alk along it. They walked for a very long time but still they did not reach the end. The ground became flatter and flatter.

Yang Guo laughed, “Looks like our bitter experience is turning to joy; we’re slowly reaching safety.”

Lu E sighed and said, “Brother Yang, I know you’re not feeling in the best of spirits, but you don’t have to try to cheer me up…” Before she finished her words, there was a sudden laugh from the left up ahead, “Ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha!”

What they heard just now was definitely laughter but it sounded sad; within the ‘ha-ha ha-ha’ sound there was mourning and sorrow. Yang Guo and Gongsun Lu E had never heard a sound like this. It didn’t sound like calls or laughter. There was also the fact that they were deep down in a cave in complete darkness and weren’t prepared for such a noise. This was much more frightening than coming upon some kind of vicious beast. Though Yang Guo was brave, he couldn’t stop himself from jumping; his head bumped into the roof of the cave painfully.

Gongsun Lu E was so scared that she broke out in a cold sweat with goose bumps all over and hugged his legs.

The two of them didn’t know what to do; they didn’t dare to advance or retreat.

Lu E whispered, “Is it a ghost?” She said these words very quietly; but after these words the same voice called out, “Yes, I’m a ghost, I’m a ghost, ha-ha, ha-ha!”

Yang Guo thought, “Since they called themselves a ghost, this person isn’t one.” So he said loudly, “I am Yang Guo, and along with me is Miss Gongsun. The two of us have run into some danger and we’re just trying to find a way to escape it; we have no ill intentions…”

That person interrupted, “Miss Gongsun? What Miss Gongsun?”

Yang Guo said, “The daughter of Valley Master Gongsun, Gongsun Lu E.” No further sound came; it was as if that person had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

When that person was howling out with their cry that wasn’t a cry and a laugh that wasn’t a laugh, the two of them were extremely frightened. But they were even more frightened after this sudden silence in the darkness; the two of them clung to each other, not daring to make a single move.

After a long time, the person suddenly shouted out, “What Valley Master Gongsun; is it Gongsun Zhi?” The words were filled with anger but they could now clearly tell it was a woman’s voice.

Gongsun Lu E plucked up her courage and said, “My father’s name is indeed Zhi, does Old Senior know my father?”

The person chuckled coldly and said, “Do I know him? Ha-ha, do I know him?” Lu E did not dare to interrupt and just kept silent.

After a while, the person shouted, “What’s your name?”

Lu E said, “Junior’s name is Lu E, the Lu (green) as in red and green, E (calyx) as in the calyx of a flower.”

The person gave a heng’ grunt and asked, “What is your birth date?”

Lu E was afraid that this person was asking for her birth date because she wanted to use witchcraft to harm her; she whispered in Yang Guo’s ear, “Should I say it?”

Before Yang Guo could reply, the person chuckled and said, “You’re eighteen this year, your birthday is on the third day of the second month, and you were born at the ‘Xu’ hour (7-9 p.m.), correct?”

Gongsun Lu E was shocked and called out, “You… you… how do you know?” Suddenly she was filled with an indescribable feeling; she knew that this person would not harm her and she brushed past Yang Guo hurrying forward. After turning two bends, her eyes were suddenly dazzled by the light; before her she saw a half clothed granny sitting on her knees on the floor, her face full of anger and with a great presence.

Lu E gasped and stood there stunned. Yang Guo was afraid that she was in danger and quickly hurried after her.

He saw that the old granny was sitting a natural grotto; there was a large ten foot wide hole in the roof which allowed sunlight in that came from over a thousand feet above. Most likely she accidentally fell down into the hole and couldn’t get out. This grotto was deep underground; even if one called and shouted, a passer by may not hear them. What really was extraordinary was that she was actually still alive after falling from so high. He saw many date trees in the places where the sunlight reached; could it be that she somehow landed on the trees just right, saving her life in the process? He saw that she only had tree bark and leaves to cover herself up with; she must have been trapped in this grotto for years. So long that her clothes have all been worn to shreds.

The granny ignored Yang Guo completely and just looked up and down at Lu E; suddenly she gave a bleak laugh and said, “Miss, you have grown up beautifully.”

Lu E returned the compliment with a smile and went forward to greet her, “How do you do Old Senior.”

The granny faced the sky and laughed with her neither cry nor laughter howl; she said, “Old Senior? Ha-ha, I’m great; I’m great, ha-ha, ha-ha!” After she said this, anger filled her face.

