ould have asked you to tell my son without your asking about it.” Lin Zhennan sighed.

“That’s exactly why I think you are dumb,” Mu Gaofeng explained. “Your heart arteries are already busted. I don’t even have to touch you with a little finger; you’d be dead, anyway. You simply won’t last another hour, why are you so stubborn and simply refuse to tell me where the sword art manuscript is? Obviously, it’s because you want to reserve the Lin family Kung Fu that was passed down from your ancestors. But after you are dead, Lin Pingzhi would be all there is left in the Lin family. If he’s dead too, then there’s this sword manuscript, but there won’t be any Lin family’s descendents left to practice it; what good would that do your Lin family to leave the sword manuscript in this world?”

“Is my son…my son alright?” Mrs. Lin asked in terror.

“Right now, of course he is alright. Once you tell me where the sword art manuscript is, and after I get it, I promise I will give it to your son. And when he has questions when he studies it, I can also give him some good pointers, so he won’t be like his dad, Master Chief Lin, who studied the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art’ for his entire life and still had no clue about how to use it whatsoever. Wouldn’t that be a better choice than smashing him dead with a knife hand chop?” Smashing sounds rose from inside the temple. Apparently he had just smashed some big object into pieces.

“Why…why do you want to smash him dead?” Mrs. Lin asked fearfully.

Mu Gaofeng burst into loud laughter. “Lin Pingzhi is my apprentice. If I want him alive, he will stay alive. If I want him dead, he will die. Anytime I feel like smashing him dead, all I need to do is to raise my hand.” Some more smashing sounds came. He had smashed some more things.

“Wife, enough talks. He doesn’t have our son, otherwise, why wouldn’t he bring him here and threaten to kill him right in front of our eyes?” Lin Zhennan said.

Mu Gaofeng laughed out loud. He said, “I said you were dumb, and you really, really are dumb. If the ‘Hunchback of the North’ wants to kill your son, is it that hard? Let’s assume that he is not in my hands right now, but if I am really determined to find him and whack him, you really think it’s going to be that difficult for me? I have friends and information sources all over the Martial World. To find your darling baby son is like a piece of cake.”

“Husband, if he really decides to give our son trouble….” Mrs. Lin said to Lin Zhennan in a low voice.

“Yeah! Once you tell me, even if the both of you cannot survive, you still have Lin Pingzhi to carry on with your name. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Mu Gaofeng encouraged.

Lin Zhennan laughed. “Wife, if we tell him where the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’ is, the first thing he’ll do is get the sword art manuscript; the second thing on the list will be to kill our son. If we don’t tell him, in order to get the sword art manuscript, the hunchback would have no other choice but to protect Pingzhi’s life. As long as Pingzhi doesn’t tell him, the hunchback would never dare to harm him. You must understand the trick here.”

“You are right!” Mrs. Lin said in agreement. “Hunchback, go ahead and kill us,” she yelled at Mu Gaofeng.

By then, Linghu Chong knew that Mu Gaofeng must be infuriated. If he couldn’t figure out a way to draw Mu Gaofeng away, then the Lin couple would be dead in no time for sure. So he said loudly, “Senior Master Mu, following my Master’s order, Huashan Sword School apprentice Linghu Chong here invites Senior Master Mu to come out. We have something important to discuss with you.”

In great rage, Mu Gaofeng had raised his hand, ready to strike down on Lin Zhennan’s head, when he suddenly heard the words from Linghu Chong outside of the temple. He was dumfounded. It was rare for him to ever give ways to others, but the Head Master of the Huashan Sword School, Yue Buqun, surely made him think twice, especially after his dreadful encounter with the “Divine Art of Violet Twilight” of Yue Buqun outside of the “Jade House” the other day. Probably Yue Buqun and his apprentices had been eavesdropping outside the temple for quite a while when he threatened the Lin couple. That type of deeds was really looked down upon by all the chivalrous schools.

