Chapter - 2 The Jade Cliff Under the Moonlight (1/2)

After all that mess, the moon has risen to the middle of the sky. Duan Yu kept on walking west. Even though he does not know any kungfu, his youth enabled him to keep this up. After about 10 kilometers he has already arrived in the back mountains of No Measure Mountain. He suddenly heard the sound of water running. Feeling thirsty, he went searching and found the creek. Under the moonlight the creek water looked clear and beautiful. Just as he put his into the creek, he heard sound of a branch cracking followed by the footsteps of 2 people. Duan Yu immediately lied down by the creek, not daring to make a noise.

Someone said: ”There is a creek here, let's get a couple of drinks here before continuing.” The voice sounded familiar to Duan Yu as he suddenly recognized it as Gan GuangHao, the disciple of Zuo ZiMu. Duan Yu became even more still. The 2 of them walked up to the creek and started drinking. After a bit, Gan GuangHao spoke up: ”Sister Ge, looks like we are already out of danger. Let's rest a while before going on.” The girl seemed to have agreed as it sounded like both of them sat down by the creek.

The girl spoke up: ”You sure that the Divine Farmer Clan won't have anyone this way?” Her voice is shaky, obviously scared. Gan GuangHao tried to calm her: ”Don't worry, this path is as hidden as can be. Even some of us in the East Faction don't know about it, not to mention the Divine Farmer Clan.” The girl asked: ”Then how did you know about this?” Gan GuangHao replied: ”Every 5 days, my master would take some of us here to try to crack the secret of the 'No Measure Jade Cliff'. All these years, all we did was stare at the rock like a bunch of retards. Master kept on saying something to the effect of 'to get things done you must show perseverance and determination' and 'good things come to those with aspirations'. But I really just can't stand it anymore, so sometimes I excuse myself to do that kind of personal business to come out here and wander around. That's how I found this path.”

The girl laughed a little and said: ”So you don't want to put in the work and ran off. I say in your faction, you probably have the least perseverance and determination.” Gan GuangHao laughed and replied: ”Sister Ge, in the competition 5 years ago, when I lost to you....” The girl cuts in: ”Don't you say that you lost to me again. You pretended that your inner strength was weaker and let me win on purpose. Others can't tell, but don't you think I know?”

Duan Yu thought to himself: ”So this girl is a disciple of the West Faction of No Measure Sword.”

Gan GuangHao replied: ”The moment I saw you, I swore to myself that I will spend the rest of my life with you no matter what. Luckily such a rare chance came today with the Divine Farmer Clan coming to attack. Not to mention that pair of bastard guy and girl and their stinking marten. The entire Sword Lake Palace was a mess, giving us such a great opportunity to run away. Wouldn't you say that this is 'good things come to those with aspirations'?” The girl laughed a bit and tenderly replied: ”I say 'good things came to those with aspirations' for me as well.” Gan GuangHao replied: ”Sister Ge, if you treat me this way, then I would listen to whatever you say for the rest of my life.”

The girl sighed: ”With us betraying our masters and running off like this, we can't ever stand in the martial world ever again. We should go as far away as we can, find a nice and secret place and hide there away from our masters and sect members. I'm scared just thinking about them finding us.” Gan GuangHao replied: ”I say you don't have that much to worry about. Seems like the Divine Farmer Clan came prepared this time. Besides the 2 of us, I don't think anyone else would be able to escape.” The girl sighed again: ”Hopefully.”

Duan Yu became very angry and thought to himself: ”The 2 of you becoming husband and wife and running off when seeing that there is trouble is really no big deal. But why wish death upon your master and martial brothers? Such evil hearts.” But he was still wise enough to figure out that if they found out he is here they would kill him to keep this quiet. So he still did not make a noise.

The girl asked: ”What is the big deal about this 'No Measure Jade Cliff'? You have lived here for 10 years now, haven't you at least found something?”

Gan GuangHao replied: ”Since we are together now, I have nothing to hide from you. Master said that a long while back, at that time his master was the head of the East Faction, under the moonlight, he often sees faint reflections practicing swords on the cliff. Sometimes it's a man, sometimes it's a woman, and then other times they are sparring. The kind of sword skill they were displaying was something that he has never even dreamed of, much less heard of or seen. It is as if they were angels. He hoped to learn a couple of moves, but not only are the reflections on the cliff just too fast and too amazing, but they also seem supernatural as if nonexistent. He just can't make out anything clearly, much less learn a move or 2. The angels don't appear regularly either, sometimes they appear every night, sometimes there are months between appearances. My master's master became so obsessed with the reflections on the cliff that he actually became worse and worse at our own sect's sword skills and doesn't even train his students anymore. That's how the West Faction won later on. Sister Ge, when your master's master came to live in Sword Lake Palace, did she see anything?”

The girl replied: ”I heard from my master that her master saw the images on the cliff as well. But grand master only saw the woman and never seen any of man angel. Maybe it was because her master was a woman so only the female angel appeared to her. But after 2 years, she was gone as well. Her master also said that the sword skills were incredible, but they were just too fast and the reflections were too blurry for her to see it clearly. The cliff is separated by the canyon and the Sword Lake, so she couldn't get closer to have a better look. Grand master obviously received a gift from the heavens, yet she just cannot learn even a move or 2. For that you can just imagine how she felt inside. After the reflections stopped appearing, she would spend days upon days staring at the cliff. She just got weaker and weaker until she died of illness about half a year later. She died lying on the peak, and would not let her disciples move her back to Sword Lake Palace. Master said that even as she drew her last breath she was still staring at the cliff.” She paused a bit before continuing: ”Brother Gan, do you really believe there are angels? Or are our grandmasters lying to us?”

Gan GuangHao replied: ”I don't think both our grandmasters made up such a story to deceive their disciples. Even if we believed it, then what? Besides, Martial Uncle Sheng told me that he saw the images with his very own two eyes. But are there really angels in the world? That I do not know.”

The girl asked: ”Is it possible that it's two masters practicing swords in front of the cliff and was reflected onto the cliff?” Gan GuangHao answered: ”Grandmaster thought about that as well at the time. But right in front of the cliff is the Sword Lake, and west of the lake is the canyon. Even if the 2 master martial artist knew how to walk on water and were practicing on the lake, grandmaster would have seen them. If they were practicing on this side of the lake, then they really are too far away to cast any kind of reflection onto the cliff.” The girl said: ”After my grandmaster died, her disciples performed rites and prayed in front of the cliff every night, hoping the angels would appear again. But they never did see it again. My master also wants to just get one glance at the angels, but it just so happens that we have lost both contests to your East Faction in the last 10 years.”

