by Jin Yong
He pondered over the question but still couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to simply ask about it straight forth.
“Brother Tian, I have a question in my mind. Will you give me a straight answer?” he asked.
“I have no problem telling anything to anyone. For things like raping and looting, murdering and arson, others might try to hide or deny them. When I, Tian Boguang, want to do something, I’ll do it and admit to it! Why bother denying it?” Tian Boguang declared.
“Then, brother Tian, you are really an open and aboveboard true man,” Linghu Chong commented.
“A true man? You are really flattering me. But at least I am an honest villain whose deeds match his words.” Tian Boguang said.
“Aha, brother Tian, people of your type are really rare in the Martial World. Will you please answer this question for me? You had planned carefully to lure my Master far away from Mount Huashan, and then you came to Mount Huashan and insisted on having me leave together with you. Where on earth do you want me to go and what’s your purpose?”
“I’ve told you right at the beginning that I am here to invite you to pay a visit to Little Sister Yilin so she won’t be hurting from lovesickness.”
“That is just so too absurd and bizarre. I am not a three-year old kid. How can I believe you?” Linghu Chong shook his head.
Tian Boguang was enraged. “I consider you a true hero, but you are treating me like I am the shameless low life scoundrel. Why can’t you trust my words? Are you thinking that all the words that are coming out of my mouth are just crap? If there were anything untrue in my words, I would be even lower than a filthy pig,” he snapped.
Feeling the sincerity in his words, Linghu Chong had to believe in him, and at the meantime, he was totally amazed. “Brother Tian, your submitting to become Little Sister Yilin’s apprentice was just a joke, not to be taken seriously. Why did you come such a long way to invite me for her sake?” he asked in disbelief.
“Of course there are other reasons involved. Just with her little Kung Fu, how could she ever be worthy to be my Master?” Tian Boguang looked quite embarrassed.
Linghu Chong suddenly got an idea. He thought to himself, “Could it be possible that Tian Boguang has fallen in love with apprentice sister Yilin, and all his previous ill intention has transformed into deep affection?”
“Have you fallen in love with Little Sister Yilin at first sight and are most willing to do what she tells you?” Linghu Chong asked.
“You can stop imagining things. There’s nothing even close to that!” Tian Boguang shook his head.
“Then what are the other reasons involved? Brother Tian, will you please share those with me?” Linghu Chong demanded.
“This is the worst luck for me. Why ask so much? In short, if I can’t invite you down Mount Huashan, I will die a dreadful death,” Tian Boguang answered.
“How could that be possible?” Linghu Chong was shocked, yet he didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“Tian Boguang pushed up his clothes and exposed his chest. Pointing at two red spots as big as a coin right below his two nipples, he exclaimed, “Somebody has sealed my Death Acupoints here and also planted strong poison in my body so he can force me to come and invite you to pay a visit to the Little Sister. If I fail to accomplish the mission, then the two red spots will start to deteriorate and fester. By then, there will be no cure whatsoever and they will gradually expand all over my body until my entire body starts to decompose. After three years and six months I will eventually die because of the rotting.”
With a very serious look on his face, he spoke again, “Brother Linghu, I am telling you the truth not because I want to earn your pity or anything. I just want you to know that no matter how persistent you are, I am determined to have you comply. I am open at all options at all cost. On normal days, I already stop at no evil. At a life-threatening moment like this, I would have no scruples.”
“It seems like he is telling the truth,” Linghu Chong thought to himself. “Then all I need to do is to not go down Mount Huashan with him. A month later when the poison in his body activates, the world will be rid of a big villain. There is really no need to kill him myself.” So he said to Tian Boguang with a smile, “Which elite master was so mischievous to have done such a practical joke and gave you such a puzzle to solve? I wonder what kind of poison was planted in your body. Even the most dangerous poison can be detoxified somehow.”
“There’s no need to mention the one who sealed my Death Acupoints and planted poison in me. Other than the one who did it, there’s only one other person in the entire world who might be able to detoxify the poison in my Death Acupoints – ‘Killer Doctor’ Ping One-Finger. But why would he want to work on me?” Tian Boguang said irritably.
