seen one like it before, she could never have even imagined one so big. Uncertain, she could only say, ¡°Let¡¯s go down and take a look.¡± Am inkscaled ironplated snake was such a rare find that Master Wise Perfected was not about to let this opportunity pass by.


    The four of them aimed at a spot and leapt down, touching off on a cliff that was studded with rocks sprouting pines, straight down to the bottom of the valley. Master Wise Perfected stooped and picked up a rock and concentrated power in her wrist and flicked her hand. The rock struck the snake like a shooting star and it hit with a bang like it had collided with steel, flipping the snake over, the rock spalling into pieces, but the snake¡¯s scales were not harmed in the slightest.


    Master Wise Perfected lead the three of them closer to the dead snake. ¡°This is a rare encounter for the ages. We¡¯ve stumbled upon a rare treasure. Draw your swords and see if we can cut into the snake¡¯s body.¡±


    Yang Menghuan didn¡¯t know that the inkscaled ironplated snake¡¯s skin could withstand sabres and swords, but he drew his sword as told and gave it a hearty swing, but three hacks in a row did no damage to the snake¡¯s scales, the fine steel edge of his three-span sword only left a few marks. He stood there dumbfounded, speechless.


    Master Wise Perfected took the sword from Menghuan¡¯s hand and turned the snake¡¯s body over and traced a white line with the tip of the sword along the snake¡¯s belly. The snake had an odd reek to make you want to vomit. Fortunately, the four of them had good internal skill and held their breath at once as she peeled the snakeskin off, then rinsed it clean in a spring on the valley floor. Then she smiled and said to Menghuan and the others, ¡°This inkscaled ironplated snake is a rare venomous snake, savage and bloodthirsty by nature. Whether man or beast, whatever encounters it has little chance of escape. They¡¯re born in dark, gloomy areas in large mountains. They spurt a poisonous mist from their mouth and if it hits you you will faint at once. It¡¯s said that this poisonous substance is a hybrid of different kinds of venomous snakes, so its yield is extremely small. Although the snake is highly poisonous, its scales are a rare treasure. But this kind of snake is really small, I¡¯ve never heard of one as large as this one. For us to happen upon it and obtain it with no effort at all is an unprecedented stroke of fate. This scaly skin can be boiled in vinegar and steeped and refined till it¡¯s soft, then made into a soft armor that can withstand all poison palm strikes and bladed weapons. With this rare treasure, the Kunlun School can regard the jianghu with conceit and resist every school and sect¡¯s vicious palm strikes and hidden weapons.¡±


    Saying that, she folded it up and carried it along and climbed up the cliff.


    The four of them continued on into the myriad continuous peaks. When Master Wise Perfected had earlier ascended a peak to take a broad view and scope out the terrain, to the southeast it was just piles of peaks in a mass of green, imposing, and she had recalled the legend that said that the treasure map was hidden on White Cloud Cliff. Since it was called White Cloud Cliff, it ought to be high enough to reach above the clouds. That inference wasn¡¯t necessarily correct, but it was better than aimlessly wandering around blindly. To the southeast peaks rose one after another, and thinking that White Cloud Cliff might be to the southeast, she led Menghuan and the others in that direction. Shen Xialin, though, kept thinking about riding that big white crane and her willowy brows were knit all along the way, though she said not a word.


    Yang Menghuan saw her lost in thought and felt it very strange. He knew she was innocent and straightforward and didn¡¯t let anything get to her, but now she seemed to have something weighing on her mind and he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


    Xialin heaved a long sigh. ¡°I was thinking about riding that big white crane. I know you can¡¯t do anything about it, so I didn¡¯t ask you about it.¡± She gave him a sad, bitter smile, immeasurable emotion in her expression.


    Yang Menghuan was stumped by her tender, melancholy appearance and thought, This child doesn¡¯t has any worries and doesn¡¯t overthink things. What she¡¯s thinking about now is ridiculous, yet she takes it so seriously. Finding it funny, he could comfort her with a joke, ¡°That¡¯s not so difficult, wait till we see that big white crane again and I¡¯ll let you ride it.¡±


    Xialin said, ¡°It flies so fast, how will you be able to catch it?¡±


    Miss Shen¡¯s words made him flush with shame. He had only wanted to comfort Xialin and had blurted it out, not thinking anything of it, but Miss Shen unexpectedly asked him that, making him feel uncomfortable. Xialin was right, even if they did run into that big white crane again, he had no way of catching it. He was stupefied for a moment, then said, ¡°You¡¯re right, if we see that big white crane again I won¡¯t be able to catch it.¡±


    Xialin detected the difference in his expression and was stumped at first, then went up to him and said, ¡°Big Brother Huan, don¡¯t worry about it, I don¡¯t want to ride that white crane.¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°In a few days I¡¯ll catch a small one for you to play with.¡±


    Xialin looked at him affectionately and nodded. ¡°Catch two of them and you can play too.¡± Then with a smile her willowy brows opened up and she was beaming.


    The four of them bivouacked that night in the deserted mountains and continued on at daybreak. Now they had entered the interior of the Kuocang Mountains, and the terrain was becoming more and more imposing and treacherous, sheer peaks soaring into the sky, precipitous cliffs rising steeply, the mountain wind screaming through the pines, waterfalls thundering, frequently mingling with the raging howls of ferocious beasts. This area was uninhabited, all the trails cutting off, and the four of them were walking along towering, steep cliffs. Fortunately, short pines and old vines grew on the cliffs, and there were many rocks jutting out. Normal people would flinch at the sight of it, unable to cross, but for those with extremely advanced lightness flywalking skills as them it was no trouble. It was just that the peaks rose one after another without end for they didn¡¯t know how far.


    Master Wise Perfected said nothing but she was worried. Where was White Cloud Cliff? Would they really have to traverse a thousand miles of continuous peaks?


    Suddenly there was the muffled thunderous roar of a wild animal that reverberated through the deep, secluded mountain valley. Master Wise Perfected looked over and saw in a corner to the side of a peak a large yellow-furred, black striped lion slowly walk out, its one grotesque big eye round and fierce. it raised its head and looked at them. Shen Xialin was scared and grabbed onto Tong Shuzhen and asked, ¡°Big Sis, that tiger is really big, will it bite?¡±


    Tong Shuzhen said, ¡°That¡¯s not a tiger, it¡¯s a lion. Are you afraid?¡±


    Xialin nodded. ¡°I¡¯m a bit scared, but that¡¯s no big deal. If it wants to bite us I¡¯ll beat it to death!¡±


    Master Wise Perfected and them had stopped on a steep, protruding cliff that was several dozen staves high. The enormous lion watched the four of them for a while, then crouched and roared again and pounced, rising a stave or more high, fast as lightning or a shooting star, pouncing down to where the four of them stood. Master Wise Perfected secretly concentrated her power, storing it up in wait. Should the enormous lion pounce, she would immediately send a palm forcewind chop out. At the same time, Menghuan, Xialin, and Tong Shuzhen reached back and drew the swords from their backs and stood shoulder to shoulder, three swords dazzling in the sunlight.


    The enormous lion turned as soon as it reached the bottom of the cliff and slowly turned around and pounced away. Master Wise Perfected thought it strange because this kind of all animals was as ferocious as could be and extremely bloodthirsty. Since it had spotted people there was no reason for it to retreat on its own. As she was puzzling over this she suddenly heard the cry of a crane high overhead and looked up to see a white blur below the reef of clouds swooping down like a falling star. Soon they could see a red-crested crane and Xialin clapped happily and called out, ¡°Big Brother Huan, look, it¡¯s that big white crane again.¡±

 CH 3.7

    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 7 (18)


    When the enormous crane reached a hundred staves off the ground is spread its wings and coiled around the peak, keeping close to the cliff wall. The strange thing was the crane and the lion were going the same route, both vanishing behind the farthest point on the peak on the right side.


    Master Wise Perfected felt it odd and listened carefully. Sure enough, amidst the soughing pines came the mingled tones of a vertical flute.


    The flute was not very loud, its hauntingly lingering soft tones yet containing the utmost power. Master Wise Perfected listened for a moment and felt her mind become uneasy, as if it wanted to dance along with the tones of the flute, and she was shocked and quickly pulled her mind back and sank qi into her dantian, gathered her vitality in her spirit terrace, slightly closed her starry eyes, and circulated her qi.


    Yang Menghuan and the others were also entranced by the flute, but it was more intense for them owing to their less developed internal skill. Master Wise Perfected was alarmed and was just thinking to reach out and press their acupoints when the flute tones suddenly stopped, the notes lingering and dispersing high into the air.