Gan GuangHao replied: ”From now on, there is no East or West Faction between us. We East and West is connected in marriage and merge as one....” The girl moaned a couple of times and said: ”S... stop that!” Obviously Gan GuangHao is trying to get a little closer with her, but the girl is refusing. Gan GuangHao spoke up: ”From this day forth, if I ever betray your heart in anyway, then let me fall into this creek and become a turtle.” The girl coquettishly laughed: ”You turn into a turtle? Then what does that say about me?”{Note, in Chinese street talk, a turtle is a man whose wife is cheating on him.}

When Duan Yu heard that, he can't help but let out a laugh. As soon as the laughter came out he knew he was in trouble. So he jumped up and started to run. Gan GuangHao's voice came from behind him: ”Who is it?” His voice was followed by the sound of his footsteps, coming after him. {Duan Yu seems to have problems controlling his sense of humor doesn't he?}

Duan Yu can't believe his luck and ran for his life. Suddenly, a flash of white came from the west. A girl with a sword in hand is coming down the slope as if to cut him off. Duan Yu let out an ”Ai-Yo!” and turned toward the east. All the while he kept on praying: ”Great Benevolent and Merciful Bodhisattva, please bless and protect your humble disciple Duan Yu out of this mess!” He can still hear the footsteps of Gan GuangHao chasing after him so he kept right on running. After a while, he started having trouble keeping this up and his breathing became very hard, Gan GuangHao suddenly spoke up: ”Sister Ge, block that pass over there.”

Duan Yu thought to himself: ”You giving your life away is really no big deal. But if you die you are taking Miss Zhong's life with you, as well as all the people in the Divine Farmer Clan. Now that indeed is a sin. Amida Buddha and Bodhisattva.” Then his thoughts turned: ”Duan Yu my good man, so what if they become turtles, what does that have to do with you? Why did you laugh for no reason whatsoever? With that laugh you have killed dozens of lives! Only unrivaled beauties can bring down cities with a smile or a laugh. Who do you think you are with this little laugh of yours? What are you planning on bringing down?” Even though he is blaming and scolding himself in his mind, his legs had not let up yet. By now he doesn't really care where he is going, just as long as it is deeper into the woods.

{A little commentary by me. Duan Yu here refers to a idiom saying that unrivaled beauties destroys cities and kingdoms with a smile, it comes from a true story very early in Chinese history. However, it also is a basic concept in ancient Chinese culture. As expected in such chauvinisticic society as ancient China was, many failures of kings and lords are not blamed on themselves but on women whom they associate with. There are many examples of this. In 771 BC, King Zhou You's own personal ignorance and foolishness that led to his demise was blamed on his consort Bao Si (who's famous smile was worth 1000 gold pieces). At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the fall of the state of Wu was not blamed on the Lord of Yue, who put an end to Wu in revenge for an earlier loss, but on the fact the Lord of Wu was infatuated with Xi Shi, a girl from the state of Yue. In A.D. 755, An LuShan, a trusted official of the Emperor of Tang rebelled and almost overthrew the Tang dynasty. The Emperor of Tang's failure as a ruler was not blamed, his favorite consort, Consort Yang, was! Jin Yong himself delved into this particular phenomenon of Chinese history in Duke of Mt. Deer and its story about Chen YuanYuan. To me, the section during which Chen YuanYuan reflected on her life was the best part of all of Duke of Mt. Deer and one of the most thought provoking and poignant sections that I have ever read. Actually all of this is not really commentary but merely some observations that I have made. }

After running for a while more, Duan Yu's legs felt completely numb and soft. Suddenly he heard the sound of water running, very loud sound in fact, as if the tides were just coming in. He looked up and saw a huge waterfall falling off of a cliff to the northwest. Over the water noise, he heard Gan GuangHao's voice: ”Just ahead of you is the restricted area of our sect, no one can enter. If you just go forward a few more meters, you would be trespassing and will die without a burial place!” Duan Yu thought to himself: ”Even if I don't trespass into the restricted area, it's not like you'll let me go. Best I could hope for is dying with a burial place. Really not much difference between having a burial place and not having one.” So he picked up his speed even more. Gan GuangHao shouted even louder: ”Stop now! Don't you want to live? Just ahead is.....”

Duan Yu laughed and replied back: ”I want to live, that's why I'm runnin....” Before he could finish his sentence, his foot suddenly had nothing to step on. He doesn't know any kungfu and is in such a hurry, how could he possibly pull back from that? So he just fell. He screamed: ”Ai-Yo!” But by now his body is already more than 20 meters below the top of the cliff where he lost his footing.

Duan Yu wildly waved his arm around, desperately hoping to be able to grab onto something. But as he is doing so, he fell another 200 meters or so. Suddenly his bottom hit something and his body was sprung back upwards. Turns out that he fell onto an old pine tree that was growing out of the face of the cliff. With a terrible rumble, the huge trunk of the pine snapped, but the force of Duan Yu's fall had been mostly cancelled out.

Duan Yu started to fall down again. This time he reached out with both his arms and grabbed onto another trunk of the pine tree. So there he is, hanging in midair, swinging back and forth. He looked down and did not see the bottom of the canyon, merely clouds. At this moment, his body has been swung against the cliff. He immediately reached out with his left hand and grabbed onto a shorter branch close to the face of the cliff and found a place for his foot to balance himself. Only now was he finally able to calm down and slowly move his body completely up against the face of the cliff. He looked up to the old pine tree and said: ”Grandfather pine, thank you so much for your display of your abilities that saved my life. Back then your ancestor helped Qing ShiHuang (first emperor in Chinese history) get out of the rain and was granted the title of '5th Rank Senior Official'. But how can saving a life compare with protecting against the rain? I'm going to give you the position of '6th Rank Senior Official'. No, on second thought, definitely '7th' or '8th Rank Senior Official'!”

He looked around him carefully and saw that the cliff has a huge crack in it, one which he might be able to use to scale down. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and thought: ”Gan GuangHao and that Sister Ge of his surely would have thought that I am dead by now. No way in the world could they have guessed that I would be rescued by an '8th Ranked Senior Official'. They have probably already left the mountain to work on their 'merging of East and West Factions'. Who knows what kind of danger is on the bottom of this cliff, but my life is living on borrowed time anyway, doesn't really matter where I lose it again. But since Bodhisattva is protecting me, it's better not to lose it for her.”

