the internal energy via the visiting card for only a split second, yet unexpectedly it did not elude his eyes. Now, what kind of people are these Left and Right Emissaries of the Brightness? Could their martial art skills be better than this person surnamed Wei’s?”

He had lived in seclusion for too long, hence he had never heard about Yang Xiao’s reputation. As for Fan Yao, he had been living incognito for the last several years so not everybody knew about him.

As Yang and Fan two people heard Jiaozhu mentioning their names, they stepped forward at once and bowed down. “Respectfully accept Jiaozhu’s command,” they said.

“The Three Eminent Monks use flexible weapons, what will be a good weapon for us to use?” Zhang Wuji asked.

Zhang, Yang and Fan, three people usually fought their enemies barehanded. Today they were facing formidable opponents, so they could not hold on to their habit of not wielding any weapon. For these three people, they knew ten-thousand different techniques as well as one; for them, any weapons would do. Zhang Wuji asked this question just for the convenience of the other two.

“We’ll follow Jiaozhu’s instruction,” Yang Xiao replied.

Zhang Wuji hesitated a moment; he thought, “Last night, the Twin Evils of Hejian were using short weapons to attack long ones; and they seemed to gain quite a few advantages from it.” Thereupon he took the six tablets of Sheng Huo Ling from his bosom and handed over four of them to Yang Xiao and Fan Yao, while saying, “This time, we are going up the mountain to pay a visit to the Shaolin Temple, we do not dare to bring any weapons. This is our own Cult’s treasure; let us just use these tablets then.”

Yang and Fan two people bowed down and received the tablets. They were asking for further instructions when suddenly Kong Zhi shouted, “Ku Toutuo, we still have an unfinished business from the Wan An Temple; how can I let you go? Come, come, come! Let Lao Na ask for your advice first. Lao Na did not take the ‘Shi Xiang Ruan Jin San’ today; we are going to see our true power.”

He had never forgotten the resentment of being held captive at the Wan An Temple; upon seeing Fan Yao today, he had tried his best to suppress his rage, but at this time he could not hold his patience any longer.

Fan Yao laughed dryly and said, “I [orig. zai4xia4] received Jiaozhu’s order to ask instructions from the Three Eminent Monks. If Dashi wants to avenge the enmity of the former days, you’ll have to wait until this matter is closed, then I will be able to accompany you.”

From the hand of a Shaolin disciple standing next to him, Kong Zhi took a sword and shouted, “You are overestimating your own ability. You want to fight my three Shishu; if you don’t die, you will be seriously injured and then I can’t extract my revenge on you.”

Fan Yao laughed, “If I die under your honorable Shishu’s hand, won’t that be the same?”

Kong Zhi laughed coldly, “Looks to me there is no other master in your Ming Cult. What can I say?”

How could the Ming Cult warriors not know that he was provoking them? But if they ignored his remarks, would not the Shaolin Pai look down on the Ming Cult? In terms of rank, Yin Tianzheng was right after Fan Yao. Zhang Wuji thought that his grandfather was old, it was inconvenient for him to ask Grandfather to fight. Therefore, he was thinking of asking his uncle [orig, Jiujiu – maternal uncle] Yin Yewang to take his father’s place.

Yin Tianzheng took a step forward and said, “Jiaozhu, subordinate Yin Tianzheng is ready to accept instructions.”

“Waigong is advanced in years, let me ask Uncle …” Zhang Wuji said.

Yian Tianzheng cut him off, “I am old, but not as old as these Three Eminent Monks. Shaolin Pai can have their senior warriors; can’t our Ming Cult have our own veteran?”

Zhang Wuji was aware that his grandfather’s martial art skill was very deep; not beneath Yang Xiao or Fan Yao’s, and a lot higher than his uncle’s. If he joined this battle, their chance of victory was several degrees better. “All right,” he said, “Fan You Shi can conserve your strength to accept instructions from Kong Zhi Shen Seng later. I am asking Grandfather to help me.”

“I follow the order!” Yin Tianzheng replied, and took the Sheng Huo Ling tablets from Fan Yao’s hands.

