56 Chapter Thirty-Two: School Merger Part 1 (1/2)

Within a day, Linghu Chong reached Mount Heng-Shan. When the disciples guarding at the bottom of the mountain saw him returning, they quickly sent a couple of disciples up the mountain to inform their martial sisters, who immediately came down the mountain to welcome him back. The disciples residing at Heng-Shan Other Courtyard followed shortly after down the mountain to meet him. Linghu Chong inquired about how everything fared at the Other Courtyard. Zu Qianqiu answered, ”Reporting to Headmaster. All the male disciples live at the Other Courtyard and no one has dared to go up the peak. Everyone's been well-behaved.”

Linghu Chong happily said, ”That's very good.”

Yihe laughingly said, ”None of them came up the peak. But it's not true that they've been well-behaved.”

Linghu Chong was startled and he quickly asked, ”What?”

”All day and all night long, I always hear their clamour at Tong Yuan valley all the way up from the convent.”

Linghu Chong laughed loudly when he heard this. ”It's impossible to ask these friends to be quiet.”

Linghu Chong then briefly told them that Ren Woxing had managed to snatch back the chief position of the sect. The group of heroes were really happy to hear this and their cheering was heard throughout the valley. Everyone thought, ”Chief Ren has snatched back his seat then Sacred Lady has naturally gained a lot of power in the sect. From now on, the situation will definitely be much better for everyone.”

When Linghu Chong reached the Xianxing Peak, he first went to the Wuse Convent to kowtow to the three Shi Tai's tablets. Then as there weren't many days left to the meeting at Mount Songshan on the fifteenth of the third month, he consulted with Yihe, Yiqing and the rest of the senior disciples on that matter. They decided that Heng-Shan School should go to Henan first before going to Mount Songshan. Yihe and the other disciples all said that in order to go against Songshan School, they shouldn't take the group of heroes at Tong Yuan valley with them to Mount Songshan. Even though taking them admittedly would make Heng-Shan School look grand, the other schools of Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan would criticise them for doing so, and it would even give Zuo Lengchan excuses that might disadvantage the Heng-Shan School.

Yihe said, ”Martial Brother Headmaster's sword art is above Zuo Lengchan, so taking up the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School is guaranteed. But if the heroes from Tong Yuan valley were with us at that time, then they'll surely give out excuses.”

Linghu Chong smiled. ”Our aim is to prevent Zuo Lengchan from annexing the other four schools. I'm not even remotely presentable being the headmaster of Heng-Shan School, so there's no need to talk about me becoming the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. And since everyone already said not to take the Tong Yuan valley's brothers to Mount Songshan then we won't take them.”

He then went to Tong Yuan valley to talk to Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and Old Man. They also agreed that not taking the Tong Yuan valley heroes to Mount Songshan was a good plan. They wanted Linghu Chong to take the female disciples and go first while the three of them would explain to the group of heroes to make them understand.

That night, Linghu Chong drank with the group of heroes to their hearts' contents. The original plan was to make their way to Songshan on the next day. But when he woke up, it was already past midday and he had not put everything in order so they had to delay their journey by a day. Early the next morning, Linghu Chong led the female disciples to go to Mount Songshan.

They had been on the road for a few days when they arrived at a city, and rested inside a large ruined temple. Zheng E and six disciples went out to patrol outside to protect the group from any Songshan School's plot. But not long after, Zheng E and Qin Juan flew back and shouted, ”Martial Brother Headmaster, quickly come and take a look!”

The two of them were grinning widely and it seemed that they had seen something funny. Yihe hastily asked, ”What's the matter?”

Qin Juan giggled. ”Martial Sister, you come and have a look yourself.”

Linghu Chong quickly followed the two of them into an inn and went to an outside guesthouse on the west side of the inn. They immediately saw a few people stacked into a big pile on a brick bed. They were the Peach Valley Six Fairies. All six of them had their acupoints sealed and were unable to move. Linghu Chong was greatly astonished. He quickly went into the house and pulled up Peachtree Root Fairy who was at the top of the pile. He saw that there was a piece of peach seed squeezed into his mouth so he helped him take it out. Peachtree Root Fairy was angry and he scolded, ”Your granny, your eighteen generations won't die a good death, your eighteen grandsons will all have no bums, no eyes,… ”

Linghu Chong laughed and he interrupted, ”Wei, Brother Peachtree Root Fairy, I didn't do that to you.”

”I wasn't scolding you! Don't interfere! This dog, when I see him, I'll tear him into eight pieces, sixteen pieces, thirty four pieces…”

”Who're you scolding?” Linghu Chong asked.

”His granny, if I'm not scolding him then who else am I scolding?”

