by Jin Yong
She thought, "After he captured my dad, he treated me generously and gave me a lot of gifts. When I was in the Divine Sun Moon Sect, I was no different from a princess. Today, when my own dad is the Chief, I instead, didn't have the authority I used to have. Ai, now that I already have Chong-lang, why do I still need that authority for?" As her thoughts wandered to the past, she thought her father's scheming was very deep and she couldn't help be frightened. "Even now, Dad still hasn't told Chong-lang the method of dispersing the internal energy. Chong-lang had already amassed several different qi from other people, and they still haven't been dispersed yet. This disaster will get bigger and bigger as days go by. Sooner or later, he will definitely be in trouble. Daddy said he must join our sect and once he did, not only will he be imparted with this technique, he will immediately be sworn in as the heir to the Chief. But Chong-lang isn't willing to submit and he will be in a great deal of trouble later." She was half happy and half worried. As she quietly stood in the cluster of tall sorghum, her thoughts wildly went from here to there, but no matter what she thought about, it always returned to Linghu Chong.
At this time, Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan were also quiet. After a long time, Lin Pingzhi said, "After Grandfather Yuantu saw this sword manual, he of course practised it straight away."
"If there's really a big trouble associated with this set of sword art, it wouldn't just come out straight away,” Yue Lingshan reasoned. “It's always after practising for ten years or so that the harm would come. Grandfather Yuantu must've taken a wife and gotten an heir before this trouble manifested itself."
"That's. Not. It." Lin Pingzhi stressed each word without any hesitation. After a pause, he went on, "In the beginning, I also thought the same thing as you did. But after a few days, I found out it wasn't so. My grandfather simply couldn't be Grandfather Yuantu's son. He's most likely adopted by Grandfather Yuantu. Grandfather Yuantu took a wife and got an heir merely to fool everyone."
Yue Lingshan gasped in surprise and said in a trembling voice, "Fool everyone? But... why?"
Lin Pingzhi snorted but didn't answer her. After some time, he said, "When I first saw the sword manual, I was already very close to you. Several times, I thought I should wait till we get married and become a real husband and wife before I start studying the sword art. But it's impossible for a martial art person to resist not studying what's written in that sword manual. I finally... I finally... castrated myself to practice the sword..."
Yue Lingshan absentmindedly replied, "You... You... castrated yourself to practice sword?"
"That's right,” Lin Pingzhi gloomily said. “The first sentence in the Evil Resisting Sword Manual is: 'To dominate Wulin, swipe your sword and castrate yourself'."
"Why... why?"
"To practise this Evil Resisting Sword Art, you must start with the internal energy first. If you don't castrate yourself, once you practise it, you'll immediately feel like you're on fire, fire deviate, and die."
"That's how it is." Her voice was like a mosquito and very hard to hear.
Yingying was also thinking, "So that's why!" Now, she understood everything clearly why Dongfang Bubai, who was such a masculine man with the number one martial art of the world, was wearing woman's clothes, embroidering, and was so crazy about Yang Lianting. So in order to practise this demonical martial art, he had become not a man and not a woman.
She then heard Yue Lingshan sobbed lightly and said, "Back then, Grandfather Yuantu pretended to take a wife and get an heir to fool everyone, you... you're also..."
"That's right, after I castrated myself, I still married you to fool people. But it's only to fool your father."
Yue Lingshan wept sorrowfully upon hearing this.
"I've told you everything now,” Lin Pingzhi said. “You must hate me to the bone now. Why don't you go away?"
"I don't hate you,” Yue Lingshan sobbed. “You were forced by circumstances and had no other alternatives. I only hate... only hate whoever wrote that 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual' back then. Why... why did he want to harm other people like that?"
Lin Pingzhi giggled. "This senior was a eunuch."
Yue Lingshan groaned. "So... so my father... is also... is also like you..."
"Since he's studied this sword art, how can he be different? Your father is the headmaster of a school, if anyone found out he castrated himself and then spread the word out, how can he not become the laughingstock of Jianghu? That's why if he knew that I've learned this sword art, he must definitely kill me. He's already asked several times how I treated you because he wanted to know whether I've castrated myself or not. If at that time you complained even a little bit, then my life would've been gone."
"Now he knows."
"I’ve killed Yu Canghai, killed Mu Gaofeng,” Lin Pingzhi was brimming with pride as he said this. “Within a few days, the word would've spread throughout Wulin and the whole world will know."
"In that case, I'm afraid... I'm afraid my father won't let you go then. Where should we run off to?"
"We? You already know what I am now, you still want to follow me?"
"Of course. Brother Ping, my feeling towards you will always be... always be the same. Your lot in this world is so pitiful..." She had not finished saying this when she suddenly cried out and jumped off the carriage as Lin Pingzhi pushed her out.
"I don't want your pity! Who wants your pity?” Lin Pingzhi angrily retorted. “Lin Pingzhi's swordplay is complete. I'm not scared of anything. Wait until my eyes are better. Lin Pingzhi will then rule the world. Yue Buqun, Linghu Chong, Monk Fangzheng, Priest Chongxu, they are not my match."