So he started to slowly descend along the crack. Inside the crack grew a lot of weeds and small plants, so there really is no danger of losing his footing and falling again. The only problem is this cliff seemed to go on forever, after a while, his clothing were full of holes and rips from the plants along the crack, not to mention his hands and feet. After what seemed like forever, he still haven't reached the bottom, but fortunately as the cliff gets to the bottom it became less and less steep, not straight down anymore. So by then Duan Yu was able to just half-roll and half-crawl down, which is much faster.

But the sound of water splashing just kept on getting louder and louder, Duan Yu started to worry again: ”What if the bottom of this is white water rapids?” Large water pellets were hitting his face, which was actually kind of painful.

Before he had too much time to think all this over, and it wasn't like he had much choice in the matter, he has reached the bottom of the cliff. When he stood up, he could not help but to scream in astonishment. For on the cliff on the left side there is a waterfall falling from the sky like a jade dragon falling from the sky into a big and unusually clear lake. Despite of the waterfall, the lake is not filled up, meaning that there must be a way for the water to leave the valley. The water where the waterfall enters the lake is in turmoil; however, merely a little bit over 20 meters away from the waterfall the waters become calm and flat as a mirror. The moon shines down onto the lake as there is also a moon shining back from the lake.

Facing this scene, Duan Yu was left agaping, not even able to sigh in astonishment. He looked over to the side and saw several bushes of camelias by the lake shore, looking as if they are alive under the moonlight. The camelias of YuNan are the best in the world and Duan Yu has always loved them. So now he actually stopped thinking about the predicament he is in and walked over to get a closer look at the flowers. All the while muttering to himself: ”Even though there's lots of flowers here, there are only a couple of types really. And only these few 'Feathered Shirt, Rainbow Skirt' are better than the ones at my house. These 'Lotus Every Step' over here, on the other hand, aren't pure at all.”

After enjoying the camelias for a while, he walked over to the lake and drank some water. The water felt clean and soothing on the tongue with an unusual sweetness as a cool and smooth string of water went all the way into his stomach. After recovering from the drink, he stood up and walked along side the lake shore hoping to find a way out.

The lake is oval in shape, and more than half of it is hidden underneath bushes of flowers and trees. He walked from west to east and then back again to circle the lake once, which a trip of about 1 and a half kilometers. It turns out that the cliff surrounds the lake on all 4 sides with no paths out. The side that he fell from is the least steep portion of all, so it is impossible to climb on the others. Looking up, he sees that the cliff extends to above the clouds. Getting down from halfway was almost impossible, but climbing back up really is impossible. Duan Yu thought to himself: ”Even someone with the best kungfu in the world won't be able to get up there, so it's obvious there is not much difference between knowing or not knowing kungfu.”

By now it was getting close to dawn, but the entire place remained incredibly still. Not a single trace or sign of an animal, not to mention humans; the only thing that could be heard was a couple of birds chirping at each other. Duan Yu started to worry again: ”It is no big deal if I starve to death here, but then that would mean that Miss Zong would die as well. I can't let her down like that. Not to mention my mom and dad are probably worried sick about me.”

He sat down by the lake and worried in vain, unable to come up with a single idea as to what to do. In desperation, he started to imagine: ”What if I can turn into a fish, then I could swim up the waterfall and get out of here.” He turned to look at the waterfall more closely, suddenly he noticed that the cliff besides it is smooth like jade. He figured that this is probably due to the fact that a long time ago the flow of water was much more than it is now and wore the cliff to its present smooth state. Then the water flow decreased and exposed this smooth as glass and bright as a mirror part of the cliff.

Suddenly, the conversation between Gan GuangHao and that Sister Xin of his flashed in Duan Yu's mind: ”So this must be the 'No Measure Jade Cliff' that they were talking about. They said that back then, when the moon is bright, the head of both East and West Factions often saw images of angels practicing swords on the cliff. This cliff is right besides the cliff, for the image to reflect onto it, they really have to be practicing in the middle of the lake. If I stand here on the east of the lake my image could reflect onto the cliff as well, but the cliff on this side is straight up and blocks out the moonlight, which would make that impossible. Ah! I get it! Must be because there are some waterfowls flying close to the surface of the lake so their images were reflected onto the cliff. From afar, then of course, the movements are incredible, fast, and strange. They have already assumed that it was angels practicing swords, so that is what they thought they saw everytime. Of course, they can't make anything out of the display of 'sword skills' and eventually went down the wrong path and became obsessed.”

Once he figured all this out, he couldn't help but laugh a little. It has been 15 to 16 hours since the dinner at Sword Lake Palace and he is getting very hungry. So he walked over to some bushes that had greenish red wild fruits grown all over them. He picked one off and bit down, it tasted just as sour as can be. But as hungry as he was, he didn't care and ate 10 or so in a row. After filling up somewhat, he suddenly felt tired and sore all over his body. So he lied down on the grassy knoll and had a great sleep.

This was one of the best sleeps that he has ever had. By the time he woke up, the sun is already slightly to the west. There was a rainbow in the middle of the lake, just as beautiful as can be. Duan Yu knew that rainbows in this place is common because of the waterfall so he thought to himself: ”To be able to see such a scene before I die means that my fortune is not bad. And to think that I would die here among the flowers on the lakeside, not bad elegance there either. Such a beautiful lake, too bad the camelias aren't really of great standards.”

After sleeping, his spirits has picked up greatly: ”Maybe there is an exit in this place hidden behind the trees and the bushes. I was too much in a hurry last night and might have missed it.” So he once again walked alongside the lake in search of an exit, all the while humming favorite tunes of his. He carefully searched everywhere with the greatest care but behind all the bushes and trees were still just faces of the cliff, going straight up into the clouds. He didn't even find a snake hole, not to mention a real exit.

The tunes that he was humming got quieter and quieter while the heart became heavier and heavier. When he got back to where he fell asleep his legs felt weak and he had to sit down. He thought: ”Miss Zhong tried to save me, but ended up giving her life away as well.”

Now that he is thinking about Zhong Ling, he took out her shoes from his shirt and looked them over. Remembering back to her small and smooth feet as well as her beautiful face, he had to bring the shoes up to his lips and kiss it several times. Putting the shoes back into his shirt, he thought to himself: ”Seems like I don't have a chance, and that means neither does Miss Zhong. If she was here and the 2 of us can spend what's left of our lives together here on the shore of this lake, that would be great. Too bad she is with that goat beard SiKong Xuan, no fun there. I wonder if she's thinking about me right now as well?” {I relate to Duan Yu on many levels, as I think what he thinks about here is exactly what I would be thinking as well}

Nothing to do, so he went over to the fruit trees to eat more fruits. Suddenly, he realized: ”I have searched everywhere but here! The cliff might pull a 'Far as the edge of the world, but close to be in front of my eyes'!” He pulled the fruit tree branches aside, but shook his head in disappointment. Behind the tree is another bare rock covered with vines, no exit whatsoever. But a closer look revealed that this rock is smooth to the point that it looks just like a copper mirror, only it is much smaller than the one by the waterfall. Duan Yu suddenly thought to himself: ”Could this be the real 'No Measure Jade Cliff'?” So he pulled some of the vines off the rock. But besides being unusually smooth, there is nothing special about the rock.

