hile actually it could be launched from a distance with an empty air between her and the target.

“That’s not right!” Yang Kang anxiously called, “You hack the coffin’s lid, zombie might poke his head out and bite your hand, that won’t be good!”

He was successful in making Huang Rong more scared than ever. She was shivering and halted her movement. Suddenly a cry came out of the coffin; it was a woman’s voice. Huang Rong jumped. She was extremely terrified. “A female ghost!” she cried. Flailing her hands she ran outside and cried, “Quick! Get out of here!”

Guo Jing was brave, “Brother Yang, let us lift the coffin lid and take a look,” he said.

Yang Kang was drenched in cold sweat, but how could he refuse Guo Jing’s request? Surely he could not make himself an enemy of these Guo-Huang couple. But then he heard that woman’s voice again, so he rushed ahead to raise the coffin lid. They used a knife to jack the lid up, and together they open the lid, which actually had not been nailed down to the coffin.

Guo Jing had directed his strength to his arms, ready to strike the zombie’s head. But when he looked down, he was stunned. There was no zombie; it was a good-looking young girl, with a pair of big eyes looked up on them. She was none other than Mu Nianci.

Yang Kang was pleasantly surprised, quickly he held out his hand to help her out.

“Rong’er, come here, quick!” Guo Jing called out. “Look who is here?”

Huang Rong turned her head with eyes closed. “I don’t want to see!” she shouted back.

“But it’s Elder Sister Mu!” Guo Jing urged.

With left eye still closed, Huang Rong took a peek with her right eye. She saw Yang Kang was embracing a woman, whose appearance looked like Mu Nianci. She felt relieved, and timidly entered the room again. Who was that woman if not Mu Nianci?

Huang Rong saw Mu Nianci’s face was haggard, two streams of tears flowed down her cheeks. She was unable to move. Huang Rong unsealed her acupoint and asked, “Elder Sister, why are you here?”

Mu Nianci’s acupoint had been sealed for quite a while, her whole body was stiff and her breath was uneven, so Huang Rong helped by rubbing her back. After a while [lit. time needed to drink a cup of tea] Mu Nianci told her, “I was captured and held prisoner.”

Huang Rong saw that the acupoint sealed was located at the center of palm of the foot, the ‘yong quan’ [bursting fountain] acupoint; which was rarely done by the wulin characters of the central plain. So with 80, 90% certainty she guessed, “Was it that bastard Ouyang Ke?” Mu Nianci did not answer, but she nodded.

That day when she was trying to contact Mei Chaofeng for Yang Kang’s sake she was captured by Ouyang Ke near the pile of skulls and her acupoint was sealed. After Huang Yaoshi played his jade flute to disperse the snakes and help Mei Chaofeng; Ouyang Ke’s concubines and his three snake slaves were unconscious under the flute sound, and Ouyang Ke ran away, distressed. By daybreak the concubines and the slaves woke up and found Mu Nianci lying on her side, unable to move; so they took her to their master. Ouyang Ke tried to rape her, but she was determined to fight to her death. Although Ouyang Ke was conceited and lecherous; but he always pride himself as an elegant and cultured man, his martial art’s skill was high, so he could easily melt women’s hearts. If he resorted to violence and brute force, he would certainly succeed in raping her; but then he would mar the name of the White Camel Mountain. So because of this pride, Mu Nianci was fortunate and able to keep her purity.

Afterward they arrived at Baoying and Ouyang Ke hid her inside one of the Liu ancestral temple’s coffins. He sent his concubines to ‘invite’ several beautiful young women of the rich families, including Miss Cheng. It was then that the Beggar Clan interfered that resulted in a battle. Ouyang Ke left in a hurry. He had had several women these past few days that he did not remember Mu Nianci was still inside one of the coffins. If Guo Jing and the others were not looking for Wanyan Honglie, she would have been starved to death inside the coffin.

Yang Kang was unexpectedly happy to see his lover here. With a compassionate face he said, “Little sister, just take a rest here, I am going to boil some water for you to drink.”

“How can you boil some water?” Huang Rong smiled, “I’ll go. Brother Jing, come with me.” She had a mind to let those two alone in private to alleviate their lovesickness. Who would have thought that Mu Nianci sat up straight, “Hold a moment!” she said without a smile, “Mister Yang, I congratulate you on your unlimited riches and honor in the future.”