In a clear voice Abbot Kong Wen said, “Martial Uncles, this gentleman is Yin Lao Yingxiong [old hero Yin], Bai Mei Ying Wang [white-browed eagle king]. He is the founder of Tian Ying Jiao [heavenly eagle cult] of the former days, and its prestige was comparable to the Six major Sects. He is an extraordinary warrior. This gentleman is Mr. Yang; his inner and outer power has reached perfection. He is the Ming Cult’s first class character. Numerous masters of Kunlun and Emei Pai have been defeated under his hands.”

With a dry laugh Du Jie said, “Fortunate meeting, fortunate meeting! Let’s see how well Shaolin disciples compete against them.” The three black ropes shook; they soared like three China-ink black dragons and formed three layers of loops around their opponents.

Last night, when Zhang Wuji battled these three monks, he could not even see his own fingers, so he had to rely on the aura of the black ropes to determine the direction of the incoming weapons. This time, it was the beginning of the seventh hour [between 11am – 1pm]; the sun was shining brightly in the sky that he was able to see clearly every wrinkle on the faces of the three monks. Reversing the Sheng Huo Ling tablets in his hands, he cupped his fists and bowed. “Please forgive my offense,” he said, and immediately attacked sideways.

Yang Xiao flew toward his left. With a loud shout Yin Tianzheng raised the Sheng Huoling in his right hand to strike the black rope in Du Nan’s hand. A dull clanking noise was heard as the rope and the tablet collided. These two weapons were so strange that the noise generated when they struck each other also sounded weird. Both men’s hands were shaken, and both exclaimed inwardly, “Very fierce!” They both realized that they were facing a formidable opponent, which they seldom meet in their lifetimes.

Zhang Wuji thought, “The three monks’ black ropes are connected together to form a loop. Their defense is very tight. Although the three of us join hands, we might not necessarily be able to make a breakthrough within three to five hundred stances. We’d better try to exhaust the three monks’ energy, then slowly look for a flaw.” Seeing the black rope coil over his way, he used the Sheng Huo Ling to take the brute force head on with brute force.

Fighting for the time needed to cook rice, Zhang Wuji, three people managed to press forward and reduce the loop diameter a ‘zhang’ or so. However, as the three monks’ loop was getting smaller, their defensive power increased. Each step the three attackers took required several folds of effort from the previous ones. As the battle progressed, Yang Xiao and Yin Tianzheng were more astonished than ever.

At first, the battle was three against three, but after about an hour, Yang and Yin, two people gradually could not hold their ground. In the end, the two of them fought Du Nan; while Zhang Wuji had to deal with Du E and Du Jie, two monks, alone.

Yin Tianzheng always took the ‘hard’ and ‘ferocious’ approach. Yang Xiao, on the other hand, sometimes used ‘soft’, sometimes ‘hard’; his fighting style kept changing. Among these six combatants, Yang Xiao’s martial art was the most attractive to look at. The two Sheng Huo Ling tablets in his hands circled around and danced in the air; sometimes it became a sword, suddenly it changed into a saber. Sometimes he thrust it forward like a short spear, next time it struck, coiled, slapped, and then changed into a judge’s pen; poking, pressing down, jerking up, and then the one in his left hand changed into a dagger, while the one in his right changed into an awl [(?) Translator’s note: I don’t know what kind of weapon this is. The original was ‘shui3 ci4’ 水刺 – ‘water thorn’]. Suddenly the one in his right hand changed into a steel whip, while the one in his left a crowbar. Within these hundreds of changes, he struck the two tablets to each other, creating a ‘ya ya’ [This is the transliteration of the Chinese characters, don’t ask me what kind of noise is this.] sound, disturbing the enemy’s concentration. Before they even fought for four hundred stances, the tablets had changed into twenty-two different weapons; with each weapon incorporating two sets of styles, so altogether he had used forty-four different sets of styles.

Kong Zhi had mastered eleven out of Shaolin Pai’s seventy-two unique skills; while almost no martial art skills in the world eluded Fan Yao’s knowledge, but at this moment watching Yang Xiao deftly launch his divine skills, both of them could not help but inwardly sigh with admiration.