“Yue Buqun asked me out to discuss something? He will probably pretend to make peace between the Lin couple and I, while actually casting sarcastic remarks. A wise man will never put himself in a disadvantageous situation. I’d better take off now,” he told himself.

“Sorry,” he said after making up his mind, “I really don’t have any time. I already have previous arrangements. Please tell your Master that whenever he gets some free time, he is welcome to visit me near the northern border. I will be humbly awaiting for him!”

He jumped out of the hall into the courtyard. Pressing hard on the ground with his left foot, he had jumped up the roof and then down to the back of the temple. Afraid to be stopped and questioned by Yue Buqun, he disappeared in an instant.

Hearing that Mu Gaofeng had fled, Linghu Chong was so glad. “Wow, this hunchback is really scared of my Master. If he hadn’t run away and decided to fight me, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

With the help of the branch, he slowly walked into the tiny temple housing the village god. The hall was enveloped in darkness. There was no lights or candles. He could only make out two shadows of a man and a woman sitting on the floor leaning against each other.

“I am Linghu Chong of the Huashan Sword School. Apprentice brother Pingzhi has also joined our sword school just recently. I am here to pay my respect to Uncle Lin and Auntie Lin,” he said with a bow.

Lin Zhennan burst with joy. “Young sir, you are really flattering us. We are both injured severely, so please pardon us for greeting back. Is our son really an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School’s Hero Yue now?” His voice trembled in the last couple of words.

Yue Buqun had a much bigger fame in the Martial World than Yu Canghai. Every year, Lin Zhennan had been sending presents to the Qingcheng Sword School to fawn on Yu Canghai, but he dared not to send any present to the Huashan Sword School, knowing that he would be in no position to make friends with one of the Head Masters of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. Now seeing that even such a ferocious Mu Gaofeng fled as soon as he heard the name of the Huashan Sword School mentioned, and his son so fortunate to have become an apprentice of the Huashan Sword School, he found himself in high spirits and his heart filled with joy.

“Yes,” Linghu Chong answered. “The hunchback Mu Gaofeng was forcing your son to become his apprentice, but your son simply wouldn’t agree. The hunchback got mad and was about to harm your son when my Master happened to be passing by. So Master was able to save him. Your son begged Master sincerely to take him in as an apprentice. Seeing his sincerity and that he would make a good apprentice, Master did not object. Earlier Master just had a sword fight with Yu Canghai and defeated him in the fight. Yu Canghai ran away, and Master chased after him in order to get the whereabouts of you two, Uncle and Auntie. But he didn’t know that you two are actually right here.”

“I wish…wish Pingzhi could get here soon. We don’t have much time left.” Lin Zhennan murmured. He breathed hard, but it still seemed that more air was breathed out than in; he was really on the threshold of meeting death.

“Uncle Lin, don’t talk. After my Master takes care of the business with Yu Canghai, he’ll come back looking for you. The respectful Master must have a way to heal you,” Linghu Chong comforted him.

Lin Zhennan let out a wry smile and then closed his eyes. After a few moments, he spoke again in a low voice, “Little brother Linghu, I…I…I am not going to make it. I am overjoyed to know that Pingzhi was taken into the Huashan Sword School. Will you…you please help take care…care of him?”

“Uncle, please don’t worry. Apprentice brother Lin will be studying together with us, and we will be like brothers in a family. I will put in extra effort to take good care of him,” Linghu Chong assured him.

“Thanks to your great kindness, we will be remembering it even after we head to the underworld,” Mrs. Lin cut in.

“Please, don’t talk much. Concentrate on your breathing and you will feel better,” Linghu Chong suggested.

Lin Zhennan appeared to be short of breath. Disjointedly, he said, “Will you…will you please tell my son? The thing in the basement of the old Lin House in the Xiang-Yang Alley of Fuzhou has…has been handed down in the family from generation to generation. He must…he must take good care of it. But…but his great grandfather Sir Yuantu had said in his last words: ‘for all my descendents, you shall never read it, or great misfortune will fall upon you.’ Please tell…tell him to remember that well.”