“You can either beg him with polite words or threaten him with your knife on his neck. Maybe he might consider working on you,” Linghu Chong said with a small grin.
“You can save all your sarcasm to yourself. In brief, if I can’t get you to go with me, then I will be dead for sure, but you won’t be able to stay safe either.”
“Of course! Brother Tian, all you need is to beat me fair and square and make me feel sincerely convinced. Then in consideration of your great Kung Fu skills that took you quite some hard work to master, I might just agree to go down Mount Huashan with you. Will you please wait for me a bit more? I am going to enter the cave to think again.
He entered the cave, thinking to himself, “That day when I fought with him for several times, I was able to fight over thirty moves every time. How come I’ve actually slipped back now and simply can’t take thirty of his moves any more?” Soon, he figured it out. “That’s right! That day when I fought with him, ready to die any moment, I never cared if it was thirty moves or forty moves. Right now I keep counting the first move, the second move, the third move. All I care about is how to take on the full set of thirty moves. With such distraction, then inevitably my sword skill is only half good compared to the last time. Linghu Chong, Linghu Chong! How dumb you are!”
After figuring the problem out, he was greatly encouraged and went on to study the Kung Fu on the rock wall. This time he focused on Taishan style sword art. Taishan style sword art was distinctively strong in its stableness and steadiness. Within such a short time, it would be impossible to truly grasp the essence of it. Besides, Linghu Chong wasn’t too fond of the rigorous and well-behaved sword style either. He looked at the moves for a little while and was ready to leave when the nimble and agile moves of a short spear used to break Taishan style sword art caught his eyes. The more he studied them, the more fascinated he became, and soon he was so focused in it that he lost track of time, until Tian Boguang became impatient about the waiting and called him.
The two fought again. By then Linghu Chong became a little bit wiser and never bothered to count the moves again. As soon as the fight broke out, he waved his sword in different directions and launched a storm of attacks upon Tian Boguang. Seeing new sword moves emerging out of Linghu Chong in an endless stream and that every time after he thought about it in the cave, he would add many new meanings to the moves, Tian Boguang dared not to slack off. The two countered fast with faster, and exchanged many moves within a short moment. Suddenly Tian Boguang took a step forward, reaching out and grabbed onto Linghu Chong’s wrist in the speed of a flash. He twisted Linghu Chong’s arm back and pointed the sword tip right at Linghu Chong’s throat. If he had wanted to, he could have pushed the sword forward and the long sword would have penetrated Linghu Chong’s throat.
“You lost!” Tian Boguang yelled out.
“It was you. You lost!” Linghu Chong claimed as great pain came from his wrist.
“How did I lose?” Tian Boguang asked.
“This is the thirty-second move.” Linghu Chong declared.
“Thirty-second move?” Tian Boguang asked in disbelief.
“Yep! Thirty-second move, precisely.” Linghu Chong acknowledged.
“You weren’t counting.” Tian B
oguang didn’t buy it.
“Well, I wasn’t counting with my tongue, but I was counting in my heart. It was plain and clear. This is the thirty-second move.” Linghu Chong affirmed.
Actually he never really counted in his heart. The thirty-second move thing was just something he made up on the spot.
“That can’t be true!” Tian Boguang let go of Linghu Chong’s wrist and argued. “You thrust like this with your first move and I counter-attacked like this. You then blocked it like this and I chopped like this. That was the second move.” He went on and on and was actually able to demonstrate every single move used in the last fight from the very beginning to the very end. After he counted till the move when he grabbed onto Linghu Chong’s wrist, it was only the twenty-eighth move.
Linghu Chong was immensely amazed at Tian Boguang’s ability in memorizing. The two of them had both fought with tremendous speed, yet he was able to memorize every single move so clearly in the exact order. That’s some kind of talent one simply wouldn’t see very often in the Martial World. Linghu Chong couldn’t help but admire. He stuck his thumb out.
