Chapter - 16 Gaining Blood (1/2)

Amid the much drivel from the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies, the boat set sail toward the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It was almost the crack of dawn. Clouds of morning mist hovered above the billowing waves, extending infinitely into the far distance, free from inhibition, and creating a magnificent view for the passengers aboard the boat.

Gradually, the morning sun rose above the horizon, casting a golden shine on the boat while reflecting in the river below, creating glistening reflections in the shapes of thousands of snakes. A small boat in the distance hoisted its sail and traveled toward them head-on. Catching the easterly wind, full force, with the cyan sail, the small boat moved swiftly up the stream. The giant picture of a white foot was painted in the middle of the cyan sail. And after the small boat had come closer so that everyone could take a good glimpse at the picture, they all concluded that it was obviously the picture of a female’s foot, judging from the fine shape and delicacy it had presented.

“Why would someone paint a foot on the sail? How bizarre?” the Huashan apprentices muttered among themselves.

“This boat most likely belongs to the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert,” Branch Fairy announced. “Oops, Madam Yue, Miss Yue, you girls had better watch out! It couldn’t have been any clearer – those guys on that boat are fond of eating girl’s feet!”

Yue Lingshan spat at him in disgust, yet a slight panic had already started swelling inside her.

Minutes later, the small boat was well within sight, and the passengers on the big boat soon noticed the faint singing coming out of the small boat’s cabin. The sound was gentle and soft, and the lyric was peculiar – no one could understand a word of it, while the tonality was so utterly intimate that it didn’t sound like singing but rather moaning or groaning. And then, it changed, now more like the sound of a love ritual, ardent and lascivious to the extreme. The many young apprentices of the Huashan School all blushed with embarrassment as Madam Yue grunted in disgust, “What kind of monster is this?”

Suddenly, a girl’s sweet voice floated out from inside the small boat, “Is Young Mister Linghu of the Huashan Sword School aboard your boat?”

“Chong, pay no attention to her!” Madam Yue whispered.

“We’d really like to have a good look at Young Mister Linghu if that’s alright,” the girl asked again, her voice so charming and agreeable as though it had carried some kind of magical power that could sway one’s heart.

While the words still echoed in everyone’s ears, a girl had leapt out from the small boat’s cabin and stood on the bow of the boat, smiling. She was dressed in a blue skirt with white flower patterns. Outside the skirt, an embroidered apron with many colorful and shining decorations hung from her chest all the way to her knees, looking splendid in green and gold. The girl appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age. Her skin had a slightly yellowish tone, and her two eyes were much larger than average, the pupils pitch black. The pair of large gold earrings dangling from her ears was at least the size of a wine cup. The two ends of a multicolored waistband around her waist shot forward from the force of the wind, but she was actually standing there barefooted. Even though the girl had shown great charm, but after hearing her voice before actually seeing her look, it was only natural to think that the charming of her voice far exceeds the charming of her looks. The girl smiled at the passengers on the big boat. By the way she dressed, one can easily tell that she was a minority girl.[1]The boat carrying members of the Huashan School was traveling downstream, and it seemed as if it would have collided with the small boat when the small boat suddenly turned around in a swift maneuver. And after lowering the sail, the small boat now started traveling downstream side by side with the big boat.

Yue Buqun suddenly remembered something. “Miss, are you a subordinate of Chief Blue from the Five-Sylph Sect in Yunnan?”[2] he asked.

“You do have some insights. But you’ve only gotten half of it right. I am from the Five-Sylph Sect, indeed. But I am not a subordinate of Chief Blue,” the girl giggled and then replied in a soft tone.

Taking a few steps forward until he was at the bow of the boat, Yue Buqun cupped his hands in greeting.

“My name is Yue Buqun. Miss, would you be kind enough to inform me your respectable surname and enlighten me with your purpose in a detoured visit and the advice you will favor me today?”

“I am a Miao[3] girl. I don’t understand all your fancy talking there. What did you say?” The girl grinned.

“Miss, what’s your family name?” Yue Buqun asked again.

“You already know my family name. Why do you still ask me?” The girl chortled.

“I asked because I don’t really know your family name,” Yue Buqun explained.

“You are a grown up man. See, you’ve even got long goatees. Obviously you know my family name. Why make a scene and deny it?” The girl let out a big grin.

These words sounded quite disrespectful. But she kept smiling a most innocent grin on her face; her voice did not carry any trace of hostility.

“Miss, you must be joking with me,” Yue Buqun replied.

“Now Head Master Yue, what’s your family name?” the girl asked with a bright smile.

“Miss, you already know that my family name is Yue. Why ask while you know the answer?” Yue Buqun said uncomfortably.

Madam Yue had enough of the kind of frivolous dialogue. “Don’t pay attention to her,” she whispered to her husband.

Yue Buqun put his left hand behind his back and shook it a few times, signaling Madam Yue to stay put.

“Why is Mr. Yue shaking his hand behind his back?” Root Fairy became excited. “Oh, I see. Madam Yue told him to not pay attention to that girl, but after seeing how pretty and coquettish the girl is, he just wouldn’t listen to his wife and would rest at nothing but to pay a lot of attention to her.”

