by Jin Yong
The two of them leaned close to each other inside the bamboo basket as they went down. They saw the light mist around them and felt as if they were floating. It was as if they had gone to another world compared to the situation inside the hall. Linghu Chong looked up to the top of the Dark Wood Cliff and saw the golden reflection of sunlight from the writing on the white jade archway. He felt pleased. "I've finally left that place. The things happening last night were like a nightmare. From now on, I'd never set foot on Dark Wood Cliff ever again."
"Brother Chong, what are you thinking?"
"Can you be together with me?"
Yingying's face blushed red and she said, "We... We..."
"What?"
Yingying lowered her head and said, "We're not married yet. How... how can I follow you?"
"Didn't you go around Jianghu with me before?"
"That was because I had to. Also, that's why a lot of rumours are flying around. Just then Daddy said I... said I want to be with you and don't want him anymore. If I go with you then Daddy would definitely be unhappy. Daddy was also imprisoned for more than ten years so his temper isn't good, so I want to accompany him. As long as your heart is faithful then in the future we can accompany each other." The last few words that she said were really soft that they couldn't be heard.
By coincidence, a white cloud floated by them wrapping around the bamboo basket and the two of them. Linghu Chong could only blurrily look at Yingying. Even though Yingying was leaning close besides him, he couldn't see her appearance clearly and it was as if she had been carried out by the cloud and he couldn't touch her. When the bamboo basket reached the bottom of the cliff, they stepped out of the basket. Yingying whispered, "You're going to go now?"
"Zuo Lengchan has invited the five mountains sword schools to come to a meeting on the fifteenth of the third month to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. He's very ambitious and would bring disaster to all the heroes in this realm. I must go to this gathering on Songshan."
Yingying nodded her head and said, "Brother Chong, Zuo Lengchan's sword art isn't your match but you must guard against his plotting."
Linghu Chong replied, "Yes."
"I should go with you but I'm only a witch from the Devil Sect. So if I were to go with you to Songshan then I'd just hinder you there." She stopped for a moment, before she dispiritedly said, "When you become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, your reputation would be well known in this world. Our two paths of orthodox and demonical are irreconcilable so... it's... it's... it's going to be even more difficult for us."
Linghu Chong held her hand in his and softly said, "You still don't believe me?"
Yingying mournfully laughed. "I believe you." After some time, she quietly said, "When someone practises his martial art, it would get higher and higher, and his reputation would also get bigger and bigger. I felt that often, that person would also start to change. He himself might not know it but his treatment of matters would be totally different than before. Uncle Dongfang was like that, and I'm worried that Daddy might be like that."
Linghu Chong smiled. "Your father wouldn't go and learn the martial art in that 'Sunflower Manual'. That Manual had already been destroyed by him so even if he wanted to practise it now, he wouldn't be able to."
"I'm not talking about martial art, I'm talking about someone's temperament. Even if Uncle Dongfang didn't learn the 'Sunflower Manual', he would still kill and rob once he usurped the leadership of the Divine Sun Moon Sect. He would've naturally become conceited."
"Yingying, there's no harm in worrying about other people but there's no need to worry about me. I'm born with this carefree attitude and would never be like that. Even if I were to become conceited, I would always always always be like this in front of you."
Yingying let out a long sigh and said, "That's good then."
Suddenly Linghu Chong thought of something and said, "Everyone in the world already knows about the two of us. Those friends that you sent to the island in South Sea, can you let them come back now?"
Yingying smiled and replied, "I've already sent people to bring them back to the central plains."
Linghu Chong pulled her close to him and lightly hugged her. "It's goodbye for now. Once that matter in Songshan is settled then I'll come here to look for you. Then we'll never be apart again."
Yingying's eyes flashed happily and she lightly said, "If only all your matters go smoothly then we can meet earlier. I'll... I'll wait here and look out for you every night and day."
"Alright!" Linghu Chong then gave her a kiss on her cheek. Yingying's face turned red with bashfulness and pushed him away.
