Chapter - 22 (22) (2/2)

The girl was shocked and ashamed at the same time, she brought her outstretched arms inside and caught Wei Xiaobao's arms and 'crack, crack!' she broke the joints of both of his elbows. This move was called 'the young swallow returns to its nest', a refined name, but was actually a killer move from the 'separating tendon dislocating bone technique'. It was followed by a flying kick, sending Wei Xiaobao reeling about a zhang or so.

The girl was extremely angry, she pulled the willow-leaf saber from her waist and violently chopped it down on Wei Xiaobao's back. Wei Xiaobao hastily rolled around and finally rolled underneath the stone table in the middle of the pavilion. The girl's saber struck the ground, sparks flew in all directions; she kicked with her left foot, kicking Wei Xiaobao from underneath the table.

”Shimei,” the woman in blue called out, ”You must not kill him!”

The girl in green acted as if she did not hear, she forcefully chopped down on Wei Xiaobao's back again. ”Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao screamed again, ”I want my Mommy!” The girl in green chopped down twice more, the chop was so hard that Wei Xiaobao felt the pain in his bone and marrow. Luckily he had his treasured undergarment to protect him that he was not injured.

The girl in green wanted to chop again, but the woman in blue pulled her own saber; 'clang!' she stopped her steel saber while calling out, ”This little monk will not live, let us quickly leave!” She thought that they had killed a monk in the Temple, the disaster they brought to themselves was indeed not small.

The girl in green had received significant disgrace, plus she believed she had killed this little monk, shock and shame mixed together, suddenly tears streamed down her cheeks, she raised her saber and slashed it across her own neck. The woman in blue was greatly alarmed, hastily she stretched out her saber to block; although she managed to divert the blade of her saber, but the tip of the saber still scratched across her neck, blood gushed out instantly.

”Shimei,” the woman in blue cried out in fear, ”You … you … what are you doing?”

The girl in green's vision darkened, she blacked out and fell down to the ground. The woman in blue threw her saber away and rushed to catch her. ”Shimei!” she cried out, ”You … you … you must not die!”

Suddenly she heard a voice behind her. ”Amitabha Buddha, must save her quick.”

The woman in blue cried, she said, ”It's … it's too late.”

She saw a hand reached out from behind, the fingers continuously moving, sealing the acupoints surrounding the wound on the girl in green's neck, followed by a voice, ”Saving people is urgent, Miss please don't blame me.” 'Rip, rip' he tore a piece of his own robe and wrapped the girl in green's neck, and then he stooped down to carry her up.

The woman in blue was at a loss of what to do; she stood up and saw the man was an old monk with white long beard hanging down to his chest. As he held the girl in green in his arms, he rushed up the mountain. The woman in blue was frightened; she had no choice but to follow behind him. She saw the old monk was carrying her martial sister entering Shaolin Temple's main gate, immediately she followed in.

Wei Xiaobao crawled out from underneath the stone table; his arms had already refused to follow his command, they hung down limply on his sides. He thought, ”This ... this Miss is very vicious, why did she want to commit suicide? If she is really dead, what will happen? I ... I'd better escape, damn it.”

But as soon as he thought about the girl's exceptional countenance, his heart boiled, and he made up his mind: ”I must not run away, I must take a look at her.” His arms were extremely painful, cold sweats as big as soy beans were dripping from his forehead; bracing himself, he walked up the mountain.

He only walked for about a dozen steps when he saw more than ten monks rushing out from the Temple to help him and the other three Jing generation monks back to the Temple. All five of them were treated from their dislocated bones injuries. Grab and capture [qin na], tumbling and bare-hand fighting were the best among Shaolin Pai's martial arts, immediately there was a monk coming to fix their arms.

Wei Xiaobao was eager to see the girl, he asked the two women's whereabouts, and immediately walked toward the eastern courtyard's meditation room. He had just rounded a corner along a corridor when he saw eight monks with jiedao

[12] in their hands, walking straight toward him. These eight monks were law enforcer monks from the Jielu [monastic disciple] Courtyard. The leader bowed and said, ”Shishuzu, Fangzhang Dashi requests the pleasure of seeing you.”

”Very well,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”I want to see that little Miss first, I wonder if she is alive or dead.”

The monk said, ”Fangzhang Dashi is waiting at the Jielu Courtyard, asking Shishuzu to come over immediately.”

”Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao angrily said, ”I said I want to see that pretty little Miss first; didn't you hear?” Usually his temperament was good, now that his heart was anxious, unexpectedly he was cursing at people in the Temple.

The eight monks looked at each other in dismay, they did not dare to stop him. Immediately four monks followed behind him, while the other four continued to summon Jing Ji and the others, four welcoming-guest monks.

Wei Xiaobao arrived at the Eastern Courtyard's meditation room and asked, ”The Little Miss did not die?”

An old monk replied, ”Reporting to Shishu: the injury is not heavy, Xiao Seng [little/lowly monk] is giving her medical treatment.” Wei Xiaobao felt relieved immediately.

The woman in blue was standing by the door, she pointed to Wei Xiaobao and cursed, ”This little monk is not good.”

Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue to her. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end he did not dare to enter the room. Turning around, he went to Jielu Courtyard. He saw the gate to the Courtyard was wide open, several dozen monks wearing kasaya were standing on either side of the gate, their expression solemn. The four monks escorting him with the Buddhist knife in their hands opened their mouths together, ”Reporting to Fangzhang [Abbot]: Monk Hui Ming is here.”

Seeing this kind of expression, Wei Xiaobao mused, ”Who do you think you are? The Grand Master of the Courtroom? His granny, what an air.” Entering the great hall, he saw several dozen candles were lighted in front of the image of Buddha, the Abbot, Hui Cong Chanshi stood on the left head-position, while on the right stood an old monk, big and tall, whose expression did not show any anger, yet his standing was evident; he was the head of Jielu Courtyard, Cheng Shi Chanshi. Jing Ji, Jing Qing, and the others, four monks, stood below the head-position.

”Shidi,” Hui Cong Chanshi said, ”Pay your respect to Tathagata.” Wei Xiaobao kneeled down in worship.

Hui Cong Chanshi waited until Wei Xiaobao finished paying his respect and stood up before saying, ”I will have to bother Shidi to explain what happened at the Pavilion halfway up the mountain to the Head of Jielu Courtyard.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I heard them quarrelling, hence I came over to take a look. As for why they quarreled, I don't have any clue. Jing Ji, why don't you explain?”

”Yes,” Jing Ji said. Turning around, he said, ”Reporting to Fangzhang and Head of Jielu Courtyard Shishu: disciples, four people, were welcoming the guests at the Pavilion halfway up the mountain. Those two Nu Shizhu have come to the Temple to join in charitable deeds. That was what they tactfully reported to us. Our Temple has always had a custom of not receiving Nu Shizhu. The Nu Shizhu who is slightly older said, 'I heard Shaolin Temple claims itself to be the orthodox school of martial art, each one of the seventy-two unsurpassed artistry is unequalled in the present age. We are here to increase our knowledge, we want to see how formidable it really is.' Disciple replied, 'Our humble Temple does not dare to claim to have unequalled martial art in the present age. Each school, each sect under the heavens has its own strong points, how can Shaolin Pai dare to be arrogant and conceited?'”

Hui Cong Fangzhang said, ”You said it well, it was very fitting.”

Jing Ji said, ”That Nu Shizhu said, 'In that case, Shaolin Pai only enjoys unearned reputation with their 'three-legged cat' boxing technique, isn't that a joke?' Disciple said, 'May I ask which school do the two Nu Shizhu belong to? Whose senior Wulin master's distinguished disciples are you?'”

”Exactly,” Hui Cong said, ”Those two young women came to this Temple to cause trouble, to look down on our Sect's martial art, their background must be noteworthy, so we should ask clearly their school's origin.”