Linghu Chong nodded. “All right! I will take the message to him,” he promised.

Lin Zhennan murmured, “Many…many…many….” The word “thanks” never made it out of his mouth before he fell dead.

Wishing to see his son one last time and tell him these important words himself, Lin Zhennan had been struggling to hold out. Now after Linghu Chong gave his word that he would take the message, and knowing his son had found such a good home, in great joy, he had no regrets left. As soon as he gave up on the struggle, he departed with the living world.

“Young hero Linghu,” Mrs. Lin said, “I hope you will tell my son never to forget seeking revenge for his parents.” She threw herself toward the stone steps under the columns of the temple and bumped her head hard onto one of the steps. With her previous fatal injuries, the bump killed her instantly.

Linghu Chong heaved a deep sigh, and couldn’t help thinking aloud, “Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng both tried to force the whereabouts of the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’ out from Lin Zhennan, but he would rather die than speak out the secret. Only when he knew he was going to die right away, he had no choice but to ask me to take a message. But he still feared that I would go take out the sword art manuscript of his Lin family, so he said something like ‘you shall never read it, or great misfortune will fall upon you.’ Humph, what kind of person did you think Linghu Chong was? Did you actually think I would covet the sword art manuscript of your Lin family? You were really worrying yourself for nothing…?”

By then he was totally exhausted, so he sat down leaning against a column and rested with his eyes shut.

A good while passed when Yue Buqun’s voice finally rose outside the temple, “Let’s check out this temple.”

“Master, Master!” Linghu Chong shouted out loud.

“Is that Chong?” Yue Buqun asked in delight.

“Yes, it’s me!” Linghu Chong answered. He propped himself up slowly against the column.

It was already near dawn, so when Yue Buqun entered the temple, he easily spotted the bodies of the Lin Couple. “Are they Chief Master Lin and his wife?” he asked with a frown.

“Yes.” Linghu Chong answered and then went ahead and told everything: how Mu Gaofeng had compelled the Lin couple, and how he scared Mu Gaofeng off but the Lin couple still died because of the injuries. He also told his Master the last words of Lin Zhennan.

“Ah, Yu Canghai had really committed some terrible sins this time, yet he got nothing,” Yue Buqun muttered to himself.

“Master, did that dwarf Yu asked you for mercy?” Linghu Chong asked in an excited tone.

“Master Yu has very fast legs. I chased him for quite some time, yet was only getting further and further behind him. The Qing-Gong of the Qingcheng Sword School is, I guess, somewhat better than ours of the Huashan Sword School,” Yue Buqun replied.

“The Qingcheng Sword School’s ‘bum bum back fleeing’ Kung Fu is definitely better than other schools.” Linghu Chong burst into laughter.

Yue Buqun pulled a long face and reproached, “Chong, you’ve really gotten a glib tongue with no decency. How would you be a role model for all your apprentice brothers and sisters if you keep acting like this?”

Linghu Chong turned his head aside, stuck his tongue out and made a face. “Yes, Master!” he answered

“If you agree, then agree. Why did you stick your tongue out when you answered? You are not being honest,” Yue Buqun criticized.

“Yes, Master!” Linghu Chong replied.

Yue Buqun had brought him up since he was little. To him, Yue Buqun was almost like a father figure. Although he revered the Master, he never reserved himself much in front of the Master.

“Master, how did you know that I stuck my tongue out?” he asked with a grin.

Yu Buqun snorted. “The muscles under your ear were retracting, so of course you were sticking your tongue out. You always like to run wild. See, you’ve come to a good grief this time! Are your wounds better now?”

“Yes, they are much better now,” Linghu Chong answered. He then added, “Well, the more grief this time, the smarter next time!”

