by Jin Yong
Lao Denuo continued with his story, “So I asked Master, ‘Is this ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art’ something very powerful? Why would the Qingcheng Sword School practice it so intensely?’
“Master did not answer right away. He closed his eyes for a long while and then said, ‘Denuo, before you became my disciple, you had already spent much time in the Martial World. In that time, what did you hear of the Chief Master of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, Lin Zhennan?’
“I answered, ‘Our friends in the Martial World said that Lin Zhennan was not stingy when socializing with others; he treated his friends well. Everybody liked him and left the goods he escorted alone out of respect. But with regard to his real Kung Fu skills, I am not sure.’
“Master said, ‘Right! Over the last generation, the Fortune Prestige Escort House has been successful primarily because people in the Martial World treated Lin Zhennan like a friend. Did you ever hear that Master Yu’s teacher, Evergreen, was defeated by Lin Yuantu’s ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art’ during his youth?’
“I was lost. ‘Lin…Lin Yuantu? Was he Lin Zhennan’s father?’ I asked.
“‘No,’ Master answered, ‘Lin Yuantu was Lin Zhennan’s grandfather. He was the original founder of the Fortune Prestige Escort House. In those days when Lin Yuantu founded the Escort House with the seventy-two moves of ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art,’ none of the heterodox members of the Martial World was a match for him. Because of his great fame at that time, even orthodox members of the Martial World went to challenge him. Evergreen was one of them, and thus was defeated by several moves of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art.’
“I asked, ‘So the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art’ is truly very powerful?’
“Master said, ‘The news that Evergreen lost the fight was kept secret by both sides, so nobody in the Martial World knew about it. However, Evergreen was a very good friend of our Grand Master and had once mentioned it to him. He considered this one of the greatest humiliations in his life, but knowing that he would never be able to defeat Lin Yuantu, he was never able to settle the score with him. Grand Master studied the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art’ together with him in order to identify flaws in this sword art. The seventy-two moves looked plain, but there were many profound mysteries locked within that no one could fathom, which allowed the moves to suddenly become very swift. The two of them studied it for several months, but still could not devise a way to counter it. At that time, I was a mere teenager who had just become an apprentice. I served them tea at those sessions and was able to watch the moves everyday, so when you demonstrated the moves, I knew they were from the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art.’ Ah, time flows like a stream. That was a long time ago!’”
Ever since Lin Pingzhi had been beaten up by the Qingcheng apprentices without being able to defend himself, he had completely lost confidence in his family’s Kung Fu. All he wanted was to learn from a good teacher to seek revenge later. Now hearing Lao Denuo speak of the great prestige and fame of his great grandfather, Lin Yuantu, he was greatly encouraged. Their family’s “Evil-Resisting Sword Art” was really nothing to scoff at. Years ago, even the masters of the Qingcheng and Huashan sword schools could not defeat it. But if this was so, why couldn’t his father defeat those Qingcheng apprentices? Perhaps his father did not learn the secret and magic parts of the sword art.
Then he heard Lao Denuo say, “I then asked Master, ‘Did Evergreen ever get his revenge?’
“Master said, ‘He only lost a challenged fight. That doesn’t require revenge. Besides, Lin Yuantu had been famous for years and was considered an admirable senior master. Evergreen was just a little Taoist priest who barely finished training. It wasn’t a big deal for a young lad to lose to a senior master. After Grand Master comforted him, they never mentioned the incident again. Evergreen died at the age of thirty-six. Maybe he could never put the incident behind him, and finally died of depression. Now, decades later, why would Yu Canghai suddenly make all of his apprentices practice the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art?’ Denuo, what’s your opinion on this?’
“I said, ‘It seemed that everyone in the Pine-Wind Temple was quite serious about practicing; could Master Yu be planning to mount a large-scale attack against the Fortune Prestige Escort House to seek revenge for the past generation?’
“Master nodded and said, ‘I think so too. Evergreen was a narrow-minded person who thought highly of himself. He must have taken his defeat to heart. He probably left some kind of order to Yu Canghai before he passed away. Lin Yuantu died before Evergreen, so if Yu Canghai were to avenge his teacher, he could only go after Lin Zhongxiong, Lin Yuantu’s son. But for some reason, he waited till now to start the attack. Yu Canghai is shrewd and deep, and always plots before attacking. There’s going to be a big fight between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Fortune Prestige Escort House.’
