Vol 1 Chapter 1 (2/2)
“No reason,” Lin Pingzhi replied quickly
“When the four Qingcheng apprentices come, you should spend ious schools act Making friends with them will surely benefit you later on in life”
The father and son chatted sozhi couldn’t make up his mind if he should tell his father about the incident at the wine shop, and finally decided to tell his mother, first After dinner, the family of three re a discussion with his wife, as to what gift to get for her brother’s birthday in June It would be tricky to find so fa[14] would hold in esteem
A sudden uproar came from outside, and moments later several people rushed into the room
“Where are your manners?” Lin Zhennan frowned
Three henchmen had burst in The man in front muttered in a disturbed tone, “Chief…Chief Master…”
“What’s the matter?” Lin Zhennan snapped in annoyance
“Bai…Bai is dead,” Henchman Chen blurted out the words
Lin Zhennan was slightly astounded “Who killed hiered, thinking how hard it was to regulate the roughnecks of the Escort House They would often fight and draw their knives for no reason And, as they were headquartered in the capital of the province, it could be rather troublesome if someone were killed on their premises
“No, it is not like that,” Chen explained hastily “Xiao Li was going to the outhouse just a arden nearby His body was already cold, but there’s not a single wound on the body No one kno he died Must’ve been some kind of a disease”
Lin Zhennan breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed i toward the garden and Lin Pingzhi followed behind
When they arrived at the yard, a nuathered around the body Seeing the arrival of the Chief Master, the crowd moved back Lin Zhennan took a close look at Bai’s corpse Bai’s clothes had been unbuttoned, and clearly, there were no bloodstains
“No wounds at all?” Lin Zhennan asked Escort Zhu, who stood next to him
“I’ve exale wound anywhere on the body It does not look like poison either,” Escort Zhu replied, which Lin Zhennan acknowledged with a nod
“Tell Dong the bookkeeper to arrange a funeral for Bai, and don’t forget to send a hundred taels of silver to his family,” Lin Zhennan directed
The death of a hench Lin Zhennan would paywith you today?” he asked Lin Pingzhi after walking back to the living room
“Yes, he did He looked fine e got back Who’d think he would catch a deadly disease so unexpectedly,” Lin Pingzhi replied
“Many things in this world are like that,” Lin Zhennan coood or evil, they always happen in an unexpected h the province of Szechwan I thought it would have taken at least another ten years Who would have expected that Master Yu would somehow be proifts, but to also send four apprentices, such a long way, to thank us?”
“Father, although the Qingcheng Sword School is a well-renowned school, our Fortune Prestige Escort House is fairly faifts to Szechwan year after year; it’s only natural for Master Yu to send people our way to show his gratitude, as well”
“What do you know?” Lin Zhennan chuckled “Qingcheng and Emei have been around for hundreds of years They’ve haddisciples in their schools Maybe they aren’t as fah fashan, Huashan, and Heng-Shan of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance[16] Your great grandfather, Sir Yuantu, founded the seventy-twoSword Art’ This set of sword techniques shocked the entire Martial Arts Society and gained hireat fame You can say that he had never met his match in swordplay After this sword style was passed on to your grandfather, its eminence declined It was then passed on to me, and I am afraid that it has declined, even eneration for the last three generations We don’t even have any apprentices With only you and me, we really don’t have the same kind of manpower that those other schools have”
“We could gather all the people from our Escort Houses in the ten Provinces, then we could take on any of the, or the Five Mountains Sword Alliance,” Lin Pingzhi declared
Lin Zhennan was a like that when you are talking to et into a lot of trouble The eighty-four escorts we have at our ten Escort Houses each has his own specialties Of course, e all gather together, we aren’t afraid of anyone, but what do we gain by beating other people? It is well said that reat fortunes; this is especially true for us in the escort business What are we going to lose by being hu off?”
