Vol 1 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter One: Massacre (Final)

Spring was always a relaxing tiently brushed thetrees and wild flowers, causing the air to be filled with the pleasant scent of the season

The West Gate Boulevard of Fuzhou[1] was a stone slab road that extended all the way to the west gate of the town A huge pole on either side of its gate The flagpoles were about twenty feet tall, each with a huge green banner strea in the wind The banner on the left was ee of a majestic lion As the banner fluttered back and forth in the wind, the lion seeh it had come alive and were about to jump down at any time Just above the lion’s head was a pair of bats, e e words in black that read “Fortune Prestige Escort House,” all written in a bold, vigorous hand

The house, itself, had a large verate shone in the bright sunlight Above the gate, characters in gold lacquer were inscribed on a huge sign reading – “Fortune Prestige Escort House” And slightly below, the word “Headquarters” was engraved in a sate were ts of benches bordering a path, and sitting upon those benches were eight guards in house uniforms, with their faces animated with excitement

Sounds of hoof beats ca up and rushed out of the gate Five horses galloped out from the side-door on the west of thethe pack was a beautiful horse, white as snoith a silver bridle and stirrups A young e, sat on the horse, with a sword hanging fro falcon perched on his left shoulder, as the horse strode along the street The four horseht, black outfits

“The Young Master is going hunting!” three guards shouted in unison

The young man s the co the stone slab road

“Escort shi+,” one of the guards yelled out, “how about bringing back a wild boar, so we can all have a feast!”

A forty-year-old horserinned back “Don’t worry! I will et drunk before we get back”

Ahter, the five horsemen vanished like the wind

Just after they exited the town gate, Lin Pingzhi,[2] the Young Master of the Escort House, spurred his horse lightly The horse picked up speed and soon left the rest of the pack far behind After riding onto a small slope, he set the falcon to work Minutes later, a pair of yellow rabbits was flushed out frorabbed the bow fro, he took aim and shot in one so But by the tiain, the other rabbit had disappeared behind the bushes

Escort Zheng rode by with a s Master!” he praised

“Young Master, hurry, we’ve found pheasants here!” Henchman Bai shouted in the woods to the left

Lin Pingzhi rushed over and saw a pheasant flying out fro directly toward his head He pulled out an arrow rapidly and fired at the pheasant but missed Out of reflex, he lashed his whip at the pheasant With a cracking sound, the pheasant fell to the ground, bright and colorful feathers scattering in all directions All five cheered

“What a swift lash!+ Even a large griffon wouldn’t escape that,” Escort shi+ exclaimed

The party hunted in the woods for over four hours Intending to let the Young Master have a good ti, and the two hench man, even when they, thezhi had shot twoMaster Lin wanted to hunt h exciteame

“Let's go a bit deeper into the woods, and see e can find,” he exclaierly

Escort shi+ thought to hi Master wishes, he probably won’t quit until after dark Surely, the Madaood” So he replied, “It is quite late already There are lots of sharp rocks around that e the hooves of your white horse Why don’t we try our luck again early to?”

He knew that it would be very hard to persuade the stubborn Young Master, but Lin Pingzhi loved his white horse so much that he wouldn’t risk any chance to injure his precious pet The horse had been given to Lin Pingzhi as a present on his seventeenth birthday two years ago The colt had co, a fair aold

Just as shi+ had expected, his suggestion worked

“My Snow Dragon is clever enough to not step on sharp rocks, but I aht, let’s head back then We wouldn’t want Henchman Chen to crack his bottozhi, patting his horse on the neck

Howling with laughter, all five turned around and started heading back hozhi rode ahead of everyone else, but did not take the same route by which they had come Instead, he turned north and sprinted forward Satisfied after so, he finally reined in the horse and let it trot slowly

The sign of a wine shop eed from one side of the road, not far ahead

“Young Master, how about a drink here? The fresh rabbits and pheasants we’ve got would go perfectly with soested

“So, you didn’t co, did you? I suppose if I don’t bribe you with soain torinned as he dis toward the wine shop

Normally, the owner of the wine shop, Old Cai, would have hurried out to take the reins and flattered Lin with sootten so reat! There ain’t many who can match his skills,” Old Cai would exclaireeted with coreen, stood by the wine vat, with her hair done up in two buns with a hairpin through each; she see inside and see around

“Where is Old Cai? Get out and tether our horses,” Escort Zheng yelled impatiently

Henchmen Bai and Chen pulled out a bench, brushed off the dust with their sleeves, and let Lin Pingzhi sit down The two escorts sat with Lin Pingzhi, and the two hench sounds floated out froray-haired old man walked out

“Welcoreeted the group of five in a distinctly northern accent

“Do we look like we are here for tea?” Escort Zheng retorted “Of course ine Get us three jugs of Ba on? Are you the nener here?”