Yingying inwardly got angry and she thought, "Wait till your eyes are better? Hng, have your eyes ever been good?" When Lin Pingzhi was injured, she originally felt quite sad for him. But when she saw how uncaring he was towards his wife, how ruthlessly he treated her, and also how conceited he was, she couldn't help despising him.
Yue Lingshan sighed. "You must first look for a place to hide for a while. Wait till your eyes are better before doing anything else."
"I have a method to deal with your father."
"It must be horrible to hear and of course you can't say what it is. Father also doesn't need to worry about you for now."
"Hng, I understand your father way more than you do. Tomorrow, I'm going to tell the first person I see about this."
Yue Lingshan worriedly said, "Is that necessary? Aren't you..."
"Necessary? This is the method to preserve my life. I'm going to tell every person I meet. In no time at all, word would've spread to your father's ear. Then, since Yue Buqun knows it was me who said this, he cannot kill me to shut me up. On the contrary, he must protect my life."
"Your idea is really strange."
"What's so strange about it? Whether your father has castrated himself or not, no one would be able to see it. When his beard falls off, he'll glue them on and there will be people who will believe it and those who won't. But if I suddenly die without any reason, everyone will say Yue Buqun is the one who did it. This is called wishing to cover it up but exposing it more instead." Yue Lingshan sighed and didn't say anything else.
Yingying thought, "This Lin Pingzhi has a very keen mind, and his method really is formidable. Miss Yue is in a very difficult position here, she’s trapped in the middle. Her parents' reputation will unavoidably be destroyed, but if she thought of a way to prevent it from happening, then it'll endanger her husband's life."
Lin Pingzhi went on, "Even if both of my eyes can't see a thing from now on, I've avenged my parents and I will never regret it. Linghu Chong told me the last words of my father. He said there's a relic in the old residence at Xiangyang and I should never take a look at it. This was the instruction Great Grandfather left behind. Now, I've taken a look at it. Even though I violated Great Grandfather's instruction, I've taken revenge for my parents. If it weren't like this, other people would've said my Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art has an unearned reputation, a
nd that the heads of the Fortune Prestige Escort House had been cheating people."
"Back then, both father and you suspected big martial brother. You were both saying that he took your Lin family's 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual', saying he fabricated Father-in-Law's last words..."
"Just say I blamed him wrongly. What do you want to do?” Lin Pingzhi interrupted. “At that time, didn't you suspect him too?"
Yue Lingshan softly sighed. "Big martial brother and you haven't known each other for a long time, so it's not surprising you suspected him. But father and me, we shouldn't have doubted him. The only person in this world who truly believed him was only mother."
Yingying thought, "Who said only your mother?"
Lin Pingzhi coldly laughed. "Your mother truly adores Linghu Chong. I don't know how many times your parents argued because of this little kid."
Astounded, Yue Lingshan asked, "My father and mother argued over big martial brother? My father and mother never argue, how do you know about this?"
Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly and answered, "Never argue? That's only to put on an appearance in front of other people. For this matter, Yue Buqun put on his hypocrite mask. I heard it all with my own ears, could it be fake?"
"I didn't say fake, but it's really strange. How come I've never heard of it, but you heard of it?"
"I'll tell you now, it's all irrelevant. That day in Fuzhou, two people from Songshan School snatched that Buddhist robe away. These two people were killed by Linghu Chong, so naturally the Buddhist robe was taken by Linghu Chong. But at that time he was heavily injured and lost consciousness. I searched his body, but I didn't know where that Buddhist robe had gone to."
"So in Fuzhou city, you had already searched big martial brother."
"That's right, so what?"
"Nothing."
Yingying thought, "If Miss Yue follows this cunning and irritable little kid, she'll be miserable for the rest of her life." Suddenly she also thought, "I've been here for so long, Chong-lang must be worried." She tilted her ear to one side to listen but there was no noise at all, so she thought that he must be settled and everything was well.
She then heard Lin Pingzhi continued, "The Buddhist robe wasn't on Linghu Chong's body anymore, so it must've been taken by your parents. From Fuzhou till Huashan, I quietly observed things. But your father covered up really well and I didn't manage to see anything wrong at all. Your father was sick at that time. Of course, who would've known that once he's seen the 'Evil Resisting Sword Manual', he immediately castrated himself to practise the sword. During the journey, there were a lot people there, so I didn't dare to peep in on your parents. Once we returned to Huashan, I hid on top of the precipice outside your parents' bedroom every night to hear their conversations and to find out where my sword manual is."
Yue Lingshan asked, "Every night you hid yourself on top of the precipice?"
"That's right."
Yue Lingshan again repeated her question, "Every night?"
Yingying couldn't hear Lin Pingzhi's answer. She thought he must've nodded his head. But she heard Yue Lingshan sighed and said, "You have a strong will."
"For vengeance, I had to succeed."
"Yes," Yue Lingshan meekly agreed.