    Once Yang Menghuan came back to his senses, he asked, ¡°Junior Sectuncle, the flute sound was a bit strange, its meter lazing swaying, moving one¡¯s soul. Disciple used his school¡¯s internal skill methods but was still unable to stop from becoming restless and perturbed and going along with the music.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected pondered this for a moment, then said, ¡°That flute sound was an extremely advanced internal skill of the martial world. As far as I know, there are really very few people in the world who possess this skill. Could it be that that demoness, the Jade Flute Transcendent, has also come to Mount Kuocang? If it really is that demoness, then your sectfather is in grave danger.¡±


    Yang Menghuan asked, ¡°Who is the Jade Flute Transcendent? Do you mean to say that she is more formidable than Eight Armed Divine Codger or Li Canglan of the Heavenly Dragon Gang?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected nodded. ¡°No one can say what the Jade Flute Transcendent looks like, as very few have ever seen her, but that gentle, dissolute flute sound often haunts the jianghu. Not a few masterhands of the martial world have been felled by the sounds of her flute. Because the flute sounds exceedingly gentle and graceful, those in the jianghu gave her the nickname Jade Flute Transcendent. Legend has it that the Jade Flute Transcendent is a woman who loves wearing black, even wearing a black gauze mask. She truly is an eccentric who comes and goes unpredictably, but as for what she looks like, no one has ever seen it.¡±


    Just as Master Wise Perfected finished speaking, they heard the cry of a crane and the roar of a lion in the distance. This time the sounds were more chilling and terrible and ear-piercing. Master Wise Perfected had an idea. ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look.¡± She bounded off the jutting cliff, leading Menghuan and the others around the corner of the left-hand peak.


    After a few twists and turns, the scenery suddenly changed. A deep valley wound through the peaks, winding and stretching into the distance, the valley floor a full three or four staves wide and level. A melange of rare flowers bloomed and the mountain breeze blew against their faces, a fragrant scent assailing them. On both sides the mountains were a dense emerald green, the valley floor a carpet of verdant grass. It was like a scene out of a painting, but the lion and the crane were nowhere to be seen.


    The four of them used their lightness skill and ran along the valley floor for a while, winding around dozens of peaks. It was getting late. Master Wise Perfection noticed that Menghuan and Xialin were starting to look tired and she stopped and turned to them. ¡°This valley floor is as warm as spring, such beautiful scenery. Let¡¯s rest here for a bit, then continue on!¡±


    The sun was about to set behind the mountains, rosy evening clouds drifting by, reflecting light back on the valley floor, the verdant pine and cypress an even more vivid, vibrant green in the setting sun¡¯s light. Xialin lay on the grass and watched the rosy clouds in the sky drift and change, smiling. Who knows what she was thinking.


    Master Wise Perfected, on the other hand, was scanning the area, silently examining their mountain surroundings, frequently using her hand to draw in the grass back and forth. Suddenly she leapt up, went over to the side of a cliff, gathered perfected qi in her dantian, pressed her back to the rock wall, and shot up like a snake up the impossibly tall sheer cliff. The steep cliff was over a hundred staves high but she was at the top in less time than it takes to drink a cup of hot tea.


    Yang Menghuan said to Tong Shuzhen in a low voice, ¡°Third Sectuncle¡¯s wall climbing skill is really incredible, one fell swoop and she ascends a hundred staves. I can only go thirty or forty staves.¡±


    Tong Shuzhen said, ¡°Then you¡¯re better than me. I can only climb about twenty or so staves.¡±


    Menghuan was about to respond when Xialin suddenly cried, ¡°Big Brother Huan, someone¡¯s here.¡± She stood up and Tong Shuzhen and Yang Menghuan and her turned to look and sure enough, there was a young man wearing blue-green walking along to the east. His steps light and easy, and he seemed to be walking slow, but he was actually going shockingly fast, and in the blink of an eye he was behind the three of them. Menghuan couldn¡¯t see his face clearly, he only heard a cold laugh and the blue-clad person passed behind them. The three of them involuntarily looked back to see the back of the blue-clad young man, and in that moment of scrutiny, Yang Menghuan and Tong Shuzhen jumped in shock.


    The blue-clad young man¡¯s feet were not touching the ground, only lighting on the verdant grass of the valley floor. The skill of flywalking on the grass was not too difficult, Yang Menghuan was confident he could do it too, but the difficulty here was that this person had covered such a long distance at one go. Because grasswalking relied entirely on a burst of perfected qi from the dantian, one skilled in it could go no more than thirty or fifty staves at once, but this young man had gone at least two or three miles. Even more difficult was that his gait was so free and easy, carrying himself as if he were lightweight, appearing to move slow but actually moving quite fast. Yang Menghuan was a mix of shock and wonder as he watched. He thought, This person¡¯s lightness skill is not only way better than mine, not even Shifu or Junior Sectuncle could would be able to match him. He couldn¡¯t help but watch dumbfounded at the blue-clad man¡¯s back as he went on.


    Now turning back Master Wise Perfected, who mounted to the top of the cliff and looked far off into the distance. She saw three high peaks arranged in a Æ·-shape towering out from the rest to the east. The central peak had a line of silver hanging down, glittering in the radiant evening clouds. Master Wise Perfected looked for a while and suddenly realized that that silver line was quite possibly a waterfall. As far as the eye could see all around the mountains, those three peaks were the most magnificent and distinctive. She looked again at the secluded valley they had stopped at at the foot of the peak, and though it zigged and zagged around, it was stretching off into the distance toward the direction of those three magnificent peaks.


    Master Wise Perfected got a good lay of the land and used her wall climbing skill to go down the steep cliff. Yang Menghuan told her about the blue-clad young man they had just seen. This lady xia, renowned throughout the martial world, heard this and her complexion changed. She thought hard about this for a long time without saying anything. Because Yang Menghuan had described the blue-clad young man¡¯s technique as no ordinary grasswalking kungfu but an extremely advanced, amazing midair-crossing internal arts skill. A person with such an ability could pluck a leaf and use it to hurt someone, throw a flower blossom and kill someone, and using the force of a leaf or a blade of grass could cross a hundred miles of river. But this midair-crossing skill was only a martial world legend. Master Wise Perfected had seen and heard a lot in her decades of roaming the jianghu, but she had never heard of anyone in the martial world who possessed such a skill. But her observations of the past month had taught her that Yang Menghuan was a person prudent in speech and careful in his actions. He had mistakenly thought that the blue-clad person has used grasswalking kungfu, but based on his detailed description, it was no lie, and that really shocked Master Wise Perfected to no end.


    She thought on this for a while, then feigned calm and asked, ¡°How old would you say that blue-clad person was?¡±


    Yang Menghuan thought about this and answered, ¡°Disciple is really ashamed. That person walked so free and easy, like drifting clouds or running water, he was really incredibly fast. Disciple did pay close attention to him, but I couldn¡¯t get a clear look at his face. He was petite and slim, seemed young. A rare thing for him to be able to train his grasswalking kungfu to such an extraordinary level.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected shook her head. ¡°If what you say is right, that wasn¡¯t grasswalking kungfu. When he passed by you, did he carry a breeze with him?¡±


    That woke Menghuan up. He went blank for a moment, then answered, ¡°If Junior Sectuncle had not asked that, Disciple would not have thought of it. When the blue-clad person passed by, not only did he bring a breeze along with him, his sleeves did not flap, his knees were not bent, and he took short, light, mincing steps, swaying like willow catkins or wisping smoke, a lot different from ordinary grasswalking footwork.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected was even more astounded at this, but she maintained her composure and smiled thinly and said nothing. Yang Menghuan felt she had more to say, but Master Wise Perfected didn¡¯t speak, so he didn¡¯t dare ask.


    It was getting dark and a bright moon was slowly rising in the east. Its light was as clear and fresh as water, and the verdant secluded mountain valley was even more tranquil soaking in its moonlight, making it even more beautiful. Master Wise Perfected slowly stood up. She looked up at the moon and strolled on the grass, her expression free and easy, but Tong Shuzhen knew that Shifu was puzzling some difficult problem.


    Suddenly a long cry came from far off in the tranquil mountain valley. Yang Menghuan sat upright quickly, Shen Xialin and Tong Shuzhen leaping up after him, but Master Wise Perfected listened silently and attentively. She waited till the cry had completely faded away, then turned to the three of them and said, ¡°A very many martial world masterhands have already come to Mount Kuocang. That cry was within five miles from here. You all get your things, we have to move quick.¡±


    ~*~


    The four of them used their flywalking footwork and sped along the secluded valley and ran a full two night watch periods, traveling an estimated seventy or eighty miles at least, but the secluded valley seemed endless, the deeper they went the more imposing and magnificent it got.


