Chapter - 19 (19) (2/2)

Fang Yi rolled up Wei Xiaobao's trouser, she bent down and sucked up the snake venom from his leg. Wei Xiaobao was startled, ”No … don't!” he said.

Suddenly they heard footsteps behind them, someone was saying, ”What are you doing here? Aren't you afraid to die?”

Wei Xiaobao turned his head around, and saw three middle-aged men. ”Dashu [big uncle] help,” he hastily called out, ”We are bitten by the snakes.”

One man took out a pill from his pocket, put it in his own mouth and chewed it for a moment, and then spread it on the snake bites on Wei Xiaobao's body. Wei Xiaobao said, ”Please … please help her first.” By now his own legs had already turned black, his entire body had lost its senses. Fang Yi received the medicine from the man and applied it on her own wounds. ”Good Jiejie …” Wei Xiaobao said, his eyes blackened, 'crash!' with a loud cry he fell backward.

When he woke up, he felt his lips were parched and his tongue dry, there was a sharp pain on the pit of his stomach; he could not help but groaning loudly. He heard someone spoke, ”Good, you're awake!” Wei Xiaobao slowly opened his eyes, and saw someone with a bowl of medicine, which he held in front of Wei Xiaobao's mouth. This medicine was exceptionally smelly, but without hesitation he drank it down. As it entered his mouth, it tasted strangely bitter. After he finished the medicine, he said, ”Thank you Dashu, for saving my life. I … how is my Jiejie?”

”Fortunately we saved you in time,” the man replied, ”If we arrived just a bit late, the two of you would have lost your lives. You are too daring, why did you come to this immortal island?”

Hearing Fang Yi was saved, Wei Xiaobao was greatly relieved, he did not stop expressing his gratitude. Only then did he realize that he was lying underneath a quilt, his entire clothes were gone, his legs were still numb. The man's appearance was unsightly, his face was full of scars, but in Wei Xiaobao's eyes, he looked like a Bodhisattva who saved his life. He let out a breath and said, ”The sailors on the ship said that there are immortal fruits on this island, those who ate it will have long life and won't grow old.”

”Hey,” the man laughed, ”If there were indeed such immortal fruits, why didn't they come to pick the fruits themselves?”

”Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, ”Those sailors harbor malicious intentions. I still have a companion on the ship, I am afraid ... I am afraid she might fall into those bad people's hands. Dashu, please think of a way to rescue her.”

The ugly man said, ”That ship has already left three days ago, how could I find it?”

Wei Xiaobao was puzzled; ”Three days ago?” he asked in bewilderment.

The ugly man said, ”You have been in coma for three whole days and nights, most likely you did not know it?”

Although Shuang'er's martial art skill was high, she was all alone on the boundless ocean, how could she escape the wicked men's evil scheme? Remembering her, Wei Xiaobao could not help but was very anxious. The ugly man comforted him, ”Feeling anxious this moment is useless. You'd better take a good rest, the snakes on this island are not a small matter, you will need at least seven days of treatment before the venom can be eradicated.” He asked Wei Xiaobao's name, and introduced himself as having a surname of Pan.

By the third day, Wei Xiaobao was able to get up and walk slowly by holding on to the wall. The ugly man surnamed Pan took him to see Fang Yi. Turned out she was being taken care of by another woman, but her jade countenance was wan and sallow, her spirit was weary. When the two of them met, they were both happy and grieved at the same time, and thus they embraced each other and cried together. Henceforth the two of them share the same room during the day. When talking about the fierceness of the vipers' venom, the hair on their bodies stood up.

By the sixth day, the man surnamed Pan said, ”The physician of our island, Mr. Lu, has returned from his journey out to the sea, I have already invited him to examine Wei Xiongdi.” Wei Xiaobao thanked him.

Not too long afterwards, a man in his forties walked in, he dressed as a scholar, his expression is friendly; he asked Wei Xiaobao how the snakes bit him. He said, ”The residents of this island always have realgar snake medicine handy, when this medicine is applied on the vipers, the snakes will immediately run away, and will not dare to bite people.”

”So that's how it is,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”No wonder Pan Dage and the others are not afraid.”

Mr. Lu examined his wound, and took out six pills, he said, ”You take three pills, and give the other three to your companion. Take one pill every day.”

Wei Xiaobao thanked him profusely. He took out two hundred taels worth of banknotes. ”A little bit of treatment fee,” he said, ”I ask Mister not to laugh.”

Mr. Lu was startled; he said, ”Why so much? Gongzi gives me two taels, and I am already grateful.” Wei Xiaobao insisted on giving him the whole thing, Mr. Lu thanked him and accepted. He said with a laugh, ”Gongzi is so generous, to refuse would be impolite. Perhaps Gongzi feels stifled staying here, what do you say tonight Gongzi and your female companion come to my humble home to have a cup of wine?” Wei Xiaobao was delighted and readily accepted the invitation.

