At dusk, Linghu Chong arrived at the Shaolin Temple and told the welcoming monk that he was there to take the remains of Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai back to Heng-Shan. The welcoming monk went in to report, and after some time, he came out to tell Linghu Chong, "Abbot said: The two Shi Tai's remains were cremated already. The monks in the temple are now reading scriptures to respectfully send them on their way. We'll send someone to deliver the ashes of the two Shi Tai to Heng-Shan."
Linghu Chong walked into the hall where they were praying for the two Shi Tai. He knelt in front of the altar with the ashes and the funeral tablet*, and respectfully kowtowed a few times. He inwardly prayed, "As long as Linghu Chong lives, I will carry Heng-Shan School forward with all my heart and might. I won't lose Shi Tai's trust in me." Later, he didn't ask to see Great Master Abbot but immediately went out of the temple after parting ways with the welcoming monk.
When he reached the bottom of the mountain, it was still snowing heavily so he quickly found a farmer's house to stay for the night. At dawn, he continued his journey to the north. When he arrived at a city, he bought a horse to ride on. Everyday, he travelled for around seventy to eighty li and as soon as he stopped by at an inn, he immediately moved his qi according to the method taught by Ren Woxing and slowly unblocked his meridian. After seven days, his left arm was able to move again normally.
One day while he was traveling, he was at a wine shop drinking wine when he noticed people busily walking here and there on the street. Many families were preparing for the New Year and there was an air of happiness around them. Linghu Chong poured himself another drink and thought, "On Huashan, Master-Wife has always led all the martial brothers and sisters in cleaning up, grinding the flour for New Year's cake, managing the New Year's red pockets*, and stitching new gowns. Little martial sister would be cutting many paper-cut window decorations. How lively those New Years were. This year, I'm here all by myself drinking this stuffy wine."
http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_e...ntent_43896.htm
has a paper cut example.)
As he was feeling melancholy, he suddenly heard the sound of people coming up the stairs. One person said, "I'm very thirsty. It wouldn't be bad drinking a few cups here."
Another person said, "If you're not thirsty, could it be that it's bad to drink?"
Another person replied, "Drinking wine is drinking wine, thirsty is thirsty. How can you mix these two matters together?"
Another person added, "The more you drink wine, the thirstier you'll get. Not only you can't mix these two matters together, they're completely different."
When Linghu Chong heard this, he knew that it was the Peach Valley Six Fairies who had just arrived. He felt really happy and shouted, "Six Peach Valley brothers, quickly come up and drink wine together with me."
Suddenly, a 'hu hu' sound reverberated around the room as the Peach Valley Six Fairies flew up the stairs. They rushed at Linghu Chong and grabbed his shoulders and arms. Then one by one called out, "I saw him first." "I grabbed him first." "I spoke first, Master Linghu heard me first." "If I didn't say that I wanted to come here, how could we have met him?"
Linghu Chong felt odd. He laughingly asked, "What tricks are you six playing at?"
Peachtree Flower Fairy went to the wine shop's window and called out loudly, "Young nuns, big nuns, old nuns, not old not young nuns! I, Peachtree Flower Fairy, have found Master Linghu, quickly hand me over the one thousand silver taels."
Peachtree Branch Fairy also went towards the window and called out, "I, Peachtree Branch Fairy, found him first. Big young nuns, quickly give me all the silver."
Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy each grabbed one of Linghu Chong's arms and shouted, "I found him first!" "It was me! It was me!"
Then, from the end of the street, some female voices called out, "You've found hero Linghu?"
"I found Linghu Chong, quickly hand over the money," Peachtree Fruit Fairy called out.
"One hand gets the money, one hand delivers the goods!" Peachtree Trunk Fairy shouted.
"Right, right! If those small nuns don't want to pay their debts, then we'll hide Linghu Chong away and not give him to them," Peachtree Root Fairy agreed.
Peachtree Branch Fairy asked, "How do we hide him away? Do we shut him off somewhere and don't let those small nuns to meet him?"
There were sounds of people going up the stairs as a few females rushed up. The first person to reach the landing was really a disciple of the Heng-Shan School, Yihe. Behind her were four more nuns and two young ladies, who were Zheng E and Qin Juan. When the seven of them saw Linghu Chong, their faces filled with happiness. Some were calling him 'hero Linghu', some were calling 'big brother Linghu', and there were also some who called him 'Master Linghu'. Peachtree Trunk Fairy and his brothers extended their arms to block the path to Linghu Chong. "If you don't give us the thousand silver taels, then we won't deliver the goods."
Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Peach Valley Six brothers, how did these one thousand silver taels come about?"
Peachtree Branch Fairy answered, "We met them just before and they asked me whether I've seen you or not. I said that temporarily I haven't met you yet, but we met you not long after that."
Qin Juan said, "This uncle is lying. He said: 'I haven't. Linghu Chong's feet are alive so it's most likely that he's at the end of the earth now. How could we have met him?'"
"Wrong, wrong. We had the foresight already that we were going to meet Linghu Chong here," Peachtree Flower Fairy disagreed.
Peachtree Trunk Fairy added, "That's right! Otherwise, why would we come here and not somewhere else?"
Linghu Chong laughed. "I've guessed it. These martial sisters are looking for me so they entrusted the six of you to help them look for me. Then you said that you wanted one thousand silver taels, isn't that right?"
"We asked for one thousand silver taels. We know it's an exorbitant price. But if they could do business, then it must be worth it. Who knew that they're very generous, this middle-aged nun said: 'Alright, once you've succeeded in finding hero Linghu, we'll give you one thousand silver taels.' Are these words true?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy explained.
Yihe answered, "Correct. Once they found hero Linghu, then Heng-Shan School will give them one thousand silver taels." Six palms immediately shot out and the Peach Valley Six Fairies said at the same time, "Hand it over."
"We're Buddhists. Why would we carry so much silver on us? I'd like to bother the six of you to go to Heng-Shan to fetch it," Yihe said.
She reasoned that the Peach Valley Six Fairies wouldn't want to be troubled. Who would've thought that they would think it over and answered at the same time, "Very well, we'll go up Heng-Shan with you to avoid you not paying your debt."
Linghu Chong laughingly said, "Congratulations on becoming rich and selling me at such a great price."
The Peach Valley Six Fairies' orange-like faces were full of happiness. They cupped their hands and said, "Thank you, thank you! It's our luck, our luck!"
But Yihe and the other six women became grieved and they knelt towards Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong was surprised. "Why is everyone giving me such a big propriety?" and he hastily returned their propriety.
"We pay our respect to Headmaster," Yihe said.
"So you already knew? Please quickly get up."
"Yeah, it's not convenient talking while kneeling on the ground," Peachtree Root Fairy said.
Linghu Chong stood up and said, "Six Peach brothers, Heng-Shan School and I have a few important matters we have to discuss. Please drink wine on the side and don't bother us, otherwise you might not be getting your one thousand silver taels." Originally, the Peach Valley Six Fairies wanted to annoy them. But hearing that last sentence, they quickly shut up and walked to the table besides the window. They then ordered some wine and dishes.
Yihe and the other disciples stood up. As they thought of Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai dying miserably, they couldn't help crying sorrowfully.
Peachtree Flower Fairy interrupted, "Yi, strange, strange, how come you're crying suddenly? If you are crying after seeing Linghu Chong, then it's better not to have seen him then."
Linghu Chong glared angrily towards him. Frightened, Peachtree Flower Fairy quickly put his hand on his mouth.
Yihe was still crying as she said, "That day big brother Linghu... no, Headmaster, you went ashore to drink wine but didn't come back to the boat. Later on, Hengshan School's martial uncle Mo Da came and told us that you've gone to Shaolin temple to meet martial uncle Abbess and Master. We consulted with each other and decided that it's better for us to go to Shaolin temple to meet with all of you. But we didn't expect to meet many Jianghu heroes on the way, and we heard them talking passionately about how you led a group of heroes to attack Shaolin temple, and how the thousands of monks from Shaolin temple ran away. There was a person with a big head with short and plump body. He said his surname was Old. He said... he said that martial uncle Abbess and Master were killed in the Shaolin temple. Before martial uncle Abbess passed away, she wanted you... wanted you to take over the Headmaster position of Heng-Shan and that you've agreed to it. These words were already heard by a lot of people... " She said till here and started to sob uncontrollably. The remaining six disciples also started to weep.
Linghu Chong sighed. "It's true that Dingxian Shi Tai really put this heavy responsibility on my shoulder. But I'm just a young man and my reputation is really poor, and everyone already knows that I'm a loafer of poor character. How can I be the Headmaster of the Heng-Shan School? But it was just that the situation at that time forced me to agree. If I didn't agree, then Dingxian Shi Tai would've died with an unfulfilled wish. Ai, this is a very difficult matter."
"We... we all hope that you... hope that you come and take up the leadership of the Heng-Shan family," Yihe pleaded.
Zheng E reasoned, "Martial uncle Headmaster, you've led us going in and out of dangers, and you've also rescued many of the disciples' lives more than once. All the disciples of the Heng-Shan School already know that you're an upright gentleman. Even though you're a man, our school has no regulation that doesn't allow a man to be the Headmaster."
A middle-aged nun called Yiwen added, "When we heard the news of Master and Martial Uncle's deaths, we all felt very sad. But when we found out that Martial Uncle Headmaster is coming to take over the leadership of the school, we all felt really comforted as Heng-Shan School wouldn't be destroyed."
Yihe said, "My master and my two martial uncles were killed by someone. Heng-Shan School's three elders of the 'Ding' generation have successively died within these several months yet we don't know who the murderers are. Martial Uncle Headmaster, you becoming the Headmaster is the best thing possible. If you weren't our headmaster, then we would never be able to avenge our three elders."
Linghu Chong nodded his head and said, "I take full responsibility for avenging the death of the three Shi Tai."
Qin Juan said, "You're already been driven out from Huashan School; so now you can be Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. West mountain or north mountain, we're on par with one another in Wulin. When you meet Mr. Yue in the future, you won't need to call him master anymore. At most, you call him Brother Yue."
Linghu Chong only smiled bitterly. He thought, "I don't have anymore face to meet this Brother Yue."
Zheng E said, "After we heard of this sad news, we doubled our effort to get to the Shaolin temple. On the way we met with Martial Uncle Mo Da again. He told us that you're not in the temple anymore but he wanted us to quickly look for you, Martial Uncle Headmaster."