    They went around two large bends and suddenly heard the thunderous boom of a waterfall. Looking up, the three magnificent peaks ringed round them in the moonlight, two in front and one in back to form a Æ·-shape. On the central peak an enormous waterfall surged down, looking in the moonlight like a bolt of white tabby silk draping down from the summit. At the same time, the secluded valley suddenly opened up, scattered with rare flowers, a fragrant aroma assailing them. At the end of the secluded valley green pines towered, one of them especially tall, just like an open umbrella, the shade it cast covering no less than an a plot of land. Behind the pinewood was a wall of little peaks. Though not large, they were remarkable. A clear stream wound around a large boulder about half a plot of land around under the enormous pine, flowing to the left into a deep gully. Amidst the thundering of the enormous waterfall was the faint gurgling of the stream. Master Wise Perfected led Menghuan and the others close to the deep gully and looked down. The stream fell like a curtain of water, but they couldn¡¯t hear it splash at the bottom. This gully was no more than ten staves long and no more than three staves wide, give or take. Rather than say it was a deep gully, it would be better to say it was a deep cavern suddenly sunken in the vast, flat valley floor, so deep you couldn¡¯t see the bottom. Nature was mysterious, beggaring belief.


    Master Wise Perfected studied it, stooping over to get a closer look, but it was abnormally dark in the deep cavern. Although her internal skill was masterful and her vision exceptional, she could only see ten staves or so down it, and she couldn¡¯t make out any features inside.


    Abruptly, a white blur flashed within the deep darkness, fast as lightning, and in a split second it was at the mouth of the cavern, white feathers like snow, wings gusting air. It was that remarkably large white crane. As soon as it flew out of the cavern, Shen Xialin clapped her hands and cried, ¡°Ah! So the big white crane lives in this deep cavern.

 CH 3.8

    Jianghu Tempest


    Part 8 (19)


    Yang Menghuan was jolted by her cry, and in his haste, no time to think, he leapt up, left palm protecting his face while his right hand used the Celestial Dipper move Seize the Dragon Barehanded, fast as a loosed arrow at the white crane.


    The enormous crane had just lifted its head to rise when it saw someone attacking it. It cut hard around, left wing striking down like lightning, a strong wind blasting, and before Yang Menghuan¡¯s hand arrived the crane wing fanned out a strong wind to cover itself and Menghuan just felt his whole body slammed by the strong wind, jolting his mind, and his strength suddenly left him and he fell from a stave high in the air. After swatting Menghuan down, the big white crane raised its head and shot straight up.


    Master Wise Perfected whisked her Daoist robe sleeve and stole after him and managed to catch Yang Menghuan¡¯s falling body. Xialin was so upset tears were shedding as she watched Big Brother Huan, speechless.


    Master Wise Perfected slightly pushed Menghuan¡¯s ¡°Man¡¯s Middle¡± acupoint with her left hand and Yang Menghuan slowly took a breath, opened his eyes and straightened up. He saw Xialin watching him dumbly, tears falling like pearls from a broken string, and he shook his head and said, ¡°What are you crying for? I¡¯m not hurt.¡±


    Xialin raised her right sleeve and wiped her face. ¡°That big white crane is awful, I don¡¯t want it anymore.¡±


    As soon as Miss Shen said that a shout came from within the shadows of the pines, ¡°Lin¡¯er? What are you doing on Mount Kuocang?¡±


    This voice was one she had been used to for over a decade. She didn¡¯t need to look to see who it was but immediately called loudly, ¡°Shifu, Shifu.¡±


    A monk and a Daoist emerged from the shadows of the pines. It was Master One Yang and Greatmaster Clear Karma. Xialin spread her arms out and pounced into Greatmaster Clear Karma¡¯s arms. The old monk held his zen staff in his left hand and stroked her pretty hair with his right, and with boundless affection said, ¡°You¡¯re a Kunlun disciple now, how can you still call me that?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected suddenly saw First Brother appear before her and decades of past love overflowed in her mind and she stood there dumb for a moment before putting her palms together and asking, ¡°First Brother, How are you?¡±


    Master One Yang returned the salute with a smile. ¡°How did you all find this place? Is Sectmaster Junior Brother well?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected, tears in her eyes, said, ¡°Second Brother is well. He and I have missed First Brother. I trekked a thousand miles to northern Zhejiang to see you. Along the way I ran into them and after reading your secret letter learned that First Brother was going to Mount Kuocang. I took them to find you, but I didn¡¯t expect to run into you.¡±


    Master One Yang sighed faintly as if he wanted to say something, but he didn¡¯t speak but turned and introduced Master Wise Perfected to Greatmaster Clear Karma.


    The old monk declaimed the name of Buddha and raised his right palm and bowed. ¡°I¡¯ve often heard you senior sectbrother mention Venerable Master but regretfully have not been destined to meet you earlier. Lin¡¯er¡¯s had a tragic life and is all alone in the world. This old patches did not bring her up well, causing her to be wild and unruly. I hope you can discipline and correct her. Allow this old monk to first thank you on her behalf.¡± With that, he saluted again.


    Flustered, Master Wise Perfected put her palms together and bowed in return. ¡°Lin¡¯er has already learned First Brother¡¯s martial arts, Master Wise Perfected has no virtue or ability and only dared accept this good disciple because of First Brother¡¯s exhortation, so I could only brazenly agree. In the future, whatever repercussions transpire, I will absolutely not stand idly by¡­¡±


    Master One Yang said, ¡°Third Sister, don¡¯t be so modest. First Brother also must abide by Sectmaster Junior Brother¡¯s orders. I¡¯ll entrust you to inform the sectmaster. The repercussions of the future are no small matter, and it concerns the wellbeing of the school, it¡¯s not my place to decide.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected said, ¡°Second Brother may be the sectmaster, but for decades he has cherished First Brother¡¯s charitable kindness. On this matter you can rest assured, he would never oppose it.¡± Saying that, her smile disappeared.


    Greatmaster Clear Karma didn¡¯t know about the love triangle and the secret anguish between the Three Masters of Kunlun, so he didn¡¯t catch the overtones of their conversation. But hearing Master Wise Perfected so decisively and certainly agree to take on Shen Xialin¡¯s personal feud roused the old monk¡¯s heroic spirit. He stamped the iron zen staff in his left hand and said, ¡°This old patches, though not a Kunlun disciple, wishes very much to lend all my meager strength. As long as you can use me, I will go through fire or water.¡± Saying that, he threw his head back and laughed loudly.


    Master One Yang had something else on his mind. He knew the treasure map was a rare treasure that everyone in the martial world dreamed of getting hold of. If they really did obtain it, it would certainly lead to a violent struggle. Master Wise Perfected in taking Menghuan and the others to Mount Kuocang could not only be of no help, it would be a distraction having to look out for them. He was not happy but couldn¡¯t bare to speak a word of reproach. He only worried to himself.


    Master Wise Perfected had not seen First Brother for over a decade, and now that she had she was so happy. They all sat under the moonlight and she related all she had seen and heard for Master One Yang to hear in detail.


    That masterhands from every school had got wind of it and gathered in northern Zhejiang to vie for the treasure map was well within Master One Yang¡¯s expectations, but he didn¡¯t expect them to arrive so quickly, and from the way Master Wise Perfected told it, Eight Armed Divine Codger and the Three Geese of Diancang were already on Mount Kuocang. And Chief Li Canglan, that eccentric hero of the age of the Heavenly Dragon Gang, was likely making secret deployments. But what astounded Master One Yang the most was the jade flute that Master Wise Perfected said they had heard in the secluded valley, and the mysterious and peculiar blue-clad person. The Jade Flute Transcendent appeared intermittently in the jianghu, coming and going unpredictably, just like a drifting demonic specter. The odd blue-clad person was unidentified, but the most difficult to understand or explain was that the two of them had appeared in this secluded valley not a hundred miles from here. It looked as if a violent clash was to unfold on Mount Kuocang.


    Master One Yang was sick with worry, but he remained composed on the outside. He looked at Master Wise Perfected and said, ¡°Greatmaster Clear Karma and I have been speeding along according to the map, painstakingly searching the Kuocang Mountains for six or seven days to find this secluded valley. Once you all entered the mountains you felt your way here and managed to get here a step before us.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected, ¡°It was just chance that we blindly stumbled upon it.¡±


    Master One Yang knew that time was precious and didn¡¯t speak further but spread the treasure map out in the moonlight, looking at the landscape painting on the white tabby silk, three peaks in a Æ·-shape, a waterfall draped down the central peak, identical to this secluded valley. Looking again at the scenery they confirmed that it was exactly like this secluded valley, which meant that the Return to the Origin manual was in the vicinity without a shadow of a doubt. It was just that the map didn¡¯t indicate where, so they would have to spend time searching.


    They all studied and discussed it for a while, unable to make any headway. Master One Yang looked up to the sky at the moonlight streaming through the pines, their silhouettes rustling in the wind, the ground scattered with twinkling silver stars. He muttered in a low voice the words on the map:


    Verdant pines sift the bright moon, Over stone flows the clear spring.


