Chapter - 18 (18) (2/2)

In a loud voice Xing Chi said, ”Luckily you lay everything bare in a few words, otherwise the important matter will be spoiled. Shidi, we must leave immediately.”

”Yes,” Xing Dian replied. With his right hand he picked up the golden pestle, with his left hand he pushed the door leaf open.

As the door opened, they saw a shadow standing on the doorway. Xing Dian was unable to see his appearance in the dark. ”Who is it?” he shouted, while lifting up his golden pestle.

That man said, ”Where are you two going?”

Xing Dian was shocked; he threw away the golden pestle, put his palms together and called out, ”Shifu!”

Xing Chi also called out, ”Shifu!”

Turned out it was none other than Yulin. He slowly said, ”I have heard everything you said.”

”Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao cried out in his heart, ”Things have turned to the worse!”

Yulin said in deep voice, ”The worldly enmity leading to sin must be resolved, by blindly avoiding it, in the end you won't achieve anything. The cause will produce the result, which you must bear for as long as you live.”

Xing Chi prostrated himself to the ground, saying, ”Shifu's instruction is very true, disciple understands.”

”I am afraid your understanding is not deep enough,” Yulin said, ”Your former wife wants to find you, let her come to find you. Our Buddha shows mercy to all living beings; she blamed you, she hated you, she wanted to kill you, you must resign yourself to her, you must introspect yourself instead, inevitably there must be something that made her blame you, hate you, a strong reason why she is determined to kill you. You try to avoid her, the karma remains. If you send someone to kill her, your evil karma will be even more grave.”

”Yes,” Xing Chi replied with a trembling voice.

Wei Xiaobao cursed in his belly, ”F*ck your old bald thief's granny! I want to curse you, beat you, kill you, I want to see if you'll let me beat and curse you, I want to see if you'll let me cut your bald head?”

He heard Yulin continued, ”As for Tibetan lamas wanted to capture you, it was they who commit evil karma, they want to use you as a hostage to force the current emperor into submission, to go on the rampage by ignoring the law, oppressing and doing harm to common people. We must not let them have their outrageous way. For the time being, you cannot live here, you must come with me to the little temple at the back.” He turned around and left. Xing Chi and Xing Dian immediately followed him.

Wei Xiaobao thought, ”Although the young emperor bestowed me the Yellow Magua, I have never worn it for even one day. If I cannot complete this mission, when I return to Beijing, I won't be able to answer the young emperor. In his anger, he might go back on his promise and thus won't bestow the Yellow Magua to me. I'd better follow them and take a look.” Thereupon he and Shuang'er followed to Yulin's little meditation temple.

Yulin acted as if he did not even see these two people; ignoring them completely, he went straight to the putuan and sat cross-legged. Xing Chi also sat down on the putuan next to him. Xing Dian glanced around, and then sat down on the putuan slightly lower than Xing Chi's. Yulin and Xing Chi put their palms together and closed their eyes, sitting motionless. Xing Dian, however, opened his round eyes wide, staring at the empty space. Finally he also closed his eyes, his hands resting on his knees. After a while, he reached out to touch the golden pestle by the putuan, afraid that he might lose it.

Wei Xiaobao made a face toward Shuang'er, and then with exaggerated movement he also sat down on the putuan, Shuang'er also sat down close to him. Although Wei Xiaobao was not Sun Wukong, he had always been an active and restless boy, just like real monkey. If he was asked to sit still on the putuan for three quarters of an hour to an hour, it would be the same as asking for his life. But since the Old Emperor was sitting by his side, he was unwilling to leave the temple, no matter what. He twisted to the east, skewed to the west, pulling Shuang'er's hand, tickling the palm of her hand. With great difficulty Shuang'er resisted the urge to laugh, with her left hand she pointed to Yulin and Xing Chi.

After enduring this for about an hour, Wei Xiaobao suddenly had a thought, ”Even if he is learning to be a monk, the Old Emperor can't possibly resist the need to pee and poo. When he is going out to pee or poo, I will use graceful words, flowery speech to trick him into escaping.” Having had this idea, his body calmed down somewhat.

In the quiet night, suddenly they heard footsteps of a lot of people in the distance. At first the sound was faint, but later on the footsteps were getting nearer and nearer, a large crowd of people were rushing toward Qing Liang Temple. The muscles on Xing Dian's face twitched several times, he reached out to grab the golden pestle. Opening up his eyes, he saw Yulin and Xing Chi were still sitting motionless. He hesitated for a moment, and then he put down the golden pestle, and closed his eyes again.

They heard the crowd burst into Qing Liang Temple and the continuous sound of people yelling and shouting. Wei Xiaobao thought, ”When they fail to find the Old Emperor in the temple, can't they come here to look for him? I want to see how you, the old bald thief, are going to stop them.”

Sure enough, approximately one hour later, a large group of people swarmed toward the back of the mountain, and arrived outside the little temple. Someone called out, ”Go in and search!”

Xing Dian suddenly sprang up, grabbed his golden pestle, and stood on the vihara's doorway. Wei Xiaobao went to the window and peeked outside. Under the moonlight he saw a dense mass of heads. Turning his head around, he saw Yulin and Xing Chi were still sitting motionless. Shuang'er quietly said, ”What should we do?”

Wei Xiaobao replied in low voice, ”When those people rush in, we'll save the Old Emperor, and go out from the back door.” After a short pause, he continued, ”If along the way we get separated, we'll meet again at Ling Jing Temple.”

Shuang'er nodded and said, ”I am only afraid I can't carry the Old ... the Old Emperor.”

”We might have to drag him away,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

Suddenly the people outside shouted one after another, ”Who's there randomly breaking through here?” ”Grab them!” ”Don't let them in!” ”Damn it, get them!”

Shadows of people flashed, two men entered the door, swept past Xing Dian's body. They put their palms together toward Yulin, and then sat cross-legged on the floor. Turned out they were monks wearing gray robes. The door to this vihara was actually narrow, plus Xing Dian's bulky body was blocking it, there was really no gap between Xing Dian and the door, yet these two monks lightly and easily slipped through and came in, it seemed that they did not even touch Xing Dian's clothes. Indeed, nobody knew how these two entered the room.

Outside, the people were shouting again, ”Someone is coming!” ”Stop him!” ”Get him!” But they heard a series of 'bang! bang! bang!' noise, some people flew out and fell to the ground. Two more monks entered the room. Without saying anything, they sat down a little bit lower than the two monks who came in first. In this way, pair by pair, several monks successively entered the room.

Wei Xiaobao was amused, he wondered how many more monks would come in; if several more pairs came, very soon there would not be enough room to sit in that meditation room. But after the ninth pair, no more monks came in. To his surprise, one of the ninth pair of monks was the Qing Liang Temple's Abbot Cheng Guang. Wei Xiaobao was baffled, but was grateful at the same time. ”If these seventeen monks' martial art skill is more or less the same as Cheng Guang's, we don't have to fear even if more enemies were coming,” he mused.

Outside, the people were still making a lot of noise, but nobody dared to rush in. After a while, an old-sounding voice said, loud and clear, ”Since Shaolin Temple is determined to stand up for Qing Liang Temple, are you going to take the responsibility over this matter on your own heads too?” In the meditation room, nobody answered.

After another moment, the old man outside said again, ”Very well, since they have showed off the faces of Shaolin Temple's Eighteen Luohan, we'd better leave!” Shouts and yells outside repeated continuously, everybody withdrew down the mountain.