Qin Juan continued the story, "Martial Uncle Mo Da said that the sooner we find you the better it would be. If we were late for a step then you may have been persuaded to enter the Devil Sect. The orthodox and the demonical cannot mix like that of water and fire. Heng-Shan School would then have no more Headmaster."
Zheng E glared at her and said, "Martial sister Qin talks without thinking. How can Martial Uncle Headmaster join the Devil Sect?"
"Yes, but Martial Uncle Mo Da really did say this," Qin Juan replied.
Linghu Chong thought, "Martial Uncle Mo Da is very concerned about this matter. Even though I didn't join the Sun Moon Sect, I very nearly did. That day, if Chief Ren didn't tempt me with the secret of the internal art, and if he had actually asked me sincerely and earnestly to join the sect, it would've been a very difficult decision for me. Also, considering Yingying's and big brother Xiang's parts in asking me, I might have immediately pledged my oath after attending to Heng-Shan School's big matter." He then said, "That's why you offered one thousand silver taels for the capture of Linghu Chong?"
Qin Juan broke from her tears and smiled. "Capture Linghu Chong? How could we dare?"
Zheng E said, "After everyone heard Martial Uncle Mo Da's instruction, we divided into groups of seven to look for Martial Uncle Headmaster, and to ask you to come up to Heng-Shan to handle the school's responsibilities. Today, when we met the Peach Valley Six Fairies, they asked for one thousand silver taels. To look for Martial Uncle Headmaster, don't mention one thousand silver taels, even if it were ten thousand silver taels, we would think of a way to give it to them."
Linghu Chong smiled. "There's no benefit for you when I become your Headmaster. But your skill in getting alms from corrupt officials, village bosses, and greedy rich people will surely advance by a lot." The seven disciples thought of that day in Fujian when they asked for alms from White Peeling Leather. Their sadness was slightly relieved and they all broke into smiles. "Alright, don't worry everyone. Linghu Chong already promised Dingxian Shi Tai so I can't just disregard what I said. I'll definitely become your Headmaster. We'll eat till we're full then we'll go up Heng-Shan." The seven disciples all rejoiced when they heard this.
Linghu Chong then drank some wine together with the Peach Valley Six Fairies. He asked the six of them what they wanted to use one thousand silver taels for. Peachtree Root Fairy answered, "Night Cat Ji Wushi is extremely poor. If he didn't have one thousand silver taels, he wouldn't be able to live from day to day, so we promised to give him our help as best as we can."
Peachtree Trunk Fairy added, "That day inside the Shaolin temple, we brothers made a bet with Ji Wushi..."
Peachtree Flower Fairy interrupted, "Of course Ji Wushi lost. How could this little kid win from us brothers?"
But Linghu Chong thought, "You made a bet with Ji Wushi, of course the one who lost is you guys." He asked, "What did you bet on?"
Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered, "The matter we bet on concerns you. We guessed that you surely won't become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster, no... no... we guessed that you'll surely become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster."
Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "Night Cat guessed that you surely won't become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. We then said, gentleman's words must be believed. You already promised that old nun to become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. The world's heroes have already heard what you said, how could you deny it?"
Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Night Cat said, Linghu Chong is loitering around Jianghu and soon he will take Devil Sect's Sacred Lady as his wife. Why does he want to chit chat with some old and young nuns?"
Linghu Chong thought, "Night Cat reveres Yingying completely. How can it be possible that he said 'Devil Sect'? It must be the Peach Valley Six Fairies who inverted their story telling." He then said, "So then you gambled one thousand silver taels on this?"
Peachtree Root Fairy replied, "Right, at that time, we were certain that we're going to win. Ji Wushi then said that this one thousand silver taels must be earned honestly and we can't steal it off people. We told him of course, would Peach Valley Six Fairies rob people?"
Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Today, we met several of these nuns while they're looking for you. They said that they want to invite you to become Heng-Shan School's Headmaster. We agreed to help look for you for the cost of one thousand silver taels."
Linghu Chong smiled and said, "You felt pitiful when you thought that Night Cat would lose one thousand silver taels to you. That's why you wanted to earn one thousand silver taels to give to him, so that he could give this to you when he loses?"
Peach Valley Six Fairies answered at the same time, "That's right, that's right. Your prediction is really accurate."
Peachtree Leaf Fairy added, "Compared to our prediction skill, your prediction skill doesn't lack by too much."
Afterwards, Linghu Chong and his party set out to Heng-Shan. On the day they finally arrived at the foot of the mountain, the disciples from the school were respectfully waiting at the foot of the mountain as they had received a message about the arrival. They quickly paid their respects to Linghu Chong when they saw him. Linghu Chong hastily returned their propriety. He told them how Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai passed away, and all of them felt grieved. Linghu Chong saw Yilin amongst the rest of the disciples. She seemed to be looking feeble and much thinner since the last time he saw her. He asked, "Martial sister Yilin, you've been unwell recently?"
Both of Yilin's eyes were red as she answered, "It's nothing." After a moment, she continued, "You're our headmaster now, so you can't call me martial sister anymore."
On their way to the mountain, Yihe and the rest of the disciples all called Linghu Chong as 'Martial Uncle Headmaster'. He kept telling everyone not to call him that but none of them agreed. After hearing Yilin telling him not to call her 'Martial Sister', he said in a clear voice, "Martial sisters, Linghu Chong is taking the leadership of the Heng-Shan School's family because of the former Abbess's order. Actually, I don't have the virtue or ability to do this job; I really don't deserve it."
All the disciples replied, "It's actually the fortune of this school that Martial Uncle Headmaster is willing to take on this heavy responsibility."
"Then everyone must promise me one thing," Linghu Chong answered.
Yihe and the rest of the disciples said, "We would never disobey Headmaster's order."
"I'm only becoming your Martial Brother Headmaster, not your Martial Uncle Headmaster," Linghu Chong told them.
Yihe, Yiqing, Yizhen, Yiwen, and the rest of the older disciples consulted with each other and then reported back, "Headmaster is very modest, we'll obey your order."
Linghu Chong happily said, "That's very good."
Then they all went up the Heng-Shan mountain together. The summit of Heng-Shan was very tall. Even though everyone was walking really quickly, it still took them half a day to reach the Xianxing Peak after seeing it from afar. The main convent of the Heng-Shan School was the Wuse convent, which was a really small convent, while the other convent had more than thirty stone houses where the disciples resided in. Linghu Chong saw that the Wuse Convent only consisted of two rooms; one at the front and the other in the back. Compared to the grand temple of Shaolin, it was like comparing an ant to an elephant.
When he arrived inside the convent, he saw a statue of the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin. The inside of the convent was spotlessly clean and everything was arranged simply. He never thought that Heng-Shan School with such an earth-shattering name in Jianghu, would have such a plain convent. After paying his respect to the Guanyin deity, Yu Sao led him to Dingxian Shi Tai's meditation place, but he saw the four walls were dull and there was only an old putuan on the floor. Besides that, there was nothing else. Linghu Chong loved liveliness, drinking, and eating. How could he possibly stay in that quiet and calm room to meditate? If he took wine, dog meat or any meat in general into the room to eat and drink, then that would be too impolite towards everyone there. He then asked Yu Sao, "Even though I'm the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, I'm not a Buddhist and I'm also not a nun. The disciples of the school are all women while I'm a man; so living inside the convent isn't appropriate. Please give me and the Peach Valley Six Fairies an empty and far away house to live in. Then that'll be appropriate."
Yu Sao said, "Yes. The west peak has three big houses. They're originally guest houses, which we offered to the parents of the school's disciples whenever they come for a visit. If they're acceptable to Headmaster then Headmaster can stay there temporarily while we build a new residence for Headmaster."
Linghu Chong happily replied, "It's already good that there's a house; why do you need to build a new house?", while he thought in his heart, "Could it be that I'll be Heng-Shan School's headmaster for the rest of my life? Once I've found a suitable person from the school to whom all the disciples will submit to, then I'll pass on this headmaster position to her. Then I'll pat my buttocks and travel around Jianghu leisurely and happily."
When he arrived at the house on the west peak, he saw the bed, mattress, chair, and the rest of the things resembled that of a rich farmer's house. Even though they were still simple and humble, they didn't appear as dull as in the convent. Yu Sao said, "Headmaster, please sit. I'll go and get you some wine."
Linghu Chong was happily surprised, "There's wine on this mountain?"
Yu Sao smiled and said, "Not only do we have wine, we have good wine here. When little martial sister Yilin heard that Headmaster is coming up Heng-Shan, she told me that if we don't have good wine, then she's afraid that you won't be headmaster for long. On that same night, we sent people to go down the mountain to buy many jars of good wine."
Linghu Chong felt embarrassed. He smiled and said, "Everyone worked so hard and spent so much money because of me. I don't think that's justified."
Yiqing smiled. "That day we got a lot of silver from White Peeling Leather. Even though we give half of it to the poor, we still have plenty remaining. Also, we already sold those government horses for some money. So Martial Brother Headmaster can drink for ten years or twenty years, we'll have enough money to buy wine." That night, Linghu Chong and Peach Valley Six Fairies drank to their hearts' content.
The next morning, he consulted with Yu Sao, Yiqing, Yihe and the other disciples on how to welcome the ashes of the two Shi Tai and how to avenge the three Shi Tai.
Yiqing said, "Martial Brother Headmaster has now taken the post of headmaster. So we must announce this to all the orthodox people of Wulin, and we must also dispatch people to tell the Five Mountains Sword Schools' Chief, Martial Uncle Zuo."
Yihe indignantly said, "Pei, my master was killed by these traitors from Songshan School. The two martial uncles were most likely killed by them as well. What do we tell them for?"
Yiqing replied, "We mustn't lack any propriety. Wait until we have investigated this clearly. If the three honourables were really killed by Songshan School, then at that time, Martial Brother Headmaster will lead us to confront them about their sin."
Linghu Chong nodded his head. "What martial sister Yiqing said is true. But regarding the position of Headmaster, let me just do the job; there's no need for any celebration." He remembered the time when Master became the leader of Huashan. He was still very young at that time, and he recalled that there were so many formal celebrations. There were also numerous people from Wulin of the orthodox path who came up the mountain to congratulate his master and attend the ceremonies. He also remembered how the city of Hengshan was completely filled by many heroes for Hengshan School's Liu Zhengfeng's 'Gold Basin Hand Washing' ceremony.