Suddenly an idea popped in his head: ”Nobody would ever know that I died here. No harm in carving a couple of words on this rock. Um, how about 'Duan Yu of DaLi died at this place'. Could be quite fun.”

So he pulled off all the vines off the rock. Then he took off his robe, dipped it in water in the lake, and wetted the rock. Then he used some grass to brush the rock a bit. By now the rock really does look like a piece of jade.

He found a rather sharp rock on the ground and started to carve on the rock. But this rock turned out to be unusually hard. After much work, he barely carved out ”Duan”, but the word was carved shallow and tilted, without the slightest trace of writing technique and skill. Duan Yu threw down the sharp rock and thought to himself: ”If someone sees this later, they would think that this 'Duan Yu' doesn't even know how to write his own name. If I carve these 8 words, what kind of stinking legacy is that to leave behind?” Besides, he wrist was very sore.

After it got dark again, he ate some more of the sour fruits and fell asleep. He dreamt that a pair of flowery shoes was flying around in front of his eyes. The shoes were green with yellow flowers, Zhong Ling's pair. He immediately tried to grab them, but the shoes kept on flying around like a pair of butterflies, he can never seem to catch them. After a while, the shoes flew higher and higher. Duan Yu anxiously shouted: ”Shoes! Please don't fly off!” This shock woke him up. Finding out that it was all a dream, he rubbed his eyes, felt his shirt to make sure that the pair of shoes are still where they should be, and stood up. He looked up at the full moon, the silvery light shined down onto the lake making it look like a layer of silver. His eyes followed along the surface of the lake. Suddenly his whole body shook, for on the jade cliff opposite of him was an image of a person!

Needless to say, he was surprised beyond belief. Immediately he took a deep breath and shouted: ”Angel! Save me! Angel, save me!” The image shook a bit, but did not reply. Duan Yu has by now calmed down a little and looked at the image more carefully. The image is very faint and hard to see clearly, but the person is wearing a robe and a scarf, obviously a man. He ran forward several steps to the lake's shore and shouted: ”Angel! Save me!” The image shook somewhat and got bigger. When Duan Yu stopped, the image stopped moving as well.

After the initial puzzlement, he immediately understood: ”It's my own reflection.” He jumped to the left, the image on the cliff jumped to the left as well. He took a step right and so did the image. By now there is no doubt in his mind that it is his own image, but he is still puzzled: ”The moon is on the southwest, how does it manage to shine my image on to the cliff?”

He turned around, only to see that on the rock which he had carved ”Duan” earlier in the day there was also an image of him. Only this image is alot smaller, but much more pronounced. He immediately understood the whole situation: ”So the moon shines my reflection onto this little rock, which in turn reflects my image onto the big cliff. It is as if I was standing between 2 mirrors, the big mirror would reflect my image in the small mirror as well.”

Now that he has thought about this, he can't help but think there is nothing special about this ”Mystery of the Angel Images” that has puzzled ”No Measure Sword” for decades: ”There really were someone standing here practicing swords and their image got reflected onto the cliff. There used to be a man and a woman, but later on something happened to the guy, either he left or died, and only the woman was left here. She lived here all alone and after about 2 years she died of loneliness.” Thinking about a beautiful woman losing her love, living in this canyon all alone, and finally dying in sadness, he couldn't help but be a little depressed.

Figuring all of this out, his excitement earlier has now subsided. With nothing else to do, he started to wave his arm and legs wildly, pretending to be practicing kungfu: ”Hopefully Zuo ZiMu and ShuangQing just so happens to be at the top of the cliff. When they see that 'Angel' suddenly appeared on the cliff again, they would think that the angel is trying to teach them kungfu. Then they will try hard to learn this 'kungfu' that I'm showing them so they can pass it on to posterity. Hahaha!” The more he thought about it the funnier he felt, so he started laughing heartily.

Suddenly a thought popped in his head and he stopped laughing: ”These 2 people only practice swords in his canyon once in a while. If they don't live here, then there must be a path in and out of here. Else no matter how good their kungfu is, it is still way too much trouble to climb the cliff twice everytime they want to practice swords. Maybe once in a long while, certainly not 'often'.” A ray of hope appeared to him: ”I'll go and carefully look for a way out. Didn't Gan GuangHao say: 'Good things come to those with aspirations'? Hehe, he aspires to marry his Sister Ge, then I will aspire to get out of here.”

So he sat down with his arm around his knees. Looking at the moon reflected in the lake, surrounded by all this quiety serenity, he started thinking: ”'Good things come to those with aspirations'. That saying is true. But Confucious also said: 'Those who like are better off than those who know, those who are happy are better off than those who like.' That saying fits my style much better. Mom and dad sometimes call me 'obsessive' because I always get obsessed about stuff when I was little. Like when I was 7, I stared at that '18 Scholar' Camelia plant from dawn to dusk, even sneaking up in the middle of the night to stare at it. All I did was think about it, even while eating and learning. When the flower wilts, I cried for several days straight. Later, when I started to learn Go, it was the same, constantly forgetting about eat and sleep. All day everyday, all I did was think about how to play the game. This time dad told me to learn kungfu, just so happens I am interested in the 'Book of Changes'. Even when I'm eating, I would wonder whether the chopsticks I'm using are 'Big Haves' or 'Colleague'. I don't want to learn kungfu, was it really because I don't want to learn how to beat and kill people? Or could it possibly because I don't want to put down 'Book of Changes'? Dad said I was 'unreasonable', maybe I really was being very unreasonable. Mom knows how I am the best, so she said to dad: 'One day when this kid gets interested in kungfu, you can't even force him to stop for a minute to eat. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. If he doesn't want to learn there is nothing you can do to make him.' Ah! It is almost impossible to make me aspire to do something. Hopefully one day I'll become obsessed with kungfu, that would make my mom, dad, and uncle all very happy. I just won't beat or kill anyone once I learn it, that's all. It's not like you have to kill to learn kungfu. My uncle's kungfu is so powerful, but he is so benevolent and merciful that I don't think he killed a single person in his life. Even if he wants to kill someone, it's not like he has to do it himself.”