“Oh no! Escort Zheng is dead too!” somebody suddenly yelled out frozhi were both dumbstruck
Lin Pingzhi jumped out of his chair and reat effort to finally s the word “revenge” back down his throat Lin Zhennan was already on his way out and didn’t catch what Lin Pingzhi had just said
Henchman Chen rushed in and yelled incoherently, “Chief…Chief Master! Trouble! Escort Zheng…Escort Zheng’s spirit is possessed by the Szechwan demon, too”
“Stop this nonsense! What Szechwan demon?” Lin Zhennan roared with a stern face
“Sir! The demon…the man from Szechas already ferocious when he was alive, so of course he would bethe Chief Master’s hard countenance, he dared not continue, and only looked to Lin Pingzhi with a rief
“Did you say Escort Zheng was dead? Where’s the body? How did he die?” Lin Zhennan asked impatiently
Severaldied in the stable,” one escort answered with a frown “He died in exactly the sale wound on his body, and no bleeding could be found fro on his face either Maybe…maybe they became haunted by so with the Young Master”
Lin Zhennan snorted “I’ve lived all o have a look” He walked out of the hall and into the stable
Escort Zheng’s body lay on the ground, his hands still holding onto a saddle Apparently, he had been taking the saddle off before his sudden dele
As it was already dark outside, Lin Zhennan asked a hench He carefully checked all parts of the corpse, including all the n of injury – not even a broken finger Lin Zhennan was not superstitious When Bai had died suddenly, it was just a strange occurrence Now, that Escort Zheng died in the exact same way, it had to be ue or some kind of disease, ere there no red or black spots on the bodies? Could the two deaths have been related to so trip?
He turned around and asked Lin Pingzhi, “Besides Escort Zheng and Hench with you, right?” He indicated Henchman Chen
Lin Pingzhi nodded
“You two co to another henchman, he instructed, “Go ask Escort shi+ to report to the East Hall immediately I want to have a ith him”
Soon, the three arrived at the East Hall “What really happened?” Lin Zhennan asked his son Lin Pingzhi hastily confessed and told his father all about the trouble he had at the wine shop: how they went in for soirl, which resulted in the fight; how the fight broke out and the man attempted to push Lin’s head down to ko he pulled out a dagger and killed that person; how they buried the body in the back garden and gave oldthere was to tell, without leaving anything out
The more Lin Zhennan heard, the ht with an outsider and having it result in his death was not the end of the world He listened to the whole story frozhi finished, he pondered in silence for a moment and then asked, “Did these two fellows ever ed to?”
“Not a word,” Lin Pingzhi answered quickly
“When they spoke or did things, did you notice anything unusual?” Lin Zhennan inquired further
“I didn’t see anything unusual The fellow Yu…”
“Did you say the man’s name was Yu?” Lin Zhennan interrupted
“Yes I heard the other guy calling hi else They had accents, so I couldn’t understand them too well”
“It can’t be! It can’t be a coincidence Master Yu said he was going to send someone over; how could they have arrived at Fuzhou so quickly? They don’t have wings,” Lin Zhennan shook his head and muttered to himself
“Father, you don’t think those tere frozhi’s voice quivered
Lin Zhennan did not answer; instead, he perfor this move from the Universe Hands, how did he fend it off?”
“He couldn’t fend off that zhi replied
“Good! Very good! Excellent!” Lin Zhennan smiled
The roo, but now that Lin Zhennan showed a szhi felt quite relieved and could not help s himself
“When you hit hiain, perfor more different moves as he spoke
“I was infuriated at the time, and can’t rezhi replied
Hearing that, Lin Zhennan becaood! Your move should have hit him that way If he couldn’t even block a simple move like that, he couldn’t be a close relative to the fa Sword School, Pine-Wind Temple”
He kept saying “very good,” but he wasn’t co skills; he was just relieved There must be many people named Yu in the province of Szechwan; if this particular Yu could not even beat his son, he hter definitely had nothing to do with the Qingcheng Sword School He kept tapping on the table with his right er as he pondered upon the situation
“How did he grab hold of your head?” he asked, and Lin Pingzhi demonstrated how he couldn’t move when his head was held
Hench to poke hi fork,” he interrupted, “but the fork was knocked out by the guy’s back kick and then Bai was also kicked down”
Lin Zhennan felt a shock run through his body He asked immediately, “He kicked Bai with a back kick and then kicked the fork out of his hands? Ho did he perform those kicks?”
“It was sorabbed the back of a chair and threw a reverse kick with his right foot, then jumped and threw another back kick with his left foot These two kicks looked very cluzhi watched the two clu “Dad, see…” But then seeing the fearful expression on his father’s face, he stopped abruptly
“These two kicks see Son, how did he perform the kicks exactly?” Lin Zhennan inquired
“My head was held at that zhi said
“Of course! I’d better ask Escort shi+” Lin Zhennan exited the room and yelled, “Where is Escort shi+? Why isn’t he here yet?”