Heng-Shan, Huashan, and Hengshan schools all had the same reputation. If there weren't many people turning up at the ceremony to congratulate him for taking up the Headmaster position, then it would be very humiliating. Even if there were many people attending, it is most likely for them to laugh at him for taking up the leadership of a group of nuns. Yiqing understood his heart so she said, "Since Martial Brother Headmaster doesn't want to alarm the friends in Wulin, we wouldn't invite guests to come up the mountain to attend the ceremony. But we must decide on a day for Headmaster to officially take up the position so that we can officially inform everyone."
Linghu Chong felt that if he took up the headmaster position of the Heng-Shan School too carelessly, it would damage Heng-Shan School's prestige and reputation since Heng-Shan is one of the five mountains sword schools. So he nodded his head agreeing to Yiqing.
Yiqing took up a calendar and perused it for some time. She then said, "Sixteenth of the second month, eight of the third month, twenty seventh of the third month, these three days are lucky days. Martial Brother Headmaster, have a look, which day is suitable?" Linghu Chong had never believed in any lucky or unlucky days. All he thought about in his heart was that the earlier the ceremony was, then the less people there would be to take part in the ceremony, and he would be able to avoid much embarrassment. So he said, "Is there any good days for this month?"
Yiqing answered, "There are actually many good days during this month. But they're all for going on a journey, breaking the ground*, wedding, opening a business, and others like that. It's not until the second month that there are good days for 'receiving seal and taking up office'."
Linghu Chong smiled. "I'm not taking up a government position so it's not really receiving a seal."
Yihe laughed. "Weren't you a general before? Becoming a headmaster is also receiving a seal."
Linghu Chong didn't want to brush away their ideas so he said, "Since it's like that, then make it the sixteenth of the second month."
Afterwards, they immediately sent disciples separately: to Shaolin temple to take back the two Shi Tai's ashes, and to other schools to give notifications. He told all the disciples who were going down the mountain not to publicly announce this matter. He also said, "You must report to the headmaster of each school that we haven't avenged Dingxian Shi Tai's death yet and that the disciples of Heng-Shan School are still in mourning, so there won't be any grand ceremony for the taking up of the headmaster's office. Please ask them not to send anyone to attend the ceremony."
After he talked to the departing disciples, Linghu Chong thought, "Since I'm now the headmaster of Heng-Shan, I must carefully research the sword art of the Heng-Shan School." He gathered the remaining disciples and tested each of their sword art from the basic introductory level martial art to the highest Heng-Shan sword art styles, which was displayed by Yihe and Yiqing, two of the oldest disciples. Linghu Chong saw that the Heng-Shan School's sword art was defensively very tight, and the killing moves were frequently aimed at spots where other people least expected. However, it did not have enough swiftness or ferociousness. These martial arts were really suitable for women. All the previous master generations of Heng-Shan School had all been women, so their martial arts weren't as powerful or fierce like the ones that men used. But Heng-Shan School's sword art could be said to be one of the sword arts with the least amount of flaws in them. If speaking about their defence, they were just slightly below Wudang School's 'Taiji Sword Art'. But talking about how they could suddenly attack, these sword arts were above 'Taiji Sword Art'. Heng-Shan School was one of the most outstanding schools in Wulin, so it had its own unique skills.
In his mind, he carefully went over the drawings engraved on the cave wall on Huashan. There were some Heng-Shan School's sword arts drawn there, which had wonderful variations, and were far above the sword art that Yihe and Yiqing were using. Even though this set of sword art had been defeated by other people, if in the future Heng-Shan School wanted to be glorious in Wulin, then its basic skills needed to be improved. He also thought of the time he saw Dingjing Shi Tai fighting with other people. Her internal energy was abundant and her moves were fierce. She was really very far above Yihe and the other disciples. He had also heard that Dingxian Shi Tai's martial art was even higher. It seemed that the three senior Shi Tai had not imparted a great deal of their martial art to their disciples yet. When the three Shi Tai had successively passed away in the last several months, many of Heng-Shan School's wonderful martial art had possibly been lost forever.
Yihe saw him without any expressions on his face and noticed that he didn't comment on any of the disciples' sword arts. So she said, "Martial brother Headmaster, you must be looking down on our sword art, please give us some advice."
Taking the sword from Yihe's hand, Linghu Chong replied, "There's this set of Heng-Shan School's sword art; I don't know if the three Shi Tai had imparted it to you or not?" and started to show the Heng-Shan School's sword art engraved on the cave wall. He was doing the moves really slowly to let the disciples see it clearly. After a few moves, all the disciples started cheering. They saw that each move of his still contained the basic essence of Heng-Shan's sword art, but the variations were wonderful. They didn't know just how much higher in level this set was when compared to each of the sets they had learnt in the past. Everyone was looking at each move enthusiastically and they felt pleased seeing it. The engraving of this set of sword moves on the cave wall was dead, so when Linghu Chong was using it, he linked them up one by one. In between each move, it was unavoidable that he had to add some of his idea into it. When he finally finished showing them this set of sword art, all the disciples cheered and they all bowed saluting him.
Yihe said, "Martial brother Headmaster, this is clearly our Heng-Shan School's sword art, but we've never seen it before. I'm afraid even my master and the two martial uncles didn't know about this sword art. Where did you learn it?"
Linghu Chong answered, "I saw it on a mountain cave wall. If you were willing to learn it, then how about if I imparted this sword art to you?" All the disciples were happy to hear this and they thanked him. That day Linghu Chong imparted three moves to them. He explained the intricacies of those three moves clearly and personally conducted the drills.
Even though it was only three moves from the sword art, these three moves were extremely profound and deep. Even the brightest and the most skilled disciples such as Yihe and Yiqing took seven to eight days to learn it. When it came to Zheng E, Yilin, Qin Juan, and the others, it was even more difficult for them to comprehend it. After nine days, Linghu Chong imparted two more moves to them. There were not many moves in this set of sword arts engraved on the cave wall. But they had actually spent more than one month before they completed rudimentary training. As to the mastery of this sword art, it depended on each person's ability and comprehension.
After more than a month, the disciples who were sent as emissaries started to return from their trip one by one, and for the most part, they didn't look pleased at all. They were afraid to talk when they reported to Linghu Chong. He knew for sure without asking that they had been ridiculed as a group of nuns wanting a man to be their headmaster. All he could do was console them with words. Then he asked them to separately learn from their martial sisters the sword art he had imparted to them. If there were anything they weren't clear about, then he would personally advise them.
Two experienced disciples, Yu Sao and Yiwen were sent to Huashan to deliver the epistle. The distance between Heng-Shan and Huashan wasn't that far, so they should have returned much earlier. Even when all the disciples who went to the south had returned, Yu Sao and Yiwen still hadn't come back yet. As they neared the sixteenth of the second month, the day for taking office, and still hadn't seen any sign of Yu Sao and Yiwen, they sent two more disciples, Yiguang and Yishi, to go to their aid.
The disciples did not anticipate any sect or school sending anyone to attend the ceremony, so they didn't prepare any lodging or food for guests. However, everyone had earlier weeded the ground, swept all the rooms clean, and sewn new gowns and shoes to wear. Zheng E and some disciples had sewn a black gown for Linghu Chong to wear for this day. Heng-Shan was the north mountain among the five mountains and the colour of their uniform was black.
On the morning of the sixteenth of the second month, when Linghu Chong got out after getting out of bed, he saw lamps and festoons hanging from the top of each house, showing the day's happy occasion. Seeing the care and dedication that went into making each of the decoration and securely arranging them, Linghu Chong again felt ashamed, but he also felt appreciation towards them. He thought, "The two Shi Tai died tragically because of me, but they didn't blame me for it. Instead, they gave much regards to me. If Linghu Chong couldn't avenge the three Shi Tai then I'll be a useless person."
Suddenly, he heard someone shouting from behind the corner of the mountain, "A'lin, A'lin, your dad has come to look at you. Are you well? A'lin, your dad's here." His voice was booming, shaking the valley, and before the echo had finished, he again shouted, "A'lin... A'lin... your dad..." Yilin had already heard his voice so she quickly got out of the convent and called out, "Dad, dad!" Then from around the corner of the mountain, a tall and strong monk emerged. It was really Yilin's father, Monk No Commandment, and there was also another monk behind him. The two of them were walking really fast and in a short time had reached the convent. Monk No Commandment loudly exclaimed, "Master Linghu, you didn't die from your heavy injuries, and now you're going to become my daughter's headmaster. That's very good!"
Linghu Chong smiled. "This is thanks to Great Master."
Yilin walked up to her father and lovingly pulled on his arm. She smiled, "Dad, you know today is the day that big brother Linghu officially takes up office as the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. Did you come here to congratulate him?"
No Commandment laughed. "There's no need for congratulation. I'm here to join the Heng-Shan School. Everyone is from the same school, what's there to congratulate?"
Linghu Chong was startled and he quickly asked, "Great Master wants to join Heng-Shan School?"
No Commandment answered, "Yeah. My daughter is in Heng-Shan School. I'm her old man, so naturally I'm also in the Heng-Shan School. His granny, I heard everyone ridiculing you. They're saying that you're a man but you want to become the headmaster of a bunch of nuns and young ladies. His granny, they didn't know that you're full of passion and righteousness. The mind..." His eyebrows turned into a smile and it appeared that he was really happy. He looked at his daughter and said, "Old man punched that guy's mouth and broke all his teeth. I shouted to him, "You little kid knows fart! How can everyone in Heng-Shan School be all nuns and young ladies? Old man is from Heng-Shan School, even though old man has a shiny head, do you think I'm a nun? I'm going to pull my pants down to give you a look!" So I pulled my pants down but this kid fell down and then ran away. Haha, haha!" Linghu Chong and Yilin both laughed freely when they heard this.
Yilin smiled. "Dad, you're so crude in doing things. You're also not afraid of people laughing at you!"
No Commandment replied, "If I didn't let him look clearly, then this kid still wouldn't know whether I'm a nun or a monk. Brother Linghu, I've joined the Heng-Shan School. I've also brought this grand disciple along. Cannot Have No Commandment, quickly greet Headmaster Linghu."
