by Jin Yong
Jia Bu was using a pair of judge's pens while Yingying was using a pair of long and short swords as they fought fiercely. When Linghu Chong first met Yingying, he only heard her voice but never saw her. Later on, he experienced how powerful she was and saw how she was feared by that crowd of heroes but he didn't know the reason. He felt feelings of affection but didn't know where his feelings came from. That day when Yingying killed some Shaolin disciples and fought against Great Master Fangsheng, Linghu Chong only saw her shadow and did not actually see her fight. So this was the first time that he had clearly seen her fighting with someone. Seeing her moving lightly and quickly, swiftly going here and there with her pair of long and
short swords fluttering all of a sudden, attacking strangely with intermingled feints and true thrusts, even though she was really in front of him, in Linghu Chong's heart, he still felt as if he was floating, like the smoke, like the fog.
The two judge's pens that Jia Bu was using were really heavy. When he slashed them out, it was as if he was using a steel whip and Yingying didn't want her pair of swords to clash with his judge's pens. Each of Jia Bu's moves was aimed at a major acupoint on Yingying's body but he was always a hairsbreadth short in striking her.
Great Master Fangzheng shouted, "Evil creature, you're still not putting down your weapon and be captured?"
Jia Bu saw that there was only death waiting for him today, so he combined his pair of pens into one and stabbed them towards Yingying's throat. Linghu Chong was startled and was really afraid that Yingying might not be able to avoid this attack, so he quickly stabbed out with the candlestick in his hand. He stabbed out twice hitting both of Jia Bu's wrists. Jia Bu felt his fingers became powerless and dropped both of his judge's pens. He quickly rushed at Linghu Chong with both of his palms together.
Great Master Fangzheng sent both of his palms up in a slant and captured both of Jia Bu's hands. Jia Bu forcefully struggled but he was unable to get away. He immediately kicked out violently with his left leg towards Fangzheng's lower body. Fangzheng let out a sigh and sent out both of his palms and sent Jia Bu flying out of the door. They heard him roaring out miserably, and his shout receded further and further away from them as he fell down towards the deep valley outside of Mount Cui Ping. Linghu Chong smiled towards Yingying and said, "Lucky you came to the rescue!"
Yingying smiled back at him. "Luckily I arrived in time!" She followed by shouting, "Put out the fire!"
Someone from below the pavilion responded, "Yes!"
Originally, the fire that was underneath the pavilion was burnt by using sulfur mixed with grass so that it would make Jia Bu uneasy. It wasn't actually a real fire. Yingying walked to the window and called out towards the Divine Snake Pavilion, "Uncle Shangguan, Jia Bu defied orders and that's why he met with this disaster. Why don't you lead those people out of the pavilion now? I won't give you any trouble."
Shangguan Yun replied, "Young lady, swear it for me to believe you."
"I'll swear to the past dynasties of the sect. If Shangguan Yun listens to my orders, then from now on, I won't harm him. If I violate this oath, then the three corpse bugs will eat my brain to death," Yingying swore.
This was Sun Moon Sect's highest form of oath, so when Shangguan Yun heard it, he was immediately relieved and led the twenty people out of the pavilion. When Linghu Chong and others walked out of the Spirit Turtle Pavilion, they saw Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, and tens of other people waiting underneath the pavilion. Linghu Chong asked Yingying, "How did you know that Jia Bu and his men wanted to attack us?"
"Why would Dongfang Bubai be that nice to you and be sincere in giving you gifts? I already suspected from the beginning that those forty boxes contained some kind of deceit. Later, I saw Jia Bu acting suspiciously and leading his men here, so I was really suspicious and took Mr. Old and the others here to take a look. Those rice buckets guarding at the foot of Mount Cui Ping didn't want to let us go up the
mountain, and in a short while revealed their true character," Yingying told him.
Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, and the men laughed at this. Shangguan Yun hung his head down looking ashamed. Linghu Chong sighed, "This is only my first day as the Headmaster of the Heng-Shan School, and my true character as an incapable fool has already been revealed. I knew that those people sent by Dongfang Bubai were up to no good but I didn't take any precautions. If Linghu Chong dies, then that's deserved. But if Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu suffered under the hands of those traitors... Ai!" As he said this, he kept shaking his head.