“Did you say that I am pretty and coque something? Thanks a lot!” the girl said, chuckling. “Your Han girls are certainly prettier than us Miao girls.” Apparently she didn’t know that the word “coquettish” was actually a derogatory term, and was very pleased to hear others praising about her beauty. Then she turned to Yue Buqun. “You already know my family name. Why do you ask while you know the answer then?”

“Hey, what’s gonna happen when Mr. Yue doesn’t listen to his wife?” Branch Fairy muttered.

“It’s not gonna be good! Mark my word!” Flower Fairy concluded with an evil grin.

“Isn’t Mr. Yue’s nick name the ‘Gentleman Sword’?” Trunk Fairy joined in. “So he is no gentleman after all. He already knew what her name is, and still asks for it, again and again, trying to make conversation. I think he just wants to keep talking with the girl.”

Yue Buqun was greatly embarrassed by the remarks from the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies. These six brothers never watched their mouths; Heaven knew what more garbage might come out from their holes. And what impression would that leave the many apprentices when they hear this? But knowing what kind of people the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies were, he simply couldn’t take it seriously. So he cupped his hands and spoke again.

“Will you please pass along my greetings to Chief Blue. Yue Buqun of the Huashan Sword School wishes Elder Blue good health.”

That apparently shocked the girl. She opened her eyes even wider and rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“Why why are you calling me ‘Elder Blue’? Am I that old already?” she asked.

“Miss, you you are the Chief Blue of the Five-Sylph Sect?” It was Yue Buqun’s turn to be completely shocked this time. He had known that the Five-Sylph Sect was a very sinister and vicious sect, and had always been referred to as the “Five-Venom Sect” among fellow marital people behind the back. When the sect was founded about a hundred years ago, it actually was named the “Five-Venom Sect,” and the founder of the sect and the key members of the sect were all Miao minorities. Later when several Han members joined the sect, they were able to convey to the Miao members that “Five-Venom” was not such an elegant name and changed it to “Five-Sylph,” instead. The “Five-Sylph Sect” specialized in using miasma, parasite, and venomous pests, and shared great fame with the “Hundred-Toxic Faction” – one leads the northern region and the other tops the southern region in their knowledge of poison. Among the many members of the Five-Sylph Sect, most were Miao minorities, and lacked the skills in scheming shown by their counterparts in the Hundred-Toxic Faction, but the way they use their poison were so eerie and creepy that they were simply unimaginable. The rumor in the Martial World said that when the Hundred-Toxic Faction had wanted to poison someone, even though it was impossible to guard against the attacks, after some careful investigation and deduction, one could still understand how the poison worked; on the other hand, when someone was poisoned by the Five-Sylph Sect, even if the executor explained it in details, it would still be totally unbelievable and unimaginable. The uniqueness and the eeriness simply could not be reasoned using normal logic.

“I am Blue Phoenix. Didn’t you know that already?” the girl explained with a grin. “I told you that I am from the Five-Sylph Sect but not a subordinate of Chief Blue. Now other than Blue Phoenix, herself, who else would not be a subordinate of Blue Phoenix within the entire Five-Sylph Sect?” At that word, the girl broke into loud giggles.

The Peach Valley’s Six Fairies also broke out into loud laughter. “Mr. Yue is so slow. She pretty much told him, yet he keeps nagging away.”

The only thing Yue Buqun had known about the Five-Sylph Sect Chief was the last name Blue. Now after hearing what the girl had just said, he realized that the chief’s full name was Blue Phoenix. And the girl’s colorful and pattern-rich dress did make her look like a phoenix. At the time it was tradition for Han families to keep a girl’s maiden name secret. The maiden name would only be revealed the day when the prospect in-laws family proposed an engagement with gifts and performed the “Maiden Name Revelation” ceremony. Even though martial families in the Martial World didn’t quite stick to that tradition to the letter, they still wouldn’t just give it out randomly. But this Miao girl revealed her maiden name out right so easily in front of a large crowd on the river, without showing any trace of bashfulness. Though her demeanor was natural and graceful, at the mentioning of her own name, the tone of her voice became even softer and sweeter.

“So it is Chief Blue, herself, who has come personally. It is certainly my lack of manners to have not greeted your gracious presence appropriately. May I ask what Chief Blue has to teach me about?” Yue Buqun cupped his hands together again to salute.

“I am completely illiterate. What can I teach you? Unless you mean you can teach me. See, the way you dressed does look like that of a schoolteacher. So you are thinking about teaching me to read, aren’t you? I am too thickheaded. You Han people are all too cunning. I doubt I’d be able to learn all that,” Blue Phoenix replied with a grin.

“Is she just acting dumb, or has she really no idea about standard polite greetings? Judging from the expression on her face, she doesn’t seem to be putting on an act,” Yue Buqun thought to himself. So he simply asked, “Chief Blue, why are you here?”

