by Jin Yong
Liu Zhengfeng continued. “But regarding sword skills and Kung Fu skills, I am really far behind. In the old days, I haven’t really showed a lot of respect for him. Now when I think about it, I truly regret it myself.”
“The Head Master of the Hengshan Sword School really lives up to his reputation.” Qu Yang nodded in agreement. He turned to Linghu Chong. “Little brother, I have a favor to ask of you. Will you do me this favor?”
“Senior Master, please! Of course I will,” Linghu Chong answered.
Qu Yang cast a side-glance at Liu Zhengfeng and then said, “Brother Liu and I love music to the extreme. We spent several years writing this song called ‘Smiling Proud Wanderer.’ We believe this piece of music is so unique that during the past millennium, there was nothing even close to it. From now on, even if there will be someone like Qu Yang again, there might not be a Liu Zhengfeng; if there will be someone like Liu Zhengfeng, there might not be a Qu Yang. If there will be people like Qu Yang and Liu Zhengfeng, the two of them might not be born during the same period of time to meet and become friends. To find two who are good not only in music, but also in inner energy, yet have the same tastes and similar level of Kung Fu skills, to create a piece of music like this, is more difficult than finding a needle in a hay stack. If this piece of ultimate music gets buried into oblivion, brother Liu and I will undoubtedly sigh with regret in the underworld.” Taking a book of manuscripts out from his chest pocket, he continued, “This is the music score of the ‘Smiling Proud Wanderer’ song. Little brother, for the sake of the great devotion and efforts the two of us put in this, will you please find the right kind of people to give this to?”
“If the world gets to know the ‘Smiling Proud Wanderer’ song, then big brother Qu and I will be able to die content,” Liu Zhengfeng added.
Linghu Chong bowed and took the music score manuscripts from Qu Yang with both of his hands, and put it into his own pocket.
“Please rest assured. I will definitely try my best,” he promised.
When Qu Yang had said that he had a favor to ask of him earlier, Linghu Chong thought it was going to be something very difficult and dangerous. He also worried that to accomplish such a task might require action that would violate his school rules and offend fellow martial people in chivalrous schools. But he really could not refuse in the circumstance by then. Learning now that all they wanted was for him to find two guys to play zither and flute, he immediately felt much relaxed, and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Nephew Linghu, this piece of music not only is the ultimate lifelong work of the two of us, it is also related to a historical figure. A good amount of the melody in the ‘Smiling Proud Wanderer’ song was modified by big brother Qu Yang based on the Jin Dynasty musician Ji Kang’s ‘Guang-Ling Song’,” Liu Zhengfeng elaborated.
Qu Yang was quite proud of himself for this one. “It has always been said that after Ji Kang had died, the ‘Guang-Ling Song’ was lost for ever. Do you have any idea where I got it?” he beamed at Linghu Chong.
“I don’t have the slightest idea about music. And since you two do things so differently from other people, how would I have any clue about the answer?” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “Senior Master, will you please tell us?” he requested.
Qu Yang grinned. “Ji Kang was a very interesting guy. According to history books, he liked to ‘speak with magnificent style, quoting from Lao and Zhuang46 and enjoying the company of unusual people.’ His character was the type that I would have gotten along with. Zhong Hui was a high official at that time. Hearing about Ji Kang’s great reputation, he went to visit Ji Kang, but Ji Kang just went on with his blacksmith work, and paid no attention to him. Put out by Ji Kang’s indifference, Zhong Hui had to leave. Ji Kang asked him, ‘what did you hear before you came, and what did you see before you leave?’ Zhong Hui answered, ‘I heard what I heard before I came, and I saw what I saw before I leave.’ Zhong Hui the fellow was really a smart guy, but he was too narrow-minded. Because of this embarrassing encounter, he became angry and spoke ill of Ji Kang to Sima Zhao.47 Sima Zhao then ordered Ji Kang to be killed. Before Ji Kang was executed, he played a song with zither. That was really a good display of elegance. But when he said that the ‘Guang-Ling Song would be lost for ever from now on,’ he really underestimated everybody after his generation. He wasn’t the composer of this piece of music. He lived during the Western Jin Dynasty, even if it really became extinct after the Western Jin Dynasty, what about the dynasties before the Western Jin Dynasty?”