Lu E did not know how she offended her by saying these respectful words; she was very frightened and looked back at Yang Guo for help.

Yang Guo knew that it would be unavoidable for the granny to lose her mind after being stuck down here for such a long time; he shook his head towards Lu E and smiled a little, trying to say that there was no need to treat her seriously. He studied the terrain, trying to think of a plan to get out. Though the hole in the roof of the grotto was high, with his lightness kung fu, it might not be an impossible task if he took the risk.

But Lu E was just concentrating on the granny; she saw that most of her hair had fallen out and was almost completely bald; her face was full of wrinkles but her eyes were still full of vigor. The granny was looking at Lu E without blinking too; the two of them stared at each other, ignoring Yang Guo.

After looking at her for a while, the granny said, “You’ve got a red birthmark on your waist on the left side, haven’t you?”

Lu E was shocked and thought, “Even father may not know about my red birthmark; how does this granny know about this? She also knows my birthday and time; it looks like this granny has a deep tie with my family.” So she said softly, “Granny, you must know my father and my dead mother, isn’t that right?”

The granny was startled and said, “Your dead mother? Ha-ha, of course I know her.” Her tone suddenly became stern and shouted, “Have you got a birthmark on your waist? Quickly let me take a look. If you’re lying I’m going to kill you right where you’re standing.”

Lu E turned her head and looked at Yang Guo, her face blushing. Yang Guo quickly turned away and kept his back towards her. Lu E took off her gown and uncovered her white gleaming waist. Indeed there was a red thumb size birthmark on her waist; the red and white contrasted each other, like a red plum in the middle of a field of snow, looking extremely adorable.

The granny just took one look and she trembled all over; her eyes were filled with tears and she opened her arms, calling out, “My precious, mother has been thinking about you bitterly.”

Lu E looked at her expression and suddenly her natural instincts were stirred, she threw herself on her and cried, “Mother, mother!”

Yang Guo was startled when he heard one of them call out ‘my precious’ and the other call out ‘mother’; he turned around and saw the two hugging each other tightly. Lu E was shaking while the granny was in tears; Yang Guo thought, “Could it be that this granny is actually Miss Gongsun’s mother?”

The granny’s eyebrows suddenly rose and her face was filled with an air of death, just like Valley Master Gongsun when he fought. Yang Guo silently called out, “No!” He was afraid that the granny would harm Lu E and dashed forward. But all she did was push Lu E lightly away on her shoulders and shout, “Stand up, I’m going to question you.”

Lu E was startled; she moved away from her and called out; “Mother!”

The granny said sternly, “Why did Gongsun Zhi send you here? He wanted you to come here to lie to me with your sweet talk, didn’t he?”

Lu E shook her head and said, “Mother, you’re actually still alive, mother!” Her face was filled with both joy and sadness, showing a daughter’s love; how can this be faked?

The granny kept on asking sternly, “Gongsun Zhi said I was dead, didn’t he?”

Lu E said, “I have been filled with sadness over the years; I thought that I was a child without a mother. But my mother had actually been alive all this time; I’m really overwhelmed with joy today.”

The granny pointed to Yang Guo and said, “Who’s he? Why did you bring him here?”

Lu E said, “Mother, listen to me.” She then told her how Yang Guo entered the valley, how he contracted the Passion Flower poison, how the two fell down into the crocodile pool; she told it all from the beginning. But she kept the matter of Valley Master Gongsun marrying Xiao Longnu from her in case her mother would be disturbed by this and break out in a jealous rage.

Whenever Lu E was unclear on something, the granny would ask her carefully about it. Apart from the matter about Xiao Longnu, Lu E did not keep anything from her. The more the granny heard, the more peaceful she became; her expression towards Yang Guo was also getting more and more pleasant. When Lu E described how Yang Guo killed crocodiles and how he protected her, the granny kept on calling out, “Good, good! Little kid, looks like my daughter hasn’t picked you without good reason.”

Lu E’s face went red and she lowered her head.

Yang Guo knew that it wasn’t conveniently to explain all the intricacies within all these events right now so he said, “Auntie Gongsun, we first need to come up with an escape plan; how do we get out?”

The granny’s face sank and shouted, “What Auntie Gongsun? Don’t ever say the words Auntie Gongsun again. Don’t think that because I look frail I can’t do anything; if I want to kill you it’ll be as easy as turning my palm.”

A sudden ‘bo’ sound was heard as something came out of her mouth, a ‘zheng’ sound was heard as it knocked Yang Guo’s dagger to the ground.

