Smiling Proud Wanderer Vol 01

by Jin Yong

  “You challenge him in the front, and your Master and I will help you behind the scenes. No matter who kills him, we will all say that you killed him, so our fellow martial people in the Martial World won’t say that your Master and I were lowering ourselves to pick a fight with him.” Madam Yue explained.

  “That’s awesome!” Yue Lingshan put her hands together and grinned. “Since Dad and Mom are going to help out behind the scenes, then I’d have the courage to challenge him too! After he’s dead, we’ll just all say that I am the one who did it. That would be so nice!”

  “Are you jealous? You want to enjoy the unearned gain, don’t you?” Madam Yue laughed. “Your big apprentice brother has embraced untold dangers and fought with the fellow Tian Boguang for several hundred rounds. He knows Tian Boguang’s actual skills very well. Can you do that with just your little bit of Kung Fu? You are just a little girl. I don’t even want to hear the villain’s name mentioned out of your mouth, not mentioning having you fight him.”

  All of a sudden, she thrust her sword at Linghu Chong and the sword tip almost reached Linghu Chong’s solar plexus. A second ago, she had been talking to her daughter in smiles, who would have expected that a second later, she had already drawn her long sword and thrust it at Linghu Chong’s vital point.

  Linghu Chong also reacted very quickly. In an instant, he had drawn his own sword and blocked away the attack. With a loud clanking sound, the two swords clashed in the air and Linghu Chong took a step back with his left foot.

  “Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, and swish!” Madam Yue attacked six times continuously.

  “Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank, and clank!” Linghu Chong blocked six times.

  “Start your counter-attack!” Madam Yue yelled out and suddenly changed her fighting style by raising the sword high and slashing and chopping it down in great speed. Those weren’t a part of Huashan style sword arts.

  Linghu Chong understood immediately that Master-Wife was performing Tian Boguang’s fast knife chops to help him comprehend ways to break them and thus put the enemy to death. Madam Yue’s attacks became faster and faster and it was almost impossible to distinguish the connection between each moves.

  “Dad, Mom’s moves are really fast, but aren’t those still sword moves, not knife moves? I am afraid Tian Boguang’s knife chops won’t be like that,” Yue Lingshan said to her father.

  “Tian Boguang has outstanding Kung Fu skills. It’s not an easy task to imitate his knife chop moves,” Yue Buqun explained with a slight smile. “Your mother is not really imitating his knife arts. She is only focusing on the ‘fast’ part of it and performing the ‘fast’ part incisively and vividly. In order to rid Tian Boguang, the key lies not in how to break his knife arts, but in how to restrain the speed of his knife moves. Look at that, perfect timing! Graceful Phoenix!”

  Yue Buqun noticed that Linghu Chong had slightly lowered his left shoulder while retracting his right elbow and pointing his left hand fingers to the side, then the move Graceful Phoenix immediately followed. That was the perfect move to use at the exact moment. In immense joy, he shouted out the name of the move. But as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Linghu Chong’s thrust appeared weak and crooked. The thrust failed to penetrate the net weaved by Madam Yue’s sword.

  “What a terrible execution of the move,” Yue Buqun heaved a sigh and thought to himself.

  Madam Yue showed no mercy whatsoever. With three quick thrusts, she sent Linghu Chong into a frantic rush. Seeing that Linghu Chong had executed every sword move in a flustered way and that none of the moves were well organized, three out of ten moves were actually not Huashan style sword art moves at all, Yue Buqun soon had a ghastly expression on his face.

  Although Linghu Chong’s sword moves were really disorganized, he managed to block the swift and fierce attacks by Madam Yue. After he retreated next to the rock wall and had no more space to retract to, he gradually started his counter-attack. When a chance suddenly presented itself, he immediately attacked with the move Green Pines Welcoming Guests. His sword tip seemed to have transformed into countless sparks and pelted toward Madam Yue’s tempos.

  A loud bang exploded as Madam Yue blocked the attack with her sword. She quickly waved her sword in front of herself for protection. Madam Yue knew well that the move Green Pines Welcoming Guests had several powerful additional techniques. Although Linghu Chong had mastered that move well and would never really hit her with it, it was still a tough move to defend, so she changed into a defending stance from the previous attacking stance and waited in great focus. But who would have thought that Linghu Chong’s long sword came in such a slow speed with no strength attached – it didn’t even pose a threat.

