The closer they were from the Five-Tyrant Ridge, the more people greeted them alongside the road. Although every one of them gave a brief self-introduction of himself, Linghu Chong could not remember the great amount of information. Finally, the horse-drawn wagon stopped in front of a tall ridge. The ridge of hill was covered by a dense ma.s.s of pine trees, and a mountain road zigzagged upward, leading to the top.

Huang Boliu helped Linghu Chong out of the horse-drawn wagon to the side of the road, where two big fellows carrying a bamboo carriage had been waiting. Thinking that Master, Master-Wife and little apprentice sister would have to climb up the ridge on foot while he took the carriage, Linghu Chong felt uneasiness brewing inside him.

"Master-Wife, why don"t you take the wagon? I can walk by myself," he suggested.

"The Young Master Linghu is the one they are greeting, not your Master-Wife," Madam Yue replied with a grin before striding up the mountain road, followed by Yue Buqun and their daughter, Yue Lingshan.

Having no other alternatives, Linghu Chong sat down in the bamboo carriage chair. The two carriers lifted the carriage and soon entered a large clearing in the middle of the woods on top of the hill, where patches of crowds had scattered about all over it. Judging from the looks and expressions of these people, Linghu Chong knew that these were all the kind of rough fellows from the unorthodox factions of the Martial World. At the sight of Linghu Chong"s arrival, the crowd rushed forward like a swarm of bees.

"Is this the Young Master Linghu?" many asked eagerly.

"Here are some panaceas pa.s.sed done from my ancestors that can return the dead to life," a man shouted.

"I dug this matured, human-shaped ginseng[1] out in Mount Changbai twenty years ago. Young Master Linghu, will you please have it!" another one offered.

"These seven men are the most skilled and renowned doctors in the eastern Shandong Province. I"ve invited them here to check on Young Master Linghu"s pulse," a third person announced.

All seven doctors were tied up tightly around their wrists, and a rope stringed them all together. Looking wan and sallow, each of them showed a gloomy face, none had any trace of superiority, the kind normally displayed on the face of a renowned doctor, left in him. Obviously the man had kidnapped them all, and the word "invitation" was far from the truth.

"I"ve taken a little bit of every kind of precious medicine in the entire Jinan City, so if Young Master Linghu needs anything specific, we won"t be unprepared," carrying two large bamboo basket on his shoulders, a man declared.

Most of the people in the crowd are rough and coa.r.s.e fellows, and many dressed in strange and unusual outfits, but Linghu Chong had no doubt about their sincerity and was utterly grateful. Having suffered many setbacks just lately and having been living on the brink of death for the last many days, Linghu Chong found himself much more emotional. At the sight of the many caring faces, a warm feeling swelled in his heart, and soon big drops of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Dear friends, Linghu Chong is only a n.o.body in this world, yet the many of you…have shown me great care and concern…I really don"t know…don"t know how I"ll ever be able to repay your kindness…." cupping his hands in greetings, Linghu Chong spoke, but only after a few sentences, he choked with sobs. Not able to express his grat.i.tude with words, he knelt down and bowed his head to solute, which immediately caused uproar in the crowd.

"We certainly don"t deserve such high honor!" "Please, please stand up!" "You are really embarra.s.sing us now." Amid the many scattered replies, people in the crowd also knelt down on their knees and saluted back. Within moments, except Yue Buqun, the group of Huashan apprentices, and the Peach Valley"s Six Fairies, the over one thousand people atop the Five-Tyrant Ridge were all on their knees. Didn"t want to give the misimpression of taking the salute from the many people, Yue Buqun and the rest of the Huashan members turned sideways and took a few steps back, while the Peach Valley"s Six Fairies pointed their fingers at the crowd in total amus.e.m.e.nt, spilling streams of drivels and laughing their heads off.

After several bows, Linghu Chong stood back up, tears streaming out from his eyes. "Regardless of what intention these friends have, I am willing to risk any danger for their sake, even if I"ll have my body smashed into pieces," he thought to himself.

"Young Master Linghu, this way please. You can take a rest at the shack over there," Chief Huang Boliu of the Heavenly River Faction proposed and then ushered Linghu Chong and the Yue Buqun couple into a shack.

The shack was made of straws and appeared to have just being built very recently. A table and a few chairs occupied the middle of the shack, and a teakettle and a set of teacups sat on top of the table. Huang Boliu waved his hand, and immediately, his subordinates brought in wine and poured a cup for each of them. More people walked in and brought plates of beef jerky, ham, and the kind of snacks that goes well with wine. Linghu Chong picked up the cup in front of him and then walked out of the shack.

"Dear friends," he spoke out loud, "this is the first time I"ve met many of you, so naturally we need a toast for the new friendship. From now on, you are all good friends of Linghu Chong. Starting from today, we"ll share joy and sorrow, weal and woe. Let all of us, all good friends here, start by sharing this cup of wine first!" At that word, he swung his right arm and poured the wine in the cup toward the sky, which immediately separated into thousands of small drops and splashed everywhere.

"Young Master Linghu said it right! Starting from today, we"ll share joy and sorrow, weal and woe, with you!" cheers resounded like rolls of thunder as the crowd replied in unison.

Yue Buqun knitted his brows as he thought to himself, "Chong is behaving so rashly and unruly, having no concern about the consequences of his action. When he saw that these people cared for him, he didn"t even think before saying that he would share joy and sorrow, weal and woe with them. Among these people here, most likely not even a single one of them is a law-abiding citizen, and many might have easily fallen into the same league as the notorious Tian Boguang. When they raid homes and plunder houses, **** and loot, are you going to share the joy? When we, people of the orthodox schools, exterminate these hoodlums, are you going to share the sorrow?"
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"Why all the friends here, today, are caring so much for me, Linghu Chong, I have no clue," Linghu Chong went on. "But whether I know, or don"t know, that doesn"t matter. Whatever the puzzledom is, you can tell it to my face. A true man is as open as the day, and always speaks out his mind. If there"s anything Linghu Chong can do for you, even if I have to climb a hill of knifes or go through a forest of swords, I dare not to decline."

He had thought that these people didn"t even know each other before, yet all tried very hard to befriend him, then naturally they must have something very important that needed his help. Since he was going to give his word anyhow, even if that was something he was incapable of doing, so what? He was going to die very soon anyway.

"Where did you get that idea, Young Master Linghu," Huang Boliu answered. "The many friends here heard that Young Master was coming, and out of admiration and respect, all of us just happen to coincide and gathered here, so we can have a look at your elegant demeanor with reverence. We also heard that Young Master was not feeling well, that"s why some of us invited renowned doctors, and some others gathered different kinds of medicine. We definitely have no request of any kind for Young Master. We are not from the same group. Many of us have only heard about each other before, and some didn"t even get along. But since Young Master have said that we should share joy and sorrow, weal and woe, starting from today, even if we weren"t good friends before among ourselves, we are good friends now."

"Naturally! Chief Huang said it perfectly," the crowd replied all together.

"Young Master, why don"t you go back in the shack and have these seven renowned doctors check out your pulse?" the man who pulled a string of doctors behind him stepped forward and suggested.

Linghu Chong thought to himself, "Even Doctor Ping One-Finger, such an extraordinary doctor has concluded that there"s no cure for my injuries, what else could the seven doctors of yours find?" But for fear of hurting the man"s good intension, he could not object, and had to step back inside the shack. The man dragged the seven doctors into the shack as if they were a string of frogs, which brought a grin on Linghu Chong"s face.

"This brother, why don"t you set them free. I am sure they won"t be able to run away," Linghu Chong proposed.

"If Young Master says so," the man answered, and soon broke the rope into pieces with six popping sounds. "If you can"t cure Young Master Linghu, I"ll break your necks the same way," he yelled at the doctors.

"I…I"ll try my best. But there"s…there"s no doctor who can always guarantee a cure," one of the doctors muttered.

"Young Master here is glowing with health and radiating vigor. I am sure his illness can be easily rid off with a dose of medicament," another doctor added immediately as all of them rushed forward to check Linghu Chong"s pulse.

Suddenly someone shouted at the shack"s doorway, "Get out of here, all of you! You useless quacks!"

Linghu Chong turned his head around and immediately spotted "Killer Doctor" Ping One-Finger.

"Doctor Ping, you"ve come too. I thought none of these doctors would have been of any use," he said happily.

Ping One-Finger entered the shack. Raising his left foot, he suddenly threw a kick at one of the doctors. Bang! The doctor flew out of the shack. Without any delay, he raised his right foot. With another loud bang, a second doctor was kicked out of the shack.

The man who had brought all the doctors along seemed to have quite an awe against Ping One-Finger. Turning toward the group of doctors, he yelled loudly.

"Doctor Ping, the number one doctor in the world, has arrived. How dare you show yourselves up in front of him?"

Another two loud bangs rose as the man also kicked two of the doctors out of the shack. Terrified, the rest three doctors staggered out of the shack. The man bowed timidly with a smiling face, obviously trying to please Ping One-Finger.

