Smiling Proud Wanderer Vol 03

by Jin Yong

  Linghu Chong had at last understood. That day when Tian Boguang came up to Huashan to invite him to come down the mountain, he kept everything a secret and didn’t want to say anything clearly. Linghu Chong didn’t expect that he would actually tell him everything at this time. Tian Boguang continued, “I went up Huashan to invite you, but I was defeated and I knew that it would be hard to keep my life further. To my surprise, Grand Martial Master was feeling uneasy so he personally took the little Shi Tai to come up to Huashan to look for you. Then he gave me the antidote, and afterwards I also listened to your advice not to rape and do those lecherous things anymore. But Tian Boguang’s nature is lascivious and there are lots of women around. So whenever I have some money, I went to look for some prostitutes which is not a difficult thing to do. Half a month ago, Grand Martial Master found me again. He said that you were going to become Heng-Shan School’s headmaster, but other people are ridiculing you behind your back and your reputation in Jianghu is being ruined. He loves everything, loves his daughter and son-in-law…”

  Linghu Chong scowled and interrupted, “Brother Tian, you must never speak of this nonsense ever again.”

  Tian Boguang replied, “Yes, yes. I was just repeating what Grand Martial Master said. He said that he wanted to join Heng-Shan School and told me to follow his plan. The first step was to accept me as a disciple on behalf of his daughter. I didn’t consent to this so he beat me up. I’m not his match and I also couldn’t run away so I was forced to pay my respect to Master.” He said till here when he frowned and his expression turned dark.

  Linghu Chong said, “You only have to pay your respect to your master. It doesn’t mean that you have to become a monk as well. Doesn’t Shaolin School have a lot of secular disciples?”

  Tian Boguang shook his head and answered, “Grand Martial Master had another idea. He said: ‘You’re such a lecherous person. Once you’ve entered Heng-Shan School, your martial uncles will all be beautiful nuns, so that’s going to be very inappropriate. The best plan would be to cut out the source of trouble first.’ He then knocked me down, pulled my pants down, grabbed his knife and gave me a chop. He cut half of my thing.”

  Linghu Chong uttered an ‘ah’ as he was startled by this, and shook his head. Even though he felt that this was very cruel, he also thought that Tian Boguang had harmed too many women of good families, so it was a deserved retribution. Tian Boguang was also shaking his head before he continued, “I fainted immediately. When I woke up, Grand Martial Master had applied some medicine on me and had also wrapped up my injury. He told me to rest for a few days to recover from my injury. Then he forced me to shave my head and become a monk. He gave me a Buddhist name called ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’. He said: ‘Since I already chopped your thing, you can’t rape anymore. So, of course there’s no need for you to become a monk. But I made you become a monk and gave you the Buddhist name ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’ so that everyone will know. That way, Heng-Shan School’s reputation will also be preserved. Ordinarily, it’s inappropriate for people who have become a monk to mix up with nuns. But since your name is ‘Cannot Have No Commandment’, then it doesn’t matter.’”

  Linghu Chong smiled and said, “Your Grand Martial Master is very thoughtful.”

  Tian Boguang replied, “Grand Martial Master wanted me to tell you about all these. He also wants me to ask you not to blame my master.”

  Confused, Linghu Chong asked, “Why would I want to blame your master? She doesn’t know anything about this matter.”

  Tian Boguang answered, “Grand Martial Master said: Every time he saw my master, he noticed how she became a little bit thinner and her complexion a little worse. When he asked her about it, she always sheds a tear and never says anything. Grand Martial Master said: It must be you who’s bullying her.”

  Linghu Chong was alarmed. “I didn’t! I never talk to your master in an angry manner. Also, she’s always so good, why would I scold her?”

  Tian Boguang said, “You never scolded her, that’s why she cried.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Grand Martial Master beat me up when I asked about this too.”

  Linghu Chong scratched his head thinking that Great Master No Commandment’s entangled way of speaking was just like that of the Peach Valley Six Fairies.