That evening, Mr. Lu sent two sedan chairs to pick up Wei Xiaobao and Fang Yi. These bamboo sedan chairs were actually bamboo chairs with two bamboo poles attached on each side, carried by two men, one in the front and the other on the back. The residents of the island were simple and crude, they did not have real sedan chairs.

Mr. Lu went out to welcome them, and invited the two of them to enter. At the hall, a woman in her thirties came out to welcome the guests, she was Mr. Lu's wife. The woman pulled Fang Yi's hand; she appeared very friendly. Mr. Lu invited Wei Xiaobao to sit in his study room.

The bamboo bookshelf in the study room was full of books, the four walls were also full of hanging calligraphy and painting, apparently Mr. Lu was an elegant scholar. Mr. Lu said, ”Zaixia is an uncouth resident of a barren island, extremely ill-informed and narrow-minded. Wei Gongzi came from a well-known scenic spot on the Central Plains, a younger generation of a noble family, your view must be broad, your appreciation must be exquisite. Please look at these several painting and calligraphy; in your opinion, will they be passable to enter your house?”

These several sentences were scholarly talk, Wei Xiaobao did not understand even half a sentence, but seeing he was pointing to the painting and calligraphy on the wall, he looked up and saw a scenery painting [orig. mountain and water], and another one with painting of red-crowned crane and a turtle. He laughed and said, ”That old turtle looks very amusing.”

Mr. Lu was slightly startled; he pointed to a scroll on the table and asked, ”Wei Gongzi, what do you think of my Shigu script[102]?”

Wei Xiaobao saw the characters were curvy, just like the writing on a talisman. He nodded and said, ”Good, very good!”

Mr. Lu pointed to another scroll of large brush-written characters; he said, ”This painting is Qin Dynasty's stone engrave of Lang Ya [clean and white ivory] Platform, what does Wei Gongzi think about it?”

Wei Xiaobao thought that if he blindly agreed to everything, it would not be interesting, so he shook his head and said, ”This calligraphy is not too good.”

Mr. Lu felt a deep veneration as he said, ”Would Wei Gongzi please give directions? Where is the faulty stroke and weak points of this calligraphy?”

”There are too many faulty strokes, there are too little superb strokes!” Wei Xiaobao said. He thought that since there are 'faulty stroke', then naturally there are 'superb stroke' as well.

It was the very first time that Mr. Lu heard the term 'superb stroke', he was taken aback and was at a loss momentarily.

”Brilliant, brilliant!” he said. Pointing to a grass script calligraphy on the western wall, he said, ”This is wild grass script, what does Wei Gongzi think about it?”

Cocking his head, Wei Xiaobao looked at the painting for a moment, and then he shook his head and said, ”These several characters are out of ink, you should rub some more ink stick. Um, this thread here is being dragged here and there, but you did not wipe it clean.”

As soon as Mr. Lu heard this, his countenance changed greatly. Grass script pays particular attention to the application of dry and wet ink. When the brush is moist, the character is wet, when the brush is dried up, the character looks parched; dry and wet alternates, creating delicate shades of strokes. There is conspicuous wetness in the dry character, and contrasting dry stroke in the wet character, yin and yang complements each other, just like the red cloud obstructing the sky, the square makes a wonderful letter. As for the thread of strokes joined together, calligraphers call it 'transparent' lines; sometimes it joins several brush strokes together, sometimes it joins several letters together. Particular attention must be paid to both sides, the angles change irregularly, sometimes the brush floats, or turns abruptly to create all kinds of different look. By saying those words, Wei Xiaobao had revealed his background.

Mr. Lu pointed to another scroll of calligraphy and said, ”This one is entirely oracle bone inscriptions, Xiongdi's knowledge is shallow, I don't even know a single character, would Wei Gongzi please give directions?”

Wei Xiaobao saw that all characters on the paper look like tadpoles, just like the characters engraved on the stone tablet in the Pu Ji Temple on Jinxiu Peak of Mount Wutai; his heart was moved, he said, ”I know these several characters, it says 'Hong Jiaozhu of Shen Long Jiao will not be old for ten thousand years, he will enjoy the good fortune of the immortals forever, his magical power is extensive, his long-life is the same as the Heaven's'.”

A delighted expression spread across Mr. Lu's face; he said, ”Thank Heaven and thank the Earth, you indeed know these characters!”

Seeing his extreme delight, so much so that his voice was trembling, Wei Xiaobao's suspicion arose: ”I only know several characters, why is he this happy? Could it be that he also belongs to Shen Long Jiao? Aiyo, not good! Snake ... snake ... spirit snake ... could it be that this is the Divine Dragon Island?” He blurted out, ”Where is Fat Toutuo?”