"Young Master Linghu, Doctor Ping, I wasn"t thinking right. Will you please pardon…?" he said, when suddenly, Ping One-Finger raised his left foot, and with another loud bang, sending the man flying out of the shack.

Linghu Chong was astounded, having not expected such a result at all. Without saying another word, Ping One-Finger took a seat next to Linghu Chong and placed his fingers on Linghu Chong"s right wrist to check his pulse. After a good while, he switched to Linghu Chong"s left wrist and began checking this one instead. After another good while, he switched back to Linghu Chong"s right wrist once again. Thus, switching back and forth, he checked Linghu Chong"s pulse again and again. Knitting his brows almost into a straight line, he pondered with all his might, his eyes shut tightly.

"Doctor Ping!" Linghu Chong finally broke the silence. "Life and death lie in the lap of fate. My injury is just too severe to cure. It has already troubled you twice, and I simply can"t be thankful enough for your kindness. There is really no need to trouble you any further."

Loud noise and excitement rose from the outside, soon followed by the sounds of people playing wine games on top of their tongues – apparently people from the "Heavenly River Faction" had brought in shipments of food and wine to supply the crowd. Linghu Chong"s mind seemed to have slipped out from the shack so he could join the crowd outside to have a jolly time, but Ping One-Finger switched back and forth with his two wrists, as though there was never going to be an end to it.

"Doctor Ping"s name is Ping One-Finger," Linghu Chong thought to himself secretly, "and he always claimed that he only needed one finger to check one"s pulse for a cure and only one finger to seal one"s acupoint for a kill. But look how many fingers is he using on me now? If I am not mistaken, he is using all ten of them."

A loud cracking sound suddenly interrupted his thought. A man stuck his head inside the shack, and it turned out to be the Trunk Fairy.

"Linghu Chong! Why aren"t you drinking wine with us?" Trunk Fairy asked.

"I"ll be right there. You"d better wait for me! Don"t get yourself filled up too quickly," Linghu Chong answered.

"Sure!" Trunk Fairy replied. "Doctor Ping, you"d better hurry up!" At that word, he pulled his head out.

Slowly, Ping One-Finger drew his hands away from Linghu Chong"s wrists. Eyes still shutting tight, he drummed his right index finger on the table gently as though greatly puzzled. Opening his eyes after a long while, he finally spoke.

"Young Master Linghu! There are seven types of energy streams inside your body, constantly crashing against each other. There is no pa.s.sageway for them to exit out, and there"s no hope to tame them either. This is neither a case of poison, nor a wound inflicted by a blade, much less illness caused by cold or fever, thus not something treatable with medicine or acupuncture."

"Right," Linghu Chong acknowledged.

"Since that day when I checked your pulse in the town of Zhuxian, I"ve already figured out a solution, which, with some luck, might work the wonder. I was going to gather seven martial arts masters, who have superb and resourceful inner energy, to work on you all at once, and eradicate the seven types of energy streams once for all. I"ve already invited three of them to come here today. It shouldn"t be difficult to find two more qualified masters among the crowd. Then when you count your Master, Mr. Yue, and I in, everything would have been ready. But when I checked your pulse just now, I couldn"t help noticing some dramatic changes in the situation, which completely complicated things to the extreme."

"Oh!" Linghu Chong responded.

"During the last several days, four dramatic changes had taken place. Change number one: Young Master took dozens of ultrnutritious tonics, among which were precious medicaments such as ginseng, Polygonum multiflorum, Glossy Ganoderma, Tuckahoe, and the like. But the effects of these tonics were actually intended for female patients."

"Wow!" Linghu Chong exclaimed. "You are absolutely right! That"s amazing! Such excellent skills had to be rare in all ages."

"Why did Young Master take these tonics?" Ping One-Finger went on. "Most probably a quack was to blame. How detestable and irritating!"

"Zu Qianqiu thought he was doing me a favor when he stole Old Man"s "Life-Extending Eight Pills" to feed me," Linghu Chong thought to himself. "How could he have known that there are different tonics between male and female? If I spill the beans, for sure Doctor Ping would blame him. It"s probably better if I just keep this to myself." At that thought, he said, "It"s my own fault. I can"t really blame anybody else."

"You didn"t lack any energy. Quite on the contrary, you had too much energy in you. Now when you suddenly took so much of these tonics, you"ve worsened the case. Think about it. If the water in the Yangtze River has already risen to a dangerous height, what will happen if the water controller keeps directing even more water into it from the Dongting Lake and the Boyang Lake? A Disaster! These types of tonics would only have benefited congenitally deficient young females. Unfortunately Young Master took them. Alas! How Harmful!"

"I just hope Miss Old Not-Dead, the daughter of Old Man, will eventually recover after drinking my blood," Linghu Chong thought.

"Change number two: Young Master, you have lost a great amount of blood all of a sudden. How could you have gotten yourself into fights and brawls so recklessly with your already injured body? Scrambling for supremacy with fierce means in no way leads to a prolonged life. Alas, that one thought so highly of you, yet you have no regard for yourself. A true man can wait ten years before seeking his revenge; why couldn"t you have waited a bit longer and had to seek the instant pleasure?" Ping One-Finger shook his head again and again as he spoke, a disapprobatory expression brewing on his face. If his patient weren"t Linghu Chong, he would probably have smacked him hard on the face, or, at least, have poured out endless of invectives.

"You are absolutely right, senior master," Linghu Chong replied.

"If your losing much blood were the only problem we have to worry about, it would still have been manageable. But why did you mix yourself up with people from the Yunnan Five-Sylph Sect and drank their Five-Sylph MegNourishing Wine?" Ping One-Finger"s voice became more and more irritated.

"Five-Sylph MegNourishing Wine?" Linghu Chong repeated in surprise.

"Yes, the Five-Sylph MegNourishing Wine – brewed using the secret formula of the Five-Sylph Sect pa.s.sed down generation after generation," Ping One-Finger murmured. The five venomous pests in the wine were extremely precious. It was said that each one takes decades to cultivate. There are also dozens kinds of rare plants in the wine, together with the five venomous pests, they produce a strange yet powerful balance. The drinker of this wine will be void of harm from all diseases and poisons, and also gain inner energy worth ten years of training. It is the most miraculous tonic existing in the world. I"ve yearned for a chance to see it for many years. I heard that Blue Phoenix the girl always maintains a good moral integrity and never even looks encouragingly to any man. Who would have expected that she would give you the most precious medicated wine of her sect? Alas, the loose youth, stealing young girls" hearts wherever he goes, ignorant of the harm this has brought upon himself!"

Linghu Chong couldn"t help but let out an embarra.s.sed smile. "Chief Blue and I have only met once before. It was on our boat when we sailed east along the Yellow River. I am indebted to her for presenting me the Five-Sylph Wine. But other than that, we had no a.s.sociation whatsoever," he explained.

After gazing at him for a good while, Ping One-Finger nodded.

"In that case, I suppose it was only for the sake of that one, did Blue Phoenix give you the Five-Sylph MegNourishing Wine. But the extra nourishment only resulted in more energy inside you, which, in turn, caused more damage. Besides, even though the wine is megnourishing, it is megpoisonous, also. d.a.m.n! What a big mess this is! All they have at the Five-Sylph Sect are a few odd prescriptions pa.s.sed down from past generations. What stinking nonsense medical principles did Blue Phoenix the little chick understand? What a G.o.d d.a.m.ned big mess this is in!" Ping One-Finger went frantic.

Linghu Chong listened on as Ping One-Finger poured out streams of profanities. "He"s certainly gotten an unusually hot temper," he couldn"t help thinking. But then as soon as he noticed Ping One-Finger"s gloomy face and the fluctuating chest below, obviously from the sincere caring for his well being, he regretted it.

"Senior master Ping, Chief Blue only had good intentions…." he said.

"Good intentions! Good intentions! Humph! When the many quacks misdiagnosed their patients and got them killed, which one of them didn"t have good intentions? You tell me! Did you know that people die everyday because of misdiagnoses from quacks are far more than people who die from a blade in the Martial World?" Ping One-Finger snarled.

"There"s a good possibility that might happen," Linghu Chong replied.

"What possibility? That"s the fact," Ping One-Finger bellowed. "What makes Blue Phoenix think that she can just stick her nose in this? Who the h.e.l.l does she think she is, messing with my patient? At the moment, your blood contains severe poisons. If I attempt to neutralize them one by one, they would clash violently with the seven types of energy streams inside you, and you wouldn"t even last three hours."

"Those severe poisons in my blood probably have nothing to do with the Five-Sylph Wine I drank," Linghu Chong couldn"t help but think. "Chief Blue and those four Miao girls used their own blood when they gave blood to me. They live and deal with poisonous pests day and night, even their food has poisonous element, then naturally their blood must have contained various poisons. Only that they"ve grown accustomed to that, and the various poisons could no longer affect their bodies. I"d better not mention a word about this, or else, he might lose his temper completely." At that thought, he said, "Medical principles and pharmacology are subtle and abstruse subjects. It"s only naturally that a common person won"t be able to understand them thoroughly. "

Ping One-Finger heaved a sigh and then went on. "If taking the tonics by mistake, losing a great deal of blood, and drinking the medicinal wine were all the problems there are, I can still manage to overcome. But the fourth dramatic change has really left me at a loss as to what to do. Alas, you"ve only have yourself to blame for that!"