“Is Linghu Chong your apprentice brother or your apprentice?” Blue Phoenix asked.

“He is my apprentice,” Yue Buqun answered.

“Hmm, is it alright if I take a good look at him?” Blue Phoenix requested.

“But he is in poor health and a state of delirium at the moment, and would be unsuitable of coming out to pay his respects.” Yue Buqun wasn’t too fond of the idea.

“Pay his respects?” Blue Phoenix uttered in surprise, opening her big round eyes even wider. “I don’t need him to pay me respects. He is not a subordinate of my Five-Sylph Sect. Why would he need to pay me respects? Besides, he is that one hehe that one’s good friend. Even if he does want to pay me respects, I don’t deserve it. I heard that he drew his own blood to feed Old Man’s daughter in order to save her life. Such kind of passionate and affectionate man is the kind we Miao girls admire the most. That’s why I’ve gotten to take a look at him.”

“Well well !” Yue Buqun hesitated.

“I know he is badly wounded and have lost a lot of blood. You don’t have to call him out. I’ll come over myself,” Blue Phoenix suggested.

“We dare not request your gracious presence,” Yue Buqun said hurriedly.

“Whatever!” Blue Phoenix chortled, and with a gentle leap, she landed on the big boat carrying the Huashan school members.

Yue Buqun noticed the grace and ease she had displayed from the leap, yet nothing suggested that she had any extraordinary Kung Fu skills. Taking two steps back, he blocked the entrance to the cabin, feeling deeply troubled. He knew that the Five-Sylph Sect would make a very tough adversary, and when fighting with such unorthodox sects it would take a lot more than true Kung Fu skills to win the battle. That was the reason why he had been very polite toward Blue Phoenix from the very beginning. The two members of the Hundred-Toxic Faction had mentioned the previous night that someone had asked them to shadow the Huashan School. Birds of a feather flock together. Most likely it was the Five-Sylph Sect that had asked them to do so. Why would the Five-Sylph Sect be hard on the Huashan School? The Five-Sylph Sect was a large faction in the Martial World. When the chief of the sect came personally, logically he shouldn’t have blocked the way, but to let a person with all kinds of eerie poisons all over her body into the cabin was the last thing Yue Buqun would want. Figuring that Linghu Chong coming out to meet Chief Blue probably would be the best solution for now, he held his position steadily and shouted out.

“Chong! Chief Blue wants to see you. Come out, hurry!”

“Yes, Master!” Linghu Chong answered feebly. But since he had just lost a lot of blood recently, after hearing the calling from his Master, he couldn’t even sit up and had to give up trying after failing a few pathetic attempts.

“I heard that he was seriously wounded. How could he come out?” Blue Phoenix objected. “It’s very windy on the river. We don’t want him to catch a cold on top of everything he is already suffering from, do we? I’ll go inside to visit him.”

Blue Phoenix started walking toward the entrance of the cabin. Only after a few steps, she was already within four feet from Yue Buqun and the strong scent of fragrance filled Yue Buqun’s nostrils immediately. Turning slightly sideways, hesitantly, Yue Buqun spared enough room for Blue Phoenix to get through and watched cautiously as she entered the cabin.

The Peach Valley’s Six Fairies occupied the majority of the outer cabin, five of them sitting down cross-legged while Fruit Fairy lying on the bed.

“You must be the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies? I am the chief of the Five-Sylph Sect, and you are the Six Fairies of the Peach Valley. Sylphs are fairies, too. We are one of the same kind!” Blue Phoenix grinned joyously.

“Not likely! We are real and you are fake!” Root Fairy challenged mockingly.

“Even if you were real, we have six fairies, one more than what you have,” Trunk Fairy added.

“It wouldn’t be that hard to turn that around, you know,” Blue Phoenix beamed.

“How are you going to having one more than us? Are you changing the name of your sect to Seven-Sylph Sect?” Leaf Fairy asked curiously.

“We only have five sylphs, not seven. But we can reduce the six fairies to only four fairies, then naturally we would have one more than you guys, wouldn’t we?” A nasty grin flashed across Blue Phoenix’s face as she spoke.

“Reduce the six fairies to only four fairies? Are you saying that you are killing two of us?” Flower Fairy bellowed in fury.

“Kill or not, that’s all up to us, isn’t it? But I heard that you are friends of Linghu Chong, I guess we can let that pass. But you’ll have to stop boasting yourself and claim that you have one more fairy than my Five-Sylph Sect,” Blue Phoenix let out a triumphant smile.

“We love boasting ourselves. What’cha gonna do?” Trunk Fairy snapped.

All of a sudden, Root Fairy, Trunk Fairy, Leaf Fairy and Flower Fairy all leapt to their feet and each grabbed onto one of her limbs, but before they were able to lift her up, all four of them cried out and all let go of her simultaneously as though following an inaudible command, each holding out his palm and gazing at it in horror. Even Yue Buqun felt cold pricks all over his back when he took a quick glimpse of what the Fairies now had in their palms – two large emerald centipedes and two large spiders that had colorful stripes all over their bodies. The bodies of all four venomous pests were covered in long hairs, so disgusting that even a glance at them could make one sick. But the four venomous pests only moved slightly, and neither took a bite at the four Fairies. If they had bitten with their poisonous fangs, then the damage would have already been done, and they wouldn’t have appeared as frightening. Just because they were now all alerted and provoked, and any slight movement could have prompt them to bite down with the poisonous fangs, the Peach Valley’s Four Fairies dare not move an inch, and all froze right on the spot.