“I asked Master, ‘So in your opinion, who has a better chance of winning the fight?’
“Master smiled and said, ‘Yu Canghai’s Kung Fu skills have surpassed his master, Evergreen’s. Lin Zhennan’s Kung Fu skills, although outsiders have no idea, are probably inferior to his grandfather’s. One had advanced and one had slipped back. In addition, the Qingcheng Sword School hides in the dark while the Fortune Prestige Escort House is exposed in the light; before the real fight even begins, the Fortune Prestige Escort House already has a seventy percent chance of losing. If Lin Zhennan were to get the information early and invite the Golden Blade Wang Yuanba in Luoyang to help out, then they might be able to put up a decent fight. Denuo, do you want to go watch the fun?’
“I, of course, agreed joyfully. Then the Master taught me a couple of sword moves that the Qingcheng Sword School is quite fond of, as a means of protection.”
“What?” Lu Dayou jumped up. “How come Master knows moves of Qingcheng’s sword art? Ah, I see. Years ago when Evergreen practiced with Grand Master, he had to use Qingcheng’s sword art to counter the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art,’ so Master saw them from the side.”
“Sixth apprentice brother,” Lao Denuo said, “as apprentices, let’s not speculate on the origin of Master’s Kung Fu skills. Master told me not to let any other apprentices know about this, so the information wouldn’t leak out. But Little Apprentice Sister was quite clever and somehow heard about it. She nagged Master into letting her go with me. We disguised ourselves as grandpa and granddaughter selling wine outside Fuzhou, and then everyday we would sneak into the Fortune Prestige Escort House to see what was going on. We didn’t see much, other than Lin Zhennan teaching his son sword arts. When Little Apprentice Sister saw the sword art, she shook her head and said to me, ‘Is this really the renowned ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art?’ It’s more like the Evil-Resisting-Not Sword Art. When evil comes, this Young Master Lin better hide far away.’”
Lin Pingzhi’s face turned red at the laughter of the Huashan Sword School apprentices. He was so ashamed that he wished there was a hole he could crawl into. “So the two of them had been watching us in our Escort House and we knew nothing about it. We are really impotent.” He couldn’t help feeling very depressed.
“Not many days after we arrived in Fuzhou, apprentices of the Qingcheng Sword School drifted in one after another,” Lao Denuo continued with the story. “The first two that arrived were Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao. They started sneaking into the Escort House everyday to explore the place. Little Apprentice Sister and I wanted to avoid bumping into them, so we stopped going there. It was quite a coincidence when one day, that Young Master Lin came to patronize our ‘Great Wine Shop.’ Little Apprentice Sister just had to bring out some wine for them. At first we thought he had found us out and intentionally came to let us know it. But when I spoke to him, I learned that he was still quite clueless. That playboy didn’t know a thing and was no different from a retard. Then, guess what happened? The two most useless apprentices of the Qingcheng Sword School, Yu Renyan and Jia Renda happened to come to our ‘Great Wine Shop’ as well….”
“Second
apprentice brother, the ‘Great Wine Shop’ Little Apprentice Sister and you opened must have had a booming business with all kinds of revenue pouring in. You probably made a fortune in Fujian, didn’t you?” Lu Dayou applauded.
“Sure! Second apprentice brother has become quite a wealthy man now, and thanks to his luck, I was able to pick up a few crumbs as well!” the girl grinned. Everyone burst into laughter.
“Although that Young Master Lin was terrible with his Kung Fu skills and not even good enough to be Little Apprentice Sister’s student, he did have some integrity,” Lao Denuo said. “Yu Renyan, the youngest and most useless son of Yu Canghai, was so blind that he started teasing and making fun of Little Apprentice Sister. Then the Young Master Lin stepped in and tried to protect us….”
Lin Pingzhi felt both ashamed and irritated. “So the Qingcheng Sword School had deliberately planned the attacks on our Escort House, seeking revenge for their defeat in the previous generation. And the group that came to Fuzhou consisted of far more than just four. Whether I killed Yu Renyan or not didn’t matter at all.” He was so disturbed that he didn’t really listen to Lao Denuo describe how he killed Yu Renyan. But he could hear laugh after laugh; they must have been laughing at how clumsy he had been when he tried to defend himself.
