by Jin Yong
“Humph, how dare this son of a dog show such disrespect to our Fortune Prestige Escort House,” Lin Pingzhi barked.
“He is surely looking down upon the Fortune Prestige Escort House,” Lin Zhennan stated.
“Perhaps, he is afraid of the seventy-two moves of Father’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art. Otherwise, why does he not dare fight face to face with Father, and only sneaks around, stabbing people in the back?”
“Pingzhi,” Lin Zhennan said as he shook his head slightly. “Your father’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art is well and fine for dealing with regular gangsters. But this man’s Heart Crushing Palm Kung Fu is much better than mine. I…I don’t normally give up so easily, but after seeing Escort Huo’s heart, I…I…well….”
Seeing the dark expression that clouded his father’s face, Lin Pingzhi did not say another word.
“Since the enemy is so powerful, a real man should be ready to swallow his pride, so why don’t we just hide from him for a little while,” Madam Wang suggested.
“That’s what I have in mind, too,” Lin Zhennan nodded.
“Let’s head out to Luoyang tonight,” Madam Wang said. “Fortunately, we know who the enemy is now. It is never too late for revenge, even if we have to wait for ten years.”
“That’s right! Father-in-law has friends all over. He will be able to come up with a solution. Let’s pack now and we’ll leave right away,” Lin Zhennan said.
“If we leave, who’s going to take care of the people in the Escort House?” Lin Pingzhi asked.
“The enemy has no score to settle with them. After we leave, all the others in the Escort House will actually be safer,” Lin Zhennan explained.
Lin Pingzhi thought to himself, “That’s very true! The enemy has killed so many people in the Escort House, all because of me. After I leave, the enemy will just leave all the escorts and henchmen alone.” So he went back to his room to pack. He looked at all his robes and toys; afraid that the foes might just burn the Escort House to the ground, he could not bear to part with any of them. So even after he had packed two big bags, he still felt that there were too many things left behind. He picked up a jade horse statue on the table with his left hand, and then grabbed a leopard fur with his right hand, a fur that was skinned from a leopard he himself had killed. Carrying all the bags, he strode into his parents’ room.
When Madam Wang saw him, she couldn’t help grinning.
“We are escaping, not moving. What are you going to do with all this stuff?” she asked amusedly.
Lin Zhennan sighed and shook his head, thinking to himself, “Although we’ve been a Martial Arts family for generations, our son is so used to living in ease and comfort that except for the Kung Fu he has learned, he is no different from any rich, profligate son. Now, when a sudden misfortune has forced us to run away in a hurry, how can I blame him?” Love and tender affection welled up in his heart, and he could not help but try to comfort his son.
“Grandfather’s house has everything you need. Don’t bring so much stuff. All we need to bring is enough silver, gold, and valuable jewelry. On our way, we’ll be passing by our Escort House branches in Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei. Do you think that we have to beg the whole way? The lighter the pack, the better. The less you carry, the easier it is to move about when you fight.”
At those words, Lin Pingzhi had no choice but to put down the packages.
“Which way shall we take, dashing out the front gate or sneaking out from the back?” Madam Wang asked.
But Lin Zhennan didn’t answer. He sat down in the armchair, closed his eyes and began smoking his pipe. A while later, he opened his eyes.
“Pingzhi, go tell everyone in the Escort House to pack their belongings and get ready to leave by dawn tomorrow morning. Ask the bookkeepers to distribute money to them. After the plague is over, we’ll all come back.”
“Yes, Father!” Lin Pingzhi answered, feeling a bit surprised that his father had changed his mind all of a sudden.
“Are you asking everybody to just break up in chaos? Who’s going to watch the Escort House then?” Madam Wang was also confused.
“There’s no need to watch the house anymore. This is a condemned house, haunted by demons. Who would dare come in? After we leave, who do you think would remain?” Lin Zhennan explained.
Lin Pingzhi went out to spread the message. Not long after, the whole Escort House was filled with commotion. Lin Zhennan waited until Lin Pingzhi left, and then spoke again.