Sitting there by the lake, deep in thought, he lost all track of time. Suddenly, he noticed faint rainbow colors reflecting off of the smooth rock by his side. Looking at it closer, he saw an image of a sword underneath the ”Duan” he carved on the rock. The image of the sword was unusually clear for a reflection, he can clearly make out the handle, hand guard, and sword point. The sword is pointing downwards, the reflection also emits a rainbowlike aura, moving and flashing around.

He wondered: ”Why is there extra colors in the reflection?” He looked up to look for the moon but can't see it. Turns out that the moon has dipped below the clff on the westside. That cliff face has a hole in it, the moonlight is shining through the hole. Inside the cave itself there were some colorful likes emitting out. Suddenly, he understood: ”I get it! There's a sword hanging inside of the cave, on the sword there are many precious stones and gems. The moonlight shines on the sword and the gems making the jade reflect their image. No wonder it is so amazingly spectacular and colorful.”

He thought some more: ”One has to hollow out the sword body to inlay it with gems, only then can the moonlight shine through the gems and create such an image. If the sword is not hollowed out, then the moonlight can't shine through the gems. Obviously, creating this sword took alot of work.” The hole that the sword is in is about 20 meters above the ground, no way for him to go and get a closer look. Looking at it from the bottom, only the varied colored lights from the gems can be seen. But the reflection on the stone looked like a scene from a beautiful dream, as if something stolen from the gods.

Soon, the moon moved. The colors got lighter and lighter until it disappeared completely and the rock turned back to a gray color. Duan Yu thought: ”That sword was probably placed there by that pair or masters. Such a steep and deep cliff, nobody in No Measure Sword would even dare to climb down to inspect the place. But if you stand on the top of the cliff, there is no way that you can see this hole and the sword. Even if No Measure Sword stood up there and stared at the cliff for another hundred years, they probably still won't know about this. Yet, even if you can get the sword, what's the big deal about that?” Aftre thinking about it a bit more, he fell asleep.

In the middle of a dream, he suddenly jumped up: ”To place a sword at that place, how much effort and work would it take? Even if you are a kungfu master, it would still be alot of trouble. To go through so much work, there must be something behind it. Maybe there are some secrets in that hole on the cliff, maybe some secret kungfu manual is hidden there.” Once his thoughts went on to kungfu, some excitement went out of his sails: ”Those kind of kungfu manuals, No Measure Sword treats them like treasures, but if you put them in front of me, I wouldn't even open them up to read.”

The next day, he slowly walked around the lake and enjoyed the view. This is his 3rd day inside this canyon. He figured in 4 more days the ”Intestine Fragmenter” would take effect, by then there really is no point in looking for a way out anymore.

He woke up at midnight that night and waited for the moon to dip west. After 3 or 4 hours, the moonlight start coming through the hole in the cliff, once again displaying all the beautiful colors upon the little smooth rock. The image of the sword on the rock is tilted toward the north, pointing at another big rock. Duan Yu's mind lit up: ”Maybe there's something about this rock.” He walked over to the rock and pushed. The moss on the rock felt wet and soft, yet that rock seemed to have moved a little when he pushed. He pushed even harder, now it is obvious that the rock is rocking. This rock is chest high and weigh at least a ton if not 2. Logically he can never be able to move it. He felt around the bottom of the rock. Turns out this giant rock was sitting on top of a small piece of rock, but unsure whether this situation man-made or natural. His heart skipped a beat: ”Something fishy is going on here!”

He placed his hands on the right side of the rock and pushed. The rock swayed out of place but then returned to its original position. There were some sounds of vines snapping coming out from underneath the rock as if the 2 rocks were tied together by some vines. By now there was not enough moonlight to see clearly, so he thought: ”Wait until day comes, then I'll come and figure it all out.”

So he laid down beside the rock and took a little nap and when he woke up, the sun had come out. He stood up and inspected around the rock. Then he laid down and got rid of all the vines and tiny stones between the 2 rocks. Once again he pushed, this time the big rock slowly rotated like a door. After a quarter turn, a meter high cave appeared behind it.

In his excitement, he did not even check whether or not there are dangers inside the cave before lowering his head and entering. After more than 10 steps, there is no longer any light in the cave. He held both of his hands out and felt around before every step. But the ground felt flat and smooth, as if he was walking on a stone path. It was as if the path was designed and made by human, he could not help but get even more excited about this. Only thing is that the path continued to head downwards, obviously he was going lower and lower. Suddenly, his hands came in contact with some cold, ring-like object. As soon as he touched it, the object let out a loud and clear ”Dang!” He touched it once more, turned out the object was a door ring.

Where there's a door ring, there must be a door. His hands felt around, finding several door nails. In surprise and excitement he thought: ”If there is someone living behind this door, wouldn't that be weird?” He found the door ring again and knocked 3 times. After waiting for a while, nobody came. He knocked the door ring 3 times more, still nobody. So he pushed the door. The door seemed to be made of iron and copper, heavy as can be, but it wasn't locked. So when he pushed, it slowly opened. He spoke up: ”I am Duan Yu, please forgive me for showing up and barging in uninvited.” No sound came from inside, so he stepped in.

No matter how hard he stared, he still could not see anything. The smell of mildew surrounded him, seemed like nobody has been living here for a very long time. He continued to walk forward. ”Bang”! His head suddenly bumped into something. Luckily he was walking very slowly, so it didn't hurt much. He felt around with his hand, turns out it was another door. He slowly pushed this door open and some light hit his eyes.

He shut his eyes as his heart raced like crazy. Only after a bit did he slowly open his eyes and saw a round shaped room. The light was coming from the left, but it was too dim and hazy to be sunlight.

He walked toward the window that was the source of light. Suddenly a shrimp swam by outside of the window. Surprised and curious, he took several more steps towards it and saw a colorful carp casually swim by the window as well. He looked at the window closely and saw it actually is a huge piece of crystal that was imbedded into the wall. The crystal is about size of a tray and the light was coming through it.

He put his head up against the crystal and looked out. Fishes and shrimps swam about without any bounds being seen. He suddenly figured out where he was, actually below the lake now. It must have taken a lot of effort and work to build this room so that the light from outside would come in, not to mention this tray-size crystal. After calming down some, he immediately started to worry: ”Crap! I'm below the bottom of the lake now! I couldn't see a thing the entire way down, don't know how many twists and turns I took to end up here. How am I suppose to get out now?”

Turning around, he noticed that there is a stone table in the middle of the room with a stool by it. On top of the table was a copper mirror, beside the mirror were some combs and earring type of things. It looked as if this was a beautiful woman's living place. The mirror is green with rust and the table is covered in inches of dust. Don't know how long it has been since someone been here.

