Chapter - 16 (16) (2/2)

Suddenly there was a clear voice of a woman: 'Uncles and brothers, my late husband unfortunately passed away. At the moment I can't say for sure who murdered him. Thinking that my late husband was always sincere and steady, and though he wasn't well-spoken he didn't have any enemy in jianghu, I really can't imagine why someone had to take his life. But they say that: 'Tardily hiding valuable things induces thieves' (慢藏诲盗 – a phrase in The Book of Changes), was it because my late husband had something important in his hands that until somebody else had they wouldn't be satisfied? Was that they murdered him as a witness because they feared he would let out the secret damaging important affairs?' It was Ma Dayuan's widow, Madam Ma, who said these words. The purpose of these several sentences was very clear, directly suggesting that the murderer of Ma Dayuan was Qiao Feng and the purpose of his deed was to cover up the evidences of him being a Khitan.

Qiao Feng slowly turned his head, looked directly at this timid-looking, dainty elegant woman who was wearing a full-length white mourning dress, and asked: 'You suspect that I murdered Vice-Chief Ma?'

All the time Madam Ma had been turning her back to Qiao Feng and looking down at the ground, at this moment she suddenly raised her head and looked at him. Seeing her eyes shining like gems and sparkling in the darkness, Qiao Feng was slightly afraid. He heard her say: 'I'm an ignorant woman, showing my face in public is already unwise, how dare I randomly accuse someone else? But my late husband died with a grievance, uncles, I beg of you think about an old friendship, investigate and discover the truth to avenge my late husband.' As she finished saying she gracefully bent down and unexpectedly kowtowed to Qiao Feng.

She didn't state that Qiao Feng was the murderer, but every word she said pointed towards him. Seeing her kowtowing to him, even though Qiao Feng was angry, it was inappropriate for him to have an outburst, he had no alternative but to kneel down to return the salute, and said: 'Saozi (嫂子 – a term to call a wife of one's older brother), please stand up.'

Suddenly, on the left-hand side of the apricot forest the voice of a girl could be heard: 'Madam Ma, there's a doubt in my mind, may I ask you a question?' Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and saw a young girl wearing a reddish gown. She was A'Zhu.

Madam Ma asked: 'What do you want to interrogate me about?' A'Zhu said: 'I dare not interrogate you. I heard you say that senior Ma had tightly sealed these letters with sealing wax, and when Elder Xu opened it, the painted imprint was still intact. Does that mean before Elder Xu opened the letters no one had seen their contents?' Madam Ma said: 'That's correct.' A'Zhu said: 'Then, besides senior Ma, originally nobody else knew about the letter of that Leading Big Brother and Chief Wang's order. So, words like tardily hiding valuable things induces thieves, murdered a witness just shouldn't have been said.'

Hearing these words of A'Zhu, everyone found them very reasonable.

Madam Ma said: 'Who are you? Why do you meddle in our Society's important affairs?' A'Zhu said: 'I'm just a little girl, how dare I meddle in your Society's important affairs? But since you all want to frame my young master, I can't help but to discern based on reasons.' Madam Ma asked again: 'Who is your young master? Is he Chief Qiao?' A'Zhu shook her head, smiled and said: 'No. He is Murong gongzi.'

Madam Ma said: 'Huh, I see.' She stopped paying attention to A'Zhu, turned towards the Elder of Rule Enforcement and said: 'Elder Bai, the rules of our Society are as firm as a rock, if you violate them, how shall you be punished?' The muscles on the face of the Elder of Rule Enforcement Bai Shijing slightly twitched, he said solemnly: 'Deliberately breaking the rules, the seriousness of illegal deeds shall be increased by one level.' Madam Ma said: 'Then how about a person who has a higher rank than even you?' Bai Shijing knew who she was pointing towards so he could not help casting a glance at Qiao Feng and said: 'The rules of our Society were created by our ancestors. Everyone must comply with them irrespective of rank or position. The same contributions will be rewarded the same, the same offenses will be punished the same.'

Madam Ma said: 'The young lady is quite right to be suspicious of this. At first I thought so too. But in the evening of the immediate day before I received the sad news about my late husband's death, someone suddenly sneaked in our house to steal.'

Everyone was surprised. Someone asked: 'Steal? What was stolen? Did anyone get injured?'

Madam Ma said: 'No one was harmed. The thief used three sedative-imbued incense sticks to make me and two maids faint and fall to the floor. He then rummaged through everything in my house and stole around ten taels of silver. The next day I received the sad news that my late husband had unluckily been murdered, how could I have the mind to care about the matter of a thief stealing silver? Fortunately, my husband kept these letters in a very secret place so it wasn't stolen and destroyed by that thief.'

These several sentences were even clearer, obviously indicating that Qiao Feng either himself went to or sent a person to Ma Dayuan's house to steal these letters. Since he had wanted to steal the letters, he must have already known about their contents, thus it could be said that the matter of murdering the witness had been made clear. As for how he knew about the contents of the letters, that Leading Hero, Chief Wang, or Vice-Chief Ma accidentally giving some information away was also not something impossible to have happened.

A'Zhu wholeheartedly wanted to vindicate Murong Fu but also did not want Qiao Feng to be embroiled in this, she said: 'A thief stealing several tens of silver taels isn't unusual. It's just that the timing of it was coincidental. That's all.'

Madam Ma said: 'What you just said is very true, at first I thought so as well, but later at the window where the thief entered and left the house I picked up an object at the foot of the wall. It was dropped by the thief in his hurry. When I just saw it I got panic and knew that this was no small matter.'

Elder Song said: 'What was the object? Why is this no small matter?' Madam Ma slowly took an object, which was eight or nine cun long, out of the cloth bag on her back, passed it to Elder Xu and said: 'Uncles, please be the judge.' After Elder Xu received that object, she dropped onto the ground and burst into tears.

