Vol 2 Chapter 20 (1/2)
Chapter Twenty: Imprisonment (draft)
“Brother Tong, will you please let raphy book?” still concerned about the “Willful Book” by Zhang Xu, Mr Bald-Brush begged
“As soon as First Master defeats , the book will be part of Third Master’s private collection Even if you want to look at it for three days and three nights in succession, that’s your own call,” Xiang Wentian said with a grin
“I’ll look at it for seven days and seven nights in succession!” Mr Bald-Brush exclaimed
“Okay, you’ll look at it for seven days and seven nights then,” Xiang Wentian replied
Mr Bald-Brush felt his heart itching with that possibility “Second Brother,” he called out, “I’ll go ask Big Brother to have the match What do you think?”
“You two stay here to acco Brother,” Mr Black-White arranged and then stepped out of the room
“Brother Feng, let’s drink,” Mr Paint suggested “Alas, much of this barrel of asted by Third Brother” He poured the wine into the wine cups
“Wasted?” Mr Bald-Brush rebuffed angrily “When you drink the wine into your belly, it will only turn into urine and get relieved How can that even be comparable to the fact that it will now stay on the white wall as calligraphy artwork and last for the eternity? Your ill only live on because of the calligraphy One thousand years later, only when people have seen raphy art would they be able to know that this barrel of Turpan red wine ever existed”
Facing the white wall, Mr Paint raised his cup “hello wall, you are so fortunate to be able to taste the wonderful wine brewed by your Fourth Master, hiraphy on your face, you…you…you would have lasted for the eternity”
“Conorant wall, I am much more fortunate to be able to taste such wonderful rare-even-in-one-thousand-year wine,” Linghu Chong showed a big s his own cup, he drank it up
After drinking two cups in acco, but Mr Paint and Linghu Chong kept pouring wine down their throats and found their exhilaration surging
After they each had at least another seventeen or eighteen cups, Mr Black-White finally returned
“Brother Feng,Brother would like tostays here and enjoy some more wine?” he said
“Well…,” Xiang Wentian was taken by surprise He could see clearly that Mr Black-White had no intention of inviting hi after all “What a pity for life that it’s not hed
“Please pardonin seclusion for uests’ requests for an audience It is only because he heard that Brother Feng’s skills in the art of sword have reached the extre, did he decide to invite Brother Feng for a privateWe certainly dare not to show any disrespect to Brother Tong,” Mr Black-White explained
“I understand I understand,” Xiang Wentian replied
Setting his wine cup down on the table, Linghu Chong followed Mr Black-White out of the ga that it would be inappropriate to bring a long sith hi with the lord of the manor
They crossed through a long corridor and soon arrived at a moon-shaped entry The tablet above the entry read “Zither Spirit” The words were orous style, most likely the creation of Mr Bald-Brush After the moon-shaped entry, a quiet and deep flower-strewn pathway extended further On both sides of the pathway, thin and long bamboos swayed leisurely in the breeze The cobblestones in the pathere covered bythat this was a path seldos Seven or eight dark green pine trees stood at the front and the back, each towering high with their branches extending gracefully in all directions, casting a layer of gloos
Mr Black-White slowly pushed the door open “Please coentle voice
As soon as Linghu Chong entered the roorance of sandalwood
“Big Brother, Huashan School’s Young Hero Feng is here,” Mr Black-White introduced
An oldone hand in the other “Please excuseproperly It is a great honor to have Young Hero Feng in our humble manor”
The old e Thin as a lath, and with thedeeply, he looked ht piercing eyes
“It was I who took the liberty for the unannounced visit I’ll have to ask for Senior Master’s pardon,” Linghu Chong said with a bow
“That’s quite alright,” the man answered
“My Big Brother’s na has known that already,” Mr Black-White said
“I have long heard the great names of the four Manor Masters It is so fortunate that I finally get to ht to hi has played onbeforehand and only toldBut now he is nowhere near ives me some difficult puzzles to solve, I wonder how I should handle them”
“I heard that Young Hero Feng is the very disciple of the venerable Grand of the Huashan School and possesses brilliant sword skills,” Mr Huang-Zhong said “I’ve always ad’s conducts and his martial arts skills very much It is such a pity that I never had the honor to meet him Some time back, it was said around the Martial World that the venerable Grandht deep sorrow in my heart Today, to have the opportunity toIs Young Hero Feng a descendent of Grand?”