  Tian Boguang said, “Grand Martial Master said: after he got married to Grand Martial Mother, they quarrelled all the time, and the fiercer the scolding was, the more love there was. You’re not scolding my master so it means that you’re not taking my master to be your wife.”

  “This… your master is a Buddhist nun, so I’ve never thought of this matter.”

  “I also said that. Grand Martial Master got angry and beat me up for a time. He said: my Grand Martial Mother was originally a nun and when he wanted to marry her, he became a monk. If Buddhist nuns or monks couldn’t get married, how can there be my master in this world? If my master isn’t in this world, how can there be me?”

  Linghu Chong couldn’t help thinking that this was funny. He thought Tian Boguang was much older compared to Little Martial Sister Yilin; how could he mention those two things together? Tian Boguang went on, “Grand Martial Master also said: if you didn’t think of marrying my master, then what are you doing becoming Heng-Shan School’s headmaster? He said: there are a lot of nuns in Heng-Shan School but not one can be compared to my master’s beauty. If you didn’t do it for my master, then for which nun are you doing it for?”

  Linghu Chong was secretly feeling miserable and couldn’t take this anymore, he thought, “Great Master No Commandment became a monk so that he could marry a nun. He now thinks that everyone in the world thinks the same way as him. If these words got out, how could it not cause a lot of problem?”

  Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. “Grand Martial Master asked me whether my master is the most beautiful woman in the whole world. I answered: ‘She’s not the most beautiful, but she’s very beautiful.’ He got angry and punched me causing two of my teeth to fall off. Then he said: ‘How come she’s not the most beautiful? If she weren’t beautiful, then why did you have rude intentions towards her on that day? And why did that little kid Linghu Chong risked his life to save her?’ I quickly said: ‘Most beautiful, most beautiful. How could Grand Martial Master’s daughter not be the most beautiful woman in the world?’ When he heard these words, he became happy and praised my brilliant vision.”

  Linghu Chong smiled. “Little martial sister Yilin is of course beautiful, it’s no wonder that great Master No Commandment is proud of her.”

  Tian Boguang happily said, “You agree that my master is beautiful; that’s very good then.”

  Linghu Chong oddly asked, “Why is that good?”

  “Grand Martial Master gave me a task, he wants me to think of a way to call you… call you…”

  “Call me what?” Linghu Chong asked.

  Tian Boguang smiled. “Call you my master-husband.”

  Linghu Chong was stupefied. “Brother Tian, Great Master No Commandment loves his daughter a lot. But you should already know that this matter is impossible to do.”

  “That’s true. I said that’s really hard to do, I said that you once led a large group of people to attack Shaolin temple because of Divine Sect’s young lady Ren. I said: ‘Even though young lady Ren’s beauty isn’t above my master, Master Linghu was already predestined to be with her. He’s already infatuated with her and other people wouldn’t be able to interfere.’ Master Linghu, in front of Grand Martial Master, I had no choice but to say this in order to protect my remaining teeth so I have something to eat with, please don’t blame me.”

  Linghu Chong smiled and said, “Of course I understand.”

  “Grand Martial Master then said: He already knows about this and that it’s very easy to solve this problem because all that is required is to think of a way to kill young lady Ren without you knowing. I quickly said not to do that because if young lady Ren were killed, then Linghu Chong
would definitely commit suicide. Grand Martial Master said: ‘What you said was right. If this little kid Linghu Chong died, then my daughter will be widowed, how can that be not a bad luck? How about this? You talk to this little kid Linghu Chong; tell him my daughter will marry him and make his second house. This will be alright.’ I said: ‘Grand Martial Master, how can you wrong your daughter like that?’ He sighed then said: ‘You don’t know. If my daughter couldn’t marry Linghu Chong, she would die sooner or later; she definitely won’t have a long life.’ As he said this, his tears flowed down. Ai, this is their father-daughter inborn nature revealing their true feelings, it couldn’t be fake.”

  The two of them were looking at each other, both of them feeling pretty awkward. Tian Boguang then said, “Master Linghu, I’ve already said everything that Grand Martial Master wanted me to tell you. I know that some of these are hard to do, even taboo, especially since you’re the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. But I advise you to speak more to my master and let her be happy. You can deal with this later on.”

