by Jin Yong
While she was still hesitating, Linghu Chong had picked up a broken tree branch to use as a crutch and had started walking slowly. Seeing that, Yilin realized that she had gotten the wrong idea again.
Yilin quickly rushed over and held Linghu Chong’s arm. She criticized herself inwardly, “What’s wrong with me? Big Brother Linghu is a true gentleman. Why am I so capricious and always thinking weird thoughts? Maybe because I am alone with a man, and just want to protect myself? Although he and Tian Boguang are both men, one has high morals while the other has none. I really shouldn’t put them into the same category.”
Linghu Chong staggered along, yet was able to keep himself supported. After a few moments, they passed by a big rock. Yilin propped Linghu Chong by the rock to sit down and rest.
“Here’s a nice spot too. Do you absolutely have to go over there to watch the waterfall?” she asked.
“If you say this is a good spot, I’ll stay here for a while and keep you company.” Linghu Chong smiled.
“Fine, fine. The scenery is better over there. If you feel happier watching the waterfall, maybe your wounds will heal faster.” Yilin gave in.
Linghu Chong smiled and slowly stood up. The two slowly rounded a small pass, and were suddenly embraced by the thunder-like sound of a waterfall. After another short distance, the sound became even louder. After walking through a small wood, a waterfall appeared in front of their eyes like a white stripe hanging from the cliff above.
“We have a waterfall by the side of the Jade Maiden Peak at Mount Huashan also,” Linghu Chong said cheerfully. “It’s even bigger than this one. It looks similar though. Little Apprentice Sister Lingshan and I always practice our sword art skills by the waterfall. Sometimes when she gets mischievous, she will even run through the waterfall.”
Yilin suddenly came to a realization when she heard the name “Little Apprentice Sister Lingshan” being mentioned the second time. “He insisted on coming to the waterfall in spite of his wounds not because he wanted to enjoy the scenery. He was thinking of his Little Apprentice Sister Lingshan.” For some reason, she felt a great pain in her heart as if someone had just given it a hard punch.
Linghu Chong went on, “Once when we were practicing sword arts by the waterfall, she tripped and fell down, almost falling into the deep pool at the bottom. Luckily I grabbed hold of her quickly enough. That could have been one dangerous accident!”
“Do you have many apprentice sisters?” Yilin asked dryly.
“We have a total of seven female apprentices,” Linghu Chong replied, “and Little Apprentice Sister Lingshan is the daughter of Master. We all call her Little Apprentice Sister. The other six are apprentices of Master’s wife.”
“Oh, so she’s Uncle-Master Yue’s daughter. Does she…she…she get along well with you?”
Linghu Chong sat down slowly. “I am an orphan with no parents. Fifteen years ago when the respectful Master and Master-Wife took me as an apprentice out of mercy, Little Apprentice Sister was only three. I was much older than she was, so I always carried her out to pick fruits and chase rabbits. We grew up together. Master and Master-Wife don’t have a son, so they treated me like their own son. Little Apprentice Sister is just like my own sister.”
“Oh,” Yilin answered. After a short while, she said, “I am also an orphan with no parents. I was taken in by my Master and have been a nun ever since I was a child.”
“What a pity!” Linghu Chong exclaimed. Yilin turned toward him and looked at him questioningly. “If you weren’t an apprentice of Uncle-Master Dingyi,” Linghu Chong said, “I could have begged Master-Wife to take you in as an apprentice. We have lots of apprentice brothers and sisters. With twenty odd people, it’s really lively. After practices, we just play around in groups. Master and Master-Wife don’t really discipline us much. When you meet my Little Apprentice Sister, you will surely like her and be good friends with her.”
“Too bad I don’t have such good luck!” Yilin said. “But in the White-Cloud Nunnery, Master and apprentice sisters are all very nice to me. I…I…am very happy too.”
“Yes, yes! I didn’t mean anything by my remarks! Uncle-Master Dingyi’s sword skills are almost godlike. When my Master and Master-Wife speak of sword arts from different schools and styles, they always mention your respectful Master. The Heng-Shan Sword School is no less than the Huashan Sword School in any way!”