Linghu Chong then pulled up Peachtree Flower Fairy who was now on top of the pile and took out the peach seed. The peach seed was only taken out halfway when Peachtree Flower Fairy started to grumble and mumble. When the seed was taken out, he immediately said, ”Big Brother, you said it wrong. Eight pieces multiplied once becomes sixteen pieces, sixteen pieces multiplied once becomes thirty two. How can you say thirty four pieces just then?”

”I like saying thirty four pieces, what's wrong with that? Did I say that I was multiplying it by two? My heart was multiplying it by two then added two to it,” Peachtree Root Fairy retorted.

Peachtree Flower Fairy argued, ”Why do you multiply it then add it by two? There's no reason for that.”

The acupoints on their bodies had not been unsealed yet but as soon as their mouths were free, they immediately argued with each other.

Linghu Chong laughed. ”Stop quarrelling. What happened here?”

Peachtree Flower Fairy scolded, ”Those two stinky monks, No Commandment and Cannot Have No Commandment, all eighteen of their ancestors are stinky monks.”

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Linghu Chong laughingly said, ”Why did you scold Monk No Commandment?”

Peachtree Root Fairy said, ”If I don't scold him then who do I scold? You just went without saying goodbye and Zu Qianqiu had to tell us that you have gone. How could the six of us just stayed and not join the festivity in Songshan? Of course we're going to come. We were just about to get in front of you when we got here and met that stinky Monk Cannot Have No Commandment. He pretended to drink wine with us and he also said that he saw six dogs biting an insect to death to trick us into going outside. Who could've guessed that his Grand Martial Master No Commandment was hiding around the corner and managed to seal our acupoints. Then he stacked us up into a pile and said that if we were going up to Songshan then we would've spoiled Headmaster Linghu's plan. His granny, how could we have spoiled your plan?”

Linghu Chong understood what was going on and he laughingly said, ”This time the Peach Valley Six Fairies have won, and Great Master No Commandment has lost. When you see Monk No Commandment and his disciple the next time, you may not mention this matter ever again, and you also can't fight them. Otherwise, when the world's heroes ask about this, they would find out that Great Master No Commandment lost to the Peach Valley Six Fairies and would lose face.”

Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy nodded their heads. ”The next time we meet these two stinky monks, we'll all pretend that nothing happened so that he and his disciple won't lose face.”

Linghu Chong laughed. ”The most important thing to do right now is to unseal your brothers' acupoints, you must be suffering by now.” He then unsealed Peachtree Flower Fairy's acupoints and closed the door as he went out so that he wouldn't be able to hear the debate that would soon happen between the six brothers.

Zheng E giggled and asked, ”Big Martial Brother, what were they doing?”

Qin Juan giggled. ”They were making a pyramid.”

Peachtree Flower Fairy immediately scolded, ”Little nun, nonsense! Who said we were making a pyramid?”

Qin Juan laughed. ”I'm not a little nun.”

Peachtree Root Fairy said, ”You're together with a little nun, so you're also little nun.”

Qin Juan replied, ”Headmaster Linghu is also together with us. Is he also a little nun?”

Zheng E giggled. ”You're also together with us, then the six of you are little nuns then.”

Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Flower Fairy didn't know how to argue back so they started to blame each other for turning them into little nuns.

Linghu Chong, Yihe, and the rest of the disciples waited outside the house for a long time, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies still hadn't come out yet. Linghu Chong pushed the door to go back inside and saw Peachtree Flower Fairy pacing back and forth with a smile on his face while his five brothers' acupoints were still sealed. Linghu Chong laughed loudly and quickly unsealed the five brothers' acupoints, and hastily went out of the house again. He then heard a huge clamouring noise from inside the house. Linghu Chong giggled happily as he walked out of there. After walking for tens of feet and around a few corners, he arrived at a small road besides a farm field. He saw a peach tree with its top full of flower buds waiting for spring time to arrive. He thought, ”The flower of a peach tree is so beautiful and delicate, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies are so disorderly and chaotic. They're really different when compared to the real peach flower.”

He walked leisurely for a while thinking that the six brothers must have finished fighting by now, and he might as well drink some wine with them. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind him and there was a female voice calling out, ”Big Brother Linghu!” Linghu Chong turned around and saw that it was Yilin who was coming over. She came over and softly said, ”Can I ask you something?”

Linghu Chong smiled. ”Of course you can. What's the matter?”

”Who do you like better? Is it Young Lady Ren or your little martial sister?”

Linghu Chong was startled and felt slightly embarrassed. ”Why do you suddenly want to ask about this?”

”Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing told me to ask you about this.”

Linghu Chong felt that this was strange. But he just smiled and said, ”Why did they want to ask me about this?”

