by Jin Yong
"Mr. Yue anticipated that your Heng-Shan School wouldn't come, so he prepared another plan," Yingying said. "He used the confusion poison to knock everyone out and took them up to Huashan."
"I don't understand why master would spend such a big effort to bring my disciples up to Huashan?" Linghu Chong questioned. "This matter would be easily discovered since they have to go through such a long journey. Why didn't he just kill all of them at Heng-Shan? Wouldn't this be easier?" He stopped for a tick then continued, "Ah, I understand. If he killed all the Heng-Shan disciples then there'll be one less mountain from the Five Mountains School. Master wants to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, but without Heng-Shan School, he couldn't be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. The name simply wouldn't be right."
"That's one reason," Yingying said. "But I think, there's still one more reason."
"What's that?"
"The best thing would of course be to capture you," Yingying explained. "Then he'd trade with something of mine."
Linghu Chong was enlightened and he excitedly hit his thigh. "That's right. My master wanted the medicine for the Three Corpse Brain Pill."
"After Mr. Yue was forced to take this pill, he would've been restless day and night wanting to get a medicine for it," Yingying said. "One day he wouldn't accept it and the next he'd be worried to death. He knew that he could only get the medicine by getting you."
"Of course, I'm your darling," Linghu Chong agreed. "Only by using me that he can exchange the medicine from you."
Yingying pursed her lip. "If he was going to use you to trade for the medicine then I wouldn't trade. The materials for the medicine are so hard to get and making them isn't easy either. So they're priceless treasure. How could I trade them so easily?"
"The common saying goes: It's easy to find priceless treasure, hard to find a lover."
Yingying's whole cheeks turned bright red immediately. In a whisper, she said, "Like a mouse getting on a scale, scaling and praising himself. Know no shame."
As they talked, they arrived at a narrow path. This mountain path was perfectly straight as it went up and it was also very steep. They couldn't walk side by side through this path.
"You go first," Yingying said.
"You go first," Linghu Chong said. "If you fall down then I'll grab you."
"No, you go first, but you're not allowed to turn your head back to look at me. You must listen to what granny tells you to do." She laughed when she finished talking.
"Fine, I go first," Linghu Chong relented. "If I fall down, you can grab me."
"That won't do, that won't do!" Yingying hastily replied. She was afraid he would pretend to misstep to play around with her. So she quickly went up the mountain path first.
Even though Yingying saw him making a joke, his expression was still melancholic. After he laughed, he turned mournful again. She knew it was difficult for him to forget about Yue Buqun's death. Along the way she'd tried to make him say some jokes to make him forget about his worries. After a few turns, they arrived at the top of the Jade Maiden Peak. Linghu Chong pointed out to her which one was the Jade Maiden's face washing basin and which one was the Jade Maiden's dressing table. Yingying knew this Jade Maiden Peak was the place he used to play around with Yue Lingshan back then, and she was afraid that he might get even more upset, so she just took a quick glance without asking anything.
After going down a slope, they went up a little path towards the Peak of Morning Sun. They saw guards everywhere around the mountain. The Sun Moon Sect's men were dressed in seven different gown colour and they were very discipline in following the flag going back and forth. Compared to the last time he visited the Dark Wood Cliff, there was a different feeling of dread.
Linghu Chong secretly praised, "Chief Ren is a very learned man. That day when I led thousands of men to attack Shaolin Temple, it was a mess, everything was chaotic. How can it be compared to the Sun Moon Sect's army which resembles a body using its arms, like when an arm wants to point at something, with thousands of people resembling one person? Dongfang Bubai is also one great person. It was only later that he made a mistake and gave the handling of sect's matter to Yang Lianting. That's when the Dark Wood Cliff withered and its power diminished."
The people of Sun Moon Sect respectfully bowed their bodies when they saw Yingying. They were also very respectful towards Linghu Chong. The bannermen roared one by one from the bottom of the peak all the way to the peak, announcing to Ren Woxing their arrivals. Linghu Chong saw all the important places between the bottom of the peak to the peak were all packed with people from the sect. There were at least two thousands guards around those places. It seemed that this time the Sun Moon Sect had gathered many warriors from the unorthodox path to help them in carrying out this massive operation. If all the headmasters from the five mountains sword schools were still alive, and all the master-hands from the five schools were at Huashan, and they had also been deployed before hand to meet this attack, it was still likely that they would lose. At this time with the number of talented fighter close to zero, it was impossible for them to fight back.