Jing Ji said, ”That Nu Shizhu said, 'Do you want to know our school's origin? That's very easy; as soon as you see it, you will know.' Suddenly she made her move and struck disciple and Jing Qing Shidi with her palm. Her movement was very fast, disciple did not guard beforehand, I am very ashamed, unexpectedly I was not able to evade at all. Jing Qing Shidi said, 'How can you play rough and beat people?' That Nu Shizhu laughed and said, 'You asked my school's origin; talking is cheap, action shows result. Now you have seen it, don't you recognize it?' Speaking to this point Hui Ming Shishuzu arrived.”

Cheng Shi asked, ”When that Nu Shizhu struck you, what technique did she use?”

Jing Ji, Jing Qing lowered their heads and said, ”Disciple did not see clearly.”

Cheng Shi turned to the other two monks, ”You did not take a beating, shouldn't you be able to see the technique that Nu Shizhu used?”

The two monks said, ”We only heard 'slap, slap' twice, two Shixiong have been slapped, the woman's hand did not seem to move at all, even her body did not move.”

Cheng Shi looked at the Abbot, waiting for his decision. Hui Cong pondered deeply for a moment, then he ordered the monk on duty, ”Invite the Heads of Damo Hall and Bo're Hall

[13] to come over here.”

Not too long afterwards, the two head monks arrive in succession. The Head of Damo Hall was Cheng Xin, the head of the Eighteen Luohan who went to Mount Wutai to rescue the Old Emperor. The Head of Bo're Hall was Cheng Guan Chanshi, an old monk about eighty years of age. The two monks paid their respect to the Abbot.

Hui Cong said, ”There are two Nu Shizhu who came to our Temple to create trouble; we don't know which school or sect they belong to. The two of you have extensive knowledge and vast experience, please join us in considering this matter in detail.” And he recounted what had happened immediately.

Cheng Xin said, ”All along the four martial nephews have never seen her move, but two of you suffered palm strike on your faces. Our Sect's Thousand-Leaf Hands, Wudang Pai's Circling Wind Palm, Kunlun Pai's Falling Wild Goose Fist, as well as Kongtong Pai's Flying Phoenix Hand, all have this kind of technique.”

Hui Cong said, ”Just based on these two palm strikes, we cannot tell her martial art school. Shidi, how did you fight with them?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”That lady in blue broke four ... four monks' hands first ...” Hui Cong inquired how the four monks had their arms and wrists dislocated. The four monks then successively narrated and acted what had happened to them.

Cheng Xin was watching with rapt attention; he questioned in detail about the woman's technique one by one, finally he turned to Wei Xiaobao and said, ”May I ask Shishu, how did that Miss break the Senior's arms?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”The back of my, the Senior's, neck was grabbed by that good-looking Miss, immediately my body was numb, she was grabbing right here.” While saying that, he pointed to the back of his neck.

Cheng Xin nodded and said, ”That is the Dazhui [big hammer] acupoint, the most vital acupoint on human's body.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I reached backward to get her arm off me, but she punched me on my back; it was so painful I almost died. I, the Senior, was anxious, I clawed wildly backward, and grabbed her chest. This little Miss was also anxious, she broke my arms, threw me to the ground, and chopped me randomly. Damn it, killing people does not need any capital, she was determined to murder her husband and wanted to be a young widow.”

Hearing him blabbering nonsense, the monks looked at each other in consternation. Cheng Xin stood behind him, he reached out to examine Wei Xiaobao, and saw that there were three saber slashes on the back of his Buddhist robe. He was shocked and said, ”She chopped you three times; Shishu, how is your injury?”

Wei Xiaobao was immensely proud of himself; he said, ”I have treasured clothes to protect me, I am not injured at all. Fortunately those three chops did not land on my bald head. That little sister chopped me but I did not die, she must be scared out of her wits, thinking that my, the Senior's, martial art skill was immeasurably deep; therefore, she had no choice but slashing her own neck. Actually, my martial art skill is sloppy and ordinary, but she has a countenance of a flower, face like the moon, so I, the Senior, can't possibly make things difficult for her ...”

Hui Cong was afraid he might continue blabbering nonsense, hence he interrupted, ”Shidi, that's enough.”

Now the crowd of monks understood the reason why that young woman wanted to kill herself; it was because her breasts were grabbed, she had received enormous humiliation. But at that time Wei Xiaobao's life was hanging on a thread, the three slashes on his robe were the evidence. In critical situation, he randomly grabbed backward and touched whatever part of the enemy's body, so nobody could say he should be blamed. His martial art skill was low, he was grabbed by the enemy and was struggling for his life, how could his action follow any kind of rule?

Cheng Shi's countenance immediately turned gentle; he said, ”Shishu, previously I heard that Nu Shizhu kept saying and cursing that you did not observe Buddhist monastic rule, that you violated religious commandment by taking liberty with women, therefore, you have committed a serious offense. Turns out it was an accident during the struggle, so we cannot say that you have violated the monastic discipline. Shishu, please sit down.” Personally he picked a chair and placed it next to Hui Cong. By doing this, he was saying that since you did not violate the monastic discipline, Jielu Courtyard did not need to deal with you, you were still my superior in the Temple, then I should show my respect to you.

Giggling, Wei Xiaobao sat down. Seeing his frivolous behavior and senseless talk, Cheng Shi could not help but saying, ”Although Shishu did not violate the Buddhist monastic discipline against sexual conduct, when you see the Nu Shizhu, you must maintain your dignity and stern facial expression, you must not fail to show the Shaolin Temple's eminent monk's elegant demeanor.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”My eminent monk status is informal, I got it just to make up the number, it should not be taken seriously.”

Hui Cong was about to open his mouth in admonition when the Head of Bo're Hall, Cheng Guan, suddenly said, ”There is no school.”

Cheng Xin asked in surprise, ”Shixiong is saying that those two Nu Shizhu do not belong to any school?”

”They learned martial art by stealing!” Cheng Guan said, ”The 'separating tendon dislocating bone technique' of those two women contains Wudang, Kunlun, Kongtong and Diancang, four Sects' technique. The three saber slashes on Shishu's back contain Emei, Jingcheng and Shanxi's Luhe Saber

[14], three schools' saber technique. It was a random mixture of several techniques; not only that, their mastery is not perfect. There is no sect in the world with that kind of martial art.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly astonished, ”Uh,” he said, ”You can tell the origin of each move in the style they used?”

He did not know that Cheng Guan left home to become a Buddhist monk in the Shaolin Temple when he was only eight years old; for more than seventy years he had single-mindedly study martial art, and had never left the Temple's gate for even one step. He had read extensively ancient books on martial art, his knowledge was vast.

In Shaolin Temple, Damo Hall specialized in researching their own martial art, while Bo're Hall actually specialized in researching the martial art of each house and sect under the heavens. The several dozen of eminent monks of the Bo're Hall were all proficient in one or more sects' martial art.

In the last years of Sui Dynasty, the monks of Shaolin Temple had helped Li Shimin flattening Wang Shichong

[15]; from that moment on, their martial art has overawed the world. For the next thousand years their reputation did not diminish, admittedly it was because their Sect's martial art was broad and profound; but the fact that Bo're Hall researching other sects' martial art was also one of the principal factors. After acquiring thorough understanding of other sects' martial art, first, they would analyze the strength and weakness of each martial art style, to patch up the inadequacy of their own martial art; second, if they had any confrontation with other sects' experts, by knowing the ins and outs of the opponents' skill, they would gain great advantage.

As Shaolin disciples went out in Jianghu to perform their heroic deeds, when they returned, they would pay their respect to the Abbot and their own master first, and then they would go to Jielu Courtyard to report if there was any fault, next they would go to Bo're Hall to report what they saw and heard. If there was any style or move belonging to other sect worth having, the monk of Bo're Hall would then record everything. In this way, after accumulating such records for a thousand years, they knew various schools' martial art from all over the world like the back of their hands. Even if there was no talented person with outstanding ability and wisdom in the Temple, Shaolin Pai could still be considered the leader of the realm.

Cheng Guan single-mindedly studied martial art, he knew nothing about the way of the world, his conduct was rather naive, but his understanding of each school and sect's martial art was very clear. When a scholar reads too many books, he is known as a 'bookworm'; this Cheng Guan Chanshi learned too many martial arts that he had become 'martial art worm'

[16]. In all his life, other than sparring with his fellow disciples, he had never exchanged a move or half a style with outsiders; yet his knowledge of martial art studies was vast, he could even be considered the top among his peers, the monks of the Temple.

