by Jin Yong
“Grand Uncle-Master, why?” Linghu Chong felt great sorrow in his heart.
“Don’t even tell your Master that you have seen me.” Feng Qingyang shook his head.
“I will follow your instructions,” Linghu Chong said as tear started to emerge in his eyes.
“Good kid, good kid!” Feng Qingyang stroked Linghu Chong’s head gently and then turned around to go down the cliff.
Linghu Chong followed him all the way till the edge of the cliff. Seeing Feng Qingyang’s thin figure receding down the cliff and eventually disappearing in the back mountain, he couldn’t help but feel deep sorrow and grief.
During the ten days or so Linghu Chong spent with Feng Qingyang, even though all they discussed about were sword techniques, he admired Feng Qingyang’s demeanor with all his heart. On top of that, he also felt that Feng seemed to be so close to him and the two were indescribably congenial. Feng Qingyang was really a Grand Uncle-Master of his who was two generations higher than him, yet deep inside Linghu Chong’s heart, he vaguely felt a kind of affection as if Feng was a good friend in his same age group who he had wished to meet all along. Comparing to his relationship to his respectful Master, Yue Buqun, this one seemed to be much closer instead.
“When this Grand Uncle-Master was still young, he probably had the same kind of temper just like me, fearing nothing, carefree, and tending to do things following one’s free will,” Linghu Chong thought. “When he taught me sword techniques, he always liked to say that ‘it’s the person using the sword techniques, not the sword techniques using the person’ and ‘a person is alive, but sword techniques are not, so an alive person shouldn’t be restrained by dead sword techniques.’ That principle is so true. Why did Master never say anything close to that?” He pondered over it for a while and then got his own answer. “Of course Master knows about this principle. It’s just that he knows well that I am too carefree and is afraid that once he tells me the principle, I would go on wild imaginations to create a mass and won’t follow the rules step by step when I practice sword art. Once I get to a certain level with my sword skills, Master will then explain everything in details. Apprentice brothers and sisters aren’t there with their level of Kung Fu skills, so of course it would be even more difficult for them to understand the principle of advanced sword art. It would be a waste of time telling them.” Then his mind slipped into a different thought. “Grand Uncle-Master’s sword skill has really reached the acme of perfection. What a pity it is that he never showed his true skills so I could broaden my horizons. Compared to Master, Grand Uncle Master’s sword skill must be another level up.”
He remembered that Feng Qingyang’s face was always covered by depression. He figured, “During the last ten days or so, Grand Uncle-Master would occasionally heave deep sighs. Obviously he had some kind of a big tragedy in his mind. I wonder what happened to him.” He heaved a sigh himself and then went out the cave to practice.
He practiced for a while and then randomly threw out a thrust. It turned out to be the Graceful Phoenix move from Huashan style sword art. He paused for a second and shook his head in a wry smile.
“Wrong!” he said to himself and then continued on. Not long after, he threw out another random thrust, and it turned out to be Graceful Phoenix once again. He couldn’t help but get mad at himself.
“Because I know sword moves from our sword school very well, and all those moves are already deep-rooted in my mind, as soon as I become careless, I would naturally add the familiar moves from our school into it. Then it’s not Dugu Nine Swords anymore.”
Suddenly a thought flashed by his mind. “Grand Uncle-Master told me to have no restraints and follow the natural flow, then why couldn’t I use sword moves from my own school? And furthermore, why couldn’t I add Hengshan, Taishan, or other schools’ sword moves, or even Demon Cult Ten Elders’ Kung Fu into it? If I insisted on separating them, using only certain type of sword art, not another certain type of sword art, then I am really putting restraints onto myself.”
After figuring that out, he just randomly threw out different moves. If it followed the natural flow, he would mix sword moves from his own school or moves from the rock wall together. Instantly, he felt endless fun. The sword moves from the five different mountain sword schools were quite different from each other, and the ten Demon Cult Elders also came from six or seven different sects. It was almost impossible to mix moves from so many different styles. After practicing for some moments, he was still not able to merge them together.