Everyone turned to Elder Xu, only seeing him spreading out that object which turned out to be a folding fan. Elder Xu lowered his voice and read aloud a poem written on one side of the fan:

'The snow of the North is floating at Yanmen Pass,

On the sandy plain, grass roots are being blown chaotically in the air;

I'll feel ashamed if my feats are judged by the number of enemies I've captured,

I only wish I can personally destroy the enemy country to repay the motherland.'

(朔雪飘飘开雁门,平沙历乱卷蓬根;功名耻计擒生数,直斩楼兰报国恩.)

When Qiao Feng heard that poem he was really shocked. As he focused his eyes on the fan, he saw a picture named The Hero Comes out of the Frontier Fortress to Fight the Enemy drawn on the other side of it. This fan really belonged to him. That poem had been written on it by enshi Wang Jiantong and that picture had been drawn on it by Elder Xu. Even though the penmanship was not very refined, it had an air of heroism and righteousness, and when combined with the north wind and heavy snow depicted in the picture, it looked even more heroic and intense. This fan had been given to him on his twenty-fifth birthday as a present by enshi. He had always treasured it and kept it carefully, how come it had been lost at Ma Dayuan's house? Moreover, as he had a liberal character he never brought such things as folding fan with him.

Elder Xu turned the fan over, looked carefully at the picture which had been drawn with his own hands, let out a deep sigh, and mumbled: 'Not belonging to our ethnic group, his heart must be different. Chief Wang, ah, Chief Wang, you made a big big mistake about this matter.'

When Qiao Feng suddenly learned about his origin unexpectedly being a Khitan descendant, all sorts of feelings welled up in his hearts. For the past ten years he had tried his best everyday to devise plans to defeat Liao and kill more Khitan aggressors, therefore when all of a sudden he was confronted with this shocking matter, even though he had weathered many great storms, he could not help feeling at a loss. But after Madam Ma had again and again accused him of plotting the murder of Ma Dayuan and his folding fan had also appeared, he calmed down. In an instant several thoughts ran through his mind: 'Someone stole my folding fan to shift the blame onto me. This kind of trick can't cause Qiao Feng difficulties.' He turned to Elder Xu and said: 'Elder Xu, this folding fan is mine.'

When the people who had relatively high ranks or important positions in the Beggar Society heard Elder Xu reading aloud those verses they immediately knew that it was Qiao Feng's, but the rest of the Society did not know about that. When they heard the confirmation from Qiao Feng himself, they were all stunned.

Elder Xu also became very emotional, he mumbled: 'On the whole, Chief Wang considered me a trusted subordinate, yet this important matter of leaving behind an order, he didn't let me know about it.'

Madam Ma stood up and said: 'Elder Xu, it was good for you that Chief Wang didn't tell you.' Elder Xu did not understand, he asked: 'What?' Madam Ma mournfully said: 'In the Beggar Society, only Dayuan knew about this matter, he then suffered a grievous death, you... you... had you known about the matter before, you may not have escaped this disaster.'

Qiao Feng said loudly and clearly: 'Does anyone have something else to say?' His eyes looked at Madam Ma then turned to Elder Xu, to Bai Shijing, to the Elder of Merit Propagation, then to everyone. No one said anything.

Qiao Feng waited for a moment, seeing that no one said anything, he said: 'My origin, I'm really ashamed that I myself can't confirm it. But because so many seniors have affirmed it, I must do my best to find out the truth about it. This Chief of the Beggar Society position, I'm leaving it to a worthy person.' Saying to here, he reached into a long bag on his right foot and took out a glossy dark-green bamboo stick, which was the Dog Beating Stick, the symbol of the Chief of the Beggar Society, and said: 'This stick was given to me by Chief Wang. When I was in charge of the Beggar Society, even though I didn't have any contribution, luckily I didn't commit any serious offense either. Today I give up my position, if any heroic worthy person wants to take on this post, please come to receive this stick.'

According to the rules of the Beggar Society that had been passed down from generation to generation, when a new Chief assumed their post, the post had to be handed over by the former Chief using the Dog Beating Stick, and before the stick was handed over, the Dog Beating Stick technique had to be passed on. Hence, even if the former Chief suddenly passed away, the successor had already been confirmed and the Dog Beating Stick technique had also already been passed on. Therefore there had never been any dispute over the Chief position. Qiao Feng was in the prime of his life, he had estimated that, in every case, twenty years later he would select a heroic worthy person in the Society to pass on the Dog Beating Stick technique. At this moment, seeing him holding the bamboo stick in his hand and standing fearlessly in front of everybody, who in the beggar crowd dared to come out and receive the stick?

Qiao Feng successively asked three times, but no one in the Beggar Society said anything. He said: 'Qiao Feng's origin is unclear, so, no matter what, I dare not be in charge of this Chief position anymore. Elder Xu and the two Elders of Merit Propagation and Rule Enforcement, this Society-stabilizing treasure, the Dog Beating Stick, you three please take care of it together. Later, once you've decided on another Chief, it won't be late for the three of you to hand it over.'

Elder Xu said: 'It's sensible to say so. As for the Dog Beating Stick technique, we're gonna discuss it in the future.' He went forwards to receive the bamboo stick.

Suddenly Elder Song loudly said: 'Wait!' Elder Xu stopped in surprise and asked: 'Brother Song, what do you wanna say?' Elder Song said: 'As far as I can tell Chief Qiao isn't a Khitan.' Elder Xu said: 'How do you do that?' Elder Song said: 'I find him different than a Khitan.' Elder Xu said: 'How different?' Elder Song said: 'Khitan people are very vicious, ruthless, and cruel. But Chief Qiao is a righteous noble hero. Only a moment ago we opposed him, but he still willingly suffered stabs and shed blood for us, and pardoned us for the serious offense of revolt. How can a Khitan be like this?'

Elder Xu said: 'From his childhood he was taught by eminent Shaolin monks and Chief Wang, so his ferocious Khitan character has already changed.'