“Yes, sir! Cos of Bairl “To be frank with you misters, my name is Sa I was born in this town, but I left to be a trader when I was young Recently, ured that no matter how tall a tree is, its leaves will always fall to the roots, so I brought one for over forty some years, my relatives and my friends had either passed away or left town Luckily, the previous owner of this wine shop, Old Cai, happened to want out, so he sold it to me for thirty taels[4] of silver I a to the ho that I’ve totally forgotten the dialect myself”

The girl in the green robe came back with a wooden tray She set down the bowls and chopsticks, and then placed three jugs of wine on the table When she finished, she walked aith her head down, not even glancing at the custoirl walked away She had a slih Pox marks covered her face, which ht that the reason she was so rigid was probably because she had only started waiting tables not too long ago, so he paid no more attention to her

Escort shi+ brought out a pheasant and a yellow rabbit, and handed them to old man Sa “Clean them up and cook them well,” he ordered

“Yes, sir! Right away! Would you like soo with the wine, sirs?” old man Sa asked

Wan’er placed so for old man Sa’s order

“Our Young Mister Lin, here, is the Young Master of the Fortune Prestige Escort House He helps out needy people all the time Money, to him, is like dirt If you cook the two dishes well and make his stomach happy, you can easily make back that thirty taels invest introduced

“Oh, yes, yes! Many thanks!!” old man Sa answered cheerfully as he picked up the pheasant and the rabbit and went into the kitchen

Escort Zheng poured the wine into all three cups Raising his own cup, he poured all of it down his throat, then after s his lips a few tied, but fortunately the wine is still the same”

He poured himself another cup and was just about to drink it, when suddenly, the drum of hoof beats rose from a distance and then came to an abrupt stop outside the shop Two horse speed, they arrived at the small shop in no time at all

“Hey, it’s a wine shop Let’s go in for a couple of drinks,” one of the riders shouted

Escort shi+ recognized that the speaker had a distinct accent of western Szechwan[5] He turned around and spotted two men in purple robes They tied the reins of their horses to the big banyan tree outside the shop and walked in Giving the escorts a casual glance, theydown Both had a strip of white cloth wrapped around their foreheads At first glance, with their purple robes, they sees showing in the open and bare feet in hemp shoes, they were unlikely to be so[6] Escort shi+ knew that most people from Szechwan dressed in this manner The strips of white cloths worn on their foreheads were in [8] The Marquis did so s for the people of Szechwan and was so well respected that even a thousand years after his death, people still hitecloths on their foreheads in his memory

Lin Pingzhi had never seen people dressed like this before “Their dress looks neither civilian, nor ht aloud

“Wine, get me some wine! So many damn er of the two yelled out

“What can I get for you?” Wan’er walked to their table and asked She looked down at the floor while asking the question, so that the two could not see her face Her voice was low, but sounded very clear and pleasant The younger ht hand shot out and raised Wan’er’s chin

“What a pity!” He snickered

Wan’er gasped and quickly drew herself back

The younger hter “Brother Yu, this chick has a nice body, but as for her face, look how pockranate!” The younger hed even louder

Lin Pingzhi’s anger flared He slapped the table hard and shouted, “What kind of creatures are you, you two blind scoundrels? How dare you to come to Fuzhou and behave so ill-mannered?”

“Hey, Jia Junior, somebody see to?” the younger fellow, Yu, said with a smirk

Lin Pingzhi was fair of face, and looked much like his mother Even under normal circu at hirabbed a tin kettle from the table and hurled it at the two htly; the kettleon the lawn outside Wine fro sprang up immediately and rushed up to the two men

“This boy should play a little bitch in the opera He would seduce quite a few rinned sneeringly

“This is the Young Master Lin froot your nerve to offend hi hollered As he spat out the last word, his left fist was already on its way toward Yu’s face Yu deflected the punch with his left pal lost his balance and fell toward the table Yu then struck Zheng’s neck with his left elbow With a crash, the table collapsed to the ground, along with Zheng

Although Zheng was not in the top echelon of fighters at the Escort House, he was not at the botto had been knocked down by Yu with just one h opponents

“Friends, who are you?” he asked “Looks like you know Kung Fu Haven’t you heard of the Fortune Prestige Escort House?”

