With the first thrust Linghu Chong was already able to take on the initiative. The second and the third thrust shot out continuously. Each thrust was accurate and effective, and his sword tip was never a second apart from his opponent"s vital parts.

Tian Boguang didn"t have enough time to parry off the attacks and had to take one step back after another. Who would have expected that after ten moves or so, he actually followed the same old disastrous road and once again retreated to the very edge of the cliff?

Linghu Chong slashed down with his sword and forced Tian Boguang to wave his knife down to guard his lower portion body. At the meantime he reached out with his left hand and struck out in a claw hand. The claw hand struck with perfect timing and broke through from a flaw in Tian Boguang"s defense line. Linghu Chong held the claw hand still, when his fingers were only two inches from Tian Boguang"s Tan-Zhong Point on his chest. He had sealed Tian Boguang"s Tan-Zhong Point twice before. Tian Boguang knew very well, that if Linghu Chong had struck out with his claw hand, he would have collapsed and his body would have fallen into the bottomless abyss this time instead of falling onto the ground. When Linghu Chong held his hand still, he was obviously giving ground.

The two both stayed still for a brief moment before Linghu Chong once again leapt back to yield.

Tian Boguang sat on a rock and meditated a short while with his eyes shut. Suddenly he shouted a loud roar as he launched his attack, chopping down vertically with mighty force. This time he took the surroundings into consideration and made sure his back was facing the mountain. He figured that even if he were forced into retreat, he would end up retreating into the cave. And without worrying about falling down the cliff, he could really fight it out.

By now Linghu Chong had a good grasp of the various variations in Tian Boguang"s knife moves. When Tian"s chop came, he dodged to the right, and at the meantime, slashed his long sword toward Tian Boguang"s left shoulder. Tian Boguang circled his knife back to block, but Linghu Chong had already retracted his sword and thrust it at his left waist. Tian Boguang"s left arm was only less than a foot away from his left waist. When he had circled his knife back, he was actually defending and launching a counter-attack at the same time, and to be able to execute his counter-attack, he had attached much strength with the move, which sent the knife chopping out. In a hurry, he didn"t have enough time to pull his knife back to guard his waist, so with no other choice, he took a half step to his right. Linghu Chong threw another thrust at Tian"s right cheek. Tian Boguang hurriedly raised his knife to block when Linghu Chong"s sword suddenly pointed at his left leg. Not able to block this one in time, either, Tian Boguang had to take another step to his right.

Linghu Chong continued with endless thrusts, all of which aimed at Tian Boguang"s left side and forced him to retreat to his right one step after another. After about ten steps, Tian Boguang found himself near the end of the cliff where a big rock blocked his retreating route. Leaning his back against the rock wall, Tian Boguang simply waved his knife all around himself and paid no attention to how Linghu Chong might thrust his sword out. Tearing sounds came into his ears continuously as Linghu Chong"s sword slashed six times on his left sleeve, left side of the robe, and the left leg of his pants. The entire six slashes only left cuts on his clothing without really touching his skin. Tian Boguang knew too well that any one of the six slashes could have cut his belly open or cut off his arm and leg. In the instant, Tian Boguang felt so disheartened and dispirited that it seemed as if all his hopes had died out. In unspeakable despair, he spewed out a mouthful of blood.

Within the short moment, Linghu Chong had succeeded in forcing Tian Boguang to the very edge between life and death three times in a roll. Linghu Chong almost couldn"t believe it, himself. Just a few days ago, his opponent still had much superior Kung Fu than him, yet right now he had taken the lead and had his opponent completely in his power. He had won so easily that he didn"t even have to use all his strength. Although he maintained his composure, deep in his heart, he was really enlightened beyond words. By the time Tian Boguang spurted out a mouthful of blood after the crushing defeat, remorse welled up in Linghu Chong"s heart.

"Brother Tian," he said, "victories and defeats are normal and common. Why are you taking it so hard? Didn"t I lose to you many times before?"

Tian Boguang threw his knife down and shook his head. "Senior grandmaster Feng has miraculous sword skills. No one will be a match for him in the entire world. I will never be a match for you again."

"Brother Tian, you said it right. It was all because of Grand Uncle-Master Feng"s great advice, I was able to gain victory." Linghu Chong picked up the knife and handed it back respectfully with both hands. "Grand Uncle-Master Feng hopes that you can grant him a request."

"My life is at your mercy, what"s there to talk about?" Tian Boguang didn"t take the knife and mocked in a sad tone.

"Grand Uncle-Master has withdrawn from society and lived a hermit"s life for many years. He prefers not to be disturbed by vulgar people. When you, brother Tian, leaves Mount Huashan, would you please not mention the respectful Grand Uncle-Master"s name to anyone? I would really appreciate that," Linghu Chong said.

"Why don"t you just stab me with your sword to rid the witness? Wouldn"t that be a lot easier?" Tian Boguang mocked coldly.

Linghu Chong took two steps back and slid his sword back to the sheath.

"Brother Tian, earlier when your Kung Fu skills were way ahead of mine, you could have whacked me with a single chop, and then this would never have happened. I am only asking a favor from you to not tell anyone else the whereabouts of my Grand Uncle-Master Feng. I dare not to mean any intimidation or offense," he explained sincerely.

"Fine. I won"t." Tian Boguang agreed.

"Many thanks to you, brother Tian!" Linghu Chong bowed deeply down.

"I have come to invite you down Mount Huashan as instructed. I guess that"s not going to work now, but we are not done yet. I probably will never be able to beat you in a fight again in this life. I am not giving up though. This concerns my own life, so I would have no choice but to keep pestering you. You can"t blame me for not being a true man. Brother Linghu, farewell for now." At the last word, Tian Boguang cupped his hands with a salute and then walked off.