Mr. Lu was shocked; he withdrew several steps and with a trembling voice said, ”You ... you know it?”

Asking Wei Xiaobao to take up a pen to write was more cruel than asking him to surrender his life. Wei Xiaobao groaned inwardly, but seeing Mr. Lu's unsightly expression, he did not dare to disobey. Bracing himself, he walked over to the desk and sat down. He took the pen and held it inside his fist. The way he hold the pen was thirty percent similar to holding chopsticks when he eat, but the way he clench his fist was also similar to the way people holding a knife to butcher a pig, or holding a hammer to pound the nail; how could there be such a way to hold the pen in the world?

Mr. Lu's angry look was growing, he struggled hard to control it. Slowly he said, ”Write down your name first!”

Wei Xiaobao suddenly stood up and tossed the pen onto the floor, the ink splattered everywhere, he said in a loud voice, ”Laozi does not know dog's fart, I can't write 'fart' character. All those 'Hong Jiaozhu's long-life is the same as the Heaven's', laozi was simply boasting unguardedly to swindle that bad toutuo. If you want laozi to write, wait for my next reincarnation. You want to kill me or chop me, if laozi even frown, just consider me not a real man.”

Mr. Lu coldly said, ”You don't know any character?”

”I don't,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”I don't know the 'gui'' character from your turtle [wu gui] or the 'dan' character from your [wang ba dan].” Since his trickery had been unmasked, his shame turned into anger. Besides, he was on Snake Island, there was only death for him without any chance to live. Begging for mercy was useless, he might as well took some advantage first.

Mr. Lu was silent for half a day. He picked up the brush and wrote several tadpole characters on the paper. ”What characters are these?” he asked.

”F*ck your mother!” Wei Xiaobao said in loud voice, ”I said I don't know, that means I don't know. Do you think I am lying?”

Mr. Lu nodded. ”Very well,” he said, ”Turns out Fat Toutuo has fallen into your big trick. But this matter has been reported to Jiaozhu. Little thief!” Suddenly he pounced and wrapped his fingers around Wei Xiaobao's neck, his hands squeezed tighter and tighter. With a clenched teeth he said, ”You have made us cheating Jiaozhu, everybody will die without a burial site because of you. It would be better if we will all die together to avoid those endless, ruthless punishment.”

Strangled by him, Wei Xiaobao could not breathe, his face swollen purple, his tongue stuck out. If Mr. Lu added a little bit more force into his hands, this child would take his last breath and die. Thinking that he had an enormous responsibility in this matter, he was startled and immediately released his fingers. Pushing with both hands, he sent Wei Xiaobao tumbling to the floor, and then filled with hatred, he left the room.

After quite a long time, Wei Xiaobao was finally able to get up. ”Dead turtle, f*ck his thief mother,” perhaps he uttered these curses several hundred times, while thinking that since he was on this poisonous Snake Island, there was no other place he could escape to. If he ran toward the underbrush in the woods, he would die even faster. Walking toward the door, he pushed the door only to find that the bamboo door was barred from the outside. Looking out of the window, he saw a deep valley. Indeed there was no way out. Turning his head around, he saw the calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall. ”What's so good about these fart characters and fart drawings?” he mused. Picking up the brush, he dipped it into the ink, and drew countless 'big turtles' and 'little turtles' on each scroll of calligraphy and paintings.

After drawing several dozen turtles, Wei Xiaobao's hand was tired, he tossed the pen to the floor and curled up in a chair, very soon he fell asleep. When he woke up, the sky had turned dark, but unexpectedly nobody came to check him up. His tummy was growling from hunger. ”This green-haired turtle wants to starve laozi to death,” he mused.

After a long time, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the door, and saw light penetrating the cracks on the door, followed by the bamboo door was pushed open and Mr. Lu entered the room with a candle in his hand. He cast him a sidelong glance. Wei Xiaobao saw there was no trace of anger on his face, so the fear in his heart subsided considerably.

Mr. Lu put the candle on the table, took a quick glance around the room, and saw that Wei Xiaobao had smeared the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls so that they were no longer presentable. He could not restrain his anger from flaring up. ”You … you …” he shouted, while raising his hand high, ready to strike down, but his palm stopped midair. Finally he was able to control his anger and said, ”You … you …” the word choked in his throat and he could not speak.

”What do you think?” Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Is my drawing good?”

Mr. Lu heaved a deep sigh, he sat down dejectedly and said, ”Good, your drawing is good.”

Surprisingly, not only he did not hit him, but he said his drawing was good. It was completely beyond Wei Xiaobao's anticipation. Seeing his distressed expression, Wei Xiaobao knew Mr. Lu was extremely troubled, he could not help but somehow feel sorry. ”Mr. Lu,” he said, ”I … I'm sorry, I destroyed your paintings.”