Then he heard Lao Denuo say, “That night, Little Apprentice Sister and I went back to the Fortune Prestige Escort House to check things out, and saw that Hou Renying, Hong Renxiong, and other apprentices led by Master Yu had already arrived. We were afraid to be seen by the people of Qingcheng Sword School, so we just stood far away to observe. We saw them killing the escorts of the Escort House one by one, including the ones sent out to obtain help. Dead bodies were sent back to the Escort House one after another; they were merciless. At that moment, I thought to myself: The whole thing was just because Evergreen, someone from the last generation of Qingcheng, lost to Lin Yuantu in a challenge sword fight. If Master Yu wanted to settle the score, all he needed to do was to challenge and defeat Lin Zhennan and his son in a sword fight. Why did he behave so maliciously? He must have wanted to avenge Yu Renyan, but why didn’t they do anything to the Lin couple and Lin Pingzhi, and only forced them to leave the Escort House? Right after the remaining escorts and the Lin family fled the Escort House, Master Yu went in. Then he sat smugly on the chief’s chair; starting then, the Fortune Prestige Escort House belonged to the Qingcheng Sword School.”
“Qingcheng Sword School wanted to get into the escorting business. Master Yu wanted to be the Chief Master Escort!” Lu Dayou exclaimed. Everyone laughed.
“The Qingcheng people had watched the Lin family disguise themselves,” Lao Denuo went on. “Fang Renzhi, Yu Renhao, and Jia Renda got the order to go after them and bring them back. Little Apprentice Sister insisted on following them to watch the events unfold, so we followed the bunch of them. When the Lin family stopped by a small restaurant in the mountains south of Fuzhou, Fang Renzhi, Yu Renhao, and Jia Renda showed themselves and captured the three.
“Little Apprentice Sister said, ‘It was all because of me that the Young Master Lin killed Yu Renyan. We cannot just walk away like this.’
“I tried my best to change her mind and said that if we came out and attacked the Qingcheng Sword School, we would damage the relationship between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Huashan Sword School. And since Master Yu was in Fuzhou, we also might get in big trouble.”
“Second apprentice brother is old, so of course he wanted to be careful and doesn’t care much for action. Little Apprentice Sister must have been very disappointed,” Lu Dayou speculated.
“Little Apprentice Sister was so enthusiastic that it was hard to disappoint her even if I wanted to.” Lao Denuo smiled. “So Little Apprentice Sister first went into the kitchen and cracked Jia Renda’s head. When he started screaming and lured Fang and Yu away, she circled to the front to rescue Young Master Lin and let him escape.”
“Terrific! Terrific!” Lu Dayou applauded. “I see! Little Apprentice Sister wasn’t just saving that fellow Lin; she had something else in mind. Great! Great!”
“What other things did I have in mind? You’re talking nonsense again!” the girl said.
“Since I was beaten by Master because of the Qingcheng Sword School, Little Apprentice Sister was unhappy, so she beat up the people of the Qingcheng Sword School to vent my anger. Thank you very much….” Lu Dayou stood up and saluted the girl.
“Monkey-Six apprentice brother, you are welcome,” the girl smiled and saluted back.
“Little Apprentice Sister beat up the Qingcheng apprentice to vent someone’s anger, but I am not sure if that someone was you. It wasn’t just you, Monkey-Six, who got beaten by Master,” the apprentice with the abacus said with a broad grin.
“This time sixth apprentice brother is right,” Lao Denuo smiled. “Little Apprentice Sister really beat up Jia for sixth apprentice brother’s sake. Later if Master asks about this, she will still say so.”
“This…this is an honor I don’t want. Don’t drag me into it and get me another ten strokes of the stick,” Lu Dayou exclaimed, waving his hands.
“So didn’t Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao chase you?” the tall apprentice asked.
“Of course they did,” the girl answered, “but second apprentice brother had learned some moves of the Qingcheng sword art, and with only the one move called ‘Swan Goose in the Sky,’ he sent their swords into the sky. Too bad second apprentice brother masked his face with a black cloth. I’ll bet that even now Fang and Yu still don’t realize that they lost to the Huashan Sword School.”