Zhou Dian had never been in good terms with Yang Xiao. The two of them had fought each other several times. But this moment, the longer Zhou Dian watched, the more ashamed he was. “Turn out this son of a turtle Yang Xiao has always yielded to me,” he mused, “I knew his martial art skill was somewhat higher than mine, and I thought each time we fought, he was just lucky that he won by one stance or half a style. Who would have thought that I, Zhou Dian, actually inferior by one big peg to this son of a turtle.”

However, no matter how many changes Yang Xiao launched, Du Nan’s black rope still parry the two people’s attack without showing any slackness. Everybody started to see white mist rising on top of Yin Tianzheng’s head. They knew he was using his entire internal energy. The white robe he wore slowly ballooned up, and it was soaked with his perspiration. Each step he took left a deep mark on the ground. In an hour, the area around the three pine trees was full of his footprints.

Suddenly, Yin Tianzheng moved the Sheng Huo Ling tablet in his right hand to his left. With this pair of tablets he pushed Du Nan’s black rope down; while with ‘pi kong zhang’ [splitting air palm] his right hand hack down toward Du Nan. Du Nan raised his left hand up with five fingers forming a claw, like a hollow fist, also hacking toward the incoming palm.

“Ah!” Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, and the other Shaolin monks exclaimed together; their voices were full of amazement and admiration. Turned out the technique Du Nan used was one of the seventy-two special skills of Shaolin, which was called the ‘xu mi shan zhang’ [overflowing mountain palm; ‘xu mi shan’ also means ‘Sumeru Mountain’, which is the central ‘world mountain’ of the Buddhist universe – courtesy of Ren Wo Xing]. Needless to say, this special skill was very difficult to train. But even if someone did master the technique, each time it was launched, the practitioner must assumed the horse stance, and concentrated his ‘qi’ for a long time; only then would he be able to gather his internal energy in his ‘dantian’. Who would have expected that Du Nan had a perfect control and was able to launch the ‘xu mi shan zhang’ at will?

‘Slap!’ as his hand blocked Yin Tianzheng’s palm, the black rope in his hand shook and struck toward Yang Xiao. But because the ‘xu mi shan zhang’ consumed a lot of energy, the power behind the black rope was diminished by more than a half. Du Nan quickly covered up his weakness by rolling, fluttering, and coiling the black rope as if it was a spirit snake randomly quivering in the air. Yang Xiao’s pair of Sheng Huoling tablets was also making countless changes. The eyes of most of the spectators were watching the battle between these two people.

Yin Tianzheng focused all his strength on his palms, sending strike after strike toward Du Nan. Sometimes he took two steps forward, another time he took two steps back.

On the other front, Zhang Wuji was engaged in a fierce battle against two formidable opponents. These three people’s style looked ordinary and bland, because their true battle was internal. This kind of staking-it-all internal energy match was actually a lot more dangerous than Yin Tianzheng’s battle of strength and Yang Xiao’s battle of style against Du Nan. As soon as one of the parties’ internal energy was overcome by the opponent, if he did not die instantly, then suffering fire-deviation, losing his sanity or being crippled was a common occurrence. However, only the combatants knew their own situations. To the spectators, even though their martial art skill was higher, they would never be able to predict the outcome of the battle by observing the three combatants’ outward appearance.

Slowly the sun rose from the east, then it was exactly on top of their heads, before gradually moving to the west. By this time, the battle situation was clear for Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, Fan Yao, Wei Yixiao, and the other masters. They saw the mist coming out from the top of Yin Tianzheng’s head was getting thicker; on the other hand, the trunk, the branches and the needle-leaves of the big pine tree in which Du Jie was sitting were shaking constantly. From this fact, they knew the difference in level of power of the two monks, Du E and Du Jie. At this stage of the battle, Du Jie’s back was leaning against the tree to borrow its strength in blocking Zhang Wuji’s Jiu Yang Shen Gong. If Yin Tianzheng fell, the Ming Cult lost; but if Du Jie gave up first, then the Shaolin Pai was defeated.