"Yes, I have only myself to blame," Linghu Chong echoed.

"In the last several days, why have you suddenly become so downhearted and completely lost the will to live? What happened? What caused the grievance? Last time when I checked your pulse at the town of Zhuxian, even though you were severely injured, I could still feel the vigorous flow in your heart arteries with thriving vitality. That was when I decided to extend your life for another one hundred days, so I could try my best to find a way to cure your bizarre injury within the one hundred days. At that time, I was not one hundred percent certain about the solution, and didn"t have the need to explain everything to you. But why have you completely lost the thriving vitality?"

At that question, a strong feeling of sorrow instantly swelled up in Linghu Chong"s heart as he thought to himself, "Before, when Master had suspected me of embezzling Little Lin"s Evil-Resisting Sword Ma.n.u.script, it was still alright. With a clear conscience, I felt no qualms. Eventually doubts will clear up when facts are known. But…but even little apprentice sister began suspecting me, and thought of me as a worthless thief deep in her heart for the sake of Little Lin. That snuffed the last bit of life out of me. There would be no joy for me to continue living in this world."

But Ping One-Finger did not wait for him to answer and spoke again. "Your pulse is telling me that this, again, has something to do with the remorse of love. Can"t you see that all women in the world have a detestable face and a dull tongue? It would be best if you can keep your distance from them. Only when you fail at avoiding them should you tolerate with utmost effort and deal with them courteously but without sincerity. Why are you so muddleheaded and longing for them day and night, instead? That"s so very much wrong! Although, although that one…alas, I don"t know what I should say about that!" At that word, he shook his head wearily.

"Your wife certainly has a detestable face and a dull tongue," Linghu Chong thought, "but it"s not necessary that women in the world are all like that. It"s so funny that you are using your own wife to generalize all women in the world. If little apprentice sister were to have a detestable face and a dull tongue…"

His thoughts were interrupted when Flower Fairy suddenly showed up at the entrance of the shack, each hand holding a large bowl filled with wine.

"Hey, Doctor Ping! Have you cured him yet?" Flower Fairy asked.

"He is incurable!" Ping One-Finger grunted, pulling a long face.

"Incurable?" Flower Fairy was taken by surprise. "Whacha gonna do then?" Turning toward Linghu Chong, he said, "Why don"t you come out and drink with us then."

"Sure!" Linghu Chong replied.

"No, you won"t! You stay here!" Ping One-Finger bellowed in a croaked voice.

That gave Flower Fairy a good fright. Turning on his wheels, he left in a hurry, splashing the bowls of wine all over himself.

"Young Master Linghu," Ping One-Finger spoke again, this time in a much calmer voice. "Even G.o.d himself would probably have a real hard time healing you completely. It is still possible to extend your life for several more months or even several more years, though. But you must listen to my advice. Firstly, you must abstain from wine. Secondly, you must stop being fanciful and fickle. Stay away from all women. You can"t even fancy any woman, period. Thirdly, you must not get into fights with others. If you successfully abstain yourself from wine, women, and fights, then you can probably live a few years longer."

Linghu Chong suddenly broke into a loud laugher.

"What"s so funny," Ping One-Finger snarled.

"When a man lives his life, he has got to enjoy himself carefree. If he couldn"t even drink wine, fancy women, or defend himself when bullied, what good is he? He"d rather die before it"s too late, to end it quickly."

"I demand you to abstain yourself. If I can"t cure you, my reputation will be completely ruined," Ping One-Finger snapped.

Reaching out with his left hand, Linghu Chong held onto the back of Ping One-Finger"s right hand. "Senior master Ping, I am utterly grateful for your great kindness. But life and death lie in the lap of fate. Even with your most excellent skills, it is still no use to try to cure someone destined to die. Not being able to cure my injury will not affect senior master"s reputation in the least."

Crack! Another man stuck his head inside the shack, and it was Root Fairy this time. "Linghu Chong, are you all cured?" he shouted.

"Doctor Ping"s skills are miraculous! He has already cured me," Linghu Chong answered.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Root Fairy cried. Rushing into the shack and grabbing Linghu Chong by his sleeves, he pulled. "Let"s go drink! Let"s go drink!"

"Senior master, many thanks!" Linghu Chong bowed deeply toward Ping One-Finger, who totally ignored Linghu Chong and only murmured indistinguishable to himself.

"I knew he"d be able to cure you. He is the "Killer Doctor", isn"t he? Every time when he cures one, he has to kill on. If he can"t cure one, what is he gonna do, then? Wouldn"t that be troublesome?" Root Fairy grinned.

"Nonsense!" Linghu Chong also grinned, and hand in hand, the two of them walked out of the shack.

People in the clearing had all been drinking merrily in cl.u.s.ters for a good while by now. When Linghu Chong walked among them, they kept presenting more and more wine to him, and to everybody"s greatest satisfaction, Linghu Chong would pour it straight down his throat every time. Seeing how Linghu Chong laughed and joked together with them at ease and kept drinking to the limit of his capacity, everybody was overjoyed. "Young Master Linghu"s heroic spirit shines above the ninth heaven! We are filled with heartfelt admiration," they all said.

After drinking over a dozen bowls of wine in succession, Linghu Chong remembered Ping One-Finger. Filling a bowl with wine and singing "Enjoy the wine today while you still can" loudly, he walked back into the shack.

"Senior master Ping, I propose a toast for you!" he said, but what he saw startled him, and the shock instantly sobered him up.

Under the fluttering candlelight, Ping One-Finger"s face appeared to have gone through dramatic changes. A more careful glance soon revealed the differences. The entirely dark hair on his head just moments ago had turned completely gray, and his once smooth and silky face now had deep wrinkles all over it. Within the mere half-an-hour, Ping One-Finger seemed to have aged twenty years. Huddled up by the corner of the table, he was still murmuring to himself.

"When I cure one, I have to kill one. When I can"t cure one, what do I do, then?"

"Linghu Chong"s life does not really worth much. Senior master, why can"t you just let it go?" Burning with the utmost grat.i.tude, Linghu Chong exclaimed loudly.

"If I can"t cure one, I"ll just have to kill myself, to suit the name "Killer Doctor"," Ping One-Finger murmured. He stood up all of a sudden, and after swaying slightly a few times, he spat out a mouthful of blood and then collapsed to the ground.

Astounded, Linghu Chong ran forward and propped Doctor Ping"s head in his arms, only to find that Ping One-Finger had stopped breathing. Carrying the body in his arms, Linghu Chong stood up slowly, sorrow welling up in his chest. Gradually, the noises of drinking and partying outside died away as silence slowly swept across, and the feeling of loneliness and desolation soon filled his heart. He just stood there quietly as drops of tears rolled down his cheeks and fell to his feet. Ping One-Finger"s body seemed to have become heavier and heavier; feeling completely exhausted, he no longer had enough strength to carry it, and had to put it back down to the ground gently.

"Young Master Linghu!" a man walked into the shack quietly and called out in a whisper.

With a quick glance, Linghu Chong recognized him immediately. It was Zu Qianqiu.

"Senior master Zu! Doctor Ping has just pa.s.sed away," he murmured in a mournful voice. But Zu Qianqiu didn"t seem to care much about it, and only whispered to him again.

"Young Master Linghu, I"ve come to ask you for a favor. If anyone asks you about me, would you mind saying that you"ve never met Zu Qianqiu before?"

"Why"s that?" Quite taken aback, Linghu Chong asked.

"It"s really nothing. Only that…only that…er…I"ll see you," Zu Qianqiu replied.

As soon as Zu Qianqiu walked out of the shack, another man entered. It was Sima Big this time.

"Young Master Linghu, I have this really embarra.s.sing…er…embarra.s.sing favor…well…if anyone asks you who have gathered on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge, would you please don"t mention my name? I"d really, really appreciate that."

"Sure, but what for?" Linghu Chong replied.

Sima Big"s face suddenly turned bashful, as if he were a kid who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "That…er…that…," he murmured haltingly.

"If Linghu Chong is not worthy to be your friend, I certainly dare not to claim kinship," Linghu Chong said coldly.

At those words, Sima Big"s face turned scarlet, and in the next minute, he was already on his knees, bowing down deeply.

"Young Master Linghu, that"s not how I feel at all. I was only asking you to not mention about my coming to the Five-Tyrant Ridge so I don"t make someone angry. If Young Master is still doubtful, then just forget about what I said. I was just breaking wind."

"You are been too courteous," Linghu Chong prodded Sima Big up and said hurriedly. "May I ask you a question, Chieftain? Why is it that your coming to the Five-Tyrant Ridge to see me would make someone angry? If this someone detests Linghu Chong so utterly, he can feel free to come after me, and me only…."