Yue Buqun scolded, “Don’t you think you are too smart already?”

He took a signal flare out from his pocket and walked into the courtyard. Lighting the fuse with a match, he threw the flare up into the air. The flare rocketed high into the sky, and with a loud “Bang,” it exploded in the air, leaving a trail of silver light in the shape of a long sword, hanging in the sky for a long while. Then the sword shaped light trail descended slowly for a couple hundred feet before finally bursting into hundreds of glitters. That was the type of signal flare used by the Head Master of the Huashan Sword School to call on all school members.

Soon footsteps from a distance rose as someone ran toward the tiny temple.

“Master, are you here?” Gao Gengming’s voice shouted from outside.

“Yes, I am in the temple,” Yue Buqun answered.

Gao Gengming came into the temple and bowed to Yue Buqun. “Master!” Seeing that Linghu Chong was standing next to the Master, he said cheerfully, “Big apprentice brother! Are you alright? We became really worried when we heard that you were severely wounded.”

“I guess I am plain lucky this time. I am still alive,” Linghu Chong said with a smile.

More sounds of footsteps came from the distance. It was Lao Denuo and Lu Dayou this time. As soon as Lu Dayou saw Linghu Chong, spending no time greeting the Master, he rushed straight forth toward Linghu Chong and gave a big hug to him while shouting happy words wildly. Then third apprentice Liang Fa and fourth apprentice Shi Daizi came into the temple one after another. After a few moments, seventh apprentice Tao Jun, eighth apprentice Ying Luobai, Yue Buqun’s daughter Yue Lingshan, and the new apprentice Lin Pingzhi came all at once.

Seeing his parents’ bodies, Lin Pingzhi threw himself onto them and began crying bitterly. All the fellow apprentices felt real sorry for him.

Yue Lingshan was gleefully surprised when she saw that Linghu Chong was all right. But seeing Lin Pingzhi’s bitter grief, she knew it wouldn’t be appropriate to express her cheerfulness out loud at this moment, so she walked by Linghu Chong and slightly pinched his right hand.

“Are…are you all right?” she whispered.

“I am fine!” Linghu Chong answered.

For the last couple of days, Yue Lingshan had been worried to death about her big apprentice brother, and now when she finally bumped into him all of a sudden, she could no longer control the excitement that had been growing inside her these days. She grabbed onto Linghu Chong’s sleeve and burst out crying.

Linghu Chong gently padded her on the shoulder. “Little apprentice sister, why? Did someone pick on you? I’ll go whoop his ass for you!” he whispered.

Yue Lingshan did not answer and went on weeping. After shedding some more tears, she finally felt better. Wiping off the tears with Linghu Chong’s sleeve, she murmured, “You are not dead. You are not dead!”

“I am not!” Linghu Chong shook his head.

“I heard that you took a palm strike from that Yu Canghai of the Qingcheng Sword School,” Yue Lingshan whispered. “That man’s ‘Heart Crushing Palm’ can kill without spilling blood. I’ve seen him kill many people with my own eyes. I was so scared that…that….” Remembering all the agonizing suffering and torturing she had to go through in the last couple of days, she could not help but start weeping again.

“I was really lucky that his palm strike missed me narrowly. It was such a cool scene earlier when the Master was fighting Yu Canghai and scared him so much that he ran away so fast. Too bad you missed that one,” Linghu Chong said with a smile.

“Let’s not mention this to any outsiders,” Yue Buqun ordered. Linghu Chong and the rest of the apprentices all complied in unison.

Yue Lingshan stared at Linghu Chong through her tearful eyes. Linghu Chong looked so wan and sallow. There was little color in his cheeks. Feeling very pitiful for him, she sniveled, “Big apprentice brother, this time…this time you are so badly wounded. You should have some good rest and recovery once we get back to Mount Huashan.”