  “Execute your moves attentively. What the heck are you imagining in your head?” Madam Yue yelled and slashed her sword three times. Seeing that Linghu Chong jumped around and dodged those moves, she shouted, “What kind of Green Pines Welcoming Guests was that? Have you returned all your sword training back to your Master because of your illness?”

  “Sorry!” Linghu Chong replied as he returned the attack with two of his own thrusts. His face was covered with embarrassment.

  Noticing that Master’s face look more and more discontented, Shi Daizi and Lu Dayou were both worried. Rustling sounds rose suddenly as Madam Yue began circling around the field. Her green skirt seemed to have transformed into a blurry green shadow. Reflections from her sword glimmered, and because of her great speed, all of her sword moves became indistinct.

  Linghu Chong’s brain seemed to have become a pool of muddle. All kinds of thoughts flashed by in his head and created chaos. “If I use Galloping Steeds, the opponent can use the brilliant level blocking move to overcome it. If I use the sideway thrust, I’d undoubtedly be getting a terrible wound.” As soon as he thought of a sword move from the Huashan sword art, he couldn’t help but remember a move on the rock wall that would break the sword move. The reason why he gave up halfway when he used the moves Graceful Phoenix and Green Pines Welcoming Guests was because he had remembered the different ways that can be used to break those two moves. He had become very scared, thus instinctively, he would stop half way through the execution and retract into a defending stance.

  Madam Yue had used the fast sword moves hoping to lead him into using the “Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning” to beat the opponent and claim victory, but Linghu Chong simply blocked using random moves. He simply wasn’t focused. It appeared as if he was completely terror-stricken and scared out of his wit. She had long known that Linghu Chong had great courage and was the fear-nothing type. She had never seen him fight like this before.

  “Don’t you want to use that move?” greatly annoyed, Madam Yue yelled out loudly.

  “Yes Ma’am!” Linghu Chong answered as he thrust his sword straightforward. The way he used the technique and the way the sword traveled matched the move created by Madam Yue – Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning – exactly.

  “Good!” Madam Yue shouted. She knew this move was an ultimately swift and fierce one, so she dared not to take it head on, but instead, dodged to the side and shot out a back prick.

  But meanwhile, Linghu Chong was actually thinking to himself, “This move is not going to work. It’s useless. It will only get me a crushing defeat.”

  Suddenly, a tremendous shock came from his wrist and his long sword flew out of his grip into the air. “Ah…!” in astonishment, Linghu Chong burst out a cry.

  Wasting no time, Madam Yue immediately thrust her sword straight forth. The force of the thrust sent the blade whistling through the air. It was none other than the move she had created – Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning. But this time, the power of the move was even greater than when she first created the move the other day.

  Ever since she created that proud move of hers, she had been pondering over the move every single day about how to make it faster and how to make it more powerful so that the thrust would guara
ntee a hit that the enemy would have no chance of dodging or blocking. She was completely outraged when she saw how Linghu Chong executed this proud move of hers – the beginning part looked similar, but half way through, the core part turned out to be completely different. It was almost like someone tried to draw a tiger and ended up with the likeness of a dog. Linghu Chong had acted like a good-for-nothing fellow and had executed an extremely powerful killer move in a wretched and sloppy way. In great rage, she decided to execute the move herself instead.

  Although she didn’t intend to hurt her apprentice, the move was simply too powerful. Before the tip of the sword even reached the target, the energy coming from the sword had completely enveloped Linghu Chong’s entire body.

  Yue Buqun could tell that Linghu Chong had no way of dodging or blocking the attack, not mentioning putting together a counter-attack. On the other day when Madam Yue’s sword touched Linghu Chong’s clothes, she immediately shocked the sword into pieces with her inner energy. But the thrust today had all the energy focused right on the sword tip. In that mode, Madam Yue might not be able to pull it back.