Blue Phoenix swung her arm conveniently, and the four venomous pests vanished all of a sudden. She must have put them away with the swing, but no one could tell where on her body did she store them. She paid no more attention to the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies and walked further into the cabin. Having been frightened completely out of their wits, the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies dared not speak another word.

Linghu Chong and the bunch of male apprentices of the Huashan School occupied the middle cabin. By then, Madam Yue and the many female apprentices had returned to the back cabin, and the clapboard between the middle cabin and the back cabin had been closed. After casting a casual glance at the many apprentices in the cabin, Blue Phoenix walked next to Linghu Chong’s bed and called out gently.

“Young Mister Linghu! Young Mister Linghu!”

The gentleness and the affection carried in her voice seemed to have reached the extreme. As the sweet sound echoed in everyone’s ears, each felt a soul-stirring sensation surging through his entire body, and almost couldn’t help but answer, as if she had been calling him, not Linghu Chong. After these two calls, over half of the male apprentices found themselves red in the face and their bodies quivering slightly.

“Who who are you?” Linghu Chong opened his eyes slowly and asked in a barely audible voice.

“I am a friend of your good friend, so I am your friend, too,” Blue Phoenix answered tenderly.

Linghu Chong acknowledged with a slight groan and then closed his eyes.

“Young Mister Linghu, I know you’ve lost a great amount of blood. But don’t worry, you won’t die,” Blue Phoenix said. But in his daze, Linghu Chong didn’t reply.

Reaching under Linghu Chong’s quilt, Blue Phoenix pulled his hand out and started checking his pulse, but soon her eyebrows knitted into a straight line. Suddenly, she stuck her head out of the window, gave a whistle, and then jabbered out many words, which neither one inside the cabin could comprehend.

A short while later, four Miao girls entered the cabin. All of them were about eighteen years of age, and all dressed in blue skirts in white flower patterns, with an embroidered waistband around each waist. Each of them held in her hand an eight-inch long square box made of bamboo strips.

Yue Buqun frowned slightly, thinking that whatever the things in the Five-Sylph Sect members’ hands were, they could not have been anything good. Just Blue Phoenix, by herself, already had many centipedes and spiders hidden on her. Now, when these four Miao girls carried these boxes into the cabin openly, all hell would probably break loose. But since they showed no sign of enmity, it would be inappropriate of him to stop them.

Walking over by Blue Phoenix’s side, the four Miao girls whispered something to her, and after getting a nod back, they opened the boxes. People in the cabin found their curiosity growing rapidly, all were eager to find out what kind of queer things might be stored in the boxes, except Yue Buqun, who was the only one who had seen the hairy venomous insects in Peach Valley’s Four Fairies’ palms, and only wished that he would never have to get a glimpse of the things inside the boxes. But suddenly, the strangest thing happened.

The four Miao girls rolled their sleeves high, exposing the snow-white arms, and then they also rolled their trouser legs high, until they were above their knees.

[4] The many male apprentices of the Huashan School were stupefied as they gaped at the unusual sight, their hearts pounding madly.

“Oh, no!” Yue Buqun thought aloud. “These girls from this heretical sect want to perform some kind of evil enchantment and use lust to tempt my apprentices. Just the voice of that Blue Phoenix, alone, was already utterly lascivious, if she performed any kind of black art on top of that, having not enough self-control, the many apprentices would undoubtedly fall for it.” He couldn’t help clutching the handle of his sword, determined to put a stop to it if these members of the Five-Sylph Sect were to undress themselves and perform any witchcraft.

After the four Miao girls rolled up their sleeves and trouser legs, Blue Phoenix also rolled her trouser legs up unhurriedly. Yue Buqun winked at the many apprentices, signaling them to retreat out of the cabin, so as not to be perplexed by the evil enchantment, but only Lau Denuo and Shi Daizi followed his command. Among the rest apprentices, some walked a few steps hesitantly toward the outside before returning to the original spot, and some others simply froze there, lost in trance.

Yue Buqun gathered his inner energy around his lower abdomen and loaded his “Divine Art of Violet Twilight.” Soon, a shade of violet color flashed across his face. He knew that the Five-Venom Sect had been entrenched in the southern region for over two hundred years, and their notoriety did not come by accident. Undoubtedly, they knew certain vicious and venomous sorcery. And when the chief, herself, was performing the sorcery, it was no trivial matter. If he didn’t guard his mind with the divine art, any slight oversight might have caused him to fall for her tricks. Seeing with his own eyes how these Miao girls exposed themselves in public, with no regard to dignity and having no sense of shame, Yue Buqun became more and more worried. To die of poison was one thing, but what he feared the most was to lose his clear conscience under the evil spell and bring shame to himself in the presence of everyone. If that ever happened, the reputation of the Huashan Sword School and the Gentleman Sword would have been completely ruined beyond redemption. He watched on as the four Miao girls each took something out of the box, something that wriggled back and forth in their hands. Just as he had expected, these had to be some kind of venomous worms. The four Miao girls placed these venomous worms on their exposed arms and legs, and as soon as the worms were set loose, they clung tightly to the skins.