Wei Xiaobao sized up the eighteen monks; the old ones were approximately sixty, seventy years old, the young ones were approximately in their thirties, some were tall, some were short, some were handsome, some were ugly. Their Buddhist robes were bulging, apparently they all carried weapons. ”They are the Shaolin Temple's Eighteen Luohan,” he thought, ”In that case, Abbot Cheng Guang is also one of the Eighteen Luohan. The old bald thief Yulin is secure in the knowledge that he has a strong backing, turns out he had early on arranged these formidable helpers to escort the Emperor. These monks are meditating in here, I don't know until when they are going to do this. Laozi cannot waste my time with them, sitting here for nothing. Wei Xiaobao must not sit here until he turns into Wei Laobao[88]!”

Standing up, he went to Xing Chi and knelt down in his presence, saying, ”Great Monk, with the Shaolin Temple's Eighteen Luohan escorting your holy self, you, the Great Monk, is as safe and unmovable as Mount Tai. I am prepared to go back, I wonder if you, Senior, have any instruction?”

Xing Chi opened his eyes; he smiled and said, ”Thank you for your trouble. Go back and tell your master: he does not need to go up Mount Wutai and disturb my peaceful meditation. Even if he is here, definitely I won't meet him. Tell him this: if he wants the whole world at peace, 'never raise taxes', these four words [yong bu jia fu] should be firmly planted in his mind. If he can accomplish these four words, it is good enough for me, my heart will be happy.”

”Yes!' Wei Xiaobao replied.

Xing Chi reached into his bosom and took out a very small bundle, he said, ”Give this copy of scripture to your master. Tell him: in the matters of the world, he must let nature take its course, nothing can be forced. It would be best if he could benefit the common people of the Central Plains. But if the common people wanted us to leave, then from the place we came, there we should come back to.” While saying that, he lightly patted the little bundle.

After being silent for half a day, Xing Chi said, ”You may go!”

”Yes!” Wei Xiaobao said. He crawled down and kowtowed.

”I do not dare,” Xing Chi said, ”Benefactor, please rise.”

Wei Xiaobao stood up and walked toward the door. Suddenly his mischief arose, he turned his head toward Yulin and said, ”Old monk, you have sat for a long time, don't you need to pee?” Yulin acted as if he did not hear anything. Wei Xiaobao giggled, and took a step over the threshold.

Xing Chi said, ”Tell your master, even if his mother is at fault, she will always be his mother, he must not fail to observe etiquette, he also must not harbor grudge toward her.”

Wei Xiaobao turned around to respond, but in his heart he said, ”I am not going to pass on this words of yours.”

Xing Chi said, as if he was muttering to himself, ”Tell your master to be careful in everything.”

”Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

By daybreak the next morning, Wei Xiaobao led Shuang'er, Yu Ba, and their retinue going down the mountain. In going to Mount Wutai this time, he managed to see the Old Emperor, and thus achieved the mission Kangxi entrusted to him. Along the way, he acquired Shuang'er, such a good-looking, tender girl [or servant girl] with superior martial art skill; his heart was very happy.

Seeing this kind of appearance, Wei Xiaobao was rather scared, he did not dare to look too much, thus he turned his head away and evaded to the other side of the road, letting the toutuo walk pass. As the toutuo walked to him, he halted his steps and asked, ”Did you come from Qing Liang Temple?”

”No,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”We came from Ling Jing Temple.”

The toutuo reached out with his left hand toward Wei Xiaobao's left shoulder and turned his body around, so that Wei Xiaobao was face-to-face with him. ”Are you the little eunuch Xiao Guizi from the Palace?” he asked.

His big hand pressed on Wei Xiaobao's shoulder, immediately Wei Xiaobao felt his body went weak, he was unable to move a single step. ”Rubbish!” he hastily said, ”You think I look like an eunuch? I am Wei Gongzi [young master, son of nobility] of Yangzhou.”

”Let go of him quickly!” Shuang'er shouted, ”How can you be so rude to our family's Xianggong?”

The toutuo stretched out his right hand to press on Shuang'er's shoulder. ”Listening to your voice, you must be a little eunuch too,” he said.

Shuang'er dropped her right shoulder to dodge, her finger swiftly pointed toward his tian huo acupoint, 'plop' it hit right on target, but she felt as if her finger was touching am iron panel, her fingertip was in a lot of pain, even her finger was almost broken. ”Ah!” she could not help but crying out. And then she felt her shoulder was in pain too, because the toutuo's hand, which was as big as a palm-leaf fan, had grabbed her.

”Hey, hey, hey!” the toutuo laughed three times, before saying, ”You, this little eunuch, has a very good martial art skill. Formidable, really formidable.”

Shuang'er's left leg flew up, 'Bang!' it landed on his crotch; this time, she felt as if she was kicking a large rock. ”Aiyo!” she cried out, tears flowed out of her eyes.

”Little eunuch has amazing martial art, really formidable,” the toutuo said.

”I am not a little eunuch!” Shuang'er shouted, ”You are the little eunuch! Aiyo!”

The toutuo laughed, ”Do you think I look like a eunuch?” he asked.

”Let me go!” Shuang'er shouted, ”If you don't, I am going to curse you.”

The toutuo said, ”You sealed my acupoint, you kicked my thigh, I am not afraid of you; do you think I will afraid your cussing? Your martial art skill is superior, you must be sent out from the Palace, I must search you.”

”Your martial art skill is even higher,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”So you must be sent out from the Palace even more.”

The toutuo said, ”You, little eunuch, muddle things together.” With left hand carrying Wei Xiaobao and right hand carrying Shuang'er, he rushed up the mountain as if he was flying. The two young people shouted and screaming, the toutuo did not pay any attention, he carried the two people as if they were nothing, his footsteps were very fast. Yu Ba and the others were dumbstruck, nobody dared to make any noise.

The toutuo rushed several zhang along the mountain path, suddenly he turned towards the hill; there was no real path there, but he tread on it as if treading on a plain ground. Wei Xiaobao felt the wind whistling past his ears; he thought, ”This toutuo is very formidable, could it be he is a mountain god or some demon?”

After rushing for a while, the toutuo dropped the two people on the ground. He pointed up and said, ”If you don't tell me the truth, I am going to carry you to that mountain peak and toss you down.” What he was pointing at was a very high peak, the top of the peak is hidden in the clouds and mist.

”Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I'll tell you the truth.”

”If you are sensible,” the toutuo said, ”Tell me truthfully, who are you? And who is this kid?”

”Dashi Fu [Great Master father],” Wei Xiaobao said, ”She is not a kid, she … she is my … my …”

”Your what?” the toutuo asked.

”She is my … wife!” Wei Xiaobao said.

As soon as these two characters 'wife' [lao po] came out of his mouth, both the toutuo and Shuang'er were shocked. Shuang'er's face blushed deep red. ”What?” the toutuo asked in surprise, ”What wife?”

”I am not concealing anything from Dashi Fu,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I am a young master of a rich family in Beijing, I fancied this young lady of the family next door, thereupon … we privately agreed to marry each other in the back garden. His father did not agree, so I took her out and we ran away. Look at her, she is a girl, how can she be a little eunuch? You are really doing her injustice. If you don't believe me, take off her hat and look for yourself.”

The toutuo took off Shuang'er's hat, exposing her long beautiful hair. At that time, in the whole of China, other than monks, Taoists, toutuo, nuns and people who had left home, everybody must shave the half front part of their heads. Shuang'er's long hair rolled down, it hung down straight pass her shoulder, no doubt she was a woman.

”Dashi Fu,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I am begging you, if you hand us over to the government authority, I will lose my life. I'll give you a thousand taels, just let us go!”

”In that case,” the toutuo said, ”You really are not an eunuch; which eunuch would take other family's girl to elope together? Humph, humph, you are very young, but your courage is indeed not small.” While saying that, he let him go. He also asked, ”What are you doing going up Mount Wutai?”