The six combatants also understood they had reached the crucial point of the battle. Yin Tianzheng was staking it all in sending out his palm attacks toward Du Nan, but after more than thirty stances, he realized he was not Du Nan’s match. “Our priority today is saving Xie Xiongdi,” he said in his heart, “My own victory or defeat, glory or disgrace, why should I care? Much less I lost under the hand of Shaolin Pai’s senior master’s hand, so nobody can say that the Bai Mei Ying Wang’s prestige is damaged.”

Thereupon, with all his might he blocked the enemy’s attack, while he was forced to retreat half a step back. Successively he blocked more than ten strikes, and was forced to fall back more than a ‘zhang’. He did not know, however, that Du Nan had trained the ‘xu mi shan zhang’, one of the seventy-two Shaolin Pai’s special techniques for dozens of years, so that the power of his palm was not a small matter. As Yin Tianzheng withdrew one step, Du Nan’s palm strength also advanced one step. Surprisingly, the power did not diminish ever so slightly with the increasing distance.

Yang Xiao thought, “This Shaolin monk is formidable indeed. No matter how much change my Sheng Huo Ling make, in the end I still fail to make him budge. Yin Bai Mei [white-browed Yin] only attacks with his strength, I am afraid he won’t survive a prolonged battle.”

He combined the two Sheng Huo Ling tablets and struck them toward the black rope. It looked like he was going to fight force with force head-on in order to help Yin Tianzheng. As the Sheng Huo Ling just about to strike the black rope, Du Nan shook his wrist, and the black rope rose up toward Yang Xiao’s face. Yang Xiao’s mind was as quick as lightning; he threw the Sheng Huo Ling tablets toward Du Nan’s chest, while his palms turned over to grab the end of the rope. It was the stance called ‘dao ye jiu niu wei’ [pulling back nine ox tails], in which a sudden force was pulling outward.

Du Nan saw Yang Xiao throw his weapons like secret projectiles with an extremely strong force; he raised his left hand with a bent elbow to press down the Sheng Huo Ling threatening his left chest. To his surprise, the other Sheng Huo Ling suddenly changed its course midair and ‘whoosh!’ it flew toward Du Jie.

Yang Xiao was the most resourceful among these six combatants. His attack with these two Sheng Huo Ling tablets toward Du Nan was a fake; his real target was Du Jie, in which he sent out his entire internal strength.

Du Jie was using his entire strength to fight Zhang Wuji. He noticed that in dealing with Yang and Yin, two people, Du Nan seemed to gain an upper hand. He had never expected that Yang Xiao was able to launch this extraordinary sneak attack with such a weird technique. In his shock, he saw the Sheng Huo Ling was already in front of his face. Du Jie’s concentration was slightly broken. He lightly stretched his hand with two fingers up to catch the Sheng Huo Ling. But his entire strength and attention was focused on blocking Zhang Wuji’s attack; as he was disturbed, the pine tree he was sitting on shook violently, pine-needles fell down like rain.

As he saw a big break in his opponent’s line of defense, Zhang Wuji launched the highest technique of the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi to penetrate this opening. It was unstoppable even when the enemy used a hundred different techniques to block; much less Du Jie was in a disadvantageous situation. Zhang Wuji sent his internal energy toward his five fingers. With a ‘zip, zip’ noise, his hand struck down. ‘Crack, crack!’ In an instant, the branches on Du Jie’s tree were shaken and fell down one by one.

Du E realized their precarious situation. ‘Whoosh!’ He stood up suddenly. His shadow swayed and he flew toward Du Jie’ side. Stretching his left hand, he grabbed Du Jie’s shoulder. With the help of his martial brother Du E, Du Jie was able to steady himself.

On the other front, Du Nan’s fight against Yin Tianzheng and Yang Xiao also reached a critical moment, where both sides were staking all they have in a life and death battle. Yang Xiao was grabbing the rope and trying to pull it away. With a ‘splitting mountain, crushing stone’ kind of palm power, Yin Tianzheng kept pressing down the enemy. Two masters, one pulled, the other pushed. Du Nan was attacked with two exact opposite forces; even though he was extremely strained, he did not seem to be in danger of losing.