Linghu Chong remembered the deadly poison that was planted in Tian Boguang"s body. After Tian left Mount Huashan, the poison would soon become active and kill him. After so many fierce fights with him, Linghu Chong felt as if they were much closer unwittingly. He almost called out with an impulse, "I"ll go with you." Then he remembered that he was still being punished on the "Cliff of Contemplation", and without Master"s permission, he was not allowed to even take a step off the cliff. Besides, Tian was a rapist who did all kinds of evil. If he had left together with Tian, wouldn"t he be wallowing in the mire with Tian? That would surely bring disgrace and ruin upon him and lead to endless trouble. With those thoughts, he held the words back and simply looked on as Tian Boguang descended down the path.

Linghu Chong went back into the cave and bowed down to the ground.

"Grand Uncle-Master, you not only saved my life, but also taught me superb sword techniques. How can I ever repay you for the kindness and grace?"

"Superb sword techniques, superb sword techniques! Hmm, it"s still far from that." Feng Qingyang let out a smile, yet the smile was really in a mood of loneliness and depression.

"May I make bold to ask Grand Uncle-Master to teach me all of the Dugu Nine Swords techniques?" Linghu Chong pleaded.

"Are you sure you won"t regret it later for learning the Dugu Nine Swords?" Feng Qingyang asked.

Linghu Chong was confused for a moment, thinking that why would he regret it later, then he quickly found an answer and thought, "I see. The Dugu Nine Swords are not sword techniques from our own school. Grand Uncle-Master meant that Master might not approve it and punish me once he finds out about it. But Master never restricts me from learning other school"s techniques for references. He has said before that stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade on this one – advice from others may help one overcome one"s shortcomings. Besides, I have already learned many Heng-Shan, Hengshan, Taishan, and Songshan Sword Schools" sword moves from the drawings on the rock wall. I even learned some Demon Cult Ten Elders" Kung Fu. The Dugu Nine Swords Kung Fu is so magnificent. It is the kind of unraveled skill that us martial arts pract.i.tioner would crave about even in our dreams. I am really very lucky to have a senior grandmaster in our school who is willing to teach it to me."

"This is the most fortunate thing in my entire life. I would only feel grateful, never regrets," he said as he knelt down.

"Very well, I will teach you then. If I don"t teach the Dugu Nine Swords to you, there probably wouldn"t be Dugu Nine Swords left in this world a few years from now," Feng Qingyang said with a smile.

For a moment, his face showed traces of great delight, but soon they were replaced with a dreary expression. After a long pause, he finally continued.

"Tian Boguang definitely won"t just give up so easy. Even if he decides to come back again, it"s going to be at least ten to fifteen days from now. Your Kung Fu is already better than his, and you certainly have more tricks than he does. I don"t think you"ll ever be afraid of him again. We have plenty of time now, so you must study from the very beginning to ensure a solid foundation."

This time Feng Qingyang went through the script of the General Index Stance, the first stance of the Dugu Nine Swords, one sentence at a time, and explained in great details bundled with various variations that were implementations of the script. Linghu Chong had simply memorized the script by ear without understanding most of the ideas and theories behind it. Now with Feng Qingyang"s calm and unhurried explanation, he was able to comprehend many principles of advanced-level Kung Fu and several brilliant and profound variations every moment of it. He couldn"t help but show his great happiness and great admiration throughout the time.

The old and the young went over the brilliant sword techniques in the Dugu Nine Swords atop the "Cliff of Contemplation." They started from General Index Stance and went on with Sword-breaking Stance, Knife-breaking Stance, Spear-breaking Stance, Mace-breaking Stance, Whip-breaking Stance, Palm-breaking Stance, and Missile-breaking Stance all the way till the ninth stance, Energy-breaking Stance.

The Spear-breaking Stance included techniques to overcome long weapons such as long-handled spear, long-handled halberd, snake-shaped spear, staff, fanged cudgel, white wax stick, Buddhist monk"s staff, and Buddhist monk"s spade.

The Mace-breaking Stance was used to overcome short weapons such as steel club, iron mace, point-sealing peg, crutches, Emei[1] sting, dagger, war axe, iron plate, octagonal hammer, and iron awl.

The Whip-breaking stance was able to overcome flexible weapons such as long cord, whip, three-sectioned staff, chain spear, iron chain, fishing net, and meteor hammer.

Although each move was just one stance, it had endless variations. The more Linghu Chong learned, the more powerful it became when he comprehended the connections between each stance. The last three stances were the most difficult ones.

The Palm-breaking Stance overcame Kung Fu skills related to one"s fists, legs, fingers, and palms. If the opponent were brave enough to fight against a sword with bare hands, he had to have superb Kung Fu skills and that using a weapon or not was really no difference for him any more. There are many fist forms, leg forms, finger forms, and palm forms in the world, and all of them are very complex. The Palm-breaking Stance included techniques to overcome boxing and grappling, joint manipulation and point sealing, demon claw and tiger claw hands, iron sand divine palm, and the type of barehanded Kung Fu skills.

The word "Missile" in the name of the Missile-breaking Stance included the many different kinds of missiles and projectiles. To be able to learn this stance, the pract.i.tioner must first learn the skill of distinguishing the type of the missile by ear. He not only should be capable of blocking the many kinds of missiles coming from the enemy with his long sword, but also redirecting the force in the missiles to send them back and injure the enemy with his own missiles.

When it came to the ninth stance, Energy-breaking Stance, Feng Qingyang only taught Linghu Chong the script and formula of how to practice it.

Feng Qingyang explained, "This stance is used to overcome opponents who have great inner energy. The essence of the move really depends on your own interpretation. When senior master Dugu took on the entire Martial World with this set of Dugu Nine Swords many years ago, he couldn"t even find a single person that could defeat him, that was all because he had reached the acme of perfection with the set of sword techniques. The same sword technique from the same Huashan style sword art could have very different effect and power. It"s the same with the Dugu Nine Swords. Even though you have learned the sword techniques, if you can"t perfect your skills, you would still be no match for first-cla.s.s elite fighters in today"s world. You have already entered the field. If you prefer to win than lose, go practice hard for another twenty years, then you will be capable of competing with the key players in the world."

