an nodded.

“Let’s head out to Luoyang tonight,” Madam Wang said. “Fortunately, we know who the enemy is now. It is never too late for revenge, even if we have to wait for ten years.”

“That’s right! Father-in-law has friends all over. He will be able to come up with a solution. Let’s pack now and we’ll leave right away,” Lin Zhennan said.

“If we leave, who’s going to take care of the people in the Escort House?” Lin Pingzhi asked.

“The enemy has no score to settle with them. After we leave, all the others in the Escort House will actually be safer,” Lin Zhennan explained.

Lin Pingzhi thought aloud, “That’s very true! The enemy had killed so many people in the Escort House, all because of me. After I leave, the enemy will just leave all the escorts and henchmen alone.” So he went back to his room to pack. He looked at all his robes and toys; afraid that the foes might just burn the Escort House to the ground, he could not bear to part with any of them, so even though he already had packed two big bags, he still felt that there were too many things left behind. He picked up a jade horse statue on the table with his left hand, and then grabbed a leopard fur with his right hand, a fur that was skinned from a leopard he had killed, himself. Carrying all the bags, he strode to his parents’ room.

When Madam Wang saw him, she couldn’t help grinning.

“We are escaping, not moving. What are you going to do with all this stuff?” she asked amusedly.

Lin Zhennan sighed and shook his head, thinking to himself, “Although we’ve been a Martial Arts family for generations, our son is so used to living in ease and comfort that except for the Kung Fu he has learned, he is no different from any rich, profligate son. Now, when a sudden misfortune has forced us to run away in a hurry, how can I blame him?” Love and tender affection welled up in his heart, and he could not help but try to comfort his son.

“Grandfather’s house has everything you need. Don’t bring so much stuff. All we need to bring is enough silver, gold, and valuable jewelry. On our way, we’ll be passing by our Escort House branches in Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei. Do you think that we have to beg the whole way? The lighter the pack, the better. The less you carry, the easier it is to move about when you fight.”

At those words, Lin Pingzhi had no choice but to put down the packages.

“Which way shall we take, dashing out the front gate or sneaking out from the back?” Madam Wang asked.

But Lin Zhennan didn’t answer. He sat down in the armchair, closed his eyes and began smoking his pipe. A while later, he opened his eyes.

“Pingzhi, go tell everyone in the Escort House to pack their belongings and get ready to leave by dawn tomorrow morning. Ask the bookkeepers to distribute money to them. After the plague is over, then we’ll all come back.”

“Yes, Father!” Lin Pingzhi answered, feeling a bit surprised that his father had changed his mind all of a sudden.

“Are you asking everybody to just break up in chaos? Who’s going to watch the Escort House then?” Madam Wang was also confused.

“There’s no need to watch the house anymore. This is a condemned house, haunted by demons. Who would dare to come in? After we leave, who do you think would remain?” Lin Zhennan explained.

Lin Pingzhi went out to spread the message. Not long after, the whole Escort House was filled with commotion. Lin Zhennan waited until Lin Pingzhi left, and then spoke again.

“Wife, tomorrow Pingzhi and I will change into henchman’s clothes, and you can disguise yourself as a maid. At dawn, over a hundred people will rush out and disperse at the same time; no matter how fierce the enemies are, they only have two or three people at most, and won’t know whom to pursue.”

“Great idea!” Madam Wang applauded. She went out, and soon came back with two sets of dirty henchman garments, so when Lin Pingzhi came back, he and his father could put them on. She, herself, had changed into a set of dark blue clothes, with a piece of handkerchief decorated with blue flowers covering her hair. Now, except for her extremely white skin color, she looked just like an ordinary maid. Lin Pingzhi also changed into the henchman clothes. They stank terribly, but he had no other choice.

At dawn, Lin Zhennan had the gate opened and addressed all who had gathered in the court, “This year has not been a good year for us. We’ve suffered plagues and have been haunted by demons in the Escort House. I guess we’ll just have to stay away for a while. All brothers, who still want to remain in the escorting business, please go to Hangzhou and Nancang to join our Zhejiang and Jiangxi branch Escort Houses. Escort Liu and Escort Yi there will treat you well. Now let us go!”

After these words, all of the over one hundred people mounted their horses and rushed out of the gate. Lin Zhennan locked the gate and, with a howl, ten riders dashed over the bloodline. Everyone was greatly encouraged, and by now, neither was as afraid as before, all thinking the same thought – the earlier they left the Escort House, the safer. So, with the thunder of hoof beats, several rode toward the north gate of the city. Most people did not have any specific plan, so they all followed and headed toward the north gate.

