by Jin Yong
“I will agree to be your apprentice only after you agree to rescue my parents. But there’s no way I am going to kowtow today!” he said loudly.
“Did you say no way? Let’s give it a try and see if there’s really no way!” Mu Gaofeng said angrily. He pushed even harder.
Lin Pingzhi fought with all his strength and struggled to stand up, but he felt as if he was under a thousand-pound rock, and simply could not, so he pushed on the ground with his hands and struggled some more. Gradually, Mu Gaofeng added more and more strength into the push. Lin Pingzhi could hear his neck joints cracking because of the pressure.
“Kowtow or not? Just a bit more strength from my hand will break your neck,” Mu Gaofeng said while laughing loudly.
Lin Pingzhi’s head was pushed down inch by inch, and soon was only half foot from the ground. “I won’t! I won’t!” he kept on yelling.
“Let’s see how you won’t kowtow.” Mu Gaofeng used a little bit more strength and Lin Pingzhi’s forehead went two inches closer to the ground. Suddenly, Lin Pingzhi felt heat coming from his back and a stream of smooth energy fed into his body; the pressure atop his head suddenly felt like nothing. He pushed the ground and then easily stood up.
This was a complete surprise for Lin Pingzhi. To Mu Gaofeng, the surprise was even greater. The inner strength that overwhelmed his strength seemed to be the famous “Divine Art of Violet Twilight” of the Huashan Sword School. He had heard before that this style of inner strength started off indistinct, like the twilight in the sky, but its stamina had great persistency, and the strength would later be released like a storm with devastating power. That was why it got the name, “Violet Twilight.” Astonished, Mu Gaofeng quickly put his hand back on Lin Pingzhi’s head, but as soon as his hand touched Lin Pingzhi’s forehead, a stream of persistent energy rose from Lin’s forehead and shocked his hand. Mu Gaofeng felt numbness in his arm and dull pain coming from his chest.
Mu Gaofeng stepped back. “Is that Brother Yue of the Huashan Sword School?” he asked with a dry smile. “Why are you hiding behind the corner to play tricks on a hunchback?”
Smiling, a man with the look of a scholar strolled out from behind the corner of the wall. Waving a folding fan leisurely in his right hand, he looked very graceful.
“Brother Mu,” the man greeted, “after so many years, you still look so young and energetic. How wonderful!”
Mu Gaofeng immediately recognized him. He was indeed “Gentleman Sword” Yue Buqun, Head Master of the Huashan Sword School. Mu had always been in dread of him. Now since Mu was caught bullying a junior who basically had no Kung Fu skills, and because Yue even gave the young lad a helping hand, Mu Gaofeng felt very awkward.
“Brother Yue,” he grinned, “you are just getting younger and younger. I wish you could be my Master and teach me this ‘Yin Yang Nourishment’40 method.”
“Bah! You hunchback, stop the silly jokes. When old friends reunite, there are many good topics to talk about, yet you only spout nonsense! How would I know such a lewd method?” Yue Buqun rebuffed.
“Nobody’s going to believe that you don’t know that nourishment method, otherwise, how do you manage to look as young as my grandson when you are actually almost sixty years old?” Mu Gaofeng said.
When Mu Gaofeng’s hand moved away from his forehead, Lin Pingzhi had already jumped back several steps. He looked at the scholarly man carefully. The man had a long goatee and a neat and clean face that shined with honesty and integrity. Admiration rose from within Lin Pingzhi’s heart. Hearing Mu Gaofeng calling him “Brother Yue of the Huashan Sword School” and figuring out it was this man who had just saved him, it suddenly dawned on him.
“Could this graceful man be the Head Master of the Huashan Sword School, Mr. Yue? But his age is far from what I had expected. He looks like a forty-year-old man. Lao Denuo is his apprentice, but looks much older than him.” After he heard Mu Gaofeng’s comments regarding Yue’s way of staying young, he suddenly remembered what he had heard from his mother before: “When a Kung Fu master’s inner strength reaches the highest state, he can not only extend his life span, but also recover his youthful vigor.” Maybe this Mr. Yue had reached that state. His admiration grew even more.