  “Oh, no!” Yue Buqun groaned inwardly as he drew the sword by his daughter’s waist in a rush and took a step forward. He was ready to jump forth to block Madam Yue’s sword if it would reach half a foot further. He and Madam Yue had been fellow apprentice before, so their skill levels weren’t that far apart from each other. Even though Yue Buqun was slightly better, since Madam Yue was already half way into her move, he had no certainty of successfully blocking the thrust away. All he could do was to wish inwardly that Linghu Chong would only be slightly wounded.

  In the nick of time, Linghu Chong’s fingertip happened to touch the sheath hung by his waist. He slightly bent his knees to lower his body and then aimed the sheath straight at Madam Yue’s sword tip. This posture was exactly the same one as the drawing on the rock wall in the back cave – the staff wielding man aimed his staff straight at the opponent’s sword tip so the staff and the sword made a perfect straight line; once the two forces collided, the sword would have to break in half. Linghu Chong’s head was already in chaos with the many images of the moves drawn on the rock wall flashing back and forth. After his sword was knocked out of his grip, seeing Madam Yue’s thunder-like attack heading toward his way, he had no idea how to dodge the attack, so in order to save his own life, he naturally remembered the move drawn on the rock wall without thinking. The attack came in great speed; his counter move also happened in great speed. There was really no time for him to even think much about it, much less looking for a staff. Since his fingertip happened to touch the sheath, he immediately aimed the sheath at the sword in a straight line. Even if his fingertip had happened to touch a block of mud or a straw, he would have used the same move to aim it at the sword in a straight line. Once the move was out, it naturally gathered his strength around his arms, and with a clanking sound, the sword went right into the sheath. It turned out that in panic, Linghu Chong didn’t even think about turning the sheath around. As soon as he grabbed onto the sheath, he immediately aimed it at the coming sword tip, and had actually aimed the opening end of the sheath at the sword; that was why Madam Yue’s long sword didn’t break in half but instead went straight into the sheath.

  In great bewilderment, Madam Yue only felt a great pain coming from her palm while her sword being taken out of her grip by Linghu Chong using the sheath. The move Linghu Chong used contained many additional techniques, and by then Linghu Chong had lost control of himself. Almost instinctively, he jabbed the sheath forward toward Madam Yue’s throat, and the weapon on its way toward Madam Yue’s throat was none other than the handle of her own sword.

  Half astonished and half outraged, Yue Buqun waved his long sword and knocked it onto the sheath in Linghu Chong’s grip. He used the Divine Art of Violet Twilight with this hit. Linghu Chong only felt a stream of warmth surged through his body and had no choice but to stumble three big steps back until he lost his balance and sat down on the ground heavily. The sheath, together with the sword in it, broke into several pieces before falling to the ground. Right at the instant, in a white flash, the long sword in the air fell with its tip pointing down and went all the way into the ground, leaving only the handle showing above ground. Shi Daizi, Lu Dayou, and Yue Lingshan were simply dazzled by the unexpected scene.

  Yue Buqun rushed in front of Linghu Chong. Reaching out with his right hand, he slapped Linghu Chong hard on each of his cheeks.

  “You dirty swine! What were you doing?” he yelled in rage.

  Linghu Chong felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. As soon as he regained himself, he knelt down on the ground.

  “Master, Master-Wife, please forgive me.”

  Yue Buqun’s anger exploded. “In the last half a year, what contemplation have you been pondering over and what Kung Fu have you been practicing?” he shouted furiously.

  “I…I didn’t…didn’t practice any Kung Fu,” Linghu Chong answered in terror.

  “Where did you get your wild imagination to create that move against your Master-Wife?” Yue Buqun asked again in a stern voice.

  “I…I didn’t think. In the urgency, I just happened…happened to use it,” Linghu Chong answered haltingly.

  Yue Buqun heaved a sigh. “I figured that you just happened to use it without much thinking. That’s why I am getting very angry. Do you know that you have gone on to the evil way and might not be able to extricate yourself?”

  “Master, would you please explain?” Linghu Chong bowed his head down.

  After quite a long while, Madam Yue finally calmed herself down. Seeing Linghu Chong’s swollen cheeks in black and purple from her husband’s heavy slaps, she couldn’t help but feel pity and sorry for him.