Lin Zhennan signaled his wife and son to stop by the corner of the street. “Let them go north, we shall go south instead,” he whispered.

“Isn’t Luoyang north from here? Why are we going south?” Madam Wang could not understand.

“The enemy probably had guessed where we are heading to, and have set up an ambush outside the north gate. But, if we go south instead, and then make a turn later, to go back north, the ambush will not work,” Lin Zhennan explained.

“Father!” Lin Pingzhi suddenly called out.

“What is it, son?” Lin Zhennan asked, but Lin Pingzhi did not say anything more. After a little while he called again, “Father!”

“What do you want to say, just speak out,” Madam Wang encouraged him.

“I still want to go out from the north gate,” Lin Pingzhi declared. “These damn monsters have killed so many of our people, if we don’t fight them to the death, how can we vent our anger?”

“Of course we will get our revenge. But with your skill level, can you defeat his Heart Crushing Palm?” asked Madam Wang rhetorically.

“So what! At most I’ll just get killed like Escort Huo with my heart crushed in pieces!” Lin Pingzhi rebuffed her.

Lin Zhennan’s face turned livid with anger. “If all the three generations of our Lin family had acted as recklessly as you, the Fortune Prestige Escort House would have collapsed by itself, saving our enemies the trouble,” he bellowed.

Lin Pingzhi did not dare say another word, and just followed his parents quietly. They kept heading south, until they were well out of town, and then turned southwest. After crossing the Min River, they arrived at a small town, Nanyu. They continued the trip for half a day without stopping anywhere. When they finally needed a respite, it was already past noon.

Seeing a small restaurant by the road, they decided to stop and have something to eat. Lin Zhennan told the waiter to bring whatever was available and that the food should be prepared as fast as possible. The waiter took the order and left, but after a long while, there was no food forthcoming.

“Waiter, hurry up!” wanting to resume their trip as fast as possible, Lin Zhennan yelled. He yelled one more time, but there was still no response.

Madam Wang started calling out as well, “Waiter, waiter….” Still no response.

Jumping up from her seat, Madam Wang drew the golden saber out from her pack. Gripping it tightly in her hand, she ran to the back room, only to find the waiter lying prone on the ground. There was also a woman lying draped over the threshold. Madam Wang put her finger near the waiter’s nostrils and found that he was not breathing. She felt the lips of the body. They were still warm.

By then, Lin Zhennan and Lin Pingzhi had already drawn their swords and started checking around the small restaurant. The small restaurant stood next to a hill all by itself, adjacent to a small forest, with no other shop or neighbor nearby. The trio stood in front of the restaurant and gazed into the distance in all directions, but there was nothing unusual at all.

Lin Zhennan held his sword in front of him and started shouting in a loud voice.

“Friends of the Qingcheng Sword School, Lin Zhennan is right here awaiting his destiny. Please show yourselves.”

He called out several times, but was only answered by his own echoes, “Show yourself…show yourself…!” The trio knew that their enemies were watching close by. This was, obviously, the spot where they had decided to make their attack. All three of them gasped nervously, but knowing that everything would be soon over, one way or the other, they also felt a sense of relief and were able to regain some sense of calm.

“Lin Pingzhi stands before you! Come and get me! You filthy scoundrels! I know you’re too scared to show yourselves. All you can do is to sneak around, like thieving pickpockets!” Lin Pingzhi yelled.

Suddenly, laughter shot toward them from the woods. Lin Pingzhi only had enough time to take in the glimpse of a blurry shadow, before finding a man standing right in front of him. He did not even bother to take a good look at the man before thrusting his sword toward the man’s chest, using the move called Attack Straight To The Heart. The man turned to one side and dodged the attack. Lin Pingzhi changed the thrust to a slash to the side. The man sneered and stepped around to Lin Pingzhi’s left. Lin Pingzhi struck with his left hand and then thrust the sword back.

Lin Zhennan and Madam Wang both had their weapons in hand and were about to jump in to help, but after seeing the well-arranged series of moves Lin Pingzhi had put together, they both stepped back. Lin Pingzhi appeared to be very calm and well organized while fighting such a tough enemy. The man wore a purple robe and had a sword hanging at his waist. He seemed to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, and disdain was written all over his long face.