“Brother Mu is kidding me again,” Yue Buqun said with a light smile. “Brother Mu, this young man is a dutiful son, and also a man of integrity. He is good material for an apprentice; no wonder Brother Mu likes him so much. All the trouble he has had today originated from his saving my daughter Lingshan in Fuzhou. I really could not just stand aside and do nothing. Will you please show him mercy for my sake?”
Mu Gaofeng appeared to be amazed. “What? Just with the little Kung Fu he has, he could save niece Lingshan? We probably have to reverse that; it was more likely that niece Lingshan’s sharp eyes picked out this handsome boy….”
Knowing that the hunchback was a mean and obscene person and that there probably wouldn’t be any good comments coming from his mouth, Yue Buqun quickly cut him off.
“When people from the chivalrous side encounter trouble, they help those in need. The help could be as much as risking one’s life, or as little as giving a word of advice. It doesn’t really matter how great one’s Kung Fu skills are. Brother Mu, if you are determined to take him as your apprentice, why don’t you let the young man ask permission from his parents first, and then come to submit himself to you. Wouldn’t that be a win-win solution?”
Mu Gaofeng well knew that once Yue Buqun stepped in, things would simply not go as he had wished. So he shook his head.
“I just had a sudden impulse and wanted to take him as my apprentice. But I’ve lost that interest. Even if this lad kowtows to me ten thousand times now, I won’t take him any more.”
Out of the blue, he gave Lin Pingzhi a hard kick, which sent him into the air and sprawling twenty feet away. Yue Buqun did not expect that in any way. Mu Gaofeng had shown no sign of a sudden kick. Once his leg was extended, it was already too late to stop him. Lin Pingzhi jumped up immediately after he landed, and did not appear to have been injured.
“Brother Mu, why are you acting like a child? I’ll have to say you are the one getting younger now,” Yue Buqun said.
“Relax, Brother Yue,” Mu Gaofeng grinned. “Although I am bold, I would never dare to offend this…this your…ha-ha…I don’t even know what he’s going to become of yours. See you! Good-bye! I’d never thought even the famous Huashan Sword School would be interested in the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’.” He started stepping back as he spoke.
Yue Buqun took a step forward. “Brother Mu, what are you talking about?” he demanded loudly. Suddenly, his face seemed to turn a violet color. But the violet color only stayed for a brief moment before Yue’s normal color returned.
Mu Gaofeng saw the color change and felt a shiver in his heart. “So that was indeed the ‘Divine Art of Violet Twilight’ of the Huashan Sword School!” he thought. “Yu Buqun has good sword skills on top of this amazing inner strength. I’d better not get into a fight with him.” So he let out a grin. “I have no clue as to what that ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’ is. I am only joking about it since I saw how Yu Canghai of the Qingcheng Sword School worked hard to get his hands on it. Brother Yue, please don’t mind me.” He turned around and walked away.
Yue Buqun watched until Mu Gaofeng disappeared into the darkness of the night. Letting out a sigh, he murmured, “People having that level of Kung Fu skills are rare in the Martial World, but he would rather abandon himself to….” He held back the word “vice” to himself and just shook his head in disappointment.
Lin Pingzhi came rushing over, knelt down in front of him and started to kowtow.
“I beg you, Master, to take me as your apprentice. I promise to follow your word of advice and obey all school rules. I will never dare to not listen to the Master’s word.”
“If I take you as my apprentice, Hunchback Mu will probably start a rumor saying that I robbed him of his student.” Y
ue Buqun smiled lightly.
“As soon as I saw you, Master, I felt unspeakable admiration. It’s my honest wish from the bottom of my heart to become your apprentice,” Lin Pingzhi said while kowtowing nonstop.
“Very well,” Yue Buqun smiled, “I’ll take you. But you haven’t asked permission from your parents yet. We need to find out if they agree or not.”
“If I am lucky enough to become your apprentice, my parents would be very grateful. There would be no reason why they would object. The villains of the Qingcheng Sword School captured my parents. I will need Master’s help in that matter,” Lin Pingzhi said.
Yue Buqun nodded. “Alright! Get up! Let’s go look for your parents.” He turned and shouted, “Denuo, Liang Fa, and Lingshan, you can come out now.”