“It is better that way,” Lao Denuo said. “Otherwise, there would have been more trouble. In a straight test of skills I may not be able to win over Fang and Yu, but because I used moves from the Qingcheng sword art so unexpectedly and attacked the flaw in their technique, the two were startled, and because of that, we won again this time.”
The apprentices all agreed that if Big Apprentice Brother had known about this, he would have been very happy and excited indeed.
It started raining more and more heavily; raindrops bounced off rooftops and street surfaces like peas. A vendor, carrying a pot of wonton and his cooking utensils balanced on the ends of a pole, appeared from the rain and stopped under the eaves of the teashop to take shelter. The old man started to knock on a bamboo block to attract customers. Hot steam was coming out of his pot.
The Huashan apprentices had been hungry for quite a while, so when they saw the wonton vendor, they were all quite pleased.
“Hey, make nine servings of wonton for us, please. Extra eggs,” Lu Dayou shouted.
“Yes, sir!” the old man answered, and then opened the pot lid and threw the wontons into the hot soup. Moments later, five bowls of wonton were ready for the apprentices.
Lu Dayou was well behaved. He gave the first bowl to second apprentice brother, Lao Denuo, the second bowl to third apprentice brother, Liang Fa, and the next two bowls to fourth apprentice brother, Shi Daizi, and fifth apprentice brother, Gao Genming, respectively. He should have taken the next bowl, but he put it in front of Little Apprentice Sister instead.
“Little Apprentice Sister, after you,” he said.
The girl had been teasing him all the time, calling him Monkey-Six and all, but when he gave the wonton to her, she stood up and replied respectfully, “Thanks! Apprentice brother!”
Lin Pingzhi observed everything from his vantage point by the side, and thought that they had very strict school rules; it was okay to joke around, but all had to abide by the rule of seniority.
Lao Denuo and the others began to eat, but the girl waited till Lu Dayou and all the other apprentice brothers had their bowls of wonton before eating her own.
“Second apprentice brother, you were just talking about how Master Yu took over the Fortune Prestige Escort House. What happened after that?” Liang Fa asked.
“After Little Apprentice Sister rescued that Young Master Lin,” Lao Denuo replied, “she
wanted to follow them secretly and wait for a chance to rescue the Lin couple. I pleaded with her, ‘Yu Renyan offended you the other day, and the Young Master Lin helped you. You felt gratitude and rescued him, that’s enough payback already. The score between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Fortune Prestige Escort House came from the previous generation; why should we interfere?’ Little Apprentice Sister finally agreed. Then the two of us went back to Fuzhou and saw over ten Qingcheng apprentices guarding the Fortune Prestige Escort House.
“That was somewhat strange. Everyone in the Escort House had fled in a rush; even the Lin couple was gone; what was the Qingcheng Sword School afraid of? Little Apprentice Sister and I could not figure it out and became quite curious, so we decided to investigate. We figured that since Qingcheng apprentices was guarding the place so tightly, it would be very hard to get in at night, so we sneaked into the garden at dusk while they were changing shifts for dinner. After we got into the Escort House, we saw many Qingcheng apprentices busily rummaging through chests and cupboards; some were taking down walls; others were digging up the ground. It seemed that they had turned the entire Escort House upside down. There was gold and treasure the Escorts did not have time to take with them, but those were just thrown to one side and ignored. They must have been looking for something very important, but what was it?”
“The Evil-Resisting Sword Art Manuscript!” four Huashan apprentices said almost in unison.
“Correct!” Lao Denuo said. “Little Apprentice Sister and I came to that same conclusion. It was obvious that they started searching right after they took over the Fortune Prestige Escort House. Seeing them all searching and sweating so hard, we knew that they hadn’t gotten any results.”
“So did they find it eventually?” Lu Dayou asked.
“Little Apprentice Sister and I both wanted to see the outcome,” Lao Denuo said, “but those Qingcheng people searched so thoroughly that they didn’t even forget to search the outhouses. Little Apprentice Sister and I really had nowhere to hide and had to sneak away.”