Elder Song said: 'As his character has changed, he's longer an evil man, what's improper with him being our Chief? I see that in our Society there's no one else as heroic as him. If anybody else wants to be the Chief, I'm afraid I myself won't be content.'

Many people in the Beggar Society had the same thought as Elder Song's. Qiao Feng's kindness had always been in the mind of everyone, merely based on verbal statements and written evidences of some people to remove him from the Chief position certainly made many people who were loyal to him feel discontent. After Elder Song had taken the lead in speaking his mind, several tens of people in the beggar crowd also shouted out: 'Someone's plotting to frame Chief Qiao. We can't recklessly believe their words.' 'Things that happened tens of years ago, just based on the bull of some of you, who can find out if they're true or fake?' 'The Chief position can't be changed so rashly like this!' 'I wholeheartedly follow Chief Qiao! If they forcefully change the Chief post, even if my head is cut off I'll still be discontent.'

Elder Xi loudly said: 'Those who are willing to follow Chief Qiao go with me to this side.' He pulled Elder Song with his left hand, pulled Elder Wu with his right hand, and walked to the east. After that the three heads of the Great Kindness branch, the Great Faith branch and the Great Righteousness branch also walked to the east. After the heads of these three branches had gone to the east, their subordinates one by one went after them. Quan Guanqing, Elder Chen, the Elder of Merit Propagation, and the heads of the Great Wisdom branch and the Great Courage branch however stood still. Therefore, in a moment, the Beggar Society's members were divided into two groups, the one in the east consisted of five tenths and the one who stood still consisted of three tenths. The rest of the Society's members were hesitant, not knowing which group they should follow. The Elder of Rule Enforcement Bai Shijing had always been resolute and decisive in his actions and stood by his word, but at this moment he felt very awkward and hesitant too.

Quan Guanqing said: 'Brothers, Chief Qiao is outstandingly capable and heroic, who doesn't admire him? But being the common people of Great Song, how can we listen to and obey the orders of a Khitan? The greater Qiao Feng's abilities are, the more dangerous he is to everyone.'

Elder Xi shouted: 'Bullsh!t! Bullsh!t! Fvck you! As far as I can see, you look almost like a Khitan.'

Quan Guanqing loudly said: 'Everyone here is a good Han who dedicates himself to the service of the motherland, how could we willingly serve as slaves and lackeys of another ethnicity?' These few sentences of his were really effective, in the group of beggars who had walked to the east, there were more than ten people returning to the west. The beggars in the east then swore and pulled, creating a confusing situation. In an instant, several tens of people engaged in a melee, some using unarmed martial arts and some using weapons. The Elders said loudly to hold back the situation, but each of them had his own bias. Elder Wu and Elder Chen even fiercely pointed at and swore at each other like they would start a fight any moment.

Qiao Feng shouted: 'Brothers, please stop fighting and hear me.' His voice was imposing, the wrangle in the beggar crowd immediately stopped. All turned their heads and looked at him.

Qiao Feng said in a loud and clear voice: 'This Chief of the Beggar Society post, I definitely can no longer hold it...' Elder Song interrupted: 'Chief, you mustn't lose heart...' Qiao Feng shook his head and said: 'It's not that I've lost heart. If the evidence was something else then there might be a plot to frame me, but this is my enshi Chief Wang's handwriting, other people can't fake it in any case.' He raised his voice, saying: 'The Beggar Society is the greatest society in jianghu and has an illustrious prestige, who in wulin doesn't revere it? If we kill each other, wouldn't that make outsiders laugh their heads off? Before I go I have one thing to tell you, that is, whoever lands another punch or kick on our Society's brothers will become an offender of the highest level of our Society.'

The Beggar Society had always had a high opinion of courage and righteousness, hence hearing him say so everyone secretly felt ashamed.

Suddenly the voice of a woman was heard: 'Then what if someone kills our Society's brothers?' The person who said that was Madam Ma. Qiao Feng said: 'An eye for an eye. For harming or murdering his brothers, he'll be detested by the whole world.' Madam Ma said: 'That's right.'

Qiao Feng said: 'Who murdered Vice-Chief Ma? Who stole this folding fan of mine to frame me? Eventually, everything will be able to be cleared up by investigation. Madam Ma, with my abilities, if I wanna go to your house to get something I wouldn't return empty-handed, it'd be even more improbable for me to lose something I bring with me. Needless to say, there were only two or three women in your house. Even if it was the imperial palace, the mansion of a general, or a place guarded by a strong army with thousands of horses, if I wanted to take something I wouldn't necessarily be unable to get it done.'

These few sentences sounded very imposing. The beggar crowd had always known about his abilities therefore they all found his words reasonable. No one thought that he had just talked big. Madam Ma lowered her head and said nothing.

Qiao Feng cupped his hand around his fist in salute to everyone all around and said: 'The verdant hills will never change, the green waters will flow forever, farewell, my good brothers. It's alright if I'm a Han, it's also alright if I'm a Khitan, from now on I won't ever endanger the life of any Han. If I break this vow I shall be like this saber.' As he finished saying, he leaped towards Shan Zheng and made a grab at the same time.

Shan Zheng only felt a jerk at his wrist, the saber in his hand could no longer be held firmly. His fingers loosened, the saber had already been snatched by Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng bent his right middle finger with his right thumb and gave the back of the saber a finger flick, a clang was heard, the saber had been broken into two pieces, the top of it had been sent flying away for several chi (尺 ~ 33.33 cm), the handle was still being held in his hand. He turned towards Shan Zheng, said: 'Excuse me!', then threw the handle on the ground and walked away proudly.

Everyone was astounded, someone shouted after him: 'Chief, don't go!' 'The Beggar Society totally relies on your direction!' 'Chief, please return quickly!'

All of a sudden a whizzing sound could be heard. A bamboo stick went down from midair. It was none other than Qiao Feng who had thrown the Dog Beating Stick backwards.