  Linghu Chong nodded his head and said, “Alright.” In the last few days, every time he had seen Yilin, she seemed to be thinner and thinner. He now knew that it was because she was lovesick. Yilin loved him so deeply; how come he didn’t know? But she was a Buddhist nun and still very young, so he expected her feelings would lessen as days passed by and would finally be gone. After meeting her again at Xianxia mountain range, and from Fujian to Jiangxi, he was never alone with her to talk about anything. Ever since he had been on Heng-Shan, he avoided doing anything that might rouse suspicion. He didn’t care if other people slandered his own name, as his name was already not good, but he felt he must never spoil the clean reputation of the Heng-Shan School. Besides the time he was imparting the sword art to the Heng-Shan’s female disciples, he never chatted with anyone. Compared to the past days of clowning around, he was very different. As he listened to Tian Boguang speaking of the past, and about Yilin’s tender feelings towards him, feelings suddenly burst forth in his heart.

  He looked up towards the mountain peak where the white snow was accumulating as he pondered. Suddenly, he heard the clamouring sounds of people coming up the mountain path. The mountain summit had always been quiet and peaceful, and there was never people shouting or making noises. He was really astonished when he heard footsteps of several hundred people coming up the mountain. The first person called out, “Congratulations, Master Linghu. Today is your happy day.” This person was short and plump; he was Old Man. Behind him were Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, Huang Boliu, Sima Big, Blue Phoenix, You Xun, the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, and many other people who had unexpectedly come here.

  Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. He quickly went forward to welcome them. “I received Dingxian Shi Tai’s last order so I must take the leadership of the Heng-Shan School, but I didn’t dare to alarm all the friends here. How come you’ve all come here?”

  These people had once followed Linghu Chong in attacking Shaolin temple and had gone through life and death battles with him. So they had become friends through trials and tribulations. They came up the mountain one by one and circled him. Old Man said in a loud and clear voice, “Everyone heard that Master managed to get Sacred Lady out, and we all felt really happy. This matter of Master taking up the headmaster position of Heng-Shan School; it was already known in Jianghu for quite a long time. If we didn’t come up the mountain today to give our congratulations, then we deserve to die.” These heroes were upright and straightforward people, after talking for a short while, they were able to joke around.

  Ever since he had taken residence on Heng-Shan, Linghu Chong had only been around a group of nuns and young ladies so he had to talk with the utmost restriction. Now, suddenly, as he found so many old friends around him, he was extremely happy. Huang Boliu said, "We're uninvited guests so Heng-Shan School certainly hasn't prepared any food or drink for us. So we brought food and wine up the mountain."

  Linghu Chong happily said, "That's very good then." He thought, "This situation is starting to resemble that big assembly on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge."

  As they were talking, around a few hundred people had come up the mountain. Ji Wushi smiled and said, "Master, we're all people from the same family so there's no need to be polite. Your educated and cultured female disciples shouldn't come and greet crude people like us. So it's best if we just talk amongst ourselves."

  Now he found the mountain peak very noisy and lively. Heng-Shan School certainly didn't expect that so many guests would suddenly turn up to congratulate them, so all of them became excited. There were some old disciples who were more experienced; they saw that the guests who had come to congratulate them were neither fish nor fowl. Even though there were a few well known heroes, they were all masters from the demonical path. Also, a lot of them were heroes and thieves from the dark path. Heng-Shan School's rules were strict and all the disciples guarded themselves strictly. Not only do they have a lot of contact with people from the orthodox path, they have not paid much attention to them. Unexpectedly, a large group of unorthodox people had come up to the peak today. But they saw their headmaster was holding and pulling on their hands, looking very close, and talking to them nicely.