“Big Brother Linghu,” Yilin said, “the other day when you said to Tian Boguang that fighting while standing up, Tian Boguang is the fourteenth best in the Martial World; Uncle-Master Yue is eighth. Then how is my Master ranked?”
Linghu Chong began laughing. “I was just fooling Tian Boguang. There isn’t any ranking like that. Everyone’s Kung Fu skills change every single day. Some get better, and some get worse because of old age or something else. How could someone actually rank all of them? Tian Boguang does have high Kung Fu skills, but probably not good enough to be fourteenth in the entire Martial World. I intentionally ranked him high to make him happy.”
“Oh! So you were just fooling him.” Yilin sat there, staring at the waterfall blankly for a while, lost in thought. Then she asked, “Do you always like to fool people?”
Linghu Chong grinned. “That depends. I wouldn’t say ‘always.’ Some people you can fool, and some people you cannot. When my Master and Master-Wife ask me about things, of course I wouldn’t dare try to fool them.”
“Oh,” Yilin hummed. “Then how about your fellow apprentice brothers and sisters?” She originally wanted to ask, “Do you fool your Little Apprentice Sister Lingshan?” but for some reason, she was afraid to put forth the question so boldly.
“Well, that depends on who it is, and what it’s about,” Linghu Chong said with a smile. “We apprentice brothers always play jokes on each other. If we don’t fool people, there would be no fun!”
“Even with apprentice sister Lingshan? You fool her too?” Yilin finally asked.
Linghu Chong had never thought about this before. He frowned and thought about it for a while. Throughout his life, he had never fooled her on important issues. So he said, “For important things, I will never fool her. If we were just playing together, then of course there would be some fooling and joking.”
In the White-Cloud Nunnery, Yilin’s Master did not laugh much and enforced very strict nunnery rules. The apprentice sisters also maintained cold emotionless expressions most of the time. Although fellow apprentices cared for each other, very seldom would one tell a joke, much less play jokes on each other. There were quite a few young and vivacious secular girl apprentices under Uncle-Master Dingjing and Uncle-Master Dingxian, but they rarely joked with the nun apprentices. She spent her entire childhood in loneliness and lived a quiet life. Other than breathing exercises and martial arts training, all she did was to drum on the wooden fish and read Buddhist scriptures. When she heard Linghu Chong talking about the fun shared amongst Huashan apprentices, she longed for it.
“It would be really fun if I could go with him to play at Mount Huashan,” she thought. Then she figured, “After all the major disturbances I caused this time, Master surely wouldn’t let me out again once we get back to the nunnery. Playing at Mount Huashan would only be wishful thinking. Even if I did go to Mount Huashan, he would be accompanying his Little Apprentice Sister all the time. I don’t know anyone else, who’s going to keep me company?” A sudden sadness came over her; tears almost rolled down her cheeks.
Linghu Chong did not notice. He stared at the waterfall and said, “Little Apprentice Sister and I are working on a set of sword arts that will have moves working within the falling water. Apprentice sister, do you know what the purpose is?”
“I don’t know.” Yilin shook her head. Her voice choked, but Linghu Chong didn’t notice that either.
“When we fight somebody,” he went on, “if he has a good level of inner strength, then the fierce inner strength will be released along with his punches or weapon slashes. The inner strength, a
lthough invisible, will knock our swords away. When Little Apprentice Sister and I practiced our sword skills in the waterfall, we imagined the power of the falling water to be the inner strength from the enemy, so we not only had to block the enemy’s energy attack, but also try to redirect his own inner strength back at him.”
“So were you able to get it done?” seeing that Linghu Chong was in high spirits, Yilin asked.
“Nope! Nope!” Linghu Chong shook his head. “It’s so hard to create a new set of sword arts! And we couldn’t really create any new moves; we just modified some of the Huashan Sword Art moves we had learned from the Master to thrust in the waterfall. Even if we did come up with some new ideas, they were just for fun; it would be useless in a real fight. Otherwise, why would I be beaten up so badly by Tian Boguang?” He made a short pause while moving his hands about slowly. “I just thought of another move!” he said happily. “After I recover from my wounds, I can try it out with Little Apprentice Sister.”