Wei Xiaobao replied, ”We are going up Mount Wutai to worship Buddha, to ask Bodhisattva to bless and protect us, to let me escape difficulties and become the zhuangyuan, in the future she … my wife, will become a real Madame.” All these 'privately agreed to marry each other in the back garden' and 'escape difficulties and become the zhuangyuan' and so on he heard from the storytellers when he was still in Yangzhou.

The toutuo thought for a moment, he nodded his head and said, ”So I mistook you for someone else. You may go!”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, ”Thank you Dashi,” he said, ”When we worship Bodhisattva later, we will ask Bodhisattva to bless and protect you, bless and protect Dashi that in the future … you will also be a great Bodhisattva, that you will rise and sit on the same level with Wenshu Pusa [Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of keen awareness] and Guanyin Pusa [Bodhisattva of Compassion].” Taking Shuang'er's hand along, they walked down the mountain.

They only walked for several when the toutuo said, ”Something's not right, come back here! Little miss, your martial art skill is amazing, you sealed my acupoint, you kicked me.” While saying that, he rubbed the tian huo acupoint on his waist, and then he asked, ”Who taught you martial art? Which school do you belong to?”

Shuang'er could not lie, she blushed and shook her head. Wei Xiaobao said, ”Her martial art skill is handed down in a family, it was her mama who taught her.”

”Little miss, what's your surname?” the toutuo asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”This, hee hee … it's rather inconvenient to say.”

”What do you mean inconvenient?” the toutuo said, ”Tell me quick!”

”Our surname is Zhuang,” Shuang'er said.

The toutuo shook his head. ”Surname Zhuang?” he said, ”That's not right, you lie to me. There is no such martial art expert among those with surname Zhuang in the world, who can teach a girl with such martial art skill.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”There are extremely many people with good martial art skill in the world, how can you know?”

”I was asking this little miss,” the toutuo angrily said, ”Don't interrupt.” While saying that, he pushed lightly on Wei Xiaobao's shoulder.

This push was very light, for fear that this youngster could not stand it. When his palm touched Wei Xiaobao's shoulder, he felt Wei Xiaobao easily evaded it. Although his movement was without any strength, the style he used was the move 'grass stooping down by the wind'; where the shoulder turned around, left palm protecting the face and the right palm ready to strike down, actually it was somewhat similar to the toutuo's own school.

The toutuo was surprised, he tried to grab Wei Xiaobao's chest. Wei Xiaobao sent out a right palm stab with the move 'spirit snake went out of its hole'; the execution was not the least bit inaccurate. 'Plop!' it hit the toutuo's neck. But Wei Xiaobao felt like his fingers were stabbing an iron panel. ”Aiyo!” he cried out in pain.

Shuang'er's pair of palms fluttered in the air to attack the toutuo. The toutuo concentrated his strength at the center of his palm and sealed the acupoint on Wei Xiaobao's chest before turning around to face her. Shuang'er leaped high and crouched low, her movements were light and graceful, but after seven, eight moves, the toutuo's two hands managed to catch her arms. With his left elbow he struck her acupoint to immobilize her, and then he turned around and asked Wei Xiaobao, ”You said you are a young master of a rich family; how do you know the qin na [grappling technique] of Shen Long Dao [divine dragon island] of Liao Dong peninsula?”

”I am a young master of a rich family,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”Why can't I know the martial art of Shen Long Island of Liao Dong peninsula? Are you saying that this skill is supposed to be known by only kids from poor family?” While his mouth was uttering whatever he could come up with to buy some time, his mind was racing, ”What kind of martial art is the Shen Long Island of Liao Dong peninsula's martial art? Ah, right, the old turtle Hai said that the old whore impersonated Wudang Pai's martial art, but actually it was the Snake Island of Liao Dong peninsula's martial art. That Shen Long Island is most likely the same as the Snake Island. That's right, the old whore is in cahoots with Shen Long Jiao people, they must dislike the name 'snake' and thus changed it to 'divine dragon'. Xiao Xuanzi's martial art skill was taught by the old whore, and I often had martial art match with him, unconsciously I learned these several qin na techniques.”

”Rubbish!” the toutuo said, ”Who is your Shifu?”

Wei Xiaobao thought, ”If I say I was taught by the old whore, it's the same as admitting that I am a little eunuch from the Palace.” Thereupon he said, ”It was my Shushu's [younger uncle] good acquaintance, a fat lady, Liu Yan Gugu who taught me.”

The toutuo was greatly surprised. ”Liu Yan?” he asked, ”Miss Liu is your Shushu's good acquaintance? Who is your Shushu?”

”My Shushu is Wei Dabao [da - big],” Wei Xiaobao [xiao - little] replied, ”He is Beijing's well-known distinguished and accomplished young master, each time he spends money, it would be a thousand taels, his appearance looks like an actor on the stage. That fat lady was enchanted by him as soon as she saw him. The fat lady oftentimes came to my house in the depth of the night, jumping over the wall of our flower garden. I nagged her to teach me martial art, and so she taught me these several moves.”

Half believing and half doubting, the toutuo asked, ”Does your Shushu know martial art?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud and said, ”Does he know farting martial art? He often gets his neck grabbed by Miss Liu Yan, who lifted him up back and forth, without him being able to move the least bit. My Shushu became anxious and cursed her, 'The child is lifting the father'. Liu Yan Gugu laughed and said, 'It's only the child lifting the father, even if the child is lifting the grandfather, it is still not a big deal'.”

He was cursing the toutuo in a roundabout way, but the toutuo did not realize it the least bit; he asked in detail about Liu Yan's appearance, which, surprisingly, Wei Xiaobao was able to explain without the slightest mistake. Wei Xiaobao said, ”This fat Gugu loves to wear red embroidered shoes. Dashi Fu, I am guessing that you are in love with her, are you not? When you see her, take her to sleep with you, it would be best if you could sleep with her and would not wake up forever.” How would the toutuo know that Liu Yan had already died? On the surface it sounded like Wei Xiaobao was babbling nonsense, while actually he was cursing him with the most poisonous curse.

”It's a big stack of banknotes I stole from home,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

This question was not easy to answer, Wei Xiaobao laughed. ”Tee hee ... hee ... are you asking me? It's complicated and not easy to explain succinctly; I won't be able to tell you everything just in this short moment.” He was stalling, while trying to think about some 'covering the sky and seamless clouds' story to swindle this toutuo. Naturally to make up some wild story about where the sutra came from was extremely easy, but now that the book had fallen into the toutuo's hand, to deceive him into handing it back would be extremely difficult.

The toutuo said in a loud voice, ”Who gave it to you?”

Wei Xiaobao's body was hanging in the air, he suddenly saw seven, eight monks in grey robes on the hillside coming toward them. From their appearance, he knew they were the Eighteen Luohan of Shaolin whom he had seen at the small vihara behind the Qing Liang Temple. Turning his head around, he saw several more monks, together with several monks coming up from the western hillside, there were a total of seventeen, eighteen monks. He was delighted and said in his heart, ”Thief toutuo, even if your martial art skill is stronger, you are no match for the Eighteen Luohan of Shaolin.”

”Tell me quick, tell me quick!” the toutuo said. Noticing that Wei Xiaobao was glancing to the east and looking to the west, he followed his gaze and saw on the hillside to the east, north and west, three directions more than a dozen monks were slowly coming up, but he was unconcerned at all. ”What do those monks come here for?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”They heard Dashi Fu's martial art skill is superior, they are full of admiration, hence they come here to take you as their master.”