The spectators on the side, both the Ming Cult warriors and the Shaolin monks, also saw this critical situation. They knew that if the battle went on, not only the victory or defeat was difficult to decide, perhaps from among these six masters, more than half would be either dead or seriously injured. The hill peak was awfully quiet, with the backs of most of the spectators wet with sweats. They were all very tense; everybody was concerned about their own side.

The silence was suddenly broken by a low and deep voice, coming from the ground in the middle of the three pine trees, “Yang Zuo Shi, Yin Dage, Wuji Hai’er [left emissary Yang, big brother Yin, child Wuji], I, Xie Xun, have a pair of bloodstained hands. I deserved to be condemned. Today, in order to save me, you are battling the Shaolin Temple’s three eminent monks. If either side is harmed, Xie Xun, cannot bear the additional guilt. Child Wuji, quickly take our Cult brethrens out of the Shaolin Temple. If you don’t, I am going to cut my own main artery to avoid adding my own sin.”

Xie Xun spoke with his divine skill ‘lion roar’, with which, on the Wang Pan Island in the past, he had shaken the soul of countless warriors from various clans and sects [‘bang’ and ‘pai’]. This time, although he did not use it to harm anybody, he still managed to shake everybody’s soul that their eardrums were buzzing, and they looked at each other with changed countenances.

Zhang Wuji knew his Yifu’s words were as strong as a mountain; and his Yifu was not willing for anybody to be injured to get himself out of this trouble. Zhang Wuji considered the present situation carefully; supposing both sides fought with all their strengths, although he himself might be all right, but it was possible that Grandfather, Yang Xiao, Du Jie and Du Nan, four people could not avoid injuries.

While he was hesitating, Xie Xun loudly shouted, “Wuji, you are not leaving yet?”

“Yes!” Zhang Wuji said, “I will follow Yifu’s order.” He took a step backward, and in a clear voice he said, “The Three Eminent Monks’ martial art skill is really marvelous. Today the Ming Cult is not able to break it. We will return some other day to ask more advice. Grandfather, Yang Zuo Shi, we stop fighting!” As he said that, he gathered his ‘qi’ and flicked Du E and Du Jie’s black ropes that the ropes returned to their master.

Yang Xiao and Yin Tianzheng heard his order, but they were still engaged in an internal energy battle with Du Nan, and were incapable of stopping the fight, because if they pulled back their strengths, Du Nan’s force would injure them. For the same reason, Du Nan was also incapable of stopping the fight.

Zhang Wuji walked in front of Yin Tianzheng. Waving both of his palms, he took and neutralized the palm power of Du Nan and Yin Tianzheng from left and right. And then reaching out with a Sheng Huo Ling, he pressed down on the black rope near the end held by Du Nan’s hand. This black rope was held at either end by Du Nan and Yang Xiao, it was stretched very tight just like a bowstring. As Zhang Wuji’s Sheng Huo Ling pressed down, Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi’s divine power immediately dissolved the pulling forces. The black rope loosened and fell down to the ground.

Yang Xiao deftly reached down and caught the rope. Du Nan’s countenance changed; he was just about to speak when Yang Xiao, holding the black rope with both hands, took several steps forward and said, “Respectfully presenting Dashi’s weapon.” Du Jie understood Yang Xiao’s intention. He picked the Sheng Huo Ling tablets by his side and returned them to Yang Xiao.

After going through this battle, the three Shaolin eminent monks lost their previous haughtiness. They knew that if this staking-it-all battle continued, both sides would suffer losses, while the three of them would not necessarily achieve victory.

“Lao Na has lived in seclusion for decades,” Du E said, “To be able to make acquaintance with worthy warriors of the present time, we feel very happy and fortunate. Zhang Jiaozhu, you have people with outstanding ability in your precious Cult. You yourself are even more excelling above the others. I hope you will use this excellent capability to benefit common people and do not use it for dishonorable businesses.”

Zhang Wuji bowed and said, “Thank you very much for Dashi’s advice. Our humble Cult does not dare to commit evil acts.”

Du E continued, “We, three martial brothers, will respectfully await here for Zhang Jiaozhu’s third visit.”