Yang Guo felt his arm tremble severely; his five fingers couldn’t hold on and the ‘dang’ sound heard was the dagger striking the floor. Yang Guo leapt backwards in shock; he saw that there was a date stone by the dagger, spinning around on the floor. He was still in shock as he thought, “With the force that I grip the dagger with, even if it was Jinlun Fawang’s golden wheel, Da’erba’s golden rod or Valley Master Gongsun’s jagged saber, they wouldn’t be able to knock the dagger out of my hands. Though I wasn’t prepared, this granny just spat out a date stone from her mouth to do this; this person’s martial arts really are awesome.”

Lu E saw his face change color and she quickly said, “Brother Yang, my mother won’t harm you.” She went over to him and tugged his hand; she turned to her mother and said, “Mother, tell him how to greet you. He doesn’t know yet.”

The granny laughed and said, “Fine, this old woman’s name will never change; the people of Jianghu call me the ‘Iron Palm Lotus Qiu Qianchi’. What should you call me? Ha-ha, shouldn’t you be kowtowing to me and calling me ‘mother-in-law’?”

Lu E quickly said, “Mother, don’t you know, there’s nothing between brother Yang and I, he… he just has good intentions towards me and nothing else.”

Qiu Qianchi said angrily, “Nothing else? Nothing between you? Where are your clothes? Why have you only got underwear on? Why are you covered by his gown?” She suddenly pitched her voice up and screamed, “If the one named Yang is thinking about being shameless like that Gongsun Zhi I’m going to make sure that he dies without a complete corpse. [Refers to hacking the body apart.] The one named Yang, are you going to marry my daughter?”

Yang Guo saw that she spoke madly and was impervious to reason; how could she force him to marry her daughter after just speaking a few words? But if he bluntly refuses, it would be extremely embarrassing for Lu E. There’s also the fact that this granny’s martial arts are extremely high and her character extremely weird; if he said any words that were just slightly displeasing, she would kill him immediately. He saw that the most important thing right now was for the three of them to get out of this place so he said, “Please relax Old Senior; Yang Guo is not a man without a conscience; I will never dare to forget the kindness that Lu E has shown me.” These words were extremely agreeable; though he didn’t agree to marry Lu E, the words pleased the ears of Qiu Qianchi; she nodded, “You’d better not.”

Gongsun Lu E of course knew what Yang Guo meant by this; as she looked at Yang Guo, there was a look of disappointment in her eyes and she lowered her head. A while passed before she said to Qiu Qianchi, “Mother, how did you get down here? Why did father say that you were dead and let me stay saddened for all these years? If I’d known you were here, I would have risked my life to come and find you.” She saw that her mother was unclothed; if she let her mother wear Yang Guo’s gown then she would be insufficiently dressed; so she tore the back and front of the gown and draped it over her mother’s shoulders.

Yang Guo was saddened when he saw what a state the gown that Xiao Longnu had made for him had fallen into; it stirred the Passion Flower’s poison and his body broke out with unbearable pain once again.

When Qiu Qianchi saw this, her face moved slightly and her right hand searched for something on her person; but after a thought, her hand came out empty handed.

From her mother’s expression and actions, Lu E had an inkling of her mother’s thoughts; she pleaded, “Mother, can you cure the Passion Flower’s poison that brother Yang has in him?”

Qiu Qianchi said in a subdued manner, “I have my own troubles being trapped down here; if others can’t save me, how can I save others?”

Lu E said anxiously, “Mother, if you save brother Yang, he will definitely help you. Even if you can’t save him, brother Yang will do all he can to help you. Isn’t that right brother Yang?”

Yang Guo did not have a good opinion of Qiu Qianchi but he should help her on behalf of Lu E; so he said, “Of course. Senior has been down here for so long, you must be very familiar with the layout and terrain of this place; can Senior tell me one or two things about it?”

Qiu Qianchi gave a long sigh and said, “Though this place is deep in the ground, it’s not that difficult to get out.” She looked at Yang Guo and said, “You must be thinking that if it’s not hard, how come I’m still down here? Ai… The tendons in my arms and legs were destroyed long ago, and all my martial arts went with it.”

Yang Guo had noticed a while ago that there was something different about the movements of her arms and legs. But Lu E was shocked when she heard this, she asked, “You did this by falling from up above?”

Qiu Qianchi said gloomily; “No! A person did this to me.”

Lu E was even more shocked by this and quivered, “Mother, who did this to you? We must take revenge against that person.”

Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “Revenge? Will you be able to do it? The person who destroyed my tendons is Gongsun Zhi.”

Ever since Lu E found out that she was her mother, she had a feeling that something like this had happened; but when she heard this with her own ears, she trembled all over and asked, “Why… why?”

Qiu Qianchi glanced coldly at Yang Guo and said, “It’s because I killed someone, a young beautiful girl; huh, it’s because I killed Gongsun Zhi’s beloved.” When she reached this point, her teeth chattered as she bit down. Lu E was frightened and moved back a little away from her mother while getting closer to Yang Guo. The grotto became silent.

Qiu Qianchi said suddenly, “Are you hungry? There are only dates for food in this grotto.” After she said this, she got on all fours and crawled forward like a wild beast; her movements were very swift. Lu E and Yang Guo both felt awful when they saw this sight. But Qiu Qianchi had been crawling like this for years and didn’t think anything of it. Lu E was about to dash forward to help her when she saw that she had already reached the base of a large date tree.

Years ago, a date seed must have been blown down into the grotto by the wind and sprouted down here, growing and blossoming and slowly flourishing; and from that one seed, fifty or sixty trees eventually grew. If a date seed had not been blown down here or if it had fallen onto infertile ground, Yang Guo and Lu E would have come across upon a pile of bones. Who could think that this pile of bones would be an eminent member of Wulin? And Lu E would never know that this was actually her mother.

Qiu Qianchi gathered a date stone from the floor and placed it into her mouth; she raised her head and spat out, the date stone shot upwards for tens of feet and struck a branch; the branch swayed and tens of dates rained downwards from the branch.

Yang Guo nodded and thought, “So after her tendons were ruined she managed to learn this great date stone spitting skill. The saying ‘heaven never seals off all its exits’ isn’t a lie.” His spirits were roused as he thought about this.

Lu E picked up the dates from the floor and divided them up for her mother and Yang Guo to eat; she ate a few her self as well. In the middle of this underground grotto, she was serving her mother and acting just like a little hostess.

Qiu Qianchi has endured one of the most tragic experience in anyone’s life; hate had been gathered up in her heart over the last ten years. Even if she wasn’t a hot tempered person and was a peaceful, kind natured woman, she would still have changed into this unreasonable person. But a mother’s love is a natural instinct; when she saw the daughter she had been thinking about night and day had grown into such a beautiful girl, her temper was calmed. The warmth of her love towards her daughter was gradually stirred and she asked, “What has Gongsun Zhi been saying about me?”

Lu E said, “Father has never talked about mother. When I was little I asked if I looked like my mother. What illness did mother die of? Father would suddenly break out in a temper and scold me for a while, telling me not to bring this up ever again. A few years later I asked him again and once again, he shouted at me.”

Qiu Qianchi said, “What were you thinking?”

Tears formed in Lu E’s eyes and she said, “I thought that my mother must have been a beautiful, gentle woman and father loved you deeply. Whenever other people mentioned you he would be extremely upset and sad; from then on I didn’t dare to ask him about you again.”

Qiu Qianchi chuckled and said, “You must be extremely disappointed; your mother isn’t a beautiful and gentle woman but a vicious, cruel and ugly old hag. If you knew about this, I think you would rather not see me.”

Lu E stretched out her arms to hug her around the neck and said tenderly, “Mother, you’re how I imagined you would be.” She turned to Yang Guo and asked, “Brother Yang, my mother is beautiful, isn’t she? She treats me well and she treats you well, right?” Her words were filled with sincerity; in her heart, she looked upon her mother as the greatest woman in the world.

Yang Guo thought, “She might have been beautiful when she was younger but how can you say that she’s beautiful now? You’re right when you said that she treats you well but she might not have any good intentions in her heart towards me.” But since Lu E asked like this, he could only reply, “Yes, you’re right.”

His tone was not anywhere near as sincere as Lu E’s; Qiu Qianchi knew it straight away when she heard it, she thought, “Heaven has pitied me and has given me the chance to see my daughter again; though she is filled with respect and love for me now, it would be difficult to ensure that it will be like this forever. I need to tell her about all the bitterness and wrong that I’ve suffered.” So she said, “E’er, you asked, how did I get here? Why Gongsun Zhi said that I’d died? Sit down, I’ll tell you all about it.”