Mr. Lu shook his head. ”No … it's nothing,” he said. He crouched on the table with his head between his hands. After quite a while, he said, ”You must be hungry, let's eat first and we'll talk later.”

In the reception room, four dishes and a bowl of soup were arranged on the table; there were chicken and fish, the dishes were sumptuous. Soon afterwards Fang Yi and Mrs. Lu came out to accompany them. Four people ate dinner together.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised, ”Could it be that my dozens of turtle drawings are so good and Mr. Lu is so happy that he invited me to eat?” But he had a vague understanding in his heart that the situation did not always look like it really was. Several times he opened his mouth wanting to ask, but seeing Mr. Lu's mixed [orig. 'cloudy and clear'] expression, he was afraid to provoke his anger; he had not ate his fill, Mr. Lu might snatch his bowl away, then it would not be worth it. Thereupon he held his peace and ate in silence until he was full.

After dinner, Mr. Lu took him back to the study room. Mr. Lu picked up the brush from the floor and wrote 'Wei Xiaobao' three characters on the paper. ”This is your own name,” he said, ”Can you write it yourself or not?”

”It recognizes me, but I don't recognize it,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”How can I write it?”

”Hm,” Mr. Lu looked out the window and was deep in thought for half a day. With his left hand he picked up the candle and walked toward the tadpole script calligraphy. Carefully he looked at it, pointed to the characters one by one, while with his mouth he read the characters. Returning to the table, he fetched a blank piece of paper, lifted up his brush and started to scribble rapidly. He counted the number of tadpole characters with his index finger, and then counted the number of characters he wrote on the paper. And then he rapidly scribbled again on the paper, turned his head around to look at the tadpole characters, all the while he was mumbling to himself, ”Those three characters are identical, these two look the same. It must be flawless, or it won't be believable!” He pondered for half a day, then scribbled again on the paper, and said delightedly, ”Got it!”

Wei Xiaobao did not know what trick he was playing, but he did not care since his tummy was full. He saw Mr. Lu picked up another sheet of blank paper and then carefully wrote several characters. This time he wrote very slowly. Finished writing, he softly read what he wrote, swaying his head rhythmically. Wei Xiaobao only heard words like 'Divine Dragon Island', 'Hong Jiaozhu', 'long life the same as the heaven's', and so on. Finally he heard something like 'the first copy is in such and such place on such and such mountain', 'the second copy is in such and such place on such and such mountain'. Suddenly it dawned on him that those words were the exact words he boasted wildly to Fat Toutuo at the Pu Ji Temple. Unexpectedly Fat Toutuo believed it wholeheartedly and spread it out as soon as he returned here. He also thought, ”That day Fat Toutuo invited me to the Divine Dragon Island to see Hong Jiaozhu. I told him that I did not want to come, no matter what. Unexpectedly, with the demons and deities at work, the ship was sailing to this place. Now that my trickery is exposed, Hong Jiaozhu will know about it. He will definitely throw a fit; perhaps he would throw Good Jiejie and me to the snake pit, so that tens of thousands of vipers could feast on us that even our bones cannot be saved.” Thinking about endless stream of poisonous snakes crawling over his body, he was shivering all over although it was not cold.

Mr. Lu turned around with a very pleased-of-himself expression on his face. He smiled and said, ”Wei Gongzi, you know the tadpole script written on the stone tablet, it is certainly a cause of delight and a reason to congratulate you. It is also our Cult's Hong Jiaozhu's flood of good fortunes fills up the heavens that such a child prodigy like you dropped in from the sky, that you are able to read the tadpole script.”

”Humph,” Wei Xiaobao snorted, ”You don't need to make fun of me,” he said, ”How could I tell tadpole script from frog script? Laozi did not even know scabies toad script. I was simply talking nonsense to swindle that thin, bamboo-pole like toutuo.”

Mr. Lu read in a pattern of falling, remaining even, and rising in pitch and rhythm. When he finished, he asked, ”Is there any mistake?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”That was a stone tablet from the Tang Dynasty, how did they know that in later generation there will be Ping Xi Wang Wu Sangui?”

Mr. Lu replied, ”God is intelligent and wise, He is omniscient, nothing escape his knowledge. Since He knew that in later generation there will be Hong Jiaozhu, naturally He also had foreknowledge of Wu Sangui.”

Wei Xiaobao was secretly amused; he nodded his head and said, ”That's true.” While in his heart he thought, ”I wonder what trick are you playing?”

Mr. Lu said, ”The inscription on this stone tablet must be accurate to the last character. Although Wei Gongzi is gifted and smart, but in my opinion, it was also the holy spirits at work, so that you understand these tadpole script. Someday in the future, perhaps some mistakes will be found. It would be best if Wei Gongzi know this writing inside-out, so that when Hong Jiaozhu summons you, you can recite it from memory fluently. If Hong Jiaozhu is happy, naturally he will heap you with rewards.”

