Chapter 2 (2/2)
Guan Xing replied, ”An innocent man will be proven innocent eventually.”
Zhu LiaoDa laughed at him. ”Do you think s.h.i.+shu will give us any chance to prove ourselves? They have been very dissatisfied ever since Master decided to teach us Xianlian Sword. First, they asked Master to consult the ancestors, then they asked Master to reconsider it again and again and again. If Master had not insisted, I'm afraid we would have nothing to do with Xianlian Sword right now.”
s.h.i.+ JiZhong coldy retorted, ”It's YOU and ME that would have nothing to do with it. Master chose eldest s.h.i.+xiong to be his mantle disciple a long time ago. He will teach him for sure.”
Zhu LiaoDa was unable to respond. He sneered after a while. ”Are you complaining that I had my finger in the pie? Don't forget. This is Master's will! In order to carry the Jiuhua Sect forward, we must abolish the rules separating zhangmen from the disciples and give even the normal disciples a chance to learn the most advanced skill in the sect. Otherwise, the Jiuhua Sect will stay at the same rank between top-tired sects and second-tier sects forever, and we would never be on an equal footing with the big sects like Wudang, Shaolin, or Huihuang!”
ShangGuan DingNing quietly pulled her sleeves and said, ”Now, the most important thing is how should we deal with s.h.i.+shu?”
Zhu LiaoDa took a deep breath, then turned to look at Fan JiJing.
Because his stare was too strange, everyone turned back and looked at JiJing with curiosity.
Fan JiJing started to blush from embarra.s.sment under these stares. ”What is it?”
Zhu LiaoDa said slowly, ”s.h.i.+shu hasn't cared about us in the past few days. He didn't say anything about us moving here. Why did he suddenly come today?”
Other people's looks changed abruptly.
Only Fan JiJing was silly enough to ask back, ”Why?”
Zhu LiaoDa said, ”Maybe it's because of… you?”
Fan JiJing was confused, ”Me?”
s.h.i.+ JiZhong said in cold voice, ”Master was doing fine for several decades, it is only after you learned Xianlian Sword that this happened. Perhaps this is because of you?”
Zhu LiaoDa was enraged to the extent that his chest expanded slightly. ”Fifth s.h.i.+di! You also learned Xianlian Sword.”
s.h.i.+ JiZhong replied, ”I have never denied that fact.”
ShangGuan DingNing tried to smooth things over: ”Alright alright. That's enough. You two make it sound like the one who killed Master is really one of us.”
”……”
Silence.
A sudden silence.
Even ShangGuan DingNing herself was scared by her unconscious words.
For a moment, no one dared to make a sound.
Song BoLin and the others had obviously lost their patience waiting outside, so he sent a disciple in to find out what was going on.
The disciple came and was shocked to see everyone in room standing and staring at each other without a single movement. He stumbled outside and shouted, ”They were attacked! Someone hit their vital points [1]!”
”……”
Zhu LiaoDa was going to scratch his itchy nose before he froze completely. An idea came to his mind.
The others seemed to have never expected the situation to have developed in this way. As Song BoLin walked in quickly, they lost the last chance to turn back and could only warn each other with their eyes—
Don't move!
”What happened?” Song BoLin looked at them with both surprise and anger.
Fan JiJing's mouth twitched. He was going to answer, but Zhu LiaoDa choked him off with a death glare.
A disciple next to Song BoLin said, ”It seems like someone hit their vital points.”
”Nonsense! We are inside the Jiuhua Sect. Who would be able to hit all of them at the same time undetected…” He suddenly thought of Bu LouLian, who was killed secretly in the same way. A chill went down his spine. He strode forward and hit Zhu LiaoDa's vital points.
Zhu LiaoDa was hurting due to the hits, but gritted his teeth and did not move.
Song BoLin mumbled, ”What kind of technique is this? It's so weird!”
Fan JiJing couldn't hold it any longer. He moved a bit and opened his mouth, ”s.h.i.+shu…”
”Ah! Finally the time is over.” As Zhu LiaoDa swung his arms, Guan Xing and s.h.i.+ JiZhong also started to move gradually.
ShangGuan DingNing pretended to panic. ”s.h.i.+shu. We are so lucky that you came, just before it was really…”
Song BoLin glanced at everyone's faces, then stared straight at Fan JiJing and said, ”Tell me what just happened.”
Zhu LiaoDa stared at him nervously.
Fan JiJing was caught in the middle. He replied after a moment. ”I don't know either.”
Zhu LiaoDa picked up the sentence quickly: ”His moves were too fast. We didn't see clearly…”
Receiving the hint from Zhu LiaoDa, ShangGuan DingNing carefully suggested, ”Could that be the person who killed Master…”
Song BoLin humphed. He looked at Guan Xing and said, ”You are the eldest s.h.i.+xiong. You tell me.”
Guan Xing lowered his head and replied, ”I'm ashamed.”
Ashamed? Ashamed of what? There were many possible explanations depending on one's point of view. However, under this situation, only one explanation appeared reasonable: he failed to see that person's face too.
Song BoLin turned his eyes. Just as he was going to say something, a disciple rushed in to report, ”Second s.h.i.+shu, the third gongzi [2] of the Hua Family just came.”
He frowned. ”Which one?”
”The third young master of the Hua Family, Hua HuaiXiu Gongzi.”
Song BoLin looked at Fan JiJing, only to find him as shocked as he was.
Translation Notes
Vital Point: In martial arts, hitting one's vital points can result in various effects. The most common effect is to make someone unable to move either for a period of time or till someone releases it by hitting certain other points. [back]
Gongzi: A polite form of address or suffix referring to young male from notable families. [back]
<script>