Qiu Qianchi said slowly, “Gongsun Zhi’s ancestors were officials in the Tang court. Later on, because they wanted to avoid the troubles of the court, they decided to reside here in this secluded valley. His ancestors worked as military officials and his family’s martial arts can be classed as a respectable skill; but his real advanced martial arts were taught to him by me.”

Yang Guo and Lu E both felt rather surprised by this.

Qiu Qianchi said proudly, “You two are still young, of course you wouldn’t understand the principles within them. The Iron Palm Clan Chief, the ‘Iron Palm Water Floater’ Qiu Qianren is my brother. Yang Guo, tell Lu E about the Iron Palm Clan.”

Yang Guo was startled and asked, “The Iron Palm Clan? I’m not very knowledgeable; I really don’t know what the Iron Palm Clan is.”

Qiu Qianchi scolded him, “Little punk, you dare tell lies in front of me! The Iron Palm Clan is famous throughout the world. Along with the Beggar Clan, we’re classed as the world’s two greatest clans; how can you not know?”

Yang Guo said, “Junior has heard of the Beggar Clan before but the Iron Palm Clan…”

Qiu Qianchi was exasperated and scolded, “Ha-ha, you’ve practiced martial arts and you don’t even know anything about the Iron Palm Clan…”

Lu E saw that her mother’s face had reddened with anger; she interrupted and tried to persuade her, “Mother, brother Yang is not even twenty yet; he has studied with his Master deep in the mountains ever since he was young; of course there are things about the Wulin that he doesn’t know.”

Qiu Qianchi ignored her and kept on grumbling.

Twenty years ago, the Iron Palm Clan was indeed very famous; but at the second Mount Hua competition, the Iron Palm Chief Iron Palm Water Floater Qiu Qianren entered religion and the tutelage of the Reverend Yideng. The Iron Palm Clan dispersed immediately after that. When the Iron Palm Clan was dispersing, Yang Guo had just been born and no one had ever mentioned the clan to him before, so naturally he wouldn’t know anything about it. His mother Mu Nianci had actually lost her virtue to his father Yang Kang on Iron Palm Peak; his mother became pregnant and Yang Guo was conceived.

Now as Qiu Qianchi talked about this, his eyes stared, not knowing how to reply. Qiu Qianchi had been in the Passionless Valley for almost thirty years; she has not heard about the changes in the Wulin world. She just knew that the Iron Palm Clan had been famous for hundreds of years, so they must be flourishing even more at the present time. But now she heard that Yang Guo hadn’t even heard of the three words ‘Iron Palm Clan’ before; of course she would break out in a thunderous rage.

Yang Guo was being insulted and cursed at for no reason at all; at first he forced himself to take it; but as it went on, the insults were beginning to go too far. He was starting to get angry and was about to answer back when, just as he was going to open his mouth, he saw Lu E staring at him. Her eyes were filled with tenderness and her face was looking apologetic. Yang Guo’s heart softened and his face showed a helpless expression; he was beginning to feel contented as he thought, “The worse your mother treats me the better you treat me. The old bat’s words just brush past the ears, while the beauty’s warmth goes to my heart.” His brain became active as his heart relaxed; suddenly he thought, “Miss Wanyan Ping’s martial arts appeared to be of the same school as Gongsun Zhi; she also said that she practiced the “Iron Palm”; she must have some kind of connection with the Iron Palm Clan.”

He closed his eyes and recalled that when Wanyan Ping fought Yelu Qi, he could remember about seventy or eight percent of it. When he fought Gongsun Zhi just a few hours ago, his attacks and form were even clearer in his mind and he called out, “Ah, I remember.”

Qiu Qianchi said, “What?”

Yang Guo said, “Three years ago I saw an extraordinary Wulin Senior battle eighteen men from the world of Jianghu; he fought them all empty handed. In the end he seriously injured nine of them and killed the other nine. I heard this great person say that he was from the Iron Palm Clan.”

Qiu Qianchi asked quickly, “What did this person look like?”

Yang Guo made it up as he went along and said, “This person was bald and was around sixty years of age, his face glowed and he was tall, he wore a green gown and said he said his surname was Qiu…”

Qiu Qianchi suddenly shouted, “Bullshit! My two brothers are not bald, they are not tall and they have never worn green before. You saw that I’m tall and bald so you said they’re bald as well?”

Yang Guo thought, “Crap!” But his face remained unmoved and he laughed, “There’s no need to rush me; I didn’t say this person was your brother. Could it be that everyone who’s named Qiu is your brother?”

Qiu Qianchi could say nothing after this rebuttal and asked, “What were his martial arts like?”