Elder Xu held out his hand to receive it. As soon as his right hand got hold of the bamboo stick he experienced a shaking which spread from his palm up to his arm, from his arm through his whole body, and made he felt as if he being hit by a thunderbolt. He quickly let go of it. As the leftover force of the throw in the stick was still strong, it passed straight into the ground.

The beggar crowd exclaimed in unison. Looking at this very important 'seeing the stick is like seeing the Chief' symbol of their Society, all kinds of thoughts ran through their minds.

The sun had risen. Through spaces between branches and leaves of apricot trees, rays of golden light came down and illuminated the 'Dog Beating Stick', making it shine like glossy jade.

Duan Yu called out: 'Big brother, big brother, I'll go with you!' He set out to chase after Qiao Feng but after just three steps, feeling unable to leave Wang Yuyan at this moment, he turned his head and cast a look at her. This one look made he feel even more unable to pull away. Thousands of soft silk threads seemed to have appeared in his heart pulling him back. He turned around, went to and stood before Wang Yuyan, then said: 'Miss Wang, where are the three of you going now?'

Wang Yuyan said: 'Biaoge (表哥 – maternal aunt's, paternal aunt's or maternal uncle's son) has been given a false accusation, perhaps he himself hasn't known about it, I need to inform him.'

Duan Yu felt his heart ache with sadness, he said: 'Hum, you are young ladies, there'll be inconveniences to you on the way, please allow me to escort the three of you?' He also added another sentence, trying to explain himself away: 'Having heard a lot about Murong gongzi's illustrious reputation, I also want to meet him once.'

Elder Xu said loudly and clearly: 'How to avenge Vice-Chief Ma, we should consider the matter carefully. But our Society cannot be without a leader for even one day, Chief... Qiao Feng has already left, deciding who will take over this Chief of the Society post is an urgent important matter that cannot be delayed. Quite incidentally, everyone is here, so we must carry out negotiations immediately.'

Elder Song said: 'In my opinion, everyone should go find Chief Qiao back, ask him to change his views and not to quit his post...' When he had not finished saying, someone in the west shouted: 'Qiao Feng is a Khitan barbarian, how can he be our Chief? Today everyone still thought of the old friendship, but the next time we meet he'll be our enemy, it won't be possible not to go all-out to the death.' Elder Wu sneered: 'You'll fight Chief Qiao all-out to the death? Do you deserve?' That man said furiously: 'I certainly can't fight him by myself; but how about ten people? If ten people won't do; how about one hundred people? Righteous men of the Beggar Society are loyal and devote themselves to the country, don't tell me that we would shy away from the enemies?' These few sentences of his were full of strong feelings and emotions. Many people in the beggar group in the west applauded.

When the applause had not ended, suddenly in the northwest there was a sinister sorrowful voice of a man: 'The Beggar Society had agreed to meet us at Huishan then broke the promise and didn't show up, it turns out all of you have been sneakily hiding here, ha ha ha, this is so laughable.' This voice was piercing, the words were pronounced incorrectly as if his mouth was full of tongue and his nose was stuffy, therefore it was very uncomfortable to hear.

Captain Jiang of the Great Righteousness branch and Captain Fang of the Great Courage branch cried out at the same time: 'A'yo', and said: 'Elder Xu, we missed the meeting, the enemies have gotten to here to find us!'

Duan Yu also remembered that on the day when he had first met Qiao Feng at a restaurant he had heard someone reporting to Qiao Feng that they had arranged to meet people of Western Xia's 'First-class Hall' in the morning of the following day. At that time Qiao Feng had felt that it would be too pressing, but he had still said yes to the arrangement. It was already past 7 a.m., most of the people in the Beggar Society did not know about this meeting. Even the people who had known about it only focused their minds on important internal affairs of their Society and ignored it. At the moment, hearing their enemies' mocking words, they suddenly woke up.

Elder Xu continuously asked: 'What meeting is this? Who are the enemies?' He had not been taking part in any affair in jianghu or of the Beggar Society for a long time therefore he knew absolutely nothing. The Elder of Rule Enforcement asked Captain Jiang in a low voice: 'Was it Chief Qiao who agreed to meet them?' Captain Jiang said: 'Yes, but I already followed Chief Qiao's order, sending one man to Huishan to ask the enemies to postpone the meeting until seven days later.'

The owner of that sinister sorrowful voice had a really keen sense of hearing, Captain Jiang said these two sentences in a low voice yet he actually heard them, he said: 'This meeting was already decided, how can it possibly be put back to seven or eight days later? Even one hour later is still impossible.'

Bai Shijing said furiously: 'The Beggar Society is a grand society of Great Song, how could we fear you Western Xia barbarians? We haven't dealt with you despicable scoundrels properly only because we're having important affairs. It's usual to change a date, what do you moan about?'

Suddenly a whizzing sound was heard. A man flew out of the apricot forest, fell stiffly on the ground and did not make a move. His face had been crushed and was covered with blood. His throat had been slit. He had already been dead for a long time. People in the Beggar Society identified him as Vice-Captain Xie of the Great Righteousness branch.

Captain Jiang was both shocked and angry, he said: 'Brother Xie was sent by me to change the date.'

The Elder of Rule Enforcement said: 'Elder Xu, Chief isn't here, please temporarily act as Chief.' He did not want to let out the truth that the Beggar Society was leaderless to avoid showing the impression of weakness to the enemies. Elder Xu understood, he thought that at this moment if he himself did not run the show then no one would, he then said loudly and clearly: 'They say two countries which fight each other don't kill messengers. Why did you kill the messenger that our humble Society sent to change the date of the meeting?'

That sinister sorrowful voice replied: 'This man looked arrogant, expressed himself insolently, and did not kowtow when he saw our General. How could I let him live?' When the people of the Beggar Society heard that, they immediately boiled over with anger, many people shouted out swear words.

Until now Elder Xu still did not know who the enemies were, he heard Bai Shijing call them 'Western Xia barbarians', but that man had also mentioned something like 'our General', this really made him find it difficult to get a clue. He said: 'Why don't you show your face instead of hiding sneakily? Why just talk nonsense and brag foolishly?'