While Monk No Commandment was speaking, the monk following him had his back turned towards them for the whole time, not willing to look at Linghu Chong or Yilin. As he turned around, his face was full of embarrassment. He looked at Linghu Chong and smiled slightly. Linghu Chong felt that this monk looked familiar but he couldn't figure out who he was. Then, he was startled as he unexpectedly recognised the Ten Thousand Miles Loner Tian Boguang. He was totally amazed and blurted out, "It's... it's Brother Tian?"
That monk was really Tian Boguang. He smiled bitterly then bowed towards Yilin. "Greet… greeting Master."
Yilin was also very surprised. "How… how did you become a Buddhist? Is it a disguise?"
Great Master No Commandment was feeling proud of himself and he laughingly answered, "This is the real thing and he's not deceiving anyone here. He had really become a monk. Cannot Have No Commandment, tell your master what your Buddhist name is."
Tian Boguang smiled bitterly and said, "Master, grand Martial Master gave me a Buddhist name called 'Cannot Have No Commandment'."
Yilin asked strangely, "What 'Cannot Have No Commandment'? How can there be such a long name?"
Her father replied, "What do you know? In Buddhist scripture, what does it matter how long the Buddha's name is! 'Buddha of Compassion and Sorrow Helps the Distressed and Watches the World's Voice', isn't that name long? 'Cannot Have No Commandment' only has four words in his name, how can that be long?"
Yilin nodded. "So that's how it is. How did he become a Buddhist? Dad, was it you who took him as your disciple?"
No Commandment answered, "No. He's your disciple; I'm his grand martial grandpa. But you're only a little nun and since he had already paid his respect to take you as his master, if he didn't become a monk, then he would've ruined the good name of Heng-Shan School. That's why I advised him to become a monk."
Yilin laughingly said, "What do you mean advised him? Dad, you must've forced him to become a Buddhist, didn't you?"
"He voluntarily did it; you can't force someone to become a Buddhist. Whatever goodness this person has, there's an equal amount of badness in him. That's why I gave him the Buddhist name of 'Cannot Have No Commandment'."
Yilin's face became slightly red as she understood the meaning behind her father's words. This Tian Boguang was a very lecherous person and he was somehow captured by her father in the past. At that time, his life was spared but a lot of strange punishments were heaped on him. This time, it seemed that he had been forced to become a monk.
Then No Commandment continued, "My Buddhist name is No Commandment, so I don't adhere to any rules or commandments. But this Tian Boguang has committed a lot of bad things in Jianghu. If he didn't abstain from committing more of these piles of misdemeanours, how can he be under your school and become your disciple? Master Linghu wouldn't have liked this also. In the future, he's going to receive my alms bowl; that's why his name also has the words 'No Commandment'."
They suddenly heard a person said, "Monk No Commandment and Monk Cannot Have No Commandment are both joining the Heng-Shan School. The Peach Valley Six Fairies are also going to join Heng-Shan School."
The Peach Valley Six Fairies had come and the one who spoke just then was Peachtree Trunk Fairy.
Peachtree Root Fairy said, "We were the first people to see Linghu Chong, so the six of us are big martial brothers, while Monk No Commandment is little martial brother."
Linghu Chong thought, "Since there are Great Master No Commandment and Tian Boguang in Heng-Shan School already, there's no harm in accepting the Peach Valley Six Fairies as well. This way, it'll remove those talks in Jianghu about Linghu Chong becoming the headmaster of a group of nuns and young ladies." He then said, "Peachtree Six brothers are willing to enter the Heng-Shan School, then that's really good then. But it's very troublesome to arrange the seniority order one by one so it's better if we just leave it alone!"
Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "No Commandment's disciple is called Cannot Have No Commandment. When in the future, Cannot Have No Commandment accepts a disciple, what will his Buddhist name be?"
Peachtree Fruit Fairy answered, "Cannot Have No Commandment's disciple's Buddhist name must also have the words 'Cannot Have No Commandment'. He can be called, 'Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment'."
Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Then the disciple of 'Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment'; what would his Buddhist name be?"
Linghu Chong saw Tian Boguang's plight so he took his arm and led him away. "I have a few words to ask you."
"Alright," Tian Boguang answered.
The two of them quickened their steps and moved tens of feet away. But behind them, they still heard Peachtree Trunk Fairy saying, "His Buddhist name can be 'With Reason and Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment'."
Peachtree Flower Fairy added, "Then how about disciple of 'With Reason and Without Doubt Cannot Have No Commandment'? What would his Buddhist name be?"
Tian Boguang smiled bitterly and said, "Headmaster Linghu, that day I was forced by Grand Martial Master to go to Huashan to invite you to come and see the little Shi Tai. But there's a long story behind that."
Linghu Chong said, "I know that he forced you to take a poison, and he also tricked you by saying that he'd already sealed your death acupoint."
"I've already told you about that before. That day in the courtyard of the Jade House, I fought with that shorty Yu. After that, I thought about it and decided that there were too many heroes from the orthodox path for me to stay there for long. So I went north towards Hunan. I'm ashamed to talk about those days. My shortcoming became visible not long after. In Kaifeng prefecture, I sneaked into the room of a rich family's young lady in the middle of the night. I lifted the mosquito net and extended my hands to cop a feel, but I unexpectedly felt a bald head instead."
Linghu Chong laughed and said, "So to your surprise, she's a nun."
Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. "No, it was a monk."
Linghu Chong laughed loudly. "The young lady was inside the quilt sleeping with a monk. Never thought that this young lady would've stolen a man, and the man she'd stolen would be a monk."
Tian Boguang shook his head and said, "That's not it! That monk was Grand Martial Master. Originally, Grand Martial Master was looking for me. When he finally tracked my trail down, he found me at Kaifeng prefecture. That afternoon I was spying around that house and Grand Martial Master saw me. He guessed that I was up to no good, so he talked to that family and told that young lady to get out of trouble. Then he slept on that bed waiting for me."
Linghu Chong laughed. "Brother Tian must have really suffered this time."
Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. "Does that need saying? When I rubbed Grand Martial Master's head, I already knew that something's not right. Then I felt my stomach felt numb because he hit my acupoint there. Grand Martial Master jumped out of the bed and lighted a lamp. Then he asked me whether I want to die or live. I know that for my whole life I've been doing evil things, so there would be one day when I'd have a reckoning. So I quickly said, 'I want to die!'. Grand Martial Master thought that this was really strange so he asked me: 'Why do you want to die?' I said: 'I wasn't being careful and was captured by you. How can I still hope to live?' Grand Martial Master gave me a blank expression then indignantly said, 'You said you were captured by me only because you weren't careful. So you are implying that if you were a bit more careful, then I wouldn't be able to capture you. Alright!' As he said 'alright', he released my acupoint. Then I sat down and asked him: 'What is your order?' He said: 'You have a knife on your belt, how come you're not using it to chop me? You have two legs underneath your body, how come you're not jumping out of the window to escape?' I said: 'I'm a gentleman, how can I act like a shameless nobody?' He just laughed loudly and said: 'You're not a shameless nobody? You already paid respect to my daughter to take her as your master and yet how come you're disclaiming it?' I thought this was really strange so I asked: 'Your daughter?' He answered: 'On the top floor of that wine shop, you made a bet with that youngster from Huashan School. Saying that whoever lost would take my daughter as master. Could it be that it's all fake? I went up Heng-Shan to look for my daughter, and she told me everything from the beginning to the end.' I said: 'So that's how it is. That little nun is your daughter, that's really weird.' He asked: 'What's weird about that?'"
Linghu Chong laughed. "This matter really is quite strange. Other people become a monk after they've gotten a daughter, but Great Master No Commandment became a monk first before getting a daughter. His Buddhist name is called No Commandment. It means that he won't comply with any rules or commandments."
Tian Boguang said, "That's right. At that time, I said: 'That bet was only a trick, how could you take it as real? You're not wrong that I lost the fight in that bet, so I won't bother your daughter anymore.' Grand Martial Master then said: 'That won't do. You already said that you're going to take her as master, so you must take her as your master. You cannot not take my daughter as a master. I can't let anyone bully my own daughter. I spent a lot of effort to find you. You're very slippery and if it weren't for you committing these rapes, then it would've been really difficult to capture you.'
I saw him getting muddled and not speaking clearly, so I quickly used my 'Three Cloud Steps' and jumped out of the window. I thought that once I've used my lightness martial art, Grand Martial Master would definitely not be able to keep up with me. But I was surprised when I heard footsteps behind me because Grand Martial Master had chased me down. I called out: 'Big monk, you didn't kill me just then, so I won't kill you either. If you kept on chasing then I won't be polite anymore.' Grand Martial Master laughed loudly and said: 'How do you become impolite?' I pulled my knife out, turned around, and chopped down on him. But Grand Martial Master's martial art was really high. He only used his palms to trade moves with me. I didn't know how to use my fast knife to chop him, and after more than forty moves, he grabbed the back of my neck and snatched my knife away.
Then he asked me: 'Give up yet?' I said: 'I give up, you can kill me now!' He said: 'What's the use of killing you? Would it make my daughter alive again?' I was startled so I asked: 'Little Shi Tai is dead?' He said: 'She hasn't died yet, but she's as good as dead. I saw her at Heng-Shan and she was so thin that I can even see her bones. I cried when I saw her, and then I slowly asked her what happened. It was you who harmed her.' I said: 'If you wanted to kill me then kill me. Tian Boguang is an honest person and would never tell lies. I was rude to your daughter at first, but she was saved by Huashan School's Linghu Chong. I didn't violate her; she's still a young lady as pure as jade.' Grand Martial Master said: 'Your granny, what's the use of being as pure as jade? My daughter is lovesick; if Linghu Chong wouldn't take her as his wife, she wouldn't continue on living. But when I mentioned this to her, my daughter scolded me. She said something like Buddhists cannot have worldly desires; otherwise Buddha reproaches them and when you die you enter the eighteenth level of Hell.' Suddenly he clutched my neck and scolded me, 'Stinky kid, this is all your doing. If you weren't being rude to my daughter that day then Linghu Chong wouldn't have to come and save her. Then my daughter wouldn't have become that thin.' I said: 'That's not for certain. Little Shi Tai's beauty is like a goddess, even if I weren't being rude to her that day, Linghu Chong would certainly have come up with another reason to approach her'."