Wei Xiaobao rolled his eyes; immediately he understood. Repeatedly nodding his head, he said, ”So that's how it is, so that's how it is!” He guessed that Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu had reported to Hong Jiaozhu, telling him that a child knew the writing on a stone tablet, hence Hong Jiaozhu was determined to summon him to verify. Who would have thought that it was entirely bogus? Mr. Lu was afraid the Cult Leader would place the blame on him, he had no choice but to forge the inscription on the stone tablet to deceive the Cult Leader.

Mr. Lu said, ”And now I will read one sentence, Wei Gongzi reads one sentence, always remember to read it correctly from start to finish. 'In the tenth month of the Zhen Guan's second year Jiazi of the Great Tang …'”

Wei Xiaobao did not want to read, he did not have the ability, much less wanted to be in cahoots with Mr. Lu in deceiving Hong Jiaozhu; but he thought it was amusing, so he repeat after Mr. Lu anyway.

His natural disposition was quick-witted and clever, for him, listening to a segment of several hundred characters and then repeating it, would not require the least bit of effort, but asking him to study was akin to asking for his life. Although this segment of writing was only several hundred characters long, it had sentences that were very difficult to pronounce, with the meanings that were even harder to comprehend, for instance 'his grand, awe-inspiring might is all powerful', 'breathing out stale air and breathing in fresh air'; he was completely clueless as to their meaning. Therefore, he did not have any choice but to follow Mr. Lu one sentence at a time. Fortunately, Mr. Lu did not mind the repetition and he was very patient in instructing him. Nevertheless, it took more than thirty times going through the entire writings before he could recite it without any mistake.

That evening he slept in Mr. Lu's home, the next morning he recited again. Seeing he was able to memorize everything, Mr. Lu was very pleased, thereupon he picked up a pen and a sheet of paper and started to write the tadpole characters one by one, asking him to identify which one was the 'wei' character, which one was the 'zhen' character. This time Wei Xiaobao could not help but whining incessantly. These tadpole characters twisted to the left and to the right, they all looked almost the same. Asking Wei Xiaobao to tell one character from the other and rewrite it one by one was as hard as asking him to climb the heaven, as painful as having his head chopped off. He was not able to sit quietly even for a moment, how could he have the patience to learn the tadpole script?

While Wei Xiaobao was frowning and worried, Mr. Lu was even more anxious. By this time Mr. Lu was already aware that the inscription on the stone tablet had a totally different meaning. He had counted the number of characters from the rubbing Fat Toutuo obtained from the stone tablet, and had composed another set of writings as best as he could, with only the exact number of characters as the rubbing, with the sole purpose to win Hong Jiaozhu's favor, he could not care about what the original inscription really mean. Composing the writing this way, naturally there were hundreds of holes in his work. For example, in the sentence 'In the tenth month of the Zhen Guan's second year Jiazi of the Great Tang', the word 'second' (二) was the sixth character, but on the stone tablet, the sixth character had altogether eighteen strokes, no matter how you say it, it could not be a 'second' character. The fifth character only had three strokes, so it would be extremely hard to say that it was the 'Guan' (观) character. However, taking everything into consideration, even if Mr. Lu had more talent, he could not possibly fabricate a flawless article in such a short time. Hong Jiaozhu was extremely intelligent, most probably this fake article would not escape his eyes, but with the imminent great catastrophe, it was the best he could do to avoid it for the time being. About the disaster of the future, he had no choice but to wait and see.

Teaching Wei Xiaobao to write that day, the progress was painstakingly slow. By afternoon, he could only write four characters. Luckily that the tadpole characters looked very strange to begin with, so that with Wei Xiaobao's extremely ugly penmanship, the characters did not look too unsightly. If it were regular script, and it was written by a child who had never learned to write, people would be able to see if it was true or bogus as soon as they saw it.

That afternoon he learned three more characters. That evening he learned two more. That day he learned nine characters altogether. Wei Xiaobao did not stop making loud ruckus and shouting, several times he threw the brush and refused to learn. Mr. Lu threatened him, coaxed him, finally he asked Fang Yi to come and sit by his side to keep him company, only then did Wei Xiaobao reluctantly able to endure and continue to study.

While teaching him, Mr. Lu was anxious, he was afraid Hong Jiaozhu would summon him at any time. If Wei Xiaobao had not finished learning the entire writings and the Cult Leader already summoned him, no doubt Wei Xiaobao's head could not be guaranteed, but it would also be difficult for his own entire family to avoid losing their lives. However, this learning process could not be hurried at all; the more he was expected to learn faster, the slower Wei Xiaobao's progress was. His brain was stuffed full with these tadpole characters, it was like the tadpoles were actually swimming and moving, so that it was really hard for him to differentiate one character from another.