Linghu Chong thought inwardly, “Grand Uncle-Master Feng earnestly exhortedsaw ured out that it ht me those He not only wantonly made that widely known, but also clai, which probably had a good ahtforward, it wouldn’t be appropriate, either” At that thought, he gave an aeneration I’ve only studied fro a slow learner, simple and uninformed, I haven’t even mastered ten or twenty percent of his sword arts”
“If it is true that you have only learned ten to twenty percent of Grand’s sword arts, yetsword, then venerable Grand-Zhong sighed
“The three Masters only each exchanged a few random moves with me, and before any of the matches had any result, they had already held back their hands,” Linghu Chong said
Mr Huang-Zhong nodded, his skinny face revealing a slight sance and rashness Please come in to the Zither Hall and have some tea,” he said
Linghu Chong and Mr Black-White followed hiht out green tea
“I heard that Young Hero Feng has the ancient -Zhong asked “I aht of how Ji Kang played the ‘Guang-Ling Song’ with his zither one last ti would be lost for ever froet to follow the e, I would have no regret left in this life” At these words, his pale face actually showed so earnest and anxious
“Big Brother Xiang’s one lie after another really fooled theht to himself “I can tell that these four Masters of the Plum Manor of the Lone Hill are no ordinary people Besides, I auessing? If this ’ Senior Master Qu Yang obtained from the tomb of that Cai-Somebody of the East Han Dynasty, I should let him take a look”
Retrieving the music score from his chest pocket, he stood up and then presented it with both hands “Please take a look, First Master”
Mr Huang-Zhong raised hi’to be able to take a look at the legendary ancient score But…but I wonder…” He seemed to implicate that hoould he be sure that this ,” not a counterfeit some busybody had faked to fool people
He thues at rando back to the first page, he began reading the details Only h the ht hand, he set his left hand on the table and the five fingers plucked, twiddled, and pressed as though he was playing an invisible zither
“Marvelous! Peaceful and fair, yet melodious and deep to the extreme,” he praised
Turning to the second page, he read for a little while and then praised again, “Lofty and elegant, profound and abstruse Just by i the sounds in my head, I can already feel the utter exhilaration”
Seeing how Mr Huang-Zhong was already slightly out of his es of the , it would be hours before he’ll even take a break So he cut in
“This Young Hero Feng here and a Brother Tong froshan School came here and said that if someone in the Plum Manor can defeat his sword art…”
“U to loan ht?” Mr Huang-Zhong asked
“That’s right! All three of us have lost ourBrother takes the field, our Plum Manor of the Lone Hill…well…,” Mr Black-White replied
“If you can’t do it, I can’t either,” Mr Huang-Zhong let out a light smile
“How can the three of us be co Brother?” Mr Black-White said
“I a replied
Linghu Chong got back onto his feet “First Master’s na,’ then naturally you are an expert in the art of zither,” he said “Although thisFirst Master, please feel free to hold on to it and make copies I can come back to pick it up three days from now”
Mr Huang-Zhong and Mr Black-White were both taken aback Mr Black-White had witnessed, hi thes more difficult and made his heart itchy as hell He certainly did not expect to see such a generous Feng Er-Zhong Being an expert in the art of gamesmanshi+p, he i was setting up to trick Mr Huang-Zhong, but no matter how hard he tried, he still failed catch any clue
“One does not receive a reithouta merit You and I don’t have any prior association How could I accept such a generous gift from you? Will you please be very frank with me and tell me the real reason for you and your co asked
Linghu Chong thought, “Big Brother Xiang didn’t mention a word to me about e are visit the Plu to do with asking the four Manor Masters to treat ements seemed so secretive Besides, the four Manor Masters are all very unusual people Perhaps telling theht way to address the issue I honestly don’t have a clue about the intention of Big Brother Xiang’s visit, anyway I guess telling the to deceive the Brother Tong in the visit to your respectableinto your respectable manor, I have never heard of the names of the four Manor Masters, nor was I ever aware of the existence of the Plum Manor of the Lone Hill” After a short pause, he added, “That is, of course, only because I anize thethe two Masters’ pardon”
Mr Huang-Zhong cast a glance toward Mr Black-White and a smile crept onto his face
“Young Hero Feng is very candid, and I am very thankful Us, the four brothers, retired to the city of Lin-An to live a hermit’s life; few people in the Martial World knows about it Besides, the Five Mountains Sword Alliance never had any association with us, so I was quite surprised to learn about your visit So Young Hero Feng really has no idea about the origin of us the four brothers, have you?”
