by Jin Yong
There was a person behind that granny, who was actually Monk No Commandment. He chuckled and said, "What are you playing at? Why are you playing inside the net?"
"Dad," Yilin said. "Undo the fish net, let Big brother Linghu and Young lady Ren out."
"I haven't settled my debt with this little bastard yet," that granny said with a calm face. "You can't let him go!"
Linghu Chong laughed loudly then shouted, "Once the couple gets together, you throw the matchmaker out. You husband and wife already has a reunion now, why aren't you thanking the matchmaker?"
That granny gave him a kick and shouted, "I thank you with a kick!"
"Peach Valley Six Fairies," Linghu Chong laughingly called out. "Quickly help me!"
That granny was very afraid of the Peach Valley Six Fairies so she quickly turned her head around. Linghu Chong hastily extended his hand out of the fish net and undid the knot and let Yingying out. But he had not managed to go out yet when that granny shouted, "You can't go out!"
"If I can't get out then I'll stay in here," Linghu Chong laughingly replied. "Inside this fish net, there's no difference between heaven and earth. A gentleman can bend and straighten. Bend to enter the net and straighten to get out of the net. What to do? I, Linghu Chong, ..." As he was spouting nonsense, his eyes caught sight of Yue Buqun's body prostrated on the ground. The smile on his face disappeared and it was suddenly replaced with tears in his eyes. His tears flowed down his cheeks.
That granny was still angry as she shouted, "Little bastard! If I don't beat you up till you're black and blue then I won't be satisfied!" Her left palm shot out wanting to slap Linghu Chong's right cheek.
"Mom!" Yilin cried out. "Don't... don't..."
Linghu Chong raised his right hand and he was already holding a long sword. Actually, when he was lost in thought looking at Yue Buqun's corpse, Yingying put the sword in his hand. He pointed his sword and stabbed it at that granny's right shoulder's acupoint forcing her to retreat a step. That granny got even angrier. Her body moved like the wind, her palm hacking, her elbow striking, her leg sweeping. In just a short time, she had attacked with seven to eight moves. Linghu Chong was still inside the fish net and he just pointed his sword as he wished. Each stab was aimed at that granny's fatal acupoint. But every time the sword point was about to reach her body, he immediately withdrew it. This 'Dugu Nine Sword' was unmatched in this world. If Linghu Chong wasn't giving way then that granny would've died seven to eight times already. After several more moves, that granny knew his martial art was much too high compared to hers. With a long sigh, she stopped attacking and she looked very upset.
"Dear," Monk No Commandment pleaded. "We're all good friends, why do you need to be angry for?"
"Who asked you to speak?" that granny angrily replied. There was no one to vent her anger to so she turned to him.
Linghu Chong put his sword down and came out of the fish net. "You want to hit me to vent your anger, I'll let you do it!" Linghu Chong laughingly said.
That granny raised her palm and slapped him heavily. Linghu Chong cried out as he didn't dodge the hit.
"Why didn't you dodge?" that granny angrily asked.
"I can't dodge it," Linghu Chong replied. "How do I do that?"
That granny spat. She knew in her heart he was considering Yilin so he let her hit him. Her left palm was already raised but she didn't hit him.
Yingying pulled on Yilin's hand and said, "Little martial sister, lucky you came here to rescue us. How did you come here?"
"I was with the other martial sister," Yilin narrated. "We were all (she pointed at Yue Buqun's corpse) .... captured by his people. Me and three other martial sisters were being locked up in a cave. Just then, dad and mom rescued me. Dad, mom and I, also Cannot Have No Commandment and three martial sisters, we all separately went around rescuing the other martial sisters. I was walking below the cliff when I heard people talking on top. The voice sounded like Big brother Linghu's so I quickly went up to have a look."
"He and I went around everywhere but we didn't find anyone," Yingying said. "So you were actually being held inside a cave."
"Just then that old bastard wearing the yellow gown is a bad person," Linghu Chong said. "You let him go but I can't accept that." He picked up a long sword from the ground and said, "Let's chase after him."
