Chapter - 452 Will the Encounter While Lion-slaying Cause a Calamity? (8) (1/2)
As the brick went down, the golden hairpin pierced the 'que pen xue'. That man did not feel pain at all, on the contrary, he felt comfortable, so his confidence in Zhao Min grew and he did not stop expressing his thanks to her. Zhao Min told him to draw the pin out, and then pierced his 'hun men' [soul gate], 'po hu' [spirit entrance], 'tian zhu' [pillar of the Heaven], 'ku fang' [storage room], and other acupoints, seven or eight in total.
Zhang Wuji smiled and said, ”That's enough! That's enough!” He stood up, knowing that with these acupoints pierced, if that man wanted to escape, as soon as he exerted his strength to run, these acupoints would flare-up, and he would meet his doom.
”Go fetch two buckets of water,” Zhao Min told him, ”We want to wash our faces. And then you can cook some rice. If you want to die, go ahead and put some poison in the food, and then the three of us will become ghosts together.”
”Xiao De does not dare, Xiao De does not dare,” that man said. And thus Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min had a servant to attend to their needs.
Zhao Min asked his name. Turned out his surname was Shou [long life], given name Nanshan [southern mountain]; he was known in Jianghu as 'wan shou wu jiang' [ten thousand long life without limit]. Actually, his friends were making fun of him since he had always shrunk from battle, so they said that he would have a long life because he would never be killed in a battle.
Although he belonged to the group of 'lu lin' [lit. green forest, outlaws – see similar occurrence above] warriors who joined Yuan Zhen's school, Yuan Zhen regarded his talent as lacking, his intelligence low, so Yuan Zhen only used him to do the leg work but had never imparted any martial art skill to him.
Even after his acupoints were sealed, Shou Nanshan did not lose his physical strength; he carried out Zhao Min's instructions diligently. He was the one who dragged all nine corpses and buried them in the rear yard, and he also fetched water to clean the temple from all the bloodstains. His martial art skill might be mediocre, but his culinary skill could be considered first class. As Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min enjoyed the meat and vegetable dishes he prepared, they heaped him with praises.
After everything was settled, Zhang and Zhao two people began interrogating him about the 'Lion-slaying Heroes' Assembly'. Contrary to their expectation, Shou Nanshan did not even try to conceal anything from them, but too bad his companions did not regard him too highly, so that in many things nobody had ever told him anything. He only knew that the Shaolin Temple Abbot, Reverend Kong Wen, had assigned Yuan Zhen to preside over this assembly. Yuan Zhen, acting on behalf of Kong Wen and Kong Zhi, two divine monks, had broadcasted invitations to all heroes and warriors from all schools and sects, clans and societies around the world, to gather at the Shaolin Temple on the Duanwu day, to discuss a very important matter.
Zhang Wuji asked to see the invitation. It was addressed to Fu Chenzi, Gu Songzi, Gui Zangci, and other sword masters of Diancang Pai of Yunnan. The sword masters of Diancang had been famous for quite a while, but they were living way down south in Yunnan, and had never had any contact with the Wulin characters of the Central Plains. This time even Shaolin Pai invited them to come. It was clear that the scale of this assembly was to be magnificent. Shaolin Pai was the Wulin leader. When Kong Wen and Kong Zhi personally issued an invitation, no matter what important matter the addressee was facing, they would lay it aside and come to attend the meeting.
Zhang Wuji noticed that the invitation did not have too many characters on it; it simply said, 'Respectfully inviting (you) on the Duan Yang festival, to get together at Shaolin, to enjoy goblets of wine and be merry with the heroes of the world.' There was no reference on 'lion-slaying' at all.
”Why did that Qin Laowu say this meeting was called 'Lion-slaying Heroes' Assembly'?” Zhang Wuji asked.