The toutuo shook his head and said, ”I have never received any disciple.” Raising his voice, he called out, ”Hey, get the hell out of here quickly, don't come here to make trouble!” His shout echoed from the mountains on all sides, showing off his astonishing might.

The eighteen monks did not seem to hear, they continued going up the mountain. An old monk with long eyebrows put his palms together and said, ”Dashi, are you the Fat Revered Monk[89] of Liaodong?”

Wei Xiaobao was still hanging midair, hearing the question, he could not help but burst out laughing. This toutuo was so thin that he was a rarity in the world, yet the old monk asked if he was the Fat Revered Monk; Wei Xiaobao thought that he was ridiculing him.

To his surprise, the toutuo replied in loud voice, ”I am indeed Fat Toutuo! Are you all here to take me as your master? I don't accept any disciple! Whom have you studied martial art with?”

The old monk replied, ”Lao Na is Cheng Xin of Shaolin Temple, the humble head of Damo Hall. These are my seventeen Shidi, all are my companions in the Damo Hall.”

”Ah!” Fat Toutuo exclaimed, he slowly let Wei Xiaobao down. ”Turns out all eighteen luohan of Shaolin Temple's Damo Hall are here. So you are not here to take me as your master. I am alone cannot beat all of you.”

Cheng Xin put his palms together and said, ”We have neither grievance nor enmity with you, we are all followers of Buddha, how could you talk about this character 'to beat'? Luohan [Arhat] are the sages of Buddhism, we are merely ordinary folks, how can we dare to receive this appellation? Wulin friends carelessly address us with this honorary title, we really do not deserve it. The Fat and Thin Revered Monks of Liaodong's remarkable feats are without rival, we have always admired you. Today we are brought together by fate, indeed it is our great good fortune.” Speaking to this point, the other seventeen monks put their palms together to salute.

Fat Toutuo bowed to return the salute; without straightening up his body, he asked, ”You are all coming to Mount Wutai, what's the purpose of your trip?”

Pointing to Wei Xiaobao, Cheng Xin said, ”This young benefactor has some relationship with our Shaolin Temple, I am asking Dashi to raise your hand and let him go down the mountain.”

Fat Toutuo hesitated; he saw the opponent had many men and greater force, he knew that each one of the eighteen luohan of Shaolin had astonishing martial art skill, he did not give the slightest care of fighting one on one, but he would not be able to deal with all eighteen of them. Thereupon he said, ”Very well, looking at Dashi's face, I'll let him go.” Finished speaking, he leaned over and massaged Wei Xiaobao's lower abdomen several times to unseal his acupoint.

As soon as Wei Xiaobao was able to stand, he held out his right palm and said, ”The sutra was given to me by a friend of these eighteen luohan, who asked me to deliver it to ... to Shaolin Temple and hand it over to the head monk Abbot. Would you return it to me?”

”What?” Fat Toutuo angrily said, ”What does this sutra have to do with Shaolin Temple?”

With a loud voice Wei Xiaobao said, ”You seized the sutra away from me, it was the old monk who ask me to deliver it to someone else, it is extremely important, quickly give it back to me!”

”Rubbish!” Fat Toutuo said. Turning around, he leaped down from the northern slope of the mountain. Three Shaolin monks immediately flew and reached out to grab his arm, Fat Toutuo did not dare to fight the monks, he sidestepped to evade the three monks' grabbing palm. His stature was very tall, yet his movement was incomparably agile.

In this grabbing movement, the three monks of Shaolin had used top-notch technique of Shaolin martial arts, unexpectedly they failed to even touch his clothes. But in the instant Fat Toutuo's movement was slowed down, four more Shaolin monks had blocked behind his back, eight palms crisscrossed, closing his escape route.

Fat Toutuo let out a loud bellow, his palms pushed out using the move 'five nails cut into the mountain'. Borrowing the momentum of this overwhelming force, he turned around and swiftly fled southward. The four Shaolin monks pushed put their palms together from left and right. Fat Toutuo's palm force collided with the four monks. He felt the palm strike from the left side was hard and stiff, while the palm strike of other two monks from the right was soft and continuously flowing; he could not help but was greatly shocked. Sending out all his power to his palms, he was barely able to resist the opposing force. Right this time, from behind him three claws were coming toward his back.

Fat Toutuo took a quick glance and saw the two monks on his left sending out their punches, instantly his feet kicked the ground and he flew upward; but the extended palms of the three monks behind him were not the same, they were using 'dragon claw', 'tiger claw' and 'eagle claw' styles, respectively, he was intimidated inwardly. Coiling his large sleeve, he created a gust of strong wind, as soon as his left foot landed on the ground, his right hand grabbed Wei Xiaobao. ”Do you want him to die, or do you want him to live?” he called out.

Some of the eighteen Shaolin monks advancing, some retreating, they formed two circles, surrounding Fat Toutuo in the middle. Cheng Xin said, ”The sutra of this young benefactor is very important, I am asking Dashi to please return it, and thus binding good karma. We will be deeply grateful.”

With right hand lifting Wei Xiaobao high in the air and left palm pressing the crown of his head, Fat Toutuo walked southwards in big strides. The situation was clear: if the Shaolin monks put forth their hands to block him, he would slightly exert some strength on his left palm, Wei Xiaobao's skull would be crushed immediately.

The several Shaolin monks blocking on the south hesitated. They could only chant 'Amitabha Buddha' and stepped aside to let him through. Carrying Wei Xiaobao, Fat Toutuo dashed to the south, he went faster and faster. The eighteen luohan of Shaolin Temple unleashed their qing gong to follow him closely.

By this time, Shuang'er's sealed acupoint had been unsealed by the Shaolin monks. Seeing Wei Xiaobao was captured, she was alarmed and frightened, and immediately raised her chi to pursue. Since her punching and kicking skill was taught by an expert, her martial art was quite amazing, but she was still very young, her internal energy cultivation differed too far from those Shaolin monks, plus her stature was small, her steps short, in just one or two li, she had already fallen behind. In her distress, she broke up crying, but she did not stop running after them. Although Fat Toutuo was carrying a person, his speed did not diminished at all, unexpectedly the Shaolin monks were not able to catch on.

After running for a while, still carrying Wei Xiaobao, Fat Toutuo dashed toward a mountain peak directly south of them. The eighteen Shaolin monks ran after him in single file. Shuang'er followed to the foot of the peak and she was already out of breath. Looking up, she saw the peak was very high; she thought that the evil toutuo took her xianggong to the top of the mountain peak, there was a one in ten thousand chance that he would take a wrong step and fall down. The evil toutuo may not necessarily die, but how could xianggong be alive?

While she was having this frightening thought, suddenly she heard loud rumbling noise as pieces of big rocks rolled down the mountain path. The eighteen Shaolin monks leaped to the left and jumped to the right, continuously dodging the rocks. What happened was that as Fat Toutuo reached the peak, he continuously kicked the rocks along the path so that the rocks rolled down to block the enemy. How could the eighteen Shaolin monks let the rocks smash them? However, the distance between them widened considerably.

When battling Huangfu Ge, Abbot Cheng Guang had received injury on the pit of his stomach, his internal energy was adversely affected, he fell behind the seventeenth monk. Shuang'er struggled hard to pursue to the peak, she called out, ”Fangzhang Dashi, Fangzhang Dashi!”

Cheng Guang turned his head around and stopped to wait for her. Seeing her rushing while gasping for breath, and with frightened expression on her face, he consoled her by saying, ”Don't be afraid! He won't harm your master [orig. gongzi].” Afraid that she might hurt herself by rushing like that, he took her hand and together they slowly walked up the mountain.

Shuang'er's heart was somewhat comforted; she asked, ”Abbot, he ... can he possibly harm Xianggong?”