“Fortune Prestige Escort House? Never heard of it What the hell is that?” Yu smirked

“We are in the business of teaching zhi leapt over with a roar He struck out with his left hand, but before fully extending his arht hand struck out from underneath his left hand This maneuver was called “Cloud Concealed Glare” and was aFu style of Universal Hands

“Ho! This sissy boy actually knows a few tricks,” Yu exclai the bloith his left arzhi’s shoulder

Lin Pingzhi lowered his right shoulder in evasion, and attempted to punch Yu with his left fist Yu ducked his head frozhi’s fist opened and changed from a punch into a pal,” he slapped Yu hard across the face

Noent berserk He threw a kick at Lin Pingzhi, who stepped to the right and returned a kick at Yu While the two fought, Escort shi+ had already engaged in a fight with Jia, and Hench at the top of his lungs, Zheng leapt forward and joined Lin Pingzhi in the fight against Yu

“Go help Escort shi+! I can handle this punk!” Lin Pingzhi shouted

Escort Zheng knew that the Young Master alanted to best others, and did not want extra help, so he picked up a broken table leg and swung it at Jia’s head In the zhi’s sword, which was hanging fro fork, and then both started pouring out all s Retainers of the Escort House were not good fighters, but because they were the ones shouting out the escort songs during trips, they all had loud voices They cursed in the local dialect The two , but they knew that itquite uncomplimentary

Lin Pingzhi focused on using ht Yu He had practiced this form with many escorts in the Escort House Partly because this form of martial art was indeed excellent, and partly because no one from the Escort House, who valued his e Master Thus, even though Lin Pingzhi had a good understanding of the for experience He had fought so could prevail against the fighting style of the great Lin Fa aith either a swollen face or a bloody nose But things were quite different, this tizhi had to s his pride and adh

While the two exchanged punches, Yu kept taunting Lin Pingzhi with insults “Hey, buddy! The irl dressed, as a guy Look at those lovely cheeks of yours Why don’t we stop fighting, so I can give you a big kiss? What do you say?”

Lin Pingzhi was enraged He glanced over at Escorts shi+ and Zheng, only to find that they were not faring well, even though it o against one Zheng had been punched hard on the nose; blood was all over his face and his clothes Lin Pingzhi hastened his moves and, unexpectedly, was able to slap Yu in the face a second time It was a heavy slap

“Son of a turtle!” Yu snarled “I was just playing with you, you loser faggot You want to fight for real now?” He suddenly changed his tactics and sped up his zhi like a thunderstorm

The two fought fro a punch aizhi reht him, so he tried to block it with his left arm, but Yu’s punch was so powerful that he failed to stop it The punch sent a shock throughout his entire body, and before he was able to gather hirabbed him by the collar

Yu jerked hith and leaned forward In the next second, Yu’s right arzhi’s neck with a move called the Iron Threshold

“You son of a turtle! If you ko[9] to o” Yu laughed scornfully

Escorts shi+ and Zheng were stunned They wanted to rush over and rescue Lin Pingzhi, but were kept at bay by Jia’s nonstop kicks and punches

Hencho of him! Who the hell do you think you are…?” he yelled loudly

Yu threw a reverse kick with his left foot, which knocked the fork out of Bai’s grip and sent it flying into the air He iht foot, sending Henchround

“You stinking turtle egg! The hell with you! Your grand But with each curse, he took a step back, so after eight or nine of theht

“Hey, sissy boy, are you going to ko or not?” Yu laughed He pushed down even harder, pressing Lin Pingzhi’s head alzhi tried to punch at Yu’s stomach, but the punches always fell a few inches short Lin felt unbearable pain frolittered in front of his eyes and his eardru sounds He clawed and scratched like a wild cat, when suddenly, his fingers came upon a hard object that was strapped on his shi+n Without thinking, he pulled it out and stabbed it at Yu with all his ht

Yu let out a sudden shriek and let go of Lin Pingzhi Dread and terror covered his face as Yu stuh his sto He was facing west, and the golden handle of the dagger glinted crazily in the rays of the setting sun He opened his er with his hand, but then paused, too afraid to touch the shi+ning handle

Stuzhi also looked on in shock His heart almost juhting and looked at Yu in astonishrab the protruding handle Blood gushed froer The onlookers cried out in disbelief

“Jia…Jia…Tellthe dagger and fell forward onto the ground His torso twitched a few ti

“Brother Yu, Brother Yu!” Jia rushed to his side and cried out bitterly

“Get your weapons!” Escort shi+ whispered He darted to his horse and drew out his long knife As an experienced escort, he knew only too well that Jia would stop at nothing to avenge the death of his companion