Fixing his eyes on the worms, Yue Buqun soon realized that those weren’t venomous worms, but rather blood-sucking leeches that were quite common in creeks or lakes of the countryside, except that these leeches were twice the size of a regular one. One after another, the Miao girls took out more and more leeches from the boxes. Blue Phoenix also took outs some leeches from one of the bamboo boxes, and placed them on her own arms and legs. In only a few moments, the five girls’ arms and legs were completely covered by leeches; there were at least over two hundred of them in total. All the onlookers were dumbstruck, and neither had a clue as to what kind of strange scheme these five were up to.

Madam Yue had been in the back cabin, but after hearing the many cries of surprise uttered by the male apprentices in the middle cabin, she couldn’t help pulling the clapboard open and taking a glimpse, herself, and as soon as her eyes met the bizarre scene, she also let out a cry of surprise.

“Don’t be afraid. They won’t bite you,” Blue Phoenix comforted her with a smile. “Are you are you Mr. Yue’s woman? I heard that you have outstanding sword skills. Is that true?” she asked.

Madam Yue squeezed out a smile, but didn’t answer. When Blue Phoenix had first asked if she were Mr. Yue’s woman, it sounded very crude. And then, when she asked about whether Madam Yue’s swords skills were truly outstanding, Madam Yue hesitated. If it had been someone else who had asked the same question, even if that person were hostile, she would have answered humbly. This Blue Phoenix evidently knew very little about conventions of Han Chinese; if Madam Yue had answered that yes, she did have outstanding sword skills, it would sound very arrogant; if she had answered that no, she didn’t have outstanding sword skills, perhaps this Blue Phoenix would have believed it, and would look down upon her. With these thoughts in mind, she decided to simply reply with silence. Blue Phoenix didn’t ask any further and simply stood there quietly.

In the meantime, Yue Buqun found himself on full alert. If the five Miao girls had any unusual action, he was ready to strike. To catch bandits first capture the ringleader. He would have taken Blue Phoenix down before anything else. By then, nobody in the cabin spoke another word; the only sounds were the heavy breathing from the many male apprentices of the Huashan School.

After a long while, the bodies of the many leeches on the five Miao girls’ arms and legs started to puff up and soon turned into a faint reddish color. Yue Buqun knew that as soon as a leech touched the skin of a person or an animal, it would make a tight grip using its sucker disk, and then start sucking blood, not letting go until it was completely full. When the leech was sucking blood from someone, the person would, at most, feel only a slight itch or numbness. When farmers worked in the paddy fields, they would often have leeches clinging to their legs, sucking blood out of them without their notice.

“Why are these witches using leeches to suck their own blood?” he muttered to himself. “Perhaps in order to perform their enchantment, the Five-Sylph Sect members must use their own blood. It seems that the time when these leeches have sucked enough blood will be the time they execute their enchantment.”

Blue Phoenix gently lifted up the quilt covering Linghu Chong’s body. Pulling a leech that was about nine tenth full off her arm, she placed it on Linghu Chong’s neck next to an artery.

“Hey, what are you doing?” afraid that she might harm Linghu Chong in anyway, Madam Yue yelled hurriedly. Unsheathing her long sword, she leapt into the middle cabin.

“No hurry! Let’s wait!” Yue Buqun shook his head.

Clutching her long sword tightly, Madam Yue gazed fixedly at Blue Phoenix and Linghu Chong. As soon as the leech was placed on Linghu Chong’s neck, it bit onto his artery and started sucking again. Blue Phoenix took out a small china bottle from her chest pocket and unplugged the lid. Using the pointed fingernail of the little finger on her right hand, she picked a little bit of the white powdery substance from the bottle and then sprinkled some onto the leech’s body. The other four Miao girls unbuttoned Linghu Chong’s robe and also rolled his sleeves and trouser legs up, then they started taking the many leeches off themselves and planting them next to the many arteries on Linghu Chong’s chest, stomach, arms and legs. Within a short moment, the over two hundred leeches had all been transferred onto Linghu Chong’s body. Blue Phoenix kept on picking more of the white powder and sprinkling a little bit of it on each and every of the leeches. Then, something very strange happened.

While clinging to the five Miao girls, the more those leeches sucked, the more they puffed up, but now, they all started shrinking little by little. Yue Buqun suddenly understood. Feeling much relaxed, he exhaled a long breath.

“Turned out that they are just using the leeches as the medium to transfer their blood into Chong’s arteries,” he thought loud. “I wonder what are these white powders made of. How can they have made leeches give out blood? How miraculous!”