Cheng Xin said, ”Turns out the two Nu Shizhu do not belong to any school or sect; this matter become slightly easier to handle. When that Miss' injury is healed, we can send them off from the Temple, then there won't be any future trouble.”

Cheng Shi said, ”Those two martial sisters' technique are compatible with each other, apparently they have a Shifu.”

Cheng Xin said, ”Even if they have a Shifu, it can't be a renowned master from a famous school or major sect.”

Cheng Shi nodded. Abbot Hui Cong said, ”The two Nu Shizhu are young and love to meddle. In this affair we have not made any serious error. Nevertheless, we must not fail to show courtesy, we must treat the two Nu Shizhu well. You are dismissed.” Finished speaking, he stood up.

Cheng Xin smiled and said, ”At first I thought there was a martial art in Wulin world who instructed these two young women, with the intention to humiliate our Sect; I was a little worried. Shaolin Temple has enjoyed our reputation for a thousand years, it must not fall in our hands.” All the monks smiled and nodded their heads.

Wei Xiaobao suddenly said, ”In my opinion, the name of Shaolin Pai's martial art is resounding, but actually it is only so-so.”

Hui Cong had just about to go out the door, as soon as he heard it, he turned his head in shock. Wei Xiaobao said, ”Jing Ji, Jing Qing, how long have you been training martial art?”

Jing Ji said that he had been training for fourteen years, Jing Qing for twelve years; they both admitted that their intelligence was low, and had not made any progress, hence they were extremely ashamed.

Abbot Hui Cong said, ”We are studying Buddhism here, our aspiration is to understand the way to free ourselves, whether our martial art skill is high or low is inessentials.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, ”I think there's a major flaw in that argument. These two young girls are at most twenty years old, plus they were only stealing one move from the east, one style from the west, to create some hodgepodge three-legged cat moves of their own school or sect, yet they were able to beat Shaolin monks with more than ten years of training that we flee to the wilderness and piss in our pants in terror, without any ability to parry and die without a burial site. It seems to me that Wudang Pai, Kunlun Pai's one move or half a style is a lot more formidable than our orthodox Shaolin Pai's martial art.”

Hui Cong, Cheng Shi, Cheng Xin, and the other monks looked very awkward. Although Wei Xiaobao's words were extremely offensive to hear, momentarily they found it very difficult to refute. They all thought, ”Jing Ji and the others, four people's martial art skill is extremely disappointing, how can we say it is an orthodox Shaolin Pai's martial art?”

Yet Cheng Guan nodded his head and said, ”What Shishu said makes a perfect sense.”

Cheng Shi was surprised, ”Why did Shixiong say it makes sense?”

Cheng Guan said, ”Other people's hodgepodge martial art beats our orthodox martial art; there is something wrong here.”

Hui Cong said, ”People's natural endowments are not the same. Jing Ji and the others are not very good at martial art, but they are busy with receiving visitors to our Temple, it means they are rendering great merit in propagating Buddhist teaching. Jing Ji, Jing Qing, Jing Ben, Jing Yuan, the four of you delegate your receiving-visitors duty to others, you may devote your time in practicing martial art.” Jing Ji and the others, four monks bowed in compliance.

The monks left Jielu Courtyard. Wei Xiaobao shook his head. Cheng Guan knitted his brows; he was deep in thought for half a day, then he also shook his head. Hui Cong and Cheng Xin looked at each other; they both thought, ”These two, one old the other young, are both ignorant people, we should not pay them any attention.” Without a word they walked out.

Cheng Guan turned his gaze toward the courtyard, where a maidenhair tree's leaf was floating slowly to the ground; he had a sudden inspiration. ”Shishu,” he said, ”I want to see those Nu Shizhu.”

Wei Xiaobao was ecstatic, ”Nothing could be better than that,” he said, ”I am coming with you.”

The two of them went to the Eastern Courtyard's meditation room. The old monk treating the girl in green's injury came out to greet them. Wei Xiaobao asked, ”Can she die?”

The old monk replied, ”The saber cut is not deep, nothing serious, she won't die.”

”Wonderful, wonderful,” Wei Xiaobao happily said, as he entered the meditation room.

He saw the girl in green was lying on the couch, her eyes were shut tight, her face was so white that it looked almost transparent, her neck was wrapped with cotton and a piece of plain white cloth, her right hand was outside the quilt, her five fingers were slender and looked delicate, it really looked like the fingers were carved from a piece of white jade. At the end of the fingers, there were five tiny round spirals. Wei Xiaobao's heart was greatly moved, he could not control his strong desire to stroke the beautiful, extremely adorable small hand. ”I wonder if she still has the pulse,” he said. Pretending to feel the pulse, he reached out to touch the hand.

The woman in blue had been standing at the foot of the bed. Seeing Wei Xiaobao walked in, her anger had already shot to the sky. ”Don't touch my Meizi!” she shouted. Seeing he did not withdraw his hand at all, her left hand stretched out, she wanted to grab his wrist.

Cheng Guan flicked his middle finger toward the Yanggu [lit. positive valley] acupoint on the side of her left palm; he said, ”You are using the Hao Family of Shanxi's qin na technique.”

The woman in blue withdrew her hand, while sending her elbow out at the same time. Cheng Guan extended his finger to flick the Xiaohai [lit. minor ocean] acupoint at the base of her elbow. The woman in blue countered with a right backhand strike. Cheng Guan's middle finger flicked again, forcing her to stop midway and withdrew one step back. The young woman was startled and angry at the same time, she moved her fists like whirlwind, and in an instant she had already sent seven or eight punches.

Cheng Guan nodded his head continuously, while his finger also flicked seven, eight times. ”Aiyo!” the girl screamed, the Qinglengyuan [lit. clear and cold abyss] on her right arm was hit by his finger, her arm immediately went limp. ”Dead monk!” she cursed.

Cheng Guan was surprised. ”I am alive,” he said, ”If I were a dead monk, how could I use my finger to flick you?”

Seeing his formidable martial art, the girl was actually scared, but she was unwilling to lose the argument; she cursed, ”You are still alive today, you will be dead tomorrow.”

Cheng Guan was startled. ”How does Nu Shizhu know?” he asked, ”Could it be that you have the foreknowledge?”

”Humph,” the girl said, ”Shaolin Temple monks are oily-mouthed and smooth talkers.”

She thought Cheng Guan was joking with her, she did not know that although this old monk had a superb martial art skill, he was completely oblivious of other affairs. All his life he had never left the Temple. All the monks in the Temple strictly maintained Buddhist monastic disciple against wild talk, there had never been one person who told him any lie; thereupon he always thought that there was no such thing as untrue statement in the world.

Hearing the girl said that Shaolin Temple monks were oily-mouthed and smooth talkers, he thought, ”Could it be that in the vegetarian dish today there was too much soy bean oil?” Extending his sleeve, he wiped his lips, but did not see any oil. He rolled his tongue around in his mouth, but did not feel anything greasy or slippery.

While he was still in the state of bewilderment, the woman in blue hissed, ”Get out! Don't wake my Shimei.”

”Yes, yes …” Cheng Guan said, ”Shishu, let's get out of here.”

Wei Xiaobao was staring at the girl lying on the couch, he was already not in his right mind for quite some time. He grunted his acknowledgement, but did not move a single step. The woman in blue slowly walked toward his back, suddenly her palms shot out, she gave him a violent push. ”Ah!” Wei Xiaobao screamed, he was sent flying out of the room, and 'Bang!' he landed heavily on the ground. ”Aiyo, aiyo!” he cried out, unable to crawl up.

Cheng Guan said, ”That was the 'rivers pour away by the day', part of the Laoshan Pai's palm technique. But Nu Shizhu did not use it properly.” While his mouth was prattling, he walked out of the room to help Wei Xiaobao up and said, ”Shishu, the palm push that she did, altogether there are thirteen ways to deal with it. If you did not want to fight with her, then there are six ways to dodge it, any one of those six may be used easily. Supposing you want to strike back, you can employ wrist hook, elbow strike, finger flick, reverse acupoint sealing, arm seizing, diagonal block, or backward kick, seven techniques; each technique can be used to neutralize her.”