Yang Kang felt redness came creeping to his entire face, but his heart turned cold. “She must have heard my conversation with father king in here.” He stood still not knowing what to do.

Mu Nianci saw he was distressed, her heart melted; she did not have a heart to reveal the secret that he was the one who let Wanyan Honglie go, for fear that Guo Jing and Huang Rong would kill him out of their angers.

“You called him ‘Father’, wasn’t that better? It was much more intimate than if you call him ‘Father King’, wasn’t it?” she coldly said. Yang Kang felt so ashamed; he hung his head and did not say anything.

Huang Rong did not know what was going on; she thought this young woman was upset and blamed Yang Kang for not coming earlier to rescue her. He pulled Guo Jing’s sleeve and whispered, “Let’s go out, I am sure those two will immediately make up.” Guo Jing smiled and went along with her.

“Let’s eavesdrop what they are saying,” said Huang Rong as soon as they reached the courtyard.

Guo Jing smiled, “Don’t you intentionally create trouble. I don’t want to go.”

“Very well!” Huang Rong sulked. “Just don’t be disappointed if I heard something interesting and I won’t tell you about it.” She leaped to the roof and walked quietly back to the west wing; only to hear Mu Nianci was speaking harshly.

“You called an enemy your father. I can understand that considering your past relationship; you will get over it. Who would have thought you have delusional thoughts; you want to destroy the country of your own parents, this … this …” Speaking to this point she was so furious that she could not continue.

Yang Kang smiled nervously. “Little sister, I …” he said softly, but Mu Nianci cut him short. “Who is your little sister? Don’t touch me!” she screamed. ‘Slap!’ her hand left a red print on Yang Kang’s face.

Huang Rong was surprised. “They were fighting already, must stop them,” she thought. Entering through the window she laughed and said, “Aiyo! Even if you don’t agree with each other, please don’t resort to violence.” But she stopped dead on her track seeing Mu Nianci’s cheeks were fiery red while Yang Kang was very pale. She was about to open her mouth again when Yang Kang suddenly shouted, “Good! You have met the new one and abandon the old. Your heart is already occupied by another that you treated me like this.”

“You … what did you say?” Mu Nianci stammered. Yang Kang snickered, “You and that fellow surnamed Ouyang. His martial art is ten times better than mine; of course you would immediately brush me off from your heart.”

Mu Nianci was so angry that her hands and feet were icy-cold; she nearly passed out.

Huang Rong interrupted, “Brother Yang, you must not speak nonsense; if Sister Mu liked him, how could that bastard seal her acupoint and let her starving inside the coffin?”

By this time out of shame Yang Kang became indignant. “The truth is good, yet hypocrisy is also good. She was captured by that bastard for quite some times, she has lost her innocence. How could she and I be together again?”

Mu Nianci was outraged, “I … I … What innocence have I lost?”

“You were in that man’s possession for many days; he must have cuddled you, you must have embraced him. How could you keep your crystal clear purity?” Yang Kang mocked.

Mu Nianci really could not hold herself any longer. She was tired and angry. This last attack was too vicious for her to bear. With a ‘wah’ sound she spurted some blood and fell backward.

Yang Kang realized his words were too vicious; seeing her like that he felt remorse and wanted to embrace and comfort her; but he remembered she knew his secret. Huang Rong had voiced her suspicion earlier; if Mu Nianci should open her mouth, his life would be in danger. Moreover, he was worried about his father king; so without saying anything he turned around, rushed outside and leaped over the wall.

Huang Rong had to massage Mu Nianci’s chest for quite a while before she finally came to. She was unusually composed; did not even cry at all. “Little Sister,” she calmly said, “Let me borrow the dagger I gave you earlier.”

“Brother Jing!” Huang Rong loudly called out, “Can you come over, please?” Guo Jing quickly came. “Please give the dagger that belongs to Brother Yang to Elder Sister Mu,” Huang Rong said.

“Certainly,” Guo Jing complied. He pulled the dagger out of his pocket; it was the dagger taken by Zhu Cong from Mei Chaofeng. It was wrapped by what to the casual onlookers would look like a thin sheet of leather. The leather was full of characters tattooed with a needle. Guo Jing was not aware that the characters were actually the second part of the Nine Yin Manual. He casually unwrapped the leather and gave the dagger to Mu Nianci.