The more Linghu Chong studied, the more he realized that there were endless variations in the nine stances, and it will take a very long time for him to actually probe all the profound knowledge in them. When he heard his Grand Uncle-Master saying that he still needed to work hard on practicing the sword techniques for at least twenty more years, he wasn"t surprised at all.

"If I"m able to fully understand the idea left by senior master Dugu when he created the nine stances of Dugu Nine Swords, I would be overjoyed," he said.

"You don"t have to unduly humble yourself. Great Master Dugu was one with extraordinary intelligence. To be able to master his sword techniques, the key lies on the word "comprehension," not simply memorizing mechanically. Once you understand the essence of the sword techniques, you can use it anyway you want. Even if you have forgotten all the variations completely, it wouldn"t matter anyway. And when you are in a real fight, the more you forget about them, the less you will be restricted by the original sword stances. You are good Kung Fu material, just the right kind to learn this set of sword techniques. Humph, in today"s world, I doubt that there"s really any extraordinary hero out there. You should remain diligent in your studies. I am leaving now," Feng Qingyang said.

Linghu Chong was dumbfounded. "Grand Uncle-Master, where…where are you going?" his voice quivering, he asked anxiously.

"I have been living by the back side of Mount Huashan for decades. I just had a sudden impulse earlier and came out of my cave to teach you the set of sword techniques, hoping that senior master Dugu"s unrivalled and superb Kung Fu wouldn"t get rotten together with me. Of course it"s time to go back now," Feng Qingyang said.

"Grand Uncle-Master, so you live right by the back side of the mountain. That"s wonderful! I can serve upon you days and nights to help rid your lonesomeness," Linghu Chong said happily.

"Starting from now on, I will never see anyone from the Huashan Sword School. Even you are not an exception," Feng Qingyang said sternly.

Seeing the frightened and confused look on Linghu Chong"s face, he changed into a softer tone.

"Chong, fate brought us together, and you are very to my liking. I am truly very delighted to have you, such a wonderful boy, to carry on my sword techniques in my old age. If you still think I am your Grand Uncle-Master, then don"t come looking for me to make things difficult."

"Grand Uncle-Master, why?" Linghu Chong felt great sorrow in his heart.

"Don"t even tell your Master that you have seen me." Feng Qingyang shook his head.

"I will follow your instructions," Linghu Chong said as tear started to emerge in his eyes.

"Good kid, good kid!" Feng Qingyang stroked Linghu Chong"s head gently and then turned around to go down the cliff.

Linghu Chong followed him all the way till the edge of the cliff. Seeing Feng Qingyang"s thin figure receding down the cliff and eventually disappearing in the back mountain, he couldn"t help but feel deep sorrow and grief.

During the ten days or so Linghu Chong spent with Feng Qingyang, even though all they discussed about were sword techniques, he admired Feng Qingyang"s demeanor with all his heart. On top of that, he also felt that Feng seemed to be so close to him and the two were indescribably congenial. Feng Qingyang was really a Grand Uncle-Master of his who was two generations higher than him, yet deep inside Linghu Chong"s heart, he vaguely felt a kind of affection as if Feng was a good friend in his same age group who he had wished to meet all along. Comparing to his relationship to his respectful Master, Yue Buqun, this one seemed to be much closer instead.

"When this Grand Uncle-Master was still young, he probably had the same kind of temper just like me, fearing nothing, carefree, and tending to do things following one"s free will," Linghu Chong thought aloud. "When he taught me sword techniques, he always liked to say that "it"s the person using the sword techniques, not the sword techniques using the person" and "a person is alive, but sword techniques are not, so an alive person shouldn"t be restrained by dead sword techniques." That principle is so true. Why did Master never say anything close to that?" He pondered over it for a while and then got his own answer. "Of course Master knows about this principle. It"s just that he knows well that I am too carefree and is afraid that once he tells me the principle, I would go on wild imaginations to create a ma.s.s and won"t follow the rules step by step when I practice sword art. Once I get to a certain level with my sword skills, Master will then explain everything in details. Apprentice brothers and sisters aren"t there with their level of Kung Fu skills, so of course it would be even more difficult for them to understand the principle of advanced sword art. It would be a waste of time telling them." Then his mind slipped into a different thought. "Grand Uncle-Master"s sword skill has really reached the acme of perfection. What a pity it is that he never showed his true skills so I could broaden my horizons. Compared to Master, Grand Uncle Master"s sword skill must be another level up."

He remembered that Feng Qingyang"s face was always covered by depression. He figured, "During the last ten days or so, Grand Uncle-Master would occasionally heave deep sighs. Obviously he had some kind of a big tragedy in his mind. I wonder what happened to him." He heaved a sigh himself and then went out the cave to practice.

He practiced for a while and then randomly threw out a thrust. It turned out to be the Graceful Phoenix move from Huashan style sword art. He paused for a second and shook his head in a wry smile.

"Wrong!" he said to himself and then continued on. Not long after, he threw out another random thrust, and it turned out to be Graceful Phoenix once again. He couldn"t help but get mad at himself.

"Because I know sword moves from our sword school very well, and all those moves are already deep-rooted in my mind, as soon as I become careless, I would naturally add the familiar moves from our school into it. Then it"s not Dugu Nine Swords anymore."

Suddenly a thought flashed by his mind. "Grand Uncle-Master told me to have no restraints and follow the natural flow, then why couldn"t I use sword moves from my own school? And furthermore, why couldn"t I add Hengshan, Taishan, or other schools" sword moves, or even Demon Cult Ten Elders" Kung Fu into it? If I insisted on separating them, using only certain type of sword art, not another certain type of sword art, then I am really putting restraints onto myself."