“Wife, tomorrow Pingzhi and I will change into henchman’s clothes, and you can disguise yourself as a maid. At dawn, over a hundred people will rush out and disperse at the same time; no matter how fierce the enemies are, they only have two or three people at most, and won’t know whom to pursue.”
“Great idea!” Madam Wang applauded. She went out, and soon came back with two sets of dirty henchman garments, so when Lin Pingzhi came back, he and his father could put them on. She, herself, had changed into a set of dark blue clothes, with a piece of handkerchief decorated with blue flowers covering her hair. Now, except for her extremely white skin color, she looked just like an ordinary maid. Lin Pingzhi also changed into the henchman clothes. They stank terribly, but he had no other choice.
At dawn, Lin Zhennan had the gate opened and addressed all who had gathered in the court, “This year has not been a good year for us. We’ve suffered plagues and have been haunted by demons in the Escort House. I guess we’ll just have to stay away for a while. All brothers who still want to remain in the escorting business please go to Hangzhou and Nancang to join our Zhejiang and Jiangxi branch Escort Houses. Escort Liu and Escort Yi there will treat you well. Now let us go!”
After these words, all of the over one hundred people present mounted their horses and rushed out the gate. Lin Zhennan locked the gate and, with a howl, ten riders dashed over the bloodline. Everyone was greatly encouraged, and by now, none was as afraid as before; all were thinking the same thought – the earlier they left the Escort House, the safer. So, with the thunder of hoof beats, several rode toward the north gate of the city. Most people did not have any specific plan, so they all followed and headed toward the north gate.
Lin Zhennan signaled his wife and son to stop by the corner of the street. “Let them go north, we shall go south instead,” he whispered.
“Isn’t Luoyang north from here? Why are we going south?” Madam Wang could not understand.
“The enemy probably has guessed where we are heading to, and have set up an ambush outside the north gate. But, if we go south instead, and then make a turn later to go back north, the ambush will not work,” Lin Zhennan explained.
“Father!” Lin Pingzhi suddenly called out.
“What is it, son?” Lin Zhennan asked, but Lin Pingzhi did not say anything more. After a little while he called again, “Father!”
“What do you want to say, just speak out,” Madam Wang encouraged him.
“I still want to go out from the north gate,” Lin Pingzhi declared. “These damn monsters have killed so many of our people, if we don’t fight them to the death, how can we vent our anger?”
“Of course we will get our revenge. But with your skill level, can you defeat his ‘Heart Crushing Palm’?” asked Madam Wang rhetorically.
“So what! At most I’ll just get killed like Escort Huo with my heart crushed in pieces!” Lin Pingzhi rebuffed her.
Lin Zhennan’s face turned livid with anger. “If all the three generations of our Lin family had acted as recklessly as you, the Fortune Prestige Escort House would have collapsed by itself, saving our enemies the trouble,” he bellowed.
Lin Pingzhi did not dare say another word, and just followed his parents quietly. They kept heading south, until they were well out of town, and then turned southwest. After crossing the Min River, they arrived at a small town, Nanyu. They continued the trip for half a day without stopping anywhere. When they finally needed a respite, it was already past noon.
Seeing a small rest
aurant by the road, they decided to stop and have something to eat. Lin Zhennan told the waiter to bring whatever was available and that the food should be prepared as fast as possible. The waiter took the order and left, but after a long while, there was still no food forthcoming.
“Waiter, hurry up!” Lin Zhennan yelled, wanting to resume their trip as fast as possible. He yelled one more time, but there was still no response.
Madam Wang started calling out as well, “Waiter, waiter….” Still no response.
Jumping up from her seat, Madam Wang drew the golden saber out from her pack. Gripping it tightly in her hand, she ran to the back room, only to find the waiter lying prone on the ground. There was also a woman lying draped over the threshold. Madam Wang put her finger near the waiter’s nostrils and found that he was not breathing. She felt the lips of the body. They were still warm.
By then, Lin Zhennan and Lin Pingzhi had already drawn their swords and started checking the surroundings of the small restaurant. The restaurant stood next to a hill all by itself, adjacent to a small forest, with no other shop or neighbor nearby. The trio stood in front of the restaurant and gazed into the distance in all directions, but there was nothing unusual at all.
Lin Zhennan held his sword in front of him and started shouting in a loud voice.