Looking at the situation now, it was certain that Ren Woxing had a harmful idea towards the five mountains sword schools. Since things had come to this, there was nothing he could've done and now everything was up to the Heaven's will. He could only take things step by step. If Ren Woxing wanted to annihilate the five mountains sword schools, then he couldn't just stay on the side preserving his own life. He would have to fight to the death and Heng-Shan School's disciples would all be killed on top of this Peak of Morning Sun.
Although he was clever, he wasn't that experienced and didn't have a plan in mind to face this calamity. When he saw all the disciples of Heng-Shan School fell into the trap, he also didn't know how to free them and everything was just left to fate and circumstances. He was also thinking that Yingying and Chief Ren were related by flesh and blood so the most she would do would be not to help both sides. So there was no chance she would help him by thinking of a plan to go against her own father. At this time, facing the sect's disciples at the Peak of Morning Sun with bows drawn and sabres unsheathed, he didn't even look at them and he instead told Yingying some jokes.
But Yingying was already tied in knots in worry, so she couldn't be like Linghu Chong who was unworried. Along the way, she'd been churning her brain thinking on what to do. She pondered, "Chong-lang is a fearless person. Even if the sky collapsed, he'd only notice it when it's right on top of him. I've always thought of a way for him to do." Thinking that her father had led such a big operation here, it couldn't be anything good. When the situation turned dangerous, then all she could do would be to adapt since there was no other good option.
The two of them slowly went up to the peak. When they reached the summit, they were suddenly assaulted with horns blaring followed by sound of music from drums and pipes. This was unexpectedly the welcoming of honoured guests.
Linghu Chong whispered, "Father-in-law is welcoming the son-in-law back home!"
Yingying blankly stared at him and she felt really anxious. She thought, "This person really doesn't worry about anything. At this time, he can still joke around."
Then she heard a person laughed loudly and in a clear voice said, "Young lady, Brother Linghu, Chief's been waiting for you for a long time."
A slim elder wearing a purple gown took a step forward and gripped both of Linghu Chong's hands. His face was full of happiness. He was Xiang Wentian. When Linghu Chong saw him, he was also very happy. "Brother Xiang," Linghu Chong called out. "You're well, I've thought of you often."
"At Dark Wood Cliff, I keep hearing news of your prestige soaring in Wulin," Xiang Wentian laughingly replied. "I drank to you from far away, I've at least drunk more than ten big pots of wine. Quickly go see Chief." Taking his hand, he went towards a stone structure several stories high.
That stone structure was on top of the east peak. It was extremely big and tall, just like it ha
d been naturally formed. To the east of that structure was Peak of the Morning Sun's highest place which was called Deity's Palm. That Deity's Palm had five big pillars rising to the sky with the central pillar being the highest. They saw a big chair placed underneath the central pillar, and a person sat in it. This person was Ren Woxing.
Yingying walked to the front of the palm, looked up and called out, "Daddy!"
Linghu Chong bowed and said, "Junior Linghu Chong pays my respect to Chief."
Ren Woxing laughed aloud. "Little brother, you come at the right time. We're all family, there's no need to be so formal. Today, our sect will meet with the world's heroes so we shall talk business first before talking about family matter. My worthy... worthy brother, sit beside me."
Linghu Chong heard him paused after saying this word 'worthy' seemingly like he wanted to say 'worthy son-in-law'. But since it had not been decided yet, he corrected himself from calling him 'worthy son-in-law'. It looked like he had already approved of the marriage between Yingying and him. He also said 'We're all family' and 'we shall talk business first before talking about family matter', it was obvious Ren Woxing had regarded him as family. He felt happy and straighten his body up.
Suddenly, a cold energy rushed up from this 'Dantian' region and he felt like he had entered an icehouse. His body trembled and continuously shook. Yingying was started and quickly went up to him. "What's wrong?"