“If I can’t merge them together, so what? Why do I have to?” he suddenly realized. So he stopped worrying about what move it was and as soon as he thought of a move, he would simply mix it into the Dugu Nine Swords as he pleased. However, out of all those moves, Graceful Phoenix was still the one he used the most. He practiced some more and then threw another random thrust. Not to his surprise, it was Graceful Phoenix once again.
“What might little apprentice sister say once she sees how I am executing that Graceful Phoenix?” he suddenly thought.
He held his sword still as a gentle and soft smile broke out on his face. During the last few days, he had been studying and practicing sword arts with all his heart, even in his dreams he had been only thinking about the various variations of the Dugu Nine Swords. Now when he suddenly remembered Yue Lingshan, lovesick quickly welled up in his heart.
“I wonder if she is still teaching apprentice brother Lin sword art secretly. Master has strict orders, but little apprentice sister has always been very bold. Relying on Master-Wife’s spoiling, she probably started teaching again. Even if she’s not teaching sword art, they see each other days and nights, so of course they will become even closer.”
Gradually, the gentle smile changed into a wry smile, and eventually there was not a trace of happiness left on his face. Feeling quite depressed, he slid his sword back into the sheath slowly.
Suddenly Lu Dayou’s shouting voice rose. “Big apprentice brother! Big apprentice brother!” His voice was filled with worry.
“Oh no! Tian Boguang went down the cliff after a crushing defeat. He had said that he was not going to give up and would keep pestering to the very end. Could it be that since he can’t beat me in a fight, he had taken little apprentice sister into hostage so he could force me to surrender?” Linghu Chong was stunned.
He rushed by the edge of the cliff and looked down. Flustered and exasperated, Lu Dayou ran toward the cliff, the food basket in his hands.
“Big…big apprentice brother…big…apprentice brother, this is not good!” Lu Dayou shouted.
“What? What happened to little apprentice sister?” Linghu Chong asked hurriedly, even more worried.
Lu Dayou jumped up the cliff, and after sitting the food basket on a big rock, he said, “Little apprentice sister? Little apprentice sister is just fine. This is terrible. I think it’s going to be trouble.”
Hearing that little apprentice sister was just fine, Linghu Chong felt quite relieved. “What trouble?” he asked.
“Master and Master-Wife came back.” Lu Dayou panted.
Linghu Chong was quite delighted. “Bah! Isn’t it a great thing that Master and Master-Wife have come back? Why are you saying that it’s going to be trouble? Nonsense!” he reproached.
“No, no, you don’t understand. Right after Master and Master-Wife came back, before they even had a chance to rest, many people came to pay a visit, and among the people coming, there are ones from the Songshan Sword School, the Hengshan Sword School, and the Taishan Sword School,” Lu Dayou explained.
“Our five sword schools are all members of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. It’s quite normal when people from the Songshan Sword School and the others come to pay a visit to Master,” Linghu Chong said.
“No, no…you don’t know. There are three others that came together with them and claimed to be part of our Huashan Sword School, but Master doesn’t call them apprentice brothers.”
“Really? What do th
ose three look like?” Linghu Chong asked, feeling slightly surprised.
“One of them has a yellowish face and claimed to have a surname of Feng,62 and called something like Feng Buping. Then another one is a Taoist priest; the third one is a short guy. Both of them are called ‘Bu’ something. I guess they are really ones in the ‘Bu’ class.”
“Maybe they are traitors of our school and had been expelled out of the school a long time ago.” Linghu Chong nodded.
“Yeah! You guessed it right. As soon as Master saw them, he became very displeased and said to them, ‘Brother Feng, all three of you have had your connection with Huashan Sword School dropped a long time ago. Why are you coming back to Mount Huashan again?’ Then that Feng Buping said, ‘Apprentice brother Yue, did you buy out Mount Huashan? Are you not allowing other people to come up Mount Huashan? Or did the Emperor grant it to you?’ Master snorted and then said, ‘If you are just touring around Mount Huashan, of course you have your freedom. Yue Buqun is no longer your apprentice brother. I’ll have to send the words ‘apprentice brother Yue’ right back to you.’ Feng Buping said, ‘Your Master used schemes and intrigues to seize control of the Huashan Sword School many years ago. We’ll have to square the old accounts today. You don’t want me to call you ‘apprentice brother Yue.’ Humph, after we square the old accounts, even if you kneel in front of me to beg for it, I wouldn’t grant you the wish.’”