Linghu Chong was confused. “Before the Western Jin Dynasty?” he repeated in a mutter.
“Yep!” Qu Yang nodded. “I really didn’t agree with that comment of his, so I started digging in the tombs of Emperors and high officials in Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty. After digging in twenty-nine different ancient tombs, I finally found the music score manuscripts in Cai Yi’s tomb.” He burst into loud laughter and was very content with himself.
Linghu Chong was dumbfounded: “Just for the manuscripts of a single piece of music, this Senior Master actually dug into twenty-nine different tombs.”
Qu Yang’s smile gradually disappeared, and a bit of depression climbed onto his face. “Little brother,” he said, “I know you are the senior apprentice of a famous chivalrous school, and I really shouldn’t be asking you for this favor, but in such urgency, I really have no other choice but to get you involved. Please pardon me.” Then he turned to Liu Zhengfeng. “Brother, we can go now.”
“Right!” Liu Zhengfeng answered and extended his hand out.
The two grabbed hold of each other’s hand and laughed loudly. Amid the loud laughter, both gathered the remaining inner energy still left in them and burst the main arteries in their bodies. Within seconds, both shut their eyes tightly and passed away.
“Senior Master! Uncle-Master Liu!” Linghu Chong shouted in shock and reached out to check the two’s breathing, but found none.
“They…they are all dead?” Yilin asked in shock, and Linghu Chong answered with a nod.
“Apprentice sister, let’s bury the four bodies quickly, in case someone comes over searching for them and causes more trouble. We must under no circumstances ever let out the news that Great Mr. Mo killed Fei Bin.” He lowered his voice and said, “If this ever gets leaked out, Great Mr. Mo would know for sure that it was us who leaked the news. That would create major problems.”
“Yes,” Yilin agreed. “But what if my Master asks about it? Should I tell?”
“You can’t tell any one. If you ever tell this to your Master and Great Mr. Mo comes to pick a sword fight with your Master, that would be disastrous,” Linghu Chong emphasized.
Remembering the outstanding and magical sword skills that Great Mr. Mo had demonstrated earlier, Yilin couldn’t help but shiver. “I won’t tell,” she promised hurriedly.
Linghu Chong slowly bent over to pick up Fei Bin’s long sword, and then started poking holes on Fei Bin’s dead body with it. Yilin didn’t have the heart to watch.
“Big brother Linghu, he is already dead, why do you still hate him so much and want to torture his dead body?” she asked hesitantly.
“Great Mr. Mo’s sword is very thin and narrow. It would take a master no time to figure out who had executed the kill by checking the wounds on Uncle-Master Fei’s dead body. I am not torturing his dead body; I am just messing up every wounds on his body, so no one would be able to tell,” Linghu Chong explained.
Yilin gasped. “Why are there so many schemes in the Martial World? It’s really…really difficult,” she couldn’t help thinking.
Seeing that Linghu Chong had thrown down the long sword and was picking up stones to throw on top of Fei Bin’s body, she said hurriedly, “Don’t work too hard. Why don’t you sit down? Let me do it.” Picking up a stone, she placed it on Fei Bin’s body, so gently as if the body still had senses and could feel the pain because of the stones.
Yilin kept on picking up stones and soon covered th
e four bodies of Liu Zhengfeng and the others. Affectionately placing one more stone on Qu Feiyan’s grave, she murmured.
“Little sister, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have to suffer so much pain. I wish you would ascend into the Heaven to enjoy all the happy things, and then in your next life, get reborn as a male, performing many charitable and pious deeds, so eventually you would be able to enter the western paradise. May the merciful Buddha preserve us all….”
Linghu Chong sat on the ground leaning against a rock. Thinking about how Qu Feiyan had saved his life, yet had to die a terrible death at such a young age, he couldn’t help but feel sad. Even though he never believed in Buddhism, he still recited some ‘may the merciful Buddha preserve us all’ together with Yilin.