Yang Guo stood up and performed a few fists of Wanyan Ping’s mixed up with the form and palms of Gongsun Zhi; eventually he became more and more fluid in his actions and the grotto was filled with elegant palms and powerful punches. Though his stances were slightly wrong, it was somewhat better than the original palm techniques of Wanyan Ping. His natural movements covered up all the places that were out of form with Wanyan Ping’s techniques. His hand and leg movements were tight and complete and whenever he sent out a palm, he would deliberately put extra effort in it to make it more vicious.

Qiu Qianchi watched with great joy, she called out, “E’er, E’er, that’s the martial arts of our Iron Clan Palm, watch carefully.”

Yang Guo performed these stances with Qiu Qianchi pointing out the stances and explaining the lethal aspects of them from the side.

Yang Guo was amused and thought, “If I carry on any longer she’ll see through me.” He then stopped and said, “At this point, the Wulin senior had won and there wasn’t a need to carry on.”

Qiu Qianchi was delighted and said, “You’ve remembered a lot of the stances wrongly, your hand movements are incorrect as well; but to perform it as you did is really something that is difficult to do. What was the name of this Wulin Senior? What did he say to you?”

Yang Guo said, “This extraordinary person’s movements were like a divine dragon. After he won he flew away. I just heard from the remaining nine injured men and they were blaming themselves saying, how could we give trouble to Master Qiu of the Iron Palm Clan? Weren’t we signing our own death warrants?”

Qiu Qianchi said with delight, “That’s right, the one named Qiu is most probably a disciple of my brother.” Qiu Qianchi loved martial arts; but for the last ten years she hadn’t been able to move her arms and legs freely. Now, as she saw Yang Guo perform her clan’s martial arts, she was thrilled and was itching to have a go. She then started to lecture the two about her clan’s palm techniques and lightness kung fu.

Yang Guo was anxious to get out as quickly as possible so he could deliver the antidote to Xiao Longnu. Though what he heard was advanced and refined martial arts that would benefit him, when he thought about the suffering of Xiao Longnu, how could he keep a frame of mind for learning martial arts? He then signaled to Lu E with his eyes.

Lu E understood and said, “Mother, why did you teach father martial arts?”

Qiu Qianchi said angrily, “Call him Gongsun Zhi! Why father this and that?”

Lu E said, “Yes. Mother, please go on.”

Qiu Qianchi said, with hate in her voice; “Huh!” After a while she continued, “This happened twenty years ago. My two brothers got into an argument…”

Lu E interrupted, “I’ve got two uncles?”

Qiu Qianchi said, “Don’t you know?” Her tone became stern with a hint of scolding.

Lu E thought, “How would I know?” She replied, “No, no one’s ever told me before.”

Qiu Qianchi sighed and said, “You… you really don’t know anything. Pitiful… pitiful!” After a while she continued, “Your uncles are twins, your older uncle is called Qiu Qianzhang, your second uncle is Qiu Qianren. Their voices, figure and faces were the same, but the two’s characters and fate were very different. Second brother’s martial arts are extremely high but first brother’s martial arts were very ordinary. Second brother taught me martial arts but first brother and I were a lot closer to each other. Second brother was the chief of the Iron Palm Clan; he had many clan matters to deal with and was busy with his own martial arts, so we saw very little of each other. When he taught me martial arts, he was strict and didn’t say much to me. But first brother was very close to me; he would say, sister this and sister that. Later on when the two argued, I sided with first brother.”

Lu E said, “Mother, what did the two uncles argued about?”

Qiu Qianchi’s face suddenly showed a hint of a smile and said, “This matter is not serious but not too insignificant either; it’s just that my second brother was too obstinate. When second brother became the chief of the Iron Palm Clan, his name ‘Iron Palm Water Floater Qiu Qianren’ was famous throughout the world of the Wulin. Very few knew my elder brother’s name. Whenever my elder brother went out, he would sometimes borrow my second brother’s name for convenience. The two of them looked the same and were real brothers, so what’s so bad about borrowing his name? But second brother didn’t see it this way; he would argue about this all the time, saying elder brother was a swindler and trickster. My elder brother had a good temper; whenever second brother scolded him he would just laugh and apologize. One time, second brother went too far. I couldn’t do anything and so added a few words to help first brother. This brought trouble onto me and we argued. I left the Iron Palm Peak in anger and never returned.”

“I roamed Jianghu by myself. One time, I was pursuing a scoundrel and came to the Passionless Valley by accide