Linghu Chong scowled and said, "Brother Tian, what you said was too much."
Tian Boguang laughed and said, "I'm sorry that I offended you. At that time, the situation was desperate. If I didn't say that, Grand Martial Master would never have released me. Sure enough, when he heard this, he turned from angry to happy and said: 'Stinky kid, think for yourself how many bad things you have done in your lifetime? If it weren't for the discourteous way you treated my daughter, I would've flattened your head a long time ago.'"
Linghu Chong felt this was very odd, so he asked, "He's happy that you're being rude to her daughter?"
Tian Boguang answered, "He wasn't being happy, he was praising my foresight."
Linghu Chong couldn't help smiling. Tian Boguang went on, "Grand Martial Master lifted me in mid air with his left hand while his right hand gave me seventeen to eighteen whacks on the ear and I fainted. Then he soaked me in a small brook. When I woke up, he said: 'I'm giving you one month to go and invite Linghu Chong to go up Heng-Shan to see my daughter. Even if he couldn't take her as his wife for now, they can still talk and that'll be good enough. My daughter's life would be protected then. Your master has a problem but how come you didn't come and help as her disciple?' He then poked some of my acupoints and told me that they're the death acupoints. Then he forced me to take some poison saying that if I managed to invite you to come and see the little Shi Tai within the one month period, he would give me the medicine. Otherwise, the poison would come out and no medicine would be able to save me."
Linghu Chong had at last understood. That day when Tian Boguang came up to Huashan to invite him to come down the mountain, he kept everything a secret and didn't want to say anything clearly. Linghu Chong didn't expect that he would actually tell him everything at this time. Tian Boguang continued, "I went up Huashan to invite you, but I was defeated and I knew that it would be hard to keep my life further. To my surprise, Grand Martial Master was feeling uneasy so he personally took the little Shi Tai to come up to Huashan to look for you. Then he gave me the antidote, and afterwards I also listened to your advice not to rape and do those lecherous things anymore. But Tian Boguang's nature is lascivious and there are lots of women around. So whenever I have some money, I went to look for some prostitutes which is not a difficult thing to do. Half a month ago, Grand Martial Master found me again. He said that you were going to become Heng-Shan School's headmaster, but other people are ridiculing you behind your back and your reputation in Jianghu is being ruined. He loves everything, loves his daughter and son-in-law…"
Linghu Chong scowled and interrupted, "Brother Tian, you must never speak of this nonsense ever again."
Tian Boguang replied, "Yes, yes. I was just repeating what Grand Martial Master said. He said that he wanted to join Heng-Shan School and told me to follow his plan. The first step was to accept me as a disciple on behalf of his daughter. I didn't consent to this so he beat me up. I'm not his match and I also couldn't run away so I was forced to pay my respect to Master." He said till here when he frowned and his expression turned dark.
Linghu Chong said, "You only have to pay your respect to your master. It doesn't mean that you have to become a monk as well. Doesn't Shaolin School have a lot of secular disciples?"
Tian Boguang shook his head and answered, "Grand Martial Master had another idea. He said: 'You're such a lecherous person. Once you've entered Heng-Shan School, your martial uncles will all be beautiful nuns, so that's going to be very inappropriate. The best plan would be to cut out the source of trouble first.' He then knocked me down, pulled my pants down, grabbed his knife and gave me a chop. He cut half of my thing."
Linghu Chong uttered an 'ah' as he was startled by this, and shook his head. Even though he felt that this was very cruel, he also thought that Tian Boguang had harmed too many women of good families, so it was a deserved retribution. Tian Boguang was also shaking his head before he continued, "I fainted immediately. When I woke up, Grand Martial Master had applied some medicine on me and had also wrapped up my injury. He told me to rest for a few days to recover from my injury. Then he forced me to shave my head and become a monk. He gave me a Buddhist name called 'Cannot Have No Commandment'. He said: 'Since I already chopped your thing, you can't rape anymore. So, of course there's no need for you to become a monk. But I made you become a monk and gave you the Buddhist name 'Cannot Have No Commandment' so that everyone will know. That way, Heng-Shan School's reputation will also be preserved. Ordinarily, it's inappropriate for people who have become a monk to mix up with nuns. But since your name is 'Cannot Have No Commandment', then it doesn't matter.'"
Linghu Chong smiled and said, "Your Grand Martial Master is very thoughtful."
Tian Boguang replied, "Grand Martial Master wanted me to tell you about all these. He also wants me to ask you not to blame my master."
Confused, Linghu Chong asked, "Why would I want to blame your master? She doesn't know anything about this matter."
Tian Boguang answered, "Grand Martial Master said: Every time he saw my master, he noticed how she became a little bit thinner and her complexion a little worse. When he asked her about it, she always sheds a tear and never says anything. Grand Martial Master said: It must be you who's bullying her."
Linghu Chong was alarmed. "I didn't! I never talk to your master in an angry manner. Also, she's always so good, why would I scold her?"
Tian Boguang said, "You never scolded her, that's why she cried."
"I don't understand."
"Grand Martial Master beat me up when I asked about this too."
Linghu Chong scratched his head thinking that Great Master No Commandment's entangled way of speaking was just like that of the Peach Valley Six Fairies.
Tian Boguang said, "Grand Martial Master said: after he got married to Grand Martial Mother, they quarrelled all the time, and the fiercer the scolding was, the more love there was. You're not scolding my master so it means that you're not taking my master to be your wife."
"This… your master is a Buddhist nun, so I've never thought of this matter."
"I also said that. Grand Martial Master got angry and beat me up for a time. He said: my Grand Martial Mother was originally a nun and when he wanted to marry her, he became a monk. If Buddhist nuns or monks couldn't get married, how can there be my master in this world? If my master isn't in this world, how can there be me?"
Linghu Chong couldn't help thinking that this was funny. He thought Tian Boguang was much older compared to Little Martial Sister Yilin; how could he mention those two things together? Tian Boguang went on, "Grand Martial Master also said: if you didn't think of marrying my master, then what are you doing becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster? He said: there are a lot of nuns in Heng-Shan School but not one can be compared to my master's beauty. If you didn't do it for my master, then for which nun are you doing it for?"
Linghu Chong was secretly feeling miserable and couldn't take this anymore, he thought, "Great Master No Commandment became a monk so that he could marry a nun. He now thinks that everyone in the world thinks the same way as him. If these words got out, how could it not cause a lot of problem?"
Tian Boguang smiled bitterly. "Grand Martial Master asked me whether my master is the most beautiful woman in the whole world. I answered: 'She's not the most beautiful, but she's very beautiful.' He got angry and punched me causing two of my teeth to fall off. Then he said: 'How come she's not the most beautiful? If she weren't beautiful, then why did you have rude intentions towards her on that day? And why did that little kid Linghu Chong risked his life to save her?' I quickly said: 'Most beautiful, most beautiful. How could Grand Martial Master's daughter not be the most beautiful woman in the world?' When he heard these words, he became happy and praised my brilliant vision."
Linghu Chong smiled. "Little martial sister Yilin is of course beautiful, it's no wonder that great Master No Commandment is proud of her."
Tian Boguang happily said, "You agree that my master is beautiful; that's very good then."
Linghu Chong oddly asked, "Why is that good?"
"Grand Martial Master gave me a task, he wants me to think of a way to call you… call you…"
"Call me what?" Linghu Chong asked.
Tian Boguang smiled. "Call you my master-husband."
Linghu Chong was stupefied. "Brother Tian, Great Master No Commandment loves his daughter a lot. But you should already know that this matter is impossible to do."
"That's true. I said that's really hard to do, I said that you once led a large group of people to attack Shaolin temple because of Divine Sect's young lady Ren. I said: 'Even though young lady Ren's beauty isn't above my master, Master Linghu was already predestined to be with her. He's already infatuated with her and other people wouldn't be able to interfere.' Master Linghu, in front of Grand Martial Master, I had no choice but to say this in order to protect my remaining teeth so I have something to eat with, please don't blame me."
Linghu Chong smiled and said, "Of course I understand."
"Grand Martial Master then said: He already knows about this and that it's very easy to solve this problem because all that is required is to think of a way to kill young lady Ren without you knowing. I quickly said not to do that because if young lady Ren were killed, then Linghu Chong would definitely commit suicide. Grand Martial Master said: 'What you said was right. If this little kid Linghu Chong died, then my daughter will be widowed, how can that be not a bad luck? How about this? You talk to this little kid Linghu Chong; tell him my daughter will marry him and make his second house. This will be alright.' I said: 'Grand Martial Master, how can you wrong your daughter like that?' He sighed then said: 'You don't know. If my daughter couldn't marry Linghu Chong, she would die sooner or later; she definitely won't have a long life.' As he said this, his tears flowed down. Ai, this is their father-daughter inborn nature revealing their true feelings, it couldn't be fake."
The two of them were looking at each other, both of them feeling pretty awkward. Tian Boguang then said, "Master Linghu, I've already said everything that Grand Martial Master wanted me to tell you. I know that some of these are hard to do, even taboo, especially since you're the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. But I advise you to speak more to my master and let her be happy. You can deal with this later on."
Linghu Chong nodded his head and said, "Alright." In the last few days, every time he had seen Yilin, she seemed to be thinner and thinner. He now knew that it was because she was lovesick. Yilin loved him so deeply; how come he didn't know? But she was a Buddhist nun and still very young, so he expected her feelings would lessen as days passed by and would finally be gone. After meeting her again at Xianxia mountain range, and from Fujian to Jiangxi, he was never alone with her to talk about anything. Ever since he had been on Heng-Shan, he avoided doing anything that might rouse suspicion. He didn't care if other people slandered his own name, as his name was already not good, but he felt he must never spoil the clean reputation of the Heng-Shan School. Besides the time he was imparting the sword art to the Heng-Shan's female disciples, he never chatted with anyone. Compared to the past days of clowning around, he was very different. As he listened to Tian Boguang speaking of the past, and about Yilin's tender feelings towards him, feelings suddenly burst forth in his heart.
He looked up towards the mountain peak where the white snow was accumulating as he pondered. Suddenly, he heard the clamouring sounds of people coming up the mountain path. The mountain summit had always been quiet and peaceful, and there was never people shouting or making noises. He was really astonished when he heard footsteps of several hundred people coming up the mountain. The first person called out, "Congratulations, Master Linghu. Today is your happy day." This person was short and plump; he was Old Man. Behind him were Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, Huang Boliu, Sima Big, Blue Phoenix, You Xun, the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, and many other people who had unexpectedly come here.
Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. He quickly went forward to welcome them. "I received Dingxian Shi Tai's last order so I must take the leadership of the Heng-Shan School, but I didn't dare to alarm all the friends here. How come you've all come here?"
These people had once followed Linghu Chong in attacking Shaolin temple and had gone through life and death battles with him. So they had become friends through trials and tribulations. They came up the mountain one by one and circled him. Old Man said in a loud and clear voice, "Everyone heard that Master managed to get Sacred Lady out, and we all felt really happy. This matter of Master taking up the headmaster position of Heng-Shan School; it was already known in Jianghu for quite a long time. If we didn't come up the mountain today to give our congratulations, then we deserve to die." These heroes were upright and straightforward people, after talking for a short while, they were able to joke around.
Ever since he had taken residence on Heng-Shan, Linghu Chong had only been around a group of nuns and young ladies so he had to talk with the utmost restriction. Now, suddenly, as he found so many old friends around him, he was extremely happy. Huang Boliu said, "We're uninvited guests so Heng-Shan School certainly hasn't prepared any food or drink for us. So we brought food and wine up the mountain."
Linghu Chong happily said, "That's very good then." He thought, "This situation is starting to resemble that big assembly on top of the Five-Tyrant Ridge."
As they were talking, around a few hundred people had come up the mountain. Ji Wushi smiled and said, "Master, we're all people from the same family so there's no need to be polite. Your educated and cultured female disciples shouldn't come and greet crude people like us. So it's best if we just talk amongst ourselves."
Now he found the mountain peak very noisy and lively. Heng-Shan School certainly didn't expect that so many guests would suddenly turn up to congratulate them, so all of them became excited. There were some old disciples who were more experienced; they saw that the guests who had come to congratulate them were neither fish nor fowl. Even though there were a few well known heroes, they were all masters from the demonical path. Also, a lot of them were heroes and thieves from the dark path. Heng-Shan School's rules were strict and all the disciples guarded themselves strictly. Not only do they have a lot of contact with people from the orthodox path, they have not paid much attention to them. Unexpectedly, a large group of unorthodox people had come up to the peak today. But they saw their headmaster was holding and pulling on their hands, looking very close, and talking to them nicely.
At noon, several hundred men brought chicken, duck, cow, sheep, wine, and many other dishes to the top of the mountain. Linghu Chong thought, "The peak of the mountain is a sacred ground for the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin. I'm the Headmaster here, but if we were to eat fish and meat, kill pigs and slaughter sheep, we will be offending the ancestors of the Heng-Shan School. I would be sorry to let this happen." He immediately told these people to cook the dishes on the mountainside. However, the smell of the wine and meat drifted up to the mountaintop which caused many nuns to secretly scowl. After these heroes cooked their meals, they went to the front of the convent to sit inside the large open area there. Linghu Chong sat on the west side while the several hundred female disciples sat behind him according to their seniority. They were waiting until the lucky hour to initiate the "taking up the office" ceremony.
Suddenly, they heard the sounds of a group of people playing flutes coming nearer. Two old men with green gowns strode up the mountain. The group of heroes uttered "yi, ah" from everywhere and many people stood up. The old man on the left, with a yellow complexion, cried out in a clear voice, "Divine Sun Moon Sect's Chief Dongfang's delegates Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun come to congratulate Hero Linghu's honour in becoming Heng-Shan School's headmaster. We wish Heng-Shan School to be prosperous and Headmaster Linghu to be prestigious in Wulin."
When he finished his speech, the group of heroes uttered an 'ah' and exploded in cheers. Half of these unorthodox path's heroes were connected to the Devil Sect, and among them, there were people who had taken Dongfang Bubai's 'Three Brain Corpse Pill'. So when they heard the words 'Chief Dongfang' mentioned, they were scared to death. The group of heroes didn't recognise who these two people were, but they had long heard of their names. The person on the left was called 'Honourable Yellow Face' Jia Bu, while the one on the right was called Shangguan Yun, with the nickname 'Eagle Hero'. The martial arts of these two people were high; it was said that their martial arts were way above those of all the headmasters, chiefs, and clan leaders in Wulin. The services and qualifications of these people in the Divine Sun Moon Sect weren't extremely impressive. But over the last many years, the sect had undergone a big change. Many older members such as Xiang Wentian and others were removed or went into seclusion. At the present time, Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun were two of the most powerful and first-class figures in the sect and it can be said that Dongfang Bubai was giving Linghu Chong a lot of respect by sending the two of them here.
Linghu Chong went forward to welcome them. "Mr. Dongfang and I have no acquaintance with each other. I don't deserve your two honourable presences."
Linghu Chong saw that 'Honourable Yellow Face' Jia Bu had a thin face resembling a candle, and his two Taiyang acupoints were very pronounced as if each point has a piece of peach underneath. The 'Eagle Hero' Shangguan Yun, with long arms, long legs, and an air of assured authority, had glitteringly bright eyes. These indicated that the two of them had profound internal energy.
Jia Bu said, "Today is Hero Linghu's big day. Chief Dongfang said that originally he wanted to congratulate you personally. But there are too many matters of the sect that are hindering him, and since there's no way for him to be in two places at once, he asked Headmaster Linghu not to blame him."
"I wouldn't dare," Linghu Chong replied, while he thought in his heart, "It looks as if Dongfang Bubai is still flourishing which means Chief Ren still hasn't snatched the leadership of the sect yet. I wonder how Chief Ren, Brother Xiang, and Yingying are doing right now."
Jia Bu leaned to one side and indicated with a wave of his left hand. "Here are some meagre gifts, small tokens of regards from Chief Dongfang. Headmaster Linghu, please accept them." Amidst the sound of flutes, more than a hundred people brought forth forty large red boxes. Each box was being carried by four strong men, and from the heavy steps of each man, it seemed that the items inside the boxes weren't light.
Linghu Chong quickly refused, "Linghu Chong is already honoured by the presence of your two honourable; I would never dare to receive these gifts. Also, please reply to Mr. Dongfang that Linghu Chong said many thanks. On this mountain, Heng-Shan School's disciples live frugally but have a clean and honest life, so we have no use for these splendid and expensive items."
Jia Bu replied, "If Headmaster Linghu doesn't accept these gifts, Shangguan Yun and I will be in big trouble." He slightly tilted his head towards Shangguan Yun and said, "Brother Shangguan, don't you think what I said was right?"
"It's right!" Shangguan Yun answered.
Linghu Chong was troubled. He thought, "Heng-Shan School is an orthodox school and we're like water and fire with your Devil Sect. It's already good that the two parties aren't fighting right now, but we still can't make friends with them. Also, Chief Ren and Yingying are going to settle their debt with Dongfang Bubai, so how can I accept their gifts?" He then said, "Brothers, please tell Mr. Dongfang that I don't dare to receive his gifts. If you didn't agree to take back these gifts then I'll send people to deliver these gifts back to your noble sect."
Jia Bu smiled slightly and said, "Headmaster Linghu, do you know what's in these forty boxes?"
"Of course I don't know."
Jia Bu laughed and replied, "Once Headmaster Linghu looked at it, you surely wouldn't refuse it. In these forty boxes, actually, they're not all gifts from Chief Dongfang. A portion of it actually belongs to Headmaster Linghu. We're just bringing them up to return these items to their original owner."
Linghu Chong was surprised. "My items? What could they be?"
Jia Bu took a big step forward and replied in a whisper, "The majority of these items were the items left behind by young lady Ren at Dark Wood Cliff, such as clothes, jewelleries, and other common things. Chief Dongfang told me to send them back for young lady Ren to use. And some of the other gifts are Chief's gifts to Hero Linghu and young lady Ren. Many of the items are mixed together so they can't be separated. Headmaster Linghu, there's no need to be polite. Haha, haha."
Linghu Chong's natural disposition was open-minded and carefree, and didn't confine himself to customs. Seeing that Dongfang Bubai had sent these gifts sincerely, and many of the items also belonged to Yingying, he didn't refuse them anymore. He laughed loudly and said, "In that case, many thanks."
Just then, a female disciple came quickly towards him and reported, "Wudang School's Priest Chongxu has come to attend the ceremony."
Surprised, Linghu Chong quickly walked towards the entrance of the mountain peak to welcome Priest Chongxu who had come with eight of his disciples. Linghu Chong bowed to salute him. "Honorable Priest, Linghu Chong is deeply grateful."
Priest Chongxu smiled. "When Poor Priest heard of you becoming the Headmaster of Heng-Shan, I was really happy. Shaolin's Great Master Fangzheng and Fangsheng are also coming to congratulate you. Have they arrived yet?"
Linghu Chong was even more confounded. At this moment, there were a group of monks walking up towards the mountaintop. The two people walking in front had their sleeves floating around. They were Abbot Fangzheng and Great Master Fangsheng. Fangzheng called out, "Priest Chongxu, you walked really fast and arrived here before us."
Linghu Chong went down the mountain to welcome them. He called out, "Great Masters have come here personally, how is Linghu Chong worthy of this?"
Fangsheng laughed. "Young hero, you had entered Shaolin three times already, and yet this is just our first visit to you here at Heng-Shan. So it can be said that we're just respectfully visiting each other."
Linghu Chong welcomed the Shaolin's monks and Wudang's priests up the mountaintop. When the group of heroes on the mountaintop saw that Shaolin and Wudang Schools' leaders personally came, they were astonished and didn't dare to speak so loudly. All the Heng-Shan School's female disciples appeared pleased, and they all thought, "Martial brother Headmaster's reputation is so large."
Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun gave a glance and then turned a blind eye towards Fangzheng, Fangsheng, Chongxu, and the rest of their people.
Linghu Chong asked Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu to take a seat while he pondered, "I remembered when Master became the leader of Huashan, the leaders of Shaolin School and Wudang School didn't personally come; they just sent their people. I was still young at that time and didn't know any of the guests, but when Master and Master-Wife talked about what was happening at that time, they never mentioned the presence of Shaolin and Wudang Schools' leaders. Today, they both arrived at the same time; did they really come here to congratulate me or do they have other intentions?"