That man cackled and said: 'Who are hiding sneakily in the apricot forest?'

Suddenly there were boo-hoo sounds of bugles coming from afar, after that hoofbeats of a troop of horses coming from several li (里 – 0.5 km) away could be vaguely heard.

Elder Xu put his mouth close to Bai Shijing's ear and asked quietly: 'Who are they? What's the matter?' Bai Shijing also replied quietly: 'Western Xia has a martial arts hall called 'First-class Hall' which was set up by the king of that country to recruit people who excel in martial arts and uses special treatments and gifts to temp them to teach martial arts to Western Xia's officers and troops.'

Elder Xu nodded and said: 'Hasn't Western Xia been strengthening its army and practising martial arts because it's planned to seize our Great Song's territories?' Bai Shijing quietly said: 'Absolutely. The people who have entered 'First-class Hall' all are known for their first-class martial arts. The boss of First-class Hall is a wangye (王爷 – a very high rank of nobility usually held by a king's/an emperor's/an empress' brothers or uncles). He was appointed as the East Conquering General. His name is He Lian Tie Shu or something like that. According to what brother Yi Dabiao, sent to Western Xia by our Society, has reported, recently He Lian Tie Shu has led the warriors of the Hall to Bianliang (the capital of Song) to have an audience with the Empress Dowager and the Emperor of our Great Song. In fact, having an audience was just a sham. Their true motive was to spy upon our country's actual conditions. Knowing that our Society is one of the great pillars of Great Song's wulin they wanna destroy our Society, firstly, in order to build their prestige. Later, if they again lead their army to violate the boundary of our country, it'd be easy to push deep into our land.' Elder Xu was secretly frightened, he whispered: 'This scheme is really cruel and dangerous.'

Bai Shijing said: 'After this He Lian Tie Shu guy left Bianliang, he went to our nerve center in Luoyang. Incidentally, at that time Chief Qiao had led us to Jiangnan to avenge Vice-Chief Ma so the Western Xia people only attacked an empty place. But they didn't give up and chased after us to Jiangnan. Eventually they and Chief Qiao decided to have a meeting.'

Elder Xu thought deeply and whispered: 'So according to what they have planned, they'll destroy our Beggar Society first, maybe they'll attack Shaolin Monastery next, then crush the big martial arts schools and societies of the Central Plains.' Bai Shijing said: 'That's the plan. But can these Western Xia warriors carry it out so easily? What do they have to be this arrogant? Chief Qiao somewhat knows about the truth, but too bad at this urgent moment he...' Saying to here, feeling inappropriate, he suddenly stopped.

At this moment, the horse hoofbeats had drawn near, all of a sudden three bugle sounds were heard, eight horses split into two rows and burst into the forest. Each of the people riding on the horses was holding a lance. A small flag was tied to the head of each lance. The heads of the lances glinted. It could vaguely be noticed that the four small flags on the left-hand side all were embroidered with two white words 'Western Xia' and the four on the right-hand side were embroidered with two white words 'He Lian', the flags also had other Western Xia characters embroidered on them. After that, there were eight other horses which split into two rows and ran quickly into the forest. Four of the people riding on these horses were blowing bugles and the other four were beating drums.

Everyone in the beggar crowd scowled: 'This disposition of troops is totally like a march in a war. Where is the meeting between brave men in jianghu?'

There were eight Western Xia warriors arriving after the buglers and drummers. Seeing the expressions on their faces Elder Xu knew obviously that they all have top-class martial arts, he thought: 'It seems these are people of First-class Hall.' Those eight warriors split up and stood on both sides. Then a horse slowly walked into the forest. The man on the horse was wearing a scarlet brocade robe. He was around thirty four or thirty five years old, had an aquiline nose and a splay moustache. Following him closely was a very tall man who shouted as soon as he entered the forest: 'East Conquering General of Western Xia has arrived; the Chief of the Beggar Society goes forward to pay respects.' This voice which sounded very unusual belonged to no one other than the man who had talked to the beggar crowd a moment ago.

Elder Xu said: 'The Chief of our Society is not here. Laoxiu will take care of the Society's affairs on his behalf. The Beggar Society's brothers are all normal people in jianghu. If you, as a General of Western Xia, use guest ceremony for meeting, then we won't dare to make friends with a man of such a high position. Please go have audiences with the princes, dukes or officers of our Great Song; you don't need to meet us beggars who have to beg for food. But if you use the status of a man in wulin for meeting us, then as you are a guest coming from afar, please get off your horse and behave according to common courtesies for guests and hosts.' These several sentences showed neither inferiority nor superiority. They did not offend the opponents, but also took into consideration the status of the Beggar Society. The beggar crowd thought: 'Sure enough, the older ginger is hotter, Elder Xu is awesome.'

The big-nosed man said: 'If the Chief of your Society is not here our General can't treat you with courtesies.' He cast a glance and saw the Dog Beating Stick driven into the ground. Knowing that it was an important object of the Beggar Society, he said: 'Huh, taking this glossy dark green bamboo stick to make a broom handle is not bad.' He made a swing with his arm, the horsewhip in his hand shot out to wind around the Dog Beating Stick.

The beggars shouted in unison: 'Fvck off!'; 'Fvck you!'; 'You Tartar dog!' When the tip of his horsewhip was about to wind around the Dog Beating Stick, suddenly there was a silhouette moving very quickly, a person leapt out at an oblique angle and stood in front of the Dog Beating Stick. He extended his arm, let the horsewhip wind around it then bent it. The big-nosed man could no longer sit steadily on the saddle and had to jump off his horse to stand on the ground. Both of them exerted their strength at the same time. A snap was heard, the horsewhip was broken into two pieces. That person moved his hand backwards and grabbed the Dog Beating Stick. Without saying a word he returned to where he had come from.