“Friends of the Qingcheng Sword School, Lin Zhennan is right here awaiting his destiny. Please show yourselves.”
He called out several times, but was only answered by his own echoes, “Show yourselves…show yourselves…!” The trio knew that their enemies were watching close by. This was obviously the spot where they had decided to make their attack. All three of them gasped nervously, but knowing that everything would soon be over, one way or the other, they also felt a sense of relief and were able to regain some sense of calm.
“Lin Pingzhi stands before you! Come and get me! You filthy scoundrels! I know you’re too scared to show yourselves. All you can do is to sneak around, like thieving pickpockets!” Lin Pingzhi yelled.
Suddenly, laughter shot toward them from the woods. Lin Pingzhi only had enough time to take in a glimpse of a blurry shadow, before finding a man standing right in front of him. He did not even bother to take a good look at the man before thrusting his sword toward the man’s chest, using the move called “Attack Straight to the Heart.” The man turned to one side and dodged the attack. Lin Pingzhi changed the thrust to a slash to the side. The man sneered and stepped around to Lin Pingzhi’s left. Lin Pingzhi struck with his left hand and then thrust the sword back.
Lin Zhennan and Madam Wang both had their weapons in hand and were about to jump in to help, but after seeing the well-arranged series of moves Lin Pingzhi had put together, they both stepped back. Lin Pingzhi appeared to be very calm and well organized while fighting such a tough enemy. The man wore a purple robe and had a sword hanging at his waist. He seemed to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, and disdain was written all over his long face.
Lin Pingzhi could no longer keep his anger under control. He chopped and stabbed and slashed and diced using the “Evil-Resisting Sword Art” recklessly, not worrying about his own safety. The man just moved around, dodging attacks without bothering to draw his own sword or fight back. After Lin Pingzhi had used about twenty different moves or so, the man finally sneered.
“Is this the vaunted ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art’? How mediocre!”
He flicked the sword with his finger, and there was a reverberating ring. Lin Pingzhi felt a sharp pain between his thumb and index finger, and could no longer hold on to his sword. The sword fell to the ground and before he knew it, the man had thrown a sidekick at him, which knocked him down and sent him rolling across the ground. Immediately, Lin Zhennan and Madam Wang rushed over and stood side by side to shield their son behind them.
“What’s your name? Are you from the Qingcheng Sword School?” Lin Zhennan demanded.
“With the paltry skills of your Fortune Prestige Escort House, you aren’t worthy to know my name. But, since I am here for revenge today, I’ll make an exception. You’re right, I am from the Qingcheng Sword School,” the man said haughtily.
Lin Zhennan pointed his sword to the ground and then cupped his hands in a formal greeting. “I have always held Master Yu of the Pine-Wind Temple in the highest regard,” he said. “Every year I’ve sent escorts to the Qingcheng Sword School with gifts and have never deigned to be impolite in any way. This year, Master Yu has even sent four apprentices to Fuzhou. I wonder how we have offended you.”
The man rolled his eyes and sneered. After a long while he finally replied, “You are correct! My Master did send four apprentices to Fuzhou, and I am one of them.”
“Excellent! What is your honorable name then?” Lin Zhennan asked again.
The young man seemed disinclined to answer the question, but with a sniff, he stated, “My surname is Yu, I am Yu Renhao.”
“‘Ying Xiong Hao Jie, the Four Aces of Qingcheng.’21 You are one of the four great apprentices of the Pine-Wind Temple,” Lin Zhennan said with a nod, “no wonder your ‘Heart Crushing Palm’ technique is so powerful, capable of killing without drawing blood. Impressive!! Very impressive!! Mr. Yu has come such a long way to visit, and Lin Zhennan did not greet him properly; our lack of manners is unforgivable.”
“The ‘Heart Crushing Palm’ technique…humph…you did not greet us, but that Kung Fu master son of yours sure did. He even killed my Master’s beloved son. Yes, quite a show of manners,” Yu Renhao spoke with dead seriousness.