Sima Big shoot his hands disapprovingly at once. "What are you talking about, Young Master?" He grinned. "This someone couldn"t have been more fond of you. Why would there be any ill feelings? Alas, I am so crude, putting my foot in my mouth again. Goodbye, Young Master. Well, in a word, Sima Big likes you very much! If there"s anything you ever need me for, anything at all, just give me a howl, and even if I have to step through water or fire to get there, I"ll be there. If I even show a slight frown, I am a stinking, rotten turtle egg!" He gave a hard smack to his own chest and then strode out of the shack, leaving a very confused Linghu Chong inside, alone.

"It"s unquestionable that he was all sincere about what he said to me," Linghu Chong thought to himself, "but why is it that his coming to the Five-Tyrant Ridge would make someone angry? Yet, the one who is angry about it not only has no ill feelings about me, but also cared for me very much. This is really weird! If that someone is truly fond of me, he should have been very pleased that I"ve made so many friends." Suddenly an idea came upon him. "Oh, I got it. This someone must have been a senior master from an orthodox school, that"s why he was very fond of me, yet did not want me to befriend people from the unorthodox sects. Could he be Grand Uncle-Master Feng? But people like that Chieftain Sima are simple and frank. What"s wrong about making friends with them?"

"Young Master Linghu?" Someone cleared his throat and called out in a low voice.

"Chief Huang, come in please," Linghu Chong replied, recognizing Huang Boliu"s voice.

"Young Master Linghu, several friends wanted me to take a message to you. They had to run in light of some urgent matters that just suddenly arose and didn"t have any time to spare for a proper farewell. They ask for your pardon," Huang Boliu said after entering the shack.

"That"s no problem," Linghu Chong replied. And sure enough, the noises from outside had become barely auditable and most of the people probably have already left.

"Well," Huang Boliu continued hesitantly, "this time, we"ve really rushed our fences. First of all, everybody was a bit curious; and secondly, all just wanted to make up to the…Who would have thought…well, of course, a thin-skinned one naturally wouldn"t want to make this widely known. But we are just a bunch of boors and none had a clue. Besides, Chief Blue is a Miao girl, that…."

Huang Boliu just kept uttering words that did not even hang together, and Linghu Chong found himself bewildered.

"Chief Huang, are you trying to ask me to not mention what happened here on the Five-Tyrant Ridge to anyone?" he finally asked.

"Well, others can deny it, but I am stuck. That"s what you get for being the host. I simply have no choice but to admit that the Heavenly River Faction had entertained Young Master on the Five-Tyrant Ridge." Huang Boliu let out a few hollow laughs, looking very much embarra.s.sed.

"It"s not like that entertaining me with wine is a crime guilty beyond forgiveness. Be a true man, what"s this denying nonsense?" Linghu Chong grunted.

"Young Master, it"s not like that," Huang Boliu smiled apologetically. "Alas, I"ve always been a blockhead. If I had asked my daughter-in-law first, or even my granddaughter, we wouldn"t have offended others and still haven"t gotten a clue. Alas, I married my wife when I was seventeen years old. If it weren"t because my wife was so short-lived and died young, I wouldn"t have been so ignorant of a girl"s concern."

"No wonder Master always says that these people are heterodox," Linghu Chong thought. "This man is so incoherent. Just to entertain me with wine, he had to talk to his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter first, then he blames his wife for being too short-lived."

"Well, what"s done is done. I guess there"s only one way out of this. Young Master, would it be all right if you just say that you knew the Old Huang from before and we have been acquaintances for decades? Wait, that"s not right. Would you please just say that our acquaintance can be traced back to eight or nine years back and that you started drinking and gambling with the Old Huang since you were fifteen or sixteen years old?" Huang Boliu continued.

"Didn"t I gamble and drink with you the year I was six? How could you have forgotten? That"s a total of twenty years of acquaintance," Linghu Chong grinned.

Huang Boliu was taken by surprise, but it didn"t take him long to realize that Linghu Chong was just been sarcastic.

"That"s of course great if Young Master will say so, but…but twenty years ago I was in the business of raiding homes and plundering houses, things one wouldn"t be very proud of. How could Young Master have made fiends with me? Well…that…." Huang Boliu squeezed out a wry smile.

"Chief Huang, your frankness about it just shows that you are as open as the day. I simply must have made you a friends of mine twenty years ago!" Linghu Chong exclaimed.

"Excellent, excellent! Twenty-year long friends we are!" Huang Boliu was ecstatic. After throwing a quick glance back over his shoulder, he whispered, "Please take care, Young Master. You have a very kind heart. Even though you are not feeling well at the moment, I am sure your illness can be cured eventually. Besides, the Holy…Holy…is infinitely resourceful…ouch!" With a loud cry, he suddenly turned on his heels and walked off in big strides.

"What holy…holy…infinitely resourceful? This is so bizarre!" Linghu Chong couldn"t help but think.

Sounds of hoof beats became further and further away, and in the end all the noises died down. After staring blankly at the corpse of Ping One-Finger for some moments, Linghu Chong walked out of the shack and immediately found himself thunderstruck. The ridge was entirely deserted by now; there wasn"t even a shadow anywhere, and all it was left was the utter silence that had swept across everything. He had thought that even though the many people had stopped drinking and some were leaving the ridge, they wouldn"t have all left so abruptly.

"Master! Master-Wife!" he called out, raising his voice, but no one answered. "Second apprentice brother! Third apprentice brother! Little apprentice sister!" he called out again, but still no one answered. Other than the crescent moon shining sideways from a corner of the sky, he was the only one atop the s.p.a.cious, yet breezeless Five-Tyrant Ridge.

Wine kettles, bowls, and plates scattered all over the ground, moreover, many kinds of hats, cloaks, and capes were littered everywhere. Apparently everyone had left so hastily that they didn"t even have a spare moment to collect their belongings.

Feeling completely bewildered, Linghu Chong thought to himself, "They have left in such a hurry, as though some kind of great scourges were coming this way and they had to flee right away. When I first met them, these people all looked as though they feared nothing in this world at all. Why have they suddenly all turned timid? This is so bizarre! And where on earth have Master, Master-Wife, little apprentice sister and the others gone to? If danger is really coming this way, why didn"t anyone warn me?"

Suddenly, a sensation of dreariness and loneliness rolled over him as he moaned at the thought that even though it was a big world he lived in, yet no one really cared about him or his safety. Just moments ago, there had been crowds of people who lined up to make up to him, but now, even the Master and Master-Wife, who had always been on intimate terms with him, had abandoned him, just the same.

A cold, plunging sensation in his stomach soared, which subsequently triggered the energy streams inside him to suddenly surge up. He swayed, and then collapsed to the ground. A few groans escaped him as he struggled to get back onto his feet vainly, feeling completely feeble in all his limbs. Closing his eyes, he rested for a few moments, and then struggled again to try to get up, but this time he tried too hard – everything seemed to have suddenly faded into a complete darkness as a buzzing sound ringed loudly in his ears. Before he knew it, he had fallen unconscious.

Still in a state of wooziness and completely unaware of how long he had been out cold, Linghu Chong heard the soft strokes of a zither echoing in his ears indistinctly. Little by little, he regained his senses, and the elegant and soothing sounds of the zither play also became clearer and clearer, which put his mind at complete ease. The song was none other than the "Song of Peace and Serenity," which the granny at Luoyang had played for him before. As soon as Linghu Chong recognized the music, he felt as though he had been drifting in the boundless ocean for days and had suddenly taken in the glimpse of an island in the near distance. Feeling utterly cheerful, he got back onto his feet.

The sound of the music seemed to have come from within the shack made of straws, so Linghu Chong staggered his way toward the shack. The shack door had been shut, and Linghu Chong stopped about six or seven paces from it, thinking, "The sound of the zither could only mean one thing – the granny from the Bamboo-Green Alley in the Luoyang City must have come. Even back in the Luoyang City, she didn"t want me to see her face, how could I just push open the door and enter without her permission?" At that thought, he said with a bow, "Linghu Chong is here to show his respects to the senior master."

The zither made a few tinkling sounds, as though replying to Linghu Chong, and then resumed playing the song. Linghu Chong felt as though the song had carried much comforting and consoling meanings, which gave him ineffable ease. Realizing that after all, there was at least one person who still cared for him, he found himself washed over by the sentiment of grat.i.tude.

"Someone is playing the zither! Those heterodoxy, evil scoundrels haven"t all left, yet," a voice suddenly rose from a distance.

"How dare these evil, lewd devils to come to Henan Province and act unruly? Are they stupid enough to think nothing of us?" a resonant voice replied, and after saying these word, he snarled, raising his voice even higher, "What kind of sc.u.mbags and slimeb.a.l.l.s are you, huh, running wild on the Five-Tyrant Ridge? Give me your names, all of you!" With resourceful inner energy, these words exploded like thunders.

"No wonder Sima Big, Huang Boliu, Zu Qianqiu and the others were scared off at once. There are really master hands from the orthodox schools coming to challenge them," Linghu Chong thought. But deep in his heart, he couldn"t help thinking that running away like this was not something a true man would have done. "But if the people coming could have scared away so many people, they had to be senior masters with extraordinary martial arts skills. What if they ask me about it? How would I answer? It"s probably better if I don"t let them see me."