Huang Rong also took a dagger out from her pocket; she softly said, “Brother Jing’s dagger is in my possession; Brother Yang’s dagger is now in yours. Elder Sister, this is a destiny that will bring you two together. You have a disagreement but for a moment, please don’t be sad. My father and I are also having some disagreements. Brother Jing and I are going to Beijing to look for Wanyan Honglie. Elder Sister, please don’t let your heart be troubled. Why don’t you come with us? We can leisurely walk together. I am sure Brother Yang will come back to you.”

Guo Jing was puzzled, “Brother Yang?” Huang Rong stuck her tongue. “He provoked Elder Sister to anger; Elder Sister slapped him hard. Elder Sister Mu, if Brother Yang did not like you, when you slapped him, how come he did not retaliate? His martial art is stronger than yours. The fight between you …” She wanted to say ‘the fight between you two must be a habit’ (she was referring to the ‘Joust to Find a Spouse), but she saw Mu Nianci was grieving and she did not have a heart to say any joke.

“I am not going to Beijing,” Mu Nianci said, “You also don’t have to go. Within the next half a year that traitor Wanyan Honglie won’t be in Beijing. He is afraid of you. Brother Guo, Little Sister, you are good people, your life must also be good …” She choked up; covered her face and rushed toward the door. With a leap she was gone.

Huang Rong looked down and saw the blood Mu Nianci spurted earlier. She hesitated for a moment, and in the end did not feel comfortable; so she also leaped over the wall and chased after her, only to see Mu Nianci under a big willow tree in a distance. The sunlight was reflected by the naked dagger’s blade. Mu Nianci lifted the dagger high above her head. Huang Rong was anxious, she thought Mu Nianci was going to kill herself. She loudly shouted, “Elder Sister! Please don’t …” But the distance between them was too far; she would not be able to prevent her. Luckily Mu Nianci only lifted her left hand and pulled up her hair. With a slash of the dagger in her right hand she sheared a big clump of hair, threw them to the ground and ran away.

“Elder Sister! Elder Sister … !” Huang Rong called out. Mu Nianci turned a deaf ear and kept going.

Huang Rong stared blankly at a distance, she was lost in thought. She saw the clump of soft hair was dancing in the morning breeze. A short time later the hair was scattered to the rice field, some went to the creek, some flew up to the trees lining the pathway, some followed the blowing dust, going don’t know where, yet some fell into the flowing water. Huang Rong had always been tender, carefree and mischievous since her childhood. She laughed when happy, cried or sulked when not; the word ‘anxiety’ was never in her vocabulary. But now she saw what had just happened, could not keep sadness from creeping into her heart. Now, she found out about the world’s anxiety.

Slowly she walked back to the temple and told Guo Jing what had happened to Mu Nianci. Guo Jing did not know why those two people were having disagreement; he simply said, “I don’t understand why Elder Sister Mu took a big deal out of it. I think her character is just too strong.”

“How could a woman hugged by some stranger lost her innocence? Even her loved one did not respect her anymore? Did not care about her anymore?” Huang Rong thought. She did not have a clue the reasoning behind all that, so she brushed it off as that was the way it was and stopped at that. She slowly walked to the rear courtyard, sat against a pillar. Her mind was still heavy with thoughts. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

That very evening Li Sheng and other Beggar Clan members threw a banquet in honor of their leader, Hong Qigong, and to congratulate Guo Jing and Huang Rong. They have been waiting until around midnight but Hong Qigong still did not show up. Li Sheng knew his Leader’s unusual habit so he did not give any thought; he kept serving wine to Guo Jing and Huang Rong and they drank to their hearts’ content. The Beggar Clan people had a high respect toward these two people, so their conversation was congenial. Miss Cheng had personally prepared some food and four big pots of good quality wine and delivered everything via her servants.

After the banquet was over Guo Jing and Huang Rong discussed what to do next. Wanyan Honglie would not be in Beijing, so it must be difficult to find him in a short period of time. The Peach Blossom Island appointment was drawing near. Guo Jing needed to go back to Jiaxing immediately and consulted his six masters on what action they would take.

Huang Rong nodded her head in agreement. “I think it is best for your six masters not to go to the Peach Blossom Island,” she added. “You fought with him and received quite a few beatings; for him to hit a few more heads is no big deal, is it? If you don’t agree with me, let me hit you a few times in the head. If your six masters meet my father, what good will it brings?”

“You are right,” Guo Jing said. “But you don’t need to hit my head.”