The party of five went down the Cliff of Repentance. They had not walked for too long when they saw Tian Boguang with seven Heng-Shan disciples climbing out of a valley. Yiqing was one of them. They were really happy to meet each other.
Linghu Chong thought, "There's no one in this world who knows the surroundings in Huashan better than me. I didn't know there was another cave below that valley, but Tian Boguang is an outsider and he knows of it. How strange?" He pulled on Tian Boguang's sleeve and the two of them walked behind the party.
"Brother Tian," Linghu Chong said. "There's another cave below that valley. I didn't know about it before but you knew about it. I really admire you."
Tian Boguang smiled. "There's nothing strange about it."
"Ah, that's right," Linghu Chong said. "You must've captured a Huashan disciple and interrogated him."
"I didn't," Tian Boguang replied.
"Then how did you find out? Can you tell me?" Linghu Chong asked.
Tian Boguang blushed and smiled. "This matter is not comfortable to talk about. It's better not to speak of it."
Linghu Chong was even more curious and he just had to ask about it. "You and I are loafers in Jianghu, what's there that's so uncomfortable to talk about?" Linghu Chong said. "Quickly say it."
"After I say it," Tian Boguang pleaded. "Headmaster Linghu, please don't blame me."
"You've rescued many martial sisters from Heng-Shan School and I haven't thanked you for this yet," Linghu Chong replied. "So how can I blame you?"
Tian Boguang lowered his voice and said, "I'll tell you. Before I had a really bad temperament and you already know about this. Ever since Grand martial master shaved my head and made me take the Buddhist name 'Cannot Have No Commandment', I cannot do that again..."
Linghu Chong thought the way Monk No Commandment reprimanded him was really weird and his mouth showed a slight smile. Tian Boguang knew what he was thinking of and his face turned red. He continued, "But I've never forgotten the skills I've learned from earlier. No matter how far I'm separated by, as long as there are women there, I... I can feel them."
Linghu Chong was perplexed, he asked, "How do you do that?"
"I also don't know," Tian Boguang replied. "I think I can smell women, they're different than men's smell."
Linghu Chong laughed aloud. "It's said that some reverend monks can have divine eyes or divine ears. Brother Tian unexpectedly has this 'divine nose'."
"I'm ashamed, ashamed!"
"Brother Tian's skill was originally used to do bad things," Linghu Chong said. "After undergoing some experience, I never thought that today you'd use this skill to save my Heng-Shan School's disciples."
Yingying turned her head around to ask what was so funny. But looking at Tian Boguang's face, she guessed it was something inappropriate and she quickly shut her mouth.
Tian Boguang suddenly stopped. "There seems to be some Heng-Shan School's disciples on the left." He sniffed around a few times then went towards the underbrush below the hill. Lowering his head, he searched around for a while. He exclaimed happily and pointed to the ground. "Here!" he cried out. There was a pile of more than ten big rocks on the place that he had pointed out. Each of these rocks were around two to three hundred catties. He immediately removed a rock away.
No Commandment and Linghu Chong went over to help. After a while they had removed more than ten big rocks, and there was a green slab underneath. The three of them worked together to lift the slab up. It revealed a cave underneath and there were a few nuns lying underneath. They were all disciples of Heng-Shan School. Yiqing and Yimin quickly jumped down the cave and helped their martial sisters to go up. Af
ter helping a few to go up, there were still more inside, each one was gasping for air. They quickly pulled the imprisoned Heng-Shan disciple up. Yihe, Zheng E, and Qin Juan were among them. There were more than thirty people inside this cave. If they weren't rescued in the next one or two days, they would have all died.
Linghu Chong thought how his master was so violent, he couldn't help being disappointed with him.
"Brother Tian, this skill of yours isn't a small thing," Linghu Chong praised him. "These martial sisters were deeply buried underneath but you can still smell them out. Really admirable."
"There's nothing strange about it," Tian Boguan replied. "Luckily, there are many martial uncles from the secular world in there..."
"Martial uncles? Ah, that's right, you're Yilin's disciple."
"If the ones imprisoned here were all Buddhist martial uncles, then I wouldn't have been able to find them," Tian Boguang continued.