Linghu Chong laughed loudly and led his horse away as he went away from the Sun Moon Sect.
Chapter 32 School Merger
The peak of Mount Songshan stood alone in the middle, thrusting towards the sky and looking down upon thousands of other peaks. With few clouds in the sky, sunshine shined through the pure and fresh air. Cheng-Gao and Yumen stood to the north; the Yellow River looked like a thin line; the city wall of Luo Yang could be vaguely seen to the west; range upon range of mountains were to the east and south.
Within a day, Linghu Chong reached Mount Heng-Shan. When the disciples guarding at the bottom of the mountain saw him returning, they quickly sent a couple of disciples up the mountain to inform their martial sisters, who immediately came down the mountain to welcome him back. The disciples residing at Heng-Shan Other Courtyard followed shortly after down the mountain to meet him. Linghu Chong inquired about how everything fared at the Other Courtyard. Zu Qianqiu answered, "Reporting to Headmaster. All the male disciples live at the Other Courtyard and no one has dared to go up the peak. Everyone's been well-behaved."
Linghu Chong happily said, "That's very good."
Yihe laughingly said, "None of them came up the peak. But it’s not true that they've been well-behaved."
Linghu Chong was startled and he quickly asked, "What?"
"All day and all night long, I always hear their clamour at Tong Yuan valley all the way up from the convent."
Linghu Chong laughed loudly when he heard this. "It's impossible to ask these friends to be quiet."
Linghu Chong then briefly told them that Ren Woxing had managed to snatch back the chief position of the sect. The group of heroes were really happy to hear this and their cheering was heard throughout the valley. Everyone thought, "Chief Ren has snatched back his seat then Sacred Lady has naturally gained a lot of power in the sect. From now on, the situation will definitely be much better for everyone."
When Linghu Chong reached the Xianxing Peak, he first went to the Wuse Convent to kowtow to the three Shi Tai's tablets. Then as there weren't many days left to the meeting at Mount Songshan on the fifteenth of the third month, he consulted with Yihe, Yiqing and the rest of the senior disciples on that matter. They decided that Heng-Shan School should go to Henan first before going to Mount Songshan. Yihe and the other disciples all said that in order to go against Songshan School, they shouldn't take the group of heroes at Tong Yuan valley with them to Mount Songshan. Even though taking them admittedly would make Heng-Shan School look grand, the other schools of Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan would criticise them for doing so, and it would even give Zuo Lengchan excuses that might disadvantage the Heng-Shan School.
Yihe said, "Martial Brother Headmaster's sword art is above Zuo Lengchan, so taking up the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School is guaranteed. But if the heroes from Tong Yuan valley were with us at that time, then they'll surely give out excuses."
Linghu Chong smiled. "Our aim is to prevent Zuo Lengchan from annexing the other four schools. I'm not even remotely presentable being the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, so there's no need to talk about me becoming the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. And since everyone already said not to take the Tong Yuan valley's brothers to Mount Songshan then we won't take them."
He then went to Tong Yuan valley to talk to Ji Wush
i, Zu Qianqiu, and Old Man. They also agreed that not taking the Tong Yuan valley heroes to Mount Songshan was a good plan. They wanted Linghu Chong to take the female disciples and go first while the three of them would explain to the group of heroes to make them understand.
That night, Linghu Chong drank with the group of heroes to their hearts' contents. The original plan was to make their way to Songshan on the next day. But when he woke up, it was already past midday and he had not put everything in order so they had to delay their journey by a day. Early the next morning, Linghu Chong led the female disciples to go to Mount Songshan.
They had been on the road for a few days when they arrived at a city, and rested inside a large ruined temple. Zheng E and six disciples went out to patrol outside to protect the group from any Songshan School's plot. But not long after, Zheng E and Qin Juan flew back and shouted, "Martial Brother Headmaster, quickly come and take a look!"
The two of them were grinning widely and it seemed that they had seen something funny. Yihe hastily asked, "What's the matter?"