Having figured it out, he gradually relaxed the grip on the sword handle. Madam Yue also returned her sword to its sheath gently as a smile crept onto her once tightened face.

Even though the cabin was still swept with silence, it was far from the tension-filled atmosphere just a minute ago, when fierce battle could have been triggered at any moment. And furthermore, even the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies were utterly amazed by what they saw, their jaws dropping and their mouths wide open. Since all six mouths were wide open and could not close because of the dropped jaws, naturally, neither of them could make any remark about it nor argue about it. This had to be a very rare occurrence.

After another short while, a light clatter broke the silence as one of the leeches, which had spilled out all the blood in its stomach, fell onto the cabin floor, wriggled a few times, and then dropped dead. One of the Miao girls picked it up and threw it into the river through the cabin window. Soon, more and more leeches fell dead and were thrown into the river one after another. Within thirty minutes, all leeches had been thrown out of the window, and the once toast tan face of Linghu Chong now showed a slight redness of skin. The blood those over two hundred leeches had sucked and transferred into Linghu Chong’s body amounted to about a bowl’s worth. Even though it would not have made up for all the blood Linghu Chong had lost, it was enough to turn the corner for him.

Yue Buqun and Madam Yue exchanged a glance at each other, both thinking, “Being the Chief of a good-sized sect, this Miao girl didn’t even hesitate to transfer her own blood into Chong’s body. Since she had never met Chong before, she couldn’t have fallen in love with him. She mentioned that she was a friend of Chong’s good friend. When did Chong make friends with such an important and influential person?”

Blue Phoenix also noticed the improvement in Linghu Chong’s complexion. After checking his pulses again and feeling that his pulses had become stronger, she was very pleased.

“Young Mister Linghu, how do you feel?” she asked in a gentle voice.

Although Linghu Chong didn’t quite understand everything, he, at least, had figured out that the girl was healing him, and also felt much improvement in spirit. “Thank you, Miss. I I feel much better,” he replied.

“Do I look very old? Am I too old already?” Blue Phoenix asked.

“Who said that you are old? Of course you are not! If it’s alright with you, I’ll make bold to call you a younger sister,” Linghu Chong replied.

Blue Phoenix was overjoyed; her face split into a big smile as if a beautiful spring flower had just blossomed, which made it more delicate and charming.

“You are wonderful! No wonder! No wonder the one who didn’t care about any other man in this world cares about you so much. That’s why alas ,” she said with a smile.

“If you really think I am that wonderful, why don’t you call me ‘big brother Linghu’?” Linghu Chong grinned.

“Big brother Linghu,” Blue Phoenix called out, as a slight blush shot up her face.

“My good sister! My wonderful sister!” Linghu Chong called out with a big smile.

Linghu Chong had always been the unconventional type, and never bothered about small matters, very different from Yue Buqun, who always posed as a “Gentleman.” As soon as he regained consciousness, he had already known that Blue Phoenix liked to hear others calling her young and beautiful. When she had asked him frankly, even though she was older than him, he still called her a “younger sister,” thinking that since she spared no effort at healing him, it would be totally justifiable for him to give some compliments to repay her kindness. Not surprisingly, Blue Phoenix’s face lit up at these words.

But Yue Buqun and Madam Yue couldn’t help frowning, both thinking, “Chong is so frivolous, and there is really no cure for that. Didn’t Ping One-Finger say that he only has one hundred days left for this life? Now it’s even less than one hundred days. It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that one of his feet has already stepped into the coffin, yet only moments after he regained consciousness, he was already teasing such a lascivious woman with nonsense.”

“Big brother, do you want to eat something? Why don’t I get you some pastries?” Blue Phoenix asked, smiling brightly.

“I don’t feel like eating pastries. But some wine would be great,” Linghu Chong answered.

“That’s easy! We have the ‘Five Jewels Nectar Wine’ that we made ourselves. You can give that a try.”

Blue Phoenix jabbered out some words in the Miao dialect, and two of the Miao girls returned to the small boat, soon returning with eight bottles of wine. After uncorking one of the bottles, they poured the wine into a bowl, and instantly, the sweet scent of wine and blossom filled the entire cabin.

“My good sister, there’s something about your wine. The sweet scent of blossom is too strong. It completely overwhelmed the flavor of the wine itself. I guess this must have been the wine for women,” Linghu Chong said.

“The scent of blossom has to be very strong, otherwise, the wine will have this fishy smell of venomous snakes,” Blue Phoenix answered with a grin.

“The wine will have the fishy smell of venomous snakes?” Amazed, Linghu Chong asked.

“Certainly! This wine of mine is named the ‘Five Jewels Nectar Wine,’ then of course we need to use the ‘Five Jewels’.”

“What are the ‘Five Jewels’?”

“The ‘Five Jewels’ are five different kinds of treasures in our sect. Have a look.”

Setting up two empty bowls, Blue Phoenix turned the bottle upside down and poured the rest of the wine into the bowls. Clattering sounds rose as a few small objects fell into the bowl, and at the sight of them, several Huashan apprentices screeched in terror.