Seeing that Lin Pingzhi was still sobbing bitterly by his parents’ bodies, Yue Buqun said, “Pingzhi, cry no more. We should make arrangements for the funeral now.”

“Yes, Master!” Lin Pingzhi stood up and answered. But seeing blood all over his mother’s face and forehead, he could not help but shed more tears. “When Mom and Dad passed away, they couldn’t even see me one last time. They must…they must have wanted to give me some last words of advice,” he murmured, sobbing.

“Apprentice brother Lin,” Linghu Chong said, “I was here when your parents passed away. The two of them wanted me to take care of you. That’s something I should be doing anyway, there’s not much to talk about that. Your father had some other words that he wanted me to pass on to you.”

“Big apprentice brother, at the time…when my mom and dad passed away, fortunately they had you as accompany. Otherwise, they would have had no one around them when they left this world. I…I am truly grateful!” Lin Pingzhi bowed.

“The rascals of the Qingcheng Sword School tortured your parents cruelly in order to force the whereabouts of the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’ out of them, but they never gave in. The torturing busted their heart arteries. Later that Mu Gaofeng also tried to force information out. Mu Gaofeng is a mean villain; doing what he did was not something out of his character. But Yu Canghai, as the Master of a big school, had acted in such a despicable way. Everybody will hold him in contempt for sure,” Linghu Chong said.

“If I cannot seek my revenge, I will be no better than a pig!” Lin Pingzhi vowed with his teeth gnashed. He punched hard on the column. Although his Kung Fu skills were ordinary, yet because of the great hatred, the punch carried much strength and even the dirt atop the cross beam in the temple started to fall down.

“Junior brother Lin,” Yue Lingshan said, “this matter really started because of me. When you settle your score later, as your senior apprentice sister, I definitely won’t just stand by with folded arms.”

“Many thanks, senior apprentice sister!” Lin Pingzhi bowed.

“The tenet of our Huashan Sword School has always been ‘if others don’t offend us, we won’t offend them’.” Yue Buqun sighed. “Other than our deadly enemy the Demon Cult, there’s no grudge between any of the schools or clans in the Martial World and us. But starting from now on, the Qingcheng Sword School…the Qingcheng Sword School…Well, as a part of the Martial World, not offending anyone is so much easier said than done.”

“Little apprentice sister and junior brother Lin,” Lau Denuo said, “this misfortune wasn’t really caused by junior brother Lin, because he killed the wicked son of Yu Canghai to defend justice. It was really because Yu Canghai coveted the ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript’ of the Lin family. Many years ago, when the Head Master of Qingcheng, Evergreen, lost to junior brother Lin’s great grandfather’s ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art,’ the root of the trouble was already planted.”

“That’s right,” Yue Buqun said. “Most martial people tend to scramble for supremacy and victory. So as soon as they hear about some kind of secret manuscripts of Kung Fu, not even bothering to check if it’s real or not, they would all try to secure it by force or by trickery, by hook or by crook. People like Master Yu or Hunchback of the North, who already have elite skills and fames, really have no need to covet the sword art manuscript of your Lin family.”

“Master, my family really do not have any kind of Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript,” Lin Pingzhi said. “My dad taught me the seventy-two moves of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art personally and orally. He told me to memorize everything in my head. If there was some kind of sword art manuscript, of course my dad wouldn’t tell outsiders anything about it, but why would he keep it a secret from me? There’s no reason for that.”

Yue Buqun nodded in agreement. “I never believed that there was some kind of Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript. Otherwise, Yu Canghai would be no match for your father. It’s just so clear and simple.”

“Junior brother Lin, your father wanted me to tell you: In the Xiang-Yang Alley of Fuzhou…,” Linghu Chong said.

Yue Buqun waved him off. “These are the last words of Pingzhi’s father. You can tell Pingzhi alone. There’s no need for others to hear about it.”

“Yes, Master!” Linghu Chong answered.