“Brother Tian, you have superb memory! I must have counted wrong. Let me go to think them over again.”
“Wait!” Tian Boguang stopped him. “Something is really odd about this cave. I’d like to go in and take a look. Are there secret Kung Fu manuscripts hidden in the cave? Why is it that every time after you come out of the cave, you add many strange moves to your collection?” He started walking toward the cave.
Linghu Chong was stunned. He thought quickly, “If he finds out about the drawings on the rock wall, it would be disastrous.” He immediately showed a brief trace of happiness on his face and soon replaced it with a sad and worried look as he extended his arms out to block Tian Boguang’s way.
“We have our school’s secret Kung Fu manuscripts in the cave. Brother Tian, you are not a member of our Huashan Sword School. You can’t go in there to tour around. Sorry!”
Noticing the very brief happy look on Linghu Chong’s face that was quickly replaced by some kind of very exaggerated worried look, probably something he put out as a show, Tian Boguang pondered, “Why was he so happy as soon as he heard that I wanted to go in the cave? He pretended to be worried immediately afterwards. Obviously he was trying the hide his true feelings and hoped that I would rush into the cave recklessly. There must be something in that cave that would be detrimental to me. Probably some kind of booby-trap or ambush. Or maybe some kind of poisonous serpent or monster he has tamed. I am not going to fall for it!”
“I see. So there are secret Kung Fu manuscripts of your respected school. Then it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go tour around indeed,” Tian Boguang pretended to agree.
Linghu Chong shook his head and appeared to be very disappointed. Later, he went back in the cave several more times and learned many more strange and weird moves, not only unique moves of the Five Mountains sword schools, but also many of those odd moves that would break the sword arts of the Five Mountains sword schools. But in the rush, he couldn’t truly understand the essence of them, and because he had used them right after he picked them up minutes ago, their power was dramatically reduced and he still couldn’t take on thirty moves of Tian Boguang’s fast knife chops.
Tian Boguang couldn’t understand why every time after Linghu Chong entered the cave to think more, he would be able to perform many odd and strange moves. Those odd and strange moves weren’t really very useful in countering his own knife moves, but they were all so clever and brilliant that he had never seen anything like them in his entire life. It was almost like an amazing demonstration, and he secretly wished that the contest would go on so he would be able to observe more of the fantastic sword moves.
After Tian Boguang subdued Linghu Chong another time, noticing that it had already passed noon, he suddenly thought of something. “Most of the moves he used this time seemed to have been moves of Songshan style sword art. Could it be possible that there are elite grandmasters of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance hiding in that cave? Every time when he goes into that cave, those elite grandmasters would then teach him some new moves and then send him out to fight me. Oops, luckily I didn’t rush in that cave recklessly. How can I stand a chance fighting the many elite grandmasters of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance?” At that thought, he blurted out.
“Why don’t they come out?”
“Who?” Linghu Chong asked.
“Those elite senior grandmasters in the cave who taught you all those sword moves,” Tian Boguang answered.
Linghu Chong was taken by surprise, but then immediately understood what Tian Boguang meant. He let out a big smile.
“Those senior grandmasters, they don’t…don’t feel like fighting you, brother Tian.”
Tian Boguang was outraged. He gave a very disgruntled snort and then yelled out loudly, “I know these kinds of people. They fish for fame and compliments and profess to be above politics and worldly considerations. They feel it’s beneath their dignity to fight me, the evil rapist Tian Boguang. You let them out. As long as we are fighting one on one, regardless of how big of a reputation he has, he might not be able to beat me!”
“Brother Tian, if you are interested, go ahead and enter the cave to consult those eleven senior grandmasters. They actually think your knife skills are quite excellent,” Linghu Chong shook his head and said with a grin.
Linghu Chong knew that hence Tian Boguang had committed many crimes in the Martial World and had made many enemies, he had always been very careful in normal days. Now since he has assumed that there are elite masters from various schools in the cave, he would never risk going in the cave no matter how he was goaded. He intentionally used such an odd number eleven instead of ten to make it sound real.