Blue Phoenix took the bowl of wine in front of Linghu Chong. The wine had a very light color, almost as clear as water from a natural spring in the mountains. Soaked in the wine were five tiny venomous pests: a green snake, a centipede, a spider, a scorpion, and a small toad.

This sight also gave Linghu Chong a good scare. “Why do you put put these venomous pests in your wine?” he asked.

“These are the Five Jewels. Don’t call them venomous pests,” Blue Phoenix let out a disgruntled snort. But soon she asked, “Big brother Linghu, are you brave enough to drink this?”

“Well, I am a bit afraid of these Five Jewels.” Linghu Chong confessed with a wry smile.

Raising the bowl of wine high, Blue Phoenix drank a big gulp of it. “We Miao people have this custom. When we invite a friend to drink wine and eat meat with us, if the friend refuses to drink or eat, then we don’t treat him as a friend no more.”

Taking the bowl from Blue Phoenix, Linghu Chong drank the entire bowl of wine in big gulps, swallowing the five venomous pests together with the wine down his throat. Although he had plenty of spunk, he dared not to chew on them.

Blue Phoenix was overjoyed. Embracing Linghu Chong’s neck into her arms, she gave two kisses on his left cheek, leaving two red marks on his face from the lipsticks on her lips.

“That’s my good brother!” She beamed.

Linghu Chong also let out a smile, and then his heart skipped a beat when he suddenly noticed the stern look on his Master’s face from a glance with the corner of his eyes.

“Darn! That was audacious, running wild right in front of my Master and Master-Wife. Undoubtedly Master will give me a good scolding after this, and perhaps little apprentice sister will despise me even more,” he muttered to himself.

Blue Phoenix opened another bottle and refilled the bowl with wine, pouring the five venomous pests into the bowl as well. Handing the bowl in front of Yue Buqun, she said with a grin, “Mr. Yue, have some wine! My treat!”

Yue Buqun had already felt sick just from looking at the many venomous pests soaked in the wine. When he smelled the vague, indescribable fishiness covered by the strong scent of blossoms, he was seized with a sudden urge to vomit. Extending his left hand out, he pushed toward Blue Phoenix’s hand that was holding the wine bowl, but unexpectedly, Blue Phoenix didn’t draw her hands back. Seeing that his finger almost touched the back of her hand, Yue Buqun jerked his hand back.

“How come the Apprentice is even braver than the Master?” Blue Phoenix grinned. “Friends of the Huashan School, which one of you would like to drink up this bowl of wine? It will be of great benefit to you if you drink this.”

She held the bowl high with a hand. But there was only complete silence on the entire boat. There was no response.

Blue Phoenix heaved a long sigh. “I guess other than Linghu Chong, the Huashan School has not another true hero.”

“I’ll drink it!” a man suddenly shouted out. It was Lin Pingzhi, who stepped forward and reached out for the wine bowl.

Blue Phoenix expanded her eyebrows with a smile. “Well, turned out .”

“Little Lin,” Yue Buqun suddenly yelled out. “If you eat those dirty things, even if you survive the poison, don’t expect me to ever talk to you again.”

“Go ahead, drink it up!” Blue Phoenix handed the bowl in front of Lin Pingzhi.

“I I am not drinking it,” Lin Pingzhi replied haltingly. Then hearing the loud laughter from Blue Phoenix, he went scarlet in the face. “It’s not it’s not because I am afraid of death that I am not drinking the wine,” he mumbled.

“I know! You are only afraid that this pretty girl will stop seeing you. You are not a coward. You are an affectionate lover. Ha-ha! Ha-ha!” Blue Phoenix laughed out loud. Walking next to Linghu Chong, she said, “Big brother, I’ll see you around.”

She set down the bowl on the table and then waved. Getting the command, the four Miao girls collected the rest six bottles of wine, followed her out of the cabin, and then leapt back onto the small boat. Once again, sweet and intimate singing rose and floated above the water. Following the flow of the tide, the small boat soon gained speed and went further and further. The sounds of the singing also fainted gradually and eventually died away.

“Throw all those bowls and bottles in the river,” Yue Buqun ordered with a frown.

“Yes, Master!” Lin Pingzhi answered and walked next to the table. Just when his fingers barely touched the wine bottle, a strong fishy odor suddenly shot up his nostrils. His body gave a sudden shake, and he almost lost his footing and had to grab onto the side of the table for support.

“The wine bottles are poisonous,” Yue Buqun realized at once and yelled out loudly. He swung his sleeve toward the table. The force from the swing sent all the bowls and bottles on the table flying through the window and falling into the river. Suddenly, he felt a strong feel of nausea coming from his chest, and only after gathering a good amount of inner energy, were he able to hold it back. Then he heard a loud cry, as Lin Pingzhi burst out vomiting. Only seconds later, cries after cries rose as more and more people joined Lin Pingzhi and started throwing up wildly, even the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies and the sailors at the stern of the boat were no exceptions. After fighting the urge forcefully for half a day, Yue Buqun could no longer endure the sickness and also started vomiting, himself. The many people kept vomiting back and forth. Even after they have spat out all the food inside their stomachs, the retching feeling did not go away, and they started vomiting up gastric juice, instead. And then after there was no more gastric juice left for them to spit out, the itching at their throats and the retching feeling inside their stomachs still remained. Everyone felt as though it would have been much better if they had something inside their stomach, so they have something to spit out, compared to vomiting again and again with an empty stomach. Among the dozens of people aboard the boat, Linghu Chong was the only one who didn’t throw up.