Wei Xiaobao was thrown down that his back and arms were hurting, he was not in a good mood at all. ”Why do you tell me all this now?” he asked, ”What's the use?”

”Yes,” Cheng Guan said, ”Shishu's admonition is correct, your Shizhi [martial nephew] was wrong. If I told you beforehand, even if Shishu did not mean to make things difficult for her, if you only wanted to evade, you would not have to be thrown like that.”

Wei Xiaobao's heart was moved, ”Those two girls are very vicious; when we meet again later, they would immediately punch and kick me, which would be hard to ward off. This old monk is very familiar with those two girls' martial art; just with a flick of his finger he forced them away that they did not dare to come over anymore. I want to take that girl to be my wife, I must swindle the old monk that he will be with me to protect me.” But then he had a second thought, ”This old monk is so old, I don't know how many more days he will live; supposing he is gone tomorrow, won't that be really bad for me?” Thereupon he said, ”Just now you flicked your finger several times and that girl is immediately tamed. What kind of martial art was that?”

Cheng Guan said, ”It is called 'one finger Dhyana'; Shishu does not know it?”

”I don't,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”Why don't you teach me?”

Cheng Guan said, ”Shishu's order ought to be followed. This 'one finger Dhyana' is not difficult to learn; if you know the accurate location of acupoints, and the power on your finger can penetrate the opponent's acupoint, then you can do it.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, ”That's wonderful,” he hastily said, ”Quickly teach me.” He thought that if he could master this skill, he only needed to flick several times, the girl in green would not be able to move a single step, and then if he wanted her to be his wife, wouldn't that be easy? Besides, the words 'not difficult to learn' were more important to him; all the amazing martial art skills in the world, nothing exceeded this. In an instant he was beaming with joy, his heart was unbearably itching.

Cheng Guan said, ”I wonder Shishu's 'tendon altering sutra' internal energy cultivation has been trained to which level? Would you please try to flick your finger?”

”How do you flick your finger?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Cheng Guan bent his finger and flicked. 'Chi' a burst of powerful wind shot out, a dead leaf on the ground floated up.

Wei Xiaobao laughed, ”That looks fun,” he said. Copying Cheng Guan, he bent his right hand thumb to hold his middle finger, and then flicked the middle finger out. Naturally this time there was no sound, nothing happened; even no dust was stirred the least bit.

Cheng Guan said, ”Turns out Shishu has not trained 'tendon altering sutra' internal energy cultivation. If you want to train this internal energy cultivation, you must train Bo're [Prajna/Wisdom] Palm first. Let me spar with you in Bo're Palm, I want to see the depth of Shishu's palm strength, then I can teach you the 'tendon altering sutra'.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I don't know Bo're Palm.”

”Not a problem,” Cheng Guan said, ”Let us spar in 'Picking Flower Grab and Capture'.”

”What 'Picking Flower Grab and Capture'? I have never heard of it,” Wei Xiaobao said.

An awkward expression appeared on Cheng Guan's face, he said, ”How about we try something more basic? 'Vajra [Budda's warrior attendant] Divine Palm' should be fine. You don't know it either? How about 'Boluomi [Paramita] Hand'? Don't know as well? How about 'Scattering Flower Palm'? Ah right, Shishu is still young, you have not learned these different palm techniques. How about 'Weituo Palm'? 'Subduing Tiger Fist'? 'Luohan Fist'? 'Shaolin Long Fist'?” Each time he mentioned a fist technique, Wei Xiaobao shook his head.

Seeing Wei Xiaobao did not know any fist technique, Cheng Guan did not get angry; he said, ”Our Shaolin Pai martial art must be trained in sequence. When one enters our school, one must learn 'Shaolin Long Fist' first. After he masters it, then he will learn 'Luohan Fist', afterwards 'Subduing Tiger Fist'. When he has appropriate foundation in both internal and external energy, he may learn 'Weituo Palm'. If he does not want to learn 'Weituo Palm', he can train 'Great Compassion Great Sorrow Thousand-Leaf Hand' instead …”

Wei Xiaobao's lips started to move, he wanted to say, ”I know this 'Great Compassion Great Sorrow Thousand-Leaf Hand'.” But he stopped himself immediately, realizing that the 'Great Compassion Great Sorrow Thousand-Leaf Hand' Hai Laogong taught him, perhaps nine out of ten moves were fake; no matter what, he could not say that he 'knew' this technique.

He heard Cheng Guan continued, ”Either the 'Weituo Palm' or the 'Great Compassion Great Sorrow Thousand-Leaf Hand', one with intelligence and diligence will need about seven or eight years to master. If his comprehension is strong, he can continue with 'Scattering Flower Palm'. After he masters the 'Scattering Flower Palm', not many disciples of Wulin's other sect can defeat him. Whether he can continue with Boluomi Hand depends on his temper. Take Jing Ji, Jing Qing, those several martial nephews for example, they all trained in 'Subduing Tiger Fist', but they don't have the patience to train martial art, their progress is rather slow. In ten years' time, Jing Qing perhaps can train 'Weituo Palm'. Jing Ji cannot concentrate in learning martial art, I think it would be better for him to specialize in Vajra Sutra's Zen meditation.”

Wei Xiaobao sucked in a mouthful of cold air; he said, ”You said that that 'one finger Dhyana' is not difficult to learn, but from 'Shaolin Long Fist' followed by those other fist and palm techniques, all the way to mastering the 'one finger Dhyana', how many years must I train?”

Cheng Guan said, ”This thing is actually recorded in the ancient book in Bo're Hall. During the Later Jin of the Five Dynasties period, there was this Fa Hui Chanshi in our Temple, he had the innate intelligence, in less than thirty-six years from the time he entered the Temple, he had already mastered the 'one finger Dhyana'; his advancement was amazingly quick, no one, before or after him, ever have the same progress. I guess he must be a great martial art scholar in his previous incarnation, so he brought with him many martial art skills from his previous existence. Next in line was during the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was this Ling Xing Chanshi, who spent less than thirty-nine years. Those two are rare talent with divine-given wisdom and intelligence, geniuses who are hard to come by in hundreds of years, who make other people full of admiration; a model older generation, someone who younger generation can only imagine.”

Wei Xiaobao asked, ”How many years did you spend from the time you started training martial art until you master the 'one finger Dhyana'?”

Cheng Guan smiled and said, ”Shizhi has started training Shaolin Long Fist when I was eleven, I have been very lucky to have Hui Zhi Chanshi as my benevolent master, so I got to learn martial art at a lot higher pace than my fellow disciples. By the time I was fifty-three, I was able to comprehend my prying into our school's sutra of this finger technique.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Since you were eleven, until you were fifty-three, you were able to comprehend the kneeling in front of the door bolt (he did not know that the expression 'lue kui men jing' [comprehend the prying into the school's sutra], what he heard was 'lue gui men shuan'). So altogether you spent forty-two years before you master it?”

Cheng Guan was very proud of himself, he said, ”To be able to master the 'one finger Dhyana', in the thousand plus years of our Sect's history, Lao Na [old cassock] ranks the third.” After a short pause, he continued, ”It's just that Lao Na's internal energy cultivation is only average. Strictly speaking about finger power, I am afraid my rank is lower than seventieth.” Speaking to this point, he could not help but feeling dejected.

Wei Xiaobao mused, ”I don't care if you rank the third or the seventy-third, Laozi did not bring any martial art skill from my previous incarnation, neither did I start training in my mother's womb. If I have to spend forty-two years to master this finger technique, that girl and I will both be old man, old woman in our fifties or sixties; Laozi might as well train a fart!” He said, ”Other people's little miss only trains for one or two years, you must train for forty, fifty years to beat her; it's extremely disappointing.”

Actually, Cheng Guan had already thought about this fact as well, all along he had been pondering about it. ”Yes, yes!” he said, ”Our Shaolin martial art is this inferior to others', it's really … really not … not too good.”