”He can't,” Cheng Guang replied. Although his mouth said so, seeing Fat Toutuo was so vicious, how could he ascertain that?

This mountain peak was Mount Wutai's southern platform [reminder: wutai means five platforms], luckily it was a winding mountain path, with a lot of twists and turns, after several turns, the rocks Fat Toutuo kicked were no longer a threat to them. By the time Cheng Guang and Shuang'er reached the Southern Platform Peak, they saw seventeen Shaolin monks were surrounding a temple; naturally Fat Toutuo and Wei Xiaobao were inside the temple.

These people happened to be on the Jin Xiu Peak, and that temple was the Pu Ji Temple. Shuang'er called out several times, ”Xianggong, Xianggong!” But there was no reply. Lifting up her feet, she rushed into the temple.

Shuang'er dashed straight toward the main hall and saw Fat Toutuo was standing by the mouth of the water drainage from the eaves of the Hall of Great Strength, his right hand was still clutching Wei Xiaobao. Shuang'er rushed over can called out, ”Xianggong, did the evil monk hurt you?”

”Don't worry,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”He will not dare to harm me.”

Fat Toutuo angrily said, ”Why won't I dare to harm you?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, ”If you harm a single strand of my hair, the eighteen luohan of Shaolin will catch you, and will change you back to your original state; you will turn back into a short and fat man, then you will be really bad.”

Fat Toutuo's countenance changed greatly; with a trembling voice he said, ”What do you mean change me back to my original state? You ... you ... how did you know?”

Actually, Wei Xiaobao did not have the slightest idea, he was only thinking that his stature was tall and thin, but he was called the 'Fat Toutuo', so he was just speaking thoughtlessly, without any reason whatsoever. Unexpectedly, he seemed to hit the toutuo's sore spot.

Wei Xiaobao was able to see the change in the toutuo's countenance, and hear the fright in his voice; immediately he laughed coldly, ”Hey, hey, naturally I know,” he said.

”They don't have that ability,” Fat Toutuo said. Suddenly his right foot flew up, 'Bang!' he kicked the stone drum in front of the steps that it crashed onto the screen wall across the gate. Fragments of rocks swirl in the air. He turned to Shuang'er and asked, ”What are you doing here? Are you bored of being alive?”

Shuang'er said, ”Xianggong and I will live together and die together; if you harm just half a part of him, I will fight you to the death.”

”Damn it,” Fat Toutuo angrily said, ”What's so good about this little demon? Are you, the little baby girl, in love with him?”

Shuang'er blushed, she could not answer the question. ”Xianggong is a good man,” she said, ”You are a wicked man.”

They heard the eighteen Shaolin monks outside chanted the name of Buddha together, ”Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha! Fat Reverend Monk, please release the young benefactor and return the sutra to him! You are an outstanding and famous hero and warrior of the Wulin world, yet you are making things difficult for a little child, won't you be the laughingstock of the people of the world?”

Fat Toutuo roared, ”If you keep babbling nonsense, Laozi will not be polite anymore. We will all break up with one strike, laozi will kill this little child and destroy the sutra, I want to see what are you going to do about it?”

Cheng Xin said, ”Fat Reverend Monk, what do you want so that you will be willing to release him and return the sutra?”

”Release him is still possible,” Fat Toutuo said, ”But no matter what, I won't return the sutra.” The monks outside fell silent.

Fat Toutuo looked around the main hall, looking for a way to escape. Suddenly grey shadows flashed, the eighteen Shaolin monks flew into the hall. Keeping close to the left wall, five Shaolin monks circled around to his back. Keeping close to the left wall, five Shaolin monks circled around to his back. In an instant he was surrounded again by the eighteen Shaolin monks.

Fat Toutuo angrily said, ”If you have guts, let's fight one on one. You can try Laozi's hands one by one, taking turn in fighting me, laozi won't care.”

Cheng Xin put his palms together and said, ”Please forgive our rudeness, we must fight you together.”

Fat Toutuo raised his left foot and lightly stepped on Wei Xiaobao's head, while laughing coldly. Smelling the mud odor from the sole of his shoe, Wei Xiaobao was both frightened and angered; with the stinky shoe on his head, unexpectedly his brain also became muddled, in that instant he could not think of anything else. His eyes swept the hall randomly, trying to find something in that main hall with which he could provoke the toutuo. He only needed to talk some nonsense to divert Fat Toutuo's attention, so that his concentration was somewhat broken, then the Shaolin monks would have the opportunity to help him. However, with his head underneath the toutuo's foot, he could only look to one side of the courtyard outside. He saw a large stone turtle with a large vertical stone tablet on its back.

”Fat Reverend Monk,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Your dad is always crawling in the courtyard, with a tens-of-thousands-catty large stone pressing on his back, isn't he suffering too much? You are not even trying to help him, you are really lacking of filial piety.”

”What do you mean my dad is crawling in the courtyard?” Fat Toutuo angrily said, ”Your mouth is full of rubbish.”

Fat Toutuo hastily asked, ”Where are the other seven copies? Do you know?”

”Naturally I do,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

”Where are they?” Fat Toutuo asked, ”Tell me quickly, if you don't, I am going to crush your skull with my foot.”

”At first I did not know, but I found out about it just now,” Wei Xiaobao said.

”You have just found out about it?” Fat Toutuo asked in amazement, ”What do you mean?”

”What characters?” Fat Toutuo asked. Seeing Wei Xiaobao was staring at the stone tablet in the courtyard, he asked in amazement, ”You understand the inscription on that stone tablet?”

Wei Xiaobao did not pay him any attention, he read the inscription on the stone tablet with rapt attention, ”The second copy is hidden in some Buddhist nun monastery on some mountain in Shanxi province. Pang Laoxiong [old fellow fat], I don't recognize these several characters, the engraving is fuzzy, you are well-versed in both literature and martial art, why don't you go and look at it yourself?”

Fat Toutuo believed him; he bent over to lift Wei Xiaobao up and brought him out of the hall's door to look at the stone tablet. The writings on the stone tablet were actually in seal-script; if he said it was some writing, he himself did not recognize even a single character, but if he said it was not some writing, then what was engraved on the stone tablet?

He heard Wei Xiaobao continue reading, ”The third copy is on some mountain in Sichuan? I don't recognize that character either.”

Wei Xiaobao squinted to gaze at the stone tablet, he leaned his head to the left, and then leaned it to the right, finally he shook his head and said, ”I can't figure it out.”

Fat Toutuo lifted him up and brought him three steps closer to the stone tablet. When they were near, his face showed an inquiring expression. Wei Xiaobao said, ”My head is so itchy.”

”What?” Fat Toutuo asked.

”There's flea in this temple,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”It went into my hair and bit me. Pang Laoxiong, please catch the flea for me. My scalp is unbearably itchy, I cannot see clearly.”

Fat Toutuo took off his hat and stretched out his huge palm, and with his five as-big-as-wooden-club fingers he scratched Wei Xiaobao's hair. ”Is it better?” he asked.

”No,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”The flea bit me on the left part of my scalp, you were scratching the right part; the more you scratched, the itchier it becomes.” Therefore, Fat Toutuo scratched the left part of his scalp. Wei Xiaobao said, ”Aiyo, the flea jumped onto my neck, did you see it?”

Fat Toutuo was fully aware that he was being mischievous, but he still relaxed his hand holding Wei Xiaobao's wrist; only he placed his left hand lightly on Wei Xiaobao's shoulder to prevent him from running away. ”Just scratch it yourself!” he said.

”Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao said, ”This granny's flea is so difficult to deal with, it must have not eaten human's blood in three years. Originally it was short and fat, and now it is so starved that it turns thin and shriveled, hence it came here staking everything it has to make things difficult for laozi.” While saying that, he reached into his collar with his left hand and scratched vigorously.

Fat Toutuo knew Wei Xiaobao was cursing him as a flea in a roundabout way, but he pretended not to notice. ”Where is the fourth copy hidden at?” he asked.

”Um, the fourth copy,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”It is hidden in some mountain, Shao … Shaolin Temple's Da … Da something courtyard?”

Fat Toutuo was shocked. ”It is hidden in Shaolin Temple's Damo Courtyard?” he asked.

Seeing he was very afraid of the eighteen Shaolin monks, and knowing that these Shaolin monks were from Damo Courtyard, Wei Xiaobao deliberately came out with this difficult problem; he wanted to play trick on him, thinking that even if he had an enormous courage, he would not dare to go to Shaolin Temple's Damo Courtyard to steal the sutra. ”Is that the character 'mo'?” Wei Xiaobao asked, ”I did not know it. Pang Laoxiong, you even know this difficult character, why should you tell me to read? Ah, I know, you are simply testing me. I am ashamed, on each line, there are several characters that I do not recognize.”

Fat Toutuo cast a sidelong glance toward the Shaolin monks, his expression showed trepidation and uncertainty; he asked, ”And where is the fifth copy hidden at?”

Shaolin Temple was a major sect of the Wulin world. Wei Xiaobao had heard Hai Dafu mentioning it, who had also mentioned that the Empress Dowager pretended to be from Wudang Pai. In turn, the Empress Dowager had thought that Hai Dafu was from Kongtong Pai. Therefore, Wudang and Kongtong were also two major sects. Thereupon he said that the fifth and sixth copies were hidden separately on Wudang and Kongtong, two mountains. Fat Toutuo's countenance turned uglier and uglier. Wei Xiaobao said that the seventh copy was obtained by the Mu Palace people of Yunnan, and the eighth was in some Xi Wang's [west king] mansion. Bai Hanfeng had given him some trouble, so he was trying to even up by mentioning the Mu Palace. In Wu Sangui, Ping Xi Wang's palace, there were martial art experts as many as the clouds, even his own Shifu was afraid of it, if Fat Toutuo was brazen enough to cause trouble, he would definitely suffer an enormous suffering.

To his surprise, however, Fat Toutuo's countenance changed greatly as he asked, ”Did you say the eighth copy is in Ping Xi Wang's mansion?”

”I do not know this character,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”I am not sure if it is Ping Xi Wang.”

Fat Toutuo was angry; suddenly he exploded, ”Rubbish! If not a thousand years old, this stone tablet is at least five hundred years; how old is Wu Sangui? How can an inscription of several hundred years ago mention Ping Xi Wang Wu Sangui?”

The stone tablet was jet-black, the stone tortoise and the stone tablet were covered with moss, the engraved inscriptions were worn out and badly damaged; one look at it, one would immediately know that this article was a several hundred year old antique. Wei Xiaobao did not understand this logic and hence he made idle talk trying to implicate Wu Sangui.

”Bad, bad!” he groaned inwardly. Trying to recover from his blunder he said, ”I said I do not know that character, it was you who said 'Ping Xi Wang', perhaps in ancient times there was a Gou Xi Wang, Mao Xi Wang or even Wugui[91] Xi Wang in Yunnan. Pang Laoxiong, let me tell you this: these characters are squiggly, they are very difficult to recognize. If you know it, then you know it, if you don't know it, then admit it. You pretend to know, yet you read something about Ping Xi Wang Wu Sangui. Here we have several great monks, each and every one of them is a man of learning and profound knowledge; you randomly read wrong characters, won't you make them laugh at you till their mouths crooked?”

This speech actually made sense, making Fat Toutuo's thin face immediately blushed deep red from ear to ear. He was not angry at all, but nodded his head and said, ”I do not recognize even one word of these tadpole characters, so it is not Ping Xi Wang. What else is written below it?”

”What a close call!” Wei Xiaobao mused, ”After rebuking him a little, I need to cover it up. I have to say a few nice things to make him happy. He changed the 'Snake Island' to 'Divine Dragon Island'; he also knew the fat pig Liu Yan, most probably he is a member of Shen Long Jiao.” After cocking his head and looking at the stone tablet for half a day, he said, ”The following seems to say 'long life as heaven … heaven … heaven …' heaven what?”

Fat Toutuo immediately looked tense, ”Look carefully,” he said, ”Long life as heaven what?”

”It looks like the character … the character … um, character 'qi' [even/level with]. Right, it must be 'long-life is the same as the Heaven's'!”

Fat Toutuo was greatly delighted, he repeatedly rubbed his hands and said, ”This sentence does exist. And then what?”

Wei Xiaobao pointed to the stone tablet and said, ”These characters are really squiggly, they are hard to recognize. Ah right, this must me 'Hong' character, 'Hong Jiaozhu', three characters, and then there's 'Shen Long' two characters! Look here, these are 'shen tong guang da', four characters [magical power is extensive].”

”Wow!” Fat Toutuo exclaimed loudly, he jumped up and down and said, ”Hong Jiaozhu really has such good fortune, his long-life is the same as the Heaven's? It is written on this thousand years old stone tablet?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”On top of that, it is written that this is … this is a monument established by Tang Taizong Li Shimin[92], who sent Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin to erect it. It is clearly written on this stone tablet that during the Tang Dynasty, there was a military master called Xu Maogong, who knew events that happened a thousand years before and a thousand years after, who foretold that after a thousand years, during the Great Qing Dynasty, there will be Hong Jiaozhu of Shen Long Jiao, whose magical power is extensive and whose long-life is the same as the Heaven's.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I wonder if there is something else written on the back of this big stone.”

”Yes!” Fat Toutuo said. He walked around to look at the back of the stone tablet.

Wei Xiaobao took a sudden big stride forward and jumped backward. Fat Toutuo was startled, and hastily reached out to grab. Four Shaolin monks from both sides simultaneously waved their palms to strike. Fat Toutuo did not have any choice but to send a fist to ward off. By this time Wei Xiaobao had already hidden behind the Shaolin monks. In an instant four more Shaolin monks stepped forward.

Eight Shaolin monks constantly circle around Fat Toutuo in fast motion, while their hands continuously sent out attack after attack. It did not matter if the attack hit the target or not, as soon as one strike failed, the next strike arrived. Sixteen hands struck from eight directions; obviously it was a well-trained formation. Fat Toutuo's defense was very tight, but with one against eight, right away he sensed that he would not be able to endure.

'Slap! Slap!' a Shaolin monk exchanged palm strikes with Fat Toutuo. The Shaolin monk jumped out of the arena, another monk stepped in. After fighting for a while, Fat Toutuo's leg was kicked. He stretched out his arms, made a turn, and forced the eight Shaolin monks to withdraw two steps back. ”Hold on!” he called out.

Each one of the eight Shaolin monks took two more steps back. Fat Toutuo said, ”Today the few are no match for the many, I'll give the sutra back to you!” Reaching into his bosom, he took out the sutra.

Cheng Xin waved his left hand, the eight Shaolin monks took two steps forward, now they were less than three chi away from Fat Toutuo, each one poised for another strike. Fat Toutuo ignored them completely. He held out his hand with the sutra in it. Cheng Xin circulated the internal energy from his dantian several times, now his entire body was shielded with his inner strength. He put his three left fingers together in secret to guard against the follow-up attack. Only then did he stretch out his right hand to slowly receive the sutra.