At that thought, he walked hurriedly behind the shack.

"And in regard of the old granny inside the shack, they probably won"t trouble her," he thought to himself.

By then, the zither inside the shack had stopped playing. Sounds of footsteps rose as three men walked onto the ridge. As soon as they arrived at the top of the ridge, all three uttered a cry of surprise. Obviously none of them had expected to see such a silent and empty scene atop the ridge.

"Where did the scoundrels go?" the man with the thunderous voice asked.

"Obviously, after hearing that the two master hands from the Shaolin School were coming to rid evil, they had all fled, tails between their hind legs," a man in a soft voice answered.

"Don"t mention it! I say mostly it had something to do with the prestige of brother Tan of the Kunlun School,[2]" another man said with a big smile, and all three broke into loud laughter.

"I see. So two of them are from the Shaolin School, and the third one is from the Kunlun School," Linghu Chong thought. "The Shaolin School has always been the most reputable school in the Martial World even since the early Tang Dynasty. Just the Shaolin School alone already enjoys a much more renowned name than the entire alliance of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, and their strength perhaps was stronger as well. And furthermore, the Head Master of the Shaolin School, Abbot Fang-Zheng, is well respected by the entire Martial World. As regard to the Kunlun School, Master mentioned many times before that the sword arts of the Kunlun School fly its own colors and have qualities of both power and speed. When these two schools have joined forces, the combined power can be devastating. Most probably they are only vanguards, and more reinforcement are just on their way. But why did Master and Master-Wife have to avoid them?" Then he thought better of it, "I got it. Master is the Head Master of a reputable orthodox school. It would be embarra.s.sing for him to be seen mixed up with people like Huang Boliu who don"t have a good reputation."

"Didn"t we just hear someone playing the zither a moment ago? Where is that one hiding then? Brother Xin and Brother Yi, there"s something odd here," the man named Tan from the Kunlun School spoke again.

"That"s right! Brother Tan, you are so attentive. Let"s search around and ferret him out," the man with the thunderous voice suggested.

"Senior apprentice brother Xin, I"ll check out that shack over there," another voice replied.

From these words, Linghu Chong could tell that the man"s surname was Yi, and the man with the thunderous voice had a surname of Xin and was the man"s senior apprentice brother. Then he heard the man named Yin walking toward the shack.

"I am alone by myself. It"s already late at night; it would not have been appropriate manners for a female to greet male visitors," a clear voice of a female rose from inside the shack.

"She"s a woman," Xin uttered.

"Was it you who played the zither earlier?" the man named Yi asked.

"That"s right," the granny answered.

"Why don"t you play a few notes for us?" Yi proposed.

"I did not know you before; how could I play the zither for you, sir?" the granny replied.

"Who cares," Xin let out a disgruntled snort. "So many excuses. I bet there"s something odd inside the shack. Let"s get in there and find out."

"What is a woman, alone, doing on the Five-Tyrant Ridge so late at night? Most likely you are of the same kind as those heterodoxy devils. We are coming in for a search," Yi exclaimed and walked toward the shack door.

"Hold it!" Linghu Chong stepped out from his hiding place and yelled, blocking the entrance to the shack.

Having not expected this at all, the three men were slightly taken aback. But when they saw that it was only a young man, they didn"t care much.

"Who are you, young man? What are you doing hiding so sneakily in the dark?" Xin yelled loudly.

"I am Linghu Chong, an apprentice of the Huashan School. I am here to pay my respects to senior masters of the Shaolin School and the Kunlun School," Linghu Chong replied, bowing deeply toward the three.

"Oh, you are from the Huashan School. What are you doing here?" Yi let out a snort and inquired.

Linghu Chong glanced at the three men. The man named Xin was not particularly tall, but his chest protruded out like a drum; no wonder he had such a thunderous voice. Another middle-aged man wore the same type of dark reddish brown long robe; then he had to be the one named Yi from the same school. The man named Tan from the Kunlun School carried a sword on his back. With a loose robe with long sleeves, he dressed with negligent grace.

Instead of waiting for Linghu Chong to answer, Yi asked again, "If you say you are an apprentice of an orthodox school, why are you on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge?"

Ever since Linghu Chong had heard them cursing wildly without a qualm, he had been greatly annoyed. Now when he heard the incivility in the man"s tone, he rebuffed, "The three senior masters are also members of the orthodox schools. Aren"t you on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge as well?"

"Well said," the man named Tan laughed. "About this zither playing woman in the shack, do you know who she is?"

"She is an elderly granny with eminent virtues who stands aloof from the worldly affairs," Linghu Chong replied.

"Nonsense!" Yi reproved. "Listen to her voice. How can she be that old. What granny rubbish!"

"So this granny has a melodious voice. That"s nothing strange! Even her nephew is twenty or thirty years older than you, not mentioning granny herself." Linghu Chong grinned.

"Move aside! We"ll go in and take a look, ourselves," Yi demanded, but Linghu Chong stretched his arms and blocked the way.

"Granny has already said it. It"s already late at night, and it would not have been appropriate manners for a female to greet male visitors. She doesn"t know any of you. Why would she want to see you for no reasons?"

Yi suddenly whisked his sleeve, which sent a stream of force sweeping toward Linghu Chong. Having lost all of his inner strength, Linghu Chong had no way of withstanding the strike. Thump, he collapsed down.

Yi did not expect him to have no inner strength at all, and was taken by quite a surprise. "You say you are an apprentice of the Huashan School? I am afraid you are just blowing your own horn!" he sneered and then walked toward the shack, again.

Linghu Chong stood back up, a scratch mark on his face – apparently from the sharp rocks on the ground.

"Granny does not want to see you. How can you be so insolent? Back in the city of Luoyang, I talked with granny for many days and still didn"t get to see her."

"Hey chap, watch out for your manners. You"d better move aside, or you"ll only end up with another big fall," Yi said with a menacing grin.

"The Shaolin School is the most reputable orthodox school in the entire Martial World. The two of you must have been elite laymen masters of the Shaolin School. And this one must have been a renowned master of the Kunlun School. But bullying an elderly granny late at night? Aren"t you afraid to become the laughing stock for the entire Martial World?" Linghu Chong asked.

"Where do you find so much rubbish?" Yi bellowed. Suddenly, he shot his left hand out and with a loud smack, slapped Linghu Chong heavily in the left cheek.

Although Linghu Chong had lost all of his inner strength, seeing Yi lowing his right shoulder slightly, he knew immediately that Yi was going to strike him with his left hand. He wanted to dodge out of the way hurriedly, except that his body did not comply, and the strike landed on his face, solid and square. The force sent his body spinning and he fell down once again.

"Junior apprentice brother Yi, this man doesn"t know martial arts. There"s no need to lower yourself to the same level as him. Those evil devils have all ran away. Let"s go!" the man named Xin proposed.

"All the heterodoxy evil devils in the Shandong Province and the Henan Province congregated on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge all of a sudden, and then dispersed into nowhere so abruptly. The congregation was strange, and the dispersion was also peculiar. We must get to the bottom of it. I think there"s a good chance we"ll be able to find some clues inside that shack," Yi replied.

Linghu Chong stood up again, a sword now emerging in his grip.

"Senior master Yi, I owe this granny in the shack great favor. As long as I am still breathing, I won"t let you offend her," he declared firmly.

"With what? Just with the sword in your hand?" Yi burst into loud laughter sarcastically.

"I am a junior with only insignificant skills. How can I ever be a match for an elite fighter of the Shaolin School? However, nothing can weigh more than righteous reasons. If you want to enter the shack, you"ll have to kill me first," Linghu Chong replied with dignity.

"Junior apprentice brother Yi, this chap certainly has moral integrity. Why don"t we have it his way and just let it go?" Xin urged.

"I heard that the sword arts of your Huashan School are rather original, and there"s also the break up of the Sword-Branch and the Qi-Branch. Now, do you belong to the Sword-Branch, or the Qi-Branch, or, rather, the Fart-Branch? Hha! Hha!" Yi grinned an evil grin and then broke into a loud laughter. At the sound of his laughter, Xin and Tan also joined him and laughed out loud.

"Use one"s strength to bully the weak, what kind of reputable orthodox schools are you? Did you say that you were members of the Shaolin School? You probably are only boasting!" Linghu Chong spoke again, loud and clear.

Exasperated, Yi raised his right hand and was ready to strike it toward Linghu Chong"s chest. If this strike got launched, for sure Linghu Chong would be killed on the spot.

"Hold it!" Xin stopped Yi from striking out. "Linghu Chong, are you saying that apprentices of a reputable orthodox school can not fight the others?"

"Apprentices of a reputable orthodox school always have legit reasons behind each fight," Linghu Chong answered.

Yi stretched his palm out slowly. "I"ll count one, two, three. By the time I count to three, if you still don"t move aside, I"ll break three ribs of yours. One!"

"Breaking three ribs of mine? That"s nothing!" Linghu Chong let out a slight smile.

"Two!" Yi counted loudly.

"Little friend, this junior apprentice of mine really put words into deeds. I think you"d better move aside quickly," Xin suggested.