"There's a difference between secular and Buddhist people?"
"Of course. Secular female would have this powder fragrance on them," Tian Boguang explained. Linghu Chong was enlightened.
They quickly tried to rescue them. Yiqing and Yilin were using their caps to scoop water in them to give them drink. Luckily, there was a crack in that cave that allowed air to go in and Heng-Shan School's disciples all had learned inner energy. Even though they were extremely distressed, they still had their lives. Yihe had the deepest inner energy so after drinking some water, she was the first one to recover.
"We've only rescued less than a third," Linghu Chong said. "Brother Tian, I have to ask you to use your divine power to help us search for them."
That granny stared at Tian Boguang, her face looked really suspicious. "How did you know they were imprisoned here?" she asked. "You were probably here when they were being imprisoned, am I right?"
"No, no!" Tian Boguang quickly replied. "I've been following grand martial master. I've never left his side."
That granny's face sunk as she shouted, "You've always been with him?"
Tian Boguang mumbled indistinctly. He knew they just had a reunion after a long break up. Along the way they had been crying, laughing, fighting, being romantic, and he had heard all of these. This grand master-wife of his could turn angry from shyness and if that happened, it would be very troublesome. He quickly said, "For the last half a year, I've been following grand martial master. About ten days ago, we parted ways. We just met again today at Huashan."
That granny was half believing and half doubting him. She asked, "Then how did you know these nuns were being locked up inside this cave?"
"This... this..." Tian Boguang mumbled. He didn't know how to phrase it nicely and was feeling very embarrassed. After some time, they suddenly heard the sound of more than ten horns coming from the mountainside, followed by the sound of drums. It sounded like an army of ten thousand soldiers and a thousand horses had come.
They were all startled. Yingying whispered on Linghu Chong's ear, "It's my dad!"
"Oh!" Linghu Chong realised and he wanted to say, "So it's my father-in-law." But he felt it was inappropriate so he didn't say it out loud. The drums thundered for a while, then the horns rang again.
"Has an army come?" that granny asked.
Suddenly, both the drums and horns stopped. Seven to eight people shouted, "Sun Moon Divine Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Chief Ren has arrived!" These seven to eight people had very deep internal energies so their shout reverberated throughout the mountain and echoes could be heard, "Chief Ren has arrived! Chief Ren has arrived!"
The power of these cries intimidated them and the colour on Monk No Comandment's face and the others changed. The echoes had not finished yet when they heard countless number of voices crying out, "Long live to Chief, unify the Jianghu! Chief Ren flourishes the Divine Sect, long live to Chief!"
Hearing their voices, there were at least two to three thousands of them. The echo was again heard from everywhere, "Chief Ren flourishes the Divine Sect, long live to Chief! Chief Ren flourishes the Divine Sect, long live to Chief!" After some time, the whole place became quiet. Then someone with a clear voice said, "Sun Moon Divine Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Chief Ren has an order: Five mountains sword schools' headmasters and all the disciples in the schools hear this: Everyone will meet at the steps of the Peak of Morning Sun."
He spoke three times in his clear voice. After stopping for a while, he continued, "Fragrant masters and their deputies of the twelve halls, lead the sect's disciples to check all the hills and guard the important paths! Don't let people walk around! Anyone who doesn't obey this order will be killed!" Around twenty to thirty people immediately acknowledged this order.
Linghu Chong and Yingying shared a look and they understood what was going on. That person said to check all the hills and to guard the important paths to force the disciples of the five mountains sword schools to go towards the Peak of Morning Sun to meet with Chief Ren. Linghu Chong thought, "He's Yingying's father. I'm going to marry Yingying soon so I should go see Chief Ren."
He told Yihe and the rest of the people, "We still have a lot of martial sisters who are still imprisoned. Brother Tian, please lead the way to save them as soon as possible. Chief Ren is young lady Ren's father so he wouldn't give us any trouble. Young lady Ren and I are going to the east peak first. Martial sisters, you can follow later and we'll meet up there on the east peak." Yihe, Yiqing, Yilin and the others acknowledged the order and followed Tian Boguang to save their martial sisters.