Everyone looked at him and saw a withered old man with a bent back. He was no one other than the Elder of Merit Propagation. His martial arts were very good. He usually did not like to talk much, but when the important symbol of the Society had been in danger he had protected it bravely. A moment ago, in just one move, the big-nosed man had already been dismounted and his horsewhip had also been broken. It could be said that the big-nosed man had lost.

Even though this big-nosed man had just suffered a small defeat, he did not bat an eyelid and said: 'You beggars really are too stingy, hating to give away even a bamboo stick.'

Elder Xu said: 'Brave men of Western Xia, why did you and our poor Society decide to meet?'

That man said: 'Our General has heard that the Beggar Society of the Central Plains has two great techniques, one being the Cat Beating Stick, the other being the Snake Subduing Eighteen Palms, so he wanna widen his knowledge a bit.'

As soon as the beggars heard that, they all flew into a rage. This man deliberately called the Dog Beating Stick technique the Cat Beating Stick technique and called the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms technique the Snake Subduing Eighteen Palms technique, his intention of insulting was extremely obvious. It seemed in the meeting today a fierce battle of life or death was already unavoidable.

While the beggar crowd was cursing, the people such as Elder Xu, the Elder of Merit Propagation, and the Elder of Rule Enforcement secretly felt anxious: 'All along, only the Chief of our Society is able to use the Dog Beating Stick technique and the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms. The enemies already knew about the reputation of these two great techniques yet they still brashly come to challenge, perhaps they're not easy to deal with.' Elder Xu said: 'You want to see our Society's Cat Beating Stick technique and Snake Subduing Eighteen Palms to widen your knowledge, there's not the slightest problem. As long as there are cowardly cats and snakes with scabies showing up here, we beggars will have our way of dealing with them. You mimic cats or mimic snakes?' Elder Wu ha-ha laughed and said: 'If the opponents are dragons, we will subdue dragons, if they're snake, then we beggars can't be better at catching snakes.'

The big-nosed man was again defeated in arguing. While he was thinking about what to say, there was a deep gruff voice from behind him: 'Cat Beating is also fine, Snake Subduing is also fine, come, come, come, who's gonna have a fight with me first?' As that man finished saying he walked out from the crowd and stood with his arms akimbo.

The beggars could see that this man looked ugly and ferocious. All of a sudden Duan Yu loudly said: 'Hey, my disciple, you came here as well? Why haven't you kowtowed after seeing master?' The ferocious-looking man turned out to be none other than South Sea Divine Alligator Yue Laosan (T/Note: this is prolly not Yue's real name, it literally means Yue, the third man).

He was astonished when he saw Duan Yu and immediately looked very awkward. He said: 'You... You...' Duan Yu said: 'Good disciple, the Beggar Society's Chief is my sworn big brother so these people are your apprentice uncles, you mustn't disrespect them. Go home quickly!' South Sea Divine Alligator let out a roar making the leaves of the apricot trees around rustle and cursed: 'Turtle egg! Bastard!' (T/Note: turtle egg - 王八蛋 – basically an equivalent of 'son of a b!tch')

Duan Yu said: 'Who did you curse as turtle egg and bastard?' South Sea Divine Alligator was extremely vicious, however when he himself said something he never broke his words. He had already recognized Duan Yu as his master, but he did not deny that and said: 'I like cursing. How can you control me? I didn't curse you.' Duan Yu said: 'Hum, you already saw master, why haven't you kowtowed to pay respects to me?' South Sea Divine Alligator repressed his anger, went forwards, kowtowed and said: 'Master, are you all right?' The more he thought about this the angrier he got. Suddenly he leaped to his feet and ran away while howling furiously.

Everyone found that howl sounded like retreating tidewater, burst after burst rushing away yet big waves still surging up fiercely. Just hearing this howl they knew that this man's martial arts were not something to disregard. Probably in the Beggar Society only several people like Elder Xu and the Elder of Merit Propagation could rival him. It was extremely strange that Duan Yu, a gentle and weak student, was unexpectedly his master. Wang Yuyan, A'Zhu and A'Bi knew that Duan Yu did not know martial arts so they were much more surprised.

Suddenly a man leaped out from the group of the Western Xia warriors. Despite being tall like a bamboo pole, his movements were exceptionally fast. Each of his hands was holding a strange weapon whose handle was about three chi (T/Note: 1 chi ~ 33.33 cm) long and one head was a steel claw with five fingers. Duan Yu recognized him as the fourth member of 'The Four Evils under Heaven' 'Extreme Ferocity Utmost Evil' Yun Zhonghe, he thought: 'Could it be that these four evildoers have all joined Western Xia?' He looked carefully at the Western Xia people and saw 'Not to Stop at Any Crime' Ye Erniang standing there embracing a child and smiling. But he did not see the leader 'Be Guilty of the Worst Crimes' Duan Yanqing. Duan Yu thought: 'As long as Prince Yanqing is not here the Beggar Society can handle the second evil and the fourth evil.'

It turned out after being defeated in Dali 'The Four Evils under Heaven' had fled northwards and run into envoys of Western Xia's First-class Hall who had been out to recruit high-level martial arts users. Unwilling to be by themselves, they had all offered their service immediately. These four people had so excellent martial arts that after showing their skills a little they had been recruited right away. This time going eastwards to Bianliang, He Lian Tie Shu brought all of them with him and regarded them quite highly. Thinking that he himself had a high status, even though Duan Yanqing was dependent on First-class Hall he acted freely. He did not accept any restrictive order and go with the others.

Yun Zhonghe shouted: 'Our General wants to see the Beggar Society's two great techniques. In the end you beggars have true skills or are just boasting? Quickly come here to fight for real!'