"But words coming out of my mouth also count. Linghu Chong is not dead, yet. How can I let you insult the granny?" Linghu Chong replied with a smile.

After these words, Linghu Chong knew that Yi"s palm strike would be soon coming. Taking a deep breath secretly, he put all his strength onto his right arm. But the effort immediately brought a violent pain to his chest as thousands of imaginary golden stars started flickering wildly in front of his eyes.

"Three!" Yi snarled and took a step forward with his left foot. Seeing that Linghu Chong had his back leaning against the door plank of the shack, a sneer brewing on the corner of his mouth, having no intention to move aside, Yi struck out with his right palm.

Linghu Chong almost suffocated when the force carried by the strike reached him. He pushed his long sword out, the tip of his sword pointing at the middle of Yi"s palm. The positioning and the timing of the push were simply brilliant! Yi"s palm strike was already fully executed and it was already too late for him to withdraw the strike. A light dull sound and a loud cry of pain echoed as the tip of the long sword penetrated the middle of Yi"s palm. Pulling his palm backward hastily, with another dull sound, he had drawn his hand off the sword tip, but the damage was done. He had inflicted a severe injury. Leaping back dozens of feet, he drew his long sword by his waist with a mixed feeling of shock and fury.

"The d.a.m.n chap was only acting dumb. So you actually have outstanding Kung Fu. I…I"ll fight you to the end!" he growled.

Xin, Yi, and Tan, all three of them, were experts in sword arts. Seeing that when Linghu Chong pushed his sword put, he wasn"t using any move, and only with his control of the positioning and timing of his sword, he had managed to have his opponent sending his palm onto the tip of the sword of his own accord. His attainments in sword arts had truly reached the highest stage of the realm.

Although Yi was infuriated, he dared not to underestimate Linghu Chong. Holding the long sword in his left hands, he shot out three quick thrusts, all of which were fake attacks to test the opponent. Each of the thrusts only went half way before he drew the sword back.

That night when Linghu Chong had blinded fifteen elite fighters outside of the Buddha of Herb Monastery, even though he had already lost all his inner strength by then, he had still been in a much better shape compared to now. The several ordeals since then had really done him in. By now he almost felt incapable of raising his sword. Seeing the three fake attacks from Yi and how the sword tip vibrated continuously, he knew those must have been superior sword moves of the Shaolin School, which only made him more reluctant of making Yi an enemy.

"I intend absolutely no offense to three senior masters. If the three of you would walk away, I…I will apologize most sincerely."

"It"s too late to beg for mercy now!" Yi grunted. Thrusting his sword forward in lightning speed, he shot the sword tip toward Linghu Chong"s throat.

Linghu Chong knew too well that with his current weak physical condition, there was not a chance that he would be able to dodge out of this attack. Having no alternatives, he also thrust his sword forward. Even though his thrust was launched after Yi"s thrust, it reached the target earlier. With a thud, the tip of his sword struck Yi on the vital acupoint on his left wrist. Yi opened his palm in pain, and his long sword fell to the ground.

By then, the light of dawn had already appeared from the east. Staring at the drops of blood rolling down his left wrist and then dripping down to the ground, Yi couldn"t even believe his eyes. After a long while, he heaved a deep sigh, turned around, and strode away. The man named Xin never wanted to become enemies of the Huashan School to start with. Now after he witnessed this brilliant and unsurpa.s.sed thrust Linghu Chong had just put on display, he knew he wouldn"t even stand a chance fighting Linghu Chong. Concerned about his apprentice brother"s injury, he called out, "Apprentice brother Yi," and then ran after Yi.

"Are you really an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School?" the man named Tan finally asked after gazing at Linghu Chong for a good while.

"Yes, I am!" Linghu Chong answered as he struggled to maintain his balance on the verge of a total collapse.

Tan could tell that Linghu Chong was suffering from very serious internal injuries. Even though Linghu Chong had showed outstanding sword skills, all he had to do was to wait a few moments more. He didn"t even have to attach, and Linghu Chong would just collapse on his own.

"One injured and one scared away, both elite fighters from the Shaolin School suffered setbacks because of this young man from the Huashan School. If I can knock him down and then seize him, bringing him to the Shaolin Temple, not only would I have done the Shaolin School a great favor, our Kunlun School would also look real good in the central region of the Martial World," Tan thought inwardly as he took a step forward and then said with a smile.

"Young man, you sword skills are not too shabby at all. How about a contest in the realm of palm and hand techniques between the two of us? What do you say?"

Just a glance at Tan"s face had given Linghu Chong enough idea about what Tan had in his mind. "This man is so deceitful. He is even more detestable than that Yi from the Shaolin School," he couldn"t help but think. Raising his sword, he stabbed it out toward Tan"s shoulder, but his strength drained out of him so quickly that the stab only traveled halfway before he lost the grip of the sword. "Clank!" His sword fell to the ground.

Tan was almost ecstatic. Wasting no time, he struck out with a powerful palm strike, and the strike landed heavily on Linghu Chong"s chest. Linghu Chong"s body jerked back violently as blood spurted out from mouth. There was only a short s.p.a.ce between the two, and the spurt of blood splashed all over Tan"s face, leaving even a few drops inside his mouth. Tan felt the taste of blood inside his mouth, but he didn"t pay much attention to it, and raised his right palm, ready for another palm strike, deeply afraid that Linghu Chong might pick up his sword and launch a counterattack. But suddenly he felt great dizziness, and before he knew it, he had dropped to the ground.

Seeing that Tan had suddenly fainted when he, himself, was at his last gasp, Linghu Chong was taken by total surprise. But at the meanwhile, he couldn"t help feeling very lucky. Tan"s face now showed a shade of dark color, and the muscle on his face twisted and twitched, making his face looking utterly strange and horrible.

"You have only yourself to blame for not initializing your inner strength properly!" Linghu Chong muttered.

He looked around him in all directions. It was indeed a very strange scene. There was not another person on the Five-Tyrant Ridge. The only sound was the chirping from the many birds on treetops, and the only things left were the many wine kettles, bowls, and dish plates, which scattered all over the place.

"Granny, how have you been these days?" after wiping the blood off his lips with his sleeves, he asked.

"Young Master, you are too fatigued right now. Please sit down and take a rest," the granny replied.

Linghu Chong was truly exhausted by now. Hearing the granny"s words, he sat down to the ground. The zither music rose gently in the shack once again. It almost felt like a stream of clear spring, which had washed over his entire body, and then flew through him. Linghu Chong felt as though his body had become lighter and lighter, and had floated on top of the white clouds that felt like cotton wool. After a long time, the sound of the zither became lower and lower, until eventually it was so dim that it was barely audible.

Linghu Chong felt much rejuvenated. Getting back onto his feet, he bowed deeply.

"Many thanks, Granny. I have benefited a great deal from your kind music."

"You risked your life to repel powerful enemies, saving me from being humiliated by rascals. It is I who feel thankful for you," the granny replied.

"Don"t mention it. I was only doing the right thing."

The granny fell silent, and a few tender sounds from the zither echoed, as though the granny was plucking the strings of the zither randomly while wavering upon something in her mind. After a while, she asked.

"Where…where are you going now?"

Feeling of desolation welled up in Linghu Chong"s heart, which almost choked him and made him cough uncontrollably for a good while. It just seemed that there was not a place between heaven and earth he could shelter himself.

"I…I have nowhere to go," after finally catching his breath, Linghu Chong murmured.

"Aren"t you going to look for your Master and Master-Wife? How about your apprentice brothers and apprentice…sister?"

"Them…I don"t know where they went. With my injury, the chance of finding them is too slim. Besides, even if I do find them, alas!" Linghu Chong heaved a deep sigh, thinking, "Even if I do find them, so what? They don"t want me now."

"You injury is very severe. Why don"t you visit some beautiful scenery to relieve boredom? Wouldn"t that be better than feeling miserable in vain?"

"Granny, you are right!" Linghu Chong let out a few laughs. "I never really cared much about life and death to begin with. Farewell for now! I guess I"ll be strolling about for some fun!"

After bowing toward the shack one more time, Linghu Chong turned around and walked away. But only after three steps, he heard the granny"s voice again.

"Are you…are you leaving already?"

"Yes." Linghu Chong halted his steps.

"But you have severe injuries. If you travel by yourself, there will be no one to tend upon you along the trip. That won"t be appropriate."

Sensing the caring and concern in the granny"s words, Linghu Chong felt another surge of warmth in his heart.

"Thank you, granny, for your kind concern. My injury is incurable. It"s really no difference whether I die earlier or later, here or there."

"Hmm, I see. But…but…" the granny paused for quite a while before finishing her sentence, "what if those two rascals from the Shaolin School come back to cause more trouble? What should I do? And that Tan Diren from the Kunlun School is only unconscious temporarily. Once he wakes up, I am afraid he"ll trouble me more."

"Granny, where are you going? Why don"t I escort you for a stage of the journey?" Linghu Chong suggested.

"That would have been great, except that there"s a big difficulty involved. I am afraid that it will trouble you a great deal," the granny answered.