After studying for several days, the viper bite injury on Wei Xiaobao's body was completely healed, but after so much difficulty, he only managed to learn about twenty, thirty characters; not only that, he was so confused that out of ten characters, often times he would make seven or eight mistakes.

While in distress, Mr. Lu suddenly heard Fat Toutuo's voice calling out, ”Mr. Lu, Jiaozhu is summoning Wei Gongzi!” Mr. Lu's countenance turned ash-grey, his hand trembled, the writing brush, which he had just dipped into ink, fell onto his lapel. An extremely tall and extremely thin man entered the study room, Fat Toutuo had indeed arrived.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Fat Reverend Monk, how come you have not seen me until today? I have been waiting for you for a long time.”

Seeing Mr. Lu's expression, Fat Toutuo knew their important project was far from good; he did not answer Wei Xiaobao, but muttered to himself, ”I should have known this little demon was talking nonsense. I was so confused and lost my capacity of clear thinking, in my eagerness to set up a great merit to protect my own life, unexpectedly I will die sooner instead.”

With a cold laugh Mr. Lu said, ”You are just a single person, the one surnamed Lu has eight people in my household, all of us will accompany you in delivering our lives.”

Fat Toutuo heaved a deep sigh and said, ”Everybody's fate should be like this, this is called 'destiny is inexorable, there is no fleeing it'. Even if this matter did not happen, Jiaozhu will not necessarily allow us to live a few days longer.”

Mr. Lu cast a quick glance toward Wei Xiaobao; he said, ”It's those people who are in power, we are already old, it's time for us to die, what can we do?” The tone of his voice was full of resentment.

Fat Toutuo sighed and said, ”I'll say he is young, but happened to obtain a good position, and then he just report everything, disregarding seniority, to our superior. Ay!”

Mr. Lu stared at him for a moment, and then said, ”Young people should know their place.”

”Lu Xiong,” Fat Toutuo said, ”Things have gotten to this point, you and I have lived and will die together, if real men have to die, we will simply die, what are we afraid of?”

Wei Xiaobao clapped his hands and said, ”The Fat Reverend Monk is right, for hero and warrior, what is there to be afraid of? If I am not scared, you must not be scared even more.”

”Ignorant child,” Mr. Lu said with a sneer, ”You don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. By the time you know the meaning of fear, it will be too late.” After being lost in thought for half a day, he said, ”Fat Reverend Monk, please wait a moment, I have some instructions I'd like to leave to my humble wife.”

A moment later, Mr. Lu returned to the study room, there were traces of tears on his face. Fat Toutuo said, ”Lu Xiong, please give me one of your Sheng Tian [lit. to ascend to heaven/to die] pills.”

Mr. Lu nodded; he took a porcelain bottle from his bosom, pulled the cork, and tipped a red pill out. He gave it to Fat Toutuo and said, ”This pill will stop your breathing as soon as it enters your mouth, you must wait for the very last moment, do not act blindly without thinking.”

Fat Toutuo received the pill; with a bitter laugh he said, ”Many thanks! Fat Toutuo does not consider his own life lightly; I am not in a hurry to ascend to the heavens.”

On Mount Wutai, Wei Xiaobao had witnessed Fat Toutuo's awe-inspiring power as he took on the Shaolin Temple's Eighteen Luohan; but now he was asking for a poison. Obviously he would rather kill himself than being blamed by Hong Jiaozhu. Only now did Wei Xiaobao understand the urgency of the situation; he could not help feeling afraid.

The three of them walked out the door. Wei Xiaobao heard a faint weeping sound coming from the inner hall. ”Where is Miss Fang?” he asked, ”She is not going?”

”Humph,” Fat Toutuo snorted, ”Your age is so young, but actually are a very affectionate person. On Mount Wutai you had Shuang'er, here you have Miss Fang.” With his left hand he grabbed Wei Xiaobao and lifted him up, ”Let's go!” he shouted. In large strides he rushed to the east. In just a little while, he had already run faster than a speeding horse. Mr. Lu was also running by his side, he still had a distressed look on his face.

Wei Xiaobao noticed that he appeared effortless; actually he was able to run side-by-side with Fat Toutuo and did not fall behind even for half a step. Only now did Wei Xiaobao realize that this frail-looking scholar actually possessed an excellent martial art skill. ”Fat Reverend Monk, Mr. Lu,” he said, ”The two of you has such a high level of martial art, why would you be afraid of Hong Jiaozhu? You ...”

Fat Toutuo stretched out his right palm to cover his mouth. ”This is the Divine Dragon Island; you dare to say such treason and heresy, are you bored of being alive?” he said angrily.