Two henchmen came over and reported that nobody had yet to be able to find Escort shi+ Feeling the uneasiness growing inside hiarden hall, thinking, “If the two kicks were indeed the Shadowless Kick technique, then even if the felloas not a close relative of Master Yu, heSword School If that’s the case, then as he?” He finally decided to check it out hiet Escort Cui and Escort Ji”
Escorts Cui and Ji were the careful types, both experienced and prudent, and well trusted by Lin Zhennan Having heard about the sudden death of Escort Zheng and the disappearance of Escort shi+, they were already waiting outside the hall As soon as they heard their names called, both walked into the room
“We need to go check so out,” Lin Zhennan explained “Escort Cui, and Escort Ji, my son, and Chen, come with me”
Lin Pingzhi leading the way, the group of five rode out of town, and headed north Soon, they arrived at the small wine shop The door of the shop was shut
“Old zhi pounded on the door and called out He knocked and knocked, but there was no response
Escort Cui signaled to Lin Zhennan, that they should bash down the door After getting a nod from Lin Zhennan, he struck the door with both hands With a resounding crack, the door’s bolt snapped, and the swinging doors squeaked back and forth on the rusty hinges
Escort Cui pulled Lin Pingzhi to the side as soon as he forced the door open They waited, until they were sure that there was no sound co a fire, they entered, and then lit an oil la with two lanterns They searched both the interior and exterior of the shop, yet could find no one However, blankets, trunks, and other everyday accessories were still in the shop
“The old fellow got scared There was a arden He was afraid of getting into trouble, so he just ran off,” Lin Zhennan said with a nod Walked into the garden and pointed to a hoe that was leaning by the wall, he co the body up”
Chen was nearly convinced that the whole crisis had been caused by deetting stiffer and stiffer He felt so weak that his legs started to give out
“Utterly useless! How can you even call yourself a henchman?” Escort Ji yelled at him sternly
He handed his lantern to Chen, took the hoe fro after, the clothes of the dead body appeared He dug a little deeper and then levering the hoe beneath the corpse, gave a strong tug The body was lifted out of the hole
Chen turned his head away, afraid to look But gasps of shock suddenly came from the other four Scared to death, Chen dropped the lantern The light was extinguished and the garden was enveloped in complete darkness
Lin Pingzhi’s voice quavered when he uy’s body, how come…how come…”
“Light the lantern!” Lin Zhennan ordered He had kept his cale events started to happen, but now there was fear in his voice
Escort Cui lit the lantern Lin Zhennan bent down to check on the body Minutes later, he declared, “Sale wound at all”
Chen finally gathered enough courage to give a glance at the body, and then he screamed, “Escort shi+! It’s Escort shi+!” The body they had dug out was that of Escort shi+, and the corpse of the man from Szechwan had vanished
“Soe about this old rabbed the lantern and hurried back into the roo very carefully But he couldn’t find anything unusual, even after looking at everything in the roos, underneath the stoves, in the iron pot, under the table and chairs Escorts Cui and Ji, and Lin Pingzhi also began exa the different rooms
“Father, cozhi shouted out suddenly
Following the sound of his son’s voice, Lin Zhennan found Lin Pingzhi in the girl’s bedrooreen handkerchief in his hand
“Father, how could a poor girl have a handkerchief like this?” Lin Pingzhi asked, his voice quavered with excitement
Lin Zhennan took the handkerchief frozhi’s hands and exaht but sweet scent soon caught his attention The handkerchief was very soft and sh-quality silk When he looked at itthe edges of the handkerchief In one corner, a sreat detail
“Where did you find this?” Lin Zhennan asked
“It fell underneath the corner of the bed Maybe they didn’t see it, when they packed and left in such a hurry,” Lin Pingzhi suggested
Lin Zhennan put his lantern close to the bed and searched, but found nothing else He ly I suppose she wasn’t wearing very expensive clothing, but was she dressed very neatly?”