“Denuo, Gengming, you two go buy two coffins in the town of Hengshan.” Yue Buqun instructed.

After putting the Lin couple into the coffins, they hired some porters to carry the coffins to the river wharf. The group hired a big ship and headed north by water.

When they arrived at west Henan Province, they changed into traveling by land. Linghu Chong rested in a wagon through the trip, while his wounds slowly recovered. Days later, they arrived afoot the Jade Maiden Peak of Mount Huashan. The Lin couple’s coffins were temporarily placed in a small temple by the side of the peak, so an appropriate date for burial can be decided on later. Gao Gengming and Lu Dayou went up the peak ahead of everyone else to inform about the return of the group. Soon the rest of the Huashan apprentices that stayed on Mount Huashan, about twenty of them or so, came down to greet the Master. Lao Denuo introduced them to Lin Pingzhi one by one. Some elder ones were well over thirty years of age; some younger ones were only about fifteen or sixteen. Among them were six female apprentices. As soon as they spotted Yue Lingshan, they immediately went into chitchats. The rule of the Huashan Sword School’s apprenticeship was that seniority would be based on the date order when each one became an apprentice, so with even the youngest one Shu Qi, Lin Pingzhi had to call him senior apprentice brother. Yue Lingshan was the only exception. She was the daughter of Yue Buqun, so she couldn’t be ranked using the same ordering system, and had to be called based on age. People older than her called her junior sister. She was really a couple of years younger than Lin Pingzhi, but she firmly insisted on being Lin Pingzhi’s senior apprentice sister. Since Yue Buqun did not object, so Lin Pingzhi called her “senior apprentice sister.”

After they all climbed up the peak, Lin Pingzhi followed behind all the senior apprentice brothers. The mountain was very precipitous, yet appeared to be graceful and elegant because of the many ancient trees. Bird tweeting and stream gurgling echoed, making the place a lively environment. Several big houses stood on the side of the hill, some tall, some short, built following the slope of the hill, and all with whitewashed walls.

A middle-aged, pretty lady slowly walked toward them, and as soon as Yue Lingshan caught the sight of her, she dashed into her arms and shouted excitedly.

“Mom, I’ve got a new junior apprentice brother!” She pointed at Lin Pingzhi, smiling.

Lin Pingzhi had heard from his senior apprentice brothers that Madam Yue, Ning Zhongze, or Master-Wife, as how all the apprentices called her, was really a junior apprentice sister of the Master under the same master, and her sword skills were really no less than the Master. So he rushed forward and kowtowed.

“Lin Pingzhi here shows his respect to Master-Wife.”

“That’s wonderful! Get up, get up!” Madam Yue said with a bright smile. She turned to Yue Buqun with a grin. “Every time when you go down the mountain, you always seek a couple treasures to satisfy your craving. This time when you headed for the Hengshan Meeting, I figured that you’d be getting at least three or four new apprentices. How come you only came back with one?”

“Didn’t you always say quality is more important than quantity? What do you think about this one?” Yue Buqun grinned.

“This one is way too handsome. He doesn’t look like the kind of material for Kung Fu training. Why don’t you have him study the Four Books and the Five Classics[3] from you, so he will pass the Xiucai[4] test someday, and maybe become a Zhuangyuan[5] later?” Madam Yue said with a big smile.

Lin Pingzhi blushed. “Master-Wife is not taking me seriously because I look gentle and frail. I’ll have to work extra hard, so I won’t be looked down upon because my performance is inferior to the other senior apprentice brothers,” he told himself.

“That’s a wonderful idea. If the Huashan Sword School could actually produce a Zhuangyuan, then we would be creating legends for our descendents,” Yue Buqun answered with a grin.

Madam Yue glared at Linghu Chong. “You got into fights with others and got wounded again, didn’t you? How come you don’t look too well right now? Were you severely wounded?” she asked.