Early the next morning two people rode south. It was the beginning of the sixth month; the weather was burning hot. Natives of Jiangnan had a saying, ‘the sixth of the sixth month, a duck egg cooked by the sun.’ Traveling under the hot sun they were very miserable. So they would hurry along early in the mornings and later in the evenings; and took some rest at noon.

A few days later they arrived at Jiaxing. Since it was earlier than the appointed time, the Six Freaks were not there yet. So Guo Jing wrote a letter and left the letter with the innkeeper of the Drunken Immortal Tavern, asking him to deliver the letter in person to the Six Freaks of Jiangnan when they arrived on the beginning of the seventh month.

In the letter he explained that he had met Huang Rong and was going to the Peach Blossom Island to fulfill his promise; that with Huang Yaoshi’s favored daughter’s company, he should not come across any problem, so he asked his six masters to not be anxious; and they did not need to accompany him, and so on.

Even though he said that, actually he was scared since Huang Yaoshi was very peculiar. He was afraid he would more likely meet misfortune than good fortune. He was afraid Huang Rong would feel anxious for his sake, so he did not tell her anything. Thinking that his six masters did not have to go to the harm’s way was his only consolation.

Two people headed east. After Zhoushan, they hired a boat and continued by sea. Huang Rong knew that local sailors were afraid of the Peach Blossom Island, like people scared of the vipers or scorpions. Nobody dared to sail within 40 li’s of the island. If she mentioned the name of Peach Blossom Island, no matter how much money she offered nobody would be willing to take them. So she said they were going shrimp fishing to a nearby island. It was only after they were quite a distance from the shore did she tell the boatman to change course to the north. The boatman was terrified, but Huang Rong wielded a dagger in front of his chest; cold and bright sparkle emanated from the blade; he had no choice but to comply with their request.

As the boat was nearing the island, Guo Jing smelled flowery fragrance amidst the salty smell of the sea. He threw his gaze toward the island. It was green and lush with colorful trees and shrubs. Some were green, some red, some yellow, and some purple. The island looked like a massive flower garden.

Huang Rong smiled. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked.

Guo Jing sighed, “I have never seen so many beautiful flowers like that in my whole life,” he answered.

Huang Rong was very pleased; she smiled and explained, “Come the third month, the peach blossom is in full bloom. Now, that is really beautiful. Master did not want to admit that my father’s martial art is number one in the world, but he cannot deny the fact that my father’s gardening skill is unrivaled. Too bad he is only interested in food and drink; he didn’t even know what a good flower or plant is. Such an uncouth person.”

“You are talking about Master behind his back,” Guo Jing scolded, “Not a good habit.” Huang Rong stuck her tongue and made a face.

They waited until the boat was closer before they leaped ashore. Guo Jing’s red horse also jumped to the shore. The boatman had heard many horror stories about the island; it was said that the Master of Peach Blossom Island would kill without batting an eye; that he liked to dig people’s hearts, lungs, livers and intestines out. So as soon as his passengers disembarked, he turned the rudder, wanting to leave the island as soon as possible.

Huang Rong took out a silver ingot worth ten ‘liang’ and tossed it to the boat. With a clanking noise it landed on the bow. The boatman did not expect such a generous recompense; he looked ashore delighted, but still did not dare to stop on that island much longer.

Being on her home again, Huang Rong’s joy was unspeakable. “Father! Father! Rong’er is back!” she loudly shouted; beckoned to Guo Jing, then dashed forward.

Guo Jing saw her turning east and dodging west among the flowers and very soon disappear from his sight. He hastily chased her, but after several ‘zhang’ he had already lost track of her. He saw there were trails heading east, south, west and north; but did not know which one he should take.

When he arbitrarily took a path and walked for while he seemed to be returning to where he started. He recalled the pathways of the Cloud Village; Huang Rong had said that although that village was wonderfully arranged it was still pale in comparison with the Peach Blossom Island, which was designed based on yin-yang and open-close elements. If he forced himself to walk in this wonderful, almost magical place he would end up wasting his strength in vain. So he decided to just sit underneath a peach tree and waited for Huang Rong to fetch him up. Who would have thought that after waiting for half a day Huang Rong still did not come. He looked around in all directions but did not see even half a shadow of a human being; not even a single sound was heard. He was lost!