A cold shiver ran up Lin Zhennan’s spine. He knew that if his son had only killed a normal apprentice of the Qingcheng Sword School, then he could ask a well-respected member of the Martial World to intervene and arrange for a formal apology to the Qingcheng Sword School, which might have solved the problem. But if the victim were really the son of the Pine-Wind Temple Master Yu Canghai, there would no longer be any alternative, except to fight until one side or the other was completely annihilated. He waved his sword and let out a couple of laughs.
“Funny, very funny! Young Hero Yu, you have told a good joke!”
“Who’s joking?” Yu Renhao replied coldly with raised eyebrow.
“I have long admired Master Yu for his amazing Kung Fu skills and his strict discipline with his students,” Lin Zhennan said. “In fact, everyone in the Martial World feels the same way. However, the person my son killed was just a punk who was harassing an innocent girl in a wine shop. Since my son was able to kill him, one can easily tell that his Kung Fu skills must have been very limited. How could such a person possibly be Master Yu’s son? Thus, I conclude that the Young Hero Yu must be joking?”
Presented with this line of logic, Yu Renhao was at a loss for words.
Suddenly another voice came from the woods, “There is an old saying: ‘Two fists cannot parry four hands.’ In that tiny wine shop, your Young Master Lin and twenty-four escorts ambushed my junior apprentice brother Yu…!” The speaker walked out as he spoke. He had a small head and waved a folding fan casually. He continued, “If it was a fair fight, then there’s not much to talk about. To be frank, even if the Fortune Prestige Escort House had a lot more people, it wouldn’t have made any difference. But your Young Master Lin not only poisoned junior apprentice brother Yu’s wine, but also shot seventeen different kinds of toxic projectiles at him. Humph, this son of a turtle is so treacherous. We came to visit in good will, and never expected to be greeted with an ambush.”
“What is your honorable name?” Lin Zhennan asked coldly.
“No honorable name at all. I am Fang Renzhi,” the man answered.
By then, Lin Pingzhi had picked up his sword and had been standing angrily by the side, waiting for his father to finish the conversation, before jumping in to fight once again. But when he heard all of the nonsense from Fang Renzhi, he couldn’t help but shout angrily, “That is completely false! I had no grievance with him; I’ve never even met him before; I didn’t know that he was
from the Qingcheng Sword School; why would I want to harm him?”
“Bull, bull! Stinking lies!” Fang Renzhi shook his head. “If you did not have ill feelings toward my junior apprentice brother Yu, why did you hide some thirty escorts and henchmen outside the little shop then? My junior apprentice brother Yu saw you harassing that innocent girl, so he knocked you down to teach you a lesson. He spared your life, but not only were you ungrateful, you instructed all those damn escorts to attack my junior apprentice brother Yu at once.”
Lin Pingzhi felt as if his lungs were going to explode with rage. “Is everyone from the Qingcheng Sword School a rascal who lies through his teeth?” he snarled.
“The son of a turtle says we’re liars!” Fang Renzhi said with a big grin.
“I said that. So what?” Lin Pingzhi retorted angrily.
“Continue to do so, it doesn’t matter to me.” Fang Renzhi nodded.
Lin Pingzhi was surprised. These words were completely unexpected. Suddenly he heard a “swoosh” and realized that somebody was jumping toward him. He hurriedly struck out with his left palm but was still one step too slow. With the sound of flesh against flesh, he was slapped hard across the right cheek. Sparkles began to swirl in front of his eyes; he almost passed out.
Fang Renzhi retreated back to where he was standing after his lightning quick attack. Putting his hand on his own right cheek, he yelled angrily, “Punk, what did you hit me for? Ouch, it hurts! Ha-ha.”
Seeing her son being humiliated, Madam Wang jumped forth and swung her saber at the man. This was a move called “Wild Fire Burning the Sky.” Her attack was steady and vicious. The man jumped out of the way and the blade missed his right arm by a mere four inches.
“Damn bitch!” the man cursed, completely shocked. Not daring to take his opponent lightly, he drew his sword and deflected another of Madam Wang’s strikes.
“If the Qingcheng Sword School wants to get rid of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, that’s easy; but as to who is right and who is wrong, the Martial World will definitely be the judge of that. Young Sir Yu, if you please!” Lin Zhennan saluted Yu with his sword.