Seeing this scene, he became lost in his thoughts: ”A girl must have lived here many years ago. Don't know what happened to her to make her want to leave the world like this. Hmm, most likely she's the girl whose image was reflected onto the cliff.” Snapping out of his trance, he looked around some more. There were mirrors all over the room and embedded into the wall as well. He did a little count, there were more than 30 mirrors in total. He thought some more: ”The girl probably was an unrivaled beauty. Her partner died, so she just lived here all by herself. Only thing to do was to sit and look at herself all day everyday. Such a story, how can one not be sad?”

Walking around in the room, once in a while he would click his tongue, then other times he would let out a long sigh, only thinking about the former master of this room. After a long while, he suddenly had a thought: ”Ay! I'm so busy thinking about the sadness of the former owner that I forgot about my problems.” He started to talk to himself: ”I, Duan Yu, am a stinking male. If I die in this place, then I could very well offend the beautiful lady. It is best to die outside by the lake. Else if others come here in the future and find my body here and mistake it for the lady's body, then isn't that... isn't that....” Before he thought about what that really is or isn't, he suddenly noticed that a mirror on the east wall was reflecting the light onto what seemed like a crack on the southwest wall. He immediate ran over and pushed hard on that piece of rock. As expected, it really was a door. As it slowly opened, it revealed an entrance. Looking into the entrance, he saw another flight of stone stairs.

In excitement, he let out a yell and danced around for a while before moving on. After walking another 10 or so steps downward, he faintly saw another door in front of him. He pushed the door open. Light hit his eyes as he let out a scream: ”Ai-Yo!”

In front of him was a beautiful girl dressed in formal clothing holding a sword in her hand. The point of the sword pointed right at his chest.

After a long time, the girl did not move at all. He looked at the girl closely, noticing that even though her expression looked real, she does not seem to be alive. Summoning his courage he looked her over closely again. Only now did he see that she is a statue made from white jade. This statue is the same size as an actual human. The light yellow colored silk shirt she has on were lightly moving in the wind. The most interesting feature were her pupils, they are alive with spirit and expression. All Duan Yu could say was: ”So sorry, so sorry. It is so rude to stare at miss like I am.” He knew it was rude, but he still could not take his eyes off of her eyes. After staring for who knows how long, he finally figured out that the eyes were made from some kind of black gem. But the more he stared the deeper her pupils seemed to become. The fact that the statue looks so very human-like was mainly because of the spirit and delicacy of its eyes.

The white jade on the statue's face has a faint sign of redness, making it even more human like. Duan Yu stepped aside to look at the statue, but noticed that her eyes followed him as if she was alive. In shock, he leaned his head to the right, the eyes of the statue still followed him. No matter where he stands, the statue's eyes are always looking at him. The expression in her eyes were even harder to figure out, seemingly love and happiness but not really, seemingly sincerely in love, yet also seemed silently depressed.

He was spellbound for a long time. With a deep bow, he said: ”Dear Goddess, Duan Yu was fortunate enough to see your beauty today, I can die without no regrets now. Goddess, you have separated yourself from the world to live here by yourself, hope it wasn't too lonely.” The colors from the statue's eyes changed, as if she heard what he said and was truly touched.

By now Duan Yu was completely spellbound. It's almost as if he was possessed, as if he can't ever take his eyes off the statue again. He muttered: ”Don't know how I should address dear Goddess.” He thought: ”I should look around to see if she left her name around here.”

Looking around, he saw a lot of writings on the wall to the east but he didn't really pay attention to them and immediately went back to staring at the statue. This time he noticed that the hair on the statue is actually real human hair, curled up in a bun. The hair around her temples were like a fog. By her temple was a jade hairpin. On the hairpin was 2 pinky sized crystals, shiny and colorful. The walls of the room were full of gems and crystals as well. On the wall on the west side, 6 large crystals were embedded into the walls. Beyond the crystals was the faint glow of water, making this room several times brighter than the previous room.

He stared blankly at the statue for a long time again before turning away. He noticed that the east wall has been smoothed out and several lines of words has been carved onto it. The lines were all taken from ZhuangZi (Toaist philosopher, contemporary of Mencius, a favorite of Oscar Wilde), mostly from the books of ”Carefree Travels”, ”Principles of Nuturing”, ”Autumn Waters”, and ”Epitome of Happiness”. The calligraphy was elegant and refined. The words seemed to be carved with a really sharp tool for every stroke is about half-an-inch deep. At the end was another line: ”Dedicated to Dear QiuShui (Autumn Waters) from Carefree Man. No sun and moon in this cave, truly the Epitome of Happiness in the mortal world.”

Duan Yu stared at these words for a while, thinking: ”This 'Carefree Man' and 'Dear QiuShui' are probably the 2 masters that were practicing swords decades ago. And this statue is probably that 'Dear QiuShui' as well. Carefree Man was able to live with her here in this serene cave, that really is the epitome of happiness in the mortal world. Actually, who says it's merely epitome of happiness in the mortal world, does heaven have such joys?”

His eyes moved onto the other lines on the wall: ”Small and insignificant mountain, immortals dwell within, skin like ice and snow, graceful virgin, no need for foods, and shows joy in breeze.” He turned to the statue and thought: .”Using these words by ZhuangZi to describe Dear Goddess could not be anymore appropriate.” He walked to in front of the statue and stared. Seeing her ice-like skin, he did not dare to even lift a finger and touch her. It was as if his heart was possessed. He even faintly smelled some musk like incense fragrance. From love was born respect, from respect came obsession. {ZhuangZi needs to learn to write coherently, that's what I say. Hopefully my translation was not just out there.}

After who knows how long, he suddenly blurted out: ”Dear Goddess, if you are willing to say even one word to me. Then I would happily and without regret die 1000, no, 10000 times.” Suddenly he kneeled.

When he kneeled, he noticed that there were 2 mats in front of the statue, seemingly placed for people to kowtow to the statue. His knees were resting on the bigger mat while there is a much smaller one just in front of the statue, seeming made for people to kowtow. So he did. Suddenly he noticed that there seemed to be words sewn onto the inside portion of the statue's shoes. He looked harder and recognized that on the right shoe was sewn: ”Kowtow one thousand times, then obey my orders”, and the left shoes read: ”Whoso follows my instructions, will never have regrets”.