Elder Xi said: 'I'm fighting him.' Elder Xu said: 'Okay! This man's lightness skill is very unusual, brother Xi must be careful.' Elder Xi said: 'Yes!' Carrying his steel pole he walked towards Yun Zhonghe, stood facing him from a distance of more than one zhang (T/Note: 1 zhang ~ 3.333 m), and said: 'The use of our Society's great techniques is dependent on who the opponent is. Why should the Dog Beating Stick technique be used to handle a shrimp like you? Watch out!' He raised the steel pole, creating a whirring sound, and swung it down at Yun Zhonghe's left shoulder at an angle. Elder Xi was stubby but the steel pole in his hands were longer than one zhang, once it was brandished, even if the opponent was very tall like Yun Zhonghe, it was still possible for him to strike down from the air. Yun Zhonghe leaned sideways and dodged. A bang was heard, dirt flew on all sides, the steel pole had hit the ground and its head had gone one chi into the ground. Yun Zhonghe knew that his true abilities were far inferior to Elder Xi's so he applied a hit-and-run tactic using his lightness skill, for a moment he had been in the east, the next moment he already flashed to the west. Elder Xi's steel pole had been brandished into a white sphere but all the while it had not been able to touch Yun Zhonghe's clothes.

While Duan Yu was being absorbed in the fight, suddenly he heard a lovely gentle voice next to him: 'Mr. Duan, who should we help?' Duan Yu leaned his head to one side and saw that it was Wang Yuyan. He could not help feeling elated and hurriedly asked: 'What... who should what help?' Wang Yuyan said: 'This lanky man is your disciple's friend while this stubby beggar is your sworn brother's subordinate. The more these two have been fighting the fiercer they've become, who we should help?' Duan Yu said: 'My disciple is a villain and this lanky guy's character is even worse, don't help him.'

Wang Yuyan muttered: 'Hum, but the whole Beggar Society have driven your sworn brother away and don't let him be the Chief. They've also falsely accused my biaoge, I hate them.' In the heart of a young girl like her, whoever treated her biaoge badly was the worst person under heaven. She continued: 'This stubby geezer is using the twenty four Demon Taming Pole stances of Mt. Wutai, but because he's too short the two stances 'The King of Qin Whips Rock' and 'The Roc Spreads the Wings' can't be executed well. If the right-hand side of his lower body is attacked he won't be able to defend himself. But this lanky man doesn't realize that, he thinks the lower body of short people must be stable but in fact that's not true.'

Even though her voice was very low, all the high-level martial arts users with fine internal energy at the scene had already heard what she said. The majority of these people knew about Elder Xi's martial arts and skills but they might not necessarily realize where his stances were flawed. Once Wang Yuyan pointed out, they immediately felt that she was correct because whenever Elder Xi had used the two stances 'The King of Qin Whips Rock' and 'A Roc Spreads the Wings', his power had really been excessive but his stability had been deficient, his lower body had been rather vulnerable.

Yun Zhonghe cast a sidelong glance at Wang Yuyan and praised: 'You little girl are very beautiful. It's rarer that you have such great insight. Following me and becoming my wife are even more okay.' While saying he used the steel claws in his hands to attack Elder Xi's lower body with three swift stances. Elder Xi was too late to ward off the third stance. A sound of tearing was heard, his thigh had just suffered a long cut by Yun Zhonghe's steel claws and immediately dripped blood.

Hearing Yun Zhonghe praise herself for being beautiful Wang Yuyan was quite happy, therefore she did not think his flirty and frivolous words were offensive. She smiled and said: 'How shameless. What's good about you? I'm not marrying you.' Yun Zhonghe was very pleased, he said: 'Why not? You're already in love with that pretty boy, right? I'll kill your love interest first, to see if you'll marry me?' These sentences had seriously violated Wang Yuyan's taboos. She frowned and no longer paid attention to him.

Yun Zhonghe still wanted to say a few more words to gain advantage but Elder Wu of the Beggar Society leaped out, lifted his demon-headed saber and slashed four times on the left hand side, four times on the right hand side, four times high, four times low, totaling sixteen slashes. The momentum of the saber was extremely fierce. Yun Zhonghe was not familiar with the stances of his saber technique therefore he could only dodge around, jerk his head back and jump up. For the moment he was totally perplexed.

Wang Yuyan smiled and said: 'This Four Forms Six Harmonies Saber technique of Elder Wu contains the generation principles, the restraint principles and the changes of the Eight Diagrams. That lanky man just doesn't know that. I wonder if he can use the 'Crane Snake Eight Attacks'. If he can, the Four Forms Six Harmonies Saber technique will be defeated easily.' (T/Note: Four Forms - 四象 – include Tai Yang, Tai Yin, Shao Yang, Shao Yin; Six Harmonies - 六合 – include East, West, South, North, Up and Down, referring to the universe) Hearing her say those words to help Yun Zhonghe again, the people of the Beggar Society all had an angry expression on their faces. They saw that Yun Zhonghe immediately changed his fighting style, spreading wide his legs and whipping horizontally with the steel claws, looking like a white crane. Wang Yuyan put her mouth close to Duan Yu's ear and whispered: 'This lanky man has walked into my trap. Perhaps his left hand would be chopped off.' Duan Yu was surprised, he asked: 'Really?'

Everyone only saw that the saber technique of Elder Wu was strict and heavy, chopping sidelong and slashing horizontally as if there was no arrangement of stances. He fought more and more slowly, but all of a sudden he swiftly chopped three times. White light flashed. Yun Zhonghe shouted 'Ah', the back of his left hand had already been cut by the blade, the steel claw in his left hand could not be hold firmly anymore, a clang was heard, it had already fallen on the ground. However because his lightness skill was very fast, he hurriedly moved backwards and was able to dodge the three later chops of Elder Wu.

Elder Wu walked towards Wang Yuyan, stood in front of her, held his saber in a straight upright position and said: 'Thanks a lot, Miss!' Wang Yuyan smiled and said: 'Elder Wu, your 'Wonderful Door Three Powers Saber' is very refined and subtle!' Elder Wu was surprised, he thought: 'I didn't expect you to know this saber technique of mine.' It turned out Wang Yuyan had deliberately called the saber technique of Elder Wu the 'Four Forms Six Harmonies Saber' and judging from the stances of Yun Zhonghe she had anticipated that he would surely use the 'Crane Snake Eight Attacks' to make him involuntarily get into a dominated situation. As expected, his left hand had nearly been chopped off. (T/Note: Three Powers - 三才 – Heaven, Earth, Man).