A stream of people continued coming up the mountain. Most of them were the heroes who took part in attacking the Shaolin temple. Kunlun School, Diancang School, Emei School, Kongtong School, Beggar Clan, and all the other big clans sent representatives to congratulate and deliver the gifts. When Linghu Chong saw that the number of people who had come up to congratulate him was quite large, he felt relieved. "They've all come here because of Heng-Shan School and Dingxian Shi Tai's reputations. It's not because of Linghu Chong's reputation." Songshan, Huashan, Hengshan, and Taishan Schools didn't send anyone to congratulate him.
As the thunderous sound of firecrackers went off, marking the arrival of the auspicious hour, Linghu Chong stood in the middle of the field and bowed, saluting everyone around him. Then he said in a clear voice, "Heng-Shan School's former leader, Dingxian Shi Tai, sadly met with someone's plot, and together with Dingyi Shi Tai, she passed away. I, Linghu Chong, bear the last wish of Dingxian Shi Tai to take up the leadership of Heng-Shan School. Everyone in Heng-Shan School feels grateful for the presence of all the honourable seniors and friends here." Then, accompanied by the sound of cymbals, Heng-Shan School's disciples lined up in two rows, one after another. In the middle were four of the most senior disciples, Yihe, Yiqing, Yizhen, and Yizhi; each of them was holding a Buddhist relic. They walked up to Linghu Chong and bowed to him. Linghu Chong joined his two palms, returning the respect. Yihe said, "These four Buddhist relics were passed down by ancestor Xiaofeng Shi Tai during the inauguration of the Heng-Shan School. They are to be passed down to successive Headmasters. New Headmaster, martial brother Linghu, please receive these items."
"Yes," Linghu Chong responded.
The four disciples handed over each item accordingly. The items were a scroll of scripture, a wooden fish, a strand of prayer beads, and a dagger. When Linghu Chong saw the wooden fish and the prayer beads, he felt embarrassed. He extended his hands to receive them but both of his eyes were looking at the ground, afraid to look at the eyes of the people in the crowd. Yiqing unfolded the scroll and said, "Heng-Shan School's five commandments: The first commandment is to never disobey your superior, the second commandment is to never harm people in the same school, the third commandment is to never kill the innocents, the fourth commandment is to always be an upright person, and the fifth commandment is to never make friends with evil. These are the instructions left behind by the ancestor of the Heng-Shan School. Martial brother Headmaster must personally set an example and lead the disciples; these rules must be obeyed."
"Yes!" Linghu Chong responded. He thought in his heart, "The first three commandments are alright. But Linghu Chong isn't that upright, and this commandment "not to make friends with evil people" will be very hard to do. Today on this mountaintop, half of the guests here are people from the unorthodox path."
Suddenly he heard people coming up the mountain calling out, "Five Mountains Sword Schools' Chief Zuo has an order. Linghu Chong can't usurp the leadership of Heng-Shan School."
Amidst the clamour, five people rushed up followed by tens of people behind them. These first five people were each holding an embroidered flag, which were the alliance flags of the Five Mountains Sword Schools. They stopped tens of feet away from the crowd. Among those five people was a short and stout person, with a yellow chubby face, looking to be around fifty years old. Linghu Chong recognised that person as Yue Hou with the nickname 'Great Yin and Yang Palms'. He was a good fighter from the Songshan School. That day in the wilderness in Henan, Linghu Chong had fought with him and had pierced both of Yue Hou's palms with his long sword, and caused a deep hatred between them. But Yue Hou was a gentleman; On another day, he ambushed Linghu Chong and managed to defeat him but instead of killing him, he jumped back to give Linghu Chong a chance to fight again. For this, Linghu Chong felt thankful towards Yue Hou.
Linghu Chong immediately cupped his fist and said, "Senior Yue, you are well."
Yue Hou waved the command flag and bellowed, "Heng-Shan School is a member of the five mountains sword schools alliance so you must obey Chief Zuo's order."
"After Linghu Chong assumed the leadership of Heng-Shan School, we'll need to discuss whether we're still a part of the five mountains sword schools alliance or not," Linghu Chong replied.
By then, the remaining people had arrived on top of the mountain. They were disciples from Songshan, Huashan, Hengshan, and Taishan Schools. The eight disciples from Huashan were Linghu Chong's former martial brothers, but Lin Pingzhi wasn't among them. These people formed four rows and stood quietly while grasping the handle of their swords. Yue Hou said in a loud voice, "The school of Heng-Shan must be led by a Buddhist nun. Linghu Chong is a man. How can he violate the school rules that had stood for a hundred years at Heng-Shan?"
"Rules are made up by people, so they can also be changed by people. This is our own sect's internal matter and cannot be interfered with by outsiders," Linghu Chong responded.
From within the crowd, people started to scold Yue Hou, "This is their Heng-Shan School's matter. What's that got to do with your Songshan School?" "Your granny, quickly scram!" "What five mountains chief? Dog Chief, how shameless!"
Yue Hou said towards Linghu Chong, "What are these filthy people doing here?"
"All these brothers are my friends, they're here to attend the ceremony," Linghu Chong answered.
"Alright. Heng-Shan School has five major commandments. What's the fifth one?" Yue Hou asked.
Linghu Chong thought, "You're deliberately trying to put me down, so I'm going to debate this with you." He answered, "Of Heng-Shan School's five major commandments, the fifth one is never to make friends with evil. Linghu Chong definitely would never make friends with people like brother Yue."
When the crowd heard this, they erupted in laughter and shouted, "Evil disciples, quickly scram!" Yue Hou, along with the disciples from Songshan, Huashan, and the rest of the schools saw the situation, and each one of them thought that the enemies were plenty and they were few. If the enemies were to fight with them, then they would be in big trouble. Yue Hou then thought, "Martial brother Zuo has lost this time. He anticipated that we only have to deal with a bunch of nuns and young ladies, so the disciples from the four schools would be enough to take control of the situation. Even though Linghu Chong's sword art is good, we would be at an advantage when there's no sword in his hand. The five of us brothers could attack him now and we would certainly be able to kill him. Who would've thought that there would be so many guests up here, along with the leaders of Shaolin and Wudang Schools." He immediately turned his body towards Fangzheng and Chongxu and said, "Seniors, you are currently the two top masters in Wulin and people look up to you. Today, I ask you to please speak a few words here. Linghu Chong had gathered so many demons here at Heng-Shan; isn't this in violation of Heng-Shan School's commandment to never make friends with evil people? Heng-Shan School has lasted for so long and has enjoyed a grand reputation as an orthodox school. Everything would turn upside down in Linghu Chong's hand; are the two of you just going to sit there and do nothing?"
Fangzheng coughed before saying, "This... this... hmmm..." He thought that what this person said was reasonable. The majority of people present there were people from the unorthodox path, but how could he ask Linghu Chong to tell them all to go down the mountain?
Suddenly, coming up the mountain path, they heard a clear and crisp voice of a lady announcing, "Divine Sun Moon Sect's young lady Ren has arrived!"
Linghu Chong was happy and surprised at the same time. He couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Yingying has come!" He hurriedly went towards the mountain side and saw two big men carrying a little green-coloured sedan chair quickly up the path. Behind the sedan chair followed four maids wearing green dresses.
When the people from the unorthodox path heard that Yingying had come, they rushed down the mountain to welcome her. They shouted their welcomes to her and crowded around the sedan chair as it came up to the peak.
When the sedan chair stopped, the curtain parted, and a girl wearing a pale green gown stepped out of it. It was really Yingying. The crowd cheered, "Sacred Lady! Sacred Lady!" and they all bowed towards her showing expressions of respect, admiration, and fear. The joy they showed was genuine and came from their hearts. Linghu Chong walked up a few steps and smiled. "Yingying, you've also come!"
Yingying returned his smile and said, "Today is your big day, how can I not come?" She then glanced across the crowd, walked a few steps, and gave her propriety towards Fangzheng and Chongxu. "Great Master Abbot, Headmaster Priest, I give you my respect."
Fangzheng and Chongxu returned her propriety, while they both thought in their hearts, "Linghu Chong and you are on good terms, but you shouldn't have come today. You're just making things more difficult for Linghu Chong."
Yue Hou said in a loud voice, "This lady in an important figure in the Devil Sect. Linghu Chong, what do you say to this?"
"What if she is?" Linghu Chong replied.
"Heng-Shan School's fifth major commandment stipulates that you must never make friends with evil. If you don't sever your relationship with these evil people, then you can't be the headmaster of Heng-Shan School."
"I won't be the headmaster then, what's so important about that?"
Yingying gave him a look; both of her eyes were full of affection. She thought, "Just for me, you'd forsake everything." She asked, "Headmaster Linghu, who is this person? Why did he come here asking about Heng-Shan School's matter?"
Linghu Chong answered, "He was sent here by Songshan School's Headmaster Zuo. In his hand is Headmaster Zuo's command flag. Let alone a small command flag, even if Headmaster Zuo had come personally, how can I just let him meddle in my Heng-Shan School's matter?"
Yingying nodded her head and agreed, "Right." Her thoughts went back to the fight that occurred in Shaolin temple where Zuo Lengchan gave them a lot of problem by using the Polar Ice Energy to heavily injure her father, and how her father came close to losing his life. She couldn't help feeling angry as she said, "Who said that this is Five Mountains Sword Schools' alliance flag? He's swindling people..." She had not finished her words when her body swayed and the flicker of a short sword was seen on her left hand as she stabbed it towards Yue Hou's chest.
Yue Hou had never expected that such a delicate and beautiful lady would attack so viciously. She didn't give any hint beforehand that she was going to attack and her attack was fast as lightning. As her sword stabbed out, it was too late for him to pull out his own sword, so he slanted his body avoiding the stab. But he didn't anticipate that Yingying's move was a false move, so as he slanted his body, the grip on his right hand loosened and his opponent snatched the embroidered flag. Yingying didn't stop there but stabbed four more times at four flag holders, which allowed her to snatch all five flags. She used the same exact move for all five moves. The other four Songshan School's disciples were all Yue Hou's martial brothers, and their bare hand martial arts were all good. Zuo Lengchan had dispatched them with the intention of making a surprise attack on Linghu Chong using their bare hands. But Yingying's attack was too quick, and in a moment, she had managed to snatch all the flags without them managing to attack back. Even though they had lost, it could be said that they were ambushed.