“What’s the name of this sword art of yours?” Yilin asked gently.
“I really didn’t want to have a name for it, but Little Apprentice Sister insisted on giving it one. She called it ‘Chong-Ling Sword Art,’ because it was created by both her and me,” Linghu Chong said with a smile.
“Chong-Ling Sword Art. Chong-Ling Sword Art. Hmm, in the name of the sword art, there’s your name and there’s her name too. When you pass it on to later generations, everyone will know it was…was created by the two of you.”
Linghu Chong laughed. “My Little Apprentice Sister said that because she’s like a little child. With our incomplete understanding of martial arts, we are not qualified to create any sword arts. Don’t tell this to anyone else. If others hear about this, they’d be laughing their asses off!”
“Of course, I won’t tell anyone,” Yilin said. She stopped for a moment and then smiled. “Actually, others have already heard about how you created your own sword art.”
Linghu Chong was astounded. “Really? Did apprentice sister Lingshan tell others?” he asked.
“It was you who told Tian Boguang.” Yilin grinned. “Didn’t you say that you created a set of sword arts thrusting at flies while sitting down?”
Linghu Chong burst into loud laughter. “I was making things up with him. You still remember that, huh?” When he laughed loudly, the muscles around his wound moved and he grimaced with discomfort.
“Oh no! It’s my entire fault! Your wounds are hurting again! Please don’t speak anymore. You need to rest quietly,” Yilin said.
Linghu Chong closed his eyes. But after only a short while, he opened them again. “I just thought the scenery here would be better, but now that we’re by the waterfall, we can’t see the rainbow any more.”
“The waterfall has the beauty of a waterfall; the rainbow has the beauty of a rainbow,” Yilin said.
Linghu Chong nodded. “That’s absolutely right! There are no perfect things in the world. When one works so hard to go after something, once he gets it, it’s no big deal anymore, but the things he had in his hands would have been lost.”
“Big Brother Linghu, what you just said has profound meaning behind it. It’s a pity that my understanding of Buddhism is too shallow, and cannot understand the full extent of it. If my Master heard your words, she would be able to come up with a good explanation.”
“What profound meaning? What do I know? Hmm, I am tired!” Linghu Chong let out a sigh and then slowly closed his eyes. His breathing gradually slowed down and soon he fell asleep.
Yilin stayed by Linghu Chong’s side, and gently whisked about a leafy branch to drive away mosquitoes and other bugs from him. After a couple of hours, she felt tired too, and almost fell asleep. But she suddenly thought, “When he wakes up later, he will definitely get hungry. There’s not much to eat around here. Why don’t I go get a couple more watermelons? They would help satisfy our thirst and hunger.” So she strode back to the watermelon field and picked two more melons. Afraid that someone or some wild animals might bother Linghu Chong while she was away, she rushed back. Only after she saw him sleeping soundly, did she relax and sat down quietly beside him.
Linghu Chong opened his eyes. “I thought you had gone back,” he said with a smile.
“Gone back?” Yilin was surprised.
“Aren’t your Master and apprentice sisters still looking for you? They must be worried,” Linghu Chong said.
Yilin hadn’t thought about that at all. Now hearing these words, she got worried. “When I see Master again sometime later, will she be angry with me?” she wondered.
“Apprentice sister, thank you for accompanying me for so long. You have already saved my life. You should really go back now,” Linghu Chong said.
“No!” Yilin shook her head. “How can I leave you out in the middle of nowhere by yourself, with no one to take care of you?”
“When you get back to Uncle-Master Liu’s house, you can tell my junior apprentice brothers in secret. Then they will come to take care of me.”
Yilin felt really sad. “So it’s really because he wants the company of his Little Apprentice Sister; the sooner I go get her, the better,” She thought. Not able to suppress her sadness, she began weeping; teardrops started dripping down to the ground.
Seeing her cry, Linghu Chong was surprised.
“Why…why are you crying? Are you afraid of getting punished by your Master when you get back?” he asked.
Yilin shook her head.