As soon as his mouth was covered, Wei Xiaobao could not breathe. ”Damn it,” he cursed in his heart, ”You fear Hong Jiaozhu like this, but still call yourself a hero [ying xiong]; a coward [gou xiong] is more appropriate.”

The three of them were heading toward a mountain peak on the north. Before long, he saw vipers everywhere; on the trees, in the grass, on the road, one on the east, another on the west. The strange thing was that those vipers did not give the three of them any trouble. After winding around two hillsides, when he looked up, Wei Xiaobao was able to see several big bamboo buildings on the distant peak. Fat Toutuo was carrying Wei Xiaobao toward that peak.

”I don't have it with me,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

”Do you have to tell me that?” Fat Toutuo said, ”I have already searched you everywhere. Where is it?”

”The Eighteen Luohan of Shaolin Temple have the sutra, naturally they gave it to their Abbot,” Wei Xiaobao replied. He thought that since this thin bamboo pole toutuo was not a match for the Shaolin's Eighteen Luohan, if he heard that the sutra was in the hands of the Abbot of Shaolin Temple, naturally he would not dare to demand the sutra from the Abbot; even if he dared to demand it, he would definitely be expelled by those Shaolin monks.

That day Fat Toutuo had personally handed the sutra over into Monk Cheng Xin's hand, he did not have the slightest suspicion to Wei Xiaobao's words. He said in a low voice, ”When we see Jiaozhu in a moment, you must never mention this matter. Otherwise Jiaozhu might force you to hand over the sutra, and when you cannot give it to him, Jiaozhu will definitely throw you into the vipers' nest.”

Wei Xiaobao could hear the fear in his voice, not only that, evidently Fat Toutuo was afraid Mr. Lu would hear him; thereupon he said, ”Clearly it was you who seized the sutra from me, and then you gave it to the Shaolin monks, if Jiaozhu finds out, he would definitely throw you into the vipers' nest. Humph, humph, even if he won't punish you for the time being, he would definitely send you to Shaolin Temple to get the sutra back; that would be enough punishment for you.”

Fat Toutuo shivered without saying anything. Wei Xiaobao said, ”The two of us will deal with this matter together. Whatever happens, you take care of me, I will also take care of you. Otherwise, we split up, and we'll perish together.”

From behind Mr. Lu suddenly interrupted, ”What split up and perish together?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”The three of us will enjoy blessing and endure misfortune together.” Thinking that right now they were in a messy situation, he must not lose his wits; if he could implicate these two martial art masters, he would have a slightly better chance of survival.

Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu did not say anything. A moment later, they both heaved a deep sigh together.

After walking for the time needed to eat rice, they arrived at the peak. They saw four youngsters in black, hand in hand, came near, each person carried a long sword on his back. The one furthest to the left asked, ”Fat Toutuo, what is this little child doing in here?”

Fat Toutuo let Wei Xiaobao down; he said, ”Jiaozhu's order: he is being summoned.”

From the west came three young girls in red, laughing and giggling; they also carried long swords on their backs. Seeing the three people, they came over to meet them. A girl said with a laugh, ”Fat Toutuo, is he your illegitimate child?” While saying that, she pinched Wei Xiaobao's cheek.

”Miss must be joking,” Fat Toutuo said, ”This child is being summoned by Jiaozhu, the Senior, there is an important matter he'd like to ask him.”

Another girl with round face pinched Wei Xiaobao's right cheek and said with a laugh, ”Looking at this baby's appearance, he must be Fat Toutuo's illegitimate child. You can't deny it.”

Wei Xiaobao was angry. ”I am your illegitimate child,” he shouted, ”You and Fat Toutuo are having an illicit intercourse and you gave birth to me.”

The girls were startled, and then they burst out in laughter. The round-faced girl's turned deep red. She spat and said, ”Little demon, you are asking for death!” She raised her hand to strike. Wei Xiaobao leaned his head sideways to dodge. Right this moment more than a dozen young people, boys and girls, had heard the noise and rushed in to tease the round-faced girl. The girl was ashamed and angry, her left foot flew up, she gave Wei Xiaobao's buttocks a hard kick.

”Ma,” Wei Xiaobao called out loudly, ”Why did you beat your son?” The youngsters laughed even louder.

'Dang, dang, dang!' suddenly the bell tolled; everybody fell silent immediately. These young boys and girls, about twenty in total, rushed toward the bamboo building. Fat Toutuo said, ”Jiaozhu is calling an assembly.” To Wei Xiaobao he said, ”When you see Jiaozhu, you must not speak any nonsense.”

Wei Xiaobao saw his melancholy expression. Those youngsters were rather rude toward him; thinking that his martial art skill was extremely high, why would he be afraid of these teenage babies? He could not help but having a pity on him somewhat; thereupon he nodded his head.