A group of people walked out from behind the wall. Lin Pingzhi recognized them as the apprentices of the Huashan Sword School. It turned out that they had all arrived a while ago. Yue Buqun had told them to hide behind the wall, and only to come out after Mu Gaofeng had left, thus saving some face for Mu Gaofeng.
“Congratulations on taking a new apprentice, Master!” the Huashan apprentices all said cheerfully.
“Pingzhi,” Yue Buqun said with a smile on his face, “you have met these senior apprentice brothers a while back in the small teashop. Now go ahead and pay your respects to them.”
The old man was second senior brother Lao Denuo; the big, tall apprentice was third senior brother Liang Fa; the apprentice who had dressed as a porter was fourth senior brother Shi Daizi; the one holding an abacus was fifth senior brother Gao Genming; then there was sixth senior brother Lu Dayou. Each of these apprentices was the type not easily forgotten. Seventh senior brother Tao Jun and eighth senior brother Ying Luobai were two young apprentices. Lin Pingzhi saluted them one by one.
Giggles came from behind Yue Buqun’s back. A gentle but crisp voice asked, “Daddy, am I a senior apprentice sister or a junior apprentice sister?”
In a daze, Lin Pingzhi recognized the wine-selling girl as the one called “Little Apprentice Sister” standing with all the other Huashan apprentices. She was actually the Master’s daughter. Sticking her head out from behind Yue Buqun’s back, showing only half of her snow-white face, she quickly glanced at Lin Pingzhi with her rolling eyes then hid back behind Yue Buqun again.
Lin Pingzhi thought, “I remember the girl in the wine shop had a very ugly pox-covered face. How did her face change?”
In the dim moonlight, he could not see the girl’s face clearly when she stuck her head out and then drew it back so hurriedly, but even so, he could tell that the face was a pretty one. Then he remembered.
“She did mention that she disguised herself when she sold wine outside the town of Fuzhou. Sister Dingyi also said that she had taken on a very grotesque disguise. Obviously, she intentionally concealed her face with an ugly disguise.”
“Everyone here all joined the school later than you, but they still call you Little Apprentice Sister. You are destined to be called Little Apprentice Sister, so of course it’s Little Apprentice Sister again.” Yue Buqun laughed.
“No way!” the girl declared with a grin. “Starting from now on, I am going to be a senior apprentice sister. Daddy, junior apprentice brother Lin will have to call me senior apprentice sister. Later when you get another one hundred or two hundred apprentices, they all have to call me senior apprentice sister.”
Giggling, she walked out from behind Yue Buqun. Under the dim moonlight, Lin Pingzhi could vaguely make out a pretty oval face and a pair of bright eyes looking straight at his face. Lin Pingzhi bowed deeply.
“Senior apprentice sister Yue, I only gained Master’s mercy and became an apprentice today. The one who becomes an apprentice earlier is the senior. Of course I am the junior apprentice.”
Yue Lingshan was very pleased. She turned to her dad. “Daddy, he called me senior apprentice sister out of his own free will. I didn’t force him.”
Yue Buqun laughed. “He had just joined our school, and you are already talking about ‘forcing.’ He will probably think that everyone in our school is like you, the seniors forcing their wills upon the juniors. What a frightening prospect!”
All the apprentices laughed at these words.
“Daddy,” Yue Lingshan said, “Big Apprentice Brother was hiding here to recover from his wounds. He was struck by that stinky Taoist Priest, and is in serious condition. Let’s go find him quickly.”
Yue Buqun frowned and shook his head. “Genming, Daizi, you two go carry Big Apprentice Brother out,” he said.
Gao Genming and Shi Daizi answered the call in unison and both jumped into the room through the window. But soon they reported, “Master, Big Apprentice Brother is not here. There’s no one in the room.” Light spilled through the window when they lit the candle in the room.
Yue Buqun frowned even more as he really did not want to enter such a disreputable place. “You,” he said to Lao Denuo, “go in there and check it out.”
“Yes, Master!” Lao Denuo answered and then walked toward the window.
“I’ll go check too,” Yue Lingshan suggested.
Yue Buqun grabbed her arm. “Nonsense! You are not allowed to go into places like this.”
Yue Lingshan almost cried. “But…but Big Apprentice Brother is so badly wounded…I am afraid that he will die.”