The name of the big-nosed man who had the queer voice and was standing next to He Lian Tie Shu was Nu Erhai. Seeing Wang Yuyan help Yun Zhonghe injure Elder Xi with just several sentences, then enable Elder Wu to injure Yun Zhonghe with a few sentences again, he turned towards He Lian Tie Shu and said: 'General, this young Han girl is very strange, if we capture and take her back to First-class Hall then force her to tell everything she knows, it'll prolly be extremely useful.' He Lian Tie Shu said: 'Very good, you go capture her.' Nu Erhai scratched his head and thought: 'This character of General is certainly not very nice. Whenever I suggested a ploy to him he always said: 'Very good, you go handle it.' Making suggestions is easy but handling them is hard. This young girl's martial arts seem to be fathomless. I don't wanna make a fool of myself in front of her. Anyway, today is for rounding up and annihilating these beggars, it'd be better to strike first and prevail.' He made a gesture with his left hand, four of his subordinates immediately walked out.

Nu Erhai took several steps forwards and said: 'Elder Xu, our General wanna see the Dog Beating Stick technique and the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms, if you have something interesting then show it, but if you really don't, we can't afford to wait any longer, we must go now, farewell.' Elder Xu sneered and said: 'High-level martial arts users of your country's First-class Hall have boasted that you all have topnotch martial arts but it turns out you're just mediocre, I'm afraid you don't deserve to see the Dog Beating Stick technique and the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms.' Nu Erhai said: 'How to deserve to see them?'

Elder Xu said: 'First you must beat us good-for-nothing beggars, then the head of the Beggar Society will show up...' Saying to here, he suddenly coughed loudly then his eyes hurt intensely and could not open, his tears dripped down continuously. Feeling very frightened, he jumped up, held his breath and quickly kicked three times. Nu Erhai had not expected that this old man whose beard was snow-white would attack as soon as he finished saying and that his movements were so fast like this, he hastily dodged but could only avoid getting hit at the crucial points on his chest, the head of his shoulder had still been kicked. He staggered a few steps then made use of the momentum to leap backwards. Elder Xu jumped up the second time, while still being in the air, he felt weary and numb in his arms and legs and fell down heavily.

The people of the Beggar Society shouted in succession: 'Not good, the Tartars play dirty!' 'What's in my eyes?' 'I can't open my eyes.' Everyone felt a sharp pain in the eyes. Tears streamed out of their eyes. Wang Yuyan, A'Zhu and A'Bi could not open their eyes similarly.

It turned out that in an instant the Western Xia people had already dispersed the 'Sad Weak Clear Wind' in the apricot forest. The 'Sad Weak Clear Wind' was a type of colorless odorless poisonous gas. Its liquid form was made from the poisonous animals gathered from Huanxi valley in Mt. Daxue of Western Xia. Most of the time, it was kept in bottles. When it was used, the user had already had the antidote put into their nose. As soon as the stopper of the bottle was removed, the poisonous liquid would evaporate and spread into the air gently like a breeze. Therefore, no matter how careful and precise a person was they would still be unable to detect it. When their eyes hurt sharply, the poison had already entered the brain. After being poisoned the victim's eyes would drip with tears, hence 'Sad', their whole body would be unable to move, hence 'Weak', the poisonous gas was colorless and odorless, hence 'Clear Wind'.

Thuds and 'A'yo' sounds could be heard continuously, the people of the Beggar Society fell down one after another.

Duan Yu had eaten the Manggu Cinnabar Frog (T/Note: 莽牯朱蛤 – the cinnabar frog which bellows like a bull) therefore he was immune to poison. Even though he had breathed the 'Sad Weak Clear Wind' in, he was neither 'Sad' nor 'Weak'. Seeing that the beggars, Wang Yuyan, A'Zhu and A'Bi all were having a painful expression on their faces he could not understand why and felt very frightened.

Nu Erhai cried out loudly and commanded the warriors to tie the people of the Beggar Society up. He himself went towards Wang Yuyan and stretched out his hand to grab her wrist.

Duan Yu shouted: 'What are you doing?' At that urgent moment he quickly extended his right forefinger, a beam of internal energy was shot out from the finger tip creating chi-chi sounds. It was none other than the 'Six Meridians Divine Swords' of the Duan clan in Dali. Nu Erhai did not know about its powers therefore he paid no attention to it and kept approaching Wang Yuyan to grab her wrist. Suddenly a crack was heard, the bone of his right arm had unaccountably been broken into two pieces. His arm hung down loosely. Nu Erhai cried out painfully and stopped walking.

Duan Yu bent down, gripped the delicate waist of Wang Yuyan then started to use the 'Wave Treading Exquisite Steps'. Taking three steps forwards at an oblique angle and two strides over to one side, he rushed out of the crowd.

Ye Erniang made a wave with her right hand. A poisonous needle was fired towards the middle of his back. This poisonous needle was very well-aimed and went with a lot of force. In any case Duan Yu should have many difficulties in dodging it. However, he suddenly moved sideways then suddenly went backwards, therefore when the poisonous needle arrived he had already moved to the right side three chi. Three skilled warriors in the group of Western Xia warriors immediately jumped off their horseback, shouted and chased after him. Duan Yu ran to a horse, put Wang Yuyan lying across the saddle, then jumped onto the horse and spurred it to run away.

Western Xia warriors had already guarded the key posts all around the apricot forest. Suddenly seeing Duan Yu running out on a horse they immediately fired arrows. Trees in the apricot forest covered him, more than ten wolf-toothed arrows all stuck into the trees.

Duan Yu cried out: 'Good horse ah good horse, the faster you run the better! When we return, I'll let you eat chicken, eat meat, eat fish, eat goat.' He forgot that horses did not eat meat or fish.