Yingying brought the flags over and turned around behind Linghu Chong's body. She said loudly, "Headmaster Linghu, these flags are fake. These aren't the five mountains sword schools' command flags. These are the Five Fairies Sect's five poison flags." She then furled open the five flags and everyone understood. On the five flags were the drawings of five venomous pests: snake, centipede, spider, scorpion, and toad. The colours were bright and the pests looked alive. How could they be the five mountains sword schools' command flags?
Yue Hou and his group were stunned and didn't know what to say. Old Man, Zu Qianqiu and their group of heroes were cheering loudly. Everyone knew that after Yingying snatched the command flags, she immediately hid them away and somehow exchanged them with the five poison flags. But her hand was actually too fast, and no one saw clearly how she did this.
Yingying called out, "Chief Blue!" A beautiful Miao girl walked out from the crowd and laughingly answered, "I'm here! What's Sacred Lady's order?" She was Blue Phoenix, the chief of the Five Fairies Sect. Yingying asked, "How did your five poison flags end up in Songshan School's hands?"
Blue Phoenix laughed and answered, "These Songshan School disciples are all good friends of my sect's female disciples. They must've uttered sweet words to swindle my sect's five poison flags."
"That's how it is. I'll return these five flags to you then," Yingying then tossed the five flags to her.
Blue Phoenix laughed and said, "Many thanks." She extended her hand and grabbed the flags.
Yue Hou was furious. He scolded, "Shameless witch, what kind of demonical methods are you using to deceive us? Quickly give us back the command flags."
Yingying smiled, "If you want the five poison flags, why don't you ask Chief Blue for them?"
Yue Hou didn't know what to do so he turned towards Fangzheng and Chongxu. "Great Master Abbot, Priest Chongxu, you are seniors of noble character and high prestige, please preside over this injustice."
Fangzheng stammered, "This... hmmm... never make friends with evil, Heng-Shan School certainly has this commandment, but... but... today, these friends from Jianghu are coming to attend the ceremony, so Headmaster Linghu can't just shut the door and turn them away, that's just too disrespectful..."
Yue Hou suddenly pointed to a person in the crowd and loudly shouted, "He... he... I recognise him as that rapist Tian Boguang! He's disguising himself as a monk. Are you trying to conceal yourself from my eyes? Are these kinds of people also Linghu Chong's friends?" Then in a fierce tone, he shouted, "Tian Boguang, what are you doing in Heng-Shan?"
"I came to pay my respect to Master," Tian Boguang replied.
Yue Hou was baffled, "Pay your respect to Master?"
"That's right." Tian Boguang then walked up to Yilin and kowtowed a few times. "Master, disciple pays his respect. Disciple is correcting my wrongs and my Buddhist name is called 'Cannot Have No Commandment'."
Yilin blushed and slightly moved away avoiding the kowtow. "You... you..."
Yingying smiled and said, "Master Tian is turning his heart away from the demonical and returning to the orthodox path, and had also taken a master; that's really good. He has also become a Buddhist with the name 'Cannot Have No Commandment'; this shows that he's sincere in his intention. Great Master Fangzheng, the correct way is to abandon the knife and join the Buddhist order. When a person is determined to correct his ways, then Buddha will give this person a new path to tread on, isn't this right?"
Fangzheng happily replied, "That right! Cannot Have No Commandment has joined the Heng-Shan School, and must strictly follow the school's rules from now on. This is really the good fortune of Wulin."
Yingying then said loudly, "Everyone heard it; we've all come here today to join the Heng-Shan School. If Headmaster Linghu is willing to accept us, then all of us will become the disciples of Heng-Shan School. How can Heng-Shan's disciples be regarded as evil?"
Suddenly, a flash of comprehension went through Linghu Chong. "So Yingying knew that I'd be embarrassed to be the headmaster of a group of female disciples. If there were a lot of male members in the school, then no one would be able to ridicule me. That's why she told all these people to join Heng-Shan School." He quickly asked in a clear voice, "Martial sister Yihe, is there any school rule that prohibit the school from accepting male disciples?"
Yihe replied, "There's no rule that prohibits accepting male disciples into the school, but... but..." Temporarily, she couldn't get her mind to work. She thought that it was inappropriate for so many male disciples to be suddenly in the school.
Linghu Chong said, "It's very good that everyone wants to join the Heng-Shan School. But there's no need to pay your respect. Heng-Shan School will arrange another... hmmm... a 'Heng-Shan Other Courtyard' for everybody to settle in. That Tong Yuan valley over there is a good place for that."
The Tong Yuan valley was situated besides the Xianxing Peak. According to the stories, during the Tang dynasty, Zhang Guolao meditated there to become a deity. There was also a big rock on Heng-Shan with a lot of donkey hoof marks on it, and the stories say these hoof marks were made by the donkey ridden by Zhang Guolao. These donkey's hoof marks were imprinted deeply in granite; if this were not done by a deity then how could it have been done? Emperor Tang Xuanzong gave the title of 'Mr. Tong Yuan' to Zhang Guolao. The name of Tong Yuan Valley was taken from this. Tong Yuan Valley was not far from Xianxing Peak, which was where the convent was located. But from the valley to the peak, the mountain path was dangerous. Linghu Chong arranged the living quarters for these Jianghu heroes at Tong Yuan Valley so that there would be separation between males and females so as to avoid slanders.
Fangzheng nodded his head and said, "That's very good. These friends are joining the Heng-Shan School and agreed to abide by Heng-Shan School's terms. This is really a joyful occasion in Wulin."
Yue Hou realised that his opponents had increased in numbers when he saw Great Master Fangzheng talking like this. It seemed that today he would not be able to stop Linghu Chong from becoming the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. So he proceeded to convey Zuo Lengchan's second task.
He coughed to gain attention and said in a clear voice, "Five Mountains Sword Schools Chief Zuo has an order: on the fifteenth of the third month, all five mountains sword schools must send their disciples to Songshan to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Everyone must attend and must arrive on time."
Linghu Chong asked, "Whose idea is it to combine the five mountains sword schools into one?"
Yue Hou answered, "Songshan, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan Schools have all approved of this. If your Heng-Shan School objected to this, then you would be openly making things difficult for the other four schools, and you'll only be asking for trouble." He then turned around towards the Taishan School's disciples and asked, "Do you not think that this is the truth?" The tens of people standing behind him answered together, "That's right!"
Yue Hou laughed coldly and turned around to leave. After a few steps, he turned his head around to look at Yingying. He thought, "How do I get back those five command flags?"
Blue Phoenix laughed, "Teacher Yue, now that you've lost these flags, how can you return to Headmaster Zuo? It'd be better if I return it to you!" After she said this, she tossed a flag at him.
When Yue Hou saw the little flag flying towards him, he thought, "This is your Five Poison flag, not the Five Mountains command flag, why would I want it?" However, the flag had almost reached his throat so he quickly extended his hand to catch it. As soon as he caught it, he suddenly called out loudly and hastily dropped the flag. His palm felt like it was on fire. He turned his palm over to take a look and saw his palm had turned purple. He realized that there was poison on the pole of the flag and he had been trapped by the Five Fairies Sect. Feeling alarmed and angry, he angrily scolded, "Witch..."
Blue Phoenix laughingly said, "You call 'Headmaster Linghu' and ask for his help, then I'll give you the medicine. Otherwise, your whole palm would rot."
Yue Hou knew of the severity of the Five Fairies Sect's poison. In his hesitation, he felt his palm getting numb and losing feeling. His whole lifetime's martial art was in his two palms. If his two palms were to rot then he would become a cripple. This made him frightened with worries. He quickly called out, "Headmaster Linghu, you... "
Blue Phoenix laughed and interrupted him, "Ask for help."
"Headmaster Linghu, I offended you, I ask... ask you to please give me the med... medicine."
Linghu Chong smiled and replied, "Lady Blue, brother Yue was only doing what Headmaster Zuo ordered. Please give him the medicine."
Blue Phoenix laughed and waved her hand towards a Miao girl standing besides her. That Miao girl took a packet out from her bosom, walked forward a few steps, and tossed that packet to Yue Hou. Yue Hou grabbed the packet in a hurry and the crowd erupted in laughter. He quickly walked down the mountain followed by his people.
Linghu Chong announced in a clear voice, "Friends, since you all agreed to reside at Heng-Shan's Other Courtyard; you must all comply with the school's commandments. These commandments are actually not hard to follow, but the fifth commandment of never making friends with evils is a bit troublesome. But from today onwards, everyone has become Heng-Shan School member, and since Heng-Shan School's disciples are naturally not evil, you must take care in making friends when you're outside the school." The crowd boomed their acknowledgement.
Linghu Chong went on, "You can still drink wine and eat meat, but from now on, anyone who's not a vegetarian cannot come to the Xianxing Peak anymore."
Fangzheng cupped his hand and said, "Good, good! You must never desecrate the sacred ground of Buddha."
Linghu Chong laughed. "Alright, just regard that I've now become headmaster. Everyone's belly must be feeling hungry now, quickly get the vegetarian dishes out. I'll accompany Shaolin's Abbot, Wudang's Headmaster and all the other seniors in eating. I'll drink wine with everyone else tomorrow."
After they finished eating, Fangzheng said, "Headmaster Linghu, old monk and Chongxu have a few words to discuss with Headmaster."
"Yes," Linghu Chong answered. He thought in his heart, "The headmasters of the current top two schools in Wulin came to Heng-Shan today. They certainly have something important to say. With dragons and snakes mixing together on top of Xianxiang Peak, no matter where we speak, it's unavoidable that walls will have ears."
He immediately ordered Yihe, Yiqing and the other disciples to entertain the guests. Then he turned towards Fangzheng and Chongxu and said, "Down at the back of this mountain, there's a mountain besides the Porcelain Oven Pass which is called Mount Cui Ping. This mountain has a mirror-like cliff and on top of it, there's a Hanging Temple. This is the panorama unique to Heng-Shan. If the two seniors are interested, please allow Junior to lead you there."
Priest Chongxu happily answered, "I've long heard that the Hanging Temple on Mount Cui Ping was built around the Northern Song dynasty. Pines trees can't grow there and not even monkeys can climb up there. Someone had really exerted a lot of effort in building a temple in the clouds. That's really a marvel in this world; I've admired it for a long time already and would really like to see it."
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