Yingying said, "Uncle Shangguan, from today onwards, are you going to follow me or are you still going to follow Dongfang Bubai?"
Shangguan Yun's face changed colour as it was a hard decision for him to make to betray Chief Dongfang. Yingying went on, "Amongst the ten elders in the divine sect, six have taken my father's three corpse brain pills. Are you going to take this pill or not?" She extended her hand and in her open palm was a red pill. Shangguan Yun trembled, "Young lady, you're saying from amongst the sect's ten elders, six elders have… six elders…"
"That's right. You've never worked for my father before. So you're not considered to have betrayed my father when you worked for Dongfang Bubai in these last few years. If you could abandon that dark world, then I'd appreciate it, and my father would definitely appreciate it too," Yingying said.
Shangguan Yun looked around and he thought in his heart, "If I don't surrender, it seems that I'll lose my life right here. Since six out of the ten elders have returned to Chief Ren, things have moved really quickly. I couldn't be the last one left still swearing loyalty to Chief Dongfang." Having decided thus, he immediately took the three-corpse brain pill from Yingying's palm and swallowed it. He then said bowing to Yingying, "Shangguan Yun is thankful for young lady's kindness for not killing me. From today, I will strive to complete your order and would never dare to disobey them."
"We're on the same side, there's no need for such a huge propriety. These brothers under you, they naturally follow you?" Yingying asked.
Shangguan Yun turned his head to look at the twenty men behind him. Those men saw that their leader had just surrendered and had also taken the three-corpse brain pill, so they immediately prostrated themselves on the ground and paid their respects to Yingying. They all said, "We're willing to obey Sacred Lady's order, ten thousand
deaths will not deter us." At this time, the crowd of heroes had extinguished the fire. When they saw that Yingying had subdued Shangguan Yun, they all congratulated her. Shangguan Yun's martial art was already very high in the Sun Moon Sect, and his position was also very honourable, so with Yingying subduing him, this had helped Ren Woxing greatly in taking back the leadership of the sect.
Fangzheng and Chongxu saw that the situation had gone back to normal so they took their leaves and went down the mountain. Linghu Chong went with them for several li before parting ways. Yingying and Linghu Chong were walking shoulder to shoulder as they went back to Xianxing Peak. She said, "Dongfang Bubai is a very violent person, and you already saw this methods for yourself. My father and Uncle Xiang are in the process of getting more support from inside the sect to return the sect to its former leadership. The ones who happily submit to us are naturally the best, while the ones who don't agree are settled one by one, so that Dongfang Bubai will be weakened. At this moment, Dongfang Bubai has started his counter attack. He sent Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun to take care of you. This was a really good move from him because my father and Uncle Xiang's whereabouts are a secret so Dongfang Bubai couldn't find them. But if they wanted to harm you, I…I…" As she said this, her face blushed furiously and she turned her head away.
As the evening set in, the night wind blew her soft hair around till they covered both of her cheeks. Seeing her snow white neck, his heart was moved. He thought, "She's been passionately devoted to me for a long time and everyone in the world knows about this. Even Dongfang Bubai wanted to capture me in order to threaten her and also to threaten her fathe
r. On top of the sky bridge at the Hanging Temple, she knew clearly that the ambush was unpassable so she jumped in front of me afraid that I might get injured. To have a wife like this, what more can Linghu Chong ask for?" With this thought, he extended his arms to hug her waist.
Yingying giggled and leaned her body to one side making Linghu Chong hug an empty space. Even though his sword art was wonderful and his internal energy was abundant, his fist, kicking, hand-seizing, lightness, and other martial arts lacked by a lot. Yingying laughed, "As a Headmaster of a school, how can you act with no rules or customs?"
Laughing also, Linghu Chong replied, "Amongst all the headmasters in the world, Heng-Shan School's headmaster is by far the most ordinary and is the one laughed at by everyone."