These 16 words were literally smaller than the head of a fly. The shoes were green like the lake, and the 16 words were sewn using a thin green line, only slightly darker than the shoes. Add in the hazy and confusing lighting of the room, there is no way these words can be seen without first kowtowing followed by a careful look. Duan Yu felt that kowtowing 1000 times was actually very natural of a thing, adding on top that he would be get a chance to obey the statue, he really couldn't ask for anything more. As for following her instructions, he wouldn't mind jumping in boiling oil or burning seas, of course he would not regret it. So without a bit of hesitation, with his mind not all there, he started to really honestly kowtowing to the statue. All the while he counted out loud: ”5, 10, 15, 20....”

When he got to 500, his waist was sore, his bones hurt, and his forehead felt numb. But he told himself that he would not stop until he gets to 1000 no matter what. Can't even accomplish the first instructions he got from Dear Goddess, then how does he get off saying ”will never have regret”? By the time he got to 800, the smaller mat had been worn through, exposing something underneath. He didn't bother and still went on kowtowing one after another. When he finished, he stood up. Suddenly he felt his waist give out and fell flat on his back.

He just lied there, resting. Even though he is worn and sore all over, he still felt great in his heart for he has done something that the statue asked of him. Only after a long while did he finally, and slowly, got up. He touched where the smaller mat was worn through. It felt smooth and soft to the touch, turned out there was a silk bundle underneath. He thought: ”So Dear Goddess had this planned out a long time ago. If I didn't kowtow 1000 times, the mat wouldn't have been worn through, and the treasure that she has rewarded to me wouldn't have appeared.” He never cared for jade, crystals, or pearls, but since this silk bundle was given to him by Dear Goddess, he would treasure it like no other even if its only a pile of dried up leaves. He grabbed it with his right hand, but immediately put his left hand on it as well, and held it up to his chest.

The silk bundle was about a foot long and on it were written these words: ”You have already kowtow 1000 times, meaning that you have admitted as my subject and will listen to my command without regrets. This volume is the essence of our Carefree Sect's kungfu (Xiao Yao Pai). From this day forth, you shall, from 5am to 7am, 11pm to 1am, and 5pm to 7pm, follow and practice the instructions within. Then you can rightfully read the collection and all the kungfus of every sect in the world will be yours to use. Learn what you can and want, afterwards leave and kill all of the disciples and descendants of the Carefree Sect. If one fall through the holes, even the heavens will curse you.” {Written in very fancy book Chinese, I tried to get the gist of it without breaking out with Shakespearian imitations}

His hands that were holding up the bundle could not shaking violently as the thought ran across his mind: ”What does she mean? I don't want to learn kungfu, as for killing all of the disciples of Carefree Sect, I have even less urge to do that. But how can I not obey Dear Goddess's instructions? I have already kowtowed to her 1000 times, which means I am now a willing subject of hers. But she wants me to learn kungfu and kill, what should I do?” {As the Chinese would describe Duan Yu: Idiot Scholar!}

His mind was a mess as he thought to himself: ”She tells me to learn the kungfu of the Carefree Sect and kill all the disciples of the Carefree Sect, how strange. Hm, probably her martial brothers and sisters did something horrible to her, so she wants revenge. Yet she was not able to before her death, so she wants to have a disciple to finish this wish of hers. Those people did bad things to Dear Goddess, then without a doubt they are the most evil and sinister people in the world. When Confucius said: 'Revenge with righteousness', he was talking about this kind of stuff. Dad also said that even if I don't want to kill bad people, when they meet me they would want to kill me, so if I don't know any kungfu, then all I can do is wait to be killed. There is a lot of sense in what he said.” When his father was forcing him to learn kungfu, he whipped out all kinds of philosophies and arguments of Confucius and Buddhism to say that it's not right to learn kungfu. His father's knowledge in this subject is not on par with him, so he could not argue with him. Yet at this moment, he is obsessed with the statue, so he naturally feels that there are some sense in what his father said.

He thought some more: ”Dear Goddess has been gone for several decades now, don't know if there still is a Carefree Sect in this world. As the saying goes: 'Evil only begets evil'. Maybe every single one of them have already got what's coming to them and there is no need for me to kill them anymore. If there are no more disciples of Carefree Sect, then Dear Goddess's wish has come to fruition and she need not be full of hate up in heaven where she resides.”

Once he thought of this, his heart relaxed and he stopped worrying. He silently prayed: ”Dear Goddess, whatever instructions you leave behind, Duan Yu will obey without a question. But hopefully your powers knows no bounds and the disciples of Carefree Sect have already met their ends.” Nervously, he opened up the bundle. Inside was one single roll of silk scroll.

He unrolled the scroll. The first line read: ”Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness” (Bei Ming Shen Gong). The handwriting was beautiful and elegant yet powerful, same as the words written on the outside of the silk bundle. After it was written:

”ZhuangZi's 'Carefree Travels' read: 'Beyond the northern boundaries is the sea of darkness, a sea of heaven. There are fishes within thousands of kilometers long, but no one known really how long.' Also read: 'If the accumulated water is not enough, then it is no matter that the boat's big. If the water from the overturned cup is more than that can be held by the depression, then even cabbage leaves can be a boat; set the cup inside and become as one, then if the water is little then the boat is big.' In our sect's kungfu,accumulating inner force is most important. Once inner force is strong, then all of the kungfus of all the sects are ours to use. Just like the northern darkness, able to hold all boats no matter the size, able to contain all fishes big or small. For this reason, inner force is most basic and first, while moves are last. Using the diagrams below and diligently learn inner force training and meditation.”

{Note: the phrase that said ”fishes within” in Chinese is ”YuYan”, Wang YuYan's name is a play off of this line. ZhuangZi's phrases need to make some sense, I tried to go for the literal meaning because they are supposed to be very meaningful quotes with many levels. It would be better if he had not used rare words and weird ways to say the simplest of concepts.}

Duan Yu praised: ”Dear Goddess could not have made it any clearer with this passage!” He thought some more: ”Since this 'Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness' is inner force kungfu, learning it should be no harm to anyone.” So he unrolled some more of the scroll with his left hand. ”Ah!” He suddenly screamed as his hearted raced a mile a minute. In an instant he blushed to the roots of his ears and his whole body felt like it was burning up.

For on the scroll there was a drawing of a naked female, not a single strand of clothing on her body, face exactly like that of the statue's. Duan Yu felt as if one glance would be disrespect and obscene towards Dear Goddess, so he immediately rolled up the scroll. Only after a long while did he think: ”Dear Goddess instructed: 'Using the diagrams below and diligently learn.' I'm only following her instructions, can't be counted as disrespect.”