”What do you mean not too good?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”It's practically very bad. All of a sudden our Shaolin Pai is unable to grab Wulin's cow's ear, horse's ear. You are the Head of Bo're Hall, if you don't think of something, won't you let down the several thousands, several tens of thousands years of Shaolin Temple's eminent monks? When you die and see that Fa something Chanshi, Ling something Chanshi, and my Shixiong, Hui Zhi Chanshi, everybody will ask you, saying that you only eat and defecate, but don't care about anything else, you don't want to think of a way to protect Shaolin Pai's prestige, won't you be so ashamed that you want to die all over again?”

Cheng Guan's old face turned deep red; he was completely terrified. Repeatedly nodding his head, he said, ”Shishu's instruction is very true, when Shizhi comes back, I will peruse the ancient books in the Bo're Hall, to see if there is an ingenious technique that can be learned in a short time.”

”That's right,” Wei Xiaobao happily said, ”If you cannot find any, our Shaolin Pai needs not mingle in the Wulin world anymore. We might as well invite those two little misses to let the older one becomes the Abbess, the younger one becomes the Head of Bo're Hall. Let those two teach us martial art. Compared to our stupid head stupid brain clumsy martial art, theirs must be a lot stronger.”

Cheng Guan was startled, he asked, ”Those two Nu Shizhu, how can they be our Temple's Abbess and Head?”

”Who told you not to be able to find a martial art that can be trained quickly?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Fangzhang will lose face, you will lose face; that need not be mentioned, from now on Shaolin Pai will lose its foothold in Wulin, the several thousand monks of our Temple will have to do obeisance to these two little misses as their new masters. Everybody will question what's the use of many dozens of years of training Shaolin martial arts? The two little misses only train for a year or half a year and they can 'crack, crack, crack' break Shaolin monks' hands and feet. Everybody will think that preserving their hands and feet is more important, hence they might as well respectfully ask the Little Miss to be the Head of Bo're Hall!”

This speech had made the sweat on Cheng Guan's forehead streaming down his face; his hands did not stop trembling as with a trembling voice he said, ”Yes, yes! Asking those two ladies to be our Temple's Abbess and Head, ay, that … that will be too humiliating.”

”Isn't that so?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”By that time we cannot call ourselves Shaolin Pai anymore.”

Cheng Guan asked, ”Then … then what should we call ourselves?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”We might as well bluntly call ourselves Shaonu

[17] Pai. Shaolin Temple becomes Shaonu Temple. We must take down the signboard above the mountain gate, erase that 'Lin' character and change it to 'Nu' character. Only one character. That should be easy to do.”

Cheng Guan's face turned ash-grey. ”That won't do, that won't do!” he hastily said, ”I … I am going to think of something. Shishu, please forgive Shizhi for not keeping you company you anymore.” Putting his palms together, he saluted, then turned around and left.

”Wait a moment!” Wei Xiaobao called, ”This matter must be kept in strict confidence. If anybody in the Temple knew about it, it will be highly improper.”

”Why?” Cheng Guan asked.

”Nobody will believe you,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”They won't know if you have thought of something. Those two young ladies are still recuperating in our Temple, if everybody is frightened, they might do obeisance and take those women as their masters. Shaolin Pai is such a big Sect, how can we scatter away just like that?”

Cheng Guan said, ”Shishu's direction is very true. This matter concerns the rise and fall, the existence or perishes of our Sect; absolutely it must be kept secret.” He was very grateful in his heart, thinking that although this martial uncle was young, his insight was far-reaching; indeed he deserved to be the respected Senior. If not for his clear sight and superior judgment, Shaolin Pai will inevitably become Shaonu Pai. Thousand-year fame cannot be redeemed in ten thousand years.

Seeing him leaving in a hurry, with the sleeve of his robe trembling, an obvious sign that he was in extreme panic, Wei Xiaobao thought, ”Now that the old monk will stake his old life to find something, he is bound to find something. Everybody else would find a hundred mistakes in my speech, but as long as he did not say anything to anybody, this stupid monk won't find out that I am swindling him.”

Thinking about the flowery countenance of the young woman lying on the couch, his heart was like a frisky monkey, his mind was like a cantering horse. He wanted to re-enter the room to look at her again. But after turning around and walking for only several steps, he suddenly saw the flashing blue skirt behind the curtain on the door. Thinking about the ruthlessness of the woman in blue, while he did not have Cheng Guan by his side to protect him, if he entered the room alone, he would definitely pay dearly. Without any other choice, he sighed and returned to his own meditation room.

The next day he woke up early in the morning and went straight to the Eastern Courtyard to visit. The old monk who treated her injury put his palms together and greeted him, ”Good morning Shishu.”

”Is the Nu Shizhu's injury getting better?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

The old monk replied, ”That Nu Shizhu came to her senses in the middle of the night; realizing she was in our Temple, she insisted on leaving immediately, while saying rude words. Shizhi persuaded her nicely, but she said even if she died, she did not want to die in little ... little ... little monk's temple.”

Hearing him humming and hawing, Wei Xiaobao knew that if the little miss did not scold him as 'little pervert thief', then she must have said 'little wicked monk'. ”And then what happened?” he asked.

The old monk replied, ”Shizhi advised her to leave the next morning, the Nu Shizhu struggled to get up, her Shijie helped her out. Shizhi did not dare to stop them, besides, that Nu Shizhu's injury won't be a problem anyway, so I had to let them go. I have reported this matter to the Abbot.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded; he was quite disappointed, thinking, ”Once this little miss left, I don't know where she is going. I don't even know her name or her surname, how am I going to find her?” He blamed the old monk for not handling this matter at the best of his ability and grumbled for a while. And then he had a second thought, ”Those two girls are beautiful, they will greatly stand out from the masses. When they make their move, they have all schools all sects' martial arts in it; it should be possible to find them eventually.” Thereupon he strolled toward Bo're Hall.

He saw Cheng Guan was sitting on the floor, with several hundred books piling up all around him. He had his hands supporting his head, and seemed to be very deep in thought; his eyes were bloodshot, most likely because he did not sleep at all the previous night. Looking at his appearance, it was obvious that he had not found anything good. He saw Wei Xiaobao walking in, but he simply stared at him blankly, as if he did not see him at all. Unexpectedly he was so immersed in his thought that he was completely oblivious of everything around him.

Seeing his distressed expression, Wei Xiaobao wanted to utter some words of encouragement, telling him that the two young ladies had left and that he had nothing to worry about for now. But then he had a second thought, ”If he did not work diligently, how could he come up with good result? I am afraid as soon as I tell him, this old monk will goof off.”

Quickly one month had passed. Wei Xiaobao often took a walk toward Bo're Hall. He saw Cheng Guan was getting thinner to the bone and looked alone and helpless, his countenance was wan and sallow, and never said anything to him. He looked like an idiot, sometimes he would stand up and punch and kick for a while, and then he would shake his head and sit down again. Wei Xiaobao only thought that this old monk was very stupid, after working hard for more than a month, he was still unable to find anything useful. He did not know that each one of Shaolin Pai martial arts paid particular attention to strong foundation, slow progress was preferable to a fast one. A crash course was precisely Shaolin martial arts' big taboo. Although Cheng Guan knew almost all martial arts under the heavens, for him to violate his own Sect's rule by creating a crash course technique was actually akin to asking him not to conform to the teachings he had been following all his life.

The weather was gradually getting warmer. Wei Xiaobao had been staying in the Temple for several months. Recently, there was not a day pass by when he did not think about that girl in green several dozen times in a day.

One particular day he felt stifled and was extremely bored. Taking his money, he went down Mount Shaoshi to the west, toward a small town of considerable size called Tantoupu. He went to a clothing store and bought a set of clothes, head covering, shoes and socks. Then he changed in a cave outside the town, putting the monk robe and shoes into a bundle, which he then slung over his shoulder. When he looked at his reflection on a mountain stream, he looked like a son of a wealthy family.

Returning to the small town, he went to a restaurant and indulged himself with chicken, duck, fish and meat. ”I'll find a casino and gamble for a bit,” he thought. Knowing that gambling establishments are usually located in alleys, he went through the streets and alleys, looking to the east and glancing to the west.