Yingying seriously said, "Why are you saying that? Even the Abbot of Shaolin and the headmaster of Wudang respect you. Who would dare to look down on you? Are you going to keep the matter of your expulsion from Huashan in your heart forever and always be ashamed in front of other people?" These few words that Yingying said really touched the matter that was in Linghu Chong's heart. Even though he had a carefree nature, he was still heartbroken and still harboured a deep hurt for being expelled from the Huashan School. He couldn't help sighing when he heard this and bowed his head. Yingying pulled his hand and said, "You're now the Headmaster of Heng-Shan and you should be proud and elated in front of the realm's heroes. The reputations of the two schools Heng-Shan and Huashan are equal. Could it be that the honourable position of Heng-Shan School's Headmaster isn't as good as being the disciple of Huashan School?"
"Thank you for your advice. But I've always felt being the headmaster of nuns is embarrassing and laughable," Linghu Chong replied.
"Today, there's close to a thousand heroes who have joined the Heng-Shan School. Amongst the five mountains sword schools, if we talk about the glory of the schools, only Songshan School could be compared to you. How could the other schools like Taishan, Hengshan and Huashan be compared to you?" Yingying said.
"I haven't thanked you for this yet."
Yingying smiled. "Thank me for what?"
"You were afraid that it won't be too reputable for me to become the leader of nuns so you sent your men to join Heng-Shan. If it weren't for Sacred Lady's order, how could those wild and unruly friends agree to become the martial brothers and sisters of these nuns – not to mention obediently receiving my restrictions?"
Yingying, with pursed lips holding her laughter, said, "That might not be true. You have been their chief when you were attacking the Shaolin Temple, so everyone had already accepted you long before."
The two of them chatted easily as they went up the mountain. When they got closer to the convent, they faintly heard the clamours of those heroes. Yingying halted her step and said, "We'll part here. Once my father's matter is settled then I'll come here to see you."
Linghu Chong's chest suddenly felt heated and he replied, "You're going to the Dark Wood Cliff?"
"Yes."
"I'll go with you."
Yingying's eyes flashed with happiness but she shook her head.
Linghu Chong asked, "You don't want me to go with you?"
"You just became the headmaster of Heng-Shan School today and now you want to come with me to settle the Sun Moon Sect's matter. Even though there's no one higher than you in Heng-Shan School, don't you think doing this is too much?"
Linghu Chong reasoned, "It's very dangerous to go up against Dongfang Bubai. How could I just stay outside of the matter and let you go into danger by yourself?"
"Those Jianghu friends who are living in Heng-Shan's Other Courtyard, I can't say for certain that they won't offend the ladies in Heng-Shan School."
"You only need to order them not to do it then they definitely won't dare."
"Alright, since you're willing to go with me, I thank you on behalf of Daddy."
Linghu Chong laughingly said, "You're thanking me and I'm thanking you, why are we being so polite?"
Yingying smiled captivatingly and said, "Don't blame me for being impolite to you in the future."
After walking for a while, Yingying said, "My daddy said that since you don't want to join the sect, he doesn't want your help in taking back the sect's leadership, but… but…" She said till here when her face turned scarlet.
"Even though I'm not joining the Sun Moon Sect, I'm not an outsider to you. If your father asks me to leave, then I'll just thicken my face and refuse to leave," Linghu Chong told her.
Yingying smiled, "My daddy would surely feel happy to get your help."
The two of them returned to the top of Xianxing Peak and separately went to their disciples to leave them with some orders. Linghu Chong ordered all his disciples to practise their martial arts diligently, and told them that he was escorting Yingying back and would be returning to the mountain after that. Yingying told the group of heroes that if any of them dared to set foot on Xianxing Peak from that day onwards, she would have their legs cut off. If their left foot stepped on the peak then their left leg would be chopped, if it were their right foot then their right leg would be chopped, and if both feet stepped on the Peak then both legs would be chopped off.
At dawn the next morning, Linghu Chong and Yingying said their many goodbyes, and went down the mountain with Shangguan Yun and his twenty men and commenced on their journey to Dark Wood Cliff.