“Don’t worry,” Yue Buqun whispered, “he had the ‘Heavenly Connecting Glue’ of the Heng-Shan Sword School applied already. He won’t die.”
“Daddy, how…how did you know?” Yue Lingshan was both surprised and cheerful.
“Shush! Don’t ask!” Yue Buqun cut her off.
Linghu Chong was already badly wounded before he took the energy blow from Yu Canghai’s palm strike. After that, his wounds hurt even more, and he spat out more blood, but his mind still remained clear. He heard the arguments between Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai, how everybody left, and how his Master had showed up. He was a man who feared nothing except his Master. As soon as he heard his Master talking to Mu Gaofeng, thoughts of how his Master would punish him for all the mischief he had gotten into crossed his mind. The worry was so great that he even forgot about the pain from his wounds.
He turned to the bed and whispered, “A disaster is about to strike! My Master is here! Let’s get out of here!” Right after these words, he staggered out the room steadying himself against the wall.
Qu Feiyan dragged Yilin from under the quilt and followed him. Seeing how Linghu Chong was teetering along and was on the verge of falling down at any second, Yilin and Qu Feiyan both rushed over and supported him by his arms. Linghu Chong clenched his teeth and walked through the corridor. He knew that his Master had outstanding eyes and ears; the moment he walked out, the Master would know about it. Seeing a big room to the right, he immediately walked into it.
“Close…close the door and the window,” he said.
Qu Feiyan followed his instructions and shut the door and window. Linghu Chong could not maintain his composure any longer and collapsed onto the bed, breathing hard.
The three of them kept very quiet, and after a long while, they heard Yue Buqun’s voice from far away saying, “He’s not here. Let’s go!” Linghu Chong let out a long breath and felt much more relaxed.
After some time had passed, someone came into the backyard and called out in a low voice, “Big Apprentice Brother? Big Apprentice Brother!” It was Lu Dayou.
Linghu Chong thought, “Monkey Six has always been the closest to me.” He almost answered when he suddenly heard the bed-curtain shaking. It was Yilin trembling in fright when she heard somebody approaching. “If I answer Monkey Six,” Linghu Chong thought, “I could really ruin the little Sister’s reputation.” So he kept silent.
Lu Dayou walked past the window while calling “Big Apprentice Brother, Big Apprentice Brother” all the way. The calling receded further and further away, and finally faded into the night.
“Hey, Linghu Chong,” Qu Feiyan suddenly
broke the silence, “are you going to die?”
“How can I die? If I die, it would really hurt the reputation of the Heng-Shan Sword School, and I’d be letting them down!” Linghu Chong answered.
“How do you figure that?” Qu Feiyan asked in surprise.
“I’ve had so much of that magical medicine of the Heng-Shan Sword School, both inside and outside. If I still can’t be healed, I’d be letting…letting this Sister of the Heng-Shan Sword School down.” Linghu Chong replied.
“Yep! If you died, you would really be letting her down!” Qu Feiyan grinned.
Knowing how seriously Linghu Chong had been wounded and seeing how he was still making jokes, Yilin admired his fortitude, but also felt a bit less stressed.
“Big Brother Linghu, you’ve just taken a hit from Yu Canghai. Let me see your wounds again.”
Linghu Chong struggled to sit up, but Qu Feiyan said, “Never mind your manners. Lie down.” Linghu Chong felt so weak that he really could not sit up, so he lay back down.
Qu Feiyan lit a candle. Yilin could see blood all over Linghu Chong’s robe, so she threw aside all worry about propriety, gently lifted his long robe, and wiped off the blood around the wounds with a towel hanging by a rack. Taking the box of “Heavenly Connecting Glue” from her pocket, she applied all of the remaining medicine onto Linghu Chong’s wounds.
“What a waste to put so much precious medicine on me!” Linghu Chong laughed.
“Big Brother Linghu,” Yilin said, “you were badly wounded all because of me. This medicine is the least I can offer, even if…even if….” She did not know what to say, so just mumbled a little and then continued, “Even my respectful Master praised you as a young hero who is always ready to take on villains for a just cause. Because of that she even got into an argument with Master Yu.”
“No need to praise me. As long as the respectful Sister doesn’t scold me, I’d be completely thankful!” Linghu Chong grinned.