    He suddenly leapt up and went over to the large stone under the enormous pine tree and examined it closely. The clear babbling waters went halfway round the large stone and flowed into the more than a hundred-stave-deep gully. Master One Yang inspected the stone. It was naturally formed, and there were no suspicious marks or traces anywhere all around it. Even so, he wasn¡¯t about to slacken. He drew the sword from his back and carefully rapped on the stone for a full double-hour but could still not find a single clue.


    Shen Xialin suddenly remembered that she had not bathed in two or three days and couldn¡¯t help but be roused by the clear water of the stream. She slowly went over to it, removed her boots, and dipped her jade-white unbound feet into the water. This mountain stream was formed from melted snowpack, so its waters were bone-piercingly ice cold. Xialin was a bit hot from all the running around, and when her feet entered the water it was cool and refreshing and she was as comfortable and as happy as could be, and she picked up her boots and walked down the stream. This clear stream was no more than a few hundred staves long. By the time she reached the end it was only seven or eight spans wide where it fell like a curtain of water into the deep gully. She thought, It would be better if this gully were a bit shallower, then the accumulated water would form a large pool and I could take a bath in it. Thinking, distracted, she sighed and sat in the grass by the stream, feet soaking in the water, and looked at the gully, lost in thought.


    Menghuan stepped lightly over to her and asked in a low voice, ¡°What are you thinking about? Still thinking about riding that big white crane?¡±


    Xialin turned to him and shook her head. ¡°I was thinking that this mountain ravine is too deep. If it were shallower, wouldn¡¯t it form a large pool?¡±


    Menghuan went ¡°Ah¡± as a thought flashed through his mind. He thought, This mountain stream has been flowing here who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years. No matter how deep this cavernous gully is, if it didn¡¯t let out somewhere it would eventually fill up with water, so there must be an outlet channel at the bottom of the gully where it flows out. With that thought, he got closer to the gully and felt around. It was smooth and slippery, and upon closer inspection the gully, which was ten staves long and three staves wide was made of naturally formed stone walls, just like an intact stone mountain sculpted and chiseled by hand. He thought of the meaning of the line about a clear stream flowing over stone and he was elated and blurted out, ¡°That¡¯s right, there¡¯s another world at the bottom of this deep gully!¡±


    Master One Yang and the others were racking their brains about the meanings of the treasure maps words, unable to understand them, when they heard Menghuan call out. They all ran over. Yang Menghuan told Master One Yang about his random thought about the gully.


    Master One Yang knelt down and looked into the gully. It was pitch-black and the walls were sleek and smooth with no footholds. If he wanted to look deeper he would have to be willing to take a risk. He thought for a moment, then looked up and told Menghuan, ¡°Go gather some old vines and bring them here.¡± Then he sat quietly on the grass and closed his eyes and circulated his internal power.


    Master Wise Perfection knew First Brother, that he was thinking of risking exploring the gully. She didn¡¯t say anything, but inwardly she had a bad feeling.


    A short while later, Menghuan came back toting a bundle of old vines. Master One Yang suddenly stood up and said, ¡°The walls of this deep gully are incredibly sleek and slippery, and I don¡¯t know how far down it goes. Wall climbing skills might not be enough to reach the bottom, so I¡¯m going to use these vines to explore what¡¯s down there. You all wait up here for me.¡± He ordered Menghuan to tie the vines together.


    Once Menghuan had done that he said, ¡°Disciple would rather go in Shifu¡¯s stead¡­¡±


    Master One Yang smiled and shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no telling what¡¯s down there, we can¡¯t guarantee there¡¯s no poisonous plants or strange beasts down there. This is not something you¡¯re qualified to handle.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected said, ¡°Can I go in Senior Brother¡¯s place?¡±


    Master One Yang laughed. ¡°Sectmaster Junior Brother needs your help in so many ways, how could could you risk it for me. If something happens to me, I want you to look after those kids, Menghuan and Xialin. And apologized for me to Sectmaster Junior Brother, I privately taught the school¡¯s disciple the Soul Seeker Twelve Swordplay.¡±


    Master One Yang grasped one end of the vine and went over to the gully and leapt down. Greatmaster Clear Karma slowly fed him the vine and soon Master One Yang disappeared into the dark black gully.


    Master Wise Perfected gazed quietly into the bottom of the cavern, everyone occupied with their own thoughts and feelings. Greatmaster Clear Karma fed ten staves, a hundred staves of vine down, about 200 staves or more when he heard a whistle come from the dark blackness. The vine slackened and he knew that Master One Yang had reached the bottom and he breathed a sigh of relief.


    They all waited anxiously on the cliff above the gully, but a double-hour passed, then two, the moonlight setting, the sun climbing up the mountain peaks, but there was still no word from Master One Yang.


    Yang Menghuan was worried for his sectfather and couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He bowed to Master Wise Perfected and said, ¡°Junior Sectuncle, Disciple wants to go see about Shifu!¡±


    Master Wise Perfected saw how worried he was, it was clear in his words and manner, and she couldn¡¯t very well hold him back. She nodded. ¡°You have to be careful. If you don¡¯t find Shifu, don¡¯t stay in the gully for too long.¡±

 CH 4.1

    Menghuan slowly lowered, sizing up the gully as he went. It was like the bottom of a pot, shrinking the deeper it went. After 200 staves it was merely two staves in circumference, the water flowing down from the stream hitting the stone wall and spraying into millions of soybean-sized drops of water, spraying out in all directions so that Yang Menghuan¡¯s clothes and shoes were soon soaking wet.


    At approximately 250 or so staves down he finally reached the bottom and examined it carefully. It was around a stave long and eight spans wide, sloping down to the right, the stream water following the slope and discharging through a crevice in a large rock. Along the sleek and slippery stone wall on the east side was a stone door as tall as a person. It was half-open, half-closed. Yang Menghuan sidled through the door and found a twisting passageway before him. I twas very narrow, only big enough for one person to fit through at once, and it was black as lacquer. Menghuan focused his eyes and pressed against the wall and entered. He walked for a while and then the passageway opened up. There was a faint green light and it did not seem as dark as when he had first entered through the stone door.


    He walked some more and the scenery became more unusually beautiful, the walls on either side the color of jadeite, glittering and translucent, dazzling green light, like he were in a world of colored glass!


    Yang Menghuan couldn¡¯t help but sigh inwardly at such a sight. The world was so big, there truly was nothing unusual that it didn¡¯t contain. No one could have imagined that a couple hundred staves down a deep ravine there would be a world like this. If he hadn¡¯t seen it with his own eyes and only heard about it from someone else, he wouldn¡¯t believe it.


    Suddenly a sigh came from far off down the corridor. Yang Menghuan could tell it was Shifu¡¯s voice. This was no small surprise and he quickened his steps, running ahead, taking two corners and the passageway ended, the landscape opened up and a patch of grass about the size as a plot of land was before him, teeming with blossoming trees of all colors. Master One Yang sat with his legs crossed among them, looking upward, concentrating on something. Menghuan was only about two staves away but, Master One Yang didn¡¯t notice him at all.


    Yang Menghuan knew something was off and he took a sudden stride forward and leapt over to the edge of the ornamental tree grove and was about to enter when he suddenly had a thought and stopped in his tracks. He thought, By the looks of it, Shifu seems to be trapped in this grove, unable to get out. He knew that Shifu¡¯s martial arts was not only highly advanced, but he was proficient in the eight trigrams and the principles of the Book of Changes, the five agents, and divination. Even if the grove was set up according to eight trigram principles, it would be difficult to trap Shifu.


    Yang Menghuan was suspicious and didn¡¯t dare rashly charge in but closely examined the layout of the blossoming trees. It was messy with no order to it, but it also didn¡¯t seem like an eight-trigram formation. He was becoming even more perplexed. Yang Menghuan was exceptionally gifted. He had been with Master One Yang for twelve years, not only learning all of Master One Yang¡¯s martial arts, but also learning Master One Yang¡¯s literary attainments and eight-trigram principles, Five Agents, and divination skills.


    Now he could not see what was unusual about the grove. He was thinking to step inside it when he suddenly saw Master One Yang leap straight up and begin pacing back and forth, thinking. Menghuan stood outside the grove and watched Shifu pace steps according to the five agents and divination principles, left seven, right eight, turning this way and that, but all along walking within a one-stave area. At times he would approach the edge of the grove, only a few steps and he would be out, but Master One Yang would instead suddenly turn around and walk back the way he¡¯d come. Anxious, Menghuan shouted, ¡°Shifu, just take two more steps.¡± Though he spoke loudly, Master One Yang was unaware of him and didn¡¯t even turn his head to look.


    Master One Yang walked for a while, then sat back down in his original spot, looking up and sighing. This sigh Yang Menghuan heard quite clearly.