"I... I..." Linghu Chong stammered out but he unexpectedly couldn't utter another word.
Even though Ren Woxing was high up there, his eyesight was still sharp. "Did you clash palms with Zuo Lengchan?"
Linghu Chong nodded.
Ren Woxing smiled. "It's nothing. You sucked his polar ice energy, once you scatter it out, it'll be alright. Why isn't Zuo Lengchan coming here?"
"Zuo Lengchan secretly set up a violent plan to kill Big Brother Linghu and me," Yingying told him. "Big Brother Linghu killed him."
"Oh!" Ren Woxing uttered. He was sitting very high up so they couldn't see his face. But in this voice, there was an air of disappointment.
Yingying understood her father's heart. Today, he had come in a grand manner to intimidate the five mountains sword schools and to suppress the people of the five schools. Zuo Lengchan was his big enemy and now he wouldn't be able to see him bend his knee and lower his head in front of him so it was unavoidable that he would feel regret. She extended her left hand to hold Linghu Chong's right hand to help him disperse the cold energy. Linghu Chong's left hand was being held by Xiang Wentian. Together, they moved their energy. Linghu Chong gradually felt the coldness in his body disappeared.
That day, when Ren Woxing and Zuo Lengchan fought at the Shaolin Temple, he absorbed his polar ice energy and turned into snowman in the middle of the snow field along with Linghu Chong, Xiang Wentian, and Yingying. But this time, Linghu Chong had only clashed swords with him and was only exposed to Zuo Lengchan's cold energy for a short time. Moreover, he didn't try to absorb it himself so only a little amount of cold energy was absorbed by him. A short time later, he wasn't trembling anymore.
"I'm alright, thank you!" Linghu Chong said.
"Little brother," Ren Woxing said. "You heard my call and came up the peak to see me. Very good, very good!" He then turned his head towards Xiang Wentian and said, "Why haven’t the people from the other four schools arrived yet?"
"Subordinate will call them again!" Xiang Wentian replied. He waved his left hand, and eight old men in yellow gown lined up immediately in front of the peak. They called out together, "Sun Moon Divine Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Chief Ren has an order: Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Songshan Schools, everyone must quickly come to Peak of the Morning Sun for a meeting. Each hall's fragrant master, ask them to come up quickly and not to delay."
These eight old men were all masters with deep internal energies. When they combined their voices together, they went very far and were able to be heard from all the peaks. Then they heard from all four directions, there were people answering, "As ordered. Long live to Chief, unify the Jianghu!" These were the replies from the Sun Moon Sect's fragrant masters.
"Headmaster Linghu, please take a seat beside me," a smiling Ren Woxing said.
Linghu Chong saw five chairs arranged on the west side of the deity's palm. Each chair was draped with a brocade of the colours black, white, blue-green, red, and yellow. While a mountain peak was embroidered on each brocade. North Heng-Shan was black, and on the black satin was Xianxing Peak embroidered with white thread. He saw the embroidering was attractive and with only a layer of it covering the chair, it had shown how meticulous the Sun Moon Sect had arranged this.
In the five mountains schools, Songshan was the leader while north Heng-Shan was last in standing. But in this seat arrangement, the order had been reversed. The seat of Heng-Shan's headmaster was at the head, followed by west mountain Huashan, while Songshan School was last. It was Ren Woxing who had lifted his position to intentionally humiliate Zuo Lengchan. But since Zuo Lengchan, Yue Buqun, Mr. Mo Da, and Priest Tianmen had all passed away, Linghu Chong didn't try to decline. He bowed and said, "I'll take a seat!" and went to sit on the chair with the black satin draped on it.
The people at the Peak of the Morning Sun were silently waiting. After a long time, Xiang Wentian again commanded those eight old men to call out again but they still didn't see anyone coming up.
"These people don’t know how to appreciate favours," Xiang Wentian said. "They're so late in meeting Chief. Call our people to come up first!"
The eight yellow gowned old men called out, "Five lakes four oceans, every island, every cave, every clan, every stronghold, every mountain, every hall, Brothers, come up to the Peak of Morning Sun to meet Chief!"