"Granny, you saved my life. It"s no trouble at all."

The granny heaved a sigh and then said, "A very formidable enemy of mine came to the Bamboo-Green Alley to give me trouble, that"s why I have come here to hide. But I am sure he would trace me down in no time. Your injury has not recovered and won"t be able to fight him. I only want to find a secluded place to hide from him temporarily, so I can wait till all my helps arrive before settling accounts with him. If I ask you to escort me, then firstly, you are injured, and secondly, wouldn"t it bore you to death for such an active and lively young man to accompany such an old granny?"

Linghu Chong burst into loud laughter.

"Is that it? That"s a piece of cake. Where are you headed? I"ll go with you. Even if it"s the end of the earth, as long as I am not dead, I"ll accompany you there."

"I"ll be troubling you then. Are you serious that even if it"s the end of the earth, you"ll still accompany me there?" the granny asked, her voice filled with joy.

"That"s right! Even if it"s the end of the earth, Linghu Chong will accompany Granny there," Linghu Chong promised.

"But there"s another difficulty here," the granny added.

"What is that?" Linghu Chong asked.

"My face is very ugly. Anyone seeing my face will be very much frightened. Therefore I do not wish anyone to see my face. Otherwise, I wouldn"t have objected those three men when they wanted to enter the shack to see me. You must promise me that under any circ.u.mstance, you will never cast a look at me. You can"t look at my face, my body, my hands, my feet, or even my clothes."

"I am grateful that Granny cared for me and I respect Granny very much. What has Granny"s appearance has anything to do with it?" Linghu Chong replied.

"If you can"t promise that, please leave now."

"Fine, fine! I promise. I promise that I"ll never cast a look at you under any circ.u.mstances," Linghu Chong agreed hurriedly.

"You can"t even cast a look at my back," the granny added.

"Could your back have been utterly ugly as well?" Linghu Chong thought to himself. "The ugliest back had to be from a midget, or a hunchback. But even those are no big deal. It"s not gonna be easy if I can"t even look at your back throughout such a long journey."

"You can"t do it?" the granny asked, sensing Linghu Chong"s hesitation.

"I can. I can. If I cast even one look at Granny, I"ll cut my own eyes out," Linghu Chong answered.

"You"d better remember that. You go first. I"ll follow behind you."

"Sure!" Linghu Chong answered and then began taking the path down the ridge. Sounds of footsteps rose behind him. The granny followed.

After walking for a few dozen of feet, the granny handed Linghu Chong a branch from behind.

"You can use this branch as your crutch."

"Okay," Linghu Chong answered.

Using the branch as a crutch to support himself, he walked down the ridge slowly. After some more walking, he suddenly remembered something.

"Granny, you know that name of that Tan from the Kunlun School?" he asked.

"Oh, that Tan Diren is a good hand amount the second generation of apprentices in the Kunlun School. He mastered about sixty to seventy percent of his Master"s sword skills. But compared to his big apprentice brother and second apprentice brother, he is still far behind. That big fellow Xin Guoliang from the Shaolin School has better sword skills than him."

"So that man with a loud voice is named Xin Guoliang. He seemed to be reasonable."

"His junior apprentice brother"s name is Yi Guozi. That one was a total jerk. Those two thrusts of yours, one penetrating his palm, the other one injuring his left wrist, were quite handsome."

"I had no choice. Alas, now I"ve started a feud with the Shaolin School. That can only bring endless of future trouble."

"What about the Shaolin School? There"s a good chance we can beat them. I didn"t expect that Tan Diren would hit you with a palm strike, and I had no idea that you would spurt blood."

"Granny, you saw everything? I wonder why that Tan Diren suddenly pa.s.sed out cold."

"Didn"t you know? Blue Phoenix and the four Miao Girls under her command gave you a lot of blood. They are around venomous pests days and nights, so naturally their blood contained poison. Besides, the Five-Sylph Wine is utmost toxic. When your poisonous blood splashed into his mouth, of course he could not stand it."

"Oh!" Linghu Chong finally understood. "How could I stand it, then? How odd! I never had any grudges against that Chief Blue. I wonder why she would want to harm me."

"Who said she wanted to harm you? She had all good intentions, humph, wishful thinking, wanting to cure your injury and all. To poison your blood yet preserve your life is the trick her Five-Sylph Sect is really good at."

"I see. I thought that Chief Blue had no ill wills toward me. Doctor Ping One-Finger said that her medicinal wine was the utmost tonic."

"Of course she had no ill wills toward you. She couldn"t have had more good wills," the granny exclaimed, which was returned by a smile on Linghu Chong"s face.

"Do you think that Tan Diren will survive it?"

"That depends on his own internal strength and how much poisonous blood splashed into his mouth."

Remembering the expression on Tan Diren"s face after he was poisoned, Linghu Chong couldn"t help but shiver. After walking another hundred of feet, he suddenly remembered another thing and shouted out immediately.

"Oops, Granny, will you please wait here for me? I need to get back onto the ridge."

"Why?" the granny asked.

"The remains of Doctor Ping"s body is still on the ridge and have not been buries yet."

"No need to go back. I"ve already handled his body."

"Oh, so Granny has already given Doctor Ping a burial."

"Nah, it wasn"t a burial. I dissolved his body using dissolvent powder. Did you expect me to stare at a dead corpse all night long? Ping One-Finger didn"t look that great when he was still alive. After he turned into a corpse, you can imagine how he looked."

Linghu Chong answered with a snort, but he couldn"t help thinking that the granny"s behavior was beyond all expectations. He owed Ping One-Finger great favor, and after Ping One-Finger pa.s.sed away, he should have given him a proper burial, but this Granny opted to dissolve the body using dissolvent powder. The more he thought about this, the more uneasy he became, but as to why it was wrong to dissolve the body using dissolvent powder, he could not say.

After the both of them traveled for over a mile, they had arrived at the plain at the foot of the ridge.

"Open your palm!" the granny demanded.

"Okay!" Linghu Chong answered, feeling surprised, wondering what kind of trick she was going to play this time. He opened his palm as directed, and then with a small pop, a small object was thrown from behind his back and fell right in the middle of his palm. It was a yellow pill about the size of one"s little finger.

"Swallow it and then take a rest under that big tree," the granny directed.

"Sure!" Linghu Chong answered and then swallowed the pill down his throat.

"I gave you medicine to extend your life only because I rely on your brilliant sword skills for a safe journey, so you won"t suddenly die on me and make me lose my escort. It"s not because I have any good intentions for…for you, much less an attempt to save your life. You"d better remember that," the granny exclaimed.

Linghu Chong acknowledged with a snort. Walking by the tree he sat down, leaning against the trunk of the tree, when a stream of warmth rose up from his lower abdomen and then flowed into the many pa.s.sages and channels inside his body. It felt as though the stream of warmth also carried much energy and rejuvenated all his internal organs and arteries.

"This pill obviously is of great benefit for me, but the granny just wouldn"t admit that she cared for me, and kept saying that she was only taking advantage of me. There are only people who deny everything once they took advantage of others. Why does she speak the opposite?" Linghu Chong pondered. "And when she threw the pill into my palm, the pill did not even bounce. Apparently she threw it with a sinking force, which could only have been executed with very high-level inner energy. Her Kung Fu skills are much higher than mine. She doesn"t need me to protect her. Well, if this is what she wants, I"ll just comply."

"Granny, are you tired? Let"s go now," after a brief rest, Linghu Chong stood up and said.

"I am tired. I need a bit more rest," the granny answered.

"Okay," Linghu Chong replied as he thought to himself, "For elder people, despite how excellent their Kung Fu skills might be, they still lack the level of vigor a youth possesses. I really should have shown more solicitude for the granny instead of only thinking about myself." At that thought, he sat back down.

"Let"s go," the granny finally said after a long while.

Linghu Chong answered with a nod, and then walked at the front while the granny followed him behind. The pill certainly made a great difference. Linghu Chong found himself walking at a brisk pace. Following the granny"s instructions, he always picked desolated mountain trails. After a few miles of walking, the mountain trail gradually turned more and more rugged and rough, which made Linghu Chong breath more heavily.

"I am tired. I need to take a break," the granny suddenly announced.

"Sure," Linghu Chong responded and then sat down on the ground, thinking to himself, "Her breathing is still deep and calm. She can"t be tired at all. She obviously wants me to take a break, but would rather claim that she was the one tired."

After resting for about ten minutes, the two set out walking again. After turning a mountain ridge, they suddenly heard a loud voice talking.

"Everybody hurry up with your meal. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. This place is apt to get into trouble," the voice exclaimed, which was answered by dozens of people all together.

Linghu Chong paused his steps and glanced over, then saw dozens of men sitting in a circle eating their food on a stretch of meadow by the mountain stream. By then, these men had also spotted Linghu Chong and someone had already shouted out.

"It"s Young Master Linghu!"

Linghu Chong vaguely remembered seeing them on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge the night before. Just when he was about to shout his greetings, suddenly, the dozens of men all froze and goggled toward the direction behind his back in dead silence, their faces looking totally awkward. Some looked terrified, while some others looked perplexed and alarmed, as though they had suddenly encountered something so inexpressibly peculiar, something they did not know how to deal with.