    Right now Yang Menghuan was so on edge he was about to lose it, seeing Master One Yang trapped in the grove unable to walk out and knowing he could do nothing to help. He thought for a moment and came up with a clumsy idea. He counted all the ornamental trees, 81 in total. Master One Yang was trapped in the grove. If he cut down the trees on one side, the formation¡¯s effectiveness would be lost, and wouldn¡¯t Shifu be able to get out then? But those 81 trees were so dazzling and resplendent, it would be a shame to cut them down. But right now saving him was more important. He took in all the difficulties and made up his mind and drew his sword. He stooped down and extended his arm and chopped with his sword and a tree fell down.


    Menghuan was very meticulous, always stooping low when he cut down a tree and waiting till it fell before taking an exploratory step forward. Then, when nothing seemed amiss, he would reach out for the second tree and cut it down, using his sword to knock the fallen tree away.


    This clumsy idea of his really worked and in about the time it takes to eat a meal he had cut down 27 trees. Master One Yang was still at a loss as to what to do when it brightened before him and Menghuan was standing beside him. He slowly stood. ¡°This flower formation is widely different from the usual Five Agents method, so abstruse and unfathomable. Fortunately you thought of this idea.¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°Disciple couldn¡¯t do anything besides come up with this ill-thought-out plan and destroy all these blossoming trees.¡±


    Master One Yang shook his head. ¡°Incredible, incredible. I carelessly ran in here and nearly bungled everything.¡±


    Menghuan said, ¡°Then let¡¯s just cut down the rest of these trees so we won¡¯t fall into its trap again.¡±


    Master One Yang said, ¡°That¡¯s not necessary. Twenty-seven trees have already been cut down, the mysteries of the formation are broken. Let¡¯s go in and take a look.¡±


    Menghuan was still uneasy and kept his sword raised and cleared the path ahead, hacking down any tree he came to with his sword. Master One Yang didn¡¯t stop him. Suddenly Yang Menghuan noticed there were piles of white bones on the grass, every pile no more than a few spans apart from the others, some of them full intact skeletons, either sitting or lying down, each in a different posture. He stopped and looked back at Shifu. ¡°Are these piles of bones people?¡±


    Master One Yang sighed. ¡°Return to the Origin has done much harm. These people were all looking for Return to the Origin when they became trapped in the tree formation and could not get out and starved to death here.¡±


    He thought of how he had just been trapped in the formation himself and all sorts of feelings welled up in his mind.


    They cut across the grass and it became narrower. At the end of the passageway they came face to face with a two-leaf stone door set into the wall. Master One Yang concentrated his power, storing up his perfected force, and pushed the doors open without a hitch. Inside was a stone cavern the size of a three-room house. On the left and right of the cavern were too slabs of granite in the shape of a lotus platform, on which were seated cross-legged a nun and a Daoist. A strange fragrance wafted about, straight to one¡¯s core. In the center was a granite table on which was placed a one-span square, five-fingerwidth thick jade box. A stone tripod cauldron sat before the table, filled with white incense ash. The strange fragrance was emanating from the white incense ash.


    Master One Yang looked over the nun and the Daoist. They must be the bodies of the rumored Mystic Workings Perfected and Divine Nun Three Tones. He immediately prostrated himself and payed homage. Yang Menghuan saw Shifu kowtowing solemnly and did as well. He furtively raised his head to steal a peek at the bodies on the lotus platforms. They sat cross-legged with their palms together and eyes closed, like they were engaged in zen meditation. This was beyond his comprehension. How could these two have reverted to their true selves, dying hundreds of years ago, yet their bodies still looked lifelike, without a trace of decay. Could these two remarkable elders have mastered the art of the Incorruptible Diamond Body? If they really had, then why did they still pass away while seated? His mind was a maze of puzzles which he could not figure out, but seeing Shifu concentrating so hard, he didn¡¯t ask further.


    Master One Yang slowly stood after kowtowing to the remains and went over to the stone table and examined the jade box on it. There were eight large words engraved on it: ¡°Secret Precious Treasure Manual, Cherish and Don¡¯t Damage¡±.


    For hundreds of years this had been the number-one rare treasure rumored throughout the martial world. Now that it was before them, even with Master One Yang¡¯s immense skill and strength, he could not keep from trembling all over. He couldn¡¯t say whether it was from astonishment or glee. He slowly raised his hands and opened the lid. Inside were neatly stacked three thin volumes. The one on the top had Secret Return to the Origin Manual written on the cover in red cinnabar ink.


    Master One Yang only felt his heart pounding and he quickly put the lid back on the jade box. From his robe he removed a square length of yellow tabby silk and carefully wrapped up the jade box. Then, shouldering it, he once again kowtowed to the bodies of Mystic Workings Perfected and Divine Nun Three Tones on their lotus platforms, then withdrew along with Menghuan from the stone chamber. They followed the path out of the cavern, and at the bottom of the gully he looked up and heaved a long breath, shooting qi out from his dantian, the sound like a dragon¡¯s moan, shooting straight from the gully floor into the Han River in the empyrean.


    Master Wise Perfected and Greatmaster Clear Karma and the others were waiting anxiously when they heard the howl from the bottom of the gully, and they breathed a sigh of relief. In just a short notch of time later, Yang Menghuan was the first to climb up the vines and out. Shen Xialin had been staring with her big eyes down the hole ever since Menghuan had went down. Her face was full of worry until she saw Menghuan, then she heaved a long sigh and smiled, the look of worry completely gone.


    Master One Yang followed closely behind and climbed out as well. Master Wise Perfected asked, ¡°What took so long down there. Is that the Return to the Origin manual on you¡¯re shouldering?¡±


    Master One Yang nodded. ¡°I got trapped in a blossoming tree formation and nearly couldn¡¯t get out, but in the end obtained the precious treasure Return to the Origin. This thousand-mile trek was not in vain.¡± With that he heaved a sigh filled with boundless emotion and told in detail how he had been trapped and how Yang Menghuan had cleverly broken the tree formation.


    Master Wise Perfected looked at Menghuan and said, ¡°He¡¯s not only thoughtful and resourceful, his insight is exceptional. I rejoice that Senior Brother has such a good disciple. Our Kunlun School will have no lack of successors.¡±


    Yang Menghuan received his junior sectuncle¡¯s praise with a blush and some stammering. Master One Yang studied Menghuan, thinking of a very big problem. Now that the Return to the Origin was in hand, the next problem was finding a quiet place and studying the manual abstruse content. He figured that every word of this rare martial world book contained the mystical workings of the universe. This was absolutely not something that could be quickly grasped in half a year¡¯s time, but the waves of the monstrous storms this secret manual would kick up had already to surge. If he could find a spot to cultivate in privacy, the leftover waves would be turned on his beloved student, even implicating the entire Kunlun School. This wasn¡¯t someone¡¯s personal blood feud but a major event that would shake the martial world. Every school and sect and gang and society would be involved in this violent struggle. He thought about this and sighed. This Return to the Origin manual was certainly an unprecedented rare book, an unusual treasure, but it was also the root of violent murder and horrible disaster.


    Master Wise Perfected saw that First Brother was not the least bit delighted after obtaining the secret manual but rather distressed and brooding, as if possessed of boundless secret worries. Without giving it much thought she asked, ¡°First Brother, you ought to be happy now that you¡¯ve obtained the secret manual, why are you looking so glum?¡±


    She suddenly thought of the inkscaled ironplated snakeskin and took it out at once. ¡°This trip to Mount Kuocang was not in vain for me either. First Brother obtained the Return to the Origin, and I have obtained a rare treasure of the martial world as well. Do you know what this is?¡±


    Master One Yang took the snakeskin. In the setting sunlight the scales twinkled a glossy raven-black. He examined it for a time and nodded. ¡°This really is a rare treasure of the highest order. Such a large inkscaled ironplated snake is one of a kind. where did you find it?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected said, ¡°It was actually a matter of good luck. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to catch such a large unusual snake had we run into it, yet I managed to get hold of this with no effort at all. Now that our Kunlun School has both the Return to the Origin manual and this inkscaled ironplated snakeskin, we can look boldly on the martial world and contend with every school¡­¡±


    Before Master Wise Perfected could finish, they suddenly heard a cold, derisive laugh. It wasn¡¯t loud, but they heard it quite clearly.

 CH 4.2

    The Return to the Origin Manual


    Part 2 (21)


    Master One Yang was startled and jumped up, eyes flashing, scanning the area where the laughter came from, but inwardly he felt it pointless because the laughter was coming from not far away, yet he couldn¡¯t see anyone anywhere. Given his advanced internal skill he could spot a falling leaf from five staves away, how could someone manage to sneak up on him undetected?


    Master One Yang muttered to himself, and Master Wise Perfected and Greatmaster Clear Karma also alertly felt that the derisive laughter was strange. Six eyes scanned the area for a long time, still not finding a trace of anyone.