Yilin lowered her head and said, ”Big Brother Linghu, I've never talked to anyone about your little martial sister. That day, Martial Sister Yihe injured Miss Yue and both of them had a dislike for each other. When you asked Martial Sister Yizhen and Yiling to deliver the medicine for her injuries, Huashan School didn't want to accept it and actually chased them out. Everyone was afraid that you would get angry so they didn't talk to you about this. Later on, Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went up to Huashan to deliver the epistle for your Headmaster Inauguration ceremony but they were actually detained by the Huashan School.”

Linghu Chong was startled. ”How did you find out?”

Yilin shyly said, ”That Tian… Cannot Have No Commandment told me.”

”Tian Boguang?”

”That's right. After you went to Dark Wood Cliff, martial sisters asked him to go up Mount Huashan to find out what's going on.”

Linghu Chong nodded. ”Tian Boguang's qinggong is very good so he wouldn't be easily discovered when spying around. He saw the two martial sisters?”

”He did. But Huashan School guarded them very tightly so he couldn't save them, and they're also not suffering. Also, I wrote to him not to offend the Huashan School or to injure anyone, so that you won't get angry.”

Linghu Chong smiled. ”You gave him instructions on a paper? That's just like what masters do!”

Yilin's face turned red and she said, ”I'm on Xianxing Peak, while he's on Tong Yuan valley. So if there was any matter to tell him then writing to him is the best way. Afterwards, I asked the Buddhist grandma to deliver the letter.”

Linghu Chong smiled. ”I was just joking. What did Tian Boguang say?”

”He said that he saw a festivity up there. Your former master was getting a son-in-law…” Suddenly, she saw Linghu Chong's expression changed greatly. She panicked and quickly stopped talking. Linghu Chong felt that he was choking, finding it very difficult to draw his breath. He gasped a few times before saying, ”Just say it, it… it doesn't matter.” He heard his own voice was grating and it was like it wasn't his own voice talking.

Yilin softly said, ”Big Brother Linghu, don't be sad. Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing all said that even though Young Lady Ren is from the Devil Sect, her personality is nice and her martial art is high. She's ten times better than Miss Yue in everything.”

Linghu Chong smiled bitterly. ”What do I have to be sad about? Little martial sister has a nice marriage, so I should be happy for her. He… He… Tian Boguang saw my little martial sister…”

Yilin said, ”Tian Boguang said the Jade Maiden Peak on Huashan was decorated with lanterns and coloured banners, and it was very lively up there. There was also a lot of people from every sect and every school up there to congratulate them. But Mr. Yue didn't inform our Heng-Shan School and actually treated us like an enemy.” Linghu Chong nodded his head. Yilin went on, ”Martial Sister Yu Sao and Yiwen went with good intention to Huashan to give them the epistle. It doesn't matter to us that they're not sending gifts or coming to congratulate you for taking up the school's leadership. But what are they doing detaining the messengers we sent to them?” Linghu Chong just stood there expressionless and didn't answer back.

Yilin continued, ”Martial Sister Yihe and Yiqing said that Huashan School is acting without reason so we don't have to be polite to them. When we see them at Mount Songshan, we'll ask them about this and tell them to release our people.” Linghu Chong again nodded his head. Yilin saw Linghu Chong looking as if he had lost his spirit. She let out a long sigh and softly said, ”Big Brother Linghu, take care of yourself.” She then slowly walked away.

Linghu Chong saw her gradually getting farther away. He shouted, ”Martial Sister!”

Yilin halted and turned her head around.

Linghu Chong asked, ”The person my martial sister married is… is…”

Yilin nodded. ”Yes! It's that person surnamed Lin.” She then quickly walked towards Linghu Chong and pulled on his right sleeve. ”Big Brother Linghu, that Lin person isn't better than you. Miss Yue is a muddled person so she agreed to marry him. All the martial sisters are afraid that you'll get angry so they don't dare to tell you about this. But Peach Valley Six Fairies said that my father and Tian Boguang are close to here. When Tian Boguang sees you, he'll probably tell you about this. Even if Tian Boguang doesn't say it, after a few days, we'll arrive at Mount Songshan and you'll then see Miss Yue and her husband there. At that time, you'll see her wearing a set of new clothes and dressed up as a new bride, maybe… maybe… it'll hinder the big matter we're facing. Everyone all said if Miss Ren were beside you, then it'll be good. So all the martial sisters asked me to come and talk to you, and don't let that muddled Miss Yue cloud your judgement.” Linghu Chong smiled bitterly and he thought, ”They're all so worried about me and afraid that I might be heartbroken. That's why they really looked after me during the journey.” Suddenly he felt the back of his hand wet. He lifted his head and saw Yilin was crying. Awkwardly, he asked, ”Why… why are you crying?”