As soon as Linghu Chong saw the bizarre scene, he wanted to look back over his shoulder to find out what on earth had happened behind him that would have turned the dozens of people into clay idols and wooden dummies, but he suddenly realized: these people only reacted like this because they saw the Granny behind him, and he had promised the granny that he would never cast a look at her. At that thought, he hurriedly jerked his head to look forward again. The strength he put in was so overwhelming that his neck muscle ached because of it. But meanwhile, his curiosity soared.

"Why are they so terrified at the sight of the granny? Could the granny have really been so gruesome looking that it makes her totally out of this world?" he couldn"t help but think.

Suddenly, a man raised the dagger he had been using to slice meat and stabbed toward his two eyes. Instantly, blood gushed out of his eye sockets.

"What are you doing?" astonished, Linghu Chong shouted out.

"I lost my eyes three days ago, and have not been able to see anything ever since," the man exclaimed loudly.

Within seconds, another two men also drew their short knives and blinded themselves with a few quick stabs. "We"ve been blind for ages. We could not see a thing," they also exclaimed.

Linghu Chong was dumbstruck. Seeing that the rest men in the group also each drew out their daggers and awls and were about to blind themselves just the same, he yelled out hastily.

"Hey! Hey! Hold it! Let"s talk it over. Don"t hurt yourselves. Why…why do you do that?"

"I was going to swear an oath that I"ll never dare talk about it, but I am afraid that it would not be convincing," a man answered in a saddened voice.

"Granny, please do something. Ask them to stop blinding themselves, will you?" Linghu Chong shouted.

"Very well, I trust you. There"s an island called Twine-Dragon Island in the East Sea. Has any of you heard of it before?" the granny asked.

"There"s an island called Twine-Dragon Island about two hundred miles from the Quanzhou City in Fujian. I heard that it"s an untraversed and desolated island," an old man answered.

"That"s the one. Why don"t you set out right away to have some fun on the Twine-Dragon Island? There"s no need for you to ever come back to the central region again," the granny said.

"We"ll set out right away!" the dozens of men answered in unison, all looking very pleased.

"We"ll never speak to anybody else on our way there," someone added.

"Whether you speak or not, what has that gotten anything to do with me?" the granny spoke in a chilling tone.

"Right! Right! I was just talking rubbish," the man answered immediately, and raising his hands high, he began slapping his own face.

"Go now!" the granny ordered.

At the command, the dozens of men broke into a gallop. The tree blind fellows, helped by the arm by their fellow companions, also walked away in strides. Within moments, all of them had vanished from sight.

Linghu Chong gasped with astonishment. "Just a few words from the granny have banished all those people to a desolate island in the East Sea, with no hope of returning within this life, yet all these people appeared highly delighted at the punishment as though they have just received their pardoned. This is just so inconceivable."

He walked on silently, many thoughts surging in his mind, thinking that the granny following behind him had to be the most eccentric oddball he had ever seen.

"I just hope we won"t walk into more friends from the Five-Tyrant Ridge along our way," Linghu Chong thought to himself. "They all came warmheartedly for curing my injury. If by any chance they b.u.mp into the granny, then either they had to blind themselves, or be banished to some barren island in the sea. That would certainly not be worthwhile. It looks as if the reason why Chief Huang, Chieftain Sima, and Zu Qianqiu asked me to pretend that I had never met them, and the reason why the many people on the Five-Tyrant Ridge dispersed all of a sudden, were all because of this granny. They were scared of this granny. So what…what kind of horrible monster is she?" At that thought, he couldn"t help but shiver.

After they had walked another three or four miles, a voice suddenly shouted a distance away behind them, "That"s Linghu Chong over there." The voice was extremely loud and thunderous. Linghu Chong didn"t even have to guess whose voice that had belonged to – Xin Guoliang from the Shaolin School.

"I don"t want to see him. You muddle with him," the granny declared.

"All right," Linghu Chong answered as the scrubs by his side rustled. The granny had hidden herself among the bushes.

"Uncle-Master, that Linghu Chong is wounded. He can"t walk very fast," Xin Guoliang"s voice rose again.

There was actually still quite a distance between them, but because Xin Guoliang"s voice was simply too loud, even just a casual remark from him would make its way into Linghu Chong"s ears clearly.

"So he came with his Uncle-Master," Linghu Chong thought. Since they"ve already seen him, he decided to just sit by the side of the path and wait for them.

After a short while, sounds of footsteps echoed as several men walked along the path in quick strides. Xin Guoliang and Yi Guozi were both among the group. There were also two monks and a middle-aged man. One of the monks was a very old man with many wrinkles across his face. The other monk was about thirty years of age and held a Buddhist"s Spade in his hand.

Linghu Chong stood up and then bowed down deeply.

"Linghu Chong, a junior of the Huashan School here shows his respects to the many senior masters of the Shaolin School. May I have the honor to hear senior masters" names?" he greeted.

"Chap…" Yi Guozi yelled but interrupted by the old monk.

"Old monk"s Buddhist"s name is Fang-Sheng," the old monk replied.

As soon as the old monk spoke out, Yi Guozi held his tongue, but the glooming expression on his face clearly showed that he was still infuriated about the setback he suffered moments back.

"I pay my respects to the Great Master!" Linghu Chong put his palms together and bowed.

"Young Hero, please don"t be over-courteous. How is your respectful master Mr. Yue?" Fang-Sheng nodded and then spoke with a kind and pleasant countenance.

At first, when Linghu Chong heard the group bearing down after him so menacingly, he was alarmed and on tenterhooks. After seeing Monk Fang-Sheng speaking and behaving with the demeanor of a sensible and accomplished monk, also knowing that monks of the "Fang" generation were the most senior ones in the Shaolin Temple as apprentice brothers of the temple abbot, Great Master Fang-Zheng, he reckoned that Monk Fang-Sheng was not someone who persisted unreasonably like that Yi Guozi and felt some relief at once.

"Thank you for asking, Great Master! My Master is well and sound," he answered respectfully.

"These four are all my Nephew-Apprentices. This monk"s Buddhist"s name is Jue-Yue, this is Nephew-Apprentice Huang Guobo, this is Nephew-Apprentice Xin Guoliang, and that"s Nephew-Apprentice Yi Guozi. I believe you have met Xin and Yi before," Fang-Sheng introduced.

"Ah, yes! Linghu Chong here shows his respects to four senior masters. I have severe wounds and cannot move about freely. If there"s any lack of manners on my side, I beg for senior masters" pardon." Linghu Chong cupped his hands.

"You have severe wounds?" Yi Guozi let out a disgruntled snort.

"Do you really have severe wounds? Guozi, was it you who wounded him?" Fang-Sheng asked.

"It was just a misunderstanding. There"s nothing to it. Senior master Yi threw me to the ground with a brush of his sleeve and then hit me with a palm strike also. But don"t worry. I can probably still hang on to my life for a short while. Great Master, you don"t need to reproach senior master Yi," Linghu Chong said.

He intentionally mentioned about his severe wounds at the very beginning, and also blamed it all on Yi Guozi, thinking that Fang-Sheng, the capable and senior monk, would certainly not allow those four Nephew-Apprentices of his to make trouble for him again.

"Senior master Xin saw everything with his own eyes on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge," he continued. "But since Great Master has come yourself. That"s a great favor for a junior like me. I promise you that I"ll never mentioned this incident in front of my Master. You can rest a.s.sured, Great Master, that even though my wounds are incurable, this incident will not stir up any dispute between the Five Mountains Sword Alliance and the Shaolin School."

With these words, it sounded as though it was all Yi Guozi"s fault that he had suffered severe and incurable injuries.

"That…that…that"s total nonsense! You were severely injured all along. What have I gotten anything to do with it?" Yi Guozi snarled.

"Well, senior master Yi, I don"t think it"s a good idea to mention that to anybody. If the story gets out, wouldn"t that have stained the clean fame of the Shaolin School?" Linghu Chong let out a gentle sigh and then said quietly.

Xin Guoliang, Huang Guobo, and Jue-Yue all nodded slightly, fully understanding what Linghu Chong had meant. The "Fang" generation monks of the Shaolin School had extreme seniority in the Martial World. Although the Shaolin School is a separate school from the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, when ranked by seniority, they would have equated to masters one generation above the Head Masters of each of the Five Mountains sword schools. Therefore, Xin Guoliang and Yi Guozi"s seniority would also be one generation above Linghu Chong. When Yi Guozi had fought Linghu Chong, one could have already called that a senior bullies a junior, not mentioning that the Shaolin School had two masters at the scene, and on top of that, Linghu Chong had already been severely injured before the fight. The Shaolin School had very strict school rules. If Yi Guozi had really slain a junior from the Huashan School, the punishment could have been as severe as the capital punishment to pay with his life. At least, he would have been stripped off all his Kung Fu skills and be expelled from the school. When Yi Guozi thought of the consequences, his face whitened from fear.

"Young hero, please come closer. Let me take a look at your wounds," Fang-Sheng proposed.