Anxiously he stood up and climbed atop a nearby tree. Again he looked everywhere; to the south of him was the sea, to the west was a barren rock hill, to the north and east were forest of flowers all kinds and colors; he could not even see the end of it. His head became dizzy. He did not see anything that resembled a wall or a chimney; did not even hear a dog’s bark. It was extremely quiet and lonely that it scared him.

Quickly he slid down the tree and ran in panic toward the dark forest; but suddenly stopped in his track and anxiously cried, “Not good! I am running around aimlessly! If Rong’er comes looking for me, she won’t find me!” Having this thought he turned around and ran back; but he was lost again! He couldn’t even find the place where he started.

The little red horse of his was following him closely, but then he ran among the bushes and climbed trees, very soon the horse was also lost. The sky was getting dark, Guo Jing did not know what to do; so he simply sat on the ground and waited for Huang Rong. It was a good thing that that place was covered with thick green grass, so he was quite comfortable sitting down.

He started to get hungry and thirsty too. His mind wandered to the delicious food Huang Rong used to prepare for Hong Qigong; he was getting hungrier. Suddenly a thought came into his mind. “What if Rong’er’s father locks her up? She won’t be able to rescue me. How can I starve myself to death in this forest?”

He recalled he still had to sort the enmity with Huang Rong’s father; also remembered he had not paid back his masters’ kindness. Then his mind wandered to his mother in a far away land of Mongolia; if he died here, who would take care of her? With these heavy thoughts he got tired and fell asleep.

It was deep into the night when he dreamt he was on a trip with Huang Rong. They visited a lake near Beijing. They got to a beautiful spot and Huang Rong was singing a tune in a soft voice. Out of the blue there came another sound singing along; it was a bamboo flute. He woke up, startled. The flute sound was still lingering in the air. Guo Jing got up and looked around. The moon shone brightly in the sky, and the sweet fragrance of the flower was thickening by the dark night. The flute sound came from a distance; he was not dreaming!

Guo Jing was delighted. He walked toward the flute sound following the path in front of him. It was a winding path, and sometimes there was no path in front of him, but the flute sound was still coming from the front. He remembered the pathways of the Cloud Village; so he ignored the winding path and just went straight to the sound. If a tree or shrubs were in front of him, he simply climbed or jumped over them.

The flute sound was getting clearer. Guo Jing walked faster. Rounding a bend, he arrived at an area of white flowering shrubs. Layer upon layer of flowers glistened under the bright moonlight, they looked like a small white lake. In the middle of these white flowers he saw something big and tall, looked massive. Here the sound of the flute suddenly changed. Sometimes high, sometimes low; sometimes the sound came from his front, sometimes it moved to his back. He thought the sound was coming from the east, but when he rushed to the east, the sound moved to the west; when he chased to the north, the sound swiftly moved to the south. It sounded like more than ten people were playing flutes around him. This flute sound really drove him crazy.

After running around like that for a while Guo Jing’s head was also spinning around, so he decided to quit running and walked directly toward that massive thing in the middle of white flowers lake. Turned out it was a grave. There was a tombstone in front of the grave with this inscription: ‘tao hua dao nu zhu feng shi mai xiang zhi zhong’ [the fragrant burial ground of Mistress surnamed Feng of the Peach Blossom Island], eleven large characters.

“This must be Rong’er’s mother’s grave,” Guo Jing thought. “Rong’er lost her when she was very small, it was really sad.” He knelt down in front of the grave and kowtowed four times to pay his respect.

The flute sound suddenly stopped when Guo Jing was kneeling down. Everywhere around him was very quiet; but as soon as he stood up, the flute sound resumed in front of him. “I don’t care if it will bring luck or misfortune, I will follow the sound,” Guo Jing thought.

Again he walked among the vegetation following the flute. And again sound of the flute changed its personality. First it sounded like laughter, but suddenly changed into anger; it affected his feelings to no end. Guo Jing’s pulse quickened, “How come this tune is so pleasant to my ears?” he was fascinated.

The tune increased its tempo, urging him to get up and dance. Guo Jing felt the urge, his face blushed, and he felt his blood was blowing even faster trough his hundreds of arteries. Immediately he sat on the ground and meditated as Ma Yu had taught him: circulating his internal energy around.