He saw from all directions people were streaming into the bamboo building. Fat Toutuo and Mr. Lu also took Wei Xiaobao into the building. Crossing a corridor, suddenly a large hall appeared before his eyes. This hall was incomparably huge, it was big enough to hold a thousand-people assembly. Wei Xiaobao had lived in the Imperial Palace in Beijing for quite a long time, even an assembly hall bigger than this one would not impress him. But this hall was really gigantic, as soon as he saw it, he could not help but had a feeling of respect.

He saw groups of teenagers, boys and girls, wearing five different colors standing on five different locations. The groups wearing blue, white, black, yellow, four colors were all boys, the group wearing red was all girls. Each one carried a long sword on his or her back, each group had approximately a hundred people. On the other end of the big hall there were two bamboo chairs standing side by side, draped in brocade cushion. On both sides of the chair stood several dozen people, men and women; the younger ones were approximately thirty years old, the old ones were about sixty, seventy years old, not one of them carried any weapon. There were about five, six hundred people gathered in the hall, but unexpectedly not the least bit of sound was heard, not even a single cough. Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, ”Damn it, what an air! You think you are having an audience with the Emperor or what?”

After quite a while, the bells tolled again nine times, there were footsteps from the inner hall. ”The ghost Jiaozhu is out,” Wei Xiaobao mused. Who would have thought that ten men came out, all were in their thirties, they wore five different colors clothes, and then they stood on either side of the chairs, five colors on each side.

After another long while, the bells and the drums were struck together loudly, followed by the tinkling of several hundred small silver bells. Everybody in the hall kneeled down together and chorused, ”Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life the same as the heaven's.”

Fat Toutuo pulled Wei Xiaobao's lapel, telling him to kneel down. Wei Xiaobao did not have any choice but kneeling down. He stole a glance and saw a man and a woman came out from the inner hall and sat on the chairs. Another bell stroke, everybody slowly stood up.

The man looked very old, the white hair from his temples drooped down to his chest, his face was full of scars and wrinkles, he looked very ugly; Wei Xiaobao presumed this must be the Cult Leader. The woman, on the other hand, was a good-looking young woman. Looking at her appearance, she was no older than twenty two or twenty three, she was smiling slightly, overflowing with charming attitude, and was incomparably gorgeous. Wei Xiaobao praised in his heart, ”She is exceedingly smart-looking! This woman is more beautiful than that Good Jiejie of mine. Even in the Imperial Palace or Lovely Spring Courtyard, there is no woman as pretty as she is.”

A man wearing black clothes on the left took two steps forward; holding a piece of dark green paper with both hands he read loudly, ”Respectfully reading Hong Jiaozhu's treasured teaching, whose compassion and kindness illuminate everything, whose power encompasses four directions: 'Numerous aspirations work as one will be able to build the city, incomprehensible might shakes the world!'”

The crowd in the hall repeated in chorus, ”Numerous aspirations work as one will be able to build the city, incomprehensible might shakes the world!”

Wei Xiaobao was mesmerized with the beautiful woman, the voices of the crowd chanting together had startled him that he jumped in fright.

The man in black clothes continued reading, ”Jiaozhu's immortal good fortune is as high as the sky, illuminating the heads of the devoted cult members. Jiaozhu sails the boat steadily for ten thousand years, riding the wind breaking the waves to show off his heroic bravery! Flying to the sky, the divine dragon looks up at him with hope, Jiaozhu's prestige covers the eight directions. Everybody lives because Jiaozhu lives, everybody dies because Jiaozhu dies, Jiaozhu's order is to be followed, Jiaozhu is like the light of the sun and the moon!”

As the man read one sentence, the crowd followed by reciting one sentence. Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, ”What Hong Jiaozhu's teaching? A loud blow of his own horn. Our Tian Di Hui's secret verse is much more pleasant to hear that this.”

When they finished reciting, everybody shouted in one voice, ”With Jiaozhu's treasured teaching always in our hearts, we can set up meritorious deed and subdue the enemy, nothing is unachievable!” Those young boys and girls were particularly enthusiastic in shouting their creeds. Hong Jiaozhu's ugly face carried an indifferent expression, while the beautiful woman by his side recited with a smile on her face.

Finished reciting, the hall fell into complete silence.

Book note:

During the Warring States period, the Qin State carried out the Shang Yang political reform. Afraid that the people would not obey the reform, they set up a three zhang long wood at the southern gate, claiming that if anybody could move it out of the northern gate, he would be rewarded fifty taels of gold; no one believed it. There was a man who tried to move the wood, and sure enough, Shang Yang rewarded him with the money, thereupon everybody believed. Shang Yang's legislation was rigorous, the people did not dare to disobey.