“I didn’t pay much attention I am sure her dress wasn’t filthy, because I would have noticed when she poured wine for erly
“Brother Cui, what do you think?” Lin Zhennan turned to Escort Cui
“I think this old irl , and Henchman Bai It’s even possible that they were the actual killers,” Escort Cui concluded
“The two fellows from Szechwan must have been in on it too; otherwise, ould they move the dead body?” Escort Ji added
“But that felloas harassing the girl I wouldn’t have called hizhi objected
“Young Master,” Escort Cui explained, “you erous world, and that people may intentionally set traps in which others ht, and when someone comes to try and separate them, the till suddenly turn on him”
“Chief Master, what’s your opinion on this?” Escort Ji asked
“The old irl must have come for us I am just not sure if those two fellows froue with them,” Lin Zhennan replied
“Father, didn’t you say that the Master Yu of Pine-Wind Temple sent four people over There…there were exactly four people,” Lin Pingzhi muttered restlessly
These words struck Lin Zhennan like a hareat respect to the Qingcheng Sword School, and has never done anything to displease them Why would Master Yu send people to stir up trouble? Why?!” he muttered to himself
The four just looked at each other in silence; no one could think of anything to say After a long while, Lin Zhennan finally spoke
“Let’s et back to the Escort House, don’t mention this to anyone We don’t want the authorities to know about this and cause any unnecessary trouble Humph, the Lin family respects others and wants no trouble, but that doesn’t ht back”
“Chief Master,” Escort Ji agreed heartily, “like the old saying goes, ‘Keeping an arht for the honor of the Escort House”
“Many thanks!” Lin Zhennan nodded
The party headed back to town Just when they were about to reach the Escort House, they saw a big crowd gathering in front of the gate Countless torches lit the street, turning the night into day Lin Zhennan’s heart missed a beat He rushed forward
“Chief Master is back!” several people cried out
Lin Zhennan dis, was extrery
“Look! Hue us in our home,” she exclaimed
A pair of broken poles lay in the street; each had a flag attached to the end These were the flags of the Escort House; so on the ground The broken ends had very smooth cuts, apparently were cut doith a very sharp blade
Mada a weapon, so she drew Lin Zhennan’s long sword out fro sounds, she cut the two flags fros up, she went inside through the gate
“Escort Cui, cut the stupoles down,” Lin Zhennan instructed “Hue Escort House!”
“Yes, sir,” Escort Cui answered
“da to play these dirty tricks when the Chief Master is not at home,” Escort Ji cursed
Lin Zhennan beckoned to his son and the tent into the house while Escort Ji poured out even more profanities The father and son went into the East Hall Madas on two tables On one of the flags, the eyes of the yellow lion had been cut out, leaving two ee” had been cut out froe Escort House”
Lin Zhennan was a patient man with an even teer He struck the table with a resounding blow One leg of the sandalwood table broke with a crack
“Father, it’s…ot the fazhi trembled
“Yes, the Lin family has killed someone, and so what? If I ever saw a punk like him, I’d kill him too!” Lin Zhennan roared
“Who got killed?” Mada asked in surprise
“Pingzhi, tell your mother about it,” Lin Zhennan said
So Lin Pingzhi told Mada that had happened: How he killed the man froarden of the wine shop, and so forth
Mada had heard about theAt the news of the death of Escort shi+, she exploded
“Husband, how can we let others push the Fortune Prestige Escort House around like this? Let’s gather our people and go seek justice fro Sword School in Szechwan We can also invite my father and my brothers to join us”
Since her youth, Mada a bad te out a knife for even the s Fa Everyone would defer to her, out of respect for her father, the Unbeatable Golden Blade, wang Yuanba Even now, after her son had grown up, her hot temper had not improved much
“We are still not sure who our ene Sword School But whoever they are, I doubt they’d stop at two broken flagpoles and two dead escorts…,” Lin Zhennan replied when he was suddenly interrupted by the bellowing voice of Mada
“What else do they want?”
Lin Zhennan cast a side-glance at Lin Pingzhi and Mada fiercely, and her face paled from fear
“I caused all the trouble A true man would take full responsibility for his own action I won’t…won’t be afraid” Lin Pingzhi’s words were brave enough, but the treave him away
“Huet to you,” Madae Escort House has been held high for three generations We’ve never lost our glory” She turned to Lin Zhennan “If we can’t even settle this little probleood are we? How can we look at ourselves in the mirror for the rest of our lives?”
Lin Zhennan nodded to Madareement “I’ll send people to search the town for new faces Meanwhile, I’ll have more people on patrol around the Escort House You wait here with Pingzhi Don’t let him run around by himself”
“Yes, I understand!” Madaed
The couple both understood well that Lin Pingzhi would undoubt