After figuring that out, he just randomly threw out different moves. If it followed the natural flow, he would mix sword moves from his own school or moves from the rock wall together. Instantly, he felt endless fun. The sword moves from the five different mountain sword schools were quite different from each other, and the ten Demon Cult Elders also came from six or seven different sects. It was almost impossible to mix moves from so many different styles. After practicing for some moments, he was still not able to merge them together.

"If I can"t merge them together, so what? Why do I have to?" he suddenly realized. So he stopped worrying about what move it was and as soon as he thought of a move, he would simply mix it into the Dugu Nine Swords as he pleased. However, out of all those moves, Graceful Phoenix was still the one he used the most. He practiced some more and then threw another random thrust. Not to his surprise, it was Graceful Phoenix once again.

"What might little apprentice sister say once she sees how I am executing that Graceful Phoenix?" he suddenly thought.

He held his sword still as a gentle and soft smile broke out on his face. During the last few days, he had been studying and practicing sword arts with all his heart, even in his dreams he had been only thinking about the various variations of the Dugu Nine Swords. Now when he suddenly remembered Yue Lingshan, lovesick quickly welled up in his heart.

"I wonder if she is still teaching apprentice brother Lin sword art secretly. Master has strict orders, but little apprentice sister has always been very bold. Relying on Master-Wife"s spoiling, she probably started teaching again. Even if she"s not teaching sword art, they see each other days and nights, so of course they will become even closer."

Gradually, the gentle smile changed into a wry smile, and eventually there was not a trace of happiness left on his face. Feeling quite depressed, he slid his sword back into the sheath slowly.

Suddenly Lu Dayou"s shouting voice rose. "Big apprentice brother! Big apprentice brother!" His voice was filled with worry.

"Oh no! Tian Boguang went down the cliff after a crushing defeat. He had said that he was not going to give up and would keep pestering to the very end. Could it be that since he can"t beat me in a fight, he had taken little apprentice sister into hostage so he could force me to surrender?" Linghu Chong was stunned.

He rushed by the edge of the cliff and looked down. Fl.u.s.tered and exasperated, Lu Dayou ran toward the cliff, the food basket in his hands.

"Big…big apprentice brother…big…apprentice brother, this is not good!" Lu Dayou shouted.

"What? What happened to little apprentice sister?" Linghu Chong asked hurriedly, even more worried.

Lu Dayou jumped up the cliff, and after sitting the food basket on a big rock, he said, "Little apprentice sister? Little apprentice sister is just fine. This is terrible. I think it"s going to be trouble."

Hearing that little apprentice sister was just fine, Linghu Chong felt quite relieved. "What trouble?" he asked.

"Master and Master-Wife came back." Lu Dayou panted.

Linghu Chong was quite delighted. "Bah! Isn"t it a great thing that Master and Master-Wife have come back? Why are you saying that it"s going to be trouble? Nonsense!" he reproached.

"No, no, you don"t understand. Right after Master and Master-Wife came back, before they even had a chance to rest, many people came to pay a visit, and among the people coming, there are ones from the Songshan Sword School, the Hengshan Sword School, and the Taishan Sword School," Lu Dayou explained.

"Our five sword schools are all members of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. It"s quite normal when people from the Songshan Sword School and the others come to pay a visit to Master," Linghu Chong said.

"No, no…you don"t know. There are three others that came together with them and claimed to be part of our Huashan Sword School, but Master doesn"t call them apprentice brothers."

"Really? What do those three look like?" Linghu Chong asked, feeling slightly surprised.

"One of them has a yellowish face and claimed to have a surname of Feng,[2] and called something like Feng Buping. Then another one is a Taoist priest; the third one is a short guy. Both of them are called "Bu" something. I guess they are really ones in the "Bu" cla.s.s."

"Maybe they are traitors of our school and had been expelled out of the school a long time ago." Linghu Chong nodded.

"Yeah! You guessed it right. As soon as Master saw them, he became very displeased and said to them, "Brother Feng, all three of you have had your connection with Huashan Sword School dropped a long time ago. Why are you coming back to Mount Huashan again?" Then that Feng Buping said, "Apprentice brother Yue, did you buy out Mount Huashan? Are you not allowing other people to come up Mount Huashan? Or did the Emperor grant it to you?" Master snorted and then said, "If you are just touring around Mount Huashan, of course you have your freedom. Yue Buqun is no longer your apprentice brother. I"ll have to send the words "apprentice brother Yue" right back to you." Feng Buping said, "Your Master used schemes and intrigues to seize control of the Huashan Sword School many years ago. We"ll have to square the old accounts today. You don"t want me to call you "apprentice brother Yue." Humph, after we square the old accounts, even if you kneel in front of me to beg for it, I wouldn"t grant you the wish. ""

"Oh," Linghu Chong replied, thinking that Master really had trouble this time.

"Us apprentices all got angry at those words." Lu Dayou continued. "Little apprentice sister was the first one to yell out. Who would have thought that Master-Wife had a real soft temper this time? She didn"t allow little apprentice sister to make any noises. Master obviously didn"t take them too seriously. He said dryly, "You want to square accounts? What accounts do you want to square? How do you want to square?" Feng Buping said loudly, "You have usurped the Head Master post of the Huashan Sword School for over twenty years. Haven"t you had enough of it already? Don"t you think it"s time to step down now?" Master answered with a smile, "So all of you took on all the trouble to line up here just so that you can seize my post of Head Master. What"s there to cherish? Brother Feng, if you think you are capable of the Head Master post, of course I can step aside." Feng Buping said, "Your Master usurped our sword school"s Head Master post using schemes and intrigues many years ago. I have already pet.i.tioned to the Five Mountains Sword Alliance Chief Zuo and received the Command Flag to become the new Head Master of the Huashan Sword School in his command." He took out a small flag from his chest pocket and extended it out. It is indeed the Command Flag of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance."

"Isn"t Alliance Chief Zuo a bit too impetuous to think he has the authority here? This is an internal affair of the Huashan Sword School. We don"t need him to poke his nose in that matter. What right has him to decide who should be the Head Master of our Huashan Sword School?" Linghu Chong shouted angrily.