  At noon, several hundred men brought chicken, duck, cow, sheep, wine, and many other dishes to the top of the mountain. Linghu Chong thought, "The peak of the mountain is a sacred ground for the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin. I'm the Headmaster here, but if we were to eat fish and meat, kill pigs and slaughter sheep, we will be offending the ancestors of the Heng-Shan School. I would be sorry to let this happen." He immediately told these people to cook the dishes on the mountainside. However, the smell of the wine and meat drifted up to the mountaintop which caused many nuns to secretly scowl. After these heroes cooked their meals, they went to the front of the convent to sit inside the large open area there. Linghu Chong sat on the west side while the several hundred female disciples sat behind him according to their seniority. They were waiting until the lucky hour to initiate the “taking up the office” ceremony.

  Suddenly, they heard the sounds of a group of people playing flutes coming nearer. Two old men with green gowns strode up the mountain. The group of heroes uttered "yi, ah" from everywhere and many people stood up. The old man on the left, with a yellow complexion, cried out in a clear voice, "Divine Sun Moon Sect's Chief Dongfang’s delegates Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun come to congratulate Hero Linghu's honour in becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster. We wish Heng-Shan School to be prosperous and Headmaster Linghu to be prestigious in Wulin."

  When he finished his speech, the group of heroes uttered an 'ah' and exploded in cheers. Half of these unorthodox path's heroes were connected to the Devil Sect, and among them, there were people who had taken Dongfang Bubai's 'Three Brain Corpse Pill'. So when they heard the words 'Chief Dongfang' mentioned, they were scared to death. The group of heroes didn't recognise who these two people were, but they had long heard of their names. The person on the left was called 'Honourable Yellow Face' Jia Bu, while the one on the right was called Shangguan Yun, with the nickname 'Eagle Hero'. The martial arts of these two people were high; it was said that their martial arts were way above those of all the headmasters, chiefs, and clan leaders in Wulin. The services and qualifications of these people in the Divine Sun Moon Sect weren't extremely impressive. But over the last many years, the sect had undergone a big change. Many older members such as Xiang Wentian and others were removed or went into seclusion. At the present time, Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun were two of the most powerful and first-class figures in the sect and it can be said that Dongfang Bubai was giving Linghu Chong a lot of respect by sending the two of them here.

  Linghu Chong went forward to welcome them. "Mr. Dongfang and I have no acquaintance with each other. I don't deserve your two honourable presences."

  Linghu Chong saw that 'Honourable Yellow Face' Jia Bu had a thin face resembling a candle, and his two Taiyang acupoints were
very pronounced as if each point has a piece of peach underneath. The 'Eagle Hero' Shangguan Yun, with long arms, long legs, and an air of assured authority, had glitteringly bright eyes. These indicated that the two of them had profound internal energy.

  Jia Bu said, "Today is Hero Linghu's big day. Chief Dongfang said that originally he wanted to congratulate you personally. But there are too many matters of the sect that are hindering him, and since there's no way for him to be in two places at once, he asked Headmaster Linghu not to blame him."

  "I wouldn’t dare," Linghu Chong replied, while he thought in his heart, "It looks as if Dongfang Bubai is still flourishing which means Chief Ren still hasn't snatched the leadership of the sect yet. I wonder how Chief Ren, Brother Xiang, and Yingying are doing right now."

  Jia Bu leaned to one side and indicated with a wave of his left hand. "Here are some meagre gifts, small tokens of regards from Chief Dongfang. Headmaster Linghu, please accept them." Amidst the sound of flutes, more than a hundred people brought forth forty large red boxes. Each box was being carried by four strong men, and from the heavy steps of each man, it seemed that the items inside the boxes weren't light.

  Linghu Chong quickly refused, "Linghu Chong is already honoured by the presence of your two honourable; I would never dare to receive these gifts. Also, please reply to Mr. Dongfang that Linghu Chong said many thanks. On this mountain, Heng-Shan School's disciples live frugally but have a clean and honest life, so we have no use for these splendid and expensive items."

  Jia Bu replied, "If Headmaster Linghu doesn’t accept these gifts, Shangguan Yun and I will be in big trouble." He slightly tilted his head towards Shangguan Yun and said, "Brother Shangguan, don't you think what I said was right?"