Lin Pingzhi could no longer keep his anger under control. He chopped and stabbed and slashed and diced using the Evil-Resisting Sword Art recklessly, not worrying about his own safety. The man just moved around, dodging attacks without bothering to draw his own sword or fight back. After Lin Pingzhi had used about twenty different moves or so, the man finally sneered.

“Is this the vaunted Evil-Resisting Sword Art? How mediocre!”

He flicked the sword with his finger, and there was a reverberating ring. Lin Pingzhi felt a sharp pain between his thumb and index finger, and could no longer hold on to his sword. The sword fell to the ground. And before he knew it, the man threw a sidekick at him, which knocked him down and sent him rolling across the ground. Immediately, Lin Zhennan and Madam Wang rushed over and stood side by side to shield their son behind them.

“What’s your name? Are you from the Qingcheng Sword School?” Lin Zhennan demanded.

“With the paltry skills of your Fortune Prestige Escort House, you aren’t worthy to know my name. But, since I am here for revenge today, I’ll make an exception. You’re right, I am from the Qingcheng Sword School,” the man said haughtily.

Lin Zhennan pointed his sword to the ground and then cupped his hands in a formal greeting. “I have always held Master Yu of the Pine-Wind Temple in the highest regard,” he said. “Every year I’ve sent escorts to the Qingcheng Sword School with gifts and have never deigned to be impolite in any way. This year, Master Yu has even sent four apprentices to Fuzhou. I wonder how we have offended you?”

The man rolled his eyes and sneered. After a long while he finally replied, “You are correct! My Master did send four apprentices to Fuzhou, and I am one of them.”

“Excellent! What is your honorable name then?” Lin Zhennan asked again.

The young man seemed disinclined to answer the question, but with a sniff, he stated, “My surname is Yu, I am Yu Renhao.”

“‘Ying Xiong Hao Jie, The Four Aces of Qingcheng.’[21] You are one of the four great apprentices of the Pine-Wind Temple,” Lin Zhennan said with a nod, “no wonder your Heart Crushing Palm technique is so powerful, capable of killing without drawing blood. Impressive!! Very impressive!! Mr. Yu has come such a long way to visit, and Lin Zhennan did not greet him properly; our lack of manners is unforgivable.”

“The Heart Crushing Palm technique…humph…you did not greet us, but that Kung Fu master son of yours sure did. He even killed my Master’s beloved son. Yes, quite a show of manners,” Yu Renhao spoke with dead seriousness.

A cold shiver ran up Lin Zhennan’s spine. He knew that if his son had only killed a normal apprentice of the Qingcheng Sword School, then he could ask a well-respected member of the Martial World to intervene and arrange for a formal apology to the Qingcheng Sword School, which might have solved the problem. But if the victim were really the son of the Pine-Wind Temple Master Yu Canghai, there would no longer be any alternative, except to fight, until one side or the other was completely annihilated. He waved his sword and let out a couple of laughs.

“Funny, very funny! Young Hero Yu, you have told a good joke!”

“Who’s joking?” Yu Renhao replied coldly with raised eyebrow.

“I have long admired Master Yu for his amazing Kung Fu skills and his strict discipline with his students,” Lin Zhennan said. “In fact, everyone in the Martial World feels the same way. However, the person my son killed was just a punk who was harassing an innocent girl in a wine shop. Since my son was able to kill him, one can easily tell that his Kung Fu skills must have been very limited. How could such a person possibly be Master Yu’s son? Thus, I conclude that the Young Hero Yu must be joking?”

Presented with this line of logic, Yu Renhao was at a loss for words.

Suddenly another voice came from the woods, “There is an old saying: ‘Two fists can not parry four hands.’ In that tiny wine shop, your Young Master Lin and twenty-four escorts ambushed my junior apprentice brother Yu…!” The speaker walked out as he spoke. He had a small head and waved a folding fan casually. He continued, “If it was a fair fight, then there’s not much to talk about. To be frank, even if the Fortune Prestige Escort House had a lot more people, it wouldn’t have made any difference. But your Young Master Lin not only poisoned junior apprentice brother Yu’s wine, but also shot seventeen different kinds of toxic projectiles at him. Humph, this son of a turtle is so treacherous. We came to visit in good will, and never expected to be greeted with an ambush.”

“What is your honorable name?” Lin Zhennan asked coldly.

“No honorable name at all. I am Fang Renzhi,” the man answered.