“I do not dare,” Zhang Wuji replied, “However, I will have to ask for some more advice. Xie Fa Wang is my Yifu. His kindness is more than a family to me.”

Du E heaved a deep sigh, closed his eyes, and did not say anything anymore.

Leading Yang Xiao and the others, Zhang Wuji cupped his fists and took his leave from Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, and the other Shaolin monks; then they went down the mountain. Peng Yingyu sent out a signal, instructing the Five-element Flags to withdraw. Five ‘li’s outside the Temple, the Cult disciples from Jumu [gigantic tree/wood] and Houtu [thick earth] Flags built more than a dozen wooden shacks on a hillside for their leaders lodgings.

Zhang Wuji was despressed, as he thought that within their Cult, nobody possessed martial art skills higher than Yang Xiao and his grandfather. Even if he took Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao, he doubt if the result would be different than today’s battle. Where in the world can I find one or two masters who are superior to them, who can help me break the ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’?

Peng Yingyu guessed correctly what was in his mind. “Jiaozhu,” he said, “Have you forgotten about Zhang Zhenren?”

Zhang Wuji hesitantly said, “Supposing my Tai Shifu is willing to go down the mountain and help us, the two of us join hands, we would certainly break the ‘Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan’. However, by doing this, Tai Shifu would damage the friendship between the Shaolin Pai and Wudang Pai; so Tai Shifu might not want to do it. Besides, Tai Shifu is over a hundred years old. Although his martial art skill has reached a high degree of proficiency, his physique is, after all, declining. If there is any accident, wouldn’t that be very bad?”

Yin Tianzheng suddenly rose on his feet, with a laughter he said, “If Zhang Zhenren is willing to go down the mountain, our success is guaranteed. Marvelous! Marvelous!” After several hollow laughs, the laughing voice suddenly stopped, but his mouth was still wide open.

Seeing he froze in standing position with a laughing face, the group of warriors felt strange. “Yin Xiong,” Yang Xiao said, “Do you think Zhang Zhenren will go down the mountain to help us?”

He asked twice, but Yin Tianzheng did not reply, he did not even move. Zhang Wuji was startled, he reached out to feel his pulse, and found that Yin Tianzheng’s pulse had already stopped; he had unexpectedly passed away.

Turned out when Yin Tianzheng was the only one left to fight the warriors of the Six Major Sects on the Brightness Peak, he had strained himself, and his physique had suffered a great damage. His recent ‘staking-it-all’ battle with Du Nan had further depleted his strength, plus he was also quite advanced in years, so his condition was like a dried up oil lamp.

Crying, Zhang Wuji embraced his body. Yin Yewang rushed forward and cried his heart out. The group of warriors also remembered their comradeship and spirit of loyalty and brotherhood [‘yi qi’]; there wasn’t anybody who did not shed tears. The news travelled fast; there were a lot of Heavenly Eagle Cult disciples who now served under the Ming Cult banner, their sound of crying shook the hill and valley.

For the next several days the group of warriors was busy attending to Yin Tianzheng’s funeral. Wulin leaders and masters from various sects and clans and societies also went up the mountain. These people admired Yin Tianzheng’s prestige, and came in front of his coffin in the wooden shack to offer their condolences.

Later on, Shaolin Pai also sent thirty-six monks to offer prayers for Yin Tianzheng’s departing soul. But they had only read several verses from the scripture when Yin Yewang, with a ‘ku sang’ staff [from MDBG dictionary: a mourning staff draped in white, held at a funeral to show filial piety] in his hand, exploded in anger and chased these thirty-six monks out.

From the side, Zhou Dian shouted his curse, “Hypocritical Shaolin bald donkeys!”

Zhang Wuji’s heart was still burdened with their rescue effort; several times he consulted Yang Xiao, Peng Yingyu, Zhao Min, and the others, but nobody was able to offer a good solution. Zhao Min wanted to try the ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’ in Du E’s, three monks, diet. She also wanted to summon Lu Zhangke and He Biweng to collaborate with Zhang Wuji. But on both accounts Zhang Wuji, Yang Xiao and the others thought it was inappropriate.