    Suddenly they heard Shen Xialin cry out, ¡°Ah! The big white crane is back again.¡±


    Master One Yang, Master Wise Perfected, and Greatmaster Clear Karma were focused on looking for a trace of the enemy and never expected something from overhead. They looked up at the sound of Xialin¡¯s cry, but they were a step late. The enormous crane flapped its wings, wind sweeping along past Master One Yang¡¯s side and it extended its sharp talons and grabbed the inkscaled ironplated snakeskin.


    Master Wise Perfected was the closest to Master One Yang and was pained and angered to see the enormous crane suddenly grab the snakeskin. With a shout she whipped her left sleeve out and soared into the air, right hand sending a forcewind chop at the enormous crane. The forcewind palm was an internal arts skill and was quite powerful. A strong gust of wind swept out with her palm and the enormous crane suffered the blow, wavering a couple times and crying out. It burst through the air and in a split second disappeared into the reef of clouds.


    Master Wise Perfected had been sore about losing that treasure and had leapt up and shot a palm out, concentrating all of her power. Such forcewind palm power was enough to shatter rocks and split stone steles, but it was not enough to knock the enormous crane out of the sky. This was not only a painful shock to Master Wise Perfected, famed throughout the martial world, it also made her shamed and indignant. Once she landed she looked to the sky and stood there staring blankly.


    Suddenly, Master Wise Perfected leapt up, starry eyes flashing. In the distance four grotesquely ugly weirdos were guarding a white-bearded old man in a long robe along, who was walking with a staff.


    In an instant they reached the six of them. The old man looked quaint and elegant, with a white beard down to his chest. His blue-green shirtrobe came down to his knees and his white brows drooped at the corners of his eyes, but his face was ruddy and radiant, without the least trace of senility. He wore silvergrass sandals and white pants and he held a dragonhead cane. The four weirdos were all dressed in long blue-green jute-cloth gowns and leather shoes with no socks. Set off by their strange, scarred faces, they barely looked human.


    The old man stopped a stave or so away from the six of them. He cupped a hand over his fist in salute to Master One Yang. ¡°The Three Masters of Kunlun are greatly renowned throughout the martial world. This old rotter is fortunate to be able to meet you eminent people today.¡± Then he loosed a laugh that resounded through the sky.


    Master One Yang took one look at the old man¡¯s quaint, elegant face and knew it was the Sky and Sea Elder Li Canglan, chief of the Heavenly Dragon Gang. The four ugly, strangely dressed people beside him must then be the rumored Four Uglies of Sichuan. He put his palms together and returned the courtesy, ¡°Chief Li is a remarkable man of the jianghu, establishing the Heavenly Dragon Gang with your own hands, its prestige spreading far and wide, near and far. How could nobodies like us Three Masters of Kunlun compare with Chief Li?¡±


    Li Canglan smiled. ¡°You¡¯re too kind, too kind. The Kunlun School is one of the Nine Major Martial Arts Schools of the martial world. The Heavenly Dragon Gang is no more than a grouping of jianghu brushweeds, a sectarian heretical sect of the left-hand path, how can we dare contend with the nine major orthodox schools of the martial world?¡±


    Saying that, he retracted his smile and his eyes gleamed like two bolts of cold lightning at the yellow silk bundle Master One Yang was shouldering. ¡°I heard on the wind that Abbot has obtained the treasure map that has been rumored throughout the martial world for hundreds of years. I wonder if this rumor is true or false?¡±


    Master One Yang found this question quite difficult to answer because he had a great reputation within the jianghu and could not very well speak irresponsibly and swear and oath and deny it. He thought for a moment and said, ¡°Yes, this humble Daoist has obtained that item.¡±


    Li Canglan smiled faintly. ¡°Since Abbot has the treasure map, it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to find the Return to the Origin manual. Is that yellow silk bundle Great Xia is shouldering the Return to the Origin manual?¡±


    Such a to the point question made Master One Yang¡¯s complexion change. He said coldly, ¡°It is indeed the Return to the Origin manual. Chief Li has made thorough inquiries, does he have his sights set on it?¡±


    Sky and Sea Elder gave a hearty laugh. ¡°Return to the Origin is a rare martial world treasure, but I, Li Canglan, disdain to take it by force from someone. At present, there are not a few eminent people gathered on Mount Kuocang. Everything will come to light sooner or later. This old rotter rather has a fair method. The abbot should safeguard Return to the Origin for now but must not privately read it. The sectmaster of your honorable school and myself will sign an invitation inviting the sectmasters of the Nine Major Schools and all the world¡¯s heroes to a second swordmeet. Firstly, this can settle the ranking issue among the schools that has been a headache for hundreds of years. Secondly, it can determine who the Return to the Origin manual shall belong to and kill two birds with one arrow. Abbot, what do you think?¡±


    Before Master One Yang could reply, Master Wise Perfected cut in, ¡°Our Kunlun School found Return to the Origin, so it naturally belongs to us. As for a second swordmeet to decide rankings, Chief Li can do as he likes and send out invitations. Kunlun will of course participate, but forgive us for not signing it and helping to manage it¡­¡±


    Li Canglan cut her off with a derisive laugh, ¡°This must be the martial world-renowned lady xia Master Wise Perfected. This old rotter was speaking with your senior sectbrother Dao Senior Master One Yang. Out of respect for seniority, the heroine had best not interrupt.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected flushed but could say nothing. She turned to Senior Brother, who replied slightly angered, ¡°Chief Li¡¯s aspirations for hosting a second swordmeet of the world¡¯s heroes is certainly a grand occasion for the martial arts. Kunlun has no intention of shrinking back from it. However, there is no need to drag the Return to the Origin manual into this matter. This humble Daoist is eager to return to head back west, excuse me for having no time to debate with Chief. This humble Daoist and the others will be at Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak on Mount Kunlun waiting for your invitation. We will certainly be on time.¡± With that, he turned and beckoned for Yang Menghuan and the others to set out.


    Li Canglan put his dragonhead cane out to block them, laughing. ¡°If you keep on ahead, not more than thirty miles from now you will run into others who will intercept you. Even if this old rotter doesn¡¯t do anything, it will be difficult to hold onto the Return to the Origin manual!¡±


    Master One Yang laughed derisively. ¡°The Three Masters of Kunlun has never suffered others¡¯ idle threats. Chief Li¡¯s good-natured warning this humble Daoist appreciates.¡±


    Sky and Sea Elder laughed again and asked, ¡°If someone were to attack and try to wrest from you the Return to the Origin manual by force, the Heavenly Dragon Gang might get into the fray as well.¡±


    Master One Yang laughed coldly. ¡°Of course you can, Chief Li, if it so pleases you, by all means strike.¡±


    Li Canglan withdrew his dragonhead cane and gave way. ¡°Then it¡¯s agreed. If no one else attacks to steal it, then the Heavenly Dragon Gang will absolutely not start anything.¡± Saying that, he turned and strolled off.


    Master One Yang waited till Li Canglan and the Four Uglies of Sichuan left, then turned to Menghuan and Xialin. ¡°In a little while, when we¡¯re intercepted, you mustn¡¯t lash out without permission. These people are all first-rate masterhands of the martial world and they think highly of themselves. As long as you don¡¯t attack, they would never act against kids like you.¡±


    Yang Menghuan detected a hidden meaning in Shifu¡¯s grave words, clearly intending to sacrifice his life to protect the secret manual. That made him sick at heart, and he cried out, ¡°Shifu¡­¡± but Master One Yang shook his head and didn¡¯t let him finish but beckoned for Master Wise Perfected and Greatmaster Clear Karma and they continued on ahead.


    ~*~


    They went more than twenty miles and it was the end of the 8th double-hour and the beginning of the 9th, a gentle afternoon mountain breeze blowing through the secluded valley, the fragrance of flowers assailing their nostrils, the mountains a pleasing, vivid emerald green, yet their moods were unusually heavy as a storm of carnage approached as the time for fighting drew near, making them taciturn and keyed up.