  “You can get up now! You didn’t know the crux of the matter anyway,” she said to Linghu Chong.

  Turning toward her husband, she said, “Apprentice brother, Chong is a very bright boy. In the past half a year, he trained all by himself and couldn’t reach the two of us for any advice. That’s probably why he got onto the evil way. But he hasn’t gone very far in that evil direction. It’s still not too late to correct him and get him back to the righteous way.”

  Yue Buqun nodded. “Get up now,” he said to Linghu Chong.

  Linghu Chong stood up slowly. Staring at the long sword and the sheath on the ground each broken in three pieces, he was dazzled, having no idea why Master and Master-Wife both said that his training had gone onto the evil way.

  “Come over here, all of you.” Yue Buqun waved at Shi Daizi and the bunch.

  “Yes, Master,” Shi Daizi, Lu Dayou, and Yue Lingshan answered in unison and walked by Yue Buqun’s side.

  “Twenty-five years ago, our Huashan Sword School’s Kung Fu used to be in two styles: the righteous style and the evil style,” Yue Buqun sat down on a big rock and explained slowly.

  Linghu Chong and the rest of the apprentices became very confused, each thinking, “Huashan Sword School Kung Fu is Huashan Sword School Kung Fu. How could there be the distinctively righteous style and the evil style? Why hasn’t Master ever mentioned this to us before?”

  “Dad,” Yue Lingshan interrupted, “the Kung Fu we learned naturally is the righteous style Kung Fu, isn’t it?”

  “Of course it is! Why would someone go on with his training knowing that he was learning the heterodox style Kung Fu?” Yue Buqun affirmed. “But the heterodox branch claimed that they were the real orthodox branch and called our branch the heterodox branch. Time became the best judge to decide which one is righteous and which one is evil. The heterodox branch eventually vanished like mist and smokes and has been gone for the last twenty-five years.”

  “No wonder I had never heard about it before. Dad, since the heterodox branch had been long gone, I guess we don’t have to worry about them anymore,” Yue Lingshan commented.

  “What do you know?” Yue Buqun mocked. “The heterodox branch wasn’t really like those evil heterodox clans and
cults out there today. They were still using our school’s own Kung Fu skills, but they had a different focus in their training. When I teach you Kung Fu skills, what do I teach you at the very beginning?” He fixed his stare on Linghu Chong’s face.

  “You first taught us the formula and techniques on how to control and manipulate our inner energy. We start training with Qi-Gong,” Linghu Chong answered.

  “That’s correct. In our Huashan Sword School style Kung Fu, the key lies in the words ‘Inner Energy.’ Once your inner energy is developed with Qi-Gong practices, then regardless of what you use as your weapon, let be your fists and legs, or knives and swords, you will succeed whenever you go. That is the righteous way for training in our school. But among the senior grandmasters of our school, there were a group of people who believed that the key of our school’s Kung Fu lied in the word ‘Sword,’ and that once someone developed his sword skills, even with ordinary level of inner energy, he could still defeat the enemy. The main divergence between the righteous branch and the evil branch lies right here.”

  “Dad, I have a comment. Promise me that you won’t get mad at me,” Yue Lingshan interrupted again.

  “What comment?” Yue Buqun asked.

  “I think in our school’s Kung Fu, no doubt inner energy part is critical, but we can’t overlook sword skills either. If one only has great inner energy, but doesn’t have good sword skills, he still won’t be able to demonstrate the power of our Huashan style Kung Fu,” Yue Lingshan said.

  Yue Buqun let out a snort. “Who said that sword skills weren’t important? The main point here is about which drives which. Inner energy is the driving force here after all.”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if both inner energy and sword skills were the driving forces?” Yue Lingshan asked.

  “This comment of yours alone is sending you closer to the evil way. When you say both of them are the driving forces, you are really saying that neither of them is the driving force. The old saying said, once the head-rope of a fishing-net is pulled up, all its meshes open. Which is the key link and which is the mesh? We must be very clear about it. In those years when they had the discussion about the righteous style and the evil style, our school had earthshaking changes that turned the entire Huashan Sword School upside down. If you said those words thirty years ago, your head probably wouldn’t be still on your neck longer than half a day.”