"That"s right! Master-Wife said the same thing. But that Lu-named old guy from the Songshan Sword School, Crane Hands Lu Bai, you know, the old folk we saw at Uncle-Master Liu"s house in Hengshan, he spared no effort backing up that Feng Buping saying that the Feng-named guy should become the Head Master of the Huashan Sword School and argued again and again with Master-Wife. And those two guys from the Taishan Sword School and the Hengshan Sword School, this is so annoying, also ganged up with Feng Buping. The three schools of theirs have decided to gang up to give trouble to our Huashan Sword School. Heng-Shan Sword School is the only one that doesn"t have anyone involved. Big…big apprentice brother, I figured this is going to be big trouble, that"s why I came in a rush to let you know."

"When our school has trouble, as long as us apprentices can still breathe, we are all willing to die for Master. Six apprentice brother, let"s go!" Linghu Chong shouted.

"Right! When Master sees that you are working for him, for sure he won"t blame you for leaving the cliff without permission," Lu Dayou exclaimed.

"It"s alright even if Master do blame me. Master is a courteous gentleman, and he doesn"t like to argue with others. Maybe he will actually let someone have the post of Head Master. Wouldn"t that be terrible…?" Linghu Chong started rushing down the cliff using his Qing-Gong.

In the middle of running, Linghu Chong suddenly heard somebody shouting from the mountain path in front of him.

"Linghu Chong! Linghu Chong! Where are you?"

"Who is calling my name?" Linghu Chong asked.

"Are you Linghu Chong?" several voices asked in unison.

"That"s right!" Linghu Chong answered.

Suddenly two shadows flashed by and blocked in the middle of the road. The mountain path was very narrow and on one side of the path was the ten-thousand-feet deep bottomless valley. When the two men showed up so abruptly on the mountain path all of a sudden, Linghu Chong was in the middle of a fast dash and almost b.u.mped into them. He stopped abruptly and found himself only a foot away from the two. The two faces were both very b.u.mpy and wrinkly and looked very frightening. In great surprise, Linghu Chong immediately turned around and leapt back ten feet or so, shouting, "Who are you?" But to his great astonishment, he found another two extremely ugly faces, also b.u.mpy and wrinkly, blocking his way. The two faces were less than half-foot from his face, and their noses almost touched his nose. Linghu Chong immediately took a step to his side and again found two more people standing by his side between him and the bottomless abyss. Their faces were also very similar to the previous four.

Having b.u.mped into six freaks all of a sudden, Linghu Chong was at a loss as what to do, and his heart pounded like a drum. Within the split of a second, the six freaks had jostled him into a three-inch wide small s.p.a.ce. The breaths of the two in front of him had already reached his face. He could also feel warm air on his back neck. Apparently it was because of the breathing from the two behind him. In a hurry, he reached for his sword. However, as soon as his finger touched the handle of the sword, the six freaks took a half step forward all at the same time and jostled with their bodies toward the middle. Instantly, Linghu Chong was squeezed into such a tight s.p.a.ce that he couldn"t even move an inch.

"Hey, hey! What are you guys doing?" Lu Dayou"s voice rose from behind him.

Even though Linghu Chong had a bag full of tricks, at the moment, he was scared out of wits. Those six freaks looked almost like trolls or monsters, and not only did they have scary looks, their behaviors were even more freaky. Linghu Chong tried hard to open his arms so he could push away the two in front of him, but with his arms being jostled down, he had no way of pushing.

"They must be villains together with Feng Buping"s group," he thought to himself hurriedly.

His entire body felt the great pressure; he couldn"t even breathe. The four freaks kept jostling toward the middle and soon Linghu Chong"s joints started popping. Not daring to stare right into the eyes of the freak right in front of him, Linghu Chong quickly shut his eyes tight. Then he heard a screeching voice.

"Linghu Chong, we"ll take you to see the little nun."

"Oh, no! So they are Tian Boguang"s gang." Linghu Chong thought to himself.

"If you don"t let go of me, I"ll commit suicide with my sword! Linghu Chong would rather die…!" he shouted.

Suddenly, Linghu Chong felt two hands grabbing onto both of his arms. The grips were as tight as clamps. Even though he had learned the Dugu Nine Swords, he had no means of using it at all. He groaned inwardly.

"The good little nun wants to see you. Behave yourself. Be a good kid, too," another voice rose.

"It would not be good if you become dead. If you commit suicide, I"ll beat you half dead half alive," a third one said.

"He would be completely dead already. Why would you still beat him half dead half alive?" someone else argued.

"If you want to scare him, don"t let him hear you. Once he hears it, he won"t fall for it," another one commented.

"I just like to scare him, what are you gonna do about it?" the previous one mocked.

"I think it"s better to talk him into behaving himself," another one suggested.

"I said to scare him, and I will scare him," the previous one said.

"I like to talk him out of it," that another one insisted.

The two actually went on arguing against each other nonstop.

Linghu Chong listened as the two argued foolishly. He was both greatly shocked and annoyed. He thought to himself, "The six freaks have very high Kung Fu skills, however, they seemed to be really stupid." So he shouted, "It"s useless to try to scare me or talk me out of it. If you don"t let go of me, I"ll bite off my tongue and kill myself."

Suddenly, great pain came from his cheeks. Someone had grabbed onto his jaw.

"This guy is really stubborn. If he bites off his tongue, he won"t be able to talk. The little nun won"t like that for sure," one voice said.

"If he bites off his tongue, he would be dead. Why would it matter if he can still talk or not?" another one argued.

"He might not die. If you don"t believe me, you can bite your own to try it out," a third one suggested.

"I said he would die, so I won"t bite off my own tongue. Why don"t you try it out?" the previous one mocked.

"Why should I bite my own tongue off? I got it. Let him try it," the one spoke before him replied.