    Suddenly they heard the loud sound of laughter coming from a pinewood on one side of a peak in the secluded valley and a person flipped down from dozens of staves up in the air. His long robe rippled in the wind, white beard like silver, and he held a bamboo staff held out blocking their path. He saluted Master One Yang and said, ¡°Abbot of Mystic Metropolis Abbey, how have you been since we parted? You still recognize your old friend Wen Gongtai don¡¯t you?¡±


    Master Wise Perfected sneered, ¡°Mount Hua Sectmaster, as good as your word you really did manage to find us on Mount Kuocang.¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger said, ¡°More than this old rotter has come. Besides the Three Geese of Diancang, there¡¯s probably around a dozen rarely seen friends of the jianghu. Three of the five banner altarmen of the Heavenly Dragon Gang have come. There hasn¡¯t been such a grand meeting like this since the swordmeet on Mount Song¡¯s Shaoshi Peak 300 hundred years ago. One good show after another, we¡¯re in store for some lively excitement.¡±


    Master One Yang said coldly, ¡°Sounds like Brother Wen is planning on participating in this grand gathering?¡±


    Wen Gongtai laughed. ¡°Oh I couldn¡¯t, I couldn¡¯t. I¡¯m no more than a small time player come along to fill out the numbers.¡±


    Master One Yang hmphed. ¡°The Return to the Origin manual is in this yellow bundle on my back. If Brother Wen believes he can take it, then be my guest.¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger¡¯s complexion changed. ¡°The Split Second Swordplay and the Celestial Dipper Palm don¡¯t count as some lost art of the martial world. I¡¯m confident I can take a few moves, but out Mount Hua and Kunlun schools have no enmity to speak of. If Dao Brother is willing to let out Mount Hua study the arcane mysteries of the secret manual as well, then this old rotter is willing to lend a hand in warding off the formidable foes that lay ahead.¡±


    Master One Yang said, ¡°This humble Daoist appreciates Brother Wen¡¯s good intentions but must decline. The Three Masters of Kunlun are reluctant to bend a knee and ask for help.¡±


    Wen Gongtai held his bamboo staff out crosswise. ¡°Then I will have to get a taste of a few of Dao Brother¡¯s advanced moves.¡±


    Master One Yang reached back and drew his sword. ¡°I will accompany you. If I can see with my own eyes Brother Wen¡¯s incredible Finger-Snapping Golden Pellet technique, then even if I am buried on Mount Kuocang, i can die without regret.¡±


    Wen Gongtai¡¯s green staff thrust out with Laughingly Pointing to the South. Master One Yang¡¯s sword changed to Wind and Rain All Around, blocking the green bamboo staff with his sword surrounding his body like an unrolled bolt of white silk, then he took the advantage with Peak Among the Clouds, the silver awn of the tip of his sword quivering, stabbing at his chest. Eight Armed Divine Codger shouted, ¡°Excellent Swordplay.¡± His green bamboo staff knocked the sword away with Whirlwind Whisks the Willows, then he leapt up and struck in midair, a mass of green shrouding overhead.


    Master One Yang let out a long laugh and opened up his Split Second Swordplay to engage the enemy. His internal skill was solid and advanced, as was his swordplay, different from Yang Menghuan¡¯s. He warded off the enemy and stole in to attack, move after move loaded with force and containing within it variations. In an instant the two of them had exchanged sixteen or seventeen moves.


    Wen Gongtai was burning with rage as he lashed out with Divine Dragon Thrice Appears, his staff carrying forcewind with it swish swish swish in three rapid attacks, deflecting Master One Yang¡¯s tight, continuous swordlight, while he himself seized the opportunity to tumble back, withdrawing a stave or more away. He held his staff out crosswise and grabbed at the air with his left hand, and his beard and brows suddenly fanned out as he fixed his eyes on Master One Yang and slowly closed in.


    Master One Yang knew that this time when he attacked he would use all of the skill and power he¡¯d accumulated in his life, aimed at speed, so he didn¡¯t dare get careless. He stepped in the configuration of yi-wood, bing-fire, sword slanted at gui-water, left elbow turned in, palm level before his chest, qi gathering in his dantian and circulating throughout his body, focused as he waited for his foe.


    Master Wise Perfected was anxious watching it all, because the two of them were going all out with there decades of internal skill in a fight to the death. Once they unleashed it, victor and defeat would be decided, life and death would be parceled out. They were just about to reach the breaking point when they suddenly heard loud laughter. ¡°You two hold on a moment with your life and death struggle, what if we join the fun as well?¡±


    Wen Gongtai pulled back the power he was about to unleash and turned to see it was two of the Diancang Geese. He said coldly, ¡°How do you two just happen to be everywhere? Seems the karmic connection between us is not slight!¡±


    He turned as he said this to welcome the two Geese of Diancang.

 CH 4.3

    The Return to the Origin Manual


    Part 3 (22)


    Eight Armed Divine Codger had intended to mass all of his power and have it out once and for all with Master One Yang, and if he won, use that victory to snatch the Return to the Origin manual. If he lost, he could use his Finger-Snapping Golden Pellet skill which was unrivaled in the jianghu to gain victory. He was confident that his internal skill was advanced enough that victory was more likely than defeat. Unexpectedly, just as they were about to attack, the two Gees of Diancang arrived just in the nick of time. Wen Gongtai¡¯s felt a chill, knowing that even if he could snatch the Return to the Origin manual, Master Wise Perfected and the Two Geese of Diancang would join up and intercept him.


    His Finger-Snapping Golden Pellet was a unique skill in the martial world and could handle Master Wise Perfected and Greatmaster Clear Karma if he took them by surprise, but when you added in the Two Geese of Diancang, four teaming up together, then it was a more difficult matter. He couldn¡¯t help but transfer his fury onto the Two Geese of Diancang. Given the current situation, he would have to strike first and defeat the Geese, getting rid of two formidable foes, then try to snatch the Return to the Origin manual. He predicted that Master One Yang and the others would never team up to help the Two Geese, so he concentrated his power and turned to the Two Geese, thinking to finish them both off with one strike.


    But the Two Geese of Diancang were no weaklings. The second of the Three Geese, the one with the Daoist robe and his hair in a mallet bun, with a swarthy face and a long beard, was called Goose Among the Clouds Liao Kun. The other one, third in seniority, with the fair face and no beard, dressed as a scholar in his blue robe and squarecap, was Windchaser Goose Ye Hui. Together with the most senior one, Heaven Overthrowing Goose Ma Jiahong, they were known as the Three Geese of Diancang. Of the three of them, Ma Jiahong¡¯s martial arts was the best, and he was Diancang School¡¯s 14th generation sectmaster. Liao Kun and Ye Hui¡¯s martial arts, though much inferior to their senior sectbrother¡¯s, they were still top figures in the martial world. Ma Jiahong¡¯s kungfu had already reached the sublime, and he spent all his time immersed in quiet cultivation and rarely left the mountain. Liao Kun and Ye Hui, rather, often roamed the jianghu together. This time while traveling to the Hunan and Hubei areas they got wind of a rumor that Master One Yang had obtained the treasure map, and they immediately had covetous thoughts about vying for the Return to the Origin manual themselves. There was no time to go back to the mountains and notify their sectmaster senior sectbrother, so they just just went in pursuit to Mount Kuocang.


    Let¡¯s turn now to the Two Geese, who saw Wen Gongtai¡¯s beard and brows fanning out as he slowly closed in on them. They knew he was up to no good and hurriedly readied themselves, standing side by side surreptitiously focusing their qi in preparation for receiving Eight Armed Divine Codger¡¯s overwhelming strike.


    Wen Gongtai saw the Two Geese were as still as mountains, focused and waiting for him, and he knew they were ready to have an all-out battle of power. He sneered inwardly and was about to launch his attack when suddenly from behind he heard a clear shout, followed by the clanging sound of metal clashing. He held back the power he was about to unleash and turned to look. At some point Snakeman Qiu Yuan had arrived. And he was already fighting with Master Wise Perfected, his strange snakehead staff licking out, retracting, chopping, sweeping, staff forcewind whistling swift and fierce as anything.


    Master Wise Perfected was still using the Split Second Swordplay to ward off her foe, a silver arc flashing like lightning as sword qi dashed to the clouds. Snakeman Qiu Yuan¡¯s attack was peerlessly fast and ferocious, yet it was neutralized by Master Wise Perfected¡¯s quick and nimble ingenious sword strokes.


    Wen Gongtai studied and weighed the situation and felt that this was not the right time to have it out with the Two Geese. Even if he defeated them, it would cost him a lot of perfected energy. Better to quietly wait and see what happened and look for an opportunity to strike. His mind taking a sharp turn, he put away the power he had been about to unleash and said to the Two Geese with a derisive laugh, ¡°There will be time for this later, when the Three Geese of Diancang are all together, then I¡¯ll come seeking instruction. How¡¯s that?¡±


    The Two Geese obviously knew what Eight Armed Divine Codger meant, but they still had their sights set on the Return to the Origin manual. If they fought with him now, someone else could just wait and reap the rewards. Wen Gongtai stopping was just what they wanted, so they smiled faintly at the same time and didn¡¯t reveal their thinking, and the hostility among the three of them disappeared for the time being and they stood by and watched the ferocious battle between Qiu Yuan and Master Wise Perfected.