“This is so e heard the great nahu Chong murmured
Mr Huang-Zhong nodded “Mr Huang-Zhong, Mr Black-White and so forth are only nickna been abandoned It is only natural that Young Hero Feng has never heard of our naht hand, he asked, “Are you sincere about loaning this music score to me and let me make copies?”
“Yes,” Linghu Chong affir the book to you only because theOtherwise, you can just go ahead and take it Like the old saying says, ‘A precious sword should be presented to a person of high endeavor’ Once presented, there’s no need to return it”
Mr Huang-Zhong let out a long breath, and a trace of joy quickly flashed across his emaciated face
“You agree to loan the ree as well?” Mr Black-White asked
“Big Brother Tong and I are friends until death He is bold and generous If I agree to so, no matter how i assured, to which Mr Black-White gave a nod
“I a’s kindness But since Brother Tong did not give his consent, hi said that in order to get the music score, someone from our manor must be able to defeat your sword arts It would be unfair for e a fewproposed
Linghu Chong thought to hio, ‘How can the three of us be co Fu skills of the First Master must have been superior to the other three Manor Masters The three Manor Masters each had unsurpassed Kung Fu skills, and only with the sword techniques I learned froet the upper hand in the ain Why bother bringing shame onto myself for no reason? Even if I could beat hiht, he said, “Big Brother Tong was just seized by a whi like that, which only embarrassed me more I am already thankful that the four Manor Masters decide to spare ain with the First Master?”
“You are quite all right,” Mr Huang-Zhong se a few moves, and it’ll just be a harmless contest That is all What’s there to worry about?”
He turned around, re “You can use the flute as your sword I, on the other hand, will useup a zither frorin, “I wouldn’t say that these two musical instruments of mine are invaluable, but each of them is one in a thousand I certainly do not want them to smash into pieces Let’s just put out some stances for the act That’s all”
Linghu Chong took a closer look at the flute in his hand The entire body of the flute was in ereen Turned out that it was made of top-quality jade The several spots close to the ht scarlet, and perfectly set off the striking green of the jade flute The zither held in Mr Huang-Zhong’s hands appeared dark and ancient It entle bump of the two musical instruments would have broken theht Having no other excuses, he held the jade flute with both hands and spoke respectfully
“I await First Master’s advice”
“The venerable Grandeneration I’ve always had great adht -Zhong said
Holding the flute in his pal A few soft sounds echoed pleasantly as air went through the holes on the flute
Mr Huang-Zhong gave a few plucks to the strings of the zither Amid the hu Chong’s right shoulder
At the sound of the zither, Linghu Chong felt a slight thump in his heart He slowly dabbed the jade flute toward the back of Mr Huang-Zhong’s elbow If the zither continued its course toward his shoulder, then the acupoint at the back of Mr Huang-Zhong’s elboould have been hit first
Turning the zither upside down, Mr Huang-Zhong shoved it toward Linghu Chong’s waist, instead And as the zither struck forward, he plucked the strings and made more sounds
Linghu Chong thought quickly, “If I block this strike with the jade flute, once the two precious instrued In order to preserve the musical instru like that is really no different from the shameless act of a rascal”
With that in mind, he drew an arc with the jade flute and stabbed it below the opponent’s ar raised his zither in an atte quickly drew his flute back