Unexpectedly, Fat Toutuo did not make any move; he returned the sutra and then with a smile he said, ”Cheng Xin Dashi, your eighteen luohan of Shaolin is world famous, eighteen of you beat me, one man; don't you think it is rather lack of splendor?”

Cheng Xin put the sutra into his bosom, put his palms together, bowed and said, ”Forgive our offense. In one-on-one combat, Shaolin monks are not the Fat Revered Monk's match.” With a wave of his left hand, all the monks withdrew simultaneously. For fear that he would try to grab Wei Xiaobao again, five or six monks stood on guard in front of him.

”Benefactor Wei,” Fat Toutuo said, ”I have an earnest request that I will ask you to please grant it to me.”

”What is it?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

”I want to invite you to the Divine Dragon Island,” Fat Toutuo replied, ”To be our guest for several days.”

Wei Xiaobao was taken aback, ”What?” he said, ”You want me to go to the Divine Dragon Island? That kind of place …”

Fat Toutuo said, ”The young benefactor's sutra is in Cheng Xin Dashi's hand, he will submit it to Shaolin Fangzhang. The young benefactor is coming to the Divine Dragon Island, our Cult people, from top to bottom, will definitely treat you with utmost respect. After you meet with Hong Jiaozhu, I will definitely send young benefactor out of the island safe and sound.”

He saw Wei Xiaobao was closing his mouth tight, obviously he did not believe him; thereupon he said, ”Cheng Xin Dashi, I am asking you to be my witness. Have you ever known Fat Toutuo said something but not doing it?”

Cheng Xin knew that although this toutuo's conduct was rather heretical and presumptuous, he was not significantly evil. The fact that fat and thin, two toutuo had always fulfilled their promise, he had indeed heard about it long ago. He said, ”The fact that Fat Revered Monk is trustworthy is widely known. It's just that Benefactor Wei has a very important matter to attend, I am afraid he won't have time to go to the Divine Dragon Island.”

”That's right,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I am extremely busy. When I have time in the future, I will go to the Divine Dragon Island to visit Fat Revered Monk and Hong Jiaozhu.”

Fat Toutuo hastily said, ”You should have said Hong Jiaozhu and his, the Senior's, subordinate Fat Toutuo. First, there is no one in the world may rank above him, the Senior. By saying other people's name first before mentioning Hong Jiaozhu is highly disrespectful.”

”What about the Emperor?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Fat Toutuo replied, ”Naturally Hong Jiaozhu first, the Emperor behind him. Second, in the presence of Jiaozhu, the Senior, you must not mention 'Revered Monk' or 'Taoist Master'[95]. In this entire world, only Hong Jiaozhu deserves to be revered.”

Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue and said, ”Hong Jiaozhu is so formidable, I do not dare to meet him even more.”

Fat Toutuo said, ”Hong Jiaozhu is benevolent and loving, his kindness covers the whole world. Toward a brilliant and clever young hero like young benefactor, the Senior is sure to be absolutely thrilled. If the young benefactor goes to the Divine Dragon Island, you will definitely return from a rewarding journey. The Senior, Jiaozhu, is very generous, it goes without saying. Perhaps when the Senior is happy, he would teach you a move or half a style; henceforth the young benefactor will be able to reap endless benefit when you are roaming the world.”

He was speaking very sincerely, fervently and passionately. At first he did not even consider Wei Xiaobao worthy in his eyes, he even stepped on his head, but now his speech was full of 'young benefactor' and 'a brilliant and clever young hero'. Afraid that Wei Xiaobao could not hear him clearly, he bent his bamboo-pole-like body and spoke next to his ear.

Wei Xiaobao recalled Tao Hongying's story, and remembered seeing the action of Zhang Laosan and the other at the Zhuang home; he also remembered the Empress Dowager and Liu Yan, and the appearance of the fake palace maid, the man who dressed as a woman. In short, he had an unspeakable disgust toward Shen Long Jiao. Comparatively speaking, among the Shen Long Jiao people, Fat Toutuo still had several part of lofty quality as a hero. But after using force to rob the sutra and carrying Wei Xiaobao here and there, now suddenly his manner changed completely, he wanted to invite him as a guest to the Divine Dragon Island, Wei Xiaobao was certain that Fat Toutuo was harboring some malicious intentions. Right now he was speaking politely, but it must be because he was no match for the Shaolin monks. As soon as the Shaolin monks left, he would definitely resort to violence again, and then who would be able to put him under control? Thereupon Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, ”I am not going!”

Fat Toutuo's thin face looked extremely dejected. Slowly he straightened up his body, and cast a glance toward the eighteen Shaolin monks surrounding him. ”Young benefactor,” he said slowly, ”In your opinion, how is my martial art compared to these eighteen great monks?”

”Each has its strong points,” Wei Xiaobao said.

”What do you mean each has its strong points?” Fat Toutuo angrily said, ”If we fight one on one, do you think they can beat me?”

Wei Xiaobao replied, ”One on one, perhaps you will win. One against eighteen, you will definitely lose. This is what I mean by each has its strong points. If one on one and you still lose, you don't have any farting points! Your only strong point is that you are taller than they are.”

Fat Toutuo smiled and said, ”Have you seen anybody else with martial art skill as superior as mine?”

”Of course I have!” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”Your martial art skill is just so-so, I have seen not a few people whose martial art skill is ten times better than yours.”

Fat Toutuo was angry; he jumped one step forward with stretched arm to grab him. Four Shaolin monks simultaneously stretched out their palms to block. Fat Toutuo said, ”Name those people whose martial art is superior to mine.”

Momentarily Wei Xiaobao was at a loss for words; he could not remember seeing anybody whose martial art skill was higher than his. His own Shifu's martial art skill was extremely high, but he could not necessarily beat him.

Fat Toutuo was very smug, he said, ”You see, you can't name even one, can you?”

”What do you mean I can't name one?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I just don't want to tell you, for fear you might be really frightened. There are so many people whose martial art skill is higher than yours. The first one is Tian Di Hui's Zongduozhu Chen Jinnan. I have seen him fighting in Beijing, with his pair of hands he caught four toutuo, each toutuo weighs more than two hundred catties. With just a kick of his legs, he was able to jump over the city wall. If you fight with him, the difference is way too far.”

”Humph,” Fat Toutuo snorted. He had also heard the name of Chen Jinnan, but did not believe that he was able to jump over the city wall carrying four people. ”Braggart!” he said.

”The second person whose martial art is superior,” Wei Xiaobao continued, ”Is a sweet, tender-footed young mistress.” Speaking to this point, he cast a glance toward Shuang'er. Shuang'er repeatedly shook her hand, telling him not to continue. But Wei Xiaobao continued, ”One time this young mistress fought thirty-six Wudang's Taoist priests. Thirty-six priests surrounded her, using ... using some sort of formation.”

Fat Toutuo asked, ”About that Wudang Pai's formation, were they barehanded or using swords?”

”Using swords,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

”That must be Zhenwu[96] Sword Formation,” Fat Toutuo said.

”That's right,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Pang Dashi [great master fat] is experienced and knowledgeable, you know about Zhenwu Sword Formation. At that time those thirty-six swords surrounded the young mistress, the swords flickered that even water could not splash through. The young mistress had a child in her left hand, her right hand was unarmed ...”

Fat Toutuo was greatly amazed. ”She fought Wudang Pai with a child in her left hand?” he asked.

”What's so strange about it?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Actually, she was carrying two little babies, both were boys, they were very fat ...” He deliberately exaggerated the martial art skill of the young mistress of the Zhuang family, so he doubled the number of child in her arm. He said, ” ... with her mouth she was soothing the babies: 'Two sweet babies, don't cry, watch your mama doing some tricks', while seizing the swords in those thirty-six priests hands and sealed those priests' acupoints, so that all of them were frozen in place, just like clay Bodhisattva, without able to move at all. Carrying the babies, the young mistress let them grab the old priests' beard. The old priests stared in anger, but the two babies were laughing very happily.”