Dark Wood Cliff lay east of Heng-Shan inside the prefecture of Hebei. Within a day, they had arrived at the boundary of that prefecture. During the journey, Linghu Chong and Yingying separately sat inside two sedan chairs and always kept the curtains down to avoid Dongfang Bubai from detecting them. That very evening, Yingying and Linghu Chong stayed at an inn very close to the gathering altar of the Sun Moon Sect, so the place around the inn was crawling with the sect's people coming and going. Shangguan Yun ordered four of his men to guard the front and back of the inn and not let anyone into the inn. At supper time, Yingying accompanied Linghu Chong in drinking wine. The fireplace in the inn was blazing brightly and the light shone on Yingying's face, revealing her tenderness.
After drinking a few cups of wine, Linghu Chong said, "That day inside the Shaolin Temple, your father said that amongst all the heroes in the realm, there are three and a half who he admires. Amongst them, Dongfang Bubai is number one. This person snatched the chief position from your father's hands, so naturally his ability and wisdom are high. It's also said in Jianghu that Dongfang Bubai is number one in terms of martial art, is this saying true?"
"This Dongfang Bubai definitely works really hard and is also very scheming. But I'm not certain about the level of his martial art because in the last few years, I've actually not seen him."
Linghu Chong nodded. "These past few years you've been living at the Bamboo Alley at Luoyang city so of course you haven't seen him."
"That's not true. Even though I lived in that Bamboo Alley, I went back to Dark Wood Cliff once or twice every year and yet, I never got to see Dongfang Bubai. I heard from the elders in the sect that for the past few years, it was getting harder and harder to see Chief," Yingying told him.
Linghu Chong said, "A person of such high status often doesn’t want to see other people so no one can see how different they are."
Yingying replied, "This certainly is one of the reasons. But my guess is that he's ardently practising the 'Sunflower Manual' martial arts, and isn't willing to be disturbed by sect's matters."
"Your father once said that during the time he was studying 'The Art of Essence Absorbing' to meld all the different types of internal energy in his body, he ignored all sect's matters, and let Dongfang Bubai usurped his power. Could it be that Dongfang Bubai is repeating the same mistake that your father made?"
"Since Dongfang Bubai isn't personally taking care of sect's business, in these last few years, all of the sect's affairs and power have been turned over to a little kid surnamed Yang. This little kid couldn't possibly seize Dongfang Bubai's power and thus repeat the same t
hing again," Yingying explained.
"A little kid named Yang? Who's that? How come I've never heard of him before?"
Yingying's face suddenly turned red, and she smiled, "There's no dirtier thing to say except for his name. No one in the sect would even mention his name; so no one outside the sect would know of him. So, of course, you've never heard his name before."
Linghu Chong's curiosity was peaked. "My dear, tell me about him."
"That Yang person is called Yang Lianting. He's around twenty years old, his martial art is really low, and he has no ability at all. But recently Dongfang Bubai had pampered him so much; it really is remarkable." As she said this, her whole face turned dark and her mouth twisted; it seemed that she really despised this person.
Linghu Chong was disappointed. "Ah, this Yang person is Dongfang Bubai's boyfriend. Originally, Dongfang Bubai was a great hero, but he likes… likes pretty boys."
Yingying said, "Don't say it! I don't understand what Dongfang Bubai's thoughts are. He always tells Yang Lianting to handle all of his business, and a lot of brothers in the sect have been harmed by this Yang kid. We must kill…"
Suddenly, someone from outside the window laughed. "You're wrong. We should thank Yang Lianting."
Yingying happily called out, "Daddy!" And she quickly went to the door to open it.
Ren Woxing and Xiang Wentian entered the room. The two of them were wearing farmers' garb and the big hats on their heads covered half of their faces. If they hadn't heard Ren Woxing's voice, they wouldn't have been able to recognise them just by their faces. Linghu Chong stood up to pay his respects and told the servant to bring two more sets of chopsticks, more wine and dishes.