Qin Juan giggled. "Martial Sister, you come and have a look yourself."
Linghu Chong quickly followed the two of them into an inn and went to an outside guesthouse on the west side of the inn. They immediately saw a few people stacked into a big pile on a brick bed. They were the Peach Valley Six Fairies. All six of them had their acupoints sealed and were unable to move. Linghu Chong was greatly astonished. He quickly went into the house and pulled up Peachtree Root Fairy who was at the top of the pile. He saw that there was a piece of peach seed squeezed into his mouth so he helped him take it out. Peachtree Root Fairy was angry and he scolded, "Your granny, your eighteen generations won't die a good death, your eighteen grandsons will all have no bums, no eyes,... "
Linghu Chong laughed and he interrupted, "Wei, Brother Peachtree Root Fairy, I didn't do that to you."
"I wasn't scolding you! Don't interfere! This dog, when I see him, I'll tear him into eight pieces, sixteen pieces, thirty four pieces..."
"Who're you scolding?" Linghu Chong asked.
"His granny, if I'm not scolding him then who else am I scolding?"
Linghu Chong then pulled up Peachtree Flower Fairy who was now on top of the pile and took out the peach seed. The peach seed was only taken out halfway when Peachtree Flower Fairy started to grumble and mumble. When the seed was taken out, he immediately said, "Big Brother, you said it wrong. Eight pieces multiplied once becomes sixteen pieces, sixteen pieces multiplied once becomes thirty two. How can you say thirty four pieces just then?"
"I like saying thirty four pieces, what's wrong with that? Did I say that I was multiplying it by two? My heart was multiplying it by two then added two to it," Peachtree Root Fairy retorted.
Peachtree Flower Fairy argued, "Why do you multiply it then add it by two? There's no reason for that."
The acupoints on their bodies had not been unsealed yet but as soon as their mouths were free, they immediately argued with each other.
Linghu Chong laughed. "Stop quarrelling. What happened here?"
Peachtree Flower Fairy scolded, "Those two stinky monks, No Commandment and Cannot Have No Commandment, all eighteen of their ancestors are stinky monks."
Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Why did you scold Monk No Commandment?"
Peachtree Root Fairy said, "If I don't scold him then who do I scold? You just went without saying goodbye and Zu Qianqiu had to tell us that you have gone. How could the six of us just stayed and not join the festivity in Songshan? Of course we’re going to come. We were just about to get in front of you when we got here and met that stinky Monk Cannot Have No Commandment. He pretended to drink wine with us and he also said that he saw six dogs biting an insect to death to trick us into going outside. Who could've guessed that his Grand Martial Master No Commandment was hiding around the corner and managed to seal our acupoints. Then he stacked us up into a pile and said that if we were going up to Songshan then we would've spoiled Headmaster Linghu's plan. His granny, how could we have spoiled your plan?"
Linghu Chong understood what was going on and he laughingly said, "This time the Peach Valley Six Fairies have won, and Great Master No Commandment has lost. When you see Monk No Commandment and his disciple the next time, you may not mention this matter ever again, and you also can't fight them. Otherwise, when the world's heroes ask about this, they would find out that Great Master No Commandment lost to the Peach Valley Six Fairies and would lose face."
Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy nodded their heads. "The next time we meet these two stinky monks, we'll all pretend that nothing happened so that he and his disciple won't lose face."
Linghu Chong laughed. "The most important thing to do right now is to unseal your brothers’ acupoints, you must be suffering by now." He then unsealed Peachtree Flower Fairy's acupoints and closed the door as he went out so that he wouldn't be able to hear the debate that would soon happen between the six brothers.
Zheng E giggled and asked, "Big Martial Brother, what were they doing?"
Qin Juan giggled. "They were making a pyramid."
Peachtree Flower Fairy immediately scolded, "Little nun, nonsense! Who said we were making a pyramid?"
Qin Juan laughed. "I'm not a little nun."