“Linghu Chong, that witch regards you with special respect. She must have fed you the antidote,” Fruit Fairy said.

“I didn’t take an antidote. Could that bowl of poisonous wine have been the antidote?” Linghu Chong muttered.

“That has got to be it. That witch saw that you are a handsome lad and fell for you,” Root Fairy concluded.

“Nah! I don’t think it was because he’s a handsome lad. It was because he praised that witch, saying that she was young and beautiful and all that,” Branch Fairy disagreed.

“Well, he still had to be brave enough to drink up the poisonous wine, and swallow those five venomous bugs, hadn’t he?” Flower Fairy added.

“He is not throwing up. But how do you know that it wasn’t because he is even more seriously poisoned than the rest of us with those five venomous bugs inside his stomach?” Leaf Fairy speculated.

“Oh, no, that’s terrible!” Branch Fairy cried out. “When Linghu Chong drank the poisonous wine, we didn’t stop him, or even say anything about it. If he dies from the poison, what are we gonna do when Ping One-Finger finds out about it?”

“Ping One-Finger said he was going to die soon, anyway. What’s the big deal if he dies a few days earlier?” Root Fairy shrugged it off.

“It’s no big deal for Linghu Chong, but it will be a big deal for us,” Flower Fairy exclaimed.

“Don’t worry! We’ll just take it on the lam. That Ping One-Finger is a fatty with short legs. I am sure he won’t be able to keep up with us,” Fruit Fairy comforted him.

Even while vomiting left and right, the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies didn’t want to give up arguing.

Noticing that the sailor operating the rudder also kept vomiting non-stop and the boat had been shaking back and forth dangerously, Yue Buqun leapt to the back of the boat and steered the boat toward the south bank. He had resourceful of inner energy. After circulating his inner energy a few times, the retching feeling in his chest gradually decreased. Slowly the boat pulled over by the bank. Yue Buqun jumped to the bow of the boat and threw the iron anchor down the river. The iron anchor was well over two hundred pounds, and would have taken two sailors to carry it. Seeing that Yue Buqun, who looked just like a gentle and feeble scholar, was able to not only pick the iron anchor up with just one hand, but also throw it dozens of feet away without sparing much effort, the boatmen were left breathless. But that didn’t last very long, because they soon had to return to their miserable vomiting routine. Everybody went ashore one after another. Kneeling by the river, they drank a stomach full of water and then spit them out. After several cycles, the vomiting finally stopped.

The section of the bank where they had parked the boat was a desolate and out-of-the-way spot, but several miles east from where they were, rolls of houses and buildings glowed in the sunshine from the distance – it appeared to be a town.

“There is still residual poison on the boat; we can’t use the boat any more. Let’s go to that town first and then we’ll figure something out,” Yue Buqun suggested.

With Trunk Fairy carrying Linghu Chong on his back and Branch Fairy carrying Fruit Fairy on his back, the group walked toward the town in the distance. After they entered town, in the van of everybody else, Trunk Fairy and Branch Fairy walked into a restaurant. Setting Linghu Chong and Fruit Fairy down onto two benches, they shouted immediately.

“Waiter! Waiter! Bring us some wine, some dish, and some rice!”

In a casual glance, Linghu Chong suddenly noticed somebody, and his heart skipped a beat. A short Taoist Priest sat up straight in the middle of the dining hall – it was none other than the Head Master of Qingcheng, Yu Canghai.

The Head Master of Qingcheng apparently was in the middle of a tight encirclement. He sat by a small table, on top of which lay a wine kettle, a pair of chopsticks, three plates of light snacks, and a shiny long sword showing its naked blade.

Seven benches surrounded the small table, a person sitting on each of them. Among the seven people, some were men and some were women, but all faces looked vicious and cruel. Each of the benches also had weapons on top of it. The seven of them simply gazed at Yu Canghai, neither of them making any sound.

The Head Master of Qingcheng appeared to be well composed. When he raised his wine cup fir a sip with his left hand, the sleeves didn’t show the slightest sign of quiver.

“This short priest must be very frightened in his heart,” Root Fairy commented.

“Of course he is. It’s seven against one. He doesn’t have a chance to win,” Branch Fairy added.

“If he isn’t afraid, why is he holding the wine cup with his left hand, not his right hand? Certainly he wants to spare his right hand, in case he has to grab on to his sword real quickly,” Trunk Fairy said.

At that comment, Yu Canghai let out a disgruntled snort, and then handed the wine cup from his left hand to his right hand.