There came a loud cry from Lu Dayou. Apparently those freaks had captured him.

"You, bite off your own tongue and let"s see if you will die or not? Hurry up! Bite!" one freak yelled.

"I won"t! If I bite my tongue off, I"d be dead for sure," Lu Dayou shouted.

"That"s right! If one bites his tongue off, he would be dead for sure! Even he said so too," one of the freaks said.

"He"s not dead yet. His words are not dependable," another one argued.

"He didn"t bite off his tongue, so of course he won"t die. If he did, he would die!" a third one commented.

Linghu Chong gathered his strength and jerked his arms abruptly. Instantly the pain from his wrists went deep into his marrow, yet he was still not even able to move a single bit. In the instant, he suddenly hit upon a way out of the trouble. He let out a loud scream and then pretended to be out cold. The six freaks all cried out in surprise. The one who grabbed at Linghu Chong"s cheeks immediately let go of them.

"He was scared to death!" a freak commented.

"He can"t be scared to death. He"s not that big of a loser," another one disagreed.

"Even if he"s dead, he wasn"t scared to death," a third one suggested.

"Then how did he die?" the previous one asked.

Lu Dayou actually believed that they had tortured big apprentice brother to death and burst into a loud cry.

"I think he was scared to death," a freak insisted.

"You grabbed him too hard. He was grabbed to death," another one suggested.

"How on earth did he die?" a third one questioned.

"I shut down my arteries and killed myself!" Linghu Chong shouted loudly.

The six freaks were shocked when they suddenly heard Linghu Chong talking, then they all broke into loud laughs and said, "Aha, he"s not dead. He was pretending to be dead."

"I wasn"t pretending. After I died I came back to life again," Linghu Chong claimed.

"Do you really know how to shut down your arteries? That must be a very difficult Kung Fu. Will you teach me?" a freak asked.

"The Shut Down Your Own Arteries Kung Fu is very advanced. This dude doesn"t know it. He"s lying to you," another freak said.

"Did you say I don"t know it? If I don"t know it, how could I have shut down my arteries and killed myself earlier?" Linghu Chong challenged.

"Well…well…that"s really odd." The freak scratched his head and didn"t know how to answer.

Linghu Chong now was sure that even though the six freaks had excellent Kung Fu skills, their brains were certainly dull-witted to the extreme. So he said, "If you don"t let go of me, I am going to shut down my arteries again. After I die this time, I won"t be able to come back to life any more."

The two freaks that had been grabbing onto Linghu Chong"s wrists tightly immediately let go of him and said in unison, "You can"t die. If you die, it would be terrible."
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"Well, if you don"t want me dead, you"ll have to move aside and let me through. I got to take care of some important business," Linghu Chong suggested.

The two freaks blocking his way shook their heads at the same time, both to the left and then both to the right. "No way! No way! You have to come with us to see the little nun," they said in unison.

Linghu Chong gathered his inner energy and jumped up, hoping to be able to jump over the two freaks" heads. But to his surprise, the two freaks also jumped up in great speed and their two bodies made a flying wall that blocked Linghu Chong"s path again. Linghu Chong"s body b.u.mped with the two freaks" bodies and fell back down to the ground.

While still in mid-air, Linghu Chong had already grabbed hold of his sword handle. He waved his arm to draw his sword, but suddenly felt great burdens on both of his shoulders. The two freaks behind him had each reached out with an arm and placed a hand on each of his shoulders. His sword was only about a foot out of the sheath and he simply could not draw it out. The two hands on his shoulders each seemed to have weighed hundreds of pounds. His body was immediately pushed lower. He couldn"t even stand straight, not mentioning drawing his sword.

"Let"s carry him away!" after the two freaks pushed him down onto the ground, they suggested with big smiles.

The two freaks in front of Linghu Chong each reached out with a hand to grab onto his ankles and picked him off the ground.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?" Lu Dayou shouted.

"This chap is so annoying. Let"s kill him!" a freak suggested and raised his palm high, ready to strike down onto Lu Dayou"s head.

"Don"t kill him! Don"t kill him!" Linghu Chong cried out loudly.

"Alright, I"ll listen to you. I won"t kill him. I"ll seal his Mute Point instead," that freak replied. He didn"t even bother turning around and simply pointed backward with his finger. In a whistling sound, he had sealed Lu Dayou"s Mute Point with a beam of energy. Lu Dayou was in the middle of screaming, but the scream suddenly stopped abruptly as if someone had cut his scream off using a pair of scissors, and his body immediately huddled up.

Linghu Chong had rarely seen such accuracy and mighty power demonstrated in the freak"s point-sealing skills; he couldn"t help but show great admiration.

"Excellent Kung Fu!" he praised.

The freak was greatly pleased. "This is nothing! I have a lot more cool Kung Fu skills. Let me demonstrate a few of them for you," he said with a big smile.

If it were in normal days, Linghu Chong would have wanted to broaden his horizons, but at the moment he really worried about his Master"s safety and was very anxious.

"I don"t want to watch!" he shouted.

"Why don"t you want to watch? You"ll have to watch!" the freak said angrily.

He jumped into the air and flew over Linghu Chong and the four freaks holding Linghu Chong like a big bird. His body maintained a horizontal position when he flew in the air and looked as if he was a swallow gliding in the air with beautiful postures.

"Beautiful!" Linghu Chong couldn"t help but blurt out another praise.

The freak landed back to the ground smoothly and gently, without even bringing up any dust. By the time he turned around, great smiles piled up on his long horsy face.

"This is really nothing! I"ve got a lot more even better than that," he said happily.

He was at least somewhere close to sixty or seventy years old, yet his temper and the way he behaved was just like a little kid that wanted to keep showing off as soon as someone praised him. The superb and profound Kung Fu and the childish and naïve behavior of him happened to be on the exact opposite in extreme.