“Oh, I see. You are afraid to bump into Tian Boguang again. Don’t be afraid, from now on, he will only run away from you as soon as you are in sight. He will never dare approach you again,” Linghu Chong said.
Yilin shook her head again and more teardrops fell down on the ground.
Linghu Chong was confused. “Well…err…my mistake. I apologize. Little apprentice sister, don’t get mad,” he pleaded.
Hearing his gentle words, Yilin felt better, but then she thought, “He said these words in such a soft-spoken and submissive way; obviously he is used to apologizing to his Little Apprentice Sister, and now he just blurted them out without thinking.” So she blubbered and stamped her feet on the ground.
“I am not your Little Apprentice Sister. You…you…all you can remember is your Little Apprentice Sister,” she complained.
After the words were blurted out, she immediately regretted it. “I am a nun, why am I saying things like this to him? That’s very inappropriate,” she thought. Her face flushed and she turned aside.
Linghu Chong looked at her. Her face was completely red and teardrops were still rolling down her cheeks. It was almost like a small red blossom by the waterfall, its petals sprinkled with drops of water, charming and delicate. “Wow, she is so pretty. Really no less so than apprentice sister Lingshan,” he thought.
“You are much younger than I am. Our Five Mountains Sword Alliance is like ‘Same root different branches.’ We are all apprentice brothers and sisters. Of course you are my little apprentice sister, too. Tell me how I have offended you, will you?” he said softly.
“You did not offend me. I know you want me to leave so you won’t get mad at me and won’t have bad luck. You said it before: one sees a nun, one loses….” She didn’t even finish her sentence and just kept on sobbing.
Linghu Chong could not help but feel amused. “Aha, so she wants to get even with me for the Huiyan Wine House incident. Well, I admit I should apologize for that!” he thought.
“Linghu Chong was such a jerk and said so much nonsense. The other day in Huiyan Wine House, I said so many wrong things and offended your entire respectful school. I really should be punished!” He raised his hand and gave himself a couple of slaps in the face.
Yilin turned back in a hurry. “Don’t…don’t…I…don’t blame you. I…I just don’t want to bring you bad luck.”
“Very punishable!” Linghu Chong said, and slapped himself one more time.
“I am not angry now. Big Brother Linghu, don’t�
�don’t beat yourself,” Yilin said in a hurry.
“You’re not angry anymore?” Linghu Chong asked. Yilin shook her head. “But you are not smiling at all. Isn’t that still being angry?” Linghu Chong said.
Yilin squeezed out a smile, but out of the blue, for no reason, she felt even greater sadness overwhelm her, and could not help weeping again, so she turned away once more.
Linghu Chong suddenly let out a long sigh. Yilin slowly stopped weeping and asked quietly, “Why…why did you sigh?”
Linghu Chong laughed hard inwardly. “After all, she’s just a little girl, and is falling for this trick of mine too!” he thought. He had been Yue Lingshan’s companion ever since he was a child. Yue Lingshan would lose her temper now and then and stop talking to him no matter how he coaxed her. Regardless of what he said, she would not pay any attention to him. Then Linghu Chong would put on an act to arouse her curiosity, and then get her to approach him. Yilin had never been at odds with anyone before, so of course it worked like a charm. In no time, she had fallen for his trick. Linghu Chong let out another long sigh and turned away silently.
“Big Brother Linghu, did I get you upset? It was my fault; please don’t pay…pay any attention to it,” Yilin said.
“No, you didn’t get me upset,” Linghu Chong said.
Yilin could see his worried face, but had no idea that he was actually laughing loudly inwardly and had pretended the whole thing, so she got worried.
“I got you to hit yourself. Let me…let me hit myself to make it even.”
She raised her hand and slapped herself in the right cheek. Before she could slap herself again, Linghu Chong had sat up and gripped her wrist. But because of the body movement, his wound stung greatly, and he could not help but groan.
“Ah, lie…lie down quickly. Don’t aggravate your wounds,” Yilin said hurriedly. She helped him to lie down slowly while blaming herself, “Ah, I am so stupid. I cannot do anything right. Big Brother Linghu, is it…hurting badly?”