Each time he entered an alley, he listened to shouting and drinking sounds. By the time he entered the seventh alley, finally he heard someone shouted, ”Pair of earth, heavenly nine king, sweep the decks!” As soon as these words entered his ears, he felt an indescribable comfort in his heart; compared to the 'Namo Amitabha Buddha' that he heard all the times in Shaolin Temple, it was like comparing the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with the eighteen layers of hell.

He quickly went to the door and stretched out his hand to push it. A man in his forties, wearing a hat at a crooked angle, came out, and looked at him with squinted eyes. ”What do you want?” he asked.

From his pocket Wei Xiaobao took out an ingot of silver and tossed it back and forth from one hand to the other, and said with a laugh, ”My hands itch, I want to lose a few taels.”

”This is not a casino, it's a brothel,” the man said, ”Xiao Xiongdi, you want to visit a prostitute, come back in several years.”

Wei Xiaobao had been craving for some gambling for a long time, as soon as he heard the words 'pair of earth, heavenly nine king, sweep the decks', even if the sky was falling, he simply must bet. What's more, coming to a brothel was just like coming home; how could he be willing to leave? He laughed and said, ”Just find me several free ladies and prepare some tea, tonight Shaoye [young master] wants to have three tables of drinking party.” And he stuffed the silver ingot worth two taels into the man's hand and said with a laugh, ”To buy you a drink.”

The turtle slave

[18] was greatly delighted; seeing the visitor was a grand customer, immediately his face was blooming with smile. ”Thank you for Shaoye's gift!” he said. Raising his voice, he called out, ”We have visitor!” while respectfully invited him to enter.

The female brothel keeper came out to greet him. Seeing it was a fourteen, fifteen years old teenager with luxurious clothing, she thought, ”This kid stole money from his home and come here to squander it; must rip him off heavily.” With a giggle she pulled his hand and said, ”Xiao Shaoye, we have a rule here, just like the lucky poster on the door

[19]. You want to see a girl, you must pay up front.”

With a wooden expression Wei Xiaobao said, ”Do you think I am a newly hatched bird who has never visited a brothel before? We are the experts here, Laozi opens this kind of establishment at home.” He groped his pocket for a pack of banknotes, roughly three, four hundred taels, and slapped it onto the table. He said, ”A table of tea five qian, including one girl. A 'flower head' is three taels, the servant who pours tea five qian, the Auntie five qian. Laozi is in a very good mood today, I'll double everything.”

A succession of brothel shoptalk without half a word of layman term had caught the procuress off-guard; she was stunned and stared blankly for half a day before finally she laughed and said, ”Turns out Xiao Shaoye is of the same profession, I was mistaken. I wonder which courtyards does Xiao Shaoye open?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”In Yangzhou Laozi opens Li Chun Yuan [Lovely Spring Courtyard] and Yi Qing Yuan [Harmony Passion Courtyard], in Beijing I open Shang Xin Lou [Bountiful Heart Balcony, 'lou' - multi-storied house] and Chang Chun Ge [Carefree Spring Pavilion], in Tianjin I open Rou Qing Yuan [Tender Feeling Courtyard] and Wen Ju Lou [Yearning for Chrysanthemum Balcony]; six affiliates.” Actually these six establishments were Yangzhou's famous brothels, otherwise, he would not be able to fabricate six brothels' names in such a short period of time.

Listening to him, the procuress thought, 'Oh my goodness, the big boss of six courtyard affiliates is here; his business must be very big.' Thereupon she laughed and asked, ”What kind of girl would Xiao Shaoye like to accompany you to have a heart-to-heart talk?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I suppose a little place like this won't have a Suzhou girl. Do you have any Datong [prefecture level city, Shanxi] girl?”

The procuress' face showed an awkward expression as she said in a low voice, ”We do have one, but she is fake goods; actually she is a Shanxi Fenyang [county level city, Luliang prefecture, Shanxi] girl, she can only fool someone with more money than sense, but not a connoisseur.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Just call all the girls in the courtyard, Shaoye will reward everybody three taels each.”

The procuress was greatly delighted; she passed on the order for all the girls to come. In an instant the room was crammed with twittering and squawking girls. In this little town brothel, naturally the girls had rough hands and thick feet, with faces adorned with coarse rouge powder. Each one pulled his hand or embraced his waist; everybody was doing her utmost to curry his favor. Wei Xiaobao was really happy. Although these prostitutes had thick eyebrows, high cheekbones or mouths as big as sacrificial bowl, which were practically several points more ugly than himself, but since he was little, he was determined to be the rich man and show extravagance in the brothel. Today his life-long dream had come true, hence he was immensely proud of himself. Pulling the prostitute by his side, he planted a kiss on her lips, and was assaulted by a flourishing stench of green onion and garlic that he almost threw up.

Suddenly the door curtain was lifted up, two women walked in. ”Alright!” Wei Xiaobao shouted with glee, ”Two more Meizi come together. Come here and give me a kiss first ...” Before he finished, he had seen clearly the appearance of these two girls, and could not help but was greatly shocked.

He cried out, sprang up, and overthrew the two prostitutes in his arms to the ground. Turned out these two women were the girl in green, whom he thought of during the night and he missed during the night, and her older martial sister.

With a cold laugh the woman in blue said, ”As soon as you entered the town, we have been following you, we want to see what evil deed you are going to commit.”

Wei Xiaobao's back was wet with cold sweat; forcing a laugh he said, ”Yes, yes. This Miss, your ... your neck's wound ... neck's wound healed?”

”Humph,” the girl in green snorted, but she ignored his question. The woman in blue angrily said, ”We waited outside Shaolin Temple every day, to cut your body into ten thousand pieces to repay my Shimei's deep enmity and great hatred. Humph, finally the Heaven did not disappoint those who try, and have you, evil monk, fallen into our hands.”

Wei Xiaobao groaned inwardly, ”Laozi will definitely return to Heaven today.” But he laughed and said, ”Actually ... actually I did not offend ... did not offend Miss; it's just that ... it's just that one grab was not a big deal. I think ... I think ...”

The girl in green blushed, a killing aura appeared in her eyes. The woman in blue coldly said, ”What did you say a moment ago? What did you call us?”

”Bad, it's really bad luck,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”I ... thought the two of you were ... were also flower ladies of this pleasure house.”

The girl in green said in a low voice, ”Shijie, why do you talk too much to this bald-headed thief who committed all kinds of evil things? Just kill him with a chop.”

'Shua!' white light flashed, Wei Xiaobao screamed and shrank his neck, the hat on his head was slashed by her willow-leaf saber, exposing his bald head. The prostitutes were thrown into confusion, they screamed, ”Murder, murder!”

Wei Xiaobao ducked and hid behind a prostitute. ”Hey!” he called out, ”This is a pleasure house, only wh0res are allowed here. If you do not get out quickly and people knew about it, it would be ... would be very shameful ...”

'Shua, shua!' the two women repeatedly slashed around, but the room was crowded with a dozen or so prostitutes, how could they chop him? The blades swept past, they narrowly missed two prostitutes. Wei Xiaobao called out loudly, ”Laozi is visiting a brothel, what's there to be looked at? I ... I am going to undress, I am going to take off my pants.” He loosened the bottom part of his garments and tossed it away.

The two women were furious, yet they were afraid Wei Xiaobao would really act shamelessly by taking off his pants. The girl in green turned around and bolted out the door. The girl in blue was startled, but she also dashed out of the room. 'Bang, bang!' she bumped the procuress and the 'turtle slave' [see my note earlier] who came in to look, and sent them tumbling down to the left and right.

In that instant the screams in that brothel shook the sky, and the curses moved the earth. For the time being Wei Xiaobao escaped the danger of the blades, but he knew those two women would definitely guard the exits; as soon as he left the brothel for even one step, they would immediately kill him. Raising his voice, he shouted, ”Everybody, don't move randomly, everyone will get ten taels, no exception, nobody will be skipped.” As soon as they heard it, everybody calmed down immediately.