Lin Pingzhi narrated, "I listened in for more than ten nights, but I didn't hear anything unusual. But one night, I heard your mother said: 'Martial brother, I feel there's something amiss with your appearance recently. Did you have some kind of trouble learning that Divine Art of Violet Twilight? Don't seek perfection too much and invite trouble.'
Your dad laughed and replied: 'No, my martial art practise is going smoothly.'
Your mother said: 'Don't hide it from me. How come your voice has changed recently? The pitch of your voice has become higher and sharper, just like a girl.'
Your dad said: 'Nonsense! My voice has always been like this.'
When I heard him say these words, I heard his voice was really sharp just like a girl throwing a tantrum. Your mother said: 'You're still denying it? In your whole life, you've never said those words to me. In the years we've been together, when have you concealed anything from me when something's troubling you?'
Your dad said: 'What's there to trouble me? En, the meeting at Songshan isn't too far away and Zuo Lengchan's intention to annex the four schools is very obvious. I'm troubled by this, that's some of it.'
Your mother said: 'I see that it's more than this.'
Your dad got angry again and in his sharp voice said: 'It's your blind suspicion, what else is there besides this?'
Your mother answered: 'When I say it out, don't get angry. I know you've wrongly blamed Chong'er.'
Your dad said: 'Chong'er? He and his Devil Sect people meddle together, he also has a relationship with his Devil Sect Miss Ren, everyone in the world knows about this already. How did I wrongly blame him?'"
When Yingying heard him narrating Yue Buqun's words, mentioned her own name, furthermore mentioning 'he also has a relationship with his Devil Sect Miss Ren, everyone in the world knows about this already', her whole face slightly heated up, but a soft and tender feeling rose up from her heart. She then heard Lin Pingzhi continued, "Your mother said: 'You didn't wrongly blame him for making friends with people from the devil sect. I'm saying you wrongly blame him for stealing Ping'er's Evil Resisting Sword Manual.'
Your dad said: 'Could it be he didn't steal the sword manual? His swordplay suddenly advanced tremendously, he's even higher skilled than you or me, haven't you seen that already?'
Your mother said: 'He must've met with something else for that. I'm certain he didn't take the Evil Resisting Sword Manual. It's true that Chong'er likes to make trouble and he doesn't listen to our teachings. But ever since he was little he's always been frank, and he'd never steal anything. After Shan'er became fond of Ping'er and he was jilted, he's still such a proud person. Even if Ping'er gave him the sword manual willingly, he still wouldn't accept it.'"
Yingying heard till here and she felt an unspeakable happiness in her heart. She was hoping she could give Madam Yue a hug right then and express her gratitude. Yingying was thinking it wasn't in vain that you've raised Chong-lang since he was little; from everyone in Huashan, you are the only person who truly understands him. She also thought based on Madam Yue's words, if Linghu Chong had a chance someday, then he must repay her well for what she just said.
Lin Pingzhi went on, "Your dad snorted and said: 'It looks like you regret expelling this little kid Linghu Chong from our school.'
Your mother said: 'He violated the school's rules, and you carried out our ancestor's instructions and upheld the school's principle, so no one can criticise you for this. But your accusation of him turning over to the unorthodox path is already enough, why did you have to wrongly blame him for stealing the sword manual too? Actually you know this much better than me. You know he didn't take Ping'er's Evil Resisting Sword Manual.'
Your dad shouted: 'How would I know? How would I know?'"
Lin Pingzhi's voice had also become high and acute imitating Yue Buqun's sharp voice in shouting angrily. In the still and calm night, a sharp cry of an owl was heard frightening Yingying. After a pause, Lin Pingzhi continued, "Your mother slowly said: 'Of course you know, because you're the one who took this sword manual.'
Your dad angrily roared: 'You... You're saying... I..." But after saying these few words, he stopped. Your mother's voice was completely tranquil as she said: 'That day when Chong'er was injured and unconscious, I stemmed his bleeding. At that time, I saw a Buddhist robe on him on which many small words were written, looking like some type of sword art. The second time I replaced his medication, that Buddhist robe had disappeared. At that time, Chong'er was still unconscious. Within that time, there was no else who had entered the room besides the two of us. And I didn't take that Buddhist robe.'"
Yue Lingshan choked and whimpered, "My dad... my dad..."
Lin Pingzhi said, "Your dad had already tried to interrupt a few times alre
ady, but after saying one or two words, he didn't say anything more. Your mother's voice gradually got softer and she said: 'Martial brother, our Huashan School's swordplay is made by our own school, and the Divine Art of Violet Twilight is an outstanding qigong to fight against other people. Our martial arts reputations have also been well spread in Jianghu, so there's no need to learn another school's swordplay. But recently, Zuo Lengchan's wild ambition has become even more fervent and he wants to annex the four schools. The Huashan School is in your hand. Whatever happens it won't be annexed by Zuo Lengchan's hand. Let's contact Taishan, Heng-Shan, and Hengshan Schools. When the time arrives, the four schools will fight against his school, and I think we'll have a sixty percent chance of winning. If we didn't win, then we'll go out fighting and give our lives at Songshan. When we arrived at the Nine Fountains, we won't have to be ashamed in front of the Huashan School's ancestors.'"