Jia glared zhi for a few seconds, and then quickly retrieved the dagger froround and dashed to his horse Hethe rein In a swift slash, he cut the horse loose with the dagger Jia spurred his horse hard, and within moments, both the horse and its rider disappeared into the northern horizon

Hench it rolling over Blood continued to gush from the wound

“You bigMaster? Now you’ve learned your lesson”

But Lin Pingzhi had never killed anyone before His face turned pale in fright “Escort shi+…what shall we do? I never…I didn’t mean to kill him” His voice trembled

Escort shi+ pondered to hie Escort House has been around for three generations Getting into fights and having people die while on the job is simply unavoidable But normally the victims are either bandits or unorthodox hts usually happen in some remote mountains or deep forests Afterwards, we si Of course the bandits would never go to the authorities and report the killing But this time, the victim was obviously not a bandit, and the scene is close to a populated area Murder is no sovernor or et off easily if they co Master of an Escort House” Reflecting upon these facts, he came to a decision

“Let’s move the body into the shop,” he said with a frown “It’s too close to the road here We don’t want anyone to see this”

Luckily it was already quite late, and there was no one passing by Henchmen Bai and Chen hauled the body into the shop

“Young Master, do you have any zhi

“Yeah, I do!” Lin Pingzhi answered anxiously, as he took all of his money out in a hurry There were about twenty taels of silver in all

Escort shi+ took the silver and walked into the shop Setting the money on the table, he said, “Old Sa, this outsider was harassing your granddaughter, and our Young Master was just trying to help He didn’t want to kill the man, but he had no choice All of us witnessed the whole event The incident originated because of you, so if anybody blows the whistle, no one will get aith it Take the et rid of the body and pretend nothing happened here Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes,” Old Sa nodded

“Killing a few gangsters is a piece of cake for us e escort cargos,” Escort Zheng exclaimed “These two Szechwan rats behaved so suspiciously, I bet they were either burglars or rapists Theyfor criuises, and took care of theone to the authorities for a reward, but our Young Master does not want to go through all that trouble, and he doesn’t really care about this kind of fame You, old friend, better keep yourout, ill say that you are their acco this wine shop as cover to spy for them From your accent, anyone could tell that you’re not from here People would say ‘How did those two just happen to show up right after you took over the shop? What a coincidence!’”

“I won’t say anything I know nothing,” Old Sa said hurriedly in compliance

Led by Escort shi+, Hencharden behind the shop; they also cleaned up all the bloodstains in front of the door

“If we don’t hear anything unusual in ten days,” Escort Zheng said to Old Sa, “you’ll get yourself another fifty taels of silver But if you really feel like telling stories…hue Escort House has killed hundreds of bandits before It wouldn’t be any trouble to plant two arden, would it?”

“We won’t dare! We won’t dare! Thanks! Many thanks!” Old Sa coain

It was already dark outside by the tizhi relaxed a little, but still felt uneasiness as he went back to the Escort House When he entered the front hall, he saw his father sitting in a wooden arht

“Dad!” Lin Pingzhi called

“Went hunting? Caught any boars?” Lin Zhennan opened his eyes and asked with a smile

“No,” Lin Pingzhi replied

Lin Zhennan lifted the pipe in his hands and suddenly struck doard Lin Pingzhi’s shoulder “Take that,” he exclaimed

Lin Pingzhi knew that his father always liked to i skills Typically, he would have countered this Plunging Co Sword Art, with the Buddha Blossom – the forty-sixth move But his mind was so burdened by the incident at the wine shop that he thought his father had already learned about the incident and was bestowing his punish out plaintively, “Father!”

Lin Zhennan’s pipe halted just about three inches from his son’s shoulder

“What’s with you today? You think you’d still have the shoulder when you are actually fighting soh the words were harsh, a smile played about his mouth

“Understood!” Lin Pingzhi responded He dropped his left shoulder and rapidly spun his body around, stepping behind his father snatching up a feather duster from the tea table, he thrust it at Lin Zhennan’s back This was the move called the Buddha Blossom

“That’s the right move!” Lin Zhennan nodded in approval He passed his pipe across his back and parried the thrust, then countered with a move known as the Flute-Play on the River

Lin Pingzhi was much more focused now He blocked the attack with “Purple Mist East Bound”

The father and son fought until after roughly fifty moves, when Lin Zhennan swiftly poked his son on the chest just below his right nipple with the handle of his pipe Not able to fend off the attack in tiht arm, and dropped the feather duster immediately

“Good! Very good! You have shown progress every single day of this month! You lasted four leefully and sat back down “Pingzhi, guess what! Our Escort House has received wonderful news today,” he announced while filling his pipe with fresh tobacco leaves

Lin Pingzhi took out a firestone and lit the pipe for his father “Did you just sign off on a big business deal today?” he inquired

Lin Zhennan shook his head

“As long as our Escort House offers good services, business will come to us! Our only concern is our own ability – are we capable of fulfilling big contracts, when they do come to us?”