Yilin sorrowfully replied, ”I see you so heartbroken… Big Brother Linghu, if you want to cry, then… then cry it all out.”

Linghu Chong laughed loudly. ”Why would I cry? Linghu Chong is an incompetent loafer, and even my master and master-wife despise me and they even expelled me from their school. Little martial sister, how could… how could… Haha, haha!” After he laughed, he ran away on the road towards the mountain. With his running speed, he ran twenty li quickly and arrived at a wild place. When he felt that there was no one nearby, he couldn't suppress his emotion anymore, so he threw himself to the ground and cried loudly. After crying for some time, he felt his heart getting a bit better. He thought, ”If I go back now, both of my eyes would be red. If Yihe and the others see this, they'll laugh at me. It's better if I just go back at night then.” But he again thought, ”If I don't return for a long time, then they would definitely get worried. When a gentleman wants to cry then he cries, when he wants to laugh then he laughs. The whole world knows that Linghu Chong loves Yue Lingshan. She already abandoned me like she was throwing out worn shoes. If I don't grieve over this, then my feeling was fake.”

He immediately ran back to the ruined temple in that city. Yihe, Yiqing, and the other disciples were scattered around the temple searching for him. When they saw him coming back, they were all happy. They had already prepared food and wine on top of the table. Linghu Chong drank himself drunk and slept on the table.

A few days later, they arrived at the foot of Mount Songshan with two days to spare for the meeting. On the morning of the fifteenth of the third month, Linghu Chong led the disciples to make their way up the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, four Songshan disciples met them and very respectfully saluted them. They said, ”Songshan's lowly disciples respectfully welcome Heng-Shan School honourable Headmaster Linghu. My humble school's Headmaster Zuo is respectfully waiting on top of the mountain.” They also said, ”Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools' martial uncles and martial brothers have all arrived yesterday. Songshan School feels very honoured that Headmaster Linghu and martial sisters have come here.”

As Linghu Chong kept on going up the mountain, he noticed that the mountain road had been swept clean, and every few li along the way, a few disciples of Songshan had prepared tea and light refreshments to welcome the guests. Songshan School had really prepared everything meticulously, but from this, it could be seen that Zuo Lengchan really must have the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School and would not allow anyone to hinder him.

As they continued on their journey up the mountain, some more Songshan School's disciples met them to lead their way up the mountain. They said, ”Kunlun, Emei, Kongtong, and Qingcheng Schools' headmasters and seniors are coming to Songshan today to participate in the election of the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Everybody from Kunlun and Qingcheng Schools has all arrived. Headmaster Linghu came just in time, everyone's waiting for your honourable self on top of the mountain.” There was a hint of arrogance on their faces, and from the way they spoke, it was obvious that they believed that this headmaster position of the Five Mountains School was secured in the hand of their Songshan School's headmaster.

When they went further up, they suddenly heard a thunderous sound of water. They saw from the top of the cliff two jade dragons hanging down as the two waterfalls poured out and flew out leisurely off the cliff. Everyone was on the side of the waterfall looking up towards the peak. The Songshan School's disciple leading them said, ”This is called the View Victory Peak. Headmaster Linghu, what do you think of it compared to the places in Mount Heng-Shan?”

Linghu Chong replied, ”Mount Heng-Shan is elegant where as Mount Songshan is grand. Both sceneries are very good.”

That person said, ”Songshan is placed in the middle of the world during the Tang Dynasty, and they're originally the leader of all the mountains in the realm. Headmaster Linghu, please have a look, with this atmosphere, no wonder that all the emperors from the previous dynasties founded their capitals on the foothill of Mount Songshan.” The actual meaning of these words seemed to be that since Mount Songshan was the leader of all the mountains, then Songshan School ought to be the leader of all the other schools.

Linghu Chong smilingly said, ”I didn't know that any of the heroes in Jianghu are connected to the government and the emperor. Does Headmaster Zuo often make friends with the government officials?” That person's face turned red and stopped saying anything.

As they kept going up the mountain, the road was becoming more and more dangerous. The Songshan School disciples leading them pointed to a few places and said, ”This is the Green Ridge Peak and Green Ridge Plain. This is the Big Iron Bridge Gorge and that's the Little Iron Bridge Gorge.” On the right of the Iron Bridge Gorge was a strange stone and on its left was the Ten Thousand Deep Gully, which bottom you couldn't see. A Songshan disciple picked up a piece of big rock and threw it down the gully. The sound of the big rock hitting the side of the gully was like a thunder in the beginning, but as it dropped down the gully, the sound gradually got lighter and lighter until it disappeared.

Yihe said, ”May I ask martial brother something? Today, how many people are coming to Songshan?”