Peachtree Root Fairy said, "You're together with a little nun, so you're also little nun."
Qin Juan replied, "Headmaster Linghu is also together with us. Is he also a little nun?"
Zheng E giggled. "You're also together with us, then the six of you are little nuns then."
Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy didn't know how to argue back so they started to blame each other for turning them into little nuns.
Linghu Chong, Yihe, and the rest of the disciples waited outside the house for a long time, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies still hadn’t come out yet. Linghu Chong pushed the door to go back inside and saw Peachtree Flower Fairy pacing back and forth with a smile on his face while his five brothers’ acupoints were still sealed. Linghu Chong laughed loudly and quickly unsealed the five brothers’ acupoints, and hastily went out of the house again. He then heard a huge clamouring noise from inside the house. Linghu Chong giggled happily as he walked out of there. After walking for tens of feet and around a few corners, he arrived at a small road besides a farm field. He saw a peach tree with its top full of flower buds waiting for spring time to arrive. He thought, “The flower of a peach tree is so beautiful and delicate, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies are so disorderly and chaotic. They’re really different when compared to the real peach flower.”
He walked leisurely for a while thinking that the six brothers must have finished fighting by now, and he might as well drink some wine with them. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind him and there was a female voice calling out, “Big Brother Linghu!” Linghu Chong turned around and saw that it was Yilin who was coming over. She came over and softly said, “Can I ask you something?”
Linghu Chong smiled. “Of course you can. What’s the matter?”
“Who do you like better? Is it Young Lady Ren or your little martial sister?”
Linghu Chong was startled and felt slightly embarrassed. “Why do you suddenly want to ask about this?”
“Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing told me to ask you about this.”
Linghu Chong felt that this was strange. But he just smiled and said, “Why did they want to ask me about this?”
Yilin lowered her head and said, “Big Brother Linghu, I’ve never talked to anyone about your little martial sister. That day, Martial Sister Yihe injured Miss Yue and both of them had a dislike for each other. When you asked Martial Sister Yizhen and Yiling to deliver the medicine for her injuries, Huashan School didn’t want to accept it and actually chased them out. Everyone was afraid that you would get angry so they didn’t talk to you about this. Later on, Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went up to Huashan to deliver the epistle for your Headmaster Inauguration ceremony but they were act
ually detained by the Huashan School.”
Linghu Chong was startled. “How did you find out?”
Yilin shyly said, “That Tian… Cannot Have No Commandment told me.”
“Tian Boguang?”
“That’s right. After you went to Dark Wood Cliff, martial sisters asked him to go up Mount Huashan to find out what’s going on.”
Linghu Chong nodded. “Tian Boguang’s qinggong is very good so he wouldn’t be easily discovered when spying around. He saw the two martial sisters?”
“He did. But Huashan School guarded them very tightly so he couldn’t save them, and they’re also not suffering. Also, I wrote to him not to offend the Huashan School or to injure anyone, so that you won’t get angry.”
Linghu Chong smiled. “You gave him instructions on a paper? That’s just like what masters do!”
Yilin’s face turned red and she said, “I’m on Xianxing Peak, while he’s on Tong Yuan valley. So if there was any matter to tell him then writing to him is the best way. Afterwards, I asked the Buddhist grandma to deliver the letter.”
Linghu Chong smiled. “I was just joking. What did Tian Boguang say?”
“He said that he saw a festivity up there. Your former master was getting a son-in-law…” Suddenly, she saw Linghu Chong’s expression changed greatly. She panicked and quickly stopped talking. Linghu Chong felt that he was choking, finding it very difficult to draw his breath. He gasped a few times before saying, “Just say it, it… it doesn’t matter.” He heard his own voice was grating and it was like it wasn’t his own voice talking.
Yilin softly said, “Big Brother Linghu, don’t be sad. Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing all said that even though Young Lady Ren is from the Devil Sect, her personality is nice and her martial art is high. She’s ten times better than Miss Yue in everything.”