    Master Wise Perfected and Qiu Yuan exchanged 80 or more moves with still no victor decided. This made Master Wise Perfected furious and with a shout her sword suddenly switched to using the Soul Seeker Twelve masterstrokes. In an instant her sword waved in a myriad points of cold stars, swordlight transforming to a thousand streams of auspicious qi. The Soul Seeker Twelve Swordplay was the quintessence of Kunlun School¡¯s swordcraft. As expected, Snakeman Qiu Yuan was no match for it. He was pushed back to the edge of the cliff by Master Wise Perfected¡¯s sword forcewind. Just two more killer strokes from her and Qiu Yuan would be wounded. But she had always been a humane person and didn¡¯t want to just randomly hurt someone. She put her sword away and said, ¡°Your snakehead staff moves really are good but not good enough to steal the Return to the Origin manual.¡±


    Qiu Yan looked ashamed and hung his head in silence. Eight Armed Divine Codger said coldly, ¡°Brother Qiu, since you were defeated, what are you waiting for? You should go on and excuse yourself.¡±


    Snakeman was so angered by Wen Gongtai¡¯s provocation that he was shaking, his white beard standing on end in fury and his face taking on an ashen complexion. He loosed a ghastly laugh. ¡°Brother Wen enough with the snide remarks. Sooner or later we will have our fight to the death.¡±


    Wen Gongtai sneered, ¡°I said earlier that Brother Qiu is no match for the Three Masters of Kunlun. Today you learned that my words weren¡¯t empty talk. As for Brother Qiu wanting to fight me, naturally I¡¯d stake my life to accompany you.¡±


    Qiu Yuan was incited again by Wen Gongtai and was angry his eyes blazed. He threw down his snakehead staff and took weapons out from his robe as thick as chicken eggs. They were one span, eight fingerwidths long and shaped like a judge¡¯s brush. He said to Master Wise Perfected, ¡°I¡¯m indebted to you for going easy. I ought to have humbly admitted defeat, but I¡¯ve never known what¡¯s good for me, and I¡¯d like to try these Flying Dragon Cudgels against a few of your brilliant moves.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected was furious that he still didn¡¯t admit defeat. She held her sword out crosswise and said, ¡°Feel free to use whatever weapon abilities you still have. I¡¯ll definitely accompany you.¡±


    Qiu Yuan laughed coldly, ¡°Alright, Lady Xia, please be careful¡­¡±


    Before he finished, Master Wise Perfected¡¯s sword was already at his chest with the move Roiling Waves, Flowing Sand, and Qiu Yuan had to meet the foe with his Flying Dragon Cudgels. This time Master Wise Perfected was no longer lenient, using three Soul Seeker Twelve masterstrokes in a row: Rising Phoenix, Soaring Flood Dragon, Glimpse of the Divine Dragon, and Earth Smashing, Heaven Shaking, cycling through the three moves like a wild whirlwind blowing through in a sheet of cold lightning awns of light, forcing Qiu Yuan to continuously jump and pull back and duck in order to dodge them.


    Master One Yang was suspicious when he saw Qiu Yuan abandon his snakehead staff and take out these weapons that were like a cudgel but not, like a brush but not. He scrutinized them but could not see anything special about them, and for a time he couldn¡¯t figure it out, but he assumed they must have some function. He was about to call for Junior Sister to be careful when Master Wise Perfected struck first, three strokes in a swift attack, flustering Qiu Yuan till he was tripping over himself. He paid close attention to the weapons in Qiu Yuan¡¯s hands while staying on guard against a surprise attack from Eight Armed Divine Codger and the Two Geese. Just as he turned to glance at Eight Armed Divine Codger, he suddenly heard Master Wise Perfected cry out. Master One Yang turned to look and was scared out of his skin and was so grieved he nearly cried.


    What happened was Master Wise Perfected¡¯s three masterstrokes forced Qiu Yuan back more than a stave, and she was about to unleash her killer move to force Snakeman to submit and eliminate a formidable foe. She immediately used the move Laughingly Pointing to the South and Qiu Yuan¡¯s eyes raged, hair and beard standing on end. He shouted, ¡°Master Wise Perfected, since you¡¯re being vicious, don¡¯t blame me for being cruel!¡± The iron cudgel in his left hand and cut upward, parrying her sword. Master Wise Perfected inwardly sniggered and thought, You¡¯re bringing trouble on yourself. She sank her jade wrist and changed her sword stroke to Spring Clouds Suddenly Open Up. But before she could execute the move she saw a golden light flash before her eyes and a reeking wind assailed her. In her haste she did not have time to wound her enemy but turned her head to the side and swung her sword to guard her face and felt a pain in her right wrist holding her sword. She collected herself and looked and cried out in fright and her sword clanged to the ground.


    On Master Wise Perfected¡¯s snow-white jade wrist was attached a little golden snake seven or eight fingerwidths long with for long, pointy venomous fangs. It had already sunk deep into her flesh and its body hung down, tail swinging back and forth. She felt the bite area unbearably itchy, and at the same time several black lines were slowly moving up her arm and she felt a chill in her heart as her strength suddenly left her. She staggered back a few steps, nearly falling down.


    Master One Yang, Greatmaster Clear Karma, and Yang Menghuan rushed over and surrounded Master Wise Perfected. Master One Yang swung his sword to decapitate the snake, but he heard Qiu Yuan holler, ¡°Better stop, you really don¡¯t want her to live?¡±


    Master One Yang stopped and turned to Qiu Yuan and yelled, ¡°How toxic could a small little venomous snake be? Are you saying it really is fatal?¡±


    Qiu Yuan said coldly, ¡°If it were an ordinary venomous snake then it wouldn¡¯t be fatal to one proficient in internal skill. However, this gold thread snake is different. Unless you¡¯re made of iron or steel, or are a bronze arhat, you won¡¯t be able to endure it. If you cut off the snake biting her wrist, the wound from the snake will release all its venom, which will get into her wound and in less than a double-hour that rare venom will attack her heart and she will die. If you don¡¯t believe me, just try it and see.¡±


    Master One Yang took a good look at the little golden snake. It really was a kind he¡¯d never seen before. In a low voice he said to Master Wise Perfected, ¡°Hurry up and sit still and focus your qi to close off your right elbow¡¯s ¡®Pool at the Bend¡¯ acupoint. Don¡¯t let the snake venom spread.¡±


    Master Wise Perfected was actually calm and smiled faintly. She looked hard at First Brother and said, ¡°Dying is nothing. Don¡¯t you dare be coerced by him.¡± Then she slowly sat down and closed her eyes and circulated her qi.


    Master One Yang looked at Junior Sister, at the gold snake wriggling on her jade wrist, and though the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smile, decades of their past love flooded his mind instantly. Seeing Master Wise Perfected now facing death unflinchingly was like a hundred thousand invisible swords piercing his heart. In a burst of misery all his hopes turned to ash and he slowly took the yellow bundle from his back and handed it out to Qiu Yuan. ¡°You just wanted the Return to the Origin manual. Now I will grant you your wish. However, you have to dispel the gold thread snake venom for her.¡±


    Eight Armed Divine Codger and the Two Geese off to the side were livid when they saw this. Qiu Yuan stood there stupefied for a moment, then said, ¡°If I wanted to cheat you out of your Return to the Origin manual I could just give you any old medicine, that¡¯s not impossible. But I, Qiu, am not so low class and despicable as that.¡±


    Master One Yang¡¯s heart froze. Voice quavering, he asked, ¡°You mean there¡¯s no antidote that can save her?¡±


    Qiu Yuan said, ¡°Her life can be saved, but all of her internal power will be expended like running water, and even then she could only live another ten years. After that, the snake venom will flare up again, and even if you had a Rise From the Dead elixir it would be difficult to save her.¡±


    Master One Yang sighed. ¡°Then let her live ten more years! Dispel the snake venom for her, and I will give you the Return to the Origin manual.


    Qiu Yuan took a small white jade vial from his robe and tipped out a green pill and put it in his mouth and chewed on it to crush it, then he pressed the spring mechanism on the handle of the Flying Dragon Cudgel in his right hand and the top end split open. Turns out his pair of Flying Dragon Cudgels were hollow, and a gold thread snake was hidden inside each one. When fighting, all he had to do was press the spring mechanism and the top end would split open and shoot out a gold thread snake.


    These peculiar weapons had cost Snakeman a lot of painstaking effort, and the gold thread snakes had taken him dozens of years searching all over the famed mountains of the Western Regions to find a pair of them. He had been planning on using them against Wen Gongtai to avenge his humiliation from twenty years ago. He never thought the first time he¡¯d use them would be to wound Master Wise Perfected.


    Qiu Yuan went over to Master Wise Perfected looking nervous and first encased the wriggling golden tail of the snake in the open end of his cudgel, then he suddenly opened his mouth and blew out the crushed green pill.


    The green pill was a special drug to control the venomous snake. Once hit by the medicine spray it opened its mouth on Master Wise Perfected¡¯s wrist and slid into the Flying Dragon Cudgel. Qiu Yuan then let go of the spring mechanism and it closed up. After he put the gold thread snake away, he breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Now we just have to wait to treat her to remove the venom. But in this remote mountain valley there¡¯s no way to find the proper tools and medicine. We¡¯ll have to leave Mount Kuocang in order to be able to remove the venom.