Linghu Chong thought, "Master and Master-Wife are in trouble right now surrounded by tough enemy. The enemy has all those Songshan Sword School, Taishan Sword School, and the bunch of elite fighters to back him, even if I go over there, the situation wouldn"t be approved much. Why don"t I trick these freaks into going over there to help Master and Master-Wife out?" So he shook his head and said, "You guys" little Kung Fu is far from good enough to show off here on Mount Huashan."

"Far from good enough? What are you talking about? You got caught by us, didn"t you?" that freak rebuffed.

"I am just a n.o.body in the Huashan Sword School. What"s so difficult to beat me? Right now, there are many elite master hands from Songshan Sword School, Taishan Sword School, Hengshan Sword School, and Huashan Sword School gathered here at Mount Huashan. Of course you guys wouldn"t be brave enough to go provoke them, would you?" Linghu Chong bluffed.

"Why would we be afraid to provoke them? Where are they?" the freak asked.

"We won the bet with that little nun, so the little nun asked us to come get Linghu Chong. She never asked us to provoke any elite master hands from the Songshan Sword School or the Taishan Sword School. We should only do one favor for one win. If we do too many favors, it"s not worth it. Let"s go," another one suggested.

Hearing those words, Linghu Chong felt very relieved. "It turned out that they were sent by little apprentice sister Yilin. Then they must not be enemies of mine. It seemed that they had lost a bet and thus had to come to get me. It"s funny that they still want to save their faces and claim to have actually won the bet instead."

"That"s a good idea," he said. "The elite master hand from the Songshan Sword School said that he looked down the most upon those six old freaks with horsy faces that looked like tangerine skins, and as soon as he sees the six of them, he would nip them dead one by one like nipping puny ants. Too bad that as soon as those six old freaks hear his voice, they all immediately ran far way and there was no way for him to find them."

At these words, the six freaks roared in great outrage. The four of them who had been carrying Linghu Chong sat him back down on the ground and then shouted all together.

"Where is this guy? Take us to him. We"d like a fight with him."

"What about the Songshan Sword School or the Taishan Sword School? Humph! Peach Valley"s Six Fairies think nothing of them."

"Is he insane or something? How dare he nip Peach Valley"s Six Fairies dead like nipping puny ants?"

"Well, you call yourselves Peach Valley"s Six Fairies, but he kept on calling you Peach Valley"s Six Trolls, or sometimes Peach Valley"s Six Kids. I"d advise the Six Fairies of you to better stay as far away from him as possible. That guy"s Kung Fu is so vicious. You don"t stand a chance fighting him," Linghu Chong added.

"No way! No way! Let"s go fight him and see who"s better," a freak shouted out.

"I think this doesn"t look too good. If that elite master hand from the Songshan Sword School dares to say so, he must have superb skills to back himself up. He had called us Peach Valley"s Six Kids, then he probably is a senior master of ours, and we probably can"t beat him in a fight. The less trouble we have to deal with, the better. Why don"t we go back now?" another freak suggested.

"Sixth brother has the least guts. We haven"t even had the fight yet. How do you know we can"t beat him?" another one exclaimed.

"What if he really can nip us dead like nipping ants? Wouldn"t that be real bad luck? And after we fight him, we"d all be nipped dead already, how could we run away by then?" the coward freak asked.

"That"s right!" Linghu Chong laughed out loud inwardly. "If you want to run away, you need to hurry up. If he gets the news and then comes after you, you won"t have enough time to run away by then."

Hearing these words, the coward freak immediately started running. Only after a blurry flash, he had already vanished from everyone"s sight.

"Wow, he"s gotten really excellent Qing-Gong skills." Linghu Chong thought to himself in surprise.

"Sixth brother has no guts. It"s alright that he ran away. We"ll go fight that elite master hand from the Songshan Sword School," a freak proposed.

"Let"s go! Let"s go! Peach Valley"s Six Fairies are undefeatable! Why would we be afraid of him?" the rest of the freaks all agreed.

"Hurry up and take us over there. Let"s see how he"ll nip us dead like nipping puny ants," a freak said as he patted on Linghu Chong"s shoulder gently.

"Well, I can take you over, but as a true man, I, Linghu Chong, will never let others force me into doing things. I really resented it when I heard that Songshan Sword School elite master hand ridicule the six of you left and right. Also because I admired the superb Kung Fu of yours very much, that"s why I am volunteering to take you over there from a sense of justice so you can get even with him. If you force me to do this or that simply because you have more bodies here, I"ll never do it even if I have to die!" Linghu Chong announced.

"Great! You have quite some integrity and sharp eyes too to be able to see that the six brothers of us have superb Kung Fu skills. We brothers admire you too!" the five freaks all applauded.

"If so, I"d be glad to take you guys over there. When you see him, you must not speak or act irresponsibly, so people in the Martial World won"t hold you guys for ridicule and say that Peach Valley Six Fairies are naive, childish and lack common sense. You have to all listen to my instructions, otherwise, you will make me lose face greatly and we"ll all look stupid," Linghu Chong said.

He was just testing water here. Who would have thought that the five freaks immediately agreed with no complaints whatsoever?

"That"s perfect! We can"t ever let others call us, Peach Valley"s Six Fairies, naive, childish and lack common sense!" the five of them answered in unison.

Apparently they have heard those words "naive, childish and lack common sense" many times already, and considered them very embarra.s.sing comments. Linghu Chong"s words were almost like music to their ears.

"Good. Will you please follow me?" Linghu Chong nodded at them and then hurried down the mountain path.

The five freaks followed right behind Linghu Chong carrying Lu Dayou with them. Only after a couple of miles, they found the coward freak popping his head up and down to peek out from behind a big rock. Linghu Chong figured that this one definitely needed some encouragement, so he said to him.

"That Songshan Sword School"s old folk"s Kung Fu is far from yours. You don"t need to be afraid of him. We are going there to kick his a.s.s. Why don"t you come with us?"