Wudang Pai and Shaolin Pai were equally famous, their martial art went back for a thousand years; Wei Xiaobao knew this. He saw how Fat Toutuo was not able to defeat the eighteen Shaolin monks, so he said that that young mistress was able to overpower thirty-six Taoist priests. Whose martial art strong, whose martial art weak, he did not have to talk too much.

Listening to him, Fat Toutuo stared blankly like he suddenly lost his mind. He sighed and said, ”Unexpectedly there is such magical martial art in the world!”

Seeing surprisingly he believed his lie, Wei Xiaobao was very proud of himself. He said, ”I am not concealing anything from you, this young mistress is my own godmother.”

When he started talking about Jiangnan's young mistress, Shuang'er thought that he was talking about the Third Mistress; but then later he mentioned that the young mistress had a pair of twin boys, plus she was Wei Xiaobao's godmother, hence she realized he was talking about someone else. But Fat Toutuo was shocked. ”Your godmother?” he asked, ”What's her surname? There is such a formidable figure in Wulin, yet how come I have never heard about it?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”There are plentiful formidable figures in Wulin. Take my wife here for example,” he pointed to Shuang'er, ”As you can see, she is petite, cute and exquisite looking; how do you know she knew martial art?”

Shuang'er blushed; she said, ”Xianggong, don't talk nonsense.”

Fat Toutuo had had some exchange with Shuang'er, this kind of petite lady, surprisingly her skill was quite amazing; were it not for him personally witnessing it, it would be hard for him to believe. He nodded and said, ”You are right. Since the young benefactor is unwilling to visit the Divine Dragon Island, there's nothing I can do. Gentlemen, please!”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Dashi, you first!” He appeared to be polite, but actually he wanted Fat Toutuo to leave first; if he went to the east, then Wei Xiaobao would go to the west, if he went to the north, then Wei Xiaobao would go to the south.

Fat Toutuo shook his head and said, ”Young benefactor, please go first. I want to make a rubbing of the inscription engraved on this stone tablet.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed inwardly, thinking that his wild talk was unexpectedly believed as the truth.

Book note:

2. Four empresses of Shunzhi. Empress Duan Jing, whose maiden name was Donggo, and Empress Xiao Kang, Kangxi's birth mother, were buried together as husband and wives to show filial piety. Empress Fei[97] and Empress Xiao Hui (the 'Empress Dowager' in our book) were separately buried in the Xiao Dong Ling [Eastern Qing Tombs]. 'Xiao Kang' and 'Xiao Hui' were posthumous titles granted during the reigns of Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong. The titles were not known during Kangxi's reign. But popular fiction does not need to follow such a strict compliance to historical facts.

3. The matter of Shunzhi leaving home to become a monk on Mount Wutai was a widely spread folklore during the Qing Dynasty. It was known as one of the 'Four Qing Mysteries' [or 'doubtful cases']. The other three mysteries were: Shunzhi's Empress Dowager married a regent later on, Yongzheng's got his first wife by force, Qianlong actually came from Chen family in Haining [county level city in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province]. According to official record, Shunzhi died of smallpox; however, there are too many doubtful points in the official record, to such an extent that people of later generation could only guess what had really happened. A great poet of early Qing Dynasty, Wu Meichun wrote four-stanza poem 'Mount Qing Liang's Poem of Praise to Buddha'. It is definitely related to Consort Donggo. Quite a number of people believe that because of his grief over his beloved concubine's death, Shunzhi has left home to become a Buddhist monk on Mount Wutai. The poem says, 'There's a high mountain in the northwest, people say it's the Wenshu [Manjushri] Platform. On the platform there's a bright moon pond, where thousand-leaf golden lotus blooms, the blossoms reflecting each other's shadow, the leaves grow together with the root. The queen mother carries Shuang Cheng [double success?], the green canopy reaches to the cloud (note: Shuang Cheng points to female fairy Dong Shuang Cheng). The Han Lord sits on the Palace of Buddhist teaching, he hesitates as soon as exposed to the light. Binding the hearts together, giving away nine ornamental hairpins ... hand in hand neglecting the greatest news, extreme happiness gives birth to minuscule sorrow. Loneliness of a thousand autumns ended, who will wholeheartedly accompany me today? ... ' (It was said that while Consort Donggo received special favor from Shunzhi; Shunzhi's own life was inconsistently tragic. The entire poem was very long, it will not be copied here in its entirety). 'Wounded heart is frightened by the cold wind, deep in the Palace the crickets chirp. Severe frost covers the jasper tree, hibiscus withered from the core. It's a pity a thousand li grass, withered away losing its color.' (note: 'thousand-li grass' [千里草] are characters form the 'Dong' [董] character, referring to the death of Consort Donggo.) ... 'The south-facing storehouse stretches to the grave (referring to Cao Cao's [famous statesman and general at the end of Han, the main villain of the novel 'Romance of Three Kingdoms'] son who died prematurely in infancy, King Deng Ai, Cao Cangshu [Cangshu means 'stretched storehouse'], a comparison to Prince Rong), covering the face, adding to the broken heart. Abstain from words, feed my horse with grain, roaming the eight extremities.' (It was told that when his beloved concubine passed away, Shunzhi's innermost being was so sorrowful that he was thinking of leaving the mortal world). 'The eight extremities is boundless, it is pointing to the Qing Liang Mountain. This mountain stores up deities, noble spirits to examine the wrong ... Famous mountain initially looks at the good fortune, accepting instruction to release the way of the well-being, preparing to sprinkle seven Buddhist earthen jars from the highest peak ... From the seat of a celestial being, breathing out air like silken sandalwood. Sending words to the Han Emperor, is it worth the trouble to remain in the mortal world? ... Only a broad mind, like a rock, will never be published. Hereby protecting the golden wheel, the law of the ocean has no billows (talking about Shunzhi's aspiration to go to Mount Wutai). Tasting and hearing the solemn Son of Heaven, six hired hands cover ten thousand li ... magnificent concubine's ailment cannot be saved, waving the whip, tears flow like water. Han Emperor like an immortal, his wife considers getting rid of her slippers ... favoring instead to seize the government power of the long gate, graciousness leans to the Qing city. Magnificent jade decorating the night, heartache and grief like the mourning cicada. None of the sufferings does not have a death side to it, to have the power of commanding the morning sun to rise ... maintaining the propriety toward the ruler, virtuous sage to set the course. Taking part in the way does not need the brilliance of the ruler, declining meritorious deed promising disgrace, empty appearance cannot be repeated, like packing up a reservoir of the wind.' (Toward the ruler points to Sakyamuni Buddha. Attributed to his conversion to the Dharma, seeking relief by Zen Buddhism).

4. When he was on the throne, Shunzhi has already taken Yulin as his master in the study of Buddhism. From Yulin's chronicle as the teacher of the state: in the Shunzhi's sixteenth year, the 'forefather of the world' asked the master to bestow a name, the master offered more than ten characters, the 'forefather of the world' picked the character 'chi' [imbecile/sentimental/stupid/foolish], in conjunction with the character 'Xing', which was handed down by forefather of Zen Buddhism's sect of Long Chi [dragon pond], and thus his Buddhist name was 'Xing Chi'. Yulin himself was of the 'Tong' [go through/pass] generation, his name was 'Tong Xiu' ['xiu' means jade], Yulin [yulin means jade forest]; therefore, his disciples used the 'Xing' [to walk/to go/to travel] as their generation name.