Suddenly, Mr Huang-Zhong played several consecutive notes with the zither and the sound of theand the cohtly Slowly, Mr Black-White backed out of the Zither Hall, shutting the door on his way out knowing that Mr Huang-Zhong was, by nohis leisure when he made the musical notes with the zither He had actually infused superior inner strength into the zither sounds in order to disrupt his opponent’s concentration Once the opponent’s internal strength resonated with the zither sounds, then he would be controlled by the zither sounds involuntarily When the zither music slowed down, the opponent’s movement would also slohen the zither music hurried, the opponent’s ’s zither moves would be just the opposite to the tempo of the zither music His strikes would become faster and faster while the zither , as a result, the opponent would stand no chance of withstanding his attacks Mr Black-White knew very well that this Kung Fu of Mr Huang-Zhong was no trivia th would be worn off, he receded out of the Zither Hall
Although the door plank separated hiuely hear the zitherfaster from time to time Sometimes, the zither sound would suddenly silence, while so very loudly After a while, the tempo of the zither music became faster and faster Mr Black-White only felt his heart fluttering with uneasiness and even his breathing became somewhat uncoain, shut the front door tight Noith two doors in between, the sound of the zither was almost inaudible But occasionally when the sound of the zither turned sonorous and passed through all the barriers, it always made his heart thump faster
He stood there for a good while but the zither sounds kept going and going He was astounded “This young , no doubt, has excellent sword skills But it turned out that his cultivation in inner strength is also so capable How is he able to hold out for so long under the attack of ht As he pondered upon the question, Mr Bald-Brush and Mr Paint arrived side by side
“How did it go?” Mr Paint asked in a low voice
“The fight has lasted a long ti to keep up I a him,” Mr Black-White said
“I’ll go ask Big Brother to show leniency We can’t hurt this good friend,” Mr Paint suggested
“We can’t go in there,” Mr Black-White shook his head
Just at thatsounds from the zither suddenly exploded in the air At the first sound, the three of them each took one step back So after five consecutive zither sounds, the three of them took a total of five steps back involuntarily
Mr Bald-Brush’s face turned as white as a sheet After taking a few seconds to collect hi-God Quarry a Mountain’Brother’s Invisible Sword Art is too powerful The six consecutive notes continue to wallop and strike one after another How can that youngwithstand it?”
Before he even finished his sentence, another loud clank exploded, and i sounds followed, as though several zither strings had suddenly snapped Astounded, Mr Black-White and the other two pushed the front door wide open and dashed in As soon as they opened the door of the Zither Hall, they saw a dispirited Mr Huang-Zhong standing still in silence All seven strings of the zither in his grip had snapped and drooped by the side of the zither Standing by his side was Linghu Chong, holding the jade flute in his hand
“Please pardon htly
Obviously, just like the others, Mr Huang-Zhong had lost the match
Mr Black-White and his two junior brothers gasped in astonishorous and resourceful inner strength and was, in fact, an extraordinary figure in the Martial World Who would have expected that he would lose to this young man from the Huashan School just as well? If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it
“Not only is Young Hero Feng’s sword art the enious sword art I have ever seen in th cultivation is also so incredibly capable It is very ad said with a wry s Invisible Sword’ Kung Fu of arded as a consuht that it looked ? We, the four brothers, have been living a hermit’s life in the Plum Manor and haven’t set foot in the Martial World for s living at the bottom of a well”[2] His voice turned bleak
“I had to do my uthu Chong said
Mr Huang-Zhong heaved a long sigh, but did not answer Shaking his head dishearteningly, he sat down, his face dreary and desolate
Seeing the utter gloo felt very sorry He thought to hi apparently did not want to review the fact that I have lost all th, so as not to make them aware of my intent to ask for treatht arise But a real e of hiht, he said, “First Master, there’s so I y attacks co out of your zither was not because of advanced inner strength cultivation on th in me, none whatsoever!”