After some good rest, the pain from Linghu Chong’s wounds lightened, so he took the book of manuscripts of the “Smiling Proud Wanderer” music score out from his pocket and opened it up. The book was filled with strange symbols, and he didn’t even know a single one of them. His reading capabilities were very limited. Having no idea that music scores all used this kind of strange symbols, he thought that these were difficult words and characters he had never learned before. So he put the music book back into his robe pocket. He raised his head slightly while taking a deep breath, thinking, “Uncle-Master Liu had given up everything, including his own life, for his friend. Even though the friend was an Elder in the Demon Cult, both of them showed zealous passion and great courage, and deserved to be called true men. They are so admirable! I thought Uncle-Master Liu was going to have his ‘Gold Basin Hand Washing’ ceremony, and quit the Martial World today. What really happened? How did he become an enemy of the Songshan Sword School? How strange?”
Still lost in his wild imagination, Linghu Chong suddenly noticed some flashes of sword reflections from the northwest corner in the distance. The sword moves looked very familiar. It seemed that an elite fighter in his own sword school was in a sword fight with someone else. A shiver ran through his heart.
“Apprentice sister, wait here for a while. I will be right back,” he muttered to Yilin,
Yilin was still working on piling the stones for the graves, and didn’t even notice the sword flashes. She thought Linghu Chong was just in need of nature’s call, so she nodded.
Using a fallen branch as his crutch, Linghu Chong stepped forward. Picking up Fei Bin’s long sword on his way, he hung it by his waist, and then walked toward the direction of the sword flashes. After a short while, he could already vaguely hear the weapons colliding noises. The noises were so dense that they sounded nonstop; obviously it was a fierce fight.
“Which senior master in our school is in the fight?” he asked himself. “The fight has lasted for quite a while. Apparently the opponent is an elite fighter, too.”
He bent his back and slowly sneaked closer. Hearing the colliding sounds get louder, he knew he was already very close to the scene, so he hid behind a big tree and peeked out. In the bright moonlight, he could make out a scholarly looking man standing in the middle of the open field, holding a long sword. It was his Master, Yue Buqun. A short Taoist priest circled around Yue Buqun in blazing speed and continuously thrust his sword toward him. In the time of one circle, he would have made over a dozen thrusts. This man was the Head Master of the Qingcheng Sword School, Yu Canghai.
Seeing his Master in a fight with someone so unexpectedly, and the opponent being the Head Master of the Qingcheng Sword School, Linghu Chong felt very excited. He could tell that his Master fought in a very relaxed and graceful way. Every time when Yu Canghai thrust his sword out, Yue Buqun would simply block it leisurely. When Yu Canghai circled behind his back, he didn’t turn around, but only waved his sword to protect his back. Yu Canghai’s sword attacks became faster and faster, yet Yue Buqun only defended and didn’t attack back.
Linghu Chong watched on with great admiration. “Master’s nickname is ‘Gentleman Sword,’ and he really is behaving like a polite, graceful, and elegant gentleman. Even when he is in a fight with someone, he didn’t show any trace of violent brutality, none whatsoever.” He watched some more and then thought, “Master is able to control his temper well because he has not only poise, but also outstanding Kung Fu skills.”
Yue Buqun rarely got into fights with anyone. In normal days when Linghu Chong watched him fight, it would always be a demonstration fight with Master-Wife for the apprentices. Those were all fake fights. But this time it was a real one, so of course it was quite different from all the demonstration fights.
Linghu Chong could hear the whistles made by Yu Canghai’s sword every time he thrust the sword out, clearly showing the great strength behind each sword attack. “I’ve always looked down upon the Qingcheng Sword School. But this short Taoist priest actually is a very tough opponent! Even if I were healthy, I still wouldn’t last one minute fighting against him. The next time I meet him again, I’d better watch out for myself. The best thing to do would be keeping a safe distance from him.” Linghu Chong told himself inwardly as he went on watching.
By then, Yu Canghai had accelerated his circling around Yue Buqun. It almost looked as if a purple shadow had surrounded Yue Buqun and was rotating around him. The noises of swords colliding into each other had become so dense that all the sounds echoed continuously, and making a long ringing sound.
Linghu Chong couldn’t help but think, “If those dozens of attacks were aimed at me, I probably won’t be able to block a single one, and would end up enjoying dozens of holes in my body. This short Taoist priest probably has even better Kung Fu than Tian Boguang.”