His hands still shaking, he unrolled the scroll again. The face of the female was smiling beautifully and sweetly. The ends of her eyebrows, the corner of her eyes, and her rosy cheeks all exuded a seductive charm. When compared to that serious expression of the jade statue, although their looks are the same, the feeling they give off are completely different. He could almost hear his heart beating heavily as his eyes moved onto the woman's body and saw a thin green line. The line started on her left shoulders, moved horizontally until below her chin, then slanted downwards to her right breast. When he saw a slight sign of mound of her breast, his heart skipped at least 5 beats and he immediately shut his eyes. After a long wait, he slowly opened his eyes and looked down again. The green line passed underneath the armpits, followed her right arm, passing her wrist and finally came to a stop on her right thumb. The more he followed the line the more relaxed he became, figuring looking at Dear Goddess's arm and fingers is nothing bad. But even when just looking at her beautiful and shapely arm and legs, his heart could not help but start picking up again.

There was another green line that started at the base of the neck and went downwards, past the chest and stomach all the way until a few inches above the navel. Duan Yu dared not to look at that line very closely and turned his attention back to the green line on the arm. This time he noticed a lot of small words by the line, starting from ”Cloudy Gate” all the way to ”Less Merchant”. He often listens in on his parents talking about kungfu, although he never really paid much attention to it, he has heard them talk about it too often. So he recognizes these small words as names of pressure points on the body.

He unrolled the scroll a bit further and read: ”Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness is about using other's inner strength as my own. The sea of the Northern Darkness did not create itself. It said: 'All the rivers empties into the ocean, the ocean is because it can contain the rivers.' The vast open seas was accumulated. So 'Scripture of the Lunar Hand and Lungs' is the first lesson of the Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness” followed by detailed instructions as to how to practice this kungfu.

It concludes the section with: ”When others practice inner strength, the path that they take is from Cloudy Gate to Less Merchant. But our Carefree Sect's kungfu is from Less Merchant to Cloudy Gate, if thumb comes in contact with others, then their inner force will gush into my body and be stored at Cloudy Gate as well as other pressure points. But if the opponent's inner force is stronger than mine, then the water of the sea will empty into the rivers and will lead to life threatening dangers, you have been forewarned. The other skills of our sect, has not been developed fully and are only able to weaken the opponent's inner force but cannot make it available for own use. It is as if stealing a fortune yet misplacing it, such a waste of something so precious.”

Duan Yu let out a long sigh as some part of him felt that there is something not quite right with this skill. Using other's inner strength for your own use, isn't that just like stealing something precious from others? But then he also thought: ”Dear Goddess could not have picked a better metaphor. Rivers empty into the sea because it is the rivers themselves doing the emptying, not because the sea is stealing the river's waters. My thinking Dear Goddess stealing from others, how disrespectful is that? Punishment is called for. Definitely called for!”

So he lifted his hand up and slapped himself once on both cheeks. The first slap on his left cheek was rather hard and very painful, so naturally he took off a lot of force on the second slap on his right cheek. He thought to himself: ”Bad, evil people came to make trouble to Dear Goddess, so Dear Goddess took their inner strength for herself. That's only taking away bad, evil people's ability to do bad, evil things. Like grabbing the butcher knife away from the butcher, not killing him. How could a person such as Dear Goddess ever do a single bad thing?”

So he unrolled some more of the scroll. There were many many more drawings of naked females on the scroll, some standing and some sitting, some showing her frontside while others show her back. Although the face remained the same, her expressions changed as well, sometimes happy and sometimes worried, sometimes full of loving tenderness while other times filled with jealous disdain; not a single expression was the same as another one. There were a total of 36 drawings in total, every one of them have several colorful lines with pressure points clearly labeled and training instructions.

At the very end of the scroll were the words: ”Minute Ice Ripple Step” (Lin Buo Wei Bu), following it were countless number of foot prints, each labeled with position names from the Book of Changes. Only a few days ago, Duan Yu was still diligently reading and studying the Book of Changes for all his worth. So upon seeing these names, his spirit and interest immediately picked up, as if he was meeting an old friend. The footprints on the scroll were densely packed and numerous, not quite sure if there are thousands of them or just hundreds. There were green lines connecting every step with another, and on the lines were arrows as well. Obviously a very complicated foot skill. At the end were written: ”If suddenly meeting a strong foe, this can be used for protection as well as accumulating inner strength. Then take the foe's life.”

Duan Yu thought: ”Dear Goddess left this step skill, so it will no doubt be perfect and refined. If I can use it to run away when I run into a strong foe, that would be great. Then there would be no need to 'take the foe's life'.”

He rolled up the scroll, clasped his hands and bowed towards it. Only then did he carefully put it in his shirt. Turning to the statue, he said: ”Dear Goddess, you have instructed me to train 3 times a day, Duan Yu dare not disobey. From this day forth I'll be sure to be extra polite and courteous to everyone I meet, then others won't come at me. Of course, then I wouldn't need to steal their inner strength. As for this 'Minute Ice Ripple Step', I will definitely work extra hard on it. If things do not seem right, I'm out of there, then there would be no need to steal inner strength.” As for that section about ”kill all disciples of the Carefree Sect”, he dared not to even think about that.

Seeing that there is a door on the left, he slowly walked through it. Inside was another stone room with a stone bed. By the bed was a small wooden cradle. He stared blankly at the cradle: ”Could it be possible that Dear Goddess had a baby? No way, no way! Such a beautiful girl, how could she have a baby?” Just the very thought that this ”graceful as a virgin” Dear Goddess of his actually might have a baby put him on the verge of tears because of the disappointment. But his thoughts immediately turned: ”Ah! That's right! This is the cradle that Dear Goddess used when she was a baby, her mom and dad made it for her. That Carefree Man and Dear QiuShui were probably her parents. Yes, that must be it.” Not willing to think about this anymore and find holes in his assumption, he immediately cheered up.

There were no quilts, pillows, or clothing in the room. There is only a 7 stringed zither hanging on a wall in this room. The strings are all broken. Left of the bed was a stone table, on which were carved a 19 x 19 square of the Go board. On the board there are about 200 or so stones. Both sides were well placed for the match, obviously this game has not ended. Zither is here, game is not over, yet the beauty is gone. Duan Yu silently stood there in the room. Before he knew it, 2 streaks of tear ran down his cheeks.

Suddenly his heart turned cold: ”Ai-Yo! If there is a match, then there must have been 2 people playing. Then Dear Goddess would most likely be that ”Dear QiuShui” and she would be playing against her husband Carefree Man here. Ay! This is... This is.... Ah! I got it, this game was not played by 2 people. Dear Goddess was here all by herself and play against herself out of boredom and loneliness. Dear Goddess, why didn't you call out several times then? Duan Yu would have heard your voice and naturally jumped down here to play the game with you.” He walked closer and looked the game over carefully. The more he looked the more surprised he became.