He inhaled deeply, and then blew out a cloud of smoke

“Escort Zhang sent us a e from Hunan[10] Master Yu of the Pine-Wind Te Sword School, in Western Szechwan, has accepted our gifts”

Hearing the words “Western Szechwan” and “Master Yu,” Lin Pingzhi’s heart alifts?” he repeated in a mutter

“I haven’t really told you much about the business of the Escort House,” Lin Zhennan went on “You wouldn’t have understood anyway But you are growing up fast, and the heavy burden of running the Escort House will slowly shi+ft onto your shoulders It’s tier part in the business of the Escort House Son, we’ve been in the escort business for three generations We have been able to expand to today’s scale and becoest and tze River How did we accorandfather; second, because of the fighting techniques our ancestors have handed down, generation after generation Anyone ive a thue!’ In the escorting business, reputation counts for twenty percent, real fighting skills count for twenty percent, but the final sixty percent has to depend on your relationshi+p with both the unorthodox and orthodox members of the Martial World”

Blowing out another cloud of smoke, he continued

“Think about it Our wagons have to pass through ten different provinces If we had to fight every time ent on a job, how le ti: ‘To kill a thousand eneht hundred of your own’ If any of our escorts were injured or killed on the job, the h to cover the compensation to their fas as well That’s e escorts have to know all the right people and spare no expense to cultivate relationshi+ps Connections are even more powerful than the fist power”

“Yes, Father” Lin Pingzhi answered Under normal circumstances, he would have become quite excited and would have askedthe Escort House, yet today all he could think of were the words “Western Szechwan” and “Master Yu” His heart pounded wildly

“Your father’s Kung Fu is surely not as good as either your grandfather’s, or your great grandfather’s” Lin Zhennan exhaled another cloud of sement skills are definitely better than either of theirs Your great grandfather founded the business in four provinces: fro and Jiangsu I expanded the business to six xi and Guangxi What’s the secret here? Let me tell you: make many friends and few enee’ Ree; this e Fortune will only co e and Fortune,’ wouldn’t that lory? Ha-ha!”

Lin Pingzhi forced a hollow laugh, which was devoid of amusement

Lin Zhennan didn’t notice his son’s uneasiness and went on “The old saying says, ‘Covet Szechwan after capturing Gansu’[11] But for us, it’s ‘Covet Szechwan after capturing Hubei’ Our escort route starts froxi and Hunan, to stop at Hubei Why shouldn’t we continue all the est, up the river into the province of Szechwan? Szechwan is called the Heavenly Kingdoh to Szeche could go either north to Shanxi or south into Yunnan and Guizhou; our business would increase by at least another thirty percent But Szechwan is a place of crouching tigers and hidden dragons To do business there, ould have to have connections with the two schools, Qingcheng and E valuable gifts to the Pine-Wind Te Sword School and the Golden-Peak Te and autumn, but neither school would accept our overtures Priest Radiance, the Head Master of the Eift bearers, thank theifts without even breaking the seal Master Yu of the Pine-Wind Teift bearers half way up thethat Master Yu was in Exclusive Meditation[13] at the uest They would also clai they needed in the teifts Our escorts couldn’t even tell which direction the gate of the Pine-Wind Temple faced, let alone meet Master Yu When they came back, they were infuriated If it weren’t because of the specific orders I gave theardless of how they were ill-treated, they would probably have called thehts”

After these words, Lin Zhennan stood up, a proud s last, Master Yu has accepted our gifts, and has even sent four of his apprentices to return the courtesy and thank us in person…”

“Four apprentices? Not two?” Lin Pingzhi asked breathlessly

“Yes, four apprentices!” Lin Zhennan answered “Master Yu is really handling this matter quite soleood!! I’ve just sent xi, Hunan and Hubei, infor them of the news and told theuests”

“Father, when people from Szechwan speak, do they usually call others ‘son of a turtle’?” Lin Pingzhi suddenly blurted out a question

“Only bumpkins from Szechwan speak that way There are rustics everywhere, and of course they are not taught of proper amble They’re no better Why do you ask?” Lin Zhennan chuckled