"What is he relying on barking orders here?" that granny angrily said. "I'm not going to see him. I want to see how this Ren is going to kill me."
Linghu Chong knew she was very stubborn and was hard to persuade. If she were to meet Ren Woxing, her speech would most likely offend him and things would turn out really bad. He immediately took his leave from Monk No Commandment and his wife, then went to the east peak with Yingying.
"The three highest peaks in Huashan are the east peak, south peak, and west peak. The east and west peaks are particularly tall," Linghu Chong said. "The real name of the east peak is the Peak of Morning Sun. Your father chose this peak to meet with the disciples of the Five Mountains Sword School to make it look like that we are coming to pay respect to an imperial court. Your father said all the people of the Five Mountains Sword School to go to the Peak of Morning Sun. Could it be that all the people from all the schools are at Huashan?"
"In the five mountains sword schools, Mr. Yue, Zuo Lengchan, and Mr. Mo Da have all passed away today. I don't know who Taishan School has appointed as their headmaster. In this alliance of five big sword schools, you're the only headmaster left," Yingying said.
"Besides Heng-Shan School, most of the heroes from the five schools have all died inside the cave on that Cliff of Contemplation. Besides, the disciples of Heng-Shan Schools have all been captured and are in distress, I'm afraid..."
"You're afraid my father will take advantage of this to eliminate the five mountains sword schools?"
Linghu Chong nodded his head and let out a sigh. "Actually, he doesn't need to do anything. There's not many people left in the five mountains sword schools."
Yingying also let out a sigh. "Mr. Yue deceived the masters from the five mountains sword schools. He enticed them to look at the sword moves engraved at Huashan with the intention of wiping out all the warriors with good martial art. That way his position as the headmaster of the Five Mountains School would be safe and no one from each of the schools would be able to go against him. This move was originally very clever, but Zuo Lengchan unexpectedly got a whiff of this and took those blind men to kill him inside that dark cave."
"You're saying Zuo Lengchan wanted to kill my master?" Linghu Chong queried. "He wasn't trying to kill me?"
"He didn't know you were going to come," Yingying answered. "Your swordplay is brilliant and you already knew of the moves engraved on the
cave wall a long time ago, so you wouldn't have gone inside to take a look at those sword moves. When we went in there, it was just a coincidence."
"What you said is right," Linghu Chong agreed. "Actually, Zuo Lengchan and I had no enmity. Both of his eyes were blinded by my master, and the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School was also snatched by him. Those things would be really cutting to him."
"Zuo Lengchan probably had a strategy prepared," Yingying said. "He'd tempt Mr. Yue to go inside the cave and then take advantage of the darkness to kill him. I don't know how, but this plan was discovered by Mr. Yue and instead of going in, he guarded the cave's entrance and captured people using the fish net. This is really the mantis seizing the cicada not knowing the oriole was just behind10. Now, Zuo Lengchan and your master have both died while the reason for all these would never be known."
Linghu Chong mournfully nodded his head.
"Mr. Yue deceived the masters of the five mountains sword schools to come here," Yingying continued. "There must've been a foreshadowing of this matter a long time ago. That day at Songshan during the fight for the leadership, your little martial sister used Taishan, Hengshan, Songshan, and Heng-Shan brilliant sword moves. The masters from all four schools witnessed all these and their hearts would itch in getting to know them. Only the disciples from Heng-Shan School had been taught the sword moves from the cave wall by you, so they wouldn't find them extraordinary. While the disciples from Taishan, Hengshan, and Songshan Schools would of course be asking where Miss Yue got these sword moves from. Mr. Yue secretly spread the rumour and decided on a date that the cave would be open to them. The masters from these three schools, wouldn't they rush to be here?"
"For people who study martial art like us," Linghu Chong said. "Once we hear of a place to learn some brilliant martial art, then we'd definitely brave danger and death to go there. Especially when those martial arts are from our own school, we wouldn't rest until we've seen them. That's why people like martial uncle Mo Da and other master-hands all died inside that cave."