"Great! I am going too!" the freak said with great joy. However, he immediately asked again, "Well, you said that his Kung Fu is far from mine. Is his Kung Fu far better than mine or far worse?" He was quite timid, so naturally he was very cautious.

"Of course yours is far better than his. When you were running earlier, I could tell that you have outstanding Qing-Gong skills. That old folk from the Songshan Sword School will never be able to keep up with you," Linghu Chong said with a grin.

That freak was very pleased and decided to join the group, walking next to Linghu Chong, but he still wasn"t too sure about it, and asked, "What if he did catch up with me? What then?"

"I"ll always be by your side, and if he ever dares to catch up with you, humph! Humph!" Linghu Chong pulled his sword half a foot out of the sheath and then snapped it back in with a forceful push. "I"ll whack him with a single thrust!" he said.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Hey, you have to keep your words!" the freak said with great joy!

"Of course! If he can"t keep up with you, then I don"t need to kill him," Linghu Chong promised.

"Sure! If he can"t keep up with me, then we"ll let him go." The freak smiled happily.

Linghu Chong laughed hard inwardly. He thought to himself, "Once you start running, I am sure it wouldn"t be an easy task to keep up with you!" He then figured, "These six old folks are unsophisticated and honest. They aren"t bad guys. It wouldn"t be a bad idea to make acquaintances with them." So he spoke again.

"Six Fairies, your names have long resounded in my ears! Today I finally get to meet all of you. And sure enough, you all live up to your reputation. I was wondering what are the respectful names of the six of you?"

The six freaks had no idea that what Linghu Chong just said was totally illogical, and as soon as they heard him saying that their names had long resounded in his ears, all were wild with joy.

"I am the big brother. My name is Peachtree Root Fairy," one said.

"I am the second. My name is Peachtree Trunk Fairy," another one said.

"I am either the third or the fourth. My name is Peachtree Branch Fairy," a third one said. He pointed at a fourth one and said, "He is either the third or the fourth. His name is Peachtree Leaf Fairy."

"How come you don"t even know if you are the third or the fourth yourselves?" Linghu Chong asked in surprise.

"It"s not that we don"t know. It"s because my mom and dad forgot about it," Branch Fairy explained.

"When your mom and dad gave birth to you, if they forgot that they had ever given birth to you, as a little kid, how would you know if there"s a you in the world?" Leaf Fairy interrupted.

"Right! Right! Luckily my parents remembered that they gave birth to me." Linghu Chong nodded while working hard to hold his laugh.

"Here you go!" Leaf Fairy said.

"So how did your parents forget about it?" Linghu Chong asked.

"At the time when Mom and Dad gave birth to us, the two brothers, they remembered who was the elder one and who was the younger one, however, they forgot about it a few years later. That"s why we don"t really know who is the third and who is the fourth," Leaf Fairy said. He pointed at Branch Fairy and said, "He really wanted to be the third, and if I don"t call him third brother, he would start a fist fight with me. So I had to let him have it."

"So you are two brothers." Linghu Chong smiled.

"Yeah! We are six brothers!" Branch Fairy said.

Linghu Chong thought to himself, "Well, parents are dumb parents, no wonder they gave birth to six dumb sons."

"What are you two"s names?" Linghu Chong asked the rest two.

"Let me tell him. I am the sixth. My name is Peachtree Fruit Fairy. My fifth brother is named Peachtree Flower Fairy," the coward freak announced.

Linghu Chong was unable to stifle a laugh, thinking, "The Peachtree Flower Fairy has such an ugly face. He really has nothing even comparable to a peach tree flower."

Seeing Linghu Chong"s smiling face, Flower Fairy said happily, "Among the six brothers, my name is the most beautiful one. Theirs are no match for mine!"

"Peachtree Flower Fairy is such a pleasant name, and Peachtree Root, Peachtree Trunk, Peachtree Branch, Peachtree Leaf, and Peachtree Fruit are all beautiful names too. Wonderful! Wonderful! If I could have a name so beautiful and pleasant, I"d be delighted beyond words."

Every one of the six Fairies felt unspeakable happiness and couldn"t help but dance with joy, feeling that Linghu Chong was truly the number one nice guy in the world.

"Let"s keep going now. Will one of the Peachtree brothers please open my apprentice brother"s point? Your point-sealing techniques are way too advanced for me. There"s no way I"ll be able to open his point all by myself," Linghu Chong said with a smile.

Each getting a flattery, Peach Valley Six Fairies immediately vied with each other in rushing by Lu Dayou to open his sealed points.

From the "Cliff of Contemplation" to the "House of Integrity" of the Huashan Sword School, it was somewhere between three or four miles. Other than Lu Dayou, everybody had good Qing-Gong skills and it took them almost no time to arrive at the outside of "House of Integrity." As soon as they got there, Linghu Chong saw Lao Denuo, Liang Fa, Shi Daizi, Yue Lingshan, Lin Pingzhi, and the bunch of dozens of apprentice brothers and sisters all standing outside of the hall way looking quite worried. Seeing that the big apprentice brother had arrived, everyone felt a bit relieved.

Lao Denuo greeted them and whispered to Linghu Chong, "Big apprentice brother, Master and Master-Wife are greeting guests inside."

Linghu Chong turned his head back and signaled Peach Valley Six Fairies to not make any sound while they stand there waiting.

"Those six are my friends. You don"t have to worry about them. Let me go have a look," he whispered to Lao Denuo and then peeked inside from the crack of the hall windows.

Normally when Yue Buqun and Madam Yue greet guests, apprentices would never have peeked in from the outside, however, since the Huashan Sword School was in great trouble right now, all the apprentices didn"t think what Linghu Chong did was anything inappropriate at all.

.......

[1] Emei in Chinese genuinely means beautiful women. Emei sting here has nothing to do with Emei Sect mentioned earlier in the novel. It"s used because the weapon is specifically used by women.

[2] Just want to clarify that the character Feng here is a different one from the Feng in Feng Qingyang"s name.