Surely enough, Tian Boguang snorted and said, “What elite senior grandmasters? I am afraid they are all the ones with underserved reputation, otherwise, why after teaching you all kinds of moves again and again, you still can’t even take on thirty moves of mine?”
He was quite confident about his Qing-Gong skills and thought that even if those eleven elite masters all rushed out at the same time, although he wouldn’t stand a chance winning the fight, at least he would stand a very good chance of running away successfully. And besides, because all of them were elite senior grandmasters of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, they would value their own dignity dearly and never launch a joint attack at him.
Linghu Chong put on a serious face. “That’s only because I am dumb and clumsy with very limited inner energy and couldn’t grasp the essence of those senior grandmasters’ Kung Fu. Brother Tian, you’d better watch your mouth and not upset them. If any one of them decided to fight you, you don’t even have to wait for your poison to activate a month from now; your head would be missing from your neck on top of the ‘Cliff of Contemplation’ instantly.”
“Why don’t you tell me who those senior grandmasters are in the cave?” Tian Boguang demanded.
“Those senior grandmasters have lived in seclusion and lived a hermit’s life for a long time already. They have withdrawn from society for many years. Their gathering here has nothing to do with you, brother Tian. Their names can’t be revealed. But even if I do tell you who they are, you wouldn’t have heard of their names anyways. There’s no need to tell! No need to tell!” Linghu Chong had a very secretive look on his face.
Seeing the odd expression on Linghu Chong’s face, Tian Boguang was almost sure that Linghu Chong was trying to hide the truth. So he said, “Within Songshan, Taishan, Hengshan, and Heng-Shan the four schools, there may be some exceptional senior grandmasters. But in your respectful school though, there isn’t any grandmasters left at all. Everybody knows about that in the Martial World. You must be talking irresponsibly and making things up. It’s hard for me to believe you.”
“That’s right. There really isn’t any elite senior grandmaster left in the Huashan Sword School. Many years ago, our sword school was so u
nfortunately hit by plagues, and all the elite fighters in the last generation withered and passed away. Brother Tian, you have said it correctly. There is really no grandmaster of our Huashan Sword School in the cave.” Linghu Chong affirmed.
Tian Boguang was convinced that Linghu Chong must have been lying to him. When he said something is false, then it should be true. If he had said that there weren’t any senior grandmasters left in Huashan Sword School, then there must be someone. He pondered over it for a long time and suddenly remembered something. He slapped his thigh with his palm and shouted out loud.
“Aha! I remember now! So it is senior grandmaster Feng Qingyang!”
Linghu Chong instantly remembered the characters “Feng Qingyang” carved on the rock wall in the cave and couldn’t help but utter a cry of surprise. He wasn’t pretending this time and was stunned when he thought that the senior grandmaster Feng might still be alive. Regardless of what the truth was, he waved his hand in denial hurriedly.
“Brother Tian, please don’t talk irresponsibly. Feng…Feng….”
He figured that since the name “Feng Qingyang” has a “Qing” character in it, then he must be from a more senior generation than Master’s “Bu” generation. So he continued with his sentence.
“Grand Uncle-Master Feng has quit the Martial World to live in seclusion many, many years ago. Nobody knows where he is, and no one is even sure that the respectful Grand Uncle-Master is still alive or not. How can he be on Mount Huashan right now? If you don’t believe me, then you’d better go in the cave and take a look yourself, then you will know the truth.”
The more Linghu Chong wanted Tian Boguang to go in the cave, the more Tian Boguang believed that it was a trap. He thought to himself, “He looks so panic-stricken. I must have figured it out right. I heard that many of the senior Huashan Sword School grandmasters all died unusual deaths in a single night except Feng Qingyang who happened to be away from Mount Huashan at the time and escaped that doom. So it turned out he is still alive. But he would be at least somewhere between seventy and eighty years old. No matter how high his Kung Fu level is at, he would have exhausted his strengths after all. The hell with him. Why would I be afraid of such an rotten old man?”