“Oh,” Linghu Chong replied, thinking that Master really had trouble this time.
“Us apprentices all got angry at those words.” Lu Dayou continued. “Little apprentice sister was the first one to yell out. Who would have thought that Master-Wife had a real soft temper this time? She didn’t allow little apprentice sister to make any noises. Master obviously didn’t take them too seriously. He said dryly, ‘You want to square accounts? What accounts do you want to square? How do you want to square?’ Feng Buping said loudly, ‘You have usurped the Head Master post of the Huashan Sword School for over twenty years. Haven’t you had enough of it already? Don’t you think it’s time to step down now?’ Master answered with a smile, ‘So all of you took on all the trouble to line up here just so that you can seize my post of Head Master. What’s there to cherish? Brother Feng, if you think you are capable of the Head Master post, of course I can step aside.’ Feng Buping said, ‘Your Master usurped our sword school’s Head Master post using schemes and intrigues many years ago. I have already petitioned to the Five Mountains Sword Alliance Chief Zuo and received the Command Flag to become the new Head Master of the Huashan Sword School in his command.’ He took out a small flag from his chest pocket and extended it out. It is indeed the Command Flag of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance.”
“Isn’t Alliance Chief Zuo a bit too impetuous to think he has the authority here? This is an internal affair of the Huashan Sword School. We don’t need him to poke his nose in that matter. What right has him to decide who should be the Head Master of our Huashan Sword School?” Linghu Chong shouted angrily.
“That’s right! Master-Wife said the same thing. But that Lu-named old guy from the Songshan Sword School, Crane Hands Lu Bai, you know, the old folk we saw at Uncle-Master Liu’s house in Hengshan, he spared no effort backing up that Feng Buping saying that the Feng-named guy should become the Head Master of the Huashan Sword School and argued again and again with Master-Wife. And those two guys from the Taishan Sword School and the Hengshan Sword School, this is so annoying, also ganged up with Feng Buping. The three schools of theirs have decided to gang up to give trouble to our Huashan Sword School. Heng-Shan Sword School is the only one that doesn’t have anyone involved. Big…big apprentice brother, I figured this is going to be big trouble, that’s why I came in a rush to let you know.”
“When our school has trouble, as long as us apprentices can still breathe, we are all willing to die for Master. Six apprentice brother, let’s go!” Linghu Chong shouted.
“Right! When Master sees that you are working for him, for sure he won’t blame you for leaving the cliff without permission,” Lu Dayou exclaimed.
“It’s alright even if Master do blame me. Master is a courteous gentleman, and he doesn’t like to argue with others. Maybe he will actually let someone have the post of Head Master. Wouldn’t that be terrible…?” Linghu Chong started rushing down the cliff using his Qing-Gong.
In the middle of running, Linghu Chong suddenly heard somebody shouting from the mountain path in front of him.
“Linghu Chong! Linghu Chong! Where are you?”
“Who is calling my name?” Linghu Chong asked.
“Are you Linghu Chong?” several voices asked in unison.
“That’s right!” Linghu Chong answered.
Suddenly two shadows flashed by and blocked in the middle of the road. The mountain path was very narrow and on one side of the path was the ten-thousand-feet deep bottomless valley. When the two men showed up so abruptly on the mountain path all of a sudden, Linghu Chong was in the middle of a fast dash and almost bumped into them. He stopped abruptly and found himself only a foot away from the two. The two faces were both very bumpy and wrinkly and looked very frightening. In great surprise, Linghu Chong immediately turned around and leapt back ten feet or so, shouting, “Who are you?” But to his great astonishment, he found another two extremely ugly faces, also bumpy and wrinkly, blocking his way. The two faces were less than half-a-foot from his face, and their noses almost touched his nose. Linghu Chong immediately took a step to his side and again found two more people standing by his side between him and the bottomless abyss. Their faces were also very similar to the previous four.