Wei Xiaobao took out twenty taels and handed it over to the turtle slave, ordering him, ”Quickly go and get me a horse, wait at the mouth of the alley.” The turtle slave received the money and left.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to a prostitute and said, ”I'll give you twenty taels, take off your clothes quickly, let me change into it.” The prostitute was greatly delighted, she took off her clothes immediately.

Everybody started to talk at once, they wanted to know what was going on. Wei Xiaobao said, ”Those two are my first wife, my second wife. They shaved my head, forbidding me from visiting a brothel. I ran away, then they pursue me to kill me.”

When the procuress and the prostitutes heard this, they could not help but were delighted. It was quite common for the wife and children of a patron to come to the brothel to quarrel and fight; nothing special about it. But raising a saber to kill was a rarity. As for the wife and concubine working together to shave their husband's head and forbidding him from visiting a brothel, it was the first time that they ever heard such thing.

Wei Xiaobao hurriedly changed into the prostitute's clothing, and used a piece of printed cloth to wrap his head. When the prostitute realized that he wanted to dress up to escape, laughing and giggling, they helped him apply rouge and face powder. When the other patrons of the brothel who were gambling heard the news, they all came over to watch the fun.

Soon the turtle slave returned and reported that the horse was ready. After knowing the reason, he said, ”Shaoye, you must be careful. Your first madam is guarding the back door, the young madam is guarding the front door. They both have sabers in their hands.”

Wei Xiaobao produced a large sum of money while swearing, ”Those two vixens maintain such a tight control over their husband; it's really rare and highly unusual.”

Receiving thirty taels gift from him, the procuress said, ”Those two tigresses are destroying others' clothes and food. If all women in the world are like your two wives, won't we drink the northwest wind? May Er Lang Shen

[20] curse those two tigresses that they be without a son or a grandson. Aiyo, Xiao Shaoye, I did not mean you. You'd better divorce those tigresses and then you can come here to play without any care every day.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”That is actually a brilliant idea. Mama, go to the front door and curse that vixen for a while; but you'd better hide behind the door to protect against her resorting to violence and harming you with the saber. Sisters, everybody dash out from the back door. Those two brutish wives of mine won't be able to catch me.” Immediately he took out some money and distributed it among the prostitutes. Without exception, all of them jumped for joy.

Because of the generous reward, those who were inherently brave would be braver, while those who were not brave gathered enough courage. As the prostitutes received the shining white silver, everybody suddenly put 'loyalty' above everything else, they would strife to put their lives at stake.

They heard the voice of the procuress raining curses from the front door, ”Old vixen, little vixen, if you want to keep your husband, you must obey him, winning his favor is the right thing to do. If you don't have any ability, he will go to the brothel to seek pleasure. You use the saber to scare him, to kill him, what's the farting use? Your husband is kind-hearted and generous, he is the number one good person in the world, you, two tigresses are not his match. Let Laoniang [old lady, referring to self; the counterpart of Laozi] tell you: you must behave, quickly kowtow and apologize to him, and then do obeisance to me, let Laoniang be your master, I'll teach you skills you can use in bed, so that you can serve him well. Otherwise, he might decide to sell you to Laoniang, let you become prostitutes in here. We'll make a deal today … aiyo, aiyo, it hurts so much I am going to die.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that the woman in blue had lost her patience and beat the procuress. He said, ”Everybody, let's go!” More than twenty prostitutes rushed out from the back door, with Wei Xiaobao mingled among them.

The girl in green was guarding the back door with willow-leaf saber in her hand. Suddenly she saw more than twenty heavily made-up women burst out of the door. Her beautiful eyes widened, she was completely at a loss.

The crowd of prostitutes rushed toward the alley. Wei Xiaobao jumped onto the horse and galloped toward Shaolin Temple.

Seeing the change of events, the woman in blue abandoned the procuress immediately and turned around to give chase. The prostitutes crowded the alley, they reached out to pull her, while shouting, ”Tigress, your husband is gone riding a horse, you won't catch him! Hee! Hee! Ha! Ha!”

The girl in blue was so furious that she almost pass out; she raised her saber in threatening gesture, but the crowd of prostitutes knew she would not dare to really kill anybody. ”Lowly vixen, vinegar pot, wicked b1tch,” they taunted incessantly.

The girl was anxious; raising her voice, she called out, ”Shimei, that wicked thief ran away, quickly pursue him!” But she heard the hooves beat was getting farther and farther away; how could they pursue him?

Wei Xiaobao rushed out of the town, while taking off the female clothing he was wearing and tossed it away one by one. In his rush and panic to get out of the brothel, he had left the bundle containing his monk robe in the room. Spitting into his sleeve, he wiped the cosmetics from his face, thinking, ”Laozi's lot on life this year is really bad; first I became a monk, then I dressed up as a prostitute. Ay, if only that miss in green is willing to be my wife, even if my head is chopped down, I won't want to go to the brothel.”

In one breath he galloped back to Shaolin Temple; he steered the horse toward the back of the mountain, jumped down the horseback, and quietly sneaked into the Temple via the side door. Covering his face, he dashed madly into his own meditation room. Only after washing off the rouge and the powder from his face, and putting on the monk robe, did his heart finally calmed down. He mused, ”If those two old wife and little wife came to the Temple to make trouble, even if I die, Laozi will not admit anything to them.”

Toward the afternoon the next day, Wei Xiaobao was still lying on the bed in his meditation room, dreaming about the girl in green's figure, which moved his heart; he could not bear not to take chances again, thinking, ”How can I find a way to see her again?”

Suddenly Jing Ji entered his meditation room and said in a low voice, ”Shishuzu, for the next few days you must not leave the Temple; this affair is getting somewhat worse.”

Wei Xiaobao was startled; hastily he asked for the full details. Jing Ji said, ”A worker from the Xiang Ji kitchen told me just now: he was chopping some firewood at the side of the mountain when he came across two young women with sabers in their hands; they were inquiring about you.”

”What did they ask?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

”They asked him if he knew you,” Jing Ji replied, ”They asked him what time do you usually go out, where do you usually go. Shishuzu, those two young women harbor evil designs toward you, they are guarding outside the Temple, they want to harm you. As long as you stay inside the Temple, they won't dare to come in.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”We, Shaolin Temple eminent monks, are afraid of them and do not dare to go out the Temple, what kind of talk is that?”

”Shizhisun [martial grandnephew] has already reported this to Fangzhang,” Jing Ji said, ”The Senior ordered me to report to Shishuzu, asking you to yield one step to them. Presumably those two young women will not persevere, if they don't see you after waiting for several days, naturally they will leave. Fangzhang said that Wulin friends can only say that we are great and magnanimous people, they cannot possibly say that the grand Shaolin Temple is unexpectedly afraid of two young women that don't belong to any school or sect.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Young women that don't belong to any school or sect, humph, they may be much more formidable than us, the great monks who belong to a school or sect.”

”Who said it wasn't true?” Jing Ji replied. He remembered his hatred because of his broken arm, which would be difficult to avenge. He said, ”It's just that Fangzhang has ordered that no matter what we must keep the peace and patch up a quarrel.”

After Jing Ji left, Wei Xiaobao thought, ”I'd better see that old monk Cheng Guan; it would be best if he has come up with a wonderful idea.”

When he got to Bo're Hall, he saw Cheng Guan with his head between his hands, his eyes were looking at the beam of the roof, while pacing back and forth around the room, and mumbling incessantly. Wei Xiaobao did not dare to interrupt his train of thought, he waited for a long time, watching Cheng Guan circling the room several times, while still looking like he did not see him. Wei Xiaobao coughed several times. Cheng Guan did not pay any attention. Wei Xiaobao called, ”Lao Shizhi [old martial nephew], Lao Shizhi!” Cheng Guan still did not hear.

Wei Xiaobao stepped forward, he reached out to tap Cheng Guan's shoulder, while saying with a laugh, ”Lao ...” His palm had just touched his shoulder, suddenly his body was jolted and he was thrown away. 'Bang!' he crashed onto the wall, his breathing was blocked, he opened his mouth to cry, but nothing came out.