At first his heart was shaken, several times he felt the urge to stood up and dance to the tune. After breathing in and out several times, his heart calmed down, his mind became clear. No matter how the flute was changing, he heard it like the sound of the waves of the sea, or like a breeze of wind on the tree tops. He felt his ‘dan tian’ was bursting with energy; his whole body felt comfortable. No longer he felt hunger or thirst. He knew that as he reached this state, external elements would not be able to affect him anymore; so he slowly opened his eyes only to see in the darkness, about two ‘zhang’s ahead a pair of bright eyes was looking straight at him.

He was startled, “What kind of beast is that?” he thought while leaping several steps back. But suddenly those eyes disappeared. “This Peach Blossom Island is really strange,” he thought, “even a quick leopard or a swift fox won’t be able to move that fast.” He hesitated for a moment and then heard a fast breathing sound; it was a human’s breathing. So he realized, “It is a human being! Those sparkling eyes were his. I didn’t see them anymore because he shut his eyes, but actually he is still here.”

Having this thought he laughed at his own foolishness; but it was unclear to him whether that person was a friend or a foe, so he did not dare to make a sound and just open his own eyes wide to observe quietly.

At that time the flute floating carrying a passionate, seducing feeling; resembled a woman sighing and groaning: sometimes murmuring softly but at other times raging wild with desire.

Guo Jing was still young, but he had trained martial arts since his childhood, hence did not know much about sexual relationship. He felt the flute was affecting his emotion; the melody was enchanting to the soul, but he did not give too much thought of it. But not so with the other man; he was gasping for breath, groaning softly. It sounded like he was struggling with all his strength just to resist the enticement that came from the flute.

Guo Jing’s heart was moved with compassion toward this man; slowly he came to him. The trees on that place were dense; the moon was bright, but the moonlight could not penetrate the thick branches and leaves. Guo Jing walked closer and only then he could vaguely see the man’s appearance. He was sitting cross-legged; his hair was long, almost touching the ground. His eyebrows, moustache and beard were long, covering his mouth and nose. His left hand was on his chest, his right hand on his back.

Guo Jing knew that was one of the positions to train/cultivate internal energy the ‘dan yang zi’ [Son of Cinnabar] Ma Yu had taught him atop that barren hill in the Mongolian desert. It was the technique to closed one’s heart and mind. Whenever someone has master it to perfection, even if thunder rumbles and the lighting flashes; or water gushes and creates landslides, it would not bother him a bit. This man looked like he knew this advanced skill of internal energy cultivation; but why couldn’t he control himself and was afraid of the flute sound?

The flute sound quickened; that man’s body swaying and twitching. Several times he jumped a few feet off the ground; finally after struggling with all his might he was able to sit down. Guo Jing saw this cycle happened several times: he would be calmed for a moment then agitated before calming down himself again; but the cycle was getting shorter and shorter. Guo Jing knew that man was fighting a losing battle, so he started to worry for him.

The flute played two intricate melodies softly. Suddenly that man shouted, “All right! All right!” he was about to jumped up. Guo Jing realized the time was critical; without thinking he rushed forward and stretched his hands pushing down on that man’s shoulder; his right hand tapped the ‘da zhui xue’ [big spine acupoint] on his neck. He remembered when he was training on that Mongolian cliff; whenever his mind was troubled and could not achieve tranquility, Ma Yu would gently stroke him on his ‘da zhui’ acupoint and that helped him to be calm. His internal strength was not as strong as Ma Yu’s, he could not help this man to overcome the flute sound; but because he struck the right spot that long-haired old man was able to calm himself. That man closed his eyes and seemed like he was under control.

Guo Jing was secretly happy, but then someone scolded him, “Little beast! You ruined my big effort!” The flute suddenly stopped. Guo Jing turned his head but did not see anybody. That voice sounded like Huang Yaoshi. He became anxious and regretted his action. “I don’t know if this long-haired old man is good or bad? I carelessly helped him, surely increased Rong’er’s father’s anger. If this old man were a monster or evil witch, didn’t I just commit a big mistake?”

He heard the old man’s breathing was slowing down to an even breathing. Guo Jing refrained himself from asking that old man question. He simply sat quietly opposite him; closed his eyes and used that time to meditate. Soon he was able to calm himself and achieve the state of emptiness. He lost track of time and opened his eyes when the morning star began to dim by the dawn sunlight.

The morning light shone through the trees and flowers above, illuminating the old man’ face. Guo Jing could see clearly now; his hair and beard were not entirely white but God knows how many years a shaving knife had not touched his head. He looked like a cave