By then, Lin Pingzhi had picked up his sword and had been standing angrily by the side, waiting for his father to finish the conversation, before jumping in to fight once again. But when he heard all of the nonsense from Fang Renzhi, he couldn’t help but shout angrily, “That is completely false! I had no grievance with him; I’ve never even met him before; I didn’t know that he was from the Qingcheng Sword School; why would I want to harm him?”

“Bull, bull! Stinking lies!” Fang Renzhi shook his head. “If you did not have ill feelings toward my junior apprentice brother Yu, why did you hide some thirty escorts and henchmen outside the little shop then? My junior apprentice brother Yu saw you harassing that innocent girl, so he knocked you down to teach you a lesson. He spared your life, but not only were you ungrateful, but you instructed all those damn escorts to attack my junior apprentice brother Yu at once.”

Lin Pingzhi felt that his lungs were going to explode with rage. “Is everyone from the Qingcheng Sword School a rascal who lies through his teeth?” he snarled.

“The son of a turtle says we’re liars!” Fang Renzhi said with a big grin.

“I said that. So what?” Lin Pingzhi retorted angrily.

“Continue to do so, it doesn’t matter to me.” Fang Renzhi nodded.

Lin Pingzhi was surprised. These words were completely unexpected. Suddenly he heard a “swoosh” and realized that somebody was jumping toward him. He hurriedly struck out with his left palm but was still one step too slow. With the sound of flesh against flesh, he was slapped hard across the right cheek. Sparkles began to swirl in front of his eyes; he almost passed out.

Fang Renzhi retreated back to where he was standing after his lightning quick attack. Putting his hand on his own right cheek, he yelled angrily, “Punk, what did you hit me for? Ouch, it hurts! Ha-ha.”

Seeing her son being humiliated, Madam Wang jumped forth and swung her saber toward the man. This was a move called Wild Fire Burning The Sky. Her attack was steady and vicious. The man jumped out of the way and the blade missed his right arm by a mere four inches.

“Damn bitch!” completely shocked, the man cursed. Not daring to take his opponent lightly, he drew his sword and deflected another of Madam Wang’s strikes.

“If the Qingcheng Sword School wants to get rid of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, that’s easy; but as to who is right and who is wrong, the Martial World will definitely be the judge of that. Young Sir Yu, if you please!” Lin Zhennan saluted Yu with his sword.

Yu Renhao pressed on his sheath, and the sword jumped out of the sheath with a ring of steel. “Chief Master Lin, after you!”

Lin Zhennan thought to himself, “I’ve long heard that the Pine-Wind Sword Art of the Qingcheng Sword School is both sturdy and light. They say that it is as sturdy as the pine and as light as the wind. I must try to control the initiative for a chance to win.” At that thought, he started his attack immediately. After thrusting the sword toward the enemy as a feint, he swiped his sword sideways. This was one move of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art called Keep Away Evil. Seeing the ferocity of the blow, Yu Renhao dodged out of the way. Lin Zhennan did not wait to complete the move; he immediately followed up with another move – Eye-Picking Zhong Kui,[22] the point of his sword shot straight toward his opponent’s eyes, and as soon as Yu Renhao jumped back from the tip of the sword, his third attack immediately followed. Yu Renhao raised his sword and blocked the thrust with a clash of metal. Both felt the impact in their arms.

“I thought the Kung Fu of the Qingcheng Sword School was really something,” Lin Zhennan thought, “but it seems to be only average. With this level of skill, how could he possibly perform the powerful Heart Crushing Palm? He must have another powerful helper around.” With this realization, his heart pumped faster.

Yu Renhao rounded his sword and stabbed at Lin Zhennan, directing his attack at seven different parts of Lin Zhennan’s body almost simultaneously. The thrusts were so fast that it seemed as though the air between them have been suddenly filled with the flicker of silver stars. Lin Zhennan’s counter attack was just as fast, working hard to control the initiative. The two fought back and forth, and after over twenty moves, they were still at a standstill.

At the other end, the fight between Madam Wang and Fang Renzhi turned out to be a totally different story. Madam Wang’s golden saber was simply no match for the incredible speed of her opponent’s attacks; it was already a miracle how she managed the several narrow escapes. Seeing his mother on the verge of losing, Lin Pingzhi hurriedly joined in. He swung his sword downward at Fang Renzhi’s head. Fang Renzhi moved aside and dodged the attack. Lin Pingzhi lunged forth again like a madman. Suddenly, he tripped on something. Losing his balance completely, he fell flat on his face. “Stay down!” he heard somebody yell, and then he felt a foot pressing down, heavily, on his back in addition to the sharp prick of a blade. All he could see was the dirt on the ground. He heard his mother screaming, “Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him!” Then he heard Fang Renzhi yelling, “You lie down, too.”