Cheng Guan was shocked; hastily he came forward and kneeled down. Putting his palms together he saluted and said, ”Shizhi is guilty, deserving ten thousand deaths, by offending Shishu. Shishu, please punish me heavily.”

After lying down for half a day, Wei Xiaobao was finally able to breathe; he forced a laugh and said, ”Please get up, please get up, don't be overly courteous, it was my own fault.”

Cheng Guan still did not stop apologizing. Propping himself against the wall, Wei Xiaobao crawled up, and then, helping Cheng Guan up he asked, ”What kind of martial art was that? It was so formidable.” He thought, ”If this martial art is not too difficult to learn, perhaps there is a benefit for me to learn it.”

Cheng Guan's face showed a terrified expression. He said, ”I am really sorry. In response to Shishu's question, this is the 'hu ti shen gong' [divine skill to protect the body] from Bo're Palms.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded; he thought that to learn this skill, he would have to master some Shaolin Long Fist, Luohan Fist, Subduing the Tiger Fist, Weituo Palm, Scattering Flower Hand, Boluomi Hand, Vajra's Divine Palm, Picking Flower Grab and Capture, all kinds of gibberish set of martial art techniques. He did not have time; even if he did, he would not have the mind to take the trouble to practice hard. He asked, ”Have you found anything that can be learned in a short time?”

With a dejected expression Cheng Guan shook his head and said, ”Shizhi has already thought that without using 'one finger Dhyana' or 'tendon altering sutra' internal energy cultivation, we can neutralize those two Nu Shizhu's martial art by using only the Bo're Palm; it's just that ... it's just that ...”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”It's just that to train Bo're Palm, I will need twenty, thirty years; isn't it?”

Cheng Guan haltingly replied, ”Twenty, thirty years, I am afraid ... I am afraid ...”

Wei Xiaobao's face showed contempt as he flatly said, ”You are afraid it might not be enough?”

Cheng Guan looked very ashamed as he said, ”Exactly.” After staring blankly for a moment, he continued, ”Let Shizhi think: I wonder if Picking Flower Grab and Capture will be effective against them.”

Wei Xiaobao thought that this old monk was one who rigidly adheres to formalities; whatever he was doing must be in sequence. Even if the Picking Flower Grab and Capture was effective, he would have to spend at least a dozen or so years to train. This old monk had a profound level of internal energy, perhaps he was not inferior to Cult Leader Hong. Yet Cult Leader Hong was able to casually creating new moves, which were able to change according to the situation, which were free, natural and unrestrained. This old monk, on the contrary, was a blockhead; Wei Xiaobao must show him the enlightened path.

”Lao Shizhi,” he said, ”In my opinion, those two women are very young, they can't possibly have several years of martial art training.”

”That's right,” Cheng Guan said, ”That's why I feel very strange.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Since they can't possibly train step by step, we also do not need to strictly practice step by step. I don't believe they have internal energy cultivation as deep as yours. In my opinion, to deal with those two girls, we simply do not need to cultivate internal energy.”

Cheng Guan was shocked; his voice was trembling as he said, ”Training martial art without ... without good foundation, won't that be ... won't that be heretical?”

”But they are not heretical,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Only without school without sect. To deal with martial art without school and without sect, we must also use without school without sect technique.”

Cheng Guan was completely bewildered; he mumbled to himself, ”Without school without sect, without school without sect? This ... Shizhi does not understand.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”You don't understand? Then let me teach you.”

Cheng Guan respectfully said, ”Would Shishu please give your advice?”

In all his life, all the martial art uncles with a 'Hui' character in their names were virtuous eminent monks with outstanding martial art skill. He thought that this little martial art uncle was very young, his internal energy cultivation was insufficient, but he must have some outstanding quality; otherwise, how could he be his martial art uncle? For the past several days he had racked his brain trying to find a martial art skill that can be learned quickly, but all along he did not make any breakthrough. It seemed that even if he spent another ten years or twenty years, even until his death, he would not be able to solve this problem. Now that there was this young eminent monk with 'Hui' character in his name who was willing to give him direction, inevitably he was surprised but delighted at the same time; feeling of respect sprang up automatically in his heart.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”You said that those two girls were using some Kunlun Pai, Emei Pai moves. If we compare our Shaolin Pai martial art to these random mix of school and sect's martial arts, which one is stronger?”

”Perhaps our Shaolin Pai is somewhat stronger,” Cheng Guan replied, ”Even if we are not stronger, at least we are not weaker than they.”

Wei Xiaobao clapped his hands and said, ”That makes it easy. They do not use internal energy, but only use some Xili Hulu [meaning: gibberish] Pai style; we do not need internal energy either, just use some Shaolin Pai style, then we will be able to defeat them. I don't care if it is Bo're Palm, Vajra's Divine Fist, Boluomi Hand or Amitabha Buddha Foot, as long as internal energy cultivation is not needed, then it will be very easy to learn, won't it?”

Cheng Guan knitted his brows. ”Amitabha Buddha Foot?” he said, ”I don't think our Sect has that martial art; I wonder if it is other sect's martial art? But without internal energy cultivation, our Sect's fist or palm techniques won't have the least bit of formidable power; if we came across other sect's martial art expert with profound internal power, we might get our tendon broken and our bones fractured in just one move.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud and said, ”Those two young women, are they martial art experts with profound internal power?”

”They are not,” Cheng Guan replied.

”Why worry, then?” Wei Xiaobao said.

It was as if Cheng Guan had just been woken up by this last sentence; he blew off a deep sigh and said, ”So that's how it is, so that's how it is! Shizhi has never thought about it.” He was quiet for a moment before continuing, ”But there is another problem: our Sect's has eighteen different palm techniques, special skills, inside and outside, thirty-six techniques, unique skills, seventy-two. Each technique has at least several dozen variations, at most more than a thousand. It's really not easy to master all of these different techniques to perfection. Even without internal energy cultivation, that is, learning the style only, we are talking about several decades here.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, ”This old monk is really annoyingly dumb.” He laughed and said, ”Why do we have to master everything to perfection? As long as we know the girl uses what style, we'll simply counter soldiers with arms, counter water with an earthen wall; the young girl attack with what move, the old monk neutralize her with what move. I guarantee they will be beaten so badly that they'll flee to the wilderness and will be wiped out to the last man.”

Cheng Guan repeatedly nodded his head with a happy expression on his face, as if murky darkness was suddenly opened.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”That Miss wearing blue has used some Laoshan Pai's 'rivers pour away by the day'; you said there are six ways to dodge it, seven ways to counterattack. Actually, why bother with all those stuffs? As long as I can use one move to defeat her, why should I learn the other twelve techniques? Won't it be a lot simpler?”

Cheng Guan was greatly delighted. ”Absolutely right! Absolutely right!” he exclaimed, ”Those two Nu Shizhu has broken Shishu's arms and injured martial nephew Jing Ji and the others, four people, using the 'separating tendon dislocating bone technique' involving four different sects' techniques. We can use Shaolin Pai martial art to counter their move.” Immediately he demonstrated the technique used by the girls one by one, and then he explained the technique to counter each move, followed by demonstrating it for Wei Xiaobao.

Sometimes the technique proposed by Cheng Guan was too complicated and too difficult to learn; sometimes unwittingly he used internal energy. Wei Xiaobao would then ask him to think about other technique that was simple and clear. Shaolin Pai martial art was indeed very broad and greatly abundant, while Cheng Guan was really patience. As soon as Wei Xiaobao felt that the move was too hard to learn, he simply shook his head, and then Cheng Guan would try different technique. If it did not work, he would try a different move, until Wei Xiaobao was able to execute the move effortlessly.

Seeing in less than an hour this young martial uncle was able to master a particular style, while he himself had painstakingly spent many days to solve the problem, Cheng Guan was so happy that he pulled his own ear and stroked his own cheek, while his heart was unbearably excited. But suddenly he remembered something and said, ”What a pity, what a pity.” And then he shook his head and said, ”Dangerous, dangerous.”

Wei Xiaobao hastily asked, ”What do you mean 'what a pity'? What's the danger?”