Having bumped into six freaks all of a sudden, Linghu Chong was at a loss as what to do, and his heart pounded like a drum. Within the split of a second, the six freaks had jostled him into a three-inch wide small space. The breaths of the two in front of him had already reached his face. He could also feel warm air on his back neck. Apparently it was because of the breathing from the two behind him. In a hurry, he reached for his sword. However, as soon as his finger touched the handle of the sword, the six freaks took a half step forward all at the same time and jostled with their bodies toward the middle. Instantly, Linghu Chong was squeezed into such a tight space that he couldn’t even move an inch.
“Hey, hey! What are you guys doing?” Lu Dayou’s voice rose from behind him.
Even though Linghu Chong had a bag full of tricks, at the moment, he was scared out of wits. Those six freaks looked almost like trolls or monsters, and not only did they have scary looks, their behaviors were even more freaky. Linghu Chong tried hard to open his arms so he could push away the two in front of him, but with his arms being jostled down, he had no way of pushing.
“They must be villains together with Feng Buping’s group,” he thought to himself hurriedly.
His entire body felt the great pressure; he couldn’t even breathe. The four freaks kept jostling toward the middle and soon Linghu Chong’s joints started popping. Not daring to stare right into the eyes of the freak right in front of him, Linghu Chong quickly shut his eyes tight. Then he heard a screeching voice.
“Linghu Chong, we’ll take you to see the little nun.”
“Oh, no! So they are Tian Boguang’s gang.” Linghu Chong thought to himself.
“If you don’t let go of me, I’ll commit suicide with my sword! Linghu Chong would rather die…!” he shouted.
Suddenly, Linghu Chong felt two hands grabbing onto both of his arms. The grips were as tight as clamps. Even though he had learned the Dugu Nine Swords, he had no means of using it at all. He groaned inwardly.
“The good little nun wants to see you. Behave yourself. Be a good kid, too,” another voice rose.
“It would not be good if you become dead. If you commit suicide, I’ll beat you half dead half alive,” a third one said.
“He would be completely dead already. Why would you still beat him half dead half alive?” someone else argued.
“If you want to
scare him, don’t let him hear you. Once he hears it, he won’t fall for it,” another one commented.
“I just like to scare him, what are you gonna do about it?” the previous one mocked.
“I think it’s better to talk him into behaving himself,” another one suggested.
“I said to scare him, and I will scare him,” the previous one said.
“I like to talk him out of it,” that another one insisted.
The two actually went on arguing against each other nonstop.
Linghu Chong listened as the two argued foolishly. He was both greatly shocked and annoyed. He thought to himself, “The six freaks have very high Kung Fu skills, however, they seemed to be really stupid.” So he shouted, “It’s useless to try to scare me or talk me out of it. If you don’t let go of me, I’ll bite off my tongue and kill myself.”
Suddenly, great pain came from his cheeks. Someone had grabbed onto his jaw.
“This guy is really stubborn. If he bites off his tongue, he won’t be able to talk. The little nun won’t like that for sure,” one voice said.
“If he bites off his tongue, he would be dead. Why would it matter if he can still talk or not?” another one argued.
“He might not die. If you don’t believe me, you can bite your own to try it out,” a third one suggested.
“I said he would die, so I won’t bite off my own tongue. Why don’t you try it out?” the previous one mocked.
“Why should I bite my own tongue off? I got it. Let him try it,” the one spoke before him replied.
There came a loud cry from Lu Dayou. Apparently those freaks had captured him.
“You, bite off your own tongue and let’s see if you will die or not? Hurry up! Bite!” one freak yelled.
“I won’t! If I bite my tongue off, I’d be dead for sure,” Lu Dayou shouted.