What actually happened was that when Lin Pingzhi and his mother were fighting Fang Renzhi, a third man had sneaked in from behind and swept Lin Pingzhi with his leg, causing him to stumble. He then pulled out a dagger and placed it right at Lin Pingzhi’s heart. Madam Wang was already having a hard time defending herself. With this distraction, she started panicking, and her moves became careless. It became easy for Fang Renzhi to elbow her in the ribs and knock her off her feet.

Fang Renzhi quickly sealed their pressure points.[23] The man who tripped Lin Pingzhi was none other than Jia, who had fought against the two escorts in the small wine shop outside of Fuzhou.

Seeing both his wife and son captured by the enemy, Lin Zhennan also panicked and attacked more desperately. Yu Renhao let out a long laugh and suddenly attacked with several moves and gained all the initiatives in the fight.

“How did this man learn the moves of my Evil-Resisting Sword Art?” Lin Zhennan was astonished.

“How’s my Evil-Resisting Sword Art?” Yu Renhao let out a broad grin.

“How…how…did you learn the Evil-Resisting…?” Lin Zhennan could only stutter.

“What’s so great about your Evil-Resisting Sword Art? I learned it too,” Fang Renzhi started laughing hard. He held his sword and started performing the forms – Keep Away The Evils, Eye-Picking Zhong Kui, and Swallow Flying Through the Willow Tree – all were moves of Evil-Resisting Sword Art. In that instant, Lin Zhennan was utterly filled with horror. He could have never imagined that his family’s very own secret technique, the Evil-Resisting Sword Art, being performed by his enemies. He was so confused that he completely lost the will to continue the fight.

“Gotcha!” Yu Renhao blurted out as he hit Lin Zhennan’s knee. The knee went numb and gave out on Lin Zhennan, forcing him to kneel down. Though he jumped back up immediately, Yu Renhao had already pressed the tip of his sword at Lin’s chest.

“Junior apprentice brother Yu, what an excellent display of Shooting Star Chasing The Moon!” Jia Renda cheered loudly. Like the others, Shooting Star Chasing The Moon turned out to be yet another move of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art.

“You…you know the Evil-Resisting Sword Art…Ok, just make it quick!” Lin Zhennan heaved a long sigh and dropped his sword. Numbness spread from his back as Fang Renzhi sealed his pressure point with a blow from the pommel of the sword. Then, he heard Fang Renzhi speak again.

“It’s not going to end that easy, you swine! You son of a turtle, wife of a turtle, and grandson of a turtle, the three of you are going to have the exquisite privilege of meeting my Master!”

Jia Renda grabbed Lin Pingzhi and lifted him up by the collar, slapping him hard on both cheeks.

“You little rascal,” he snarled, “starting this day, I am going to slap you eighteen times a day, from here all the way to Mount Qingcheng. I am going to slap you till your puny little face is changed beyond recognition!”

Filled with hatred, Lin Pingzhi spat at Jia Renda. Because the two were only a foot from each other, Jia Renda had no chance of dodging, and the wad of saliva hit him right on the nose with a wet smack. Jia Renda was furious. He hurled Lin Pingzhi to the ground and began to kick him on his back.

“Enough, enough!” Fang Renzhi restrained Jia with a big grin. “If you kick him to death, how are we going to explain this to the Master? This scum is as fragile as a girl; he can’t handle your punches and kicks.”

Jia Renda’s Kung Fu was just average, but his character was even worse. His Master was never fond of him, and even his fellow apprentices looked down on him. When he heard Fang Renzhi’s words, he didn’t dare kick Lin Pingzhi again. So instead, he spat at Lin Pingzhi to vent his anger.

Fang and Yu carried the three members of the Lin family into the small restaurant and threw them onto the floor.

“Let’s eat something first before we start our trip. Junior apprentice Jia, go cook us something, will you?” Fang Renzhi commanded.

“Sure,” Jia Renda answered in compliance.

“Apprentice brother Fang, we have to be careful, not to let these three escape. The old one’s Kung Fu isn’t half bad; we’ll have to figure something out,” Yu Renhao mused.

“That’s easy!” Fang Renzhi said with a nasty grin. “After we eat, we’ll just cut the nerves and tendons in their wrists and ankles. We can thread these three sons of turtles’ collarbones with a rope and tie them together, just like a string of crabs. I’ll bet you nobody can run away, then!”