Seeing that his Master still was not attacking back, he became worried. “That short Taoist Priest’s sword skills are so stunning, I hope Master won’t lose to him because of any small oversight.”
Suddenly a loud “ring” echoed in the air, and Yu Canghai had slid back like a shooting arrow. He stopped at about a dozen feet away and stood there still; Linghu Chong didn’t even catch a glimpse of him shoving his sword back to his sheath. Greatly astonished, Linghu Chong immediately glanced at his Master. Yue Buqun had also put his sword back into the sheath and just stood there quietly. The change happened in such an abrupt manner that Linghu Chong had no idea who had won and who had lost the fight. He wasn’t even sure if anyone had been injured internally or not.
For a moment, the two just stood there quietly, then eventually Yu Canghai sneered coldly, “Very well! I am sure we will meet again!” After these words, he sprinted toward his right side without any further delay.
“Master Yu, wait!” Yue Buqun yelled loudly. “What about the Lin Couple?” He quickly chased after Yu Canghai following the same direction. Before their voices fainted down, the two had vanished from sight.
From the dialogue between the two, Linghu Chong could tell that his Master had won the fight with Yu Canghai. He couldn’t help but feel great joy. But because of all his wounds and all the excitement, fatigue soon started to sink in, and he felt totally exhausted.
“Ah, Master has gone after Yu Canghai. With the level of Qing-Gong they have, they are probably a mile away by now!” he thought.
He leaned on his crutch and started walking back to meet Yilin again when suddenly a long scream floated out from within the woods to his left. The scream sounded miserable. Astounded, Linghu Chong took several steps toward the woods. A yellow wall could vaguely be seen behind the trees, and it looked like the kind of wall of a temple. Fearing that his fellow apprentices of the Huashan Sword School might be injured in fights with the Qingcheng apprentices, he strode in the direction of the yellow wall. When he was only about dozens of feet away from the temple, he heard an old and shrill voice speaking from inside the temple.
“Where is the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’? If you tell me where it is with no tricks, then I promise to wipe out the entire Qingcheng Sword School for you, and avenge the couple of you two.”
Linghu Chong had heard this voice before. That was when he was on the bed in
“Jade House.” So he recognized the man easily. It was “Hunchback of the North” Mu Gaofeng.
“Master is looking for the whereabouts of the Lin Couple right this moment. Turned out the two actually are in the hands of Mu Gaofeng!” he thought to himself.
“I don’t know if there is actually an ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’,” a man’s voice replied. “The sword art of our Lin family had always been passed down orally throughout the generations. I’ve never seen a sword art manuscript.”
“This one must be apprentice brother Lin’s father, the Chief Escort of the Fortune Prestige Escort House – Lin Zhennan,” Linghu Chong told himself.
Then the voice continued, “Senior Master, I thank you for considering seeking revenge for us. Yu Canghai of the Qingcheng Sword School had committed so many evil crimes; he will definitely have a terrible death. Even if he could escape you, Senior Master, he would die under someone else’s blade for sure.”
“Are you saying that you are determined to keep this to yourself? I am sure you’ve heard about the reputation of the ‘Hunchback of the North’ before, haven’t you?” Mu Gaofeng screeched with a threatening tone.
“Of course everyone knows about your great reputation, Senior Master Mu,” Lin Zhennan answered.
“Excellent! Excellent!” Mu Gaofeng said. “I wouldn’t call it a great reputation, but you probably have heard about how cruel and merciless I can be, haven’t you?”
“I knew you would be torturing me, Senior Master Mu. Even if we really had the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript,’ I would have never given that out no matter how others combine threats with inducements. Ever since I was taken prisoner by the Qingcheng Sword School, I’ve been tortured every single day. I don’t have high Kung Fu skills, but I do have some hard bones,” Lin Zhennan said firmly.
“Well, well, very well!” Mu Gaofeng pondered upon himself.
Outside the temple, Linghu Chong thought to himself, “Why is he saying ‘well, very well?’ Oh, I see. That’s why!” Then he heard Mu Gaofeng’s voice again.