“It’s already much better now. If I hadn’t been lucky this time, I probably wouldn’t even make it back to see you again,” Linghu Chong replied with a light smile.

Madam Yue gave him another glare. “It’s a good lesson for you to learn that there’s always stronger than the strong. Did you think you lost in a fair fight?”

“I couldn’t fend off the fellow Tian Boguang’s fast knife chops. Master-Wife, will you please give me some pointers?” Linghu Chong requested.

Hearing that it was Tian Boguang who had injured Linghu Chong, Madam Yue nodded, while a big smile blossomed on her face. “So you were fighting the villain Tian Boguang. That’s great! I thought you stirred up dispute and got into trouble again. How were his fast knife chops? Let’s think it over and refine your techniques, so you can fight him again.”

During the trip back home, Linghu Chong had asked several times for advice from his Master about techniques to counter Tian Boguang’s fast knife chops, but Yue Buqun had not said any word in regard, and simply told him to ask his Master-Wife once they were back to Mount Huashan. Sure enough, as soon as Madam Yue heard about it, she got so excited that she almost wished she could get onto it the very moment.

The bunch went into the house Yue Buqun lived in – “House of Integrity,” and talked about events that had happened since the two groups separated. The six female apprentices really envied Yue Lingshan when they heard about her adventure in the town of Fuzhou and in the town of Hengshan. Lu Dayou, on the other hand, really bragged about how the big apprentice brother had fought the fierce fights with Tian Boguang and how he had slain Luo Renjie, to the bunch of junior apprentice brothers. He added many inflammatory details to the story, and it sounded as if big apprentice brother had defeated Tian Boguang instead of suffering a crushing defeat. After they had some snacks and tea, Madam Yue asked Linghu Chong to emulate Tian Boguang’s knife moves and also inquired about how he had countered them.

“That chap Tian Boguang’s knife skills are excellent. I was simply dazzled just looking at the chops, having a hard time fending them off. How could I have countered them?” Linghu Chong answered with a grin.

“If you couldn’t fend them off, then you must have used all kinds of tricks in a slick way to cheat your way through,” Madam Yue concluded. She had raised Linghu Chong up, so of course, she had a very good idea of Linghu Chong’s character.

Linghu Chong blushed. “When I fought Tian Boguang outside the cave, the apprentice sister of the Heng-Shan Sword School had left, and I no longer had any scruple, so I fought the chap Tian Boguang with all my heart. But not far into the fight, he started using his fast knife chop moves. After fending off only two of those moves, I was already groaning inwardly: ‘Looks like I am dead meat!’ So I started laughing loudly.

“Tian Boguang pulled his knife back. ‘What’s so funny?’ he asked. ‘Do you think you can fend off my thirteen stances of ‘Wind Storm’ knife chops?’

“I said, ‘Aha, so the well-known Tian Boguang is actually an expelled apprentice of our Huashan Sword School. I had no idea! Really no idea! I got it. You must have been kicked out of our school because of your dreadful personal character.’

“Tian Boguang said, ‘Expelled Huashan apprentice? What kind of nonsense is that? My Kung Fu is of its own style. What the hell has it got anything to do with your Huashan Sword School?’

“I said, ‘This set of knife moves has a total of thirteen stances, right? ‘Wind Storm?’ Did you just pick a nice random name for it? I’ve seen my Master and Master-Wife use those during practices before. My Master-Wife created those out of a sudden inspiration when she was embroidering. You must know that we’ve gotten a Jade Maiden Peak in Mount Huashan, don’t you?’

“Tian Boguang answered, ‘Yeah. Everybody knows there’s a Jade Maiden Peak in Mount Huashan. What about it?’

“I answered, ‘This set of sword art created by my Master-Wife is called ‘The Thirteen Stances of Jade Maiden’s Golden Needle.’ One of them is called ‘Threading the Needle;’ another one is called ‘Seamless Heavenly Robe;’ there’s also another one called ‘Late Night Embro