When the word 'Chief' had just been uttered, the mountain peak was drowned by people crying out, "As ordered!" Their cries shook the valley. Linghu Chong couldn't help being startled. Hearing this voice, there were at least two to three hundred of them. These people secretly hid themselves and had guessed Ren Woxing's intention. He had wanted to wait for the people of the five mountains sword schools to arrive first before these thousands of people called out in order to startle and intimidate the five mountains sword schools so they wouldn't dare to resist. All of a sudden, people from all directions came out around the Peak of Morning Sun. Although there were a lot of them, they didn't make any noise at all. Every person stood separately at their places. It seemed that they had practised this before hand.
There were around two to three thousands people who had come up the peak. They were all people from the unorthodox path. The rest of the sect's subordinate were still waiting around the side of the peak.
Linghu Chong swept his eyes and saw Blue Phoenix, Zu Qianqiu, Old Man, and Ji Wushi among them. These people had perhaps been controlled by the Sun Moon Sect, or perhaps they had always been communicating. That day when Linghu Chong led the heroes to attack Shaolin Temple, these people also took part. They looked at Linghu Chong and were all smiling, but none of them called out. Besides the sound of footsteps shuffling, no other sound was heard from these thousands of people on top of this peak. Xiang Wentian raised his right hand and drew a circle in the air. The thousands of people simultaneously kneeled down and simultaneously said, "Jianghu's juniors pay our respect to Sun Moon Sect's cultured and esteemed martial artist, benefactors of the common people, Sacred Chief! Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu!"
These people were all warriors with high martial arts and they were using their energy to call out. One person was like ten people's voices. When they said 'Long live to Sacred Chief, unify the Jianghu', all the Sun Moon Sect's people around the mountain also joined in. The sound was really shaking the sky and earth.
Ren Woxing majestically sat without moving. He waited for the cries to finish before he lifted his hand. "Everyone has worked hard. Rise!"
"Thank you, Sacred Chief!" the thousands of people said together and th
ey stood up at the same time.
Linghu Chong thought, "That time when I went up the Dark Wood Cliff, I saw the people in the sect shamelessly flattering Dongfang Bubai that I wanted to vomit just observing them. I never thought when Ren Woxing became chief, the situation becomes even worse. They've now added that 'Sacred' word in front of his title making him Sacred Chief. I don't think even the hundreds of scholars and warrior officials would debase themselves in such a fashion when they go to see the current emperor and praise him with 'Long live to Emperor'. I'm a person who studies martial art. If I acted like this insultingly towards other heroes and people, can I still be called a man, a gentleman?" When he thought till here, his qi suddenly rushed up. Suddenly, he felt pain in his 'Dantian' region, his vision darkened, and he felt dizzy.
Both of his hands gripped the chair's arms tightly. His teeth bit on his lower lip until blood seeped out. He knew that after he learned the 'Art of Essence Absorbing', he had sworn off never to use it. But when he was trapped by Yue Buqun inside that fish net outside the cave, his life was hanging by a thread and he was forced to use this demonical method to absorb Yue Buqun's inner energy. By doing this, he had actually done great harm to himself.
He forcefully restrained himself to not groan aloud. But his body was trembling and his whole face was full of perspiration and distorted. The pain he was in was shown clearly in his expression. Everyone was able to see this clearly. Zu Qianqiu and the others were all looking at him, feeling very concerned.
Yingying walked behind him and whispered, "Brother Chong, I'm here."
Under the watchful eyes of thousands of people, she could only say this before her face turned bright red. Linghu Chong turned his head around to take a look at her, and he felt somewhat better. He immediately thought of the words Ren Woxing said that day at Hangzhou. Ren Woxing said after he had learned this 'Art of Essence Absorbing', he'd get different types of internal energy inside his body and there would come a day when he had to scatter them out. Once he had scattered them, the fierceness would increase by one fold. All those years ago, Ren Woxing gave up his position of chief to Dongfang Bubai also because of these different types of internal energies inside his own body. He always thought on how to solve this problem that he couldn't think of anything else and was taken advantage of by Dongfang Bubai. Ren Woxing was then imprisoned under the West Lake for more than ten years where he finally discovered how to solve this problem. But he wanted Linghu Chong to join the Sun Moon Sect first before he would teach him this method.