Lin Pingzhi let loose a torrent of abuse. “If you’ve got guts, kill the three of us right now. Only dirty lowlife scum would do what you are going to do.”

“One more word out of your little rascal’s mouth, and I’ll find some cow dung or dog crap to stuff your mouth with.” Fang Renzhi threatened him with a wolfish grin. These words silenced him, although it made Lin Pingzhi almost pass out with rage. He shut his mouth immediately and did not dare say another word.

“Junior apprentice brother Yu,” Fang Renzhi said. “Our Master taught us the seventy-two moves of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art, and we actually did a good job performing them. As soon as the Chief Master Lin saw those moves, he was scared out of his wits, and his body just gave out on him. Chief Master Lin, I guess you must be wondering at this very moment: How the hell did the Qingcheng Sword School learn the Lin family’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art? Am I right?”

At the moment, that was exactly the question Lin Zhennan was pondering in his head: “How the hell did the Qingcheng Sword School learn the Lin family’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art?”

__________

[1] Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian province, which is in the southeast part of China, just across the strait from Taiwan.

[2] Note here that Pingzhi is actually the first name. In China, one’s family name is always placed before one’s first name to show respect to the family heritage. The same applies to all names mentioned in the story.

[3] Bamboo Green is the name of a very famous Chinese wine. It got its name because the color of the wine is like the leaves of bamboo.

[4] Tael is a unit of weight (anciently it was 32.5 grams). It was popular as the unit for silver currency in ancient China.

[5] Szechwan (Sichuan) is a province south from the center of China. It is far away from the province of Fujian and is famous for its very spicy food.

[6] In ancient China, it was considered low class for people to not wear anything on their legs.

[7] It is an old tradition in China that when a relative or an official in great power dies, people tie white cloth to their foreheads to show respect.

[8] Marquis Zhuge Liang was a very famous and well-respected military counselor in Szechwan of ancient China. (See his story in “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Luo Guanzhong.)

[9] To kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in expression of deep respect, worship, or submission, as formerly done in ancient China.

[10] Hunan is a neighbor province northwest of Fujian Province.

[11] See the story “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Luo Guanzhong.

[12] Qingcheng and Emei are two famous mountains in Szechwan Province. Martial arts groups tend to either use the style of their martial arts or the name of the place they live in, as names for their groups.

[13] In Taoism and Buddhism, the high-level monks or Taoists will shut themselves in a cave or somewhere similar to meditate for a couple of weeks, without seeing anyone. They believe this meditation is helpful in their studies.

[14] Luoyang is a large city in Henan province, which is far northwest from Fujian province.

[15] Shaolin is a Buddhism temple in Henan province. Its monks are very famous for the Shaolin style martial arts form. Wutang is a Taoist temple in Hubei province. It is the second most famous martial arts group. (Tai-Chi was created by Wutang.)

[16] In Chinese, “Shan” stands for mountain. These are five large mountains in central, eastern, southern, western and northern China. People call them the Five Mountains. Two of these have the same pronunciation, so we will be distinguishing them by using Hengshan and Heng-Shan.

Central: Songshan (Henan Province);

Eastern: Taishan (Shandong Province);

Southern: Hengshan (Hunan Province);

Western: Huashan (Shanxi Province);

Northern: Heng-Shan (Hebei Province).

[17] This is a Chinese way of greeting, by cupping one fist with the palm of another hand and bowing slightly.

[18] In the Chinese zodiac, an animal represents each year. There are a total of twelve animals, and the cycle starts over after every twelve years.

[19] This is a very famous dish in China. It got its name from a story: The smell of the dish was so good that the monk next door climbed over the wall to steal it.

[20] In ancient China, people did not have glass to seal their windows. Instead, they used paper to seal the frames.

[21] “Ying Xiong Hao Jie” is a Chinese phrase meaning heroes. The four great apprentices of Qingcheng each use one character in their names. Yu Renhao is using the character “Hao.”

[22] When Chinese martial artists name their moves, they always like to use names from legendary stories. Zhong Kui was half-god half-human in Chinese mythology and he has the special power to drive evil spirits away.

[23] According to Chinese martial art and medical procedures, there are many “pressure points” on a human body. By pinning or hitting them, you can disable the movements of muscles, blood flow or information flow from the nerves. Fang Renzhi hit their pressure points so that they could not move and had to stay still.