“What did you say?” Mr Huang-Zhong stood up, taken by surprise
“I was injured th That’s why the sound of your zither had no effect onexplained
“Are you serious?” Mr Huang-Zhong asked, his voice quavered froled shock and joy
“If Senior Master does not believereplied and extended his right hand forward
Mr Huang-Zhong and Mr Black-White were both taken co’s co to the Pluood, after all How could he give out his hand so unperturbedly and hand his lifelines over to others? If Mr Huang-Zhong suddenly grabbed hold of the acupoint on his wrist using the pretext of checking his pulse, then even if he had all the skills in the world, he would not be able to use any of the at theblock
Earlier, when Mr Huang-Zhong had initiated his “Six-Ding-God Quarry a Mountain” Kung Fu, not only had it failed to affect Linghu Chong in the least, at the peak of his inner strength discharge when all seven strings resonated, he actually ended up breaking seven strings all together Such a crushi+ng defeat was certainly hard to resign to “If you want me to reach my hand forward so you can clasp the acupoint on my wrist, then we’ll just have another contest in the inner strength,” he ht hand forward toward the artery on Linghu Chong’s right wrist In the stretch, he had secretly included the “Tiger Claw Technique”, the “Dragon Claw Skill”, and the “S Positions” these three advanced joint ardless of what ht execute, orst corab the opponent’s wrist, but his opponent would not be able to take any advantage of him, either
But when Mr Huang-Zhong’s five fingers touched Linghu Chong’s wrist, Linghu Chong didn’t even htly taken aback, Mr Huang-Zhong quickly noticed how feeble and frail Linghu Chong’s pulses were, clearly indicating that he had no inner strength at all After a short daze, he suddenly broke into loud laughter
“I see! So that’s how it is! You bamboozled me! You have really bamboozled me well!”
Although he kept saying that he was bahtful His “Seven-String Invisible Sword” Kung Fu was only made up of zither sounds The sound itself of course could not injure the enemy All it did was to stith, thus disrupting the eneth was, the stronger his reaction to the zither sound would turn out He certainly had not expected Linghu Chong to have no inner strength at all, and consequently, the “Seven-String Invisible Sword” having the least bit of effect on hi had been completely disheartened But after he found out that the reason he lost the match was not because his unique skill, which he trained for ood, he found hihtly, he shook it back and forth in excitement
“Good Brother! Good Brother! Why are you telling
“Well, during our match, it was already quite selfish of th How could I keep deceiving you on that? Senior Master was playing music to an ox, and I just happen to be the ox that understood none of the elegance” Linghu Chong grinned
“I guess e after all For aInvisible Sword’ actually turned into ‘Broken-String Unusable Sword’ Ha-ha! Ha-ha!” Mr Huang-Zhong stroked his long beard and let out hter
“Young Hero Feng! We, the four brothers, are very grateful for your honesty But didn’t you know that once you reveal your oeakness, if ant to take your life, it would be as easy as turning our hands over? Although you have excellent sword skills, without any inner strength, you will be no match for us after all,” Mr Black-White said
“Second Master is absolutely right I only told the truth because I can tell that the four Manor Masters are all trustworthy heroes,” Linghu Chong replied
“Well said! Well said!” Mr Huang-Zhong nodded at those words “Brother Feng, you ht as well speak frankly and tell us your intention for your visit We, the four brothers feel like you are alh this is the first time we ever meet As far as our capacity allows, you can ask us for anything”
Mr Bald-Brush also said, “You lost all your inner strength most probably because of a severe injury I have a very intimate friend whose medical skills are almost Godlike Only that he is kind of eccentric and wouldn’t take in patients easily But forto treat you The ‘Killer Doctor’ Ping One-Finger and I have been good friends…”
“Did you say Ping One-Finger, Doctor Ping?” Linghu Chong cried out involuntarily
“That’s right You’ve heard of his name before, haven’t you?” Mr Bald-Brush answered
“Doctor Ping passed away on the Five-Tyrant Ridge in Shandong Province several loomy
“What?” Mr Bald-Brush cried out in shock “He…he died?”
“He could have cured any disease in the world How come he wasn’t able to cure his own illness? Oh, was he killed by his personal enemy?” Mr Paint asked
Linghu Chong shook his head He had always felt ashaer
“Doctor Ping checked ht before he passed away He said that my injury was too weird and he could not cure me”
The sudden news of Ping One-Finger’s death struck Mr Bald-Brush hard He stared blankly in front of hied from his eyes
“Brother Feng, let me point you a direction But whether he’ll do it or not, it’s hard to say,” after pondering for a long while, Mr Huang-Zhong finally said “I’ll write you a letter, and you can take the letter with you and request an audience fro-Zheng If he agrees to teach you the ulti Fu of the Shaolin School, the Tendon Altering Sutra, then there is a good chance that you’ll be able to regain your inner strength The Tendon Altering Sutra is theFu of the Shaolin School, which is not to be taught to any outsider But ratitude Maybe he’ll do me a favor for personal consideration and make an exception”